Author(s):
William Johnson

Excerpt:
Seven thousand workers at defense company Northrop Grumman’s Pascagoula, Mississippi shipyard went on strike March 8, following their rejection of the company’s proposed contract. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Chris Kutalik

Excerpt:
Nearly 3,000 United Transportation Union (UTU) conductors and yard service workers faced down Canada’s largest rail carrier, Canadian National (CN), in a two-week strike that began February 10. It was the second time in less than three years, that a small unit of rail workers shut down CN by taking advantage of the power that comes from being able to disrupt North America’s heavily-used, over-extended freight networks. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Eli Jelly-Schapiro, Tiffany Ten Eyck

Excerpt:
For the 15 million retail workers in the United States, the odds of being in a union are low. According to the nonprofit Labor Research Association, retail unionization was just 6.2 percent in 2003. While the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) has made some gains for grocery and food retail workers, workers in the rapidly expanding world of non-food retail stores and chains are barely a blip on organized labor’s radar. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Marcy Rein

Excerpt:
Their organizing has taken them from their manager’s front door in a well-groomed suburb of Sacramento, California to the raging streets of Seoul, South Korea, from the halls of Congress to the stuffy chambers of the National Labor Relations Board. The workers at Blue Diamond Growers (BDG) have circled the world to bring the world’s largest almond processing plant into the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Harry Kelber

Excerpt:
There are many reasons why unions fail to win organizing campaigns, why they abort them soon after launching, and why many campaigns don’t get off the drawing board. These failures explain why unions are especially reluctant to target corporations that employ thousands of workers in multiple plants and facilities throughout the United States. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Ron Lare

Excerpt:
Workers making the profitable Ford F-150 pickup in the Dearborn Truck Plant are witnessing company outsourcing inside their building, just a line over. As whole lines of Ford’s flagship plant get staffed by temporary workers not covered under UAW contracts, only the rank and file is showing up for the showdown. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
John Logan

Excerpt:
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is one of the most important pieces of legislation being considered by the new Congress, yet many working people have probably never heard of it. If they have, they have most likely heard the version that corporate America wants them to hear: that the bill would deny employees the right to vote in workplace elections and leave them exposed to coercion by unscrupulous union organizers. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Milton Tambor

Excerpt:
The first U.S. Social Forum will happen in Atlanta from June 27 through July 2. Inspired by the 1999 mass antiglobalization action in Seattle and the 2001 World Social Forum (WSF) in Brazil, 150 social forums have been held throughout the world, but none until now in the United States. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Kip Sullivan

Excerpt:
The AFL-CIO has finally endorsed a solution to the health care crisis that looks and sounds a lot like a singlepayer system. A statement released March 6 by the federation’s executive council during its meeting in Las Vegas did not use the phrase “single-payer,” but it heaped praise on Medicare, which is a rough approximation of a singlepayer program. Then the statement endorsed “building on Medicare to move toward a universal program” for the whole country. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Kip Sullivan

Excerpt:
A single-payer system is one in which one payer, namely a government agency like Medicare, reimburses providers (clinics and hospitals) directly. Those features — one payer for the public and direct payment to providers — are the main reasons why single-payer systems are so efficient. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Tiffany Ten Eyck

Excerpt:
Tens of thousands of auto workers and community supporters marched in the port city of Cadiz, Spain on March 1 to protest the decision of auto parts maker Delphi to close its plant in nearby Puerto Real. The decision, announced February 22, would cost up to 1,600 Delphi workers their jobs. The plant produces steering equipment and suspensions. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Elly Leary

Excerpt:
The latest news from the Big Three auto makers is bad. As of Valentine’s Day, the permanent force reduction exceeds over 100,000 jobs. Most of the jobs eliminated are hourly workers, United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers members, in fact. The majority of the job losses will take place in the United States. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Mark Brenner

Excerpt:
“People were just sick and tired of feeling like nobody would pay any attention to them,” said Doris Tuckwiller-Wood, one of 5,000 teachers in 14 different West Virginia counties who went on strike March 14. “We can’t just go back in the classroom and be good little teachers because they threw us a bone,” she continued. “When people didn’t get what they wanted, they started talking about a strike.” About 70,000 students were affected by the one-day walkout. . . .

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Julie Robert and Helen Ho

Excerpt:
When Michigan voters went to the polls in November 2004, they were asked to consider Proposal 2, which asked whether “the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.” To most voters, Proposal 2 was about restricting the legal definition of marriage to union between a man and a woman. Many underestimated the importance of the proposal’s seemingly benign phrase, “for any purpose." . . .

Body:
When Michigan voters went to the polls in November 2004, they were asked to consider Proposal 2, which asked whether “the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.” To most voters, Proposal 2 was about restricting the legal definition of marriage to union between a man and a woman. Many underestimated the importance of the proposal’s seemingly benign phrase, “for any purpose.”

Proposal 2 passed, and although supporters of the amendment insisted that it would not affect domestic partner benefits (which allow lesbian, gay, and transgender couples to receive health coverage through their partner’s benefit plans), the right to these benefits was quickly challenged in court.

Available Online:
Yes

Body:
American and Iraqi armed forces raided the Baghdad office of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) on February 23 and 25. In the first raid, soldiers destroyed furniture, confiscated computers, and arrested a GFIW employee, who has since been released. The second unprovoked raid caused further damage to GFIW headquarters.

These attacks are part of a larger pattern. Over the past several months, GFIW offices and leadership have been subject to multiple raids and attacks by the Iraqi government, the American occupation forces, and other militant groups.

In response, the GFIW has asserted its belief that a free and independent trade union movement is of vital importance to the struggle for a more democratic Iraq. As the GFIW Executive Committee expressed in a February 3statement: “The annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement’s assets, and the putting of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement.”

Expiration Date:
Mon, 04/30/2007 - 11:59pm

Body:
Two members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) were arrested and detained January 18 for allegedly violating the South Korean National Security Law. Middle school teachers Choi Hwa-seop and Kim Maeng-gyu were arrested after posting information about North Korean politics on the internet for educational purposes.

The two teachers, both of whom have won awards for their contributions to peace education, await trial on charges that potentially carry the penalty of death.

On January 26, a judge rejected the union’s appeal to review the legality of the teachers’ detention, and three days later the two teachers were sent to Seoul Prison, where they remain today.

Expiration Date:
Mon, 04/30/2007 - 11:59pm