People Before Profit blog

GOP stalls Violence Against Women Act renewal

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Renewal of the Violence Against Women Act is tied up in Congress. The reason: Republicans reject extending the law's protections for women who are undocumented immigrants, Native Americans, LGBT, or students on campuses.

The Violence Against Women Act, originally enacted in 1994, requires periodic reauthorization. Usually that happens easily with substantial bipartisan support. In 2005 it was renewed nearly unanimously. This year, it passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote. But the Republican-controlled House, on a party-line vote, insisted on passing a version that excluded the added protections for those categories of women. Among those voting for the exclusionary version were Rep. Paul Ryan - MItt Romney's pick for vice president, and Missouri Rep. Todd Akin.

Vice President Joe Biden, who drafted the original 1994 bill, noted in an Aug. 1 op ed that the Violence Against Women Act "established several critical new protections: first, it provides law enforcement with new tools to prosecute domestic violence crimes and put offenders behind bars. Second, it helps victims find safe places to stay so they don't have to choose between living on the streets or living with someone who is hurting them. And third, it gives women a crisis hotline they can call when they need immediate help." Since it was established the National Domestic Violence Hotline has received millions of calls from women. It takes calls in over 170 languages.

Each time VAWA has been reauthorized, the hotline website explains, improvements have been included. For example, the 2005 reauthorization added protections for immigrants; protected victims of domestic violence from evictions; provided new federal funding for rape crisis centers; added services for children and teenagers, and culturally- and linguistically-specific services for communities.

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, points out that women have for the last few years raised the fact that the law still has gaps. Two years ago, women from around the country visited all members of Congress "to make the case for a more inclusive VAWA. We went to both Democratic and Republican offices," O'Neill said in an Aug. 9 statement. Among those they met with was Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"We told Grassley and his staff two years ago that three serious gaps exist: a dearth of services for LGBT, immigrant and tribal victims," O'Neill said. "So imagine my surprise last week, when I heard Sen. Grassley, on behalf of Senate Republican leadership, complain on the floor that the addition of protections for these three populations was the result of Democrats' 'election year politics.'"

As Dominique Paul Noth of the Milwaukee Labor Press reported here, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., related her own life experience with sexual assault and rape in a House floor speech on March 28 supporting a fully inclusive reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. "The fact the act was being treated as a political football because it expanded to protect more women clearly angered her into speaking out that all women need protection," Noth wrote.

In fact, it has been a political football for Republicans for decades. A year after the law was enacted in 1994, House Republicans tried, unsuccessfully, to defund it. John Kasich, then a House member and now Ohio governor, was among those seeking to limit the funding.

Biden, in his op ed, said, "Congress must make the protections in the Violence Against Women Act available to every person in this country who may ever need them. This simply cannot be up for debate in a civilized society like ours."

NOW is urging calls to Congress members during the August recess, urging them to support the Senate's bipartisan, inclusive version of the Violence Against Women Act.

Photo: Julie Gordon Scott // CC 2.0

Cesar Chavez: A true American hero

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:58:00 +0000

It's Cesar Chavez Day, proclaimed by President Obama and observed throughout the country on the 85th birth date of the late founder of the United Farm Workers union. It's an official state holiday in California, Texas and Colorado.

As President Obama noted, Chavez was a leader in launching "one of our nation's most inspiring movements." He taught us, Obama added, "that social justice takes action, selflessness and commitment. As we face the challenges of the day, let us do so with the hope and determination of Cesar Chavez."

Like another American hero, Martin Luther King Jr., Chavez inspired and energized millions of people worldwide to seek and win basic human rights that had long been denied them, and inspired millions of others to join the struggle.

Certainly there are few people in any field more deserving of special attention, certainly no one I've met in more than a half-century of labor reporting.

I first met Cesar Chavez when I was covering labor for the San Francisco Chronicle. It was on a hot summer night in 1965 in the little San Joaquin Valley town of Delano, California. Chavez, shining black hair trailing across his forehead, wearing a green plaid shirt that had become almost a uniform, sat behind a makeshift desk topped with bright red Formica.

"Si se puede," he said repeatedly to me, a highly skeptical reporter, as we talked deep into the early morning hours there in the cluttered shack that served as headquarters for him and the others who were trying to create an effective farm workers union.

"Si se puede! it can be done!"

But I would not be swayed. Too many others, over too many years, had tried and failed to win for farm workers the union rights they absolutely had to have if they were to escape the severe economic and social deprivation inflicted on them by their grower employers.

The Industrial Workers of the World who stormed across western fields early in the 20th century, the Communists who followed, the socialists, the AFL and CIO organizers all their efforts had collapsed under the relentless pressure of growers and their powerful political allies.

I was certain this effort would be no different. I was wrong. I had not accounted for the tactical brilliance, creativity, courage and just plain stubbornness of Cesar Chavez, a sad-eyed, disarmingly soft-spoken man who talked of militancy in calm, measured tones, a gentle and incredibly patient man who hid great strategic talent behind shy smiles and an attitude of
utter candor.

Chavez grasped the essential fact that farm workers had to organize themselves. Outside organizers, however well intentioned, could not do it. Chavez, a farm worker himself, carefully put together a grass-roots organization that enabled the workers to form their own union, which then sought out and won widespread support from influential outsiders.

The key weapon of the organization, newly proclaimed the United Farm Workers, or UFW, was the boycott. It was so effective between 1968 and 1975 that 12 percent of the country's adult population that's 17 million people quit buying table grapes.

The UFW's grape boycott and others against wineries and lettuce growers won the first farm union contracts in history in 1970. That led to enactment five years later of the California law also a first that requires growers to bargain collectively with workers who vote for unionization. And that led to substantial improvements in the pay, benefits, working conditions and general status of the state's farm workers. Similar laws, with similar results, have now been enacted elsewhere.

The struggle that finally led to victory was extremely difficult for the impoverished workers, and Chavez risked his health if not his life to provide them extreme examples of the sacrifices necessary for victory. Most notably, he engaged in lengthy, highly publicized fasts that helped rally the public to the farm workers' cause and that may very well have contributed to his untimely death in 1993 at age 66.

Fasts, boycotts. It's no coincidence that those were the principal tools of Mohandas Gandhi, for Chavez drew much of his inspiration from the Hindu leader. Like Gandhi and another of his models, Martin Luther King Jr.,Chavez fervently believed in the tactics of non-violence. Like them, he showed the world how profoundly effective they can be in seeking justice from even the most powerful opponents.

"We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons," Chavez explained.

His iconic position has been questioned recently by outsiders claiming Chavez acted as a dictator in his last years as head of the UFW. But what the UFW accomplished under his leadership, and how the union accomplished it, will never be forgotten not by the millions of social activists who have been inspired and energized by the farm workers' struggle, nor by the
workers themselves.

Chavez deservedly remains, and undoubtedly will always remain, an American icon who led the way to winning important legal rights for farm workers. But more than union contracts, and more than laws, farm workers now have what Cesar Chavez insisted was needed above all else. That, as he told me so many years ago, "is to have the workers truly believe and understand and
know that they are free, that they are free men and women, that they are free to stand up and fight for their rights."

Freedom. No leader has ever left a greater legacy. But the struggle continues. Despite the UFW victories, farm workers are in great need offully exercising the rights won under Chavez' leadership. They need toreverse what has been a decline in the UFW's fortunes in recent years,
caused in part by lax enforcement of the laws that granted farm workers union rights.

