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<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); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Labor Abuses in Walmart Warehousesþ</font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Jim Hightower | Treating Sick Rich Folks</span> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Paul Krugman: Cuts at the State and Local Level Are Hobbling the Recovery</span> </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); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Closing the Manufacturing Jobs Gapþ </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); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Our New Website is Just the Beginningþ </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); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Confessions of a 'Bad Teacher'þ </font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">More White People Nationally Are on Food Stamps Than Black People</span> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe5f12757161047b7314&ls=fe161d777d63077b721678&m=fefc1172766306&l=fed1157376640678&s=fe3215727764017c7d1d71&jb=ffcf14&t=" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(2, 74, 130); cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); ">Thousands of Sacramento-area teachers soon to receive pink slips</a>
</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>Susan Ohanian Will be a Keynote Speaker at the Rouge Forum Conference </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; ">New York Times Workers Protest</span> </b></font> </li></ol><div><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); ">Workers, State Investigators Allege Labor Abuses in<br>Warehouse Empire<br>By Lilly Fowler<br>The Sun, San Bernadino and Inland Empire<br>March 5, 2012<br><br><a href="http://www.sbsun.com/ci_20095555?source=most_viewed#ixzz1oJ83YLcP" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.sbsun.com/ci_20095555?source=most_viewed#ixzz1oJ83YLcP</a><br><br>As a warehouse worker in the Inland Empire, the<br>nation's biggest distribution hub for consumer goods,<br>Jorge Soto handles shipments for retail giant Walmart<br>every day.<br><br>But Soto, who works for a subcontractor, claims that<br>along with routine jobs such as unloading trucks, he<br>also has been ordered to perform an illegal task:<br>falsifying employees' time sheets to cheat them out of<br>getting the minimum wage.<br><br>The Mexican-born Soto, 47, said in a sworn court<br>statement that his supervisors forced him, when he was<br>the lead member of his crew, to severely understate<br>workers' hours. He said the purpose was to cover up the<br>widespread practice of paying well below the legal<br>minimum, which is $8 an hour in California.<br><br>As Soto explained in an interview, "they wanted to wash<br>their hands of it through me," adding that workers<br>sometimes received as little as $3 or $4 an hour.<br><br>A suit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf<br>of Soto and dozens of other warehouse workers charges<br>three companies that handle Walmart goods with<br>fraudulent pay practices. The case, along with recent<br>investigations by state labor officials that have led<br>to proposed fines of close to $1.4 million, depict what<br>critics say is the underside of the vast warehouse<br>business in the region.<br><br>An economic juggernaut that employs about 100,000<br>people, the Inland Empire warehouses are a staging<br>point for Apple computers, Gerber baby clothes, Polo<br>apparel and other brand-name imports.<br><br>They handle goods from Asia that come through the ports<br>of Los Angeles and Long Beach, to be distributed around<br>the U.S.<br><br>According to court documents and interviews with<br>workers:<br><br>* Crew leaders such as Soto were under orders at some<br>warehouses to force workers to sign blank time sheets,<br>a tactic that made it easier to cheat employees out of<br>their rightful pay.<br><br>* Workers often were paid only for the time they spent<br>loading and unloading trucks - not for the time they<br>put in sweeping warehouses, labeling and restacking<br>boxes or waiting to find out if they would be assigned<br>work.<br><br>* High heat in the warehouses and constant pressure for<br>speed created safety problems. These and other issues<br>triggered an investigation that led the California<br>Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or<br>Cal/OSHA, in January to accuse four warehouses of more<br>than 60 workplace safety violations and to seek<br>$256,445 in penalties.<br><br>* Many workers, classified as temporaries despite years<br>of service, said they were threatened with being<br>blackballed and never being hired again if they raised<br>questions about their pay or took part in protest or<br>unionizing efforts. Labor leaders, who announced plans<br>in 2007 to recruit the warehouse employees, say that<br>the intimidation and perpetual job insecurity are key<br>reasons why their "Warehouse Workers United" campaign<br>has failed to unionize any workers.<br><br>* Workers also were subjected to other indignities, such<br>as being forced to pay $1 per week to rent a shirt with<br>a company logo, and being required to show up every<br>day, only to be sent home some days for lack of work.