> WW News Service Digest #133 > > 1) SF Bay Area hospital workers strike for quality patient care > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Court deals blow to locked-out Detroit newspaper strikers > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Milwaukee: Reports reveal racism's human toll > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) International news in brief > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >4,000 HEALTH CARE WORKERS STRIKE FOR QUALITY PATIENT CARE > >By Bill Hackwell >San Francisco > >In a powerful display of union strength 4,000 hospital >workers waged a 24-hour strike here on July 6 to draw >attention to unsafe working conditions and the need for job >security. The strike affected 10 Bay Area hospitals. It was >the largest healthcare strike in the region's history. > >The workers, members of Service Employees Local 250, are >mostly technicians, licensed vocational nurses, respiratory >therapists, clerical workers, housekeepers and food service >workers. > >Picket lines began at 6 a.m. at all the hospitals. The >strikers were joined by a number of other unions waging >sympathy strikes, including the California Nurses >Association. > >Later that afternoon some 1,000 Service Employees members >and their supporters marched downtown from Catholic >Healthcare West headquarters to Sutter Health headquarters- >-the corporations that own the 10 hospitals being struck. > >The central issue of the strike is inadequate staffing >because it creates unsafe conditions for workers and >patients. If a worker calls in sick or injured no >replacement is called in. And when employees leave the job >they are not replaced, creating unsafe workloads on >remaining staff. > >In the days leading up to the strike the hospitals waged a >vicious anti-union advertising campaign that portrayed the >workers as walking out on patients. But Deborah Covington, >a food service worker at Summit Hospital, explained, "We >are striking because we are fighting for safe staffing and >patient rights." > >The Service Employees union has been meeting with hospital >negotiators since May 1, when the last contract ran out. >The union is demanding that the hospitals form committees >made up of workers and management to set staffing levels >and to be involved in the hiring process. > >Who knows better how many workers it takes to provide >quality and safe patient care--health care workers or >hospital administrators who focus their attention on profit >margins? > >The union is also demanding job security for its members, >who are mostly women of color. Hospital management claims >that shrinking insurance payments have forced them to trim >staffs. > >Health care workers who went out on strike July 6 will not >guarantee that they won't strike again if hospital >corporations refuse to meet these legitimate demands. > > - 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: <017d01bff182$4009f4a0$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Court deals blow to locked-out Detroit newspaper strikers >Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 09:07:10 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >COURT DEALS BLOW TO LOCKED-OUT DETROIT NEWSPAPER STRIKERS > >By Kris Hamel >Detroit > >A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of >Appeals in Washington has dealt a major setback to the >locked-out Detroit newspaper workers. The judges ruled that >the Detroit newspaper workers' strike was not an unfair >labor practices strike. > >The impact of this ruling, if it holds up on appeal, is >that the locked-out newspaper workers lose their right to >reclaim the jobs taken over by scabs, and lose their claim >for back pay for the three years they've been out of work. > >The D.C. Court of Appeals overturned a 5-0 vote by the >National Labor Relations Board that the Detroit newspaper >workers strike was an unfair labor practices strike. The >NLRB had held that the Detroit News' imposition of merit >pay on members of the Newspaper Guild constituted an unfair >labor practice, and essentially the other unions were on a >protected sympathy strike with the Guild members. > >Yet in an earlier case involving the Sacramento Bee the >D.C. Court of Appeals held that the imposition of merit pay >was an unfair labor practice. But when faced with the same >issue involving the Detroit News and Free Press papers-- >jointly owned by Gannett and Knight Ridder, the largest >newspaper monopolies in the country--the court buckled >under corporate pressure. > >The Detroit newspapers' coverage of this defeat for the >workers was somewhat muted. The newspaper bosses had to >acknowledge in print that the workers struggle has cost >them huge losses in revenue and circulation, as well as >"good will." A union-sponsored boycott of the newspapers >continues and has cost the two Detroit dailies hundreds of >thousands of readers. > >The newspaper workers have vowed to continue the battle to >win a contract and to return all the locked-out workers to >their jobs. That fight will be pressed in the streets and >through appeals in the courts. A rally is scheduled for >July 13, the five-year anniversary of the Detroit newspaper >workers' struggle. > > - 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: <018301bff182$53848720$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Milwaukee: Reports reveal racism's human toll >Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 09:07:43 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MILWAUKEE: REPORTS REVEAL RACISM'S HUMAN TOLL > >By Phil Wilayto >Milwaukee > >Wisconsin has been in the news lately. And the news isn't >good. > >>From infant mortality to prison terms, from diabetes to >home-mortgage loans, a number of recent reports single out >Wisconsin and metropolitan Milwaukee as places where >African Americans are having a particularly hard time. > >The most disturbing report has to do with the rising >infant mortality rate. On May 14, Start Smart Milwaukee's >annual study on the state of the city's children reported >that the rate at which babies die before reaching their >first birthday rose 17.6 percent between 1997 and 1998. > >Black Health Coalition Executive Director Dr. Patricia >McManus points out that the infant mortality rate for Black >infants rose nearly 37 percent. The rate of death for white >babies fell. > >In 