Labor Update
Two wins at Quebecor; Autoworkers sign with Mitsubishi; EFCA adds sponsors
U.S. denies visa to Cuban leader
The U.S. government announced Sept. 2 that Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, would not be granted a visa to attend the second conference of parliamentary presidents held by the Inter-Parliamentary Union Sept. 7-9 at UN headquarters in New York. Alarcon had applied for the visa in June. The president of the Iranian Parliament was also denied a visa.
New Yorks Labor Day parade
NEW YORK — As many as 200,000 people marched Sept. 10 in New York City’s Labor Day parade, including workers from all the city’s unions, anti-Wal-Mart activists, elected leaders, mayoral hopefuls — and People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo (PWW) distributors, who handed out 5,000 sample copies of the paper at the event.
Venezuela exports solidarity: Citgo sponsors Puerto Rican festival
CHICAGO — Fiesta Boricua, the annual Puerto Rican community festival in Humboldt Park here, got a lifeline from an unusual source. Venezuelan-owned Citgo donated $100,000, half of the festival’s cost, so the show could go forward on Labor Day weekend.
Letters
Take action on gas prices; Brilliant man?; Military recruitment in schools; Questions; Bring the Guard home; Unequal treatment; The People v. Bush; Stop corporate looters
Labor Update
NWA safety defects; Picketing Smokey Joe; A storm of solidarity
Labor activists question mayoral endorsement
NEW YORK — Labor activists are puzzled as to why a few important unions here have given their endorsement to incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the upcoming mayoral election. His tenure has been marked by bitter disputes with virtually all of the largest public sector unions in the city.
Venezuela Matters
CHICAGO — During an Aug. 24 press conference with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who denounced televangelist Pat Robertson’s call for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s assassination, the consul general of Venezuela, Martin Sanchez, announced a multimedia cultural exhibit called “Venezuela Matters.” The exhibit will open Oct. 13-14 at Chicago’s East River Art Center. And on Oct. 15, Afro-Venezuelan Day will be celebrated at Rainbow/PUSH headquarters here.
Letters
Socialism and security; End police terror; A different God?; Afghanistan and hypocrisy; Iraq’s constitution; Truth perspective; Wrong from the start
Editorial: Labor Day 2005
Asked in June to take the pulse of his members, neighbors and friends, Ohio autoworker union leader Lloyd McHaffrey replied, “Everybody’s uneasy.”
