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<ol><li><font size="3"><b><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Occupy Omaha perseveres</span> </b></font></li><li><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="3"><b>Class War? What Class War? American Airlines Plans to Lose 13,500<br>workers and Abolish Pensions</b></font></pre></li><li><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="3"><b>Eurozon Unemployment Highest Ever</b></font></pre></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(42, 42, 42); line-height: 17px; ">In Michigan-So Long Unemployment Bennies</span> </b></font></li><li><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="3"><b>Quisling "union" California Teachers Assn backs Gov Brown's Planned Sales Tax (the tax the rich part won't happen and any fool knows it) </b></font></pre></li><li><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="3"><b>Detroit Unionites Cave Under EFM Threat (hint, 35 years of history says concessions don't save jobs) </b></font></pre></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(42, 42, 42); line-height: 17px; ">Bill Blum on the Forever Vile CPUSA and its Mouthpiece, Angela</span> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(42, 42, 42); line-height: 17px; ">Two on CAT Closing of Locomotive Plant</span> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15552?akid=8214.16102.t_0m9O&t=21" target="_blank" style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Keystone XL Opponents Need a Jobs Program</a> </b></font></li><li><h3 style="line-height: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/us/politics/improved-job-picture-poses-risks-to-obama-and-romney.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; cursor: pointer; "><font size="3">Jobless Rate Falls to 8.3%, Altering Face of Campaign</font></a></h3><font size="2"> </font></li></ol><div> </div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(42, 42, 42); line-height: 17px; "><b><font size="4">Occupy Omaha perseveres</font></b></span></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><br><b><font size="4">Toronto Strike/Lockout Could start Feb 5 </font></b></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><font size="2">The Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued what is called a 'no board' report, setting the</font><br><font size="2">stage for a possible strike or lockout of municipal workers in</font><br><font size="2">Toronto. </font><br><font size="2">The report means there is now a 17-day deadline for Canada's largest</font><br><font size="2">city to reach an agreement with one of its unions — CUPE Local 416,</font><br><font size="2">which represents about 6,000 key outside workers who collect garbage,</font><br><font size="2">remove snow and do other road and park maintenance. </font><br><font size="2"> </font><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/19/toronto-municipal-cupe.html" target="_blank" style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/19/toronto-municipal-cupe.html</a><br><br><b><font size="4">The Stella Doro Strike Loss</font></b></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="2" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Things aren't going well in the working<br>class. The news says unemployment is going down, but I don't see no<br>sign of it. Many people I know can't find a job. Even worse is<br>coming-a tidal wave that will wipe out more peoples' jobs. You go<br>lower and lower til you're not in the system anymore. Nobody from my<br>job at Bimbo Bakery wanted to come down to Occupy Wall Street but for<br>one guy. They still got their jobs. They do not want to struggle yet.<br>But I think little by little, more people will understand." <br><a href="http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2012-02-06#folio=060" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2012-02-06#folio=060</a> [3]</font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><b><font size="4">Class War? What Class War? American Airlines Plans to Lose 13,500<br>workers and Abolish Pensions</font></b> </font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma">The parent of American Airlines wants to<br>eliminate about 13,000 jobs — 15 percent of its workforce — as the<br>nation’s third-biggest airline remakes itself under bankruptcy<br>protection. <br>The company proposes to end its traditional pension plans, a move<br>strongly opposed by the airline’s unions and the U.S.<br>pension-insurance agency, and to stop paying for retiree health<br>benefits. <br><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/american-airlines-tells-employees-it-wants-to-cut-labor-costs-by-20-percent/2012/02/01/gIQAoL33hQ_story.