Thursday, October 8, 2015

Are you concerned about workers' rights?

For those who believe the Democratic Party presents an opportunity for workers to be heard, I suggest they introduce resolutions at precinct caucuses, county, state and the national convention calling for the rescinding of "At-Will Employment."

You will get a real quick education as to just how much the Democrats care about the working people they expect to vote for them.

At-Will Employment... do workers have a voice at work?

If the millionaire labor "leaders" like Richard Trumka and his circle were truly concerned with workers having a voice at work they would be insisting that the very reactionary and repressive anti-worker legislation of "At-will Hiring and At-will Firing" be rescinded and replaced with "Just Cause" legislation in which would provide workers with a multi-step process when it comes to workers being reprimanded for failing to follow employer rules and guidelines in the performance of their jobs. This would include proper counseling and coaching, providing workers with the opportunity to do the job as directed or explain why they can't perform to management's expectations because management's expectations are not realistic.

It is workers who produce ALL wealth; and, as such, workers should be extended every opportunity to keep their jobs.

But, how is it that this so-called "White House Summit on Worker Voice" could even take place without labor leaders and rank-and-file activists being present to insist that this most reactionary and repressive legislation of "At-Will Employment" not be challenged and rescinded with "Just Cause?"

Richard Trumka and his circle of millionaire labor leaders claim they are trying to organize the unorganized workers.

Well, common sense should be telling us all that when workers can be fired and terminated "At-Will" they won't dare take the initiative to organize.

Perhaps Richard Trumka and his millionaire circle of labor leaders are afraid that workers without the hindrance of "At-Will Employment" will organize themselves into new unions outside of the non-struggle confines of the AFL-CIO and these unions might decide to affiliate with the World Federation of Trade Unions instead of the International Trade Union Confederation which continues to front for the CIA in countries where workers are fighting back against big capital and fighting to replace capitalism with socialism in countries like Greece where workers are having austerity measures shoved down their throats.

"At-Will Employment" is the major and number one obstacle to union organizing in this country and the President who promised to trade in his high-priced Wall Street shoes for marching shoes and lays claim to being some kind of "constitutional lawyer" and a defender of Human Rights doesn't even recognize or comprehend that "At-Will Employment" is a violation of everything decent and just in the workplace which deprives workers of a voice at work?

Once "At-Will Employment" legislation is rescinded and replaced we will see union organizing take off in this country like no one has ever seen union organizing before.

Richard Trumka and his circle of millionaire labor leaders have attacked me as a "Red" for talking like this and this issue of the need to rescind "At-Will Employment" legislation wouldn't even be being brought up if not for this "Red."

Does the concept of "democracy" extend into the workplace?

In the upcoming Democratic Party Presidential Debate being held at union buster Steve Wynn's Casino/Resort/Entertainment Complex, will any of the Democratic Party candidates be asked where they stand regarding "At-Will Employment?"

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Did Barack Obama order the barbaric attack on the hospital in Afghanistan operated by Doctors Without Borders?

Reminds me of a boxer who intentionally strikes blow after blow below the belt then "apologizes."

Landing | Wed Oct 7, 2015 4:08pm EDT

Obama apologizes for Kunduz attack, MSF demands independent probe

WASHINGTON/GENEVA | By Roberta Rampton and Stephanie Nebehay
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday apologized to Medecins Sans Frontieres for the deadly bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, while the medical charity pressed its demand for an international commission to investigate what it calls a war crime.
MSF said that an independent humanitarian commission created under the Geneva Conventions in 1991 should be activated for the first time to handle the inquiry. Three investigations have already begun into Saturday's air strike that killed 22 people, including 12 MSF staff.
Obama telephoned MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, International President Joanne Liu to apologize and express his condolences, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Asked whether Obama offered some explanation to Liu, Earnest said no.
"He merely offered his heartfelt apology" and a commitment to find out what went wrong, he said.
Earnest said Obama told Liu that a U.S. investigation would "provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident. And that, if necessary, the president would implement changes to make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future."
MSF said that the commission's inquiry would gather facts and evidence from the United States, NATO and Afghanistan, as well as testimony from MSF staff and patients who survived.
Only then would MSF consider whether to bring criminal charges for loss of life and partial destruction of its trauma hospital, which has left tens of thousands of Afghans without access to health care, it said.
"If we let this go, as if it was a non-event, we are basically giving a blank check to any countries who are at war," Liu told a news briefing in Geneva. "If we don't safeguard that medical space for us to do our activities, then it is impossible to work in other contexts like Syria, South Sudan, like Yemen."
Neither the United States nor Afghanistan were signatories to the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) but Jason Cone, executive director of MSF in the United States, called on Obama to consent to the commission.

