Bay Area school workers fight for contracts
SAN FRANCISCO — School workers and teachers here and across the bay in Oakland are ramping up their struggle in long and difficult contract talks.
Public outcry blocks GOP budget cuts
Massive public pressure forced the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives to abruptly delay action last week on major slashes in human services programs. The slashes, contained in a budget amendment, would have increased mandatory cuts from $35 billion to $50 billion in health care, Medicaid, energy assistance, food stamps, student loans and child care, while maintaining $70 billion in tax cuts for the rich.
Grandmothers sit in to end war
NEW YORK — Eighteen grandmothers tried to enlist in the Army here Oct. 17, and were arrested for disorderly conduct after staging a sit-in.
Capital campaign goes over the top
A national campaign to raise funds to help ready three regional centers for working-class education and struggle reached and over fulfilled its goal this week. The Chicago-based Workers Education Society joined the New York-based Chelsea Fund earlier this year in launching a “capital campaign” to raise $400,000 to renovate and modernize facilities in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The facilities will serve as hubs for educational activities and to advance the struggle for social progress.
Dont worry, well raise the money
When author and activist Jesús Colón wrote his book “A Puerto Rican in New York,” he told a story about one of his nightmares. He dreamed he read a notice in bold type boxed in the middle of the first page of the Jan. 31, 1957, issue of the Daily Worker, the PWW’s famous predecessor: “The drop in circulation and the lack of real interest and personal sacrifice required from all workers and sympathizers of our paper has forced us to discontinue the publication of the Daily Worker.”
Keep the heat on!: Illinois consumers say affordable energy is a life and death issue
CHICAGO — “It’s cold now and it’s only going to get colder. We need to take action now to get through the cold winter ahead,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters here as he announced a campaign to pass an “Illinois Affordable Energy Plan” to keep the heat on this winter for more than 300,000 natural gas customers in need. click here for Spanish text
White House under fire: A crisis of legitimacy?
Months ago it was apparent that the Bush administration was losing its initiative and momentum. Bush didn’t walk with the same old swagger and his much-vaunted political capital had lost much of its value. click here for Spanish text
Davis-Bacon wage protection restored
America’s working families were outraged when President Bush slashed wages for workers in the hurricane-hit areas, and they’ve won a huge victory today by forcing Bush to restore prevailing wage requirements in the Gulf on November 8.
15th Ibero-American Summit supports Cuba
Nineteen Latin American nations, plus Spain, Portugal and Andorra, sent high-level representatives to Salamanca, Spain, Oct. 14-15. The occasion was the 15th Ibero-American Summit.
Millions More Movement draws thousands to D.C.
Hurricane Katrina thrust racial disparities onto the nation’s political agenda and top civil rights leaders, fueled by outrage over the disaster, headed to Washington Oct. 15. The occasion was the 10th anniversary of Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March, a long-planned event that shaped up as a stage for Black America to respond to the devastation in New Orleans.
