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American Airlines' attempt to ditch pension riles feds, labor unions

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Times - By Steven Mufson - Feb. 11 (News Report) - Now in bankruptcy proceedings, the airline wants to terminate its four pension plans for 130,000 workers and retirees and ask the government's Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. to bail out its unfunded pension obligations to the tune of $9 billion.

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Military Intervention vs. Maritime Union Power

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Brian Tierney - Jan. 22 (News Report) - For the first time in 40 years, the US Armed Forces will be deployed to intervene in a labor dispute, facilitating a scab operation against union dockworkers at the Port of Longview in Washington.' Brian Tierney, Subterranean Dispatches

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300 Chinese Foxconn Workers 'Threaten Mass Suicide' At XBox Plant, Reports Claim

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

huffingtonpost.co.uk - By Michael Rundle - Jan. 11 (News Report) - Around 300 Chinese workers who manufacture XBox consoles took to a factory roof and threatened bosses with mass suicide over a dispute about pay, unconfirmed reports have claimed. The workers were employed at the Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan in Hubei province. Foxconn is an independent, global manufacturing partner to companies including Apple, Microsoft and Sony.

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Laid-Off Steelworker: Mitt Romney and Bain Capital Profited by Shutting Down Kansas Steel Plant

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 10 (News Report) - As Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney comes under fire in New Hampshire for touting his business experience, we look at how his private equity firm, Bain Capital, drove a Kansas City steel plant into bankruptcy, leading to some 750 layoffs and a federal bailout. Bain still walked away with millions of dollars in profits. We speak with Reuters reporter Andy Sullivan, who covered the story, and with Joe Soptic, a steelworker who lost his job at Kansas City's Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill after 28 years. "The first thing I noticed after the company was bought out ... they became very union non-friendly. They started looking for ways to eliminate jobs," says Soptic. "In my department, they actually offered to buy our jobs out from underneath us. They cut back on safety equipment." Regarding Romney's business acumen, Soptic adds, "If he runs the country the way he ran our business, I would not want him as president." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

thisamericanlife.org - By Ira Glass - Jan. 10 (Special Report) - Mike Daisey performs an excerpt that was adapted for radio from his one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." A lifelong Apple superfan, Daisey sees some photos online from the inside of a factory that makes iPhones, starts to wonder about the people working there, and flies to China to meet them.

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U.S. Car Manufacturers Have Record December

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

ABC News - By Susanna Kim - Jan. 04 (News Report) - Chrysler announced its best monthly retail sales in four year years, leading the pack of U.S. car makers who had capped a robust 2011 with strong December sales.

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U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness in Global Trade

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jared Bernstein: - Dec. 28 (News Analysis) - we're toward the low end of the advanced economies in terms of compensation costs. Second, in dollar terms, manufacturing compensation costs have increased much faster elsewhere over the past decade

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Crippling the Right to Organize: GOP Inaction May Leave National Labor Relations Board Inoperable

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 20 (News Report) - The National Labor Relations Board -- the government body that oversees labor complaints -- is on the verge of being shut down. Under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from last year, the NLRB must have a quorum of at least three of five members in order to operate. But one member's term expires at month's end, and meanwhile, Republicans have refused to confirm President Obama's two replacement nominees. Unless a solution is found, the NLRB would be frozen come January. Without the NLRB, workers would lose their legal recourse to defend their right to organize and to protect themselves against anti-union activity by employers. We speak with Standford Law School Professor William Gould, former chair of the NLRB. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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"Worker-Owners of America, Unite": Will Cooperative Workplaces Democratize U.S. Economy?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 15 (Interview) - As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to protest record levels of wealth and income inequality, we turn to an author who says the U.S. economy might be becoming more democratic. Gar Alperovitz argues in an op-ed in today’s New York Times that we may be in the midst of a profound transition toward an economy characterized by more democratic structures of ownership. Alperovitz finds that 130 million Americans are members of some kind of cooperative, and 13 million Americans work in an employee-owned company. He says the United States may be heading toward something very different from both corporate-dominated capitalism and from traditional socialism. "I think we’re seeing a change in attitude, both increasing doubts about what’s now going on in the economy, deep doubts, very deep doubts—thanks to Occupation, it’s crystallized—but this other trend of saying, 'What do you want? Where are we going?' in some ways to democratize the economy in a very American way,"