<br><br>Area warehouses help bring consumers low-cost goods,<br>and they provide lots of sought-after jobs for<br>unskilled workers, most of them Latino immigrants. Yet<br>the relentless pressure to hold down costs that run<br>through the industry also means low wages and few or no<br>benefits for warehouse employees.<br><br>Warehouse workers in the region -- as well as in the<br>next two biggest distribution hubs in the nation, the<br>Chicago area and central New Jersey -- are cogs in a<br>system that stocks the shelves of stores such as<br>Walmart, Target and Foot Locker. Even so, the big<br>retailers are separated from the workers, and shielded<br>from legal exposure, by layers of intermediary<br>companies.<br><br>In two federal suits in Chicago, for instance, scores<br>of warehouse workers have charged three staffing<br>companies with failing to pay minimum wages. But the<br>cases don't include any retailers.<br><br>Likewise, the Inland Empire warehouse workers' suit<br>doesn't name Walmart as a defendant, even though the<br>case is based on practices at three warehouses run<br>exclusively for the retailer in Mira Loma. Walmart<br>failed to respond to calls and emails seeking comment.<br><br>The litigation is against the operator of the three<br>warehouses, Schneider National Inc., a company with<br>annual revenue of more than $3 billion. The suit also<br>names two staffing companies that have employed many of<br>the workers at the Schneider warehouses.<br><br>One of those staffing firms is Soto's employer, Impact<br>Logistics, a national company that takes care of<br>loading and unloading merchandise bound for retailers.<br>The other staffing firm named in the case is Premier<br>Warehousing Services.<br><br>The suit, filed in October, claims that the companies used <br>an opaque piece rate pay system that based compensation <br>on the number and type of tractor-trailer containers<br>emptied or loaded. The system, according to the suit,<br>left workers in the dark about what they were owed, and<br>often kept their pay below the legal minimum.<br><br>Still in its early stages, the suit already has won the<br>workers a court order requiring the companies to<br>provide properly itemized wage statements, and the<br>employees have since been switched back to an hourly<br>pay system.<br><br>However, the companies, in court filings and in<br>response to questions from FairWarning, continue to<br>dispute the suit's contentions. Schneider said it isn't<br>responsible for the wages of workers involved in the<br>suit.<br><br>The company, more specifically, denied a claim that it<br>replaced employees earning hourly wages of $12 to $17<br>by bringing in contractors that often paid their<br>workers less than the minimum wage.<br><br>Schneider also disputed sworn statements by workers<br>that, after the suit was filed, the company called a<br>mandatory meeting where a supervisor threatened to<br>"destroy" and "throw away" any employee supporting the<br>litigation "like a crumpled piece of paper."<br><br>Premier said it properly compensated its employees but<br>declined to answer questions. Following the court<br>order, it stopped serving as a staffing company for the<br>three warehouses, and Schneider now employs the former<br>Premier workers directly.<br><br>Similarly, Impact Logistics said it "properly and<br>adequately paid all employees identified" in the<br>litigation but also indicated that it continues to<br>investigate charges raised by employees. At the same<br>time, Impact added that "erroneous payment of any wage<br>was due to inadvertence, mistake or negligence" and was<br>"not willful or intentional."<br><br>The company, in an emailed statement, further said that<br>it recently switched from piece rate compensation back<br>to hourly pay "to have no appearance of impropriety."<br><br>But during his seven years with Impact, both as an<br>ordinary warehouse worker and, later on, as a lead on<br>his crew, Armando Esquivel said he witnessed abuses<br>first-hand.<br><br>In a sworn statement, Esquivel said that when he was<br>underpaid by Impact and protested to his boss, "He<br>always promised to look into it but my pay was never<br>corrected, not even once. When I would repeat my<br>complaints, he would tell me, `I have a pile of job<br>applications on my desk more than a foot high. If you<br>don't like this job, you can go home."'<br><br>As a result of being shortchanged, Esquivel said, he<br>sometimes struggled to pay for basic necessities for<br>his wife and two children.<br><br>As a lead, Esquivel said he "repeatedly" was directed<br>"to record work time that was far less, sometimes less<br>than half, of the time we actually spent working."<br><br>Daniel Lopez, a loader who had worked for Premier, said<br>in a court declaration that his manager told him two<br>years ago he would earn more when the company switched<br>to a piece-rate system. But he and other workers say<br>that, instead, the pay got lower.<br><br>What's more, Lopez said, when it came time to fill out<br>time sheets, "We were directed simply to sign our names<br>on blank forms maintained by the supervisors. We did<br>not write in the time we arrived at work or the time we<br>finished."<br><br>Some support for the workers' complaints has come from<br>an investigation by California labor authorities.