People Before Profit blog

Solidarity with Rio Tinto miners: ‘From the Docks to the Desert’

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:24:00 +0000

Four huge union trucks loaded with $30,000 worth of food, followed by a 150-car convoy with hundreds of supporters, converged on the gates of the large Rio Tinto Borax mine and plant in the town of Boron, Calif., last week, in solidarity with locked out miners.

With the slogan "From the Docks to the Desert," the Los Angeles County Labor Federation and its affiliates organized the Feb. 24 emergency caravan after Rio Tinto, the giant conglomerate operating mines in five continents, locked out nearly 600 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 on Jan. 31.

When the workers unanimously rejected Rio Tinto's last contract offer, the company called off contract negotiations and brought in replacement workers.

The ILWU says the company proposed to replace good paying full-time jobs with part-time temporary positions that provide little or no benefits. The package of company demands would make it impossible for working families to survive and would destroy hard won working conditions and rights.

"We're more determined than ever to stand up and see this thing through," workers declare on the local's web site, "Too many people in America are loosing good jobs and working harder, while big companies make billions. We're taking a stand in Boron, not just for ourselves and our communities, but for everyone in America who's fed up with corporate greed and a system that doesn't protect hard-working families."

Despite the global recession, Rio Tinto walked away with nearly $5 billion in profits in 2009, according to the union. After acquiring Alcan for $40 billion several years back, the company is now trying to climb out of debt on the backs of the workers in Boron and elsewhere.

Rio Tinto employees in Australia are facing similar takeaways. After years of abuses against the community and environment in Papua, New Guinea, the company is now being sued in U.S. federal court.

Photo: http://boraxminers.com/

Labor moves to dump Arkansas senator

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:49:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - The labor movement will put "everything we've got" into a primary election challenge this year against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Blue Dog Democrat, an AFL-CIO official indicated unofficially this morning. The labor official described Lincoln as "just terrible for working people."

The official said the "full resources of the labor movement will be used to back a primary challenge against her by Bill Halter, the state's lieutenant governor." The official announcement of the decision to mount a labor-backed drive to unseat Lincoln could come as early as tomorrow.

The move signifies that the federation is making good on repeated vows by its leaders that all elected officials, Democrats included, will be judged against new and tougher standards set by the labor movement.

Lincoln, who has had labor support in the past, has betrayed that support, union officials say, by working against passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, stalling on health care reform and backing a Republican filibuster against President Obama's pro-labor appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.

In a separate interview this morning, the AFL-CIO's political director, Karen Ackerman, said, "Yhe political environment is a difficult one for working people. When it comes to the elections this year, labor will use what candidates and elected officials are doing about job creation as the ultimate guide to where our support will go."

Although she would not confirm a plan to dump Lincoln, she said Lincoln had "backtracked on the EFCA, would not support the public health care option and voted with Republicans on the NLRB."

Ackerman said the recent election of Scott Brown, a Republican, to fill the Senate seat in Massachusetts that was held by Edward Kennedy, should not be taken as a sign that workers are becoming more conservative.

"Workers are angry about the state of the economy and they want to know why things are taking so long to fix. They were not happy about plans to tax their health benefits and took this out on the Democrats," she said.

Ackerman said the labor movement needs, in addition to a good candidate, six weeks or so to move its grassroots electoral operation in a state into action, and when Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts, fell behind in the polls there "just wasn't enough time."

Ackerman also noted that the election in the Bay State showed why candidates should not waver in their commitments to working people. "Voters have to see that by supporting a candidate or a party their interests are being protected and they will not see this when the elected official or the candidate is not doing this."

Photo: Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter addresses a state labor meeting in 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/ / CC BY 2.0

‘We will not be denied,’ top labor leader says

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:25:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - As the nation's union leaders gather here for a meeting of the AFL-CIO executive council, the federation's executive vice president, Arlene Holt Baker, scoffed at media reports that unions have lower expectations now than they did when Barack Obama was elected president.

"Why should we have lower expectations?" she asked. "His election was a big victory for working families and it remains a major reason we can and will fight like hell for all the thing American workers need - starting with jobs.

Interviewed here this weekend, Holt Baker said, "There are more than 15 million unemployed in need of jobs. This is why we have a five-point jobs program to create massive numbers of public service jobs, infrastructure jobs and extensions of unemployment and COBRA benefits. We will plan this week how this fight will be taken forward and we will not lower our expectations, because the American people are not lowering their expectations. They expect jobs and they expect health care."

The labor movement is aware that the changes are nor coming "as fast as we would like" but that this is due to "the intransigence of powerful forces arrayed against us," she said. "The American people have taken these forces on before and they are doing it again and they and we will not be denied."

Asked about the difficulties in getting health care reform through the Congress and whether labor had hoped for more to be accomplished much sooner, she said, "Again, the message coming from the people is 'We will not be denied.' Majorities want health care reformed and labor has helped lead that fight. Because we didn't get it as fast as we would have liked, that is no reason to give up. We continued to fight and now you see the president fighting. I am proud that the labor movement has helped keep this going."

Turning to labor law reform and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which has been stalled in Congress by Republican senators determined to prevent its passage, Holt Baker declared, "Working people will not be denied this either. A clear majority supports unions and a majority of those without unions want to be in unions."

She noted that "we have a president who says it better than anyone else: 'Unions are not part of the problem. They are part of the solution.' And we will continue to hold him to that."

The AFL-CIO leader took issue with those who interpret the election of Scott Brown, a Republican, to the Senate in Massachusetts as another sign of labor's weakening clout at the hands of the Tea Party movement. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she said. "People voting for Scott Brown were expressing frustration about the slow pace of change. The Tea Party opposes health care reform, opposes jobs programs and opposes unions. This is not true of the majority of Scott Brown voters."

Union leaders will use the next three days here to map out a strategy for a massive jobs campaign and for their continuing fight for health care reform. They expect to carry out these battles in the context of the 2010 mid-term elections and say they will be mounting their biggest effort ever during those elections. Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with the labor leaders on Monday.

Photo: AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, with United Mine Workers leader Cecil Roberts and other UMWA activists, during the 2008 presidential campaign. http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/ / CC BY 2.0

Senator has two words for jobless: ‘Tough s_ _ _ !’

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

The Republican senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning, known for two things - his baseball record and his bizarre behavior - is now known for two more: "Tough s_ _ _ ."

That's what the senator reportedly said about the 1.2 million jobless workers who will lose their unemployment insurance and COBRA health coverage come Monday, March 1, when the current benefit extensions expire.

It only takes one senator to block a vote on a unanimous consent motion, and Bunning is that senator. The motion would have extended unemployment insurance for 30 more days for those whose insurance is expiring at the beginning of March.

During the hours of debate Thursday night, Feb. 25, in the Senate, Bunning refused to budge. Politico reports that when Oregon's Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley urged Bunning to relent, his response was, "Tough shit."

Apparently Bunning was upset that he missed a Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game. So he dug in his heels.

Or as Politico describes the scene: Bunning leaned back in his chair, legs crossed and listened to the debate. Until around midnight, when he took the microphone again and said, "I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9 o'clock, and it's the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina, since they're the only team that has beat Kentucky this year."

