WORKER SOLIDARITY IN WISCONSIN & OHIO

"... tens of thousands of workers and their supporters have flooded the Wisconsin and Ohio state capitols, pushing back on their newly-elected Republican Governors' attempts to revoke collective bargaining rights for public workers.



Other than the flashes of anger Ohio crowds showed when they were curiously shut out of their statehouse, the protests have been entirely peaceful, even jovial, with the Wisconsin capitol having an atmosphere similar to a pep rally..."

From New Left Media, the video below shows the struggle to be optimistic, even in reactionary times.



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UVM protests continue

University of Vermont student protests continued a 2nd day, this time with UVM workers unions supporting the students. Yesterday 31 students were arrested.

Although Thursday’s event was billed as a faculty rally and speak-out, only a few faculty and staff members attended, and fewer spoke. Most of those who addressed the rally were students.

“There is so much fear on this campus,” Katherine Nopper, a senior from Putney, told the crowd. “People are afraid if they speak out they will lose their jobs.”

Among the staff and faculty representatives who did speak were Carmyn Stanko, president of the union representing UVM maintenance and service workers, and David Shiman, president of the faculty union.

“We have known from the day that President Fogel was hired that his goal was to continue transforming UVM from a university to a business corporation,” Stanko said. “We will continue to fight for all workers who have been laid off, to return them to their rightful jobs.”

Shiman told the students his union was concerned about the impact of the cuts on the quality of education that UVM provides. He praised the students for using their constitutional rights to question the administration’s plans.

WATCH IT, BUD

Lenin's Tomb:--Informal spying on potential employees is understood to happen on a regular basis. I don't want to name any names, but temp agencies have been known to advise candidates to take care as to what information appears on their Facebook pages, Friends Reunited accounts, blogs or other potential sources of information. Employers scrutinise these sites when reviewing candidates details to see if they are about to hand a contract over to a weirdo or some sort of inflexible, awkward miserabilist. Your blog can get you fired, remember. If you are going to have a Bebo or Hi5 page that is accessible to the public, then the best bet is apparently to project the image of a smiley, outgoing, success-driven, active, sporting, party-hard, go-getting sort of narcissistic dimwit: a miniature celebrity, with friends apparently growing out of every crevice. Employers love that shit.

But this is a serious investment both in terms of the upfront costs and the risk of exposing the company to possibly steep fines. Think about how much profit they must have anticipated conserving just by keeping out 'troublemakers'.

NLRB refuses to negotiate with its workers

WORKERS INDEPENDENT NEWS: -
National Labor Relations Board is Refusing To Negotiate With Its Employee Union - 08/23/07 - An ironic battle between the NLRB and the NLRBU union continues to unfold... Last week members of the union representing workers for the National labor Relations Board began calls for the resignation of NLRB General Counsel, Ronald Meisburg. Meisburg has refused to bargain with the union representing 1000 NLRB employees. This week the NLRBU received support in the form of an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The FLRA serves a similar function as the NLRB as it governs labor relations between the Federal government and employees. In the complaint the FLRA alleges that the NLRB has violated federal labor law by not bargaining with the FLRA certified union.