[Educationforall] spam con huevos, labor news, views and concerns, 12.01.11‏‏-I‏

Fri Dec 2 07:05:41 UTC 2011

Occupy Long Beach statement on Dec. 12‏
Arundhati Roy: "The People Who Created the Crisis Will Not Be the Ones That Come Up With a Solution"
Unions Beat GOP Candidates as New Hampshire Blocks Anti-Labor Law
CDB Press Conference Friday December 2 12:00 Noon: Divest From Wells Fargo‏
Food Company Locks Out Union Workers, Then Compares Them to Cancerous Tumor
American Crystal Sugar workers pray for end to lockout‏

Jobless to Congress: Don't Cut UI Lifeline‏

The best way to cause another recession‏

CWA's fight to end pediatric AIDS‏

Thanks to Nurses Union and Occupy Wall Street, Pressure for Wall Street Speculation Tax Grows

Movers And Sheriff’s Deputies Refuse Bank’s Order To Evict 103-Year-Old Atlanta Woman

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ccupy Long Beach's Profile

Occupy Long BeachWhy we are occupying the ports in solidarity with port workers and communities

We are occupying the ports, as part of a day of action, boycott and march for full legalization and good jobs for all to draw attention to and protest the criminal system of concentrated wealth that depends on local and global exploitation of working people, and the denial of workers' rights to organize for decent pay, working conditions and benefits, in disregard for the environment and the health and safety of surrounding communities. Port workers, particularly port truck drivers, have repeatedly shut down the ports around similar demands of migrant rights and workers' rights which have not yet been met.

A group of truck drivers recently attempting to organize for representation with the Teamsters were summarily fired by an Australian shipping company here in the LA/LB harbor. ILWU workers at the Longview WA port have been displaced by scabs. Most port truck drivers in the harbor are denied the right to organize because they are treated as independent contractors who are forced to bear all the costs of their work, their benefits and any delays out of their own pockets from their piece-rate pay. We are demanding better pay for the drivers, standing up for workers' rights, and seeking to rebuild the economy so that there are good jobs for all. Currently in the ports locally, about 8 containers of imports come in as imports for every one that goes out as exports. Community residents are concerned about the rat-infested graveyard of unused shipping containers that has piled up. If the US had balanced trade, with as much going out in exports as comes in, there would be plentiful work and good, well-paying jobs for all, on and off the waterfront.

Why we are focusing on SSA Marine terminals and facilities

SSA Marine, a company owned by the investment bank Goldman Sachs, exemplifies the rising corporate greed that sinks all boats and that is ruining our economy for its own selfish profits. SSA Marine is a war profiteer, that got a contract under the occupation of Iraq to run the port there to off load US war materiel. SSA Marine is a criminal despoiler of the environment. They were recently convicted in Bellingham WA of illegally building an unpermitted access road to the site of the proposed terminal. SSA Marine is unconcerned about worker safety. They were recently exposed in Oakland of having failed to notify longshore workers of a potentially explosive cargo they were working on, air conditioners that had been recharged in Vietnam with the wrong gas, and some which had already exploded.

SSA Marine is anti-union. Their Shippers container trans-shipment facility, located in Carson on Sepulveda, is jurisdictionally considered part of the port under the law, and therefore should fall under the ILWU contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, but its workers are not so represented. Goldman Sachs, the parent company, got billions in bail-out funds, particularly via insurance giant AIG, which nearly failed because of its "credit default swaps" that helped fuel the housing bubble and then deepen its collapse. They are currently in the process of trying to evict a group of mostly migrant residents from a property (built on public land with public funds) in Harbor City that they control.

Why we are acting independently of organized labor

Although we are working with and reaching out to rank and file port workers, we understand that labor unions are constrained under reactionary, anti-union federal legislation such as Taft-Hartley, passed during the Cold War to reverse the gains of labor under the Depression era Wagner Act, from taking job actions on the basis of solidarity or for political causes or demands. As concerned working people organizing for direct action to express and exert our civic concerns and responsibility, we will be engaging in a public, legal mass protest and rally, and a community picket line at SSA facilities to press our exposure of the above-cited depradation by greedy corporations, our support of working people and the 99%, and to stand up for migrant rights against the scapegoat mentality that blames poor immigrant workers for the flaws and crimes that the wealthy are really responsible for.

