Teamsters, CWA form airline customer service alliance
The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today announced a proposed alliance to jointly represent passenger service agents at US Airways when the merger of America West and US Airways is completed.
World Notes
Africa: Amnesty says oil firms override human rights; Israel: Soldiers testify about killings; Caribbean: PetroCaribe to save millions; Canada: Locked-out media workers
Major party being iced out in Haiti elections
With the first round of elections set to begin in about eight weeks, Haiti is still not ready to hold free and fair multiparty elections. More than half of Haiti’s population remains unregistered to vote. Further, the country’s largest political party, Famni Lavalas, remains unofficially banned. Local, regional, national and presidential elections are scheduled for Nov. 20, with a runoff on Jan. 3 if needed. click here for Spanish text
Japans Koizumi wins election victory
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gained a election victory in the Sept. 11 general election by capturing 296 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament.
UN meeting of NGOs hears call to eradicate poverty
UNITED NATIONS — A week before the UN World Summit, the world body convened a meeting of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) designed to give grassroots, civil society input into the global meeting. The three-day summit, which opened here Sept. 14, is the largest gathering of heads of state in history and is intended to set the UN’s future course.
Supporters of Cuban 5: Set them free now
Its momentum growing, a rejuvenated worldwide mobilization is pressuring the Bush administration to release five Cuban men held unjustly in U.S. jails. Millions are demanding that they be freed immediately. They are “kidnapped,” Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told interviewer Bernie Dwyer. “The abduction has to end — immediately, unconditionally,” he said Sept. 5 in Havana. click here for Spanish text
School candidate urges parents, students to opt out
LAWRENCE, Mass. — “Don’t let them violate your privacy,” said Martina M. Cruz to high school students and parents here as they arrived for the beginning of the school year. click here for Spanish text
Western New York hosts antiwar tour
BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of the three “Bring Them Home Now” bus tours that started in Crawford, Texas, Aug. 31, when Cindy Sheehan and supporters closed up camp, stopped here Sept. 12. Members of Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Gold Star Families for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War are traveling in caravans across the U.S., speaking out against the Iraq war and building support for a massive antiwar rally in Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, and a day congressional lobbying, Sept. 26.
Assembleywoman calls for return of California National Guard
As news of Hurricane Katrina’s ravages in New Orleans and the Gulf region shocked the nation, California Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-El Cerrito) Sept. 2 introduced a Joint Resolution calling for the return home of the California National Guard. By the time the legislative session ended Sept. 9, the number of co-authors, initially four, had grown to more than 20.
San Jose protest blocks panel with Minutemen
An attempt by the Commonwealth Club to host a forum in San Jose, Calif., featuring representatives of the Minuteman vigilante border patrol has met with a firestorm of protest from area community and immigrant rights leaders, forcing organizers to cancel the event. Fueling the controversy was the scheduling of the program for the city’s Mexican Heritage Plaza on Sept. 16 — Mexican Independence Day.
