Gabcast! Poltical Affairs #4 - Working Families Get a Boost in the House
Employee Free Choice Passes House
The House of Representatives this week passed the bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act by a vote of 241-185. The law would strengthen legal protections of workers against employer punishment and harassment when trying to organize a union. It would ease restrictions on union certification votes and would establish more effective mediation and arbitration processes in the event of a labor dispute.
Currently about 60 million US workers say they want to and would join a labor union but can’t because of threats by employers or because of the current process with its many roadblocks to unionization.
The anti-union business lobby spent millions to pressure members of Congress to vote the measure down, and will undoubtedly spend millions more in the coming months.
The fight to pass the law turns to the Senate where it faces a more difficult challenge from the anti-worker Republican leadership.
Bush supporters say that in the event the EFCA passes in the Senate, the president will veto it. This would only be Bush’s second veto in 6 years in office. The first blocked a measure to provide funding for stem cell research.
This shows how deeply anti-people the Bush administration and the Republican Party are. Bush didn’t use his power to stop corporate corruption, to block huge tax loopholes and subsidies for powerful and rich corporations, or to protect the environment.
He is using his veto only in an ideologically-driven effort to stop those laws that would help find cures for diseases or help working families raise their standard of living.
The 2008 elections will be as crucial as any for moving working families forward.
Protests on War’s Anniversary
As the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq approaches, United for Peace and Justice, the country’s largest coalition of peace organizations, is urging people to participate in local demonstrations to mark the day and to call for an immediate end to the war. Find out about activities in your area at .
75th Anniversary of the Ford Hunger March
Next week, Michigan residents will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Ford Hunger March and the 70th anniversary of the 'Battle of the Overpass.'
On March 7, 1932, thousands of unemployed Detroit area workers marched to the Ford Motor Company employment office in nearby Dearborn to protest unemployment and to demand relief. When they arrived in Dearborn, they were attacked by the police and by Ford Servicemen. Dozens were shot and beaten. Five were killed: Joe York, Joe DeBlasio, Colemen Leny, and Joe Bussell were killed on the spot. Curtis Williams died of his wounds later.
Out of this mass murder, the drive to organize a union at Ford intensified. Nine years later, Henry Ford capitulated and signed a contract with the union. Some of the workers who marched in 1932 sat at the table where a grimacing Harry Bennett, Ford’s top executive, penned his name. PoliticalAffairs.net will be posting an interview with one of the march’s participants next week.
Celebrate International Women’s Day
Next week also marks International Women’s Day. In a statement this past week, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said: 'This day is an opportunity for all of us -- women and men -- to unite in a cause that embraces all humankind. Empowering women is not only a goal in itself. It is a condition for building better lives for everyone on the planet. '
Iraqi Unions Protest Raid
Union activists around the world are protesting the raid by US and Iraqi forces on the offices of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers late last month.
According to LabourStart.org, a British-based pro-union website, US and Iraqi forces raided the head offices of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), the country’s national trade union center. They arrested one of the union’s security staff (later released), destroyed furniture, and confiscated a computer and fax machine. And then they did it again two days later, causing further damage to the union headquarters.
The Federation is demanding the return of the confiscated equipment and reparations for the damages. Go to LabourStart.org to support the union’s demands.
Restore Freedom of Travel to Cuba
A bill which would restore the freedom to travel to Cuba is gathering momentum in the US House of Representatives. According to the Latin American Working Group, HR 654 currently has 76 co-sponsors. The group is urging supporters to contact their representatives to support the bill. After more than 40 years of a US-led embargo of Cuba, this bill would re-open friendlier relations with the island country and promote trade and understanding between our two peoples.
Learn more about these and other stories at PoliticalAffairs.net. Also, look for articles from the March issue of the print edition of Political Affairs with a special focus on women’s equality. Upcoming issues of the print edition will feature stories on alternative energy, an interview with Joelle Fishman of the Communist Party’s political action commission, an analysis of the role of China in disturbing the momentum of US imperialism by contributing editor Gerald Horne, and a look at the meaning and history of US interference in Somalia. Thank you.
