People Before Profit blog

Texas could become top Cuba trading partner

Mon, 03 May 2010 20:06:00 +0000

HOUSTON - The Port of Houston has gained permission for its container vessels to sail to Cuba, the Texas Tribune reported last week. This could strengthen Texas' position as a potential trading partner with Cuba.

The trade potential is significant. In 2009, total U.S. trade with Cuba was $521 million. In 2008 it was $710 million. Last year $85 million worth of goods was sent to Cuba from Texas.

The permission was granted by the U.S. Commerce Department, the Bureau of Industry and Security and Cuba's Alimport agency. It will ease the flow of cargo through the Houston port.

Legislation is pending before the U.S. House of Representatives which would ease the draconian trade restrictions imposed by the Bush administration as well as previous administrations.

HR 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, would allow U.S. citizens the freedom to travel to Cuba that has been denied them for many years. It would also loosen punitive financial restrictions imposed by the Bush administration in 2005. The Bush policy mandates that Cuba pre-pay for U.S. goods through a third country's banking system. This leaves the Cubans vulnerable, because the U.S. government could seize the pre-payment before the goods were delivered and then stop the delivery of the goods. No other nation in the world has to deal with such requirements.

Many Texans recognize the potential for increasing jobs as a result of easing travel and trade restrictions with Cuba. In light of the current economic and jobs crisis, it only makes sense to trade with one of our closest neighbors. It is clearly a win-win proposition.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmakin/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Gulf disaster spurs questions on drilling, Halliburton

Mon, 03 May 2010 19:50:00 +0000

With an estimated 25,000 barrels of crude oil gushing each day from BP's Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental group called for an immediate halt to offshore drilling.

Richard Charter, senior policy adviser at Defenders of Wildlife, an expert on oil drilling, told the People's World, "The most important priority right now is unity in the country in response to this unprecedented emergency. We need to unify behind the message: Get a relief well drilled as soon as possible, at any cost by any corporate entity or government agency, to stop this leak."

Charter said in a phone interview, "The Republicans are going to call this 'Obama's oil spill.' That is not relevant. This is not a time for the 'blame game.' This spill is different from an oil tanker that turns over and spills crude. This is an unstopped well leaking oil 50 miles offshore and a mile below the surface."

Five states have already declared an emergency status, with preliminary estimates that the cost to their economies is more than $14 billion, Charter noted.

Calling it a "catastrophe that imperils the entire Gulf Coast," he said, "Offshore drilling has again proven to be unreliable and unsafe. As officials gamble with untested means to stop the flow, oil continues to gush into the Gulf and move towards our beaches, coastal communities, wildlife habitat, and Gulf fisheries."

Forty wildlife refuges along the coast face imminent danger of being engulfed by oil contamination. "Wildlife refuges and estuaries in Louisiana, Mississippi, and possibly the coast of Florida, along with thousands of migrating birds, sea turtles, whales, and dolphins, river otters and many other species lie potentially in the path of the spill," Charter said.

Defenders of Wildlife Executive Vice President Jamie Rappaport Clark, former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement, "Although we are encouraged by the White House announcement that no new areas will be opened up to drilling until this spill has been fully investigated, Shell has announced plans to move forward with drilling in the Arctic, an area just as ecologically fragile as the Gulf, and where cleanup technology doesn't even exist. It is time for President Obama to reinstate the moratorium on all drilling off of U.S. shores."

She added, "Hopefully this catastrophe will be a wakeup call for Congress to pass comprehensive climate change legislation that moves us beyond drilling along our fragile coastline and towards a cleaner, greener energy future."

President Obama, accompanied by Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Jackson, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other officials, toured the disaster zone May 2. Speaking to reporters in front of a moored U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the president said the gushing sea-bottom oil well is an "unprecedented environmental disaster." He added, "The oil that is still leaking could seriously damage the economy and the environment of our Gulf states and it could extend for a long time. It could jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who call this place home."

Obama said his administration has "launched and coordinated an all-hands-on-deck, relentless response to this crisis from day one" starting with the Coast Guard evacuation of 115 oil rig workers and the search for 11 workers still missing. Submersibles have detected three leaks in the 5,000-foot-long pipe lying on the ocean floor, he said. Seventy U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and research vessels are deployed in the effort to stop the leak and contain the spill.

"Because this leak is unique and unprecedented, it could take many days to stop," Obama said. "I'm going to spare no effort to respond to this crisis for as long as it continues. And we will spare no resources to clean up whatever damage it caused."

He added, "Let me be clear: BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill."

Already the spotlight is shining on the notorious Halliburton, the Houston-based well-drilling outfit once headed by former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Halliburton was responsible for cementing the deepwater drill hole that evidently failed, triggering the explosion that toppled the huge offshore rig and unleashed the gusher. Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., called on Halliburton to provide by May 7 all documents relating to the "possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the status, adequacy, quality, monitoring, and inspection of the cementing work" at the rig.

Already it is known that BP in applying for the lease to drill at the site pooh-poohed danger of a disastrous accident and prepared no plan to deal with one if it occurred.

Photo: In the aftermath of the BP oil rig explosion, a dead sea turtle lies on the beach in Pass Christian, Miss., Sunday, May 2. Researchers from the Institute of Marine Mammal Sciences from Gulfport, Miss., collected a number of dead turtles and will examine them to determine the cause of death. (AP/Dave Martin)

Thousands march on Wall Street for financial reform

Sat, 01 May 2010 06:52:00 +0000

NEW YORK-This city's streets, including Wall Street, Twitter accounts and cell phone text message networks were abuzz with anti-Wall Street sentiment as tens of thousands of people participated in a demonstration, either on the ground or virtually, called by the AFL-CIO and its allies in the NAACP, National People's Action, MoveOn and dozens of other community and labor organizations.

Unlike the tea party demonstrations, this rally reflected New York City in its size and its diversity. The crowd was white, African American, Latino, Asian, young and old, poor through middle-income, trade unionists, community organizers; everyone, aside from big bankers, was represented.

"America is about more than making just easy money," AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka told those gathered. "It's about more than just looking out for number one. Our lives and our livelihoods are all bound together, and we're all paying the price for those who knew no limits to their greed."

"The price of that greed," he continued, "was eight and a half millions of jobs lost" and millions more that were never created.

Trumka went on to voice the rally's three main demands: that Wall Street stop fighting reform, stop dangerous speculation, and for it to "take responsibility and clean up the mess you made."

According to NAACP president Ben Jealous, the fight against corporate greed really began in earnest with the 2008 elections and goes hand-in-hand with the 2010 mid-term elections. "If they think that all those voters that we registered in 2008, if they think that all those young organizers that we brought out in 2008 have somehow disappeared, have somehow given up, have forgotten that change is not what happens on election day, but what we make happen every day," Jealous said, "they've got something else coming."

Jealous added that it was time to "come out of the bleachers, and into the streets."

By the labor federation's estimates, 15,000 people came out for the march on Wall Street under the slogan, "Good Jobs Now! Wall Street Must Pay!"

Another 16,000 "virtual marchers" made their voices clear as well, through Twitter and other social networking sites. "Finally," one tweet read, "a populist non-tea party march replete with diversity." Another highlighted the hypocrisy of the Tea Party movement's talk of fighting the big banks: "10,000 people march on Wall Street today to protest for Financial Reform and not a tea party member in site! hmmmm"

This, along with other demonstrations across the country, led by labor and its allies, is being considered a beginning point to in building a bigger, broader movement that will challenge Wall Street, protect the Democratic majority in the Congress, and counter the tea parties.

