News Video 80805: "Defending Public Education in the USA", 7/08. {LB}
The Peace and Justice caucus in the American Federation of Teachers held a roundtable discussion on “Fighting Back in the Schools“ during the July 2008 AFT Convention in Chicago.
Labor Beat edited excerpts from those presentations, including dramatic footage of student protests, in the face of police repression, against the privatization of the public schools in Detroit and St. Louis.
The message is clear: public education, a long-fought-for gain of the working class over the last century and a half, is targeted for annihilation by corporate America.
The speakers are: Gloria Brandman, Teacher, NYC Public Schools; Steve Conn, teacher, Detroit Public Schools; Jim Hamilton, Missouri AFT; George Schmidt, Chicago, editor of Substance Newspaper; Julie Washington, Elementary Schools Vice President, United Teachers Los Angeles; Pablo Rodriguez, instructor, San Francisco State University.
Order form 
News Video 80805: National Assembly Urges Spring Mobilization To End Iraq War, 6/28/08. {LB}
Highlights from the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation, June 28-29, 2008 in Cleveland, OH.
In this 26-minute video, Labor Beat presents a sampling of the speeches and floor discussions from this important conference.
Attended by over 400 people, the Assembly’s main objective was to urge united and massive mobilizations in the spring to “Bring the Troops Home Now,“ as well as supporting actions that build towards that date.
To read the final action proposal and to learn other details, visit www.natassembly.org.
Labor Beat: 1% Is Not Enough / Congress Hotel Strike 5th Year Anniversary / Labor Beat Remembers Utah Phillips {LB553}
3 Segments
1. 1% Is Not Enough
Chicago’s Teamsters Local 743 held on 7-1-08 a spirited protest demo at Friends Family Health Center calling for a fair contract, after going 3 years without one.
They were calling for protection from harassment, a grievance procedure to solve problems at work, and wage increases that keep up with inflation.
Action was called by Friends Family Teamsters, University of Chicago Teamsters, University of Chicago Hospital Teamsters, Barnes and Noble Teamsters, SEIU 73 members, student, neighborhood and clergy allies, sisters and brothers (and others).
2. Congress Hotel Strike 5th Year Anniversary
The fifth anniversary of the longest active strike in the nation. UNITEHERE Local 1 is joined by faith based, social justice and labor organizations to rally at the front doors on June 13, 2008.
3. Labor Beat Remembers Utah Phillips
Legendary labor singer and IWW activist Utah Phillips died peacefully in his sleep on May 23, 2008. Labor Beat celebrates his memory with clips from our video archives over 20 years.
News Video 80720: Teamsters 705 Authorizes Strike Against UPS; 2993 For, 232 Against, 7/20/08. {LB}
Members of Teamsters Local 705, the big Chicago-area United Parcel Service local, voted today (Sunday, July 20) to authorize a strike against UPS.
Local 705 has its own contract with UPS, separate from the National Contract. The vote was overwhelming: 2993 for a strike, 232 against.
News Video 80709: Chicago’s City Council Handles A Resolution Against War On Iran, 7/9/08 {LB}
A report on how Democratic Party politics stopped a citizens-backed resolution against U.S. war on Iran.
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Labor Express on-demand playbacks {LE20080000} –n–
Chicago’s unique labor news and current affairs weekly radio program. Affiliated with The Committee for Labor Access and the Labor Beat television series.
Listen online Sunday nights at 7 p.m. at wluw-fm.org, or on Chicago’s North Side over WLUW-FM, 88.7 MHz. Recent one-hour shows can be downloaded and played. The site offers podcasts and extra nonbroadcast content, too.
Go to: www.LaborExpress.ORG.
Labor Beat: Anne Feeney - Songs of Struggle at the Heartland Café {LB551}
Internationally acclaimed labor folk musician Anne Feeney entertains her fans at Chicago’s Heartland Cafe on May 18, 2008. Find out more about Anne Feney’s music at www.annefeeney.com.
