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<div dir="ltr"><div><ol><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">American Labor Activist Just Does It for Indonesia Workersþ<span style="font-family: Tahoma; "> </span></font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">ALEC's Tentacles Wrap Around Ohio Lawmakersþ<span style="font-family: Tahoma; "> </span></font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15638?akid=8224.16102.vFD3ht&t=30" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">“Everything goes up but our paychecks": Talking to Real People Who Live on the Minimum Wage</a> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15637?akid=8224.16102.vFD3ht&t=27" target="_blank" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">How Rich Executives Extract Concessions From Workers -- While Playing the Good Guy in Public</a> </b></font></li><li><h1 dir="ltr" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><font size="3">Send My Love and a Molotov Cocktail!: Stories of Crime, Love and Rebellion<span style="font-family: Tahoma; "> </span></font></h1></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Walker, ALEC take war on workers nationalþ<span style="font-family: Tahoma; "> </span></font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Unemployment Insurance on the Chopping Blockþ</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Tell Congress: Renew Jobless Help with No Strings Attachedþ</font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15663?akid=8228.16102.B_6fBL&t=15" target="_blank" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Join Us: AlterNet Expands its Coverage of Labor and Workers' Rights</a> </b></font></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">FNS News: Mexican Workers Pulverizedþ</font></h2> </li></ol></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); "><b><font size="4">American Labor Activist Just Does It for Indonesia<br>Workers</font></b><br>By Ulma Haryanto<br>The Jakarta Globe<br>February 06, 2012<br><a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/american-labor-activist-just-does-it-for-the-workers/496258" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/american-labor-activist-just-does-it-for-the-workers/496258</a><br><br>A towering blond, 40-year old Jim Keady's presence is a<br>stark contrast to the group he has fervently defended<br>for the past decade.<br><br>Thousands of workers from a Nike plant in Serang,<br>Banten province, have Keady to thank for a victory<br>against their employer, who withheld overtime pay worth<br>nearly $1 million.<br><br>Nikomas, a supplier for athletic wear giant Nike, has<br>also promised to create a reporting mechanism for<br>labor-related complaints in coordination with the<br>National Workers Union (SPN).<br><br>To Keady, who operates a nongovernmental organization<br>called Team Sweat, this was not the first victory, but<br>it was certainly the most symbolic since Nike had more<br>than 30 suppliers in the country for its footwear and<br>apparel, employing at least 140,000 workers.<br><br>When Nike's sweatshop issues went public in the 1990s,<br>Keady was a semi-professional footballer and coach at<br>St. John University in New York. He was also pursuing a<br>graduate degree in theology.<br><br>"In my first class, I started writing a paper about<br>Nike's labor practices and my professor urged me to<br>find a topic dealing with moral theology and sports,"<br>Keady said. "I started hearing the stories about Nike<br>sweatshop issues in newspapers, so I started doing some<br>research and learned about how Nike was exploiting the<br>poor workers in places like Indonesia, Vietnam, China."<br><br>At about the same time, his university's athletic<br>department started negotiating a $3.5 million<br>sponsorship contract with Nike.<br><br>Believing that Nike's corporate practices were far from<br>his Catholic religious ideals, he lobbied school<br>officials to reject the contract until he was<br>eventually given an ultimatum: "Wear Nike and drop the<br>issue or get out."<br><br>He said he became the first athlete in the world to say<br>no to Nike because of the sweatshop issue.<br><br>In 2000, he moved to a village in Tangerang to live<br>with factory workers for a month and try to survive on<br>the wage that they were paid.<br><br>"I slept a thin mat on the floor like workers do, with<br>rats stampeding over my ceiling at night and<br>cockroaches crawling over me," he said.<br><br>After a month of living on what he called a "Nike<br>sweatshop wage," Keady said he lost 11 kilograms.<br><br>"I came to understand, in the most rudimentary of ways,<br>the reality the workers face every day," he said.<br>"Everything from making decisions, 'Do I buy a razor<br>and shaving cream or do I eat. If I have a headache, do<br>I buy aspirin or do I buy dinner?'<br><br>"And I was just taking care of myself on that wage.<br>When you add kids into the mix [the questions became],<br>'Do I send my child to school or do I get an extra<br>kilogram of rice from the market so that we could have<br>a better meal?'<br><br>"These are the horrific choices that our workers have<br>to make and they continue to wallow in abject poverty<br>while Nike's profit has soared."