Monday, September 30, 2013
Today in Labor History
September 30 --
A total of 29 strike leaders are charged
with treason—plotting "to incite insurrection, rebellion & war
against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"—for daring to strike the
Carnegie Steel Co. in Homestead, Pa. Jurors refuse to convict them -
1892
Seventy-year-old Mother Jones organizes
the wives of striking miners in Arnot, Pa., to descend on the mine with
brooms, mops and clanging pots and pans. They frighten away the mules
and their scab drivers. The miners eventually won their strike - 1899
(The Autobiography of Mother Jones: Mary Harris Jones—“Mother Jones”—was the most dynamic woman ever to grace the American labor movement. Employers and politicians around the turn of the century called her “the most dangerous woman in America” and rebellious working men and women loved her as they never loved anyone else.)
Railroad shopmen in 28 cities strike the
Illinois Central Railroad and the Harriman lines for an 8-hour day,
improved conditions and union recognition, but railroad officials obtain
sweeping injunctions against them and rely on police and armed guards
to protect strikebreakers - 1915
Black farmers meet in Elaine, Ark., to
establish the Progressive Farmers and Householders Union to fight for
better pay and higher cotton prices. They are shot at by a group of
whites, and return the fire. News of the confrontation spread and a riot
ensued, leaving at least 100, perhaps several hundred, blacks dead and
67 indicted for inciting violence - 1919
Cesar Chavez, with Delores Huerta,
co-founds the National Farm Workers Association, which later was to
become the United Farm Workers of America - 1962
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Gannett Blog: Why Obamacare could slash my medical costs 84% and...
Gannett Blog: Why Obamacare could slash my medical costs 84% and...: Gannett's sweeping new 2014 employee health plan is based on the much-debated concept of consumer-driven health care . The theory: Worke...
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Teamster Nation: Workers still really, really want unions
Teamster Nation: Workers still really, really want unions: Many American workers are treated badly on the job, as we have pointed out in our never-ending series of posts about their desire to join o...
Gannett Blog: In new med plan, a worker named Maria suffers; lit...
Gannett Blog: In new med plan, a worker named Maria suffers; lit...: As employees dig deeper into Gannett's new health insurance plan, it's become painfully clear the sweeping changes will have devast...
Today in Labor History
September 28 --
The International Workingmen’s Association is founded in London. It was an international organization trying to unite a variety of different left-wing, socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and unions. It functioned for about 12 years, growing to a membership declared to be eight million, before being disbanded at its Philadelphia conference in 1876, victim of infight
The International Workingmen’s Association is founded in London. It was an international organization trying to unite a variety of different left-wing, socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and unions. It functioned for about 12 years, growing to a membership declared to be eight million, before being disbanded at its Philadelphia conference in 1876, victim of infight
Friday, September 27, 2013
Meet 2013 Mr. America, Christian Motivational Speaker, John Heart
Against all odds, husband, father, personal trainer, speaker and most
importantly-- man of FAITH, John Heart won the light heavy weight title
in 2012. Then in 2013 he trained the entire year to go back for ONLY ONE
ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME-- WINNING the Light Heavyweight class AGAIN and the
OVERALL Mr. America Title. Remember, FAILURE is an opinion NOT an event.
It's NEVER too late for your hearts desires to come to pass! Watch this
video and be inspired by a man who wouldn't quit no matter what "they
said" the odds are! Invite Mr. America 2013, John Heart to SUPERCHARGE
your church, corporation, civic, academic or faith-based event and help
someone WIN at the Race of Life. Visit www.IntenseHeart.com or call
(626) 292-2258 to book.
Friday Night in the Blogosphere
Los Angeles Times Press Crew about 1985
Tribune aims to cut publishing costs by 5 percent - Crain's
New med plan is 'a pay cut, plain and simple' - Gannett Blog
Tribune blasts report about newspaper budget cuts - Romenesko
Tribune likely to cut newspaper staff: report - Chicago Sun-Times
Fourteen Condé Nast Traveler employees were laid off yesterday - Capital NY
New sites show how digital media is helping drive innovation - Editors Weblog
Sun and the Sunday Mirror suffer sales drops after cover price hikes - Guardian
Hal Varian: the economics of the newspaper business - International Journalism
GateHouse Media Inc. files prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy - Patriot Ledger
PATH - Making it Home
PATH
will help 1,100 Veterans move into permanent housing this year. But
many won't have the resources to buy basic furniture and supplies.
