Blurb here: By Mick Brooks via Socialist Appeal.
This is an audio with the MP3 available for download. There’s also a link on the page.
Tag: unions
Jul 25 2008
United Farm Workers Calls for Manslaughter Charges Against Company in Death of 17 Year Old
I’ve written in the past about the preventable death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez and her unborn child. California’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency recently issued a $262,700 fine against the Central Valley farm labor contracting company that employed Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, the 17-year old farm worker who died of heat stroke because of the company’s negligence in following the law. That’s not enough. United Farm Workers President, Arturo S. Rodriguez, thinks criminal prosecution is the only way to deter companies so that no more will die:
“This is a case of manslaughter – there is no difference between a driver killing someone while breaking our traffic laws and a labor contractor breaking the law and killing this beautiful young woman. Anything less than criminal prosecution is a desecration of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez’ death.”
UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez
More, after the fold.
(also in orange)
Jul 24 2008
Teamsters Go Green: Leave Pro-Drilling Group and Now Oppose ANWR Drilling
This is big.
Great news for all of us who seek a Blue/Green Alliance! The Teamsters today left the ANWR coalition, a group in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Jim Hoffa has just announced that the Teamsters are pulling out of the coalition supporting drilling in ANWR and are shifting their support to efforts to build coalitions with green groups to create a sustainable energy economy around sources like solar, wind and geothermal.
“We are not going to drill our way out of the energy problems we are facing-not here and not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Hoffa told labor and environmental activists at an Oakland, Calif., summit on good jobs and clean air. “We must find a long-term approach that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power.”
Hoffa Rejects ‘Drilling Our Way Out’ of Energy Crisis, Demands Long-Term Policy Solutions
More, after the fold.
(also on dkos and other places)
Jun 14 2008
Please Tell Fallen Farm Worker’s Family We Care
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the tragic and preventable death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. She who died due to heat stroke while laboring in a Stockton area vineyard when the company failed to provide her with the shade and water required by California law. Her body temperature was 108.4 degrees when she was finally taken to a hospital nearly two hours after she collapsed. Doctors found after her death that she was two months pregnant.
To date no one from the companies involved has had the decency to express condolences to Maria’s family.
snip
We want to let Maria’s family know that people from all over North America care about this tragedy-that people from all walks of life and of all backgrounds recognize the value of Maria’s life and death. Tell the family that you share the sorrow of Maria’s death and pledge to do what you can, so other farm worker families do not have to endure the same agony.
Now, the United Farm Workers are asking people to sign a condolance card to her family.
More, after the fold.
Jun 13 2008
Good News! Court orders Largest Living Wage Award in U.S. History to Workers
I’ve written about Uniform Justice before. An earlier diary I wrote that about Uniform Justiceyou may recall is Did Eleazar Torres-Gomez Lose his Life for Company Profits?
Today, I have good news. A panel of the California Court of Appeal ordered the Cintas Corporation to pay more than $1.18 million in back wages and interest to hundreds of Northern California workers for violating the city of Hayward’s Living Wage Ordinance. This judgment likely is the largest living wage award in U.S. history.
“Cintas had a moral and legal obligation to pay workers a living wage, but they ignored it.” says UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor. “The company would rather fight workers tooth and nail than pay them what they deserve.”
COURT ORDERS CINTAS TO PAY WORKERS $1.18 MILLION IN BACK PAY AND INTEREST
They fought tooth and nail, but lost to 219 workers. It’s a great victory for working people.
More, after the fold.
Also on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Jun 12 2008
Unions “Seething” over Obama Selection of Furman as Economics Policy Director
Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama’s choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign.
The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart — considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.
We all support Obama against McCain. And many of us support the labor movement also. Our support of Obama is not the kind of support that believes he can do no wrong: that’s for those who support Bush.
Labor leaders are rightly critical of Obama’s choice of Jason Furman as
the economic policy director. While I continue to support Obama and work for his election, I must speeak out here. This is the wrong direction.
More after the fold.
May 31 2008
“How much is the life of a farm worker worth? Is it less than the life of any other human being?”
We need to tell you about a story that will break your heart, and then we need to ask you for help so we can prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.
Will you help in a fight for justice? I received an email today from the United Farm Workers about a prevantable death of a young, pregnant woman. The Daily Kos and Docudharma communities can make a difference here. The cause is just and necessary.
I just spoke at the funeral of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. Maria was working in a grape vineyard outside Stockton during the 1st heat wave of this year. She became ill due to the heat as the farm labor contractor and grower she worked for, like many others, did not provide the protections required by law.
The death of this young pregnant girl is hard to accept because it did not need to happen.
This is not the first time farm workers have needlessly died from the heat. Ten have died over the last four years.
Arturo S. Rodriguez
President, UFW
Can you help the United Farm Workers? Will you fight for justice? More after the fold.
Apr 24 2008
Justice for Eleazar Torres-Gomez: House Panel Examines Cintas Safety
On August 22, 2007, I wrote about the death of Eleazar Torres-Gomez.
Eleazar Torres-Gomez was pronounced dead on the scene after apparently being dragged by a conveyor into an industrial dryer. Torres-Gomez was trapped in the dryer-which can reportedly reach temperatures of 300 degrees-for at least 20 minutes.
Did Eleazar Torres-Gomez Lose his Life for Company Profits?
Today, from the Wall Street Journal:
New details about the case — from internal company memos, Cintas surveillance videotapes and people close to the federal investigation — indicate that the dangerous practices that led to Mr. Torres-Gomez’s death occurred frequently in Tulsa and at other plants operated by Cintas, the biggest uniform supplier in North America.
There was a hearing of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee today on Cintas and safety. That, and more, after the fold.
Also in orange earlier today: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Apr 16 2008
I’m mad as hell
and extremely tired of sucking up to power. It is well past time to flex our collective muscles. What is wrong with people in this country? Most of us are wage slaves because we have to be. Okay: fine. Maybe that’s the way of the world. They call it “work” for a reason, right? And I don’t think anybody here opposes work, per se. What I oppose is the suppression of the “underclass”–which increasingly means anybody who isn’t a multimillionaire.
Apr 09 2008
Breaking: Pelosi to Block Vote on Colombia FTA
According to the New York Times, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will change its rules so as to block the requirement of a vote on the free trade agreement with Colombia.
Pelosi says the House will vote on the rules change policy Thursday, effectively putting off a vote on a free trade agreement that is a key priority of the Bush administration.
”The president took his action. I will take mine tomorrow,” Pelosi said.
If she succeeds, the Colombian Unfair Trade Agreement is dead for now.
More, after the fold.
Alos in Orange:
Mar 28 2008
End Modern Day Servitude; Support the Florida Tomato Workers
In the tomato fields of south Florida, modern-day servitude still thrives.
“Slavery, plain and simple”
A federal indictment filed on January 17th of this year charged six people for their roles in a violent farm labor operation based in Immokalee, Florida. US Attorney Doug Molloy called the operation “slavery, plain and simple”
The American consumer does not want the tomatoes they eat to be picked by workers who are grossly mistreated
Senator Bernie Sanders, January 18, 2008
More, including what YOU can do, after the fold.
Also in Orange: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Mar 06 2008
It’s Time Stand Up for Justice for Workers at Smithfield
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Today I want to talk about a cause we all should support: Justice for the workers at Smithfield. Workers there have been trying to organize a union against a company that appears to be willing to use any and all anti union tactics.
Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, NC is the world’s largest pork plant. For the past decade workers in the plant have been working to bring in a union to improve working conditions. Here are a few of their stories.