Author's posts
Jan 06 2009
Blue Green Alliance: Growing the Future Through a Green Economic Recovery
The Blue Green Alliance was formed by the Steelworkers Union and the Sierra Club in 2006. Recently, the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) announced that they were joining the Blue Green Alliance. By joining forces, the Alliance now unites more than 6 million people working to create a Green Economy based on justice and fairness.
The Alliance is a strong advocate of a Green Economic Recovery:
“If we invest $100 billion into six green strategies, we project it will create 2 million jobs“
This is a real movement growing to make change, to make a new future. This is the path to economic recovery, sustainable growth and economic fairness. More, after the fold.
(a version of this diary is also on Daily Kos at http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )
Dec 20 2008
Bush’s OSHA Sells Out Workers: A “Despicable Pardon” to Cintas in Worker Death and Injuries
You may remember that I wrote a few times over the last two years about Eleazar Torres Gomez and Cintas. Here’s one diary that gives you some background: Did Eleazar Torres-Gomez Lose his Life for Company Profits?
Eleazar Torres-Gomez was pronounced dead on the scene after apparently being dragged by a conveyor into an industrial dryer. Torres-Gomez was trapped in the dryer-which can reportedly reach temperatures of 300 degrees-for at least 20 minutes.
Burned to death in March 2007, and it was preventable. Now with Bush riding off into the sunset, he couldn’t resist harming working people for Christmas. The Bush OSHA has entered into a sellout settlement with Cintas over six OSHA cases regarding safety hazards at its facilities, including hazards that led to the March 2007 death of Eleazar Torres Gomez.
Congressman Phil Hare called this settlement a “a despicable pardon” for a “serial offender,” and asked:
How many lives will be lost before this company is required to gets its act together?
How many more?
Dec 11 2008
This Time It’s Real!Republic Window Workers Win! Get $1.75 M and End Sit Down Strike
This time the Union has announced a settlement. My diary the other day jumped the gun based on inccorect media reports. But this time it’s real. The workers won:
Many people have been following the Republic Window and Door Workers sit down strike. The workers there refused to just accept illegal actions by the company and instead stood up for themselves. They fought back and now they have won:
The workers are “very, very satisfied” with the agreement, said Mark Meinster of the United Electrical Workers union, which represents the employees.
“Hopefully this is an example for workers across the country that when things like this happen, you can step up, you can speak out, and you can win,” he said.
More, after the fold.
Dec 10 2008
Joseph Stiglitz on Capitalist Fools: How We Crashed the Economy
Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001. He was Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors from 1995 to 1997 for Bill Clinton. He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He opposed financial industry deregulation under Clinton, fought with Larry Summers, who is now Obama’s chielf economic advisor, over regulating derivatives (Stiglitz wanted to, but Summers won and that wrong decision contributed to the mess we are in.) Stiglitz, while favoring trade, has questioned some of the faith-based beliefs of the free trade fundamentalists.
Stiglitz has an excellent article in Vanity Fair on how we got to the worst economic times since the 1930s. He points to five key mistakes-under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush II-and one national delusion.
The truth is most of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal.
Joesph Stiglitz, Capitalist Fools, in Vanity Fair
Free market fundamentalism is the God that failed. More, after the fold.
Dec 09 2008
Updated: UE says Talks Continuing. (Republic Window Workers Win!)
Update again: Looks even closer:
Leah Fried, a spokeswoman for the union representing the workers, said Tuesday that it was too soon to know whether the sit-in will be called off. She said that workers would have to vote to end the action but that negotiations among the bank, the company and union representative continued.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28…
The media appears to have jumped the gun. UE says talks continuing. Sorry. Victory is close, but not yet here.
Talks that began at 1:00 pm today in Chicago are continuing. No settlement has reached at this time.
Yesterday, Bank of America issued a statement that it was willing to provide a “limited amount” of additional loans to Republic Windows and Doors to help resolve the plant occupation.