How you can join us

Meet at Harry Bridges Park in Long Beach (near the Queen Mary at the foot of the 710 freeway, or a short shuttle bus ride from the end of the Blue Line) at 5:00 AM on Monday Dec. 12. Host a discussion in your home or at your school, union or neighborhood or religious group. Contact us at occupytheports at gmail.com or call 323-901-4269 to get a flyer that you can share. Or come out to one of the occupation general assemblies in Los Angeles, Long Beach or neighboring communities (start your own if there is none).
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Arundhati Roy: "The People Who Created the Crisis Will Not Be the Ones That Come Up With a Solution"
Arun Gupta, The Guardian UK: "Arundhati Roy: I don't think the whole protest is only about occupying physical territory, but about reigniting a new political imagination. I don't think the state will allow people to occupy a particular space unless it feels that allowing that will end up in a kind of complacency, and the effectiveness and urgency of the protest will be lost. The fact that in New York and other places where people are being beaten and evicted suggests nervousness and confusion in the ruling establishment." 
Read the Article 

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Unions Beat GOP Candidates as New Hampshire Blocks Anti-Labor Law
John Nichols, The Nation: "Mitt Romney can attack public-employee unions all he wants. Rick Perry can attack collective-bargaining rights. Newt Gingrich can call for eliminating child labor laws so that school janitors can be replaced with adolescents. But those are not winning positions in mainstream America, where polling suggests Americans recognize the value of labor unions and of laws that maintain the right to organize and bargain for better wages, better benefits and better services for children and communities."
Read the Article 

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Press Conference: Divest From Wells Fargo! 

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio
Press Advisory
Date: Thursday December 1, 2011
Contacts: Salvador Reza: (602) 446-9928, Anayanse Garza: (602) 487-0186

La Huelga del Pueblo
Press Conference
DIVEST FROM WELLS FARGO! 

What:              Press Conference
Where:            Wells Fargo Bank, Washington and 1st Avenue 
When:        12:00 – 1:00 PM Friday December 2, 2011
Who:            Los Comites de Defensa del Barrio

Phoenix, AZ - In response to the presence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) national conference in Scottsdale, Arizona this week and the call by a broad range of public constituencies to bring accountability to the policies supported and funded by ALEC accomplices in government and the financial sector, Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio will present their message to the State of Arizona and the American public during a press conference to take place at noon on Friday December 2, 2011 in front of the Wells Fargo Bank in central Phoenix.  The Wells Fargo Building is also home to the offices of Maricopa County Sherrif J. Arpaio. 

The call by the Boycott Commission of the CDB is for transparency and accountability for the economic interests that have been profiteering through contracts with the private prison industry in cahoots with law enforcement personalities and financial institutions across the state, and in complicity nationally through the consortium of private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America affiliated with ALEC.

Prominent among the financial institutions that have been profiteering off of the criminalization and exploitation of Migratory Workers and their Families in particular has been the Wells Fargo Bank.  The press conference on Friday will renew the call nationally to DIVEST FROM WELLS FARGO, along with calls of solidarity for the cause to from throughout the country.

In Colorado, members of the Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC) joined with over 300 Wells Fargo account holders and one local union in divesting their accounts from Colorado's largest bank due to predatory lending habits, continued failure to approve substantial numbers of eligible HAMP modifications and their refusal to stop foreclosure proceedings after disclosing "robo-signing" like errors in their approval. 

The call for solidarity and mutual respect from the Comités de Defensa del Barrio is an example of the resistance and rebellion against the corporate tyranny of Wall Street and their henchmen in the form of ALEC. 

"This isn't just Wall Street, this Wall State," said Tupac Enrique Acosta of Tonatierra.  "And these are not governors of governments, these are accomplices in crime." 

Just yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer delivered an address at the ALEC conference in Scottsdale while protests at the gate calling to “SHUT DOWN ALEC” resulted in arrests and the pepper-spraying of protesters. 

