February 2018 Honduras Coup Again update (tags)
Much repression continues as the fraud dictatorship JOH regime continues in Honduras as does resistance against it. At least 3 have been assassinated this month, including a 40 years old community leader, a 33 year old organised farmer, and a 16 year old environmental activist. Read on for details about these and other attacks against a people resisting this dictatorship
PHILIPPINES: Arrest of Cebu labor leader denounced (tags)
The Philippine Labor Party [ Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) ] condemned the arrest of the union leader at the Carmen Copper Corp. in Toledo City, Cebu, one of the biggest mines in Asia. Tony Cuizon, president of the Panaghiusa sa Mamumuo sa Carmen Copper (PAMCC-AGLO), was arrested last October 25, 2014 in Cavite on the strength of warrants for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
genocide
Oakland General Strike a Success, but Cops Seriously Injure another Vet (tags)
With over 50,000 people protesting in the street in three major protests through the course of the day, massive labor participation, and a shut down of the Port of Oakland, there is no question that the general strike was a success. Yet the corporate media is now blowing up the importance of a few acts of vandalism by protesters and agent provocateurs.
The Capitalism of Hopelessness (tags)
The capitalism of hopelessness is a capitalism where the enemy is lost, where capitalism can no longer fulfill its promise of prosperity for the people as in the 1960s and where capitalism neutralizes all utopian energy and alternatives. Public jobs must be created in the emergency.
The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill (tags)
Joe Hill — labor organizer, musician, song writer, revolutionary — was executed in 1915 by the state of Utah for a crime that many believe he did not commit. Now there's proof.
Queer Democrats Warned About Threats to Reproductive Choice (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club heard two presentations at its June 23 meeting: a report on the likely strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) against southern California?s three largest grocery chains ? Ralph?s, Albertson?s and Vons ? and a warning about the potentially devastating effects of Republican and radical-Right policies against women?s rights to reproductive choice. Though the struggles of women to maintain safe and legal access to contraception and abortion may seem to have little in common with those of workers for decent pay, access to health care and other benefits, speakers on both issues noted how the radical Right has effectively linked them in the service of a paternalistic agenda that regards workers as mere cogs in a capitalist economy, and women as mere vessels for giving birth to the next generation.
Wisconsin Judge Strikes Down Anti-Union Law (tags)
labor
Labor Representatives Under Attack, Seek Queer Democrats’ Help (tags)
Three San Diego union leaders — Central Labor Council CEO/secretary-treasurer Lorena Gonzalez, Municipal Employees’ Association general manager Michael Zucchet, and SEIU Local 221 head Eric Banks — spoke to the predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club April 28 on the state of the local labor movement. They focused on the attacks on public workers by the Republican party and the radical Right, which is aimed not only at driving public-sector wages and benefits below those offered by the private sector but also denying the one source of substantial campaign funding available to Democrats and thereby winning elections by eliminating effective competition. They also talked about the Right-wing bias of San Diego’s media and their success in demonizing public workers’ pensions as the source of San Diego’s financial ills.
Thousands of militant workers march for higher pay in the Philippines (tags)
Manila, Philippines - Thousands of workers led by the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and its allied organizations converged in key cities on Labor Day to reiterate their demand for better wages, improved economy, jobs, security of tenure for workers and an end to demolition of squatter shanties.
L.A. Social Media Strategy Proposal (tags)
This is an idea for boosting the turnout for the immigration march on May first. There may be a few different ones due to the annual realignments and fights between sectarians, but all that matters is that people show up in huge numbers!
Winter 2011 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Monthly News Digest (tags)
From Madison, WI to May Day 2011 Immigrants, Workers, Peace Activists UNITED!
Why All Workers Should Support Unions (tags)
It's official: Republicans have declared war on organized labor. Unclear to millions of unorganized workers is whether or not they should care. Thanks to years of right wing propaganda -- and labor union inertia -- millions of Americans are "union skeptics," unsure as to the nature of the union animal. These fence-straddlers have no direct experience with organized labor, but they will be absolutely crucial participants in this war of corporate power versus working people.
Hidden Provisions in Wisconsin Bill (tags)
worker struggles
Peace and Freedom Party Statement on Wisconsin's Worker and Student Demonstrations (tags)
Peace & Freedom Party Stands in Solidarity with Wisconsin's Worker and Student Demonstrations
Waging War on Chicago Workers (tags)
labor struggles
Undocumented workers face new repressive state tactics (tags)
On Dec. 15, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) introduced HR 4321, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Seurity and Prosperity Act of 2009,” into the House with 89 cosponsors. The Obama administration has stated that it will not act on the bill until health care legislation is passed, but there is a good chance it is also waiting for a more conservative compromise proposal to emerge from the Senate subcommittee on immigration. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is also supposed to introduce an administration bill next year.
Vetelca: The story of the first ever Bolivarian maquila factory (tags)
* This report originally appears in issue #57 of Venezuelan anarchist newspaper El Libertario www.nodo50.org/ellibertario [website in Spanish, English & other languages]. It is a detailed examination of the events behind the mobile telephone manufacturer Vetelca, in which the notion of a socialist industrial production model in Venezuela is unmasked.
