The Great Orange Smoke Screen The front pages of any major news outlet, online or otherwise, are full of news of Donald Trump and the corrupt, inept-yet-frighteningly-effective cabal of criminals that make up his administration and circle of advisors. Nearly 40 people tied to him, his administration, his inauguration, and his campaign have been indicted and more are sure to […]

This week marks the painful beginning of the lame duck (or, as I call it, “enflamed duck”) session in the Michigan State legislature. With a Democratic governor about to take the reins, Republicans are hell-bent to pass as much regressive legislation into law as they can before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer moves into her new office. One of the worst is […]

In 2016, Donald Trump got around 37% of the vote from members of labor unions. He actually out-performed Mitt Romney in this regard suggesting that his faux pro-worker rhetoric hit its mark. Since then, he’s continued his attempts to appease union workers and convince them — despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary — that he is on THEIR […]

This past week, corporatists ticked off a major agenda when the United States Supreme Court decided in their favor in the Janus v. AFSCME case. With this decision, SCOTUS has turned America into a “Right to Freeload” country. Will Swaim, president of the California Policy Center, an affiliate of the Koch brothers State Policy Network (SPN), celebrated the decision to […]

The following post was contributed by my good friend Frank Houston. Frank is the Michigan Regional Program Manager of the BlueGreen Alliance, a group that encompasses a variety of progressive values: labor, environmental, and political action. For this reason, it’s a group that I’m happy to share this platform with. The gains made in federal environmental policy under the Obama […]

Last week I wrote about a 2-day strike by nurses working for Duke LifePoint’s UP Health System hospital in Marquette, Michigan, a protest against profound under-staffing that is leading to dangerous conditions for patients and the nursing staff who care for them. They’ve also been working without a contract with their new for-profit employer since July. Yesterday, nurses ended their […]

Nurses at UP Health System in Marquette, Michigan – run by Duke LifePoint – went on strike today to protest understaffing that has led to unsafe conditions for patients at the facility as well as the nurses who work there. In addition, they are demanding that the administrators of the facility begin bargaining with them in good faith on a […]

James O’Keefe, the “film” producer who spends his life trying to take down any organization valued by progressives with heavily-edited videos of “stings” he orchestrates has been spending time in Michigan this year trying to bring down the American Federation of Teachers. Fortunately, a combination of an O’Keefe operative’s stupidity and the intelligence of the AFT’s staff resulted O’Keefe’s crew […]

In one of the major labor victories since Republicans made the birthplace of organized labor in America a so-called “right to work” state, 1000+ nurses at Traverse City’s Munson Medical Center will now be represented by a union for the first time: A vote to unionize registered nurses at Munson Medical Center will soon be certified. The two-day election took […]

In a recent op-ed in Composites World, a trade magazine for the advanced composites industry, North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) CEO James Austin presents his view on what the protectionist approach to trade led by Donald Trump will likely lead to. His piece is titled “Process automation: A model response to Trumponomics and Brexit” and, in it, he contends that […]

The show notes for Episode 30 are at http://www.eclectablog.com/2017/05/episode-30-maybe-what-this-country-needs-is-one-big-enough-is-enough-march-wsg-cindy-estrada.html ASSKICKERS ALERT! Folks don't realize how close the GOP is to repealing the affordable care act right now. 1/ — Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 29, 2017 TRUMPCARE UPDATE: Rules meeting Mon. to decide on a vote next week. Whipping moderates this weekend. Calls today, Mon. are vital. (pls RT) pic.twitter.com/Qs0FCtG8X2 — […]