Across the country on May Day and Cinco de Mayo: Thousands demand worker and immigrant rights
About a thousand union and community people marked May Day with a rally and march through downtown Minneapolis, organized by Service Employees International Union Local 17 and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 17. The main themes were workers’ rights, immigrant rights and social justice.
Groups honored in N. Calif.
OAKLAND, Calif. – May Day and Cinco de Mayo were celebrated here April 27 with an exciting program of tributes to area labor and community organizations.
10,000 march in L.A.
LOS ANGELES – “No one is illegal!” chanted over 10,000 union members, students, youth and community activists demanding legalization for undocumented immigrant workers in the largest May Day/International Workers Day turnout here in years. For the entire article, click on the headline. To read a short synopsis from the Service Employees Union, click here.
International Notes
May Day: 70,000 turn out in Istanbul/And Russian protesters emphasize workers’ rights/... And rally across Australia/Iceland town councils declare N-free zones/Argentina’s people fight crisis with assemblies
Yale workers hold giant rally for union contracts
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Thousands of Yale workers, students and residents of New Haven neighborhoods took to the streets April 24, stopping traffic as they pounded drums and carried placards to a rally in front of Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Marshall Plan: A cover for corporations
Earlier this month Pres. Bush invoked the post-World War II Marshall Plan as he proclaimed an ongoing U.S. economic and military role in Afghanistan. There’s been much talk recently of new Marshall Plans.
Coalition battles Bush welfare cuts
WASHINGTON – The Republican leadership wants a House floor vote before the Memorial Day recess on reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a bill they have loaded with attacks on the poor such as increasing to 40 hours per week the “workfare” requirement for recipients. For the entire article, click on the headline. To visit the Library of Congress page on HR-3113, click here.
AK Steel workers march against corporate terrorism
PITTSBURGH – There is a war on U.S. workers and Armco-Kawasaki (AK) steelworkers, members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 169, are on the front lines.
Funeral protests shooting
SEATTLE – “It is not a crime in America to get lost.” This was the comment of Rev. Harriett Walden, head of Mothers for Police Accountability, after the funeral of Robert Thomas, Sr. For the entire article, click on the headline. For more information on Mothers for Police Accountability, click here.
May Day call in D.C.: Amnesty now!
WASHINGTON – Busloads of workers and their allies arrived in the nation’s capital, May Day, to demand that Congress enact HR-500, a bill by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) to grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrant workers. For the entire article, click on the headline. For the Library of Congress webpage on HR-500, click here.
