Hello, everybody, and welcome to another session of Labor Diary Rescue. Diaries are below the fold.
Before I get to all that, The Oakland Press, my local (right wing rag of a) paper, allowed my guest opinion piece to be published debunking a previous piece on EFCA. If you could leave a positive comment at the link (no subscription required), it would be appreciated.
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/...
This week is DK GreenRoots week, where several of us are taking time to show ways that the environmental movement is involved in other progressive issues. My focus, of course, is on how the labor movement has been working on behalf of the environment.
So with that, I'd like to introduce you to the Blue Green Alliance.
The Blue Green Alliance is an organization made up of several labor and environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, SEIU, United Steel Workers, the National Resources Defense Council, and the Communication Workers of America. The goal of the Blue Green Alliance is to get legislation passed that will not only provide good paying "green collar" jobs such as alternative energy production and high speed light rail, but will also fight for workers through passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and creating fair trade policies.
If you're an environmentalist, a labor activist, or both, please go to http://www.bluegreenalliance.org and sign up for their mailing list. Donate if you can.
Now, onto the diaries......
The Labor Diary Rescue is done every Monday and Thursday evenings, barring a bad internet connection, my insane work schedule, or what my union contract likes to refer to as "Acts of God". In order to be rescued your diary must be pro-union, have less than 100 comments, and not have made the rec list or any front page diary rescue.
Speaking of the Blue Green Alliance, A Siegel shows the need for stronger alternative energy legislation to renew our manufacturing sector in Why do so many in Congress hate American manufacturing? and brings up the BGA's report on the need for green jobs to sustain our economy.
Truly, this is one of the questions that should be on the table when considering Congressional (in)action re climate change and clean energy options. Over the past decade, as US jobs flew out to other countries, with workers all too often spending their last months/weeks/days on the job training foreigners how to use equipment and then packing that equipment up to be used in a foreign factory, "clean energy' has been a bright spot -- with increased and increasing employment in manufacturing a(long with installation) of a wide range of clean energy systems.
Looking forward, in the face of peak oil and climate change and other energy issues, this is perhaps the economic arena most clearly to have future growth.
Savage tells us about Rep. Sestak, a strong, pro-union Democrat, and his soon-to-be-announced race for the US Senate in PA Sen: It's Going To Be Up To Us
To make a long story just a little shorter, USW Local 10-1 was the first union to endorse Admiral Sestak. Many, if not most, Delaware County area unions endorsed Weldon, as they always had. The pressure on our Local was tremendous... I can't begin to tell you how many phone calls we had from other unions asking us if we had lost our minds. Less than a week after Candidate Sestak used our union hall for a press conference to unveil his economic plan, we got a call from the Department of Labor. Lucky us, we had been selected for a "random" federal audit of our books. They kept our books for six months... squeaky clean. We never bowed to the pressure, we just kept working... and so did Joe. I have never in my life seen such a prolific campaigner as Joe Sestak. I swear that man shook every hand in the District. The rest is history. That camapign was the most fun I'd ever had politics right up until getting a black man named Barack Hussein Obama elected President of the United States.
I love any diary that bashes my last Governor, John Engler. And PublicD makes a point of it in What You Missed at "The People's Summit" in Detroit.
While John Engler (the former Michigan Governor best known for saving the state, then the country, from poor single mothers by strong-arming them into fast-food wage slavery) and his colleague, American Axle CEO Dick Dauch (best known for threatening to move production to Mexico in order to extract union concessions before doing it anyway and pocketing the difference), gave speeches about how to fix the U.S. economy at the National Economic Summit (ticket price $1,495), attendees of the National People's Summit & Tent City rallied outside to voice their demands, perspectives and solutions.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is protesting the outsourcing of American jobs, and Employee Free Choice Act tells us about it in IBEW Pickets Outside Portland Seadogs
The members of IBEW 2327 and CWA 1400 haven't been feeling the love. Contrary to the unit's contract and to Fairpoint's previous promises, the company is taking away desperately needed jobs. A total of 100 jobs are being permanently outsourced to Canada. "This is our work. The revenue is generated in New England and the work should be done in New England." said Pete McLaughlin, the Business Manager of IBEW Local 2327
Did you know there was a National Labor College? Me, either. But Tula Connell does and she's writing about the class of 2009 in 103 Students Set to Graduate from National Labor College.
