[Educationforall] spam con huevos labor news, views and concerns, 2.15.12-I

[Carlos Pelayo]

Leadership Challenges Could Shake Up Nation's Biggest Unions This Summer‏Slavery Lives on in the United States  Private Prison Scheme Fails in Florida‏Senate Republicans Want to Force the Unemployed to Work For Free  Wisconsin:Twenty-Two Faces of an American Uprising‏ Classic Corporate Greed‏ A Dream Deferred: An Orientation to the Laws That Protect Most Workers But Exclude Domestic Workers‏Obama Budget 'Right Path' for Economic Future‏ The Big Lie of Austerity--and How Transit Workers are Fighting Back   Grocery Store Workers Rally in Brooklyn for Overtime Pay--PHOTO & AUDIO Pepsi Slashes 8700 Jobs While Raking in Record Profits Apple Asks Outside Group to Inspect Factories @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
WEDNESDAY FEB 15, 2012 3:14 PM
Leadership Challenges Could Shake Up Nation's Biggest
Unions This Summer
BY MIKE ELK
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12747/leadership_challenges_could_shake_up_nation_biggest_unions_this_summer/ 

AFSCME showdown certain and SEIU challengers rumored, as
union conventions approach

This summer could offer some of the biggest union
leadership shake-ups in the recent history of the labor
movement. The incumbent leadership teams of two of the
nation's largest and most politically active unions--the
Service Employees International union (SEIU) and the
public employees union (AFSCME)--could see challenges at
their conventions in May and June, respectively.

Both unions are expected to spend $100 million each to
re-elect Obama as well as be crucial players in the
effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The
electoral jockeying of candidates for leadership
positions in these two unions may have an effect on how
SEIU and AFSCME, which each have more than 1 million
members, pursue these two big political challenges as
well as shape how the unions interact with the
Democratic Party.

Danny Donohue, president of 265,000-member strong CSEA
Local 1000 representing New York public employees, has
declared his intention to challenge current AFSCME
Secretary Treasurer Lee Saunders, who is backed by
retiring AFSCME President Gerry McEntee. When these two
candidates met in the 2010 election for
Secretary-Treasurer, Saunders narrowly won the election
652,660 votes to 649,356.

Donohue told In These Times that in the last election
there were voting irregularities that negatively
affected his candidacy. According to people interviewed
supporting both Donohue and Saunders, however, AFSCME
has formed committees around the country to hold open
meetings on making sure the election procedures are
fair. Regardles, the race will be quite heated.

"I think there needs to be a change in AFSCME. Some of
these ideas that were great ideas 20 or 30 years ago
when Gerry McEntee took over aren't such great ideas
now," Donohue says. "We haven't done as much as we
should have done in developing the capacity of state
level affiliates throughout the country. I think some of
our political investments at the national level haven't
been wise. I don't think we should endorse every
Democrat simply because they are Democrat. Sometimes, I
think we should even look at endorsing Republicans on
the state and local level when they support us." 

Saunders responded to In These Times' request for an
interview on the upcoming election by saying, "There
will be plenty of time in the months ahead to debate
internal politics. But as public employees across the
country continue to be scapegoated for the country's
economic woes, and with elected officials both Democrat
and Republican launching attacks on our members'
retirement security and collective bargaining rights, my
focus now is on the battles that need to be fought
together by the 1.6 million hard-working members of
AFSCME."

The election this June could lead to turmoil inside of
one of the nations' largest unions, because key staff
members often leave unions when labor leaders they work
for are voted out of office. The staff turmoil could
affect the union's ability to pursue the recall election
against Governor Walker as well as the re-election of
President Obama. 

"I don't think there would be a substantive change. The
operations would go on no matter who the president is,"
Donohue says.

Joseph P. Rugola, executive director of the Ohio
Association of Public School Employees, who is backing
Saunders against Donohue, also says AFSCME's
"institutional capacity" won't suffer if top leaders
change. "I think our unions are strong enough that,"
Rugola says. "We can fight these workers' rights battle
no matter what happens at the national level."