1998 Milwaukee's infant mortality rate stood at 18.2 >deaths per 1,000 births. The national rate in 1996 was 7.2 >per 1,000. > >The period studied just happened to be the first year of >"Wisconsin Works" or W-2, touted as a national model for >welfare-to-work programs. > >That's when many poor families lost their health care, >food stamps and other benefits. > >"Milwaukee took a major hit with the implementation of W- >2," said Dr. McManus. > >Another startling finding came from the New York-based >Human Rights Watch. On June 7 the group issued a report on >race and prison sentences. According to the report, Black >males in the United States are 13 times more likely than >white males to receive prison sentences for drug offenses. > >That's bad enough. But in Wisconsin the rate for Black men >is 53 times higher that whites. Wisconsin was second worst >of the 37 states studied, after Illinois. > >The disparity in drug sentencing is the single biggest >reason why Wisconsin imprisons Black people at two-and-a- >half times the national average. > >The racism extends to other areas. > >Looking for a home loan? According to the June 30 >Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Racial disparities in home >loan denials remained greater in metropolitan Milwaukee >than any other metro area for the 10th year in a row..." > >Wisconsin's mortality rate for diabetes was twice as high >for Blacks as for whites between 1979 and 1997, according >to a state-sponsored study. Again, Wisconsin's gap is wider >than the national one. > >Patrick Remington, a professor of preventative medicine at >the University of Wisconsin, said inadequate health care >for African Americans is a likely cause. > >GET THE LEAD OUT! > >Right-wing commentators say poor communities' ills all >boil down to a lack of "personal responsibility." But most >of the problems facing Milwaukee's African American >community have two main causes: economic conditions and >government policy. > >Take lead poisoning. Lead is especially dangerous to small >children. It can leave them with a host of health problems >and developmental disabilities. Lead-based paint is the >biggest source of exposure. > >The July 3 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the >percentage of city children with excessive levels of lead >in their bodies dropped from 73 percent in 1992 to 16 >percent in 1999. That's a big improvement. But it means >there are still 5,750 children in the city with lead >poisoning--a rate triple the national average. > >That makes lead poisoning the biggest health issue for the >city's children--more than infant mortality, AIDS, asthma >or violence. > >Of course, these are only the kids who've been tested. > >There's no great mystery about how children get lead >poisoning. Babies and toddlers eat the sweet-tasting paint >chips that flake off the walls in older houses. Or they get >the paint dust on their hands and then put their fingers in >their mouths. > >They aren't making a personal decision to eat lead. >They're just being babies. > >And their parents aren't making personal decisions to move >into houses with lead-based paint, either. Milwaukee is a >segregated city. Almost all of the older, affordable >housing in Black and Latino neighborhoods has lead paint. > >Nearly a third of the houses in Milwaukee are considered >at high or extreme risk of having lead hazards. Most of >these houses are in the Black and Latino communities. > >The cure is no mystery, either. Lead-based paint must be >covered or removed. > >But that costs money. > >The city is considering a lawsuit against the >manufacturers of lead-based paint. But that would take >years to work its way through the courts. > >The government could act now. A program could be set up to >inspect every house painted before 1978, when the >government banned lead-based paint. > >The test is simple and many people would jump at the job >if it paid a living wage. > >Money could be allocated to fix every at-risk house where >children are living. Then the paint manufacturers, real >estate companies, landlords and government could admit >their collective responsibility and foot the bill. > >But to politicians, bosses and the corporate media, even >talking about spending money to save children is considered >wasteful. What they consider "proper" spending is building >jails and baseball stadiums and dropping bombs on Iraq. > >Meanwhile, kids get sick, youths go to prison, older folks >get preventable diseases--while the rich get richer. > > - 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: <018901bff182$6f8394c0$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] International news in brief >Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 09:08:30 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >INTERNATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF > >IRELAND: ULTRA-RIGHTIST MARCH BARRED > >The annual reactionary "Orange Order" march in Portadown, >County Armargh, has led to clashes in the six counties in >the North of Ireland still ruled by British imperialism. As >of July 10, most of the fighting has been between pro- >fascist demonstrators and the police. > >The Orange Order--representing the most backward pro- >British elements--try each year to march on Garvaghy Road, >which is the center of the pro-republican community in that >region. Republican, in this context, means those who >support independence of all of Ireland from British rule. >It usually means they support the Sinn Fein party and the >fight for Irish freedom. > >The Orange Order's demand to march there is roughly >analogous to a Ku Klux Klan demand to march on a Black >neighborhood in Mississippi or Alabama. > >The British occupying troops and the local Royal Ulster >Constabulary, which were seen stopping the Orange Order >march this July, have in the past worked hand-in-hand with >the ultra-right group. They all share the goal of keeping >the six counties under British domination, and have often >acted with brutal repression against Irish republicans. > >In the past decades, however, Sinn Fein and the Irish >Republican Army have made the old order too costly for >London to maintain. While the armed struggle waged by Irish >freedom fighters has not yet succeeded in driving the >British out, it has won concessions codified in recent >accords. > >To protest its