Joe Biden has no respect!!!

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Tuesday August 07, 2007 · 5:01 PM PDT

2007/08/07 · 17:01

During tonight's debate, a woman who not long ago lost her husband in one of the worst mining disasters in recent American history was given the opportunity by her union brothers and sisters to ask a very important question.

She asked Senator Biden, "What would you do prevent another Sago disaster, and to make American workplaces more safe?"

Biden gave her a half-assed rushed answer and went on to talk about his foreign policy credentials. The crowd appropriately booed him. Fuck Joe Biden.

Employee Free Choice Act Passes In House Labor and Education Committee

fartofliving

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Thursday February 15, 2007 · 9:21 AM PST

2007/02/15 · 09:21

Last night, the Employee Free Choice Act passed in the House Committee on Education and Labor and will be sent to the House floor in the coming months. Congratulations and thank you to Rep. George Miller of CA and everyone else whose hard work made this happen.

Evil VP Cheney met this morning with leading corporatists to plan their strategy to undermine workers' rights.

THE fight to restore America's middle class has begun! Join Up!

Inspiration below the fold...

fartofliving

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Friday December 29, 2006 · 3:37 PM PST

2006/12/29 · 15:37

What follows is a summary/synthesis of empirical studies that reveal rampant employer violations of labor law intended to allow employees to make a free and uncoerced choice about whether to join or support a union. Also included is a description of the multi-million dollar union-busting industry. The diary concludes with an outline of the Employee Free Choice Act as a fix for the broken NLRB election/certification process.

Inadequate enforcement of U.S. labor law is a principle reason why workers in the United States may no longer effectively exercise their fundamental right of self-organization for mutual aid and protection. The NLRB certification process not only fails to effectuate the major policy goal of the NLRA in that it fails to promote collective bargaining, but it fails to guarantee internationally recognized fundamental human rights.

In the year 2000, Human Rights Watch, a non-profit international rights monitoring group, published a report that concluded:

"[L]egal obstacles tilt the playing field so steeply against freedom of association that the United States is in violation of international human rights standards for workers."

More about the broken process and how we will fix it...

fartofliving

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Thursday March 30, 2006 · 12:07 PM PST

2006/03/30 · 12:07

While a brainwashed America sits idly by as the ruling corporate oligopoly suffocate their unions, millions of French are in the streets protesting a proposal to introduce limited "employment at will" (the right of the employer to hire and fire for any reason or no reason) for those under 26! Of course, the French recognize this as the beginning of a slippery slope to American style capitalism and they're nipping it in the bud. Which nation's people are really afraid of fighting for their country? Meanwhile, some poor underpaid and underemployed fat-ass sitting on his couch in south Georgia, sucking back Big Macs and a Super-sized Coke, not able to even locate Iraq on a map, wallows in what he has been told is his comparatively greater masculinity as some news bimbo glosses over the underlying political/economic issues to tell him how crazy those French have always been.

Watch the US news media focus on "violence" and "unruliness"... paid fascist enablers... Its shameful that the only people who will take the streets to defend their rights in America are not even Americans! Viva Mexico too...
Read More

Union Busting Kills Miners (Part II)

fartofliving

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Friday January 20, 2006 · 5:52 AM PST

2006/01/20 · 05:52

International Coal Group continues its openly anti-union tactics at the expense of miner safety and in violation of statute.

ICG has illegally opposed the request of at least two miners at the West Virginia Sago mine who seek union representation throughout the disaster investigation.

Federal law is clear. Two or more workers "acting in concert" are entitled to the protection of a democractically accountable union that will look out for their interests. The company will only look out for its profit interests and the Mine Safety and Health Comittee is complicit - that's probably how this disaster happened in the first place.

See below... Read More

Union-Busting Kills Miners

fartofliving

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Tuesday January 03, 2006 · 12:40 PM PST

2006/01/03 · 12:40

International Coal Group (ICG) now owns and operates Sago mine (under the name of a subsidiary.)