Many farm workers are still mired in poverty, their pay and working and living conditions a national disgrace. They average less than $10,000 a year and have few if any fringe benefits. They suffer seasonal unemployment.

Job security is rare, as many of the workers are desperately poor immigrants from Mexico or Central America who must take whatever is offered or be replaced by other desperately poor workers from the endless stream ofimmigrants. Child labor is rampant.

Most hiring and firing is done at the whim of employers, many of them wealthy corporate growers or labor contractors who unilaterally set pay and working conditions and otherwise act arbitrarily.

Workers are often exposed to dangerous pesticides and other serious health and safety hazards that make farm work one of the country's most dangerous occupations. They often even lack such on-the-job amenities as fresh drinking water and field toilets, and almost invariably are forced to livein overcrowded, seriously substandard housing.

Cesar Chavez Day should remind us of the continuing need to take forceful legal steps and other action in behalf of farm workers to help them overcome their wretched conditions and finally provide a decent life for all those who do the hard, dirty and dangerous work that puts fruit and
vegetables on our tables.

We need, in short, to carry on what Cesar Chavez began. We could pay nogreater homage to his memory.

Photo: Creative Commons 3.0

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis hosted the Induction of the Farm Worker Movement into the Labor Hall of Honor in the Great Hall and then proceeded to name and unveil the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Auditorium.

Pro-worker Rep. Moore personalizes rape in speech

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:48:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Rep. Gwen Moore, the veteran pro-worker Democratic congresswoman from Milwaukee, has never ducked being a victim of sexual assault and often credited a network of women with helping her escape domestic abuse. But she has never elaborated on her own lifelong experience with sexual assault and rape as she did in a House floor speech on March 28 supporting the previously bipartisan Violence Against Women Act.

The fact the act was being treated as a political football because it expanded to protect more women clearly angered her into speaking out that all women need protection.

Unions have been long and strong supporters of the Violence Against Women Act. When its renewal came up in the Senate in February - and the GOP turned it into a partisan issue there, too - the Steelworkers' Janet Hill, a Coalition of Labor Union Women activist, shot back in a blog entitled "Hey, Congress, how about giving half the population some love?"

"The Network to End Domestic Violence estimates that more than 3.5 million violence survivors were turned away due to inadequate funding and staffing of VAWA programs," Hill wrote. "So when you make that call to your senator, let them know that you think it's wrong and costly to turn away violence victims.

"VAWA not only provided training to youth and boys to help prevent violence, it also provides assistance to local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute crimes and to assist survivors with transitional housing, legal assistance, and supervised visitation services. It provides tools to help police, the courts, and other providers to help identify those at high risk of homicide" from perpetrators, Hill added.

To support her premise and express her mystification at the nearly universal resistance within the GOP, Moore provided explicit details as well as earnestness.

She related personal episodes about her childhood experiences with sexual assault by a distant relative, a life of sexual attacks and demeaning incidents, being targeted for conquest in high school, and losing a court case largely because of attitudes toward women decades ago. Apparently, those decades-old attitudes were curiously being resurrected by the congressional Republicans.

Like many women, Moore says, her lifetime dealings and actual victimization, including beatings, rapes, and abusive relationships, are not distant from the norm.

Violence is as "American as apple pie" and seems to particularly appeal to the male psyche, Moore said on the House floor, deliberately for the record. "I think that men, boys, see it as a rite of passage to have sex with girls. Lovers feel it is their right to dominate women in that way. That has been my experience."

Moore, now 60, has emphasized in interviews how the Violence Against Women law wasn't around to help her, though it has since helped thousands of women. So it needed renewal and expansion because it is working for women of all backgrounds and political ideologies, she noted. She was clearly perplexed and even angry that this bill is now part of partisan gridlock because it was expanded.

The law, first passed in 1994, was renewed in 2005 nearly unanimously. Now funding has become contentious because of new provisions covering gays, lesbians, undocumented women, and tribal women attacked without penalty by nontribal men.

All eight Republican men on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against it in February, prompting CLUW activist Hill's blog on the issue. Moore told interviewers: "Once again, for some reason in this 112th Congress, there has been a preoccupation with putting women in their place."

How, she asks, is this a political stunt -- as even GOP women are claiming -- since after years of recognizing its value, suddenly not a single Republican was supporting the bill?

Expansion was clearly filling in gaps in the law, Moore said. That led her to conclude the opposition this time smacks again of the idea that anything that President Obama supports, the GOP is against.

While retaining her composure and seeking to keep larger emphasis in her floor speech on the repellent and atypical GOP opposition, Moore moved the gallery and the online video world with an account that a remarkable number of viewers empathized with when she talked about her high school experiences; they were chilling.

She described "having boys sit in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the egg-head, couldn't be had...and then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn't going to be so willing, completed a date-rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys. I mean this is what American women are facing."

"It is pathetic and it is disappointing that it's come to this. Violence against women in this country is not levied against just Democrats, but Republicans as well...not just rich people or poor people. It knows no gender, it knows no ethnicity, it knows nothing."

But Moore's speech apparently didn't move her colleagues. The male-dominated House didn't even take a vote on the Violence Against Women Act.

Photo: Female protesters in Georgia demonstrate as part of Occupy Atlanta. Jason Getz/AP

Poll: Arizonans oppose right-wing agenda

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:41:00 +0000

PHOENIX - A new statewide poll released today shows Arizonans, including self-identified Republicans, overwhelmingly oppose the extreme legislative agenda being pushed by lawmakers at the Statehouse, particularly measures attacking teachers, nurses and other public service workers who keep our communities safe and strong.

The poll showed Arizonans overwhelmingly want legislators to focus on creating jobs and improving education. The poll - which had a majority of respondents self-identifying as Republicans - also found that only 29 percent of Arizonans approve of the job legislators are doing for them, a finding that shows voters see their lawmakers as extreme and out of touch.

"This poll confirms what we already knew: Arizonans are tired of partisan political games that only benefit special interests like the Goldwater Institute and Arizona's 1 percent," said John Loredo, who is working with the Arizona Working Families Coalition and is the former Arizona House Minority Leader. "Legislators can either focus on job creation and improving education or face the wrath of voters in November by continuing to push these unpopular, overreaching policies that hurt working families and our communities."

The release of the poll comes a day after Arizonans delivered over 20,000 petitions, postcards and letters to Senators opposing a bill that destroys personnel protections and institutes political cronyism, and other measures that do nothing to create jobs and only put families and communities at risk. Though the poll shows job creation is the number one priority for Arizonans, reports from earlier this month show that the Senate Economic Development and Jobs Creation Committee had only met once since January and heard only three bills.

"Since the beginning of the year, extreme lawmakers have ignored the issues Arizonans elected them to work on and, instead, pushed an all-out assault on Arizona working families," said Mike Covert, an elementary school special education teacher with the Cave Creek Unified School District for the past seven years, and a registered independent voter. "With tens of thousands of Arizonans looking for work, it is disheartening to see some legislators focused on bills that create no jobs but open the door to cronyism in government and hurt teachers, nurses and others who provide vital services to our communities."