After watching lone senators single-handedly hold up health care reform, and now this outrageous behavior by a senator not seeking reelection this year, millions are getting a political education on the arcane and undemocratic rules and procedures of the Congress' "upper house."

In Bunning's Kentucky, the unemployment rate ranges from 10.7 to as high as 21.7 percent. Nationwide, long-term unemployment continues to rise - it is currently at an all-time high of 40 percent of all unemployed, reports Mike Hall at the AFL-CIO Now blog.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said he intended to try to break the impasse again today but Mr. Bunning indicated he would again be on hand.

Durbin expressed his outrage, saying, "I just don't think one senator ought to be able to heap this kind of suffering and misfortune on people who are already struggling in this economy." And using a baseball metaphor, he continued, "This is a wild pitch you are throwing tonight because it is pitch that is hitting somebody in the stands."

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill focused on how out-of-touch life inside the Washington Beltway can make people. "It is easy to get out of touch around this place," Sen. McCaskill said. "People open doors for you and bow and scrape. It's really easy to forget what people are going through, what families are feeling right now. And really, 30 days of unemployment insurance - have we gotten to the point that that's going to be a political football?''

Football? Baseball? Despite his Hall of Fame baseball career, the senator seemed only interested in basketball. And not in the million-plus people who will be closer to homelessness come this Monday.

Photo: Sen. Jim Bunning Susan Walsh/AP

UPDATED Feb. 28, Date change.

Class war in New York transit

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:34:00 +0000

NEW YORK - In a pre-spring offensive against 38,000 transit workers and a riding public of millions, Jay Walder, chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city's subways, buses and commuter rail, has announced 1,000 layoffs. He vowed "an aggressive overhaul of MTA operations." Workers likely to be axed by Walder include 450 station agents. The MTA also targeted school children, who for generations have gotten subsidized transit bus passes.

Two days later, transit workers, teachers, riders, communities and their allies fired the first shot in the counteroffensive - on the issue of student Metrocards. Transport Workers Local 100 President John Samuelsen joined Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, in denouncing the government's "upside down" priorities - where Wall Street bankers are given bailouts that turn into bonuses and school children are told they can't have passes to ride to school.

Samuelsen declared, "Along with our jobs, student Metrocards are in the MTA's crosshairs. If the cards were discontinued, public education in New York City would cease to be free, devastating hundreds of thousands of families with extra costs of as much as $2,600 per year. Defending student Metrocards is part of our multi-pronged fight against cuts in mass transit."

Recession is not the only cause of the MTA deficit. No layer of New York State's government has acted responsibly on MTA finances. In 1994-1995 Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki, obsessed with cutting taxes for the rich and services for working people, slashed subsidies to the MTA. To fill the gap, the MTA went to Wall Street and borrowed billions at high interest rates. The bills have come due. The MTA must allocate a huge part of its current operating revenue to service its debt. This puts pressure on other big components of the operating budget: service levels and workers' wages and benefits. Also, with a severe recession, the taxes that help finance the MTA - besides the farebox - are underperforming. Finally, the bailout of the MTA last spring by the state government - paid for by a modest payroll tax - has come partly unraveled. Legislators and finance officials in the outer counties of the MTA region are fighting the new payroll tax.

The way the MTA aims to solve the crisis deserves to be called class war, with winners and losers. The main winner is Wall Street, which gets billions from the swollen debt-service. Next, real estate and construction moguls who feed off a $5 billion a year MTA capital (construction and repair) budget. Losers? The workers won't get the wages and benefits they are legally and morally entitled to. Riders, mostly working people, will lose in service cuts and higher fares. The MTA financing system will grow more regressive. Already, it is one of the most farebox-dependent in the country.

The mass transit crisis is a national crisis. Transit labor is under siege in cities across the country. State and national governments need to be pushed. In New York State, some are calling for a greater tax on the rich, and an expansion of the Fair Share Tax reform that was passed about a year ago. Unfortunately, Gov. David Paterson is in favor of allowing the whole law to sunset.

Emergency funding for operating subsidies also has to come from the federal government. Leaders from the Amalgamated Transit Union, TWU, the International Association of Machinists and the Service Employees International Union are putting together a political strategy. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is already arguing for the more generous use of stimulus money and "jobs bill" money to keep transit systems afloat. The MTA, reflecting big banking, construction, real estate and engineering interests, will oppose any federal aid that doesn't go to those interests.

It's class war in transit. The skirmishing has begun.

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

Ohio jobs march hits Wall St. greed

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

"It's a great day to fight for working families," thundered Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola, to the cheers of hundreds at the March for Jobs in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday. "It's snowing here and they're sitting up there in Wall St., nice and warm. But I'll tell you, it's going to get a whole lot hotter there, as we organize and fight for jobs and security for working families here in America!"

"Hey, hey, ho, ho, Wall St. greed's gotta go," "People's needs, not Wall St. greed," and "We need JOBS, now," echoed off buildings in downtown Columbus, as hundreds braved the latest snowstorm to march to the Ohio State Capital building, calling for jobs and relief for working families.

"I came to the march to fight for jobs, for me, but especially for our families," said unemployed sheet metal worker Mary Young. "I've worked four months in the last two years, and had to go to Tennessee to even get part time work," she said. "It's ridiculous! These billionaires just take more and more and more from working folks. Even when they hire a few, they won't hire the women," she said.

The Columbus March for Jobs is expected to be just the first of many, according to Working America Director Dan Heck. "We're working with others, building committees to work for jobs," he said, but we felt we just had to begin to go public. People are mad, and they should be. We just felt like we'd start the ball rolling."

The jobs march was sponsored by Working America, Ohio and Columbus AFL-CIO bodies, Progress Ohio, SOAR and Jobs with Justice. These groups are part of the core forces that are setting up a Jobs for America Now Organizing Committee in Columbus.

"Don't believe them when they tell you it's about government spending, its not. It is about corporate greed, plain and simple," shouted State Rep Dan Stewart, to loud cheers. "We have millions out of work, people are suffering," he said, "but CEOs now are averaging over 400 times the pay of workers. Billionaires are bailed out, but our people starve! The five biggest insurance companies made $12 billion in profits this year. They didn't make that providing health care to people, they did it my denying health care to people, throwing people off of health care coverage. This must end! We need good jobs & health care for our people again!"

Marie Fetters is a township trustee from rural Wayne County, but drove through the snow to participate in the march at the state capital. "Wayne County is farm country," she said, "but we're not immune. They just closed the DHC plant, throwing hundreds out of work. We need jobs, too!"

Tim Burga, operations director of the Ohio AFL-CIO, was introduced as "our local celebrity," after right-wing talk show jock Rush Limbaugh had recently attacked him as a "union thug" on his national program.

"Rush certainly appears to be worried about what we're doing here, and he damned well ought to be. It's the corporate thieves that pay his way that we're going after," Burga said, to the cheers of the crowd. "They're getting richer and our people are without work or aid. We're here to demand Good Jobs Now!"