The 2 million member-strong SEIU will also see a
leadership challenge in a few months. In the last year,
there have been a number of shake-ups among top
leadership of SEIU. Top SEIU strategist Stephen Lerner,
the brainchild behind the Justice for Janitors campaign,
left the union. Lerner would not comment on his reason
for leaving SEIU's staff, but wrote in an e-mail that he
remains a member of SEIU's board of directors.

In the last year, Workers United leader Bruce Raynor,
who backed SEIU President Mary Kay Henry's defeated
opponent Anna Burger in an election a few years ago, was
forced to resign from the union over charges of misusing
union funds. Also, SEIU's Dennis Rivera, who also
supported Burger, was demoted from his leadership role
as SEIU Healthcare Chair to "Senior Policy Advisor."

In recent weeks, there has been discussion among SEIU
observers that Executive Vice President Gerry Hudson may
challenge Henry for the union's top spot in May at the
SEIU convention. But it's unclear if he'll actually run;
SEIU staff members did not respond to requests for
comment for this story.

However, if Hudson did run, he would need the support of
his home local, SEIU 1199 in New York, headed by George
Gresham. 1199 is the largest local union within SEIU,
and it controls about 20 percent of convention
delegates. SEIU 1199 staff did not return a request for
comment.

"It's not surprising that SEIU PR people refuse to
comment on personnel changes at the top. Even members of
the union can't find out who's at the top and who's not
anymore," said Steve Early, whose most recent book, The
Civil Wars in U.S. Labor, is about SEIU. (Early is also
an occasional contributor to Working In These Times.)
"Unlike many other unions wwhich detail their
top-ranking members, SEIU's website doesn't contain a
list of its 70-odd executive board members."

Early continued: "This [election] process inevitably
becomes the subject of gossip, rumor, and speculation,
because at the top of the union SEIU's internal politics
are very much like those in any other one-party state.
... The power-plays take place behind closed doors. The
leadership line-up gets reshuffled periodically, but
decision-making control remains in the hands of a very
small group of people. A broader delegate body like the
SEIU convention in May is expected to be nothing more
than a rubber-stamp."

While the various sides of AFSCME leadership fights have
pledged to work together no matter what happens in this
election, top SEIU leaders are silent on what they or
may not do if a challenge to Mary Kay Henry and others
occurs.

Stay tuned as the conventions approach--things should get
interesting.

____________________________________________

PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to
people on the left that will help them to interpret the
world and to change it.
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Slavery Lives on in the United StatesDan Archer, Truthout: "September 22, 2012, will mark the 150th anniversary of the emancipation proclamation, President Lincoln's decisive move to abolish slavery nationwide. President Obama echoed this decisive call by declaring January 'National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.' On January 1, 2013, the FBI Unified Crime Reports will at last feature a 'trafficking' category to allow police departments to begin quantifying the size of the problem." Read the Article 

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Feb. 15, 2012
Sign the Transport Workers’ (TWU’s) “I Support American Jobs” pledge to support the workers at American Airlines facing loss of their jobs and pensions.A scheme to privatize Florida’s prisons failed in the state Senate yesterday after a huge public outcry led by Florida working families and community and civil rights groups. The plan was backed by extremist Gov. Rick Scott (R), private prison companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the key players in the drive to privatize prisons throughout the nation.
Got comments? Post them at blog.aflcio.org. Join TWU’s ‘I Support American Jobs’ Campaign AFL-CIO Backs Bahrain Democracy Movement Cordray and Consumer Bureau Taking New Steps to Protecting Homeowners and Buyers Newport News Shipyard Techs Win Voice with IAMRead more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.Follow the AFL-CIO:
            Take the next step. Become a mobile activist
by joining the AFL-CIO Rapid Action Text Team.
Text NEWS to AFLCIO (235246) to receive action alerts and more.
(Message and data rates may apply.)
To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.
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-Senate Republicans Want to Force the Unemployed to Work For FreeAlong with efforts to drug-test the unemployed and deny benefits to those without high school diplomas, Republicans now want to make "volunteer" work a requirement. READ MOREBy Laura Clawson / Daily Kos
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Wisconsin:Twenty-Two Faces of an American Uprising
By John Nichols
The Nation (blog)
February 14, 2012
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166229/twenty-faces-american-uprising