Lake Research Partners conducted the statewide telephone survey among a representative cross section of 400 registered Arizona voters on March 26-28, 2012. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Here are some of the findings from the poll:

76 percent of respondents said they support the current personnel law that says there must be a reason to fire public employees like teachers, police and firefighters.
87 percent felt that police and firefighters should have a say in their own training and job procedures, which is part of the current personnel laws, while only 8 percent said politicians said have the final say on these procedures, a change that would come if the current personnel bill is passed.
An overwhelming majority of Arizonans - 73 percent - also oppose a law, currently before the legislature, to prohibit public employees from setting up their paychecks to automatically contribute money to a third party.
On legislative priorities Arizonans would like to see lawmakers work on, 40 percent ranked job creation their number one concern followed by improving education at 36 percent. Only 9 percent said legislators' priority should be to change the current hiring and firing process for public employees.
Only 29 percent of respondents gave state legislators a positive approval rating. 35 percent rating their work as "just fair" and 34 percent said lawmakers were doing a "poor" job. This mirrors an earlier poll conducted in January by Behavior Research of Arizona that found only 26 percent of Arizonans with a positive approval of legislators but shows an increase in disapproval.
Gov. Brewer fared better but a majority of Arizonans polled - 52 percent - gave her a "just fair" or "poor" rating.
50 percent of those polled self-identified as Republicans.

To see the full polling results, click on this link or go here.

Environment and politics: one and the same

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:01:00 +0000

CHICAGO - "Capitalism is fundamentally incapable of dealing with climate change." These were the words of microbial ecologist Steve McCallister, when asked what the current political atmosphere meant for environmental concerns - and for the future in relation to global warming. What he had to say highlighted the direct ties between political and environmental activism.

McCallister, 28, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. and a member of the American Federation of Teachers Local 3544, in which he is a shop steward for biology professors. His doctoral thesis is on how methane gas (a major contributor to global warming) is produced, and includes dissertation research on its correlation to peat moss in northern Michigan.

It seemed fit to pose to McCallister, who was here at a union convention this week, a question that is perhaps on the tip of any concerned environmentalist's tongue: what are the aftereffects of the 2010 BP oil spill, (which produced many poisonous "methane bubbles"), and what does the future look like on that front?

"There's contamination hanging on in the Gulf," McCallister replied. "And it's the deep stuff that will be a big problem, maybe for ten years or more; damage has been done to microscopic life forms at the very bottom. It's 'sleeping contamination,' - and it can be 'awakened' by major events - storms, shifts in the earth, for instance - causing pollutants to be reintroduced to areas previously thought to be cleaned up." As for how long it might take for the Gulf to be entirely pristine again? "Decades," he offered. "Maybe longer."

Getting to the root of that problem, McCallister began talking about peak oil, which is a term that refers to "the point at which industrial society reaches its maximum productive capacity," essentially going over the 'half-way marker' on the world's oil. The truth is, he said, oil production "is not going to give us energy independence at this point.

"From an economic standpoint," if we continue only the pursuit of oil, "we will see rising energy costs, and an increase in the cost of living that is already being experienced in other countries."

The bottom line, he said, is that the current capitalist system in the U.S. (unwilling to pursue green energy, as it doesn't suit immediate corporate interests) just won't cut it.

The solution starts with, "ending this notion of corporate personhood - the idea that corporations have the same rights as people," he explained. "They have to be regulated, because their interest is to make a profit in the short range. Meanwhile, the balance of local ecosystems is being sacrificed. The supremacy of people over profits is being undermined."

McCallister sees replacing capitalism with a socialist system as the key to saving the planet. "In a socialist system, you can plan for the long range and put human needs first." The labor movement would play an important role in making that happen, he felt.

In response, this reporter posed to him, as an example, a recent dilemma on that front:

The proposed - but delayed - Keystone XL project (a pipeline that would transport oil from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. - putting sensitive ecosystems at risk) was championed by some unions as a job creator. Yet, it served as a source of outrage for environmental activists.

Given that current environmental disruption is a key political problem, could unions and environmentalists work together for a single goal that is beneficial to all?

McCallister thought so. However, "it's gonna require a level of class consciousness on the part of trade unionists to see eye to eye with environmentalists; they have to see outside the box of capitalism, and understand that short term sacrifices have to be made to achieve the ultimate goal. Socialism will give trade unionists more room to breathe on making those sacrifices."

But even so, he added, there are ways already in which union members and environmentalists can unite: the development of green jobs is a key in doing that, he said.

"We need to join together," said McAllister. "We need to declare war on climate change."

Capitalism is a major roadblock in the fight against climate change, he concluded. "Capitalism can't think ahead. And as a result, that train is eventually gonna run out of track. It's just a question of whether we hit the brakes."

Photo: The Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill was one of the more recent environmental disasters. United States Coast Guard/Wikipedia

Wisconsin board certifies recall signatures

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:51:00 +0000

MADISON, Wis. - Historic recall elections got the go-ahead from state officials here today when the Government Accountability Board verified the signatures requiring those elections.

"Today is another historic day in democracy for the state of Wisconsin," said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. "The GAB has certified nearly one million signatures to recall Gov. Walker, Lt. Gov. Kleefisch and four anti-worker State Senators. The lies and spin of fraud and fake signatures were proved to be propaganda from Gov. Walker's campaign."

"Despite the out-of-state dollars that are flooding into Gov. Walker's coffers in an attempt to silence the voices of working people, Wisconsinites will be heard and will reclaim Wisconsin this June," said Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, is so far the only declared Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor in the state's special recall election set for June 5.

"They're (Gov. Walker and the Republicans) trying to destroy us and defund us," said Mitchell about his fellow firefighters. "They said we had a $3.6 billion budget deficit, that our state is broke, and we need 'shared sacrifice.'

"But they give two years of tax exemptions" to corporations while cutting $1 billion from the schools, he added. "This is an attack on the middle class and on our way of life. Shared sacrifice? We sacrifice and they share the gains."

Mitchell became popular among workers when right wing Governor Scott Walker tried to "divide and conquer" the labor movement in the state in 2011 by exempting police and Fire Fighters from his law killing collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local workers.

"They came to us and said, 'You can sit this one out.' We didn't just say, 'No,' we said, 'Hell, No!'" Mitchell declared. He led Wisconsin Fire Fighters into the mass protests that surrounded and occupied the state capitol building for months and became a public face for all the public workers trashed by Walker's law.

It was that law that led to the massive labor-supported recall drive, more than a million signatures turned in - and the special election this June. State Democrats must find a gubernatorial nominee to oppose Walker. Mitchell appears to be the only Democrat taking on GOP Lieut. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, who is also being recalled.

Four GOP state senators are also up for the recall, in addition to the two Republicans ousted last year after they helped pass Walker's law. One of the latest group of four has quit already before the election, turning the state senate into a body tied 16 to 16.

Mahlon says he is not taking anything for granted in the recall.

Talking about the right-wing Republican business agenda he said, "We have some educating to do," and noted that 40 percent of Wisconsin union members backed Walker when he first ran for election. In addition, he warns, "The governor has raised $12 million from rich right wing donors since the start of 2011."

Photo: Mahlon Mitchell, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, hopes to go from the firehouse to the state house in the June 5 recall elections. Mahlon Mitchell flickr.

"Holiday on ICE" is anything but, immigration lawyers charge

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:17:00 +0000

On Mar. 28, the House Subcommittee on Immigration held a hearing entitled "Holiday on ICE" - which depicted the government's detention of hundreds of thousands of undocumented citizens in horrid conditions as a "vacation." The American Immigration Lawyers Association found this hearing disturbing, as it ignored the grim reality of the U.S. immigration detention system, which is marked by abuse.

