News Video #100716: May Day 2010 and the New Front in the Fight For Immigrant Rights {LB}
In the final week of April, 2010, Arizona's governor signed into law SB1070, legalizing the police racial profiling of Latinos in that state in the name of finding "illegals." In similar events, Arizona banned Latino and African-American studies from publicly-funded schools.
Days later on May 1, International Workers Rights Day, thousands turned out in Chicago to demand immigration reform and to speak out against Arizona's oppressive anti-immigrant law. In this episode of LABOR BEAT, the annual May Day march is showcased, including interviews with:
- Laid-off CTA workers demanding their jobs back and a return of public service... - Veteran immigrant rights activists decrying the travesty in Arizona... - Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney expressing the need for solidarity with labor everywhere... - and an extensive conversation with Mario Cardenas of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, a group made up of documented and undocumented young people rallying around the issue of deportations. Despite his own harrowing encounter with the forces of "la migra," Mario maintains a political analysis, courage, and grace that immigrant haters will never possess.
Produced by Andrew Friend for Labor Beat
Buy on Disk 
News Video #100625: Arizona and Immigrant Rights {LB}
"Society as a whole has been subjected to a system of oppression where corporate profits are the number one rule and that is something that we have to keep in mind as we struggle for the rights of immigrants. In the end, it's not just about the rights of immigrants, it's about the right to a decent way of life for every person...." -- Oscar Chacón.
"We were not responsible for so many factories closing down here..... If anybody has stolen jobs from people in the United States, it has been the corporations, with of course the help of the U.S. Government that even helped them [companies] close down here and establish factories overseas." -- Jorge Mujica
"[The new Arizona Law says] if a school teacher takes her children on a school trip, and if one of her children is undocumented -- they get pulled over because they make an illegal left turn -- she can then be subject to prison, to be arrested, for that one undocumented child in her school bus." -- Isaac Medrano
Leaders and activists in the Mexican and Latino community discuss the Arizona "virus" of racism and oppression directed against immigrants in the U.S., and how working people can oppose these attacks.
Panelists are: Jorge Mujica, March 10 Committee, immigrant rights leader; Oscar Chacón, Executive Director, National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities; Isaac Medrano. Indiana Director, Reform Immigration for America.
Recorded from the June 25, 2010 live show to the Internet and cable.
Labor Beat: Ron Huberman, Show Us the Money! / Plus 3 Short Videos. {LB600}
- 1. The Marilyn Stewart administration has now been voted out of office, and the next job to be done is to kick out Chicago Public Schools' CEO Ron Huberman, and get some honest and accurate information about where school money is and how it's spent. [See the full description of NewsVideo #100613.] 17 mins.
- 2. Chicago's Save Our Schools Rally. May 25, 2010 a huge Save Our Schools rally in Chicago's Loop. mins.
- 3. Mass Rally in Okinawa Against U.S. Bases. A mass rally in Okinawa against U.S. bases took place on April 25, 2010. Produced by Iraq Peace TV in Japan. mins.
- 4. Zenroren May Day in Chicago. Japanese Labor Federation Zenroren dedicates plaque at Chicago's Haymarket Square monument. [See the description of NewsVideo #100501.] 2.5 mins.
News Video #100622: Evanston Fire Fighters Say No To Layoffs, 6/22/10. {LB}
Brian Scott, President of the Firefighters union in Evanston, Illinois delivered a powerful message to the Evanston City Council on Monday, June 21, 2010.
City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz is trying to lay off 3 firefighters/paramedics in a bid to exert unfair pressure on the union as it tries to bargain in good faith on a new contract.
"I was told", Brian Scott told the meeting, "that as long as you go along with whatever the police officers were awarded in arbitration, just go with whatever AFSCME settled with a couple weeks later, this all will go away. Is this how the city now negotiates in good faith? We're going to lay off firefighters for arbitrations that haven't begun, for awards that don't even exist?"
"In the future is the City going to start off every contract negotiation with laying off a couple of firefighters just in case things don't go their way? Are we allowed to negotiate our own contracts, or do we have to kind of just concede whatever the other bargaining units come up with, or else?"
President Brian Scott's full speech. More information: www.evanstonfirefacts.com.
News Video #100618: The New Chicago Teachers Union -- Reclaim the Power {LB}
On June 18, 2010, just one week after their election victory in the Chicago Teachers Union, three top officers of the new CTU leadership join Labor Beat's host Wayne Heimbach in a discussion on the meaning of their win and the road ahead to restore union and community power to public education in Chicago.
Present were Karen Lewis, President elect; Kristine Mayle, Financial Sec. elect; and Michael Brunson, Recording Sec. elect.
The victory of Karen Lewis and her reform slate in the Chicago Teachers Union has significance on a national level. It is a shot across the bow of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's juggernaut of dismantling and privatizing public education.
It is also the dawn of new era of teachers union alliances with school-community and neighborhood organizations in the fight against Mayor Daley's gentrification marauders.
News Video #100615: Chicago Protest Against School Board Vote, 6/15/10. {LB}
June 15, 2010--In a sneak-attack special CPS Board meeting today, the board voted unanimously to enable CPS CEO Ron Huberman to enact class size increases to 35 and lay off 2,700 more teachers.
This amidst the recent Chicago Teachers Union election effecting a transfer of leadership from Marilyn Stewart to new President elect Karen Stewart. Lewis' campaign emphasized an end to constant retreat before CPS attacks, and a demand to have the school board precisely reveal its budget, and cut its own management-bloated salaries.
All the while the State of Illinois owes the schools many millions in funding. Today's events are but a moment in the growing historic clash over the needs for the public sector and the looting of public funds by capitalist-controlled state governments.
News Video #100613: Ron Huberman, Show Us the Money! {LB}
The Marilyn Stewart administration has now been voted out of office, and the next job to be done is to kick out Chicago Public Schools' CEO Ron Huberman, and get some honest and accurate information about where school money is and how it's spent.
Huberman has said that "we're going to have to raise class sizes, cut pensions," Kristine Mayle, CTU Financial Secretary elect, points out. "For the last 8 years the Board has made these projections in January and February and every year except for one, I believe, they were wrong. Last year they said that we have a $350,000,000 deficit and it ended up that we had an $80,000,000 surplus. On average over the last 8 years they've been $467,000,000 off."
Scenes and interviews from the massive teachers union/school community protest in Chicago's Loop against the cuts on May 25, 2010. Also, the street press conference by union/community activists on April 28 at the State of Illinois building. "We're here today to deliver a letter to our Attorney General to ensure that CPS is not in compliance with that Freedom of Information Act," says Jackson Potter, CTU trustee elect. "Oftentimes they ignore them, they don't provide the data that is required by state law. So we have to go into this building [State of Illinois] to get them to tell us the honest truth."
Labor Express: New show, listen on demand. {LBLE} –n–
New one-hour shows every Monday begin with labor news headlines and continue with timely interviews.
Chicago's unique labor news and current affairs weekly radio program. Affiliated with The Committee for Labor Access and the Labor Beat television series.
Recent one-hour shows can be downloaded and played. The site offers podcasts and extra nonbroadcast content, too. Listen weekly at 10am Chicago time via internet streaming at www.wluw-fm.org, or on Chicago's North Side over WLUW-FM, 88.7 MHz.
Detailed information about the shows is at www.LaborExpress.ORG.
Labor Beat: Pulse of the Unions {LB599}
The 2010 Labor Notes conference in Detroit featured a number of labor struggles and the bestowing of "Troublemaker Awards."
This report includes a spontaneous demonstration at the Detroit Hyatt Hotel, where the conference was held, to protest the treatment of what is known as the Hyatt 100, 100 non union housekeepers fired at the Boston Hyatt. (The Hyatt in Detroit is unionized.)
Video of speeches and interviews with: Mark Brenner, Director, Labor Notes East Coast; Elise Bryant, National Labor College and EmCee for Awards presentation; Aracelly Arango, Fired - Hyatt 100, 23-yr hotel worker; Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, President, Colombia mineworkers union; Aaron Beaudry, Vale-Inco striker; Bernie Arseneau, Vale-Inco striker; Darrell Nichols, Member - ILWU Local 30, International Longshore and Warehouse Union; Jacinto Martinez Serna, Secretary of Work, Union Local 65, Mexico; and Cananea Miner, Currently on strike since 2007, Mexico
Darrell Nichols (ILWU Local 30 Rio Tinto worker), who received a Troublemaker Award, put it this way: "When I take this back, this is another tool in our toolbox. I can hang this on our wall. Rio Tinto is always calling us troublemakers. Now we have a plaque to prove that we are troublemakers."
News Video #100602: Chicago Protests Gaza Flotilla Attack {LB}
On June 1, 2010, over 1,000 protesters took over the street in front of the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
Here is a brief snippet. Showing their appreciation for solidarity from Turkey in the affair, they chant "Long Live Turkey!"
Labor Beat: Illinois Budget Crunch: Tax the Rich! {LB598}
In the Spring of 2010, as the budget crisis in the state of Illinois continued its meltdown, a large demonstration took place in Springfield, the state capital.
Scenes and speeches, plus interviews with union activists. The video shows why House Bill 174, a tax increase bill endorsed by many of the unions present, may fall short.
Steve Edwards, President of AFSCME 2858 and supporter of Public Workers Unite, says, "The problem I have with HB 174...is that it mainly taxes working class people. Why don't we go where the money is...and tax the rich?"
Labor Beat: Iraqi Journalists Protest {LB597}
In 2009 a big demonstration of journalists and news organizations in Iraq took place in Baghdad. They were protesting the repressive measures that the government and the occupation has imposed upon them.
Over the years of the occupation, many journalists have been physically attacked or even killed, while their equipment has been confiscated and their offices invaded. At the same time, foreign western journalists have been given preferential treatment.
All of this may explain why U.S. TV news consumers are getting a highly filtered view of what is really happening there.
This video was made by Sana TV, a non-sectarian, pro-labor, pro-women's and student's rights TV show. Sana TV has also experienced such repression as it has tried over the years to accurately report on events there as they affect working people.
Labor Beat presents this video for the first time to U.S. audiences, on cable tv and on the Internet. It has been edited to shorten its length. English subtitles.
News Video #100511: Illinois Budget Crunch: Tax the Rich! {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins n
News Video #100502: Emily Mueller, President of Chicago ACTS {LB}
Emily Mueller, President of Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, speaks before a gathering of union activists at the Haymarket Square monument during May Day, 2010 commemoration.
Mins 3:22
News Video #100501: Zenroren May Day in Chicago {LB}
Japanese Labor Federation Zenroren dedicates a plaque at the Haymarket Square monument and then speaks at the beginning of Chicago's big May Day march.
Mins 2:50News Video #100429: Iraqi Journalists Protest {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 26
Labor Beat: Railroad Workers United {LB596}
Rail freight carrier and passenger train companies have been finding ways to get their workers to do more for less for the past few decades.
Considering how much the economy of the U.S. depends upon the massive amount of freight moved by trains, one would think the unions representing those workers to be very powerful. However, there are a dozen different unions, divided among craft, representing the various workers in the several rail companies in this country.
To counter the divisive race to the bottom caused by cross-union fighting in the industry, rank-and-file rail workers of every craft have joined together to form RAILROAD WORKERS UNITED.
This group seeks to improve working conditions and pay through a united front approach. Their efforts to promote unity, solidarity, and internal democracy in their various unions has the potential to awaken the class consciousness of some of the most powerful and important workers in the industrial world.
In this episode of Labor Beat, "Railroad Workers United," we recap the group's 2008 founding convention as their members discuss the motivations and need for such an organization.
Camera/Editing: Andrew Friend; Additional Video: Steve Dalber.