Signed by Governor Brewer in April of 2010, AZ SB1070 is a piece of legislation which was crafted in the bowels ALEC and then imported into the Arizona State legislature by AZ Senate President Russell Pearce, who has since been recalled from office.

The call today by the Boycott Commission of the CDB is for transparency and accountability for the economic interests that have been profiteering through contracts with the private prison industry in cahoots with law enforcement personalities and financial institutions across the state.

Besides the openly acknowledged association with the ALEC by former state Senator Pearce, the demand for accountability is also directed to Arizona State Governor Jan Brewer, and the professional lobbyists working at the Arizona Legislature for the Corrections Corporation for America (CCA) such as Chuck Coughlin of HighGround.

>From the Center for Democracy in Media website:

“Prior to release of ALEC documents by the Center for Media & Democracy, NPR conducted an undercover investigation of Pearce and Coughlin's role in making deals with CCA lobbyists to enlist ALEC in drafting of SB1070. This investigation was released in a 2-part series October 2010 -- less than a week before the Nov. 2 gubernatorial election. Coughlin effectively blocked media reports so most voters never had access to this information until now. The outcome went as planned: Jan Brewer became our governor.”

The quote continues:

“SB1070 was never about immigration. It was formulated for the express purpose of creating "demand" for private prisons through the rounding up of detainees for profit. It required elaborate storytelling about headless bodies in the desert and assorted scare tactics that have separated neighbor from neighbor -- needlessly and heartlessly -- for political gain. What are we protecting ourselves from through enabling these immoral practices that have divided our state and our people?”

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Food Company Locks Out Union Workers, Then Compares Them to Cancerous Tumor
By Marie Diamond | Think Progress

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/342401/ 

Locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers sing at a prayer vigil Wednesday in front of the corporate offices in Moorhead. David Samson / The Forum

MOORHEAD – The fall of a light snow and winter temperatures was not enough to cool the spirits of locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers Wednesday night during a prayer vigil outside corporate offices.

The more than 100 workers and their families held candles on the darkened corner near Moorhead Center Mall as they sang, prayed for an end to the lockout and huddled together to keep warm.

One of the songs, “We Will Overcome” included the lyrics, “We are not a cancer,” a reference to the claim that Crystal President and CEO Dave Berg “likened the workers to a 21-pound cancerous tumor.”

John Riskey, president of the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G union said Wednesday the vigil was held not just to send a message of solidarity to Crystal but for the 1,300 workers as well.

“It’s one more way to show we are not alone,” Riskey said.

Today marks four months since the lockout began.

Lydia Schreiner of Moorhead said she stopped by to show her support for the workers. Her husband has been a Crystal employee for more than 30 years.

Religious leaders from four area churches spoke of their support for workers and led them in prayer.

“I stand here today in solidarity with you,” Rev. Alexis Twito of Trinity Lutheran Church said.

Gayln Olson, a longtime employee of Crystal said the lockout has been hard for families and it will continue to be difficult with the holiday season approaching. As he spoke, employees, friends and family members welcomed each other to the vigil with hugs, handshakes and thank-you’s to those who could make it.

Union representatives encouraged workers to attend Saturday’s stakeholder meeting, where Gov. Mark Dayton is scheduled to speak. The stakeholder meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Comstock Memorial Union at 2 p.m.

Mark Froemke, American Crystal Sugar worker, said, “We’re going to push this thing until we’re back to work.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Wendy Reuer at (701) 241-5530
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David Berg

David Berg, president and chief operating officer of American Crystal Sugar Co., 
talks about his company’s 2008 fiscal year in Fargo in December 2008. Berg saw 
his total compensation climb 23 percent to $2.4 million for 2011. 

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/342403/

MOORHEAD – An ongoing lockout may dampen the mood at American Crystal Sugar Co.’s annual meeting today, but the company’s bottom line certainly won’t: A banner beet harvest produced big profits for the sugar cooperative and big paydays for executives.

The company turned $1.5 billion in net revenues for its 2011 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31. That’s up from $1.2 billion in 2010.

The gains come from last year’s bountiful harvest and production season, which predates the current four-month-old lockout.
High sugar prices, a strong crop and good storage weather all added up to record earnings, said Brian Ingulsrud, the company’s vice president of administration.

