>
> WW News Service Digest #56
>
> 1) Johns Hopkins students back workers' demands
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 2) High school students walk out over Diallo verdict
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 3) AFL-CIO backs rights for undocumented workers
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 4) Levi Strauss workers fight for jobs
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 5) Why Pennsylvania shooting was not 'racist'
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 6) Firsthand report from north Korea
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>JOHNS HOPKINS:
>STUDENT SIT-IN BACKS WORKERS' DEMAND FOR LIVING WAGE
>
>By Sharon Black
>Baltimore
>
>"What do you want? A living wage. When do we want it?
>Now!" rang out between the walls of Johns Hopkins
>University's campus buildings and onto the streets of
>Baltimore March 3, when several hundred people from the
>community and campus marched in support of students
>occupying the administration building.
>
>On the evening of March 6, community groups--including the
>All Peoples Congress, Unity for Action, and Center for
>Poverty Solutions--were preparing to join the sit-in.
>
>This support march marked 100 hours of the sit-in and
>occupation at Garland Hall. On Feb. 28, students from the
>Student Labor Action Committee had stunned university
>officials. As students pointed out, this usually staid
>campus has rarely seen protests--let alone a sit-in and
>occupation.
>
>The students chained themselves to the banister in the
>building only after a two-year campaign that included
>thousands of signed petitions and major rallies to demand
>that the university system pay a living wage to its
>workers.
>
>Johns Hopkins is a billion-dollar institution that
>includes not only the Homewood campus but also an elaborate
>and world-renowned medical institution that fills several
>city blocks on Baltimore's East Side.
>
>Over 1,000 janitors, parking lot attendants and
>subcontract workers within the Johns Hopkins institution
>receive wages that put them below the poverty line.
>Ironically, most cannot afford health benefits although
>they are employed by a world-class medical institute.
>Workers with families cannot provide adequately for their
>children.
>
>The students define a living wage as an hourly wage that
>puts a full-time worker with three dependents just above
>the poverty line. It therefore must include a cost-of-
>living adjustment. The current federal minimum wage is
>$5.15 or $10,712 a year for a 40-hour week. It is less than
>the poverty threshold for one adult and one child.
>
>The living wage, as defined by a Baltimore City ordinance,
>is currently $7.70 an hour, or $16,016 annually. The
>federal poverty line for a family of four in 1997 was
>$16,588.
>
>After two years of petitioning and rallies, the president
>of Johns Hopkins University agreed in February 1999 that
>the wage structure at Hopkins was inadequate. However, his
>remedy fell short. He agreed to raise the minimum to $7.75
>after three years, but failed to include an affordable
>health care plan or cost of living adjustment.
>
>Students demand a real living wage, cost of living
>adjustments and affordable health care benefits.
>
>Student members of the Student Labor Action Committee
>commented, "It's shameful that Hopkins won't come up with
>the money to pay all its workers fairly. They made $250
>million on the stock market last year and the amount we're
>asking for to cover the wage bill is just a tiny fraction
>of that kind of money."
>
>SETTING A NATIONAL PRECEDENT
>
>SLAC member Julie Eisenhardt said, "We're starting to
>realize the importance of this campaign in a larger
>context. If we win, Hopkins will be the first private-
>sector entity to adopt a living wage. This would set a
>great precedent for other universities and corporations,
>who are no doubt watching what is happening at Garland
>Hall."
>
>Community supporters on the march agreed. Jeff Bigelow
>from the All Peoples Congress commented, "As community
>activists we are encouraged by the students. As a union
>organizer I believe this is a critical battle that will
>have a wide impact on workers throughout Maryland."
>
>Bill Goodin, president of Unity for Action, carried a sign
>demanding higher wages for all workers. Said Goodin, "We
>salute the students and their courage. We plan to organize
>and mobilize more support and join their sit-in."
