Jun 22, 2002

LORAIN, Ohio – A crowd of 200 steelworkers and retirees cheered May 28 as Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced that he has introduced legislation to force the government to pick up the health care benefits of steel retirees losing benefits due to corporate bankruptcy. The spirited rally at the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1104 Union Hall also urged a no vote on Bush’s proposal for fast track on trade agreements.

CARACAS – Acaba de conmemorarse el natalicio de Karl Marx (1818-1883), una de las personalidades más eminentes que ha tenido el género humano y reconocido creador -en cooperación con Friedrich Engels, su insigne compañero- de ese singular modo de pensar y vivir que es el marxismo.

Decent, affordable housing is critical to working families. Many now pay more than half their wages just for rent. Most workers are just a layoff or serious illness away from eviction, whether they rent or are paying on a mortgage.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisvillians gathered at the Steelworkers Local 106 Hall June 7 to welcome Mexican workers who came to tell what happens with Kentucky jobs once they cross the border. It wasn’t the first time that Mexican and Kentucky workers had found the need to learn each other’s story and seek each other’s support.

Steve Buscemi, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Keener and James LeGros all starred in Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion.

WASHINGTON – Women with a banner that read “Every mother is a working mother” picketed on Capitol Hill June 17 to demand that the Senate reject George W. Bush’s punitive 40-hour “workfare” scheme and instead enact welfare reform that moves mothers out of poverty with educational opportunity and decent jobs.

Questions are growing over the government’s detention of Jose Padilla without criminal charges. In a closed meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee June 13, Justice Department officials said they will hold Padilla in custody indefinitely until the Bush administration decides its “war on terrorism” is over. The government says it will not file charges against him.

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia City Council passed June 13 yet another measure aimed at widespread privatization of city services. The measure creates what Councilman Richard Mariano termed an “opportunity for a golden parachute” at the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), the publicly owned city agency responsible for natural gas service for city residents.

LOS ANGELES – Demanding “justice at the waterfront,” the nation’s three most powerful transportation unions will join forces on Thursday, June 27, for a history-making Solidarity Day at West Coast ports.