May 18, 2002

HARRISBURG, Pa. - On May 1 over 200 people gathered here for a rally and lobby day to tell Gov. Mark Schweiker, "Hands off our health care." The crowd included two busloads of uninsured workers and unemployed workers from Philadelphia, sponsored by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP) as part of the Pa. Hands Off Our Healthcare Coalition.

The following resolution dealing with post-Sept. 11 issues of war, civil liberties, economics and more, was initiated by United Association (UA) Local 393 in San Jose, California, and was passed by unanimous vote of the delegates from 26 local unions on May 11 at the 82nd Convention of the California State Pipe Trades Council, representing some 30,000 members of the Plumbers and Fitters Union throughout the State of California. Kucinich's speech, delivered the weekend of Feb. 23, can be found in the March 2 edition of the People's Weekly World or at www.pww.org.

GARY, Ind. - A grassroots campaign by steelworker and union leader Mary Elgin resulted in what is being called the biggest political upset in decades in this solidly working-class community. Elgin defeated Dozier Allen for Calumet Township Trustee with 48 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. A victory in the primary here is tantamount to being elected, since there is rarely a Republican challenge.
For the entire article, click on the headline. Elgin is also a local leader of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

YPSILANTI, Mich. - In a press conference May 8, the co-chair of the Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality (YCFE), Lisa Zuber, exposed the source of funding for a ballot initiative forced into this November's election that would allow for discrimination against gay people.

Headlines are supposed to give some idea about the subject or substance of the article that follows. That's why we chose this headline. When the cover story of the May 13 U.S.News and World Report, one of the nation's most widely-read business magazines, is an investigative report titled "Profiteers of War," with a subhead reading "How some of America's biggest corporations are making millions off the defense build-up since 9/11," you've got a classic example of man biting dog.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Hoffman Plastics is not only another instance of class justice, or rather, injustice; the logic of Chief Justice William Rehnquist makes it plain that the court's majority lives in denial of the social reality millions of working people face every day.