Labor

CHICAGO — Question: Who would order the captain of a 767 jet, loaded with passengers and crew, to take off with a split in one of its tires?

There is a “tug of war” raging worldwide over reforms in China’s labor law, according to Brendan Smith, Tim Costello and Jerry Brecher, authors of a report released April 5 by Global Labor Strategies (GLS).

HARTFORD, Conn.— Over 5,000 protesters came to the state capital, May 5, to decry lack of health care for 400,000 people in Connecticut and to demand that the Legislature act now to provide health care for all.

A vicious attack was launched against this year’s May Day demonstrators in Istanbul, Turkey, as they were gathering to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Taksim Square May Day massacre.

CHICAGO — Dedra Farmer was so good at her job as a Wal-Mart department manager in Oklahoma that her bosses assigned her to train new Tire and Lube Express Division managers, all of whom were men. After she got done training them, the men went to work for $2,000 more a year than she got paid.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (PAI) — Just about two years ago, plumber Charles “Mike” Morrison was helping dig a trench in a Pinellas Park, Fla. But the trench had straight sides, not sloping sides, and B&B Plumbing didn’t construct a safety box for him to work in.

LORAIN, Ohio — One Central Labor Federation in northern Ohio has really taken the national AFL-CIO resolutions on political action to heart, at least the part that calls on union members to run for office. Four leading delegates of the Lorain County Labor Federation, just west of Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie, are running for public office. Not only are they running for office, but most are expected to be elected.

CHICAGO — August Spies told his executioners that if they went ahead with the hanging they would ignite a fire that could never be put out.

CHICAGO — Hundreds of thousands of immigrant rights activists and supporters marched through downtown here May 1, demanding an end to raids and deportations, and calling for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented workers.

El crecimiento asombrante del sector multimillonario del antisindicalismo en EEUU ha ido mano en mano con el declive de nuestra base manufacturera, el auge de la ultraderecha y la pérdida de membresía sindical durante los últimos treinta y pico de años.