End the Fed? Or End the Market Economy? (tags)
When Republican Congressman Ron Paul recently introduced legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, diverse sections of the political spectrum applauded. And rightfully so. The Fed’s role in the still-developing bank bailouts is one of utter secrecy; the total cost of which — as estimated by the bailout’s Special Inspector General, Neil Barofsky — could cost taxpayers $23.7 trillion. The fact that legislation needed to be introduced to raise the question of the whereabouts of these funds points to a larger breakdown in U.S. democracy.
A Surge in Demands on Government for Jobs (tags)
Thanks to the government bailout, bankers and brokers are now self-righteously pocketing their record bonuses, reassured by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein that they are doing “God’s work” (The New York Times, November 17, 2009). There is no humility in these quarters. Yet working people continue to be battered by relentlessly rising unemployment, caused by an economic crisis they had no part in creating. Officially the rate stands at 10.2 percent with the unofficial rate hovering around 17.5 percent, since it also includes part-time workers wanting full-time work and those who are discouraged and no longer looking for work. Both statistics are on the verge of rising.
What is at Stake with Free Trade (tags)
In the ten years since the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle, global opposition to free trade and “globalization” has exploded. The general public now has a basic understanding of how the world economy works … against them: companies scour the globe searching for slave wages, which help push down wages in “developed” countries; any regulation that reduces profits — environmental, financial, labor, etc. — is destroyed or ignored. The two focal points of the anti-globalization movement have been dismantling of the WTO and free trade agreements; both legitimate targets. However, what happens if both goals are accomplished? Mission Accomplished?
Class Struggle in the Service Sector
Poor Nations Offer Paid Sick Leave; Why Can’t U.S. Workers Receive It? (tags)
This great essay by Kelber says that almost every single country out there supports new mothers and sick workers, except the United States of America. Poor countries are doing better by their workers than our country is. This is PATHETIC.
After the recent unemployment numbers were announced, smug politicians promising economic recovery stuttered a bit. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Mainstream economists were predicting a smooth upswing in employment, but in September 263,000 more jobs were lost, 62,000 more than August. Obama reacted predictably to the surprise. He first pointed out that “employment is the last thing to recover from a recession,” and concluded that “…we are going to need to grind out this recovery, step by step.” Brilliant.
Health Bill Proposals Could Cause Job-Losses For Non-Health Care Workers (tags)
If Costs Of Forced Private Health Insurance Prevent Home Buyers Qualifying For Home Loans, That Will Hurt Construction and Manufacturing Workers, Financial Institutions And Home Values Dependent On A Stable Housing Market?
Negotiating Our Lives Away (tags)
At some point we have to step to the plate and put our foot down. It's not going to stop on its own.
Capitalism Criticism 2.0 (tags)
Marx identified the falling rate of profit and the self-destruction of competition as contradictions of capitalism. Wages do not keep up with investments in machinery. Speculation and the explosion of the financial markets were encouraged by deregulation and higher profits.
The U.S. Creeps Closer to a Police State (tags)
When word first arrived that the G-20 would be meeting in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, activists began organizing protest demonstrations. Events like this are what freedom of speech is made for. What better occasion to protest than a meeting of the world’s 20 top leaders — most of them deservedly hated — where they will be imposing policy on billions of people worldwide? The majority of protesters consisted of labor and community groups; they encountered an army of police…literally.
The First Shots of the Trade War (tags)
With the G-20 summit approaching, cheerful talk of “international cooperation” fills the White House press-room. These comments carry with them the implication that “free trade” is integral to “cooperation,” a fact made explicit in the last meeting of the G-20. There, in the name of “united action,” world leaders agreed not to install any new protectionist measures. Since then, protectionist measures have flourished. Instead of global cooperation we have its opposite: international tensions are on the rise as trade disputes sharpen.
Filipino workers say "Never Again" (tags)
Workers belonging to the Coalition Against Contractualization (KONTRA) today marched to Mendiola to mark the anniversary of the signing of Proclamation 1081 that imposed Martial Law 37 years ago and to reaffirm their vows to never again let the country slip into darkness.
Germany: The Calm Before the Storm (tags)
"The Left must become a catalyst of resistance to the crisis in order to gain strength. Impoverishment does not make anyone enlightened. Despair and anger do not necessarily lead to progressivism. People may be just as likely to give up...."
Fletcher Rallies Progressive Crowd to Fight the Right (tags)
The leaflet advertising author and former labor educator Bill Fletcher's talk September 13 in Balboa Park promised a considerably more optimistic speech than the one he actually gave. Stunned by the mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. by radical-Right opponents of President Obama's supposedly "socialist" agenda, Fletcher gave a strongly worded warning to his Leftist audience that unless the American Left organizes now, not only to fight the Right but to appeal to the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans, the movement he called "Right-wing populism" — talk radio, Fox news, the "teabag" protests and the thug-like disruption of Congressmembers' town-hall meetings on health reform — will sweep the country and consign all progressive movements and any part of distributive justice and a social-welfare state to oblivion.
Betrayals Continue as Trumka Takes the Helm at the AFL-CIO (tags)
The partnership between the heads of organized Labor and the employers strengthens as Trumka dumps EFCA after spending millions of dollars of member's hard earned dues money getting our enemies elected in to office.
AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR COMMUNITY: SUPPORT THE LONG BEACH HILTON BOYCOTT! (tags)
The Echo Park Community Coalition based in central Los Angeles , community alliance of veterans, youth, students and community organizations and activist expresses our unequivocal support to the announced boycott being called by the workers of Hilton Long Beach starting September 3, 2009. Exactly one year ago, we warned the management of Hilton Long Beach that the Filipino American community of Long Beach will not tolerate discrimination of any kind or form most so of Filipino workers inside the hotel. Instead the situation turned from bad to worst. We are appalled at the intransigence of the management that does not only exploits the workers of all nationalities but oppresses them by practicing the most anti-labor measures such as dismissal of worker organizers, checking the workers lockers, preventing them from organizing and other anti-workers measures.
LA Congressman Waxman Challenged By Injured Downey Movie and Kaiser Workers (tags)
Environmental activist Sharon Kramer talks about the role of the corporate industry trade group ACOEM in preventing the treatment of workers injured by mold by writing into workers comp laws rules eliminating treatement for mold. She also reports that former US Senator Edward Kennedy eliminated a study exposing the conflict of interest by ACOEM and other corporate controlled groups on US workers comp policy
With Amanda Villatoro, of CSA: CRF must be recognized as an occupational illness (tags)
http://www.rel-uita.org/agricultura/agrotoxicos/irc/2009/con_amanda_villatoro-eng.htm
Review: Karl Polanyi-How the State Created Capitalism (tags)
In "The Great Transformation" (1944), Karl Polanyi deconstructs the myth of a free market economy that develops naturally and spontaneously and the idea of the state as a counter-pole to capital. The transformation of labor and land into commodities was a painful process.
Cracks Emerging in NAFTA (tags)
The once-solid North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) is starting to show its age. The 1994 trade agreement that laid the foundation for the economic/political integration of North America is encountering serious internal ruptures, threatening future “progress.” The problems are numerous: fights over trade, immigration, and military cooperation are all issues that Obama recently discussed in Mexico with his NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada. The annual meeting that usually delivers plans for additional integration was instead used to remedy these heated issues, none of which were fully solved.
The Downey Toxic Hell Hole: Injured Workers, Liability And The Business Of Stuart Lichter (tags)
Comment on "Health complaints linked to former NASA site in Downey" from the L.A. Times. August 2, 2009
Workers can take advantage of a serious crisis too. (tags)
Capitalists aren't the only ones that should be taking advantage of a good crisis. Workers shouldn't let a crisis go to waste either.
BTL:Minimum Wage Campaign Fights for National Living Wage (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
Learning from Card Check's Death (tags)
Maybe you didn’t hear the news: Card Check — the key provision of the Employee Free Choice Act — is dead. You might not have gotten the message because U.S. labor “leaders” are remarkably silent on the issue. Not a peep. The media, however, has the story right: the Democrats are now officially seeking a compromise, one that strips the bill of its essence — the right for workers to start a union by stating their intention to do so. So why are most union leaders so quiet? No one likes to talk about their blunders, especially the colossal type. The defeat of Card Check is a mighty blow to labor, and admitting that your strategy failed to achieve it may cause others to question your authority.
Democrats and Republicans Join Hands Over Immigration (tags)
Even the most optimistic Obama supporter should cringe in response to the White House’s recent “bi-partisan immigration talks.” What could Democrats and Republicans possibly have in common over immigration? Quite a lot it turns out. An enormous sell-out is being prepared for the U.S. immigrant population and Latinos especially — who came out in record numbers in many swing states to vote for Obama last year. Attached to these votes are huge expectations.
Mass Protests Rock Iran: No to All Wings of the Mullah Regime! (tags)
For more than a week, Iran has been convulsed by mass demonstrations denouncing election fraud. Hundreds of thousands have repeatedly taken to the streets to denounce the government, which is now threatening, and beginning to carry out, a bloody crackdown. This time around, imperialist intervention is veiled: the White House feigns neutrality, the Western media go all out for the opposition, while in the background various agencies provide vital technical aid. In reality, all candidates in the presidential vote swear allegiance to the Islamic Republic, and the supposed moderate reformers are no less butchers and enemies of poor and working people than the conservative "populist" government. The situation cries out for revolutionary leadership independent of all factions of the theocracy, to wage a struggle for workers revolution against imperialism and clerical reaction.
Who Will Pay for Healthcare? (tags)
There’s a jumbled, increasingly hysterical tone to the health care debate going on in Washington. On each side of the uproar lie powerful and opposing interests: on one side the giant corporations who make billions of dollars via the status quo; and on the other, the majority of working people who suffer immensely from it. Creating a health care “compromise” between these two interests is of course impossible, but seeing the politicians in Congress attempt one is at least good entertainment.
GM's Turn on Obama's Chopping Block (tags)
The alarm bells should be ringing day and night about what’s being prepared at General Motors — the ripple effects could produce tidal waves. The Obama administration has made no secret about its plans for GM: the Chrysler bankruptcy was the “test case,” and now Obama’s Wall Street buddies inside the Auto Task Force plan to replicate it. The vast implications of the Chrysler bankruptcy went unnoticed by the mainstream media, concerned as it was with the convenient hype provided by Swine Flu.
Yet another blatant betrayal by heads of organized Labor in San Francisco (tags)
SEIU 1021 members voted down a concessionary contract because they were "confused". The higher up the Union ladder you go the more contemptuous of workers you become.
