Thinking of Labor's Future - May 15, 2012 How Can Unions Become Bigger and Stronger Without the Active Support of their Members? (The Fourth in a Series of articles)
How Can Unions Become Bigger and Stronger Without the Active Support of their Members? (The Fourth in a Series of articles)
The AFL-CIO is governed by a group of national labor leaders, who run the 12 million-member labor federation like it was their personal corporate property.
They get their power because the AFL-CIO Constitution gives them a majority of convention votes that, in advance, guarantees their election and re-election, without any opposition from potential candidates Read this story
LaborTalk - May 3, 2012 What Are the Spending Cuts Affecting Workers Which Obama and Republicans Both Approved?
What Are the Spending Cuts Affecting Workers Which Obama and Republicans Both Approved?
It should disturb working people that President Obama and the Republicans have agreed on a list of spending cuts, amounting to a trillion dollars or more, without revealing precisely where the cuts will take place or how deep they will be. Read this story in LaborTalk
# # # World of Labor – May 12, 2012
World of Labor – May 12, 2012
Europe May Favor ‘Growth Plan’ of French President Death Threats Continue Under Colombian Trade Pact 788 Nigerian Doctors Are Fired, as Unions Strike Polish Workers ‘Chain-In’ Lawmakers over Pensions New Report Shatters DHL’s ‘Good Conduct’ Claim Workers React to Brazil’s Rush to Build Dams in the Amazon May 12, 2012 — Read Column
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April 30, 2012
Over eight decades in the labor movement, Harry Kelber has been a rank-and-file union leader, an author and an academic. At 25, he edited two weekly labor newspapers. At 57, he helped found a labor college at Empire State College. At 81, he ran for AFL-CIO vice president. Now 97, he writes three columns a week for his website, The Labor Educator. The Nation talked to Kelber about his experience of the labor movement’s past, his critique of its present and what he sees in its future. What follows is a condensed and edited transcript of our conversation. Read this story from The Nation
Union Activist Going Strong at 97 By Matthew Rothschild, April 7, 2012, The Progressive
I’d like you to meet a great labor activist.
His name is Harry Kelber. He’s 97. “I’ll be 98 in June,” he tells me.
Read the article.
An Interview: Harry Kelber on the Failure of the AFL, the Decline of Unions and How to Turn It Around
In June 2011, Corporate Crime Reporter (CCR) interviewed Labor Educator Harry Kelber. Here is a link to CCR's website and the interview.
"At one time, Harry Kelber – who just turned 97 last week – was a conservative.
"But that was in high school."
Read the full interview The site of Corporate Crime Reporter, edited by Russell Mokhiber
Revitalizing the AFL-CIO By Ralph Nader May 23, 2011, Commondreams
By Ralph Nader May 23, 2011, Commondreams
When Harry Kelber, the 96 year old relentless labor advocate and editor of The Labor Educator speaks, the leadership of the AFL-CIO should listen. A vigorous champion for the rights of rank-and-file workers vis-à-vis their corporate employers and their labor union leaders, Kelber has recently completed a series of five articles titled “Reasons Why the AFL-CIO Is Broken; Let Us Start a Debate on How to Fix It.” Read the article
Tools for Union Organizing and Political Action
Video, "AFL-CIO Tops Rig 2009 Election Rules To Stop Candidate Harry Kelber From Running"
Click here or above to watch video.
'My Seventy Years in the Labor Movement'
10 Highlights of Harry Kelber's Unique Career
1. During the Great Depression, Harry led a four-month strike at a major food market in Brooklyn, N.Y, that ended with a good union contract.
2. At age 25, Harry was editor of two independent weekly labor newspapers that covered CIO organizing campaigns, as well as the activities of teamster and construction unions.
3. At age 50, Harry earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.A. and PhD. from New York University - all within 5-1/2 years.
4. In the 1962-63 printers' strike that shut down New York City's daily newspapers for 114 days, Harry was editor of the Daily Strike Bulletin.
5. As the legislative director of the Physicians Forum, Harry played a key role in winning social security for the nation's doctors.
6. In 1968, Harry created and became the first director of Cornell University's Two-Year Labor/Liberal Arts Program.
7. In recognition of his distinguished teaching career, Empire State College created the Dr. Harry Kelber Endowment in Labor Studies.
8. At age 70, Harry became the Educational and Cultural Director of Electrical Workers Local 3, I.B.E.W., a position he held for nearly six years.
9. In 1992, Harry led a week-long seminar in Moscow for 145 labor leaders of the former Soviet Union on the theme, "Democratic Unions in a Market Economy."
10. In 1995, at age 81, Harry ran for a vice president seat on the AFL-CIO Executive Council to force the first election ever, in which a rank-and-filer challenged incumbent officers.
You will be fascinated by the stories surrounding each of Kelber's accomplishments $25 per copy (includes mailing) 370 pages - 8 pages of photographs Click here to purchase 'My Seventy Years in the Labor Movement.
Click here to purchase 'My Seventy Years in the Labor Movement.
Daily News, "Spotlight on Great People: His [Harry Kelber] 70-year battle for the rights of workers," by Clem Richardson, October 10, 2008 Read the article on Harry Kelber
Harry Kelber's poetic commentary on "CEO Lust," delivered at Labor Notes conference May 2006. You can see and hear Harry reciting his poem by clicking below.You can read Harry's poem by clicking here.