The New York Women’s Foundation, a philanthropic organization, bills itself as a progressive, feminist group whose mission is “to create an equitable and just future for women, families, and communities in New York City.” So five wives of locked out Teamsters wanted to know why Diana Taylor, the foundation’s chair who sits on the Board […]
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Archive | October, 2011
Presidential Emergency Board concludes hearings on rail labor dispute
October 28, 2011 
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The Presidential Emergency Board last week wrapped up hearings on a dispute between 11 unions representing railroad workers and the nation’s largest rail freight carriers. The board was appointed by President Obama after negotiators for the unions and National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents the carriers in labor negotiations, broke down last summer. The […]
Read moreMexican union endures and wins
October 27, 2011 1 Comment
A headline on an article posted in October 2009 at the Dollars and Sense website reads, “Calderon busts Mexican Electrical Workers Union.” The only problem with the headline is that it’s not true. Mexican President Felipe Calderon tried but failed to bust the union, known by its Spanish acronym SME. After a two-year struggle, the government finally agreed to […]
Read moreCarwash workers win union contract
October 26, 2011 0 Comments
Workers at a Santa Monica, California carwash on Tuesday signed a union contract with owners of Bonus Car Wash making them the first carwash workers in the US to have a collective bargaining agreement with their employer. “I’m so happy we have a union and a contract,” said Olivero Gomez, who has worked at Bonus […]
Read moreReport: Housing bubble, not workers caused state budget shortfalls
October 25, 2011 0 Comments
When politicians are facing a crisis, it’s often advantageous for them to find a scapegoat to blame. If that scapegoat happens to be an adversary that can be demonize, so much the better. When state leaders were facing very real budget shortfalls earlier this year, some chose to blame the shortfalls on overpaid public sector workers […]
Read moreAustin labor demonstrates solidarity with Occupy movement
October 24, 2011 1 Comment
Five hundred union members marched through downtown Austin Sunday chanting, “What do we want? Union jobs” and “They got bailed out, we got sold out” during the Occupy Austin Labor Solidarity March. Ironworkers, sheet metal workers, electricians, telecom workers, and transit workers marched alongside teachers, state and local government workers, and EMS technicians. Postal workers carried […]
Read moreWhy Labor Needs to Explore a New Political Direction!
October 23, 2011 2 Comments
The following was submitted by Pancho Valdez. Valdez is a trade unionist residing in San Antonio and is an active member of the Bexar County Greens Party. “The definition of insanity is repeating the same failed thing over and over expecting a different outcome”- Albert Einstein I joined my first union in December of 1971 […]
Read moreWarehouse workers allege wage theft at Walmart distribution center
October 21, 2011 1 Comment
It’s called “performance pay scale.” For some logistics company’s it’s a way to motivate and fairly compensate their “associates.” But for some workers at Southern California Walmart distribution centers, it’s a way to cheat them out of wages. Earlier this week, attorneys on behalf of these workers filed a class action suit in federal court charging the operator of a […]
Read moreGreeks brace for austerity measures
October 20, 2011 0 Comments
Nowhere is the antagonism between global billionaires and the rest of us more intense today than in Greece. Bankers want the Greek government to pass new austerity legislation, which calls for deep cuts to government spending, to ensure that loans they made to the Greek government are paid back in full. Greek workers, on the other […]
Read moreSenators seek more federal employee wage, benefit cuts
October 18, 2011 0 Comments
Two leaders of a Senate government oversight committee recently proposed extending the two-year federal employee wage freeze by another year. They also proposed making federal employees pay more for their pensions, reducing pensions for future retirees, and cutting other benefits that all together, including the wage freeze extension, will cost federal employees $60 billion. Sen. Joe Lieberman, chair of the Homeland […]
Read moreUAW, Ford tenative agreement headed toward approval
October 17, 2011 2 Comments
As the Tuesday deadline for voting approaches, autoworkers appear to be headed toward approving a new contract with Ford. As of Monday morning, the UAW Ford Department Facebook is reporting that 62 percent of Ford workers have voted yes on the tentative agreement while 38 percent have voted no. Approval didn’t seem like a sure thing when voting began […]
Read moreOccupy San Antonio takes over Alamo Plaza
October 17, 2011 1 Comment
The following was submitted by Pancho Valdez. Brother Valdez can be contacted at 210-882-2230 or at 210-882-2230 or mestizowarrior210@yahoo.com This past Saturday an estimated crowd between 500 -700 marched from Alamo and Cesar Chavez Blvd to Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio. The marchers were diverse in age, gender, race and sexual preference made a lot […]
Read moreUnion leads fight for increased higher education funding
October 14, 2011 1 Comment
Students and workers rallied on October 13 at the University of Texas at Austin to demand that the State of Texas increase public investment in higher education, so that a quality, affordable higher education is available to all who seek one. Because state funding has not kept up with the need for higher education, public universities like UT have increased tuition, putting many […]
Read moreRail strike on hold as Presidential Emergency Board convenes
October 13, 2011 0 Comments
A Presidential Emergency Board appointed last week by President Obama to avoid a nationwide rail strike convened Thursday and began hearing testimony from the National Carriers Conference Committee, which represents the nation’s major rail carriers. Testimony from 11 unions that represent rail workers will follow. The carriers are proposing significant cuts to workers’ health care coverage and […]
Read moreTake Back Chicago! for jobs, education, and housing
October 12, 2011 0 Comments
“We’re here to end corporate welfare,” said Rev. Booker Vance, in front of Chicago’s City Hall as the third day of Take Back Chicago! got underway on Wednesday. Rev. Vance and about 75 members of the Take Back Chicago coalition are demanding that money in the city’s tax increment financing funds be spent on public works […]
Read moreColumbian oilfield workers organize despite acts of violence
October 11, 2011 1 Comment
As Congress prepares to debate a trade agreement with Columbia, another murder of a Columbian trade union activists casts doubt on the effectiveness of the Labor Action Plan that the US and Columbia negotiated in April. The Labor Action Plan was supposed to address a major stumbling block that has held up approval of the […]
Read moreStudy finds that public pensions are good for taxpayers and employees
October 10, 2011 0 Comments
Recently, a group of Houston millionaires announced that they would soon be initiating a campaign to eliminate traditional pensions for Texas teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and other state and local government workers. They said that they are taking this action to protect taxpayers. But a recent report by the National Institute for Retirement Security finds that […]
Read moreAt Occupy Wall St., unions say, for a fair economy, tax the rich
October 7, 2011 0 Comments
It was quite a sight. Thousands of people stood along either side of Wall Street as thousands more met up with them after marching from New York City Hall in the largest demonstration yet of Occupy Wall Street, now entering its fourth week. The march, which took place on Wednesday, October 5, was called by a coalition […]
Read moreSan Antonio Community & Labor Express Solidarity With Oak Farms Dairy Workers
October 6, 2011 1 Comment
The following was submitted by Pancho Valdez of San Antonio “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital and deserves much the higher consideration.” – Abraham Lincoln On Wednesday, October 5th between […]
Read moreVerizon unions launch iWon’t Campaign
October 5, 2011 0 Comments
Unions representing 45,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast from Virginia to New England announced a partnership with progressive organizations designed to pressure Verizon into signing a fair contract that protects good middle-class jobs. The CWA and IBEW will work with MoveOn.org, Jobs with Justice, US Action, the AFL-CIO, and the National People’s Alliance to spread […]
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