<br>October inspections at Schneider warehouses in<br>Riverside County "confirmed stories of abuses in the<br>warehousing industry that must stop," Julie A. Su, the<br>California labor commissioner, said in a news release.<br><br>Based on the inspections, state authorities proposed<br>fines against Impact and Premier of more than $1.1<br>million. They accused both companies of failing to <br>provide properly itemized wage statements, leaving <br>workers unaware of what they were being paid for <br>their piece work.<br><br>"Employers cannot simply make up a piece rate and<br>change it at their whim," Su warned.<br><br>A separate state investigation at four other<br>warehouses, carried out by workplace safety regulators<br>with Cal/OSHA, backed up charges by the Warehouse<br>Workers United campaign of hazardous on-the-job<br>conditions. The probe focused on four warehouses in<br>Chino.<br><br>Among other problems, Cal/OSHA cited the operator of<br>the warehouses and its staffing company for allegedly<br>failing to provide fall protection for "pickers"<br>working at elevated heights, running machinery without<br>safety guards and leaving boxes "precariously stacked,"<br>where they could tumble down on employees below.<br><br>In addition, investigators cited a failure to deal with<br>stifling 90-degree indoor temperatures, reflecting the<br>heat problems that repeatedly have come up at<br>warehouses around the country. Cal/OSHA investigators<br>pointed to the case of a 49-year-old who became dizzy<br>and nauseated while performing his work.<br><br>That worker, Domingo Blancas, said in an interview that<br>there was "pressure to move fast" at his warehouse. One<br>day last summer, when he became overwhelmed by the<br>heat, he asked one of his bosses for a ride to a<br>hospital, but she refused.<br><br>At that point, Blancas said, his son, a worker at a<br>nearby warehouse, took him to Pomona Valley Hospital<br>Medical Center, where records show he was admitted for<br>dehydration and heat exposure.<br><br>He recovered, but still has bitter memories of the<br>incident.<br><br>"These are people who don't care about the welfare of<br>their workers," Blancas said. "What they did is just<br>wrong."<br><br>Tri-State Staffing, Blancas' employer and one of the<br>two companies cited by Cal/OSHA, indicated it is<br>appealing the charges but declined to respond to<br>repeated requests for comment.<br><br>NFI, whose National Distribution Centers unit is the<br>other company charged, said in a statement that it is<br>committed "to providing a safe working environment that<br>meets or exceeds all state and federal workplace safety<br>standards."<br><br>Yet workers at NFI-run operations such as Jonathan<br>Lopez, 23, challenge that portrayal. Lopez, who is<br>taking pre-med classes at a community college, is<br>unusual among the workers in that he speaks fluent<br>English.<br><br>He said Tri-State asked him to sign a paper indicating<br>that he received safety training - even though, at that<br>point, he hadn't. (He said he received training only<br>weeks later, after state workplace safety officials<br>began investigating the warehouse.) Lopez complied,<br>however, rather than risk losing his job.<br><br>"Employers cannot simply make up a piece rate and<br>change it at their whim."<br><br>JULIE A. SU, California labor commissioner<br>For the same reason, Lopez said, his co-workers also<br>signed.<br><br>"No one else was able to read it, but I told them what<br>it said," he said.<br><br>Looking to tap into discontent among warehouse workers,<br>Change to Win, a national coalition of unions with<br>about 5 million members, in 2007 launched a recruiting<br>effort in the Inland Empire. It founded Warehouse<br>Workers United, an organization advocating for higher<br>wages, ending the practice of temporary employment and<br>securing affordable health care coverage.<br><br>Led by activist unions such as the Service Employees<br>International Union, Change to Win broke away from the<br>AFL-CIO labor federation seven years ago to more<br>aggressively recruit members. After more than four<br>years, however, its campaign among the Inland Empire<br>warehouse workers has failed to create any new union<br>locals, or even bring about a single union<br>representation election.<br><br>Union officials say warehouse employers have shifted<br>from permanent workers to temporary employees largely<br>to make people so fearful of losing their jobs that<br>they won't risk being identified as union activists.<br>The industry, however, counters that it uses temps<br>simply because the flexibility helps employers deal<br>with busy and slow periods without resorting to<br>layoffs.<br><br>Meanwhile, workers such as Soto, the Impact employee<br>who claimed he was ordered to falsify other workers'<br>timesheets, say they still support the labor-organizing<br>effort because they need a union to be treated fairly.<br><br>"They need to raise the pay, improve the conditions,"<br>Soto said. "I'm going to stay there as long as I need<br>to until that happens.<br><br>____________________________________________<br><br>PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to<br>people on the left that will help them to interpret the<br>world and to change it.</pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; ">Workers: Walmart Contractor Paid $3 to $4 an Hour<br></strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OO9LN6GqVSGCrPNmGr%2BDPXsV5AxO6OdF" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; "><font color="#cc0000" style="line-height: normal; ">Read the Article at Mother Jones</font></a>