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/american-airlines-tells-employees-it-wants-to-cut-labor-costs-by-20-percent/2012/02/01/gIQAoL33hQ_story.html</a></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><b><font size="4">Eurozon Unemployment Highest Ever</font></b> </font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma">Unemployment in the 17-nation<br>eurozone ended 2011 at 10.4 per cent, a new record high for the single<br>currency since its launch at the start of 1999, official figures<br>showed today. <br>Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said the rate in December was<br>unchanged, as November's was revised upwards from a previous estimate<br>of 10.3%. <br>Unemployment has been steadily rising over the past year - in December<br>2010, it stood at 9.5% - largely because of Europe's debt crisis. <br>The biggest increases over 2011 were recorded in Greece, Cyprus and<br>Spain. <br>All three, to various degrees, have had to impose tough austerity<br>measures - such as public sector layoffs and spending cuts - in an<br>effort to regain investor confidence lost during the crisis. <br>The agency said just under 16.5 million people were unemployed in the<br>eurozone, up 751,000 on the year before. <br>The highest unemployment rate remains in Spain, where 22.9 % of the<br>working population were without work, though Greece is nearing with<br>19.2 % rate. The lowest rate in the eurozone is Austria's 4.1 %. <br><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eurozone-unemployment-at-new-record-high-6297441.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eurozone-unemployment-at-new-record-high-6297441.html</a><br> </font></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="4"><b>In Michigan-So Long Unemployment Bennies</b></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma">Roughly 29,500 Michigan<br>workers will receive their last unemployment checks Feb. 18, according<br>to state officials. <br>A federal program that provides 20 extra weeks of unemployment<br>benefits is ending in Michigan because the state's jobless numbers<br>have improved, state officials announced Friday. <br>Michigan fell below the unemployment rate required for the Extended<br>Benefits program Jan. 28, according to a press release issued Friday<br>by the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. <br><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120203/BIZ/202030431/Michigan-workers-receive-last-unemployment-checks?odyssey=tab" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120203/BIZ/202030431/Michigan-workers-receive-last-unemployment-checks?odyssey=tab</a></font></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma">Quisling "union" California Teachers Assn backs Gov Brown's Planned<br>Sales Tax (the tax the rich part won't happen and any fool knows it)</font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><br>- The CTA State Council of Education, comprised of nearly 800<br>democratically elected educators from across the state, endorsed the<br>governor’s tax plan at their quarterly meeting in Los Angeles today.<br>The following statement can be attributed to Dean E.Vogel, president<br>of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association: <br>“Educators know that California cannot continue to cut its way out<br>of ongoing budget problems. We also know that not everyone in<br>California is paying their fair share, and that’s why we are<br>supporting the governor’s tax proposal, which taxes the wealthiest<br>Californians in order to bring additional revenue to our schools,<br>colleges and other essential public services. <br>“The governor’s initiative is the only initiative that provides<br>additional revenues for our classrooms and closes the state budget<br>deficit, and guarantees local communities will receive funds to pay<br>for the realignment of local health and public safety services that<br>the Legislature approved last year. It’s time to put California back<br>on track and this initiative is the best way to do that. It’s the<br>right choice for our students and their families, our communities and<br>our state.” The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3.2<br>million-member National Education Association <br><a href="http://www.cta.org/About-CTA/News-Room/Press-Releases/2012/20120129_1.aspx" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.cta.org/About-CTA/News-Room/Press-Releases/2012/20120129_1.aspx</a><br>[29]<br><br>*In a Slow Year, 2011, CTA spent $6.5 Million of Member Money,<br>lobbying* Common Cause reports the California Teachers Association<br>topped the lobbying list last year, spending more than six-point-five<br>million dollars. Other top spenders included a mix of interests, like<br>the Service Employees International Union, the Western States<br>Petroleum Association and the City of Vernon-which was fighting<br>legislation to dissolve its local government. <br><a href="http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/feb/02/lobbying-money-hits-new-record/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/feb/02/lobbying-money-hits-new-record/</a><br>[30]<br><br>*The CTA Ballot Scam for 2012 (besides millions for Obamagogue)*<br>Heading into the November 6, 2012 ballot measure election in<br>California, the union has indicated that it will: <br>Support Jerry Brown's Tax Increase Initiative. Dean Vogel, who is the<br>president of the union, contrasted the Brown tax increase proposal to<br>other tax increase proposals that may qualify for the 2012 ballot,<br>saying, "The governor’s initiative is the only initiative that<br>provides additional revenues for our classrooms and closes the state<br>budget deficit, and guarantees local communities will receive funds to<br>pay for the realignment of local health and public safety services<br>that the Legislature approved last year."