When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
announced on February 11, 2011, that he would use a
bureaucratic "budget repair bill" as a vehicle to
attack collective-bargaining rights, civil-service
protections and local democracy, he expected a
reaction.

The governor went so far as threaten to call
out the National Guard to prevent protests from getting
out of hand. But Walker and his aides were certain that
they would be done with the fight in a week. Now, a
year later, Walker faces ongoing demonstrations,
increasing legislative opposition, multiple legal
challenges and a recall election threat that arose when
one million Wisconsinites signed petitions seeking his
removal from office.

Walker should have known he was in
trouble when the first protests began and a young woman
who worked at the State Historical Society showed up
with a white T-shirt pulled over her winter coat. With
a place pen, she had written: "I Am Not Afraid of the
National Guard!"

The governor's attempt to intimidate
Wisconsinites into accepting an austerity agenda that
assaulted not just labor rights but the state's open
government and small-"d" democratic traditions was a
failure from the start. Instead of scaring citizens
into submission, Walker provoked an uprising that
continues to this day. The courage, optimism and steady
determination of Wisconsinites, many of whom had never
engaged in public protest or political action before,
is what undid Walker's best-laid plans.

Even as he
succeeded in enacting elements of his program, the
push-back was so intense that two of his key
legislative allies were defeated in the state Senate
recall elections of last summer. And, now, he and his
lieutenant governor face a similar fate. This was a
people-powered uprising, But even the most spontaneous
of revolts requires information, messaging and calls to
arms.

The movement had some national allies. Union
leaders such as Jerry McEntee of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(who declared Wisconsin to be "ground zero in the
struggle for labor rights") and Randi Weingarten of the
American Federation of Teachers came early, as did the
Rev. Jesse Jackson. Rocker Tom Morello played Woody
Guthrie songs for the crowds, and wrote a great song of
his own: "Union Town." Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and
MSNBC's Ed Schultz broadcast live from Madison, as did
GRITtv's Laura Flanders.

But the mass movement that
made "Wisconsin" not just the name of a state but a new
name for resistance would not have been possible
without visionary groups and individuals who stepped up
at critical stages in the struggle.

Here are a few that ought never be forgotten:

The University of Wisconsin
Teaching Assistants Association The oldest graduate
student union in the world (now an American Federation
of Teachers affiliate) "got it" immediately. Within
hours of the governor's announcement, the TAA declared:
"What we do in the next 5 days will determine whether
we keep our union, and our professional lives as
educators, researchers, and public servants." TAA
members were front and center at the first rallies on
campus. They organized the February 14 march that
brought protesters into the state Capitol and to the
door of the governor's office. TAA members took the
lead in maintaining the presence in the Capitol that
would eventually see thousands of Wisconsinites
sleeping in around the clock. State Rep. Mark Pocan,
a Madison Democrat who helped organize round-the-clock
hearings in the Capitol says: "While a lot of unions
brought people in volume, I don't know if anyone else
brought them in as continually and consistently."

