Apr 9, 2005

CHICAGO — “Privatizing Social Security may be good business for Charles Schwab, but it’s a bad deal for working Americans,” Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon told the multiracial and multigenerational crowd of 300 that overflowed the sidewalk in front of the giant investment firm’s office here. “The stock market is a gamble,” Gannon continued, “I’ve got a mother who is 83, a daughter who is 22 and I’m 52. Privatization puts us all in jeopardy.”

WASHINGTON — Defenders of human rights have hailed as long overdue a lawsuit holding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responsible for the torture of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

George Edwards points out he’s the only unpaid worker at the Steelworkers’ Gateway Center headquarters in Pittsburgh. The 87-year-old veteran of the Lorain, Ohio, US Steel mill now wields a phone and a keyboard instead of a pair of calipers, but he’s working just as hard on the class struggle as he did throughout his 39 years in mill. He is putting his energy into building what he calls “probably the most activist organization in the Steelworkers” — the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees.

ST. LOUIS — About 20 students and alumni entered the Washington University admissions office April 4, demanding a response to their appeal for a living wage for campus employees. The students are members of the Student Worker Alliance (SWA).

In the wake of the March 21 shooting at Red Lake Indian Reservation, Native Americans and advocates for children say the tragedy has its roots in racism, the oppression of Native Americans, and misplaced national priorities that adversely impact America’s youth in general.

PHILADELPHIA — Carl Webb, a U.S. soldier who had re-enlisted in 2001, found out two weeks before his contract was up in 2004 that the Army was extending his enlistment — without his consent — under what it calls its “stop loss” program. The Army told Webb to report for training with the Texas National Guard at Fort Hood in preparation for going to Iraq.

In a backlash against what environmentalists call “disastrous” new mercury regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nine states filed a lawsuit March 29 against the federal government, saying the rules violate the Clean Air Act. One of them, New Hampshire, went further, advancing its own state-level legislation to curb the release of mercury by corporate polluters.

BASILE, La.: Women inmates petition for reform; SPRINGFIELD, Ill.: Gov. orders pharmacists to provide birth control; INDIANAPOLIS: Demand full funding for schools; BURLINGTON, Vt.: Health care for every resident; MADISON, Wis.: Voting rights under attack

Across the nation, gatherings honored the 78th anniversary of the birth of labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers of America and a leader in struggles for political and economic rights and peace.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles area labor movement, spearheaded by the 800,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, is turning its attention to reversing the anti-worker trend of the powerful Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.