Donate to help a Vet make it home, and the Steve and Rita Emerson
Veterans Fund will match contributions up to $25,000.
http://www.epath.org/
http://www.epath.org/
The Pavement Perspective: US filmmaker Rotimi Rainwater leads way with SUGAR...
The Pavement Perspective: US filmmaker Rotimi Rainwater leads way with SUGAR...: The SUGAR Film Project aims to 'make life a little sweeter for homeless youth'. The drama stars Shenae Grimes, of 90210 fame, and d...
Gannett Blog: Here's the red carpet medical care top execs get
Gannett Blog: Here's the red carpet medical care top execs get: At Gannett, VIP stands for very important perquisites. As Gannett ratchets up the cost of health insurance for regular workers, it pay...
Top Five Things I Didn't Learn in J-School
Self-catering is the first lesson in Stephanie Tsoflias' Mediabistro video about the "Top Five Things I Didn't Learn in J-School."
"You're going to be the only person over 30 to pack a brown-bag lunch," she says. "That's because it's the only balanced meal you'll get that day, and plus you don't want to spend every penny you're making."
"You're going to be the only person over 30 to pack a brown-bag lunch," she says. "That's because it's the only balanced meal you'll get that day, and plus you don't want to spend every penny you're making."
Today in Labor History
September 27 --
Striking textile workers in Fall River, Mass., demand bread for their starving children - 1875
The Int’l Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times and begins a boycott that runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. Although the ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s, the Times
remained totally nonunion until 2009, when the GCIU—now the Graphic
Communications Conference of the Teamsters—organized the pressroom -
1893
Int’l Ladies' Garment Workers Union begins strike against Triangle Shirtwaist Co. This would become the "Uprising of the 20,000," 
resulting
in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the
union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two
years later - 1909
resulting
in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the
union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two
years later - 1909(Triangle: The Fire that Changed America: On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in New York City. Within minutes it engulfed three upper floors, burning to death—or causing to jump to their deaths—146 workers, 123 of them women, some as young as 15. The garment factory was a sweatshop, employing mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrants, and was typical of thousands of other such hellholes throughout the city, complete with locked exit doors and useless fire escapes. It was the worst workplace disaster in the city’s history and ultimately led to the beginnings of workplace safety and health laws—and an increased understanding that the presence of unions could help prevent more such tragedies.)
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Thursday Night in the Blogosphere
Tribune boss orders $100 million in cuts - Robert Feder
USA Today president: ‘No plan exists’ for paywall - Poynter
The world's oldest newspaper goes digital only - Courier Mail
New Insights On Newspapers' Mobile Audience - Net News Check
Jeff Bezos is both right and wrong about newspapers - Paid Content
August was a wild month in the world of newspapers - Toni McQuilken
Newspaper Carrier Finishes Route in Floodwaters - Editor and Publisher
Tweet This - Why paywalls are failing the news industry - Catholic Online
Free Kindles for Washington Post subscribers coming soon? - Romenesko
The Star-Ledger reaches deal with 4 unions, avoids shutdown - Star-Ledger
Gannett Blog: You may pay more of your real med costs in 2014; e...
Gannett Blog: You may pay more of your real med costs in 2014; e...: Gannett's newest campaign to rein in health care costs stems partly from something thousands of employees and retirees don't fully ...
Today in Labor History
September 27 --
Striking textile workers in Fall River, Mass., demand bread for their starving children - 1875
The Int’l Typographical Union renews a strike against the Los Angeles Times and begins a boycott that runs intermittently from 1896 to 1908. A local anti-Times committee in 1903 persuades William Randolph Hearst to start a rival paper, the Los Angeles Examiner. Although the ITU kept up the fight into the 1920s, the Times
remained totally nonunion until 2009, when the GCIU—now the Graphic
Communications Conference of the Teamsters—organized the pressroom -
1893
Int’l Ladies' Garment Workers Union begins strike against Triangle Shirtwaist Co. This would become the "Uprising of the 20,000," resulting
in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the
union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two
years later - 1909
resulting
in 339 of 352 struck firms—but not Triangle—signing agreements with the
union. The Triangle fire that killed 246 would occur less than two
years later - 1909(Triangle: The Fire that Changed America: On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in New York City. Within minutes it engulfed three upper floors, burning to death—or causing to jump to their deaths—146 workers, 123 of them women, some as young as 15. The garment factory was a sweatshop, employing mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrants, and was typical of thousands of other such hellholes throughout the city, complete with locked exit doors and useless fire escapes. It was the worst workplace disaster in the city’s history and ultimately led to the beginnings of workplace safety and health laws—and an increased understanding that the presence of unions could help prevent more such tragedies.)