>
>Supporters can fax Johns Hopkins President W. R. Brody at
>410-516-6097, phone 410-516-8068, or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>with your demands for a living wage.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <003b01bf8e94$dd0d8ce0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] High school students walk out over Diallo verdict
>Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 10:40:59 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY:
>ANGERED BY DIALLO VERDICT, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS STAGE WALKOUTS
>
>By Sarah Sloan
>
>In the wake of the acquittal of four white cops who shot
>an unarmed Amadou Diallo, thousands have marched in protest
>through the streets of cities across the country--in
>Albany, the Bronx, Newark, Washington, D.C., Baltimore,
>Atlanta, San Francisco and many other cities.
>
>A growing movement of young people, including many high
>school students, has also taken up this fight against
>racism and police brutality.
>
>On Feb. 28, three days after the verdict, more than 100
>students walked out of classes at Lincoln High School in Jersey
>City, N.J. They held a demonstration, chanting "Amadou! Amadou!"
>The next day, more than 350 students walked out during their
>lunch hour. They marched to the Jersey City Police Department's
>West Precinct.
>
>The following day some 400 students spontaneously walked
>out of Snyder High School, also in Jersey City. They
>marched to Lincoln High School and pressed against the
>barricades set up to block off the school, chanting "Walk
>out, Lincoln." They then marched to City Hall holding signs
>that read "Cop shot Snyder student" and "Stop killing our
>people."
>
>In January, Jersey City police shot and killed Michael
>Anglin, a 15-year-old Snyder High School student. Alequa
>Hayward, a first-year student, said, "Why'd they have to
>kill that boy? Why are they killing these young teenagers?
>If I pull out my wallet are they going to shoot me too?"
>
>Cops claimed Diallo had a wallet in his hand and that they
>shot him because they thought it was a gun.
>
>On March 3, New York City and Brooklyn high school students
>walked out of their classes to protest the Diallo verdict. A
>multinational group of about 1,000 students massed in downtown
>Brooklyn. Feeder marches came from Brooklyn schools, across the
>Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan schools and from the nearby
>subway stations.
>
>At Murrow High School the administration reportedly
>threatened the students who planned to walk out. Only a few
>students stood up and walked out. They remained outside the
>doors of the school chanting for two hours. But by the time
>they marched away, there was a group of 100 more students
>with them.
>
>Students demonstrating in Brooklyn cheered as the group
>grew in size. They chanted, "No justice, no peace, no
>racist police," "Police Course 101, it's a wallet not a
>gun." And students counted from 1 to 41--representing the
>number of bullets cops fired at Diallo.
>
>The youth held a speak-out in the middle of a street. Then
>they took to the streets and marched across the Brooklyn
>Bridge, stopping bridge traffic as they crossed. Motorists
>got out of their cars to cheer the demonstration on and to
>chant with the students. Sometimes the chants of the
>students were drowned out by the level of honking in
>support of the action.
>
>LaGuardia High School senior Karina Mellos-Schechter told
>Workers World newspaper that she had participated in high
>school walkouts and demonstrations in the past. But, she
>said, "I've never seen anything like this. This was all
>high school students. I've never been to a demonstration
>like it, where it was all youth, and I've never been to a
>walkout that was this big."
>
>She said that LaGuardia students were threatened by some
>teachers who told them not to protest. But many went
>anyway. "When I went into school on Monday, the students
>who didn't walk out went up to those who did and said they
>wanted to walk out and were really proud of those who did."
>
>The march continued into Manhattan, targeting City Hall.
>More walkouts are planned for March 13. Many of these
>students are also fighters for political prisoner Mumia
>Abu-Jamal, himself a victim of police brutality. They are
>planning to mobilize for the May 7 rally at the Theater at
>Madison Square Garden to demand a new trial for Mumia and
>an end to the racist death penalty.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <004b01bf8e95$05f58130$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] AFL-CIO backs rights for undocumented workers
>Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 10:42:08 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>AFL-CIO BACKS AMNESTY, LABOR RIGHTS
>FOR UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
>
>By Mary Owen
>
>In a landmark policy change hailed in immigrant
>communities from coast to coast, on Feb. 16 the AFL-CIO
>Executive Council unanimously called for amnesty for some 6
>million undocumented workers and their families in the
>United States--and called on Congress to repeal a 1986 law
>that has victimized these immigrants.
>
>The resolution also calls for whistleblower protection for
>undocumented immigrants who report labor-law violations. It
>calls for job-training programs for immigrants and opposes
>expanding the guest-worker policy--the super-exploitative
>"bracero" program.
>
>"With this resolution, the AFL-CIO proudly stands on the
>side of immigrant workers," said Linda Chavez-Thompson,
>executive vice president of the 13-million-member AFL-CIO.
>
>The resolution commits the federation to push for new
>immigration laws that would protect undocumented workers
>from firing or deportation if they try to unionize or
>complain to the government about violations of labor laws,
>including minimum wage and safety requirements. The AFL-CIO
>will hold four forums across the United States, including
>one in Los Angeles on May 10, to hear testimony from
>immigrants and consider legislative strategies.
>
>"The present system doesn't work and is used as a weapon
>against workers," said John Wilhelm, chair of the
>federation's Committee on Immigration Policy and president
>of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union.
>
>The AFL-CIO is expected to advocate new laws to replace
>the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. That law was
>supposed to sanction employers for hiring undocumented
>workers. But in practice, as immigrant-rights activists
>warned the AFL-CIO at the time, IRCA only served to drive
>undocumented workers further into the exploitative
>underground economy.
>
>CRUCIAL TO ORGANIZING
>
>This AFL-CIO policy change was brought about by a number
>of factors: steady changes in the composition of the work
>force, a new turn to organizing that brought labor face-to-
>face with anti-worker Immigration and Naturalization
>Service raids and deportations, and mounting pressure from
>Latino, Asian and other immigrant-rights activists within
>the union movement for labor to take a stand in defense of
>undocumented workers.
>
>"We in the labor movement have to put ourselves in a
>leadership position on immigrant rights," said Farm Workers
>President Arturo Rodriguez. "This is a way to help low-wage
>immigrant workers."
>
>With unemployment at its lowest rate in 30 years, a wave
>of undocumented workers is filling many service and
>manufacturing jobs across the United States. They work as
>janitors and meat cutters, in hotels and restaurants, on
>farms and in garment factories, and at countless other work
>places. As unions have begun organizing these immigrant
>workers, they repeatedly run up against bosses who react by
>using the workers' undocumented status to intimidate and
>fire them, or have them deported.
>
>The case of nine Mexicana Holiday Inn workers in
>Minneapolis showed the need for a policy change. These
>workers--all women--face deportation after organizing a
>union and winning $72,000 in back pay from the National
>Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment
>Opportunities Commission.
>
>"That really brought to the forefront what the problem
>was," said Service Employees Vice President Eliseo Medina,
>an early proponent of the new policy. "That showed in a
>very stark way what the situation is today, and helped
>bring a sense of urgency to the matter."
>
>With the changes in immigration law the AFL-CIO is now
>supporting, immigrant workers would be freer to fight for
>their rights and strengthen the ranks of labor.
>
>Unfortunately, the AFL-CIO fell short of full support for
>the estimated 275,000 undocumented immigrants who enter
>this country every year. By calling on the federal
>government to maintain efforts to keep them out, the
>federation objectively sided with the brutal border patrol.
>These thugs are hated by the poor immigrants who make their
>way here at great personal risk to seek work--many of them
>fleeing the results of U.S. imperialism's economic,
>political and military policies abroad.
>
>Nevertheless, undocumented workers will continue to arrive
>from all parts of the globe. And as those who came before
>them gain amnesty, continue to organize and raise their
>voices in the house of labor, the AFL-CIO policy will have
>to change as well.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>
__________________________________
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki - Finland
+358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
___________________________________
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe/unsubscribe messages
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________
