WORLD NOTES
Nicaragua: Ortega hits the ground running Guinea: Unions take on nation’s president Vietnam: Swedish unionists visit for talks Jordan: Anti-U.S. sentiments growing Nepal: Maoist rebels enter Parliament
UN says countries must act vs. racism
UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution against racism and discrimination Dec. 20, after the U.S. and two other countries sought to block it
U.S. sheds crocodile tears on Sudan
The Bush administration is shedding crocodile tears over the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region to hide its real aim: securing control of vast oil resources in Sudan.
Millions demand Senate enact, Bush sign 100-hour agenda
WASHINGTON — Mass organizations with millions of members celebrated House passage in 42 hours of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 100-hour agenda. They demanded that the Senate do the same, including raising the minimum wage, slashing college loan rates and eliminating $14 billion in federal giveaways to Big Oil.
Robeson film fest set for February
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Paul Robeson film festival here will help celebrate Black History Month. The film fest is being jointly sponsored by the University of Louisville and The Left Alternative in Kentucky over the four weekends in February.
Pursuing happyness conveys capitalist reality
“The Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith, his real-life son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, and the actress Thandie Newton as Smith’s wife is an excellent movie and one I would recommend to all PWW readers.
Copper miners gain in new contract
TUCSON, Ariz. — Southwest copper miners won substantial economic gains and unprecedented job security provisions in a contract with ASARCO that covers approximately 1,600 hourly workers at five locations in Arizona and Texas.
Solidarity turns tide for Goodyear workers
PITTSBURGH — Labor and community solidarity with Goodyear workers, who ratified a new contract Dec. 28 after a three-month strike, reached such a level that United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard sent an e-mail/letter of appreciation to all the local unions and activists for which the USW had addresses.
The fight pays off Justice vs. Wal-Mart
Union busting has become so important to Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest corporate fat cat, that it is offering to pay clerks and cashiers who sign up to work at its new “superstore” in Riverdale, N.J., $2 an hour more than the starting rate at the surrounding unionized stores.