"Immigrants have died while in detention because of neglect and lack of medical care," said AILA President Eleanor Pelta in a statement released yesterday. "The name of this hearing, in and of itself, is highly offensive and betrays both a clear lack of regard for the humanity of immigrant detainees, as well as a sense of contempt for basic human rights.

"To compare being kept in jail to a holiday is preposterous. There is something deeply wrong when a title like this is officially bestowed upon a congressional proceeding.

"It is imperative that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] roll out new standards as quickly as possible in every facility where immigration detainees are held. These standards must be fully implemented and rigorously monitored." Pelta referred in that statement to new standards issued last month by ICE, called the Performance Based National Detention Standards.

The prior lack of detention standards put forth by ICE had been exemplified over the past several years, during which there have been many news reports, investigative studies, and congressional hearings exposing severe flaws and mistreatment of undocumented citizens. Recent stories highlight sexual assault and abuse perpetrated by local guards and ICE agents.

But Pelta adds that the new standards are just "the first step toward ensuring that the treatment of immigrants in detention is safe and humane. It is not enough to have internal guidelines that can be changed with limited oversight. Standards must be codified and made enforceable."

To that end, AILA is supporting H.R. 933, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act, which would establish minimum detention standards.

Moreover, AILA encourages President Obama to ensure that protections of the Prison Rape Elimination Act - enacted in 2003 - cover people who are held in detention facilities.

ICE is responsible for detaining over 400,000 individuals per year, AILA commented. This includes asylum seekers, trafficking victims, family members of documented U.S. citizens, the elderly, and the ill. Of those individuals - who are charged with civil violations of U.S. immigration law - most endure harsh conditions in jail-like facilities, where they often experience lack of medical care, sexual abuse, and assault while in the government's custody.

"Immigrants are one of the most vulnerable populations in detention," Pelta noted. "It makes no sense to exclude them from such vital protections. Congress passed PREA in 2003. We can't wait any longer for the protections Congress envisioned to take effect."

Photo: Tara Ammon Cohen, who was arrested on a drug charge and spent nearly three years locked up at a federal immigration detention center, reads with her son. Lui Kit Wong/AP Photos

Top Dem says control of House a tossup in 2012

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:04:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI)-- The Long Island lawmaker who's running the U.S. House Democrats' campaign committee is predicting narrow partisan control of the chamber after November's election - but he won't say whether it'll be by his party or the GOP.

Instead, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., declared that the contest for rule of the 435-member chamber "would be razor close."

"It'll depend on the districts in play, the resources we have and the candidates we field," he added.

Following the 2010 GOP sweep, which saw 87 new Republicans enter the House, compared to only nine Democrats, the GOP took over the House. It now has a 242-190 margin, with three vacancies. All 435 seats are up. Democrats hold the Senate 51-47, plus two independents who regularly caucus with the Democrats.

Israel, speaking to the Fire Fighters' legislative conference on March 27, sketched out a scenario where the Democrats could pick up 25 seats and regain the House, although they would actually need a 27-seat gain, according to current numbers.

But before doing so, Israel gave the IAFF, which is plurality registered Republican in its membership, a stem-winding speech arguing why Fire Fighters and other workers should support congressional Democrats this fall.

"My job is to elect 25 Democrats so we can stop these union-bashing, Medicare-privatizing, Social Security-destroying House Republicans," he said. Israel recounted the 2008 recession, which came after GOP deregulation, corporate excesses, and Wall Street casino gambling among other factors, and said, "These folks destroyed $16 trillion in wealth and put millions out of jobs."

"And then they don't blame the banks, they blame the Fire Fighters" and yank collective bargaining rights, wages and pensions," Israel said. "We want to rebuild the country and the middle class by building unions, not busting unions. A gain of 25 seats stops the war on workers right now." Then Israel unveiled his mathematical scenario for reclaiming the House for what he said would be pro-worker Democrats:

Republicans hold 45 seats in districts that Democratic candidate Obama carried in 2008. In the "worst case scenario," which he used, Israel said the Democrats should pick up one-third, or 15, of them.

Republicans also hold 18 seats carried by both Obama and 2004 presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a Fire Fighter favorite who benefited from their endorsement and campaigning to win the key Iowa caucuses that year. "They're rock-solid, pro-Democratic, pro-Fire Fighter districts. If the Republicans win two-thirds of the Obama districts, we win two-thirds of those, or 12," Israel said.

That's 27 seats, just enough to retake control, but Israel cautioned the party has "15 to 20 incumbents in tough districts" nationwide. Those lawmakers are getting extra party help through its "frontline" program, Israel said, in a subtle pitch for funding.

"If we lose five of those, it's down to a 22-seat gain," not quite enough to retake the House, but close, Israel said. He then named two Republicans in ethical trouble-lawmakers from Staten Island, N.Y., and Miami - and a toss-up race for a redrawn once-GOP Nevada district as other possibilities to reach his magic 25. Balancing that, Israel warned that pro-worker Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, also faces a tough race.

"I can't think of an election where every phone call and every door-to-door visit could make such a difference," Israel commented.

Israel did not stay around for questions, as he was one of a parade of speakers from both parties, including Kerry, who addressed the IAFF delegates.

Israel also did not mention other wild cards in the House outlook that could affect his calculations:

Partisan redistricting in North Carolina (pro-GOP) and Illinois (pro-Democratic) puts at least four seats in each state in play, and Illinois lost a seat. A pro-Democratic remap in Maryland puts one of its two GOP-held seats up for grabs. Maryland has six safe Democrats. GOP-drawn maps in Michigan (now 9-6 GOP) and Pennsylvania (12-7 GOP) could reinforce Republican strength, even as both states lose seats.
First-ever non-partisan redistricting in the nation's most-populous state, California, gives the GOP chances to reduce its Democratic 34-19 majority. There are also two nasty Democrat-versus-Democrat incumbent fights in Los Angeles. Analysts add a non-partisan remap may turn Arizona's group from 5-3 GOP to 5-4 Democratic.
Retirement or electoral peril of remaining so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats, such as retiring Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., whose seats are expected to go GOP.
Chaos in Texas. The Justice Department challenged the GOP legislature's redistricting map under the Voting Rights Act for shortchanging the state's burgeoning Hispanic population. The Texas delegation is 23-9 GOP and Texas gained four seats.

"If you want to create jobs, don't lay off Fire Fighters. Lay off a House Republican," Israel concluded.

Photo: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D - Calif., would be Speaker of the House again if the Democrats win back House seats. Amr Nabil/AP

New York City Council calls for justice for Trayvon Martin

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:26:00 +0000

NEW YORK - A majority of New York City Council members, dressed in hoodies and holding Skittles candies and bottles of iced tea, held a press conference in front of City Hall this morning to express their solidarity with the family of Trayvon Martin and to express their outrage at the fact that his murderer, George Zimmerman, has still not been arrested.

A resolution expressing the council's outrage was initiated by council members Letitia James, D-Brooklyn, and Melissa Mark-Viverito, D-Manhattan.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, D-Manhattan, announced that she will be introducing the resolution with Mark-Viverito and James, and that it "will condemn the killing, the weaknesses in its investigation and the lack of an arrest."

