> WW News Service Digest #160
>
> 1) Philadelphia teachers confront union busting
> by "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 2) District Attorney refuses to drop charges against RNC protesters
> by "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 3) Judge rejects legal briefs for Abu-Jamal
> by "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 4) Eyewitness south Korea: Students defy repression, demand reunification
> by "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 5) Peru: Berenson retrial spotlights political prisoners
> by "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Sept. 14, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>PHILADELPHIA TEACHERS CONFRONT UNION BUSTING
>
>By Joe Piette
>Philadelphia
>
>Teachers for Philadelphia's 213,000 public school students
>may go on strike Sept. 7 if a contract agreement is not
>reached. It would be the first Philadelphia teachers' strike
>since 1981. Even before pickets are on the streets, support
>is growing from other local labor leaders.
>
>"I would work like hell to organize a general strike in
>Philadelphia. We can't let the government get involved in
>union busting," said Henry Nicholas, president of the
>15,000-
>member 1199 Hospital and Health Care Employees union, on
>Sept. 1. Nicholas made his remarks at a news conference to
>support the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
>
>Thomas Cronin, president of the 5,500-member State, County
>and Municipal Employees District Council 47 and Wendell
>Young of the 12,000-member Food and Commercial Workers Local
>1776 also announced their support for the 21,000 PFT
>members.
>
>On the other side of the class battle line are the
>formidable forces of the school board, the city
>administration, big business groups like Greater
>Philadelphia First and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of
>Commerce, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
>
>The school district has announced a budget deficit of $80
>million. Expenditures per pupil in Philadelphia are half of
>what most suburban school districts spend. For years, city
>administrators have unsuccessfully fought for more state
>funding for the deteriorating school system.
>
>Now Ridge has announced that he would support more school
>funding if drastic changes are made in the teachers'
>contract.
>
>He also has State Act 46 to attack the union. Passed in
>1998, this law would allow the state to take over the school
>district in the event of a strike, remove teachers'
>certification if they do not return to work, appoint a new
>school district administration and impose new work rules.
>
>The PFT has been negotiating since January, but the Board of
>Education waited until Aug. 3 to make its 96-page proposal
>that would completely overhaul the teachers' contract,
>endangering benefits fought for and won over the last 35
>years. The union filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania
>Labor Relations Board at the end of August, accusing the
>district of failing to bargain in good faith.
>
>Even though Philadelphia teachers make $13,000 less per year
>than their suburban counterparts, school board negotiators
>have offered no pay raise in the first year and 3-percent
>raises for the next four years.
>
>In addition, pay levels would be determined on the basis of
>student performance and teacher competency, with
>administrators having the final say.
>
>The PFT is demanding 9-percent yearly raises.
>
>Another government proposal would give principals the right
>to ignore seniority in determining where teachers are
>assigned. PFT President Ted Kirsch harshly criticized this
>demand. "We have enough difficulty in far too many schools
>with principals misusing their power and control. This would
>make them virtual dictators," he said.
>
>The board also wants to decrease medical coverage. Their new
>plan would increase worker co-payments for each doctor's
>visit from $5 to $20, for specialist's visit from $5 to $30,
>and impose a $150-per-day fee for hospitalization.
>
>"To cut people's services drastically and then increase
>their out-of-pocket expenses, in effect, is a pay cut,"
>explained union spokesperson Barbara Goodman.
>
>Union members voted Sept. 5 to authorize a strike. State law
>mandates that a strike can't start for 48 hours, which will
>be Sept. 7, the first day of school.
>
>- 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)
>
>
>
>From: "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] District Attorney refuses to drop charges against RNC protesters
>Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 22:09:24 -0400
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Sept. 14, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>LINK TO MUMIA CASE?
>DA REFUSES TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST RNC PROTESTERS
>
>By Joe Piette
>Philadelphia
>
>Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham, Police
>Commissioner John Timoney and Mayor John Street refuse to
>reduce or drop charges against the hundreds of activists
>arrested at the Republican National Convention in early
>August. Over 350 protesters from the East Coast and as far
>away as Oregon face multiple misdemeanor charges. Thirty-six
>others face serious felony counts. If convicted, some
>activists could receive jail terms of up to 50 years.