Can the erotic service providers please speak? (tags)
sex workers protest craigslist
Raising the banners of socialism in the United States (tags)
The members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and our friends would promote socialism whether or not there was a worldwide capitalist economic crisis. But if there was any time to revive the socialist movement and build a multinational working-class party of revolutionaries, we believe that the time is now. We realize that we are not raising the banners of socialism and calling for revolution in the United States in a vacuum.
FILIPINOS DEMANDS LEGALIZATION AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (tags)
Last Friday, May 1, International Workers’ Day, women workers, youth and allies of the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) joined the groundswell of immigrants and workers demanding for Obama to deliver on his promise of immigration reform in nationally-coordinated marches. The Alliance Philippines called for full legalization, amnesty, a stop to racist enforcement measures like deportations, detentions and border militarization, full protections for all workers, and an end to US imperialism, the root cause of the Filipino people’s forced migration. “We are here to echo the voices of the 14 million undocumented who are struggling and working hard despite the economic crisis,” said Mona Lunot, nanny, housekeeper and Chairperson of DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, in her speech at the concluding rally in New York City. DAMAYAN is a member organization of Alliance Philippines. “Undocumented workers are called ‘aliens.’ But we are the workers who take care of Americans’ homes and children, cook their food, build their houses, and plant the food they eat.
FILIPINOS DEMANDS LEGALIZATION AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (tags)
Last Friday, May 1, International Workers’ Day, women workers, youth and allies of the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) joined the groundswell of immigrants and workers demanding for Obama to deliver on his promise of immigration reform in nationally-coordinated marches. The Alliance Philippines called for full legalization, amnesty, a stop to racist enforcement measures like deportations, detentions and border militarization, full protections for all workers, and an end to US imperialism, the root cause of the Filipino people’s forced migration. “We are here to echo the voices of the 14 million undocumented who are struggling and working hard despite the economic crisis,” said Mona Lunot, nanny, housekeeper and Chairperson of DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, in her speech at the concluding rally in New York City. DAMAYAN is a member organization of Alliance Philippines. “Undocumented workers are called ‘aliens.’ But we are the workers who take care of Americans’ homes and children, cook their food, build their houses, and plant the food they eat.” In the Los Angeles, the epicenter of the immigrant rights movement, in the biggest rally more than 30,000 marchers led by the Full Rights For immigrant coalition turned out and marched from Broadway and Olympic intersection around 1;00 PM. Composed mostly of Latino workers and advocates who filled the streets, the militant march overflowed the main streets of LA.
Unity in diversity. Five major coalitions for immigrant rights marched in different parts of the city of Los Angeles, mirrored the differences that united them in 2006. In almost every major city of the United States, workers and immigrants took to the streets to demand legalization and immigration reform. Hundreds of thousands marched and rallied US-wide for May 1 in a militant and defiant show of unity for a call for immigration reforms to the Obama administration. The Labor Front in Turmoil This year, several labor federations banded together to form a single unified union of all unions. Like the old AFL-CIO they want to strengthen the labor front that has been greatly weakened by the division between the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Coalition.
Venezuela: El Libertario warns of possible sentence to the 14 SIDOR workers (tags)
* After taking part in a demonstration for lack of job security in 2006, 14 workers of contractor “Transportes Camila de SIDOR” could be sentenced to 5 to 10 years in jail.
Queer Democrats Hear from Labor on Employee Free Choice Act (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club heard from Carlos Marquez, chair of the local chapter of Pride @ Work, at its regular meeting April 23. He presented a campaign called http://www.SharedAgenda.org, aimed at building grassroots support for two proposed pieces of federal legislation: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which will make it easier for workers to form unions; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which will ban discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
"Low-Wage Capitalism" Author Speaks in San Diego (tags)
Fred Goldstein, contributing editor of the Workers' World newspaper and author of the new book "Low-Wage Capitalism," spoke at the Malcolm X Library April 18 and described the current economic collapse as a classic "crisis of overproduction" in the Marxist sense. Though Wall Street greed and the bursting of the housing bubble played a part, he said, the real cause was the capitalist class's success in driving working people's wages down, not only in the U.S. but worldwide, to the point where workers can no longer afford to consume the products they produce. He called for a mass progressive movement to make explicit economic demands, especially jobs.
A Union for the Jobless (tags)
With unemployment in LA over 10%, and probably closer to 20% in our working class communities, the time has come for an organization for the unemployed. Harry Kelber is a writer whose been in the labor movement since the 1930s, a real veteran.
The Secret, Ignored Value of Labor (tags)
For centuries the means of production have been owned by only a few individuals. This has led to spectacular robberies like those apparent at the present time to a quiet, ignored theft of the true value of labor by the capitalists.
Adam Turl reports on the bosses' backlash against the Employee Free Choice Act--and analyzes the shortcomings of organized labor's strategy.