Two young African American men were dressed in dark suits, passing out materials along the march. I first thought they may be with the Nation of Islam, but noticed they carried Monopoly games and were passing out Monopoly money.

"We just felt like it's Monopoly money to the big CEOs," said Stan Osei-Bonsu. "We've lost over a quarter of all manufacturing jobs in our entire nation, but the CEO of Lehman Brothers takes home $484 million. Man, that's obscene! That's Monopoly money!"

"We need real jobs, not make believe money and make believe jobs," Jihad Seifullah chimed in. "They keep talking about education, training, like that is supposed to bring in jobs. I'm trained! I'm educated," he said, "but we need real jobs!"

Photo: Union members participate in the call for job creation. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibonacciblue/ / CC BY 2.0

Imperfect health plan doesn't stop labor from continuing fight

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:21:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI)--AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had a positive reaction to the White House summit on health care that Democratic President Barack Obama convened with bipartisan congressional leaders on Feb. 25 -- more than he had for Obama's health care blueprint released three days before.

But as far as Trumka was concerned, the GOP behaved at the summit just as it has through the whole health care debate: Saying "no" to everything that helps workers.

Meanwhile, other union leaders and members trained their sights on Congress.

Obama brought 37 congressional leaders together for a day-long televised public discussion of health care, after lawmakers showed no signs of final action on massive -- but vastly different -- health insurance revision bills Congress passed last year.

Obama used the Senate bill as a blueprint for his own plan, and which formed the basis of the discussion. His plan would impose a 40% excise tax on "high-cost" insurance -- plans costing more than $27,500 yearly for a family -- starting in 2018.

He also would fine those eligible companies that refused to offer workers health care $2,000 per worker yearly. One cost control would be a commission to order rollbacks of insurance company rate hikes.

"The people really left out in the cold are working families," the president declared at one point in the deliberations.

The Republicans at the summit roundly rejected Obama's ideas, and anything else from the Democrats. Ignoring facts, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared the U.S. "has the best health care system in the world" and should not change.

Obama's White House had forced union leaders in mid-January to swallow the excise tax, despite their own opposition and that of the rank and file. That didn't stop Trumka from being positive about the health care summit -- and criticizing the GOP.

"It has been 13 months since we began debating health care, and the process has been painstaking and tough. But comprehensive reform is now more urgent than ever. You need look no further than the unconscionable price increases being pushed onto consumers from insurance companies, such as the 39% increase recently levied by Anthem Blue Cross in California," the AFL-CIO chief said.

"But Republicans showed once again they have no intention of working to solve the health care crisis. They turned their backs on people who need health care as well as those struggling to afford the high cost of health care. Instead of offering solutions, they have offered obstruction and political posturing," he stated.

In a bow to labor's own objections to taxing health care, Trumka said, "The reforms on the table from the president are not perfect. They do not add up to the bill we would have written. We will keep working with the Congress to improve them until health care reform is signed into law, and afterwards. But we are within sight of real health care reform."

Trumka got agreement on the health care bill's imperfection from the pro-worker Democrat at the summit who has toiled longest on health care, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. Dingell said his father -- who held the House seat before him -- introduced an universal, affordable health care bill during the Truman administration. Rep. Dingell said, "The last perfect piece of legislation was handed down on stone tablets at Mt. Sinai."

Obama's plan was an attempt to again revive the stalled health care legislation, by taking the Senate-passed health care bill -- much of which is anathema to workers and unions -- and grafting on some compromises. A top Obama aide, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, made it clear that Obama wants Democrats to use any and all legislative tactics to overcome the Senate Republican filibuster against the measure.

That includes sidelining the GOP, if it doesn't cooperate, by using "reconciliation," a tactic meant for budget and tax bills. Reconciliation needs only 51 senate votes, not 60; filibusters are banned. But Obama's plan got a less-warm reaction from Trumka.

"We look forward to moving...toward the goal of quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Republicans in Congress have an opportunity to stand with working families or continue to protect the profits of the insurance industry. We are prepared to work with the White House and leadership in Congress to advance a comprehensive health care bill that will be passed into law," Trumka's statement said after Obama released his own plan Feb. 22.

The Steelworkers included a link to Obama's plan in their health care activists' toolkit, while vowing to keep campaigning against one of the Senate's most-onerous schemes that Obama kept: Taxing peoples' health insurance.

"We must continue pushing for a final health insurance reform bill that guaran-tees us quality, affordable health care for all, with the choice of a public health insurance option and NO excise tax on our benefits," USW's toolkit states. "On Jan. 14, the AFL-CIO announced changes that had been worked out to a proposed excise tax in the health insurance reform bill. The changes should make the bill better for all working families, not just those in a union," the USW adds.

"We won't stop working to make this bill better," USW President Leo Gerard said.

Other unions concentrated more on lobbying Congress in the days leading up to the summit. The United Food and Commercial Workers, labor-backed Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees set up a mass drive to flood Congress with e-mails, wires, blogs, twitters and calls on health care. They want lawmakers stand up to the insurers and finally pass comprehensive, affordable and universal health care.

In a full-page ad in Politico, UFCW thanked Obama "for showing us the way forward on health care reform." Then it demanded Congress approve Obama's framework, because "delay is not an option for the men and women who check groceries, stock shelves, cut meat, make soup, clean buildings, care for children an care for the sick and aged."

SEIU and some allies staged a week-long march that reached Capitol Hill from Philadelphia on Feb. 24. Neither the communications nor the march, which had more than a hundred participants, focused on Obama's plan.

SEIU President Andrew Stern, speaking before the march, blasted insurers who "jack up their premiums" nationwide and drop people from coverage daily. "And because our system is broken, we are even losing loved ones," he added. That included health care activist Melanie Shouse, who died of breast cancer while "still fighting with her insurance company that refused to cover her chemotherapy." The Philadelphia-Washington march was in her memory.

Obama "recognized that people like Melanie should not have to lose their life because of an insurance company refuses treatment. That insurance companies cannot be allowed to gouge Americans with rate increases... And that working families deserve health insurance that covers more and costs less," Stern concluded.

Photo: President Barack Obama speaks during the health care reform meeting at the Blair House in Washington, Feb. 25, 2010. From left are, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Vice President Joe Biden, the president, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., and House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

R.I. town becomes ground zero in war on teachers

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:53:00 +0000

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. - Some 1,000 teachers and supporters from Rhode Island's labor movement packed a town park here Tuesday night in a rousing show of support for nearly 100 teachers and school personnel threatened with firing by the school superintendent, Frances Gallo.

But that did not deter the school board from voting, 5-2, to OK the firing of every teacher at the only high school in this impoverished, majority minority, former mill town. As the names of 74 classroom teachers, plus reading specialists, guidance counselors, physical education teachers, the school psychologist, the principal and three assistant principals, were read aloud, the teachers, many wearing red - one of the school's colors - stood up, some crying.

In the audience also were students like 17-year-old Kelyn Salazar, a Central Falls High junior, who told a reporter, "It's not motivating me to come to school anymore." At the rally earlier, she told the crowd the teacher firings would hurt students academically and emotionally. It "makes my heart break into pieces," she said.

