Seachange Bulletin #134July 27, 2004Seachange Bulletin ArchivesEmail the editorSeachange Bulletin #134: Labor Action & Debate II 3 PM: Rally, community fair, speakers, music, face painting for the kids, all kinds of fun Speakers include local residents, incredible local organizers, City Counselors Chuck Turner & Felix Arroyo, Dennis Kucinich & Barbara Lee! Let's call for money for public health, not biowarfare research! No more imposing unwanted facilities on lower income communities and communities of color! 6 PM: March to the proposed site of the Bioterror lab Issues & Developments: GM’s Crash Editorial, Multinational Monitor, March 1992 <http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1992/03/mm0392_03.html> On February 24, 1992, General Motors announced plans to close 11 manufacturing and assembly plants, throwing more than 16,000 people out of work. GM has now announced plans to close two-thirds of the 21 plants it says it will shut down in the next few years. GM is shameless. By announcing in December that it was going to close plants without specifying which ones, the company encouraged workers and communities to compete against each other in an effort to offer the company the lowest wages, the most flexible work rules and the lowest tax rates. All this, in a sense, is to be expected. GM has long shown callous disregard for the effect of its decisions on the communities where it does business. More disappointing, but perhaps no more surprising, is the failure of the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents the workers who will be laid off, to take any meaningful steps to counteract GM’s actions. ... Shorter Work-Time News Issue #10 - November 15, 1996 <http://www.swt.org/news-10.htm> The Shorter Work-Time Group (SWTGp) believes that overwork is a broad social problem in the US today which affects both women and men, of all races, backgrounds, and income levels. Overwork harms our personal, family and community lives and the workplace. It leads to too much work for some, underemployment or unemployment for others. We believe that both women and men will benefit from working less and having more control over their time, if such policies also provide decent wages and benefits. ... Endorsing the Lean Machine Jane Slaughter, New Politics, Winter 2000 <http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue28/slaugh28.htm> Paul Buhle's aptly named Taking Care of Business approaches the question of American business unionism from two angles: the AFL-CIO's relationship to race and to empire. He achieves this with a wealth of detail and clear politics, which I presume other contributors to this symposium will debate. I'll spend my time, instead, on two important facets of the union bureaucracy's politics that Buhle leaves to one side. Monthly Review Press's jacket calls Taking Care of Business "the first comprehensive history of American labor leadership"; to fulfill that claim, Buhle's focus would have to be broader. Most of his discussion deals with the top leaders of the AFL or the AFL-CIO, but union members experience the phenomenon of bureaucratic and business unionism much more through their own unions than through the Federation. ... History of Labour Day Queensland Council of Unions, May 22, 2002 <http://www.qcu.asn.au/0.html> The name Labour Day is the successor name to the 'eight hour day' and 'May day'. The first 'eight hour day' in Queensland was held on 1 March 1865. The first day of March was chosen to commemorate 1 March 1858 when stonemasons working for John Petrie had won an eight hour working day. The eight hour day march was held intermittently on 1 March until 1891. Originally the march was constrained to only those workers who had achieved the eight-hour principle. By 1888 11 unions had secured significant gains for 'fairer' hours and conditions of employment. This strengthening of union solidarity resulted in the march being opened to all workers in 1890. The linking of Labour Day to May day occurred in Barcaldine, when on 1 May 1891 the first 'May Day' procession in Queensland was held at the height of the pastoral strike. Brisbane held its first May Day march on 1 May 1893. ... Speech at Labor Notes Conference Bill Fletcher, Jr., Portside, October 21, 2003 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/2003-October/004842.html> Good evening. Let me begin by thanking Labor Notes, and Jane Slaughter in particular, for extending an invitation to me to speak with you. I would also like to thank Peter Rachleff from Macalaster College and Jim Green from UMASS-Boston for the extensive assistance that they offered me in thinking through the issues I wish to address tonight. My hope is to present some lessons from an earlier period in US history, the 1920s and early 1930s in particular, when the working class was facing most difficult challenges. These are questions many of us have been grappling with for years. ... The implicit question in looking at the period of the 1920s and early 1930s is this: how was trade union organization able to survive? How was it that in the 1920s the death of organized labor was regularly predicted, but several years later there was nothing short of a labor renaissance with the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the organizing of millions of workers? ... The Budget Politics of Being Poor The New York Times Editorial, December 31, 2003 <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/opinion/31WED4.html?th> Quietly and painfully, most states are choosing to crimp the health-care safety net for their poorest and most politically defenseless residents. An ominous new study shows that up to 1.6 million impoverished and working-poor Americans - at least a third of them children - have been deliberately knocked from publicly financed health care programs in the last two years. Officials in 34 states are opting to slash Medicaid and poor children's health insurance coverage as a path of least resistance to the balanced budgets mandated by law. States have raised poverty standards beyond federal requirements, increased bureaucratic delays and even shut down children's health programs entirely to keep entitled poor people off the rolls. For each dollar thereby saved in the state budget, statehouses are losing $4 to $7 in federal aid. Yet more such counterproductive "economizing" can be expected next year, according to the study, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a government watchdog group. ... An Organized Labor Left? Andy Pollack, January 10, 2004 