<br><br>And so what Keady initially thought was going to be a<br>few months of advocacy work for employees at Nike<br>plants in Indonesia has turned into a full-time job for<br>the past 12 years.<br><br>"I promised the workers that I met, the women and men<br>that are producing the real wealth for Nike, I said,<br>'I'm going to go home and tell your stories and I'll<br>try to advocate for you and see if we can get some<br>changes made.' "<br><br>Part of what motivated him, he said, was the fact that<br>top Nike executives have seven-figure salaries.<br><br>In 2011, Forbes listed Nike chief executive Mark Parker<br>as having an annual compensation of $14.53 million or<br>$43.83 million over five years, making him the 97th<br>highest-paid CEO in the world. Keady said Parker's<br>compensation package went up 80 percent about a year<br>ago.<br><br>"When I think if the CEO is able to have that kind of<br>increase, I think the workers deserve an increase as<br>well. Without them, nobody at Nike is making any<br>money," he said. "I've returned to Indonesia year in<br>and year out to continue to help organize workers and<br>help them to develop their voice so that they can speak<br>up for themselves."<br><br>The hard work is paying off.<br><br>Though the Rp 8.1 billion ($907,000) in back wages they<br>won for the 4,437 Serang workers doesn't sound like<br>much for nearly a year of negotiations, Keady said it<br>was significant.<br><br>"It is almost two months of wages. That may not seem<br>significant to Americans or someone living in Jakarta,<br>but for workers that have been living on the edge every<br>month just trying to make ends meet, it's a big deal,"<br>he said.<br><br>"It's also about moving forward. This jam molor issue<br>[forced overtime] is not going to happen anymore.<br>There's a new mechanism in place to report it."<br><br>The Associated Press has reported that after years of<br>controversy, Nike in 2005 admitted finding "abusive<br>treatment," either physical or verbal, in many of its<br>plants. The complaints ranged from work weeks that<br>exceeded 60 hours to being forbidden to go to the<br>restroom.<br><br>Keady said that when he first came here, a law that<br>guaranteed two paid off days every month for female<br>workers during menstruation was hardly implemented.<br><br>"Back in 2000, for a Nike factory worker to get those<br>days off, they had to go to the factory clinic, pull<br>down their pants and show blood on their underwear to<br>prove they were menstruating. That doesn't happen<br>anymore," he said.<br><br>"Back then, three different workers from Nikomas were<br>threatened at gunpoint, one threatened at knifepoint<br>and one who was a chairman was beaten in the head with<br>a machete and left to die in the gutter. That level of<br>physical intimidation at factory workers doesn't happen<br>anymore."<br><br>Keady is currently working on a book and a script for a<br>documentary based on his experience advocating for<br>workers' rights in Indonesia.<br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=aeNyR44SocQHPNPamXfhcT8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img width="626" height="71" border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner_afl-cio_now_blog_626.jpg" 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></tr><tr><td><table width="100%" cellpadding="13" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Feb. 7, 2012</b></span></span></p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" align="right" style="line-height: 17px; width: 22px; height: 38px; "><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Mp%2B8CHJyn2BoMJgT8M2sHUz/EGzckQgP" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="NYU teaching assistants" title="NYU teaching assistants" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/photo4-wp.jpg" 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><br><span style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=vqXf86AwyuePV9yTgbSOQD8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Teaching and research assistants from New York University call on the National Labor Relations Board to restore their right to form unions</a>.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">The ties between the extreme conservative, corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Ohio lawmakers like Gov. John Kasich (R) run deep, according to a new report. Legislation that attacks workers’ rights and turns over government services to corporations are mirror images of ALEC’s “model” bills.</span></span><br></p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="bottom" height="24"><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Ucp5vHblopSkQmaSczuqJT8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="Read More" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/read_more.gif" 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></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Got comments? Post them at </span></span><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=lp8RpShpkVe/pDiKobSuHT8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "></a><span style="font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=OYWn%2ByrCdaGzB7wz5pyNsD8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">blog.aflcio.org</b></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">.