The firings were hailed by right-wing anti-union groups such as the Muskegon, Mich.-based "Education Action Group Foundation," which said it is putting up a billboard in Central Falls backing the superintendent's action. This group boasts that it publishes two anti-union blogs, NEAexposed.com and AFTexposed.com. It has ties to the Michigan Republican Party and billionaire Dick DeVos.

The mass teacher firings also drew immediate praise from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. In comments his aide e-mailed to the Providence Journal that night, Duncan said he "applauded" the school board for "showing courage and doing the right thing for kids."

Duncan's support for the mass firings will be seen by many as a slap in the face to teachers, their unions and the entire labor movement. The impact could extend far beyond those directly involved in education, as labor is widely recognized as the crucial factor to Obama's 2008 victory in some key states.

Gallo said she made the move because teachers refused to accept her "transformational" plan to remedy the school's low test scores and graduation rates. But Central Falls Teachers Union President Jane Sessums told a reporter, "We don't take lightly that our scores are low. Everyone acknowledges that we have work to do." The union, part of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, says it agreed with the transformation concept but objected to the superintendent's "take it or leave it" approach.

Last August, Duncan announced requirements for $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants to "turn around the nation's lowest performing schools."

Each school district applying for the funding is required to implement one of four "rigorous interventions."

First on the list is a "turnaround model" that calls for replacing the principal and at least 50 percent of the school's staff, and adopting a "new governance structure" and "new or revised instructional program."

Number two is the "restart model" - close "failing" schools and reopen them under the management of a charter school operator or "management organization."

Number three is simply labeled "school closure" - close "failing" schools and transfer the students to other schools in the district.

Last on the list is the "transformational model" - 1) developing "teacher and school leader effectiveness," which includes replacing the principal, 2) implementing "comprehensive instructional reform strategies," 3) "extending learning and teacher planning time and creating community-oriented schools," and 4) "providing operating flexibility and sustained support."

Any district with nine or more schools affected is not allowed to use any single strategy in more than half of its schools.

Chicago, where Duncan was schools chief before his current job, has been a laboratory for those models, with 85 school closings in the past few years, massive shuffling of students among schools, and wholesale firings of everyone from teachers with Master's degrees to cafeteria "lunch ladies."

In a statement issued Wednesday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said, "We are disappointed that U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan didn't get all the facts-or even speak with teachers-before weighing in on the mass firing."

"Everyone involved, including teachers, has a responsibility to improve the quality of education at Central Falls High School," Weingarten said. "We are surprised that Superintendent Frances Gallo, who wants to fire every school employee, has not accepted any responsibility herself, especially since she has been at the helm for three years."

The union head also expressed disappointment that Gallo and the state education commissioner had rejected Weingarten's offers to meet to resolve the situation, and had also rejected a mediation proposal by former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, now an independent and front-running candidate for governor. The union has a track record of success in collaborative problem-solving.

Photo: PW/Susan Webb

Labor’s own runs for high office

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:52:00 +0000

DALLAS -- Working people in Texas are excited about the campaign of Linda Chavez-Thompson for lieutenant governor. Most of us know the story of how she came up from the cotton fields of Lubbock, Texas, to become the highest female officer in the American labor movement. The former executive vice president of the AFL-CIO had retired to her San Antonio home before the Texas AFL-CIO and leaders of the Democratic Party dragged her back out into the fight for the rights of ordinary people.

After taking high office in the historic 1995 AFL-CIO elections, Chavez-Thompson championed the rights of the most oppressed workers in America, including women and immigrants. She helped bring the AFL-CIO out of its isolated existence and to the forefront of the progressive movement, where it continues to shine today.

If Chavez-Thompson gets past the Democratic primary race on March 2 and is elected in November, she will be one of the most powerful political figures in state government. Texas is the second largest state in size and population. In many ways, the lieutenant governor of Texas has much more power than the governor. It is next to impossible to get legislation passed in Texas without the cooperation of the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor.

After Chavez agreed to enter the Democratic Primary, the very popular former district attorney of Austin, Ronnie Earle, also threw his hat into the ring. Earle is known worldwide as the legal expert who ended the infamous political career of former Republican Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugarland. Earle is despised by the state's Republicans and cherished by Democrats, but his own hometown newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, gave their endorsement to Chavez-Thompson as the stronger candidate.

Union experts believe that Chavez-Thompson can win this race. Additionally, having a Latina at the top of the ticket will help turn out the state's large Latino vote. It is particularly important in the Rio Grande Valley area, where thousands of Latinos vote in Democratic primaries, but largely ignore the general election. In the valley, Democratic primaries settle most local elections. With Chavez-Thompson campaigning, the full power of Latino voters may be felt at last.

Photo: Linda Chavez Thompson emcees an Austin rally for health care. Jim Lane/PW

Pratt & Whitney “defies court order” with layoffs

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:40:00 +0000

KENSINGTON, Conn. - Representatives of the International Association of Machinists were notified yesterday that Pratt & Whitney intends to lay off 119 workers in Cheshire and 44 in East Hartford. Company President David Hess then announced an appeal of the court decision which barred P&W from moving jobs out of Connecticut for the duration of the bargaining agreement because of their failure to abide by contract language requiring efforts to preserve Connecticut jobs.

Before layoffs begin, the company will survey for volunteers, as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement. But union representatives were given no opportunity to suggest alternatives to layoffs, even though workers are being brought in on overtime in the same areas the company claims there is a "lack of work."

During the trial on the company's plot to circumvent the contract and move work out of state, evidence was presented that P&W, owned by the profitable United Technologies Corporation, planned to claim a downturn in aerospace as an excuse for cutting Connecticut jobs.

A union media release stressed that Tuesday's layoff announcement, with no discussion of alternatives, seems to "defy the court's ruling, and indicates company executives have not learned anything from the lessons of the trial."

"The top brass of Pratt & UTC were caught in lie after lie during the court trial. They should have owned up to their mistakes and sat down with us," said Everett Corey, IAM District 26's Directing Business Representative. "Instead, they think they can save face by punishing workers. It's outrageous. If they want a fight, they will get one," he concluded.

James Parent, IAM District 26 Assistant Directing Business Representative and chief IAM negotiator for UTC issues, responded, "My message to Pratt is simple: 'work with us to save jobs.' The same people who orchestrated the plant-closing fiasco for Pratt are pushing these layoffs. If they want to start cutting jobs, that's the people they should start with."

Two weeks ago, in a precedent-setting decision, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall ruled that the company violated the union contract by preparing to move operations to Georgia, Singapore and Japan without a good faith effort to find other solutions. She issued a permanent injunction on the company's restructuring plan during the term of the collective bargaining agreement, which expires on December 10, 2010.

As a result of countless battles for job security, the IAM won model language requiring the company to make every reasonable effort to preserve the work in Connecticut, and to explore alternatives with union representatives.