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Jeff Bezos talks about future of printed newspaper
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Wednesday Night in the Blogosphere
Completed newspapers flowing from the printing press
GCI's shares hit two 52-week high today - Gannett Blog
More offline adults says the Internet is too hard to use - Poynter
Why the TV industry won’t go the way of newspapers - Gigaom
GOP’s Defunding Mania: Instant Constitutional Crisis - Robert Reich
Smile, Dow Jones employees, you’re on coffee bar camera - Romenesko
Two longtime area newspapers have a new look today - Brainerd Dispatch
MailOnline ad revenues offset falls at chain’s newspapers - Financial Times
‘Obamacare’ causing trouble for newspapers that endorsed the law - The Blaze
Judge rejects effort to end newspaper operating agreement - Las Vegas Review-Journal
Printing - 1947 - Printing Press Work and Use
How a printing press was run in the olden days. Work for MEN. Still, a
long way from when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in
1445.
Los Angeles Times Editor Davan Maharaj memo to Staff
Davan Maharaj
Editor and Executive Vice President,
Los Angeles Times
Editor and Executive Vice President,
Los Angeles Times
Today in Labor History
September 25 --
American photographer Lewis Hine born in Oshkosh, Wisc. - 1874
(Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor: Your heart will be broken by this exceptional book’s photographs of children at backbreaking, often life-threatening work, and the accompanying commentary by author Russell Freedman. Photographer Lewis Hine – who himself died in poverty in 1940 – did as much, and perhaps more, than any social critic in the early part of the 20th century to expose the abuse of children, as young as three and four, by American capitalism.)
Two
African-American sharecroppers are killed during an ultimately
unsuccessful cotton-pickers strike in Lee County, Ark. By the time the
strike had been suppressed, 15 African-Americans had died and another six had been imprisoned. A white plantation manager was killed as well - 1891 ~De
The Cotton Pickers Strike of 1891 was an ill-conceived attempt by a
group of African-American sharecroppers in Lee County, perhaps loosely
affiliated with the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Union
(commonly called the Colored Famers’ Alliance), to increase the wages
they received from local planters for picking cotton. By the time a
white mob put down the strike, more than a dozen African Americans and
one white man had been killed.
The Colored Farmers’ Alliance was founded in Texas in 1886 as the black counterpart to the Farmers’ Alliance, an all-white organization that was part of the late nineteenth-century populist, agrarian reform movement. The Colored Farmers’ Alliance spread quickly throughout the South, claiming a membership of more than one million just four years after its founding. In 1891, alliance founder and spokesman R. M. Humphrey, a white man, hatched a plan to organize a national strike of black cotton pickers in order to raise their wages. At the time, many white landowners conspired with each other to keep wages miserably low for their black workers, and local law enforcement often rounded up African Americans on vagrancy charges and forced them to work off their fines on select plantations, a practice known as peonage. Humphrey was convinced that direct action needed to be taken to combat these crimes, but many in the alliance disagreed, citing the inability of the organization to provide any protection for striking farmers. The proposed national strike date of September 12 came and went with only a handful of cotton pickers in eastern Texas withholding their labor.
Just over a week later, however, cotton pickers in Lee County, organized by Ben Patterson of Memphis, Tennessee, went on strike after word spread that J. F. Frank, a Memphian visiting land he owned in the area, had stated that, if need be, he would pay one dollar per hundred pounds rather than the going rate of fifty cents. On September 20, cotton pickers working for Colonel H. P. Rodgers demanded an increase in their wages. Strike leaders subsequently traveled throughout the county urging others to join the movement, though with little success. In fact, conflict between strikers and non-strikers resulted in two cotton pickers being killed on September 25. In response, the county sheriff organized a posse to seek out Patterson and his followers. The situation was made worse for the strikers on September 28 after two of them killed Frank’s plantation manager, Tom Miller; another group burned down a cotton gin.
By September 29, the strikers were on the run, many of them having fled to Cat Island, located on the Mississippi River east of Horseshoe Lake (Crittenden County). The white posse stormed the island, killing two strikers and capturing nine; those captured were later seized by masked men as they were being transported to Marianna (Lee County) and subsequently hanged. Patterson managed to board a steamboat, but he, too, was killed once the crew learned his identity. By the time the mob finished suppressing the strike, it had killed fifteen African Americans and imprisoned another six.