</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><b style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Jim Hightower | Treating Sick Rich Folks<br></b><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Jim Hightower, OtherWords: "From New York to Los Angeles, hospitals that draw huge subsidies from taxpayers (and often are so overcrowded that regular patients are lucky to get a gurney in the hallway) have set aside entire floors for $2,400-a-day deluxe suites. They come with butlers, 5-star meals, marble baths, imported bed sheets, special kitchens, and other amenities for swells who have both insurance and cash to burn."</span><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ilRBWg07IBbh4NXVssdNnXsV5AxO6OdF" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font color="#cc0000" style="line-height: normal; ">Read the Article</font></a><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> </span>
</div><div><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></span></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Paul Krugman: Cuts at the State and Local Level Are Hobbling the Recovery<br></strong><font color="#cc0000" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: normal; "><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Ma0rmp%2B5wSof38%2B0sHdenXsV5AxO6OdF" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Read the Article at The New York Times</a></font>
</div><div><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" 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=Om1icaZRH1AzqKBb3cS0VcA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/aflcionowblog_700x100.jpg" alt="" 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 align="left" width="700" 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; ">March 5, 2012</b></span></span></p><table align="right" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" 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=MwAH5KQq58piHwEr8pXCe8A9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/Thousands-Launch.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=sXxScBWv91AVcrTMHkFsPMA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Thousands of AFL-CIO union members and others began a five-day re-enactment yesterday of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march to focus attention on new attacks against workers’ rights and civil rights</font></a>.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; ">The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute won a three-year, $3.4 million grant to develop apprenticeship programs in five communities to train people for skilled manufacturing jobs and careers. It is part of a Labor Department program that aims to place qualified U.S. workers in fields and industries that currently use H1B foreign workers. <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=iwWRqZyunZrAltp/A829/cA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Read more and comment</font></b></a>. <img alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/navy_arrow.jpg"></span></span></p><hr align="left" width="30%" color="#cccccc"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/button_most-recent-blog-posts_225.jpg"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img width="16" border="0" height="12" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=IpPPIn9j3idAzD3qPV%2BP98A9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Check Out Union Innovators and Community Connections</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img width="16" border="0" height="12" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=z4/CvnBlne6l4XsmXTLlQzOB5rjIVBNr" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">New Guide Offers Personalized Reports on Affordable Care Act Benefits</strong></font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img width="16" border="0" height="12" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/blog_arrow-blt.gif"> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=tQsQ9ZuZlQhG9ef44yld28A9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Arial" color="navy" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 13px; "><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; ">Find Out About Your Rights at Work</strong></font></a></p><hr align="left" width="30%" color="#cccccc"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=kHaDVk8%2Bj5bd9X7AigTuPcA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><strong style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">Read more important news</font></strong></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: 13px; "> of the day on the issues working families care about.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" bordercolor="#cccccc" border="1" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" 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=hVDXtqRuHNbhTwRfm7sk1MA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" 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; "></a> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=MxUjsa8VYScmVCYCDcgma8A9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" title="Twitter" alt="Twitter" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_twitter.jpg" style="border-style: initial; 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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=T4FxLuOqVnyPrFqGW5PVXMA9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; ">www.aflcio.org</font></b></a>.