Many of you heard or read Bill Fletcher's comments to the last Labor Notes conference calling for a more organized left within the labor movement, with explicit mention of efforts made in a similar period in the past by the Trade Union Educational League - and also explicitly noting the crucial role of left parties and of radical formations like the African Blood Brotherhood in that period. More recently a "Proposal for a 21st Century Trade Union Education League" by two UE officers was posted on the portside list (and is to be published in WorkingUSA). While the latter proposal focuses primarily on what a TUEL formation would do around new organizing, it also addresses the broader issues discussed by Fletcher. Others have begun responding to these proposals. Charles Walker, for instance, who's been arguing for some time for similar ideas at his Labor Tuesday site and elsewhere, has recently used the example of the ongoing southern California grocery strike to show why such an organized labor left is needed. All of this comes when it's been clear for quite some time that the momentum of the first years of the Sweeney team is spent, and the high hopes of many activists, either for that team itself or for the opportunity to take advantage of openings it might create, have largely dissipated. And one product of this lack of momentum is the arrival of a more dangerous proposal by Stephen Lerner for a bureaucratic reorganization of the AFL-CIO, a proposal which is part of an effort by five union heads in the "New Unity Partnership" to challenge Sweeney for leadership. ... Killing the Messenger AFL-CIO's Attack on Harry Kelber, the 90-Year-Old Editor of The Labor Educator Mike Griffin, CounterPunch, February 18, 2004 <http://www.counterpunch.org/griffin02182004.html> As a rank and file trade unionist for more than 37 years, I have born witness to events perpetrated by our so-called leaders that range from amazingly corrupt to outlandishly stupid; but the attack on a ninety year old elder statesman is proof that no matter how low you can believe they will stoop, we continue to underestimate their resolve to find the ultimate depth. If the realm somewhere between slug slime and pond scum comes to mind, we are on a parallel thought path. The removal of Dr. Harry Kelber from membership in Typographical Union Local 6, upheld by Communications Workers Of America [CWA] International Union President, Morton Bahr, is but another example of how desperate top labor leaders are to crush dissent and silence criticism, no matter how well deserved. ... Statement on Massachusetts Supreme Court Decision on Same-Sex Marriage and Attempts to Change State and Federal Constitutions United Electrical Workers (UE), District Council 2, February 20, 2004 <http://home.mindspring.com/~uedistrict2/doc_samesex.html> After the debate over and passage of Vermont's civil union law, the 2000 UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) National Convention, the highest decision-making body of our union, adopted a resolution on discrimination based on sexual orientation which began: Throughout history, the most powerful weapon in the bosses' arsenal has been division. When we are united, working people win great victories against the most powerful corporations and governments in the world. When divided, whether by craft, sex, race, sexual orientation or in any other way, we endure great defeats and our living standards suffer. Our movement has always been strongest when we have been most inclusive, when we have taken to heart the slogan "an injury to one is an injury to all." The UE was founded on this principle. As it states in our Constitution's preamble, "we form an organization to unite all workers." This policy has been upheld by every UE convention since. ... Record number of long-term jobless losing aid US tally may exceed 1 million by midyear Diane E. Lewis, Boston Globe, February 26, 2004 The number of unemployed workers in the United States who have exhausted regular jobless benefits without qualifying for more will reach a record 760,000 by the end of the month, and that number could swell to more than 1 million by midyear, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said yesterday. The research group's findings are based on US Labor Department data, and suggest that the job market remains weak despite some signs of economic recovery, said Isaac Shapiro, a senior fellow at the Washington think tank. ... 2 Key Unions Vote to Accept Plan to Merge Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, February 26, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/business/26unions.html?th> The nation's leading apparel workers' union and the leading union for hotel and restaurant workers have voted to merge, union officials said yesterday. The merger will bring together two unions that are among the most aggressive in organizing nonunion workers, especially immigrants. Unite, formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, has 180,000 members, while the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, or HERE, has 250,000 members. By voting to approve the merger yesterday at a meeting in Los Angeles, the board of the hotel employees' union moved to create a larger organization whose members range from seamstresses in New York's Chinatown to hotel housekeepers in San Francisco. ... Unions Plan to Merge to Counter Corporate Giants Uniting hotel and garment workers would vastly expand their resources, leaders say. A major test could come soon. Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2004 Two of the nation's most aggressive labor unions said Thursday that they planned to combine to better contend with national companies that are growing bigger themselves through mergers. The leaders of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, known as UNITE, and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, or HERE, said it wasn't the California grocery strike and lockout that brought the two together. But they said that long-running dispute underscored why they needed to take a page from corporate giants that have grown more powerful and in some cases more defiant as their industries consolidated. "What the grocery strike speaks to is that you had giant national companies doing battle, the stage was national and global," said UNITE's president, Bruce Raynor. "You need to have strong unions that are capable of fighting ... the coming battles between workers and employers wanting to lower their living standards." ... Union's tactics are a bust Steve