Swapping Stories: Workers
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
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.
IKEA in Virginia: A Modern Sweatshop
IKEA in Virginia: A Modern Sweatshop
by John Wojcik, Peoples World
May 9, 2011
DANVILLE, Va. - "Your daughter gets sick. You take her to the hospital and turn in a doctor's note when you get back - one demerit. Death in the family, you stay home - one demerit. Going to the restroom when not on break - one demerit.
"With the fifth demerit, you get a written warning. Ninth: Go home and don't come back.' You're out of a job."
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.
AFL-CIO: GOP CUTS PUT JOB SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS AT RISK
AFL-CIO: GOP CUTS PUT JOB
SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS AT RISK
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Potential Republican cuts to future job safety and health spending put improvements in occupational safety and health at risk, a new AFL-CIO report says.
UNIONISTS, ALLIES BRAINSTORM ON HOW TO RESTORE U.S. MANUFACTURING
UNIONISTS, ALLIES BRAINSTORM ON
HOW TO RESTORE U.S. MANUFACTURING
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Unionists and their allies brainstormed on April 14 on ways to restore the eroded U.S. manufacturing industrial base, using national security and holes in vital defense items as a “hook” to get policymakers’ attention – but then spreading their restoration effort far beyond key defense technologies.