With a 46-acre campus just outside Washington, D.C., the nation's only labor college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and grants bachelor's and master's degrees. The college evolved from the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, created in 1969, and now partners with the University of Baltimore and George Mason University for its graduate degree programs.
On Saturday, 101 students will receive B.A. degrees and two others will be awarded M.A. degrees, as the Labor College graduates its 11th class in a ceremony on the Silver Spring, Md., campus. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will give the commencement address.
And finally, Union Review has his own roundup of labor news in Union Review 6/21 - 6/28.
If you are interested in environmental issues, please join DK GreenRoots, a new environmental advocacy group created by Meteor Blades. DK GreenRoots is comprised of bloggers at Daily Kos and eco-advocates from other sites. We focus on a broad range of issues. We alert each other to important eco-stories in the mainstream media and on the Internet, promote bloggers at one site to readers at other sites and discuss crucial eco-issues. We are in exciting times now because for the first time in years, significant environmental legislation will be passed by Congress. DK GreenRoots can also be used to apprise members of discussions and strategy sessions happening in Meteor Blade’s Green Diary Rescue thread, which is also our workroom. |
Schedule for DK GreenRoots week.
All listed times are PDT.
Sunday June 28:
11 am: Mr. President, go and see for yourself by Devilstower
3 pm: Kermit was right, it ain't easy by jillian
7 pm: Obama Wants Green Bottom-Up Politics by Patriot Daily
Sunday Series:
Overnight News Digest (Science Saturday) by Neon Vincent;Sunday Talk by Silly Rabbit aka Trix;Free Food Foraging by Wide Eyed Lib, How Regulation Came to Be: Donora by dsteffen; The Week in Editorial Cartoons: The Crying Game by JekyllnHyde; Overnight News Digest - Ole Man River and the Big Muddy by Oke
Monday June 29:
2am: Now it’s "Cleaner" Coal? by Zwoof
11 am: billlaurelMD
3 pm: jeremybloom
7 pm: Jeff Biggers
Monday Series:
Science Tidbits by possum; Meatless Monday by beach babe in fl; Labor Diary Rescue by djtyg, Got a Happy Story? by Eddie C); Overnight News Digest by jlms qkw
Tuesday June 30:
11 am: LaughingPlanet
3 pm: Got a Grip
7 pm: Magnifico
Tuesday Series:
Cheers & Jeers by BiPM; Healthy Minds & Bodies by RLMiller; The Left Wing by Texas Revolutionary; Top Comments by Elise; Overnight News Digest by wader
Wednesday July 1:
5am: A Siegel
noon: FishOutofWater
3 pm: Asinus Asinum Fricat
7 pm: Mark H
Wednesday Series:
Bookflurries: Bookchat by cfk; Siglines! by Wee Mama; Books by Kossacks by sarahnity
Thursday July 2:
11 am: Muskegon Critic
3 pm: Bruce Nilles
7 pm: Jill Richardson
Thursday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Labor Diary Rescue by djtyg, Considered Forthwith by Casual Wednesday; Thursday Night Health Care by TBA (contact: TheFatLadySings); Top Comments by Elise; Write On! by SensibleShoes; Overnight News Digest by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Friday July 3:
11 am: Meteor Blades
3 pm: TXsharon
7 pm: Land of Enchantment
Friday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Mojo Friday by TexDem or rbutters (TBA); Frugal Fridays by sarahnity; Friday Night at the Movies by Land of Enchantment; Top Comments by noweasels; Overnight News Digest by Oke
Saturday July 4:
11 am: Jerome a Paris
3 pm: buhdydharma
7 pm: Stranded Wind
Saturday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Dawn Chorus Birdblog by lineatus; Saturday Morning Garden Blogging by Frankenoid; Saturday Morning Home Repair Blogging by boatgeek; Top Comments by carolita
Plus there'll be music on environmental themes in jotter's High Impact Diaries every morning, along with schedule updates. Additional diaries will be filled in from amongst the following: faithfull, The Cunctator, and Turkana. And we’ll make more slots as needed - anyone who has an environmentally-related story they want to post this week, we’ll create a place on the schedule for you.
Thanks for reading. Treat the comments as an Open Thread.