Photo: Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, now candidate for U.S. Senate, receives appreciation from Machinists at press conference announcing court victory barring movement of jobs. IAM

At the last minute, supermarket janitors win contract

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:59:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - On the eve of a scheduled strike vote, the janitors who keep Safeway supermarkets clean around northern California have won a new contract preserving their health and pension benefits and raising the base wage rate for experienced workers to $14.05 per hour, higher than industry standards.

The workers had been scheduled to take a strike vote Feb. 20, but instead, after a tentative agreement was reached late the previous day, a quorum of janitors met to review the pact, and the overwhelming majority voted to ratify it.

"I'm thrilled that we were finally able to reach an agreement with Safeway's contractors that will protect our quality jobs and keep our communities healthy," said Zenon Angeles, supermarket janitor and member of SEIU Local 1877's executive board. "By coming together as a union, we were able to win a strong contract that will boost our wages, maintain our health care coverage and pensions, and safeguard our safety and health."

The previous agreement with contracting firms ABM, Crystal, Premier and AMS had expired Oct. 31, 2009; the new one will extend until Oct. 31, 2012. During the fall and winter janitors rallied and demonstrated around northern California. As talks became more contentious this month, over 150 janitors stopped work on Feb. 10 and 17.

Under the new pact, janitors' wages will rise by between 40 and 65 cents each year until in 2012, the base rate for experienced janitors will reach $14.05 per hour - significantly higher than today's average wage of $10.24.

Although the contractors didn't accept the union's proposals for "Green Cleaning" standards, including use of environmentally friendly cleaning products, the pact includes new provisions for janitors to raise issues such as lack of safety training in regular labor-management meetings. The contractors will also give the union information on health effects of chemicals and cleaning products used in stores, provide safety equipment as required by law, and work with Safeway to quickly replace malfunctioning janitorial equipment. Injured workers will have a streamlined process to file workers' compensation claims.

As in virtually every contract negotiation, health benefits were under challenge in the talks, with the companies dropping their initial proposals to end dental benefits, sharply increase hours of work needed to be eligible for health benefits, and eliminate family health coverage for new hires. The companies also sought to freeze wages for a year, lower starting pay for new janitors, and unilaterally take janitors out of their pension plan.

The new agreement maintains paid vacation, sick, funeral and jury-duty leave, strengthens seniority rights and improves workers' retention rights when supermarkets change janitorial contractors. For the first time, employers will contribute to a training fund for janitors.

Meanwhile, talks continue between SEIU 1877 and contractors hiring another 200 janitors who clean rival Lucky and Save Mart supermarkets. "We are hopeful we will be able to come to a settlement with them soon," said union spokesperson Rachele Huennekens.

Last year some 2,300 janitors who clean supermarkets in southern California, including Vons, Albertsons and Ralph's, won a contract with annual wage increases, no cost increase for health care, a 12-month medical leave of absence for job injuries, and strong Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) language.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/People's World

Machinists union creates website to organize nation's unemployed

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:53:00 +0000

A new website nicknamed UCubed aims to unite over 31 million unemployed Americans to get organized, build power and fight together with the labor movement for jobs and economic recovery.

The website, http://www.unionofunemployed.com/, also known as Ur Union of Unemployed, is a community service project of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). It hopes to reach millions online in an effort to unify and connect the country's unemployed and underemployed in a unique and useful way. Resources on the site include social networking, resume building, job listings, ways to take action on important legislative campaigns and much more.

"Have you lost your job? Well you're not alone, 31 million Americans face the same challenges," says the website. "Do you want your job back? Do you want your life back? But you can't do it alone. Neither can anyone else. You all need each other. That's what UCubed is here to do."

The current economy has harmed us all, says UCubed - salary and hourly, manufacturing and construction, finance and service, union and non-union, college educated and high school dropouts, inner city and suburban residents. Only by working together can we put an end to the current economic turmoil, says the website.

After registering and logging on, the site allows users to connect with others according to your zip code into cubes of six people. UCubed then organizes those cubes into neighborhoods of nine cubes, and then builds them into blocks. Eventually the goal is to build a community of "jobs activists" to support one another and build a power base to fight on behalf of the unemployed and help put people back to work.

"There is strength in numbers," writes IAM International President R. Thomas Buffenbarger in a welcome letter on UCubed. "There is even more strength when those numbers work in unison," he continues.

Buffenbarger notes those struggling given the country's current grave recession will work together on UCubed, each displaying a unique set of skills, talents and experiences that can be shared in a network of mutual support.

As the numbers increase, site users will become a force to pressure the federal government to respond faster and more effectively to the current job crisis, says Buffenbarger.

"The new jobs bill, expansion of unemployment compensation, extension of the COBRA subsidy, food stamp appropriations, tax relief - all are issues that demand immediate action. And both Congress and the White House need to hear from UCubed activists like you every single week," he writes.

Buffenbarger says the website was created because more than 35,000 members of the machinists union have been laid off. Others are working fewer hours each week because their employers simply do not have orders to fill, he adds, and the real recovery, not the false one on Wall Street, still seems years away.

"We desperately want jobs now! Not just for our members, but for all Americans," he writes.

UCubed and the Ur Union of Unemployed is a way to help the jobless become active during those dreary and sleepless nights, says the IAM international president.

"Everywhere we turn we see the personal devastation this grave recession has caused. And we hope UCubed provides a measure of relief - an end to the sense of being all alone, a chance to build something useful and unique, and an opportunity for the unemployed to change things for the better."

Federal labor law regulator hits GOP on filibuster

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:54:00 +0000

Wilma Liebman, Chairman of the NLRB

The chair of the National Labor Relations Board yesterday came closer to taking an openly pro-labor stand than has any federal regulator in history when she blasted the "political paralysis" fostered by the GOP.

NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman spoke at Washington University in St. Louis yesterday just days after a Senate filibuster killed President Obama's nomination to her board.
She also decried the fact that the National Labor Relations Act, unlike other federal regulatory laws, has not been adapted to new circumstances for decades and that, "given the bitter politics of the last months, it is hard to think hopefully about the future of labor law." Describing labor law today as a "dinosaur," she said she knew of "no other body of federal law that governs a whole domain of social life that has been insulated from significant change for so long."

With Obama's election labor expected to win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, the first revision of that law since the 1947. The Taft-Hartley Act, approved by a GOP Congress that year, severely weakened the original National Labor Relations Act passed during the Great Depression.

Taft-Hartley, for example, allowed employers to insist on secret ballot elections when workers unionize. Under the original National Labor Relations Act unions were recognized as soon as a majority signed authorization cards. The EFCA would restore that and other protections in the original law.

The bitter politics cited by Liebman, a Democrat, have left her 5-member board with only two members, her and Republican Peter Schaumber, making decisions for the last 26 months. The legality of those rulings was challenged in court and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case in March.

Republican filibusters have prevented all of President Obama's attempts to the fill the vacancies.

They opposed the president's most recent nomination, that of Craig Becker, a Chicago union lawyer, claiming Becker would use his position to bypass Congress and make rulings that would, in effect, mandate the EFCA into existence.

