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Update on Possible Lame Duck Vote on the Colombia FTA

November 12, 2008

Newly designated White House Chief of Staff Rahm
Emanuel challenged President Bush to not focus on the FTA, arguing that the
priority is to extend unemployment insurance and healthcare assistance to
economically-embattled states.  "You don't link those essential needs
to some other trade deal," explained Emanuel. "What you have to deal
with is what's immediate here, and the lame duck is for immediate things that
are important. That's what should be the focus, right now. There's an economic
recovery package in front of the Congress. Washington should get it done."

Who is Larry Summers?

November 7, 2008

Meanwhile, Summers is infamous for a memo he wrote while he was chief economist at the World Bank encouraging the dumping of more waste in Africa.  One of his arguments is that any health consequences related to toxic pollution should be put on low wage countries because it will have a lower long-term economic cost.  He also argues that since the life expectancy is lower anyway in Africa, it makes sense to dump trash there.  Yikes.  As the media has been picking up again on this story, I couldn't help but think about recent campaigns fighting

Celebrate and keep working!

November 5, 2008

It wasn't easy. It took a candidate of remarkable intelligence,
discipline and ease, organizing a truly exemplary campaign. It took the
worst financial catastrophe since the Great Depression; the worst
foreign policy debacle in Iraq since Vietnam. It took the
self-immolation of John McCain. It took Americans deciding not to fall
for the old politics of division -- not this time.

Protecting Workers, Consumers and the Environment: Let’s Get Our Own House in Order

November 4, 2008

To my dismay, as I write this it is evident that the race to the bottom has already reached the US.  Here in the US, we have good labor laws on the books. We also have decent laws protecting communities from environmental degradation, and protecting consumers from unsafe products.  We are apparently little better than China or Brazil, however, in finding the capacity, resources or political will to enforce these laws.  As a consumer, worker and citizen I am alarmed at the extent to which the current Administration has eviscerated the bureaucracies we need to protect us and ensure our legal guarantees to safe and healthy homes, communities and workplaces.

Truck the GAP: Jeff the Trucker is a Better Symbol of America's Workers

November 3, 2008

Oak Harbor proposed raising many retirees' health premiums by $400
to $700 per month. Even though its workers' pension plan is already
substantially below industry standards, Oak Harbor also proposed
freezing contributions for five years. It sought to deny workers
overtime pay for weekend work on GAP business. It also insisted on
prohibiting union representatives from access to workers at their
workplaces.

Instead of negotiating with striking workers in good faith, Oak
Harbor, based in Aurora, Washington, has imported teams of professional
strikebreakers to coerce and scare loyal long-time employees.

A Brief Reminder: The Consumer’s Role in a Globalized Economy

November 1, 2008

But some of the students’ opinions were quickly quieted by the movie. In ‘A Tale of Two Mexicos,’ filmmakers ventured into the homes of factory workers and asked them to reveal their thoughts and experiences of life in the maquiladoras. Each of the workers explained that they had moved to the city for higher pay and job openings. Unfortunately, most to all of these job openings are in the sweatshops. The interviewees repeatedly complained that the nature of the sweatshops has broken down the social fabric of communities and reduced people to mere objects. Long work hours and overbearing management cause people’s lives to revolve around the factories, where they are dehumanized by constant labor.

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