State Senator Fred Risser
The longest serving state
legislator in the United States, Risser was first
elected when Dwight Eisenhower was president.
Distinguished and well-regarded by members of both
parties, the former state Senate President stepped up
immediately to decry Walker's actions. He brought
historical perspective, and he did not mince words.
State employees have the right to negotiate in good
faith with the state. Without a willingness to even
discuss what concessions need to be made with state
employees, the governor comes across more like a
dictator and less like a leader," said the dean of the
Senate. When the state Senate minority leader Mark
Miller led fourteen Democratic senators out of the
Capitol in order to deny Walker's Republican allies the
quorum needed to pass the budget bill--and to provide
the protest movement with time to build
momentum--younger legislators such as Lena Taylor, Chris
Larson and Jon Erpenbach emerged as prominent
spokespeople. But none were any bolder than the
chamber's oldest member when it came to defending the
best Wisconsin tradition of placing the will of the
people above the demands of political and economic
elites.

Dane County Supervisor Melissa Sargent
At a point when most local officials were shellshocked 
by the governor's move, Sargent leapt into action, getting
the local government of the state's second-largest
county (and the home of the state Capitol) to take an
unequivocal stand on behalf of labor rights. The
resolution Sargent (with the support of allies such as
Supervisor Dianne Hesselbein got passed declared: "The
Dane County Board of Supervisors supports the Wisconsin
worker and supports the right to organize and
collectively bargain. We stand opposed to Gov. Walker's
attack on the middle class and on the rights of
Wisconsin workers." Sargent's bold move inspired other
local officials across the state to rise up against
Walker's agenda. And it marked her as a new-generation
leader who, this fall, will compete for an open state
legislative seat.

Voces de la Frontera
On the day Scott
Walker announced his plan, the Milwaukee-based civil
rights and immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera
beat many state and national labor and political
organizations to the frontlines. Voces executive
director Christine Neumann-Ortiz, decried the law,
saying: "This is a vicious attack on the basic freedom
of association, enshrined both in our US Constitution
and federal labor law. Labor unions built our middle
class. In addition, Walker's statement today that he is
prepared to utilize the National Guard against
opponents is both a direct threat of violence and an
admission of its unpopularity.... We join public unions
across the state in calling on all Wisconsin workers to
make their voices heard in opposition to this plan, and
we will continue to fight its passage in any way
possible." Voces never backed down. It's members were
at the forefront of marches and rallies. And Voces
built an alliance with the labor movement so strong
that, when the group's annual immigrant rights march
was held May 1, 2011, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
was the keynote speaker at a "Wisconsin Solidarity
March and Rally for Immigrant & Worker Rights" that
drew a crowd of 100,000.

State Representative Mark Pocan
The former co-chair of the legislative Joint
Finance Committee challenged Walker's budget numbers
from the start, noting that the governor had signed
measures cutting corporate taxes before declaring a
"budget crisis." Pocan's critique revealed the false
premises underpinning Walker's agenda. When the
governor threatened to layoff protesting state
employees, Pocan unfurled a banner from his office
window in the Capitol that read: "Governor Walker Your
Pink Slip is Coming." When the governor's legislative
allies (brothers Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate majority
leader, and Jeff Fitzgerald, the Assembly minority
leader) violated open meetings laws and legislative
rules to secure passage of measures, Pocan coined the
term "Fitzwalkerstan." "Don't recognize your state?
That's because it's not your state anymore. The
Republicans have spent the past two months quietly
trying to form their own junta aimed at dismembering
Wisconsin," explained Pocan. "Welcome to
FitzWalkerstan, where Wisconsin is open for special
interest give-a-ways and closed to the middle-class."
Now a candidate for an open Congressional seat (in a
race with another fine legislator, Kelda Helen Roys),
Pocan promises to be just as tough on national
Republicans.

Madison Teachers Inc.
When MTI, the union that represents Madison-area 
teachers and school staff announced on February 16
that its members were leaving the classrooms and
heading to the state Capitol, they were joined by
students and parents and the crowds swelled. And
MTI executive director John Matthews, a
local labor leader with more than forty years
experience, used all his connections to bring other
unions into the fight. Matthews and the thousands of
MTI members are among the stalwarts who have kept the
protests going all year at the Wisconsin Capitol.

