May Day: May 1st is
International Workers' Day
May First is celebrated world-wide as International Workers' Day. Although we were indoctrinated during the Cold War that May Day is some sort of socialist military holiday, May Day is a working class festival day which began in the United States in 1886.
May Day is the date when the working class celebrates its international unity and its unity with all the oppressed and exploited of the world, and looks at its long term goal of getting rid of the evil system of capitalism.
The class collaborators in positions of power in the US labor movement beginning with Sam Gompers have always hated May Day and have instead gone along with the ruling class in promoting something called "Labor Day" to draw attention away from the international solidarity of the workers and oppressed people. They tell the US workers they have to hate the workers of other lands who are 'stealing their jobs' - Japanese, Mexican, or Chinese. They point the finger for the problems of the system anywhere except at 'their own' capitalists.
Take the day and talk to your friends, family and co-workers about how we need a great unity of all the workers together with the other oppressed social groups of all ages and sexes and with the oppressed peoples and nations of the world.
May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs
Listen to The Internationale, the historic song of the working class in a festive and nontraditional version. In Japanese, to curdle the brains of labor union misleaders who carry a message of hate. (If you have a slow connection, you should download it first and then listen to it. MP3 format.)
Statement of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle for International Workers’ Day | BRAZIL: May Day Will Kick Off Two-Week March by Landless Protesters | Working Womens' Contingent Swells for New York May Day Rally | NY Womens' Contingent Report Back
From San Diego Indymedia, where the Third World and the First World touch, this article of contrasts:
Tijuana Workers Celebrate May 1st With Rally
 Cleveland Cinema Excludes Projectionist Union from Film Fest After 28 Years of Service
 Taco Bell Truth Tour Rolls into Ohio
 Boycott Cedar Lee Cinema
(This is the Flyer being handed out at the Cedar Lee Cinema)
This Holiday Season, Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is...
In this time of charity and good will towards all, 1/3 of the members belonging to IATSE Local 160 are out of work, because Cleveland Cinemas CEO Jon Forman doesn't want to pay them a living wage or ensure their benefits. IN FACT, HE'S LOCKED THEM OUT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!
Cleveland Jobs with Justice and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 160 ask you to please respect and defend the rights of workers and NOT PATRONIZE the Cedar Lee or any other Cleveland Cinemas locations this holiday season.
Please Sign a Christmas Postcard to be delivered to Jon Forman - admonishing him for being a scrooge and urging him to have a change of heart! The Cedar Lee is a beloved community hot-spot, but NOT when it turns members of working Cleveland into the working poor!
Support good paying and secure jobs this holiday season!
Don't give this local Scrooge your hard-earned money!
For more info, Please contact Jobs with Justice at 440-333-7007
Ruling denies federal shutdown benefits for Steelworkers in Stark
CINCINNATI - A U.S. appeals court rejected arguments Friday that the
federal government should pay ``shutdown pensions'' to former employees of
Republic Technologies International LLC.
The 700 or 800 workers in Stark County who lost jobs or went to work for
Republic's successor at substantially less pay could collect several
hundred dollars a month in shutdown pension checks if the appeals court
ruled in their favor.
Shutdown pensions are paid to workers who reach certain tenure and age
levels. In the volatile steel industry, they were long seen as a cushion
for workers if they lost jobs before full retirement age.
The shutdown pensions could be used as a cushion, too, if workers had to
take lower-paying jobs.
Any interest the pension plan participants had in receiving shutdown
benefits ended in June 2002, when the pension agency sent out notices of
its intention to terminate the plan, the unanimous three-judge appeals
court panel ruled.
By John Nolan
Associated Press
 Building Bridges Radio- Bangladeshi Worker's Dream& SEIU: Labor Must Organize or Die
Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report - National Edition Produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash presents A Bangladeshi Worker's Dream "If I could earn 4500 taka a month ($75 or 37 cents/hr). For me this would be a dream. I could afford to buy milk for my baby, and baby food. I could repay my loans. I could buy fish and fruit sometimes. I could buy a new dress, so I could go out once in my life without having to wear my dirty dress from work." from testimony of Maksuda, a Bangladeshi garment worker, from a tour organized by the National Labor Committee and Labor Must Organize or Die with Tom Woodruff , Executive VP, Service Employees International Union in charge of National Organizing. Tom talked at Cornell University Global Union Forum about the current crisis in the union movement and the pressing need for unions to restructure the AFL-CIO including forming global unions and the need to formulate an AFL-CIO wide strategy to organize Wal-Mart.The SEIU is leading a coalition of unions called the New Unity Partnership which is putting forth these and a number of controversial proposals to revitalize the union movement.
To download or play this 27:54 minute program:
go to radio4all download page: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=10410
Building Bridges is regularly broadcast over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and streamed at
http://www.2600.com/offthehook/hot2.ram for more information email knash@igc.org
Hundreds Rally in Support of Oberlin Union as Contract Negotiations Continue
Friday, October 8th, between 100-200 Oberlin students, faculty, and union workers gathered in front of Cox administration building. This was one of many rallies that have taken place over the past 3 weeks while OCOPE (Oberlin's administrative worker union) have been negotiating new contracts with the College. OCOPE workers have been without a contract since August 1st and recently gave the college their final offer regarding the new contract. [ Full Article | Update | Photos]
 Free Trade Loss
According to a study done by Cleveland-based economic policy research institute Policy Matters Ohio, the state has lost 45,734 jobs due to so-called "free trade" agreeements, such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Critics of "free trade" assert that these deals are nothing more than corporate global governance contracts that shaft workers and the environment in the name of profits.
It has been the hope of recent US administrations to expand these deals, including with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would expand NAFTA to the entire Western Hemisphere (minus Cuba).
The report also discovered that during the period of 1994 to 2003, one out of every six manufacturing jobs was lost directly as a result of "free trade" deals. The organization based its research upon data taken directly from the federal government and "certification" filings by companies who fired workers.
Full story
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