Bay Area grocery workers reach tentative contract
SAN JOSE, Calif. — After five months of arduous contract negotiations with grocery giants Safeway, Albertson’s and Kroger, the Bay Area Coalition of eight United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals announced a tentative settlement Jan. 24.
Californians vow fight vs. pension privatization
Labor, retiree and community organizations in California are kicking off a campaign to uphold Social Security against the drive of President Bush and Wall Street to privatize the 70-year-old program serving retirees, the disabled, and families of deceased workers. At the same time, they are gearing up to defeat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign to privatize the pensions of California state employees.
Banquet honors struggle for peace, equality
CHICAGO — More than 130 people came to celebrate the People’s Weekly World’s “80 years of struggle” and to hear Military Families Speak Out co-founder Fernando Suarez del Solar on Jan. 16 here.
World forum seeks solutions to war, poverty
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — Even before the fifth World Social Forum officially opened here, Jan. 26, the city was teeming with peace and justice activists, trade unionists, community organizers, and youth and students from five continents.
Thousands assail Bush hypocrisy: Freedom for who?
Obscene spending at inaugural while millions go without WASHINGTON – In his inaugural address Jan. 20, President George W. Bush vowed to spread “liberty” and “freedom,” brushing aside his administration’s record of torture and mass detention of detainees and its support of authoritarian regimes around the world.
32 years later, Roe v. Wade still safeguards womens rights
Every minute a woman dies in childbirth or pregnancy. Access to basic family planning could save up to 25 percent of these women’s lives. But thanks to Bush’s Global Gag Rule, many family planning clinics in some of the world’s poorest countries have been forced to reduce staff and services or close their doors altogether.
Indian trade unionists tour U.S.
Workers' Correspondence SEATTLE — Three union organizers from India toured nine cities in the U.S. in December and spoke about several issues, including the effects of U.S. outsourcing to their country from the standpoint of workers on the ground there.
Coming of age in Texas
“The Education of Shelby Knox,” an official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, will premiere nationally on the 18th season of the PBS documentary series P.O.V., announced Cara Mertes, P.O.V. executive director.
A Caribbean mob story
Book Review The Mafia in Havana By Enrigue Cirules Ocean Press, 2003 Softcover, 200 pp., $17.95
Spy Girl: A look at South Koreas mindset
Movie Review Spy Girl Directed by Han-Chun Park South Korea, 2004 Recently released on DVD