[9] <br>Oppose the "Paycheck Protection" Initiative, which has qualified for<br>the ballot.[2] <br>Oppose a Government Spending Limit Initiative, if it qualifies for the<br>ballot.[2] <br>In 2005, CTA imposed a $60 annual surcharge on its members to raise<br>$50 million to defeat the spending restraint measures supported by<br>Arnold Schwarzenegger. The surcharge was assessed for 3 years. In<br>2012, union president Vogel indicated that it is unlikely that the<br>union will impose a similar surcharge: "The last time in this<br>position, we did a special assessment to get more money, but we're not<br>in a position to get more money right now." <br> <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Teachers_Association" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Teachers_Association</a></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="4" style="font-size: 16pt; ">Detroit Unionites Cave Under EFM Threat (hint, 35 years of history<br>says concessions don't save jobs) </font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma">City officials say they have<br>reached a deal with a coalition of employee unions to help to stave<br>off the possibility of an emergency manager. <br>The agreement, reached Wednesday night, includes a majority of the<br>city's 48 unions but not police and fire, which have been a sticking<br>point in bargaining. City leaders want until April 1 to continue<br>reaching an agreement with public safety unions. <br>Mayor Dave Bing said he believes concessions, combined with layoffs<br>and others cuts, will generate enough savings to hold off a state<br>takeover of the city's finances. <br>"The tentative agreement we've reached is not just about concessions.<br>It's about how labor and management can work together in a fair and<br>constructive way," Bing said in a statement. "The agreement provides<br>checks and balances that hold both unions and my administration<br>accountable." <br>Earlier, via Twitter, Bing said: "This agreement is the first<br>meaningful step in achieving the necessary concessions and structural<br>changes." AFSCME leadership will present the tentative agreement to<br>members to review and ratify before a final agreement can be reached,<br>Bing said. The union coalition plans a meeting Friday to work out the<br>next steps of presenting the deal to membership. <br>The three-year deal calls for health care, pension and wage<br>concessions. It calls for a 10 percent across-the-board wage cut and<br>ends the controversial furlough day program, which required most city<br>workers to take one day off a week twice a month. <br> <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120202/METRO01/202020450/Bing-Concessions-from-most-Detroit-unions-should-keep-EM-bay?odyssey=tab" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120202/METRO01/202020450/Bing-Concessions-from-most-Detroit-unions-should-keep-EM-bay?odyssey=tab</a>|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE</font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="4"><b>Bill Blum on the Forever Vile CPUSA and its Mouthpiece, Angela</b></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"> <br>Angela Davis, star of the 1960s, like most members of the Communist<br>Party, was/is no more radical than the average American liberal. Here<br>she is recently addressing Occupy Wall Street: "When I said that we<br>need a third party, a radical party, I was projecting toward the<br>future. We cannot allow a Republican to take office. ... Don't we<br>remember what it was like when Bush was president?" 12 <br>Yes, Angela, we remember that time well. How can we forget it since<br>Bush, by all important standards, is still in the White House? Waging<br>perpetual war, relentless surveillance of the citizenry, kissing the<br>corporate ass, police brutality? ... What's changed? Except for the<br>worse. Where's our single-payer national health insurance? Nothing<br>even close. Where's our affordable university education? Still the<br>most backward in the "developed" world. Where's our legalized<br>marijuana — I mean really legalized? If you think that's changed,<br>you must be stoned. Where's our abortion on demand? What does your guy<br>Barack think about that? Are the indispensable labor unions being<br>rescued from oblivion? Ha! The ultra-important minimum wage? Inflation<br>adjusted, equal to the mid-1950s. <br>Has the American threat to the environment and the world environmental<br>movement ceased? Tell that to a dedicated activist-internationalist.