[Educationforall] spam con huevos labor news, views and concerns, 2.03.12-I

Mon Feb 6 05:17:16 UTC 2012

Indiana's Union-Busting 'Right-to-Work' Bill Becomes Law, Thousands Take to Streets in Protest                  How 'Anonymous' Went From Mischief Makers to a Force That Terrifies Corporations and Governments  Toronto Strike/Lockout Could start Feb 5 Class War? What Class War? American Airlines Plans to Lose 13,500 workers and Abolish Pensions Occupy Omaha perseveres_ Indiana's Union-Busting 'Right-to-Work' Bill Becomes Law, Thousands Take to Streets in Protest  6 Shocking Ways Capitalism Is Failing Working America  Hoosiers Tell RTW Backers: 'Remember November'‏ Ailing American Airlines seeks big cuts  Why Black Union Workers Matter In This Year’s Super Bowl Showdown 
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Indiana's Union-Busting 'Right-to-Work' Bill Becomes Law, Thousands Take to Streets in ProtestBy Kristen Gwynne | AlterNet

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-How 'Anonymous' Went From Mischief Makers to a Force That Terrifies Corporations and GovernmentsAnonymous activists have become terrifying to the powers that be, despite (or perhaps because of) their apparent disorganization and probably in excess of their actual capacity. READ MOREBy Nathan Schneider / Waging Nonviolence
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Toronto Strike/Lockout Could start Feb 5 The Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued what is called a 'no board' report, setting thestage for a possible strike or lockout of municipal workers in
Toronto. 
The report means there is now a 17-day deadline for Canada's largest
city to reach an agreement with one of its unions — CUPE Local 416,
which represents about 6,000 key outside workers who collect garbage,
remove snow and do other road and park maintenance.  
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/19/toronto-municipal-cupe.html

*The Stella Doro Strike Loss* "Things aren't going well in the working
class. The news says unemployment is going down, but I don't see no
sign of it. Many people I know can't find a job. Even worse is
coming-a tidal wave that will wipe out more peoples' jobs. You go
lower and lower til you're not in the system anymore. Nobody from my
job at Bimbo Bakery wanted to come down to Occupy Wall Street but for
one guy. They still got their jobs. They do not want to struggle yet.
But I think little by little, more people will understand."  
http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2012-02-06#folio=060 [3]@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Class War? What Class War? American Airlines Plans to Lose 13,500
workers and Abolish Pensions 
The parent of American Airlines wants to
eliminate about 13,000 jobs — 15 percent of its workforce — as the
nation’s third-biggest airline remakes itself under bankruptcy
protection. 
The company proposes to end its traditional pension plans, a move
strongly opposed by the airline’s unions and the U.S.
pension-insurance agency, and to stop paying for retiree health
benefits.  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/american-airlines-tells-employees-it-wants-to-cut-labor-costs-by-20-percent/2012/02/01/gIQAoL33hQ_story.html@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

[21]*Eurozon Unemployment Highest Ever* Unemployment in the 17-nation
eurozone ended 2011 at 10.4 per cent, a new record high for the single
currency since its launch at the start of 1999, official figures
showed today. 
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said the rate in December was
unchanged, as November's was revised upwards from a previous estimate
of 10.3%. 
Unemployment has been steadily rising over the past year - in December
2010, it stood at 9.5% - largely because of Europe's debt crisis. 
The biggest increases over 2011 were recorded in Greece, Cyprus and
Spain. 
All three, to various degrees, have had to impose tough austerity
measures - such as public sector layoffs and spending cuts - in an
effort to regain investor confidence lost during the crisis. 
The agency said just under 16.5 million people were unemployed in the
eurozone, up 751,000 on the year before. 
The highest unemployment rate remains in Spain, where 22.9 % of the
working population were without work, though Greece is nearing with
19.2 % rate. The lowest rate in the eurozone is Austria's 4.1 %.    
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eurozone-unemployment-at-new-record-high-6297441.html
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6 Shocking Ways Capitalism Is Failing Working AmericaBy Les Leopold | AlterNet
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Feb. 2, 2012
Check out this frightening report about how big corporations are plotting to take over vital government services.More than 10,000 Indiana working people marched from the statehouse to the site of this Sunday’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis, telling lawmakers who passed a “right to work” for less bill, “Remember November.” They vowed to take the state back in a massive voter mobilization.
Got comments? Post them at blog.aflcio.org. The Privatization of Public Services, State by State Small Biz Owners Say Job Exports, Not Regs Problem Arizona: The New Wisconsin Yep, That Makes Sense Retirees Occupy Century Aluminum Egypt’s New Labor Movement Comes of AgeRead more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.Follow the AFL-CIO:
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To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Indiana's Union-Busting 'Right-to-Work' Bill Becomes Law, Thousands Take to Streets in ProtestBy Kristen Gwynne | AlterNet
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Ailing American Airlines seeks big cuts

