Pelosi Says Job Creation Is Economically and Ethically Right

by Mike Hall, Jun 8, 2010

Creating jobs and forging an economy that breaks out of the boom-and-bust cycle that always leaves working families busted is both good policy and morally right, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the hundreds of progressive activists at the America’s Future Now conference this morning.

“We have an ethical responsibility to create good jobs and economic necessity to create good jobs.”

She said it is imperative that lawmakers, policymakers and especially voters work to “achieve an economic prosperity that not only puts people back to work,” but opens the doors of economic opportunity that have been shut for the millions of people at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Mexican Federal Police Move in on Strikers in Cananea

IMF alarmed by reports that federal and state forces have moved into Cananea on Sunday night to execute arrest warrants against the union leaders of the Mexican Miners' Union.

MEXICO: IMF has received reports that federal and state forces arrived in Cananea on Sunday night, June 6, to execute arrest warrants against union leaders the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, Mexico,

Spain's Labor Reform Could Sideline Unions: Report

Civil servants protest over planned pay cuts in front of the economy ministry in Madrid May 20, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Andrea Comas

(Reuters) - Spain may make it easier for companies to bypass unions to lower workers' pay and conditions if they can prove they are in financial difficulty, El Mundo newspaper reported on Sunday, citing government sources.

Companies in financial difficulty can currently only negotiate down wages and conditions to below those established by the collective bargaining procedure if they have the approval of unions, which is rarely given.

But El Mundo said one of the Socialist government's drafts of labor reform due to be handed to unions on Wednesday says independent government commissions would be created to negotiate salary cuts between workers and employers in such cases

Wall Street Reform a First Step to Taking Back America

by James Parks, Jun 7, 2010

Even though Congress is poised to pass the strongest Wall Street reform in recent history, the current bill is just the beginning of the broad reforms we need to take back the country from the Big Banks, a panel of experts said today at the America’s Future Now! conference in Washington, D.C.

The conference is sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF). (If you haven’t signed up and are in the Washington, D.C., area, up you can register onsite at the Omni Shoreham Hotel [2500 Calvert Street, N.W.]. Click here for more information.)

For the first time in decades, Main Street has a chance to rein in the Big Banks, said Heather Booth, director of Americans for Financial Reform.

Got Health Care Reform and Medicare Questions? Ask President Obama!

by Mike Hall, Jun 7, 2010

Are you a Medicare recipient with questions about the new health care reform law, or do you know someone who is? Tomorrow, you’ll have a chance to get those questions answered by President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

They are hosting an hour-long, live tele-town hall meeting Tuesday, starting at 11:15 a.m. EDT. Health care advocates and senior activists will discuss the key provisions and expanded benefits that the new health care law provides for Medicare participants. The meeting will focus on the $250 “donut hole” rebate checks that will soon be in the mail and the efforts to combat some of the commercial scams and schemes aimed at seniors

Airline Gives Osama Bin Laden a Boarding Pass

British Airways Features Terrorist Al Qaeda Leader's Name in Heathrow Airport Magazine

By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ

June 1, 2010

The name of international terrorist and fugitive Al Qaeda boss Osama Bin Laden has surfaced in an unlikely spot, and apparently he's flying British Airways first class to Washington.

It seems that somebody in London with a bad sense of humor is causing the U.K. airline a bit of a headache after inserting a graphic of a boarding pass bearing bin Laden's name into a company-run magazine.

A cover story in LHR News -- a British Airways staff magazine covering London's Heathrow Airport -- about a new service allowing passengers to download paperless boarding passes to their iPhones includes close-up cover photo a white boarding pass emblazoned with the name "Bin Laden/Osama".

America’s Future Now Conference Sets Progressive Vision

by Mike Hall, Jun 7, 2010

The America’s Future Now conference kicks off this morning. During the next three days, the largest gathering of progressive activists, leaders and lawmakers will map out an economic and political agenda for change—and the organizing strategies for taking that agenda to the country.

Those strategies will focus on fighting the corporate lobbies that stand in the way of economic justice and reform; energizing and building a movement for jobs now; and creating a progressive majority that challenges both obstructionist Republicans and timid Democrats.

Group Launched to Stop Legislation that Would Make Union Organizing Easier

WHAS11.com
Posted on June 4, 2010 at 12:45 AM
Updated Friday, Jun 4 at 12:53 AM

A pro-business group launched in Kentucky on Thursday aims to make "card check" legislation an issue in the congressional elections this fall.

The Coalition to Protect Kentucky Jobs is a project of the Workforce Fairness Institute, which is backed by unspecified business owners. The Kentucky effort is supported by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Kentuckiana, the American Small Business Partnership, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers.

It's about the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow workers at a non-union employer to simply sign up if they want union representation rather than by secret ballot. The bill has fallen short of bipartisan support in recent Congresses.

Spanish Union 'Ready to Call General Strike'

Comisiones Obreras (CCOO)

June 5, 2010

Spain’s largest union said yesterday it was not satisfied with the details of government labour reform proposals leaked to the media so far and that a general strike “seems inevitable”.

Labour unions have called a one-day public sector strike on Tuesday against government austerity measures which include a public sector pay cut, and have threatened a general strike if they are not happy with the government’s labour reform package.

The government has said it is proceeding with its own version of labour reform as months of talks with unions and business leaders have failed to produce a consensus, and that it will present the plan to the other parties on June 9.

Union leaders met on Friday and “reiterated their rejection of the austerity plan as unjust, unbalanced and bad for the economy, along with some of the contents that have emerged on labour reform,” trade union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) said in a statement.

Florida Governor Slammed for Hospital-money Veto

Governor Charlie Crist, Florida

Critics charge that Gov. Charlie Crist slashed the budget of a hospital in Gainesville that serves thousands of poor people out of political spite.

By MARC CAPUTO AND LEE LOGAN
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

Of all the times Gov. Charlie Crist has flip-flopped, few decisions stand out like his budget veto of nearly $10 million for Shands Hospital in Gainesville. Crist recommended the money in his proposed budget in January. He recommended similar funding in the previous three years and approved them in the budget.

Crist's veto of the money -- used to treat 18,000 uninsured Floridians -- also conflicts with his veto message that said he preserved budget items that ``served the most vulnerable.''

On Thursday, the governor defended his veto: ``The concern was more with the process of it, to be honest with you. And the lateness of it. I didn't want things that came late and didn't have the complete committee vetting opportunity.''



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/04/1662596/crist-slammed-for-hospital-money.html#ixzz0q3JnCx9g