Jun 22, 2002

As part of the war on terrorism, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently called for rebuilding military relations with the Indonesian army.

Locked out Armco-Kawasaki (AK) steelworkers in Mansfield, Ohio won a significant victory last week when the city council voted against renegotiaing with AKSteel on its 1995 tax-abatement agreement with the city.

The prestigious Commonwealth Fund just released a letter to health professionals documenting the failure of the U.S. health care system: “A new five-nation survey of public attitudes toward health care reveals that the United States has the highest share of residents facing access problems, driven in large part by the difficulty many face in paying for care. At least one of five Americans reported problems paying their medical bills, filling prescriptions, getting medical care when they had a problem, or getting a physician-recommended test. Americans with below-average income reported more health care access problems than their counterparts in the other four countries.”

PITTSBURGH – Obreros retirados de Pennsylvania tuvieron dos sorpresas cuando fueron a Canadá en autobús para comprar medicamentos recetados el 10 de junio. El primero fue que los ancianos pueden ahorrarse una cantidad considerable de dinero con solo cruzar la fontera con Canadá. La segunda sorpresa fue el hostigamiento que recibieron por la guardia fronteriza estadounidense.

A few months ago, Transport Workers Union Local 100 settled an agreement with the owners of three private bus lines in Queens, N.Y. The settlement was a fair one. It took a few work stoppages to convince the owners that the union was serious about its demands. The unity amongst all sections of Local 100, primarily a union of subway workers and city-owned bus line employees, was the reason for this success. The public supported the strikes. But the Bloomberg administration is balking.

CHICAGO – La comunidad puertorriqueña de Chicago, con más de 130,000 personas y en su abrumadora mayoría de clase trabajadora, se concentra en varios barrios en el noroeste de la ciudad: Todos son importantes campos de batalla en la lucha para preservar y aumentar acceso a las viviendas a un precio asequible.

DALLAS – June 10 did not turn out to be such a good day for the Coca-Cola company here, and they had such nice plans! Coca-Cola management had decided that June 10 would mark their 100th anniversary as a Dallas bottling company. The State Historical Society had prepared a very nice historical marker at their old business site on Elm Street, and they had the local bigwig politicos lined up to praise the soft drink company at the dedication. They set up a tent with nice tables and linen for their invited guests, who were almost all white.

HOUSTON – One day after weakening clean air protections on more than 1,700 old power plants, refineries and other polluters, George W. Bush travelled to one of America’s smoggiest city to raise money. Home to a number of energy giants, including Enron, Houston is currently violating Clean Air Act limits for asthma-causing ground level ozone. In the last three years, Houston residents have been exposed to ozone smog more often and at higher concentrations than residents of any other city in the United States.

PHILADELPHIA – A capacity crowd of nearly 400 gathered at the Congregation Mishkan Shalom here June 2 to watch the “60 Minutes” special report on the Israeli reservists who have refused to serve in the occupied territories and hear from one of the refusers, Lieutenant Noam Sheizaf.

The Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts and New Jersey state organizations of the Communist Party are the first four districts to reach their goals and beyond for the 2002 fund drive. The fund drive committee sent them hearty congratulations.