"Our resolution," said Quinn, "Will also call for an examination of 'Stand Your Ground' laws nationwide, including their impact on increasing the flow of illegal guns to New York City."

Quinn continued, "Trayvon Martin was killed for his gender and his race. By releasing George Zimmerman, the Sanford police was saying it doesn't matter."

Councilwoman James declared, "The demonization of black men has got to stop."

Robert Jackson, a member of the City Council from Washington Heights in Manhattan, said, "We have a quorum," and called for a symbolic voice vote right on the spot. All present said, "Yea."

Deborah Rose, a council member from Staten Island and head of the Council's civil rights committee, said, "Wearing a hoodie should not be a death sentence." Jumaane D. Williams, a council member from Brooklyn pointed out that the same problem exists in New York: "We have had an increase in local people murdered too," he said.

He reminded the crowd of the case of Amari Grahram, who was recently murdered in his own bathroom by the NYPD. Rose also pointed out that Republicans upstate had introduced a "Stand Your Ground" law into the State Senate. She declared, "We will not let it pass!"

Earlier, in what turned out to be a day of unity at City Hall, a predominantly Latino crowd of community, labor, youth and student leaders attended a press conference entitled "One voice-One Vote", "One Hundred Organizations United to get out the Vote."

The press conference announced a massive campaign to register New York City voters. Washington Heights Councilmember Ydonis Rodriquez spoke at the event.

Video shows shooter uninjured after Trayvon murder

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:06:00 +0000

Surveillance video of George Zimmermann being led from a police car after he shot teenager Trayvon Marin to death shows the killer without injuries or bloodstains, all but striking down the validity of claims that he shot his victim in self defense.

The video footage, obtained by an ABC news reporter yesterday, shows Zimmermann, wearing handcuffs and getting out of the police car unaided and walking into the police station to which he was taken right after the shooting in Sanford, Fla.

There are no visible signs of injuries to Zimmermann's head or blood on his clothes.

Zimmermann's attorney, Craig Soner, has maintained that his client suffered a broken nose and a gash to his head during the time of the alleged attack by Martin.

Criminology experts have cast serious doubts on the claims made by Zimmermann's lawyer.

Eugene O'Donnell, of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said on national television last night that the video shows "it is beyond dispute that there are no serious injuries, physical injuries, he's not in a hospital. There is no bruising that's observable."

Reporters asked Richard Kurtz, the funeral director who prepared Martin's body, if there were any signs on his hands that he had punched someone.

"The only thing that I was able to see was the gunshot wound, " Kurt said, also on national television last night. "I could not see evidence that he had been punching someone as the news media say he was punching. It just did not add up to me."

Photo: Student signs a poster after a march honoring Trayvon Martin on the UTA campus in Arlington, Texas, March 26. The poster will be sent to the Martin family. Ron T. Ennis/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/AP

Interest rate swaps wreak havoc around the country

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:55:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - Like many states and local governments around the country, Oakland is being victimized by the banking industry - in this case specifically by Goldman Sachs - through an interest rate swap deal negotiated in the mid-90s, and a faith, labor and community coalition is fighting back.

The recently-formed Oakland Coalition for Social and Economic Justice, including Allen Temple Baptist Church, the faith-based Oakland Community Organizations, SEIU, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Occupy Oakland, and others, brought the issue to the City Council last month, and the council's finance committee is slated to discuss the matter April 24.

The big banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and others, originally encouraged state and local governments to trade interest rates on their variable-rate bonds for a fixed interest rate. The rates supposedly would roughly balance out over the life of the contract, and governments would have something like a fixed rate bond.

In 1997 Oakland agreed with Goldman Sachs to switch variable rate payments on $187 million in bonds for a fixed 5.6 percent rate, in an agreement slated to last until 2021. It seemed a good deal in the first few years, and again when rates soared during the housing boom.

When the city paid off the bonds in 2005, it decided to stay in the contract, thinking it could ultimately gain some $30 million.

Then came the financial crisis, and federal action driving down interest rates. That left the banks continuing to collect the higher fixed rates from Oakland and other cities while only having to pay very low rates themselves, reaping billions as a result. Governments face huge cancelation penalties if they decide to opt out.

Since paying off the bonds, a deficit-ridden Oakland has so far paid Goldman Sachs an additional $26 million. If it stays in the deal, the city will pay another $20 million before the agreement expires in nine years.

The coalition says Goldman Sachs should give Oakland back the $26 million, and waive the $19 million penalty for ending the pact.

"That money should be used to build clinics, hire more cops, provide job training in West Oakland, do something constructive for the school system," Allen Temple Church's Rev. Daniel Buford told a community group earlier this month.

Across the country, Philadelphia faces similar problems.

In a report issued in January, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center said school districts and municipalities in the state took out "risky financial instruments that put them on the wrong side of declining interest rates and led them to pay out millions of dollars to investment banks."

Pennsylvania's auditor general says 107 school districts and 86 local governments made such agreements on nearly $15 billion in debt between October 2003 and June 2009.

The Budget and Policy Center said Philadelphia and its school district have lost $331 million in interest payments and fees related to swaps, and the city could lose over $240 million more if interest rates stay low. Meanwhile, the cash-strapped city and its schools face millions more in budget cuts.

Many more cities and government entities across California, and throughout the country, are dealing with similar issues.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Supreme Court ruling means mom's life or death

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:47:00 +0000

A California mother of two in the crowd on the steps of the Supreme Court defending President Obama's health care reform law says she would not be alive today were it not for the Affordable Health Care Act.

S.D. Ward, in an impromptu press conference on the steps of the Court, said the health care reform law is the reason she is now getting treated for her stage-three breast cancer.

This morning the justices inside began their third straight day of hearing arguments on the legal challenge from 26 Republican attorneys general to the Affordable Health Care Act.

Ward was uninsured when she was diagnosed last year. "If you have a pre-existing condition," she said. "There's no private health insurance company that's going to welcome you aboard and take care of you."

One of the provisions of the new health care law already in effect is the creation of a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.

"One of my friends discovered the plan," said Ward. "Ten days after applying I had health insurance and I am in treatment for stage-three breast cancer. Because President Obama signed the Affordable Health Care Act, I get to keep my house, I won't go bankrupt, my kids are going to go to college and I'm going to live."

Labor, its allies and a wide range of groups supporting health care reform are angry that the Supreme Court deliberations now underway will not weigh the problems faced by Ward and millions of others like her. They are also angry because many of them backed the Affordable health Care Act, rather than a single-payer "Medicare for all" plan in order to win support from Republicans who wanted to keep private health insurance companies involved in the delivery of health care in America. They are angry because those same Republicans have now turned against the individual mandate they once supported in order to kill health care reform altogether.

Yesterday potential Supreme Court swing voting justices, asked questions in the first hours of oral arguments that, by their skeptical nature, buoyed Republican opponents of reform. "Do you not have a heavy burden of justification," Justice Kennedy asked Solicitor General B. Verrilli Jr., "to show authorization under the Constitution?"

But later in the day Kennedy asked questions that made supporters of the law happier. He seemed to accept an argument critical to the Obama administration's case: that people who don't buy health insurance are still in the health-care market, because they will need care at some point. "They are in the market in the sense that they are creating a risk that the market must account for," Kennedy said. Prior to that some conservative justices had said that while Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce it di not have the power to create such commerce for the purpose of regulating it.

