From abudak@alumni.ysu.edu Sat Mar 1 11:43:54 1997 Date: Sat, 01 Mar 1997 13:42:57 -0500 From: Tony Budak Subject: New Discussion Forum To: CLNews@onecom.com _________ A New Discussion Forum ________ Another Free Service from Community Labor News Link to an on-line WWW Public Discussion Forum Point your Web browser to: http://www.onecom.net/clnews/ Bookmark CLNews Page in Your Favorites List, and Serf the Internet for Your Community Labor Information Needs Best Regards in Solidarity, Tony Budak "Failure is impossible" - Susan B. Anthony From knowware@mindlink.bc.ca Sun Mar 2 23:39:41 1997 by dewey.mindlink.net with smtp (Exim 1.58 #1) Date: Sun, 02 Mar 1997 22:39:43 -0800 To: LABOR-L@YORKU.CA, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: knowware@mindlink.bc.ca (Tom Walker) Subject: Overtime and labour costs LABOUR COSTS SHOULD DEPEND ON HOURS WORKED INSTEAD OF THE NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED (Business in Vancouver, Feb.25 - March 3, 1997) Tom Walker Inspired by Jeremy Rifkin's The End of Work, Premier Glen Clark has been talking about the need to look at sharing work. That's good. But to translate this laudable aim into reality, Clark has to grapple with a stubborn pair of policy riddles: what to do about overtime pay and how to contain per worker costs. While unemployment in Canada hovers near 10 percent, many of those who are employed are working longer hours. StatsCan analysts point to a growing polarization of working hours. At the bottom of the earnings scale, the gap reflects more frequent and longer-lasting periods of unemployment. At the top, it reflects the longer hours worked by more highly-paid, full-time workers. Many observers -- including a federal advisory panel on working time -- have argued that reducing overtime would bring down the rate of unemployment. Overtime pay legislation was supposed to discourage employers from scheduling too much overtime. It was also designed to allow them some flexibility to deal with emergencies and meet surges in demand. But overtime pay has become a staple of many wage earners' paycheques. And, in spite of the premium rate, it's often cheaper for employers to use overtime rather than hire more workers. It's cheaper because of the high proportion of costs that are fixed per worker -- costs of hiring, training, fringe benefits, payroll taxes, statutory holidays and breaks. The link between high per worker costs and overtime is old news. And it has long been understood that public policy encourages and often imposes the long hours bias of high per worker costs. What remains a mystery is why governments, employers and unions fail to take the logical next step: make labour costs depend as much as possible on the actual hours worked rather than the number of workers employed. Last week, for example, federal Finance Minister Paul Martin proudly announced agreement to increase Canada Pension Plan contributions. The change will significantly increase per worker costs as a proportion of payroll. The predictable result: fewer jobs and more overtime. What about increasing the overtime penalty, then, to make it a real deterrent? Although that might indeed discourage overtime, it is less certain how much of the work could be translated into new jobs. In fact, economists caution such a "solution" could lead to slower growth and, consequently, less employment. But if reducing the amount of overtime worked can bring down unemployment and give workers more time to spend with their families, how might such worthwhile goal be achieved? First, let's be clear about the record of the overtime penalty: it hasn't worked. Time and a half has proven to be more of an incentive for workers to work overtime than a deterrent for employers to schedule it. Instead of tinkering with the size of the penalty, let's take a fresh look at what we want to achieve: a reliable level of income for workers, scheduling flexibility for business and -- to share the work -- an effective limit on the hours of work. Why not replace the standard work week and day with work schedules that float -- depending on the volume of work to be done -- between a firm floor and a firm ceiling? Second, dismantle the wall of per worker costs. A good place to start would be with employer contributions to Employment Insurance and Canada Pension: raise the ceilings and lower the rates. Canada now has the most regressive payroll tax structure in the OECD. Improving on this dismal record wouldn't be hard. But there's no need to wait for the federal government to act. Provincially, the ceiling could be raised and rates lowered on Workers' Compensation. Health insurance could move from individual premiums to an assessment on total payroll. Many fringe benefits could be changed from per worker to hourly costs. Clearly, some costs by their nature are per worker costs. But many others are so only by convention. Finally, let's stop agonizing about the plight of high- wage workers starved for overtime pay or companies whose profit margin depends on a high volume of regularly scheduled overtime. There's a million and a half unemployed in Canada; they've got bills to pay, too. ********************************************************* Tom Walker is a social policy analyst and shorter work time activist. On March 8, he will co-present a UBC Public Affairs workshop on "Better Times: Exploring the Idea of a Shorter Work Week" with author Bruce O'Hara. For workshop information and registration call 822-1450. The Shorter Work Time Network is on the web at http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knoW Ware Communications | Vancouver, B.C., CANADA | "Only in mediocre art knowware@mindlink.bc.ca | does life unfold as fate." (604) 669-3286 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm From knowware@mindlink.bc.ca Sun Mar 2 23:40:21 1997 by dewey.mindlink.net with smtp (Exim 1.58 #1) Date: Sun, 02 Mar 1997 22:39:48 -0800 To: LABOR-L@YORKU.CA, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: knowware@mindlink.bc.ca (Tom Walker) Subject: March 8 forum: BETTER TIMES *********************************************************** * BETTER TIMES: EXPLORING THE IDEA OF A SHORTER WORK WEEK * * Bruce O'Hara and Tom Walker * Saturday March 8, 1997 * 10 am - 2 pm (bring your own lunch, beverages provided) * Room 101 Faculty of Law Bldg. * University of British Columbia * * Registration fee: $15 * Call (604) 822-1450 to register * ********************************************************* From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 3 09:39:27 1997 Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:34:44 -0800 (PST) Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:31:30 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:31:30 -0800 (PST) To: can-labor@pencil.math.missouri.edu, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, united@cougar.com From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Teach-in: Campaign to Organize Strawberry Industry Sender: meisenscher@igc.org Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 20:22:52 -0800 Reply-To: OIFAC - News and Info for Faculty Contacts of Organizing Institute THE TEACH-IN IN SUPPORT OF THE UFW'S STRAWBERRY CAMPAIGN IS ON! It is happening: Friday, April 11 At: San Francisco State University Time: Rally 12:30 to 1:30 Panels 2:00 to 5:00 Possible action at a grocery store afterwords Probable speakers already include Richard Trumka, Dolores Huerta, and Marshall Ganz. Information is being centralized through the Labor Studies Department @ SFSU where the Chair (Brenda Cochrane) and two students (Mary Ellen Doyle is one of them) are coordinating much of the work. Their # is 415.338.2885. Brenda's email is bcoch@sfsu.edu The bulk of the work that is being done/needs to be done centers around the following: the panel participants, publicity, & getting co-sponsors to sign on. A) The Panels: As it stands, it looks like 4 panels will be held & they are roughly divided into: 1)The Contemporary Struggle in the Fields 2)Globalization in the Pajaro Valley/CA Agriculture 3)History of Farm Labor Organzing in Strawberries 4)Community/Labor Solidarity Up to this point, David Brundage at UCSanta Cruz & Marty Bennett At Santa Rosa J.C. have been coordinating the panels. If you have suggestions for the panels, or want more information on them you can communicate with them (or Brenda or anyone else) through this listserve! It is important to have a solid list of initial participants confirmed within the next week. B) Publicity: Mary Ellen Doyle was going to try to have an initial flyer made by February 28. 1) If you want copies to distribute, call her for some at the Labor Studies office. 2) If you have connections to any alternative or mainstream press outlets that could publicize the event contact Mary Ellen or Brenda as soon as you have time to. 3) If you can take responsibility of being the publicity point-person at your campus (getting the word & materials out to faculty, student groups, campus papers), let Mary Ellen know. IF YOU HAVE LIMITED TIME TO DEVOTE TO THIS PROJECT - PUBLICITY IS THE KEY NEED AT THIS POINT C) Co-Sponsors: It would be great to get as many student groups, labor, & progressive organizations to endorse this teach-in. If you can take responsibility to get some endorsements, call the folks at SFSU or send an email to the listserve. -------------------- Applications are now available for Union Summer 1997. If anyone needs some, call Mateo Roose at 510.832.8765 ------------------------------------ IMPORTANT REMINDER: Anyone can communicate with the 30+ users of this listserve by simply sending a message to oifac@cmsa.berkeley.edu If anyone has updates, questions, ideas from here on out - send them to the listserve, as it will make this process efficient and as democratic as we can under the time constraints we are facing! If anyone who reads this is not yet subscribed, simply send the oifac address an email that says Please Subscribe Me to the Listserve. ------------------------------ PPS: Please forward this email to anyone you think would be interested in helping out with the teach-in, or would be interested in coming to the teach in! It would be great if educators from a variety of schools could commit to bringing their students to the teach=in. If you want to do this, let Brenda know. Be A Force For Change ORGANIZE _______________________________ AFL-CIO Organizing Institute Oakland, CA 510.832.8735 510.832.8769 (f) organizers@igc.apc.org _______________________________ From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Mon Mar 3 17:13:59 1997 Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 19:11:41 -0500 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: Report/Comments on UVA Teach-in The following are brief notes and comments on the UVA "Worker's Rights are Civil Rights: A Teach-In With Labor" held Thursday and Friday, Feb 27-28. I helped to publicize the event locally, but was not an organizer. (FYI: UVA is located in a relatively isolated community of Charlottesville at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 70 miles west of Richmond and 110 miles from Wash. DC. It is probably the most prestigious--and "upscale"-- campus in the state's university system.) The event featured one major panel on Thursday night, including Richard Trumka, Julian Bond, Ralph Nader, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bill Fletcher, Tony Mazzochi, various UVA faculty, and local/regional labor activists. Several hundred people were present and the auditorium was near-standing room only. On Friday a series of panels were presented on Virginia workers, the role of students, organizing the South, and labor and American politics. These were attended by about 40-100 people each. The event was tame with no heated discussion of differences in approaches. (It had none of the sparks I have read about at the Columbia teach-in.) At one session, UVA sociologist Sharon Hays, for example, did a very nice job of laying out the identity politics vs. class politics debate but no one picked up on the theme in subsequent presentations or in the question and answer period. The Labor Party vs. Democrats debate was touched upon, again, very politely. As a rallying cry for people to pay attention to labor, it seemed to me to be a solid success. It was exciting and inspirational to see so many folks coming together to address these issues, especially in a place like Virginia. (Okay, I admit it. I'm a transplanted Yankee.) The organizers should be congratulated on their efforts. A mailing list was circulated at events and perhaps the true test of the event's success will come in the follow-up organizing. Which brings me to a couple of thoughts about and reactions to the event, some of which may be applicable to planning for future events. 1) I was struck by the vast gulf between the speeches of national leaders and the concerns of local and regional activists. For example, while national leaders talked about things like the need for full employment and large-scale global change, one of the main concerns that local/regional activists spoke about how to convince people in "right to work" states that joining a union wasn't illegal! (A common belief among workers in states like Virginia.) To me, this seems to speak to a vast gulf that was not explored. What is the link/difference between national debates and priorities and local/regional issues? A perpetual issue, I know, but one that was not tackled head on. 2) I was present for all of the nine hours of sessions. (I did not attend one session because it was held at the same time as another.) During that entire time, no one ever asked me to really DO anything. No speaker ever directly addressed the issue of what, exactly, IS this potential labor-academic alliance? What does such a creature look like in practice? How do local/regional concerns factor into this alliance? What research, teaching, writing, speaking, etc, would be helpful for labor? What are models of real labor/academic collaboration? Does this extend beyond labor studies programs? etc. Materials were available for students about the Organizing Institute and a session was devoted to students and the labor movement (the one session I could not attend due to two sessions being held at the same time.) However, the rest of the audience was never really challenged to take part concretely. This, to me, raises interesting questions about the nature of the potential labor/academic alliance at the regional and local levels where most of us live. Let me reiterate that I am grateful and supportive of these teach-in's and I fantasize about helping organize a smaller scale version at my own campus some day. I'm just curious to hear from others who may have attended other teach-ins or who may have ideas about the future of this collaboration. How does all this move forward? Will it be on an individual by individual basis? Or is there some structural framework that needs to be developed to help facilitate this process? etc. etc. Any thoughts? ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From dow@pinc.com Tue Mar 4 17:06:24 1997 Tue, 4 Mar 1997 16:06:16 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 16:06:16 -0800 (PST) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu, Labor Research and Action Project From: David Wolsk Subject: shorter work week At 13:00 04/03/97 David Wolsk suggested: It makes sense to me to embed a shorter work week within an overall strategy for greatly reducing unemployment while improving many peoples' working world (with valuable spinoffs to improved family life) 1. shorter work week 2. sabaticals: a year off every six - eight years with tax laws that allow putting aside money during the working years to keep up one's income for the sabatical year (or six months) 3. Job sharing All of these have been tried ..... plenty of useful data. Union opposition seems very short sighted and overly simplistic. The long-term economic benefits from a full-employment national economy would seem to insure reelection for any political party that took it seriously and used it's muscle and media smarts. David Wolsk Victoria, BC Canada From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Tue Mar 4 17:31:55 1997 Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 16:31:13 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat-Imminent! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 15:47:09 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley To: CONSTITUTION@websightz.com mcguij@parl.gc.ca, proudg@parl.gc.ca, stinsd@parl.gc.ca Subject: The Direct Electronic Parliament. Further to the "thread" on the INEVITABILITY of direct, electronic democracy in the near future...with Internet as its mainstay. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:39:37 -0500 From: Automatic digest processor To: Recipients of NET-HAPPENINGS digests Subject: NET-HAPPENINGS Digest - 3 Mar 1997 - Special issue ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 10:47:02 -0600 From: Gleason Sackman Subject: MISC> The Future of the Internet (Vincent Cerf) From: wmcguire@cybercom.net (Wayne McGuire) To: dreamwave@cybercom.net Subject: The Future of the Internet (Vincent Cerf) Date: Sun, 02 Mar 1997 23:23:43 GMT See the full Reuters story at http://live.excite.com/News/970302/08.BUSINESS-INTERNET.html --- BEGIN --- Internet Pioneer Says Growth Explosive PHILADELPHIA - A pioneering developer of the Internet says growth of the network has slowed at least temporarily, but remains at a blistering pace that will have 200 million computers connected to it by 2000. "The actual growth rate has started to moderate a bit," said Vinton Cerf, senior vice president for Internet architecture at MCI Communications Corp. and a co-developer of the language "spoken" over the network by computers. However, Cerf said Friday, the network will continue to mushroom in the coming decades as technology becomes cheaper and uses expand to such areas as appliance monitoring and control that could lead to multiple Internet devices in every home. "We may actually have a total network connectivity market in the billions or even trillions," by 2040, Cerf told an Internet seminar at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school. "I see an enormous explosion coming as you get the cost down for some of these devices," he told Reuters later.... --- END --- Wayne McGuire http://www.cybercom.net/~wmcguire --------------------------------------------------------------- Also see "The Computer Player" magazine, March/97: "PC as Appliance" by Chris Guly. Jeff Dossett, General Manager of Microsoft Canada is quoted as saying that we can expect 90% market penetration for Internet plus a burgeoning of Internet Appliances (I include Web TV, Web Phones in that category). The same article says to expect a QUADRUPLING of Netizens by 2000. That being so, Bill 36, Ref/Recall will be workable in BC by 2000 and the "Peoples' Parliament" will preside over the Victoria Parliament. Will BC be the first province/state to democratize or will someone beat us to it? Tiny Prince Edward Island may see the inevitable and, being the birthplace of Confederation, may decide to set up a Direct Electronic Parliament. If Bill Gates funds it generously maybe they'll change their name to Prince William Island. (Remember that Bill Gates "Half of Fortune" offer?). FWP. -=-- Posted through the Constitution Mailing List (http://www.websightz.com/constitution) To subscribe to the list send email to: constitution-request@websightz.com with the word "subscribe" in the body To unsubscribe from the list send email to: constitution-request@websightz.com with the word "unsubscribe" in the body To Post a message, mail it to: constitution@websightz.com For Help file send a blank email to: constitution-request@websightz.com For mailing lists and web site design send requests to: webmadam@websightz.com From lerner@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca Wed Mar 5 08:08:26 1997 for ; Wed, 5 Mar 1997 10:08:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 10:12:23 +0100 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: lerner@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (S. Lerner) Subject: Re: shorter work week > At 13:00 04/03/97 David Wolsk suggested: Hi, David - Could you email me references to the data you mention? Many thanks, Sally Lerner >It makes sense to me to embed a shorter work week within an overall strategy >for greatly reducing unemployment while improving many peoples' working >world (with valuable spinoffs to improved family life) > >1. shorter work week >2. sabaticals: a year off every six - eight years with tax laws that allow >putting aside money during the working years to keep up one's income for the >sabatical year (or six months) >3. Job sharing > >All of these have been tried ..... plenty of useful data. Union opposition >seems very short sighted and overly simplistic. The long-term economic >benefits from a full-employment national economy would seem to insure >reelection for any political party that took it seriously and used it's >muscle and media smarts. > >David Wolsk >Victoria, BC Canada From Eve770@aol.com Wed Mar 5 13:53:07 1997 From: Eve770@aol.com by emout17.mail.aol.com (8.7.6/8.7.3/AOL-2.0.0) Wed, 5 Mar 1997 15:52:55 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 15:52:55 -0500 (EST) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Organizing Jobs Available at Yale University GESO, the Graduate Teaching Assistants Union at Yale University, is looking for several staff for upcoming union election drive: -- one Lead Organizer -- three Staff Organizers -- one Research Director Salary and benefits competitive. Must begin immediately. For more information, call Michelle Stephens at (203) 624-5161 or (203) 624-9450. From Furuhashi.1@osu.edu Wed Mar 5 21:11:38 1997 Wed, 5 Mar 1997 23:11:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 23:10:03 -0500 To: walk@igc.apc.org, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, labor-l@yorku.ca From: Furuhashi.1@osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Subject: Anti-union memo from Borders Books (fwd) >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 09:05:17 -0500 >From: jeff melton >To: SLDRTY-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU >Subject: Juicy anti-union internal memo from Borders > >Received this revealing document this morning from a Borders employee who >wishes to remain anonymous. It's obvious from it that Borders management >is extremely worried about the union-organizing activity, watching it >very closely, and determined to quash it. > >Jeff Melton > >"Note: O. F. Krumgold has written a brilliant paper about certain tribes >in Borneo that do not have a word for "no" in their language >and consequently turn down requests by nodding their heads and >saying, 'I'll get back to you.'" >--Woody Allen, By Destiny Denied > > > >Hi Jeff, >[...] >What I am passing to you was a hard copy of an email, sent among the >general managers of the stores. I hand-typed this into the computer, and >I may have made some typos. It isn't exactly what you were asking for, >but it's interesting. > > >=========== >From: Cindi Forslund (Retail) >To: Larry Mills GM #100; Mark Davis GM #37; Sallie Fox #28; ...etc, etc. >.... >Subject: union activity in the region >Date: Thursday, January 09, 1997 > >hi all, >i've spoken to most of you about the recent union activity in the region >but wan >ted to update you. >in the last week, there have been ucfw representatives distributing packets and >soliciting employees in buffalo, all three pittsburgh stores, and >rochester. the > packets include business cards of the local reps, the michael moore >article, ar >ticles from the internet, and other scurrilous propaganda about borders. in all >of the stores, employees have gone to the management with the packets and >inform >ed them the union reps were in the store. in some cases, the reps inadvertently >approached managers. > >please be assured that the campaign to organize borders has escalated and >has re >ached our region. if they haven't already been in your stores, rest >assured, the >y will be. so, let's make sure we are prepared. > >please review the union information the you recieved at the gm meeting >with your > assistant managers. also, be sure that the management team watches the >union vi >deo that includes joe gable (this is not to be viewed by the hourly >staff!). kno >w what you can and cannot say if a union organizer is in the store. >basically, i >t is illegal for them to solicit employees while they are working. you can >ask t >hem to leave the store and go to the property line. finally, email jim >lathrop o >r cindy crawford with details of the situation (cc: me, anne kubeck, >murrey cole >man, and seth watson). >i think it is important to redouble our efforts in communicating our >position on > the union activity. please have small group meetings or issue a memo >addressing > recent union activity in the region. many of you do this on a frequent >basis an >yway, but if you haven't mentioned it in awhile, I would reccomend doing so. > >the response from employees in the region in stores where the packets have been >distributed has been overwhelmingly pro-borders. they are annoyed and disgusted >by the tactics the union reps have employed. however, there are pro-union >employ >ees in every store and we can't assume that they will not try to rally the rest >of the staff to sign cards. it is critical that the staff knows what >signing a u >nion card means. it DOES NOT mean that they are simply asking for more >informati >on. it DOES mean that they are asking to possibly be represented by the >union. i >f a simple majority signs cards, a union election WILL take place. and, a simle >majority in the election will determine whether the union will represent >the sto >re - the entire store - regardless of how one votes. a union drive is >divisive a >nd disruptive to the staff and i believe that those who re anti-union or >undecid >ed would want to avoid it. > >finally, there are some common themes that have emerged from the stores >who have > held union elections. one, is that the staff has been dissatisfied with >the lac >k of responsiveness from their store management. they claim to have >brought prob >lems and issues to management and have failed to get action, changes, or >feedbac >k. secondly, there has been support for store management but >dissatisfaction wit >h binc, the corporate monster. > >the bottom line is that if you and your management teams are doing the >right thi >ngs - listening and addressing staff concerns, setting clear expectations >and fo >llowing up, treating all employees fairly, dealing with performance >issues, as t >hey arise, and providing regular communication and opportunities for feedback - >then I believe chances of unionization in your store are greatly diminished. if >there are issues that you do not feel capable of answering, then please contact >me. between us we should be able to provide a solution or get an answer >from som >eone. > >secondly, it is extremely important that all managers understand the concept of >wearing the proverbial 2 hats. in some cases, it seems apparent that many >manage >rs are simply reinforcing the employees' negative attitude toward binc by >not ex >plaining the reasons behind a decision or suggesting that there are >legitimate r >easons or offering to find out the reasons. instead when an issue is >raised or n >egative comment is made, they are either agreeing or being non-commital. either >way, it helps to drive a wedge between the stores and corporate. sure, >binc make >s mistakes, sure we don't all agree or like all of the decisions that are made, >but there are legitimate reasons and it is part of the job to explain >those reas >ons and to represent the company in a positive way. let's be sure to find >the be >st possible spin to put on things, not abdicate responsibility for it. > >one example, if an employee complains about the low pay rate, instead of simply >agreeing with them and saying that there is nothng that can be done about >it, ex >plain that the [sic] we pay at the high end of bookselling and retail in >general >. remind them of the medical benefits, book credit, stock options, 401k, etc. t >hese are not benefits that most retailers give. in addition, remind them >that we > are constrained by a fixed price product. we can't raise the price of books to >generate the extra monay that would be needed to fund higher pay rates. > >finally, i am confident that although there are union sympathizers in >every stor >e in the region, there does not seem to be any groundswell of support for >the un >ion in any store. this is a testament to you and your managers' efforts to >be re >sponsive to issues and concerns, to communicate consistently and clearly, >and to > wear the corporate hat. my comments are simply to raise awareness and to >re-ite >rate how imporant it is for all of us to continue and improve out efforts. > >binc is currently working on an union avoidance package for the stores. >also, if > you have any memos or information that you feel would be helpful to each other >please share them. > >thanks for your time. > >cindi From J.MIKE.GARVISON@state.or.us Thu Mar 6 09:05:04 1997 <"000CF331EE9C2001*/c=us/admd= /prmd=or.gov/o=ODOE/ou=MSMail/s=GARVISON/g=J/i=MIKE/"@MHS> Date: 06 Mar 1997 07:58:58 -0800 From: "GARVISON J Mike" To: "(Yoshie Furuhashi)" (Return requested), "Labor Research and Action Proj" (Return requested) Subject: RE: Anti-union memo from Borders Books (fwd) This is proof that Union's are still considered sleeping giants, and the corporate masters at Border's do not want to awaken those giants. I may be naive, but I think that the Borders union organizing drive could be the start of a labor rebirth. I think that these bookstores are fertile ground for reawakening the power of the Unions. In my part of the country (Oregon) most of the workers at large bookstores are young people who are definitely open to new ideas. These are the type of people that the union needs. Fresh blood that is not afraid to take on the masters whoever they may be. I think that this is something that all unions in every state or country should try to help out with. If anyone knows of an organizing drive in Oregon for unionizing Borders or other large bookstore's(Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, etc.) let me know. I will be out there passing out informational packets and trying to explain some of the benefits I have received from the union to proposed union members. I think that these type of organizing drives can be the chink's in the armor of the corporate master's that we have all been waiting for. So let's quit talking and get out there and help with the organizing! J. Mike Garvison "It is a strange desire to seek power and lose liberty" -Francis Bacon ---------- From: (Yoshie Furuhashi) To: Labor Research and Action Proj Subject: Anti-union memo from Borders Books (fwd) Date: Wednesday, March 05, 1997 8:22PM <> From knowware@mindlink.bc.ca Thu Mar 6 11:58:59 1997 by dewey.mindlink.net with smtp (Exim 1.58 #1) Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 10:58:45 -0800 To: swt-digest@di.com, futurework@csf.colorado.edu, LABOR-L@YORKU.CA, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, pen-l@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu From: knowware@mindlink.bc.ca (Tom Walker) Subject: Overworked and Underemployed Barry Bluestone and Stephen Rose's article, "Unraveling an Economic Enigma: Overworked and Underemployed", in the March-April issue of American Prospect, is available online at: http://epn.org/prospect/31/31bluefs.html The copyright notice permits re-transmission of the article in its entirety. But because the file is about 45k, I won't send it out to the list. Just a teaser paragraph: "Based on a new analysis of the data, we have found that Americans are indeed working longer than they once did, if not quite as much as Schor would have us believe. But, more importantly, we have also found that many Americans are both overworked and underemployed. Because of growing job instability, workers face a "feast and famine" cycle: They work as much as they can when work is available to compensate for short workweeks, temporary layoffs, or permanent job loss that may follow. What's more, while American families as a whole are putting in more time, that work isn't producing significant increases in living standards. For the typical two-breadwinner household, having both parents work longer hours may not mean an extra trip to Disney World or nicer clothes for school; more likely, it means keeping up car payments or just covering the costs of food and housing." Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knoW Ware Communications | Vancouver, B.C., CANADA | "Only in mediocre art knowware@mindlink.bc.ca | does life unfold as fate." (604) 669-3286 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Thu Mar 6 23:22:25 1997 Thu, 6 Mar 1997 22:21:23 -0800 (PST) Thu, 6 Mar 1997 22:15:29 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 22:15:29 -0800 (PST) To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: IBT launches MacDonald's drive Sender: meisenscher@igc.org Return-Path: From: D Shniad Subject: Teamsters organizing McDonald's in Quebec To: drache@yorku.ca (Daniel Drache) Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 10:58:49 -0800 (PST) meisenscher@igc.apc.org (Michael Eisenscher), tedlewis@globalexchange.org (Global Exchange) The Globe and Mail Report on Business March 6, 1997 TEAMSTERS TAKING ANOTHER RUN AT A MCDONALD'S OUTLET By Konrad Yakabuski, Quebec Bureau Employees at a McDonald's restaurant near Montreal hope to succeed where their forerunners twice failed by asking Quebec's Ministry of Labour to recognize their union. If successful, the 62 workers at the fast-food franchise in St-Hubert, Que., will become the first McDonald's employees in North America to unionize. Two previous union drives--in 1993 and 1994--failed to win support from a majority of employees at McDonald's outlets in Longueuil, Que., and Orangeville, Ont. Toronto-based McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd. and its franchisees have vigorously resisted unionization. During previous attempts to organize, militant workers charged that their hours were cut to make way for more docile employees. The employer has also stalled unionization on technical grounds, objecting, for example, to the size of the bargaining unit. But local 973 of the Teamsters Union, which is seeking certification on behalf of the St-Hubert restaurant workers, is confident of victory this time and expects to organize employees at least a dozen more McDonald's outlets in the region within weeks. Fifty-one of the 62 workers--or 82 per cent of the St-Hubert restaurant's work force--signed the request for union certification, Teamsters officials said at a press conference in Montreal yesterday. That compares with only 53 per cent of the workers who sought certification with an affiliate of the Quebec Federation of Labour in 1993 at the Longueuil outlet. By the time Quebec's Labour Ministry ordered a vote on the request, however, support among employees had dropped to barely 40 per cent. "The difference this time around is that we made sure we had a solid majority from the start," said Louis Fournier, a spokesman for the labour federation to which the Quebec Teamsters belong. "So, we're confident that it will go through this time." Mr. Fournier added that employee turnover at the Longueuil outlet, which is on Montreal's South Shore, was very high, because the majority of its workers were students. Many of those behind the union drive had left before the matter was put to a formal vote, he said. The same problem is unlikely to arise at the St-Hubert outlet. The average age of its employees is more than 30 and the majority of them work full- time. The Teamsters began a new union drive on Montreal's South Shore last fall when it became clear that most of the grievances that prompted the Longueuil employees to seek certification had gone unaddressed at other McDonald's outlets. They include low wages and a failure by employers to compensate workers for overtime. Many workers said they are required to arrive up to 30 minutes before the beginning of their shift--without pay--to prepare machines and other equipment. One 30-year-old St-Hubert employee, Martin Tremblay, told reporters that after six years at the outlet he still only makes $6.90 an hour, or 20 cents more than Quebec's minimum wage of $6.70. McDonald's Quebec head office yesterday referred calls to a Montreal public relations firm. Late yesterday, the firm issued a brief but nebulous statement on behalf of the owners of the St-Hubert franchise, brothers Tom and Mike Cappelli. "The case of our restaurant is an isolated case," the statement said. "As local businessmen and members of the McDonald's franchisee community, we will continue to maintain an open-door policy with our employees in order to guarantee good communication." The St-Hubert employees' application for certification is now in the hands of the Quebec's Commissaire general du travail. The body, which is within the Labour Ministry, can choose to automatically certify the union if it has proof that support for certification is widespread, or request a formal vote by all employees. Mr. Fournier said he could not estimate how long it would take for the Labour Ministry to rule on the application. "That will depend on the objections McDonald's tries to raise," he said. "Corporate lawyers always have many resources at their disposal to stall the process." The Quebec Federation of Labour already represents workers at several fast-food restaurants in the province, including outlets belonging to Harvey's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Tim Horton's. From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Fri Mar 7 18:25:24 1997 Fri, 7 Mar 1997 17:22:44 -0800 (PST) Fri, 7 Mar 1997 17:16:42 -0800 (PST) Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 17:16:42 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: The Labor Spy Racket ('90s version) jschaffner@igc.org, balliet@indiana.edu, rom@igc.org, peterd@spiritone.com, rtenintyibt@igc.org, jkurz@igc.org Sender: meisenscher@igc.org 3/5/97 5:35pm (EST) From Newspaper Strike HQ 313-877-9727 America's Fight Against Replacement Workers The Detroit Newspaper Strike For Immediate release Wednesday, March 5, 1997 Contact: Nancy Dunn or Shawn Ellis (313) 877-9016, 605-5791, 310-5308 Company Spy Comes In From The Cold: "I've got to come clean" Worker Exposes Illegal Spying By Detroit Newspaper Executives Unions Charge Company With Serious Federal Violations Detroit -- A recently fired newspaper worker revealed his role in a long-term spying operation that has been directed by top officials of the Detroit Newspaper Agency where 2,000 workers are involved in a 19-month strike and lockout. "Iknow what I did was wrong, and today I'm coming clean," said Victor Holley at a press conference this morning sponsored by church and labor leaders at the Central United Methodist Church in Detroit. Holley explained histransformationinto a company spy began when he was unemployed and got a strange job offer from a Detroit Newspaper executive who had previously fired him in 1987. John Taylor, Director of Labor Relations for the Detroit Newspaper Agency, agreed to rehire Holley -- if Holley agreed to spy on the union and provide the company with confidential information. Beginning in 1990, Taylor used Holley to collect information about boycott activities, unionmeetings, votes, bargaining strategies, membership views and participation, striker morale, and other sensitive topics. Taylor arranged a meeting in early 1996 between Victor Holley and Frank Vega, Detroit Newspapers' chief executive officer. Vega thanked Holley for his espionage activity and promised Holley a promotion which was granted soon after their meeting. When he refused to continue spying, Taylor angrily warned Holley that "your ass is out now." Holley was fired in December, 1996 after insisting that he would no longer spy for the company. Unions representing 2,000 newspaper workers filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board today charging that company executives "engaged in systematic and unlawful espionage" for a six year period. The NLRB already has charged the company with unlawful activity. Charge against the employer (from the NLRB form) This Charge is filed onbehalf of the six Unions who commenced an unfair labor practice strike against The Detroit Newspapers on July 13, 1995 - DMU 2040, DTU 18, GCIU 13N, GCIU 289, Newspaper Guild 22 and Teamsters 372. The Unions have recently learned that, for the past six years, The Detrit Newspapers have engaged in systematic and unlawful espionage in order to obtain privileged information regarding Union bargaining goals and strategies and participation in protected and concerted activity by Union members and supporters. This systematic program of anti-labor espionage and surveillance was carried out by The Detroit Newspapers for the purpose of sabotaging the Unions' efforts to negotiate fair contracts and undermining federally protected rights of Union members and supporters to participate in labor union activity. By the above and other acts, the above-named employer has interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act. *** I'd encourage everyone to engage in boycott activities against newspapers owned by either Gannett or Knight-Ridder, including USA Today. Pubicize the strike. And if you can, come to Detroit June 13th and 14th for a national rally being planned in conjunction with a Canadian rally against government cutbacks in Windsor, just across the river. Should be lively. Progressive labor activists and supporters are actively involved in the planning. So it should be more than just another parade. Fred Chase IWW General Secretary/Treasurer Bryan Thompson H: 630-860-7423 staff@natcavoice.org http://www.NATCAVoice.org Editor - The NATCA Voice 800-SKY-TALK ; Pin 114-9137 From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sun Mar 9 13:34:49 1997 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 12:34:41 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Re: Workers" Bill of Rights (fwd) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu In-Reply-To: > I think the policies passed by AFL-CIO last month have enormous > implications, particularly those on workfare. Isn't it time to consider a > Workers Bill of Rights in the context of those policies? > FWP. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 12:11:04 -0600 > From: jo grant > To: Designing for POST-INDUSTRIAL REALITIES > Subject: Workers" Bill of Rights > > Authur, > Too little thought is given to the role workers play in the > productivity/consumer chain that generates profits. With "equity" being the > key word, would you mind sharing your thoughts with us--via the list? > > When I agreed (as part of the group planing the week of activities that > surround May Day in Madison, WI) to find and/or formulate a Workers' Bill > of Rights I had no idea that a copy of such wasn't nailed to the wall of > every union local's office in the country. > > When e-mail to many unions failed to turn up a Workers' Bill of Rights I > was surprised. I imagined a group of our "Founding Fathers" sitting around > as the revolution began with one of them saying, "Come on guys, certainly > someone has made a list of the the reasons we are declaring our > independence from England. Let's get to work! It's imperative that we > carefully articulate our desire for independence with a declaration that is > clear, consice, and able to be understood by all people. Something that > might even be turned into a poster." > > Thoughts to the reply address or to: mayday97@bookzen.com > > Thanks, > > j grant From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sun Mar 9 14:02:59 1997 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 13:00:44 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Re: Constitutional Implications of AFL-CIO Policy. (fwd) To: CYBERNEWS-TALK-L@cornell.edu labor-l@yorku.ca, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, united@cougar.com In-Reply-To: <2.2.16.19970308232537.483ffbfc@pop.igc.org> On Sat, 8 Mar 1997, Raleigh Myers wrote: > >On Tue, 25 Feb 1997, Harry Kelber wrote: > > > LaborTalk: Organizing Workfare > > By Harry Kelber > > > > AFL-CIO unions will seek to organize about one million workfare > > participants who will be required to work for their welfare benefits at > > sub-minimum wages in temporary, dead-end jobs. This ground-breaking > > policy was approved at the federation's Executive Council winter meeting > > in Los Angeles on February 17-20. > > The Council resolution on Welfare and Workers Rights stated: "The > > AFL-CIO, working with affiliates, will support efforts to organize former > > welfare recipients by integrating them into bargaining units, organizing > > new units, and defending the living standards and working conditions of > > all employee, whether engaged in work programs through welfare or > > otherwise." > > What the unions fear is that state and local governments will use > > the workfare participants to replace their regular employees. Workfare > > programs, as presently administered, can provide employers in the private > > sector with a way to drive down the wages and benefits of regular > > employees. This has already been happening in some cities. > > Nobody should be surprised at any of this and no mater how cynical > your are it isn't enough. When you look at what Lincoln (the first > republican) did under the spell of CREEPing fascism it comes into focus. > > This is something from an old post that fits here :) > > > Many think of Lincoln as a stooge of organized usury ie. the same > crowd that is SAPing America today. Structural Adjustment Programs to > scuttle the safety net in order to insure the payment of the global debt > owed to them as in IMF Rollerball ie. the contract 'on' America. > Scuttling the safety net lowers wages for everyone when the former > welfare recipients flood the labor market and need services as did > requiring two parents to work for a declining standard of living in the > seventies. Lowering taxes for unearned income and wage slavery are the > raison etre for the Neo Liberalists(Republicans), no. > Take that back a century and voila Lincoln was freeing the slaves > to satisfy Northern industrialists never ending quest to lower wages. This > time it was to end Southern competition due to the labor structure of the > South and when all those free men(emancipated slaves) came North after the > civil War, as per plan, it would devastate the wage scale in the North and > it did. > The carpet baggers(organized usury-unearned income) from the North came > South, took over industry for a dime on the dollar and ran them cheaper with > wage slavery while pocketing the new monopoly profits. Talk about your > hostile takeover. Did you really think the "Sucker born every minute, let > them eat cake, I am not a crook" crowd was into emancipation or sudden > social correctness because they were affected by Dickens? > So a CREEP on the same level as Nixon and clones really isn't > somebody we proudly hail as a servant of the people. Just look at it as > CHAOS(Conservative Hype Always Optimally Skewed) Conservative being double > speak for organized usury in sheep's clothing ie. Neo Liberalism as the > Hegemony of Parasitism. > > If you have a problem with ORGANIZED USURY or figuring out what to > do with frankencorp, the monster with the synthetic body and the diseased > mind, your neighbor-hood limited liability corporate citizen in the pursuit > of happiness courtesy of representative oligarchy posing as a democracy > check out. > http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/usury.html > > If you skipped earth day for the last thirty years check out EARTH HOUR > http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/raenergy.html Does anyone else see this as a unique situation for organized labour and one likely to have immense implications for society? Consider what it would mean to have workfare people threatening a strike. AFL-CIO policy would have them protected by the same labour laws as anyone else. But the wages of workfare are barest subsistence. Ergo, no strike fund. Any strike by workfare then becomes a hunger strike! Going back to that "Workers Bill of Rights" then, does a worker really have a right to not be forced into labour? UN laws say yes. Apply that to workfare along with the obligation to work for even the most meagre stipend from society (welfare). It could be expressed as "You must work for welfare but your work is a choice (according to the usual criteria of aptitudes/interests/abilities)". Fine and dandy but how can such workers have a right to strike at the same time as an obligation to work? FWP. From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sun Mar 9 19:41:41 1997 Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:40:00 -0800 (PST) Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:38:40 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:38:40 -0800 (PST) To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: WCFL: Labor's Squandered Communications Resource Sender: meisenscher@igc.org This article by Larry Duncan discusses a little known but important page from labor history -- one with important contemporary implications -- and critical commentary about the status of labor's media strategy and capability in today's labor movement. There was no indication in the original post whether this commentary was published, nor any information about how to reach the author. ============================================================= From: Richard Alcorn Subject: Labor Media in Chicago: Issues and P To: Recipients of conference X-Gateway: conf2mail@igc.apc.org Lines: 235 Labor Media in Chicago: Issues and Perspectives by Larry Duncan/Jan. 1997 On a summer evening in 1928 John Fitzpatrick, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, sat down in front of a television camera at Navy Pier. His image and voice were then transmitted to a receiver a few miles away at Union Park on Ashland Avenue, at the north end of today's Union Row neighborhood.(1) Virgil Schoenberg, Chief Engineer at WCFL - the Chicago Federation of Labor's new radio station - optimistically declared, "At WCFL station we have clearly demonstrated that television is here. What is needed now is the adoption and refinement of laboratory equipment for home television receivers." Schoenberg hoped that union members and locals would run out and construct television receiving sets, issuing in an exciting era of union militancy using the cutting edge of a new technology. That was not to happen yet. Commercial television (to say nothing of labor television) was still, of course, decades away. The Chicago Federation of Labor would first devote its efforts to developing its radio station, WCFL. Although the life and death of WCFL as labor media is best described elsewhere (2), it left an important legacy to Chicago labor radio and tv (such as they are) in the late 1990's. When the Cable Commission Hearings began in 1983 in the Chicago City Council, the Committee for Labor Access was created, and its first task was to provide testimony at the hearings to strongly support the need for one or more of the free public access channels to be set aside for labor programming. The CLA (the parent non-profit for Labor Beat, the cable-tv series) was surprised to find out how disinterested the Chicago Federation of Labor was in this idea. Only one CFL representative, Michael Bruton of IBEW 134, testified at the hearings, and his stated interest was not in a labor channel, but in how the new franchise agreement with the city would impact on cable installation jobs for IBEW members. >From the very start, Committee for Labor Access was left on its own to struggle with all of the issues related to developing labor programming on the new access channels. The president of the CFL at that time was William Lee, who occupied that position from 1946 to 1984. The attitude of the CFL toward the potential of labor programming in cable tv flowed from its position, under President Lee, on labor programming on WCFL. As labor historian Nathan Godfried notes, when Lee took control of the CFL in 1946, he immediately began to dilute the radio station's labor orientation, substituting instead programming consistent with other commercial radio stations. Throughout the 50s WCFL was simply viewed as a revenue-generating instrument for the CFL. It finally failed, however, to commercially compete with its main rival, WLS, and in 1978 the station was sold to Amway, a notorious anti-labor corporation. (3) President Lee and the CFL during the 1983 cable tv hearings saw little need for labor to develop an independent media presence, even though channel slots, editing, and training would be provided virtually free of charge. This opposition to developing an independent media voice for the labor movement had been around for decades in the national AFL-CIO. Godfried suggests that this point of view had a political basis: "Trade union elites promised a responsible, predictable, and peaceful work force in exchange for a growing economic pie, nominal welfare reforms from the state, and token participation in policymaking. The AFL commitment to this corporatist ideology manifested itself in the federation's approach to the mass media. During the early 1920s, leaders of the AFL rejected pleas from local unions for the establishment of an AFL newspaper chain throughout the country. While local leaders talked of the need to counter the anti-union propaganda of the capitalist press, the AFL Executive Council explained that labor had to make decisions based on 'utility, expediency, and business judgment.' AFL officials hoped that the expanded work of their 'Information and Publicity Service will result in a constantly improving standard of accuracy in daily newspapers even though not owned or controlled by Labor.'" (4) Although the Chicago Federation of Labor back in the 1920s stood largely in opposition to the AFL's corporatism, by the early 1980s the CFL had long since adopted more conservative ideology. And this may have contributed to CFL President Lee's enthusiastic indifference to any independent media for Chicago labor. In the intervening years, however, enormous changes had taken place in the commercial mass media. The process which has led to today's corporate media monopolies of Turner/Time-Warner, Disney/Capital Cities/ABC, CBS/Westinghouse, and NBC/General Electric...these processes were already well underway on the eve of the Chicago cable tv hearings in the early 1980s. And they had alarmed even Lane Kirkland's somnolent AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO in Washington created a media arm called the Labor Institute for Public Affairs, and one of LIPA's early missions was to promote nationally the idea that union locals, federations, internationals and district council should all start seriously thinking about using public access channels, radio stations, computers - in other words, late 20th century technology. LIPA met with limited success in achieving these goals, and was, of course, confined by the degree of commitment from the AFL-CIO. Since the election of the new AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, LIPA has been dissolved into something called the Broadcast Division. After one year of the Sweeney presidency, little is known about the new Broadcast Division, and no general media strategy statement from the AFL-CIO is yet available. The Union Producers and Programmers Network (a national organization which has autonomy from the AFL-CIO, but a working relationship with it) has in the last few years lobbied the AFL-CIO to take serious steps toward establishing a national labor cable channel, but so farr nothing has come of this. The Sweeney administration may prove to be as lukewarm toward labor's media independence as his 20th century predecessors in the AFL-CIO. This flows from the corporatist outlook of softening labor's class independence from corporations, their political parties, the state institutions controlled by corporations, and the ubiquitous corporate-controlled media. Speaking before Business for Social Responsibility in 1996, Sweeney declared, "We want to help American business compete in the world and create new wealth for your shareholders and your employees. We want to work with you to bake a larger pie which all Americans can share and not just argue with you about how to divide the existing pie. It is time for business and labor to see each other as natural allies, not natural enemies." (5) The labor media which has been - and presumably will be - done once the new Broadcast Division gets sorted out, will likely be in-house communication: unions reaching their membership. No independent labor outreach to the mass, general public is yet envisioned. The CFL has, since the arrival of cable-tv in 1986, made no effort in tv, radio or print to establish a regular, independent voice for labor in the Chicago area designed to reach the public. The Federation News in January, 1997 will cease being an newspaper aimed at union members, and become a newsletter. Other than Labor Beat (cable tv) and Labor Express (radio), there are no series in electronic media in Chicago. Setting aside one video about the Tribune Strike produced in 1986, the CFL had created no tv. None of the labor education programs at the area's main universities have produced any videos, nor brought into play their official resources to produce a series. Some district councils (ACTWU/UNITE) have made periodic videos only. The institutions which should be mobilizing their organizational resources remain silent, or dabble with labor's media crisis halfheartedly. The failure of the Chicago Federation of Labor - labor's chief institution in Chicago - to respond to the media crisis is also reflected in the CFL's general failure to respond to the overall attacks against labor. This is one reason the labor coalition Jobs With Justice was formed by dedicated union leaders frustrated with the CFL, rank-and-filers, and community groups. Now, through Jobs With Justice, militant solidarity actions are organized, because the CFL has no enthusiasm for this. The enormous task of answering the big guns of the anti-media giants in Chicago has been left to a handful of rank-and-file labor media activists and their supporters. Labor Beat/Labor Express survives through selling videos, support from progressive union locals, the rare small grant, money out-of-pocket, and the encouragement of rank-and-file workers starved for television and radio that is working class in its outlook. This is a far cry from the early days of WCFL radio, which received the full, official backing of the CFL along with a serious budget. In those days, Chicago's labor radio pioneers envisioned WCFL as developing into a grandiose, national hub: "...