Steelworkers ratify groundbreaking agreement with MeadWestvaco in Covington
PITTSBURGH, July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the members of USW Local 8-675 in Covington, Virginia have voted in favor of a proposed new contract with MeadWestvaco. The overwhelming ratification vote took place on Wednesday, July 1, 2009.
Campaign against crime and police abuse to be unveiled at NAACP convention
A new online campaign against police misconduct and violence will be featured at the NAACP’s convention next week in New York City at the Hilton Hotel. The convention will also mark the civil rights organization’s 100th birthday, and joining them for the celebration will be President Barack Obama in his first visit to New York City as president.
Coalition will battle banks over new consumer protection agency
“Some will rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen,” Woody Guthrie sang in his 1939 song “Pretty Boy Floyd.” These days an unappetizing alliance of finance companies, banks, credit card companies, mortgage lenders and financial services firms is using a lot more than fountain pens. The American Financial Services Association, an industry group, is reported to be coordinating a mega-bucks lobbying campaign to block the Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposed by President Obama last week.
COMMENTARY: The door to real change is wide open
Let me begin with a simple observation: If the last 30 years were an era of reaction, then the coming decade could turn into an era of reform, even radical reform. Six months into the Obama presidency, I would say without hesitation that the landscape, atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have strikingly changed compared to the previous eight years.
Push begins for new stimulus bill
As the reality of a recession far worse than anyone believed it was earlier this year takes hold, labor and its allies are laying the groundwork for another stimulus battle this fall. They are making their plans even as the Obama administration and Democratic leaders say it’s still too early to consider another recovery package.
Health industry lobby buys 350 former government officials
The country’s biggest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members, including former members of Congress, in order to influence the health care debate taking place in the nation’s capital, the Washington Post reports.
Immigrant-bashing ballot measure fails
PORT ANGELES, WA.—A far right-wing outfit, Respect Washington (RW), failed to collect enough signatures to qualify their immigrant-bashing initiative for the ballot in Washington State this November.
Wells Fargo loses an important round in predatory lending case
A federal judge ruled recently against Wells Fargo's request to dismiss a suit charging it with racially motivated predatory lending. The case is being brought against Wells Fargo by the city of Baltimore which claims the bank was practicing “reverse red-lining.”
Jena Six case comes to an end; shone light on racism in criminal justice system
In September 2007 more than 40,000 demonstrators descended on the small town of Jena, La. to protest unequal justice for the Jena Six, a case in which charges were brought against six black teens following a series of racially charged incidents sparked by the hanging of nooses in a public schoolyard. Facing South followed the case closely as it thrust a small central Louisiana town into the national spotlight and drew the eyes of the country to the lines of racial inequality still present in the modern-day South.
Supreme Court holds that states may investigate national banks
In its 5-4 decision in Cuomo v. Clearing House Assn., L.L.C. this week, the Supreme Court ruled that states, not just federal authorities, can enforce their own fair lending and consumer protection laws against national banks. Consumer advocates say the ruling will play a major role in how consumer protection and civil rights laws are enforced.