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4267
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere
The Homeless of L.A. - Behance
Protecting journalism v journalists - Jeff Jarvis
Popular Science pulls the plug on comments - Romenesko
Conrad Black: The newspapers strike back - National Post
Belo said to have 70% shareholder support for deal - Gannett Blog
In Sickness and In Health: Defending Obamacare - Frying Pan News
No new TV viewers or newspaper subscribers are being born - Poynter
USA Today Publisher – Newspapers Must Be Conversation-Starters - The Wrap
Washington Post launches Topicly, a new visual news platform - Editors Weblog
Newspapers still enjoyable; don't forget to thank local journalists - Aurora Advocate
Let's Get Ready For Obamacare
Thanks to Obamacare, millions of families receive free or low-cost healthcare—and SEIU-UHW is taking the lead to make sure everyone who is eligible gets covered.
If you or someone you know needs healthcare coverage, just complete the form to the right and an enrollment specialist will help you get covered. If you live in LA County, you can also call our enrollment hotline at 323-888-8113.
Want to take action to help uninsured Californians get healthcare? Just fill out the form to find out how you can help bring Obamacare to all of California!
Gannett Blog: Here is an FAQ explaining medical plan changes
Gannett Blog: Here is an FAQ explaining medical plan changes: The document in .pdf format was apparently issued today with information about changes coming to Gannett's employee medical coverage...
Question: How does a participant pay for a medical expense? Explain the process.
Answer: It apparently involves four steps, as follows.
Question: How does a participant pay for a medical expense? Explain the process.
Answer: It apparently involves four steps, as follows.
- A participant has a health event, visits a pharmacy, or doctor for treatment.
- The participant is responsible for the full cost of his or her health care expenses until the deductible is met. The participant can choose to pay for the medical expense with available funds from their HSA or pay another way and let the HSA grow.
- Once the deductible is met, the plan coverage begins and the participant and the plan pay co-insurance.
- The participant is protected with an out-of-pocket limit. After that limit is reached, the plan pays 100% of covered expenses.
Clearly in this case, the dollar amount of your annual deductible is key to understanding your new effective annual medical costs.
Today in Labor History
September 24 --
Canada declares the Wobblies illegal - 1918 ~De
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international industrial union that was formed in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain.
The IWW promotes the concept of "One Big Union", contends that all workers should be united as a social class and that capitalism and wage labor should be abolished. They are known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, in which workers elect their managers and other forms of grassroots democracy (self-management) are implemented. IWW membership does not require that one work in a represented workplace, nor does it exclude membership in another labor union.
The IWW was active in Canada from a very early point in the organization's history, especially in Western Canada, primarily in British Columbia. The union was active in organizing large swaths of the lumber and mining industry along the coast, in the Interior of BC, and Vancouver Island. Joe Hill wrote the song "Where the Fraser River Flows" during this period when the IWW was organizing in British Columbia. Some members of the IWW had relatively close links with the Socialist Party of Canada.
Arthur "Slim" Evans, organizer in the Relief Camp Workers' Union and the On-to-Ottawa Trek was once a Wobbly, although during the On-to-Ottawa Trek he was with the One Big Union. He was also a friend of another well-known Canadian, Ginger Goodwin, who was shot in Cumberland, British Columbia by a Dominion Police constable when he was resisting the First World War. The impact of Ginger Goodwin influenced various left and progressive groups in Canada, including a progressive group of MPs in the House of Commons called the Ginger Group.
Today the IWW remains active in the country with numerous branches in Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor and Montréal. The largest branch is currently in Edmonton.
Among current and more notable IWW shops in Canada is the Ottawa Panhandlers' Union, which continues a tradition in the IWW of organizing disenfranchised workers on relief or in work camps started during the Great Depression. In the spirit of organizing industrially, any who make their living in the street, such as buskers, street vendors, or panhandlers are welcome to join the Ottawa Panhandlers' Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World
Listen to the song
Utah Phillips - Where the Fraser River Flows (by Joe Hill)
http://youtu.be/7Rww4Fx5NeY
#zeroLRA - Stand for nothing
Invisible Children's newest campaign - #zeroLRA. Stand for nothing. No
child soldiers, no killing, and no war. Celebrate everything. Every
escape, every name, and every life. Help children, women, and abducted
soldiers escape from the LRA and return home. Every escape is a step
closer to #zeroLRA.
Gannett Blog: Are health insurance premiums rising 20% to 50%?