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News Video 80625: Congress Hotel Strike Marks 5-Year Anniversary, 6/13/08. {LB}
The fifth anniversary of the longest active strike in the nation.
Chicago’s UNITEHERE Local 1 was joined by faith based, social justice, and other labor organizations in this rally at Congress Hotel’s front doors on June 13, 2008. (This video became a segment of LB553.)
News Video 80614: Anne Feeney, Labor Songs At The Heartland Cafe, 5/18/08. {LB}
See Labor Beat show #551 for a description.
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Labor Beat: No Peace, No Work! / Rally to Save Cook County Health Care {LB550} –n–
1. No Peace No Work! The Historic May Day 2008 Longshoremen’s Strike Against the War
On Mayday 2008 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) shut down all 26 ports on the west coast of the United States for at least eight hours in opposition to the US war against the people of Iraq.
So far as we know, there has never before been a strike of US workers to stop a war, making this action historically unprecedented.
Workers stayed off the job and in major port cities they marched, proud in their union jackets, with banners unfurled. Scenes and speeches from the port of Seattle.
“Longshoremen Strike Against the War“ was produced by Pepperspray Productions. To get a dvd of this video, contact Pepperspray Productions, www.peppersprayproductions.org, pepperspray@mac.com.
2. Rally to Save Cook County Health Care. Community Leaders rallied to fight for decent healthcare in Chicago’s county, February 18, 2008.
Labor Beat: Workers, Immigrants, Veterans - May Day 2008 Chicago / Anita Chan--Should we establish contacts with the Chinese trade unions? {LB549}
1. Workers, Immigrants, Veterans - May Day 2008 Chicago
The Chicago May Day 2008 march added an important element to marches of previous years: opposition to the war.
Through walking interviews within the march, Iraq Veterans Against the War discuss their solidarity with the immigrants.
The issue of full rights for immigrants is expanded beyond Mexican immigrants to include many other nationalities, showing the truly international character of May Day. Union members from UNITE HERE, SEIU, and Teamsters also speak.
This spirited march shows that the movement for immigrants, workers and peace is not going away. 15 minutes.
2. Anita Chan-Should we establish contacts with the Chinese trade unions?
Anita Chan addresses the April 2008 Labor Notes conference. Anita Chan is a Research Fellow at the Contemporary China Centre, Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies, The Australian National University. Edited for length, 12:30.
News Video 80526: Utah Phillips, Labor Singer and Activist, 5/23/08. {LB}
’Labor Beat Remembers Utah Phillips.’
Legendary labor singer and IWW activist Utah Phillips died peacefully in his sleep on May 23, 2008. Labor Beat celebrates his memory with clips from our video archives over 20 years. (This video became a segment of LB553.)
News Video 80518: May Day in Chicago Included Workers, Immigrants, and Veterans {LB}
The Chicago May Day 2008 march added an important element to marches of previous years: opposition to the war.
Through walking interviews within the march, Iraq Veterans Against the War discuss their solidarity with the immigrants. The issue of full rights for immigrants is expanded beyond Mexican immigrants to include many other nationalities, showing the truly international character of May Day.
Union members from UNITE HERE, SEIU, and Teamsters also speak. This spirited march shows that the movement for immigrants, workers and peace is not going away. 15 minutes.
Labor Beat: Chicago School Board Vs The Community, Part II: Citizens of Chicago Wake Up! / American Axle Workers Drawing the Line {LB548}
1 - Chicago Public Schools vs The Community, Part II: Citizens of Chicago Wake Up!
As the assault against public education continues in Chicago, strategies for a fight-back are brought forward, including building a city-wide campaign to change from an appointed to an elected Board of Education.
The leadership of the teachers union must also organize, where it has failed to do so heretofore, a serious challenge to the destruction of jobs and shattering of community control of schools.
Anthony Travis, Kenwood High School Local School Council member, warns in the video: “Citizens of Chicago, you need to wake up and realize our community is under siege by some elitist bankers, business people, who do not care about the education of our children.“
Includes running commentary by George Schmidt, editor of Substance newspaper and footage of community actions. 20est mins.