<br>Has the 50-year-old embargo against Cuba finally ended? It has not,<br>and I can still not go there legally. The police-state War on Terror<br>at home? Scarcely a month goes by without the FBI entrapping some<br>young "terrorists". Are more Banksters and Wall Street<br>Society-Screwers (except for the harmless insider-traders) being<br>imprisoned? Name one. The really tough regulations of the financial<br>area so badly needed? Keep waiting. How about executives of the BP Oil<br>Spill Company being arrested? Or war criminals, mass murderers, and<br>torturers with names like ... Oh, I don't know, let's see ... maybe<br>like Cheney or Bush or Rumsfeld or Wolfowitz or someone with a crazy<br>name like Condoleezza? All walking completely free, all celebrated. <br> <a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer102.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer102.html</a></font></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma"><b><font size="4">Two on CAT Closing of Locomotive Plant<br><br><br>CAW Outraged at Closure Announcement at Electro-Motive<br>in London</font></b><br><br>February 3, 2012, 11:30 AM EST<br><br><a href="http://caw.ca/en/10929.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://caw.ca/en/10929.htm</a><br><br>Canadian Auto Workers Union<br><br>CAW President Ken Lewenza is expressing his anger and<br>frustration at what is he calling the "callous move" by<br>Caterpillar to suddenly close its London Electro-Motive<br>Diesel plant, announced this morning.<br><br>Sadly, the closure doesn't come as a total surprise to<br>the union.<br><br>"Caterpillar had no intention of keeping this plant<br>open," said Lewenza. "From day one, we believed that<br>Caterpillar was trying to provoke a crisis, by forcing<br>deep cuts that were not possible," said Lewenza. "Our<br>members would have happily continued working under the<br>previous conditions, but that wasn't enough for this<br>incredibly profitable company."<br><br>Caterpillar locked out approximately 465 workers on<br>January 1, after tabling a final offer that would cut<br>wages and benefits in half. Last week, Caterpillar<br>announced $4.9 billion in annual profits, the highest<br>in its 86 year history.<br><br>Lewenza also pointed the finger at government inaction<br>in allowing the closure. He said that 465 workers and<br>another 1,700 workers employed in spin-off jobs are now<br>the casualties of an outdated and dysfunctional<br>Investment Canada Act, that attaches no commitment to<br>Canadian jobs to corporate take-overs.<br><br>"The Stephen Harper government is entirely in the<br>pocket of the corporate elite and has shown absolute<br>disregard for Canadian workers and their families,"<br>said Lewenza. "I am disgusted at this government and<br>its indifference towards the suffering of workers and<br>the unemployed. The Harper government was elected by<br>Canadians, but only seems able to represent<br>multi-national corporations."<br><br>"Even though we predicted that the plant could close,<br>it's devastating when it actually happens," said CAW<br>Local 27 President Tim Carrie. "This is truly rotten<br>behaviour. Now we're going to do everything that we<br>can for our members."<br><br>CAW Electro-Motive chairperson Bob Scott said that<br>members learned this morning that the plant would close<br>- the company gave the union absolutely no advance<br>notice. "Imagine the shock that our members felt at<br>hearing about losing their job, on the radio," said<br>Scott. "It's unbelievable that Caterpillar would string<br>our members along and lock them out in the cold for six<br>weeks, when it had no intention of reopening the<br>plant," said Scott. "This is absolutely sickening<br>behaviour on the part of this corporation."<br><br><br><br><br><b><font size="4">Progress Rail closing London plant</font></b><br><br>By Hank Daniszewski and John Miner, <br><br>The London Free Press<br><br><a href="http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/emd/2012/02/03/19333691.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/emd/2012/02/03/19333691.html</a><br><br>Londoners had a couple of hours on Friday to bask in<br>the news that city's unemployment rate had dropped last<br>month.<br><br>Then the bad news slammed in like a locomotive.<br><br>Electro-Motive Canada announced it was shutting down<br>its plant, wiping out the jobs of 475 locked out<br>workers as well as 200 non-union staff.<br><br>Sixty-two years after it started making locomotives in<br>the city and two years after it was purchased by a<br>subsidiary of heavy equipment giant Caterpillar Inc.<br>the plant was history.<br><br>Company president Billy Ainsworth laid out the reasons<br>in a statement issued to EMD employees in Illinois.