Madison Firefighters Local 311
Firefighters Local 311 president Joe Conway Jr. moved
quickly to bring firefighters into the the movement,
despite the fact that public safety personnel were
exempt from the attacks on collective-bargaining rights.
The sound of the firefighter's bagpipes was heard at
some of the first rallies at the Capitol, and delivered a
solidarity message that encouraged other unions to step
up. State Firefighters union president Mahlon Mitchell
became one of the most prominent faces of the movement,
and is now much discussed as a potential candidate for
governor, lieutenant governor of other offices.

John "Sly" Sylvester
Former rock DJ Sylvester had a popular
commercial talk radio show on Madison station WTDY-AM.
On the day the fight in Wisconsin launched, he switched
over to all protest, all the time. He hasn't stopped
since. Sylvester's show has for a year now provided
four hours of pro-labor programming every day. And the
message is so popular that his advertisers now cut
commercials touting their support for the union cause.

Matt Wisniewski
A series of short videos made by
Madison photographer Matt Wisniewski chronicled the
emotional power of the protests so ably that they drew
international attention and praise. Wisniewski's work,
which captured the energy and enthusiasm of the first
rallies and the initial occupation of the state Capitol
were so moving that they quickly went vital, attracting
millions of Internet hits. Eventually, scenes from one
of of Wisniewski's productions was featured in a video
by rocker Tom Morello. And Chrysler grabbed a few
seconds for the much-discussed Super Bowl ad featuring
Clint Eastwood. Unfortunately, Chrysler obscured or
covered up many of the union signs. See Wisniewski's
originals. They're magical.

WORT-FM
Madison's great
community radio station, WORT, provided steady coverage
from the start of the protests, employing not just
traditional radio reporting but Twitter, Facebook, flip
cams and everything else at its disposal. Norm
Stockwell, Molly Stentz and the rest of the WORT crew
also provided a base of operations for programs such as
GRIT-TV, independent radio producers and filmmakers.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca
If there was a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" moment
in Wisconsin, it came when the leader of the Democratic
minority in the State Assembly confronted Republican
allies of the governor who were gaming the rules of the
legislature to pass the most anti-labor components of
Walker's proposal. Barca, a former congressman, raced
to a legislative conference committee with a list of
objections and amendments -- as well as some reminders
regarding the rules. When state Senate Majority Leader
Scott Fitzgerald, a key Walker lieutenant, ignored
Barca, the usually mild-mannered assemblyman bellowed:
"This is a violation of the open meetings law... This
is a violation of the law!" The scene, captured on
video, was replayed tens of thousands of times, and
Barca became a hero to those who objected not just to
the governor's agenda but to how it was being advanced.
Working with young Democratic legislators such as Cory
Mason and Tamara Grigsby, Barca emerged as a defender
not just of labor rights but of the rule of law.
Indeed, he got such high marks that, when he spoke at
an anniversary rally organized by the Wisconsin Wave
movement, there were chants of "Barca for Governor."

Joel Greeno and Tony Schultz
When famers Joel Greeno
and Tony Schultz attended some of the first pro-labor
rallies at the Capitol, they decided something was
missing: tractors. With the Wisconsin Farmers Union and
Family Farm Defenders, they organized a tractorcade
that brought farmers from across the state to the mass
rally on March 12. Their message: workers and farmers
have to "Pull Together," Greeno noted that farmers use
collective bargaining when they join cooperatives and
seek to negotiate prices, and declared: "When Governor
Walker attacks the rights of workers, he attacks the
rights of farmers." Schultz celebrated the renewal of
"an old populist tradition of workers and farmers
standing together against corporate power." And their
message resonated, as rural Wisconsinites became some
of the most engaged backers of the drive to recall
Governor Walker. Washburn, Wisconsin On the day of the
largest protest in Madison, the crowd estimates were as
high as 180,000. That's almost as many people who live
in the city. But on that same day, in the city of
Washburn on Lake Superior, Governor Walker was attended
a fund-raising event for local Republicans. Outside the
hall, more than 2,000 activists rallied. That's a more
people than live in Washburn. The big numbers on the
north that day provided a powerful reminder that the
Wisconsin uprising was not just a Wisconsin thing. Some
of the biggest protests took place in some of the
smallest towns.