For Ingulsrud and the company’s other top executives, that success also triggered six-figure increases in compensation – on top of similarly handsome boosts in recent years.

Critics of the lockout say those increases show the company can afford to make its workers a better offer.
David Berg, the company’s president and chief executive, saw his total compensation climb 23 percent from about $2 million to $2.4 million.

Berg’s compensation has climbed nearly 50 percent from $1.6 million in 2009, his first full year as chief executive.
The company’s other three highest-paid executives also saw big bumps this year:

Chief Financial Officer Thomas Astrup’s compensation climbed from $736,000 last year to $963,000 in 2011.

Chief Operation Officer Joseph Talley’s compensation rose from $908,000 in 2010 to a little over $1 million.

Ingulsrud’s compensation rose from about $700,000 last year to $809,000 in 2011.

Those increases were driven largely by short-term incentives pegged to performance goals and long-term incentives tied to shareholder value and farm profits.

Ingulsrud said the value of those incentives rises and falls with the fortunes of the company. Berg, for instance, saw the value of one form of his long-term compensation – stock equivalents known as contract rights – rise by about $250,000. That value can fall in down years.

“It mimics what our shareholders are experiencing financially,” Ingulsrud said. “In a good year like this year, you’re going to see some higher compensation levels.”

The board of directors uses a compensation consultant to determine executive compensation, measuring American Crystal’s executive pay against that of executives at comparable companies. Ingulsrud said the board aims to keep compensation near the bottom quarter of that group.

John Riskey, a local president for the union that represents the 1,300 locked-out workers, said it was apparent even before the lockout that American Crystal would enjoy a strong year. He said the company should share the prosperity with its workers.
“We were the ones who were responsible for helping them make those record profits,” he said. “We worked our tails off to make sure that they got every beat sliced.”

The company has offered 17 percent pay increases over the next five years. It says the average wage and benefits package for union employees is worth about $75,000 a year.

But a bigger sticking point has been proposed changes to health insurance coverage that would more than double employees’ maximum out-of-pocket costs for family coverage – a change that remains unpalatable to many union workers.

Ingulsrud said the company is trying to strike a deal that will hold up in less profitable years as well as record ones.
Riskey said the union has offered shorter-term deals to prevent the company from committing to an untenable position.
“We don’t want to see them go belly-up,” he said.

Both Riskey and Ingulsrud said they wish a deal had been reached by now. Ingulsrud said the fact that they haven’t “casts a shadow” on today’s meeting.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

DAVID BERG, president and chief executive:
Base salary: $587,169
Total compensation: $2,438,775

THOMAS ASTRUP, vice president of finance and chief financial officer:
Base salary: $295,321
Total compensation: $963,947

JOSEPH TALLEY, chief operating officer:
Base salary: $389,896
Total compensation: $1,046,389

BRIAN INGULSRUD, vice president of administration:
Base salary: $269,002
Total compensation: $809,276

BOARD COMPENSATION

Directors are paid $650 per month, plus a per diem of $300 for each day spent on company activities. The board chairman is paid $2,150 per month, and the vice chairman is paid $1,150 per month.

Neil Widner, chairman of the board:
$58,850
Curtis Haugen, vice chairman of the board:
$34,250
Donald Andringa:
$25,550
William Baldwin:
$20,750
John Brainard:
$33,650
Brian Erickson:
$25,250
Robert Green:
$30,650
John Gudajtes:
$20,450
William Hejl:
$9,050
Curtis Knutson:
$29,150
Dale Kuehl:
$27,650
Jeff McInnes:
$21,350
David Mueller:
$21,675
Wayne Tang:
$29,750
Steve Williams:
$35,050

Readers can reach Forum reporter Marino Eccher at (701) 241-5502

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Dec. 1, 2011

Thousands of National Nurses United and other union members rallied in six U.S. cities to support nearly 2 million striking British workers protesting cuts in public pensions.
Some 200 jobless workers were on Capitol Hill yesterday demanding Congress act now to extend unemployment insurance benefits set to expire Dec. 31. They also delivered 75,000 petitions signed by Americans calling for immediate action. Laid-off Pittsburgh transit worker Vincent Brandon—a veteran and father of a 5-year-old—said if his benefits are allowed to expire, “I’d likely be homeless within a few months.”

