Big cheers for Family and Medical Leave Act
AFL-CIO blogger Mike Hall writes, “When the Department of Labor in December asked workers and employers to comment on their experiences with regulations that implement the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), many observers believed it was the first step by the Bush administration to revise the rules to restrict access to family leave — as big business has clamored for since it was enacted in 1993.”
July 7 THIS WEEK IN LABOR
Moldy food found at Farmer Joe’s; How about American Vulture?; Farm workers toil in extreme heat; Fast track dies; We’d deliver, but our bosses won’t let us
July 7 NATIONAL CLIPS
Mayors stand up for cities: U.S. out of Iraq; Maine rally for Iraq pullout, impeachment; State universal health care passes Wisconsin Senate; FBI gives Wall St. and Main St. criminals a break
Great public schools, a basic right for every child
PHILADELPHIA — The No Child Left Behind Act and the Supreme Court rejection of school desegregation programs drew harsh criticism July 3 as 9,000 teachers and other school workers opened the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly here. The four-day conference met under the slogan “Great public schools, a basic right for every child.”
Facade of good intentions
The great, recurring question that is often asked by people of good will about the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazi regime is, “How could this happen?” Yet many of these same people think nothing about asking a couple why they want to adopt a disabled child, or whether they would like to be “relieved of the burden” of caring for a child with Down’s.
What foreign language threat?
English is so dominant in this country that it is hard to get Americans, even university students, to learn other languages. And, although first-generation immigrants may struggle a bit with English, their children here almost always are fluent in it, and by the third generation, the problem is not to get people to learn English, but to re-teach them the language of their grandparents. When politicians try to turn a non-problem into a problem, you can bet that the purposes are demagogic
Editorial: Watering the Tree of Liberty
The signers of the Declaration of Independence must be turning in their graves this July 4th over the shredding of basic democratic rights by corporate right-wing politicians in Washington.
New Yorks police on rampage, critics charge
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The New York Police Department is running wild in Black and Latino neighborhoods, using racial profiling as a tool of choice, charges a group of students and residents of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.
Restore our liberties
WASHINGTON — One week before our nation’s July 4 celebration, thousands of protesters wearing Statue of Liberty crowns and holding signs reading “Torture is wrong” rallied on Capitol Hill to demand that Congress restore constitutional freedoms shredded by the Bush administration.
New terrain requires new tactics
The new balance of forces in Congress, the greatly weakened position of the Bush administration, and the growing activity of the labor-led people’s coalition have rearranged the political playing field in our country. Everyone involved in politics has to adjust their tactics to these new realities.