Unraveling The Card Check Debate (tags)
Sometimes in politics a particular issue strikes at the core of deeper social-economic forces. Card Check - properly named The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)- is such an issue. EFCA, if implemented as proposed, would allow workers at any work place to join a union simply by having the majority of employees sign union authorization cards. The current law mandates that there be a secret ballot election one month after the requisite number of signed cards are submitted. This one-month period allows employers to mount campaigns to discourage employees from voting for a union, often using conscious distortions and intimidation as tactics. EFCA would prohibit newly unionized workers from striking for two years to gain a first contract. Moreover, if a first contract has not been negotiated within the first three months, a Federal Mediator can step in and impose a contract. Currently, employers who are compelled to recognize a union do not have to concede to a negotiated contract at all; and if, after one year a contract has not been negotiated, the union can be subjected to a vote of decertification, which is often the case.
US OUT OF IRAQ, THE PHILIPPINES AND EVERYWHERE! (tags)
As the invasion of Iraq enters its seventh year, the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) continues to express militant greetings and solidarity to the people of Iraq, Philippines and everywhere who are fighting US imperialism and its forces of occupation. We stand with the people marching in the streets of Washington, DC today in the united cry “From Iraq to Afghanistan to Philippines and Palestine, OCCUPATION IS A CRIME!” The US thirst for war must end. The current administration is not ending the US wars of aggression, but is transferring the war to other countries like Afghanistan. We are reminded how Nixon said he wanted to end the unpopular war in Vietnam but escalated the war in Cambodia and Laos. By redeploying 30,000 or more troops to Afghanistan, threatening Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation, Obama is not proving to be much different from his predecessors
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/what_is_marxism.html
Rejected proposal to create more jobs (tags)
Against PCA of Employment voted members Ademar Traiano (PSDB), Douglas Fabrício (PPS), Durval Amaral (DEM), Antonio Scanavacca (PDT), Luiz Carlos Martins (PDT), Marcelo Rangel (PPS), Plautus Miro (DEM) , Reni Pereira (PSB) and Valdir Rossoni (PSDB). These Members will be responsible for the layoffs of workers from now on, is the conclusion we have by now.
The Big Lie of Recession Politics: 'Shared Sacrifice' (tags)
It’s everywhere you look and in every speech you listen to. Every time a politician or businessmen talks about the recession, an almost in-synch, repetitive mantra can be heard: “Shared sacrifice, equality of sacrifice, hard choices.” Oh my. There must be something to it, since EVERYBODY seems to be regurgitating the phrase in harmony.
Why do These Senators DeMint-Enzi and Bob Corker Continue to Spread Lies about The EFCA? (tags)
What is the Strategy being used by Senators DeMint-Enzi and Bob Corker from Tennessee, in their attempt to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act? Keep Spreading LIES about the Employee Free Choice Act and Supporting The Secret Ballot Protection Act ( Better Known as The Employer FEAR and Intimidation Act )
VIDEO Israelis open fire at international activists & palestinian farmers (tags)
24th February 2009 Khoza'a, Khan Younis , Gaza Strip: Palestinian farmers, accompanied by international human rights workers, were fired upon by Israeli forces in the village of Khozaa, near Khan Younis, this morning. The farmers and human rights workers were attempting to work on land around 300m from the Green Line.
Employee Free Choice Act: The Enemies of Unions and The Lies They Tell (tags)
Corporate leaders see the proposed Employee Free Choice Act as a grave threat--and they'll say and do just about anything to prevent its passage.
Burger King Now Joins the Employee Free Choice Act Union Busting Club as SEIU Protests (tags)
SEIU Protests Downtown Burger Kings, Demands Chain Stop Lobbying Against Employee Free Choice Act by Jason Pramas (Staff), Feb-20-09 Downtown Crossing Labor
he revolution delayed: 10 years of Hugo Chávez’s rule (tags)
* A translation of a March 2008 interview conducted by the French anarchist Charles Reeve with two members of the El Libertario group www.nodo50.org/ellibertario in Caracas, the nation’s capital, which offers some stark insights into the reality of the situation.
Corporate Front Group gives “Defense of the American Worker” awards to Anti-Worker - Legis (tags)
EXPOSED: Senator Richard Burr and U.S. Representative Howard Coble below have among the worst records in Congress on workers’ rights. How Dare they accept an award t on “Defense of the American Worker”.
Endorse: U.S. Trade Unionists Support S. African and Australian Dockers' Boycott of Israel (tags)
Join us in publicizing the example of South African and Australian dock workers, and working toward the same kind of labor solidarity here at home.
LETTER OF SOLIDARITY TO HANJIN WORKERS IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
We, the Filipino American community in the United States and their allies express our militant solidarity with Hanjin Shipyard workers in their struggle to unionize and thus end their deplorable working conditions which has led to at least 24 deaths. In January of this year, two more were killed while just as February began, 24 were hurt when a bus carrying workers to the shipyard overturned. We are appalled at the slow response of the Philippine Senate and the Executive branch and their failure to act on the continuing fatal accidents and deaths of workers at Hanjin Shipbuilding. While we hold Hanjin, a South Korean transnational corporation employing 15,000 workers in the Philippines, directly accountable for the extremely unacceptable living and working conditions of Filipino workers, we equally hold the Philippine government complicit for acting against the country's national interests and against Filipino workers interests. We demand that the Philippine Government compel the Hanjin Shipyard company to clean up the docks and work areas, ensure worker safety, enforce environmental laws and provide just wages and benefits to Filipino workers.