Organizers are using all methods to keep people informed of upcoming demonstrations, including cell phone text messaging. Throughout the rally, organizers exhorted members of the crowd to text the word "reform" to 225568. Anyone who does will receive alerts from the AFL-CIO about upcoming demonstrations.

One demonstrator said that this was "better than the tea party demonstrations." He went to one-and only one-on April 15th, he said, because they purport to be against the "huge banks that are running this country." He won't return though, because "they were crazy people, racists, so busy hating Black people. I only went because there was nothing else."

"Now," he said, "I'm going to wait for [the AFL-CIO and other organizers of the anti-Wall Street march] to text me."

Photo: Art Perlo

Wave of opposition builds against Arizona law

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:54:00 +0000

A wave of opposition to Arizona's anti-immigrant law continues to swell from elected officials, civil rights groups, entertainers and attorneys who say the measure is discriminatory and unconstitutional and invites racial profiling.

On Thursday attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) announced their partnership to challenge the controversial law in court.

"The Arizona community can be assured that a vigorous and sophisticated legal challenge will be mounted, in advance of SB 1070's implementation, seeking to prevent this unconstitutional and discriminatory law from ever taking effect," said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel, in a press statement.

Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of Arizona's ACLU added, "This law will only make the rampant racial profiling of Latinos that is already going on in Arizona much worse."

"If this law were implemented, citizens would effectively have to carry ‘their papers' at all times to avoid arrest," she noted. "It's a low point in modern America when a state law requires police to demand documents from people on the streets."

The law will deter immigrants from speaking to the police, said Linton Joaquin, general counsel for the NILC. "The inevitable result is not only to make immigrants more vulnerable to crime and exploitation, but also to make the entire community less safe, by aggressively discouraging witnesses and victims from reporting crimes," he said.

The groups note the law also infringes on the constitutional supremacy of the federal government, by interfering with federal immigration power and authority.

Civil rights leader Dolores Huerta said, "What we are witnessing today is the blatant targeting of an entire American population, Latinos."

Huerta added, "We must not give in one inch to Arizona's effort to blame our community for all the ills of the state or their efforts to run us out. We have worked this land, built and maintained these buildings and sacrificed as much as any other. We must put an end to SB 1070."

Multi-Grammy-winning artist and human rights advocate Linda Ronstadt said, "My family, of both German and Mexican heritage, has a long history in Arizona. It has been our diverse and shared history in this state that unites us and makes us stronger. What Gov. Brewer signed into law last week is a piece of legislation that threatens the very heart of this great state. We must come together and stop SB 1070 from pitting neighbor against neighbor to the detriment of us all."

Colombian singer Shakira met with the police chief and mayor of Phoenix this week to raise concerns that the law violates human and civil rights. "It goes against all human dignity," she said.

And at the Billboard Latin Music Awards Thursday evening in Puerto Rico, many Latin American artists denounced the law on live television, including pop star Ricky Martin, saying, "It makes no sense."

In Chicago dozens of protestors demonstrated outside Wrigley Field Thursday as the Cubs began a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Many said they support a national call to economically boycott the state.

Since the Arizona bill was signed, three lawsuits have been filed against it.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has indicated the federal government, with President Obama's support, may challenge the law.

At least three Arizona cities - Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson - are also considering legal action to block the law.

Although Obama called the measure "misguided" and irresponsible, he said the likelihood of passing immigration reform legislation this year is slim, because congressional lawmakers may lack the "appetite" to tackle immigration especially with upcoming midterm elections.

However immigrant rights leaders say reform cannot wait and efforts to push legislation through Congress are critical as thousands continue to be rounded up and separated from their familys every day.

Latino voters are closely watching where their elected representatives stand on the issue and expect them to act with courage, Latino leaders say. And they plan to utilize the power of their vote come November, they say.

According to federal data there were an estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. on January 1, 2009. Others claim there are over 12 million.

Studies note most immigrants living in the U.S. are from Latin America, with some 6.7 million from Mexico and 1.33 million from Central American nations El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

In 2009 the total population of Arizona totaled 6.6 million, including an estimated 460,000 undocumented immigrants.

Hundreds of vigils and mass protests are under way nationwide against the Arizona law and hundreds of thousands are expected to join demonstrations across the country on May 1.

Photo: Immigrant rights activists chanting "Boycott Arizona" protest outside Wrigley Field in Chicago as the Arizona Diamondbacks opened a four-game series against the Cubs, April 29. (AP/Nam Y. Huh)

What’s gone wrong, America?” ask jobless

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

CHICAGO - "It's disappointing. America is my home. What's gone wrong?" asked Leroy Smith, a laid off Chicago bus driver. "I'm through being patient. We need the government to put us back to work now."

"You're not alone in this fight. So many people are laid off but sometimes you think you're the only one," said Darrell Jefferson, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241. Over 1,100 transit workers were laid off in February that has crippled transit service and thrown families into crisis.

Smith and Jefferson were testifying to a Chicago Workers Rights Board hearing April 28 about the jobless and budget crisis gripping the city, state and nation.

"The ATU is doing a great job of supporting others in their struggle. The transit crisis is not just here. It's a national problem. ATU Local 241 will be in this fight," he said.

The Workers Rights Board heard a broad array of moving testimony from workers, veterans, immigrants and academics that illustrated in very stark and personal terms the horrible impact of the economic crisis.

Mel Rothenberg of the Chicago Economic Planning Group said 30 million working aged people are unemployed or underemployed.

Rothenberg said only the federal government can create jobs on a scale that is needed. He called for jobs creation through a financial transaction tax (FTT) on Wall Street speculators. A FTT of .25% on stocks and .10% on currency and debt trading could have raise $750 and $1.2 trillion during each of the past five years.

Eugene Cherry is an Iraq war vet. He knows first hand the tribulations of hundreds of thousands of veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars into an economic crisis at home.

"Companies aren't as willing to hire you. Many vets came back, but couldn't get their old jobs back," said Cherry, who like many vets has suffered from PTSD. "We can't find jobs - there simply are none."

This has compounded the crisis among vets, who are suffering extremely high rates of suicide. Cherry said the Veterans Administration is inadequate in dealing with veterans who come back with many issues. The Obama Administration domestic spending freeze makes it impossible to help people in need.

The economic crisis is having a particularly sharp impact on disabled Americans, whose unemployment hovers at 80%. Donna Shaw, a member of Disabled Americans Want Work Now! described how she was laid off from her bank job a year ago and has been unemployed since. She said her employer refused to provide her with the things she needed to do her job.

"The bank has deep pockets, but never provided a sign language interpreter for any of the mandatory weekly meetings and trainings," said Shaw. "This was a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Shaw said people with disabilities must struggle with discrimination in hiring and on the job. The result is disabled Americans experience high levels of poverty.

The jobless crisis is also allowing employers to get away with union busting and threatening immigrant workers with deportation. Mary Constantino worked as a bagger at Pete's Fresh Market for two years. She got fed up with harassment and sexual discrimination on the job and along with her fellow workers turned to UFCW to organize her workplace.

"I was fired for organizing. This is so unjust. All we wanted was better working conditions and better wages to provide for our families," she said. "They threaten to call ICE. Many workers are afraid to denounce what happened," she said.

But Constantino like all the others who testified vows to fight for jobs at a living wage and with a voice at the workplace. They are not afraid or intimidated.

"I'm not going to resign myself to a life of indentured servitude, which is what Wall Street is asking us to do," declared Stephanie DeBose, a carpenter and union member who has been unemployed for three years. "We have to get active and make our voices heard."