Bailey, Boston Globe, February 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/02/27/unions_tactics_are_a_bust> The Service Employees International Union, one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing unions, has become a powerful political force under president Andrew Stern. Like plenty of others, the SEIU picked the wrong horse to back in the race for the Democratic nomination - Howard who? - but you can bet the union will do all it can to get its 1.6 million members to the polls and George W. Bush to his Texas ranch. Democracy is a wonderful thing - just not too much of it too close to home. By now the SEIU's MO is well established all over the country: Find an excuse to take over an SEIU local and force it into trusteeship. Install new leadership from the International, and delay elections until you can delay no longer to ensure your handpicked puppets can run as incumbents. Talk about grass-roots organizing and hope no one notices that everything runs from the top down. If local issues matter, they don't matter nearly as much as Andy Stern's ambitious social agenda. ... Partnership forged in labor's trenches In unions, gay activists find a partner in battle Diane E. Lewis, Boston Globe, February 28, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/02/28/partnership_forged_i n_labors_trenches> The battle over same-sex marriage has spotlighted the strong political ties between gay activists and the Massachusetts labor movement. When local union leaders rallied at the State House this month against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, some political observers were surprised. But labor officials and gay activists say the two groups have found much in common during the past two decades as they worked together at rallies and along picket lines to boost wages and benefits and protect workers' rights. ... Understanding the effects of US neoliberalism Jayati Ghosh, Frontline (India), Volume 21 - Issue 05, February 28 - March 12, 2004 <http://www.flonnet.com/fl2105/stories/20040312006011700.htm> An important new book by the US economist Robert Pollin exposes the elements and effects of neoliberal economic policies in the United States under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and points to viable alternative strategies. For many observers, the US economy retains an aura that has more to it than simply the effects of being the world's only hegemonic power. There is no doubt that the recent past of this economy has been a remarkable one, possibly unprecedented in the history of mature capitalism. The 1990s were characterised by a heady mix of rapid growth, low unemployment, low government deficits and inflation control. The causes for this exceptional combination are still much debated, but by the turn of the decade there was an (inevitable) end to that prolonged boom. This bust brought in its wake some spectacular corporate collapses that exposed the hollowness and accounting chicanery associated with the earlier success. But it also intensified the austerity being imposed on workers, which was already very much part of the earlier phase of economic expansion. The most recent period has brought huge swings in the US government's fiscal stance, as George Bush has sought to revive the economy through massive tax cuts and increases in military spending. ... Lessons from the Picket Line Peter Dreier & Kelly Candaele, AlterNet, March 3, 2004 <http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18029> The 60,000 grocery workers who went on strike almost five months ago have reluctantly ratified a contract that most consider a setback in terms of their wages and benefits. In Los Angeles and around the country, the labor movement and its allies hoped the strike would be settled on the union's terms - without significant givebacks. Instead, employees will now shoulder increased costs for health care benefits and a "two-tier" wage system will bring new hires in at dramatically reduced levels. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) members and others in the labor community are asking themselves whether this result was inevitable - the inexorable logic of economic forces over which neither the grocery chains nor the union had control - or were there strategic missteps that could have been avoided. ... Gap shrinking, but women still working for less Study cites gains; disparity lingers Diane E. Lewis, Boston Globe, March 4, 2004 The pay gap between young men and women is smaller than it's ever been, but women still face an uphill climb in the workplace, according to a new study presented yesterday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In 2002, working women ages 25 to 34 saw their incomes increase to 86 cents of every dollar earned by men, up from 65 cents in 1970. At the same time, women 15- to 24-years-old took home 91 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, the smallest wage gap ever. "Both the overall rise in relative earnings and the rise for this cohort are notable and likely due to many causes," said Joyce P. Jacobsen, Andrews professor of economics at Wesleyan University and author of the study, "Women as Labor Force Participants: Effects of Family and Organizational Structure." Jacobsen, whose study is based on current federal population reports, attributed the rise in women's income to increased education, more work experience, higher earnings for women in such female-dominated professions as nursing and teaching, more women earning graduate or advanced degrees, and, possibly, a reduction in the more blatant forms of gender discrimination and wage bias. Jacobsen also cited an overall decline in earnings for US males, because of layoffs and the economic downturn. ... Capital Gains, Labor Losses Peter Kellman, Maine Sunday Telegram, March 7, 2004 <http://www.pressherald.com/insight/stories/040307laborlosses.shtml> The leadership of organized labor has taken different paths in working to rid the White House of George W. Bush. Last fall, leaders of the unions that make up the AFL-CIO split. Some groups, like the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, two large government and service-sector unions, endorsed Howard Dean as the Democratic nominee to unseat Bush. Many of the industrial unions went with Richard Gephardt, while others like my union, the United Automobile Workers, remained neutral. After Gephardt and Dean threw in the towel, the unions of the AFL-CIO endorsed John Kerry. Assuming Kerry, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, beats