</span></span></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img width="16" height="12" border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=88voMo3tUPUIJqx5tIbVJT8kpnJEKOCe" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; 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</div><div><span style="line-height: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(77, 77, 77); "><br></span></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: 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/15637?akid=8224.16102.vFD3ht&t=26" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img src="http://images.alternet.org/images/managed/storyimages_1314908344_picture13.png_640x439_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/15637?akid=8224.16102.vFD3ht&t=27" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">How Rich Executives Extract Concessions From Workers -- While Playing the Good Guy in Public</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); ">That's what's on the rise: Management attempting to exercise control over their workers -- in a brutal display of power. Give in to us or lose your paycheck right now.<a class="ecxreadmore" href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15637?akid=8224.16102.vFD3ht&t=28" 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 Laura Clawson / Daily Kos</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); "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div class="ClearBoth" style="line-height: 15px; clear: both; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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margin-right: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; overflow-x: hidden; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="SandboxScopeClass ExternalClass" id="mpf0_MsgContainer" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; display: inline-block; "><table width="190" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="82" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img src="http://bks8.books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=5&edge=curl" alt="Front Cover" title="Front Cover" border="1" height="80" 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></div></td><td><span style="display: block; "></span><div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&dq=%22john+a+imani%22&sitesec=reviews" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span title="4.0"></span></a><br><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&dq=%22john+a+imani%22&sitesec=reviews" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "></a></div><br></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="line-height: 17px; "></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 24px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; ">Send My Love and a Molotov Cocktail!: Stories of Crime, Love and Rebellion</h1>"Nickles and Dimes" Begin P 17<br style="line-height: 17px; "><div style="line-height: 17px; "><div><h1 style="line-height: 24px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; ">Review:</h1></div></div><span style="line-height: 17px; ">Editorial Review - <a href="http://books.google.com/url?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&q=http://www.reedbusiness.com/&usg=AFQjCNErlBWD-FjXk8oL-PShs6qLxTgYZQ&source=gbs_site_section_reviews" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Publishers Weekly vol. 258 iss. 48 p</a> (c) 11/28/2011</span>The 18 mostly original stories in this thought-provoking crime anthology offer gritty testament to the violence, cunning, and resilience of people pushed to the brink. Phillips and Gibbons showcase some major talent, notably Sara Paretsky (“Poster Child”), but less well-known authors also make solid contributions. In John A Imani’s moving “Nickels and Dimes,” a black observer of a confrontation between police and protestors in 1972 Los Angeles becomes a reluctant participant and de facto leader. Gibbons’s “The El Rey Bar” brilliantly conveys the chaos, the hopelessness, and the despair engendered during an L.A. riot. SF ace Kim Stanley Robinson’s exotic “The Lunatics” explores the issue of forced labor amid an attempted slave revolt on the moon. On the down side, Michael Moorcock’s lengthy “Gold Diggers of 1977,” first published in 1980, will be incomprehensible to those unfamilia with the story of the Sex Pistols. (Jan.) <br style="line-height: 17px; "><br style="line-height: 17px; "><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%22john+a+imani%22&source=bl&ots=i9eK1UnEh_&sig=41k8tUo3AtXefB47gzUJpp-gn0A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZhgzT-7dHpHTiAKzy8XVCg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=%22john%20a%20imani%22&f=false" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://books.google.com/books?id=oKzPegYMAVUC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%22john+a+imani%22&source=bl&ots=i9eK1UnEh_&sig=41k8tUo3AtXefB47gzUJpp-gn0A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZhgzT-7dHpHTiAKzy8XVCg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=%22john%20a%20imani%22&f=false</a></div></div></div><div id="mpf0_readMsgBodyContainer" class="ReadMsgBody" style="line-height: 15px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; overflow-x: hidden; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></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); "><b><font size="4">Walker, ALEC take war on workers national</font></b><br>JOHN NICHOLS | Cap Times associate editor |<br>jnichols@madison.com <br><a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-walker-alec-take-war-on-workers-national/article_c73b91a0-11a1-5280-8979-08c7d444157a.