When George Bush was re-elected in November 2004 Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated Hollywood style, with an extreme political makeover. With his poll numbers in the clouds and state Democrats in no mood to fight, Arnold veered to the right...
When George Bush was re-elected in November 2004 Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated Hollywood style, with an extreme political makeover. With his poll numbers in the clouds and state Democrats in no mood to fight, Arnold veered to the right, implementing a pro-corporate agenda and taking aim at the state's unions, who he blamed for everything from political gridlock in Sacramento to the state's budget deficit.
After Arnold Schwarzenneger threatened to eliminate hard-won staffing ratios, nurses mobilized to defend these gains.
But after 12 months of going toe to toe with the state's nurses, teachers, and firefighters, Schwarzenegger's approval rating was cut in half and his ballot initiatives were roundly rejected by voters. Indeed, after declaring 2005 the "year of reform," the former Mr. Universe limped into 2006 with his superhero image battered, if not completely wrecked.
New York City's bus and subway workers have sent shock waves through the labor movement and beyond as they demand that their employer and their union--Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100--give them a fair contract...
More than 2,000 SEIU members who work for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) left SEIU in late 2005, just as SEIU was leaving the AFL-CIO. What's most surprising is that SEIU preferred to lose these workers, rather than let them have a democratic local...
More than 2,000 SEIU members who work for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) left SEIU in late 2005, just as SEIU was leaving the AFL-CIO. What's most surprising is that SEIU preferred to lose these workers, rather than let them have a democratic local.
Members on four UMass campuses, in 10 bargaining units, were represented by four different SEIU locals until 2003. Through a top-down reorganization of locals under SEIU's New Strength Unity Plan, all these units were placed in the newly created Local 888.
While new and unknown, two discouraging things were known about the local: the bulk of its members would be spread over 200 small-sized municipal units, and the appointed interim president of Local 888 was to be Susana Segat, a long-time SEIU official, with no track record running a local.
Meetings of the rank-and-file auto worker coalition called Soldiers of Solidarity (SOS) escalated January 8 with a protest at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. The purpose of the rally was to let nearly 7,000 media in attendance from around the world know that Delphi workers--along with Ford, Chrysler, GM and other union members--are going to stand in solidarity against corporate greed...
Soldiers of Solidarity
Meetings of the rank-and-file auto worker coalition called Soldiers of Solidarity (SOS) escalated January 8 with a protest at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. The purpose of the rally was to let nearly 7,000 media in attendance from around the world know that Delphi workers--along with Ford, Chrysler, GM and other union members--are going to stand in solidarity against corporate greed.
"Strikes change people, change their consciousness- even a short, practice strike like the one we just had," says Tim Schermerhorn, a former Local 100 vice-president. He suggests that the strike could potentially give birth to a new generation of more militant workers...
"Strikes change people, change their consciousness--even a short, practice strike like the one we just had," says Tim Schermerhorn, a former union vice president. He suggests that the strike might give birth to a new generation of more militant workers.
According to one rank-and-file member of Transport Workers Union Local 100, members' strike and 'no' vote have the potential to change both themselves and the balance of power.
Since the beginning of 2005, Boeing workers in Newcastle, New South Wales have been trying to negotiate a contract to cover wages and employment conditions. Although these employees are part of the Australia Workers' Union (AWU), for years Boeing has
given individual, not collective, contracts regarding wages and employment conditions.
Twenty-seven Newcastle aircraft maintenance workers have been on strike since June 2005 demanding a collective contract with the AWU. The federal government has responded, stating "all Australian workers, including these AWU members at Boeing, will
always have the right to negotiate a collective certified agreement."
The government of Indonesia, in cooperation with private and public sugar employers, is thwarting sugar workers' rights in Indonesia. The sugar worker union president, Daud Sukamto, has been fired, and management, through harassment and intimidation,
has pressured locals to resign from the union.
The Federation of Independent Tobacco, Cane and Sugar Workers' Union (FSPM TG) was officially registered in February 2005. FSPM TG is affiliated with the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied
Workers' Associations (IUF). Soon after the establishment of the union, harassment of members and union officials began.
British researchers have recently written a report in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal that suggests "a relatively consistent relationship between pesticide exposure and Parkinson's [disease]."
Parkinson's disease, currently incurable, is a progressively degenerative nerve disease. Individuals with Parkinson's have trouble with many daily routines; their brain still functions properly, but the physical actions carried out aren't what the brain intends. In short, their body can't keep up with their brains.
The United Farm Workers (UFW) is demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) act against the threat.