>
>In contrast, most if not all of the thousands of arrests
>that took place during protests in Seattle last year, in
>Washington last April, and in Los Angeles at the Democratic
>National Convention in mid-August were settled with summary
>offences--similar to those given for traffic violations--or
>simply dropped.
>
>It's not that the Philadelphia administration and the
>powerful corporate heads behind them are meaner or more
>vindictive than their counterparts in other U.S. cities.
>Their refusal to drop the charges--all of which are grossly
>exaggerated, trumped up or patently false--has a lot to do
>with the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and police brutality in
>Philadelphia.
>
>On Aug. 1, hundreds of protesters were arrested for
>demonstrating in Center City against police brutality, the
>death penalty and the prison-industrial complex, and to
>demand a new trial for death-row political prisoner Abu-
>Jamal. The activists were jailed under brutal conditions for
>days or even weeks.
>
>Abu-Jamal's habeas corpus petition to overturn his 1981
>conviction and death sentence is currently before Federal
>District Judge William H. Yohn. He is soon expected to
>announce the date when hearings will begin on Abu-Jamal's
>appeal for a new trial.
>
>Abu-Jamal and his legal team will attend those court
>proceedings. Thousands of supporters and anti-death-penalty
>activists are expected to pack the courtroom and the streets
>outside as the former Black Panther's arguments are
>presented to Yohn.
>
>Most of the preliminary arraignments for RNC protesters with
>misdemeanor charges are scheduled for Sept. 16, 23 and 30 at
>the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. Those charged
>with felonies are scheduled separately.
>
>Trials for all these cases could last through October,
>November and December and into 2001.
>
>RNC TRIALS MAY COINCIDE WITH MUMIA'S HEARING
>
>It seems likely that the trials will coincide with Abu-
>Jamal's court hearings at some point.
>
>Abraham, Timoney and Street hope the message most people get
>is that you will be arrested and charged with exaggerated
>crimes if you come out and demand justice for Mumia Abu-
>Jamal.
>
>They want the trumped-up RNC charges and court proceedings
>to have a chilling effect that will scare people away--
>especially the youthful movement of new activists that
>emerged so strongly in the past year against globalization,
>the World Trade Organization and the death penalty.
>
>Abraham, who had a hand in Abu-Jamal's 1981 frame-up, and
>other supporters of the Fraternal Order of Police also hope
>to keep activists so busy defending themselves that they
>have no time to organize support when Abu-Jamal is in court.
>
>On Aug. 1 cops openly beat demonstrators and arrested
>activists who were nowhere near protest sites, such as the
>70 "puppetistas" who were inside their 41st St. warehouse.
>Once in custody, hundreds of activists were kept on hot
>buses for hours without fresh air or water. Many were beaten
>by cops and guards in the police headquarters' jail cells
>over the next few days.
>
>Yet the corporate press repeatedly lauded the police and
>Timoney for their "fair-handed treatment" of the activists,
>while accusing the protesters of violence.
>
>In the weeks prior to the convention, a dozen police
>officers were videotaped beating Thomas Jones, an unarmed
>African American man. A cop unjustifiably killed another
>unarmed, mentally unstable man, Robert Brown, in the 30th
>St. train station.
>
>Abraham hasn't charged a single one of these cops with any
>crime.
>
>Supporters of the RNC protesters are asking anyone who
>opposes police brutality and the death penalty to demand
>that all the charges be dropped, and that charges be filed
>instead against the cops responsible for Jones's beating and
>Brown's murder. Call District Attorney Lynn Abraham at (215)
>686-9604 or fax (215) 686-8049. Call Mayor John Street at
>(215) 686-2181 or fax (215) 686-3162.
>
>If the charges are not dropped, supporters are urged to come
>to the courthouse in solidarity with the RNC activists.