News Video #100427: The Ashes of Haymarket, Franklin Rosemont {LB}
At his death in April, 2009, Chicago's Franklin Rosemont, scholar, surrealist poet, and, with partner Penelope Rosemont, head of Charles H. Kerr publishing company, had long been a vigorous advocate for labor history and a local authority on our city's role in it.
In 2003 he discussed the Haymarket Affair and visited Waldheim (now Forest Home) Cemetery, where lay the Haymarket anarchist victims of a police provocation, along with later generations of radicals. Lucy Parsons, wife of Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons, is buried a few feet from the Haymarket monument, which is visited by guests from around the world. A portion of Joe Hill's ashes were also scattered here.
At the anniversary of his passing, Labor Beat presents for the first time on the Internet this brief visit with Franklin Rosemont in his world, doing what he did best...taking us back through this rich history,with good stories and some jokes too.
News Video #100417: Railroad Workers United {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28:16
News Video #100406: U. I. Chicago Graduate Employees Get An Agreement, 4/5/10. {LB}
The Graduate Employees Organization at University of Illinois Chicago held a protest on April 5, 2010 before going into negotiations with the University's administration.
After a 13 hour mediation session going into the evening, the GEO UIC won an agreement.
Here are scenes, interviews and speeches from that spirited rally of about 150 graduate student,faculty, undergraduate student, and other campus unions supporters.
Labor Beat: Give Us Back Our Public Transit {LB595}
The leadership of Chicago's union of CTA and PACE drivers and workers, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, engaged in a roundtable discussion with Labor Beat host Wayne Heimbach on April 2, 2010.
The discussion was broadcast live on cable television and the Internet and included questions and comments from the Internet listeners..
The topic: the current situation with management pressing for contract concessions while trying to get transit riders to blame the union for CTA service cuts.
Included were: Darrell Jefferson, President-Business Agent; Michael Simmons, Recording Secretary; Dan Hrycyk; Financial Secretary; Carlos J. Acevedo/ Maintenance ABA.
President Jefferson pointed out that "The current administration at CTA is trying to bust our union, and we're trying to fight to hold on to it.
In the early 1980s the Reagan administration had cut off all federal funding to cities with over 200,000, and when the CTA could not stay afloat with state funds, the union came in and bailed them out."
This was done by the union dipping into its own pension fund. "They got used to coming back and coming back, and sooner or later, enough is enough," said Carlos Acevedo. "We just can't give any more."
Labor Beat: Funding Public Sector Services. The Value of Illinois Communities. {LB5nn}
Historic attacks on funding public sector services for Illinois communities are ravaging the state.
In Evanston, a city council budget hearing brought out an overflow crowd of citizens and city employees affected by these cuts.
In the crosshairs were the fire department, public library, family and senior services, public access tv, and others.
This show questions the business model used in running our communities, and points to the fact that new revenues are needed to restructure a progressive taxation, in a state now near the bottom nationally for taxation rates.
Interviews include: Florence Estes, Staff Rep. AFSCME Council 31; Larry Spivak, Regional Director, AFSCME Council 31; Kevin Johnson, Pres., AFSCME Local 1891; Brian Scott, Pres., Fire Fighters Assoc. Local 742. Also testimonies from Evanston residents and workers. 18 minutes.
News Video #100204: GEM-CORE Summit on Education Fights, 1/9/10. {LB}
Video: 'GEM-CORE Summit 2010'
On January 9, 2010 GEM (Grassroots Education Movement) and CORE (Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators) held a public education 'summit' at Malcom X College in Chicago.
It convened to evaluate the lessons on fighting closings and turnarounds in the public Schools.
"What's happened to schools all over this city... They were able to pick us off, one by one." Karen Lewis, a teacher, described the situation: "The Board [of Education], who have no parents, no graduates from Chicago Public Schools, except for maybe the guy in charge every once in a while, people who do not care about public education, don't have their children in public schools, never went to public schools... made the decision to close public schools, open something else, then tell you it's a public school. Oh, it's a public school because they're using our tax dollars... But who's running it? Somebody that's making money from public schools."
Includes specific discussion and scenes of James N. Thorp School, Fenger High School, Sec. of Ed. Duncan's plans to expand the 'Chicago model', and more.
Speakers and interviews included: A youth community leader; Karen Lewis, Candidate for President of Chicago Teachers Union; Cheryl Johnson, Committee for Safe Passage; Pauline Lipman, Teachers 4 Social Justice; Kellina Mojica, Chicago Youth Initiating Change; Terrie McCrary, Teacher; Jitu Brown, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; Wanda Hopkins, Parents United for Responsible Education; Lois Ashford, Trustee, Chicago Teachers Pension Fund; and Jackson Potter, Candidate for Vice-President, Chicago Teachers Union.
Labor Beat: Rubina Jamil {LB589}
- 1 - Rubina Jamil is President of Pakistan Working Women Organization. While attending as a guest speaker the 3rd National Assembly of U.S. Labor Against the War in December, 2009, she gave this interview to Labor Beat.
In it she discusses her organization, the situation that working women face in Pakistan, the U.S. military occupation of the Pakistan region, and the political needs of the Pakistani working class. Includes photos and video footage of the labor protests and anti-war demonstrations in Pakistan.
- 2 - The second half of the show presents encore segments videotaped in Chicago's main Pakistani neighborhood on Devon Avenue, including a protest against Obama's policy of supporting military raids in Pakistan and an anti-war march.
News Video #100102: Healthcare Crisis in Illinois, Episode 5: Checking the Vital Signs {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28:16Labor Beat: Healthcare Crisis in Illinois, Episode 5: Checking the Vital Signs {LBnnn}
This fifth show in the Labor Beat series 'Healthcare Crisis in Illinois' continues to examine the disparity in the delivery of healthcare in Illinois (and the nation) and how we can reform this broken system.
Labor Beat host Wayne Heimbach invites comments from a powerful panel of labor movement healthcare activists. The discussion takes place in January 2010, the midst of the legislative dead-end in Congress over healthcare "reform".
Members of the panel are: Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program; Brenda Langford, President, NNOC/NNU Region 13, and Vice President, National Nurses United; Steve Edwards, President of AFSCME Local 2858, and member of Socialist Alternative.
"Polls show today that two-thirds of Americans are for a government-sponsored Medicare-like program," Dr. Young offered. And "59 percent of US doctors, a very conservative group, support a government-sponsored, tax-based" program.
Regarding the class nature of how things are going, he explained that "the reduction in services, the closing of facilities are pointed to people at the bottom of the ladder, and at the same time luxury hospitals are still being built in the city and in this country."
Considering the obstacles faced by advocates of a single payer, government-administered movement,the next step should be: "People on the street," Steve Edwards answered. "Within the NNU," Brenda Langford added, "we are aggressively working at organizing the RNs across the country . . ., and we're promoting the single payer health program."
News Video #100127: Public Workers Unite MLK Day Demo Chicago, Jan. 18, 2010 {LB}
A coalition of public workers targeted several locations in Chicago's Loop to dramatize the areas of the public sector that are being dismantled by corporation-controlled government.
To commemorate Martin Luther King day, on Jan. 18, 2010, Public Workers Unite began at Chicago Transit Authority headquarters, then marched to Boeing headquarters, then on to Chicago Public Schools headquarters, and ended up at the State of Illinois Building.
Speaking are.: Earl Silbar, Public Workers Unite; Carlos Acevedo, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241; Mike Pitula, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization; Gwen Johnson, former CTA bus driver; Erek Slater, CTA Bus Driver; Andy Thayer, Gay Liberation Network; Joleen Kirschenman, Public Workers Unite; Rosita Chatonda, Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE); Kurt Hilgendorf, CORE; Jackson Potter, CORE; Bunny Johnson, Public Workers Unite, member AFSCME 2858.
For more information on Public Workers Unite: http://publicworkersunite.org/.
News Video #100126: Rally for Mass Transit Chicago, Jan. 20, 2010 {LB}
Chicago Transit Authority union members and CTA transit users protested in front of the CTA headquarters on Wednesday, January 20.
The ongoing and future threatened cuts by the CTA management will double wait times for bus riders, cut service to low income/minority areas, overcrowd buses and trains, to mention only a few serious effects.
Speeches and interviews from Marcellus Barnes, International VP, Amalgamated Transit Union; Debbie Pittman, Concerned Citizens of Paratransit; Carlos Acevedo, Asst. Business Agent, ATU Local 241; Michael Simmons, Recording Sec., ATU Local 241; Diane Simons, ATU 241 member.
News Video #100109: Victory at SK Tools. Healthcare Crisis in Illinois - Episode 4 {LB}
Labor Beat's 4th segment in its series Healthcare Crisis in Illinois briefly recapitulates segment 3, then goes to its main topic: the strike of Teamsters Local 743 against Chicago area's SK Hand Tools Corporation.
The workers voted to go on strike after their employer canceled their healthcare plan without notice.
Their fight represented the statewide and national fight for workers' healthcare coverage as employers cut healthcare as insurance costs rise.
"We found out we had no health insurance when we went to the doctor, or tried to get a prescription filled. If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone. We all need health insurance," said Norma Trinidad, SK Tool Striker.
The strike finally ended with Local 743 keeping its healthcare coverage.
Scenes included are the SK Tools picket line, protest at Sears in downtown Chicago, the strike victory rally, and more.
Labor Beat: Let's Fix Chicago's Public Transit! {LB587}
Chicago public transit riders and workers have become fed up with perennial funding crises that translate into service cuts and attacks on working conditions and jobs.
There needs to be a different, positive solution with adequate funding, and transit riders and workers need to control the process and the system.
With Mike Pitula, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization; and Erek Slater, CTA Bus Driver. Also Elwood Flowers, ATU 308; Carlos Acevedo, ATU 241; Dan Hrycyk, Financial Sec., ATU 241; Heather Benno, NoCTAcuts.org.
News Video #100102: Hassan Juma'a Awad Interview {LB}
Hassan Juma'a Awad, President of Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, is interviewed while attending as a guest speaker the 3rd National Assembly of U.S. Labor Against the War in December, 2009.
Mins 10News Video #091225: Let's Fix Chicago's Public Transit! {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 23
Labor Beat: Pain Dry Ice Strike / Obama's War / Honduras Election {LB586}
- 1. Pain Dry Ice Strike
Teamsters 705 members employed by Pain Dry Ice in Addison, IL were forced to strike over unfair labor practices.
In a campaign to put pressure on management, the union has implemented a strategy of following the scab trucks carrying dry ice to delivery locations and conducting ambulatory picketing there to inform customers about the strike.
- 2. Day One of Obama's War
Within 24 hours of President Obama's announcement of major US troop increases to Afghanistan, a coalition of anti-war groups on Dec. 2, 2009 assembled in Chicago's Loop (at Federal Paza) to denounce this move.
This is now Obama's war, not a leftover from Bush's military policies. One sign at the rally said it all: "So Much for the Peace Prize!"
- 3. Chicago Protests Sham Honduras Election
On the day so-called elections took place in Honduras (Nov. 29, 2009) protesters assembled in front of the Honduran Consulate in Chicago to decry the fraud of this electoral process set up after the military coup against the legally elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.
Honduras Election {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Pain Dry Ice Strike / Obama's War / Honduras Election {LB}
Pain Dry Ice Strike {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Pain Dry Ice Strike / Obama's War / Honduras Election {LB}
News Video #091219: Rubina Jamil Interview {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 15:15
News Video #091212: Day One of Obama's War {LB}
Within 24 hours of President Obama's announcement of major US troop increases to Afghanistan, a coalition of anti-war groups on Dec. 2, 2009 assembled in Chicago's Loop (at Federal Paza) to denounce this move.
This is now Obama's war, not a leftover from Bush's military policies. One sign at the rally said it all: "So Much for the Peace Prize!
