July 15, 2006

OAKLAND, Calif. — More than 700 nurses and their supporters gathered in downtown Oakland July 11 to protest a forthcoming National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that could devastate their union rights and their ability to advocate for patients. Potentially affected are hundreds of thousands of nurses and up to 8 million workers overall.

en español: Protestan fallo antilaboral

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute has declared Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN) winner of the July 2 presidential election by the narrowest of margins. However, evidence is mounting that the election commission and Calderon’s party rigged the vote to ensure that he prevailed over his rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, candidate of the left-oriented Coalition for the Good of All.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — “Yes, they’re waging class war and it’s time we wage it back!” declared AFL-CIO Director of Organizing Stewart Acuff to prolonged applause, challenging the Bush administration and corporate interests at the Connecticut AFL-CIO convention here last week.

Our July photo of the month is “Worker’s Son,” by Pepe Lozano.

Former Army Pfc. Steven Green was arrested this month and charged with raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her, her parents and her 5-year-old sister on March 12 in Mahmudiyah, Iraq.

Many thought that immigration legislation had been killed by the Republicans in the House, but maybe, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of its death are exaggerated. If the logjam between the House and Senate breaks soon, the immigrants’ rights movement will have to step up its activity.

WASHINGTON — Fighters for justice and peace greeted a Pentagon memo saying that 1,000 or more detainees at secret U.S. military prisons around the world are protected by the Geneva Conventions. They called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

HOUSTON: Will DeLay run again?
WASHINGTON: Fasting to bring the troops home
CHARLESTON, S.C.: Blacks demand Vesey monument

Vineyard workers and their union, the United Farm Workers, are upping the ante in their months-long struggle for a new contract with Northern California’s Charles Krug winery.