Analysis: Big Brother nixes happy hour
A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board allows employers to ban off-duty fraternizing among co-workers, severely weakening the rights of free association and speech, and violating basic standards of privacy for America's workers.
NIGER: Price of food tips people over the edge
What has changed this year is that in some parts of a southern belt sweeping from the border with Burkina Faso to Chad, food prices are critically high, while the value of livestock has crashed. A 100 kg bag of millet, the staple grain, sold for around CFA 8,000 to 12,000 (US $16 to $24) last year but now costs more than CFA 22,000 ($44).
All Calm in Venezuelan Local Elections
Today's election begins a cycle of power renovation in Venezuela, which will continue with the December national congressional elections and the 2006 presidential election.
Republican Congress: Corruption, Class War, and Business as Usual
Congressional Republicans are worried, and they should be. Under their leadership, say the polls, Congress' approval rating couldn't fall much lower. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are viewed more and more has having an agenda that is closer to the interests of the majority of the people. While one may poke holes is this conclusion, all the numbers point to the possibility of an electoral shift in the 2006 election.
Hiring Crisis For U.S. Black Teens
U.S. employers added 207,000 new jobs in July, while the national unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent, the Labor Department reported on August 5. Yet for one group of workers in America, there is little to cheer about when it comes to being hired by employers.
Bush, Darwin, and Shades of the Scopes Trial
George Bush threw a big bone to rightwing Christian fundamentalists this week when he told a press conference that the 'theory' of 'intelligent design' (something out there, most likely a supreme spirit, call him Tom, Dick, Jehovah or Allah, made the material universe) should be taught alongside the theory of evolution in schools.
16th World Youth and Students Festival in Venezuela: Some Action Proposals
Encourage the creation of a common platform for Venezuela’s youth and student movement by encouraging the participation of different social, student, political, indigenous, ecumenical and other organizations...Uphold the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), as a true alternative to imperialism’s neo-liberal model
16th World Youth and Students Festival: Main Discussion Topics
PEACE, WAR AND IMPERIALISM
I. Peace, safety and a world free of nuclear weapons.II. Preventing and resolving conflicts.III. Military alliances and militarism.IV.International solidarity and the struggle against imperialism.V.Blockades, embargos and sanctions: crimes against humanity.VI.International cooperation at the regional level.
Solomon's Unspinning of War
Norman Solomon's new book, 'War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death,' opens with a disturbing prologue. The U.S. media has refused to give serious coverage to the Downing Street Memos on the grounds that they are 'old news.' In the initial pages of his book, and supplemented by the rest, Solomon makes a case that both outdoes and undoes that claim.
Argentina's Labor Unions: Moyano’s Heavy Mantle
As if reflecting the comparable divisive events now afflicting the U.S. labor movement, Hugo Moyano was officially installed on July 14 as the Secretary General of Argentina’s largest trade union conglomerate, the General Confederation of Workers (CGT)... Moyano now faces a double challenge in trying to internally unite the beleaguered CGT and to externally deal with a radically different labor market than his forebearers have known.