News Video #091211: Stop CTA Service Cuts {LB}
A rally against mass transit service cuts in Chicago took place on Dec. 9, 2009.
Carlos Acevedo, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, told a large protest crowd in front of CTA headquarters: "It seems the riding public gets numb to it because it seems not to happen, they get bailed out every year, but these cuts are real. You will be affected by them. It's a different style of service cuts they are making, that will make you stand on the corner for a long, long time. They are going to eliminate buses on each route. They can avert this. We need a real solution for mass transit, to demand proper funding for mass transit."
Heather Benno, NoCTACuts.org, added: "This is a cause of justice. They say that they're going to lay us off and cut our services. They say that there is nothing we can do. But by being here in the streets, we are fighting back."
Robert Kelly, President ATU Local 308, told the crowd of union and community activists: "Reducing services in this city, laying people off is a tragedy. We need to keep these jobs. We need the public involved."
Labor Beat: Graduate Employees Organization Strike at University of Illinois {LB585}
In mid-November 2009, the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO), AFT/IFT Local 6300, went on strike at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Within 24 hours, the Board of Trustees acceded to the GEO's demands, in particular to a guarantee of tuition waivers.
The victory was part of a growing national upsurge of militancy against cutbacks in public education, such as the recent militant protests in UCLA and Berkely.
This program was prepared for Labor Beat by www.iresist.org, and videotaped by a UIUC GEO.
News Video #091204: Chicago Protests Sham Honduras Election {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 8News Video #091201: Pain Dry Ice Strike {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 10
News Video #091129: Help Us Help You. Caseworkers protest, Nov. 18, 2009. {LB}
AFSCME 2858 case workers for the Illinois Department of Human Services held an informational protest at the largest welfare facility in the state of Illinois
on Nov. 18 to underline the crisis facing the state's welfare system. There are not enough workers to process the cases, or, put another way, case workers are given far too many cases than they can possibly handle (1200 instead of 600, the recommended number). AFSCME 2858 spokesperson Bunnie Johnson pointed out that welfare workers are like other public workers, such as bus drivers and school teachers, who are fighting cuts and layoffs, from which the public suffers as well as public workers. They hope that actions like this will be part of a general fightback growing to defend the public sector and its workforce.
Welfare workers protest at largest Dept of Human Services center in Illinois Photo: Labor Beat
Labor Beat: Healthcare Crisis in Illinois - Episode 3, Healthcare Showdown {LB584}
Third in the Labor Beat series on healthcare crises in Illinois.
Includes the Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, showing up on the Teamsters 743 picket line at SK Handtools. He puts on a Teamsters hat, grabs a picket sign, and gives a lengthy speech about why workers need healthcare reform, single payer in particular.
The SK Handtools strike over, among other things, the workers' loss of healthcare benefits is part of an historic national struggle over whether under this system good healthcare is a right for all or only for those who have money.
Labor Beat: ABA You're the Worst / Showdown in Chicago / Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers {LB583}
-1- ABA, You're the Worst
The Oct. 26, 2009 protest against the national meeting of the American Bankers Association in Chicago.
Actions, interviews, speeches. Begins at Chicago offices of Goldman Sachs (Goldman "Sucks") and then goes to the office building of Wells Fargo. There, hundreds of protesters occupy the lobby. Length 9:57.
-2- Showdown in Chicago
October 27, 2009, on the third day of protest during the national meeting in Chicago of the American Bankers Association, some 4-5 thousand labor and community activist marched down Michigan Avenue and then to the Sheraton Hotel, where the ABA was meeting, and held a protest rally.
This day of protest was called by its organizers "Showdown in Chicago: The American People vs. Wall Street Banks."
Speakers included Dennis Gannon (President, Chicago Federation of Labor), Tom Balanoff (President, SEIU Illinois Council), Richard Trumka (President, AFL-CIO), Armando Robles (President, UE 1110, of the Republic Windows plant occupation), Denise Dixon (Executive Director, Action Now).
Dixon noted, "Every 13 seconds, another home goes into foreclosure in urban areas all over the country that are already beaten down. ... Enough is enough!"
Tom Balanoff asked the rally, "why are we here today? We're here to send a strong message to the bankers and the financiers, it's time that they be held accountable."
-3- Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers
On Sept. 24, 2009, in front of the Chicago Ave. entrance to the Chicago Park Hyatt, hundreds of Chicago hotel workers (UNITE-HERE members) and supporters sat down in the street, in solidarity with Park Hyatt workers in Boston who were fired.
Interviews and scenes from the dramatic sitdown in the street.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfFWXVNJo6U www.blip.tv/file/2679301.
[PLAY NOW. Use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfFWXVNJo6U . Or www.blip.tv/file/2679301].
ABA You're the Worst {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: ABA You're the Worst / Showdown in Chicago / Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Showdown in Chicago {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: ABA You're the Worst / Showdown in Chicago / Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers {LB}
Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: ABA You're the Worst / Showdown in Chicago / Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers {LB}
News Video #091028: Bankers Meeting Protest - 'Showdown in Chicago' {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins est
News Video #091027: Bankers Meeting Protest - 'ABA, You're the Worst' {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 9:57
News Video #091018: Healthcare Crisis in Illinois - Episode 2, The Public Only Option {LB}
The second report in this series briefly recapitulates Episode 1 and then covers a series of speakers and interviews from the Labor Day event at Pullman on Sept. 7, 2009, where we hone in on the public option and single payer.
To those gathered at that commemoration, Dr. Claudia Fegan (Physicians for National Healthcare) spoke: "As we stand here today, there are 46 million people who are uninsured. And 75 percent of those people are working folks and their families."
Dr. Ann Scheetz, working with the Illinois Single Payer Coalition, explained in an interview, "the only healthcare reform that counts is the single payer program that is embodied at the national level as HR676, and at the state level in HB311. This is the only reform that will actually cover everybody because it makes coverage automatic. It is also the only reform that can contain costs. This can only come about through a massive movement of all the people, including of course the labor movement."
State Representative Mary Flowers, who is chair of the Healthcare Committee, said: "I see so many of my friends out here for single payer. We must send our leaders in Washington, DC a message. We must tell them that we don't want access to insurance, we want access to healthcare. Therein lies the difference."
Jorge Mujica, immigrant rights activist, addressed the issue of undocumented workers and the national healthcare debate. "Today on Labor Day immigrants came out to march as American workers, born elsewhere, but as American workers. ... Mr. Barack Obama said a month ago that the priority in his government is healthcare reform and we will talk about immigration reform in about a year. And our response is, we are willing to work of course for healthcare reform, but we want a healthcare reform that is inclusive, because you should know that this healthcare reform we are talking about excludes immigrants...Let's include every American worker in the healthcare reform."
Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. noted that "115 years after Pullman [the Pullman strike], there is still a debate about citizenship...there is no such thing as an illegal human being." Congressman Jackson then compared the issue of private vs public option to the systems for mail delivery: "We do not have in our mighty constitution the right to healthcare which every human being deserves. We are here to demand a more perfect union for every American...The private option is 'FedEx' and 'UPS'. The public option, for under 50 cents, is ...the 'US Postal Service'. The public option covers the barrios and the ghettos. The American people deserve coverage from one end of this nation to the other."
Other speakers in the video include: State Rep. Constance A. Howard; State Senator Donne E. Trotter; State Rep. Al Riley; John McHale, SK Hand Tools striker; Richard Berg, President, Teamsters 743.
Labor Beat: Healthcare Crisis in Illinois - Episode 1 {LB582}
This video is the first in a series of reports on the many aspects of the healthcare crisis in Illinois, first looking at Teamsters on strike over a healthcare issue, and then at an important community sampling, including healthcare professionals, speaking out at a healthcare rally in Evanston.
The strike began when SK Handtools stopped medical coverage for their workers, and didn't even bother to tell them. The workers found out about it when they started getting medical bills they thought were covered by their job.
The union, IBT Local 743, went on strike. David Biedrzycki, a 25-year employee and union steward, tells us "we need our healthcare for our families. People are in need right now." Danny, another 743 member on strike, says "I owe $20,000 in medical bills."
The crisis impacts many communities in Illinois. At a candlelight vigil for healthcare in Evanston on Sept. 2, Marcia Bernsten says: "We really need to be out in the streets signing petitions, calling our congressmen, whatever it takes to get meaningful healthcare reform passed, and passed in this Congress".
Among several speakers covered, Margaree Figaro, a pediatrician, says "slowly over the last six months I've become extremely disturbed by the national epidemic involving layoffs of doctors, nurses and medical support staff in both public and private hospitals."
This video unveils a healthcare crisis that is growing into an social epidemic in Illinois, taking multiple forms as it affects many different sectors of the working class.
News Video #091004: Chicago Street Sitdown for Boston Hyatt Workers, 9/24/2009. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 9:48
Labor Beat: The Bombing of Sadr City / Iraq Freedom Congress {LB581} –n–
- 1. Very few US television viewers have seen the kind of footage presented in the "Bombing of Sadr City", which has been edited down to fit our Labor Beat time slot. This is, in fact, the US tv premiere of this video.
It records the events in May, 2008 in Sadr City, Iraq as US shells strike civilian areas. Sana TV, an Iraqi tv organization, shot this footage during the attack, and during the dramatic arrival and treatment of the attack's victims at a local hospital.
There is no corporate network commentator filtering the images from us in a studio thousands of miles away, telling us what to think; we learn what the people themselves think as they are caught in the midst of the attack.
- 2. The second half of the show is a press conference (again, edited down to fit Labor Beat's time slot) by Iraq Freedom Congress (http://www.ifcongress.com/English/), which produces Sana TV.
The IFC is a pro-union, pro-women's, pro-students' rights organization in Iraq which is not part of any religious current, but instead calls for a secular Iraqi society. The IFC calls for the immediate exit of the US troops by means of a political struggle. English subtitles.
Labor Beat: National People's Summit / {LB580nn}
Detroit, Michigan - While Automotive CEO's meet at the Renniasance Center, the castaways of their previous 30 year policy appear at the front door.
Gregg Shotwell, Marion Cramer and Frank Hammer, among others, explain the economic situations that caused this present condition.
Labor Beat: Peace on Parade {LB579}
Intrepid Labor Beat reporters march with Peace contingents in Evergreen Park, Chicago-Archer Ave, Homewood, IL and stand with protesters in the Taste of Chicago July 2-4, 2009 measuring the mood of the citizenry concerning War.
News Video #090819: National People's Summit, 6/14/2009. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 19
Labor Beat: Secretary of Education Duncan: Pushing the Chicago Plan {LB578}
Before President Obama appointed Arne Duncan Secretary of Education, Duncan was the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.
Under his control there, Chicago Public Schools endured a relentless wave of privatization, school closings, militarization, union busting and blaming teachers for the problems of urban schools.
Now the war on public education pursued during the Bush administration will only continue and intensify under the new Secretary of Education Duncan.
His Chicago Plan, as former teacher and editor of Substance News George Schmidt explains, is the template for a national strategy to dismantle public education.
Through revealing footage and comments from Chicago teachers, this video shows the resistance that has been growing among teachers and community organizations.
Here is a national alert for everyone who cares about the future of public schools, threatened now by Arne Duncan and his corporate vision for the nation's school systems.
News Video #090819: 5-Hour Strike at SK Hand Tools, 7/31/2009. {LB}
Teamsters Local 743 set up an early sunrise strike line at SK Hand Tools in Chicago and McCook, Illinois on July 31, 2009.
The company "has unilaterally withdrawn health insurance, failed to extend the contract during negotiations, and demanded wage concessions that barely put members above the minimum wage," the union web site stated. The action was approved in a vote by a margin of 67 to 2.