Bush, where does that leave organized labor? Worse off than when Clinton left office, and the prospects for growth are dim. ... Labor conflicts point way to health-care reform David Bacon, San Francisco Chronicle, March 9, 2004 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2004/03/09/EDGSN5GNE 31.DTL> The Southern California grocery strikers are true working-class heroes. Seventy thousand held fast to their strike over four and a half months, a remarkable achievement in the "jobless recovery." Many had to find other jobs to make mortgage, rent or car payments, yet 20,000 were still walking picket lines the day the strike ended. What kept them going was not simply courage, although they had their share of that. It was the urgent desire to hold onto health-care benefits, not just for themselves, but for the generation of grocery clerks, baggers and meat cutters to come. It was a heroic defense within a system spiraling out of control - one that, ultimately, they could not win. When the strike started, store workers faced a proposal that would have forced them to pay $95 a week for health insurance after three years. Because three-quarters of the workers are part-timers, and their average weekly pay only $312, health insurance would have been beyond their reach. In the new agreement, the returning strikers will eventually pay some money for insurance, although not the drastic payments the stores originally demanded. But for those hired from now on, health care will be just a dream. Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger will contribute just $1.10 an hour for their health benefits, compared to $3.80 for the existing workforce. ... Exile on Foster St. Steve Bailey, Boston Globe, March 10, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/070/business/Exile_on_Foster_St_+.shtml> Quincy - They are exiles, this little band of nurses stuffed into their makeshift union office on a tiny back street in Quincy Center. These are not the young, bright faces you see on those ads recruiting nurses for Boston's world-class teaching hospitals. No, this bunch has been around the block not once, but twice and more; many of them have spent 20 years or longer working deep in the trenches at Boston Medical Center (Boston City Hospital, before the privatization and merger - SE), not exactly the classiest address in this city of great hospitals. It is not an easy place to work. The pay is good - experienced nurses can make $100,000 a year - but the patients are tough, with not just a single problem, but multiple problems. They are not only nurses but also advocates for the poor and the powerless. What you hear, though, is how much they love the place. "When you leave here every night, you feel like you have done something," says Joanne Vitti, who has spent three decades in nursing. If they love where they work, they do not love the union that purports to represent them. ... New Strategies How the Wagner Act Became a Management Tool David Brody, New Labor Forum, Spring 2004 <http://forbin.qc.edu/newlaborforum/html/13_1article1.html> The National Labor Relations Act, whose stated purpose and original effect was to encourage collective bargaining, has been hijacked by its natural enemies. The law serves today as a bulwark of the "union-free environment" that describes nine-tenths of our private sector economy. My aim is to identify the central process at work in this amazing outcome and, on that basis, suggest a course of action. ... Can’t anyone here solve this mess? The impending battle between (RI Governor) Carcieri and the unions doesn’t get at the real problem - the spiraling cost of health-care. Brian C. Jones, Providence Phoenix, March 27, 2004 <http://www.providencephoenix.com/features/top/multi/documents/03687161.asp> Workers whose companies require them to pay some of their health insurance premiums don’t always lose money in the long run (sic). But union officials say that premium-sharing often makes negotiations more troublesome. "It’s fair to say that all of our locals have battled over health insurance, and they’ve all had to fight to keep either dollars or percentages at a reasonable level," says Rick Brooks, director of United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP), which represents 4000 health-care workers at hospitals and other health providers. UNAP, in fact, owes its existence to premium-sharing. Its local at Rhode Island Hospital was founded after the hospital sharply hiked health care premiums in the ’90s, prompting a successful unionization drive. Since then, Brooks says, it’s been one of the union’s major goals to limit the bite of premium payments. It’s had some success in doing so, he says, although the process has been "contentious." ... Australia: Political uproar over Labor leader’s call for troop withdrawal from Iraq Linda Tenenbaum, World Socialist Web Site, March 29, 2004 <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/lath-m29.shtml> A half-hearted and highly qualified suggestion by Australian opposition leader Mark Latham that the country’s troops might be withdrawn from Iraq by Christmas if Labor wins the next general election has sparked a political uproar. Following hard on the heels of the shock election result in Spain, the response to Latham’s remark indicates escalating fears in both the Bush administration and the Howard government that their "coalition of the willing" is starting to unravel. ... AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Déjà Vu All Over Again Kim Scipes, Labor Notes, April 2004 <http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2004/04/articles/e.html> Massive mobilizations, strikes, street conflict, hysterical mass media, social and economic disruption: Chile in 1972-73, Venezuela in 2002-04. The AFL-CIO is once again on the scene, this time in Venezuela, just as it was in Chile in 1973. Once again, its operations in that country are being funded by the US government. This time, the money is being laundered through the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, hidden from AFL-CIO members and the American public. Once again, it is being used to support the efforts of reactionary labor and business leaders, helping to destabilize a democratically-elected government that has made major efforts to alleviate poverty, carried out significant land reform in both urban and rural areas, and striven to change political institutions that have long worked to marginalize those at the lowest rungs in society. ... King's spirit and the march against poverty Mel