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Occupy Omaha perseveres_

*Toronto Strike/Lockout Could start Feb 5* The Ontario Ministry of
Labour has issued what is called a 'no board' report, setting the
stage for a possible strike or lockout of municipal workers in
Toronto. 
The report means there is now a 17-day deadline for Canada's largest
city to reach an agreement with one of its unions — CUPE Local 416,
which represents about 6,000 key outside workers who collect garbage,
remove snow and do other road and park maintenance.  
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/19/toronto-municipal-cupe.html

*The Stella Doro Strike Loss* "Things aren't going well in the working
class. The news says unemployment is going down, but I don't see no
sign of it. Many people I know can't find a job. Even worse is
coming-a tidal wave that will wipe out more peoples' jobs. You go
lower and lower til you're not in the system anymore. Nobody from my
job at Bimbo Bakery wanted to come down to Occupy Wall Street but for
one guy. They still got their jobs. They do not want to struggle yet.
But I think little by little, more people will understand."  
http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2012-02-06#folio=060 [3]
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1. Why Black Union Workers Matter In This Year’s Super
Bowl Showdown by Jamilah King, Colorlines

2. NFL Players Opposed To Right-to-work, Lockout Taught
Us Power Of The Team by Demaurice Smith, Concord
Monitor

Why Black Union Workers Matter In This Year’s Super
Bowl Showdown

by Jamilah King
Thursday, February 2 2012, 9:51 AM EST

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/super_bowl_2012.html

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was not supposed to be among
this year’s Super Bowl story lines. This year’s
contenders, the New England Patriots and the New York
Giants, should instead be taking center stage. Yet less
than a week before America’s biggest sporting event of
the year kicks off in Indianapolis, Gov. Daniels’
fight with the state’s unionized workers over
legislation that could curtail the power of their
collective bargaining rights has given a new national
platform to the right wing’s bitter, decades-old war
against unions.

Yet the NFL’s Player’s Association, which is the union
that represents the league’s athletes, has also jumped
onto the national stage and come out in opposition to
the proposed Right to Work legislation. In doing so,
the league’s union is taking an important, albeit
symbolic, step to publicly bridge the gap that exists
between the NFL’s multibillion dollar teams and its
increasingly marginalized fan base. And it’s proof that
sports is a powerful cultural art form that can help
elevate some of today’s most controversial political
issues.

On January 6, 2012, the NFLPA released a damning letter
in opposition to the Indiana’s bill, which has since
moved quickly through the state’s legislature.

“‘Right-to-work’ is a political ploy designed to
destroy basic workers’ rights. It’s not about jobs or
rights, and it’s the wrong priority for Indiana,” the
statement read. “It is important to keep in mind the
plight of the average Indiana worker and not let them
get lost in the ceremony and spectacle” of the Super
Bowl.

The statement was hugely important, considering what’s
at stake for Indiana’s workers, particularly black
ones. Black workers are disproportionately union
members. They’re more likely than whites, Asians, and
Latinos to be in public-unions, and make up 15 percent
of total membership, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Historically, unions have been crucial
gateways for black workers to earn higher wages and
break into the middle class.

While supporters of Right to Work argue that the laws
are needed to foster a “pro-business” atmosphere that
helps generate desperately needed jobs, research has
shown that the laws can have disastrous effects on
workers. The Economic Policy Institute released a
report in January showing that workers employed in
Right to Work states makes less money and are less
likely to be offered health care.

DeMaurice F. Smith, executive director of the player’s
union, pressed the point even further in an op-ed
published a week later in one of Indiana’s most widely
read newspapers. ” An indisputable lesson of our
American history is that none of those workplace
protections came as a gift from corporations,” wrote
Smith, who’d previously made a name for him self as a
hard-nosed litigator. “Rather, all of them resulted
from the ability of workers to stand united and demand
change when it would have been easy to fire or silence
the voice of a single worker.”

There are currently 22 states in the country that have
the law, mostly in the South and in western states like
Wyoming and Utah. Indiana’s bill, which the state
Senate passed this week and Gov. Daniels has already
vowed to sign into law, is unique because it will be
the first the law that’s been put into action in an
industrialized area with a large, unionized workforce.

“I don’t think it was surprising, but I think it’s
important,” said Washington State University professor
David Leonard about the NFLPA’s statement.

And for some observers, the reason why it’s important
is because there’s been an growing divide between the
league and its average fans, many of whom are people of
color.

Professional football in America gained popularity as a
uniquely working class sport in which teams (think the
Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers) were named
after regional manufacturing economies. These days, as
ticket prices have risen to the tune of hundreds of
dollars for a single game, the game has become an
exaggerated expression of wealth in America when many
fans are struggling financially.

Larry Solomon is a longtime professor at San Francisco
State University. He’s also a lifelong football fan,
and has noticed that biggest enclaves of football fans
are often in the most historically disenfranchised
communities.

“They’re not cheering for the owners,” Salomon says of
most fans. “They’re cheering for their cities, they’re
cheering their friends and for people like them who
identify around that team.”

For Salomon, that sort of ferver carries with it the
potential for raising people’s political awareness.
“When I go home and watch the Super Bowl with my family
this weekend, I hope the NFLPA and the Indiana stuff
comes up, but last year we talked about abortion during
the Super Bowl because of Tim Tebow and his ad.

“You have these moments where sports intersects with
politics, intersects with race, and you can have
conversations with people who might not normally have
those conversations.”