[CFL Secretary Edward] Nockles wanted WCFL to become "big" and "powerful"; to reach all across the nation via enhanced power, a clear channel, and short wave relay stations...The "father of labor radio" made a fundamental mistake in the late 1920s and and early 1930s: He attempted to make WCFL into a mirror image of the radio monopoly stations which he so hated. By trying to create WCFL as a powerful regional and national broadcasting outlet, Nockles took labor radio away from its initial strength - the working class and ethnic neighborhoods of Chicago... WCFL might have served as a model for other labor organs and progressive groups. It could have created a network of grassroots radio stations by sharing technological, programming and managerial resources." (6) More so perhaps by necessity than design, Labor Beat/Labor Express in the 80s and 90s has been forced to benefit from this lesson in history. A lucky combination of low-fee public access production facilities and donated air time from WLUW-FM, along with late 20th Century flow-cost technology in small-format equipment have made feasible the grassroots organizational model. Likewise, a number of other small production groups, some rank-and-file and independent like CLA, others attached to labor education programs at universities or unions, now operate nationally. The existence of these scaled-down groups in such cities as St. Louis, San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York have been vital to the survival of the Labor Beat show, which enjoys a symbiotic relationship with this grassroots network. But there is no reason why some aspects of the two models can't be combined in developing the best national strategy for the coming media war between labor and the corporate propaganda powerhouses. The central labor council-backed, highly-funded model needs to be controlled so that it does not try to commercially compete with other media, and keeps a clear labor orientation. Small, grass-roots production groups also need to flourish. They can become a valuable source of programming for a projected national labor channel, a way of keeping labor tv anchored to a rank-and-file point of view, and a buffer against the vagaries of high-end funding inevitable in the bigger operations. One important hybrid of these models is "working tv" out of Vancouver, BC, Canada, a member of UPPNET. Probably the best all-around labor tv show on the North American continent, it is fully backed by the British Columbia labor movement, which supports the NDP, a political party of labor in Canada. "working tv" has a strong, rank-and-file outlook, and, due to major union support, had a 1996 budget of $100,000. Labor tv and radio in the Chicago area endure an ongoing crisis. What exists falls far short of what labor media needs and deserves. These problems can be overcome through the political development of organized labor recognizing its need to end its present corporatist strategy, and to seek serious, independent forms of struggle across the board, including independent tv and radio programming aimed at the general, non-organized public as well as union membership.r -------------- 1 Federation News, June 23, 1928, p. 1 2 "The Origins of Labor Radio: WCFL, the 'Voice of Labor', 1925-1928", Nathan Godfried, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1987, pp. 143-159 3 "The Tragedy of Labor Radio: WCFL, 1926-1978", Nathan Godfried, Paper presented at Union for Democratic Communications Annual Conference, "Grassroots Communications," New York City, Oct. 26-29, 1989 4 Ibid. 5 The New York Times, Oct. 27, 1996 6 "The Tragedy of Labor Radio: WCFL, 1926-1978" ************************************************** Michael Eisenscher Workers Education Local 189, CWA Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy Program University of Massachusetts-Boston 391 Adams Street Oakland, CA 94610-3131 ------------------------------------------------------------- Phone: (510) 893-8382 (voice/fax) E-Mail: meisenscher@igc.apc.org ************************************************* "Class consciousness is knowing which side of the fence you're on; class analysis is knowing who is there with you." ----from a poster, source unknown "Peter Drucker, whose many books and articles over the years have helped facilitate the new economic reality, says quite bluntly that 'the disappearance of labor as a key factor of production' is going to emerge as the critical 'unfinished business of capitalist society.' " Quoted in Jeremy Rifkin, THE END OF WORK (NY: Tarcher/Putnam, 1995) p.12 He cites the Drucker book which I haven't seen. I apologize for the confusion. (thanks to Gary L. Olsen for this quote and citation) "We are not merely an economy, but also a culture." "It has never been economics alone that defines America. If we choose, as a culture, to push back against the economic forces that would otherwise divide us, it is within our power to do so." -- Robert Reich -- Resignation address "[There is a] growing assertion that globalization and technological change make inevitable low wages and inequalities....The counter argument that has not gained much popular support is that inequalities result from human agency; they are not the inevitable consequence of 'progress.'" S.M. Miller and Charles Collins "Growing Economic Fairness" Social Policy, Summer 1996 "Whenever you are in doubt...apply the first test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be any use to him. Will he gain anything from it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? True development puts first those that society puts last". - Mahatma Gandhi From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sun Mar 9 19:42:33 1997 for ; Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:42:09 -0800 (PST) Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:39:58 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 18:39:58 -0800 (PST) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu, Labor Research and Action Project From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Re: Constitutional Implications of AFL-CIO Policy. (fwd) Sender: meisenscher@igc.org At 01:00 PM 3/9/97 -0800, Franklin Wayne Poley wrote: >Does anyone else see this as a unique situation for organized labour and >one likely to have immense implications for society? Consider what it >would mean to have workfare people threatening a strike. AFL-CIO policy >would have them protected by the same labour laws as anyone else. But the >wages of workfare are barest subsistence. Ergo, no strike fund. Any >strike by workfare then becomes a hunger strike! Going back to that >"Workers Bill of Rights" then, does a worker really have a right to not >be forced into labour? UN laws say yes. Apply that to workfare along with >the obligation to work for even the most meagre stipend from society >(welfare). It could be expressed as "You must work for welfare but your >work is a choice (according to the usual criteria of >aptitudes/interests/abilities)". Fine and dandy but how can such workers >have a right to strike at the same time as an obligation to work? >FWP. > Perhaps it would be instructive to review some labor history. In the 1930s, as the campaign for industrial unionism was starting to gain steam and the Federal government established WPA and other programs to put unemployed people to work, there was considerable activity among the unemployed and WPA work recipients, including the organization of WPA project workers. WPA workers conducted strikes and other struggles to improve their treatment at the hands of WPA administrators. The Communist and Socialist Parties, and A.J. Muste each organized unemployed councils which were instrumental in helping the CIO by educating the unemployed about the importance of respecting recognition strikes and engaging the unemployed in support for the movement to organize the unorganized. Contemporary labor's stake in the organization of workfare workers is more than charitable sympathy for the poor; it is imperative for both the sake of the workfare workers and for the ability of the labor movement to defend its present members and to organize the unorganized, particularly in low-wage low-skill industries where workfare workers are most likely to be employed. Today's unions could take a lesson from the buried history of our workers' movement. Michael Michael Eisenscher Workers Education Local 189, CWA E-Mail: meisenscher@igc.apc.org 391 Adams Street Oakland, CA 94610 (510) 893-8382 (voice/fax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." -- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) Ref: "The Lincoln Encyclopedia", Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY) From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sun Mar 9 21:08:05 1997 Sun, 9 Mar 1997 20:07:01 -0800 (PST) Sun, 9 Mar 1997 20:05:40 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 20:05:40 -0800 (PST) To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Globalization and the IMF Sender: meisenscher@igc.org FYI: This article was posted by Sid Schniad. It may be of interest to those who are concerned with economic globalization, international trade and economics, international aid and development, neo-colonialism and imperialism, international solidarity, and related issues. If these are not among your interests or concerns, you may want to hit the delete key at this time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- WELCOME TO GOA, WHERE GLOBALISATION IS *ONLY* FIVE CENTURIES OLD In Goa, the IMF chief gave lengthy sermons on how neoclassical market economics is good for countries like India. But, he was clearly embarassed when why structural adjustment policies of the IMF had not got rid of the global debt. On the contrary, the same has been spiralling. By C. Martin IMF managing director Michel Camdessus, who visited Goa recently, made a Freudian slip: he unwittingly pointed out how the current trend of globalisation is so similar to colonialism of past centuries which ravaged the areas now known as the Third World. Globalisation, he pointed out, was leading to "the integration of economies through trade, financial flows, technology spillovers, more rapidly available information, and cross-cultural currents". He went on to emphasise that: "This phenomenon is not a new one, of course, but it is re-shaping the world economy." Critics of the powerful Brettenwood Twins -- the IMF and World Bank -- have long pointed out that their neoclassical market- oriented paradigm would take us back to colonial times. Camdessus unwittingly underlined this point. He sang praises to globalisation, and went on to add: "And what better place to talk about these developments than Goa, which during the 16th and 17th centuries -- also known as Goa Dourada or Goa's golden age -- was the epicentre of maritime trade between Europe and the countries of South East Asia and the Far East." Goa, the former headquarters of the eastern colonial empire of the Portuguese, is a small region of around 3700 square kilometres, and is today one of the federal states that makes up India. It lies along the Indian west coast, some 600 km south of Bombay (Mumbai). Goa, Camdessus argued, has a long history of "international contacts" through trade and commerce, and has long been an important "gateway to India". But, like the IMF's questionable economics, Camdessus needs to revise his view of Goa's history. Goa, though many do not realise this, has the dubious distinction of being one of the regions of the world which has suffered European colonialism for the longest stint -- a record four hundred and fifty one years in all. Despite all the paens of praise sung to the Portuguese empire of the past, modern historians are finding out that colonial Goa of the sixteenth and seventeenth century was far from a paradise. 'Golden Goa' was a myth, says historian Dr. Teotonio R. de Souza, the former director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Alto Porvorim. His impressive book titled Medieval Goa conclusively shows the realities of those days, and the economic pressures it brought on the Goan population. In his words, his work "recapture the sighs and the cries, the joys and the sorrows of the silent masses of (Goa's) inhabitants". In the early phases of Portuguese colonial rule here, which the IMF chief sees as golden, the reality was quite different. "Nearly three-fourths of the total income of the territory (Goa) went to feed the White bureaucracy, with the second large fund absorbed by the Church and the defence organization, meaning that there were only crumbs for the natives and their development. That was how Portuguese colonialism was draining the land," wrote Dr. de Souza, who till recently was himself a member of the Catholic religious order of the Jesuits. Is Mr. Camdessus keen to take us back to such days? Interestingly, in his talk at Goa, the IMF chief also tried to play on local religious sentiments. He stressed that his own hometown in France was "very near the Spanish border... very near the town of Xavier". This town is the home of Catholic missionary Francis Xavier, whose remains are at Old Goa and who is a religious figure widely venerated by Goan Catholics. Mr. Camdessus might try to make himself out to be a very devout and religious, god-fearing person. But, again, the reality is different. Due to the inhumane policies the IMF has propagated across the world, today even Christian and other religious organisations have themselves been compelled to sharply criticise the institution he heads. The All Africa Conference of Churches commented at Maseru: "We live in an unjust international financial system that rewards Africa poorly for her labour and resources, and penalizes her severely with high interest rates for loans contracted to service the production of exports to the rich nations of North America and Europe." Of course, the IMF and Mr. Camdessus have contributed in a big way -- by pushing at every opportunity their neoclassical market-is-god paradigm. Other institutions like the Canada-based Inter-Church Coalition on Africa point out how IMF-World Bank strategies literally strangulate the poor across the globe. In Goa, Mr. Camdessus gave lengthy sermons on how neoclassical market economics is good for countries like India. But, he frankly was embarassed when asked how structural adjustment policies of the IMF had not got rid of the Third World debt. He quickly wound up a news conference when asked how despite all the IMF "successes" in pushing down its prescriptions and in prising open Third World markets, the debt of the Third World had shot up from $751 billion in 1981 to $1,355 billion in 1990. He only argued something about the growing debt being used for "productive" investments, and spoke of feeble attempts made by the IMF to reduce debt of a few countries. Soon after that query, Mr Camdessus abrubtly ended the news conference. Despite the IMF's claims and promises about the benefits of their policies, the global economy is nowhere near good shape. Today, budget and trade deficits plague most countries in the world. The debt load on all governments -- but particularly those of the Third World -- has crippled their fiscal capacity to look after their citizens. Capital moves so freely across the globe that it is often impossible for governments to find, let alone tax. Corporations treat the world like a global chessboard, bidding down wages and taxes, avoiding environmental regulations and pillaging natural resources. Their right to do this is no longer even considered controversial. They are courted by politicians of all political stripes. This former French bureaucrat blasted government's bureaucracies, arguing that more official controls were creating "opportunities for corruption". But Mr. Camdessus apparently forgot that the IMF itself has a bloated bureaucracy, an extremely priviledged staff (which would put any feudal empire to shame), and has staffers who are too well insulated from the consequences of their own advice doled out to the less-powerful countries of the world. (Ends) From aanz@sirius.com Sun Mar 9 21:25:28 1997 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 20:30:51 +0000 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: Workers" Bill of Rights (fwd) >> There will be a May Day celebration at Laney College, Oakland as well. >>alum Liam Flynn of the Wobblies is taking the lead on it, but I'd be >>interested in knowing what you folks will be doing on yours. (Oaklnad >>will ironically also be home of the IWC board meeting March 21st to >>revoke the overtime provision for the 8 hour day. That should be a fun >>protest rally as well (9am 111 Grand if youre in the neighborhood). ellen I think the policies passed by AFL-CIO last month have enormous >> implications, particularly those on workfare. Isn't it time to consider a >> Workers Bill of Rights in the context of those policies? >> FWP. >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 12:11:04 -0600 >> From: jo grant >> To: Designing for POST-INDUSTRIAL REALITIES >> Subject: Workers" Bill of Rights >> >> Authur, >> Too little thought is given to the role workers play in the >> productivity/consumer chain that generates profits. With "equity" being the >> key word, would you mind sharing your thoughts with us--via the list? >> >> When I agreed (as part of the group planing the week of activities that >> surround May Day in Madison, WI) to find and/or formulate a Workers' Bill >> of Rights I had no idea that a copy of such wasn't nailed to the wall of >> every union local's office in the country. >> >> When e-mail to many unions failed to turn up a Workers' Bill of Rights I >> was surprised. I imagined a group of our "Founding Fathers" sitting around >> as the revolution began with one of them saying, "Come on guys, certainly >> someone has made a list of the the reasons we are declaring our >> independence from England. Let's get to work! It's imperative that we >> carefully articulate our desire for independence with a declaration that is >> clear, consice, and able to be understood by all people. Something that >> might even be turned into a poster." >> >> Thoughts to the reply address or to: mayday97@bookzen.com >> >> Thanks, >> >> j grant From aanz@sirius.com Sun Mar 9 21:29:40 1997 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 20:35:02 +0000 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: Constitutional Implications of AFL-CIO Policy. (fwd) >On Sat, 8 Mar 1997, Raleigh Myers wrote: > >> >On Tue, 25 Feb 1997, Harry Kelber wrote: >> >> > LaborTalk: Organizing Workfare >> > By Harry Kelber >> > >> > AFL-CIO unions will seek to organize about one million workfare >> > participants who will be required to work for their welfare benefits at >> > sub-minimum wages in temporary, dead-end jobs. This ground-breaking >> > policy was approved at the federation's Executive Council winter meeting >> > in Los Angeles on February 17-20. >> > The Council resolution on Welfare and Workers Rights stated: "The >> > AFL-CIO, working with affiliates, will support efforts to organize former >> > welfare recipients by integrating them into bargaining units, organizing >> > new units, and defending the living standards and working conditions of >> > all employee, whether engaged in work programs through welfare or >> > otherwise." >> > What the unions fear is that state and local governments will use >> > the workfare participants to replace their regular employees. Workfare >> > programs, as presently administered, can provide employers in the private >> > sector with a way to drive down the wages and benefits of regular >> > employees. This has already been happening in some cities. >> >> Nobody should be surprised at any of this and no mater how cynical >> your are it isn't enough. When you look at what Lincoln (the first >> republican) did under the spell of CREEPing fascism it comes into focus. >> >> This is something from an old post that fits here :) >> >> >> Many think of Lincoln as a stooge of organized usury ie. the same >> crowd that is SAPing America today. Structural Adjustment Programs to >> scuttle the safety net in order to insure the payment of the global debt >> owed to them as in IMF Rollerball ie. the contract 'on' America. >> Scuttling the safety net lowers wages for everyone when the former >> welfare recipients flood the labor market and need services as did >> requiring two parents to work for a declining standard of living in the >> seventies. Lowering taxes for unearned income and wage slavery are the >> raison etre for the Neo Liberalists(Republicans), no. >> Take that back a century and voila Lincoln was freeing the slaves >> to satisfy Northern industrialists never ending quest to lower wages. This >> time it was to end Southern competition due to the labor structure of the >> South and when all those free men(emancipated slaves) came North after the >> civil War, as per plan, it would devastate the wage scale in the North and >> it did. >> The carpet baggers(organized usury-unearned income) from the North came >> South, took over industry for a dime on the dollar and ran them cheaper with >> wage slavery while pocketing the new monopoly profits. Talk about your >> hostile takeover. Did you really think the "Sucker born every minute, let >> them eat cake, I am not a crook" crowd was into emancipation or sudden >> social correctness because they were affected by Dickens? >> So a CREEP on the same level as Nixon and clones really isn't >> somebody we proudly hail as a servant of the people. Just look at it as >> CHAOS(Conservative Hype Always Optimally Skewed) Conservative being double >> speak for organized usury in sheep's clothing ie. Neo Liberalism as the >> Hegemony of Parasitism. >> >> If you have a problem with ORGANIZED USURY or figuring out what to >> do with frankencorp, the monster with the synthetic body and the diseased >> mind, your neighbor-hood limited liability corporate citizen in the pursuit >> of happiness courtesy of representative oligarchy posing as a democracy >> check out. >> http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/usury.html >> >> If you skipped earth day for the last thirty years check out EARTH HOUR >> http://www.igc.apc.org/raenergy/raenergy.html > >Does anyone else see this as a unique situation for organized labour and >one likely to have immense implications for society? Consider what it >would mean to have workfare people threatening a strike. AFL-CIO policy >would have them protected by the same labour laws as anyone else. But the >wages of workfare are barest subsistence. Ergo, no strike fund. Any >strike by workfare then becomes a hunger strike! Going back to that >"Workers Bill of Rights" then, does a worker really have a right to not >be forced into labour? UN laws say yes. Apply that to workfare along with >the obligation to work for even the most meagre stipend from society >(welfare). It could be expressed as "You must work for welfare but your >work is a choice (according to the usual criteria of >aptitudes/interests/abilities)". Fine and dandy but how can such workers >have a right to strike at the same time as an obligation to work? Nobody has a right to strike in this country until after they win the first strike. All union activity this century started out illegally. Until very recently public employees couldn't strike either. Welfare folks will walk, the counties will negotiate, and the agreements that insue will make such strikes "lawful". The ruling class gives up only what we win in struggle. As long as there is Capitalism it will be so, as it has always be in the past. ellen >FWP. From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sun Mar 9 22:56:13 1997 Sun, 9 Mar 1997 21:55:54 -0800 (PST) Sun, 9 Mar 1997 21:55:13 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 09 Mar 1997 21:52:17 -0800 From: meisenscher To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, can-labor@pencil.math.missouri.edu Subject: [Fwd: UNION BUSTING AT HOLT LABOR LIBRARY!] Sender: meisenscher@igc.org This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------F0723092C0A This account of union-busting by the "progressive" New College and its Holt Labor Library pose a serious challenge to both the labor movement and academic community. This this action should be taken by the management of a labor archive at a college which recruits on the strength of it left-of-center orientation is one more troubling indication of the extent to which union-avoidance and employer hostility toward organized labor has been legitimated and permeates the country's social culture. This report is worthy of a response from both labor and academia. --------------F0723092C0A Path: news.igc.apc.org!cdp!kbiddle From: Kurtis Biddle Newsgroups: labr.announcements Subject: UNION BUSTING AT HOLT LABOR LIBRARY! Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 14:51:08 -0800 (PST) X-Gateway: notes@igc.apc.org Lines: 62 UNITED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 790 SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION 1390 MARKET STREET, SUITE 1118 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102-5305 An Open Letter To Rod Holt, The Union Members At New College And The Labor Community On January 17, 1997 the Holt Labor Library fired both of its workers, Ali Bruce and Kurt Biddle. Both were involved in a union organizing effort at New College and the Holt Labor Library and had affiliated with Service Employees International Union, Local 790. The Holt Labor Library is a small library located inside New College of California. The library specializes in labor history and radical politics. The Holt Labor Library Board of Directors has three members, Rod Holt (Chairman), Martin Hamilton (New College Vice President), and Guy Benjamin (former Director of Development at New College). Kurt Biddle and Ali Bruce were active in the union from the beginning of the organizing drive. They attended union meetings, were members of the organizing committee and were vocal in their support for the union. July 1, 1996 Kurt and Ali signed union cards authorizing SEIU Local 790 to be their exclusive bargaining agent. They encouraged others to sign cards as well. They placed "Union YES!" signs on the library door. In August, Rod Holt attempted to intimidate Ali and Kurt by demanding to know the names of those who were on the organizing committee of the union and who had signed cards. Mr. Holt also wanted to know why the "Union YES!" sign was on the door. On August 20, 1996 workers won union recognition from New College administration. More than 70% of the employees signed union cards. On September 6, 1996 a union meeting during lunch hour was held to elect the negotiating committee. Rod Holt came to the meeting and demanded to talk to Ali Bruce. Mr. Holt told Ali that he had no business attending the meeting, that the Holt Labor Library was not affiliating with SEIU. He told both Kurt and Ali that if we wanted to play games, he would shut down the library. After the union meeting was over, Kurt and Ali went back to the library to find the "Union YES" sign torn down and a note from Mr. Holt that said "The SEIU is not organizing here." On November 18, 1996 SEIU Local 790 sent Rod Holt a letter informing him that both his employees selected SEIU as their union representative and asked that he maintain the status quo while a contract was negotiated. Mr. Holt never responded. On January 17, 1996 both Ali Bruce and Kurt Biddle were fired. A non-union worker was brought in to replace them. We support the right of workers to organize themselves and to collectively bargain. We demand that Kurt Biddle and Ali Bruce be reinstated with back pay, the union be recognized and that the Holt Labor Library Foundation negotiate a collective bargaining agreement in good faith. PLEASE SEND MESSAGES OF PROTEST TO Rod Holt, or snail mail to Rod Holt , 1390 Market str., Suite 1924, SF, CA 94102 PLEASE SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO --------------F0723092C0A-- From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 10 10:17:57 1997 Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:10:37 -0800 (PST) Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:00:16 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:00:16 -0800 (PST) To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu, preeve@igc.org, dbacon@igc.org, mikeotc@aol.com, balliet@indiana.edu, jschaffner@igc.org From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Duncan Article on WCFL Sender: meisenscher@igc.org The article I forwarded on the WCFL by Larry Duncan contained no contact information for reaching Duncan. He has informed me that the article has yet to be published, but that he grants permission to those who want to reproduce or use it, providing they send him notice and a copy. Here is how to reach him. Larry Duncan Labor Beat tv show (773) 561-0908 lduncan@igc.apc.org www/cs/icjocagp/edi/cpsr/lb In solidarity, Michael From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Tue Mar 11 17:38:00 1997 Tue, 11 Mar 1997 16:37:40 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 16:37:39 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Labour Welfare Party Update. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 15:42:39 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley To: CONSTITUTION@websightz.com, Ftr_Cities@websightz.com townsman@cyberlink.bc.ca, vernlet@ok.bc.ca, kellet@ok.bc.ca, times@interlink.bc.ca, rreview@jumppoint.com, timerevu@junction.net, jhainsw@pris.bc.ca, nttimes@netshop.net, jkenyon@cin.etc.bc.ca, chrinfo@vancouver.net, vopr@rci.rogers.com, ccpa@policy.alternatives.ca, coc@web.apc.org, news@ctv.ca, editor@straight.com, BCTVNEWS@BCTV.WIC.CA, tips@utvnews.com, sunletters@ppress.wimsey.com, pgraham@wimsey.com, jtyabji@wic.ca, editor@courier.mnis.com, tomorrow@helix.net, talkback@vancouver.cbc.ca, macleans@hookup.net, harvey.oberfeld@BCTV.WIC.CA, kimberly.halkett@BCTV.WIC.CA Subject: Press Release: Future Politics...WATCH! Yesterday evening a meeting was held between the two BC Micro-Parties, Labour Welfare Party and Party of Citizens with about 15 people in attendance including two babies under a year old. We discussed the prospect of a campaign to RECALL the incumbent in Vancouver-Kingsway and replace him with the young LLB, William Kay, who is LWP President. William and his team put 9 candidates in the recent Vancouver election and came up with a pretty good tally at the election box for a new party with no funds. LWP is interested in the proposal and will consider it over the next few months. I think Nov. 28/97 is D-Day when we can begin the recall process against the Vancouver-Kingsway incumbent who happens to be Premier Clark. If this goes ahead and we succeed, it will utterly transform the political SYSTEM of BC for the better. We can open up the Bamberton Future City discussion through the new system which will entail a Freenet or Freenet-like network of Public Access Computers. "Party of Citizens" would be responsible for putting the 100 public, Internet-connected computers in place and linking them to the Constituency Office with the new MLA-Bill Kay. Kay's Labour-Left political ideology is not my own but it is congruent with the constituency he will represent. As long as he is ACCOUNTABLE to those people I will not object. The 100 PAC's will make that accountability a daily reality. Reporters receiving this message might ask "Help BC" (Stockell and Somerville) with their "breach of promise" or fraud law suit against the government what they think of this. If it is accountability to the citizens they really want they will support it. If it is just covert partisan politics for the Liberal Party they won't care. Bill Kay can be reached at 604-877-8051 for comment. FWP. -=-- Posted through the Constitution Mailing List (http://www.websightz.com/constitution) To subscribe to the list send email to: constitution-request@websightz.com with the word "subscribe" in the body To unsubscribe from the list send email to: constitution-request@websightz.com with the word "unsubscribe" in the body To Post a message, mail it to: constitution@websightz.com For Help file send a blank email to: constitution-request@websightz.com For mailing lists and web site design send requests to: webmadam@websightz.com From aanz@sirius.com Tue Mar 11 22:15:45 1997 Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 21:21:08 +0000 To: holtlabor@igc.apc.org From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: [Fwd: UNION BUSTING AT HOLT LABOR LIBRARY!] > Dear Mr. Holt, I have for years been a patron of your library, and have enjoyed using your material which I often share with my labor studies classes at City College of San Francisco and Laney College in Oakland where I teach. I have found the two librarians referred to in this communication from Labor-Rap to be helpful and effective as librarians. Their work performance has always been above reproach. Surely you will rethink your actions with regard to their termination? How can it be that you would destroy your fine reputation with the community you most wish to serve? You must surely be aware that the fastest way to restore your good name in the community must include reinstatement for employees fired for union activity. Please feel free to call upon me if I can be of any assistance to you in resolving this dispute. Sincerely, Ellen M. Starbird (510) 464-3210 This account of union-busting by the "progressive" New College and its >Holt Labor Library pose a serious challenge to both the labor movement >and academic community. This this action should be taken by the >management of a labor archive at a college which recruits on the strength >of it left-of-center orientation is one more troubling indication of the >extent to which union-avoidance and employer hostility toward organized >labor has been legitimated and permeates the country's social culture. >This report is worthy of a response from both labor and academia. > >Content-Type: message/rfc822 >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Content-Disposition: inline > >Path: news.igc.apc.org!cdp!kbiddle >From: Kurtis Biddle >Newsgroups: labr.announcements >Subject: UNION BUSTING AT HOLT LABOR LIBRARY! >Message-ID: >Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 14:51:08 -0800 (PST) >X-Gateway: notes@igc.apc.org >Lines: 62 > >UNITED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 790 >SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION >1390 MARKET STREET, SUITE 1118 >SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102-5305 > >An Open Letter To Rod Holt, The Union Members At New College And The >Labor Community > >On January 17, 1997 the Holt Labor Library fired both of its workers, >Ali Bruce and Kurt Biddle. Both were involved in a union organizing >effort at New College and the Holt Labor Library and had affiliated >with Service Employees International Union, Local 790. > >The Holt Labor Library is a small library located inside New College of >California. The library specializes in labor history and radical >politics. The Holt Labor Library Board of Directors has three members, >Rod Holt (Chairman), Martin Hamilton (New College Vice President), and >Guy Benjamin (former Director of Development at New College). > >Kurt Biddle and Ali Bruce were active in the union from the beginning >of the organizing drive. They attended union meetings, were members of >the organizing committee and were vocal in their support for the union. >July 1, 1996 Kurt and Ali signed union cards authorizing SEIU Local 790 >to be their exclusive bargaining agent. They encouraged others to sign >cards as well. They placed "Union YES!" signs on the library door. > >In August, Rod Holt attempted to intimidate Ali and Kurt by demanding >to know the names of those who were on the organizing committee of the >union and who had signed cards. Mr. Holt also wanted to know why the >"Union YES!" sign was on the door. > >On August 20, 1996 workers won union recognition from New College >administration. More than 70% of the employees signed union cards. > >On September 6, 1996 a union meeting during lunch hour was held to >elect the negotiating committee. Rod Holt came to the meeting and >demanded to talk to Ali Bruce. Mr. Holt told Ali that he had no >business attending the meeting, that the Holt Labor Library was not >affiliating with SEIU. He told both Kurt and Ali that if we wanted to >play games, he would shut down the library. After the union meeting was >over, Kurt and Ali went back to the library to find the "Union YES" >sign torn down and a note from Mr. Holt that said "The SEIU is not >organizing here." > >On November 18, 1996 SEIU Local 790 sent Rod Holt a letter informing >him that both his employees selected SEIU as their union representative >and asked that he maintain the status quo while a contract was >negotiated. Mr. Holt never responded. > >On January 17, 1996 both Ali Bruce and Kurt Biddle were fired. A >non-union worker was brought in to replace them. > >We support the right of workers to organize themselves and to >collectively bargain. We demand that Kurt Biddle and Ali Bruce be >reinstated with back pay, the union be recognized and that the Holt >Labor Library Foundation negotiate a collective bargaining agreement in >good faith. > >PLEASE SEND MESSAGES OF PROTEST TO Rod Holt, > >or snail mail to Rod Holt , 1390 Market str., Suite 1924, SF, CA 94102 > >PLEASE SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Wed Mar 12 23:02:22 1997 Wed, 12 Mar 1997 22:01:01 -0800 (PST) Wed, 12 Mar 1997 21:58:59 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 21:58:59 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: [PEN-L:8888] Call for Volunteers for The Budget Game (Building Net Toys for Sender: meisenscher@igc.org >Subject: [PEN-L:8888] Call for Volunteers for The Budget Game (Building Net Toys for >X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas >X-Comment: Progressive Economics > >THE BUDGET PROJECT: >INTERNET TOYS FOR DEMOCRACY > >Two years ago, the Center for Community Economic Research produced a simple >web game, the National Budget Simulation, that let Americans explore some >of the complexities of balancing the Federal budget. The result was a >smash hit. NBS was used in classrooms throughout the country, and it was >cited by The New York Times, Business Week, and C-SPAN. Today, in >conjunction with Progressive Communications, we are embarking on a new >adventure, and we need your help. > >Today, we are launching a new initiative: Internet Toys for Democracy >(ITD). The goal of ITD is to create a library of reusable Java tools to >help educate the public about economic issues. Using these tools, >teachers, policy makers, and members of community groups, businesses, >unions, and political parties will be able to easily create interactive >teaching "toys" without having to know how to program. > >ITD's first project will be an expanded version of the National Budget >Simulation. >We would like to rewrite the original game, using Java, so that anyone can >create their own budget simulation. Local and state governments will be >able to create simulations to help their citizens understand where their >tax dollars go, and educators will be able to use it for teaching. It will >be designed so that it is simple to use and is a powerful teaching tool. >Our goal is to get as much input from teachers, community educators, and >others who have on-the-ground experience trying to explain complex economic >issues to ordinary people. It will also be built so that people can also >add options to suit their needs. In doing so, we hope to build a useful >tool and to show that the Internet can live up to its potential as a means >for educating the public. > >The project will be broken into three phases. In Phase I, someone will >write a quick-and-dirty general version that people throughout the country >can experiment with. We'll set up a mailing list to get feedback on this >version, to coordinate its use, and to discuss what features we should >include in the next version. In Phase II, someone will rewrite the program >so it gradually includes new features. In Phase III, we will discuss >which other simple Java applets for teaching economic issues are worth >tackling next. > >We don't have any funding for this project. If it's going to happen, it >will take lots of volunteers: > >PROGRAMMERS: Right away, we need a skilled hacker to whip up a simple, >stripped-down version of the Budget Game in Java. For someone who's a whiz >at object-oriented programming and Java, this shouldn't take more than a >few days tops plus an occasional bug fix, since the program is essentially >a very simple spreadsheet. We also need someone for Phase II who's very >skilled at object-oriented programming and who knows how to write clean, >clear code that will fit JavaBeans and other emerging Java standards. This >second project requires a larger commitment of time and may involve more >than one person. If you're available for a quick-and-dirty job but not >sure about a longer-term commitment, we're happy to take you (we assume >that the first version is a prototype that we'll throw away). > >HOSTS: Although we can keep a copy of the Budget Game on CCER's web site, >we'll need more than one site to make this work. We're looking for people >who can host mirror copies on their web site. We are also looking for >people to help handle some of the administrative tasks, such as keeping >up-to-date web pages that list the hosts and lesson plans, perhaps help in >handling the volume of email the project generates, and other >administrative issues. > >EDUCATORS: As soon as we have a quick-and-dirty version up and running, >we'll need help from classroom teachers and community educators. We'll >need people to design lesson plans, write better instructions, and to come >up with and kibbitz over a list of new features for the next version. The >shape of the next version, Phase II, will largely be determined by >educators who have lots of practical experience explaining complex economic >issues in simple terms. We will try to steer clear of adding too many bells >and whistles and keep our eye on the prize: getting across the lessons we >hope to teach (and we assume the Budget Game will be used to teach many >different kinds of lessons from a wide range of political perspectives). > >BUDGET BUILDERS: As soon as a quick-and-dirty version is ready, we'll need >several government employees and educators to try building budgets. For >the first version, we're looking for people who feel comfortable with >computers, since you'll have to enter the budget as a text file (in the >second version, you'll enter it via an easy-to-use Java applet). > > >Interested? Send email to budgetgame@garnet.berkeley.edu. In the subject >line, >put the words BUDGET GAME and the category you want to volunteer (e.g., >"BUDGET >GAME PROGRAMMER"). > >You can also subscribe to our moderated mailing list, EDINLIST, where we'll >send updates on our progress and, eventually, where we will kibbitz about >the proposed changes. To subscribe, send the following message to >LISTSERV@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU: > SUB EDINLIST >and then follow the instructions it sends back. > >Thanks For Your Help! > >Anders Schneiderman, PhD. >Nathan Newman > > >P.S. If you have ideas about other Internet Toys for Democracy, and you're >either a classroom teacher or a member of a large organization or magazine, >please email us your idea; send email to budgetgame@garnet.berkeley.edu >with a subject of "WISH LIST". At this point, we are _only_ interested in >people who have the organizational capacity to make a commitment that the >new Toy will actually be used. > > > From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Thu Mar 13 00:14:14 1997 Wed, 12 Mar 1997 23:08:29 -0800 (PST) Wed, 12 Mar 1997 23:03:00 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 23:03:00 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu, united@cougar.com, pen-l@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Technology, Reserach Agenda, & Income Inequality svtc@igc.apc.org, tsmith@igc.org, shniad@sfu.ca, abudak@alumni.ysu.edu Sender: meisenscher@igc.org The following article is reposted with author's consent and may be redistributed, if copyright is retained. Direct responses to the author, or to the list for discussion, not to me. Michael =============================================== >Subject: L.A. Times column, 3/10/97 > >The following is my Los Angeles Times column for today, March 10, 1997. >This will appear in other newspapers in coming weeks. > >Please feel free to pass this around, but please retain the copyright notice. > >-- Gary > >Gary Chapman >Director >The 21st Century Project >LBJ School of Public Affairs >Drawer Y >University Station >University of Texas >Austin, TX 78713 >(512) 471-8326 >(512) 471-1835 (fax) >gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu >http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp > >INNOVATION > >Must Technological Research Increase Inequality? > >By Gary Chapman > >March 10, 1997 > >Copyright 1997, The Los Angeles Times > >U.S. Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton), the ranking minority member of >the House Science Committee, recently delivered this shocking fact during a >speech to the University Research Assn.: In California, "for the first >time, the cost of the state corrections system exceeds the combined budget >for the University of California and California State College System." > >Brown went on: "Yearly graduate tuition at Stanford is less than the >average yearly cost of incarceration in California." > >The congressman was putting his finger on the most critical issue facing >the U.S. economy today, about which the high-tech community has been >curiously silent: the diversion of economic resources away from productive >long-term research and development toward the warehousing of the poor and >uneducated. > >Income inequality in the United States is a well-known phenomenon: The U.S. >has the highest level of inequality of any industrialized nation. When I >was young, it was common to hear my elders say that it was better to be >poor in the U.S. than to be poor in other countries. But that's no longer >true. The lowest 10% of wage earners in Italy, once the epitome of poor >European countries, now make three times more than their counterparts in >the United States. > >By now, it should be clear to everyone that stubborn and persistent income >inequality is not only a moral issue; it has a significant effect on >patterns of innovation and technological development. > >There are many causes of income inequality, according to economists, and >one cause is technological development itself. Factory automation has >ejected millions of workers from skilled jobs; advances in software now >threaten to thin the ranks of service-sector workers and even professionals >like lawyers and accountants. > >The situation calls to mind a famous story involving Henry Ford and United >Auto Workers chief Walter Reuther. Ford showed Reuther some new factory >robots and observed that the machines would never go on strike. Reuther >replied, "How many of those machines will buy Fords?" > >Leaders of science, technology, politics and industry should be well aware >that technological progress creates its own discontent. But they're stuck >in the overwhelming consensus of the American elite: that technology is an >overall benefit with a logic of its own, determined by the free market; >that competition among firms and people leads to improvements in the >standard of living; and that the market inevitably finds the optimal way to >distribute wealth. > >In fact, even in science there is a bias toward the very top of a >competitive hierarchy. Science is organized in the United States not for an >even distribution of scientific expertise, or to create new job >opportunities for qualified graduates, but instead to produce a handful of >Nobel laureates, a few huge research grants, corporate monopolies on >scientific breakthroughs, and ruthless competition for money, status and >power. > >>From 1994 to 1996, federal science and technology spending was threatened >with massive cuts. For the first time, the research community rallied to >protect its budget. Now there are proposals to restore funding for science >and technology research and development, partly as a result of more >effective lobbying by research leaders. But that lobbying has been focused >largely on preserving the scale of the funding, rather than on a research >agenda that will help solve the nation's problems. > >Of course, the scientific community's tendency toward favoring the elite is >paralleled by patterns of corporate R&D and innovation. > >James K. Galbraith, an economist at the University of Texas, says that >because corporate managers look to a small segment of the population as >their target market--people with high disposable incomes--we get innovation >characterized by over-engineering, "baroque" product features and short >product life cycles with built-in obsolescence. > >"What inequality tends to foster, in terms of innovation," says Galbraith, >"are 'toys' for the rich instead of investments in mass use." That, he >says, is why we favor $30,000 cars over mass transit, cellular phones and >expensive services over universal access, and bells and whistles for the >Internet instead of the guarantee that the Internet will be more affordable >and easier to use. > >"Inequality," says Galbraith, "produces a 'cult of the novel,' " instead of >products that meet widely shared needs. > >Conventional wisdom says the solution to income inequality is overall >economic growth, which, as the saying goes, "lifts all boats." But these >days, even mainstream economists agree that present economic trends >indicate that economic growth will actually increase inequality in the >absence of ameliorating policies. > >The only real solution isn't yet on the table in the U.S.: massive income >redistribution, not by government transfer payments but by the far more >comprehensive effect of increased bargaining power on the part of workers. >In other words, most people need to be paid more, and the skew in income >rewards to the top should be reversed. > >There are a variety of policies for R&D that could help, including public >investments in truly "mass-use" technologies, such as public transit, >universal service, and skills-based automation. We could develop a science >and technology policy aimed at a more even distribution of talent and >resources, instead of concentrating money in scientific centers. > >Instead of shooting for more Nobel prizes, we could set goals for more >widespread scientific and technological competence. In particular, we need >to democratize the policymaking process so that science and technology >policy isn't the private fiefdom of elite experts. > >The present system is unsustainable over the long run. Either we'll make >the hard choices necessary or we'll continue on a pathological course of >spending more money for jails than for higher education. If we choose that >sad path, we have only ourselves to blame. > >Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project at the University of >Texas at Austin. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu From Furuhashi.1@osu.edu Fri Mar 14 18:08:41 1997 Fri, 14 Mar 1997 20:06:27 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 20:06:06 -0500 To: marxism-international@jefferson.village.virginia.edu, littler.5@osu.edu, gesopost@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu, kilty.1@osu.edu, jgn+@osu.edu, walk@igc.apc.org, cshuman@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu, rdyck@capital.edu, e.swank@morehead-st.edu, h-labor@h-net.msu.edu, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, psn@csf.colorado.edu, labor-l@yorku.ca From: Furuhashi.1@osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Subject: books for cuban scholars >Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 09:04:44 -0600 (CST) >From: Jamie Owen Daniel >To: mlg-ics@andrew.cmu.edu >Subject: books for cuban scholars > >Hi folks: > >As those of you who stuck it out for the last day of the Institute last >year will remember, I announced after my presentation that I would be >collecting books to take down with the North American contingent that >will be attending the annual conference of North American & Cuban >Scholars in Havana in June. I am the paper and panel coordinator for >the Conference this year, and in that capacity will be able to arrange >for books to be hand-carried to scholars and departments at the Universidad >de la Habana who, because of the paper shortages during the "special period" >and the intellectual isolation caused by the embargo, are generally unable >to access current scholarship. This is particularly true, it appears, >in history, philosophy and the humanities. > >I've been in contact with a number of people who have spent far more time >in Cuba than I, and they have advised me that, while our Cuban >counterparts greatly appreciate any books we can spare, they are >particularly interested in work in areas to which they have the most >limited access, such as postmodernism (!), contemporary literary criticism >and theory, contemporary political thought in the US and Europe (they have >more than enough Chomsky and Zinn, I am told), and political commentary. >There is a tremendous sense of intellectual isolation; folks just want to >know what we're doing and how we're doing it. There is also, I am >personally happy to report, considerable interest in the Frankfurt School, >"all text by all authors, primary and secondary texts." Many Cuban >scholars and teachers read German; some were trained in the former GDR, >where they also would not have had much access to Adorno, Benjamin, etc. >Again, it is rare that one can find imported books in Cuban bookstores, and >when they are available, they are usually far too expensive for even >the university to be able to buy. > >So, I am asking any MLGers interested in doing so to send me whatever >books in these areas you'd be willing to spare. Your own latest book, or >a copy of the book with your most recent and/or most recent article would >be much appreciated. Also, review copies you may no longer need, books >you have several desk copies of, etc., recent journals..... Jeffrey >Williams has already sent a FULL RUN of Minnesota Review for me to take >down (thanks, Jeffrey). > >Please send what you can spare (book rate will be fine) to me at the >address below. If you have any questions or reservations, call me at >home, 708-383-9266, or e-mail me at jdaniel@uic.edu. > >Thanks very much for anything you can contribute. > >Jamie > >Jamie Owen Daniel >Department of English m/c 162 >University of Illinois at Chicago >601 S. Morgan >Chicago IL 60607-7120 From aanz@sirius.com Sat Mar 15 16:20:31 1997 Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 15:26:05 +0000 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: Technology, Reserach Agenda, & Income Inequality >While it is true that the cost of 1 year's incarceration is roughly >equivalent to 1 year of Stanford with full access to the Betty Ford clinic >as well; many of the criminals became addicted to Ollie North imports) the >ciriculum is significantly different. ellen The following article is reposted with author's consent and may be >redistributed, if copyright is retained. Direct responses to the author, or >to the list for discussion, not to me. >Michael >=============================================== >>Subject: L.A. Times column, 3/10/97 >> >>The following is my Los Angeles Times column for today, March 10, 1997. >>This will appear in other newspapers in coming weeks. >> >>Please feel free to pass this around, but please retain the copyright notice. >> >>-- Gary >> >>Gary Chapman >>Director >>The 21st Century Project >>LBJ School of Public Affairs >>Drawer Y >>University Station >>University of Texas >>Austin, TX 78713 >>(512) 471-8326 >>(512) 471-1835 (fax) >>gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu >>http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp >> >>INNOVATION >> >>Must Technological Research Increase Inequality? >> >>By Gary Chapman >> >>March 10, 1997 >> >>Copyright 1997, The Los Angeles Times >> >>U.S. Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton), the ranking minority member of >>the House Science Committee, recently delivered this shocking fact during a >>speech to the University Research Assn.: In California, "for the first >>time, the cost of the state corrections system exceeds the combined budget >>for the University of California and California State College System." >> >>Brown went on: "Yearly graduate tuition at Stanford is less than the >>average yearly cost of incarceration in California." >> >>The congressman was putting his finger on the most critical issue facing >>the U.S. economy today, about which the high-tech community has been >>curiously silent: the diversion of economic resources away from productive >>long-term research and development toward the warehousing of the poor and >>uneducated. >> >>Income inequality in the United States is a well-known phenomenon: The U.S. >>has the highest level of inequality of any industrialized nation. When I >>was young, it was common to hear my elders say that it was better to be >>poor in the U.S. than to be poor in other countries. But that's no longer >>true. The lowest 10% of wage earners in Italy, once the epitome of poor >>European countries, now make three times more than their counterparts in >>the United States. >> >>By now, it should be clear to everyone that stubborn and persistent income >>inequality is not only a moral issue; it has a significant effect on >>patterns of innovation and technological development. >> >>There are many causes of income inequality, according to economists, and >>one cause is technological development itself. Factory automation has >>ejected millions of workers from skilled jobs; advances in software now >>threaten to thin the ranks of service-sector workers and even professionals >>like lawyers and accountants. >> >>The situation calls to mind a famous story involving Henry Ford and United >>Auto Workers chief Walter Reuther. Ford showed Reuther some new factory >>robots and observed that the machines would never go on strike. Reuther >>replied, "How many of those machines will buy Fords?" >> >>Leaders of science, technology, politics and industry should be well aware >>that technological progress creates its own discontent. But they're stuck >>in the overwhelming consensus of the American elite: that technology is an >>overall benefit with a logic of its own, determined by the free market; >>that competition among firms and people leads to improvements in the >>standard of living; and that the market inevitably finds the optimal way to >>distribute wealth. >> >>In fact, even in science there is a bias toward the very top of a >>competitive hierarchy. Science is organized in the United States not for an >>even distribution of scientific expertise, or to create new job >>opportunities for qualified graduates, but instead to produce a handful of >>Nobel laureates, a few huge research grants, corporate monopolies on >>scientific breakthroughs, and ruthless competition for money, status and >>power. >> >>>From 1994 to 1996, federal science and technology spending was threatened >>with massive cuts. For the first time, the research community rallied to >>protect its budget. Now there are proposals to restore funding for science >>and technology research and development, partly as a result of more >>effective lobbying by research leaders. But that lobbying has been focused >>largely on preserving the scale of the funding, rather than on a research >>agenda that will help solve the nation's problems. >> >>Of course, the scientific community's tendency toward favoring the elite is >>paralleled by patterns of corporate R&D and innovation. >> >>James K. Galbraith, an economist at the University of Texas, says that >>because corporate managers look to a small segment of the population as >>their target market--people with high disposable incomes--we get innovation >>characterized by over-engineering, "baroque" product features and short >>product life cycles with built-in obsolescence. >> >>"What inequality tends to foster, in terms of innovation," says Galbraith, >>"are 'toys' for the rich instead of investments in mass use." That, he >>says, is why we favor $30,000 cars over mass transit, cellular phones and >>expensive services over universal access, and bells and whistles for the >>Internet instead of the guarantee that the Internet will be more affordable >>and easier to use. >> >>"Inequality," says Galbraith, "produces a 'cult of the novel,' " instead of >>products that meet widely shared needs. >> >>Conventional wisdom says the solution to income inequality is overall >>economic growth, which, as the saying goes, "lifts all boats." But these >>days, even mainstream economists agree that present economic trends >>indicate that economic growth will actually increase inequality in the >>absence of ameliorating policies. >> >>The only real solution isn't yet on the table in the U.S.: massive income >>redistribution, not by government transfer payments but by the far more >>comprehensive effect of increased bargaining power on the part of workers. >>In other words, most people need to be paid more, and the skew in income >>rewards to the top should be reversed. >> >>There are a variety of policies for R&D that could help, including public >>investments in truly "mass-use" technologies, such as public transit, >>universal service, and skills-based automation. We could develop a science >>and technology policy aimed at a more even distribution of talent and >>resources, instead of concentrating money in scientific centers. >> >>Instead of shooting for more Nobel prizes, we could set goals for more >>widespread scientific and technological competence. In particular, we need >>to democratize the policymaking process so that science and technology >>policy isn't the private fiefdom of elite experts. >> >>The present system is unsustainable over the long run. Either we'll make >>the hard choices necessary or we'll continue on a pathological course of >>spending more money for jails than for higher education. If we choose that >>sad path, we have only ourselves to blame. >> >>Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project at the University of >>Texas at Austin. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sat Mar 15 19:45:05 1997 Sat, 15 Mar 1997 18:44:44 -0800 (PST) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 18:44:41 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Re: Mondragon etc. (fwd) DISCUSSION GROUPS: Send one word, subscribe, in an email body to Ftr_Cities-request@websightz.com and/or CONSTITUTION-request@websightz.com. ******************************************************************************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 18:34:10 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Wayne Poley To: Ftr_Cities@websightz.com Subject: Re: Mondragon etc. Here is a letter of reply which I just wrote to a business administration professor who will remain anonymous. In various forms I have posted this information on the Ftr_Cities list in the past but it is worth repeating. FWP. > > I write articles about these structures. In a way, the community is my > > laboratory. I am now doing a book about Mondragon, worker owned businesses > > in Spain. I think we need new business models for the 21st century. > > Several years ago I had a quick look at a business directory which showed > >50% worker-owned companies in the US. There is quite a number of them > and some are large, with thousands of employees. So we have precedents. > That is helpful. Next question: how far can that model be extended? > Suppose we were to start with a stockpile of raw materials, starting > materials, livestock and seeds. That would include minerals and mineral > concentrates, livestock and seeds, coal/oil/gas/wood. How would we > describe the worker-owned conglomerate which would produce all of the > amenities for the modern lifestyle from this beginning inventory? > How many workers would be required? What would the "inventory of skills" be? > How many factories, shops, offices are needed? How would they be equipped > in terms of tools , equipment, furnishings? What are the job descriptions > for the worker-owned conglomerate? > This is theory but it is theory with a practical consequence. It is a > question with an answer. I could work it out given a few more lifetimes. > I have sufficient business training for that. But I would think the > business faculty of a typical North American university could work it out > pretty fast. Why do so? > The value of such a worker-owned conglomerate would be immunity to WTO > practices when they get too "rough" for the little guy. The beginning > inventory would not be costly. It would be durable. You could stockpile > for decades if that seemed prudent. > The "island economy" aspect of this wouldn't in itself prohibit trade > beyond the local community nor would it prohibit creative free enterprise > within the community. Those matters would depend on politics. But the > conglomerate would first and foremost supply to the local market: > housing, transportation, food, clothing, medicines, furniture, tools and > utensils etc. Thus the local community would not go short on the > amenities of life as long as the conglomerate is functioning well. > The whole world is an island economy in itself. No doubt that 6 > billion people can produce all of those amenities. 600 million? 6 > million? 600,000? It would be interesting to compare the answers of a > number of business administration schools. -=- Posted through the Ftr_Cities Mailing List To Post a message, mail it to: Ftr_Cities@websightz.com For Help file send a blank email to: Ftr_Cities-request@websightz.com To obtain a digest of Ftr_Cities discussion send email with "subscribe" in the body to: Ftr_Cities-digest-request@websightz.com For mailing lists and web site design send requests to: webmadam@websightz.com From unitela@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 17 18:48:25 1997 for ; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:46:34 -0800 (PST) for ; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:29:24 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:29:24 -0800 (PST) To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: "UNITE! L.A. Organizing" Subject: Support Struggling Garment Workers on your Campus Sender: unitela@igc.org Hello, my name is Suzi Hoffman and I am an organizer with UNITE (garment workers' union) on the GUESS campaign. The struggle is going strong, and we are currently seeking help from students at universities throughout the country. Do you or your friends attend or work at Davidson College, University of Alabama, Virginia Commonwealth, University of Maine, St. Cloud State, Penn. State, College of William and Mary, University of Texas (El Paso), Duke, University of Vermont, Southern Methodist University, University of Rochester, Kenyon College, Wayne State, University of Iowa, Hofstra, Middlebury, James Madison, UC Berkeley, CU at Boulder, SW Missouri State, University of Missouri, or Vanderbilt? If so, READ ON!! GUESS is sponsoring a film tour to these campuses, and we want to make sure that students on these campuses know the real story! We need students to help us by leafletting and getting the word out at these film screenings. In case you haven't heard of the GUESS campaign, I'll give a little background. GUESS operates sweatshops, and over 3,000 garment workers toil in these shops in L.A. Workers have been organizing for over 1 year to unionize and change the conditions they are forced to endure. Common labor violations include: non-payment of minimum wage, people being forced to bring work home (often times after working a full day in the factory), no overtime pay, and harrassment from managers (over 60% of garment workers are women). Please email me at unitela@igc.apc.org if you can help us in this important struggle. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! From rtnewvision@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 17 21:01:50 1997 for ; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 20:01:35 -0800 (PST) for ; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 19:58:42 -0800 (PST) From: rtnewvision Date: Wed, 19 Mar 97 01:20:39 -800 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:70/00/pubs/labortalk/151 Sender: rtnewvision@igc.org The following article is taken from Labor-Talk from http://igc.apc.org/labornet/ > LaborTalk: Back Toward Serfdom > By Harry Kelber > > While American workers trudge toward the bridge to the 21st > century, unncertain about their future, countless thousands are still > laboring under the inhumane, near-peonage conditions that prevailed > during the 1800s. As a showcase example, take the 20,000 California > strawberry pickers. > For 10 to 12 hours a day, these workers bend and stoop to pluck the > berries from the two-foot-high plants, under a hot sun or a pouring rain, > with overseers who can threaten to fire them if they pause to relax. Not > only do they suffer from chronic back injuries, but they develop skin > rashes, eye irritations and other ailments from working with pesticides. > And only a small percentage have some kind of medical coverage or can > afford doctor visits for themselves or their families. > One of their major complaints is the lack of clean water and > adequate toilet facilities as they labor in the fields. Another outrageous > indignity is the practice of some foremen to demand sexual favors from > women field workers in exchange for guaranteeing them their jobs. > The cost of decent housing is far out of reach for these field > workers. Many families live in dilapidated motels that rent for from $150 > to $200 a week. Some live in cars or makeshift cardboard shacks or even > in caves. > These workers have no job guarantees. They shape up at the start of > every season, hoping to be hired if they please the foreman. And if they > work in the fields for 10, 15 or more years, they are finally fired as less > productive and with not a penny for a pension. > For all their back-breaking, dangerouis labor, the berry pickers earn > an average $8,500 a season, a little more than half of the $15,569 poverty > level for a family of four. From 1985 to 1995, the growers hammered > down wage rates from $9.10 an hour to $6.11 an hour. In that same > decade, strawberry production in California rose from 774 million pounds > to 1,191 million pounds, an increase of 58 percent. In that period, labor > costs for the growers have been reduced from 17 cents on the dollar to 9 > cents. > In addition to their declining wages, strawberry pickers have been > forced to work "off the clock" before and after their regular long shifts on > pain of losing their jobs if they didn't comply. A lawsuit has been filed > against one of the largest farms, a subsidiary of a company controlled by > the giant chemicals manufacturer, Monsanto Corp., charging that thousands > of pickers were harassed into providing more than $2 million of unpaid > labor. > > UNITED FARM WORKERS AND AFL-CIO IN JOINT ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN > > With strong support from the AFL-CIO, the United Farm Workers has > undertaken a campaign to unionize the $650-million strawberry industry, > in which some 270 California farms supply 75 percent of the nation's > strawberries, with the real power concentrated in eight corporations > which cool and distribute the berries. > The UFW has 40 organizers bringing the message of unionism to the > pickers, through house calls, leafleting, picketing, lawsuits, rallies amd > marches, spending 40 percent of its $4.6 million budget on organizing. But > winning a contract from the growers won't be easy. When the union won > representation elections at three farms with better than an 85 percent > majority, the owners destroyed their crop, shut down the operation and > fired all their workers. The growers, through their outside anti-labor > consultants, have promoted a group called the Strawberry Workers and > Farmers Alliance, which warns pickers that if the union wins, they will > lose their jobs. > A key part of the organizing campaign is its educational component, > in which the AFL-CIO is playing a major role. The federation's 600 central > labor councils have been called upon to inform supermarkets and their > members about the horror stories in the berry fields and to enlist their > pledges of support in behalf of the pickers. Instead of a boycott, the > Strawberry Workers Campaign has raised the slogan of "Five Cents for > Fairness," declaring that a 5-cent increase in the price of a pint of > strawberries can be translated into a 50 percent increase in the wages of > the pickers. > A broad coalition of 40 national organizations has been formed, > representing consumers, women, minorities, environmental and religious > groups as well as celebrties, who have agreed to rally support for the > berry pickers among their own members and the general public. > On April 13. as strawberries are ripening, the AFL-CIO will hold a > massive march and rally in Watsonville, California, known as the > Strawberry Capital of America, to protest the injustices and indignities > suffered by the berry pickers. Thousands of committed trade unionists > will be coming by plane, car and bus, to participate in the demonstration. > If strawberry workers are to have their share of the American > Dream, it will have to be with the union label. > > . From aaron@burn.ucsd.edu Tue Mar 18 16:41:12 1997 Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 18:42:04 -0500 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu, LABOR-L@YORKU.CA, fnb-l@tao.ca, LABNEWS@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU, ats@etext.info From: aaron@burn.ucsd.edu (Aaron) Subject: Dirty War against Colombian Oil Workers (Eng & Esp) =46riends, comrades, compan~er@s, Below is an English translation, followed by the Spanish original, of an important press release and communique from the Colombian oil workers' trade union. While at least half the work of translation was done by compan~ero David in Bogota (e-mail: Carlos Moreno ), I take full responsibility for any faults in this latest version. (Reports concerning such faults would be appreciated.) Please be aware that there are errors in the Spanish text, which apparently is as the folks at ann.col received it. There are many important documents in Spanish -- from Colombia, Peru and elsewhere -- that await translation. If you can help, please contact me as well as ats@etext.info (Arm The Spirit). -- For international solidarity, -- Aaron -------------- 1997-03-14 AGENCIA DE NOTICIAS NUEVA COLOMBIA, ANNCOL (New Colombia News Agency) E-mail: ann.col@swipnet.se =46or the editor of the foreign pages: Press Release for free distribution, provided the source is mentioned: The Colombian oil workers' union victim of state persecution: "WE FIND OURSELVES FACING A REGIME WITH ALL THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM" (Stockholm/ANNCOL) In a statement to the national and international press, the treasurer of the Workers' Trade Union, USO (Union Sindical Obrera), Cesar Carrillo, calls the attention of the whole community to the outrages of which the trade unionists are victims. In the last 7 years, the union has had to bury more than 70 members, murdered by hired assassins who appear "by chance" when the union is in intense bargaining over its demands or in a struggle to block privatizations of the state enterprise, Ecopetrol. On 5 December, 14 leaders and workers of the USO were detained. Cesar Carrillo was detained by forces of the Public Prosecutor when he left the company headquarters after having ended a round of talks with the management of Ecopetrol. They have now been in prison for more than three months, accused of "rebellion" and "terrorism". Pedro Chaporro, one of the national leaders of the USO who has been detained, was sentenced on 11 February of this year to seven years in prison on the same charges. The sentence was handed down the same day that 850,000 Colombian public sector workers launched a general strike that lasted 174 hours. The result was a success for the trade union movement. At this moment, there are 14 workers and leaders of the USO in prison. ------------------------------------------------------------------ National and International Communique LET'S STOP THE MASSACRE AND GENOCIDE AGAINST TRADE UNIONISM! 5 March 1997: 14 Oil Workers have been detained for three months As time passes, the accusations continue by the government and public prosecutor against the Workers' Trade Union, USO (Union Sindical Obrera). It is three months that they have detained 14 oil workers; three months of vile accusations and public ridicule. Faceless justice has positioned us as individuals undesirable to society, of having caused great damage to the economy of the country, and logically deserving of long sentences, to supposedly serve as an example to the new generations of workers. But as if this weren't enough, the government has placed us in a conceptualization that is very dangerous, not so much for those detained, but for the entire union. We are accused of being a narcoterrorist band, delegitimizing the legal and trade-union character of the USO, placing us in the sights of the military and the treatment that is given, according to the state, to the narcoterrorist organizations. They disregard 74 years of union history, of unflagging trade-union and political struggle, of contributing to the creation and consolidation of Ecopetrol, of leading stikes that shaped the history of the trade-union movement. All this in the light of day, hiding nothing, snatching nothing from anybody, without betraying our country, feeling ourselves Colombian. Meanwhile, succeeding governments raffles off and give away our wealth, receiving the scraps that are left, become fervent defenders of the interests of and agreements with the multinationals, and condemn permanently the nationalist ideas and positions of the USO and other trade-unions, social organisations and many political and democratic personalities. They have been making war on the USO for many years. There are killings, forced exile, jailings, and threats, and the investigations about these facts have no results. On the contrary, it is the workers themselves who are condemned and judged. That is, State-sponsored impunity is the dominant note. We find ourselves facing a regime with all the characteristics of Fascism, which persecutes and humbles the workers, but kneels down, humiliates and postrates itself before the North American leaders, as in the decertificacion issue. They proclaim they will guarantee us a fair trial, as if it was a gift, when this is guaranteed by the Colombian Constitution. The national and international trade-union movement, the Human Rights organisations in Colombia and in the world must know that we: Marcelo Buitrago, Felipe Mendoza, Guillermo Cardenas, Monerge Sanchez, Rafael Estupinan, Hernan Vallejo, Leonardo Diaz, Reinel Sanchez, Edgar Riano, =46rancisco Cadena, Leonardo Mosquea, Alvaro Solano, Jorge Estupinan, Fabio Lievano and Cesar Carrillo are innocent and feel ourselves victims of trade-union and political persecution by the regime. It should also be known that Pedro Chaparro, USO leader, has been condemned to 7 years in prison, and that the defense arguments only served as historical record. The world must be told that a genocide is being committed in Colombia against a trade union for the act of maintaining a nationalist policy. We demand of the top management of Ecopetrol and of the government itself that they take off the mask and say if the USO is a narcoterrorist organization, an enemy of the country and of the Colombian people, or on the contrary a legally constituted trade-union organization dedicated to the defense of the workers and the country. Sincerely, CESAR CARRILLO TREASURER AND NATIONAL LEADER UNIO'N SINDICAL OBRERA (Workers' Trade Union) -------------- >Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 17:42:32 -0500 =46rom: "ann.col" Subject: Guerra Sucia a petroleros colombianos 1997-03-14 AGENCIA DE NOTICIAS NUEVA COLOMBIA, ANNCOL Nyhetsbyr=E5n Nya Colombia. E-mail: ann.col@swipnet.se ------------------------------------------------------------------ Para El redactor de las p=E1ginas exteriores: Comunicado de Prensa para libre disposici=F3n, siempre y cuando se menciona la fuente: ------------------------------------------------------------------ El sindicato petrolero colombiano v=EDctima por la persecuci=F3n estatal: "NOS ENCONTRAMOS PUES ANTE UN R=C9GIMEN CON TODAS LAS CARACTER=CDSTICAS DEL FASCISMO" (ESTOCHOLMO/ANNCOL) En un comunicado a la prensa nacional e internacional, el tesorero del sindicato Uni=F3n Sindical Obrera, USO, CESAR CARILLO, hace un llamado a toda la comunidad para llamar la atenci=F3n de los atropellos por los cuales son v=EDctimas los sindicalistas. En los =FAltimos siete a=F1os, el sindicato ha tenido que entrerrar m=E1s de 70 afiliados, asesinados por sicarios, que "causalmente", aparecen cuando el sindicato esta en intensas conversaciones acerca el pliego de peticiones o en una lucha para impedir la privatisaciones de la empresa estatal, Ecopetrol. El 5 de diciembre fueron detenidos 14 dirigentes y trabajadores de la USO. Cesar Carillo fue detenido por fuerzas de la Fiscalia cuando sal=EDa del edificio de la empresa despu=E9s de haber terminado una ronda de conversaciones con la directiva de Ecopetrol. Ya llevan m=E1s de tres meses encarcelados, acusados por "rebeli=F3n" y "terrorismo". Pedro Chaporro, uno de los dirigentes nacionales de la USO que han sido detenidos, fu=E9 condenado a siete a=F1os de prisi=F3n el 11 de =46ebrero a=F1o en curso por las mismas acusaciones. La sentecia fue ejecutada el mismo d=EDa que 850.000 trabajadores colombianos del sector estatal se lanzaron a una huelga general que dur=F3 174 horas. El resultado fu=E9 un =E9xito por el movimiento sindical. En este momento esta 14 trabajadores y dirigentes encarcelados de la USO. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Comunicado nacional e internacional PAREMOS LA MASACRE Y EL GENOCIDIO CONTRA EL SINDICALISMO! Marzo 5 de 1997, tres meses, detenidos 14 trabajadores petroleros A medida que transcurre el tiempo contin=FAan las acusaciones del gobierno y la Fiscal=EDa en contra la Uni=F3n Sindical Obrera, USO. Son tres meses que se cumplen de haber detenido a 14 trabajadores petroleros; tres meses de infames acusaciones y de escarnio p=FAblico. La Justicia sin rostro nos ha colocado como unos individuos indeseables a la sociedad, de haberle causado grandes da=F1os a la econom=EDa del pa=EDs y l=F3gicamente merecedores de grandes condenas, para que supuestamente sirvan de ejemplo a las nuevas generaciones de trabajadores. Pero como si fuera poco igualmente el gobierno nos coloca en un concepto muy peligroso, no tanto para los detenidos sino para todo el sindicato. Se nos acusa de ser una banda narcoterrorista desligitimando el car=E1cter legal y sindical de la USO; coloc=E1ndonos en la mira militar y el tratamiento que se le da seg=FAn el estado a las organisaciones narcoterroristas. Se desconocen 74 a=F1os de vida del sindicato, de incansable lucha sindical y pol=EDtica, de aportar a la creaci=F3n y consolidaci=F3n de Ecopetrol, de haber protagonizado huelgas que marcaron la historia del movimiento sindical. Todo esto a la l=FAz del d=EDa, sin esconder nada, sin arrebatarle nada nadie, sin traicionar la patria u sinti=E9ndonos colombianos. Mientras tanto los gobiernos de turno regalan y rifan nuestras riquezas, reciben migajas por lo que queda, se convierten en fervientes defensores de los intereses y de los pactos con las multinacionales y condenan permanentemente las ideas y posiciones nacionalistas de la USO, de otros sindicatos, de organisaciones sociales y de muchas personalidades pol=EDticas y democr=E1ticas. A la Uni=F3n Sindical Obrera se le viene dando un tratamiento de guerra desde hace muchos a=F1os, se asesina, se destierra, se encarcela, se amenaza y las investigaciones por estos hechos no arrojan ning=FAn resultado; antes por el contrario los condenados y juzgados somos los trabajadores; es decir la impunidad que patrocina el Estado es la nota predominante. Nos encontramos pues ante un r=E9gimen con todas las caracter=EDsticas del fascismo, que persigue y somete a los trabajdores, pero que se arrodilla, se humilla y se postra a los mandos norteamericanos como en el caso de la descertificaci=F3n. Se nos anuncia que se garantiza el debido proceso como si esto fuera una d=E1diva o regalo; cuando esta consagrado en la constituci=F3n colombiana. El movimiento sindical nacional e internacional, las organisaciones de derechos humanos de Colombia y el mundo deben saber que; Marcelo Bu=EDtrago, Felipe Mendoza, Guillermo C=E1rdenas, Monerge S=E1nchez,Rafael Estupi=F1an, Hern=E1n Vallejo, Leonardo D=EDaz, Reinel S=E1nchez, Edgar Ria=F1o, Francisco Cadena, Leonardo Mosquera, Alvaro Solano, Jorge Estupi=F1an, Fabio Lievano y Cesar Carillo somos inocentes y que sentimos persegu=EDdos sindicales y pol=EDticos del r=E9gimen, pero tambi=E9n debe saberse que Pedro Chaporro, dirigente de la USO ha sido condenado (por 7 a=F1os), y que los argumentos de la defensa solo sirvieron como constancia hist=F3rica. Esta en juego la existencia del sindicato; al mundo hay que decirle que en Colombia se esta cometiendo un genocidio contra una organisaci=F3n sindical por el hecho de preservar una pol=EDtica nacionalista. A la alta administraci=F3n de Ecopetrol y del propio gobierno, les pedimos que se qu=EDten la careta y digan si la USO es una organisaci=F3n narcoterrorista, enemiga del pa=EDs y del pueblo colombiano, o por el cotrario es una organisaci=F3n sindical legalmente constitu=EDda dedicada a la defensa de los trabajadores y del pa=EDs. Atentamente CESAR CARILLO TESORERO Y DIRIGENTE NACIONAL UNI=D3N SINDICAL OBRERA -------------- From clawson@sadri.umass.edu Fri Mar 21 11:10:57 1997 LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu; Fri, 21 Mar 1997 13:10:47 -0500 (EST) 21 Mar 1997 13:10:47 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 13:10:46 -0500 (EST) From: Dan Clawson Subject: forming an ASA section To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu March 21, 1997 FROM: Dan Clawson (clawson@sadri.umass.edu) TO: Labor-Rap subcribers and others RE: forming an ASA section We should consider forming an American Sociological Association section on "Labor Movements." This statement briefly lays out the rationale for doing so, invites comments, and sets out what we need to do if we want to proceed. A two-stage process seems called for. First, comments and feedback on the enterprize as a whole. Should we do it? Should the section be on "labor movements" or "labor studies" or some other formulation? Second, if we are to proceed we need volunteers to lead the effort to create a section. (Beginning with: if people want to sign up for the section, they should be able to send their endorsement to someone's email account. Who volunteers to receive these messages and maintain a list to send the ASA?) For thoughts or reactions to any of this, or to volunteer to participate, you are encouraged to write to the labor-rap list as a whole, or individually to me or any other individual with whom you'd like to communicate. You can't actually sign up yet, since doing so requires you to endorse a (vague and meaningless) statement of section purpose, and I'm reluctant to post that until we have a volunteer to receive messages. If/when we do post that, people should also work as organizers, sending the message to people not on our list-serve. The ASA now has 37 sections, with more constantly being formed. Much of the life of the association takes place through sections. To initiate the section formation process we need 100 or more ASA members to state an intention to join the section and to endorse a statement of purpose. To actually form and maintain a section, we will need 250 ASA members to check off the box and pay dues. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF FORMING A SECTION? 1. Each section receives at least two session slots at the annual meetings. (To receive more, we'd have to get 400 or more members.) Most commonly, one slot is used for paper presentations and one is used for roundtables. This creates multiple opportunities for section members to present on our topics, and guarantees at least some sessions will have a labor focus (as opposed to incidental presence). 2. Each section also receives time for a section meeting to conduct section business. This provides an institutionally created gathering place for us to meet, insures we regularly think about labor issues and provides an opportunity to discuss our relation to the labor movement. 3. Each section elects a set of officers and a council; all offices must be contested, and brief statements by candidates are circulated through a mail ballot. The officers thus have some interest, support, and credibility; the rotation of officers involves a range of people in section activities and offers a chance to mobilize their energies and ideas. 4. Sections may, if they wish, sponsor receptions and social gatherings. They may also co-sponsor sessions with other sections. 5. Each section has a newsletter; the dues we pay ASA cover the cost of mailings; although someone obviously needs to edit the newsletter the problems of printing and mailing are handled by the ASA office. Some section newsletters are minimal, but others are lively forums for the exchange of ideas. 6. Sections may make statements on policy issues as long as they include a disclaimer that this is not an official policy of the ASA as a whole. 7. Sections may initiate awards for best publication, best student paper, greatest contribution to practice, etc. The argument in favor of a section is that it provides an institutionalized mechanism that enables (and coerces) us to get together, devote attention to labor issues, and share ideas. The argument against a section is that we potentially distort our priorities such that professional advancement and ASA politics get more attention than the labor movement. Both arguments have merit, but on balance I think we need a section as a way to involve a broad range of people and to institutionalize a future set of activities. A final note on two related ad hoc activities. The social movements section has devoted one of their slots to a session, which they asked me to organize, on "Labor as a social movement." This will involve papers by Eve Weinbaum; Silke Roth and Myra Marx Ferree; Sjoerd Goslinga, Peter Kerkhof, and Bert Klandermans; and Kim Voss and Rachel Sherman; Rick Fantasia will be the discussant. That session will be at some point on Saturday August 9, the first day of the convention. I have also arranged with the ASA for us to have a two-hour time slot on Sunday evening August 10. That will be a chance for discussion of all these sorts of issues and lots of others not connected to the ASA, but to form a section we need to collect 100 or more signatures by (I believe) the end of May, or else wait another year. (If we create a group to work on section formation, I hope it will take over planning activities for the Sunday evening meeting.) -- Dan Clawson work = 413-545-5974 home 413-586-6235 Contemp. Sociology = 413-545-4064 fax 413-545-1994 email = clawson@sadri.umass.edu consoc@sadri.umass.edu From rross@clarku.edu Fri Mar 21 13:15:48 1997 Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 15:12:56 -0500 From: "Robert J.S. Ross" Subject: Re: forming an ASA section To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Reply-to: rross@clarku.edu In regards to an ASA section it should be noted that one exists in the SSSP, where interesting papers are indeed given. One issue to consider is whether a core of active scholars will take possession of it. A flaccid section is actually a negative; whereas one with a core of self-consciously committed people, e.g., PEWS, is quite worthwhile. Bob From RLEVINE@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU Fri Mar 21 13:37:16 1997 From: RLEVINE@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU Fri, 21 Mar 1997 15:32:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 15:32:59 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: forming an ASA section To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu I have very mixed feelings about forming an additional ASA section, there has been such a proliferation of sections and it seems to be a further fragmentation. I think Bob is right, we should actively work with the Labor Studies section of SSSP which could use some reinvigoration. there are existing sections within ASA that we should have a greater presence, Social Movements, and certainly the Marxist Section could use a lot of renewal...My sense is to work within existing sections, and not to isolate ourselves..(Think they may bea political implication to all this!) Rhonda Levine From rross@clarku.edu Sat Mar 22 15:04:43 1997 Date: Sat, 22 Mar 1997 17:02:06 -0500 From: "Robert J.S. Ross" Subject: $8.50 an Hour -- and a Helping Hand To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Reply-to: rross@clarku.edu This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------C75201F5194 This long post from the Washington Post is too pregnant with multiple meaning for me to say anything much. Bob http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-03/21/069L-032197-idx.html --------------C75201F5194 Plate/1997-03/21/069L-032197-idx.ht ml" $8.50 an Hour -- and a Helping Hand

