Poor No More! Or That 'Hard-Working Middle Class'

by Sherman Yellen

Protest in Wisconsin, 2011

When have you last heard the term "hard-working poor" coming from any politician? Probably not in the past decade. Nobody is a member of the working poor anymore. Everyone is a member of the over-worked, over-taxed, hard-working middle class. That includes those making $25,000 a year as a Wal-Mart store manager, to those making $450,000 as a hedge fund clipper, to those making $12,000 dollars as a part time hospital cleaning woman. Continued...

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Blue Green Alliance: Unions' Green Job Focus

by Janet Ritz

The Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between the United Steel Workers and The Sierra Club, has just completed a two day conference in Pittsburg, PA that focused on the opportunity presented by the creation of 'green jobs':

[The Green Jobs Conference] will provide a platform for the best thinking about economic development and environmental solutions. The conference will launch a national discussion about how we can solve global warming, end American dependence on foreign oil and transition from our overuse of toxic chemicals.

Photo: Vermont wind turbine (c. 1941) built to provide alternative power during WWII

The alliance is also working with the Renewable Energy Policy Project to document the potential for thousands of new jobs based on a new renewable energy standard for such projects as solar panel and wind turbine manufacture.

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