Solidarity politics top AFL-CIO meet
CHICAGO – In a strongly worded resolution, the AFL-CIO Executive Council condemned the Bush administration’s threat to use federal troops to break any strike by members of the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) against the shipping companies belonging to the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).
Petition call: No U.S. attack on Iraq
“We, the undersigned, resolutely oppose the Bush administration’s plan to invade, conquer and occupy Iraq.” So begins an online petition to George W. Bush, Congress and the media, initiated by Democrats.com. Since it was posted the first week in August, 7,801 people have signed the hard-hitting petition, which can be visited at www.Democrats.com.
Steelworkers: Fighting to win
LAS VEGAS – A “corporate crime wave” is crushing steelworkers and their communities, charged Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), in his fiery opening address to the 31st USWA Constitutional Convention here, August 5. And, Gerard vowed, “We’re going to fix it!”
Court ruling on detainees hailed
Civil liberties advocates say U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler’s Aug. 2 order that the Justice Department must release the names of detainees held since Sept. 11 is a significant repudiation of the Bush administration’s secret detention policies.
Court ruling on detainees hailed
Civil liberties advocates say U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler’s Aug. 2 order that the Justice Department must release the names of detainees held since Sept. 11 is a significant repudiation of the Bush administration’s secret detention policies.
Bush threatens troops in longshore dispute
LOS ANGELES – The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) revealed this week that a secret Bush administration task force has threatened a military takeover of West Coast ports if the union decides to strike.
Music review: Musicians respond to Sept. 11
Steve Earle’s new album, Jerusalem, will be released on Sept. 24. He returns to his typically sharp and insightful political response to the world as he sees it. Earle said, in a recent interview, that President Bush’s USA Patriot Act is “an incredibly dangerous piece of legislation. Freedoms, American freedoms, things voted into law as American Freedoms, everything that came out of the 1960s are disappearing, and any patriot can see that has to be opposed.”
Walking with a Prisoner of Conscience
Prisoner of Conscience, a Memoir, by Kenneth Kennon, 88105-020, Former Prisoner of Conscience (POC) Kenneth Kennon ranks high among the minority of those who walk their talk. This devoted family man and friend, minister and counselor, poet and writer, agitator and lawbreaker recently walked a path that led him into federal prison. His book, Prisoner of Conscience, thoughtfully and insightfully details that walk through a punishing, dehumanizing, monotonous and frustrating six-month stay.
Economic recovery? Not for African Americans
Although the official unemployment rate for July stood at 5.9 percent, it was 9.9 percent if “hidden” unemployment – those who would work if they could find jobs – were taken into account, and that’s bad.
Racial discrimination and income
Two recent studies, one by Katherine L. Bradbury, vice president and economist at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, and the other by two Rutgers Law School professors, document the extent of employment discrimination against African Americans and its impact on their earnings.
