www.whatnowtoons.com Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make. Less than a month ago, every mainstream mass media outlet, U.S. politician, economic analyst, and probably the majority of average citizens would still have been singing the praises of the unfettered free market. Regulation was still a dirty word and privatization was still equated with efficiency and prosperity. Granted, the sand had already begun to shift under this ideological edifice of 30+ years. The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble had seriously shaken the confidence of some in the system. I had mentioned repeatedly on Labor Express Radio over the Summer the glaring contrast between the soaring gas prices we experienced here in the laissez-faire fuel market of the U.S. as compared to the low and stable prices maintained by the state oil company of our neighbor to the south. But none of that seemed to really change the mainstream belief in this country that free markets solve all prob...

Below is more info on the struggle of Mexican workers to fight the privitization of PEMEX. See me first story on this here... http://pilsenprole.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-have-returned.html The first is from UE's Mexican Labor News & Anaylsis, put togther monthly by Mexican labor movement anaylst Dan Labotz. The second is from Alan Benjamin, Executive Board member of the San Francisco Central Labor Council and long time Mexican worker solidarity activist... National Referendum on Privatization of Petroleum The Mexican Congress has been carrying on an extraordinary debate over the last few months on the reform of the energy sector, or more specifically on the privatization of the petroleum industry. The government of President Felipe Calderón and his National Action Party (PAN), together with much of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have been pushing for the privatization of petroleum. Many believe that the left has won the debate against privatization, though the right...

It seems as if ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the new name for the INS) is out to break records as fast as the gold medal swimmers in the 2008 Summer Olympics. After undertaking the “largest single-site operation of its kind in American history” when ICE raided Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville Iowa, last May, ICE apparently decided they could best that record and did so at the Howard Industries plant in Laurel, Mississippi last week. In Postville 900 ICE agents detained roughly 400 undocumented immigrant workers. A 60 acre cattle fairground was turned into a concentration camp for the detainees, off limits to cameras and most of the media. One court interpreter, Prof. Erik Camayd-Freixas, described the scene as the detainees were brought into the trailers that served as courtrooms on the fairgrounds… “Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignme...

Let me start by saying that I never have been a sports fan and likely never will be. For whatever reason sports just never attracted me as a kid and unless you develop such an interest in childhood, I think it unlikely that you will take an interest later in life. It’s not because I lacked the aptitude for sports. I spent much of my youth on swim teams and running cross country. I would often start a season as one of the better athletes on the team; but by mid season my lack of interest and lack of willingness to put in much effort to the sport would usually mean I would fall to the back of the pack. I also played nearly every team sport except football at some point in my youth because my father’s firm belief that playing sports was good for you. I was less convinced. I think I generally rejected the whole idea that competition should be valued and I preferred the life of the mind rather than the world of the body. Asian martial arts were the only physical activity that interested me ...

As discussed on the Labor Express radio program, here are some important works of labor history and analysis released in the past few months. Kim Moody has long been an insightful analyst of developments in the labor movement as a former union organizer and one of the founders of Labor Notes. His new work - U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival from Below – takes a look at the reasons for organized labor’s precipitous decline in membership and power over the past few decades, and provides solid advice on what is necessary to turn the situation around. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK… http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844671542/ref=s9_asin_image_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1PRY0CX1MFXW8KT8N51D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=320448701&pf_rd_i=507846 http://www.versobooks.com/books/klm/m-titles/moody_k_labor_transition.shtml Kim Moody also has another important book out on the economy and labor in New York...

Where are our Senate and Congressional leaders when it is time to oppose unfair trade? Press conference to be held outside Obama for America HQ. Labor activists, fair trade advocates, Latin American solidarity activists, environmentalists, immigrant rights organizers, people of faith, and others are concerned with the recent lack of interest of our U.S. Congressional and Senate leaders when it comes to stopping un-fair trade deals - as evidenced by the recent House and Senate votes on the US-Peru “Free Trade” Agreement. We find it very troubling that one of our Illinois Senators, Barack Obama, a current candidate for President of the United States, skipped the vote on the Peru trade pact, missing an important opportunity to stand up for working people and the environment both here and in Peru. We are even more concerned that Obama, along with Sen Hillary Clinton, made public statements supporting the Peru Trade deal and that our other Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin voted in favor o...

After massive public pressure both here in the U.S. and around the hemisphere derailed the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), the Bush administration and its corporate masters shifted gears, focusing on bilateral (or one country) trade agreements. Proposed agreements are pending with Colombia & South Korea that have received some attention by the press and opposition by organized labor and human rights groups. However, the proposed U.S./Peru Free Trade Agreement passed the U.S. house on Nov. 8th. Despite all the mea culpas from the Democrats this election year about their support of trade agreements in the past, and new promises that they will fight for fair trade over free trade, 109 Democrats voted in favor of the Peru trade pact. The rather anemic opposition to this trade agreement now shifts to the Senate. You can read more here… http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3370 Professors Helena Worthen and Joe Berry with the Chicago Labor Education Program, will...

36% of GM workers voted “No” 45% of Chrysler workers voted “No” Ford workers can vote it down! The “No” vote at Chrysler was the biggest ever “No” vote against any contract that was ratified at the Big 3. And since then, many Chrysler workers who voted “Yes” have been quoted as saying that they would have voted “No” if they knew about the layoffs that were kept secret until after the contract was ratified. They want to sell us a contract based on false promises of “job security”. They want us to forget that this contract has concessions that will lead to a devastating drop in the standard of living for current autoworkers, future autoworkers, retirees, and workers across the country... TO READ MORE CLICK HERE... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/zpfile000zpfile001.pdf Ford 2007 Contract Info... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/SOS-FordContractInfo.htm Chrysler 2007 Contract Info... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/SOS-ChryslerContrac...

Hi All, Updates on my visits with workers in Mexico should be coming in a week or so. I the mean time I wanted to sum up my experience at the USSF. I will try to post some more audio and info from some of the sessions I attended at the forum, particular those organized by the UE, AFSCME and Domestic Workers United at a later time. The following is a short summation piece I wrote for the Industrial Worker, newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). An edited version will be published in next months Industrial Worker, which you can find at... www.iww.org/projects/iw/ Labor Participates in a Big Way at the First United States Social Forum: “What is happening in America to workers today is the result of a thirty year sustained, intentional, strategic, assault on workers, unions, our quality of life and our standard of living. It has been a class war against workers and it is time we engage that class war and fought back… (a standing ovation from the crowd and loud applause).” ...

Nancy Lenk – Deputy Director of AFSCME Local 1644, explains the attempt by Atlanta to turn Grady, a public hospital, into a privatized entity… http://www.archive.org/details/AFSCMEGradyHospitalAtlanta Nancy Lenk – Deputy Director of AFSCME Local 1644, talks about the negotiations over the march route for the opening rally of the United States Social Forum (USSF)… http://www.archive.org/details/RallyRouteUSSF The Hot 8 Jazz Band from New Orleans at the Opening Rally for the United States Social Forum (USSF)… http://www.archive.org/details/Hot8atUSSF