Jan. 20, 2007

UNITED NATIONS — The Republic of Belarus sponsored a resolution here to strengthen the worldwide fight against the trafficking of women and girls. The resolution was approved unanimously without a vote.

ATHENS, Greece — Pro-education forces throughout Greece took to the streets this week for an all-out offensive of marches and demonstrations to block a parliamentary vote on privatizing the higher education system.

Colombia: Journalist freed but still under threat; European Union: New energy policies favor environment; Nigeria: Violence threatens workers and oil industry; Burma: Resistance grows against authoritarian regime; Iran: U.S. sanctions large bank

Over 1,000 union representatives and delegates attending the United Federation of Teachers Delegate Assembly on Jan. 10 gave a rousing response to President George Bush even before he gave his speech calling for an escalation of the war in Iraq.

Union busting has become so important to Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest corporate fat cat, that it is offering to pay clerks and cashiers who sign up to work at its new “superstore” in Riverdale, N.J., $2 an hour more than the starting rate at the surrounding unionized stores.

There are many vital issues that helped forge the alliance that dealt such a devastating blow to the immoral ultra-right cabal last Nov. 7.

PITTSBURGH — Labor and community solidarity with Goodyear workers, who ratified a new contract Dec. 28 after a three-month strike, reached such a level that United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard sent an e-mail/letter of appreciation to all the local unions and activists for which the USW had addresses.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Southwest copper miners won substantial economic gains and unprecedented job security provisions in a contract with ASARCO that covers approximately 1,600 hourly workers at five locations in Arizona and Texas.

CUCUMBER, W.Va. — James “Butch” Thomas, 47, and Pete Poindexter, 33, were working a mile and half inside the Brooks Run Company’s Cucumber mine, Jan. 13, when the roof collapsed, killing both miners.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently moved the “doomsday clock” — their symbol of how close our world is to nuclear annihilation — two minutes closer to midnight. They note that “the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those of nuclear weapons.”