jobs with justice
GRITTv: Sarita Gupta & Diane Russell: Remembering Labor History
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was 100 years ago this week, and while labor groups and historians commemorate the deaths of 146 workers from unsafe working conditions, around the country conservatives are trying to erase all those years of labor history. The latest, in Maine, is that a Republican governor wants to have a mural at the state labor department painted over; its depiction of Maine's labor history, including the first woman labor secretary Frances Perkins, has been deemed too "one-sided." What do we lose when we forget workers' history? Sarita Gupta of Jobs With Justice and Maine state representative Diane Russell join Laura to discuss the stories we need to remember.
Email this pageGRITtv: March 24, 2011
"What they're not looking at is ultimately the extraordinary cost--both the human cost and the actual cost.." says Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland. After the Massey mine explosion and BP oil spill last year, we now face a nuclear disaster in Japan. The question, then, is whether we take the opportunity to push for truly clean energy or hunker down and retreat to the old faithful sources that are slowly killing us. Jeff joins us via Skype to discuss the possibility for better energy policy post-Japan, the new coal mines opening up in Wyoming, and much more. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was 100 years ago this week, and while labor groups and historians commemorate the deaths of 146 workers from unsafe working conditions, around the country conservatives are trying to erase all those years of labor history. The latest, in Maine, is that a Republican governor wants to have a mural at the state labor department painted over; its depiction of Maine's labor history, including the first woman labor secretary Frances Perkins, has been deemed too "one-sided." What do we lose when we forget workers' history? Sarita Gupta of Jobs With Justice and Maine state representative Diane Russell join Laura to discuss the stories we need to remember. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Resource-Strapped States and the Jobs Struggle
Almost every state is suffering some sort of budget crisis after last year's financial collapse, and yet jobs programs largely come through the states. Green jobs have been the solution on everyone's lips, but where are they right now? And what about state subsidies for corporations that provide jobs with lousy pay and working conditions? Carrie Brunk, executive director of New York Jobs With Justice, joins Ed Ott in the studio to talk about bailouts, corporate subsidies, and why those aren't helping working people on the ground.
GRITtv: Wall St. Recovery; Main St. Inequality
We've all seen the headlines about record bonuses on Wall Street just a year after record bailouts with taxpayer dollars. And we all know that the rest of the country is hardly feeling the recovery. But even right here in New York City, recovery hasn't yet trickled down, and inequality is just getting worse. To discuss real economic recovery for New York's working class (and the people in urban centers around the country) we invite Mark Winston Griffith, executive director at the Drum Major Institute and 2009 candidate for New York City Council, Matt Ryan, campaign director with Jobs With Justice New York, and Jonathan Hicks, former reporter with the New York Times and senior fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy.
GRITtv: Walmart's Brave New World, Christianity and Capitalism, and Nomi Prins on the Post-Bailout Economy
Walmart is the nation's largest employer and also has the largest number of employees who receive Medicaid, food stamps and state public assistance. In essence, federal tax dollars are being used to subsidize Walmart so they can pay their employees low wages and rake in massive profits. Reports today that Congress is floating a proposal to issue tax credits to businesses that create jobs sounds good. But what kind of jobs? Walmart jobs or real jobs? Pat O'Neill, Mark Moore and Matt Ryan discuss alternatives to the Walmart model. Bethany Moreton, David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn on real alternatives to the current economic order. And Nomi Prins on why the banks are getting bigger, who really runs Washington, and post-bailout capitalism.
GRITtv: October 7, 2009
Walmart is the nation’s largest employer, and federal tax dollars are being used to subsidize it so it can pay its employees low wages and rake in massive profits. Pat O’Neill, Mark Moore and Matt Ryan discuss alternatives to the Walmart model. Author Bethany Moreton tells how Walmart has effectively married capitalism and Christianity, and David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn on real alternatives to the current economic order.
