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Posts published by “Dick Meister”

Jobless In Wonderland

Finding a job is hard enough for the many millions of unemployed American workers. But, believe it or not, the fact that they are jobless keeps many employers from hiring them. That's right, being jobless…

Mucho Car

It's gone forever, my beloved Triumph Spitfire, that classic, marvelous looking British sports car that never ran anywhere near as well as it looked. Pearl white it was, with black trim. Pretty. But noisy, roaring…

Caring For The Elderly

It's one of the toughest yet most vital jobs of all — caring for the millions of elderly Americans who, though infirm, remain in their homes. There are an estimated 1.7 million of the Home…

Labor Day Heroes

Let's pause for a moment this Labor Day to recognize some of our most important, yet most maligned workers. They're teachers and librarians, police officers and firefighters. They're bus drivers, doctors and nurses. Judges and…

Mooney & Billings: Framed!

It was an unusually hot July day in San Francisco. There was a parade on that day in 1916 — a “Prepared­ness Day” parade organized by local Republican businessmen. It was intended to drum up…

Celebrating The 4th With The Enemy

The Fourth of July, as we all know, is Independence Day. Hurray for George Washington and the revolution­aries, down with King George and the British. That sort of thing. But have you ever wondered what…

Labor’s Small Business Friends

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other outspo­ken foes of organized labor like to claim that small busi­ness owners are as anti-union as the notoriously anti-union Chamber and its big business members. But don't you…

The Invaluable Legacy Of Willard Wirtz

Never has there been a greater champion of US workers than former Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz, who died on April 24 at 98. Certainly in more than a half-century of covering labor, I’ve never…

Obits For Sale

Like most daily newspapers these days, the San Francisco Chronicle is hustling to increase declining profit margins. But let me offer some advice to my former employer: Quit gouging grieving readers as part of your…

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