Photo: John Bachtell Stephanie DuBose, carpenter and member of International Carpenters Union testifies at Chicago Workers Rights Board hearing, April 28. DuBose has been unemployed for 3 years.

Faith leaders condemn Arizona immigration law, renew call for reform

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:11:00 +0000

During a telephone press conference Thursday, Evangelical, Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders from across the country said they condemn the controversial Arizona immigration law. Hundreds of actions nationwide are scheduled this weekend to renew the call from millions for comprehensive immigration reform including an "Immigrant Sabbath" and "Prayer for Immigrants," they said.

"The Arizona law and the outpouring condemnation from the faith community underscores the urgency of enacting humane, comprehensive immigration reform," said Jen Smyers with the Church World Service based in Washington D.C.

Bishop Minerva Carcaño with the United Methodist Church, Desert Southwest Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., said, "Last Friday was a day of deep sadness for the country," after Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law.

"It was an action of political expediency and a lack of political courage," said Carcaño.

"It was short-sided and mean-spirited," she said. "Contrary to Brewer's statements it's not what's best for Arizona and does absolutely nothing to contribute to passing reform."

Rather it's "anti-immigrant, anti-humanitarian and anti-civil rights," said Carcaño. And it encourages hate and racial profiling, she adds.

Carcaño said young people "fear that they will be stopped for being brown, that their immigrant parents will be deported, that their families will be separated and trampled by a rampant hatred that is out of control in Arizona."

"We cannot allow the further destruction of these youth and their families and we hope that justice will have the last word," she said.

Others on the call said immigrant's come to this country looking for a better future for their families. Any approach in dealing with immigration reform needs to begin with the core belief that every single person should be treated with worth and dignity, they note. The Arizona law is unjust and is a broader symptom of the broken immigration system, they said.

Religious leaders on the call said they couldn't afford to be AWOL on this issue and that they along with others must stand up and speak out for social justice. Immigration reform is the great civil rights issue of today, they charge.

The Arizona situation has served as a wake up call and the constant anti-immigrant rhetoric must be challenged, said Yvonne Diaz with the Goshen, Indiana-based Mennonite Church USA.

Many immigrants feel disconnected and too many Latinos know what it's like to be discriminated against, said Diaz. "Some are even afraid to come to church and pray."

Father William Hoppe with the St. Leo's Catholic Church in Queens, NY, said, "We support efforts to reunite families. We support immigrants who seek work and we support due process of the law. But we deplore ethnic profiling and demand that immigrants be treated with dignity and opportunity."

People should not panic and the Arizona law is in the process of being challenged, speakers said. Congregations will continue to be sanctuaries for immigrants and they need to be instructed about their basic rights, they add.

Although the immigration issue may appear to be a Latino one, speakers on the call say it affects everyone and no one is excluded from it.

Meanwhile those on the call say they are hopeful that Democratic national lawmakers will do the right thing and seek bipartisan support to push for reform. They are also encouraged that President Obama supports reform and that he has the best interests of immigrant's rights at heart. They are also hopeful that Obama will eventually take leadership on the complicated yet extremely important matter.

In the meantime voter-registration drives are underway and leaders on the call say voters are very cognizant of where certain elected officials stand on the issue.

"People are smart and recognize when politicians are playing politics," said Smyers. "They know whose trying to block the reform process."

Critics say the Arizona law demonstrates the immediate and severe consequences of failing to fix our broken immigration system. The legislative future of immigration reform seems uncertain, however thousands nationwide plan to march and hold vigils to call for their elected representatives to pass comprehensive federal reform.

Reform will not only keep families together and protect both our values and interests as a nation, but will also preclude the possibility of more states passing discriminatory immigration laws that create climates of suspicion and fear and do little to fix the underlying problems with our broken system, critics add.

Those on the call said they will continue to pray, protest and stand in solidarity with their immigrant brothers and sisters to push Congress to enact humane immigration reform before the August recess.

Photo: Alfonso Vasquez of Phoenix lights candles during a prayer vigil while protesting against Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law at the Arizona State Capitol, April 24. Matt Pavelek/The Arizona Republic/AP

Chicago rally demands Wall Street reform, jobs now

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:16:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Over a thousand workers, labor leaders, faith-based and community activists marched throughout the financial district here Wednesday demanding Congress do what's right and pass financial reform. Wall Street greed and big banks created the recession and they should be the ones to fix the economic crisis by rebuilding America with jobs, activists said.

"Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other big banks played casino with our economy and it's working people that are paying the price because of their gambling," said Ramon Becerra, senior field representative with the AFL-CIO Midwest region.

Organizers say since the recession began, nearly 9 million jobs have been lost nationwide. In Chicago alone 111,500 jobs have been lost over the last year and currently 445,300 are unemployed here. As families continue to lose their jobs, homes, and retirement savings, Wall Street banks took hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts and paid executives $145 billion in pay and bonuses last year, activists said. And now they're spending millions lobbying to kill financial reform in Congress.

David Borris, owner of Hel's Kitchen, a small catering company in the northern suburbs said, "We can longer allow Wall Street to make billions of dollars while millions on Main Street lose their jobs and their life savings."

Borris continued, "Our founding fathers never intended this country to be a place where the wealthy elite take advantage of the common working man."

"It's time for Congress to do what they were elected to do and that's represent the people not the wealthy banks," said Borris. "And this is exactly why we need them to pass financial reform now."

Protestors at the event want Wall Street to stop standing in the way of federal reform, start lending to communities and small businesses and pay a fair share to restore jobs throughout the country that they helped destroy.

Hundreds of men and women representing dozens of unions held signs shouting, "Workers united will never be defeated," and "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!"

Mike Brosseit has been a painter for 25 years and was at the rally representing the Painter's Union District Council 14. He said it's absolutely outrageous that as thousands of workers are being laid off, Wall Street executives continue to receive ridiculous bonuses.

"It's not acceptable and they should help keep people working," said Brosseit. "It's never enough for them and Wall Street greed is destroying our nation."

Donna R. LaMontagna, representing the Office Professional Employees International Union said Wall Street greed has bled almost every American family.

"America was built by the working class and it's time that Congress do the right thing," she said.

Michael E. Taylor with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 agrees and said too many workers have been laid off recently at the Chicago Transit Authority. "We deserve the right to good jobs with fair wages and benefits." It's not right that working men and women have to struggle to put food on the table to support their families, he said. "This is America, land of the free and fairness. It's time for these big banks to operate at the same standards as everyone else," he said. "Losing jobs and losing homes should be illegal."

Carl Rosen, president of the Western Region of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America said, "We're tired of all the bailouts going to Wall Street and the only way to fix the economy is with jobs and we need them now. And if the private sector isn't going to do it then the federal government needs to step up."

Protestors began the event at the office of Goldman Sachs, the firm that has become symbolic of the Wall Street greed team, in which profit-seeking has led to risky behavior and was ultimately responsible for the economic crash. Marchers demonstrated throughout Chicago's financial district and ended up at Federal Plaza.

"Enough is enough," said Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. "It's time to put people back to work and we want to make sure the banks hear us loud and clear. We are fed up with their behavior and we are not going to take it anymore."

Also at the rally was Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic nominee running for a U.S. Senate seat. Giannoulias encouraged the massive crowd to tell everyone they know to call their congressional representatives and demand that they pass financial reform.

On Thursday more than 20,000 are expected to rally for financial reform in New York City at the heart of the world's financial district.

