Anti-union consultants do creepy, scummy work, this week in the war on workers

● Press release of the week:

● U.S. trade policies have disproportionately harmed Black and Latino workers, not just the white working class Trump courted, researchers find:

“The conventional wisdom created by Trump was a narrative of White working-class voters being the only injured party hurt by trade,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch who co-wrote the report with research director Daniel Rangel. “In fact, working-class people of all races and ethnicities got slammed by our trade policies, but the data show it’s Black and Latino workers who have suffered the heaviest damage.”

● The labor movement hasn’t won anything yet, writes Hamilton Nolan

● Ellen David Friedman has some ideas about How to keep on keeping on

● Responses to President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for labor secretary:

Paid Leave for All:

“As Mayor and a union leader, Mr. Walsh has a proven track record of advocacy on behalf of the paid leave movement, including his work to provide paid leave to City of Boston employees. He has been an outspoken proponent of paid leave and we thank him for that commitment.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will be an exceptional labor secretary for the same reason he was an outstanding mayor: he carried the tools. As a longtime union member, Walsh knows that collective bargaining is essential to building back better by combating inequality, beating COVID-19 and expanding opportunities for immigrants, women and people of color. He will have the ear of the White House, the Cabinet and Congress as we work to increase union density and create a stronger, fairer America. From the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council to the Massachusetts State House to the mayor’s office to his own personal journey with overcoming addiction, Marty Walsh has always been a fighter who understands the power of working people standing together for a better life.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten:

Marty will hit the ground running as a relentless worker advocate and ally, both inside the administration and in the public sphere. He will fight for dignity and respect for all workers, including for their right to unionize, for health and safety standards, to raise the minimum wage and to ensure workers and their unions have an opportunity to thrive. And he will help reverse President Trump’s four years of callous and craven attacks.