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THIS WEEK IN LABOR
May 25, 2007Presidential hopefuls back unionists at D.C. rallyThree Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) — talked union at the Machinists’ “Enough is Enough!” rally near the U.S. Capitol May 17. The rally drew participants from major national unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers, including the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the Transportation Workers Union (TWU). The purpose of...
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THIS WEEK IN LABOR
May 18, 2007Iraq unions fight oil theft law The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions has put the Iraqi government on notice that it intends to strike as early as next week to demonstrate the federation’s strong opposition to what amounts to a proposed oil theft law now pending before Iraq’s Parliament. The Bush administration has made adoption of the oil law one of the “benchmarks” of “progress” and Iraqi “cooperation.” The law...
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New labor editor joins Worlds staff
May 18, 2007The People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo editorial board welcomed John Wojcik to the newspaper’s staff as labor editor May 1. Wojcik, 56, replaces Roberta Wood, who was elected secretary-treasurer of the Communist Party USA last November. Wood will remain on the editorial board.
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Undue influence: Wal-mart, Google, GE press China to curb workers rights
May 11, 2007There is a “tug of war” raging worldwide over reforms in China’s labor law, according to Brendan Smith, Tim Costello and Jerry Brecher, authors of a report released April 5 by Global Labor Strategies (GLS). On one side of the battle, the report says, is Wal-Mart, Google, General Electric and other transnational corporations that have been lobbying to limit rights for Chinese workers. On the other side are workers’ rights...
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May 11, 2007Union membership would double with EFCA Union membership in the U.S. would almost double from the current 12.4 percent of all workers to 22 percent if the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) were to become law, a new report says. Speaking at an April 30 press conference organized by the Institute for America’s Future, Ross Eisenberg of the Economic Policy Institute and Eric Latke, co-author of a report on the...
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May 04, 2007Greetings from France The first round of the French elections saw 80 percent of the eligible voters turn out, the highest percentage since 1965. Since 2002, every person turning 18 years old is automatically registered to vote. Amazing. With right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy heading into the second and last round with about 30 percent of the vote, and Ségolène Royal, a right-of-center Socialist, being his opponent, progressive people in France are...
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May 04, 2007Steelworkers urge Drummond probe United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard has urged U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to join his counterpart in Colombia, Attorney General Mario Iguarian, in investigating the links between paramilitaries and Drummond Coal Co. The USW urged the probe as Gonzales and Iguarian planned to meet in Washington this week on the issue of support by U.S. companies, including Drummond, for right-wing terrorist groups in Columbia. Gerard demanded...
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THIS WEEK IN LABOR
April 06, 2007Things don’t go better with Coca-Cola Teamsters at more than 100 plants in the U.S. and students at more than 70 campuses across the country held shop-floor actions and wore stickers in a national action April 2 to demand that the company stop abusing workers and the environment. Coke recently paid $192 million to settle an employee lawsuit over widespread racial discrimination and is attempting now to cut jobs and...
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THIS WEEK IN LABOR
March 30, 2007Union love Kenneth Hill, a member of the Boilermakers Local 693, got married to Sonja McGruffin on the picket line outside the main gate of Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls shipyard, March 23, in Pascagoula, Miss. The wedding party and guest list was made up of fellow strikers, Black and white, who watched as Kenneth and Sonja exchanged vows. Hill works as a welder at the shipyard. The couple wanted to get...
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March 23, 2007Tell McDonald’s, you’re not lovin’ it Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for McDonald’s don’t have the right to unionize or to receive overtime pay and have no benefits. Most make under $10,000 per year. Liz Cattaneo of American Rights at Work told the World by letter that if the company paid only a penny more a pound for its tomatoes, the wages of the farmworkers could be raised drastically. The company,...
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