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: right; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><font color="navy" style="line-height: normal; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=4l3xkFntPQjgHDdDERIEh8A9o0lGrQIE" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Click here to unsubscribe</a></font></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; text-align: right; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; line-height: 13px; font-size: 10px; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><br></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></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 src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner-afl-cio-new-700b.jpg" alt=""></p><table align="center" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" 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><table align="right" width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><table align="right" width="215" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#cc0000" border="3" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="right" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><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=%2BJxtHMzLV6HKZeh1PjolB%2BPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img border="0" alt="" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/website.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></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; ">The AFL-CIO’s new website showcases our commitment to reaching and engaging all working people. We hope you’ll take a look—and come back often.<br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=kNTSnrVkHgsbmZKmqJJJGOPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; "><br>Visit the AFL-CIO’s new website</b></a><b style="font-weight: bold; ">.</b></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>Since becoming secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, I have been committed to reaching and engaging the broadest range of working people inside and outside of unions. <br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">I believe that—to be relevant and part of the conversation in this day and age—we need to do things differently. </b><br><br>It’s critical that we embrace constant <b style="font-weight: bold; ">innovation</b> to build on what we do best. And we’ve got to commit to a culture of <b style="font-weight: bold; ">openness</b>—building an inclusive movement that puts the voices of workers front and center and encourages all working families to get involved. <br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Innovation and openness are what we had in mind as we redesigned our website from the bottom up.</b> We put the stories of working people front and center, and created a community space to share information, take action and showcase the work of the unions and the people we are proud to represent. <br><br><b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=52bK13yrXm0ffd15if0bTePl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Please take a moment to visit the AFL-CIO’s new website and get more involved by visiting our blog and action center</a>. </b><br><br>Then share our new website with your friends and family:<br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; text-align: center; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=PFCMO2gz96%2BqaCjiCzordePl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" 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=NQXd6QvdRvLWLEqgAboR8uPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" 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><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; ">The AFL-CIO’s investment in cutting-edge communications and technologies isn’t just limited to a <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=DIm6hGfxSHKWRrWdQ5FXSuPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">new website</b></a>. In fact,our commitment to innovation starts at the top. <br><br>President Richard Trumka sent his first tweet last week. You can now <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=hmKJKWI0yvuoFx0PAI6ckuPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">follow President Trumka on Twitter</b></a> (@RichardTrumka). And you can also follow me on Twitter <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=a0G7hjppS5r0TkqDrp9Sw%2BPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">here</b></a> (@LizShuler).<br><br>We’ve also made a big commitment to building new tools and a new team that will empower our members and activists to leverage the power of the Internet to mobilize their friends, neighbors and families.<br><br>Over the coming months and beyond, we’ll take what the labor movement has always done well offline, bring it online and open up our movement in more ways to more people. We’ll be mobilizing harder and smarter than ever before. <br><br>Soon, we’ll ask you to use some of these new tools to do more of what the labor movement does best. Things like conversations in our workplaces, phone banking and reaching out to the people you know. We’ll invite everyone who cares about the future of working families to get involved.