Can we rebuild the labor movement with the Employee Free Choice Act? (tags)
Much has been said in the United States labor movement around the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill many mainstream leaders tout as the solution to the decline of unions. With the recent election of Barrack Obama and the Democratic Party holding the majority of seats in both houses of the US Congress, these same leaders have their hearts set that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions will pay off with the passage of the bill.
THE FILIPINO SPIRIT IN THE REMAKING OF AMERICA (tags)
Today, we celebrate our misa ng bayan with great hopes for brighter days of economic and moral recovery and renewal under our new President Barack Obama. It is certainly heartening and uplifting to know that we have a lot to hope and be thankful for after this nation demonstrated great courage by electing the first black, indeed, the first colored man in history, to the presidency. It brings much satisfaction after periods of intense crises and conflicts under the Bush administration, remembering 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic meltdown that continues to wreck havoc on us andespecially the common workers not only in the United States but all over the globe. After passing through the bleakest of days we earnestly hope to see light.
Crooked Stern Appointed Union Operative Fired By L.A. County for failing to return to work (tags)
SEIU gangster Andy Stern appointed an operative who was in a "No-show,no work" job at Sacramento county. The Stern gang are now spending millions of dollars with their hacks Regan and Medina implementing a wrecking operation on SEIU UHW.
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Continues to Spread More Lies about the EFCA (tags)
The 500-member Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) today released a letter it delivered to every member of the 111th Congress.
Republican Senators Say They Will Hold Up Solis Nomination. (tags)
We say Solis For Labor Secretary Now!
Bailout Beggars Funding Anti-Worker Scum (tags)
Huffpo scooped this one. Bailout recipients were organizing to attack the Employee Free Choice Act.
Beware of opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act Union Busting Tactics and Lies (tags)
In recent weeks, you may have seen ads on TV or news releases or letters to the editor in your local newspaper bashing “big labor” and the Employee Free Choice Act.
Maoist Leadership in Nepal Bans Strikes (tags)
As a strike wave sweeps the country, the Maoist leadership agrees to banning strikes.
Obama & Olmert Shake Hands; Zionism Divides Arab & Jewish Workingclass (tags)
Two warmongers shook hands recently, Ehud Olmert and Barack Obama. Obama has always voted to give $6 billion a year to Israel, as do all Democrats and Republicans. The founding of the State of Israel was a deliberate effort to divide the Arab and Jewish workingclass with this war machine to maximize the profits of the capitalist class.
Myth vs. Reality: The REALITY is the Employee Free Choice Act Helps American Workers (tags)
As more and more working Americans struggle to make ends meet, the ability to form a union is key to the economic stability, health, and well-being of American families. Union workers’ median weekly earnings are 30 percent higher than those of non-union workers, union workers are 63 percent more likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance, and union workers are 77 percent more likely to have short-term disability benefits. According to a recent poll, nearly 60 percent of Americans would join a union if they could. (AFL-CIO, “The Union Difference: Union Advantage by the Numbers.”)
EPCC/CFAOC SUPPORTS UHW-WEST DEMANDS (tags)
The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) and the Coalition of Filipino American organizations of California (CFAOC) wholeheartedly support the united voice of the rank and file workers of the United Health Care Workers -West-UHW who called for a ote for disaffiliation from SEIU International.
Filipino hotel workers, among Long Beach’s poorest (tags)
Filipino couple Rogelio and Wilhemina de Vera, both 72 years old, who live in the “Cambodian projects” on Cherry Street, belong to the approximately 90,000 or almost 20 percent, of Long Beach residents who live under the federal poverty line. Half a million Filipinos make Long Beach or LA County—which ranks sixth in the nation for concentration of poverty—their home. “I am living paycheck to paycheck which is very hard because I still support some of my relatives back home,” Rogelio, a service van driver at a five-star Long Beach hotel, told Philippine News. “So I really appreciate that some organizations are helping me and my family
Zionist Mass Murder: Break the Siege, Defend Gaza! (tags)
At midday on December 27, Israeli warplanes launched a massive bomb attack on the densely populated Gaza Strip. More than 270 Palestinians were killed as wave after wave of U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters dropped more than 100 bombs. The Israeli military said they were targeting Hamas installations, but numerous civilians were killed, including a number of children, as schools had just let out for lunch. The Zionists' attack on downtown areas was deliberate mass murder. The Israeli slaughter was carried out with the full knowledge and a green light from its imperialist patrons in Washington, as well as U.S. client regimes such as Egypt. The Internationalist Group and League for the Fourth International condemn the Israeli mass murder in Gaza and call for action by the international working class in defense of Gaza and the Palestinian people, including efforts to break the siege.
Venezuela: Trade unionism between the servile bureaucracy and the hired killers (tags)
* In the difficult times being experienced by the Venezuelan labour movement, perhaps the most dramatic issue have been the criminal acts that kills tens of trade unionists to the passivity of the pseudo-revolutionary government and the silence of his admirers from outside the country. It speaks about it this text of El Libertario # 55, January-February 2009.
Venezuela: Trade unionism between the servile bureaucracy and the hired killers (tags)
* In the difficult times being experienced by the Venezuelan labour movement, perhaps the most dramatic issue have been the criminal acts that kills tens of trade unionists to the passivity of the pseudo-revolutionary government and the silence of his admirers from outside the country. It speaks about it this text of El Libertario # 55, January-February 2009.
