Board tackles health care, globalization
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Jobs with Justice held its first Workers Rights Board hearing here June 8 at the Ethical Society of St. Louis. It was entitled “St. Louis Confronts the Recession” and was co-sponsored by the Ethical Action Committee and the Institute for Policy Studies.
Poverty + unemployment finances = TB
New York is lucky, in a sense. The newly appointed Commissioner for Health, Dr. Thomas Frieden, was the senior public health physician in charge of fighting the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemic that gripped New York in 1991 and 1992 during the days of the administration of Bush the First. At that time the city’s Department of Health required a federal grant to pay for his services
Chicagos Puerto Rican community: On the front line of the housing struggle
Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, overwhelmingly working-class and 130,000 strong, is concentrated in several neighborhoods on the Northwest Side of the city. All are major battlegrounds in today’s struggle to preserve and expand affordable housing.
Bush maneuvers in the Mideast
As President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon met in Washington, D.C., last week, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reoccupied Ramallah with a shoot-to-kill curfew, forcing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cancel the first meeting of its new cabinet.
Colombian leader speaks to Texans
DALLAS – Colombian trade unionist and congressman-elect Wilson Borja arrived here June 9 to speak about the issues burning between our country and his. Activists from Jobs with Justice and the North Texas Coalition for a Just Peace had prepared a heavy schedule of media interviews, public appearances and individual meetings for Borja’s four-day visit.
Candidate calls for recount
NEWARK, N.J. – In a closely contested run-off City Council election held here June 11, independent progressive candidate Ras Baraka was denied a seat as a Councilman-at-Large by a mere 85 votes. In these run-off elections, eight at-large City Council candidates were competing over four seats. Baraka came in fifth with 8,805 votes, which was 85 votes short of the 8,920 obtained by Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins, an incumbent City Council member.
Bush stonewalls world action on global warming
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has admitted something accepted by just about everyone but George Bush – that human activity is responsible for global warming. The EPA study, “Climate Action Report 2002,” was based on National Academy of Sciences research. It was prepared for the United Nations and projects the impact of global warming on the United States. For the entire article, click on the headline. To visit the global warming study by the EPA, click here.
Supporting people, not punishing the poor
Maribel Soto lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she raises her three children – aged 9, 11 and 14 – while she works 35 hours a week to receive government financial aid. She also organizes against “welfare reform” as part of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). She joined many other groups who are part of Grass Roots Organizing for Welfare Leadership (GROWL) to speak to legislators in Washington, D.C., last February.
International notes
Britain’s unions worried about attacks on workers’ rights/Bangladesh protesters target ‘Status of Forces’ pact with U.S. /Striking dockers paralyze Belgian ports/SACP condemns banks for HIV/AIDS discrimination/Cuba donates vaccine to Uruguay/German workers conduct ‘warning strikes’
Sacramentans rally for gardens
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Nearly 400 demonstrators heard Julia “Butterfly” Hill declare, “The Ron Mandella Community Garden is the giant redwood of Sacramento,” at a rally here late last month to save the garden from developers and to build support for affordable housing in the city.
