AFL-CIO widens 2008 agenda
CHICAGO — The labor movement showed what it is made of Aug. 7 at Soldier Field when 17,000 union members and their families challenged seven Democratic presidential candidates to explain to the nation how they will change things.
Miners lives take back seat to profit
When Louis Alonso Hernandez, 23, Manuel Sanchez, 41, Kerry Allred, 57, Brandon Phillips, 24, Don Erickson, 50, and Carlos Payan, in his 20s, began their 12-hour shift 1,500 feet underground at the Crandall Canyon mine Aug. 6, they fully expected to see their families at the end of the day.
Texas unionists demand health care for all
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coming to this coastal city from all corners of the Lone Star State, a strikingly diverse group of delegates — men and women of many nationalities, young and old — gathered for the 47th constitutional convention of the Texas AFL-CIO Aug. 1-4.
Company picks workers pockets
CANTON, OHIO — Can a company make deductions from its employees’ paychecks for health care, child support and payments to a credit union, and then pocket the money? That’s what steelworkers at the closed Stark Ceramics here charge their employer did, and they are gearing up for a fight.
Utah mine was unsafe
Rescue teams were still racing to reach six coal miners who remained trapped 1,500 feet below ground a day after an Aug. 6 collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine in central Utah. The collapse was so intense that it initially registered as a magnitude 3.9 earthquake.
Catholic hospital chain pressed on low wages
CHICAGO (PAI) — Four years ago, Araceli Romero’s son Julio developed a serious infection. Romero, a laundress at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago — flagship of one of the nation’s largest Catholic health care medical chains — had no health insurance. On what Resurrection paid, she couldn’t afford it.
Washington and Chiquita partners in terror
Revelations of ties between the Chiquita Brands International, based in Cincinnati, and right-wing terrorist groups in Colombia highlight corporate crimes and swagger in a country rife with suffering. They also show Washington’s hypocrisy regarding terrorism.
Workers beat back Waste Managements challenge
OAKLAND, Calif. — Residents and businesses here and in neighboring cities heaved a collective sigh of relief this week as garbage workers returned to work July 30 at Waste Management of Alameda County, proud that with support from other unions and the community they had turned back a corporate giant’s all-out union-busting drive.
Working families challenge candidates: What will you do to change things?
CHICAGO — They came to Soldier Field, not to cheer for the hometown Bears, but to challenge presidential candidates to represent the rainbow of working people on Main Street, not Wall Street.
Wide support for garbage workers
OAKLAND, Calif. — As Waste Management, Inc.’s lockout of garbage workers in Alameda County communities entered its fourth week, union pickets at the company’s headquarters here were more determined than ever.