Secretary of State Doug La Follette
The veteran constitutional officer was the only Democrat to
win a statewide race in 2010. Walker paid La Follette
no attention until it came time to certify the
governor's anti-labor legislation. The Secretary of
State slowed things down, following proper procedures,
consulting with local officials, cooperating with Dane
County Circuit Court Judge Mary Ann Sumi as she
reviewed whether an open meetings law violation had
occurred, and providing the space that allowed many
municipalities and school districts to settle contracts
before the new law went into effect. Walker was
furious. But La Follette was steady in his resolve. He
emerged as a lonely defender of the rule of law.

National Nurses United
The union had a small presence
in the state but it stepped in at a critical moment
with a message that the real culprits were not state
and local workers, or teachers, but Wall Street
banksters. Their "Blame Wall Street" signs are still on
display all across Wisconsin. And their message was
echoed in an epic speech by filmmaker Michael Moore.
The NNU and Moore interventions gave a young protest
movement an economically populist and militant message
that anticipated Occupy Wall Street.

Ian's Pizza
The pizzeria located barely a block from the Capitol
started getting calls almost as soon as the building
was occupied. Folks from outside Madison wanted to pay
for pizzas to be delivered to the protesters. During
the eighteen days of the occupation, Ian's delivered
thousands of pizzas to the demonstrators on behalf of
callers from all fifty states, more than sixty
countries and Antarctica. There was even a donation
from union workers in Egypt. And what did Ian's do with
the money? "We have decided to give back," the staff
announced. With advice from the community, Ian's made
substantial donations to groups that were engaged in
and supporting the protests.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney
When Mahoney, a veteran lawman, announced that
his deputies would not serve as Walker's "palace
guard," it was a signal that police forces were going
to maintain not just public safety but the right to
dissent. Off-duty deputies from around the state joined
police officers from Madison and other cities joined
protests, proudly clad in "Cops For Labor" T-shirts.

The Center for Media and Democracy
The Madison-based
center, which has long specialized in discrediting
political and corporate spin recognized an incredible
opportunity when Scott Walker and his allies brought
the austerity lie to Wisconsin. CMD's Lisa Graves and
Mary Bottari steered the group's staff out of research
cubicles and into the thick of the struggle as
reporters, photographers, bloggers and investigators.
The CMD blog broke big stories and got so good that
national media outlets were soon grabbing quotes and
video from it. CMD fostered and encouraged grassroots
journalism, highlighting Twitter and Facebook
communications that became essential drivers for the
movement. And as the struggle continued, the group
focused on the financial and ideological underpinnings
of Walker's agenda to reveal the role played by the
right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council in
shaping legislative enacted in Wisconsin and other
states. The ensuing "Alec Exposed" project was produced
in conjunction with The Nation.

The Solidarity Singers
These occupiers of the state Capitol began singing
labor songs in the rotunda and never stopped. Despite
efforts by the Walker administration to ban them, the
Solidarity Singers return each day--sometimes hundreds
strong--to deliver a cappella versions of civil rights
and union tunes. Sometimes, you'll even hear a state
legislator joining the chorus. They're so popular now
that they are recording a CD.

United Wisconsin
Scott Walker and his amen corner claim he's being targeted by
"big union bosses" and "the national Democratic Party."
But the recall challenge he faces was created in large
part by the tens of thousands of volunteers who forged
the "United Wisconsin" movement. Started as a website
that collected names of Wisconsinites who wanted to
recall and remove the governor, the movement eventually
turned its list of 200,000 Walker foes into a statewide
movement, with trained coordinators in every one of the
state's 72 counties, local offices in most of them and
a volunteer network that did not quit. They gathered
not just 1 million signatures to recall Scott Walker
but 850,000 to recall his lieutenant governor and the
better part of 100,000 more to recall the state Senate
majority leader and three other senators allied with
the governor.