Some of the Republican-type partisanship coming from other conservative justices, however, led observers to believe that conservatives on the court, as was the case in the Citizens United ruling and in the ruling where they gave an election to George Bush over Al Gore, simply don't care how much they damage the reputation of the Court, as long as the Right Wing prevails.

"If the Affordable Care Act goes down - especially if it suffers the same schismatic 5-to-4 blow sustained by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law in the Citizens United case," wrote Politico today, "critics will accuse the Roberts Court of rigging the game and covering their power play with constitutional doublespeak. The case is also a critical test of Robert's role as the leader of his own court: In decades past, chief justices have labored mightily to secure something approaching consensus on major decisions."

Photo: Lisa Dowling rallies in front of the Supreme Court in Washington in support of the Affordable Health Care Act. Charles Dharapak/AP

New revelation critical in Trayvon Martin case

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:33:00 +0000

MIAMI - Startling new revelations have emerged in the case of Trayvon Martin, adding to the national outrage over his murder but diffusing attempts by right-wingers to justify what happened. The unarmed 17-year-old African American was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed vigilante with a history of brushes with the law on Feb. 26 in the Orlando suburb of Sanford, Fla.

The new evidence shows that the lead investigator in the case, Chris Serino, wanted to arrest Zimmerman and charge him with manslaughter. But the state Attorney General's office refused, saying that there was not enough evidence. According to various news outlets, Serino continued to push for an arrest warrant, but was denied from on high.

No prosecutor from the Seminole County office of the state attorney ever visited the scene. Gov. Rick Scott replaced that office with another, led by Angela Corey, only after the public outcry.

According to the Miami Herald, a police report classified the killing as "homicide/negligent manslaughter."

After the shooting, it appeared that the local police department had failed in their duties to fully investigate Zimmerman, who had dreams of becoming a police officer. For example, experts said that Zimmerman had sounded intoxicated at the time, but the police even failed to administer routine drug and alcohol field-testing. They drug tested the lifeless body of the slaughtered teen however, which was kept in cold storage by them for days before they informed Martin's parents of the killing.

It is routine for police to visit family members in cases where a member of the family has been killed. No such visit was ever made.

Despite the findings of its own investigator, the Sanford Police Department announced that there was simply not enough evidence to arrest or charge Zimmerman for the killing. In addition to the revelation that the state attorney crushed the local police investigation, 911 phone calls made at the time of the killing seem to contradict the official statements later made by the police.

The calls implied that there was a racial motivation behind Zimmerman's confrontation with Martin. In the calls, it sounds as if Zimmerman referred to Martin as a "fu**ing coon," and said, "they always get away."

Martin was walking through the gated community in which his father lived to buy candy at a local convenience store. Zimmerman called the police, saying that Martin looked suspicious. Police told Zimmerman to stay in his vehicle and not to follow Martin. Zimmerman disobeyed the instructions and approached Martin. After that Zimmerman shot Martin twice, killing him.

Zimmerman claims he was attacked bu Martin, causing Zimmerman to shoot in self-defense. However, a number of witnesses, including some who have spoken to the press and have appeared on television, say it sounded as if Martin was himself being beaten, cried for help, and was then shot.

The case has sparked nationwide outrage, with supporters of Martin donning hoodies in protest after Geraldo Rivera and others suggested that that article of clothing made Martin look suspect. The Million Hoodie March was organized in New York City, and demonstrations have taken place across the country.

Rep. Bobby Rush D-Il., who wore a hoodie in support of Trayvon Martin, was thrown off the House floor in Congress yesterday for wearing it in violation of House rules.

Photo: Demonstrators hold up signs in honor of Trayvon Martin. John Minchillo/AP

Oaklanders demand justice for Trayvon Martin

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:38:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - Protesters, many wearing hoodies and carrying Skittles and cans of iced tea, gathered in front of City Hall March 26 to express solidarity with the family of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Speakers made the link between the shooting of the unarmed Martin, an African American, by an armed neighborhood watch volunteer still at large, and the violence, including by police, that has taken the lives of many young black Oaklanders in recent years.

"We're here to support justice for Trayvon. But it seems like yesterday I was standing here for Oscar Grant. And we're still going through the same process, the same mistreatment, the same disenfranchisement and the same pain," Matthew Graves, director of the Scotlan Center for Youth and Families, told the crowd.

Grant, also an unarmed young black man, was killed on a train platform by an area rapid transit policeman early on New Years' Day 2009 .

"We're still struggling for jobs as we were struggling then," Graves said. "Don't wait; create jobs! Don't wait; create justice!"

Martin's killing "shows me that all these past years we have come, our life is still meaningless to a lot of America's population who are Caucasian. It shows that justice was not done," a young black man told the crowd. "Everybody being out here gives me hope to see that justice is done."

In a statement read by Morandon Henry, president of the NAACP's Imani Youth Council, which sponsored the rally, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, D-Calif., called for justice for the teen "gunned down because of the color of his skin." Lee added, "Parents - African American parents especially - are encouraged that President Obama talked about this issue in a personal way.

"While this issue has shocked American culture, it hasn't shocked me," Lee said. "The combination of the powerful gun lobby, racial profiling, and hate crimes make this local matter one of national attention. Sanford could be anywhere."

Attorney Ann Weills emphasized the urgency of white people working among other white people to combat racism.. "This is not a post-racial society," she said. "When Barack Obama became president, the racism jumped out in a way we have not seen for decades."

Weills called on rally participants to "stand together to reform our police, to make a society where everyone, every young child, is treated equally no matter what their skin color," and to build opportunities and jobs for young people.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan emphasized the urgency of "knowing each other, and thinking of these children as our children - Latino children, African American children, or Cambodian kids - we have to learn not to be afraid of our own children."

Calling Martin "an example of what the media has done to our young black boys," City Councilmember Desley Brooks added, "It's too often that young black men have issues simply walking outside their door. No parents should have to wonder, when their child goes to the grocery store, whether they're going to come home safely."

Standing beside the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists' big banner after the rally, Carl Jones, president of CBTU's northern California chapter, emphasized the urgency of expanding the job opportunities for local workers. CBTU is joining with the NAACP to combat violence and racial profiling, he said, and the area chapter is working for job creation in connection with local redevelopment and construction projects.

Imani Davis, high school student and secretary of the Imani Youth Council, said the council had voted on Saturday to hold the rally "because this also happens in our city. We wanted to help our city believe in justice again."

Photo: At the rally, Oakland NAACP president George Holland (left) listening as Youth Council head Morandon Henry (right) reads Rep. Barbara Lee's message. Marilyn Bechtel/PW.

Gulf dolphins suffer post-oil spill illnesses

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:53:00 +0000

In Barataria Bay, La. (located in the northern Gulf of Mexico), bottlenose dolphins are suffering from severe illnesses - the aftermath of the BP oil spill, according to a report by Click Green.

The bay received prolonged exposure to oil during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the ensuing long-term damage is only beginning to be understood by scientists and researchers.

During the months that followed the enormous spill, an estimated 205 million gallons of oil rushed into the Gulf, infecting the water and putting all sealife there at risk.

Last summer, marine biologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted physicals on 32 dolphins from that area. Results show many of them are underweight, anemic, have low blood sugar, and exhibit symptoms of liver and lung disease. Nearly half also have exceptionally low levels of the hormones that typically help with stress-coping, metabolism, and the immune system.

