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News :: Labor |
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Labor Headlines 11-1-03 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
01 Nov 2003
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Headlines broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturday at 11 am on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Web Special Action Alert: Support Imprisoned Chinese Labor Leaders; Unions Make Picks in Presidential Primary Race; Honduran Sweatshop Workers Seek Help from P. Diddy; US Economy has "Explosive Growth" but Recovery Lacks Jobs; Southwest Grocery Strike Becomes Focus for US Labor; Michigan Part-time Instructors Set Precedent in Election Win; Chicago Teachers Prepare to Strike |
Web Special Action Alert: Support Imprisoned Chinese Labor Leaders
China Labour Bulletin has just learned that both Xiao Yunliang and Yao Fuxin’s health and well-being have deteriorated rapidly since their move to Lingyuan prison. Yao and Xiao were tried in January 2003 on charges of “subverting state power,” after their role in leading the peaceful mass worker demonstrations in Liaoyang in March 2002. On 9 May they were handed down prison sentences of seven and four years respectively. Their appeals were rejected. Lingyuan Prison is a huge penal colony located close to the province’s border with Inner Mongolia . Many political dissidents arrested after the 4 June 1989 nationwide crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement were held at Lingyuan Prison, and numerous confirmed reports emerging from the prison at that time indicated that the prison was one of the most brutal in the whole of China. Political prisoners there were regularly beaten, shocked with high-voltage electric batons, and placed in tiny solitary confinement cells for long periods of time for the slightest perceived “infringement” of prison rules. The families of both men were able to visit the two prisoners on 22 October after their transfer to Lingyuan and found them to be in very low spirits. Their hopes of surviving their prison sentences are diminishing daily due to the lack of medical treatment they are receiving and the seriousness of their underlying medical conditions. Additionally CLB has learned that while in Jinzhou prison, Xiao Yunliang suffered from beatings from other prisoners in his cell at Jinzhou prison after encouragement from their guard. Both families are hoping that the men can be released on medical bail and failing that that they may be transferred to a prison with better facilities. Although the guards at Lingyuan appear to be sympathetic, there is little they can do to help the men in their current state of health. We are urging people to write urgent appeals to the prison governor at Lingyuan asking for the two men to be released on medical parole. See link below for details about how to help.
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=5077
Unions Make Picks in Presidential Primary Race
As most national labor unions have chosen to endorse long-time labor supporter Dick Gephardt as the Democratic nominee for US president, the Service Employees International Union appears headed in a different direction. The LA Times reports that the SEIU is leaning toward endorsing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president next week, support that would bolster his credentials within the Democratic Party. SEIU President Andrew Stern said Thursday that the union's members are favoring Dean, and that the union's executive board will either decide to endorse Dean or not endorse any candidate in the primary. Dean's strong positions on health care and his experience as a physician make him appealing to Stern and to many of the union's members. The SEIU executive board will meet next Thursday to make a decision. Although Gephardt has won the support of 20 unions, if Dean wins the SEIU's backing, he will gain financial strength as well as grassroots activists to help distribute literature, post lawn signs, staff phone banks, and perform other labor-intensive campaign work. Elsewhere among labor, the 1.2 million member American Federation of Teachers met in early October to make an endorsement but failed to reach a consensus, so they will make no endorsement in the primary. The 1.5 million-member American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union will meet during the first week of December to decide on their endorsement. And the AFL-CIO has said it will only make an endorsement if one candidate wins the support of two thirds of its membership, or 8.8 million members. Gephardt currently has the support of 5 million.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-labor31oct31,1,349838.story?coll=la-news-a_section
http://www.fightforthefuture.org/bushrecord/
Honduran Sweatshop Workers Seek Help from P. Diddy
Just as the Unites States attempts to finalize the NAFTA-style Plan Puebla-Panama trade agreement with Central America, a Honduran sweatshop worker has stepped forward to seek help from rap music star P. Diddy. Nineteen year-old Lydda Gonzalez spoke to reporters on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, exposing crudely abusive working conditions in a factory that manufactures the "Sean John" clothing line for Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Gonzalez said that all-female work force is: abused physically and verbally, forced to take mandatory pregnancy tests and are fired if they're found to be pregnant, they're ineligible for government-provided health services because the company illegally avoids payment of social security taxes, and they are paid less than 75 cents per hour for back-breaking work. In response to the charges, the factory owner lashed out at Gonzales and at the National Labor Committee, which sponsored her visit to New York. Jesus Canahuati (con-a-WHA-tee), president of the Honduran association of maquiladoras called the nineteen year-old sweatshop worker, quote, "a traitor to the motherland" unquote. Canahuati (con-a-WHA-tee) also attacked the National Labor Committee's director, saying that Charles Kernaghan (KERN-again) is, quote, "an international terrorist," for helping Gonzalez speak out. In her testimony, Gonzalez asked for help from the music star to improve working conditions and she urged him not to close the factory. In a press conference, Combs said he was shocked to learn of the charges since a compliance officer had made five inspections of the plant this year. He said that he is launching an investigation into the charges.
