On the picket line

‘Negotiate, don’t legislate’

At least 10,000 New Jersey state workers—teachers, firefighters and government workers—rallied at the State Capitol in Trenton on Dec. 11. They were protesting the way the governor and the Legislature may ease property taxes, the highest in the country, by Jan. 1: by passing legislation cutting state workers’ pension and health benefits.

Such legislation would totally bypass contract negotiations for 80,000 state workers, whose contracts expire June 30, 2007.

“We are not going to sit back and take this disrespect,” said Barbara Keshishian, vice president of the New Jersey Education Association. “We keep this state running, and let me tell you, if we have to, we can shut it down.” (New York Times, Dec. 12)

State workers have signed giveback contracts in recent years and vow not to become scapegoats for legislators’ tax cuts for the rich as well as fiscal mismanagement.

Tree planters in class-action lawsuit

About 6,000 immigrant tree planters working in the U.S. under H-2B visas, which require under federal law that employers pay prevailing wages, have sued four forestry companies for back pay and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses.

Though prevailing hourly wages range from $6.32 in North Carolina to $9.20 in Alabama, immigrant workers in Southern pine forests were paid less than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour with no overtime. Often they were required to pay for their own tools, visas and travel costs from Latin America.

On Sept. 28, a federal judge classified the case brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a class-action lawsuit. The center described the H-2B (so-called “guest worker”) program as a way that employers use to rip off immigrant workers. (USA Today, Nov. 15)

President George W. Bush has proposed tripling the number of such visas each year. However, just issuing more visas won’t end the exploitation, oppression and demonization of immigrant workers.  

Purdue students vs. sweatshop labor

Ever since Nov. 17 over a dozen students at Purdue University have been on a hunger strike protesting the production of university products made by sweatshop labor and demanding that the university adopt the Designated Suppliers Program. DSP has been adopted by 20 schools, including the entire University of California system.

Representatives of United Students Against Sweatshops and the Purdue Organization for Labor Equality met with Purdue President Marin Jischke on Dec. 6 and presented evidence supporting their demands. But on Dec. 13 Jischke refused to sign a letter supporting the DSP. However, he did promise to look for “other ways” to end sweatshop labor.  

The students have vowed to continue their campaign, though it’s uncertain if the strike will continue after the Dec. 22 winter break. (Purdue’s student newspaper, The Exponent, Dec. 13) They took the drastic step of fasting after an 18-month campaign of rallies, teach-ins, “chill-ins,” presentations by garment workers, and a dance-in and sit-in. To sign a petition supporting the hunger strikers, go to www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org.

In another USAS campaign, students at Swarthmore College recently kicked Coca-Cola off campus to protest its numerous abuses against workers, from Colombia to India.

Defending quality journalism

On Dec. 11, newspaper employees, television technicians, writers and other news industry workers observed a “Day of Action” to alert the public that the corporate media are slashing jobs to produce higher profits while sacrificing quality journalism.

More than 44,000 news-industry employees lost their jobs between 2001 and June 2006, at least 34,000 at newspapers. Thousands more cuts are planned at newspapers in such cities as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn., as well as in smaller communities.

To find out more about how these cutbacks affect quality news, go to the Web site of the Newspaper Guild (TNG-CWA), www.savejournalism.org.