On Earth Day, AFL-CIO launches green initiative
To celebrate Earth Day, the AFL-CIO, together with the leadership of its new Center for Green Jobs, announced a plan to reduce energy consumption, cut down waste and reduce the carbon footprint of its national headquarters. With green jobs emerging as a top public policy priority, the AFL-CIO is pushing to ensure that the new green jobs created are also good jobs that provide a decent wage and benefits.
Workers hold 'lying' bosses over plans to outsource factory jobs
Workers at a French subsidiary of US firm Molex have detained two bosses in protest at plans to close the plant in south-east France.
Reports of deepening bank crisis stir more calls for nationalization
WASHINGTON — Two reports warning of the enormous cost to taxpayers of insolvent banks were released this week. They fueled stronger calls for bank nationalization as the only solution to the paralysis in the nation’s financial system.
Review: New biography of groundbreaking Labor Secretary is timely
(Reposted from Workday Minnesota) ST. PAUL - A new biography, “The Woman Behind the New Deal,” brings Frances Perkins out of the footnotes and into the historically accurate limelight of unparalleled progressive policy advances. If you learned about Perkins in school, chances are all you learned was that in 1933 she became the first woman member of a U.S. president’s Cabinet as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor. If you have studied labor history, you have learned that on Perkins’ watch, organized labor came into full legal rights but not without internal strife and potent backlash from anti-labor interests.
Lawyers group targets torture memo author
NEW YORK, Apr 20 (IPS) - Lawyers who reject President Barack Obama’s decision not to seek prosecution of officials who may have participated in the torture of terror-suspect prisoners are seeking justice through another avenue: Sanctions against government lawyers who created the 'enhanced interrogation' policies of former President George W. Bush.
Illinois lawmakers on the move to pass capital budget plan
CHICAGO – Several Illinois state representatives here hosted a public hearing April 16 at the Austin Town Hall on the city’s west side in an effort to build support for the passage of a comprehensive transportation infrastructure program.
Texas legislature opposes Governor, Theres a new sheriff in town
HOUSTON — In a state where right wing followers of George W. Bush have been dominant, it is refreshing to watch our new legislature, both House and Senate.
ICE locked up citizen, threw away key unions say enough is enough!
U.S. citizens like Hector Veloz, a 37-year-old Los Angeles resident, are among tens of thousands languishing in immigration detention facilities without having received a hearing to determine whether their detention is warranted.
Coalition demands greater transparency of Chicago city finances
Chicago – With public outrage mounting over the privatization of the city’s parking meters, a coalition of labor and community groups and progressive aldermen called for greater transparency of the city budget and an accounting of the city’s privatization deals. The groups staged a protest in Chicago City Hall on April 20.
New moves by administration seen as step toward bank nationalization
In a major change of course, Obama administration officials are saying they don’t have to ask Congress to add money to the Bush administration’s bank bailout and that they can convert the government’s existing loans into common stock. Although the move would turn federal bailout money already handed out into available capital for the banks, it would give the government a major ownership stake in the nation’s largest 19 banks.