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-walker-alec-take-war-on-workers-national/article_c73b91a0-11a1-5280-8979-08c7d444157a.html</a><br><br><br>Two days after Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected Gov.<br>John Kasich's anti-labor agenda by 61 percent to 39<br>percent in a referendum, the nation's primary proponent<br>of the war on worker rights opened a new front.<br>Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker jetted to Arizona, where he<br>huddled with policymakers at the Phoenician Resort in<br>Scottsdale. After a series of closed-door sessions, he<br>briefed a thousand Arizona conservatives on how they<br>could attack "the big-government union bosses."<br>"We need to make big, fundamental, permanent structural<br>changes. It's why we did what we did in Wisconsin,"<br>declared Walker, who at the annual dinner of the<br>right-wing Goldwater Institute said that compromising<br>with unions was "bogus."<br>Comparing governors who have been attacking the<br>collective bargaining rights of public employees with<br>the founders of the American experiment -- "just like<br>that group that gathered in Philadelphia" -- Walker told<br>his listeners: "We need to have leaders not just in<br>Wisconsin but here in Arizona ..."<br>If anyone missed the point, Walker said: "Tonight, you<br>might say I'm preaching to the choir with a bunch of<br>fellow conservatives. ... I preach to the choir because I<br>want the choir to sing. So tonight I'm asking you to<br>sing. Tell the message in Arizona and all across America<br>that we can do things better."<br>The crowd was listening.<br>Last week Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer -- fresh from pointing<br>her finger in the face of President Obama -- and her<br>allies in the Republican-controlled legislature<br>announced that they would try to outdo the anti-labor<br>initiatives of Walker and Wisconsin's Republican<br>legislators.<br>And they did so in conjunction with the very people<br>Walker had consulted with, spoken to and urged on in<br>November: the Goldwater Institute.<br>Indeed, as Arizona's anti-labor initiative was launched,<br>the Goldwater Institute's website featured an image of<br>2011 protests at the state Capitol in Madison and a<br>headline speculating on whether Arizona's fight over<br>labor rights would be: "Bigger Than Wisconsin?"<br>Documents linked to the "Bigger Than Wisconsin?"<br>headline outlined plans to "(ban) government sector<br>unions from collective bargaining and entering into<br>collectively bargained contracts." Indeed, they<br>suggested, "Statistical analysis shows that if states<br>prohibited all forms of collective bargaining, they<br>could reap a total of nearly $50 billion in savings for<br>state and local taxpayers across the country."<br>Even if the argument were valid, its totalitarian<br>premise raises the question: How much more money could<br>be saved by taking away other human rights?<br>Urged on by Walker, Arizona Republicans are putting<br>questions aside and racing to implement a militant<br>anti-labor agenda modeled on legislation enacted last<br>year in Wisconsin -- and promoted by national groups such<br>as the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council.<br>ALEC's model legislation, revealed by the joint<br>Nation/Center for Media and Democracy project "ALEC<br>Exposed," provides conservative legislators in the<br>states with preapproved bills for attacks on collective<br>bargaining in particular and organized labor in general.<br>And the group has worked closely with Brewer and many<br>Arizona legislators, including recently ousted Arizona<br>Senate President Russell Pearce.<br>Indeed, Brewer began outlining the Arizona plan at an<br>ALEC meeting in December, when she declared her<br>intention to "reform the state's personnel system" in<br>order to make it easier to hire and fire public<br>employees.<br>That inspired speculation about Brewer wanting to be<br>"the Scott Walker of the West."<br>In fact, Brewer and her allies are, as the Goldwater<br>Institute suggests, going even further than Walker did.<br>The legislation introduced by the governor's allies in<br>the state Senate would, according to an Arizona Republic<br>blog:<br>"* Make it illegal for government bodies to collectively<br>bargain with employee groups. Public safety unions would<br>be included in the ban.<br>"* End the practice of automatic payroll deductions for<br>union dues.<br>"* Ban compensation of public employees for union work.<br>"Wisconsin's collective bargaining law enacted last year<br>made unions effectively irrelevant by limiting issues<br>that could be bargained by a government and an employee<br>group. Arizona's bills would do away with collective<br>bargaining entirely and also go beyond Wisconsin law by<br>including public safety unions.