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Labor Pains
Yesterday was Labor Day. So what happened to the labor movement? Why isn’t it more relevant? In my view, it is because we have defined labor too narrowly. Today, when you speak of "labor" you imply unions. And while I recognize the power of organization and the good things that unions have done on behalf of labor over the years the reality is that a very small fraction of the labor force belongs to unions. Labor policy in its broadest terms, affects everyone who’s primary source of income is wages rather than interest and dividends. If you get up and go to work you are a laborer. Our economy depends on two orthogonal strands to make a whole cloth. Look at the vertical strands as capital and the horizontal strands as labor. One without the other is just a bunch of loose thread. But public policy in this country has been jiggered to favor capital over labor. continue reading

Also from SW's Energy Gap: The Big Picture, War and Oil.

*** DON't MISS THIS ONE !!!
Dick Cheney with a couple of Neal Bush's friends. (photo!) via Joe Hill Dispatch.org


Death Squads and Cheap Labor Conservatives

BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept. 7 - The attorney general's office said late Monday that Colombian soldiers assassinated three union leaders last month, an account that contrasts sharply with the army's earlier contention that the three men were Marxist rebels killed in a firefight.

The attorney general's human rights unit on Monday ordered the arrest of an army officer, two soldiers and a civilian who took part in the killings of Jorge Eduardo Prieto, Leonel Goyeneche and Hector Alirio Martinez on Aug. 5 in Saravena, a town long besieged by leftist rebels. Since 2002, American military trainers have been instructing Colombian soldiers there in counterguerrilla techniques, though it is unclear if the Americans trained the unit accused of killing the union leaders.

"The evidence shows that a homicide was committed," Luis Alberto Santana, the deputy attorney general, said at a news conference on Monday. "We have ruled out that there was combat."

The attorney general's announcement vindicated union leaders in Colombia and Europe who said the army had killed three defenseless union activists and then tried to cover the matter up.

"It's clear that we were never wrong, saying that they were assassinated by members of the Colombian Army," said Domingo Tovar, who coordinates human rights activities for the Central Workers Union, largest Colombian labor confederation.

[...]

Colombia is by far the world's most dangerous country for union members, with 94 killed last year and 47 slain by Aug. 25 this year, according to the National Union School, a research and educational center in Medellín. Most of those killings were by right-wing paramilitary leaders linked to rogue army units. Worldwide, 123 union members were slain last year, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, a Brussels-based group.

[...]

Paramilitary organizations, which use death squads to erode support for rebel groups, have accused unions of working with guerrillas. Rebel groups have, to be sure, drawn some members from unions.

But union leaders have also made enemies of powerful forces in Colombia's highly stratified society, both for their leftist declarations and their harsh criticism of fiscally conservative governments bent on privatizing industries and holding down labor costs. - Bogota Says Army Killed Union Chiefs/NYTimes - Sept. 08.2004

United Farm Workers

Gallo Unfair

Details / Timeline

Farm workers at UFW convention vote to boycott Gallo if fair contract is not reached This past weekend hundreds of farm workers gathered in Fresno, Calif. for the United Farm Workers’ constitutional convention as UFW members set the future course for their union, including setting new UFW policy to deal with the Gallo of Sonoma winery. Union members have been working without a contract there since Nov. 1, 2003.

Take Action! Join John Kerry. Tell Gallo to negotiate a fair contract now! Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has joined the more than 30,000 Americans who have signed the online "Gallo Unfair" petition or who have sent letters or e-mails to Matt and Gina Gallo in support of the Gallo of Sonoma farm workers.
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