And this year is certainly one of those moments.

“The Super Bowl is a staging ground for American
Exceptionalism,” said Leonard, the professor at
Washington State, noting that the Navy spends millions
of dollars to do fly-overs before the game. “It’s a
celebration and festival for the wealthy that’s done
because of the labor of disproportionately men of
color.”

That, Leonard suggests, is a macrocosm for how other
industries work.

“Yes, the money is different and the stage is
different, but that doesn’t mean that the lessons that
we can learn aren’t there.”

Indeed, the 2011 NFL season was mired in political
discussions from the start. It began with a protracted
labor dispute between owners and players which lead to
a lockout that lasted well into training camp. The
NFLPA repeatedly emphasized how damaging a prolonged
lockout could be not just to players and coaches, but
also for the concession stand workers and ticket agents
who work at the league’s stadiums and whose livelihoods
often depend on fans showing up and spending money at
games.

Another key issue that was brought up by players during
the lockout is one with which many workers in other
industries can relate: occupational safety.

While professional football is an admittedly physical
sport and the allure of big hits has drawn in many fans
over the years, the eventual price of that brutality
has recently become apparent. New research has shown
that players who suffer multiple concussions stand at
far greater risk of developing severe depression and
early onset dementia.

“I’m not sure players overall have really ‘gotten it’
with respect to the extent to which the money they make
can be fleeting, but I think they’re beginning to get
the idea that their health, their vibrancy can be
fleeting,” said N. Jeremi Duru, a professor at Temple
University and author of the forthcoming book
“Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest
for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL.” He
maintains that players’ increased awareness has made
them more willing to protect their physically
interests, and thus has created a climate in which
their union’s support of other worker’s struggles isn’t
all that surprising.

“The unanswered question is whether any of the players
participating in the Super Bowl will say anything,”
says Dave Zirin, a columnist at The Nation and author
of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We
Love.” Though Zirin cautions that it’s not something
fans should expect, he also thinks that if players do
participate, the issue of worker’s rights in Indiana
would get attention that’s “out of this stratosphere.”

NFL Players Opposed To Right-to-work, Lockout Taught Us
Power Of The Team

By Demaurice Smith
Concord Monitor
February 4, 2012

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/309448/nfl-players-opposed-to-right-to-work?CSAuthResp=1328492180%3Aas4109kb5e9adi1nt5jec5ne01%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3A48A2FCB6F4087201F098ECC9C0F78409&CSUserId=94&CSGroupId=1

Granite Staters have a lot of things to be proud of:
their magnificent Seacoast and White Mountains, their
position as the first presidential primary state in
America and the AFC Champion New England Patriots. But
most important, they're proud of their "Live Free or
Die" tradition. And they've shown that they'll fight to
keep their freedoms safe.

Last year, thousands of New Hampshire families came
together to defeat a "right-to-work" bill pushed by
out-of-state special interests that would have
jeopardized the freedom of workers to organize as a
team to protect, preserve and promote themselves as
employees in a workplace, where management can always
outspend workers and target individuals.

Now the Republican leadership in New Hampshire has
announced its intent to launch the same old right-to-
work bill that failed last year. This blatant attack on
freedom not only runs counter to the voices of
thousands of Granite Staters - it runs against every
lesson that my brothers in the NFL and I learned during
the NFL lockout last year.

NFL players learned lessons that most older American
workers learned decades ago: namely, that all of the
protections that employees currently have in the
workplace resulted from the ability of workers to stand
together as a team, protect their rights and demand
change for the better. It is a lesson that many of us
have not only forgotten but, worse yet, simply never
learned.

The protections that millions of workers possess today,
including fair pensions, workplace safety innovations,
management supported health-care plans and compliance
with occupational health standards, were achieved by
thousands of workers standing together as one over
decades to fight for those vital standards. An
indisputable lesson of our American history is that
none of those workplace protections came as a gift from
corporations; rather, all of them resulted from the
freedom of workers to stand united and demand change
when it would have been easy to fire or silence the
voice of a single worker. The history is also clear
that, even when employees fought as a team, some of
them paid a dear price for organizing and demanding
fairness. This bill would make future efforts even
harder than they are today.

The assault on employees comes disguised in proposed
legislation deviously named "right-to-work." The reason
every employee should have concern is that it simply is
not what it claims to be. The right-to-work bill is not
a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a citizen a
job. Rather, it is simply designed to hurt the freedom
of employees to form teams that can go "toe-to-toe"
with management in the hope of having a fair
negotiation over issues that matter to working people.

In this time of challenging economic conditions, where
there are efforts to divide all of us, we have an
obligation to move beyond the rhetoric and know the
issues. The legislation may have a catchy title, but
that is all it provides to men and women who work for a
living. If you support this bill, do so by recognizing
and calling it what it is: "the elimination of the
freedom to negotiate strongly and fairly with your
employer" legislation.

We oppose this bill and stand in strong support of what
needs to be every employee's freedom to be a member of
a team to protect and preserve their rights for
themselves and their families.

(DeMaurice Smith is executive director of the National
Football League Players Association.)
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