<br><br>Lots of exciting things are coming, and I can’t wait to tell you more soon. But today, the best way to see the new direction we’re headed in is to <b style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=0IJLoxCelz/1JJ4dxOXt0ePl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">visit the AFL-CIO’s new website</a>, <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=q5GkJUrnhbslwMo1YgcsWePl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">blog</a> and <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=lpyPb0duqDVkhYd07MKe0%2BPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">action center</a></b>. <br><br>With your help, we’re building an increasingly innovative, active, open and effective movement for <i>all</i>working people—including young people, Latinos and working men and women who don’t have the benefits of a union voice on the job. Our new website reflects that. Thank you for being a part of it—and for all the work you do.<br><br>In Solidarity,<br><br>Liz Shuler<br>Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO<br><br>P.S. Here are four things you can do this week that you couldn’t do last week:<br>1. Visit our <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=R6hJYHIa9hAtGd6t6lYTEOPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">redesigned website</b></a>, then share it on <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2Bq7adPwEaeBttKEMFpracuPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=/RzmaqBAmGsKT5cwAkRqQ%2BPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Twitter</b></a>.<br>2. Check out <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ye79x18sfRqZswqoN1WIH%2BPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">the revamped AFL-CIO Now Blog</b></a>.<br>3. Visit our <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Otq/qZbj7KH6XcfbVlHnkuPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">new action center</b></a>.<br>4. <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=t%2Bo49PGFdude0ERqs103FuPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">Follow President Trumka on Twitter</b></a>. (You can also <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=iU5mPRJOFpIRxzKxunEPZePl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">follow me</b></a>.)</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=6r7b/oI6t4JKT%2BfA1ziVEOPl0ijRWknn" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b style="font-weight: bold; ">www.aflcio.org</b></a>.</p><p style="line-height: 13px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; text-align: right; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Fzhg7JkgkK%2B4aZo%2BRi5g9onrA79xJnT5" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Click here to unsub</a></p><p style="line-height: 13px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; text-align: right; "><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); ">Confessions of a 'Bad Teacher'<br>By WILLIAM JOHNSON<br><br>March 3, 2012<br>New York Times<br><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/confessions-of-a-bad-teacher.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/confessions-of-a-bad-teacher.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print</a><br><br>I AM a special education teacher. My students have learning disabilities ranging from autism and attention-deficit disorder to cerebral palsy and emotional disturbances. I love these kids, but they can be a handful. Almost without exception, they struggle on standardized tests, frustrate their teachers and find it hard to connect with their peers. What’s more, these are high school students, so their disabilities are compounded by raging hormones and social pressure.<br><br>As you might imagine, my job can be extremely difficult. Beyond the challenges posed by my students, budget cuts and changes to special-education policy have increased my workload drastically even over just the past 18 months. While my class sizes have grown, support staff members have been laid off. Students with increasingly severe disabilities are being pushed into more mainstream classrooms like mine, where they receive less individual attention and struggle to adapt to a curriculum driven by state-designed high-stakes tests.<br><br>On top of all that, I'm a bad teacher. That's not my opinion; it's how I'm labeled by the city's Education Department. Last June, my principal at the time rated my teaching unsatisfactory, checking off a few boxes on an evaluation sheet that placed my career in limbo. That same year, my school received an A rating. I was a bad teacher at a good school. It was pretty humiliating.<br><br>Like most teachers, I'm good some days, bad others. The same goes for my students. Last May, my assistant principal at the time observed me teaching in our school's self-contained classroom. A self-contained room is a separate classroom for students with extremely severe learning disabilities. In that room, I taught a writing class for students ages 14 to 17, whose reading levels ranged from third through seventh grades.