Gannett Blog: Are health insurance premiums rising 20% to 50%?: I'm told employee premiums will jump 20% to 50% starting next year under the just-announced change to Gannett's medical plan for ne...
Monday, September 23, 2013
Monday Night in the Blogosphere
Taken at 5th and San Julian in the heart of Skid Row Los Angeles
There are 572 Printing Pressman jobs - Jobs 2 Careers
News Corp’s $2bn Australian bloodbath - Financial Review
Kenyan newspaper flipped bloody photo on front page - Poynter
GCI discloses big shift in employee medical plans - Gannett Blog
News Corp’s $2bn Australian bloodbath - Financial Review
Kenyan newspaper flipped bloody photo on front page - Poynter
GCI discloses big shift in employee medical plans - Gannett Blog
Former Tribune Co shareholders notch legal victory - Chicago Tribune
Mercury News selling headquarters to Super Micro - SV Business Journal
There’s one good thing about the newspaper industry decline - Paid Content
Attention world leaders! Message for Americans? Try a newspaper op-ed - NBC
White Supremacist Town Forming? North Dakota Man Plots Takeover - Newsmax
New International Standard to Reduce Print Industry's Footprint - My Print Resource
Today in Labor History
September 23 --
The Workingman's Advocate of Chicago publishes the first installment of The Other Side,
by Martin A. Foran, president of the Coopers' Int’l Union. Believed to
be the first novel by a trade union leader and some say the first
working-class novel ever published in the U.S. - 1868
(Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams: Rock stars, poets, filmmakers, activists, novelists, and historians lend their voices to this entertaining collection about the daily grind. From the folk anthems of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie to the poems of Walt Whitman and Amiri Baraka; from the stories of Willa Cather and Bret Lott to the rabble-rousing work of Michael Moore, and from the White Stripes’ “The Big Three Killed My Baby” to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” this great collection touches upon all aspects of working-class life.)
The Workingman's Advocate of Chicago publishes the first installment of The Other Side,
by Martin A. Foran, president of the Coopers' Int’l Union. Believed to
be the first novel by a trade union leader and some say the first
working-class novel ever published in the U.S. - 1868(Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams: Rock stars, poets, filmmakers, activists, novelists, and historians lend their voices to this entertaining collection about the daily grind. From the folk anthems of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie to the poems of Walt Whitman and Amiri Baraka; from the stories of Willa Cather and Bret Lott to the rabble-rousing work of Michael Moore, and from the White Stripes’ “The Big Three Killed My Baby” to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” this great collection touches upon all aspects of working-class life.)
A coalition of Knights of Labor and
trade unionists in Chicago launch the United Labor party, calling for an
8-hour day, government ownership of telegraph and telephone companies,
and monetary and land reform. The party elects seven state assembly men
and one senator - 1886
A 42-month strike by Steelworkers at Bayou Steel in Louisiana ends in a new contract and the ousting of scabs - 1996
California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signs legislation making the state the first to offer workers paid family leave - 2002
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Kid's Response Melts Drill Sergeant's Heart
And that's how you incapacitate a drill instructor without lifting a finger.
Gannett Blog: Butterfly | Why wasn't it given a better name?
Gannett Blog: Butterfly | Why wasn't it given a better name?: A distressed Anonymous@9:29 a.m. writes : "Don't they do research before they name anything? Google 'butterfly project,' a...
Today in Labor History
September 22 --
Emancipation Proclamation signed - 1862
Eighteen-year-old Hannah (Annie) Shapiro
leads a spontaneous walkout of 17 women at a Hart Schaffner & Marx
garment factory in Chicago. It grows into a months-long mass strike
involving 40,000 garment workers across the city, protesting 10-hour
days, bullying bosses and cuts in already-low wages - 1910
Great Steel Strike begins; 350,000
workers demand union recognition. The AFL Iron and Steel Organizing
Committee calls off the strike, their goal unmet, 108 days later - 1919
Martial law rescinded in Mingo County,
W. Va., after police, U.S. troops and hired goons finally quell coal
miners' strike - 1922
U.S. Steel announces it will cut the wages of 220,000 workers by 10 percent - 1931
United Textile Workers strike committee
orders strikers back to work after 22 days out, ending what was at that
point the greatest single industrial conflict in the history of American
organized labor. The strike involved some 400,000 workers in New
England, the mid-Atlantic states and the South - 1934
Some 400,000 coal miners strike for higher wages in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois and Ohio - 1935
The AFL expels the Int’l Longshoremen's
Association for racketeering; the union was readmitted to the
then-AFL-CIO six years later - 1953
OSHA reaches its largest ever settlement
agreement, $21 million, with BP Products North America following an
explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas, plant earlier in the year that
killed 15 and injured 170 - 2005
(Tools of the Trade: A Health and Safety Handbook for Action: This 180-page book is a valuable resource for those who want to promote worker health and safety while building their unions and community groups at the same time. It includes: Examples of successful workplace health and safety campaigns; Strategies to actively engage workers in advocating for their own protection; Specific tools for winning safety improvements, such as collecting information, using legal rights, working with the community; Step-by-step instructions for using these tools, complete with checklists, forms and resources.)