inability to march on Garvaghy Road, the >Orange Order called a general protest and set up roadblocks >and barricades in 120 places. In a few places they clashed >with the RUC. While the RUC contained these protests, it >did not use the rubber bullets fired at republican >demonstrators in the past. > >ITALY: VATICAN, FASCISTS FAIL TO HALT MASSIVE GAY MARCH > >On July 8, a confrontation took place in Rome between the >International Gay Pride Parade and an alliance of the >Vatican and neo-fascist groups. The day ended with a clear >victory for gay rights. Hundreds of thousands of marchers >overwhelmed the handful of fascists and the Catholic >hierarchy. > >The confrontation, which had been building up for months, >focussed on the Coliseum. Lesbians, gay men, bisexual and >trans people had chosen Rome for their international >parade. In the early planning they had even won financial >support from the city government. > >But the Vatican leaders--known for their anti-gay bigotry- >-complained that the parade challenged the Church's plans >for Jubileum 2000, when tens of thousands of religious >pilgrims were expected in Rome. Right-wing and ultra-right >groups rallied behind the Vatican's call. And the city >government pulled out its funding and refused a permit to >march on the Coliseum. > >The lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights movement took up the >challenge. It won support--in some cases for the first >time--from all progressive and working-class forces in >Italy. By the time of the parade hundreds of thousands of >lesbian/gay/ bi/trans people were on the streets of Rome >with the kind of colorful and proud march that is most >often seen in New York or San Francisco. > >In addition, a strong showing from all parties of the left >was on the streets with the movement, said the July 9 issue >of Manifesto. People openly identifying themselves as >Catholics--but in favor of gay rights--and even some >priests joined the rainbow parade. > >Manifesto called it the most important political >demonstration since the December 1994 outpouring of retired >workers that threw the government headed by Silvio >Berlusconi out of office. > >CZECH REPUBLIC: COMMUNISTS OFFER LEGAL AID TO YUGOSLAVS SUING >NATO > >On June 29, a legislative caucus of the Communist Party of >Bohemia and Moravia--the Czech Republic--announced it would >offer legal aid to citizens of Yugoslavia who have been >damaged by last year's NATO air strikes if they sue for >compensation. > >According to Vojtech Filip, the head of the party's >legislative group, the party is doing this in response to >demands raised by three international tribunals that took >place in Kiev, Berlin and New York concerning NATO's action >against Yugoslavia. All three tribunals found that 19 NATO >countries have violated their own laws, the UN Charter and >the Geneva Convention on the methods of conducting a war. > >The U.S. tribunal, headed by former U.S. Attorney General >Ramsey Clark, also found NATO political and military >leaders guilty of crimes against peace. That is, these >leaders plotted aggression against Yugoslavia and launched >this aggression in violation of international treaties. > >The Czech communists also will demand that the prosecutor >of the Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia, >Carla del Ponte, report to the United Nations Security >Council her "absolutely different views on NATO atrocities >during its aggressive pact in Yugoslavia." > >Del Ponte had reported that she saw no reason to charge >NATO with any war crimes or to investigate NATO actions any >further. Most observers were not surprised by del Ponte's >conclusions, as her tribunal was set up and funded by the >NATO countries that carried out the war against Yugoslavia. > >Filip explained that under the status of the International >Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia, Security >Council permanent members have the right to dismiss del >Ponte or launch proceedings against her. > >BELGIUM: BIG VICTORY FOR CLABECQ 13 > >Thirteen worker-organizers and union officials from the >closed-down forge in Clabecq, Belgium, won an important >legal victory in court July 11 when the Nivelles tribunal >trying the case was declared incompetent. > >In effect the decision was that the prosecution had forced >the opening of the trial without following proper legal >proceedings. This disrupted the possibility of defense. So >the current charges against the defendants, known in >Belgium as the Clabecq 13, have been abandoned pending an >appeal by the prosecution to open a new trial. > >The Belgian government was attempting to repress 13 >militant union leaders it had put on trial under an 1887 >anti-worker law that makes it just as much a crime to >incite an action by writing and speeches as by direct >involvement. These unionists have led the workers' struggle >to keep their jobs at the Forges de Clabecq. They were well >known for militant actions and their strong anti-racist and >internationalist positions. > >The unionists have drawn widespread support among union >activists in Belgium, because their class-struggle record >has been a shining example of how it is possible to fight >when the enemy is both big capital and the government. > >According to a report from the Workers' Party of Belgium, >which has been a staunch supporter of the defendants, the >courtroom was filled with workers, Belgians and immigrants, >Flemish- and French-speaking people. > >When the good news was announced cries of joy and >fraternity rose. "All together, yes, yes, yes," they >shouted and started a rally right in the courtroom. > >At the impromptu rally Roberto D'Orazio, the Clabecq union >leader, immediately drew the lesson that the workers' >movement must dare to struggle, dare to win. He called for >an immediate mobilization to stop all new closings of >plants and factories. > >Roberto Marra, another union leader, took note of the work >that union delegates had to do with all the workers to win >their support for the struggle. "When the boss succeeds in >dividing the workers," he said, "he wins. When the >delegates succeed in uniting the workers, they win." > > - 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) > > > __________________________________ 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] ___________________________________