King, Boston Globe, April 3, 2004 In more than 25 cities and towns across the state, marchers are currently lifting their voices in compassion and outrage. Their "March to Abolish Poverty" includes cities and towns suffering from the highest childhood-poverty rates. This march started on March 20 on Cape Cod and covered many parts of the state, from New Bedford to North Adams, Springfield to Lowell. Its last day is in Boston tomorrow, the 36th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. A march to abolish poverty is a particularly appropriate way to honor King since, at the time of his death, he was in the planning stages of the Poor People's March to Washington. Although the civil rights movement had made progress, King knew that being able to sit at the lunch counter didn't mean much if you couldn't afford the meal. His message was uncannily relevant to today: "We as a nation," he said, "must undergo a radical revolution of values." To achieve this radical revolution, it's time for Massachusetts to lead again. True to our revolutionary legacy, citizens of our state led the abolitionist movement in the 1800s to end slavery. Now it's time for new abolitionists to end poverty. Today's poverty is blatant. It's the growing numbers of homeless people living and dying in the streets. It's the overwhelmed food pantries and soup kitchens. It's the five families crammed into a three-bedroom apartment. ... "Aufstehen" - "Stand Up" Victor Grossman, Berlin, Portside, April 5, 2004 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/Week-of-Mon-20040405/005724. html> Old Karl Marx would surely have been happy to see them: on the boulevard named in his honor, the Karl Marx Allee in what was once East Berlin, as countless buses were lined up in good, German-orderly rows. Though they were tourist buses of every size, color and advertising slogan, their passengers were not tourists, but union members, about 200,000 of them. They looked happy enough, especially when they climbed out, often after five, six and more hours on the road and pre-dawn departures. But they were angry all the same, angry enough to make the trip and join this giant crowd, which was matched by about 100,000 each in the northwestern city of Cologne and the southwestern city of Stuttgart. The demonstration near Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate was to register their protest. It was an irony that the government they were protesting about was not made up of right-wing parties, but rather a coalition between the Social Democratic Party, for which most of them certainly voted, and the once-leftwing Greens. ... Union Density, Pay Inequality, and Immigrant Worker Organizing Keynote Address to Korean Immigrant Workers Association Dinner Peter Olney, Institute for Labor and Employment, April 16, 2004 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/Week-of-Mon-20040419/005810. html> ... I can't resist telling a fitting story of international solidarity that involves the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Kim Dae Jung, the ex-President of South Korea and 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner. In May of 1981 Kim Dae Jung, then a political dissident, was imprisoned for treason by the military dictatorship of Korea and scheduled for execution. The ILWU let it be known that if Kim was executed that all waterborne traffic between Korea and the West Coast would not be loaded or unloaded. Soon after Kim was sentenced to life, then 20 years, and finally released in 1982 to travel to the United States. Kim Dae Jung never forgot this act of international solidarity and, when he was elected President of South Korea in December of 1997, he invited the President of the ILWU, the west coast dockworkers union, to be an honored guest at his inauguration. ... Commission to Allow Insurance Cuts for Retired Employees Robert Pear, The New York Times, April 23, 2004 Washington - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted Thursday to allow employers to reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they become eligible for Medicare at age 65. The agency approved a final rule saying that such cuts do not violate the civil rights law banning age discrimination. The vote was 3 to 1, with Republicans lining up in favor of the rule and a Democrat opposing it. Employers and some labor unions supported the change, saying it would help preserve coverage for early retirees. But AARP, which represents millions of Americans age 50 and older, strenuously objected. ... How Class Works 2004 An Interview with Michael Zweig Portside, May 24, 2004 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/Week-of-Mon-20040524/005966. html> ... I wrote the book to help bring class more clearly into focus in this country. In 1999, when the writing was almost finished, I went to a conference of the Center for Working Class Studies (CWCS) at Youngstown State University in Ohio to present some of the ideas and information from my book and I met people involved in the emerging field of working class studies. The CWCS organizes conferences every other year in odd-numbered years and they focus on the humanities and issues of representation of class in literature, film, and the culture more broadly. I am an economist and have many colleagues in the social sciences at SUNY Stony Brook who are also interested in class analysis. So I came back from Youngstown eager to pull together a group of people at Stony Brook to build working class studies. ... London's leftist mayor expects a win A quick tongue tempered by practical alliances Sarah Liebowitz, Boston Globe, June 10, 2004 London - During his four years as London's mayor, Ken Livingstone has lived up to his reputation for stirring up controversy. Among his inflammatory remarks have been his attacks on President Bush, whom Livingstone denounced as the ''greatest threat to life on this planet that we've probably ever seen." Beyond such comments, for which Livingstone has been criticized as pandering to Britain's old-guard left, ''Red Ken" has begun to revitalize the city. He has reduced traffic, increased the police force by 5,000, and added more than 1,000 buses to city routes. Livingstone, 58 and a Labor Party member, is favored to win reelection when voters go to the polls today in races that also will decide seats in the European Parliament, local councils, and the London assembly. ... Central America knew Reagan well Dave Evans, Antigua, Guatemala, The Charleston Gazette, June 10, 2004 The passing of former US President