Tag: Los Angeles

Global Organizing and a New Approach to Trade and Globalization

09/10/2013 Kenneth Quinnell

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In a time when the globalized economy means that steelworkers in Bahia, Brazil, work for the same multinational as their counterpart

Bahia, Brazil, work for the same multinational as their counterparts in Beaumont, Texas, AFL-CIO is ramping up efforts to help workers organize around the world and fight against bad international trade deals that strip workers of their rights and give corporations unchecked power. Delegates to the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles passed two resolutions directly dealing with these important issues.

Given the changing strategies used by multinational corporations to weaken workers’ rights, the AFL-CIO is committing to building strategic alliances with unions and other advocates for working families across the globe. With a foundation built upon ILO core labor standards, the AFL-CIO will seek to ensure that countries across the world have strong national labor laws that are effectively enforced. More research is needed to fully understand the new ways that work is being organized globally, how work moves from location to location and what strategies are most effective for strengthening worker power. Continue reading “Global Organizing and a New Approach to Trade and Globalization”

Prop 32’s Rich Backers Trying to Bully Working People Out of Politics…Again

HomeProp 32’s Rich Backers Trying to Bully Working People Out of Politics…Again

Submitted by Richard on Wed, 09/05/2012 – 11:09am.

by Amy B. Dean

In their attempts to silence the political voice of working people, conservative groups and millionaire donors have been disingenuous and anti-democratic. But you can’t say they haven’t been persistent.

Proposition 32 — a so-called “paycheck protection” measure that will appear on California’s ballot in November — is hardly a novel innovation. Rather, it is this year’s tired reincarnation of similar ballot initiatives rejected by voters in 1998 and again in 2005.

The current measure is framed as something that would restrict political contributions by both unions and corporations. Yet, as Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik recently noted, it has loopholes for corporations that you could drive a campaign bus through. The proposition, Hiltzik wrote, “exempts such common business structures as LLCs, partnerships and real estate trusts. If you’re a venture investor, land developer or law firm, Proposition 32 doesn’t lay a finger on you.” Continue reading “Prop 32’s Rich Backers Trying to Bully Working People Out of Politics…Again”

Romney: Save $500B by cutting federal jobs, pay, combining agencies

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Romney: Save $500B by cutting federal jobs, pay, combining agencies

September 18th, 2012 | Pay & Benefits | Posted by Stephen Losey

(Darren McCollester, Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday said the path to saving a half-trillion each year lies with slashing federal jobs and pay, merging agencies, and cracking down on improper payments. Continue reading “Romney: Save $500B by cutting federal jobs, pay, combining agencies”

Tell Walmart to meet with these warehouse workers NOW.

There is pain, suffering, and dangerous working conditions in Walmart’s supply chain.

Stand with the warehouse workers that supply Walmart stores and demand change.

Tell Walmart to meet with these warehouse workers NOW.

Continue reading “Tell Walmart to meet with these warehouse workers NOW.”

Teacher evaluations at center of Chicago strike

politics

Teacher evaluations at center of Chicago strike

SOPHIA TAREEN | September 13, 2012 08:04 AM EST |

CHICAGO — Educators in Los Angeles just signed a new deal with the city’s school district. So, too, did teachers in Boston. Both require performance evaluations based in part on how well students succeed, a system that’s making its debut in Cleveland.

So what’s the problem in Chicago, where 25,000 teachers in the nation’s third-largest district have responded to an impatient mayor’s demand that teacher evaluations be tied to student performance by walking off the job for the first time in 25 years?

To start, while Chicago’s teachers have drawn the hardest line in recent memory against using student test scores to rate teacher performance, contract agreements in other cities – including those reached this week in Boston and Los Angeles – have hardly come quickly or with ease. They were often signed grudgingly, at the direction of a court or following negotiations that took years. And mayors and school officials have also won over reluctant teachers by promising to first launch pilot projects aimed at proving a concept many believe is inherently unfair.

“It has been a very tough issue across the country,” said Rob Weil, a director at the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions. “Teachers in many places believe that they see administrations and state legislatures creating language and policies that’s nothing more than a mousetrap.” Continue reading “Teacher evaluations at center of Chicago strike”

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