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Un/Employment

  • A New Labor Federation Claims Its Space
    13 October 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    If Enthusiasm on Display Were Substance, CtW Could Claim a Good Start
    by Jerry Tucker
    The founding convention of the Change-to-Win labor federation held in St. Louis on September 27, 2005 was, if nothing else, filled with enthusiasm and efficiently managed. The founding unions’ top leaders put forward a lean and specifically organizing-focused agenda, and it was adopted without even a hint of dissent. The longer-term question is whether this self-described new direction in unionism will (…)

  • Immokalee Workers Take Down Taco Bell
    13 October 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Elly Leary
    On March 8, 2005, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in Immokalee, Florida won a significant victory. In a precedent-setting move, fast-food giant Yum! Brands Inc., the world’s largest restaurant corporation, agreed to all the farm workers’ demands (and more!) if the CIW would end the four-year-old boycott of its subsidiary Taco Bell. (Yum!, a spin off from Pepsi, includes Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, A&W, Long John Silver’s, and Pizza Hut franchises.) As (…)

  • Abuse, Forced Labor Rampant in New Orleans Justice System
    13 October 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    7 comments

    When Robert Davis emerged from the temporary detention center in New Orleans, his eye was swollen nearly shut, his face was bruised, and he had a couple of stitches under his left eye. He told The NewStandard that police had beaten him and then charged him with public intoxication and battery, even though he had not had a drink in 25 years and had merely asked a police officer to leave him alone.
    The 64-year-old retired elementary school teacher sat sadly in a chair Sunday morning outside (…)

  • Employers Will Be FORCED To Provide Immigrant Health Insurance?
    28 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    Republicans Require Health Insurance for Immigrants Only
    September 28, 2005 By Gene C. Gerard
    Next month, Congress will consider an immigration reform bill introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). A component of the bill would require employers to provide health insurance to all workers who are registered immigrants. To be sure, immigrants who lawfully enter the country to work, and who pay taxes, should have access to health insurance. But this bill is poorly (…)

  • Bush Clears Way For More Buggering By Saudis
    25 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    18 comments

    Waives trafficking sanctions
    by Brian Richards
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — (OfficialWire) — 09/25/05 — George W. Bush and his religious Right administration decided Wednesday to waive all financial sanctions against Saudi Arabia-Washington’s closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism and a major owner of the United States-for failing to do enough to stop the slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers. Go figure.
    Last June, U.S. State Department officials singled out 14 (…)

  • Union women unite in Detroit
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    The 600 union members gathered Friday for a national convention in downtown Detroit were buzzing about the nomination of John Roberts to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court - because of his positions on issues such as reproductive rights and pay equity for women.
    At the plenary session at the Marriott Renaissance Center, speakers talked about cervical cancer and contraceptive equity. And among the topics for that afternoon’s workshops : A Man is not a Financial Plan, Personal Safety (…)

  • Northwest and Delta executives to make millions from bankruptcies
    20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By Jerry Isaacs
    Over the last several years the top corporate executives at Northwest and Delta airlines negotiated retirement packages guaranteeing them millions in the event the companies declared bankruptcy and defaulted on their pension payments to employees. Both companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Wednesday, in large measure to escape their pension obligations and seek the bankruptcy court’s backing for sweeping cuts in airline workers’ jobs, wages and benefits. (…)

  • USA: LABOR DAY IN THE SHADOW OF KATRINA
    3 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    Trade unionists in the United States are this weekend celebrating Labor Day in the wake of the greatest natural disaster ever to befall the country. According to reports in the mass media, thousands of lives have been lost in New Orleans and other areas.
    Unions have already begun to do their bit — see for example this page on the website of the AFL-CIO, advising trade union members on how to help:
    http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns08312005.cfm
    As the people of the areas affected by (…)

  • Sweatshop on wheels. Health risks and low wages push bike couriers to join nation-wide union drive
    3 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By JOE HENDRY
    For bike couriers, navigating the smog-filled concrete corridors of downtown T.O. is no easy ride. The hours are long, the pay is low, and the sweaty working conditions can literally be hazardous to your health.
    Tired of riding on the beaten path and after what they describe as years of government neglect of their health and safety concerns, smog chief among them, Toronto’s 500-plus bike messengers are talking about joining thousands of others across the country in a (…)

  • Breakaway Union Leaders Outline Strategy
    29 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO hope to rebuild the tattered labor movement by targeting workers in growing industries such as health care, waste management and security.
    ’’We want to identify jobs that can’t be shipped overseas,’’ Teamsters President James Hoffa said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.
    The targeted industries, which also include food service and businesses that cater to retirees, account for 30 million (…)