7.28.2005
Tasini says "Punish the CAFTA 15"
Melissa Bean, Illinois (8th District): 202-225-3711
Jim Cooper, Tennessee (5th District): 202-225-4311
Norm Dicks, Washington (6th District): 202-225-5916
Henry Cuellar, Texas (28th District): 202-225-1640
Ruben Hinojosa, Texas (15th District): (202) 225-2531
William Jefferson, Louisiana (2nd District): (202) 225-6636
Jim Matheson, Utah (2nd District): (202) 225-3011
Gregory Meeks, New York (6th District): (202) 225-3011
Dennis Moore, Kansas (3rd District): (202) 225-2865
Jim Moran, Virginia (8th District): (202) 225-4376
Solomon Ortiz, Texas (27th District): 202-225-7742
Ike Skelton, Missouri (4th District): 202-225-2876
Vic Snyder, Arkansas (2nd District): 202-225-2506
John Tanner, Tennessee (8th District): (202) 225-4714
Edolphus Towns, New York (10th District: (202) 225-5936
7.27.2005
The AFL-CIO's Tough Stand on the Iraq War
U.S. Labor Against the War reports that this is the first time in the AFL-CIO's history that they've taken a position "squarely in opposition to a major U.S. foreign policy or military action."
The resolution states:
Our soldiers...deserve a commitment from our country's leaders to bring them home rapidly. An unending military presence will waste lives and resources, undermine our nation's security and weaken our military.The resolution also says that the American people were "misinformed" about the war and that the AFL-CIO supports the formation of independent labor unions in Iraq.
Check out Nathan Newman's take on this whole thing at TPM Cafe.
7.26.2005
I love Costco.
Greenhouse says: "Costco's stock price has risen more than 10 percent in the last 12 months, while Wal-Mart's has slipped 5 percent."
Plus, 12.4 percent of Costco's workforce is organized by the Teamsters -- pretty good compared to 0 percent at Wal-Mart and 8 percent in the private sector as a whole.
Go Costco!!
7.11.2005
Article on the AFL-CIO, the NED and Venezuela
Scipes states:
"In short, a number of high-level AFL-CIO national leaders-based on the legitimacy of their Labor positions-have been invited into and have joined top-level US foreign policy circles, and actively participated in US foreign policy initiatives without informing their affiliated unions and their members, much less asking for a mandate to do so. They have consciously kept these affiliations secret from their members, and have lied when they have been exposed. In short, they have actively betrayed the trust of workers, both American and those in labor organizations around the world."
"[I]n fact, the AFL-CIO has a long-established history of undermining progressive, democratically-elected governments that try to extend human liberties-such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of economic security-to working people. We see that in Guatemala, Guyana, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua and, most recently, in Venezuela."
7.05.2005
Democratic unions? Hypocricy from the SEIU?
-First, it seems suspicious that the SEIU is bringing up this criticism now. The first person to comment on the SEIU blog asks this important question and reminds us that the SEIU has had ten years to raise this question but has never done so (until now). That makes this seem more like a strategic move than a principled one.
-Second, as I've posted before, the current shake-up appears to be really leader-driven, not rank-and-file driven. If the SEIU's true goal is to make workers' voices heard, then it just doesn't seem like they've been doing a very good job. Even the Unite to Win blog seems a bit backward to me, with the posting set up as a one-way communication rather than as a real discussion with Stern, Burger, and workers all having the same authority and space to post.
-And third, I'm not sure what model Burger is advocating. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think that the SEIU has a one-member, one-vote system.
7.01.2005
An Anti-Sweatshop Ordinance for San Francisco?
Here is a summary of the proposed ordinance.
Los Angeles already has a good anti-sweatshop ordinance. I'm wondering if there have been any studies of the effectiveness of these ordinances - anyone know?