>
>[The writer was among those jailed for participating in the
>Aug. 1 protests. He faces five misdemeanor charges.]
>
>- 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)
>
>
>
>From: "WW " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Judge rejects legal briefs for Abu-Jamal
>Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 22:11:09 -0400
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Sept. 14, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>JUDGE REJECTS LEGAL BRIEFS FOR ABU-JAMAL
>
>By Betsey Piette
>Philadelphia
>
>In an unprecedented decision, Federal District Judge William
>H. Yohn refused to accept four amicus briefs filed in
>support of death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
>Amicus briefs are legal arguments submitted to the court by
>groups that are not a party to the case but have an interest
>in its outcome.
>
>The briefs detail legal issues that are crucial to Abu-
>Jamal's pending petition for a federal review of his case.
>They show why he should be released or at least granted a
>new trial.
>
>Yohn is expected to call a hearing in Philadelphia sometime
>this fall to determine whether he will hear new evidence
>from the defense. Around the country, Abu-Jamal's supporters
>are gearing up for a mass protest outside the court when
>that date is set.
>
>The four amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs were
>filed this year as part of Abu-Jamal's effort to overturn
>his 1982 conviction and death sentence. The Black journalist
>and his supporters contend that he was targeted and framed
>for the killing of a white Philadelphia cop because of his
>opposition to police brutality.
>
>Most recently, on June 29, the Los Angeles-based
>Chicana/Chicano Studies Foundation filed a brief calling for
>reversal of the conviction based on Judge Albert Sabo's
>refusal to allow Abu-Jamal to represent himself.
>
>The brief describes how Anthony Jackson, Abu-Jamal's court-
>appointed lawyer, conspired with Judge Sabo and prosecutor
>Joseph McGill to deny him his rights.
>
>On June 27, an amicus brief was filed by 22 members of the
>British Parliament. Citing 30 U.S. federal cases, the brief
>criticized Sabo's refusal to let Abu-Jamal's adviser, John
>Africa, sit next to him during the trial.
>
>Two other important briefs were filed earlier this year: one
>by the Pennsylvania chapters of the NAACP and the American
>Civil Liberties Union, and another by the National Lawyers
>Guild, National Conference of Black Lawyers and other
>progressive lawyers' groups.
>
>'FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED'
>
>In cases where the right to self-representation has been
>violated, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that
>the conviction must be reversed.
>
>Both of the recent briefs, in Abu-Jamal's words, "found
>clear constitutional, judicial, prosecutorial and defense
>violations...The briefs are more than a procedural or case
>history. They are history lessons about fundamental human
>rights that were violated by the state with impunity."
>
>Abu-Jamal urged supporters to read the briefs and "learn
>what it means to have a court-appointed lawyer who seems
>like a prosecutor and a judge who is one.
>
>"Learn as I did what happened in back rooms when I wasn't
>there and no one cared. Learn how jurors are really chosen;
>how they are moved, replaced and imposed as foreman of a
>hanging jury. Without a doubt this happens every day in
>America, but you will rarely have a better opportunity to
>read a record such as this."
>
>Amicus briefs are commonly filed in cases of broad public
>interest. Yet Yohn ruled on Aug. 7 that the briefs were
>"unnecessary and unhelpful."
>
>Citing a legal precedent called Liberty Lincoln Mercury,
>Yohn said he was denying the amicus briefs because Abu-Jamal
>was already adequately represented.
>
>However, that's not what the Liberty Lincoln Mercury
>decision says, according to Marlene Kamish, an attorney for
>the Chicana/Chicano Studies Foundation. It states that the
>amicus briefs may be denied only if it doesn't offer any
>assistance on a relevant issue and the petitioner is
>adequately represented.
>
>Yohn refused to examine the briefs on their merits, breaking
>the first half of this court precedent.
>
>'PEOPLE NEED TO LOOK AT THESE BRIEFS'
>
>Yohn also stated that he was denying the amicus briefs out
>of fear that he would be buried under an avalanche of briefs
>
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