Occupied building of GSEE (in Greece) (tags)
Since 8 o'clock in the morning the building of GSEE (Patision and Alexandras) is occupied. We declare the building a Liberated Workers' Zone. Open Workers' Assembly at 18.00 The Building is open to all workers all day long.
Unless things change fast, human history will show that the phenomenon of “retirement” was limited to one generation. After World War II, when European and Japanese economies stood in tatters, American capitalism could fulfill “the American dream,” since there was little foreign competition to speak of. For the first time ever, workers were promised that — after working thirty or so years — they would be able to securely retire. That was largely the case…for one generation.
Making Profits and Not Dismissing Workers (tags)
Having money is not reprehensible. But thinking I am an achiever and make my life myself is incompatible with the Christian faith. Productivity is a grace or gift. The pressure to perform is brutal. Many are in such a hamster wheel they no longer reflect about the meaning of the whole and the shortness of their life.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) NOW (tags)
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is legislation in the United States which aims to "amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
The Global Economic Crisis - Bad and Worsening (tags)
the crisis is deepening
533 JOBS LOST IN NOVEMBER, the MOST IN 30 YEARS (tags)
Labor Department statistics show that U.S. employers have cut 1.2 million jobs in the last three months. 'This was much worse than was expected,' one analyst says.
Good Paragaph from Socialists re Auto Crisis (tags)
The socialists had one of the most incisive single paragraphs I have read about the auto crisis.
GM, The NY Times, & Marxism 101 (tags)
As Socialists, we are consistently asked to present our ideas in a clearer, easier to understand manner. To achieve this goal, I’ll enlist the help of former Governor of Massachusetts and candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, who appeared in the New York Times Op-Ed section on Nov. 19th. Romney’s piece, entitled “Let Detroit Go Broke,” laid bare the intent behind the angry rhetoric used by politicians against the proposed bailout for the “Big Three” automakers. Whereas the giant Wall Street banks received over 1 trillion dollars — so far— without barely having to ask, an industry that actually produces something has to beg for a handout. Why the difference?
A Critique of the Fourth International (tags)
Correcting our political perspective
Sharp drop in migrants’ money transfers from US (tags)
Mexico depends on migrants' remittances for eight percent of its Gross Domestic Product compared to 12 percent in Guatemala and no less than 18 percent of El Salvador's GDP. And these are the official statistics, which do not include US dollars passing the US border under car mats.
This profit motive system based on material wealth has degraded us to selfish, greedy rulers of a global economy that we helped to create and have now plunged it into the unavoidable world depression of the 21st century. The scenario of the boom bust capitalist system is antiquated and needs to be replaced.
GOVERNOR PROPOSES RECKLESS CUTS TO PROGRAMS THAT DELIVER PROVEN RESULTS TO VETERANS (tags)
On Veterans Day, (Tuesday November 11th) disabled veterans and the workers who provide their home care will rally to demand Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers protect efficient programs that provide proven results to taxpayers—like the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.
RIght Wingers Attacking Right to Organize (tags)
Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake writes that the right wing echo chamber is working hard to derail the Employee Free Choice Act, that will help workers join unions easier, and cheaper, than ever before.
What the Economic Crisis Means for Us and How to Defend Ourselves (tags)
Gloom and Doom-----The pillars of the U.S. capitalist economy are crumbling and falling all around us while the federal government frantically races from one crisis to another, throwing money at them as if throwing water on a fire. It could well turn out that the money represents only a few drops of water thrown on threatening flames that will soon billow into an out-of-control wildfire so that nothing President-elect Barak Obama has proposed will succeed in averting the disaster.
PSL on the ballot in Iowa, Utah, and New Jersey (tags)
The La Riva/Puryear PSL Presidential Campaign is proud to announce that we have achieved ballot status in New Jersey, Iowa and Utah! We are already on the ballot in five other states: Arkansas, Vermont, Colorado, Florida and Washington. Over the next five weeks, we will be working to gain ballot access in many additional states, including New York, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Rhode Island.
What Will It Take to Defeat the War? (tags)
On June 28-29, an “Open National Antiwar Conference” was held in Cleveland, called by a newly minted National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation. Over objections from the conference organizers, centrally Socialist Action, the assembly voted to change the name to include reference to the war on Afghanistan, and to emphasize the connection with U.S. backing for the Zionist occupation of Palestine. (The sponsors of the confab were so right-wing that they feared losing “unity” with Democratic Party supporters of Israel and the Afghanistan war!) What did not change at all was the popular-front character of the new outfit, tying it to the bourgeois parties despite the fig leaf of electoral “independence.” Making this utterly clear, it was decided not to call a national antiwar mobilization prior to the November elections explicitly in order to court those forces who wish to aid the Democrats (and therefore want to avoid making problems for the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama). Here is the leaflet issued by the Internationalist Group at the conference.
A Tribute to Ka Bel- Crispin Beltran (tags)
On behalf of the SEIU United Health Workers-West (UHW West), the largest workers union in the West Coast of the United States representing 150,000 health care workers in California, and the Circulo Panpangueno of Southern California Inc., an umbrella organization of 22 towns in Pampanga. Philippines extend our heart-felt condolences to the bereaved family, friends and comrades of the working class hero- Ka Crispin “ Ka Bel” Beltran. Ka Bel and the UHW shared one thing in com
Message of Solidarity from the UHW-West (tags)
On behalf of the SEIU United Health Workers-West (UHW West), the largest workers union in the West Coast of the United States representing 150,000 health care workers in California, and the Circulo Panpangueno of Southern California Inc., an umbrella organization of 22 towns in Pampanga. Philippines extend our heart-felt condolences to the bereaved family, friends and comrades of the working class hero- Ka Crispin “ Ka Bel” Beltran.