Shouldn't all waste of food by supermarkets and restaurants be banned? Has anyone every read "The Tale of Two Cities"?

France to force big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities

Legislation barring stores from spoiling and throwing away food is aimed at tackling epidemic of waste alongside food poverty

France supermarket — According to official estimates, the average French person throws out 20kg-30kg of food a year – 7kg of which is still in its wrapping. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must instead donate it to charities or for animal feed, under a law set to crack down on food waste.
The French national assembly voted unanimously to pass the legislation as France battles an epidemic of wasted food that has highlighted the divide between giant food firms and people who are struggling to eat.
As MPs united in a rare cross-party consensus, the centre-right deputy Yves Jégo told parliament: “There’s an absolute urgency – charities are desperate for food. The most moving part of this law is that it opens us up to others who are suffering.”
Supermarkets will be barred from deliberately spoiling unsold food so it cannot be eaten. Those with a footprint of 4,305 sq ft (400 sq m) or more will have to sign contracts with charities by July next year or face penalties including fines of up to €75,000 (£53,000) or two years in jail.
“It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” said the Socialist deputy Guillaume Garot, a former food minister who proposed the bill.
In recent years, French media have highlighted how poor families, students, unemployed or homeless people often stealthily forage in supermarket bins at night to feed themselves, able to survive on edible products which had been thrown out just as their best-before dates approached.
But some supermarkets doused binned food in bleach to prevent potential food-poisoning by eating food from bins. Other supermarkets deliberately binned food in locked warehouses for collection by refuse trucks to stop scavengers.
The practice of foraging in supermarket bins is not without risk – some people picking through rotten fruit and rubbish to reach yoghurts, cheese platters or readymade pizzas have been stopped by police and faced criminal action for theft. In 2011, a 59-year-old father of six working for the minimum wage at a Monoprix supermarket in Marseille almost lost his job after a colleague called security when they saw him pick six melons and two lettuces out of a bin.
Pressure groups, recycling commandos and direct action foraging movements have been highlighting the issue of waste in France. Members of the Gars’pilleurs, an action group founded in Lyon, don gardening gloves to remove food from supermarket bins at night and redistribute it on the streets the next morning to raise awareness about waste, poverty and food distribution.
The group and four others issued a statement earlier this year warning that simply obliging supermarket giants to pass unsold food to charities could give a “false and dangerous idea of a magic solution” to food waste. They said it would create an illusion that supermarkets had done their bit, while failing to address the wider issue of overproduction in the food industry as well as the wastage in food distribution chains.
The law will also introduce an education programme about food waste in schools and businesses. It follows a measure in February to remove the best-before dates on fresh foods.
The measures are part of wider drive to halve the amount of food waste in France by 2025. According to official estimates, the average French person throws out 20kg-30kg of food a year – 7kg of which is still in its wrapping. The combined national cost of this is up to €20bn.
Of the 7.1m tonnes of food wasted in France each year, 67% is binned by consumers, 15% by restaurants and 11% by shops. Each year 1.3bn tonnes of food are wasted worldwide.
The Fédération du Commerce et de la Distribution, which represents big supermarkets, criticised the plan. “The law is wrong in both target and intent, given the big stores represent only 5% of food waste but have these new obligations,” said Jacques Creyssel, head of the organisation. “They are already the pre-eminent food donors, with more than 4,500 stores having signed agreements with aid groups.”
The logistics of the law must also not put an unfair burden on charities, with the unsold food given to them in a way that is ready to use, a parliamentary report has stipulated. It must not be up to charities to have to sift through the waste to set aside squashed fruit or food that had gone off. Supermarkets have said that charities must now also be properly equipped with fridges and trucks to be able to handle the food donations.
The French law goes further than the UK, where the government has a voluntary agreement with the grocery and retail sector to cut both food and packaging waste in the supply chain, but does not believe in mandatory targets.
A report earlier this year showed that in the UK, households threw away 7m tonnes of food in 2012, enough to fill London’s Wembley stadium nine times over. Avoidable household food waste in the UK is associated with 17m tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

A voice at work?

What a joke.

Richard Trumka says he is for workers having a voice at work but he and his fellow millionaire labor leaders don't even allow union members to have a voice in their own unions.

Most workers have no contact with their unions because the union "leaders" fail to initiate the contact with them.

Most union members aren't even notified of union meetings and they can't even find out when union meetings are.

Most union members have never received a complete and full copy of the contracts they work under.
Most union members have never seen their union constitutions and by-laws.

Most union members don't even know when union elections for officers are being held in a timely way in order to run for office.