Includes picket line scenes and interviews with IBT 743 President Richard Berg; Mark Meinster, Int'l Rep., United Electrical Workers; David Biedrzycki, IBT Local 743 Steward; Donnie Von Moore, IBT 743 Union Representative.
Labor Beat: Profit Over Women's Health {LB577}
This show covers a spirited press conference/protest outside the University of Chicago administration building to halt the planned closing of the 47th Street women's clinic, and to call for a halt to the policies of the U of C Medical Center in pushing the poor out the door.
It took place on June 30, 2009, and was called by the Coalition for Healthcare Access, Responsibility and Transparency (http://www.stopchicago.org).
Other demands of CHART were:
- Immediate moratorium on clinic closures - Restore services - Restore and expand patient transportation from community to hospital - Expand staffing and beds in the Emergency Room and General Medicine - Open the hospital to new patients, regardless of medical insurance - Living wage jobs and good benefits for all staff
After the press conference, we follow the protest as it reconvenes to hold a BBQ and picket across the street from Univ. of Chicago President Zimmer.
News Video: #090804: Peace on Parade 2009, 7/2/2009. {LB}
Intrepid Labor Beat reporters march with Peace contingents in Evergreen Park, Chicago-Archer Ave, Homewood, IL and stand with protesters in the Taste of Chicago July 2-4, 2009 measuring the mood of the citizenry concerning War.
News Video #090802: Secretary of Education Duncan: Pushing the Chicago Plan, 7/2009. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 26:52News Video #090722: Profit Over Women's Health, 6/30/2009. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 26:20
Labor Beat: Wells Fargo Forclosure Protest / CAT Protest / Rally for Single Payer / Michael Moore at Sicko Rally {LB575}
Four segments.
- 1. Wells Fargo Foreclosure Protest. Protest about home foreclosures in front of Wells Fargo Bank Chicago, IL June 11, 2009.
Speakers: Mike McDowell of South West Organizing Project; Ted Wysocki, Moline, IL, National Community Reinvestment Coalition; and Fred of the Northside Action for Justice.
-2. CAT Shareholders - June 10, 2009. In the 6th year of protesting at Caterpillar Inc. shareholders meetings, demonstrators targeted Northern Trust bank in Chicago, IL to educate the public about how Caterpillar bulldozers are used to destroy Palestinian homes.
Among organizations participating were US Campaign, Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Arab-Jewish Partnership for a Just Peace in the Middle East.
-3. Rally for Single Payer. While President Obama addressed the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009 in Chicago, Single Payer advocates held a demonstration.
"Single payer is the only option that is really going to provide healthcare for everybody," one supporter said. Interviews and scenes. PLAY VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nnxNItgTx0.
-4. Michael Moore Sicko Rally Speech. In 2007, to promote his new film, Michael Moore spoke at an outdoor rally in Chicago, making this powerful speech in favor of single payer. PLAY VIDEO: www.archive.org/details/CLALBMICHAELANDSTUDS.
News Video #090620: Rally for Single Payer, 6/15/2009. {LB} –n–
While President Obama addressed the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009 in Chicago, Single Payer advocates held a demonstration. "Single payer is the only option that is really going to provide healthcare for everybody," one supporter said. Interviews and scenes.
Mins 7:30
Labor Beat: Raises on the Backs of Lost UIC Jobs / Keep Chrysler Jobs in Kenosha {LB574}
- 1. "Raises on the Backs of Lost UIC Jobs."
At the University of Illinois Chicago campus, on May 21, 2009, a broad coalition of students, campus workers, graduate employees, doctors, and union representatives picketed the meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Earlier, some of the protesters had been allowed to address the Trustees meeting. Video cameras were not permitted; but Labor Beat obtained stills of the meeting.
The protest was organized by the UIC-ABC Coalition; and it demanded that the "University's budget not be balanced on the backs of workers, students, and community members". It called for "no layoffs or bumping, no tuition or fee hikes, healthcare for all, access for all students."
Earlier in the month the University had declared that over 90 civil service positions would be eliminated or bumped. Many of these positions would affect SEIU Local 73 members.
Toward the end of the demo, it was announced that members of the Board of Trustees had agreed to meet with the protestors, the results of which are yet to be reported. Speeches, interviews, scenes of the protest.
- 2. "Keep Chrysler Jobs in Kenosha."
The spirited May 18, 2009 rally in Kenosha, WI to stop Chrysler's plans to close its engine plant there, leaving the work to be done in Mexico.
Scenes of the demonstration at the plant gate, interviews with autoworkers, plus speeches by Kenosha UAW Local 72 President Glenn Stark, and Dennis Williams, UAW Region 4 Director.
The autoworkers call upon President Obama to intervene to save their jobs. On-demand playback is available at laborbeat.org
Labor Beat: International Labor Conference / Gaza Protest in Wasat, Iraq {LB573}
- International Labor Conference. A 15-minute video report on the historic March 13-14, 2009 meeting in Erbil, Iraq.
A recent Labor Beat show featured the speech there of Iraq War Veteran Aaron Hughes ("Aaron at Erbil"). This show focuses on the main contents of the International Labor Conference.
Includes interviews and some brief speeches, as well as summaries of the final resolutions. It was attended by 200 delegates from Iraqi unions in 15 of 18 provinces, as well as 15 international delegates. This is an edited-for-English version of a video produced by Sana TV in Japan.
-Gaza Protest in Waset, Iraq. Here is a unique glimpse into a street demonstration in Iraq, as it protests the Israeli attacks on Gaza earlier this year.
The demonstration, organized by Iraq Freedom Congress (a political organization in Iraq (www.ifcongress.com/English), marches to the headquarters of a local politician ("Manager of the Azizya Court") and presents it demands. This is an edited-for-English version of a video produced by Sana TV, which is a production of Iraq Freedom Congress.
News Video #090521: Keep Chrysler Jobs in Kenosha, 5/18/2009. {LB} –n–
A spirited May 18, 2009 rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin to stop Chrysler plans to close its engine plant there, leaving the work to be done in Mexico.
Scenes of the demonstration at the plant gate; interviews with autoworkers; plus speeches by Kenosha UAW Local 72 President Glenn Stark and UAW Region 4 Director Dennis Williams. The autoworkers call upon President Obama to intervene to save their jobs. Video by Labor Beat.
Labor Beat: Defend Professor Capeheart / Support Cintas Workers / No Games / Daley's Snowstorm {LB572}
- Defend Professor Capeheart. - Support Cintas Workers - No Games - Daley's Snowstorm
Note: Descriptions of these segments and their on-demand playback links are provided separately in the Labor Beat show listings.
Labor Beat: Aaron at Erbil {LB571}
On March 13-14 an important International Labor Conference was held in Erbil, Iraq, which is in the Kurdistan region. Along with the 200 delegates from Iraqi trade unions and international unions, attending was a delegation from the U.S., comprised of representatives of U.S. Labor Against the War, and 2 representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Among those IVAW attending was Aaron Hughes, the subject of this 25 minute video.
Aaron explains why he attended the Conference, and places his return to Iraq as an anti-war veteran in the context of a similar visit by Vietnam Veterans Against the War to North Vietnam.
At the center of Aaron's experience in Erbil is his short speech to the delegation apologizing for his role in the US military in oppressing the people of Iraq. This video is a documenting of that speech and the reactions of the audience, as well as Aaron's anxiety about what the reactions would be.
The work of the Conference is also summarized by Aaron, enhanced with footage from Iraq Peacetv in Japan and Aaron's own footage of the event. The experience of the Conference provides the basis of the IVAW delegate's re-dedication of their goal of war reparations for the people and workers of Iraq.
News Video #090425: Defend Professor Loretta Capeheart, 4/23/2009. {LB}
Press Conference in Defense of Professor Loretta Capeheart
A press conference was held at Northeastern Illinois University on April 23, 2009 to defend Professor Loretta Capeheart.
The NEIU administration has attacked her for playing a leading role in the faculty union (AFT) and 2004 strike; for her defense of students arrested for protesting a campus CIA recruitment event; and for her other statements supporting minorities, labor, and academic freedom.
She has been denied appointment to her duly elected post as department chair; denied merited awards; and defamed by NEIU's vice president in a faculty council meeting.
To sign the petition in support of Professor Capeheart: www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.htm l.
Professor Capeheart is suing NEIUs President, Vice-President, and Provost for violation of her free speech rights and retaliation against her for exercising these rights in defense of labor, minorities, and academic freedom.
In this excerpt from the press conference, Professor Capeheart is joined by: Hector Reyes, Ph.D., Physical Science Dept, Assistant Professor, Harold Washington College; Susan Rosa, Ph.D. Associate Professor, History NEIU; Russell Bennjamin, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Political Science NEIU; Sharon K. Hahs, President NEIU; Samuel Vega, Union for Puerto Rican Students. For more information: 773-552-0394.
News Video #090416: Support Cintas Workers, 3/2009. {LB} –n–
Maria Ramirez and Norma Flieta were fired for not meeting production quotas in the laundry sort area at the Cintas plant at 6001 73rd St, near Chicago.
They say the reason Cintas fired them was because of their national origin and that this was an unfair work assignment.
Though the plant is not organized at the moment, UNITE HERE is organizing there. A protest action is shown in this video. (See http://www.uniformjustice.org/news/detail.php?news_id=1071 for more info.)
Labor Beat: Sixth Anniversary of the War / Chicago Closes 16 Schools {LB570}
-1- Protesting the 6th anniversary of the war in Iraq, a march through Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood took place on March 14, 2009.
The marchers decried the laundry list of outrages now endured by working people as a result of the continuing war crimes: diverting of funds from education, community clinics, social support structures; attacks on immigrant workers; the foisting of more militarism onto Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the list goes on.
Numerous interviews, some speeches, scenes. "Obama has just announced that there are going to be 50,000 troops staying in Iraq. That's not a withdrawal plan" notes Shaun Harkin (ISO). About 19 minutes.
-2- Protest Against Chicago Board of Education Vote to Close 16 Schools / Feb 25, 2009
A big community, union and student protest at Chicago Board of Education as 16 Schools are slated for closing under Renaissance 2010. Feb 25, 2009. 10 minutes.
News Video #090414: Veteran Against the War Speaks to Conference in Iraq, 3/13/2009. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 25
News Video #090410: No Olympic Games!, 4/02/09 {LB} –n–
Title: Daley's Snowstorm.
It was no Daley lovefest when city workers, community, immigrant, human rights and anti-2016 activists gathered in Chicago Federal Plaza on April 2, 2009.
It was also the day the International Olympic Committee (IOC) came to town to survey the City's bid. As far as we know, none attended.
News Video #090407: Sixth Anniversary of the War, 3/14/09 {LB} –n–
Protesting the 6th anniversary of the war in Iraq, a march through Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood took place on March 14, 2009.
The marchers decried the laundry list of outrages now endured by working people as a result of the continuing war crimes: diverting of funds from education, community clinics, social support structures; attacks on immigrant workers; the foisting of more militarism onto Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the list goes on.
Numerous interviews, some speeches, scenes. "Obama has just announced that there are going to be 50,000 troops staying in Iraq. That's not a withdrawal plan," notes Shaun Harkin (ISO).
News Video #090405: Cops Union Pickets Mayor Daley, 4/02/09 {LB} –n–
Labor Beat.
Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7 called out its off duty officers and surrounded City Hall demanding a contract from Mayor Daley after 21 months of delay.
Coincidently, it was the same day the International Olympic Committee arrived to survey the city for the 2016 games. Interviews with Mark Donohue, FOP President, Marilyn Stewart CTU President and Leroy Jones City Division Director of SEIU.