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Here comes everybuddy

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Harper's - By Andy Merrifield - Dec. 15 (News Analysis) - The crucial factor is not working in a factory, or with your hands; not is it necessarily anything to do with being poor. Rather, as Berman writes, it is the need "to sell your labor in order to live" -- "to look at yourself in the mirror and think, 'Now what have I got that I can sell?' " One virtue of this definition of the working class is its inclusiveness, its flexibility. By this reckoning, the working class is practically "here comes everybody."

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Lawmaker warns USTR on labor in Trans-Pacific pact

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Yahoo! News - Dec. 15 (News Report) - A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday warned the Obama administration that Congress could reject a proposed Asia-Pacific trade deal if the White House pushes too hard on language to protect workers rights.

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Gingrich has it wrong about the poor

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By LZ Granderson - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - This country isn't great in spite of the poor. It is great because of the poor.

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Labor Leaders Call for Review of Decision to Host 2012 U.N. Climate Talks in Qatar

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 06 (Interview) - The International Trade Union Confederation is condemning the decision by the United Nations to hold next year’s climate change conference in Qatar, a Gulf nation known for its restrictive labor laws. Migrant workers comprise 87 percent of Qatar’s workforce — none of them are allowed to form or join labor unions. Democracy Now! spoke with Sharan Burrow, head of the International Trade Union Confederation, yesterday. “We’re asking for a review. Clearly, the world should think twice about going to Qatar. It shouldn’t have just been a, you know, process decision,” Burrow says. “If there is no review, then we will organize clearly to expose the absolute abuse of human and labor rights by the Qatari authorities.”

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Republican Threatens to Quit Labor Board

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Steven Greenhouse - Nov. 23 (News Report) - Brian E. Hayes has threatened to resign in order to block a plan by the National Labor Relations Board to adopt rules that would speed up unionization elections.

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Beyond the Limits of Neoliberal Higher Education: Global Youth Resistance and the American/British Divide

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

TruthOut - By Henry A. Giroux - Nov. 09 (Opinion) - The global reach and destructiveness of neoliberal values and disciplinary controls are not only evident in the widespread hardships and human suffering caused by the economic recession of 2008, they are also visible in the ongoing and ruthless assault on the social state, workers, unions, higher education, students, and any vestige of the social at odds with neoliberal values. Under the regime of market fundamentalism, institutions that were meant to limit human suffering and misfortune and protect the public from the excesses of the market have been either weakened or abolished, as are many of those public spheres where private troubles can be understood as social problems and addressed as such.

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H-1B Workers’ Use of Social Security Numbers

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

SSA - Oct. 18 (Special Report) - Based on the results of our review, we estimate about 7,131 (18 percent) of the 38,546 H-1B workers to whom the Social Security Administration (SSA) assigned an SSN in 2007 may have used their SSNs for purposes other than to work for their approved employer. This estimate includes about 4,433 (11 percent) H-1B workers who had posted wages during our audit period from an employer other than their DHS-approved employer. This estimate also includes about 2,698 (7 percent) H-1B workers who had no posted wages from 2007 through 2009.

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House Approves Controversial Trade Deal

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Oct. 13 (News) - Congress voted to approve a free trade agreement with Panama, a country of less than 4 million that still carries economic weight because of the Panama Canal.

