ILCA Reports the Hidden Truth About Pittsburgh’s Revival
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When the G-20 summit meets in Pittsburgh in two weeks, the world leaders will hear how the city has rebounded after the demise of the steel industry and made itself into a center for higher education and medical research. But the hidden truth is that the ed-med revolution has passed many Pittsburghers by and only benefits the Steel City’s wealthy and highly educated citizens, said United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard.
At the same time, Gerard warned, the problems in Pittsburgh are representative of what’s happening across the nation as policymakers cling to policies that continue to send jobs overseas, decimating working families’ communities.
Speaking to the biennial convention of the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA), meeting Sept. 10-12 in Pittsburgh, Gerard said our trade policies reward companies that move jobs overseas and our trade deficit with China has made us the world’s biggest debtor nation. (See a video clip of Gerard’s remarks on our AFL-CIO Convention 2009 site.)
Labor Journalists Will Look Behind the Scenes Before G-20 Meets
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Two weeks before the G-20 summit rolls into Pittsburgh to discuss the global economic crisis, labor journalists from across the country will come to the Steel City to document the real economic picture for workers without the hype.
As part of its biennial convention, Sept. 10-12, the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) will create a 48-hour “media center” to serve as the nerve center of a special project about Pittsburgh’s workers, their organizing and bargaining campaigns, their victories and how their stories illustrate the deeper economic shifts affecting us all.
After a day of training and a morning of briefings by Pittsburgh activists, the journalists will form teams and fan out over the city covering workers’ stories. When they return, they will use the media center to write and post stories, blogs, photo galleries and other media.
The registration deadline is Aug. 7. Click here to register for the convention and here for more information on the convention.
AFT’s Dania Rajendra Wins Coveted Steinbock Media Award
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Dania Rajendra is the winner of the 2009 Max Steinbock Award, the highest honor given by the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) Rajendra, an assistant editor for the Clarion, published by the Professional Staff Congress at City University of New York (CUNY)/AFT Local 2334, won for her story “At CUNY, Adjunct Health Care is Broken.”
The award, named after a longtime ILCA president honors the best labor story written in the previous year.
In the article, Rajendra tells the story of six CUNY adjunct workers whose health was jeopardized because of arbitrary decisions by the health care provider and the college based on the bottom line and not the health of the workers. Click here to read the entire article (scroll down to page 6) and here for a list of all this year’s ILCA Media Contest winners.
