Swapping Stories: Labor History
HOTEL WORKERS RALLY VS. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION ON THE JOB
HOTEL WORKERS RALLY VS. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION ON THE JOB
NEW YORK (PAI)—“There once was a union maid, who never was afraid,” begins the old song about activist union women. Well, members of Unite Here – real union maids – were not afraid when they spoke up the week of June 6-11 against sexual exploitation of maids and other hotel workers by hotel guests.
UNIONS SAVE LIVES
UNIONS SAVE LIVES
By Dick Meister
A miner's life is like a sailor's
'Board a ship to cross the waves
Every day his life's in danger
Still he ventures being brave
---Traditional labor song
A new study shows that unionization is a sure way to dramatically lessen the
many deaths and serious injuries that have been all too common in the
nation's coal mines.
That's the unequivocal conclusion of the independent study of coal mining
between 1993 and 2008 conducted by Stanford law professor Allson Morantz and
NLRB: THE RAT IS LEGAL
NLRB: THE RAT IS LEGAL
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The labor movement’s giant inflatable rat is legal, even at demonstrations in front of secondary employers, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled on May 26.
In a case involving Sheet Metal Workers Local 15 and Brandon Regional Medical Center – which hired below-wage non-union temps to build its addition years ago – the board voted 3-1 that use of the rat on a flatbed truck parked in public more than 100 feet from the hospital entrances, is kosher. So is leafleting of passing patients.
ASIAN-AMERICANS REPORT VARIED FORMS OF JOB DISCRIMINATION
ASIAN-AMERICANS REPORT VARIED FORMS OF JOB DISCRIMINATION
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Asian-Americans are reporting varied forms of job discrimination, with complicating factors – cultural and economic – that make it extra hard for them to win rights, wages and benefits, a panel told D.C. unionists on May 21.
COMPREHENSIVE REPORT: ‘PROFOUNDLY RECKLESS’ COMPANY CULTURE OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS LED TO UPPER BIG BRANCH
COMPREHENSIVE REPORT: ‘PROFOUNDLY RECKLESS’ COMPANY
CULTURE OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS LED TO UPPER BIG BRANCH
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
CHARLESTON, W. Va. (PAI)—The first comprehensive report on last April’s explosion at Massey Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia shows a “profoundly reckless” company culture of ignoring safety led to the blast, which killed 29 miners in the worst such disaster in 40 years. Conditions were so bad that poisonous methane gas was flowing the wrong way – into the mine – at the time of the explosion.
MACHINISTS GATHER ALLIES AS BOEING BATTLE TURNS POLITICAL
MACHINISTS GATHER ALLIES AS
BOEING BATTLE TURNS POLITICAL
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The Machinists are gathering allies as the battle over a top National Labor Relations Board official’s statement that Boeing broke labor law by moving aircraft production to anti-union South Carolina to retaliate against IAM heated up and turned political.
SWEENEY CHALLENGES CATHOLIC CHURCH ON ACTION FOR WORKERS
SWEENEY, PROMINENT BISHOP CHALLENGE
CATHOLIC CHURCH ON ACTION FOR WORKERS
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Retired AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, one of the Catholic Church’s most prominent laymen, along with a top U.S. bishop on social justice issues, are challenging their church to live up to its own ideals and become much more active for workers’ rights.
RIGHT-WING ATTACKS EXTEND TO GAINS DR. KING WON FOR WORKERS
RIGHT-WING ATTACKS EXTEND EVEN DOWN
TO GAINS DR. KING WON FOR WORKERS
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (PAI)—Even in Memphis.
That’s how far down the chain of state and local governments the Right Wing’s war on workers has extended – and take it from one who knows, Alvin Turner.
May Day: Born in the USA
May Day: Born in the USA
by Michael Hirsch, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
For generations, May Day, the International Workers Day celebrated by working people in more than 200 countries, was ignored in the United States, the country of its origin. In fact, the annual holiday is as American as cherry pie, commemorating as it does the 1886 nationwide general strike in which U.S. trade unionists — largely foreign-born — walked off the job in support of an eight-hour workday.
SCHOLARS: LEFT, INCLUDING UNIONS, NEEDS UNIFIED THEME
SCHOLARS: LEFT, INCLUDING UNIONS, NEEDS ONE
THEME TO RALLY SUPPORT, GAIN PUBLIC BACKING
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The U.S. left, including unions, needs one unifying theme to both rally their own forces and to gain public backing, a panel of scholars says.