Eleven Domino's employees in Pensacola, Fla., form the nation's first union of pizza delivery drivers - 2006
Blue Earth Digital Printing Employees Unanimously Ratify First Contract
Blue Earth Digital Printing Employees Unanimously Ratify First Contract
(Left to Right)
International Organizer, Marty Keegan,
Gilbert Bonada
Sheldon Ferdinand
Vivian M. Escalante
Osmen Molina
Adan S. Ramirez
GCC/IBT Local 140~N President, Ronnie Pineda
Photo by Jorge Perez
Employees
of Blue Earth Digital Printing located in Culver City, Ca. voted
unanimously to ratify a first time contract that was negotiated on their
behalf by International Representative, Mike Huggins and Myself with
Blue Earth Digital Printing Owner, Fernando Bonada. International Lead
Organizer, Marty Keegan was available to answer questions during the
process of meeting with the owner, Fernando and when meeting with the
employees to answer questions.
This
whole process with Blue Earth was unique from the very beginning for
the simple fact that the employer, Fernando, contacted our Union office
in order to Organize his print shop. Fernando explained that if it
weren't for Unions there would be no middle class. Fernando further
stated that he was previously employed in a union shop as was his father
and has seen how it helped his family growing up.
Fernando's legacy continues because our new Brother, Sheldon Ferdinand,
is
his Son and works in the shop with his Dad. Family businesses are in
need of protection from big corporations and companies that make it
difficult for the mom and pop print shops of the past to make a profit
or exist any longer for that matter. We have the opportunity to organize
such shops and encourage our network of Union businesses to utilize our
union print shops to create the work they seek.
Fernando,
once being a Union member, understands the role unions have played in
improving the lives of is members and wishes to bring the same benefits
to his shop.
Please welcome them to our family and consider having your printing needs met by Blue Earth Digital Printing
International Organizer, Marty Keegan,
Gilbert Bonada
Sheldon Ferdinand
Vivian M. Escalante
Osmen Molina
Adan S. Ramirez
GCC/IBT Local 140~N President, Ronnie Pineda
Photo by Jorge Perez
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Saturday Night in the Blogosphere
This is how many Americans will be sleeping tonight
Twitter: The angriest site on the Internet? - CNN Tech
Busted In Middle School -- For Midol - Advice Goddess
Fort Myers | It's a very s-l-o-w news night here - Gannett Blog
Layoffs are cutting newspapers’ brain, heart - The Salt Lake Tribune
Letter from ‘W. McAvoy’ is a passage from ‘Newsroom’ - Romenesko
Ban Ki-Moon Accused of Union-Busting at UN - Broadcast Union News
It's harder than ever to avoid your picture going public - Detroit Free-Press
A Touch of Class: Knowing Our Place on the Social Ladder - Frying Pan News
Nudist released on probation for delivering newspapers in the buff - Lehigh Valley
BitWall Allows Publishers To Make Money Through Micropayments - Tech Crunch
The people on Skid-row are regular people
The man on the left is the person who hired homeless people from Skid-row to wait in line for him to buy the new iPhone. When the store finally opened and he found out that they couldn't actually purchase the phones, he decided that he wasn't going to compensate the people who stood in line for hours. People who stood in line and slept in the open for around 12 hours overnight.
Neither did he arrange transport for them to go back to Skid-row as he had done to bring them to Pasadena to the store. This left around 75 homeless people stranded in Pasadena and lead to a disturbance which ended in 2 people being arrested.
You are not low if you are poor or you live on Skid-row. You are low when you use people like they are disposable, and toss them out when they are of no use to you!
The people on Skid-row are regular people like you and me who just fell on hard times. Most of these people are actually amazing human beings. It's just not their time to shine just yet!