The animals are in such poor health, that researchers fear many of them will soon die. And one of the dolphins studied, in fact, was found dead in January 2012.

There has, in particular, been a large spike in the deaths of young dolphins, EcoWatch adds, and a large number of miscarriages have occurred since the BP disaster.

The study was conducted as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment, a collective process in which the full extent of the oil spill's environmental damage is to be ascertained. The NOAA is sharing its preliminary results so that veterinarians can care for live stranded dolphins and care for those suffering from similar health problems.

After testing, NOAA opened the Gulf to fishing, and claims it regularly tests fin- and shellfish to check for signs of toxicity to ensure that all seafood that might reach a consumer is safe to eat. However, the Barataria Bay remains closed to commercial fishing, and along the shoreline where the closures are in place, said the report, thick oil is still visible.

The study concluded that the dolphins could easily have been exposed to the oil; accidental ingestion while feeding on whole fish was cited as the most likely cause.

"The results presented today reflect what we know about the health of dolphins in the Barataria Bay area of Louisiana," said NOAA spokesman Ben Sherman in a news release. "They may provide possible clues to other dolphins [that have been] exposed to oil in the northern Gulf of Mexico. However, it is too soon to tell how the Barataria Bay findings apply to the overall [usual mortality rate], or to the health implications for other dolphins exposed to oil in the Gulf of Mexico."

Photo: A veterinary technician handles a dead bottlenose dolphin, one of many collected along the Gulf of Mexico. Patrick Semansky/AP

Unions demand that Romney fire his labor advisor

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:37:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, yesterday demanded that Mitt Romney fire his chief labor advisor for improper use of inside information obtained from his federal government connections.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charged that Peter Schaumber, a former Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board, used his connections to obtain and disseminate inside information from a current board member.

A report from the agency's inspector general says that current Republican member Terence Flynn violated ethics rules by giving details of confidential board deliberations to Schaumber. The inspector general's report has been sent to the Justice Department for further investigation.

In addition to demanding that Romney fire Schaumber, Trumka called upon Flynn to resign from the five-member board, which was set up in the 1930's to protect workers' rights by preventing unfair labor practices by companies and by supervising union elections.

The inspector-general's report said Flynn violated the ethics rules in 2011, when he was chief counsel to the board's other current GOP member, Brian Hayes. The report said Flynn gave Romney's man Schaumber information about the status of pending cases and the opinions of board members before they had even made their final decisions.

"The report makes clear that Schaumber used his inside connections through his former chief counsel Flynn to get internal, confidential information that he then utilized in ongoing public attacks on the actions of the NLRB," Trumka said.

The Romney campaign and Schaumber have thus far ignored inquiries from the Peoples World. Flynn has also refused comment but has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and promising to remain on the board.

Trumka charged that it is clear from the report that Schaumber, who under President Bush was the NLRB's chairman, had received confidential information about the board's activities and deliberations, including attorney-client privileged information, that he used in a "relentless campaign to undermine and discredit the NLRB through legal and rhetorical challenges to the agency's activities."

"Working people deserve to know that public officials who take an oath to honor the public trust will do so," said Trumka, "and that is especially true for officials charged with protecting workers' rights."

Trumka said the findings will be a "test for candidate Romney. A key adviser has been found to have used inside connections in a way that resulted in violation of ethics rules. Allowing Schaumber to remain as an adviser will speak volumes about candidate Romney and the value he places on ethics in government officials."

A review of public records by the Peoples World shows that Schaumber was running in 2011 with his inside information to whatever right-wing outfits were receptive to the information and to the conclusions he had drawn from it.

On June 21, 2011 the rabidly anti-union National Right to Work Committee printed the following "warning" from Schaumber when the former NLRB chairman wanted to stir up opposition to NLRB plans to shorten the time between filing of petitions for a union election and the election itself:

"Imagine a political election in which only one party were given the opportunity to tell voters its side of the story, and could set an election date only days away, all without prior notice to the other side," Schaumber was quoted as saying on the NRWC website.

"Schaumber knew damned well that the proposed rules the board was talking about didn't trample on any management rights," said Ashley Catanello, an organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers in northern New Jersey supermarkets when she spoke to the PW by phone this morning. "And, to boot, the rules the NLRB was discussing wouldn't really stop strong arming of workers by bosses during union elections. He (Schaumber) must think workers are stupid especially when he compared union elections with the big political elections.

"Unlike company bosses, the Republicans and Democrats can't force voters to sit in captive audience meetings, brainwashing you over and over again with anti-union hate talk. People who signed up for my union over the years have had to sit through three or more days of that bullshit."

Unions say Schaumber, Romney and all the anti-union forces are determined to slow down union elections so companies have more time to overwhelm, confuse, intimidate and even fire union supporters.

"Schaumber is as big a liar as the rest of the union haters," Catanello said. "He knows that management will always get its chance to give its opinion. The media and the court houses are stocked to the gills with anti-union reporters, lawyers and judges who are always more than willing to make sure that the bosses and the rest of the 1% get heard."

Photo: AFL-CIO

Millions of Californians now benefit from health care law

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:34:00 +0000

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments by the Affordable Care Act's opponents, including some 26 states, other states are already putting parts of the law into practice as they look toward full implementation in 2014.

A new report by California's statewide Health Access coalition shows how the law, signed two years ago by President Obama, is already helping millions of Californians. It details steps underway to make sure the state is ready for the law's full impact. The report, prepared by Health Access policy analyst Linda Leu, is available here.

"Nationally, California has been one of the leaders in implementation," the report says, "but there is much more for the state to do to maximize the benefits and improve the health system."

Among actions already being taken:

Health care exchange: In its 2010 session, the state legislature started passing laws to create a new state-based exchange to help consumers compare health insurance plans. It has also passed key consumer protections including new regulations for insurers. The state is also using over $340 million in new federal funds to implement the law.

Pre-existing conditions: One of the Affordable Care Act's most important provisions is to do away with insurers' ability to deny care for preexisting conditions, which can be as widespread as pregnancy or acne.

Insurers already can't deny coverage to children for preexisting conditions, and the premiums they can charge are limited. In 2014 insurers won't be able to deny anyone coverage for a preexisting condition.

In the meantime, the report says, a federally funded, temporary Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program offers affordable coverage to adults with preexisting conditions.

Caps on coverage: Under the ACA, health plans can no longer impose a lifetime dollar limit on patients' benefits, and in 2014, yearly caps will also be gone. Coverage can't be taken away because someone is diagnosed with cancer, or because they made a mistake in applying for insurance.

Low-income residents: In any given year, Health Access says, over 8 million, or over one-fifth of the state's residents, are uninsured, "and as a result, Californians live sicker, die younger, and are one emergency away from financial ruin."

In response, the state is already expanding coverage to low-income uninsured people under county-based programs, and in 2014, getting coverage under Medi-Cal (the state's Medicaid program) will be much easier.

(It is important to note, however, that undocumented people are not covered under the Affordable Care Act.)

The already insured: Preventive services, such as flu shots, colon cancer screenings and mammograms, are now free. Insurance companies must publicly report what they spend on health care and on administrative costs, and must spend 80 to 85 percent of premiums on health care or give consumers back the difference.

Women: Though nationally the ACA will require insurance companies to cover maternity care in 2014, California has already passed legislation requiring maternity coverage starting this year.