Play the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3100075850542265041&hl=en.
And play the video of Part I of Labor Beat’s coverage of the current fight agains wholesale closing of schools by the Chicago Board of Education: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3100075850542265041&hl=en
2 - American Axle Strike: Workers Drawing the Line.
Hundreds of participants at the April 11-13 Labor Notes Conference in Detroit join the American Axle workers’ picket line. American Axle workers had been on strike for nine weeks. Interview, speeches. 7 minutes.
Play the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54lSXO5mrTc
News Video 80501: Chicago School Board Vs The Community {LB}
[Included in Labor Beat series show LB548. See the description there.]
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Labor Beat: Chicago Protests 5 Years of War / Trade Union Movement in Iraq {LB547}
1. Chicago Protests 5 Years of War. The March 19, 2008 rally and march in Chicago for Troops Home Now, Stop Funding the War.
Edited scenes, and interviews from the spirited action, with Rich Berg (IBT 743), Jorge Mujica (March 10 Coalition), Beauty Turner (community activist), Andy Thayer (CCAWR), Chris Ardent (IVAW), Chicago Media Action, student anti-war, more. Labor Beat and Labor Express endorsed the Chicago march. Reports were posted at www.chicagomassaction.org. 14 minutes.
2. Trade Union Movement in Iraq. Gene Bruskin, of U.S. Labor Against the War, gives a short, informative talk on the trade union movement in Iraq. Videotaped in 2003. 14 minutes.
News Video 80413:. American Axle strike is in its third month. {LB}
[Included in Labor Beat series show LB548. See the description there.]
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Labor Beat: On the Picketline at American Axle {LB546}
3,600 members of the United Auto Workers Local 2093 at the five plants of American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM) went on strike February 26, 2008.
This auto parts company was spun off from General Motors (GM) in 1994, and they’ve been expanding their international operations ever since.
The issues this strike addresses go to the heart of the disintegration of the standards of living that unionized jobs have brought to the US in the past 70 years.
If AAM gets their way, many workers stand to lose everything, since the company is demanding drastic pay and benefit cuts.
Labor Beat visited the picket line in Three Rivers, Michigan, to witness how, in one tradesman’s words, the workers there “are making a stand. We won’t step backward 30 years.“
Labor Beat: It’s A Done Deal: CPS vs Community / Picketing the Monarch Ball / Mouseland {LB545}
Three segments.
- 1: It’s a Done Deal. Despite broad protests from the affected communities throughout the city, the Chicago School Board closed 18 schools in March, 2008.
- 2: Picketing the Monarch Ball. Nurses at Chicago’s Resurrection Health Care hospital conduct an informational picket on Feb. 29, 2008 at the Hilton hotel to protest intimidation by management of nurses trying to organize AFSCME. Picket scenes and interview with Kelly Beringer, RN. More info: www.reformresurrection.org.
- 3: Mouseland. “It’s a story about Mouseland“...but it may be about a lot more. In Mouseland the mice elect only cats, until one little mouse has an idea. Low budget animation created by NDP in Canada. If you haven’t seen it before, you’re in for a treat.
News Video 80308:. School Board Defies Communities’ Protests {LB}
Despite broad protests from the affected communities throughout the city, the Chicago School Board closed 18 schools in March, 2008.
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Labor Beat: Richard Berg - The Battle for Teamsters Local 743 {LB544}
In late December 2007 Richard Berg was elected president of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago. Every union election is an important event, but the reasons this particular election became national labor news had to do with the extraordinary circumstances.
Richard Berg, over three elections, had led a rank-and-file challenge to a corrupt union leadership (they were recently indicted). Each of these elections were rigged and declared invalid by the government.
This video narrates, with interviews and observations from family members and union supporters, Berg’s determination not to give up.