Got comments? Post them at blog.aflcio.org.
 Nurses Rally Across the Country in Support of U.K. Strikers
 House Republicans Pass Bill to Cut Workers’ Rights
 Washington State Will Keep Boeing 737 Jobs
 N.H. Workers Buoyed by Today’s Victory
 Crystal Sugar CEO Likens Contract to Cancer
 Justice Dept. Launches Campaign Against Counterfeit Goods
Read more important news of the day on the issues working families care about. 

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Text NEWS to AFLCIO (235246) to receive action alerts and more.
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I'm sure I don't have to tell you that good jobs are hard to come by these days – and for millions who have been laid off, unemployment insurance can be the only thing that keeps food on the table.
But these benefits are expiring on December 31. Unless we pressure Congress to act in the next few weeks, they may not extend unemployment insurance – which would devastate millions of Americans still searching for their next job.
Our friends at USAction are running a campaign to keep unemployment benefits safe. Check out their email below for more information, and then join them in telling Congress to extend unemployment benefits now!
-Liz

Ask Congress to extend unemployment benefits.

Almost two million out-of-work Americans will lose their federal unemployment insurance in January – and millions more later in 2012 – if Congress does not renew the benefits before they expire Dec. 31.1
Millions are struggling to find work in an economy wrecked by Wall Street. Will you help by asking Congress to extend unemployment benefits?
Nearly seven million Americans are currently surviving on modest unemployment insurance benefits. Over three million people are one unemployment insurance check away from falling into poverty.
If we cut the last thread keeping these families in the middle class, it won't just hurt them. It will worsen the housing crisis because more people will be unable to afford their mortgages. It will worsen the retail economy and force small businesses to close because even more American families will be unable to buy food or clothes for their kids or pay the heating bill.
If Congress doesn't act right now, 1.8 million workers will be cut off in the month of January alone – Happy holidays America, you get another recession in your stocking.
Don't let it happen. Please help by telling Congress to extend unemployment benefits now. America's job crisis isn't going away, and the last thing we need is more people in poverty.
Sincerely,
Drew Hudson 
USAction / TrueMajority
1. http://usaction.org/2011/10/2-million-jobless-workers-could-lose-their-unemployment-insurance-benefits/

This message was sent to   To unsubscribe from American Rights at Work action alerts, click here. 

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Dear Friend,
Today is World AIDS Day. It's a special day for all who support the global effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS, but it's especially important for us at CWA.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has been CWA's charity of choice since 1990, when Elizabeth Glaser spoke at our national convention about the devastating effects of pediatric AIDS. She knew these effects personally, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during childbirth in 1981 and unknowingly passing the disease on to both her children.
Throughout the year, CWA locals raise crucial funds for the Foundation -- more than $7.5 million dollars to date. Now, on World AIDS Day, I invite you to take the next step to learn more about this important cause and spread the word to everyone you know. 
AIDS was first discovered 30 years ago, and since then a global movement has grown to combat this devastating disease. Thanks to the generosity of CWA members, we've made some incredible progress, virtually eliminating pediatric AIDS in the United States -- but the fight continues in much of the world.
On World AIDS Day, you can help raise awareness about the mission to end pediatric AIDS. Visit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s website, then use their tools to share the information you find there

With your continued help, we can bring Elizabeth Glaser's dream of a world without pediatric AIDS closer to reality.www.cwa-union.org/egpaf 
Sincerely,

Annie Hil
Secretary-Treasurer

You have received this message through your subscription to a Communications Workers of America e-mail list.  If you did not subscribe or would like to unsubscribe click here.

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Thanks to Nurses Union and Occupy Wall Street, Pressure for Wall Street Speculation Tax Grows
With the nation's (and the world's) focus back on Wall Street, the possibility of a financial transaction tax is looking more likely. READ MORE 
By Sarah Jaffe / AlterNet

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Movers And Sheriff’s Deputies Refuse Bank’s Order To Evict 103-Year-Old Atlanta Woman
By Zaid Jilani | Think Progress

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Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107..
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html 
Listen to Native Voice One http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml

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