Ronald W Reagan made the front pages of all Central American papers. I was quite surprised at the reactions of the Latin American press, and that of the people I spoke with following Saturday’s announcement. Most wrote and spoke of Reagan’s death as nothing of significance. As they see it, the damage has been done. The people of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala share a black history - decades of war, murder and torture. Let us not forget that the death and misery visited on the poor of Central America in the name of anti-communism is part of the Reagan legacy. Most of the superficial American press has been very busy the last 48 hours rewriting history for an even more superficial American populace. While this revisionist history will play well in the mainstream media, those of us who witnessed firsthand the horrible acts that took place here on Mr. Reagan’s watch owe it to those less informed to counter this whitewashing of his presidency. While I take no joy in this old man’s death, I do grieve for the hundreds of thousands of young lives lost as a direct result of his policies in Central America. Editorial Comment: There really is a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama BinLaden, after all: they were both armed and promoted by the Reagan/Bush administration. America's hidden issue of poverty Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, June 16, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/06/16/a mericas_hidden_issue_of_poverty> WBUR, Boston's fine public radio station, has been flogging this promotion: 16 million poor kids, through federal aid, get nutritious breakfasts and lunches throughout the school year. But now it's summer, and school's out. So send WBUR a hundred bucks, and $25 of it will go to a local food bank that feeds kids while the federal money shuts down. ... Bush attack on Labor turns off voters Michelle Grattan & Mark Forbes, The Age, June 22, 2004 <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/21/1087669915675.html> Most people believe President George Bush should not have intervened to condemn (Australian Labour Party) Opposition Leader Mark Latham's Iraq policy, but they are divided evenly over whether the Australia-US relationship is "too close" or "about right". As the Government sharpens the US alliance as an election issue, an AgePoll has also found that 41 per cent believe the alliance would be weakened by a Labor win, while 33 per cent said it would not be affected. Twenty per cent - including 27 per cent of women - do not have an opinion, suggesting they might be open to influence. ... The Lizard Strategy Or how to defeat Bush without losing our souls Ricardo Levins Morales, Portside, July 4, 2004 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/Week-of-Mon-20040705/006172. html> "Now we get to go out and lie to our members once again," a union staffer recently complained to me. She was referring to the 2004 presidential election, and her frustration is understandable. Like most of organized labor she, and her union, are convinced that the Bush administration must go, and that the only way to make that happen is to persuade their members, and millions of traditional non-voters, that Senator John Kerry represents their interests. This is a thankless and difficult task since, like the sister says, it's a lie. It's also not very effective. What follows is a proposal for how radicals and progressives can have an impact on the 2004 elections in the short run, while keeping our eyes on long-term goals. ... Labor's fight for its future takes to the Internet SEIU forms online group in latest way to organize and stop the decline in forces Leigh Strope, Associated Press, July 6, 2004 <http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=263724&category=BUSINE SS&BCCode> Washington - One of the country's largest unions is taking its organizing drive to the Internet, creating a new, virtual labor organization that isn't tied to a work site or dependent on employer recognition. The Service Employees International Union's new affiliate, called PurpleOcean.org, was disclosed last month (at) the union's convention in San Francisco. The union's trademark color is purple. The new group "is a radical new way to think about organized labor," said Andy Stern, president of SEIU, the largest union under the AFL-CIO umbrella with 1.6 million members. ... Labor Federation Looks Beyond Unions Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, July 11, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/national/11labor.html?th> Seattle - Going door to door as part of an innovative effort to expand the labor movement's reach, Natasha Skorupa encountered some hurdles that union organizers rarely face. At one house with a "beware of the dog" sign on the chain-link fence, she debated at length whether or not to enter the yard, while at others, homeowners slammed the door because they were in the middle of dinner. But by the end of one recent evening, Ms. Skorupa had persuaded more than a dozen people, including a graphic designer, a hospital worker and a retired insurance company worker, to sign up for a new arm of the labor movement. These people will not be part of a traditional union that negotiates contracts covering wages and working conditions. Rather, they will be part of a fast-growing, newfangled advocacy group that will campaign alongside labor unions on many issues, like raising the minimum wage and fighting new rules that cut back on overtime pay. ... Build Unity and Trust Among Workers Worldwide California State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, July 16, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=5666> Whereas the AFL-CIO and unions generally in the US are deeply committed to the concept of solidarity with labor movements in other countries; and whereas the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has a dubious history, having been deployed frequently to promote US government foreign policy objectives, including assisting in overthrowing democratically elected governments and interfering in the internal affairs of the labor movements of other countries; and whereas the conventions of the International Labor Organization guarantee workers of every country the right to choose to be represented by the labor organization or union of their own choosing, free from government, corporate or foreign interference or constraints; and whereas the AFL-CIO leadership, through the Federation’s Solidarity Center, has announced its intentions to