Fresh Loaf

The qualifying period’s still weeks away, but that’s not stopping unions and organizations from endorsing candidates in the Nov. 3 city elections.

The Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, which boasts approximately 9,000 members who live inside city limits and nearly 70,000 more in metro Atlanta, made its final endorsements last week for the Atlanta mayor and City Council races. Included in the list are incumbents Ceasar Mitchell and Ivory Young and political upstarts Amir Farokhi and Miguel Gallegos.

ANGLC President Charlie Flemming tells CL that 17 of its 42 affiliate organizations sat down with candidates to discuss privatization, cost-of-living wage increases, workforce housing, and other labor-related issues. The slate of endorsed candidates either agreed with policy stances or had reached out to labor in past policy discussions.

The union’s endorsement has been like the touch of God in the mayor’s race: for the last 20 years, its pick to run the city has gone on to win office. Flemming says its record isn’t as spot-on for council elections, but political hopefuls lucky enough to get a nod — or unlucky enough, depending on how voters’ opinions of unions — can expect a strong force working in their favor.

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Those nifty contrarians at Slate, God bless ‘em, have gone through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and made a fun and depressing animation of a heady few months of job gains followed by a blood-red pattern of job loss. The animation, which covers January 2007 to February 2009, provides some much-needed context to the headlines and numbers we’ve seen thrown about.

It’s interesting to watch how metropolitan regions went from blue to red. Not surprising, sure, as this is where the bulk of people live. But notice the areas where jobs grew. I heard an interesting rumor while reporting for the Green Guide that laid-off workers in Florida’s manufacturing industry were migrating north into south Georgia to look for jobs. You don’t see much of that in this animation, or you don’t see if they landed work, but it’d be interesting to also plug migration data into this map.

And look at that little blue dot along the Mid-Atlantic. That’s Washington, D.C., people! Or at least I think it is! Regardless, socialism! Government job programs! Big Government blah blah blah! (Click the screenshot to head to Slate’s site and watch the animation.)

(Screenshot from Slate)

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Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond

In this week’s feature, “The big hurt,” I write about Georgia’s rising unemployment rate and how it’s impacting metro Atlantans. To better understand the current economic landscape, I visited the state Department of Labor’s recent job fair at the Georgia World Congress Center. The event, which organizers estimate attracted more than 19,000 job seekers, was considered the largest in the state’s history. To view Joeff Davis’ photographs of the event, go here.

While reporting on the convention center floor, I spotted Commissioner Michael Thurmond monitoring the event from a hospitality suite. Thurmond, who’s brutally honest but optimistic about the situation, agreed to chat. After the jump, a transcript of my interview with the commissioner. In it, he talks about how the state can prepare for a recovered economy, the impact of globalization, and the job-loss story that hit him the hardest.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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