Most union members are treated like shit if they raise questions and concerns when they do go to union meetings.

Most dues-paying union members can't even rely on their unions to file grievances on their behalf.
Most union members don't even receive a newsletter or any regular printed communication from their unions--- not the international nor local unions and most union members don't even know what their local labor councils are doing other than supporting a bunch of worthless Democrats.

What we need are rank-and-file organizations in every single workplace in this country whether organized or unorganized in order to bring forward the problems and concerns we have.

The very best book on this topic of rank-and-file democracy and militant, class conscious trade unionism that I know of is:

Rebellion in the Unions
A Handbook for Rank and File Action
by George Morris

Neither Richard Trumka nor any other of his inner circle of millionaire labor leaders who have not one iota understanding when it comes to the day-to-day concerns of workers have ever done one single thing to rectify any of this. In fact, this situation of lack of rank-and-file participation and lack of democracy in the unions continues to deteriorate.

And, chances are, that if you insist on your right to participate in your union the union "leadership" will work with your employer to get you fired from your job.

Richard Trumka and his circle of millionaire labor "leaders" don't want union members to have a voice in their own unions; if you have no voice in your own union what voice can you expect to have on your job?

Judging from the state of decline in organized labor here in the United States, one would have to conclude that our employers have infiltrated our unions in order to make them completely docile and ineffective.

Union membership in this country and the effectiveness of unions has been in severe decline ever since they kicked the "Reds" out of the unions:

David Rovics... "You Ain't Done Nothin' If You Ain't Been Called a Red"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxwf_cI8WXA

Richard Trumka, who has yet to so much as mention the cost-of-living crisis every single working class family in this country is experiencing and has failed to call for an end to these dirty imperialist wars that are making us all poor, has the gall to send me this:

I’ve always believed that everyone who has to work for a living should have a voice on the job. That’s why I’m so excited I’ve been invited to join the White House Summit on Worker Voice for a conversation about how working people are doing just that.

I will join President Obama and workers like Victor Vences, a contract tobacco farmer, and Evelin, who works the night shift stocking shelves at Walmart, for a very important town hall conversation about the strength of our voices being heard at work. I want to extend an invitation to you to watch it online.

Click here to RSVP to watch the 2015 White House Summit on Worker Voice livestream today, Wednesday, Oct. 7, starting at 4:40 p.m.; we’ll send you a reminder right before it starts.

The White House recognizes that having the voice of working people at the table is crucial to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of our changing workforce. The summit will focus on energizing working families to come together and use our collective voice at work to win better wages, benefits and respect on the job.

This summit will be an amazing opportunity to bring the issues that affect us all to the forefront.
Click here to RSVP to watch the 2015 White House Summit on Worker Voice today, Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 4:40. We’ll send you an email to remind you to tune in.

In Solidarity,
Rich
----------------------
Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
P.S. You can also join the conversation throughout the day by following ‪#‎StartTheConvo‬ on social media.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Anti-abortion activists and human rights--- sowing more confusion about a most important issue and the human right to choice.

The right wing has found a new trick to sow confusion into the abortion issue.

The right wing is now claiming that "human rights" protects the lives of fetuses and the unborn.

In fact, abortion is a human rights issue.

But, the only human rights issue involved when it comes to abortion is the right of a woman to have choice when it comes to abortion.

Injecting "human rights" into the abortion issue is meant to confuse people; but, confusing people is nothing new for these over-paid manipulators and hacks--- don't they sow confusion around every single human rights issue?

In fact, when it comes to human rights they mock and deride the human rights all people are entitled to by birth.

One can not pick and choose which human rights you are for and those human rights you are against.

In 1948, the United Nations--- in a document the right wing chooses to ignore, deride and red-bait, the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights--- the U.N. did very good articulating the most basic and fundamental human rights every single human being is entitled to by birth.

Did you ever hear one of these right wingers who now propound that depriving a woman of the right to choice when it comes to abortion is a human right ever defend and promote the human rights articulated in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights? No.

Ask them about whether or not they support the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.because we haven't done a very good job promoting and defending the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we have been even more lax in building a movement demanding its full implementation from our government.

The right wing can get away with sowing this confusion over human rights when it comes to abortion.

Ask any right winger how they feel about Article 25 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and you will find out very quickly just how hypocritical those intent on depriving women of the right to abortion really are:

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Here is the entire Declaration... why not organize massive teach-ins and demonstrations insisting on its full implementation on December 10, the anniversary of this very important document which was meant to be implemented in full rather than remaining mere words on a yellowing piece of paper:

http://unudhr.blogspot.com/

Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.