Photo: Pepe Lozano

Newsmaker Awards honor Connecticut activists

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:16:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN - It was an overflow crowd with inspiring presentations and music at the People's Center in New Haven, CT on April 25 for the People's World/Mundo Popular Newsmaker Awards presented to three organizations on the front lines in the struggle for good jobs. With unemployment at a crisis levels, the event was organized as "A Call to United Action to Create Jobs for All with Equality and Peace."

Kit Salazar-Smith, vice president of the Waterbury Labor Council, chaired the afternoon event. The crowd was welcomed by Joelle Fishman, Chair of the Connecticut Community Party USA, whose state convention, geared to the struggle for jobs and the 2010 elections, preceded the event.

The newsmaker awards went to IAM Local 1746-A in Cheshire Connecticut for a decades-long campaign to win and enforce contract language that holds Pratt & Whtiney (UTC) accountable and stops the loss of jobs. The award was also presented in solidarity with the ongoing struggle to keep good jobs in Connecticut. UTC is the largest private employer in Connecticut and Pratt & Whitney is their largest division.

In accepting the award, local president Wayne McCarthy described the union's courageous fight which resulted in a court order preventing the giant multi-national corporation from moving jobs overseas during the life of the contract.

The Greater Hartford Labor Council received their award for their broad outreach and involvement of organized workers and the community in the 2008 elections and in the struggles to win a pro- worker agenda for health care, job creation and workers' rights.

Hartford and Youngstown, Ohio are tied as the cities with the most concentrated poverty in the United States. Over half of Hartford residents live on incomes below the self sufficiency standard. Peggy Buchanan, Labor Council president, expressed appreciation for the award and announced that the Hartford Labor Council is opening a street front headquarters which they hope will be as warm and welcoming and part of the people's struggles as the Peoples Center.

The Asociaciion de trabajadores de New Haven is an organization or immigrants that represents unorganized workers in their struggles against extreme exploitation. The award was presented to recognize their work in organizing immigrant workers to defend their rights on the job and for mobilizing immigrant workers to participate in the March for America for immigration reform and economic justice on March 21, 2010 in Washington DC. Nearly 1,000 people from New Haven traveled on 16 buses to Washington for the giant demonstration.

John Jairo Lugo accepted the award with three immigrant workers who had their pay withheld while working on a farm. They took their case to the Labor Department and won a partial victory. The exploitation they and others have experienced, along with outrage at the new anti-immigrant law in Arizona, is propelling what is expected to be a large march for immigrant rights and jobs for all on Saturday, May 1 in New Haven. Marchers will gather at Front St and Grand Ave and march downtown to the federal building for a rally.

After the presentations Kit Salazar-Smith lead a panel discussion with the awardees who were asked to describe their struggles, suggest ways to build and enlarge the movement, and give their ideas about getting new people to get involved and take leadership.

The audience was also entertained and inspired by the music of Frank Panzarella, the poetry of Boub Bidon and Latin songs by the dynamic quartet Beto Castillo, Jeff Fuller, Richard Hill, and Marco Castillo. The program was followed by a delicious homemade dinner, a fund appeal for the People's World and a calendar for a call to action.

The call to action calendar included a large number of events taking place on May Day week including CT AFL-CIO Workers Memorial Day, a March for Good Jobs and Corporate Responsibility in New Haven, and the AFL-CIO March on Wall St. with Richard Trumka, the immigrant rights march on May 1 and a Peace Train to New York City on Sunday May 2 where the International Peace March and Festival will be held at United Nations.

Photo: Tom Connolly

Bronx tenants file lawsuit over foreclosure, hold banks responsible

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:52:00 +0000

When you hear the words, 'foreclosure crisis,' most people probably think of homeowners who are in trouble, unable to pay their mortgages, and with "For Sale" signs on their lawns.

Here in the New York City there's another face to this crisis: that of tenants living in buildings that were sold during the property boom of a few years ago, but whose new owners have declared bankruptcy and are now being foreclosed upon. In between the filing for bankruptcy and court decisions on ownership, these buildings are often grossly neglected.

500 families in the Bronx have been stuck in this situation for more than a year, after Wells Fargo bank foreclosed on ten properties owned by Milbank Real Estate. With more than 4,400 violations in just 548 apartments, the living conditions are "deplorable," according to NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, at a press conference called in support of the tenants.

"No family should have to live like this because of unstable investments someone else made," Quinn said. There have been no repairs made to the building since March 2009, when the loans went into default.

The press conference announced a lawsuit, filed by Bronx Legal Services - NYC, which argues that once a foreclosure action is initiated, and a court-appointed receiver is in place, the mortgage holder, aka Wells Fargo Bank in this case, can be held liable for maintaining building conditions.

The tenants are demanding that those parties connected with their landlord's failed mortgage take responsibility for repairing their apartments.

"The disastrous situation confronting Milbank's tenants could not have occurred without the irresponsible behavior of the financial entities involved," including Wells Fargo and the commercial mortgage-backed security trust, the court filing says.

This week Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano weighed in on the case, saying, "We cannot have buildings falling apart as legal wrangling takes place over ownership or foreclosure. Tenants are entitled to housing that is safe and decently maintained."

Serrano pointed to a recent decision in New York State Court that ruled that tenants could seek financial compensation from lenders when buildings go into foreclosure.

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for May 10th in Bronx Supreme Court.

Meanwhile Wells Fargo is taking heat on the other side of the country. A demonstration at its annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday called for a halt to predatory lending, jobs creation and keeping families in their homes. The action was one of many aimed at the financial industry and Wall Street that are taking place around the country this week and next.

Unions, community to Wells Fargo: We are not your ATM!

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:42:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO - From all around the Bay Area and beyond they came, a thousand strong - union members proudly displaying their banners, community organizations from neighborhoods wracked by foreclosures and unemployment, faith leaders, housing and racial justice activists.

As they marched through the financial district to Wells Fargo headquarters where shareholders were meeting April 27, they bore a coffin topped with flowers and emblazoned with the legends, "8 million jobs," "5 million homes," symbolizing the financial crisis' devastating impact on working people. "Shine a light on corporate greed - working families have mouths to feed!" they chanted, and "Working families have a right to know - hey big banks, where's our dough?"

"I'm standing with my neighbors, my brothers and sisters, who are jobless and have lost their homes," retired Pacific Gas and Electric Co. worker Maria Elena Buitron said as she accompanied the coffin. "Every day, people are driven down until they have nothing!"

Her outrage was shared by Brenda Blannon, marching with Contra Costa County's Interfaith Supporting Community Organization. "The banks are cheating us left and right," she said. "They overcharge us for our checking accounts and then they mess them up and make us late with payments. Someone needs to bring them up short!"

During a brief halt in front of a Chase branch, a marcher suddenly climbed onto a cement planter that held a tree, hoisting his young daughter up to join him. Recounting "six months of pain and suffering" at the hands of Chase, Jose Vega asked, "Is anyone familiar with them losing documents, and asking for the same things over and over?" "Yes!" roared the crowd.

After Sen. Dianne Feinstein filed a complaint on his behalf, Vega thought he was on the road to resolving his problem. But just as the bank was again requesting more documents, it suddenly foreclosed on his home. "Chase is as guilty as all the big banks!" Vega declared, as his listeners cheered and applauded. "This is criminal and it needs to stop!"

Once at Wells Fargo, marchers settled in behind barricades across the street from the bank's headquarters, warding off the spring rain and wind with bright red plastic ponchos supplied by the California Nurses Association.