Labor Beat: Push Back Wage Theft {LB569}
Kim Bobo, author of the newly published Wage Theft in America, talks about ways to detect and stop the growing trend of wage theft in the U.S.
Drawing upon years of practical organizational experience, Bobo is an engaging and informative speaker. She is the founder of Interfaith Worker Justice.
Her down-to-earth talk is enhanced visually by Labor Beat through tables and location footage.
News Video #090321: IVAW at International Labor Conference in Iraq (Excerpt), 3/13/09 {LB} –n–
Aaron at Erbil
Click here to view on bliptv: http://blip.tv/file/1989250
On March 13-14 an important International Labor Conference was held in Erbil, Iraq, which is in the Kurdistan region. Along with the 200 delegates from Iraqi trade unions and international unions, attending was a delegation from the U.S., comprised of representatives of U.S. Labor Against the War, and 2 representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Among those IVAW attending was Aaron Hughes, the subject of this 25 minute video. Aaron explains why he attended the Conference, and places his return to Iraq as an anti-war veteran in the context of a similar visit by Vietnam Veterans Against the War to North Vietnam. At the center of Aaron's experience in Erbil is his short speech to the delegation apologizing for his role in the US military in oppressing the people of Iraq. This video is a documenting of that speech and the reactions of the audience, as well as Aaron's anxiety about what the reactions would be. The work of the Conference is also summarized by Aaron, enhanced with footage from Iraq Peacetv in Japan and Aaron's own footage of the event. The experience of the Conference provides the basis of the IVAW delegate's re-dedication of their goal of war reparations for the people and workers of Iraq.
====Iraq Veterans Against the War member Aaron Hughes talks about his speech at the historic March 13-14, 2009 International Labor Conference in Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The Conference was also attended by representatives from U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW).
This is a short excerpt from an upcoming video from Labor Beat with additional footage from Japan Peace TV/Sana TV.
Labor Beat: Employee Free Choice Act Town Hall Meeting {LB568}
Chicago-area trade unions held an Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) rally on February 17, 2009. Over a thousand trade unionists voiced their support for EFCA, overflowing the old Plumbers Hall west of the Loop. Many workers had to stand in the lobby listening to the speeches.
The EFCA , if passed in Congress, will strengthen employees' rights to form a union and help restore the living standards of the working class.
Speakers appearing in the video include: Michael Carrigan, Pres. Ill. AFL-CIO; national AFL-CIO President John Sweeney; U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago); Laborers' International Union of North America President Terence O'Sullivan; Anna Burger, Change to Win labor coalition; and others.
News Video #090316: Antiwar / Immigrants' Rights, 3/14/2009 {LB}
Labor Beat promoted and covered the 3/14/2009 Chicago Antiwar and Immigrant Rights Coalition march in the Pilsen neighborhood.
The following day, Labor Beat presented a 5 hour cable television broadcast of past marches. Some video clips from that broadcast are posted on the Internet.
The arrest of Mrs. Pat Vogel, local mother of a soldier in Iraq. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwif0tOmlE&feature=channel_page.
Jorge Mujica on immigrants organizing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAsZHdaLo4&feature=channel.
Andy Thayer, march organizer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSIaFShm2w&feature=channel.
Earl Silbar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apfd6eTtxGc&feature=channel.
Iraq Veterans Against the War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBVBsTlTguU&feature=channel.
Rich Berg, SEIU local president. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQbXawdau0o&feature=channel.
Labor Beat: Healthcare Crisis in the President's Backyard / Nothing About Us Without Us {LB567}
1. Healthcare Crisis in the President's Backyard
On February 10, 2009, Teamsters Local 743 & Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) organized a layoff protest rally at the University of Chicago Campus.
The University is planning to layoff over 400 union workers at the UC Medical Center, while continuing multi-million dollar construction projects. Produced by Gary Brooks for Labor Beat.
2. Nothing About Us Without Us
Video coverage of the 2/10/09 STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power) press conference at the Mayor's Office protesting the proposed closing of four mental health clinics on the Chicago's South Side.
Statements from Ed Shurna of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Mr. Fred Friedman of First Steps, Bill "Dock" Walls of Committee for a Better Chicago, along with several consumers of these clinics there to tell the Mayor, "treatment works."
Labor Beat: The Elder Studs Terkel, Activist for Labor / Public Dollars, Public Schools {LB566}
- The Elder Studs Terkel, Activist for Labor
On Oct. 31, 2008 Studs Terkel died at age 96. The event was somewhat overshadowed by the looming Nov. 4 election just days away. It was Halloween, too, something Studs would have been amused by.
Studs' passing marked the end to an era. His public radio and writer's personality had been part of the national narrative in progressive and labor history going back to the 30s.
Labor Beat has compiled here selections from our own exclusive footage of Studs appearing at union picket lines and rallies for the past 20 years. Here is Studs speaking at a grape boycott rally with Cesar Chavez, and testifying with Tim Kazurinsky in the Chicago City Council chambers urging their support for the SAG-AFTRA strike.
We spend some time with Studs as he arrives at a big hotel strike rally on Labor Day in 2003 on Michigan Ave. He enjoys schmoozing the crowd and becomes again the old soap box orator of yore. And in 2007 we see Studs in his dotage, perhaps at his last outdoor labor rally--in Chicago's Millennium Park for Single Payer Health Care. Studs introduces filmmaker Michael Moore, his new film "Sicko" just released, and Studs and Michael crack a few jokes together. Michael Moore reminds the audience: "Studs, you're a national treasure."
Narrated by Al Harris Stein.
- Also, a second, short segment. Public Dollars, Public Schools
Well over 500 parents, children and teachers converged on the Chicago School Board protesting the proposed 20 school closings.
Recognizing the Renaissance 2010 plan of the business class's Commercial Club and its role in the union busting plan and the sabotage of neighborhood schools, they march to their front doors and rally before heading to City Hall to demand a meeting with Mayor Daley.
News Video #090215: Mental Health Clinics Closing Protest, 2/10/09 {LB}
Nothing About Us Without Us
Video coverage of the 2/10/09 press conference at the Mayor's Office protesting the proposed closing of four mental health clinics on the Chicago's South Side.
Statements from Ed Shurna of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Mr. Fred Friedman of First Steps, Bill "Dock" Walls of Committee for a Better Chicago, along with several consumers of these clinics there to tell the Mayor, "treatment works."
News Video #090214: Teamsters and Students Protest Hospital Layoffs, 2/10/09 {LB}
Healthcare Crisis in the President's Backyard.
On February 10, 2009, Teamsters Local 743 & Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) organized a layoff protest rally at the University of Chicago Campus.
The University is planning to layoff over 400 union workers at the UC Medical Center, while continuing a multi-million dollar construction projects. Produced by Gary Brooks for Labor Beat.
News Video #090210: Chicago Antiwar and Immigrant Rights March Permit Upheld {LB}
The Chicago Antiwar and Immigrant Rights Coalition has organized a march through the Pilsen neighborhood on March 14, 2009.
The coalition called this February 10 press conference celebrating the January 23 court victory ruling that the City must grant a permit.
News Video #090208: The Elder Studs Terkel: Activist for Labor {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 20
Labor Beat: The Struggle Against Renaissance 2010 {LB565}
The Struggle Against Renaissance 2010.
Here are excerpts from the Community Hearing at Chicago's Malcom X College on January 10, 2009, highlighting testimonies of teachers union members, community organizations, students and parents.
The hearing considered: At the current pace, 50% of all the Chicago Public Schools will be privatized by 2020. How will this impact students, parents, teachers, communities? The meeting was Sponsored by: Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE); The Chicago Teachers Union; The Pilsen Alliance; PACT; CSDU; Substance News; Blocks Together; Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; Parents United for Responsible Education; Teachers for Social Justice; The Southwest Youth Collaborative.
Selections of speeches from Professor Pauline Lipman, Educational Policy Studies; Julie Woestehoff, Parents United for Responsible Education; Lourdes Guerrero, Teacher Representative; Jesse Sharkey, Social Studies teacher; Lanetta Thomas, High School student; Alina Mojica, former charter school student; Kristen Chapman, High School teacher; Marilyn Stewart, President, Chicago Teachers Union; Meg Sullivan, terminated charter school teacher; Lorenza Ramirez, parent of former charter school student; Carol Reynolds, charter school teacher; Lou Pyster, retired school teacher; Alfred P. Rodgers, Parents United for Responsible Education; and Debbie Lynch, Former President, Chicago Teachers Union.
Lynch, with much audience support, expresses disappointment over President Obama's appointment of Arne Duncan, responsible for so many of these destructive policies in Chicago public education, to become the new Secretary of Education.
News Video #090202: Closing and Privatizing Chicago Public Schools, 1/28/09 {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 8:30
Labor Beat: Mass Chicago Rally For Gaza / Republic Workers / Confronting Bigots {LB564}
Mass Chicago Rally for Gaza, And 3 Other Segments
- 1: Mass Chicago Rally for Gaza.
On January 2, 2009, some 4,000 supporters of the people of Gaza rallied at Tribune Plaza on Chicago's Michigan Avenue and then marched across the Michigan Ave. Bridge to hold a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate on E. Wacker Drive.
They could not fit everyone into the cleared street on the block in front of the Consulate, so huge was the demonstration. Scenes and speeches. 4 minutes.
- 2: Republic Workers Protest at Bank of America
Scenes and interviews from the powerful workers' protest at Bank of America Center in Chicago's financial district on Dec. 10, 2008.
This protest represented a culmination of labor and community support of the members of UE Local 1110 who decided to occupy the Republic Windows and Doors plant because they were being laid off without legal notice or severance.
- 3: "Workers Republic" Excerpts
When the workers at Republic Windows and Doors were notified their factory would close in three days, they took matters into their own hands. The union work force seized control of the factory for 6 days to demand the severance they are owed by law.
On the sixth day of their occupation, they won all their demands, and showed the world's working class a classic example of people power (something not seen in the USA for decades).
This is a 9-minute excerpt from the soon-to-be-released full 30-minute episode, "Workers' Republic."
- 4: Confronting the Bigots of the Westboro Baptist "Church"
On December 13, 2008, activists in Chicago's "Boys Town" neighborhood confronted the notorious bigots from the Kansas Westboro Baptist "Church." Fred Phelps and his followers have been picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, saying God hates America for its tolerance of homosexuals. His vile posters often include "Fags Die, God Laughs," and other such hate mongering.
When activists for LGBT Equal Marriage rights heard Phelps would soon protest their community center, they organized to shut down his message of hatred. Produced by Andrew Freund of Labor Beat.
News Video #090120: Testimonies Against Schools 'Renaissance 2010', 1/10/2009 {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 29
News Video #090111: Yes, We Can Free Palestine. Rally, 1/09/2009 {LB}
On Friday, January 9, 2009 a huge rally for Gaza assembled in Chicago's Daley Center and then marched to the Israeli Consulate.
Hear selected speeches and watch footage of this protest, part of a series of actions of growing intensity and size in Chicago.
"Yesterday, the United States Senate voted on a resolution that backs an Israeli attack on Gaza. They are cowards," said one of the speakers.
"We reject our government's complacency in these crimes, and we hold our government accountable just as we hold Israel accountable, because it is our government which feeds Israel one third of our foreign aid budget while we neglect our youth, our elderly and our disenfranchised communities," another speaker noted.
News Video #090110: Jewish Protester Against Gaza Invasion, 1/09/2009 {LB}
Joel Finkel from Jewish Voice for Peace was escorted away by the Chicago Police from a Pro-Israel rally January 9, 2009 at Federal Plaza. He carried a sign stating "Starving Palestinians is NOT my Judaism."
During the Palestinian rally later that day, Joel weighs in on the scripted Israeli government talking points.