<br><br>"All facilities within EMC, Electro-Motive Diesel and<br>Progress Rail Services must achieve and maintain<br>competitive costs, quality and operating flexibility to<br>win in the global marketplace. The London plant,<br>primarily because of an antiquated labor contract,<br>faced serious competitive disadvantages."<br><br>It's the biggest plant closure the city since 1994 when<br>the Northern Telecom plant employing 2,200 shut down.<br><br>It will likely cause another spike in the London-St.<br>Thomas unemployment rate which dropped to 9% last<br>month, but is still the second highest of any major<br>city in Canada.<br><br>The lockout of the London workers had been a lightning<br>rod for protests with the company asking employees to<br>take as much as a 50% wage cut. A rally on Jan. 21 drew<br>more than 5,000 people.<br><br>Outrage over the closure started flowing immediately.<br><br>Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza said<br>Caterpillar always intended to close the plant and<br>defended the union's refusal to give into concessions.<br><br>Ken Georgetti, head of the Canadian Labour Congress<br>called for a seizure of Caterpillar assets in Canada.<br><br>Local politicians flocked to the picket lines to show<br>their support for the workers.<br><br>Mayor Joe Fontana said the shutdown was "shameful."<br><br>"It's despicable as to how Caterpillar has treated<br>these employees."<br><br>Fontana blasted Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not<br>intervening but a Harper spokesperson shifted the<br>blame, saying the federal government was disappointed<br>"that the Ontario government was unable to mediate a<br>solution to the dispute."<br><br>But after the furor and finger-pointing subsides, EMD<br>workers will still be out looking for a new job - one<br>that is unlikely to pay $32 an hour.<br><br>Two weeks ago Clint Howard started looking for a<br>"survival" job to get him through the lockout so he<br>could make his mortgage and car payments and provide<br>for his wife and infant daughter.<br><br>Now the 34-year old welder said a survival job may be<br>the best he can do.<br><br>"I'll have to take anything I can get basically . . . I<br>have to put food on the table for my family.'<br><br>But he may be better off than Bob Pharand, a 55-year<br>old EMD veteran who stood grim-faced on the picket line<br>while his wife wept beside him. He said finding another<br>job will be tough at his age and closure was a scenario<br>he tried not to think about.<br><br>"You see it, but you don't want to see it," he said.<br><br>- with files from Scott Taylor, Ian Gillespie, Norman<br>De Bono</font><br></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 415px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15552?akid=8214.16102.t_0m9O&t=20" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img src="http://images.alternet.org/images/managed/storyteaser_greenjobs2_1223323292.jpg_95x68" alt="" width="112" height="81" align="left" border="0" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; "></a></td><td><span style="color: white; ">-</span></td><td valign="top"><p class="ecxheadline3" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; "><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15552?akid=8214.16102.t_0m9O&t=21" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Keystone XL Opponents Need a Jobs Program</a></p><p style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">The Keystone campaign was a great success, but environmental advocates must still convince the public that they care about jobs. <a class="ecxreadmore" href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15552?akid=8214.16102.t_0m9O&t=22" target="_blank" style="line-height: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-size: 9px; letter-spacing: 0.1em; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">READ MORE</strong></a></p><p style="line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(77, 77, 77); ">By Brendan Smith, Jeremy Brecher / AlterNet</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><h3 style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; font-family: georgia, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/us/politics/improved-job-picture-poses-risks-to-obama-and-romney.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; cursor: pointer; ">Jobless Rate Falls to 8.3%, Altering Face of Campaign</a></h3><h6 style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Arial, sans-serif; ">By MICHAEL D. SHEAR</h6><p style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Two dueling realities - an improving economy that remains very weak - create serious political risks for top advisers to President Obama and Mitt Romney.</p><p style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></p></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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