Speakers regaled the crowd with facts: Wells Fargo was among the nation's biggest subprime lenders, and as California's third largest mortgage lender in 2008, it was three times more likely to deny loans to neighborhoods of color than to mostly white neighborhoods in Oakland and San Diego. Wells Fargo is also one of the big players in the payday loan industry, not only providing credit to the biggest payday lenders but making such loans through its own ATMs, at 240 percent annual interest.

Meanwhile a delegation brought the demonstrators' demands into the shareholders' meeting: stop predatory and discriminatory lending, keep families in their homes, help rebuild neighborhoods, invest in communities - including helping to generate jobs - and stop fighting federal financial reform. They returned to report the shareholders largely seemed indifferent, going about their business in spite of people losing homes and jobs.

One delegation member electrified the crowd with calls to "move our money, as a group, create a no-banking zone and start with Wells Fargo!"

As rain and wind picked up, demonstrators left with the words of California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski ringing in their ears: "This is just the beginning of the fight to stop the excesses of Wells Fargo, the Big Banks and Wall Street!"

The April 27 march was among a number of actions this week at big banks around the country, leading up to an April 29 march on Wall St. by an anticipated 10,000 union and community activists.

Senators call for regulating Facebook privacy policies

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Four Democratic senators during a press conference Tuesday expressed concern that the popular social networking site Facebook is not being careful when it comes to protecting the privacy of its users.

New York's Charles Schumer, Colorado's Michael Bennet, Alaska's Mark Begich and Minnesota's Al Franken sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging the company to revisit its recent controversial privacy policy and better safeguard user's personal information.

"While Facebook provides a valuable service to users by keeping them connected with friends and family and reconnecting them with long-lost friends and colleagues, the expansion of Facebook - both in number of users and applications - raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information," the senators wrote.

Last week Facebook announced it would allow the site to share user information with third-party Web sites.

The senators say they would like Facebook to make their new "Instant Personalization" service "Opt-In" rather than "Opt-Out" by default.

The issue regards Facebook's decision to automatically share users data with select partners the moment you visit the site.

On Monday Schumer sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the agency to craft guidelines for how social networking websites can use and share personal information about their users.

The recent changes to Facebook's privacy policies "have limited the ability of users to control the information they share and keep private," wrote Schumer.

"These changes can adversely affect users and, currently, there is little guidance on what social networking sites can and cannot do and how disclosure is provided," said Schumer.

"Hundreds of millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter every day," Schumer said in a recent statement regarding regulating privacy concerns in the digital world.

"As these sites become more and more popular, however, it's vitally important that safeguards are in place that provide users with control over their personal information to ensure they don't receive unwanted solicitations. At the same time, social networking sites need to provide easy-to-understand disclosures to users on how information they submit is being shared."

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company was surprised by the Schumer's comments and said he looks forward to sitting down with the senator to clarify the concerns.

Noyes said the recent changes announced by Facebook last week were designed to enhance personalization and promote social activity across the Web.

In an email to the Associated Press Noyes said, "None of these changes removed or reduced people's control over their information, and several offered even greater controls."

Facebook founder Zuckerberg has said the latest features were implemented to make it easier for other websites to share connections and to personalize their content for its millions of users.

However critics say such policies could do harm and hamper users ability to keep information they share private.

In the letter sent to Zuckerberg the senators concluded, "We hope that Facebook will stand by its goal of creating open and transparent communities by working to ensure that its policies protect the sensitive personal biographical data of its users and provide them with full control over their personal information."

In 2007 Facebook introduced a tool called Beacon, which automatically broadcast users' activities on other websites on Facebook. After protests from its users, Facebook first agreed to let people opt out of the feature, then removed it entirely.

Anger at Wall Street could force Republican retreat

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:57:00 +0000

Angry senators grilling Goldman Sachs executives on Capitol Hill fueled a firestorm that could break the GOP's latest filibuster. That storm will arrive on Wall Street's doorstep on Thursday, with thousands preparing to take their demand for financial reform into the lion's den itself.

After Republicans and one Democrat blocked consideration of Wall Street reform last night, senior Democratic aides said that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid will continue holding one cloture vote after another to pressure the GOP into ending its filibuster of the bill making its way towards the president's desk.

Even before Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein took the stand to testify in Washington today, the Senate Investigations Committee found that Goldman misled its clients and the nation. "Goldman Sachs reaped billions and billions of dollars in profits by secretly betting in 2006 and 2007 that the U.S. housing market would crash, a strategy that conflicted with the interests of its clients who were still buying the firm's risky mortgage securities," Senate investigators said last night.

As the investigators were releasing their findings union leaders and their allies repeated their calls for thousands to turn out for a march and rally in the heart of New York's financial district April 29. "We are demanding an economy that works for all, not just a few on Wall Street," the AFL-CIO said in a statement.

In Chicago, thousands will march tomorrow in that city's financial district.

The latest polls show that more than two-thirds of the public supports curbing the power of the Wall Street banks and a 52-35 percent majority says President Obama can be trusted more than the Republicans to carry out financial reform.

The GOP obstructionism on financial reform differs in some respects from their stalling during the health care debate.

During that fight Republicans dragged out the negotiations to try to kill the bill. This time, because of the mass anger directed at Wall Street, killing the bill isn't in the Republicans' best political interests. So their aim now is to negotiate on behalf of Wall Street to weaken reform as much as they can.

The filibuster reflects both this approach and the continuing power of lobbyists over many in the Senate.

Sen. Bill Nelson of Nebraska, the one Democrat who joined the GOP filibuster, provided a dramatic example.

Observers say the removal from the bill of a provision that would have benefitted billionaire and Nebraska native Warren Buffet was behind Nelson's flip. "He was on board until today and the only thing that changed was the removal of that provision, which would have exempted any existing derivatives contracts from being subjected to new capital requirements," said one Democratic aide. "That provision had been pushed by Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which has $63 billion in existing derivatives contracts."

The removal of the provision and the resultant strengthening of the bill actually points to one of the problems the filibuster is causing for the GOP and its backers. The longer they filibuster, the greater the chances that progressives have to make additional improvements in the bill.

"If the Democratic leadership becomes fed up with Republican stalling," argued Baseline Scenario's Simon Johnson, "they could actually strengthen the bill by including something like the Brown-Kaufman amendment." That amendment would allow for immediate breaking up of the big banks.

Chances to improve the bill have been boosted by the refusal of Reid and Obama to give in to the lobbyists while they simultaneously try to broaden support for reform.

Some say that by filibustering the Republicans have actually fallen into a planned trap. Reid has been defying Republicans to obstruct the bill and appears now to be exacting a political price from them for doing so.

The Huffington Post's' Chris Weigant noted: "Republicans, in this metaphorical card game, not only have a bad hand to play, but they were actually allowed to thumb through the deck and pick their own cards, and they still have no good cards to play."

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/2207307656/ cc 2.0

Energy bill stalling has groups riled up

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Leaders of 31 national organizations sent a letter to the Senate today pressing senators "not to squander the great promise of bipartisan action" for "strong clean energy and climate change legislation."

"This must be the year that the United States passes comprehensive climate and energy legislation into law in order to create jobs, strengthen our national security, and reduce carbon pollution," the letter said. "We can't afford to delay action any longer; we urge the Senate to take up a comprehensive energy and climate bill in June."

Signers include heads of virtually every major environmental and conservation group, among them the labor-environmental Blue-Green Alliance, League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Wilderness Society, Clean Water Action, Natural Resources Defense Council, Audubon Society and the National Tribal Environmental Council and Native American Rights Fund.