Jewish Voice for Peace, www.chicago.jvp.org
Labor Beat: Tool and Die Strike - 1939 {LB563} –n–
"Tool and Die Strike-1939" is a rescued documentary made, we presume, by the U.A.W.C.I.O. in that year, and which has not been seen by the general public for many years; ... probably the 70 years since it was made.
This is an extraordinary and priceless glimpse into events erased from memory--at least as far as the visual scenes are concerned.
A number of years ago a friend of Labor Beat, researcher of old film footage, and documentary maker Dennis Mueller [The Assassination of JFK; Framed: The Story of Geronimo Pratt; John Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisitions, etc.], discovered this film while poking around in the National Archives. He asked the modern-day UAW if they had heard of it, and they hadn't. But Dennis made a copy of it for us.
Possibly the reason why it had been forgotten for many decades since the Great Depression was because it describes certain factional battles within the UAW in 1939, frictions which later the UAW may have wanted to hide away in the "attic", or the National Archives as the case might be.
In any event, the situation at the beginning of the strike, described briefly in our presentation by labor historian Martin Glaberman, is that there arose a split within the UAW, with one faction going with the AFL, and the other with the CIO. The company took advantage of this confusion and abrogated its contract with the UAW, declaring that it didn't know any more who the bargaining agent was.
The U.A.W.C.I.O. had no choice but to strike to reestablish its contract. Through the course of this strike the film presents a remarkable range of creative strategies which the union develops: flying squads (using cars filled with picketers to quickly plug up holes in the picket line); liaisons with the farmers who supply them with food; plans to run labor candidates for the Detroit City Council; food kitchens and ladies' auxiliaries (keep in mind the cultural context of 1939); refusing to allow the company to remove machine tooling equipment from the factory; and so forth.
This film would be fascinating under any circumstances, but today, under the conditions of our national economic crisis, it has added resonance. First of all, it shows the courage and sacrifices of the auto workers who gave so much backbone to the working class, and reminds us today of how important still are the UAW and the gains it won.
The film is also a vivid reminder of what the Great Depression of the 1930s was -- as we face today another Great Depression. All the fog of consumerism and centrist corporatism is blown away, leaving the raw basics: jackbooted police and mounted company cops; pro-company newspapers and governments; the factory, the means of production of wealth; the workers' solidarity on the picket lines and in the community. Here is the bedrock of society laid bare before us, without illusions.
-- Larry Duncan
News Video #090104: Confronting the Bigots of the Westboro Baptist "Church", 12/13/2008 {LB}
On December 13, 2008, activists in Chicago's "Boys Town" neighborhood confronted the notorious bigots from the Kansas Westboro Baptist "Church."
Fred Phelps and his followers have been picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, saying God hates America for its tolerance of homosexuals. His vile posters often include "Fags Die, God Laughs," and other such hate mongering.
When activists for LGBT Equal Marriage rights heard Phelps would soon protest their community center, they organized to shut down his message of hatred.
News Video #090103: Mass Chicago Rally for Gaza, 1/2/2009 {LB}
On January 2, 2009, some 4,000 supporters of the people of Gaza rallied at Tribune Plaza and then marched across the Michigan Avenue Bridge to hold a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate on East Wacker Drive.
They could not fit everyone into the cleared street on the block in front of the Consulate, so huge was the demonstration. Scenes and speeches.
Labor Beat: The Virden and Mt. Olive Monuments: Honoring Coal Miner History {LB562}
The Oct. 28th, 2006 unveiling of the impressive new monument commemorating the Virden massacre in 1898 in Southern Illinois.
With interviews, coal miner memorabilia, a fire-breathing speech by UMWA President Cecil Roberts, plus the ceremony at the Mother Jones monument only a few miles away in Mt. Olive, Illinois.
Produced by Gary Brooks for Labor Beat, this video won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2007 Hometown Video Awards. Reprise of LB514.
News Video #081222 : Beauty Turner Remembered {LB}
Beauty Turner, A Writer and a Fighter, 1957-2008.
Ms. Beauty Turner, advocate for the people, was felled by a stroke at the age of 51. Short video from the 2007 antiwar demonstration in Federal Plaza gives a message of action. A great loss for the community here in Chicago.
News Video #081214: Protestors Will Hold Obama Accountable, 12/13-14/2008 {LB}
Voices of Protest / December 13-14, 2008 / Chicago.
The antiwar, gay and lesbian, labor, and peace movements all intend to hold the Obama administration accountable in 2009.
News Video #081212: Republic Workers Protest at Bank of America, 12/10/2008 {LB}
Scenes and interviews from the powerful workers' protest at Bank of America Center in Chicago's financial district on Dec. 10, 2008. This protest represented a culmination of labor and community support of the members of UE Local 1110 who decided to occupy the Republic Windows and Doors plant because they were being laid off without legal notice or severance.
Interviews and speech excerpts include: Bob Kingsley, National Director of Organization, United Electrical Workers; Ricardo Cacetes, UE 1110 member; Raul Flores, UE 1110 member; Jorge Mujica, Immigrant Rights Leader; Richard Berg, President Teamsters Local 743; Larry Spivak, Regional Director of AFSCME District 31; Rev. Gregory Livingston, RainbowPUSH. 7 minutes.
That evening, Bank of America and other banks agreed to come up with $2 million to cover the union demands. The workers at the occupied plant voted to accept the agreement. The working class has now only scratched the potential power it has to change events.
News Video #081211: The Occupation of Republic Windows and Doors, 12/10/2008 {LB}
When the workers at Republic Windows and Doors were notified their workplace would close in three days, they took matters into their own hands.
The union work force seized control of the factory for 6 days to demand the severance they are by law owed.
On the sixth day of their occupation, they won all their demands, and showed the world's working class a classic example of people power (something not seen in the USA for decades).
Labor Beat: Crossborder Mural Project {LB561}
Witness the creation of two labor murals, one in Mexico City, the other in Chicago, linked by the collaborative efforts of unions from both sides of the border.
In April, 1997 Mike Alewitz paints a mural in the headquarters of the Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT) in Mexico City. Later in the year, Mexican muralist Daniel Manrique Arias and three young muralists from co-sponsoring Chicago Public Arts Group paint a mural on an outside wall of the United Electrical Workers (UE) District 11 Hall in Chicago, Illinois at 37 S. Ashland Ave.
This ambitious cultural project of the pioneering crossborder Strategic Organizing Alliance between UE and Mexico's independent labor federation gives visual expression to the idea of international solidarity.
Labor muralist Alewitz features Mexican hero Emiliano Zapata and Albert and Lucy Parsons. Albert Parsons was executed on trumped up charges following the Haymarket Square incident in Chicago. Lucy Parsons fought to prove her husband's innocence and improve conditions for workers and women.
The mural is entitled "Sindicalismo Sin Fronteras / Unions Without Borders". Manrique is a major voice in Mexican art and the foremost exponent of the neighborhood-based movement Tepito Arte Aca. His mural is entitled "Hands in Solidarity -- Hands of Freedom / Manos Solidarias--Manos Libres."
UE Director of International Labor Affairs Robin Alexander and both muralists talk about the project and the painting of the murals. Video is a spellbinding collection of visions from inside the world of two muralist at the moment of creation.
Produced and edited by Steve Dalber, a Labor Beat co-producer. Ala LB292
Labor Beat: The Labor Movement After the Bush Era {LB561}
The 2008 election and the prospect of the upcoming exit of the Bush administration created a lot of discussion within the labor movement and among its allies about what is on the horizon for the working class.
In October, 2008 a forum was held in Chicago which represented a current within this debate, and Labor Beat presents a sampling of those speakers.
Here are David Moberg, Senior Editor, In These Times; Richard Berg, President, Teamsters Local 743; and Bill Fletcher, Jr., Past President of Trans Africa Forum and Education Director and Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO. This forum was organized by In These Times and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America.
Labor Beat: Friends Family Healthcare Victory {LB560}
Three Segments:
- 1. "Friends Family Healthcare Victory" - The IBT 743 workers at Friends Family Healthcare Center have won a victory! Working without a contract since 2002 and not given a raise since 2006, they had enough. Thanks to a recent transformation of Teamsters 743 into a rank-and-file-run union in an election victory last year, the members mobilized themselves and a coalition of community and labor supporters to show management that they were not going to give up or give in. And on October 3rd, FFHC workers and friends celebrated a victory with a new contract.
- 2. "Fighting for Peace at the RNC" - Teamsters Local 743 from Chicago loaded up a bus and drove up to St. Paul, MN to join the big national protest at the Republican National Convention last September. This 9-minute video joins IBT 743 President Richard Berg and 743 members on the trip, listening to their words that explain why they are going. Issues raised in their action include ending the war, health care, union rights, immigrant rights, more
- 3. "Teamster Rally In Support of Anheuser-Busch Workers" - The Teamsters sponsored a labor rally in downtown St. Louis on August 16, 2008 to demand that InBev, the international brewing giant, honor its "pledge to protect the workers and communities" which have made Anheuser-Busch a success. InBev recently bought up Anheuser-Bush, an icon of the "American Dream" closely linked with St. Louis history. The rally also had an international flavor, with labor speakers from Canada, Brazil, and Europe.
News Video #081105: The Labor Movement After the Bush Era, 10/1/2008. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28:38
News Video #081001: Capitalism Gives Us The Creeps, 10/30/08 {LB}
Although Halloween is over, the scariest stuff is yet to come. Join the annual "Capitalism Gives Us the Creeps" Halloween march in Wicker Park in Chicago, presented by local anarchists who dressed up as nightmarish capitalists.
Mins 3:48
News Video #081030: Rally Against AIPAC, 10/27/2008 {LB}
Dick Reilly of Chicago Committee Against War and Racism, comments on Mayor Daley's appearance at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee luncheon this very day and how the issues of Palestine are front and center to police brutality and war protests.
Mins 3:56
News Video #081029: Burge Is Indicted, 10/27/2008 {LB}
Torture victims of Commander Jon Burge describe treatment they received. Jonathon Jackson of Operation PUSH discusses reconciliation process with Alderman Ed Smith. Family, friends and supporters enter Dirksen Center to finally begin Justice.
Mins 4:12
News Video #081019: Old Wars, New Wars, and Election '08 {LB}
- Old Wars, New Wars, and Election '08.
Both McCain and Obama are pro-war candidates.
"Some people tell us don't protest - go register voters. And we tell them, to vote for who?" says Jorge Mujica, immigrant rights leader.
"I firmly believe that Obama...is the greatest threat to the movement for progressive change since JFK," notes Jonathan Hutto, Sr., author of Anti-War Soldier.
"Barack Obama if he wins is going to bring more business to these [war industry] companies. He's gong to keep in place the major outposts of the occupation to bring money to the contractors," warns Jeremy Scahill, investigative journalist.
- Includes scenes from No War on Iran protest in Chicago.
Labor Beat:The Peace and Justice Caucus at the AFT Convention {LB559}
In July, 2008 the American Federation of Teachers held its convention in Chicago. Present there was a national rank-and-file teachers group, the Peace and Justice Caucus (www.aftpeaceandjusticecaucus.org). Their work at the Convention was to promote resolutions on peace, immigrants rights, support of Puerto Rican teachers, and other issues.
This video explores aspects of their work, as well as issues raised by Chicago rank-and-file teachers concerned with the actions of Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart, co-chair of the convention and AFT Vice President.
Stewart had invited Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, who had eliminated many teachers' jobs and closed schools, to speak at the convention, while she was trying to fire her CTU Vice President, who had been elected to that position by the membership.
The P&J Caucus also protested that the convention was opened by military student color guard with guns. Scenes and interviews.