Read the LA Times article on this incident here: http://www.latimes.com/
Neither did he arrange transport for them to go back to Skid-row as he had done to bring them to Pasadena to the store. This left around 75 homeless people stranded in Pasadena and lead to a disturbance which ended in 2 people being arrested.
You are not low if you are poor or you live on Skid-row. You are low when you use people like they are disposable, and toss them out when they are of no use to you!
The people on Skid-row are regular people like you and me who just fell on hard times. Most of these people are actually amazing human beings. It's just not their time to shine just yet!
Read the LA Times article on this incident here: http://www.latimes.com/
SOURCE: MONDAY NIGHT MISSION
Today in Labor History
September 21 --
Militia sent to Leadville, Colo., to break miners’ strike - 1896
Mother Jones leads a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston, W. Va. - 1912
National Football League Players
Association members begin what is to become a 57-day strike, their first
regular-season walkout ever - 1982
Members of five unions at the Frontier
Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas begin what was to become the longest
successful hotel strike in U.S. history. All 550 workers honored the
picket line for the entirety of the 6-year, 4-month, 10-day fight
against management’s insistence on cutting wages and eliminating
pensions - 1991
Gannett Blog: USAT | N.Y. firm files lawsuit over Hilton portal;...
Gannett Blog: USAT | N.Y. firm files lawsuit over Hilton portal;...: A New York City publisher and technology consultant has sued USA Today over development services it provided for a digital news portal cal...
Friday, September 20, 2013
The Syria documentary film "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" by Matthew VanDyke
"Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" is a 15 minute documentary film
about the war in Syria, directed by American Matthew VanDyke (a former
prisoner of war and combat veteran of the Libyan Revolution in 2011 - http://www.matthewvandyke.com), and produced by Matthew VanDyke and Nour Kelze (a Syrian journalist who is also the star of the film).
The film tells the story of the Syrian struggle for freedom as experienced by a 32 year old rebel commander, Mowya, and a 24 year old female journalist, Nour Kelze, in Aleppo, Syria.
The film clearly and concisely shows why the Syrian people are fighting for their freedom, told through the emotional words of two powerful characters whose lives have been turned upside down and torn apart by war.
This documentary film was a very personal project for director Matthew VanDyke. Having fought in the Libyan Revolution in 2011, he identified with Syrian Revolution and was compelled to make a film that would show the world who the Syrian rebels are and what they are fighting for. In this spirit, he hopes to eventually release the film in 20 languages so that people around the world can truly understand the fight for freedom in Syria.
Filming in Syria was dangerous and difficult. VanDyke and Kelze faced aerial bombardment, artillery, mortars, snipers, and the persistent threat of kidnapping. In addition, VanDyke was branded a terrorist by the Assad regime on the Syrian State TV channels.
This will take a continuous effort. Please step up and join the team. Each of you must do your part each day to spread this film and its message if it is going to have the impact it was created to have.
If you care about Syria, about humanity, about the right of men and women to choose their own leaders and destiny, about liberty and justice for ALL, then this is YOUR film.
Use it to make your impact on this revolution!
The film tells the story of the Syrian struggle for freedom as experienced by a 32 year old rebel commander, Mowya, and a 24 year old female journalist, Nour Kelze, in Aleppo, Syria.
The film clearly and concisely shows why the Syrian people are fighting for their freedom, told through the emotional words of two powerful characters whose lives have been turned upside down and torn apart by war.
This documentary film was a very personal project for director Matthew VanDyke. Having fought in the Libyan Revolution in 2011, he identified with Syrian Revolution and was compelled to make a film that would show the world who the Syrian rebels are and what they are fighting for. In this spirit, he hopes to eventually release the film in 20 languages so that people around the world can truly understand the fight for freedom in Syria.
Filming in Syria was dangerous and difficult. VanDyke and Kelze faced aerial bombardment, artillery, mortars, snipers, and the persistent threat of kidnapping. In addition, VanDyke was branded a terrorist by the Assad regime on the Syrian State TV channels.
This will take a continuous effort. Please step up and join the team. Each of you must do your part each day to spread this film and its message if it is going to have the impact it was created to have.
If you care about Syria, about humanity, about the right of men and women to choose their own leaders and destiny, about liberty and justice for ALL, then this is YOUR film.
Use it to make your impact on this revolution!
Ramona Middle School Drug Free
La Verne, California
After picking up my granddaughter from Ramona Middle school we chatted on her day and I asked; "Anything unusual happen today?" Most of the time her answer is no, just another day at school, but today she said yes.