In a separate statement, the president of the Utility Workers Union of America, Michael Langford, said, ""Our 50,000 members, most of whom work every day at the forefront of the carbon-based generation of electricity, are truly angry that once again, partisan politics is delaying important national legislation."

The Utility Workers, which represents workers in electrical, gas, nuclear power, water, renewable energy and other industries, says climate change legislation would create 1.7 million new jobs in these industries.

These statements came after Monday's planned release of the climate change/energy bill was delayed because Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he was stopping his participation. Graham was one of the drafters of the bill along with Democrat John Kerry and Independent Joe Lieberman. But over the weekend he claimed he was pulling out because he objects to parallel efforts in Congress to advance immigration reform. Others say Graham is covering his right-wing flank, as the Republican far-right, working in tandem with an army of corporate lobbyists, revs up attacks on any curbs on Big Oil and other carbon-spewing industries.

Two important business alliances also called on the Senate to enact the climate and energy legislation.

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which includes the Big Three auto companies, General Electric, Dow Chemical and Shell Oil and other companies along with several environmental groups, said on Monday that the Senate should make the bill a "top priority" this year.

"The U.S. faces a critical moment that will determine whether we will be able to unleash billions in energy investments or remain mired in the economic status quo," the partnership said.

American Businesses for Clean Energy, which includes a number of energy companies like Exelon, National Grid and PG&E and nearly 3,000 other companies, issued a statement calling this "a critical moment" for Senate action on climate change legislation "in order to make the United States a world leader in clean energy technology, reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, and create millions of new jobs."

Utility Workers leader Stewart Acuff, a former AFL-CIO organizing director, said the bill will "move our country to significant investment in green energy generation and conservation creating as many as 2 million new, good jobs."

Writing at the Huffington Post last week, Acuff hailed the newly emerging alliance between labor and the environmental movement on this issue.

"Finally, we have broken down the false walls and barriers between workers and unions on one side and environmentalists on the other side," he said.

Acuff has written a book on the subject, titled "Getting America Back to Work." In it, he writes, "More and more Americans realize that unless we maximize the use of sustainable, domestic sources of energy, our future is threatened. At the same time, it is very hard for the average worker to care about the environment if she or he is worried about how to provide dinner for the family or pay the rent on Friday."

Yet "sustainable jobs, a sustainable economy, and a sustainable environment are mutually interdependent," Acuff pointed out in his Huffington Post article.

"A healthy American future requires all of the above," he said. "In fact, if we are to do what a potentially healthy environment requires we will install scrubbers on coal fired power plants, weatherize our homes, retrofit our commercial and industrial buildings to save energy, harvest the wind that never stops blowing on our great plains from North Dakota south to Texas, harness the unbelievable power and energy of the sun, and the incessant pull of the oceans' tides.

"All of that requires skilled, productive workers - workers that America's unions can provide."

Photo: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, has forced a delay on the climate change bill. In this photo from last fall, he joined Sens. John Kerry, left, and Joe Lieberman at a news conference about the legislation. (AP/Harry Hamburg)

Ex-inmates need across-the-board help, panelists say

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:49:00 +0000

DUBLIN, Calif. - With early release programs already underway in California for people incarcerated for non-violent offenses, Alameda County elected officials, law enforcement officials, community organizations and current and former inmates came together here April 22, to consider how best to help former prisoners successfully rejoin their communities.

Alameda County, across the bay from San Francisco, could receive an additional 1,000 formerly incarcerated people over the next three years, under early release programs propelled by state budget problems and concerns about overcrowding and prison health care, according to County Supervisor Keith Carson.

With many inmates being released with no place to stay, no connection to drug and alcohol treatment or to loved ones, Carson is calling for "an integrated approach which provides everyone leaving our institutions with a chance of becoming an asset to our communities, not a problem."

At the hearing, hosted by Carson and County Sheriff Gregory Ahern at the Santa Rita Jail, current and former inmates gave moving accounts of how education and transition programs have helped them, and called for upgrading and expanding resources.

"Society doesn't owe us, we owe society for every crime we have done that takes away from society," said Jerry Elster, who spent 27 years in San Quentin on a murder conviction, earning a college degree during his stay. "But what we ask from society is that you give us the opportunity to pay that debt."

On release, he said, many inmates don't have the resources, education, transportation and medical care they need to successfully reintegrate into the community. "When you send an inmate into an institution, he or she is already ill-prepared to make it in society, and if you tell them they have to go back into the same circumstances and conditions, you're already preparing them for readmission."

Monica Ortiz, a single mother who formerly served in the military, is now incarcerated at Santa Rita. She said classes at the jail "have changed my way of thinking" in ways neither high school nor the military had done. "They have helped me with my addictions, with organizing my thoughts, and to value myself," she said. Ortiz drew a standing ovation from the audience as she declared, "I'm very positive about my future, I look forward to being released. I'm going to be a success story - just watch me!"

Representatives from agencies and organizations emphasized education, jobs, stable housing and health care as essential to successful reintegration into the community.

Even when they have access to job preparation programs prior to discharge, former inmates face many challenges in becoming employed. While programs such as Clean Slate, which helps people petition for dismissal of criminal convictions, can help, employer attitudes also need to change, jobs program leaders said. Several current programs provide job preparation, and some bring prospective employers into the jail.

Transitioning inmates need more intensive health care planning as well as wraparound services including help with welfare, food stamps, housing and financial literacy, said leaders of several health-related organizations.

"We must change the view of transitioning inmates, from one of fear to welcome and embrace," Linda Evans of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children told the assembled panel of judges, elected officials and law enforcement leaders, including Sheriff Ahern and Matthew Cate, head of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Evans called for better use of community resources, and urged removing "the barriers caused by racism and racial profiling."

In brief conversations after the hearing, Ahern said about half of those incarcerated in Alameda County now have access to transitional programs going beyond basic services available to all inmates, with state funds vital to keep them going. Cate pointed out that while proven transition programs save funds in the long term, finding more state resources is difficult in the current budget crisis, and coordinating with community and faith-based organizations is essential.

Photo: Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson/PW Marilyn Bechtel

Thousands march for California's future

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:26:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO - At least 12,000 people marched here recently, crowding on to the space in front of the State Capitol to protest corporate greed and the state's budget cuts to public education, transportation and health services.

Dozens of buses had brought demonstrators, from San Bernardino to the Oregon border, and brightly colored t-shirts proclaimed their membership in many unions and community and student organizations.

The rally was the culmination of a 48-day-long, union-organized march from Los Angeles to Sacramento. Along the way, local marches, demonstrations and meetings showed the depth of anger of ordinary Californians at the cuts forced by the Republicans and the state law requiring a two-thirds majority to pass a state budget or raise taxes.

Many of the union officials at the podium echoed Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation, who proclaimed. "The last day of the march is the first day of a revitalized campaign for financial change in California...we want change and we're making it happen now."

"Don't tell us there is no money when there is more money spent on the prison-industrial complex than on our educational system," said San Diego Community College student Jose Rodriguez, one of the people who had marched all the way from Bakersfield. "Don't tell us when the 300 richest corporations pay no taxes at all."

Hundreds of signatures were collected on a petition to change the budget-passing requirement to a simple majority.

Photo: Gail Ryall - Elementary school chorus from Agapeland School in Bakersfield sings at the demonstration ending the March for California's Future.

Republicans poised to block debate on finance reform

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:36:00 +0000

The most comprehensive changes in financial regulation since the 1930's are unlikely to clear their first obstacle in the Senate tonight as Republicans try to hold out for a bill more favorable to Wall Street.