Nationally, young people can now be covered by their parents' health plans until they turn 26.

Seniors: The "donut hole" gap in prescription drug coverage is gradually being closed. Seniors too young for Medicare who have pre-existing conditions and lack health coverage will have new individual coverage specially for them, with subsidies to help cut the huge costs they face for private insurance.

Communities of color: The ACA includes important reforms to data collection that will help in development of culturally and linguistically appropriate programs that will help shrink the disparities in health care now experienced by communities of color.

While much health care reform legislation has already been signed into law, the report emphasizes that California has much more work to do, to be ready for 2014. Bills still pending include measures to improve consumer protections and insurance company oversight, and to reform enrollment systems to make it easier to get and keep coverage.

Photo: Health care supporters rally outside Supreme Court. March 26. Health Care for America Now (HCAN).

‘Arab Spring’ unions get top rights award

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:36:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Two union federations that have been leaders in the "Arab Spring," in Tunisia and Bahrain, received the AFL-CIO's top human rights award.

They received the award during the federation's executive council meeting in Orlando, Fla. "Worker issues such as high unemployment, lack of opportunity, declining living standards, and arrogant abuse of economic and political power by the corrupt few" spurred the pro-democracy revolts which started in Tunisia and have swept through the Middle East and North Africa," the citation said.

The AFL-CIO praised the Tunisian union federation for "being in the forefront" of the demand for change that led to the ouster of 23-year dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. It said the Bahrain federation is still demanding democracy in the Persian Gulf sheikdom "in spite of an ongoing campaign of repression" against unionists, teachers, and others.

"The courage of these two federations represents the broader movement for justice in the region," said the labor federation, which named its award for former AFL-CIO Presidents George Meany and Lane Kirkland. It also cited Egyptian workers and independent unions for "unprecedented strikes and job actions, which gave strength and power to the protests in Tahrir Square that successfully brought down the dictator, Hosni Mubarak." Left unsaid is the interim military government that succeeded Mubarak, which has cracked down several times on Egyptian workers and unions.

The statement concluded by praising other pro-democracy efforts by unions in Algeria and Morocco, and pledging the fed's continued support for all the causes.

Photo: Hundreds march to Cairo's central Tahrir Square on International Women's Day. File/AP

Progressive alliance charts new course for Latin America

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:07:00 +0000

CHICAGO - The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, since its formation in 2004, has helped its nine Central and South American member nations make some impressive gains. These were discussed at a two-day conference at DePaul University here last week.

The alliance goes by the Spanish word ALBA, meaning dawn, and has had a difficult time winning acceptance by the U.S., which has traditionally backed the Organization of American States as the official alliance of Latin American nations. The OAS is widely seen as reflecting the interests of the Western hemispher's large corpoerate entities.

ALBA, which is seen as an anti-corporate alternative program, does not threaten the real interests of the people of the U.S., according to Angelo Rivera, an attache at the Venezuelan embassy, who spoke at the forum here. He said the programs of the young alliance "are not threats, but opportunities taken by the countries to develop their own people with their own resources. We have changed and we aren't going back."

Rivera said "the U.S. has demonized ALBA and its programs to advance their countries' development on all levels. If the U.S. and its representatives understand this we will be able to go forward; if not, we will defend what we created."

Over 250 people, including students, teaches, unionists, and political activists, attended the two-day conference on this city's north side. Attendees got a first hand report on the eight-year development of ALBA.

ALBA's formation marked the 108th anniversary of Simon Bolivar's victory and Bolivia's independence from Spain. Venezuelan Presidents Hugo Chaves and Cuban President Fidel Castro formally created ALBA and since then, nine neighbors have joined, including Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Barbuda, Antigua, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines.

The pro-ALBA president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was forced out of office in a U.S.-backed coup, however, and that country is not now a member.

The forum's panels outlined ALBA's achievements in eradicating poverty, and in advancing education, health care, industrialization, and trade.

Francisco Hooker, Nicaragua's ambassador to the U.S., said, "as in Cuba, both Bolivia my country have eliminated illiteracy." And in alliance, "ALBA has reduced infant mortality by 32 percent, increased life expectancy to 73 years and eliminated poverty in countries for 11 million people."

Cuba's representative was not allowed by the State Department to attend the foum or even to communicate with attendees by phone or sattelite.

Photo: Santiaga Cordero, 80, center left, is helped by fellow student Gladys Visamont, 53, right, at a literacy class sponsored by the government of Pres. Hugo Chavez, in the impoverished Caracas neighborhood La Vega in Venezuela, July 30, 2004. Venezuela's literacy program began in 2003 as an important part of the Bolivarian social welfare program. Leslie Mazoch/AP

Keystone XL: Native Americans outraged

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:46:00 +0000

After President Obama endorsed a southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline on Mar. 22 (which would carry oil from Cushing to Port Arthur, Texas), Native American activists in Okalahoma expressed outrage at the news. They claim it will affect sacred grounds and artifacts in Texas, as well as be a threat to the environment.

Obama discussed the pipeline during a speech in Cushing, Okla.; the Native Americans were forced by local authorities to hold their protest in a caged enclosure erected in Memorial Park, rather than at the speech itself.

The protesters were insulted at this move to put distance between the President and their demonstration, which they felt was an attack on their freedom of speech, according to the Global Justice Ecology Project.

"A lot of tribal councils and Indian businesses struggle to find a balance between economic resources and our inherited responsibilites for the Earth," said Native American actor and activist Richard Ray Whitman. The question to keep in mind, he added, is, "How will the decisions we make now affect coming generations?"

Marty Cobenais, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, felt that Obama's fast-tracking of "a project that will desecrate known sacred sites and artifacts is a real disappointment and betrayal.

"Tar sands is devastating First Nation communities in Canada already and now they want to bring that environmental, health, and social devastation to U.S. tribes."

In backing the revised plan for Keystone XL, Obama sided with TransCanada executives, said Common Dreams. A major concern of activists is that the designated path for the pipeline will intrude upon areas of land important to indigenous people, and affect them - and the land itself - negatively.

Many "Natives in Canada live downstream from toxic tar sands mines," said activist Earl Hatley, "and they are experiencing spikes in colon, liver, blood, and bile-duct cancers, which the Canadian government and oil companies simply ignore. And now they want to pipe these tar sands through the heart of Indian country, bulldozing gravesites and ripping out our heritage."

To back up such a statement, they point to studies conducted by the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, which found 88 archaeological sites and 34 historic structures that Keystone XL put at risk. TransCanada was asked to reroute only around a small portion of these, however - leaving the rest (93 sites) to be potentially decimated.

Though the protesters have asked for a list of those sites - and to oversee operations that might threaten important grounds, neither request has been honored, or even acknowledged.

But the protesters pointed out that not only is this a terrible assault on their heritage, but also on nature: "The Ogallala Aquifier is not the only source of water in the area," Rosemary Crawford, Project Manager for the Center for Energy Matters, pointed out. "Tar sands pipelines have a terrible safety record, and leaks are inevitable."

"We can't stop global warming with more fossil fuel pipelines," she concluded. "The people who voted for this President did so believing he would help us address the global environmental catastrophe that our pollution is creating. He said he would free us from "the tyranny of oil." Today that campaign promise has been trampled."

Photo: Native Americans and First Nation leaders speak about concerns over the Keystone XL pipeline. Jacquelyn Martin/AP