<br>"Coupled with Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to do away with<br>civil service protections for state employees, the new<br>legislation could make Arizona ground zero for union<br>protests during this election year."<br>The Goldwater Institute's Nick Dranias is expecting<br>success.<br>"In Arizona, we believe that the political will exists<br>to do even more comprehensive reform," Dranias said.<br>"The environment, the climate that we face in Arizona is<br>much more receptive to these kinds of reforms than<br>Wisconsin is."<br>Arizona is a so-called "right to work" state, where<br>protections for private sector workers are weaker, and<br>Republican legislative majorities in Arizona are bigger.<br>Both those factors may make Brewer's work easier than<br>Walker's in Wisconsin.<br>But, for all the talk of how Arizona is "more receptive"<br>to assaults on collective bargaining rights than<br>Wisconsin, the states have one thing in common.<br>Like Wisconsin, Arizona allows for the recall of the<br>governor and members of the legislature. Indeed,<br>Arizonans recently used that power to vote out Pearce,<br>the architect of the state's draconian anti-immigrant<br>legislation.<br>In Wisconsin, more than 1 million voters have signed<br>petitions supporting the recall of Walker.<br>Just as Walker guided Arizona conservatives toward a<br>more militantly anti-labor agenda than that of<br>Wisconsin, so the coalition of labor, farm and community<br>activists that has formed the Wisconsin recall movement<br>can guide their Arizona compatriots toward a proper<br>response. If Brewer and her allies persist in trying to<br>out-Walker Scott Walker, then Arizona progressives may<br>find that they too will spell relief R-E-C-A-L-L.<br>John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital<br>Times. Follow Nichols on Twitter @NicholsUprising.<br>jnichols@madison.com<br><br><br>Read more:<br><a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/</a><br>john_nichols/john-nichols-walker-alec-take-war-on-<br>workers-national/article_c73b91a0-11a1-5280-8979-<br>08c7d444157a.html#ixzz1lqQZgvfd<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><br></div><div><p align="center" style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><img alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner_basic_short_blank_aflcio2_626.jpg"></p><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" width="231" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#333333" border="1" align="right" width="215" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" border="0" align="right" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#cc0000" valign="top"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><span style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 18px; "><font color="white" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 23px; font-weight: bold; ">OUTRAGE<br></strong></font></span></p></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; ">Tea Party legislators are trying to <b style="font-weight: bold; ">punish </b>and<b style="font-weight: bold; ">humiliate </b>people who are out of work—they’re even threatening to take away unemployment insurance from some people completely.<br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">If you think Congress should be focusing on jobs instead of punishing and even humiliating people who are out of work through no fault of their own, <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=cqNQHFP8FLzuyQHXacTTNnrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">take action now</a>.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; text-align: center; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=aVtSVSDWdOtw10foQempIHrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img height="24" border="0" width="24" title="Facebook" alt="Facebook" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_facebook.jpg" 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; "></span></a> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=wzd%2BKpiYCkjcbFZT%2BagRJHrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img height="24" border="0" width="24" title="Twitter" alt="Twitter" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_twitter.jpg" 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; "></span></a></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; ">Dear Carlos,<br><br>Unemployment insurance as we know it is on the chopping block. <br><br>Tea Party Republicans are leading the charge to reduce coverage and throw up barriers to benefits like GED requirements.<b style="font-weight: bold; "> </b>And they’re even threatening to force people who are jobless—through no fault of their own—to endure humiliating drug tests just to get survival aid. <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=EDKGOe3Y0zT6F19AiPA/dnrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><br><br></a><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=H3eqtFaLt3dUl5vAovhIK3rOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Tell Congress: It’s time to pass a clean, yearlong extension of unemployment aid now</a>.