Finally, in December 2007 a re-run of the election was carefully overseen by the Department of Labor, and Berg’s New Leadership Slate won -- officially this time. And on New Years Day 2008 they walked into a union office with important documents shredded and computer hard drives missing, as they feared.
An inspirational story told through exclusive documentary footage, and showing the hard battle, on the personal level, for union democracy--a battle that now continues to rebuild the union.
News Video 80216: Freightliner Five Visit Chicago 2/2/08. {LB}
See the Freightliner Five and hear their comments at a support meeting for them in Chicago, Feb. 2, 2008.
These five workers at the Freightliner truck plant in Cleveland, N.C., are fighting for a stronger UAW --and to get their jobs back. The company fired 11 members of United Auto Workers Local 3520’s negotiating committee. And UAW’s international office is accepting the firings, saying a strike April 3, 2007 was a wildcat strike. But it was after the contract had expired.
Six leaders have been reinstated. But five, Robert Whitside, Allen Bradley, David Crisco, Glenna Swinford and Franklin Torrence, are still out of their jobs. They had to fight for unemployment benefits, which have run out. They are campaigning nationwide to win UAW support for reinstatement, and for much stronger UAW contract negotiations in general.
For the issues and tour information, visit www.justice4five.com.
Labor Beat: Single Payer: The Simmering Struggle {LB543}
The leading slate of Democratic Party Presidential candidates (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards, before he dropped out) have proposed free-market answers to the health insurance tragedies most of us know are caused by the for-profit nature of the American health care system.
Since the release of Michael Mooreˇ¦s film SiCKO in 2007, the debate about the lack of access to health care has come to the fore. A national movement has sprung up to demand that the United States adopt a ˇ§single-payer, government-sponsored system like those in much of the industrial world.
In this episode of Labor Beat, we feature the dynamics of that growing movement in Chicago, including actions by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Organization and the Chicago Single-Payer Action Network in 2007 and early 2008.
News Video 80202: Chicago Demonstration, 1/29/08, Against Seige on Gaza. {LB}
On January 29, 2008 a spirited protest took place in front of a North Side Chicago theater that was hosting a benefit for the “young leadership of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces“.
The IDF has blocked humanitarian supplies going into to Gaza, which has been put under siege by the Israeli government. This type of collective punishment is a war crime.
The action was endorsed by a number of organizations, including International Solidarity Movement, ANSWER-Chicago, Palestinian Solidarity Group, ISO, and others.
Labor Beat: Don’t Take Senn From Our Hands {LB542}
Senn High School on Chicago’s North Side had one of its wings taken over by a Navy academy and now an alderman is pushing a scheme to divide Senn High School up into small schools open only to those who meet restricted requirements. In December 2007 some 300 Senn students, faculty and community members held a rally at the school to support a plan to save and enhance Senn as a diverse community school open to all students.
Also, Patricia McCann of Iraq Veterans Against the War and George Schmidt of Substance news discuss the growing opposition to military recruiters having free run of Chicago high schools and the disturbing grown of military high school academies, such as the Navy academy at Senn.
Senn High School is at the forefront of a national battle to defend public education against militarization and denial of universal access to quality education. More info: www.savesenn.org, www.ivaw.org.
Labor Beat: TDU - The Past, Present, and Future {LB540}
TDU - The Past, Present, and Future.
Teamsters for A Democratic Union celebrated its 32nd Annual Convention in Chicago in October 2007. This video captures the history of this important national rank-and-file organization up and outlines some objectives for the future.
It begins with a good thumbnail recent history of the Teamsters narrated by Sandy Pope, President of IBT 805, followed by talks by TomGeoghegan, labor attorney and author of “Whose Side Are You On?“, and TDU National Organizer Ken Paff, who outlines objectives for TDU in the post-2007 election period.
News Video 71217: Teamsters for a Democratic Union, An Important Rank-and-File Organization {LB}
TDU - The Past, Present, and Future.
This video was also the Labor Beat series show “TDU - The Past, Present, and Future.“ See the description at that entry.