UFW Tells EPA to Stop Use of Deadly Organophosphate Pesticides! (tags)
Help support the UFW campaign to tell the EPA to stop allowing use of organophosphate pesticides that cause neurological damage in farm worker children and nearby rural residents.
“¡Aguirre Si, Labor No!” (tags)
Zenger's Newsmagazine announces its endorsement of progressive Democrat Mike Aguirre for re-election as San Diego city attorney, despite the opposition of reactionary city employee unions more concerned with preserving the pensions of current city workers than protecting the salaries and benefits of future ones.
Video: Venezuela- Sanitarios Maracay under workers control (tags)
Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution
Migrant Workers, WW2 Vets, Inter-faith Demand Release of Philippine Labor Leader (tags)
AJLPP to Mark International Human Rights Week; Migrant Workers, Pro-Filipino WW2 Vets and Inter-faith groups in NY, SF, LA and Seattle to Raise Political and Financial Support for Detained Philippine Labor Leader
Building Bridges Radio::NYC Taxi Workers Advance and Westchester Day Labor Win (tags)
WBAI's Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report presents this 29 minute radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB LINK BELOW
Gov't workers got fake degrees (tags)
SPOKANE, Wash. - At least 135 federal employees, including a White House staff member and National Security Agency employees, bought bogus online college degrees from a diploma mill, a lawyer in the case against the mill operators said.
Building Bridges Radio: Protesting The Killing Floor At Smithfield Hams (tags)
WBAI's Building Bridges; Your Community and Labor Reports brings you this 28 minute radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB LINK BELOW
LABOR DAY SCORECARD-2006 (tags)
TOUGH TIMES FOR THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT -AND THAT AINT NO LIE
A MODEST PROPOSAL-RECRUIT, RUN INDEPENDENT LABOR MILITANT CANDIDATES FOR THE 2006 ELECTION (tags)
IN THE TIME OF THE GREAT FEAR WE NEED OUR OWN CANDIDATES.
Vista City Council Votes to Regulate Day laborers (tags)
Vista votes to regulate day labor employers
twoof
senator kerry finally gets it- a little (tags)
cut and run- you bet
On Killings and Church Persecution (tags)
Pesante published a press statement of PCPR to inform the public in the US on the killings and persuction of the US-Arroyo regime of church people. To date there are about 15 churchpeople who have been killed under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime. All of them, members of the clergy, church workers and lay leaders, were active social justice advocates.We pay the highest respect unto the martyrs of the church and the people. As the good book stated, “God’s faithful people are dragged off and killed and no one even cares. Evil sweeps them away, but in death they find peace for obeying God.” (Isaiah 57:1-2) Lastly, we also call on the churchpeople to be steadfast in their commitment for the cause of truth, justice, peace and genuine democracy.
For united labor defense of the Chevy's Fresh-Mex workers! (tags)
Solidarity action is urgently needed for the workers at the Tracy, California "Chevy's Fresh Mex" restaurant, who were illegaly fired on May 2 in retaliation for their participation in the May 1 strike and demonstration in Stockton, CA.
Post-March "Backlash" : Is It Real or is It Memorex (tags)
Geoffery debunks reactionary mythos that the march caused a backlash - that we should worry about.
¡Somos Milliones! We are millions! (tags)
The May Day outpouring, which was called the “Gran Paro Americano / Great American Strike” or “Un Día Sin Inmigrantes / A Day Without Immigrants” was, though in a partial form due to the minimal organized participation of most trade unions, a general strike: by all measures a momentous political advance for the working class.
"AQUI ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS!": THE STRUGGLE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (tags)
By William I. Robinson
France: As millions protest government attacks, unions signal retreat on “First Job Contra (tags)
An estimated 2 to 3 million striking workers and students demonstrated throughout France yesterday against the Gaullist government’s “First Job Contract” (CPE) legislation, matching the turnout at a similar day of action on March 28. Tuesday’s strikes and protests followed President Jacques Chirac’s announcement last Friday that he had officially ratified the CPE, which permits employers to dismiss young workers without cause during their first two years of employment.
Are All Unemployed Persons Idlers? (tags)
According to the neoliberal myth, higher profits lead to increased investments and more jobs. In reality corporations repress the worsening domestic economy through take-overs. Are the unemployed, seniors, students and the disabld made invisible?
Protest message to White House: More jobs, less bull (tags)
CHICAGO – As George W. Bush settles into his Crawford ranch for his carefree, month-long vacation, working families are saddled with worries about jobs, health care and the state of the economy.
Wal-Mart – the nation’s worst workplace bully (tags)
With $7 billion in profits squeezed from the labor of one million workers at 3,250 stores across the country last year, Wal-Mart deserves its reputation as the nation’s worst “workplace bully.”
State Worker Solidarity (tags)
SUPPORT California State Workers In Their Struggle For A Contract