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lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10309Rising Unemployment Means More Kids Are Losing Health Carea//li
lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10310Chicago Sitdowners May Soon Be Back To Work With A New Companya//li
lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10311United Federation of Teachers Organizes NYC Charter Schoola//li
lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10312New Book Looks At Private Contracting In History Of Gitmo Workersa//li
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pWhat lessons can we learn regarding private contracting from the history of Guantanamo Bay? Jesse Russell reports:/p
pIn her new book, Guantanamo: A Working Class History Between Empire and Revolution, Jana Lipman takes a look at the changing face of worker culture at Gitmo, a U.S. Naval Base that has been open for more than 100 years. During World War II the U.S. government briefly turned over management of the workers to the Fredrick Snare Corporation, one of the first instances of heavy dependence on a private contractor similar to what we see with Blackwater and Halliburton today. /p
p[Lipman]: It sets the stage for creating an ambiguous legal status for these corporations. It makes it much more of a question of if they should be tried by Cuban law or American law and the fact that they are often able to evade that law becomes quite clear. For example, there is a case where a Cuban worker is killed by a U.S. Marine lieutenant, but he is being recruited to work for the Snare Company. So the question is who is responsible, is it the U.S. Marines and the U.S. military, is it the Snare Company?/p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pIn New York City, the United Federation of Teachers has organized the first KIPP Charter school in the country. The UFT’s Leo Casey says these charter school teachers chose to unionize to secure respect for teachers and a teacher voice on the job./p
p[Casey]: “Shows that there really is nothing inconsistent between having high quality charter schools and unionization. In fact, having real teacher voice and real teacher empowerment in the school is really a very important part of building and maintaining quality.”/p
pThere could be some good news for the workers who took part in a sit-in as their company tried to close up shop with out paying them proper severance. Serious Materials, a California based company, is interested in buying out the assets of Republic Windows and Doors and reopening the plant. If the deal goes through the workers who launched the sit-in will likely be back to work at their former plant. Serious is considered a “green business” and produces energy efficient windows and glass. /p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pFor every one percent increase in unemployment, an estimated 600,000 children lose their health care. That’s according to Families USA’s Ron Pollack. /p
p[Pollack]: “The expansion of children’s health coverage is a major victory for America’s families. The Legislation will help to ensure that children get the health care they need, when they need it. And it will enable children to learn and become productive citizens.”/p
pPollack says that even with the congressional vote this week adding 4.1 million kids to the States Children’s Health Insurance Program, nati/p
Eight years of President Bush’s economic tax cuts for the rich and job-killing actions have devastated working families. Just look at the smoking crater of the economy he’s leaving behind—7.2 percent unemployment, 2.6 million jobs lost last year alone, home foreclosures up by 81 percent in 2008, a plunging stock market, failing banks. Heck of [...]
We noted yesterday the great new website, Berman Exposed, but if you want to learn more about mega-lobbyist and corporate front man Rick Berman, check out Art Levine’s latest piece, “Dr. Evil Is Baaaack,” published by In These Times.
Levine’s column focuses on a big ad buy in The Hill, Politico and other D.C. insider publications, sponsored [...]
This is the second in a series of occasional articles looking at health care reform proposals and initiatives from a wide range of groups and experts. We take a brief look today at two reports, one from a major health care union and the other by a group of CEOs from five large health plans [...]
The inauguration of the nation’s first African American president next week is just the beginning of a historic shift in the nation’s politics, and civil rights activists from across the country are gathering this weekend to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and discuss how to complete King’s dream of a just society.
During the [...]
This week, the hard-right Heritage Foundation—a major funding source for corporate-friendly and anti-union research and spin—released its Index of Economic Freedom, an annual ranking of the economic climate of the world’s nations. Using Heritage’s numbers, it seems the organization should take a second look at its anti-union spin: The figures show that many of these [...]
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