Rally protests racial profiling
MADISON, Wisc. – Students and community members staged a rally and march here April 27 against racial profiling. Kim Lampereur, a Young Communist League member and one of the organizers of the demonstration, hailed the event as “the first step toward building a broad coalition to end racial profiling and defend civil rights.”
The April unemployment report: No spring flowers here
Two sets of recently released government data present a contradictory picture of the state of the nation’s economy. On the one hand, the Commerce Department reports that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 5.8 percent for the first three months of the year.
Illinois students fired up over funding cuts
CHICAGO – At a spirited rally here May 2, several hundred mostly college students, gathered at the State of Illinois building to protest cuts in education funding proposed by the Illinois state legislature.
Housing: Key component in public health
The May issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) carries an excellent discussion on the origins of efforts to improve the health for people in the U.S., which stemmed in part from the popularity of the term “public health.”
Building movements at the grassroots
Grassroots and rank and file organizing is at the very essence of the process of social change, CPUSA National Organization Secretary Elena Mora told the CPUSA National Committee (NC) in February. Communists aren’t the only ones talking about how to build and strengthen grassroots organization. In the labor movement and other movements there is much discussion on this very issue as well, Mora said.
Baggage screeners rally for jobs
SAN FRANCISCO – A crowd of more than 1,000 baggage screeners and their allies gathered at a school auditorium near San Francisco’s airport to demand job security for the screeners whose jobs are threatened by the Bush administration’s requirement that they be citizens to hold their jobs.
Detroit Tunnel workers locked out
DETROIT – “Don’t use the tunnel,” a locked-out tunnel worker pleaded to an audience of over 200 demonstrators May 2 in downtown Detroit.
City employees kicked in Dallas
DALLAS – Employees of police and fire departments were honored in San Antonio on April 25 for Workers Memorial Day because so many of them had been killed in the Sept. 11 tragedy. But in Dallas on May 4, they received a kick in the face from the people who run the city!
L.A. calls for national Chvez holiday
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council unanimously called for the establishment of a national holiday for César E. Chávez, the late leader of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO. The Council also agreed to give employees a paid holiday on Chávez’ birthday March 31.
Across the country on May Day and Cinco de Mayo: Thousands demand worker and immigrant rights
About a thousand union and community people marked May Day with a rally and march through downtown Minneapolis, organized by Service Employees International Union Local 17 and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 17. The main themes were workers’ rights, immigrant rights and social justice.