Lori Compas
When the wedding photographer
from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, learned that her
legislative representative, Senate majority leader
Scott Fitzgerald, had violated state open meetings laws
to push through Walker's assault on collective
bargaining, civil service protections, public education
and public services, she knew he had to go. But
Democratic strategists said Fitzgerald's district was
too Republican to sustain a recall drive. So Compas
launched one on her own. Using Twitter, Facebook and
old-fashioned shoe leather, she drew together a cadre
of volunteers that collected more than enough
signatures. Now, the political newcomer is being talked
up as a potential challenger to the most powerful
legislator in the state.

Sean Michael Dargan and Ken Lonnquist
Folkies, rockers and rappers have produced
such an incredible collection of songs about the
Wisconsin struggle that it is tough to single anyone
out. The brilliant Ken Lonnquist has produced a whole
album of tunes, recounting details of the struggle with
songs such as "14 Senators"--the story of the exit of
Democratic legislators--which includes the line: "2,000
Monday, 10,000 Tuesday, 15,000 Wednesday, 25,000
Thursday..." But Sean Michael Dargan, a veteran
songwriter whose band The Kissers was a rally favorite
in Wisconsin, nailed it with the song he debuted at the
rally to kick off the recall movement against the
governor: "On the Day Scott Walker is Recalled."

John Nichols' new book on protests and politics, Uprising:
How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from
Madison to Wall Street, will be published next week by
Nation Books. Follow John Nichols on Twitter
@NicholsUprising.

____________________________________________

PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to
people on the left that will help them to interpret the
world and to change it.

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Fight back against Cooper Tire's flat-out greed!Tell Cooper to end the lockout!

A classic tale of corporate greed is unfolding in Ohio, and we need your help to put a stop to it.

In 2008, when Cooper Tire & Rubber Company was losing money, workers at its Findlay, Ohio plant gave up $31 million in pay and benefits to help the company stay afloat.

Thanks to the workers' sacrifices and productivity, Cooper has made more than $300 million in profits since 2009. Cooper paid its executives millions of dollars in bonuses and bought a new corporate jet. What did its employees get?Locked out on Thanksgiving weekend.

Despite soaring profits, Cooper pushed a new contract on its employees with higher healthcare premiums and undisclosed wage terms. Do you think CEOs would accept a contract if they didn't know if they were getting a raise or a pay cut? Not a chance.

Still, Cooper's employees were more than willing to keep working through negotiations to reach a fair deal after their contract expired last fall. But Cooper refused to budge—leaving 1,050 workers out in the cold since November 28.

The workers in Findlay, Ohio are counting on you! Email Cooper Tire NOW!

Cooper can easily afford to set things straight and still turn a profit. Cooper CEO Roy Armes received $4.7 million in compensation in 2010.3 And the company has purchased a plant in Serbia for $17.3 million!4

Cooper wants to cry broke, but greed—not need—is driving this lockout. As Chico Ramirez, who's logged 25 years with the company, explains, "The thing that bothers us is that we gave them concessions to help them get back on their feet, and they are paying out bonuses instead of paying back the backbone of the company."

Around the country, people are fighting back against corporate greed and standing up for the 99%. Will you stand up and fight for Cooper's workers too?

Tell Cooper Tire that its bullying and greed must end now. 

Thanks for all that you do for workers everywhere.