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$8.50 an Hour -- and a Helping Hand

26 Firms Seek Ways to Retain Low-Wage Workers

By Kirstin Downey Grimsley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 21 1997; Page G01
The Washington Post

Executives at more than two dozen of the nation's largest corporations have been meeting quietly over the past year to brainstorm ways to recruit and retain workers who make less than $8.50 an hour.

The media spotlight may be focusing on the minimum wage debate and welfare reforms that are drawing the hard-core poor into the workplace, but these executives are reluctantly realizing they already have a serious problem dealing with their low-wage work force.

Scattered labor shortages in parts of the country have made the issue more acute.

The human resources executives, gathering yesterday and today in Miami, have dubbed themselves the Employer Group. Of the 26 major corporations participating, only 10 have agreed to go public, with others fearing a potential public stigma of acknowledging that a large portion of their workers earn less than federal poverty guidelines.

The companies that own fast-food restaurant chains Burger King and Pizza Hut are in the Employer Group, as are Hyatt Hotels Corp., financial services giant Aetna Life & Casualty Co. and clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss & Co. The General Services Administration also is participating. Together, the firms represent about 2.5 million workers nationwide.

The executives describe their motives as economic, not altruistic. All operate in highly price-competitive industries that depend on stable, low-wage work forces, and they say market realities make it impossible to raise salaries significantly. Yet, the executives say they have learned it is in their interest to help these workers cope with a variety of life's crises.

"We are being dragged into all these issues, forced to recognize this work force exists," said Charles Romeo, director of employee benefits at ConAgra Refrigerated Foods in Geneva, Ill., the meat processing company that produces Swift and Armour products and Butterball turkeys. "If we don't, we won't exist. We need to better manage it."

"We're simply trying to attack our challenges more effectively," said Jay Hundley, director of personnel at retailer J.C. Penney Co., a co-founder of the group along with Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc. Hundley said that J.C. Penney's studies have shown that retention of good workers is crucial because employees become most productive after being on the job at least three years.

But these low-wage employees face difficulties finding adequate child care, reliable transportation and affordable housing, which can turn into costly business problems, including absenteeism, tardiness and lost productivity.

In many cases, formerly good workers simply disappear or quit unexpectedly, citing a collapse of makeshift child care arrangements or the breakdown of the family car, forcing companies to hire and train new groups of workers, according to group members.

"To the degree we can reduce turnover, we become more efficient," Hundley said.

The price adds up: ConAgra's Romeo estimates it costs $2,000 to $3,000 to train a worker to understand health and safety standards and to learn how to properly trim meat off an animal carcass. Turnover at ConAgra, depending on the job and the location, can be so great that managers have to fill the same slot two or three times a year. Job turnover is even higher among some of the group's members.

The Employer Group focuses on sharing what members call "best-practices" policies that help workers manage their lives and stay productive. Many firms have introduced subsidized child care, specialized training for managers, prenatal care programs and on-the-job immigration and tax-filing advice.

For example, many McDonald's restaurants have expanded employee food discounts by offering 50 percent off for the workers' families as well. Hyatt has reduced employee turnover by emphasizing flexible work hours. That's an unusual practice among low-paid hourly-wage workers, particularly housekeepers, whose work must be completed in the morning so rooms can be ready for new customers.

Marriott International Inc. is trying to help employees get to work with a telephone hot line linked to social workers who assist with transportation and child-care crises.

The company also helps workers file federal tax forms that would allow them to get earned income tax credits on a weekly basis rather than in one refund.

A single mother earning $192 a week, or about $10,000 a year, could get an extra $24 per week in her paycheck if she filed the forms. That "makes a big difference when you are poor," said Donna Klein, Marriott's director of work-life programs.

Other workers use the extra money as a financial cushion. Rita Whitaker, a security guard at Marriott's Bethesda headquarters, says the form has meant an extra $20 a week in her paycheck, which she uses for gasoline to get to work. "It's a plus for me," Whitaker said.

Executives in the Employer Group say they cannot consider raising wages in an era of tight profit margins and competitive price pressures. "These are the economics of our business," said Klein. Only about 1.5 cents of every lodging dollar is profit for Marriott, she added, leaving little extra for higher salaries.

"If you were able to raise wages to a level that would make a difference, you would have to double their wages," she said. "It would end up eliminating a whole economic sector, and it's just not possible."

The companies are defining as "low-wage" those workers who earn less than $8.50 an hour, which is roughly the figure used by the federal government to determine eligibility for federal housing, child care and food subsidies. That benchmark figure was tabulated by the Families and Work Institute, a New York City-based management consulting firm, which is helping coordinate the organization's efforts.

For seven of the 10 companies whose executives agreed to be interviewed, these hourly employees compose one-half to four-fifths of their total work force.

At McDonald's, for example, about 80 percent of its 600,000 U.S. workers earn an average wage of about $6 an hour. At Hyatt, at least half of its 40,000 employees receive less than $8.50 an hour, and at Levi Strauss, 19,000 of its clothing production workers -- or 90 percent of its American work force -- receive about $8 an hour.

Participant Faith Wohl, director of the office of workplace initiatives at the General Services Administration and formerly a personnel executive with DuPont Co., said the group's discussions marked a startling change in executive perspective from only a few years ago.

Instead of talking about downsizing and cutting employee benefit programs, the participants were considering measures that could improve their workers' lives, she said. In effect, she said, the companies are pondering a role that she described as a "surrogate for the social service system."

"I said, `Wait a minute,' " Wohl said. "These people are talking about the old social contract [between employer and worker] and intensifying it. . . . I felt like my head was whipped around."

HOW THEY'RE HELPING

To try to help -- and keep -- their low-wage workers, some employers are providing such services as these:

* Subsidized child care

* On-the-job immigration and tax-filing advice

* Food discounts to workers' families

* Free prenatal programs for employees or spouses

* A telephone hot line to social workers who help with transportation and child-care crises

* A dormitory for employees who had been living in crowded, unsanitary conditions

* Specialized training for managers

EMPLOYER GROUP MEMBERS AND THEIR LOW-WAGE WORKERS

Company

Location

Number of U.S. employees

Wages

Marriott International

Bethesda

185,000

80 percent earn an average $8 an hour.

Hyatt Hotels

Chicago

40,000

85 percent meet low-wage criteria.

McDonald's

Oak Brook, Ill.