Labor wanted Obama to use his power of "recess appointment" to fill the vacancies during the President's Day recess with the two pro-labor lawyers filibustered by the GOP. The president made a deal with the Republican Senate minority to refrain from making those appointments, which would last until the end of 2010, in exchange for approval of some 20 other non-controversial nominees. The AFL-CIO blasted the deal.

The Communications Workers of America, this week, fired the opening shot in a new push to pressure the president into making the appointments during the Easter recess.
"We are resetting our focus for the Easter recess and mounting an even larger campaign over the next six weeks to fill the NLRB vacancies," Larry Cohen, the union's president said. "Hundreds of thousands have no bargaining rights and no organizing rights," Cohen said, "as every critical case at the national level is frozen."

Unafraid to call the shots as she saw them, Liebman said, in her speech, that President Reagan's 1981 firing of air traffic controllers, who struck for safety reasons, "unleashed businesses to challenge the (labor) law and the Depression-era social compact the original act created."

She said that "compounding the challenge in this climate was a greater willingness by some employers not just to bend the law, but to break the law to defeat unions and to frustrate collective bargaining."

Liebman also criticized the NLRB itself. "It does not defend its own premise," she declared, "written into the original 1935 act, that promotion of collective bargaining is a public good and the best way to advance workers' interests."

Photo Wilma Liebman, Chairman of the NLRB http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/ / CC BY 2.0

Labor presses White House on NLRB nominees

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:48:00 +0000

The labor movement showed this week that when it comes to fighting for what it sees as the vital concerns of workers it's willing to challenge important allies, up to and including the president of the United States.

Last week the Republicans filibustered and effectively killed President Obama's nomination of Craig Becker, a long-time pro-labor lawyer, to the National Labor Relations Board. They did this despite the support Becker had from the majority.

The GOP continued to stall on approving the appointment of Mark Pearce, another labor lawyer Obama nominated last July.

Labor sees the appointments as important because it's the job of the NLRB to protect workers' rights and for more than two years the board has had only two members instead of the required five. The vacancies have been used as an excuse by employers to get court orders, which have prevented the NLRB from functioning and enforcing labor law.

In a deal between the White House and the Senate Republican minority, the Senate last Friday confirmed 27 non-controversial Obama appointees. The NLRB nominees, Becker and Pearce, both of whom are widely seen as well-qualified and respected, were left out of the deal.

The deal was that President Obama would not use his executive power to put Becker and Pearce in place via Presidents Day recess appointments. The president can make such appointments temporarily when Congress is out of session.

In describing the deal AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said it was a big win for the Republicans.

"A big win for corporations that want to file down the teeth of the NLRB. A big loss for working people," he said.

Trumka called upon labor's supporters to act quickly to voice their support for a fully functional NLRB.

"Progressives should take every opportunity to let their congressional representatives and the White House know that protection of workers' rights is one of the first and most important changes working people expected to see when they voted in 2008," he said.

"It's been 13 months since the inauguration - it's time."

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/ / CC BY 2.0

Californians rally for jobs

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:31:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO - Over 1000 workers and union activists gathered in the state capital on a working day recently in a spirited rally for job-creating legislation.

Unfortunately, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka, snowbound in Washington, D.C., wasn't able to appear. His place was taken by union leaders and rank-and-file activists along with legislative and Congressional figures.

"Arnold (Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) believes that the economy will fix itself - he's still reading from the George Bush hymnal," joked Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, after reporting that 2 million Californians are out of work, and there is 30% unemployment in construction. "The low road economy has failed the people." he added.

"I'm tired of being in budget crises," declared Yvonne Walker, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000, which represents most California state employees.

"It's time for us to hit the streets and demand jobs for each and every one of us." Walker said as she introduced a Local 1000 member, Renee Lee, who described how the 14% pay cut caused by Schwarzenegger's furlough policy has put her house in foreclosure and left her and a five-year-old adopted grandchild in poverty.

"I'm tired of my baby asking why we don't have any money," said Lee.

"Legislators need to get off their asses," said Operating Engineers Local 3 member, Charles Bynum, after describing how his months of employment have decreased in each of the last three years. Now he is looking for a job to maintain medical insurance and help his family. "Many of my brothers and sisters are in the same situation," he added.

"When you spend your money, it keeps the economy going, said Bynum." It doesn't work going in reverse."

"The only way we are going to grow and maintain a tax base is to create jobs now" said California Senate President Pro Tem Darryl Steinberg from Sacramento.

"This is my 10th year in the legislature and my 10^th budget," he said. "Every year is the same: cuts, fights and the two-thirds vote, which we have to change." In California, a two-thirds majority is required to pass a state budget or any tax increase, while a tax decrease only needs a majority vote.

"We need to get going on high speed rail so 50,000 people can get to work" Steinberg added. "And restoring vocational education in our schools, and ending the furlough policy."

Commenting on the two-third law, Sacramento Central Labor Council Executive Secretary Bill Camp, who emceed the rally, said, "We need to remind people that this is a democracy, where the majority rules."

Congressman and former Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi told the demonstrators that in the perspective of Washington, the job crisis didn't begin with the Obama administration. "It's the fault of the horrible policy of the Bush administration," he said. "We want the TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) money back for jobs, and it's not nearly enough."

The country needs to bring back WPA (Works Program Administration) of the 1930s, when federal funds built, libraries, schools and bridges, Garamendi said.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/ Denise Solis, SEIU Local 1877 Northern California vice president at demonstration on the "green cleaning" issue.

Steelworkers call for Civil Rights 2.0: A youth-led jobs revolution

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:46:00 +0000

A ringing call for a new militant Civil Rights movement "2.0" centered on the fight for jobs was recently made by leaders of the United Steelworkers, Leo W. Gerard and Fred Redmond.

"It's time to stand up and be heard," they said. "It's time to mobilize online and in the streets. Together, let's tweet, facebook and text. Let's rally, vote and, where necessary, sit-in."

The 50th anniversary of the "Greensboro Four," when Black college students ignited a movement challenging racial segregation and injustice in the South, served as shining example for the labor leaders.

"The involvement of young people in that movement - along with religious, labor and other community leaders - cannot be underestimated," they noted. "They forced America to change for the better, to change for them."

Five decades later, "it's time for America's youth to lead another revolution, one that forces the nation to solve the critical civil rights challenge of this time." This challenge is jobs.

The labor leaders pointed to the unique problems facing young people. Of the more than 46 million uninsured Americans, 13.2 million are young adults - the fastest growing segment of citizens without health benefits. One-third of Latinos and one-fifth of blacks are uninsured compared to 13 percent of whites.
The official unemployment rate nationwide is nearly 10 percent and 20 million workers ages 16 to 24 were jobless in 2009. That's more than 50 percent of all people in that age group, union leaders note. And unemployment rates for Blacks and Latinos are twice as high.
"It's time for a revolution," they said.

Leaders of the civil rights movement knew good jobs provided a pathway to a better life and they knew that justice wasn't going to happen without coordinated, sustained and organized action, noted Gerard and Redmond.

Gerard and Redmond said young people today must have the same opportunities as prior generations, laying stress on the manufacturing industry, the "great equalizer" for America.