Late this afternoon some news organizations published stories, based on the bank’s statement yesterday, that are factually incorrect (an accurate account appears on the Chicago-Sun Times website).
We will provide updated information as it becomes available.
http://www.ueunion.org/uenewsu…
“Bank of America is prepared to make these additional loans despite the fact that Bank of America is not obligated to pay Republic’s employees or make additional loans to Republic,” the bank¹s statement said.
Republic, its worker representatives and others are meeting this afternoon to try to resolve the standoff. The Bank of America spokeswoman said she did not know whether the bank¹s offer would be discussed at the meeting.
http://www.suntimes.com/busine…
This just means we keep up the pressure. Victory is close!!
Agressive struggle!
Earlier report:
CHICAGO – Bank of America says it will extend credit to a Chicago window and door maker whose workers have occupied the factory for five days.The bank said Tuesday that it’s willing to give the Republic Windows and Doors factory “a limited amount of additional loans.” That’s so it can resolve claims of employees who have staged a sit-in since Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…
Direct action works! There’s a lesson here. No more just taking it. No more keeping our powder dry.
We need more unions like UE:
The Preamble of the UE Constitution, unchanged since its adoption in 1936, articulates the principles that built our union and which make possible the kind of creative, bold action that has captured the attention of the nation and the world at Republic. “We…form an organization which unites all workers… and pursue(s) at all times a policy of aggressive struggle to improve our conditions.”
http://www.ueunion.org/uenewsu…
Agressive struggle. Yes!!! Don’t you wish the so-called Progressive netroots followed that strategy?
More, after the fold.
Dec 08 2008
Obama Supports Republic Workers Who Are Occupying Factory!
You all probably know by now that workers at Republic Window and Door have occupied the factory and are demanding their legal right to severance pay and vacation pay as the plant closes.
CHICAGO – Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.
About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant’s operation.
“We’re going to stay here until we win justice,” said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she’s owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory’s workers are Hispanic.
snip
“We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.
https://www.docudharma.com/show…
I didn’t think he’d do it, but he did. I figured Obama would sit this one out. I mean, occupying a factory is illegal, at least formalistically. There could be a politicla downside. He didn’t have to say anything. But I was wrong:
“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference announcing his new Veterans Affairs director. “What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.
“When you have a financial system that is shaky, credit contracts. Businesses large and small start cutting back on their plants and equipment and their workforces. That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain a strong financial system. But it’s also important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren’t just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, but they are designed to get money out the doors and to help people on Main Street. So, number one, I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.”
http://www.suntimes.com/news/p…
He avoided endorsing the sit down strike directly, but he said they were right and that’s good enough for me.
Dec 06 2008
Union Workers Occupy Chicago Factory! Updated with How to Help.
It’s the 1930s, folks. In Chicago, workers have been driven to the wall and are taking action:
Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago
By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated Press Writer – 43 mins ago
CHICAGO – Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.
About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant’s operation.
“We’re going to stay here until we win justice,” said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she’s owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory’s workers are Hispanic.
snip
“We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/…
Here’s a great first hand report from Fred Kronsky, a blogger and head of a Chicago teachers union:
We were not exactly sure what we were going to do when we got there.
Republic Windows and Doors had suddenly announced it was shuttering its plant. The law requires 60 days notice or 60 days pay. The workers had received neither.
So, instead of leaving, they decided to stay.
It just seemed like we needed to let the folks who were sitting-in at Republic Windows and Doors know that they had support.
snip
Armando Robles came up to our car.
“I’m Fred Klonsky. I’m president of a teachers’ union local and we wanted to come by and show our support.
Senor Robles stuck out his hand. We shook. “I’m the local president here.”
“What do you need?”
“Coffee,” Robles said. “We’ve been inside since this morning and the people had some lunch, but nothing since then.”
“How many people?” I asked.
“About 150.”
