Goodyear workers strike for safety, jobs, health care
As the holiday season approaches, 15,000 workers at Goodyear plants in 10 U.S. states and three Canadian cities, members of the United Steelworkers, walk the picket lines, as the union ramps up a national solidarity campaign.
Houston janitors score big victory
HOUSTON — Nationwide pressure — everything from pending strikes elsewhere to a strong statement from a key U.S. senator — plus images of Houston’s mounted police beating and arresting unarmed janitors forced this city’s top cleaning firms to bargain and finally give striking janitors here a big win on Nov. 20.
Labor summit launches drive to fulfill voter mandate
Folks were still eating turkey sandwiches when the AFL-CIO issued its call for a Dec. 8-9 labor summit and march in Washington, D.C., to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, a top legislative priority for labor. Among the summit’s goals is training 250,000 “trusted messengers,” worksite-based labor activists, to force veto-proof enactment of EFCA.
North Carolina Smithfield workers win against the odds
TAR HEEL, N.C. — Close to 1,000 Smithfield Packing Co. workers walked off the job here Nov. 16 to protest illegal firings, and they won against big odds.
Greyhound workers rally for justice
DALLAS — Members of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1700 hit the streets here as part of a national series of rallies aimed at winning a better contract with Greyhound Bus Lines.
They heard
Do you think they heard us this time? Although the Bush administration and its congressional allies have done a very good job of ignoring working families for six years, I think they must have heard us Nov. 7.
Labor board leaves workers in twilight zone
The U.S. Department of Labor’s web site refers to the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935, as “labor’s Magna Carta,” extolling the fact that the act guarantees “workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.” That right could be history for millions of America’s workers in the wake of a recent decision by the NLRB that sharply limits union eligibility.
Education is a right: New Yorkers fight for fair funding
NEW YORK CITY — In 2001, New York State Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse ruled that New York State was in violation of its own Constitution which guarantees every child the right to a “sound, basic education.” Since then, education activists, teachers and parents have been fighting — in the courts and in the court of public opinion — to remedy the gross inequities in public school funding.
Workers not at fault in BPs deadly blast
Agreeing with the Steelworkers union and strongly rejecting company claims of workers’ guilt, the federal government’s chemical safety investigations board threw the book at British Petroleum on Oct. 31 over the fatal explosion at its Texas City refinery more than a year ago.
Civil rights legend Pancho Medrano honored
DALLAS — Activists here honored one of the nation’s most distinguished civil rights figures Nov. 4. On legislation originated by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D), who represents East Dallas, the Lakeland Hills Post Office was rededicated to the memory of Francisco “Pancho” Medrano.