"We're talking about new, high tech, clean, efficient and world-class manufacturing. The making of wind turbines and solar panels to power the clean energy industry; hybrid and electric cars, components for iPhones, laptop computers and other electronics; materials for energy-efficient office buildings, homes and roads. Parts needed for high-speed rail, modern schools, updated water lines, sewer systems and other infrastructure that's costing us money and precious time in the fight against global warming."

Gerard and Redmond note every manufacturing job supports five more jobs, compared to just one job supported by a service sector position.

Such jobs pay an average 10 to 50 percent more than service sector jobs.

Creating 2.5 million new manufacturing jobs would mean at least $100 billion for the American economy over the next decade.

Most union workers earn more than nonunion workers and more importantly they share a voice on the job when it comes to health care, stronger safety and health protections and retirement security.

If Wall Street shareholders are entitled to a share of profits, then the hard working employees who help businesses thrive should also get their fair share too, they charge.

The Steelworker leaders are calling on young people to lead the way.

"Imagine the opportunities. Think about the difference in your lives, in your communities. America needs you in this fight, and you need to be in this fight," they said.

"Let's begin a revolution."

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/green4all/ / CC BY 2.0

Movies, not bombs, are state’s biggest job-creation program since WWII

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:05:00 +0000

SANTA FE, N.M. - A film and media day here this month spotlighted the massive job-creating potential of movies and the arts. The film industry is this state's "biggest job creation program since the Manhattan Project," union leader Jon Hendry said at the event.

Instead of making weapons of mass destruction, like the Manhattan Project scientists and technicians and support staff did in New Mexico in the 1940s, the state's film industry has created more than 12,000 new film and film-related jobs, said Hendry, who is business agent for IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees) Local 480, the union representing New Mexico film and television technicians.

More than 1,000 students, film workers and members of the public came out to New Mexico Film and Media Day here Feb. 5. The event was co-sponsored by Local 480 and the New Mexico Film Office

Inside a massive tent decorated with photographs of working New Mexicans were informational booths set up by schools, unions, professional organizations and businesses. Outside were trailers for hair and make-up, wardrobe, and craft services, as well as special demonstrations of a boom and wind machine.

Hundreds of film technicians encouraged students to participate in on-site filming of a short movie and public service announcements for New Mexico non-profit organizations. "It was great to see kids from all over the state working with union members on honing their skills," said Hendry.

According to Lisa Strout, head of the New Mexico Film Office, nearly 14,000 students in the state are studying film and media.

The New Mexico film community hosted a breakfast for mayors and tribal leaders, thanking them for their support of the growth of the state's film industry.

Said Hendry, "The tribal leaders and mayors and other local government officials have been incredibly supportive of the effort to bring more film projects to New Mexico. There are over 12,000 new film and related film jobs that have been created by this industry, which just happens to be the biggest job creation program since the Manhattan Project."

The previous night, the tent was home to a reception for state legislators and invited guests. Two noteworthy producers attended: Tony Mark, of "The Hurt Locker" (nine Oscar nominations) and Dan Dubiecki, of "Up In The Air" (six Oscar nominations). Both are members of the Directors Guild of America.

The Film and Media Day coincided with the state's legislative session, in which state Senate Bills 235 and 248 have proposed limiting funding available to the film industry. In the Feb. 7 issue of "The New Mexican," writer Robert Nott noted that "on Friday state film office representatives distributed a letter from actor/director/producer Robert Redford extolling the virtues of New Mexico's film incentives and suggesting that if the incentives are capped, 'this would devastate the state's economy. Thousands would become unemployed.'"

Photo: filmnewmexico

Remembering James W. Ford

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:15:00 +0000

In honor of African American History Month, the sixth article in our series on the Communist Party's 90th anniversary will survey a document written by James W. Ford, one of the most recognized African American leaders in the party during the 1930's, 40's and early 50's.

James W. Ford, who ran for vice president on the Communist Party ticket in 1932, '36 and '40, was the first African American to run for a presidential ticket in U.S. history. Ford served in the military during WWI; after the war he was an active trade unionist in the American Postal Workers' Union. In 1925, he became active in the American Negro Labor Congress, a mass organization of black workers founded and led by the Party. The following year, Ford officially joined the CP. Ford quickly became a respected leader in the CP and in 1928 he was sent to the Soviet Union to the 4th World Congress of the Red International of Labor unions. Also in 1928, Ford attended the 6th World Congress of the Communist International, where he served on the Comintern's Negro Commission, and the 2nd Congress of the League Against Imperialism. In 1930, Ford helped organize the Comintern sponsored 1st International Conference of Negro Workers. In1932, Ford returned to the U.S. where he was elected vice president of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, and to the Political Bureau of the CPUSA. In 1933, Ford was put in charge of the Party work in Harlem. Again in 1935, Ford was sent to the 7th World Congress of the Communist International, and then as fascism was on the rise, he went to Spain to support the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. During the late 1930s, Ford was instrumental in founding the National Negro Congress. After WWII, the dissolution of the Communist Party by Earl Browder, and it's re-founding, Ford continued to play an active role in the Communist Party, African American rights, peace and socialism. Ford died in 1957.

The document that we will survey comes from the January 1943 issue of "The Communist," a monthly magazine published by the CPUSA; the article is titled "Mobilize Negro Manpower For Victory."

During most of World War II African Americans were segregated in the Armed Forces and in most war-related industries. Additionally, despite the the Roosevelt administration's stance on the issue, the government bodies established by to oversee war-time production needs remained largely opposed to desegregation.

It is in this context that Ford writes, "The armed forces of the United States are engaged far and wide in this people's war for the survival of our nation...The armed forces are drawing heavily upon the national manpower. It is required that all Americans, regardless of race or religion, be fitted into the production program for a total war economy, to supply the armed forces and the civilian war needs."

While Ford viewed the newly established Manpower Commission as a positive step forward, he also criticized it for not going far enough. First he criticized it for not including provisions that insure representation from labor and farmer's organizations. Second, he wrote, "the absence of a mandatory provision for representatives of Negro organizations" is a major shortcoming of the commission that weakens war production.

With these caveats, Ford wrote, the "Manpower Commission can transform the entire nation in moral and in working efficiency; it can make the people a living part of the nation's industrial machinery...it can unite the people as never before and make them assume a sense of national civic responsibility..."

Ford continues, "Discrimination is a political problem and is eating at the vitals of mobilization of the total war effort."

As is apparent, Ford is arguing that all-out mobilization in war production is necessary to defeat fascism, however war production is hampered by racism, therefore the federal government must do more to challenge racism in war-related industries in order to win the war.

Additionally, Ford argues, "It [discrimination] is eating at the heart of the Negro people and aggravating their attitude and morale towards the war effort...The Negro people," he continues, "are fully justified in their resentment and struggle against abuses that have meant their rejection as a part of national unity."

Ford is making a very important point here. He is arguing for the broadest possible national unity within the context of the struggle for African American equality. Rather than being a compromise, Ford's analysis suggests that African American equality can be fought for more fully by winning the full participation of African Americans in the war effort.

