The Chicago Public Schools: Another World is Possible
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, U.S. Politics, Unions
“The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.” ― Jean Piaget
Chicago public school teachers are taking a collective deep breath and preparing for what may become their greatest challenge of all, saving public education in the city. While the corporate-owned Chicago media has focused on pay issues, the length of school days and the strike authorization vote, the media consistently ignores how public education is under relentless attack by corporate “reformers” who use their wealth and power to starve public education of funds, silence its advocates, sabotage its improvement and pursue privatization of schools. Read more
Chicago Nurses Say: Tax Wall Street!
National Nurses United(NNU) took up the cause of Robin Hood at Chicago’s downtown J.P. Morgan Chase building on June 19. With its of merry band of tax reforming nurses, the NNU held a lunch hour rally to press for a financial transactions tax (FTT) or as it is more commonly called, a “Robin Hood Tax”. Chicago was among 15 cities where similar rallies were held.
Easily recognized by their red scrubs along with their Robin Hood hats and masks, NNU members described the Robin Hood tax in signs that read,”It’s Not a Tax On the People. It’s a Tax For the People.”
Continuing a campaign that saw several thousand nurses and their supporters in Chicago’s Daley Plaza during NATO week, the nurses hope that Congress will pass such a tax to help finance a genuine economic recovery by investing in housing, education, health, infrastructure, green jobs and other needs. Read more
Big Banks Slam the Brakes on Public Transit
Filed under: CEO's, Job Safety & Ecology, Society & Economy, Uncategorized, Unions
Dale Burnett stood in the lobby of a Chase bank in downtown Chicago the morning of June 7 and explained why Chase and other big banks need to stop gouging millions from the city’s public transit system. A home care worker who cannot afford a car, Burnett’s job pays her poverty wages and she cannot afford fare increases or service cuts. In contrast, Jamie Dimon, CEO of Chase, has a $23 million compensation package this year. Nationally, 43% of transit riders make under 25,000 annually.
Burnett was among 50 Chicagoland transit riders and community activists who came to send a letter to CEO Jamie Dimon. Representing a coalition of transit riders and transit workers called ReFund Transit, they were asking him to renegotiate the interest rate swaps that are bleeding public transit across the USA. Simultaneous protests by ReFund Transit were held in other US cities.
Dale Burnett had this to say:
“We are here today because Chase and other big banks are ripping off money for our transit system…I live on the South Side of Chicago. I am a personal assistant for the Illinois Department of Human Services. I provide key life services so an individual can live in their home with dignity.Without me they cannot live and without them, I cannot live. We cannot make any more cuts for vital services, whether its health care, education and transit. I depend upon Chicago’s public transit system for my life.”
Interest rate swaps were among a swarm of exotic securities that gestated inside of Wall Street and then burst forth to reproduce across the planet. What follows is the short version of how swaps work. For the long version please download this free report. Read more
The Killing Towers of the US Telecom Industry
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, Unions, Workplace
He fell 120 feet to the ground while dismantling an unused communications tower in Lincoln, Illinois on June 8, 2005. Although identified only as employee #1 in the official OSHA report, he was 43 year old Toby Wheale of Glendale, AZ. Wheale’s employer, Wireless Horizon Inc. of Lincoln IL, was fined $750. The head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) once called tower climbing “the most dangerous job in America.” Apparently $750 was the worth of this person’s life in the communications industry.
A total of 100 people died falling from communication towers between 2003-2011. Of these, 50 fell from cell phone towers. The worst carnage was between 2006-2008 when the iPhone rollout caused a spike in phone traffic that ATT had not anticipated and a major overhaul of the system was required. The death rate for tower climbers is about 10 times that of construction workers.
Tower climbing in the telecom industry is non-union.