apply for $3 to $5 million in funding from the NED for its operations in Iraq ... Hourly Pay in US Not Keeping Pace With Price Rises Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, July 18, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/business/18WAGES.html?th> The amount of money workers receive in their paychecks is failing to keep up with inflation. Though wages should recover if businesses continue to hire, three years of job losses have left a large worker surplus. "There's too much slack in the labor market to generate any pressure on wage growth,'' said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research institution based in Washington. ... Activists get clever over care Jennifer Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, July 23, 2004 <http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=36791> Talking pill bottles, rocking chairs and a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party with a twist. Health care activists plan these and other gimmicks to grab the attention of delegates coming to next week's Democratic National Convention. Their goal: Send the message that health care, especially prescription drugs, is too expensive. The Massachusetts Senior Action Council will kick off the action with ``Rock for Change'' today in front of Faneuil Hall. Seniors plan to spend the morning in rocking chairs "symbolizing universal health care coverage, affordable housing for all, peace, a fair and just tax system and many other social and economic issues." ... Political groups discuss how to help liberal causes Jenna Russell, Boston Globe, July 25, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/25/groups_discuss_how_to_he lp_liberal_causes> As mainstream Democrats streamed into town for their multimillion-dollar nominating convention, the activist left held a show of its own yesterday, with thousands packing classrooms at the University of Massachusetts at Boston yesterday to shore up their movement and show what the left wing has to offer beyond demonstrations. The three-day Boston Social Forum - modeled on a global event first held in Brazil in 2001 - drew liberal activists from around the country for everything from workshops on freedom songs to speeches by big names of the left - Angela Davis, Winona LaDuke, Granny D, and Danny Glover. Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich was scheduled to speak today. More than 2,000 people turned out for yesterday's events, organizers said. With buzz about upcoming demonstrations in the air - including an antiwar march planned for today, event coordinator Jason Pramas said one reason for the forum was to show that liberals need to define themselves by more than just protesting. "Reactive protest only goes so far, and then the spectacle of protest becomes the story," he said. "It becomes the idea of what progressives have to offer - they can [complain], but what are their beliefs, and why should we join them?" The product of nearly two years of planning by dozens of area unions and liberal nonprofits, the weekend gathering featured hundreds of small group discussions covering "all major areas of human knowledge," according to a press release, from hip-hop and sweatshops to hemp and the news media. ... Dispatches from the Boston Social Forum Jennifer C. Berkshire, The Nation, July 25, 2004 <http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040802&s=berkshire> Boston - Social Forums from Brazil to India and now Boston are often accused of failing to generate anything more concrete than a brief up-tick in Fair Trade coffee sales, but that's not exactly fair. Despite what critics of the movement say - that opponents of neoliberalism are more proficient in puppetry than in articulating solutions to global economic ills - those who do believe in the possibility of another world have been quite effective at summing up that vision. It's clear, for example, that the Forum crowd opposes the privatization of water; that they support economic models that put the globe's people above profit; and that, when given a choice, they'd pick peace over war any day. ... Labor leader says unions might be more motivated to change if Kerry didn't win election Leigh Strope, Associated Press, July 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/07/27/labor_lead er_says_unions_might_be_more_motivated_to_change_if_kerry_didnt_win_election> Boston - The head of the largest union in the AFL-CIO says the labor movement is in crisis and might be more motivated to change if Democrat John F. Kerry is not elected president - even though he doesn't want to chance it by keeping George W. Bush in the White House. Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, with 1.6 million members, said in an interview Monday with The Washington Post that the effort he is leading to restructure organized labor would lose momentum under a Democratic president. "I don't know if it would survive with a Democratic president," Stern told the newspaper in a story published Tuesday, saying labor leaders would become partners in the new establishment. Asked if a Kerry presidency would help or hurt the internal union deliberations about change, Stern said, "I think it hurts." He did not say specifically why change would be less likely in a Kerry administration, but told the Post that Kerry, like former President Clinton, would use the party for his own political benefit and labor leaders would become partners of the new establishment. In a statement released later to The Associated Press, Stern clarified his remarks, reiterating his union's support for Kerry. ... Unions might be better off with Kerry loss, leader says David S. Broder, Washington Post, July 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/07/27/unions_might_be_better_ off_with_kerry_loss_leader_says> Breaking sharply with the enforced harmony of the Democratic National Convention, the president of the largest AFL-CIO union said yesterday that both organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Senator John F. Kerry loses the presidential election. Andrew Stern, head of the 1.6-million-member Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, said in an interview with The Washington Post that both the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are "in deep crisis," devoid of new ideas, and working with archaic structures. Stern contended that another four years of Bush policies might be less damaging than the stifling of needed reform he said would occur if Kerry becomes president. Stern's dissatisfaction with the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party is not new, but his decision to voice his frustration on the opening day of a carefully scripted convention was an unwelcome surprise to Kerry's convention managers, who had been proclaiming their delight at the absence of any internal conflicts. Speaking of the effort to create new political and union organizations, Stern said, "I don't know if it would survive with a Democratic president," because Kerry, like Bill Clinton, would use the party for his own political benefit and labor leaders would become partners of the new establishment. ... 