<br><br></b>It’s great news that the economy added jobs last month. But for working America, the economy still is in the gutter. We’re climbing out of a deep, deep hole. Unemployment remains sky high, and it’s projected to stay there through the next year and beyond.<br><br>But Tea Party politicians are <b style="font-weight: bold; ">holding America’s jobless hostage to their extremist agenda</b>.<br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=IbFtUNOf1/hiegfdj3dIRnrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Urge Congress to act now to extend unemployment benefits for a full year—with no strings attached, no barriers to benefits and no brutal humiliation</a>.</b><br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">We have to force Congress to renew unemployment insurance benefits again—and this time, the stakes are higher than ever before. Tea Party politicians are pushing plans to:</b></p><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Slash federal unemployment funding by more than half</b> in the states with the highest unemployment.<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Let states whose governments have been taken over by the Tea Party divert premium money away from unemployment insurance as we know it—</b>and use it to experiment with right-wing social engineering programs (like “workfare,” where people are forced to work for free to get unemployment benefits.)<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Mandate drug-testing requirements.</b> Politicians are ready to humiliate people who are out of work—by making them urinate in a cup to get benefits they paid for and are entitled to.<br> <b style="font-weight: bold; "><br></b></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Make jobless workers pay for their re-employment services.</b> People who are out of work through no fault of their own and have paid into the system aren’t asking for a handout—but a helping hand. Now, the radical lawmakers want to make them pay for the privilege.<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Deny benefits to people who never got their high school diploma</b>—they’d have unemployment insurance taken out of their paycheck, but would get nothing should they lose their job. Shame!<br> </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Cut federal employee pensions—or freeze wages for yet another year.</b> Federal workers already have done more than their fair share to balance the budget—while the richest 1% of Americans have been asked to do absolutely nothing.</li></ul><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Outraged? You aren’t alone. <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=88//TJr8ABTqlB21X1bo4XrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Demand Congress extend unemployment insurance for a full year—with no barriers, no strings attached and no brutal humiliation</a>.</b><br><br>Let’s make this happen.<br><br>In Solidarity,<br><br>Manny Herrmann<br>Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO</p></td></tr><tr><td><hr><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; ">To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ob9cBUsku0nwM5z6//CSdHrOaKiwaYVe" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">www.aflcio.org</b></a>.</p><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div id="mpf0_bodyHdr" style="line-height: 15px; 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background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="SandboxScopeClass ExternalClass" id="mpf0_MsgContainer" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; display: inline-block; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "><table width="626" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="FFFFFF"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1" align="center" width="626" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=jvIfuv2us61nFlwLtpa6zsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img height="71" border="0" width="626" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner_afl-cio_now_blog_626.jpg" 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></tr><tr><td><table cellpadding="13" border="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Feb. 8, 2012</b></span></span></p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" align="right" style="line-height: 17px; width: 22px; height: 38px; "><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=lxex45EOjarvBUIJNpqqwsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="Minimum wage chart" title="Minimum wage chart" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/min-wage-chart-300.jpg" 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><br><span style="line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=HCZTuFnV8JfR2vW9Wa0mWsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Noted economist Jared Bernstein makes the case for raising the minimum wage to restore its value</a>.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Unemployment insurance (UI) for jobless workers expires Feb. 29, and Republican lawmakers want to slash federal benefits and impose harsh new restrictions. Click<a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ex1o73eHAMVgU7KP3Yv2SsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">here</b></a> to tell Congress it needs to renew UI benefits for a full year, with no cuts, no barriers to benefits and no strings attached.