Hmmm. 150 coffees.
http://preaprez.wordpress.com/…
More, after the fold.
Dec 05 2008
Biden Econ Advisor: “The American Workforce is Too Big To Fail.”
I like this guy. A lot. And I like that Biden picked him. I know Biden voted bad on the bankruptcy bill, but I think that was for his Deleware banks. That he picked Jerod Bernstein today to be his economic advisor is good news for progressives.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden on Friday named Jared Bernstein as his chief economic policy adviser, a new post created as the nation faces a recession.
Bernstein, a senior economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, has been an informal economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign. He also served as deputy chief economist under Labor Secretary Robert Reich during the Clinton administration.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
Today, he published an article about job losses. This is Bernstein:
Our job market is now shedding jobs at a truly alarming rate, a rate measurably worse than past recessions. We face an emergency that certainly equals those in the financial markets in recent months. The American workforce is too big to fail.
No shit. But it’s good to hear it from those who will be in power.
More on Bernstein and other good signals from Obama today, after the fold.
Dec 04 2008
Stiglitz, Galbraith, and McCain Advisor Call for $1 Trillion Stimulus
This is interesting. Obama has not put a number on the stimulus package he will propose, but many reports put it between $500 Billion and $700 Billion for two years. That is, maybe $350 B per year.
Now along comes a Nobel Prize winning economist who served in the Clinton administration and a Harvard economist who advised McCain, and both advise Obama to go big, REAL BIG:
Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor who was an adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner who served in President Bill Clinton’s White House, are among those who say President- elect Barack Obama should push for a package of that size.
“They need a stimulus of $500-to-$600 billion a year for at least two years to counter what is going to be a collapse in consumption,” said Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.
Calls for $1 Trillion Stimulus Package Grow as Economy Tumbles
More, after the fold.
(also on Daily Kos)
Dec 02 2008
Banks Stopped Regulations That Could Have Prevented Financial Meltdown.
Well, it’s all coming out now. The Bush administration was warned about the potential problems with the housing bubble and loans being made, considered regulation, but backed off under pressure from, guess who? Yes, the very banks being bailed out now.
Accountability means one thing for working people and another for the investment class.
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.
“Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories,” California mortgage lender Paris Welch wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a job.
Also on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Nov 22 2008
Being Right on the Big Issues Means you are Left Out of the Obama Cabinet
First, let me say what this diary is not. It is not an OMG, Obama fooled us and betrayed the movement. It is not OMG, it’s all over and we must oppose Obama. It is not, OMG, let’s start or join a third party, because the Dems are bankrupt and Obama/Reid/Pelosi are not progressives.
What I hope it is, is a springboard for discussion about why we are left out and what it means.
I agree with the Nation’s take on this: in Obama’s cabinet and other appointments, the Left of the Democratic Party has been left out. We’ll see how his policy is, but people make policy, and all these appointments (or rumored appointments) have had a distinctly centrist tinge. I’m not surprised that Obama is not leaning left, because I expected mildly left of center policy choices, and we have not seen him govern yet, so we don’t yet know all his policy choices.
More, including an excerpt from the Nation blog, after the fold.
(Also on Dkos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )
Nov 12 2008
Environmental Injustice: Those who would Pollute Poor People because their Lives are Worth Less.
This column by Michael Kinsley in the Washington Post today is immoral crap. In an effort to defend the indefensible, Larry Summers 1991 writings suggesting we off-source pollution to poor countries, this jerk fully endorses polluting the poor overseas, and implictly, at home. It is the antithesis of environmental justice.
If an industrial plant that causes pollution is going to be built somewhere, it ought to be built where life is worth less.
Revisiting One Lawrence Summers Controversy
This diary is not about Larry Summers and whether he should be Treasury Secretary. It is about this asshat, Michael Kinsley. The smarmy obscenity of his writings reveals a person without conscience. Karma will get his ass one day.
More, after the fold.
(also on Dkos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )