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"When Reagan and Bush were running in 1980, they said, “We’re going to get American industry moving again.” And they did—to Taiwan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia—everywhere except here.”

Source: Great Labor Quotations a sourcebook and reader by Peter Bollen
Taken from the BIGLabor.com , check it out there is a lot of good information.
posted at 3:50 PM

The Bush Administration's Attack On Workers And The Eight Hour Day
Give Back Our Money!

With the message "Give back our hard-earned money! Take back your overtime pay cut!," several thousand workers on Wednesday, October 5, delivered hundreds of thousands of postcards to the Bush/Cheney office headquarters in 17 battleground cities against the Bush overtime pay cut, even taking over their offices in several cities. These workers are enraged about the fact that the Bush Administration's overtime pay cut strips up to six million workers of their right to receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. more on this story
This story taken from ZNET by Stewart Acuff

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, is famous for having said that if he had his way, he would put his factories on barges and drag them around the world, in search of the lowest wages and least regulation.

Jack Welch's dream of infinitely mobile factories is one in which the workforce has been made irrelevant--where workers have little or no control over the production process, have become replaceable cogs in a management-controlled machine, and have lost key sources of leverage.
more on this story
This story taken from ZNET by Charley Richardson

It is not the employer who pays the wages-he only handles the money. It is the product that pays the wages.
Henry Ford -Great Labor Quotations by Peter Bollen
posted at 4:50 PM

LAS VEGAS (AP) — First lady Laura Bush and Democrat John Kerry received warm welcomes at an AARP convention Thursday, where in separate appearances both recalled the group's key backing for a Medicare prescription drug law and promised benefits for seniors in the next four years.

"Some people said Medicare modification was impossible," Mrs. Bush told about 9,000 people at the Sands Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip. "President Bush didn't agree, and fortunately for American seniors, neither did AARP." for the rest of this story
posted at 4:00 PM

Southern Territory GVP Robert Martinez, left, meets with IAM members in Florida.

Florida has been battered by hurricane after hurricane this year, and IAM members have been among those hardest-hit. Southern Territory General Vice President Robert Martinez, Jr., accompanied by the IAM’s Community Services Director Maria Cordone, spent three days surveying the damage, talking to IAM members and employers, and finding ways to help. more on this story

"Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit.”

Source: Great Labor Quotations: Sourcebook and Reader, by Peter Bollen

Taken from the BIGLabor.com , check it out there is a lot of good information.

Today in Labor History
Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood killed in suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter during safety investigation of plutonium processing plant, Okla. - 1974

Hundreds of San Jose “Mercury News” newspaper carriers end 4-day walkout with victory - 2000

No issue can be negotiated unless you first have the clout to compel negotiation.
Saul Alinsky-Great Labor Quotations by Peter Bollen
posted at 4:17 PM

OUTSOURCE THIS
Outraged about job exporting and contracting out good jobs? Then you've got to see "Outsource This!"—a great new Web video from TV star Jason Alexander, now playing at www.outsourceoutrage.com

Job exporting and outsourcing SHOULD be among the key issues in the election this year.

It's not just manufacturing jobs that are being lost. White-collar jobs like banking, insurance, health care and tech support are getting shipped overseas, too. Contracting out good jobs eliminates corporate responsibility, while job exporting ships millions of jobs overseas in favor of cheap foreign labor. And it's happening RIGHT NOW.

To see "Outsource This!" and learn more about economic issues and jobs, visit www.outsourceoutrage.com. It's where America's workers go to take a stand for their jobs and their future! And please ACT NOW by forwarding this link to a friend, because your job or the job of someone you know could be the next to go.

You also can check out Job Tracker to find out from Working America which companies in your community or industry are shipping jobs overseas. Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO for people who don't have the benefit of union contracts, created the Job Tracker so you can find out what happened to those good, family-supporting jobs that used to sustain your community. Check it out now by clicking on this link: www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker.

Labor History for October 4th

Louisiana Militia, aided by bands of “prominent citizens,” shoot 35 unarmed black strikers, lynch 2 strike leaders - 1887

Distillery, Wine & Allied Workers International Union merges with United Food & Commercial Workers International Union - 1995
posted at 9:30 PM