</span></span><br></p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td height="24px" valign="bottom"><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=q7y4L0QWjkq14xh12WjQu8UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="Read More" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/read_more.gif" 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></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">Got comments? Post them at</span></span><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=XmyHL2nbkyWnNJVXk0qSl8UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "></a><span style="font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=5ZAU%2BFrdLeO4aVFqbB1Qv8UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">blog.aflcio.org</b></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">.</span></span></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img height="12" border="0" width="16" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=X0gZ9z2nAiQBzkjGOq2hx8UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">The Minimum Wage: Time to Start Working on the Next Increase</strong></font></a></font></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img height="12" border="0" width="16" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=EGkmuwQXzDNaEoC7m0SwpPiMaXhEYpda" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">AFL-CIO Joins Re-Enactment of 1965 Selma to Montgomery March</strong></font></a></font></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img height="12" border="0" width="16" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=gNJEQgRJGwr6Bxd04rx%2BT8UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Arizona Update: Public and Private Workers in Solidarity</strong></font></a></font></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img height="12" border="0" width="16" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=yQ88TuGd%2BqTi4DkITIEmXMUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">RTW Still Wrong for New Hampshire</strong></font></a></font></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><img height="12" border="0" width="16" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif" alt="" style="line-height: 17px; "> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=UvXcdZ4wz1pLQxZOaJuHZsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Berman Back with New Lies About Unions</strong></font></a></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=H8Cur1EvmzEBC173rj5mTMUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Read more important news</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; "> of the day on the issues working families care about.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" bordercolor="#cccccc" border="1" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" width="100%" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><nobr><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Follow the AFL-CIO:</strong></span></span><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><br></strong><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=CMoBX2JXkJuw3oynzAkaaMUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_facebook.jpg" alt="Facebook" title="Facebook" 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> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Z241bsQwEoqu0RxVauTFgsUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_twitter.jpg" alt="Twitter" title="Twitter" 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> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=KtN6FXIzpA3X6%2B7mN1rGCcUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/icon_24x24_googleplus.jpg" alt="Google+" title="Google+" 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> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=JW51G/47xCBficLqgODG38UyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_youtube2.jpg" alt="YouTube" title="YouTube" 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> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=rq%2BdgnrnFqFFSnscU9e4HMUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_rss.jpg" alt="RSS" title="RSS" 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></nobr></p></td></tr><tr><td><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><em><nobr>Take the next step. Become a mobile activist</nobr><br><nobr>by joining the AFL-CIO Rapid Action Text Team.</nobr><br><nobr>Text <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">NEWS</strong> to <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">AFLCIO (235246)</strong> to receive action alerts and more.</nobr><br>(Message and data rates may apply.)<br></em></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: 13px; ">To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=xHGBT1/M8/zNX6uHEadS%2BcUyL7hxUk%2BR" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">www.aflcio.org</b></a>.