Sicko energizes health care debate
Even before it officially opens on June 29, Michael Moore’s latest documentary “Sicko” is already impacting the national health care debate. Over 1,000 nurses and supporters braved sweltering heat to join Moore at a June 12 rally in Sacramento, Calif., sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
This strike belongs to all who believe in justice!
CHICAGO — Four years after 150 employees walked off the job at the historic Congress Plaza Hotel to protest cuts in wages and health benefits, workers continue to picket, saying they are holding out for a fair contract.
Workers rally to build justice at Pulte
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — Led by several Latino construction workers from the Southwest and by Robert Masciola of the national AFL-CIO, an informational rally was held outside of the shareholders meeting of Pulte Homes, Inc., at the Community House in this upscale suburb of Detroit, May 10.
Border insecurity rises, as does the temperature
TUCSON, Ariz. — While Congress debates “tougher security at the border,” the temperature is rising above 100 degrees in the Sonoran Desert. Already 84 bodies have been found along the Mexico-Arizona border, more than this time last year.
Black unionists assail wage, wealth gaps
CHICAGO — Answering the question, “Are the civil rights and labor movements united?” with a resounding “more than ever,” the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists held its 36th international convention here May 23-28.
Banner day for Washington health care activists
United for National Health Care and Whatcom County (Wash.) Jobs with Justice held a successful Health Care Day of Action in Whatcom and Skagit counties June 7. During evening rush hour, 70 people participated at 15 overpasses on Interstate 5 with banners proclaiming: Health Care for All — Now!
CLUW fights for family leave
Big business tried to keep the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) from becoming law in 1993. Now the business lobby is trying to dismantle one of this era’s most family-friendly reforms, says the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
New Haven demands justice for janitors
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Over 1,000 janitors and their supporters gathered here June 15 to say the time has come for janitors in New Haven to become union members. “You cannot live on the wages you earn and your kids cannot afford a good education,” Hector Figueroa, SEIU Local 32 BJ secretary treasurer, told them. “We have won many struggles before, and this is one more that we are going to win.”
Detroit janitors fight for union wages, benefits
DETROIT — On June 15, national Justice for Janitors day, several hundred Detroit area janitors, members of Service Employees International Union Local 3, marched to the new downtown PricewaterhouseCoopers building to send notice to New Image, the nonunion cleaning contractor servicing the building, that they will not allow nonunion businesses to take root in the city. On their way back, the marchers were warmly greeted by many fans leaving the stadium of baseball’s first-place Detroit Tigers.
For green jobs: Time for an oil change in America
WASHINGTON — When Exxon Mobil reported 2006 first quarter profits of $8.4 billion, it put the energy giant on track to outstrip its record $36 billion profits in 2005. Last week’s “Take Back America” conference here noted that while Exxon Mobil is a big winner, millions of Americans are the losers in an economy based on fossil fuels and denial of the human and environmental damage it causes.