'Fahrenheit 9/11' fans welcome hero to hotbed Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, July 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2004/07/27/fans_of_fahrenheit_911_we lcome_hero_to_a_hotbed> The man of the hour was more than an hour late. A group of veterans and soldiers' families waited for Michael Moore in a North End park yesterday, chatting, eating pizza, checking their watches. The bomb-throwing filmmaker had been due at 11, and they were all looking forward to meeting him, and to thanking him for his movie ''Fahrenheit 9/11." The film had gotten the antiwar message out to millions of people, they said. But as the activists sat on benches waiting, Moore, in town for the Democratic National Convention, was stuck at the FleetCenter, held up by a crush of reporters, and well-wishers who shouted, ''Michael!" and ''Great stuff, Mike, great stuff." His handlers tried to shoo pleading reporters away: ''Don't you understand 'No?' " Even US Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, couldn't get an audience (''He's only a congressman," Moore quipped, by way of apology). Back in the North End, Hal Muskat, a wiry, gray-bearded member of Veterans for Peace, was getting frustrated. ''He's not the star!" Muskat spat at Moore's assistant. ''It's these people." ... He had come to town during the convention, Moore said, ''to encourage Democrats to have a backbone." He was not endorsing politicians, he said, though he did defend presumptive nominee John F. Kerry's vote in favor of war in Iraq. (Moore argued that Kerry was betrayed by what Moore calls the Bush administration's false case for war.) ... ''What you have to say is far more important than anything I have to say, because you saw it firsthand," he told the handful of Iraq veterans among the antiwar activists and passersby who had gathered to listen to him in the shady North End park. ''I'd like to hear what you have to say. It's just weird here with all these cameras." ... ''There has been a continuous coverup by the United States," one tall, sandy-haired Iraq veteran told him. He had seen members of his own Marine unit kill innocent Iraqis, he said. ''Civilians are being killed indiscriminately." ... ''Where is our media?" (Moore) boomed, upbraiding the dozen or so reporters gathered around him. ''When are they going to do their job and ask the hard questions? ... I wish somebody here, and there are a ton of them here, would take this man aside when we're done, and ask him about this." Even Muskat, standing at Moore's right shoulder, was impressed with that. ''Thank you for speaking out," he told the filmmaker. 2 weddings and a funeral Quincy sewage facility becomes a local hotspot Jenn Abelson, Boston Globe, July 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/27/2_weddings_and_a_funeral > Quincy - Julie Pinkham didn't think it would be strange to bring her wedding party to a sewage treatment plant on Nut Island. Her husband proposed outside the red-brick building, on a grassy knoll surrounded by violet wildflowers. And it was just a short walk from her home in Houghs Neck. So on her wedding day, Pinkham made her way uphill in a white gown and heels to Nut Island, a small peninsula that juts into Quincy Bay like the tip of a boot. Guests took pictures as a pink sunset colored the Boston skyline and millions of gallons of waste water flowed in a maze of pipes below ground. ''I guess, yes, it's a little odd to go there," Pinkham acknowledged months after her fall wedding. ''On the other hand, it's absolutely gorgeous, a little slice of gold. There wasn't any place I could have rented that was more beautiful." Thanks to organized neighborhood resistance over the past 30 years, the sprawling sewage plant that once spewed raw waste into Quincy Bay is now a favorite spot for sunset gazers, rollerbladers, and mothers pushing baby carriages. Their persistence, marked by periodic shouting matches with plant officials, helped transform Nut Island into a place where sewage and neighbors can peacefully, if not fondly, coexist. ... "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands that feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams, 1776 This just in: "Completely dumb satire but what the heck. This may help you figure out who to vote for in November ... turn up the sound and click the link: <http://www.madeinmaine.org/president/thisland.htm>" Web Directory: AARN <http://www.aarn.org> Australian Nursing Federation <http://www.anf.org.au> California Nurses Association <http://www.calnurse.org> Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions <http://www.nursesunions.ca> CCDS <http://www.cc-ds.org> Committee for Health Care for Massachusetts <http://www.healthcareformass.org> Irish Nurses Organisation <http://www.ino.ie> Labor Party <http://www.thelaborparty.org> LabourStart <http://www.labourstart.org> Maine State Nurses Association <http://www.mainenurse.org> Massachusetts Ad Hoc Committee <http://www.MassDefendHealthCare.org> Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party <http://www.green-rainbow.org> Massachusetts Nurses Association <http://www.massnurses.org> MASS-CARE <http://www.masscare.org> New York Professional Nurses Union <http://www.nypnu.org> New Zealand Nurses Organisation <http://www.nzno.org.nz> Nurses United (DC) <http://www.nursesunited.org> PASNAP <http://www.pennanurses.org> PNHP <http://www.pn hp.org> Québec Nurses’ Federation <http://www.fiiq.qc.ca> Revolution Magazine <http://www.revolutionmag.com> Saint Louis Area Nurses Coalition <http://www.slanc.org> Seachange Bulletin <http://www.seachangebulletin.org> Southern Arizona Nurses Coalition <http://SAZNC.homestead.com> UNAP (RI) <http://www.unap.org> Union Web Services <http://www.unionwebservices.com> Women’s Universal Health Initiative <http://www.WUHI.org> FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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