</span></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><br></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: 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/15663?akid=8228.16102.B_6fBL&t=14" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img src="http://images.alternet.org/images/managed/storyimages_1313641636_ilwu.jpg_640x366_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/15663?akid=8228.16102.B_6fBL&t=15" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Join Us: AlterNet Expands its Coverage of Labor and Workers' Rights</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); ">Conservatives' anti-worker crusade will not go unchallenged. We're ratcheting up our worker coverage by establishing a unique Labor special coverage area. <a class="ecxreadmore" href="http://act.alternet.org/go/15663?akid=8228.16102.B_6fBL&t=16" 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 Don Hazen / AlterNet</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); "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></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); ">February 9, 2012<br><br>Labor News <br><br>Mexican Workers Pulverized in the 21st century<br><br>A new study reconfirms what many people know from first-hand experience: Mexican workers' purchasing power has plummeted since the turn of the century. <br><br>In a just-released report, the economics department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) documented the number of hours the lowest-paid workers need to labor in order purchase a basic basket of goods made up of rice, cooking oil, beans, milk, sugar, coffee, and other routinely consumed products. According to the analysis, Mexican workers earning the daily minimum wage had to toil 11.38 hours in December 2011 to buy a basic basket of commodities, compared with the 9.55 hours of work necessary to buy the same group of products in December 2001. <br><br>The UNAM study also compared Mexican workers' purchasing power with their counterparts in five other Latin American nations. While Costa Rican and Peruvian workers also witnessed a drop in their purchasing power between 2001 and 2011, low-income workers in Guatemala, Uruguay and Brazil actually experienced significant jumps in the buying value of their wages during the same decade. <br><br>In view of the deterioration in the purchasing power of Mexican wages vis a vis those in the other Latin American countries examined, David Lozano, UNAM economist, called the study's findings "alarming." Of the six nations studied by UNAM researchers, Mexico ranked Numero Uno in the devaluation of the purchasing power of minimum wage workers. The study reported that the daily minimum wage in Mexico lost 24.42 percent of its consumer punch in the ten year period analyzed. <br><br>While only 9.2 percent of Mexican workers earn the daily minimum salary of about five bucks, the UNAM report gives a general idea of the pressures facing much bigger slices of the working class. A large group of workers, or 26.3 percent, earns between two and three minimum salaries daily, while another nearly-as-large segment, or 26.1 percent, makes between two and three minimum salaries every day. In sum, more than 60 percent of Mexican workers struggle to get by on wages that hover between $5 and $15 each day. <br><br>In 2012, a new round of price hikes bodes further ills for workers' purchasing power. <br><br>In the southern state of Guerrero, for instance, the cost of a kilo of the staple corn tortilla has now reached 16 pesos- well above a dollar- in the small neighborhood outlets Mexicans are accustomed to shopping. By the end of last year, tortilla prices reportedly hit 18 pesos a kilo in some places in the northern border state of Chihuahua. In Guerrero tortillas can be purchased for significantly lower prices at large commercial supermarket chains like Walmart's Bodega Aurrera (7.90 pesos) or Comercial Mexicana (9.90 pesos), which process huge amounts of corn flour and operate on economies of scale the mom-and-pop stores are unable to match.<br><br>Yet even the going prices at the big box stores are well above the average tortilla price of about six pesos in 2006, the year when the outgoing Calderon administration assumed office. <br><br>In a broad economic context, the Mexican economy during 2001-2011 was characterized by the signing of numerous free trade agreements, macro-economic stability, infusions and contractions of foreign capital investments, two recessions linked to international economic crises spawned in the United States, spikes and plunges in migrant remittances, and declines in international tourism. <br><br>Other trends included the weakening of unions, the increased outsourcing of workers and booms in the illicit economy. Especially during the last five years, millions of young Mexicans came of working age at a time when the historic safety valve of migration to the United States was largely slammed shut. <br><br>Sources: El Sur/Agencia Reforma, February 6, 2012. La Jornada, December 19, 2011. Article by Susana Gonzalez G. <br><br>Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news<br>Center for Latin American and Border Studies<br>New Mexico State University <br>Las Cruces, New Mexico<br><br>For a free electronic subscription <br>email:fnsnews@nmsu.edu </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><br><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font size="2">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. 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