The mine was formerly owned by Horizon Mining, which went bankrupt to avoid paying its contractual obligation to union retirees for healthcare costs (including black lung claims. Black lung kills and debilitates far more many miners than explosions, but doesn't make for dramatic news coverage.)

International Coal Group's business plan consists in part of buying bankrupt mining operations after union contracts are voided by federal bankrupcy courts. ICG openly boasts of its union-busting and avoidance tactics.

In the absence of government regulation, union power is the only way miner's can assure their own safety. When their unions are busted, they lose that ability - and the mining companies will not pay for safety maintenance and upgrades out of the goodness of their own hearts - MSHA won't force them. They're alone and trapped.

See More (for more extensive documentation)... Read More

CORPORATE ATTACK ON PRESS FREEDOM IN MIAMI

fartofliving

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Saturday July 30, 2005 · 2:02 PM PDT

2005/07/30 · 14:02

A classic tale of corporate media suppressing journalists who don't toe the line? It began with a suicide in the lobby of the Miami Herald building. Former city commissioner, Art Teele, shot himself after speaking with reporter Jim Defede. Defede, who had built a reputation for exposing the misdeeds of Miami's powerbrokers, including the parent company of the Herald, was the last person to speak with Teele before his death. Defede tape recorded the conversation. Defede, on his own initiative, told his bosses at the Herald that he had inadvertantly and illegally taped the commissioner's last words. In Florida, taping someone without their permission is against the law - a misdemeanor. Defede was fired within minutes. The real question - why was the decision to fire him made in such a rush? Many of Defede's colleagues have stated publicly that the suicide and taping was a pretext to get rid of a good journalist - a real muckraker. Read More

Knight Ridder Fires Miami Herald Muckraker

fartofliving

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 30, 2005 · 10:35 AM PDT

2005/07/30 · 10:35

A classic tale of corporate media suppressing journalists who don't toe the line? It began with a suicide in lobby of the Miami Herald building. Former city commissioner, Art Teele, shot himself after speaking with reporter Jim Defede. Defede, who had built a reputation for exposing the misdeeds of Miami's powerbrokers, was the last person to speak with Teele before his death. Defede tape recorded the conversation. Defede, on his own initiative, told his bosses at the Herald that he had a tape of the commissioner's last words. In Florida, taping someone without their permission is against the law - a misdemeanor. Defede was fired within minutes. The real question - why was the decision to fire him made in such a rush? Many of Defede's colleagues have stated publicly that the suicide and taping was a pretext to get rid of a good journalist - a real muckraker. Read More

Knight Ridder Silences Miami Herald Reporter after Politician Commits Suicide - Pretext

fartofliving

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Friday July 29, 2005 · 6:45 PM PDT

2005/07/29 · 18:45

(Former) Miami Herald reporter Jim Defede wrote many stories that were offensive to powerful Miami interests,right wing Cuban-American extremists, and even the Herald's parent company, Knight Ridder. He accused them of cutting staff to increase profits. A couple of days ago he was fired in the midst of a bizzare series of events that included a former county commissioner walking into the lobby of the Miami Herald and putting two bullets into the back of his own head - read the story by following the links on this page (note how many Herald staffers signed their names) - http://journalistsfordefede.blogspot.com/.

A Washington Post story detailing the suicide and firing of Defede is here - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072802095.html

A New York Times story here - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/29/national/29miami.html

Call the Herald (www.miami.com), especially if you live in Miami. Add a comment to: journalistsfordefede.blogspot.com Read More

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Joe Biden has no respect!!!

Employee Free Choice Act Passes In House Labor and Education Committee

Extensive Research: Union Busting & the Employee Free Choice Act

Vive la France! (y Mexico tambien) Workers of the World Unite!

Union Busting Kills Miners (Part II)

Union-Busting Kills Miners

CORPORATE ATTACK ON PRESS FREEDOM IN MIAMI

Knight Ridder Fires Miami Herald Muckraker

Knight Ridder Silences Miami Herald Reporter after Politician Commits Suicide - Pretext