Episodes
Wednesday Jan 29, 2014
Wednesday Jan 29, 2014
Continuing a theme of recent Alternative Visions shows, Jack Rasmus interviews long-time United Autoworkers rank and file member and activist, Gregg Shotwell. Focusing discussion on what’s wrong with Union organizing and bargaining strategies in particular, Gregg shares his experiences of decades in the UAW which witnessed that once powerful union’s shift from an emphasis and reliance on union members themselves more to a model of union as Human Resources Partner to management. Gregg explains how the UAW leadership has shifted to ‘organizing the employer’ and emphasizing ‘neutrality agreements’ with management in its organizing strategy; and in bargaining strategy, to accepting the company’s bargaining agenda and discouraging members’ self-reliance on the job to resolve problems. Gregg explains how workers need to ‘occupy the workplace’ and focus on ‘inside strikes’ more, as well as understand that voting for a leadership change by itself often changes nothing in the end. Jack suggests new strategies—and new tactics—are also needed in union-community alliances initiatives.
Wednesday Jan 22, 2014
Wednesday Jan 22, 2014
Jack interviews author, Steve Early, on the release last week of Steve’s new book, ‘Save Our Unions’. An important book providing numerous cases and examples of specific union worker efforts over the past four decades to defend their unions and interests. Jack discusses with Steve, in the attempt to glean from the book’s many case examples what lessons it suggests for union labor’s current strategic impasse in bargaining, organizing, and political strategy—a continuing theme of recent Alternative Vision shows and interviews. Jack and Steve discuss the strategic implications of the past four decades of partial victories, and numerous defeats, suffered by union labor in America, and what ‘needs to be done’ going forward if unions are to rise again to play the economic and social role in the future they once did in the past. Jack argues more ‘thinking out of the box’ by unionists is needed in order to resurrect union labor, including revising internal union structure and organizational practices—locally, nationally, and globally.
Wednesday Jan 15, 2014
Alternative Visions - Jobs, Budgets and Bernanke’s Bank - 01/15/14
Wednesday Jan 15, 2014
Wednesday Jan 15, 2014
Dr. Jack Rasmus discusses in detail last Friday’s employment report by the government, this week’s agreement by Congress on a budget until October 2014, and the performance of Bernanke’s Federal Reserve as he retires on January 31. Jack describes the December jobs report as a disaster, not just in terms of a dramatic drop in job creation but in the even greater exodus of workers from the labor force. Jack refers to his prediction of last November that December jobs creation would falter (see his ‘False Positives’ blog articles). Congress’s just approved passage of another $1.1 trillion budget bill is then analyzed. The show concludes with a brief assessment of the performance of Bernanke as Federal Reserve chair the past 7 years, showing how ‘shadow banks’ and ‘very high net worth’ investors have been the major beneficiaries, with financial asset increases in excess of ten trillion dollars since the financial crash.
Wednesday Jan 08, 2014
Alternative Visions - Boeing Workers Tell Their Story of Force Concessions - 01/08/14
Wednesday Jan 08, 2014
Wednesday Jan 08, 2014
Jack Rasmus interviews Boeing workers who over the weekend were forced into massive concessions by a combined offensive by the Boeing Corp., in alliance with politicians, their International Union office, and suspiciously organized community groups paid by sources yet unknown. Listen to the story of how, after rejecting company proposals 2 to 1 to end their pensions, dismantle their health care, reduce wages to minimum levels in an 11 year contract extension, they were forced by a vote over the holidays to accept the agreement when 8000 of their members were on holiday and couldn’t vote. The concession agreement at Boeing is historic and a likely template of things yet to come. No longer are concessions forced by companies in financial trouble. Boeing reported profits of $4.7 billion after the settlement, and after having paid its stockholders $10 billion in buybacks and $2 billion in dividends just last month. The Boeing debacle represents a case example of union labor at a strategic impasse, in its bargaining strategy, political strategy, and community alliances strategy.The Boeing worker guests on today’s show were:
Shannon Ryker
Shannon Ryker began working at Boeing at 17, and has been an employed 8 years at the company as a final assembly installer on the 767 aircraft and a structures mechanic on the 777 aircraft. She recently started a union support Facebook page called Rosiesmachinists751, which in the last eight months has grown from 8 members to almost 1600.
Jim Levitt
Jim is a 35 year veteran at Boeing, working as a machinist and a tool & die maker. He was at the same time a member of Impact Visuals, a cooperatively owned photo agency specializing in labor and social change from 1985-2001. His photographs have appeared in AFL-CIO, IAM, Teamsters, and other union publications, along with BusinessWeek, Time, the NY Times, Labor Notes, and many other outlets. Before working at Boeing Jim was a graduate student in history.
Hazel Powers
Hazel is a Tooling Inspector at Boeing, a 55 year old single parent, and has worked at Boeing since 1979. She is an IAM District Council Alternate delegate and has held past IAM Local Lodge positions as well. Hazel voted to reject the Boeing contract due to concessions with pension and other benefit cuts, and concern the new contract language is not specific enough
about keeping new aircraft 777X work in Puget Sound. “
Thursday Jan 02, 2014
Alternative Visions - What’s Wrong with Economists: Part 3 - 01/02/14
Thursday Jan 02, 2014
Thursday Jan 02, 2014
Dr. Jack Rasmus follows up to parts 1 and 2 in previous weeks on this topic, presenting his own views on the causes of the economic crisis that erupted in 2007-08, its evolution of slow, stop-go recovery since 2009, and its likely trajectory in coming years. Providing an overview of his 2010 book, ‘Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression’, and his follow up 2012 book, ‘Obama’s Economy’, he rejects the analysis of mainstream economics, both its ‘hybrid Keynesian’ and ‘Retro Classicalist’ perspectives, explaining the need for an entirely new conceptual apparatus to better understand the recent crisis and its continuing global evolution. Looking at depressions in the 1800s in the US, and the often ignored financial crash of 1907-08 and ‘epic’ recession of 1908-13, Rasmus explains his own ‘3rd way’ theoretical and historical economic analysis and how it differs from mainstream economics (Hybrids and Retros) in explaining the origins and evolution of the current crisis. He concludes with an overview of his forthcoming works, ‘What’s Wrong With Economists’, to appear in late 2014 and the planned sequel, ‘Transitions to Global Depression’, scheduled for 2015.