Over at Dissent Magazine, our own Leo Casey writes that the recent Mott’s strike is “the latest battle against the ‘race to the bottom,’ the process of undercutting labor market standards that has plagued American labor for the last three decades.” He also counters Matt Yglesias on the issue, saying that the usually reasonable progressive blogger “seems to lose the very capacity to empathize and understand” when writing about the plight of the working people at the center of the Mott’s story.

Highlights from yesterday’s rally at City Hall:

A flashmob infiltrates the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco and performs an adaptation of Lady Gaga’s song “Bad Romance.” The event was organized to draw attention to a boycott called by the workers of the hotel who are fighting to win a fair contract and affordable healthcare. Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer activists put the song and dance together as a creative way to tell the hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people from all over the country coming to San Francsico in June for Pride to stay out of the boycotted hotels.

To learn more about how to honor the boycott and support the workers visit: http://www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org

“If you want more democracy in our country, join a union! If you want a voice at work, join a union! If you want a better America, join a union! If you want a stronger United States of America, join a union!” — Cecil E. Roberts, President of the United Mineworkers of America, on the importance of union activism in an electrifying address to delegates at NYSUT’s 38th annual Representative Assembly, May 1, 2010. Washington, D.C.

Cecil Roberts: Part I

Part II after the jump. More »

From the New York City Central Labor Council:

More »

In the classic ur-text of the school privatization and anti-teacher union movement, Politics, Markets and American Schools, John Chubb and Terry Moe provide a forthright statement of their perspective on public education. The problem with American public schools, Chubb [a founding partner of the for profit management company Edison Learning, once Edison Schools] and Moe [a stalwart of the ultra-conservative Herbert Hoover Institute] explain, is democratic control of schooling. Markets, they contend, will change all that:

The real cause [of the problems in public schools -- LC] is the public education system as a whole. Its institutions of democratic control are inherently destructive of school autonomy and inherently conducive to bureaucracy… More »

A spectacularly heartless and witless opinion piece, authored by Jeff Stier and titled “9/11 Junk Science”, was published in the New York Post on March 24.

Stier claims “There is no evidence that exposure to ‘toxic dust’ at Ground Zero was responsible for any of the progressive illnesses alleged by the claimants and their lawyers.” He is saying that NONE of the illnesses is linked to the exposure of anybody who worked, even for many months, in the midst of the WTC pit, inhaling thousands of cancer-causing chemicals and dense concentrations of lethal particles.

He also asserts “the fact… that there is no credible evidence in the medical literature that exposure to Ground Zero dust can cause any chronic disease or condition.” He further states, citing a lung specialist, that “there is no scientific validity to the claim that asbestosis is a result of 9/11 exposure.” This is said, despite the fact that workers who do asbestos abatement on an infinitesimally smaller scale in private homes or office buildings must wear HazMat suits. That protection, and the work itself, are considered public safety imperatives. More »

If workers keep their mouths shut, their noses clean and stop busting chops and bucking their bosses, they will, if management sees fit, be paid fairly so that, provided they are not ingrates or spendthrifts, they will do just fine being one paycheck ahead of eviction and the need to forage through dumpsters to find sustenance for their sick kid who is medically unattended because his parent’s employer is no believer in investing in cost-ineffective luxuries like health insurance.

That’s the credo of the business community and their shills in the Department of Commerce and the Republican Party.  That’s why the American Society of Employers has published a “toolkit” including links on “Warning Signs of Unionization,” and “Strategies to Stay Union Free.” More »

As the United Federation of Teachers heads toward our fiftieth anniversary in 2010, we find ourselves facing a challenge greater than any we confronted in the last half-century of our history. Our union has been tempered by many extraordinary struggles over these last five decades, but never have we seen what we are witnessing today: a direct assault on the public character of American education and on the very right of teachers to organize collectively in unions. While the UFT has withstood these attacks as well as any teacher union in the nation, it would be a serious mistake to look at developments in New Orleans and Washington DC and proclaim “it can not happen here.” If we fail to grasp the critical nature of this moment and mount an appropriate, vigorous response, it can and will happen here.

At the center of this challenge is the charter school movement. More »

United Students Against Sweatshops scored a big victory on behalf of 1200 Honduran workers who lost their jobs when Russell Athletic closed their plant in response to organizing efforts. Russell, owned by Fruit of the Loom, agreed to reopen the factory in Choloma, rehire the workers, recognize their union, and collectively bargain in good faith.

From the Times:

From the time Russell shut the factory last January, the anti-sweatshop coalition orchestrated a nationwide campaign against the company. Most important, the coalition, United Students Against Sweatshops, persuaded the administrations of Boston College, Columbia, Harvard, New York University, Stanford, Michigan, North Carolina and 89 other colleges and universities to sever or suspend their licensing agreements with Russell.

…

“For us, it was very important to receive the support of the universities,” Moises Alvarado, president of the union at the closed plant in Choloma, said by telephone on Tuesday. “We are impressed by the social conscience of the students in the United States.”

The Metro NY Labor Communications Council is sponsoring an “organized conversation” about health care reform tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 6-8 p.m., at the Center for Worker Education (CWE), CUNY, 25 Broadway, 7th floor auditorium.

View the flier here.

Participants include:

• Bill Henning, 2nd vice president, CWA Local 1180
• Janine Jackson, FAIR
• Rev Earl Kooperkamp, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem
• Luella Toni Lewis, MD, president, Committee of Interns and Residents
• Trudy Lieberman, CUNY School of Journalism
• Hank Sheinkopf, political consultant
• Nick Unger, AFL-CIO

Contribution: $5 / $3 seniors & unemployed / students free
Beverages and light refreshments will be served

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in gridlock. Established to ensure fairness and resolve labor/management disputes in the workplace, it has become just another dysfunctional “political football.”  That’s because of a partisan stalemate, hatched by Republican stalwarts, over filling three vacant NLRB seats.

Only two seats are currently occupied, one member each from both major political parties. Federal court decisions are divided as to whether that constitutes a legal quorum.

President George W. Bush had stacked the NLRB with five members, all of whom had passed the Republican litmus test of being rabidly hostile to workers’ rights. Now that a relatively pro-Labor administration has been voted in with the blessing of the electorate, the Grand Old Party (a name that lends itself to its own perfect ridicule) is obstructing efforts to allow the NLRB to be viable again.

Last August President Obama nominated three new members, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in cahoots with the Republicans who have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the altar of decency while fighting tooth and nail against every minimum wage increase, social security benefit and other enlightened idea, have stalled it.

Despite the deadlock, the NLRB continues to do business settling straightforward disputes. But the more complex and consequential ones are snared in indefinite delay.

The feet of the GOP, for a start, need to be put to the fire.

Education knows no bounds and no boundaries. It cannot be contained in the vacuum of a classroom or confined by defined curriculum. Teaching is a futile enterprise unless it breaks down walls of ignorance, not merely in terms of academic deficiencies but also as reckoned by failure to work for justice in all precincts of the world. Learning that doesn’t admit of global perspective and duty is a fraud. More »

President Obama addressed the AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Pittsburgh today, Sept. 15.

He spoke about the urgent need for health care reform and reiterated his support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

These are the reforms I’m proposing. These are the reforms labor has been championing. These are the reforms the American people need. And these are the reforms I intend to sign into law.

Quality, affordable health insurance. A world-class education. Good jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. A strong labor movement. That’s how we’ll lift up hardworking families. That’s how we’ll grow our middle class. That’s how we’ll put opportunity within reach in the United States of America.

The AFL-CIO Now Blog has a recap, and a transcript of the speech is here.