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Occupy Wall Street: A historical perspective - Occupy Wall Street

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - Oct. 09 (Opinion) -

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The results are in: ‘Free trade’ is simply bad public policy

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

thestand.org - By Stan Sorscher - Oct. 08 (Opinion) - Free trade makes sense to market ideologues and it works sensationally well for the top 1% in each country, at least in the short term. Free trade is bad for workers, bad for communities, bad for long-term prosperity, and bad public policy.

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Occupy Wall Street March Gets Massive Turnout; 28 Arrested in Police Crackdown

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Oct. 06 (News Report) - Labor unions and students joined the growing Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City on Wednesday in the largest march since the protest began 20 days ago. Tens of thousands marched from Foley Square to Zuccotti Park, renamed “Liberty Plaza,” the site of the protest encampment where hundreds have been sleeping since Sept. 17. The march was peaceful ,but police later beat a handful of protesters with batons after they toppled a police barricade in an attempt to march down Wall Street. Police say a total of 28 people were arrested. We hear from eyewitnesses to an altercation between police and protesters at Wall Street. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Shock Doctrine at U.S. Postal Service: Is A Manufactured Crisis Behind Push Toward Privatization?

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 27 (News Analysis) - many postal workers say the much-touted crisis facing the U.S. Postal Service is not what it seems. They argue the greatest volume of mail handled in the 236-year history of the postal service was 2006. They also point to a 2006 law that forced the USPS to become the only agency required to fund 75 years of retiree health benefits over just a 10-year span, and say the law’s requirements account for 100 percent of the service’s $20 billion in losses over the previous four years, without which the service would have turned a profit.

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ALEC Exposed – Prison Labor

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

mainstreetinsider.org - Sep. 22 (Special Report) - Earlier this year, the Center for Media and Democracy released documents detailing some 800 model legislations crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Included in those documents was the Prison Industries Act, legislation that had already been established in dozens of states across the country. Like much of the model legislation created by ALEC, this bill is designed to help private corporations increase profits. In this case, those profits come from the use of prison labor. As Mike Elk and Bob Sloan wrote in The Nation, “prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competition with private companies.”

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Massive Unemployment: Proof That Global Capitalism Doesn't Work

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steve Fraser, Joshua B. Freeman, - Sep. 12 (News Analysis) - In the coming years, might we see the return of a basic American horror at the phenomenon of joblessness? And might it drive Americans to begin to ask deeper questions about the system that lives and feeds on it? After all, we now exist in an under-developing economy. What new jobs it is creating are poor paying, low skill, and often temporary, nor are there enough of them to significantly reduce the numbers of those out of work. The 99ers are stark evidence that we may be witnessing the birth of a new permanent class of the marginalized.

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Alleging Captive Labor, Foreign Students Walk Out of Work-Study Program at Hershey Plant

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Sep. 01 (Investigative Report) - We look at the story of 300 foreign students who came to the United States as part of a work-study program, and found themselves engaged in what they refer to as captive labor at a Hershey’s packing plant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. The students — from Eastern Europe and Asia — went on strike two weeks ago, after they were reportedly required to lift heavy boxes, work eight-hour shifts beginning at 11 p.m., and stand for long periods of time while packing candy on a fast-moving production line. Federal agencies have launched four investigations into the alleged exploitation. The walkout apparently marks the first time that foreign students have engaged in a strike to protest their employment. The guest workers are demanding a return of the $3,000 to $6,000 each student paid for the cultural exchange program to work at Hershey; that Hershey end exploitation of J-1 student cultural exchange workers; and that the 400 jobs the guest workers filled instead be given to local workers paid a living wage.

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House Republicans Aim To Repeal Environmental, Labor Regulations

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jim Abrams - Aug. 29 (News Report) - The House Republican agenda this fall will focus on repealing environmental and labor regulations that GOP lawmakers say are driving up the cost of doing business and discouraging employers from hiring new workers. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., says in a memo to his fellow Republicans that as soon as Congress returns to Washington next week he will start bringing up bills to repeal or restrict federal regulations. He also said the House would also act on a small business tax deduction.

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