Ford then goes on to highlight the work of the United Automobile Workers union, the National Maritime Union and the United Electrical Workers' Union in breaking down racist barriers in their respective union jurisdictions. Ford called these unions "outstanding examples."

For example, Ford writes, "The U.E.W.A changed the place of its national convention because hotels discriminated against its Negro delegates. In New Jersey a local of that union forced the employers to include 20 percent Negro workers in its training program for 25,000 workers. [And] The U.A.W.A...took prompt steps to end a local wildcat strike of white workers of that union because Negro workers had been assigned to skilled jobs."

However, he noted, "There are...many bottlenecks of discrimination that operate against the full integration of Negroes in war industries." In fact, "many state employment services refuse to hire Negroes," especially in the South, and many unions refused to follow the lead of the CIO-led unions mentioned above.

To this Ford responded, "Discrimination by unions against Negro workers is a problem that the entire labor movement must tackle in the spirit of the CIO, which brands discrimination as characteristic of our Nazi enemies."

James W. Ford fought tirelessly for full equality, while fighting for total war mobilization against fascism. He saw the struggle to win democracy abroad as being connected to the struggle to win democracy here at home.

His strategic and tactical insight contributed to the struggle to win African American equality in a period of equal rights struggle usually given very little attention in history books. As part of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party let us celebrate James W. Ford and the countless other communists who fought so tirelessly for equality here at home, while working to defeat fascism abroad.

School chief fires every teacher at town’s only high school

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:11:00 +0000

The school superintendent in Central Falls, R.I., has moved to fire all 74 teachers at the town's only high school, after their union refused to accept her demands.

School chief Frances Gallo had demanded that teachers agree to a "transformation plan" that included lengthening the school day, requiring teachers to attend weekly 90-minute meetings after school, and having them be evaluated by "third-party" evaluators. In addition, Gallo sought to mandate duties teachers say they are already performing on their own initiative: tutoring students before and after school, and eating lunch with students. The superintendent says these steps are necessary to remedy the school's low test scores and graduation rates. She did not offer the teachers additional pay for most of the added duties.

The Central Falls Teachers Union, part of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, says it agreed with the transformation concept but objected to the superintendent's "take it or leave it" approach. The teachers said they wanted input on the content as well as the compensation for the additional time worked, and raised questions about the outside evaluators.

The superintendent said she will issue termination notices later this month. The school district's Board of Trustees will vote on the firings Feb. 23. Gallo said the teachers could reapply for their jobs, but with different job descriptions.

Last month State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist named the school one of the worst in the state and presented four options. Gallo's "transformation" plan was one. The others were: closing the school; inviting a charter program or company to run the school; or the "turnaround" model: replacing the principal and firing all teachers, rehiring no more than 50 percent. That's the option Gallo has now moved to.

James Parisi, field representative for the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, called the firings a "bargaining tactic" to get the union to agree to the superintendent's terms. In fact, Parisi said, there has been a lot of reform at the school supported by the teachers. That has helped raise reading scores by 21 percent over the last two years, he noted. If there are teachers whose performance is below par, that can and should be dealt with, he said, but "there is no relation between mass firings of teachers and making schools better."

Central Falls has charter elementary and middle schools, and Parisi and others believe the moves by Gallo and Grist are a "prelude" to turning the high school over to a charter operator. That is a trend promoted in U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's "Race to the Top" program. "There's a lot of money to be made" in charter school operations, Parisi commented.

A packed meeting of the trustees last week drew an outpouring of support for the teachers from students and alumni.

Central Falls, a former mill town, is one of the state's poorest.

This is the same town that gained notoriety in 2008 over its for-profit immigrant detention center, where an immigrant died after not receiving proper medical. A New York Times article in December 2008 noted that such prisons, for which the city received $2 or $3 per inmate, had a special attraction for poverty-stricken communities.

With an influx of immigrants in recent years, the town's population is now majority Latino. Long-term local residents were among those imprisoned in the detention center after being swept up in federal immigration roundups. Together with a vicious anti-immigrant campaign in Rhode Island, backed by the Republican governor, the raids sowed a climate of fear that affected students at Central Falls High, the Times reported in 2008.

"At Central Falls High School, some students stopped coming to class because their families had gone into hiding, said Margie Cruz, a school-home liaison: ‘The child was born here, the child is legal. But the family has to hide because the father will be deported.

‘I've seen students stopped for a traffic violation and the whole family got deported,' she added. ‘Children that were here for years. I watched them grow up.'"

Mass firing of their teachers seems like yet another demoralizing message for these teenagers.

Updated. An earlier version of this article had an incorrect date for the Board of Trustees vote.

Photo: Central Falls High School. http://www.cfschools.net/Schools/High%20School%20Website/Pages/Home.htm

Support is building for Transportation Security officers

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:08:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - Since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was formed following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Transportation Security Officers responsible for keeping the country's airways safe and secure have been fighting their own struggle for security through collective bargaining rights.

Some 100 area labor and community supporters and elected officials rallying at Oakland International Airport Feb. 12 demonstrated wholehearted support for their cause.

"They give us the security and confidence to know that we can fly and keep our families safe," California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski told the rally. "But much as they do to protect us, there's nothing to protect them. Long schedules, hard work, poor wages, and they don't even have the freedom to collectively bargain for a decent wage for themselves," Pulaski said, pledging the support of the whole California labor movement.

The AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) "have been fighting for eight long years" to win "the same basic rights of every federal employee and every American - the right to collectively bargain," said AFGE national organizer Joe Diggs.

"If I am on the front lines against terrorism, why cannot I have collective bargaining, why can't I have someone who can officially represent me in any sort of dispute?" asked Oakland Airport Transportation Security Officer Steve Ayala. He urged rally participants to show their support for the TSOs by wearing something that says, AFGE. "Say, ‘Hi, how are you doing?' instead of, ‘why do I have to take off my shoes?'"

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who had planned to address the rally but was snowed in on the East Coast, sent the workers warm greetings.

City and county elected officials and state legislators also signaled their support.

Of some 34,000 TSOs around the country who could join the union, about 13,000 are already dues-paying members of AFGE, even though the union is now limited to helping TSOs without the ability to formally represent them. AFGE currently represents some 600,000 federal government and District of Columbia workers.

The Bush administration fought any move to give TSOs collective bargaining rights. Though candidate Obama promised to do so, his nominee to head the agency withdrew after Republican attacks, and legislation for bargaining rights remains in the House of Representatives. Rally participants signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, urging immediate action to grant the TSOs collective bargaining rights.

In a conversation after the rally, Diggs said the fairly cooperative TSO-management relations at the Oakland airport are an exception. "The problem we're having at other airports is that management teams are very arbitrary, because there's no third party review of anything they do."

Diggs described a situation at another airport, where a supervisor was fired for an action which was not a violation at the time it was undertaken. "She was out of work for eight months because we had to go through the internal system," Diggs said. "If we had had collective bargaining, we could have filed a grievance and gone to arbitration," and the TSA would be less likely to take such actions.

Other airport unions, including flight attendants, pilots and baggage workers, are supporting TSOs at other airports, Diggs said, and AFGE is building such a coalition in Oakland.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel