Puerto Ricos teachers fight for public education
Puerto Rican teachers and their allies took to the streets of San Juan on Feb. 8 to protest the decertification of their union. The decertification happened in reaction to the union’s recent strike vote over the conditions of public schools and low wages. The Puerto Rican Federation of Teachers (FMPR) picketed the Public Sector Labor Relations Commission under the slogan, “You cannot decertify our fight!”
Ohio, Texas could decide Dem primary race
Unexpectedly, voters in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania could be the decision-makers in the tight Democratic presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Landslide victories by Obama in a series of caucuses and primaries in the past week set the stage for all-out contests in the March 4 primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.
Writers win some after 14-week strike
Against enormous odds and with television and film writers united behind them, leaders of the Writers Guild of America have negotiated a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that amounts to a significant win for labor.
World notes: Feb. 16, 2008
Iraq: Food shortages loom Cuba: Guantanamo gets new prison Bangladesh: Garment workers fight crackdown Eritrea: No fuel for UN troops Venezuela: Courts favor Exxon Mobil Germany: Steelworkers out on warning strike
Workers die in mushroom clouds
For the second time in two months, America has witnessed a catastrophic industrial explosion involving multiple fatalities. On Dec. 19, 2007, the small T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Fla., detonated in a towering mushroom cloud, killing four workers.
McCain to seniors, vets: tough luck
One more unemployment check to a worker without a job might keep him or her in an apartment or a house. A $400 rebate check to a senior citizen or a disabled veteran might mean a meal tonight instead of nothing to eat.
Food shortages threaten Venezuelas socialist project
Venezuela’s government has moved into high gear as it attempts to shore up food availability. Shortages have mounted even though food production has increased over the past three years and food purchases are subsidized through 14,000 state-run Mercal food stores.
GM, eager to cut wages, tries buyout of all workers
General Motors Corp. announced Feb. 12 that it wants to buy out all of its 74,000 U.S. hourly employees who are represented by the United Auto Workers. If the plan works it will trigger one of the largest reductions in the unionized auto work force in living memory and eventually require the union to start rebuilding itself all over again.
Worker's perspective on saving auto in the U.S.
Last month my wife and I went to the North American International Auto Show. For Detroiters, this is an annual pilgrimage. Where else can you sit behind the wheel of a $110,000 Maserati when you can’t even afford to buy a Chevy Aveo?
Houston DA under fire in e-mail scandal
Harris County, Texas’s flamboyant District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is in a heap of trouble after years of iron fisted domination of the county courts. Rosenthal, who backs right-wing Bush supporter and crony Gov. Rick Perry, is under fire.