She explained to me that the La Verne Police Department paid a visit to the school with drug sniffing dogs in tow, but she wasn't sure if they visited all the classrooms or just her particular class?
After introducing himself and the dog and explaining what they were about to do, the dog went to work sniffing the thirteen and fourteen year olds back packs, seeking illegal drugs of any type.
Unfortunately for my granddaughter, the dog starting acting oddly when it came upon her back pack, so without requesting permission, the officer began searching through her things, and hit pay dirt.
Yes the officer pulled prepackaged pills from her back pack and asked her "what is this?" And she explained it was used to stop back pain and cramps. Then he asked, in front of all of her classmates "do you really need this?" Is it really his business to ask?
As we waste billions to combat drugs, the war on drugs was lost many years ago.
Here's what was discovered in her back pack.
After picking up my granddaughter from Ramona Middle school we chatted on her day and I asked; "Anything unusual happen today?" Most of the time her answer is no, just another day at school, but today she said yes.
She explained to me that the La Verne Police Department paid a visit to the school with drug sniffing dogs in tow, but she wasn't sure if they visited all the classrooms or just her particular class?
After introducing himself and the dog and explaining what they were about to do, the dog went to work sniffing the thirteen and fourteen year olds back packs, seeking illegal drugs of any type.
Unfortunately for my granddaughter, the dog starting acting oddly when it came upon her back pack, so without requesting permission, the officer began searching through her things, and hit pay dirt.
Yes the officer pulled prepackaged pills from her back pack and asked her "what is this?" And she explained it was used to stop back pain and cramps. Then he asked, in front of all of her classmates "do you really need this?" Is it really his business to ask?
As we waste billions to combat drugs, the war on drugs was lost many years ago.
Here's what was discovered in her back pack.
Today in Labor History
September 20 --
Upton Sinclair, socialist and author of The Jungle—published on this day in 1906—born in Baltimore, Md. - 1878
According to folklorist John Garst,
steel-drivin’ man John Henry, born a slave, outperformed a steam hammer
on this date at the Coosa Mountain Tunnel or the Oak Mountain Tunnel of
the Columbus and Western Railway (now part of the Norfolk Southern) near
Leeds, Ala. Other researchers place the contest near Talcott, W. Va. -
1887
Int’l Hod Carriers, Building & Common Laborers Union of America changes name to Laborers' Int’l Union - 1965
September 19
Chinese coal miners forced out of Black Diamond, Wash. - 1885
Between 400,000 and 500,000 unionists
converge on Washington D.C., for a Solidarity Day march and rally
protesting Republican policies - 1981
Friday Morning in the Blogosphere
A Census of Poverty - Frying Pan News
A brief history of newspaper lingo - The Week
Learning with newspapers - Albert Lea Tribune
Trust in Media Recovers Slightly From All-Time Low - Gallup
Reuters is suffering the same fate as newspapers - Paid Content
Spoiler alert: Parsing those Butterfly communiqués - Gannett Blog
New York Times Co. pays dividend for first time since 2008 - Poynter
Notice the difference in Grand Theft Auto ad treatment - Kevin Roderick
Four Gannett newspapers will get a daily USA Today insert - Romenesko
162 Years Ago, The New York Times Began Publishing - Newspaper Alum
Gannett Blog: Butterfly | Welcome to Corporate's talking points
Gannett Blog: Butterfly | Welcome to Corporate's talking points: "We will add more local news and, in partnership with USA Today , we will add more national, sports and lifestyle news." -...
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Today in Labor History
September 18 --
The Teamsters for a Democratic Union
(TDU) is formally founded at an Ohio convention, during a period of
serious corruption in the union. Two years earlier at an IBT convention
in Las Vegas, a union reform leader who (unsuccessfully) called for
direct election of officers and a limit on officers’ salaries had been
beaten by 
thugs - 1978
thugs - 1978
Nine strikebreakers are killed in an
explosion at Giant (gold) Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest
Territories. Miner Roger Warren confessed that he planted the explosives
that caused the deaths. He recanted the confession but later confessed
once again - 1992
A 20-month illegal lockout of 2,900 Steelworkers members at Kaiser Aluminum plants in three states ends when an arbitrator orders a new contract. Kaiser was forced to fire scabs and fork over tens of millions of dollars in back pay to union members - 1999
One week after the September 11, 2001, attacks, anthrax spores are mailed by an unknown party to several news media offices and two U.S. senators. Five people exposed to the spores died, including two workers at Washington, D.C.’s USPS Brentwood facility: Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen - 2001