600,000 total (company-owned stores and franchises)

80 percent earn an average $6 an hour.

ConAgra Refrigerated Foods

Geneva, Ill.45,000

65 percent are low-wage, with salaries ranging from $5.50 to $13 an hour.

J.C. Penney

Plano, Tex.

220,000

60 percent meet low-wage criteria.

Levi Strauss

San Francisco

21,148 (in North America)

90 percent earn an average of $8 an hour.

Aetna

Hartford, Conn.

31,000

3.5 percent earn less than $8.50 an hour, but large numbers of back-office file clerks and customer service representatives make about $10 an hour.

SOURCE: Company human resource officials. For purposes of defining their salary scales, the member organizations have accepted $8.50 an hour as representing the low-wage worker, based on federal poverty-guideline figures used to determine who qualifies for food stamps and housing and child care subsidies. Data could not be obtained from other group members.

@CAPTION: Marriott International helped guard Rita Whitaker fill out tax credit forms that put another $20 a week in her paycheck.

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

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--------------C75201F5194-- From jipsonaj@muohio.edu Mon Mar 24 09:08:23 1997 Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 11:11:08 -0500 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Art Jipson Subject: Re: forming an ASA section Hello all, I think that Dan (and others) raise some good points. I wonder if contributing to the factionalization of the ASA is in our best interests. I agree with others (notably Levine) that it might be more prudent (thanks to George Bush for making the use of this word personally difficult for me) to work within other sections. My concern is one of effectiveness. Would we be able to lobby effectively for labor movement sessions from within the social movements section? It seems that there is a focus on social movements theory from within the section and an avoidance of the idea of labor as a social movement. Maybe we would be able to assert labor in the Marxist section but one session would be all that we could get. If there are some committed people who would do the work and start a session - how many sociologists could we get to join? If the number is low, than we might be more effective working within other sections. I also think that there must be a linkage between the SSSP section and the ASA section, assuming one is formed. The experience and interest would be a benefit. However, would doing so damage in some way (e.g., siphon members, papers, etc...) the SSSP section. I enjoy the down-to-earth manner and lack of ego of the SSSP meetings. I would hate to see the work only go toward the ASA section. I also think that we can learn a great deal from the SSSP (and the AHS). The attempt to link academics with activists in order to revitalize both is an important project and one that I think the ASA might be poorly suited to do. Well, those are some thoughts and questions that Dan's post raised for me. Thanks. -Art > March 21, 1997 > >FROM: Dan Clawson (clawson@sadri.umass.edu) >TO: Labor-Rap subcribers and others >RE: forming an ASA section > >Dan Clawson > work = 413-545-5974 home 413-586-6235 >Contemp. Sociology = 413-545-4064 fax 413-545-1994 >email = clawson@sadri.umass.edu consoc@sadri.umass.edu Art Jipson Department of Sociology, Gerontology, and Anthropology Upham Hall Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 513-529-2637 (o) 513-529-2628 (d) 513-529-8525 (f) jipsonaj@muohio.edu Me: http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~ajjipson NCSA: http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~ajjipson/NCSA.htmlx Connells: http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~ajjipson/connells.htmlx "Didn't I say sorry, Didn't I say dear, Didn't I consider, Didn't I stand clear..." - M. Connell From phardwic@u.washington.edu Mon Mar 24 14:19:37 1997 Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 13:19:34 -0800 (PST) From: Paula Hardwick To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Contact? Listers, Can someone help me with a contact for the SSSP? I'd like to hear more about their conferences. Thanks! Paula Hardwick phd student UW School of Social Work From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 24 15:35:23 1997 for ; Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:24:33 -0800 (PST) Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:24:09 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:24:09 -0800 (PST) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu, Labor Research and Action Project From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Re: Contact? Sender: meisenscher@igc.org Here is their Website: http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~sssp At 01:19 PM 3/24/97 -0800, Paula Hardwick wrote: >Listers, > > Can someone help me with a contact for the SSSP? I'd like to hear >more about their conferences. Thanks! > > Paula Hardwick > phd student > UW School of Social Work > > From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 24 15:46:56 1997 Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:21:30 -0800 (PST) Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:12:44 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:12:44 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-uclea@h-net.msu.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: [PEN-L:9099] New book on Boskin Commission and CPI Sender: meisenscher@igc.org The following is a notice of a new book on the CPI debate, which may be of interest to those planning courses or having to address the issue in unions or other social action venues. You also might want to check out the EPI website at EPINET.ORG. --- On Mon, 24 Mar 1997 18:46:02 +0000 Dean Baker deanbaker@postoffice.worldnet.att.net> wrote: Warning: The Following is an Unpaid Commerical Advertisement In December of 1996, the Boskin Commission released its report on the accuracy of the Consumer Price Index. The Commission concluded that the CPI overstates the true increase in the cost-of-living by 1.1 percentage points annually. Since its release, this report has been widely used as a justification for reducing the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and other indexed programs such as food stamps and the earned income tax credit. Income tax brackets are also indexed to the CPI. Therefore a lower measured rate of inflation would lower the bracket cut-offs, thereby raising taxes by pushing more income into higher brackets. The savings that would result from a recalculated CPI have made it an attractive political solution to the deficit. A lower measured rate of inflation also changes the path of real wage growth. Many conservative economists are now arguing that the wage stagnation of the last two decades was simply a result of measurement error, that an accurately measured CPI would still show wages increasing at a substantial pace. In fact, accepting the Boskin Commission's conclusions would require re-writing virtually all of recent economic history. Clearly this debate has some serious consequences. I will be putting out a book this fall titled "Getting Prices Right: The Debate Over the Consumer Price Index". The book will consist of a short introduction framing the issues, the Boskin Commission's report (approximately 90 pages), my detailed response (approximately 100 pages), Senate testimony by Katherine Abraham, Barry Bosworth, and Martin Feldstein, and a comprehensive bibliography of work related to the issues raised in the CPI debate. The book should give a basic understanding of all the key issues. It is written at a level where it should be accessible to Washington policy wonk types, which means it should be usable in intermediate or upper level undergraduate classes. My essay includes more than twenty user friendly graphs, which should help stave off narcolepsy. The following is the index from my essay: Overview Section 1: The Implications of the Boskin Commission's Conclusions 1.1 The CPI in Economics 1.2 The CPI in Economic Policy Section 2: The Evidence For an Overstated CPI 2.1 Substitution Bias 2.2 Retail Outlet Substitution Bias 2.3 New Goods and Quality Bias 2.31 The Boskin Commission Estimate 2.31a Introspection 2.31b Misinterpreted Research Findings 2.31c Questionable Extrapolations 2.31d Ignoring Changes in BLS Procedures 2.31e Misidentifying the Composition of the CPI 2.32 Summing Up: Is There Evidence for Quality and New Goods Bias? Section 3: Is Inflation the Same For Everyone? Section 4: The CPI Compared With a Cost of Living Index Section 5: Conclusion: Is the CPI the Best Measure of Inflation? Appendix 1: The Record on Adjusting for CPI Bias in Research by Commission Members Appendix 2: Selected List of Quality Adjustments in New Cars Related to Durability Since 1992 The book will be published by M.E. Sharpe and will be available in time for the fall semester. (I believe the price is $18.00). If anyone wants more info, they contact me at "deanbaker@postoffice.worldnet.att.net". >--------End of Original Message----------------- > >------------------------------------- >Name: Mark Weisbrot >E-mail: >Preamble Center for Public Policy >1737 21st Street NW >Washington DC 20009 >(202) 265-3263 (offc) >(202) 333-6141 (home) >fax: (202)265-3647 > > > > From nkrhodes@mailbox.syr.edu Tue Mar 25 08:32:50 1997 for ; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 10:32:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 10:32:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Nancy K. Rhodes" To: Labor Research and Action Project Subject: Re: Contact? In-Reply-To: SSSP's annual conference and meeting is August 8-10 in Toronto, Ontario. For info, contact Michele Koontz Smith, SSSP Administrative Officer, POBox 814, Douglasville, GA 30133-0814, phone (770) 947-1378, FAX (770) 947-1379, e-mail . Cut-off date to get SSSP group rates at the Metropolitan Hotel is July 5th. Discount air fares with Complete Travel Service at 1-800-404-696-8000. Nancy Rhodes Syracuse, New York On Mon, 24 Mar 1997, Paula Hardwick wrote: > Listers, > > Can someone help me with a contact for the SSSP? I'd like to hear > more about their conferences. Thanks! > > Paula Hardwick > phd student > UW School of Social Work > From jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us Tue Mar 25 11:12:16 1997 Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 11:24:49 -0800 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us (Julia Stein) Subject: Re: Victory Over Guess Inc. March 23, 1997: Guess Inc. drops libel/slander suit against literary reading held Sept. 8 at Midnight Special bookstore Statement by National Writers Union/L.A. Local and Julia Stein, NWU member and organizer of the Sept. 8 literary reading which was sued The Los Angeles local/National Writers Union/U.A.W. (L.A./N.W.U.) was the first sponsor of the literary reading Justice for Garment Workers 1 that took place Sat Midnight Special. The L.A./N.W.U. sponsored this reading as a act of solidarity, believing that garment workers as well as artists and intellectuals deserve decent wages and fair treatment in the workplace. Guess Inc sued this literary reading, charging libel/slander for words spoken there and in the accompanying leaflet; their suit was directed against Common Threads, a women's group who was the second co-sponsor of the reading, and the garment workers' union UNITE. The L.A./N.W.U. applauds that Guess Inc. has decided to dismiss this lawsuit. We feel that the libel/slander suit was a SLAPP suit, a strategic lawsuit against public participation. SLAPP suits are designed to intimidate and harass critics, people who take public stands either orally or in writing. We feel that this lawsuit was a violation of our rights to freely express our opinions, either orally in writing. In our workplace--one of publishing and broadcasting--and in our daily work-- the writing of words-- the freedom to express one's opinion is a cornerstone upon which we base our activities. There has been a public debate in many media in Los Angeles and nationwide over conditions in the garment industry. Intellectuals and artists have also begun to make art on the conditions of labor, including those in the garment industry. These intellectuals are continuing arts common in the 1930s. We feel that this is a healthy debate, a debate which we hope will continue. The proper place for this debate is not in the courts but in the printed and electronic media, in literary readings, art exhibitions, films, and on the radio. We think that Guess Inc. dropping the lawsuit will help reorientate the debate over garment industry so it now continues where it truly belongs--in the daily media and the art world. Such open and public debate is, we feel, the necessary way a democratic society considers controversial issues or changes in social conditions. We give a heartfelt to all journalists who wrote about the libel/slander suit. We think your actions helped reaffirm the rights of writers, workers and artists to freely express our opinions. Thank you and god bless you. .. Julia Stein jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Tue Mar 25 23:23:07 1997 Tue, 25 Mar 1997 22:22:27 -0800 (PST) Tue, 25 Mar 1997 22:20:34 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 22:20:34 -0800 (PST) To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Russia Sender: meisenscher@igc.org Those interested in international labor issues may find this interesting. >From: fweir.ncade@rex.iasnet.ru >Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 14:49:22 (MSK) >For the Hindustan Times >>From Fred Weir in Moscow > >MOSCOW (HT) -- Russia's new government faces its first sharp >test this week when up to 20-million disgruntled workers will hit >the streets to demand immediate payment of a huge wage arrears >backlog and key changes to the country's political course. > The one-day labour action, set for March 27, will be >Russia's first full-scale general strike in 80 years. Organizers >say they expect between 15 and 20-million workers in 230 cities >to take part in street demonstrations, rallies and picketing of >state buildings. > Fearful that the protests could turn into Albania-style >insurrection in some parts of Russia's economically-blighted >hinterland, the government has called up legions of riot police >and ordered local authorities to take emergency measures to >defuse the situation. > The strike was called by the 50-million member Federation of >Independent Trade Unions (FNPR) and enjoys backing from virtually >all Russian workers' groups and most political parties. President >Boris Yeltsin has called the protest "largely justified," and >even the Orthodox Church has extended "moral support". > Trade union leaders claim the planned strike was one reason >Mr. Yeltsin sacked his old government early this month and >replaced it with a team of young, energetic liberals. > "The pressures are growing very intense across the country, >and the government is finally responding to the crisis," says >Gennady Khodokov, an FNPR spokesman. "We don't care about cabinet >shuffles, but we are awaiting action on our long-standing >grievances." > As many as one-in-three Russian workers have gone without >salaries for at least 3 months, due to government tight monetary >policies and the virtual collapse of normal economic relations in >many regions of the country. The total unpaid wage bill now >stands at a whopping 53-trillion roubles (over $9-billion), with >an additional 17-trillion roubles (about $3-billion) owed to the >nation's pensioners. > About half of all Russian factories lost money in 1996, and >the profitability of another third was considered dubious. > This winter has seen an unprecedented number of wildcat >stoppages by chronically unpaid public sector employees. Some of >these have turned confrontational -- unusual for Russia's >traditionally placid and long-suffering workforce -- or taken the >form of long and gruelling hunger strikes. > "Spontaneous actions among workers all over Russia are on >the rise, and there is a serious danger things could get out of >hand," says Mr. Khodokov. "Increasingly, workers are raising >political demands, calling for resignation of the country's >leaders." > The government has warned that the strike might spin out of >control, and has mobilized thousands of Interior Ministry troops >to contain any unscripted manifestations of popular rage. > "If the March 27 protest action deteriorates into mass >unrest or pogroms, we will mobilize all our reserves," said >General Anatoly Shkirko, commander of riot forces. > Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has urged local leaders >across the country to "immediately get involved personally in >negotiations with the unions and businesses to try and come up >with concrete measures to ease social tension." > Several top state officials, including two new vice premiers >in charge of economic policy, Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov, >have been dispatched to far-flung regions with orders to calm the >situation. > The government has promised to pay all wage arrears by July, >but Mr. Chernomyrdin's office said Friday that he is working on >an emergency plan to help the worst-hit workers before the end of >March. > "We have heard such promises many times in the past," says >Mr. Khodokov. "The goal seems to be to head-off our protests, >after which the promises are forgotten. The only thing that will >make us cancel the strike is full and immediate payment of what >is owed." > Russian leaders, perhaps mindful of the country's >revolutionary history, often display an exaggerated fear of >labour unrest. In the final analysis, nobody in Moscow really >knows how desperate the situation may be in some of Russia's >hardest-hit regions, or when and where the breaking point for >millions of hungry workers might arrive. > "In this country there is the state and there is the people, >with virtually no institutions standing between them to mediate," >says independent political analyst Nikolai Zyubov. "In the eyes >of the leaders, the people are a seething, unpredictable mass to >be controlled by all means. But also to be deeply feared." > Russia's trade union movement is strong on paper, but is >deeply compromised by its continuing history of collaboration >with the state. Despite strong indications that this week's >strike enjoys massive popular support, its effectiveness could be >undermined by the FNPR leadership's timidity and overriding >priority on maintaining social control. > "We want the March 27 protest to be successful, but we are >trying to contain extremist efforts to give it a political >character," says Mr. Khodokov. "Threatening social peace and >stability is not our purpose." > > > >3 > > > > From wkramer@ucla.edu Wed Mar 26 19:03:18 1997 Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 17:52:45 -0800 To: wkramer@ucla.edu From: William Kramer Subject: UFW March in Watsonville--Reserve your seat !! As many of you may know already, the United Farm Workers (UFW), in partnership with the AFL-CIO, is organizing the approximately 20,000 people who work in the Strawberry Industry, which is concentrated in Watsonville, CA. A large march is planned for Sunday April 13th to support the stawberry workers in their struggle. LAMAP will be chartering at least one bus to go up to Watsonville. The bus will be leaving UCLA at around 9 PM for Dodger stadium to join the other LA buses. We will drive to Watsonville on Saturday night, participate in the March on Sunday, and return on Sunday night. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN LAMAP MEMBERS, STAFF, STUDENTS, AND SUPPORTERS ON THIS BUS PLEASE LET US KNOW. SO WE CAN SAVE YOU A SEAT. There are now approximately 25 seats available on the LAMAP bus, and we will charter another one if necessary. Thank you. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX William Kramer UCLA LAMAP Coordinator 1001 Gayley--2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90024 310-794-0698 310-794-8017 fax wkramer@ucla.edu www.lamap.org XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX From aanz@sirius.com Wed Mar 26 23:14:56 1997 Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 22:20:56 +0000 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: UFW March in Watsonville--Reserve your seat !! If however you are going from the north, there are still a couple of dozen seats left on the two buses from Labor Studies club and Peralta Fed. Teacher's PAC Laney College Labor Studies Club bus, leaving from Oakland's Laney college on Sunday the 13th (900 Fallon Ave., Oakland). You can e-mail your reservation with your name and phone number to me that the above e-address. ellen >As many of you may know already, the United Farm Workers (UFW), in >partnership with the AFL-CIO, is organizing the approximately 20,000 people >who work in the Strawberry Industry, which is concentrated in Watsonville, >CA. A large march is planned for Sunday April 13th to support the stawberry >workers in their struggle. > >LAMAP will be chartering at least one bus to go up to Watsonville. The bus >will be leaving UCLA at around 9 PM for Dodger stadium to join the other LA >buses. We will drive to Watsonville on Saturday night, participate in the >March on Sunday, and return on Sunday night. > >IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN LAMAP MEMBERS, STAFF, STUDENTS, AND SUPPORTERS ON >THIS BUS PLEASE LET US KNOW. SO WE CAN SAVE YOU A SEAT. > >There are now approximately 25 seats available on the LAMAP bus, and we will >charter another one if necessary. > >Thank you. > >XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX > William Kramer > UCLA LAMAP Coordinator > 1001 Gayley--2nd Floor > Los Angeles, CA 90024 > 310-794-0698 > 310-794-8017 fax > wkramer@ucla.edu > www.lamap.org >XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Thu Mar 27 10:11:42 1997 Thu, 27 Mar 1997 08:44:29 -0800 (PST) Thu, 27 Mar 1997 08:43:08 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 08:43:08 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, united@cougar.com, OIFAC@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: San Francisco Teach-In April 11, 1997 Sender: meisenscher@igc.org Forward from H-UCLEA: > > The AFL-CIO, the United Farm Workers > and Bay Area Labor Faculty Network present: > > TEACH-IN: > JUSTICE AND DIGNITY IN THE > CALIFORNIA STRAWBERRY INDUSTRY > > SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY > Friday, April 11, 1997 12:00-5:15 pm > > >12:00-1:00 PM: SONGS OF THE FARMWORKERS >Jack Adams Hall, Cesar Chavez Student Union > >Augustin Lira and Alma > > >1:00-2:00 PM: RALLY >Malcolm X Plaza, Cesar Chavez Student Union > >Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO and Dolores Huerta, UFW > > > >2:00-5:15 PM: TEACH-IN >HSS Bldg. Rm. 135 (Corner of 19th and Holloway) > > >THE CONTEMPORARY STRUGGLE IN THE STRAWBERRY FIELDS > >Gary Calorosa, Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance >Dianna Lyons, National Lawyers Guild, former UFW attorney >Arturo Mendoza, Director, AFL-CIO Watsonville Organizing Campaign >Eva Royale, UFW, Northern California Coordinator >Don Villarejo, Director, California Institute for Rural Studies >Moderator: Jose Cuellar, La Raza Studies, SFSU > > >BUILDING SOLIDARITY, COMMUNITY-LABOR COALITIONS > >Katie Nunez Alder, Justice for Janitors Campaign, Oakland/San Jose >Karega Hart, TWU Local 154, City College of S.F. >Alba Morales, Political Ecology Group, Co-author "Bromide Barons" >Howard Wallace, SEIU Local 250, Visiting Nurses and Hospice Campaign >Moderator: Frank Martin Del Campo, Latin American Labor Committee > > >THE HISTORY OF FARM LABOR ORGANIZING ON THE > CENTRAL COAST AND IN THE SALINAS VALLEY > >Linda Majka, University of Dayton, Women's Studies >Theo Majka, University of Dayton, Sociology and Anthropology >Zaragosa Vargas, UC Santa Barbara, History >Miriam Wells, UC Davis, Anthropology, author STRAWBERRY FIELDS: > POLITICS, CLASS AND WORK IN CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE >Moderator: Charles Wollenberg, Vista College, History > > >GLOBALIZATION: THE IMPACT ON THE SOUTH BAY > ECONOMY AND LABOR MARKETS > >John Borrego, UC Santa Cruz, Community Studies >Fred Krissman, Washington State University, Pullman, Anthropology >Mary Beth Pudup, UC Santa Cruz, Community Studies >Moderator: Amy Dean, South Bay Central Labor Council > > >For more information contact: >Marty Bennett: (707) 527-4873; mbennett@floyd.santarosa.edu >David Brundage: (408) 459-4645; brundage@cats.ucsc.edu >Brenda Cochrane: (415) 338-2885; bcoch@sfsu.edu > > From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sat Mar 29 15:55:04 1997 Sat, 29 Mar 1997 14:54:50 -0800 (PST) Sat, 29 Mar 1997 14:48:49 -0800 (PST) Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 14:48:49 -0800 (PST) To: can-labor@pencil.math.missouri.edu, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, OIFAC@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU, united@cougar.com From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: SF Privatiz/Democracy Conf4/12/97 Sender: meisenscher@igc.org FYI: >From: Labor Video Project > >/* Written 8:39 AM Mar 29, 1997 by lvpsf in igc:labr.calendar */ >/* ---------- "SF Privatiz/Democracy Conf4/12/97" ---------- */ >PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- > >Contact: Committee for a Responsible University, (CRU) > 4079 Cesar Chavez Street FAX: (415) 695-1369 > San Francisco, California 94131 > > Don Nicodemas, Phone: (415) 647-2775 - Email: >erg@violet.berkeley.edu > > Steve Zeltzer, Labor Video Proj., (415) 282-1908 - Email: >lvpsf@igc.apc.org > > Paul Hessinger, CRU, CUE, (415) 641-7968 - Email: >paul_hessinger@bmug.org > >Western U.S. Regional Conference on Mergers/Privatization: First >Comprehensive Educational Event on Health Care, Jobs, Community, >Economics, Public Interest, Law & Alternatives > >San Francisco , March 27, 1997 -- [photos and speaker bios available] > >The Committee For a Responsible University and a coalition of numerous >health, labor and political groups are sponsoring a conference entitled: >Privatization vs Democracy: The Threat to Health Care and Education. >It will be the first conference in thi s region which focuses on all the >major areas which are affected by mergers and privatization such as the >UCSF-Stanford merger in progress now. The conference will be held at >City College in San Francisco (50 Phelan Avenue - at Ocean Avenue), >Visual Arts > Extension, Room 