They were attempting to carve out a better deal for the banks even as news broke today of additional outrages in the government fraud case against Goldman Sachs and as the latest Washington Post-AP poll showed support for strict new curbs on Wall Street by more than two thirds of the American public.

President Obama and Democrats are seen as having seized the political initiative on the issue despite being short by one Republican vote they need to side with them in their attempt to begin debate in the Senate this afternoon.

Doing the bidding of the banks, Senator Richard Shelby, the chief GOP negotiator on finance reform, said his party will stand firm in blocking debate. "If we hang together on the floor, we can create critical mass," he told a gathering of bankers this morning.
Democrats say a setback would be only temporary because Republicans don't want to be seen siding with a deeply unpopular finance industry in the lead up to this year's congressional elections.

The final bill is now expected to take a hard-hitting approach to regulation of derivatives. The very strict proposals put forward by the Senate Agriculture Committee have been merged with those of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the chairman of the banking committee. The compromise includes many of the tougher provisions including one that is strongly opposed by the big banks because it would force them to spin off much of their derivatives business. The compromise rules on derivatives also say that any bank dealing in swaps, a particularly lucrative type of derivative, would be barred from the Federal Reserve's emergency borrowing window and also from federal deposit insurance.
The White House and many Democratic lawmakers pointed to the continuing revelations of fraud at Goldman Sachs to bolster their case for the so-called Volcker Rule, which would restore the barrier between commercial and regular banks. A restoration of that barrier would curb earnings at companies like Goldman Sachs, considered to be the most profitable firm in Wall Street history.

The progressive, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman urged this weekend that people not forget the role of the credit rating agencies in the economic crisis. "Credit rating agencies bestowed AAA ratings on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of dubious assets," he said. "The rating agencies skewed their assessments to please their clients and helped the financial system take on far more risk than could it could safely handle."

Politico reported today that in addition to new financial regulations, new taxes on banks are on the horizon.

"I don't think there's much doubt that there will be a bank tax," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was quoted as saying.
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The Montana Democrat also said Congress will crack down on hedge fund managers and private equity partners who shelter their income as capital gains - taxed at half the top 35 percent rate.

Some progressives continued to raise strong concerns about moves they say could seriously weaken finance reform.

One such issue is connected to the bank tax. There are reports that the Treasury Department, for example, would like to see stronger taxes written into the law now making its way through Congress. Treasury has made no secret, however, of its desire to see the liquidation fund, paid for by the banks out of their profits, taken out of the law.

Baseline Scenario's Simon Johnson said Dodd is making the bill weaker than politically necessary in order to maximize Wall Street backing: "The presumption is that Sen. Dodd is negotiating with one or more Republicans who are the easiest to bring on board. This would make sense if Sen. Dodd wanted the strongest bill possible. But Sen. Dodd is closeted in negotiations with Se. Richard Shelby who stands for the most pro-Wall Street bill possible. The goal is to bring as many supporters of Wall Street as possible on board with the legislation, at the same time as framing the issues so the pro-reform camp looks bad when it presses for more."

Photo: Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Republicans threaten to filibuster against the finance reform bill to carve out a better deal for Wall Street. Susan Walsh/AP

The photography of Milton Rogovin

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:30:00 +0000

This past December, Milton Rogovin turned 100 years old. For his birthday party, the invitation referred to him as: photographer, optometrist, veteran, father and activist.

Born in New York City in 1909, Rogovin started out intending to become an optometrist, studying at Columbia University. But he was radicalized by what he witnessed during the Great Depression. In 1957 he was summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. While at that time he felt that his voice as an organizer was silenced, he believed that through photography he could continue to make his political voice heard.

He set out to photograph those who were not the rich or glamorous in society - but instead those he called the Forgotten Ones. His series include Storefront Churches, Working People, Family of Miners, Chile, a community over three decades, and the Yemeni and Native American communities.

Although Rogovin had no training as a photographer, his artistic influences came from his study of the art that he loved - that of Kathe Kollwitz, Van Gogh, Francisco Goya and the muralists and printmakers of Mexico.

Over 1,000 of his photographs are on view at his website, www.miltonrogovin.com. Rogovin would like to have his photos used as curriculum in school and other settings. Photographs on the website are organized by series and themes in downloadable folios and are accompanied by a Teacher's Guide to help educators use the folios in their classroom. The site also has updated information on Rogovin's exhibits, awards and resources including books, posters and films.

Other resources on Rogovin are available at the Library of Congress/Washington, the Center for Creative Studies/Tucson, the J. Paul Getty Museum/Los Angeles and the Burchfield Penney Art Center/Buffalo.

Rogovin, who lives in Buffalo, N.Y., has not let age slow him down. Those who would like to meet him can find him every Saturday at noon at the Women in Black antiwar vigil at Bidwell and Elmwood in Buffalo.

Photo: From Milton Rogovin website, www.miltonrogovin.com

Lawmaker calls for Arizona boycott, governor signs draconian immigration bill

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:48:00 +0000

President Obama said the controversial anti-immigrant bill that passed Arizona's state legislature last week and is expected to be signed by its governor is "misguided." (The bill was signed by the governor late Friday afternoon, April 23.)

The president's remarks come days after hundreds of immigrant rights activists staged civil disobedience protests and vigils at Arizona's Capitol opposing the measure, which has drawn national attention.

The bill would make it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally and require local police to question people about their immigration status if there is a reason to suspect they are undocumented.

Critics of the measure say it would encourage racial profiling, lead to unwarranted arrests and greater distrust of local police in the Latino community that could translate into fear of reporting crimes.

Speaking at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members on Friday in Washington, Obama said, "Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others."

The president referred to the recent efforts in Arizona, which he says "threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."

Obama said he has instructed his administration to examine the Arizona bill to see if it violates people's civil rights.

"If we continue to fail to act at the federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country," said Obama. "As a nation, as a people, we can choose a different future, a future that keeps faith with our history, with our heritage, and with the hope that America has always inspired in the hearts of people all over the world."

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, signed the bill late today. Many predicted she would, although others, including members of Congress, civil rights groups and attorneys had hoped she would veto it because it unconstitutionally authorizes discrimination, they say.

The Arizona measure is arguably the most anti-immigrant legislation to date and would require anyone whom police suspect of being in the country illegally to produce an "alien registration document," such as a passport or an Arizona driver's license.

In a telephone press conference Wednesday several police chiefs nationwide voiced their opposition to the bill saying it threatens public safety and limits the ability to fight violent crime. Arizona is ground zero when it comes to dealing with the country's broken immigration system, they said.

George Gascon is the chief of police in San Francisco, Calif., and was also the former chief of the Mesa, Ariz. police department. He said the bill could have a tremendous negative impact and create significant problems for local authorities.

Gascon notes the professional opinion by mainstream police agencies across the country has always been that it is important to separate immigration laws from local ones.

"We need to recognize how this will affect the entire community," he said, especially when it comes to racial profiling.

"To say that this is not going to happen - the reality is that it will probably occur," he said.

Meanwhile Latino lawmakers are demanding more federal accountability and a stronger voice from the Obama administration in the call for immigration reform.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., is calling for an economic boycott of Arizona.

"If state lawmakers don't realize or don't care how detrimental this will be, we need to make them understand somehow," he told reporters Thursday.

"Just as professional athletes refused to recognize Arizona until it recognized Martin Luther King Jr., we are calling on organizations not to schedule conventions and conferences in Arizona until it recognizes civil rights and the meaning of due process."