http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/setisa/testimony-lydda.shtml
http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/setisa/
US Economy has "Explosive Growth" but Recovery Lacks Jobs
George Bush claimed that his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans were responsible for the 7.2% growth rate reported for the third quarter of 2003. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that consumer spending, an increase in business investment, a declining trade deficit, and increases in government spending fueled the growth. Particularly notable increases were found in spending on durable goods like cars, which increased by 27% and in spending on new home purchases and renovation, which increased by 20%. Despite the increases in spending, pre-tax income rose by only 1% and people who rely solely on wages and salaries for their income saw their earning drop by 0.1%. The Economic Policy Institute observes that many of the causes underlying last quarter's growth are temporary: one-time tax cuts lifted disposable income; mortgage refinancing increased household spending; and a decline in inventories helped to reduce the trade deficit. To make the recovery sustainable, EPI notes, people who earn wages need to see their incomes rise, and that in order for that to happen, more jobs need to be available.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_gdppict
Southwest Grocery Strike Becomes Focus for US Labor
A grocery strike and lockout involving 70,000 workers at 860 grocery stores in five southwestern states has drawn the involvement of the national union umbrella group, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney announced that the organization is creating a multi-union fund to support the United Food and Comercial Workers which is spending $10 million per week on strike benefits. Sweeney said they will be asking other unions to contribute to the strike fund. The main issue in the strike and lockout is health benefits, although many issues remain unresolved. The union has bargained outstanding health care over decades, sometimes at the cost of wage increases. But with benefits costs increasing an average of 20 percent annually, and with threats from Wal-Mart to enter the grocery business in the southwest, the corporations say they need to take back some of those hard-fought gains. The union agrees that some changes may be necessary, but spokespeople say that the corporations are asking for far too much. AFL President Sweeney cast the strike and lockout as a defining battle, pledging to contribute whatever it takes to help the tens of thousands of service sector workers maintain their standard of living. Sweeney said, quote, "They're taking on every one of us up here. They're taking on everybody who cares about America's families getting the health care they need at a price they can afford." unquote. The UFCW launched the strike against Safeway stores Oct. 11 after talks on a new contract broke down. Ralphs and Albertsons locked out their union workers the next day.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-super31oct31222419,1,4364572.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/ns10302003.cfm
Michigan Part-time Instructors Set Precedent in Election Win
Last week was Campus Equity Week across the US and Canada, a week during which part-time college instructors draw attention to the plight of the low-wage, no-benefit conditions of work for most college and university instructors. Five hundred part-time instructors won a victory for their comrades across the state of Michigan as the Macomb Community College adjunct faculty won a union election by a four-to-one margin. Ballots were counted on Thursday after a delay of nearly two years during which the college paid anti-union attorneys over $100,000 to fight the instructors' right to join any union. The college lost the legal fight, which ended up outlining minimum standards for part-time instructors to join unions. The win at Macomb College represents the Michigan Education Association’s first local consisting only of adjunct faculty.
Chicago Teachers Prepare to Strike
The Chicago Tribune reports that Chicago is on the brink of its first teachers' strike in 34 years. The House of Delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union voted 543-98 on Oct. 29 to authorize a strike on Dec. 4 if no contract has been negotiated. A strike vote by all union members will be held on Nov. 18. Three mediation sessions have failed to resolve the dispute, and no additional sessions are currently scheduled. At issue in the talks are increased health insurance costs, the length of the contract, and the length of the school day and year.
Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2003, section 1, p 1 |
See also:
http://www.labourstart.org
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
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