114, on April 12th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. >Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. and the conference starts at 10:00 a.m. >It is open to the public and free of charge. > >Some of the key areas covered will be, The Negative Affects of >Privatization on Jobs, Quality of Patient Care, Research and Indigent >Care, The Privateers; Who are They and What are Their Goals?, The Threat >to our Hospital Teaching and Training Systems, Who Do the University of >California Regents Represent?, Mergers, Privatization and the Law, What >Do Mergers Really Do; Who Really Wins?, Community Health Care Under the >Chopping Block, Positive Alternatives to Mergers and Privatization, >Emerging Questio ns and Possible Answers, Medical Redlining, Muzzling >Doctors, Predatory Policies in Health Care, Report on Latin American >Health Care Privatization and other topics. > >The full day schedule will include speakers from various parts of the >U.S. and other countries who are leaders in their fields and have >first-hand experience of the effects of mergers in their regions. Also, >there will be local experts speaking on variou s key topics. The >speakers are: Robert Redlo, Director (The Labor Center in Berkeley), >Celia Weislo, President (SEIU #285 Union in Boston), Margo Hunter, >Fellow for Economic Justice (Consumer's Union of San Francisco), Gladys >McKenzie, Business Rep.,Cou ncil 6, State & University & Fairview >(AFSCME Union #3800) from Minnesota, Vishwanath Lingappa, MD, (UCSF, >Professor of Physiology & Medicine), Robert L. Weinmann, MD, President, >(Union of American Physicians and Dentists), Carol Tarlen, Clerical >Worker, > (University of California, AFSCME Union Member) Miguel Mejia, >Secretary, (Dominica Movimiento de Izquierdo Unida) Dominican Republic, >Clark Kelso, Director (Institute for Legislative Practice, University of >the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law) and others >. > > This conference's main focus will be on mergers, privatization and >their negative impacts on the people and the region. A concurrent >thread will be a visionary, but sound, look at why we must not quickly >nor cheaply mortgage our futures without asking many tough, >common-sense, practical questions which beg answers in the face of these >ill-conceived, short-sighted, profit-over-quality-of-life motivated >schemes. News filtering out of previous merger/privatization situations >consistently corroborate our viewpoints in that the only clear winners >in these are the already very highly paid administrators and what many >conclude are excessively profitable HMO's and other managed health care >corporate entities while all the rest of us lose. > >There will be detailed information and discussions on key political, >economic, legal, medical and practical effects of and concerns about >this merger/ privatization activity here in San Francisco and across the >United States and internationally. It will be shown how these affect >everyone from fully insured consumers, uninsured, students, seniors, the >poor, immigrants, labor and children. Specific plans for actions which >can be taken by participants to stop privatization, defend education and >protect the > quality and availability of our health care and employment will be the >final goal of the conference. This conference will be videotaped by the >Labor Video Project of San Francisco for a variety of future showings >and will be made available to interested > groups or individuals. Sponsors: Committee for a Responsible >University, University of California Student's Association, The Labor >Video Project, San Francisco City College Student Labor Action Coalition >(A recognized Club of SFCC) > >Endorsers: California Association of Interns and Residents/SEIU 250, >Hospital and Institutional Workers/SEIU 250, San Francisco City College >Labor Studies Department, The International Liaison Committee, Coalition >of University Employees, 50 Years is Enough Coalition, Golden Gate >Chapter of The Labor Party > > > > From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sat Mar 29 23:14:54 1997 for ; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 22:13:10 -0800 (PST) for ; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 22:12:47 -0800 (PST) Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 22:12:47 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Faculty strike at York University Sender: meisenscher@igc.org >From the IRRA list: >I received this information from another list. Anybody know anything about >this faculty strike at York University in Canada? I recall that there is >an IR group there. >-- Mike Belzer > >CAN-FAC: > >Yes we are on strike. Three days of picketing thus far. I am told >that 80% of classes are cancelled. But I am also informed that the >administration in refusing to be flexible in negotiations. Such >inflexibiliy may infact lead to a very long strike. So far, morale >among the librarians and faculty is strong, despite some cold wet days >on the picket line (four hour shifts from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM--all >entrances the campus are picketed) and some hostile responses from a >few young men wanting to get into the gym or hockey rink. > >What can you do? Send your words of support and encouragement to the >York University Faculty Association via the internet: >YUFA-L@YORKU.CA,Internet. > >Below, my colleague Engin F. Isin outlines the outstanding issues the >librarians and faculty are fighting for. > >Thanks for your support. > >Warren Crichlow >York University >------------------------ > >YUFA position summary of outstanding issues >March 21, 1997 > >The following YUFA positions are currently on the negotiating table. A >mediator from the Ontario Labour Relations Board is attempting to move >the parties as quickly as possible to a fair, negotiated settlement. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >1. Working conditions > >A. Norms for class sizes be frozen at 1992 levels. > >B. Full array of teaching activities, including graduate supervision, >be taken into account in calculating and assigning teaching load. > >C. Structure, format, mode of delivery, and late course cancellations >be fully taken into account in calculating and assigning teaching load. > >D. Enlarge the mandate of the Long-Range Planning subcommittee of the >Labour-Management Committee to include academic planning broadly, >concerns about the impact of restructuring on faculty, departments, >etc. > >E. Permanent transfers be limited to situations where there is no other >solution. > >F. Establish a well-funded Joint Committee on Teaching Load and Class >Size, with mandate to make recommendations that will resolve the >problems of overwork, poor teaching conditions,, and demoralization, in >light of the collective agreement's guarantees of reasonable terms and >conditions of employment. > >G. Establish a Joint Committee on Technological Change, with full >participation in the academic computing and multimedia planning >process. > >H. Guarantee of adequate instructional, infrastructural, and research >support. > >Administration Response: Will discuss, but not promise anything but >limited study, discussion and weakened committees; nothing that >requires further commitment of resources, which clear and enforceable >limits on teaching loads and class sizes will require (they claim). >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >2. Compensation > >A. Incorporate in the collective agreement the structure of YUFA's pay >equity exercise. > >B. A $2.2 million fund to address gender and age anomalies/inequities >in YUFA salaries. > >C. Substantially increase funds for YUFA's pay equity exercise out of >existing $4.6 million pay equity fund. > >D. 2.6% cost-of-living adjustment in each of the two years of the >contract. > >E. Payment of normal current grid increments, as in the historic >contract, adjusted for inflation. > >F. An employee pension contribution holiday from the $45+ million >pension surplus, comparable to what the employer will take and has >taken every year since 1993, in addition to YUFA's share of the latest >employer pension contribution holiday. > >Administration Response: Regular career grid increments are not >automatic (they say); unlike other public employers, they call them an >"8% increase". Any increase in compensation must require no new funds >and can thus be funded only from the existing YUFA envelope by gutting >some provisions of the collective agreement and refusing to negotiate >seriously on other pressing concerns (e.g., class sizes), which they >claim cost too much and will require them to fund through decimating >the complement. >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >3. Retirement > >A. Seven concession offered to flexible retirement plan. > >B. Study the retirement plan for one year to see how it can be changed >in an equitable fashion. > >C. In case of no agreement after study, submit the whole retirement >plan to mediation-arbitration for final resolution. > >D. Negotiate based on the previously-negotiated retirement plan, not >the one imposed in August. > >Administration Response: No 3rd party arbitration -- they have already >decided; no modification of the terms they imposed in August that costs >any money, which any significant changes will (they say). >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >4. Librarian issues > >A. Allow the librarians to decide collegially where new librarian >appointees can best be deployed. > >B. No unreasonable alteration in librarian workloads in light of 25% >cut in the complement in recent years. > >C. Consideration of the full array of scholarly/creative activities in >librarian professional responsibilities > >Administration Response: Administrators are the sole decision-makers >re: deployment. Administrators determine employees' tasks during the >35-hour work week; whatever scholarly/creative activities are not "for >the institution" are inappropriate to librarians' professional >responsibilities. >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >5. Fellowship funds > >A. Increase funding of all fellowships by inflation factor. > >No Administration Response > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >E n g i n F. I s i n >Assistant Professor >Division of Social Science >York University >Toronto, Canada M3J 1P3 >TEL: 416.736.2100.20346 FAX: 416.736.5924 >http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/isin > > > From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Sun Mar 30 02:03:37 1997 Sun, 30 Mar 1997 01:02:43 -0800 (PST) Sun, 30 Mar 1997 01:01:41 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 01:01:41 -0800 (PST) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, h-UCLEA@h-net.msu.edu, united@cougar.com, OIFAC@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU, can-labor@pencil.math.missouri.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Report on York University Faculty Strike Sender: meisenscher@igc.org ><---- Begin Forwarded Message ----> >Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 00:06:30 EST >From: "Seth Wigderson, H-Labor" >Subject: Report on York University Faculty Strike > >At my request, Sean Purdy wrote this note on the York University >Faculty strike. SW >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > >Hi Seth. I've been up to the picket lines myself. It is the tenured >faculty and librarians that are on strike. The issues listed in the post >are correct. There has been significant support from the contract >faculty union, the TA's union and student organizations. Many of the >contract faculty and TA's have cancelled classes or held them on the >picket line itself. There are seven picket lines at all the gates to the >university and most classes have been cancelled. The university just >announced that the school year will be lengthened. > >York is an interesting place. It has a reputation for left-wing faculty >and the student population is more working class than any other >university in Canada. It is very large with a student population of >50,000. > >It is interesting to see militancy among professors. There have been >numerous picket line "incidents" where people have tried to run the line >with their cars and the response is not what you might expect among >professors. In fact, it is very much like other strikes I've been >involved with. There have been sizable support rallies by students and >the Toronto District Labour Council. > >It is >significant that the Labour Council quickly and efficiently mobilized >their members in support even though YUFA is not an affiliate. > > >Cheers, Sean >From: Sean Purdy > > ><---- End Forwarded Message ----> > > > |------------------------------------------------------| > | This is a Community Labor News (filter & mail) list, | > | For information or to unsubscribe from this list, | > | send email to, Tony Budak, | > | with INFORMATION or UNSUBSCRIBE in Subject Header. | > |Or JOIN Our DISCUSSION; http://www.onecom.net/clnews/ | > |------------------------------------------------------| > > From aanz@sirius.com Sun Mar 30 18:29:04 1997 Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 17:35:12 +0000 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu From: aanz@sirius.com (anzalone/starbird) Subject: Re: Faculty strike at York University >FYI, TURNS OUT I'm not authorized to send e-mail to the address below, if >someone else can get through, send them my best wishes. ellen >From the IRRA list: > >>I received this information from another list. Anybody know anything about >>this faculty strike at York University in Canada? I recall that there is >>an IR group there. >>-- Mike Belzer >> >>CAN-FAC: >> >>Yes we are on strike. Three days of picketing thus far. I am told >>that 80% of classes are cancelled. But I am also informed that the >>administration in refusing to be flexible in negotiations. Such >>inflexibiliy may infact lead to a very long strike. So far, morale >>among the librarians and faculty is strong, despite some cold wet days >>on the picket line (four hour shifts from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM--all >>entrances the campus are picketed) and some hostile responses from a >>few young men wanting to get into the gym or hockey rink. >> >>What can you do? Send your words of support and encouragement to the >>York University Faculty Association via the internet: >>YUFA-L@YORKU.CA,Internet. >> >>Below, my colleague Engin F. Isin outlines the outstanding issues the >>librarians and faculty are fighting for. >> >>Thanks for your support. >> >>Warren Crichlow >>York University >>------------------------ >> >>YUFA position summary of outstanding issues >>March 21, 1997 >> >>The following YUFA positions are currently on the negotiating table. A >>mediator from the Ontario Labour Relations Board is attempting to move >>the parties as quickly as possible to a fair, negotiated settlement. >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>1. Working conditions >> >>A. Norms for class sizes be frozen at 1992 levels. >> >>B. Full array of teaching activities, including graduate supervision, >>be taken into account in calculating and assigning teaching load. >> >>C. Structure, format, mode of delivery, and late course cancellations >>be fully taken into account in calculating and assigning teaching load. >> >>D. Enlarge the mandate of the Long-Range Planning subcommittee of the >>Labour-Management Committee to include academic planning broadly, >>concerns about the impact of restructuring on faculty, departments, >>etc. >> >>E. Permanent transfers be limited to situations where there is no other >>solution. >> >>F. Establish a well-funded Joint Committee on Teaching Load and Class >>Size, with mandate to make recommendations that will resolve the >>problems of overwork, poor teaching conditions,, and demoralization, in >>light of the collective agreement's guarantees of reasonable terms and >>conditions of employment. >> >>G. Establish a Joint Committee on Technological Change, with full >>participation in the academic computing and multimedia planning >>process. >> >>H. Guarantee of adequate instructional, infrastructural, and research >>support. >> >>Administration Response: Will discuss, but not promise anything but >>limited study, discussion and weakened committees; nothing that >>requires further commitment of resources, which clear and enforceable >>limits on teaching loads and class sizes will require (they claim). >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>2. Compensation >> >>A. Incorporate in the collective agreement the structure of YUFA's pay >>equity exercise. >> >>B. A $2.2 million fund to address gender and age anomalies/inequities >>in YUFA salaries. >> >>C. Substantially increase funds for YUFA's pay equity exercise out of >>existing $4.6 million pay equity fund. >> >>D. 2.6% cost-of-living adjustment in each of the two years of the >>contract. >> >>E. Payment of normal current grid increments, as in the historic >>contract, adjusted for inflation. >> >>F. An employee pension contribution holiday from the $45+ million >>pension surplus, comparable to what the employer will take and has >>taken every year since 1993, in addition to YUFA's share of the latest >>employer pension contribution holiday. >> >>Administration Response: Regular career grid increments are not >>automatic (they say); unlike other public employers, they call them an >>"8% increase". Any increase in compensation must require no new funds >>and can thus be funded only from the existing YUFA envelope by gutting >>some provisions of the collective agreement and refusing to negotiate >>seriously on other pressing concerns (e.g., class sizes), which they >>claim cost too much and will require them to fund through decimating >>the complement. >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>3. Retirement >> >>A. Seven concession offered to flexible retirement plan. >> >>B. Study the retirement plan for one year to see how it can be changed >>in an equitable fashion. >> >>C. In case of no agreement after study, submit the whole retirement >>plan to mediation-arbitration for final resolution. >> >>D. Negotiate based on the previously-negotiated retirement plan, not >>the one imposed in August. >> >>Administration Response: No 3rd party arbitration -- they have already >>decided; no modification of the terms they imposed in August that costs >>any money, which any significant changes will (they say). >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>4. Librarian issues >> >>A. Allow the librarians to decide collegially where new librarian >>appointees can best be deployed. >> >>B. No unreasonable alteration in librarian workloads in light of 25% >>cut in the complement in recent years. >> >>C. Consideration of the full array of scholarly/creative activities in >>librarian professional responsibilities >> >>Administration Response: Administrators are the sole decision-makers >>re: deployment. Administrators determine employees' tasks during the >>35-hour work week; whatever scholarly/creative activities are not "for >>the institution" are inappropriate to librarians' professional >>responsibilities. >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>5. Fellowship funds >> >>A. Increase funding of all fellowships by inflation factor. >> >>No Administration Response >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>E n g i n F. I s i n >>Assistant Professor >>Division of Social Science >>York University >>Toronto, Canada M3J 1P3 >>TEL: 416.736.2100.20346 FAX: 416.736.5924 >>http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/isin >> >> >> From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Mar 31 09:32:13 1997 Received: from igc7.igc.org (igc7.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.35]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with ESMTP id JAA11598 for ; Mon, 31 Mar 1997 09:32:00 -0700 (MST) Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.33]) by igc7.igc.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id IAA03061; Mon, 31 Mar 1997 08:29:01 -0800 (PST) Received: from ppp4-24.igc.org (meisenscher@ppp4-24.igc.org [198.94.4.24]) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id IAA25754; Mon, 31 Mar 1997 08:27:28 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 08:27:28 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970331082323.456f6e8e@pop.igc.org> X-Sender: meisenscher@pop.igc.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To: united@cougar.com, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Digital Wealth Sender: meisenscher@igc.org This posting to PEN-L may be of interest here. The Nerd Barons Cyberbillionaires are building a dysfunctional economy =20 Craig Cox _______________ =20 Despite all the hype about how a newly wired world will create a global village and provide the means for people in developing countries to= empower themselves with information, the so-called digital revolution has= only helped widen the gap between the super-rich and the poor. =20 One statistic tells the story: According to the United Nations'= Human Development Report 1996, the combined wealth of the world's 358 billionaires now equals the total income of the poorest 45 percent= of the world's population, some 2.3 billion people. =20 Earlier this year, Forbes reported that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had moved past investment guru Warren Buffet into first place on= its annual list of the world's wealthiest people. The 40-year-old= Gates is worth an estimated $18 billion. Moving up to number eight on the= list was his childhood pal and company co-founder Paul Allen, who weighed in with a net worth of $7.5 billion. =20 This bit of news was hardly earth shaking. After all, Gates and= Allen had been amassing significant fortunes ever since their= Seattle-based software company began to dominate the computer industry in the mid-'80s. Their rise to the ranks of the world's richest men was just a matter of time. Indeed, as Victor Keegan notes in The Guardian= Weekly (July 28, 1996), digital billionaires, who are making their= fortunes faster than anyone else in history, have begun to replace the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and other "old money" on the Forbes= list as the information economy hits its stride. =20 But it's not just the speed at which Gates and his cyberpeers have built their billions that confounds conventional wisdom--it's also how they've done it. In the days of Carnegie and Ford, for instance, the rich actually created something--steel, cars, and such--that, in turn, created new jobs in related industries. But, as Keegan puts it, "All the digital billionaires do is to rearrange the 1s and 0s of computer= code into software packages selling for hundreds of dollars each." =20 Keegan points to the meteoric rise of Netscape, creator of the= world's most popular Web browser, as an example. The company, which is= barely two years old, has been valued on the stock market at $5 billion despite the fact that it mainly gives its product away. (You can easily download it from the Internet.) What Wall Street is banking on is that the company, which last year lost $1.4 million on sales of $80 million, will eventually sell a whole host of ancillary products and services to= its wired customers. After all, the company's browser is favored by 85 percent of all Internet users, which is a pretty solid market position. "Netscape's wealth creation activities also turn economics upside-down," Keegan writes. "For the first time a company can create an almost infinite number of its product without using up any extra= resources in the form of labor, machinery, or transport." =20 What this rapid advance in technology has accomplished, William Greider notes in his forthcoming book One World Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (Simon & Schuster), is the creation of an economy that no longer conforms to standard economic principles. Multinational corporations gobble up gigantic market shares and make huge gains= in productivity while laying off thousands of workers. Yet the= surplus goods they produce constantly threaten the bottom line, as companies are forced to unload goods at prices designed to hurt the competition. "The dirty little secret about technological revolution is that it typically depresses a firm's rate of return per unit, whether the firm is= making cars or computers," Greider explains. "Production costs may fall dramatically, sales volumes may expand robustly. Yet the rate of return remains in jeopardy." =20 The losers in this weird equation, of course, are the= workers--whether they're union members or not. The fundamental assumption that= workers would be rewarded if they increased their productivity is no= longer workable, Greider writes. He notes that between 1989 and 1994 output per hour in all nonfarm business rose by nearly 10 percent, while real hourly compensation went up less than 4 percent. =20 But whether you care about dislocated workers or not, this situation can be catastrophic for the economy. "To put it crudely," writes= Greider, "capital is being invested in new factories to make more things when the market is already struggling with a mounting shortage of buyers. One way or another, losses will multiply--for the firms or nations or= global investors." =20 The solution, he says, is for nations to begin regulating the flow= of global capital, taxing wealth more and labor less, and to work= with their trading partners to create more balanced trade relations and absorb more surplus production. He also calls on political leaders= to "withdraw from the old labor-capital battleground by= universalizing access to capital ownership." =20 Policy makers, Keegan writes, must abandon the fashionable myth= that coddling corporations and creating more billionaires will= inevitably lift the poor into the ranks of the middle class. What might that= mean to the digital economy? Mark Ward reports in New Scientist (July= 20, 1996) that the FCC and European Union are considering taxing the flow of information on the Internet, a move that would not only raise significant revenues for governments but also remove the= advantages of "offshore" business operations. It probably wouldn't bump Bill= Gates from the ranks of the super-rich, but it could send a signal that government is at least thinking about the rest of us. _______________ =20 webkeeper@utne.com - =A9 Utne Online 1997 - A Service of Utne= Reader