Labor

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — From the opening remarks by New Mexico AFL-CIO President Christine Trujillo to the speeches of various dignitaries at the state labor federation’s biannual convention here, June 15-16, it’s clear the labor movement is readying for the 2008 elections.

WASHINGTON — Animado por la victoria contra la derecha republicana en las elecciones del pasado noviembre, tres mil activistas en la quinta conferencia anual “Take Back America” (Retomemos a América) aplaudieron y vocearon la demanda de los oradores que el Congreso tiene que poner fin a la guerra en Irak, restaurar los derechos sindicales y promulgar servicios de salud universal.

OAKLAND, Calif. — With City Council approval of $250,000 in seed money expected this week, Oakland is poised to launch the nation’s first Green Jobs Corps program to train young people with limited job prospects for good jobs in growing “green” industries.

Even before it officially opens on June 29, Michael Moore’s latest documentary “Sicko” is already impacting the national health care debate. Over 1,000 nurses and supporters braved sweltering heat to join Moore at a June 12 rally in Sacramento, Calif., sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

CHICAGO — Four years after 150 employees walked off the job at the historic Congress Plaza Hotel to protest cuts in wages and health benefits, workers continue to picket, saying they are holding out for a fair contract.

Fueron detenidos 22 dirigentes sindicales en el Capitolio Estatal en Hartford, Connecticut, el 1º de junio por exigir el cuidado universal de salud.

CLEVELAND — On June 4, Marc Dann, Ohio’s new attorney general, announced an enforcement program targeting contractors who violate Ohio’s prevailing wage law.

Growing up in western Texas as the daughter of cotton sharecroppers, I spent my summers weeding cotton, five days a week, 10 hours a day, in 95-degree heat. As grueling as this workload was, others had it even worse. For foreign workers toiling as “guest workers” (or “braceros”) alongside us in the cotton fields, the five-day workweek was an impossible luxury.

In his June 9 national radio address, President Bush strongly endorsed the “Grand Bargain” immigration bill, S 1348. What kind of “improvements” Bush is after, and what he gets, will be critical to whether the bill, or a close version of it, becomes law. The question is: How far to the right can Bush help shepherd the bill through the Senate and House?

SAN FRANCISCO — We rarely hear that a powerful labor movement in Iraq is defending workers’ rights, campaigning for an end to the U.S.-led occupation and for better daily living conditions for ordinary people, and upholding the Iraqi people’s right to keep control of their country’s great oil resources.