<br><br>When the assistant principal walked in, one of these students, a freshman girl classified with an emotional disturbance, began cursing. When the assistant principal ignored her, she started cursing at me. Then she began lobbing pencils across the room. Was this because I was a bad teacher? I don’t know.<br><br>I know that after she began throwing things, I sent her to the dean's office. I know that a few days later, I received notice that my lesson had been rated unsatisfactory because, among other things, I had sent this student to the dean instead of following our school's guided discipline procedure.<br><br>I was confused. Earlier last year, this same assistant principal observed me and instructed me to prioritize improving my assertive voice in the classroom. But about a month later, my principal observed me and told me to focus entirely on lesson planning, since she had no concerns about my classroom management. A few weeks earlier, she had written on my behalf for a citywide award for classroom excellence. Was I really a bad teacher?<br><br>In my three years with the city schools, I've seen a teacher with 10 years of experience become convinced, after just a few observations, that he was a terrible teacher. A few months later, he quit teaching altogether. I collaborated with another teacher who sought psychiatric care for insomnia after a particularly intense round of observations. I myself transferred to a new school after being rated unsatisfactory.<br><br>Behind all of this is the reality that teachers care a great deal about our work. At the school where I work today, my bad teaching has mostly been very successful. Even so, I leave work most days replaying lessons in my mind, wishing I'd done something differently. This isn't because my lessons are bad, but because I want to get better at my job.<br><br>In fact, I don't just want to get better; like most teachers I know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I have to be. Dozens and dozens of teenagers scrutinize my language, clothing and posture all day long, all week long. If I'm off my game, the students tell me. They comment on my taste in neckties, my facial hair, the quality of my lessons. All of us teachers are evaluated all day long, already. It’s one of the most exhausting aspects of our job.<br><br>Teaching was a high-pressure job long before No Child Left Behind and the current debates about teacher evaluation. These debates seem to rest on the assumption that, left to our own devices, we teachers would be happy to coast through the school year, let our skills atrophy and collect our pensions.<br><br>The truth is, teachers don’t need elected officials to motivate us. If our students are not learning, they let us know. They put their heads down or they pass notes. They raise their hands and ask for clarification. Sometimes, they just stare at us like zombies. Few things are more excruciating for a teacher than leading a class that’s not learning. Good administrators use the evaluation processes to support teachers and help them avoid those painful classroom moments — not to weed out the teachers who don’t produce good test scores or adhere to their pedagogical beliefs.<br><br>Worst of all, the more intense the pressure gets, the worse we teach. When I had administrators breathing down my neck, the students became a secondary concern. I simply did whatever my assistant principal asked me to do, even when I thought his ideas were crazy. In all honesty, my teaching probably became close to incoherent. One week, my assistant principal wanted me to focus on arranging the students’ desks to fit with class activities, so I moved the desks around every day, just to show that I was a good soldier. I was scared of losing my job, and my students suffered for it.<br><br>That said, given all the support in the world, even the best teacher can't force his students to learn. Students aren't simply passive vessels, waiting to absorb information from their teachers and regurgitate it through high-stakes assessments. They make choices about what they will and won't learn. I know I did. When I was a teenager, I often stayed up way too late, talking with friends, listening to music or playing video games. Did this affect my performance on tests? Undoubtedly. Were my teachers responsible for these choices? No.<br><br>My best teachers, the ones I still think about today, exposed me to new and exciting ideas. They created classroom environments that welcomed discussion and intellectual risk-taking. Sometimes, these teachers' lessons didn't sink in until years after I'd left their classrooms. I'm thinking about Ms. Leonard, the English teacher who repeatedly instructed me to 'write what you know,' a lesson I've only recently begun to understand. She wasn’t just teaching me about writing, by the way, but about being attentive to the details of my daily existence.<br><br>It wasn't Ms. Leonard's fault that 15-year-old me couldn't process this lesson completely. She was planting seeds that wouldn't bear fruit in the short term. That's an important part of what we teachers do, and it's the sort of thing that doesn't show up on high-stakes tests.<br><br>How, then, should we measure students and teachers? In ninth grade, my students learn about the scientific method. They learn that in order to collect good data, scientists control for specific variables and test their impact on otherwise identical environments. If you give some students green fields, glossy textbooks and lots of attention, you can’t measure them against another group of students who lack all of these things. It's bad science.<br><br>Until we provide equal educational resources to all students and teachers, no matter where they come from, we can't say — with any scientific accuracy — how well or poorly they’re performing. Perhaps if we start the conversation there, things will start making a bit more sense.<br><br>William Johnson is a teacher at a public high school in Brooklyn who writes on education for the Web site Gotham Schools.<br><br>____________________________________________<br><br>PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to<br>people on the left that will help them to interpret the<br>world and to change it.</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><strong style="line-height: 17px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">More White People Nationally Are on Food Stamps Than Black People<br></strong><font color="#cc0000" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: normal; "><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=H/j1Wds8X96aQZRRYEHybQ5F6RRt2N8d" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Read the Article at The Chicago Reporter</a></font>
</div><div><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe5f12757161047b7314&ls=fe161d777d63077b721678&m=fefc1172766306&l=fed1157376640678&s=fe3215727764017c7d1d71&jb=ffcf14&t=" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(2, 74, 130); cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); font-size: 14px; font-family: Arial; ">Thousands of Sacramento-area teachers soon to receive pink slips</a>
</div><div><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>Susan Ohanian Will be a Keynote Speaker at the Rouge Forum<br>Conference</b></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Susan's advocacy work keeps at its core her 20 years as a<br>teacher. Her more than 300 essays on education issues have appeared in<br>periodicals ranging from Phi Delta Kappan cover stories to The<br>Atlantic, Nation, USA Today, Washington Monthly, Extra! (Fairness and<br>Accuracy in Reporting), and numerous education journals. One of her 26<br>book on education policy and practice introduced the word<br>Standardisto.<br><br>Although currently censored at the NCTE online discussion site,<br>Susan's website received NCTE's George Orwell Award for Distinguished<br>Contributions to Honest and Clarity in Public Language. She has<br>delivered the annual MacClement Lecture for Excellence in Education,<br>Queens University, Ontario, Canada, the Helen Oakes lecture at Temple<br>University, and the Biber Lecture, Bank Street College, New York. <br>Susan notes that although she's been a featured speaker at both the<br>International Symposium for the Educational Welfare in Seoul, Korea,<br>and British Columbia Teachers' Federation events, her talk to the<br>Progressive Caucus of the AFT was closed down by angry hoots from the<br>audience.<br><br>Susan started a website to protest the passage of NCLB. She had hoped<br>to shut it down by now, but things keep getting worse, so she<br>persists.<br><br>*_Call for Proposals_* <br>Rouge Forum 2012 <br>OCCUPY EDUCATION! Class Conscious Pedagogies for Social Change <br>June 22-24, 2012 <br>Miami University <br>Oxford, OH <br>Proposals Due April 15, 2012<br><br>The Rouge Forum 2012 will be held at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.<br>The University’s picturesque campus is located 50 minutes northwest<br>of Cincinnati. The conference will be held June 22-24, 2012. <br>Proposals for papers, panels, performances, workshops, and other<br>multimedia presentations should include title(s) and names and contact<br>information for presenter(s). The deadline for sending proposals is<br>April 15. The Steering Committee will email acceptance notices by May<br>1. (details<br><a href="http://rougeforum2012.wordpress.com/rf-2012-call-for-proposals/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://rougeforum2012.wordpress.com/rf-2012-call-for-proposals/</a> </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); "><b>New York Times Workers Protest</b> </pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Please join us at 3:50 p.m. on<br>Wednesday for a quiet, 10-minute display of unity, around the<br>entrances to the Page One meeting room on the third floor. <br>The point is to show our common dismay over contract negotiations in<br>which management seems determined to seriously compromise our<br>financial welfare, our access to health care and our security in<br>retirement. We hope that senior editors who witness and understand our<br>mutual resolve will convey the gravity of the situation to management.<br> <a href="http://broadcastunionnews.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://broadcastunionnews.blogspot.com/</a></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. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107..<br></font><a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc" size="2">http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html</font></a></font></div>
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<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Listen to Native Voice One <a href="http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml</a><br>
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