The economic collapse in Argentina has created a new labor movement
for dignity and control over the work process and democratization of
their communities. Recently, the Kraft food workers’ insurgent union
successfully fought firings with a strike & plant occupation which received
mass community and labor support despite violent state repression. The
United Education Workers, a militant worker-led union, struck for living
wages, closing all schools in the Buenos Aires region, to resist the
government’s austerity plan. Workers have also shut down the Buenos
Aires subway system, suspended major construction projects & defended
wages against government cutbacks. The piqueteros, unemployed & low-
wage workers movements, are successfully staging mass actions,
including blocking major roads & highways, even as police brutality grows.
They have occupied & taken over factories leading to a national
cooperative movement which has democratized workplaces for more
than a million workers.
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Fighting Unemployment and Poverty:
Evergreen Laundry and Worker Cooperatives in Cleveland Ohio
Produced by the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative

“Something important is happening in Cleveland.” With the opening of the
Evergreen Cooperative Laundry on October 21st – a worker-owned
commercial-scale “green” business based in the Glenville neighborhood,
one of the most severely disinvested areas in Cleveland. Mayor Frank
Jackson called the laundry, “a model for how we can put our people back
to work and rebuild our community.” This new model for economic
development was inspired by the network of worker cooperative in
Mondragon, Spain. It is the first in a network of worker cooperatives that
is being launched in the city by the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative.
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To Download or listen to this 27:11 minute program,

Pacifica Station only can go to http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org

Allan B, Darr
Retired, IUOE 302

I read an op-ed this morning from Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post. He talks about the “still birth” of the progressive movement this last year and the reasons for it. He made an interesting point that we all need to remember — FDR and LBJ were great men, but the sweeping changes they ushered in weren’t merely a function of their own committment. They were pressured by social movements that WOULD NOT LET our elected officials drop the ball. If we want real progressive change from this administration, it’s going to take more direct action like last night’s. Keep up the good fight, folks!

BTW, does anyone know if our American unions are for or against E-Verify? Right off hand I can’t remember if I’ve seen or heard anything about that. I mean, after all, the unions do have a lot of ‘lobbying power’ right? So who better to lobby for E-Verify? E-Verify protects American workers in a most fundamental way. By ‘weeding out’ those who are not authorized to work in this country. No jobs for illegals hopefully translates to fewer illegals!

The irony is that Mayor Castro got into office with the hard work of union campaign workers and this is the pay back we get!