In a steamy and passionate letter that floated online earlier this week Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said, "It is open season on the Latino community in Arizona."

Giving police a broad mandate to arrest people for looking a certain way isn't just an invitation to racial profiling, "It's like waving a green flag and saying 'gentlemen start your engines," said Gutierrez. "It's an insult to American justice and one of the harshest assaults on basic civil rights in recent American history."

Gutierrez adds, "We need the federal government to assert its supremacy on the immigration issue and make it clear to state legislatures, cowboy cops, and the American people that the federal government is in charge and effectively enforcing and regulating immigration."

"Obama the President needs to stand up for what Obama the candidate and what Obama the Senator, and what Obama the Chicago community organizer stood for and lead the Congress toward reform," Gutierrez said.

Democratic leaders in Congress said on Thursday they will try to pass immigration reform legislation this year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would bring immigration legislation to the floor this year and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would try to move the bill if it passes in the Senate.

Photo: Warren Stewart Sr., pastor of the First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix, addresses the crowd at a rally at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix against a sweeping immigration bill, April 20. Amanda Lee Myers/AP

TSU symposium explores the art of the African diaspora

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:31:00 +0000

HOUSTON - The Texas Southern University, which is the second largest Historically Black College and University in the U.S., just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the University Museum. The celebration featured a symposium entitled "The John T. Biggers Carroll Harris Simms Symposium: On the art of the African diaspora. Building upon our legacy."

The symposium was enlightening and instructive. John Biggers was a world famous artist known for his remarkable murals. He and his wife, Hazel, came to Houston and TSU in 1949. Dr. Biggers was hired to start an art department at the new HBCU in Houston. Carroll Simms was a renowned sculptor who also was instrumental in developing the art department at TSU.

Three of the students discussed Drs. Biggers' and Simms' legacy. The students were Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Criner and Jesse Sifuentes. Sifuentes discussed his experience as a student and noted that the two professors "didn't take anything for granted...and met you where you were at." He said that Biggers instructed him in the fundamentals and emphasized "craftsmanship."

Sifuentes also pointed out that Biggers sought to help students understand the importance of using their own culture in constructing their art. Biggers also taught his students the importance of the concept of "continuation" of the process of developing art.

Students remembered that Dr. Biggers was influenced by the world famous Mexican muralists, Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. He was also influenced by a world famous African American muralist, Charles White.

Since most of the students and faculty were of African descent, there was a great deal of emphasis on Africa and the symbolism of African culture on the continent and in this country.

Charles Criner recalled that Biggers sought to instill the importance of togetherness. Elizabeth Montgomery told the audience that they were introduced to opera and classical music by Simms. They were also taught about the importance of excellence in art. Classes lasted 9 hours and students frequently worked into the wee hours of the morning. Simms taught them that art reflects what has happened, what is happening and what will happen in the future. They were taught that art is the glue of existence and serves to document what is happening in the artist's community.

The TSU art department is the only university art program in the country that has mural painting as a required course.

Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, curator of the University Museum, said that both Simms and Biggers constantly asked their students questions centering on "What does that mean?" She recalled that both were wonderful storytellers.

The audience was treated to a conversation with the artist's wife, Hazel Biggers. She told the story of Biggers being denounced by one of his students as a "communist." She said he could not get a passport to travel out of the country because of this. He was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956 and was subsequently cleared. He and Mrs. Biggers travelled to Africa in 1957 and this was apparently a life changing experience for both of them. According to Mrs. Biggers, the conclusion of the HUAC, which was conducted in Houston, was that the great artist was a "good old boy from North Carolina and those Yankees messed up his mind."

Biggers continued his activism after these experiences and when the Houston Police Department invaded the TSU campus in 1967, he and his wife provided shelter to injured students in their home in the Third Ward. He also worked to form a committee to investigate the police actions on campus. He worked tirelessly to defend the beautiful murals done by TSU art students which can be seen in Hannah Hall, the main administration building on the TSU campus. There is a major effort underway to have the building and murals which reflect the civil rights struggles of the 50s, 60s and 70s in Houston declared a National Historical Site. There is also an effort to start restoring and preserving the murals since they are starting to deteriorate.

Mrs. Biggers said her deceased husband's legacy was "respect for women...hard work...and if it's important, do it and do it well and do it every day."

Photo: Hazel Biggers, left, and Alvia Wardlaw, Ph.D., curator of the University Museum. Paul Hill/PW

Hope fades for 11 workers after oil rig explosion

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:37:00 +0000

Officials said hopes are dimming for 11 missing workers after the Tuesday night, April 20, oil rig explosion 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

Relatives of the 11, all of whom were likely to be on the drilling platform at the time of the explosion, have been told that their loved ones are assumed dead.

While the 11 remain "missing," 17 others were injured and air-lifted to hospitals where four remain in critical condition. The other 126 workers who were aboard the Transocean Ltd. Oil platform escaped safely. The rig, about twice the size of a football field, sank yesterday.

Carolyn Kemp is the grandmother of Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, one of those officially missing. She told local newspapers that he would have been on the drilling platform when it exploded. "They're assuming all those men are dead. That's what we've heard," she said.

A negligence lawsuit was filed yesterday in New Orleans against Transocean. It was filed on behalf of Shane Roshto of Amite County, Miss., who was thrown overboard in the explosion and feared dead.

Adrian Rose, vice president of Transocean, put out a news release yesterday describing the explosion as a "blowout," in which natural gas or oil forces its way up a well pipe. Calls to the company for further details today were not returned.

Company officials at first claimed that environmental damage appeared minimal.

The Coast Guard warned today that this may not be the case, that the situation is different now that the platform has sunk. They estimate that the well could be spilling up to 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day on top of the 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel that the rig itself carried. Crude oil from the well had been burning off but when the rig sunk on Thursday the fire was extinguished. Officials havn't determined yet the extent of underwater spillage.

The United Steelworkers demanded yesterday an overhaul of health and safety within the oil industry. The explosion on the rig was the fourth oil industry accident in two weeks that has killed or seriously injured workers.

USW Vice President Gary Beavers, who heads the union's oil sector, said in a phone interview that, "while this is a dangerous industry, there are too many workers losing their lives. The industry is long overdue for a complete overhaul of its health and safety provisions. How many more workers have to pay the price for the industry's lack of a safety culture?"

The oil rig explosion, and the three deadly incidents of the last two weeks, come just before Workers Memorial Day, April 28. Workers killed or injured on the job are honored on that day when labor and its allies highlight the need for tough workplace safety laws.

On April 2, six workers were killed, including five USW members, in an explosion and fire in Tesoro's Anacortes, Wash., refinery.

On April 14, three workers were injured, two seriously, in a fire at ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge, La., refinery.

One worker was killed April 19 in a crane incident on the Motiva Enterprises expansion project in Port Arthur, Texas.

USW President Leo Gerard said earlier this week that the deaths in the oil industry underline the need for both stronger workplace health and safety laws and tougher enforcement. He said that both the Tesoro refinery and the Massey Energy Co's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, where 29 coal miners were killed on April 5, had "long and troubling" records of safety violations.

"America must introduce new factors into the computation to protect lives and limbs of workers who produce the energy on which this country depends," Gerard said. "One factor is larger safety violation penalties - fines and shutdowns costly enough to outstrip profitability."

Photo: Kelly Eugene hugs her son Jonathan while waiting to find out where they can pick up her husband, Kevin, a cook who was rescued from the Transocean Ltd. Oil platform after the rig exploded. Patrick Semansky/AP