News Video #081015: Col. Ann Wright at Sheppard AFB, 10/03/2008 {LB}
Col.(ret)Ann Wright stands in support of Gloria Barrios, mother of Senior Airman Blanca Luna, murdered on Sheppard Air Force Base March 7, 2008. This from a press conference October 3, 2008. She also addresses the violence against women at other bases in the military, stateside and overseas.
Mins 3:16
News Video #081009: Gloria Barrios at Sheppard AFB, 10/03/2008 {LB}
Blanca Luna was murderd on Sheppard Air Force Base on March 7, 2008. Her mother, Gloria Barrios, shows up at the front gates 7 months later looking for answers. She leaves unsatisfied, but first warns youth of making military a way of life.
Mins 6:10
News Video #081002: Don't Sell Out for The Bail Out, 10/01/2008. {LB}
(Send this right away to your "representative" in the U.S. House of Representatives -- On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLr-AOndq2w&fmt=6.)
On Oct. 1, 2008, labor and community organizations held a protest in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago against the rush to bail out Wall Street.
Speakers included: James Thindwa of Chicago Jobs with Justice; Elena Marcheschi of UNITE HERE Chicago/Midwest; and Rev. Gregory Livingston of Rainbow PUSH. Video is 6 minutes.
More info: Chicago Jobs with Justice, Chicago@jwj.org.
"Labor Beat: March on the RNC {LB558}
The protest at the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC), largely ignored by the big media.
The mass march from the Minnesota State Capitol toward Xcel Center, site of the Republican National Convention.
Scenes from the march, showing the enormous police presence, and speeches, as activists from around the country protest the policies of the Bush administration (and the US Government), amid rising repression against freedom of speech.
News Video #080930:The Peace and Justice Caucus at the AFT Convention, 7/2008. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28:21Billiken {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Billikin / Air and War Show {LB}
This segment is described in the show's description.
Labor Beat: Billikin / Air and War Show {LB557}
-1- First, scenes and interviews from the Bud Billikin 2008 parade in Chicago to remind students that school is about to start. But one Chicago school teacher wonders: where is the Chicago Teachers Union?
-2- The second segment covers the informational protest by anti-war activists at the recent 2008 Air and Water (War) show in Chicago. The police are there to help this costly military advertisement flex its muscles on the beach, while the bill of rights gets sand kicked in its face.
Air and War Show {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Billikin / Air and War Show {LB}
This segment is described in the Labor Beat show's description.
Labor Beat: Defending Public Education in the USA {LB556}
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.
News Video #080830: Teamsters Rally In Support of Anheuser-Busch Workers, 8/16/08. {LB}
The Teamsters sponsored a labor rally in downtown St. Louis on August 16, 2008 to demand that InBev, the international brewing giant, honor its "pledge to protect the workers and communities" which have made Anheuser-Busch a success.
InBev recently bought up Anheuser-Bush, an icon of the "American Dream" closely linked with St. Louis history. The rally also had an international flavor, with labor speakers from Canada, Brazil, and Europe. Produced by Labor Beat, the Chicago-based labor tv series.
News Video #080819: The Abbie Files, 8/1989. {LB}
Vintage footage from August 1989 featuring Abbie Hoffman.
Mins 6:07
News Video #080813: Air and Water Recruiters Show, 2006 {LB}
An anti-commercial. LB revisits military/recruitment extraveganza on Chicago's lakefront.
Mins 3:04
News Video #080810: Chicago Unions at the Bud Billiken Parade, 8/9/08. {LB}
Chicago Trade Unions attended (or stayed away) from the annual Bud Billiken Parade, August 9, 2008.
Mins 6:26Labor Beat: Patriotism Reclaimed: Peace on Parade {LB554}
- Patriotism Reclaimed: Peace on Parade
On July 3rd and 4th, Labor Beat joined local peace contingents as they marched in their neighborhood Independence Day parades.
The SouthSiders for Peace led a group of friends and US veterans against war through Evergreen Park, a suburb on Chicago's southwest side, to an often hostile reception.
In Hyde Park, a liberal, integrated neighborhood - and Obama's home - on Chicago's lakefront, the Hyde Parkers for Peace and Justice and friends walked in a parade where "everybody marches, nobody watches".
The segment ends in "the Peoples' Republic of Evanston" - a suburb on Chicago's north shore, where the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice and Evanston Neighbors for Peace marched to the applause of the community and words of welcome from the mayor. The show is a tribute to the courage and persistence of small, neighborhood peace groups across the country who stand up among their neighbors and continue to condemn US wars and occupations.
The show is dedicated to the memory of a local woman, Blanca Luna (1980 - 2008), US Air Force Senior Airman, who was found murdered in her hotel room on Ft. Sheppard Airbase, in Texas. For more information, see Chicago Reader, July 3, 2008.
- The video ends with an "anti-commercial" for the upcoming Air and Water Show, the annual display of militarism on Chicago's lakefront, reprised from coverage in 2006.
News Video #080806: Defending Public Education in the USA, 7/12/08. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28est
News Video #080805: 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.
News Video #080803: Taste Counter Recruitment, 7/5/08 {LB}
Counter recruitment effort at the Taste of Chicago July 5, 2008.
Mins 7:44
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. On-demand playback is available at laborbeat.org.
- 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 #080720: 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 #080709: 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.
Mins 7:19
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.
Mins 28
News Video #080625: 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 #080614: Anne Feeney, Labor Songs At The Heartland Cafe, 5/18/08. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28Rally to Save Cook County Health Care {LB} –n–
Within: Labor Beat: No Peace, No Work! / Rally to Save Cook County Health Care {LB} –n–
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.
No Peace, No Work! {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: No Peace, No Work! / Rally to Save Cook County Health Care {LB}
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.
Workers, Immigrants, Veterans - May Day 2008 Chicago {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Workers, Immigrants, Veterans - May Day 2008 Chicago / Anita Chan--Should we establish contacts with the Chinese trade unions? {LB}
Anita Chan--Should we establish contacts with the Chinese trade unions? {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Workers, Immigrants, Veterans - May Day 2008 Chicago / Anita Chan--Should we establish contacts with the Chinese trade unions? {LB}
News Video #080526: 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 #080518: 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.
News Video #080501: Chicago School Board Vs The Community {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 20est
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
Chicago Protests 5 Years of War {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Chicago Protests 5 Years of War / Trade Union Movement in Iraq {LB}
Trade Union Movement in Iraq {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Chicago Protests 5 Years of War / Trade Union Movement in Iraq {LB}
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 #080413: American Axle strike is in its third month. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 7:12
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."
It's A Done Deal: CPS vs Community {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: It's A Done Deal: CPS vs Community / Picketing the Monarch Ball / Mouseland {LB}
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.
Picketing the Monarch Ball {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: It's A Done Deal: CPS vs Community / Picketing the Monarch Ball / Mouseland {LB}
News Video #080308: 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.
Mins 15:06
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 #080216: 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 Moore¡¦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 ¡§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: Peru Trade Action at Obama HQ / Health Care Vigil / Grove Parc Apartments / Maersk Picket {LB541}
1. Peru Trade Agreement Action at Obama HQ, Chicago.
Members of the Chicago Trade with Justice Working Group paid a visit to the Obama for America headquarters in Chicago on Dec. 15, 2007.
They wanted to tell Senator Barack Obama that they are concerned with his failure to appear at the recent Senate vote on the US-Peru "Free Trade" Agreement. They left a statement for Obama, a current candidate for U.S. President, and expressed their disappointment that he skipped the vote on the Peru trade pact. They were even more concerned that Obama, along with Sen Hillary Clinton, made public statements supporting the Peru Trade deal and that Illinois Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, voted in favor of it.
2. Healthcare Vigil at Cook County Commissioners Meeting-For the Patients' Budget Amendment.
Nurses, medical staff, patients, clergy and commissioners hold Healthcare Vigil at the Nov. 27, 2007 meeting of the Cook County, IL Commissioners to vote on the Patients' Budget Amendment, sponsored by Commissioners Suffredin, Claypool, Maldonado, and Quigley. For more information: National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) at 312-491-4902.
3. Grove Parc Today, Tomorrow It Will Be You.
Residents from the Grove Parc Apartments subsidized housing complex on Chicago's South Side held a spirited demonstration at the Federal Plaza in Chicago's Loop on Nov. 19, 2007. Their homes, at the proposed site of the 2016 Olympic Stadium, may get bulldozed by the city's gentrification plans. More info: 773-753-9674.
4. Maersk Picket! Port of Tacoma.
On Nov. 7th 2007 a picket line was called to push the administration of Maersk (headquartered in Tacoma) to allow workers to join the union of their choice instead of the company union that managers have imposed on them.
Jobs With Justice organized the picket, Tacoma SDS and other community members who heard word-of-mouth about the picket went to the port to show solidarity. Produced by Tacoma Students for a Democratic Society.
Peru Trade Action at Obama HQ {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Peru Trade Action at Obama HQ / Health Care Vigil / Grove Parc Apartments / Maersk Picket {LB}
Health Care Vigil {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Peru Trade Action at Obama HQ / Health Care Vigil / Grove Parc Apartments / Maersk Picket {LB}
Grove Parc Apartments {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Peru Trade Action at Obama HQ / Health Care Vigil / Grove Parc Apartments / Maersk Picket {LB}
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 #071217: 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.
News Video #071216: Peru Trade Agreement Action at Obama HQ - Chicago, Dec. 15, 2007. {LB}
Members of the Chicago Trade with Justice Working Group paid a visit to the Obama for America headquarters in Chicago on Dec. 15, 2007. They wanted to tell Senator Barack Obama that they are concerned with his failure to appear at the recent Senate vote on the US-Peru "Free Trade" Agreement.
They left a statement for Obama, a current candidate for U.S. President, and expressed their disappointment that he skipped the vote on the Peru trade pact. They were even more concerned that Obama, along with Sen Hillary Clinton, made public statements supporting the Peru Trade deal and that Illinois Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, voted in favor of it.
Labor Beat: Living Wage Buzz Off Show / Laugh at Your Boss {LB539}
1. "Living Wage Buzz Off Show" A short satire created by Rockford-area union activists underlining the need for a living wage as opposed to a minimum wage.
2. "Laugh at Your Boss." Hang out with the team of Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki,
Includes a traveling exhibit of labor cartoonists from around the world, cartoon animations, and discussions with other labor artists, such as Mike Alewitz. A Labor Beat favorite, made in 1998.
Living Wage Buzz Off Show {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Living Wage Buzz Off Show / Laugh at Your Boss {LB}
News Video #071129: Vigil for Cook County Patients' Budget Amendment, Nov. 27, 2007 {LB}
Nurses, medical staff, patients, clergy and commissioners hold a healthcare vigil on Nov. 27, 2007 as Cook County IL commissioners vote on the Patients' Budget Amendment.
Sponsoring commissioners were Suffredin, Claypool, Maldonado, and Quigley. For more information contact The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), 312-491-4902.
Labor Beat: Demonizing the Inner City - Ideology and the Urban Poor {LB538}
Repeating one of Labor Beat's most popular Internet streaming videos.
In this presentation, Steve Macek-- author of the book "Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right and the Moral Panic over the City" (University of Minnesota Press, 2006) - analyzes the hysteria over the central city and the urban poor that permeated American politics and popular culture in the 1980s and 90s.
Macek dissects the way mainstream politicians (Rudolph Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr.) , conservative intellectuals and the corporate media conspired to demonize inner city neighborhoods and their residents.
In particular, he discusses the way that TV news reproduced and validated the right's stigmatizing, victim blaming images of the urban poor. Ultimately, he critiques the reactionary political interests served by this divisive discourse on urban pathology and points to what activists can do to counter its destructive influence. Includes assorted visuals.