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
AFL-CIO Working Families e-Activist Network1. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/01/02/U-S-senator-drops-in-to-cheer-up-locked-out-Findlay-tire-workers.html 
2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204319004577084441182793280.html 
3. http://people.forbes.com/profile/roy-v-armes/22977 
4. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/01/19/Cooper-closes-on-deal-to-buy-Serbia-tire-plant.html
To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:13:19 -0800
From: ng121585 at UCLA.EDU
Subject: [LALS] A Dream Deferred: An Orientation to the Laws That Protect Most Workers But Exclude Domestic Workers
To: LA-LABOR at NEWLISTS.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU

A Dream Deferred: An Orientation to the Laws That Protect Most Workers But Exclude Domestic Workers As the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (AB 889) is held up in the California legislature, workers and advocates continue to speak up and educate the public about why the bill is necessary. Vast gaps in state and federal labor laws have kept domestic workers from enjoying the same protections as most other workers for decades. This training will educate attendees about the gaps in labor and employment law and why this bill is necessary. We will also provide a basic overview of the legal rights that most workers enjoy. Attendees will learn about the law, gaps in the law, the way the Bill was created by workers to fill the biggest gaps, and will then practice speaking to others in favor of the Bill. At the end of this training, people will feel ready to act as competent spokespeople in support of the bill, talking to friends, legislators and their communities about why this bill is important and crucial to prevent wage theft, human trafficking, and abuse. ***Attached please find flyers in English and Spanish 
 Sponsored by: Hand in Hand, Progressive Jewish Alliance, and Rothner, Segall and Greenstone.
When: Thursday, February 16th, 7-9pm Where: UCLA's Downtown Labor Center  675 S Park View St Los Angeles CA 90057Parking: Metered street parking is available. The Center is also two blocks from the MacArthur Park subway station. RSVP: Please RSVP to ehaman at gmail.com by Monday, February 13th if you will need translation into Spanish, or if others who come with you would like translation. Otherwise, no RSVP is needed.Presenter Bio:Eli Naduris-Weissman is an attorney at Rothner, Segall and Greenstone, which represents represents labor unions, labor-management trust funds, and employees with wage & hour and civil rights claims. Prior to joining the firm, Eli was a Fellow in the legal department of the Service Employees International Union, where he provided assistance to national campaigns to organize food-service workers and security guards. Eli has worked with domestic workers and day laborers as an intern at La Raza Centro Legal in San Francisco and as a volunteer with the Unión de Trabajadores in Washington D.C.  Eli is the author of “The Worker Center Movement and Traditional Labor Law: A Contextual Analysis,” 30 Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law 232 (2009).  



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Julie Monroe 
LALS Moderator 
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Feb. 14, 2012
Working families across the county, including this family in Helena, Mont., are telling their lawmakers to pass an unemployment insurance extension without cuts and punitive changes now.AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the federal budget proposal President Obama introduced yesterday “puts us on the right path toward building a solid foundation for our economic future.” Among other things, the budget proposal includes investments in infrastructure, clean energy, manufacturing, education and innovation and ends the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Got comments? Post them at blog.aflcio.org. UI Deadline Approaching, Jobless Tell Lawmakers ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ Fired Latino Workers at Pomona College Fight Back Remembering. As We Move Wisconsin Forward Arizona Legislature on the Warpath Against Teachers, Public Education February Marks 44th Anniversary of Historic Memphis Sanitation StrikeRead more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.Follow the AFL-CIO:
            Take the next step. Become a mobile activist
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To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.
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-The Big Lie of Austerity--and How Transit Workers are Fighting BackAs politicians demand cuts, New York's transit workers union pushes back on the austerity narrative and calls for better treatment for all working people.READ MOREBy Tim Schermerhorn / Labor Notes
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Grocery Store Workers Rally in Brooklyn for Overtime Pay--PHOTO & AUDIOBy Sarah Jaffe | AlterNet

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Pepsi Slashes 8700 Jobs While Raking in Record ProfitsBy Marion Nestle | Food Politics

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Apple Asks Outside Group to Inspect FactoriesBy CHARLES DUHIGG and NICK WINGFIELDApple said the audit would look at conditions at Chinese sites where iPhones and other products are made. Some labor groups lauded the move, but others were skeptical.
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