A related video is Labor Beat's "Grove Parc Today, Tomorrow It Will Be You" (Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbyLqy_T-Z4Search 'Labor Beat' videos on YouTube, or search for 'Labor Beat' videos on YouTube). Residents from the Grove Parc Apartments subsidized housing complex on Chicago's South Side held a spirited demonstration at the Federal Plaza in Chicago's Loop on Nov. 19, 2007. Their homes, at the proposed site of the 2016 Olympic Stadium, may get bulldozed by the city's gentrification plans. More info: 773-753-9674.
News Video #071123: Residents Oppose City Plan to Take Their Homes. Chicago Demonstration, Nov. 19, 2007. {LB}
"Grove Parc Today, Tomorrow It Will Be You" Residents from the Grove Parc Apartments subsidized housing complex on Chicago's South Side held a spirited demonstration at the Federal Plaza in Chicago's Loop on Nov. 19, 2007. Their homes are at the proposed site of the 2016 Olympic Stadium and may get bulldozed for gentrification and the Olympics.
Another video has a related background discussion. See also "Labor Beat: Demonizing the Inner City", #LB515, at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1808948055843475610.
Labor Beat: Who Will Stop The War?: Issues In The Midwest Anti-War Action, Oct. 27, 2007 {LB537}
Who Will Stop The War? -- Issues In The Midwest Anti-War Action, Oct. 27, 2007.
The organizers of the Midwest anti-war action on Oct. 27, building on a national United for Peace and Justice call, created controversy by inviting to speak at this event Chicago's Mayor Daley, and Illinois Senators Durbin and Obama, among other Democratic Party politicians.
Also, much of the established left that had organized the earlier Chicago area anti-war marches were not invited to the initial planning meetings. Many felt that the organizers by doing so attempted to block the Oct. 27 action from targeting the critical failure of the Democrats in Congress to fulfill their 2006 election promise to stop the war in Iraq.
This 25-minute video interviews participants in this debate while following the scenes in and around the day's activities, including a police attack on the "Imperialist Bloc" feeder march; a separate action of the International Solidarity Movement at an expressway overpass; background scenes of invited speaker Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky, one of the invited speakers, endorsing installing a military academy at Senn High School; speeches and much more. Five Labor Beat videographers provide the footage.
News Video #071104: Issues In The Midwest Anti-War Action, Oct. 27, 2007. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 25Labor Beat: Cook County Nurses Fight for Public Health / Rally for U. of Chicago Workers / Norman Finkelstein {LB536}
1. Cook County Nurses and the Fight for Public Health. A campaign by California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee in Chicago to stop Chairman Todd Stroger's cuts in Cook County health care. A study of how the local media covered this campaign.
2. Rally for U. of Chicago Workers. On Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 a spirited rally took place at the university in support of campus workers and members of Teamsters Local 743.
U. of C. had offered the workers a sub-standard contract. The rally, organized by Students Organizing United with Labor (soul.uchicago.edu), was attended by campus workers, students, faculty and community members.
3. Norman Finkelstein. Sept. 5, 2007. hundreds of the fired professor's supporters try to escort him onto the campus of DePaul University in Chicago.
Denied tenure by the pro-Zionist administration because of his questioning of Israeli foreign policy, Finkelstein gives a statement (excerpts) after his final meeting with University officials.
Labor Beat: Go Forward, Iraq Freedom Congress {LB535} –n–
A unique opportunity for U.S. audiences to get a glimpse of a social movement in Iraq that is not portrayed on the major networks.
"Go Forward, Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC)" documents events from about 2005, 2 years earlier. It was produced by Mabui Cine-coop in Japan.
The IFC movement in Iraq is non-Islamicist, anti-occupation, pro-labor, pro-womens' rights, pro-student, pro-unemployed.
Supporters of the IFC visited Chicago in 2005 as part of the USLAW Iraqi trade unionists tour (Falah Awan and Amjad Aljawhary, of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq).
This 30 minute documentary shows meetings and demonstrations in Iraq that are clearly secular and pro-labor. The video also shows that the IFC defines itself as an internationalist movement, with scenes of the US tour and of a solidarity tour in Japan.
Labor Beat: Teamsters Fighting for the Future Studio Discussion {LB534}
A panel discussion with members of Teamsters Local 726 Fighting for the Future slate, focusing on issues in their soon-to-be victorious upset fall 2007 election campaign.
Members of the local work for the City of Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority, Illinois Toll way, the State of Illinois, Police Departments, Fire Departments and other public sector workplaces.
The panelists are Leo "Duke" Clark, Jr., candidate for Vice-President; Vince Tenuto, candidate for Secretary/Treasurer; Joey Vercillo, candidate for President; John Martinac, North Side Coordinator. For more information on the election, visit: www.fightingforthefuture.com.
This 30-minute show was taped at the studios of The Evanston Community Media Center, and was hosted by Labor Beat's Wayne Heimbach. Produced by Labor Beat.
Labor Express: Radio Hour Weekly {LE20080000?} –n–
Labor Express is Labor Beat's weekly hour-long radio series.
Original broadcasts are via www.wluw-fm.org and WLUW-FM, 88.7 MHz, on Chicago's north side). Go to www.laborexpress.org.
News Video #070930: Rally Supports U. of Chicago Workers, 9/28/07 {LB}
On Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 a spirited rally took place at the University of Chicago in support of campus workers and members of Teamsters Local 743.
The University had offered their workers a sub-standard contract. The rally was organized by Students Organizing United with Labor (http://soul.uchicago.edu) and was attended by campus workers, students, faculty and community members.
Produced by Garry M. Brooks for Labor Beat.
News Video #070915: Chicago Teamsters Will Win Reform. {LB}
(See the description for the later Labor Beat series show.)
Mins 28
News Video #070911: Bill Davis, d. 9/4/07, in a 2006 Interview. {LB}
Labor Beat remembers Bill Davis, trade unionists and veteran against war, who died on Sept 4, 2007. Here is a 9 minute interview he gave us at the March 18, 2006 Chicago march against the war. Many will remember him for numerous qualities; for us, Bill Davis was always a great interview, with insight, information and humor. Thank you, Bill. We'll miss you. -Labor Beat
Mins 9:47
Labor Beat: Teamsters Fighting for the Future / Cygnus Victory / Barak The Bomber {LB532}
1. Teamsters Fighting for the Future. On Aug 13. 2007 members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 726, with the Fighting For The Future slate, organized a peaceful protest at Teamster City, 300 S. Ashland in Chicago.
This video shows how Local 726 members are working to improve their union and to fix a list of problems for city workers.
The issues include: a proposed unfair 10-year contract, loss of healthcare in 6-year, loss of union jobs from privatizations, weak representation by the current union leadership, weak enforcement of seniority rights, weak enforcement of pensions, loss of pensions at Brookfield Zoo, unfair union pay raises and waste of union funds, and unfair union practices.
2. Victory! Cygnus Strike. An extremely significant labor victory, won under new threats of stepped-up attacks on immigrant workers.
Over 100 workers at Cygnus Corp., all of them Mexican immigrants, went on strike on July 27, despite the fact that they had no union and the majority of them were classified as temporary employees. The company, manufacturer of private-label soaps and owned by Marietta Corp., told them that if they couldn't re-verify their Social Security information they would all be replaced.
The workers immediately went on strike, and on August 10, following community support and being backed up by the IAM, they won their demands. With picket line footage and analysis of the victory by Jorge Mujica of the March 10 Committee.
3. Barack the Bomber. On August 7, 2007 the Democratic Party candidates were in Chicago to hold a national debate at Soldier Field. Barack Obama scheduled earlier in the day a fundraiser at a restaurant in Chicago's Pakistani neighborhood on the north side.
Many representatives of the Pakistani community held a protest there, opposing his bellicose pronouncements on invading Pakistan if he were elected President. Obama didn't come out to talk to them or to apologize. Later in the day, at the location for the AFL-CIO-sponsored debate at Soldier Field, anti-war protesters continue to criticize Obama, and Kucinich too. 8 minutes.
News Video #070823: Chicago Teamsters Demand Leadership Changes. {LB}
On Aug 13. 2007 members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 726, with the Fighting For The Future slate, organized a peaceful protest at Teamster City, 300 S. Ashland in Chicago.
This video shows how Local 726 members are working to improve their union and to fix a list of problems for city workers.
The issues include: a proposed unfair 10-year contract, loss of healthcare in 6-year, loss of union jobs from privatizations, weak representation by the current union leadership, weak enforcement of seniority rights, weak enforcement of pensions, loss of pensions at Brookfield Zoo, unfair union pay raises and waste of union funds, and unfair union practices.
News Video #070819: Chicago Pakistanis Object to Barak The Bomber. {LB}
On August 7, 2007 the Democratic Party candidates were in Chicago to hold a national debate at Soldier Field. Barak Obama scheduled earlier in the day a fundraiser at a restaurant in Chicago's Pakistani neighborhood on the north side.
Many representatives of the Pakistani community held a protest there, opposing his bellicose pronouncements on invading Pakistan if he were elected President. Obama didn't come out to talk to them or to apologize. Later in the day, at the location for the AFL-CIO-sponsored debate at Soldier Field, anti-war protesters continue to criticize Obama, and Kucinich too.
News Video #070815: NABET 41 Protests Disney/ABC. {LB}
After working without a contract since April 1, 2007, NABET Local 41 newsgathering crews, editors and some producers held a protest in front of ABC Channel 7 studios in Chicago on August 15, 2007.
Disney, which owns ABC, is trying to freeze the pension plan, dismantle the seniority system, offer wages less than COL, and force other anti-worker measures.
News Video #070812: Immigrant Workers Strike Victory {LB}
An extremely significant labor victory was won under the cloud of new threats of stepped-up attacks on immigrant workers.
Over 100 workers at Cygnus Corp., all of them Mexican immigrants, went on strike on July 27, 2007 despite the fact that they had no union and the majority of them were classified as temporary employees.
The company, manufacturer of private-label soaps and owned by Marietta Corp., told them that if they couldn't re-verify their Social Security information they would all be replaced. The workers immediately went on strike, and on August 10, following community support and being backed up by the IAM, they won their demands.
Including picket line footage and an analysis of the victory by Jorge Mujica of the March 10 Committee.
Labor Beat: Standing My Ground / Oregon Farmworkers Radio {LB530}
1. Standing My Ground. On July 12, 2007, Teamsters Local 726 members held an informational picket at Oak Forest, IL city hall, to show their opposition to the proposed contract for police and clerical workers. At issue are very low pay raises and a meager health care package. The City of Oak Forest is also trying to take back a $1,000 pay raise awarded to the clerical workers following an unfair labor practices decision. Although the action was attended by 60 protesters, rank-and-file 726 members felt that the the leadership of Local 726, which has 5,500 members, could have done more to organize a large turnout in this important struggle. Video by Gary M Brooks.
2. This Labor Beat show also presents a second segment about the 'barn-raising' of KPCN-LP, a low-power radio station built and run by farmworkers in Oregon.
Oregon Farmworkers Radio {LB}
Within: Labor Beat: Standing My Ground / Oregon Farmworkers Radio {LB}
News Video #070728: Teamsters Picket for Cook County Workers in Oak Forest IL July, 2007. {LB}
On July 12, 2007, Teamsters Local 726 members held an informational picket at Oak Forest, IL City Hall, to show their opposition to the proposed contract for police and clerical workers. At issue are very low pay raises and a meager health care package. The City of Oak Forest is also trying to take back a $1,000 pay raise awarded to the clerical workers following an unfair labor practices decision.
Although the action was attended by 60 protesters, rank-and-file 726 members felt that the the leadership of Local 726, which has 5,500 members, could have done more to organize a large turnout in this important struggle. Video by Gary M Brooks.
(This news video became a segment of LaborBeat: Standing My Ground".)
