The following article by Steven Greenhouse appeared in Tuesday’s New York Times:

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A new study by a Cornell University professor of 1,004 union organizing drives has found that employers threatened to close plants in 57 percent of the campaigns and threatened to cut wages and benefits in 47 percent.The study, to be released Wednesday, also found that employers fired pro-union workers in 34 percent of the campaigns. And it asserted that management’s antiunion tactics had helped pushed down the unionization rate to 12.4 percent, from 22 percent three decades ago.

Titled “No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing,” the report is likely to be heavily cited, quoted, praised and denounced in the debate over whether Congress should enact legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize.

The study found that “the aspirations for representation are being thwarted by a coercive and punitive climate for organizing that goes unrestrained due to a fundamentally flawed regulatory regime.”

The author of the study, Kate Bronfenbrenner, is director of labor education research at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and has often been criticized by business groups for her pro-union positions.

Randel K. Johnson, vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits at the United States Chamber of Commerce, noted that numerous unions and pro-labor groups helped finance the study.

“Kate’s long been allied with the union movement and has issued studies in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act the last few years,” Mr. Johnson said. “She is certainly not an objective source.”

Ms. Bronfenbrenner said her research had been reviewed and approved by her peers. “I am an objective scholar,” she said. “There are no neutrals in this field of academia. I used the highest, methodological standards possible.”

She said her study was based on a random sample of 1,004 unionization elections from early 1999 to late 2003 and relied on a review of National Labor Relations Board cases and documents, as well as surveys of 562 lead union organizers.

In 63 percent of the elections, the study found, supervisors used one-on-one meetings to interrogate workers about whether they or co-workers supported a union. (It is illegal under federal law to interrogate workers about such matters.)

In 54 percent, she found, supervisors used the meetings to threaten workers.

Her study found that employers used 10 or more types of antiunion tactics in 49 percent of unionization drives, up from the 26 percent she found in a similar study 12 years ago.

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Recently the DC-based group International Labor Rights Forum informed those concerned with global labor rights, that IKEA, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s are passively watching as union-busting is taking place at a Turkish supplier factory.

The following background has been provided by the ILRF:

Menderes Tekstil in Southwestern Turkey produces bed linens for the home. Over the last years, four Menderes workers died due to work-related injuries. In the most recent accident, on November 20, 2008, one employee died when he fell into the funnel of a coal boiler. Workers reported that the boiler had no safety measures to prevent such an accident. After the tragic accident, the factory management reportedly ordered three colleagues of the victim to climb into the funnel to retrieve the body. Again, no safety measures were taken, and the three had no protection against toxic gases inside the boiler. They suffered respiratory poisoning and had to seek treatment in a nearby hospital.

In March 2008, the national Turkish textile workers union TEKSIF started organizing workers at the factory. Since then, the Menderes management called the union leaders into their offices one by one, and gave them the choice between denouncing the union or being sacked. Turkish law prohibits dismissals or transfers as retribution for union organizing.

In August 2008 workers and union representatives started protests outside the Menderes factory. The protests lasted for 190 days and were aimed at gaining acceptance of their union. Despite these actions, the company has continued to harass the unionists and has refused any dialogue with the union.

Meanwhile, eight court cases of wrongfully dismissed employees are currently before the magistrate. However, the judicial process could take years before producing any verdict.

More information about ILRF’s communication with Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and Target, visit ILRF’s Menderes Tekstil Factory Profile.

The ILRF and the CCC urge these companies to use their influence and insist that their Turkish supplier enters into a direct dialogue with trade union TEKSIF.

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Recently the Burma Campaign UK, a group that works for the promotion of human rights, democracy and development in Burma, announced a major victory. QBE Insurance has announced it has cancelled insurance it provided to Burma and is to cease providing insurance to companies operating in the country. QBE is the largest managing agent at Lloyd’s of London and describes itself as “Australia’s largest international general insurance and reinsurance group”.

In a statement to the Burma Campaign UK, Frank O’Halloran, QBE’s Chief Executive said: “QBE has reviewed its various portfolios around the world and has cancelled the few incidental Burmese exposures on multinational insurance policies which could have a direct or indirect benefit for the current ruling party in Burma… QBE does not provide insurance for any business owned in Burma.”

“Foreign insurers provide a financial lifeline to Burma’s brutal regime. They insure the projects that make the regime billions of dollars a year. These billions don’t help the people of Burma, they entrench military rule and fund campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Eastern Burma” said Johnny Chatterton, Campaigns Officer at the Burma Campaign UK. “QBE’s welcome decision shames insurers like Catlin and Atrium that continue to help fund the Burmese regime.”

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An innovative idea is taking root in many European cities. An alternative currency called NU allows citizens to use a card in connection with energy-efficient upgrades. Once someone gets rolling with it, they accumulate more and more credit that can be used to buy further green goods. It is a sort of reward system that is a true benefit to those who take advantage of it. And this, in turn, benefits the environment.

The NU system represents synergy between government, the private sector and individuals. It is an experiment that shows a great deal of promise, thanks to the dedication of many Europeans. Now, don’t many Europeans already dry their clothes outside, drive efficient cars if they drive at all…and haven’t they been taking cloth bags to go shopping forever? Yep!

We need some NU right here in The United States of Over-Consumption.

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Bachmann is giving Ann Coulter a run for her money. B for bizarre. B for bending the truth. B for…bingo! Of course Obama is responsible for the Swine Flu outbreak. Thank you Congresswoman Bachmann for pointing that out, or at least insinuating it, you dominatrix of insinuation!

And now, in the words of HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney, you are insinuating that Obama has had “premature fiscal ejaculation.” At a recent rally she said, “During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed.” She then told the crowd that April 26 was National Debt Day, which conservatives commemorate as the moment government spending outpaces revenue. As Bachmann explains, “The government spent its wad by April 26. Every dime government spends after April 26 throughout the rest of this fiscal year is borrowed money.”

This is getting kinky. Now what nice Christian fundamentalist lady politician speaks of orgies and wads? Heavens, children across the land are going to be experimenting with orgies and wads. 

Thanks for the entertainment MB!

“God calls us to fall on our faces and our knees and cry out to Him and confess our sins.”
- Michele Marie Bachmann

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Yesterday Société Générale chairman Daniel Bouton said he will resign from the French banking behemoth, saying repeated attacks on him were a threat to the bank’s health. Bouton stated “Like any manager, I have certainly made mistakes, but the strategy adopted by Société Générale has made it one of the finest banks in the euro zone. The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past fifteen months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees,” Bouton added, saying it was “better for me to withdraw, proud of having led a wonderful company.”

Bouton was Société Générale’s chief executive in January 2008 when the bank announced one of the world’s largest trading scandals masterminded by trader Jerome Kerviel, which caused a massive loss. He stepped down as CEO last May but had remained as chairman. President Nicolas Sarkozy for top executives to face the “consequences” of the huge losses.

Kerviel maintains that his superiors were aware of his risky transactions but looked the other way while he was earning big money for the bank, intervening only when he started to lose. The bank, however, insists that it was not aware of Kerviel’s activities.

Bouton was the subject of public outrage more recently, when the bank disclosed that he will benefit from a pension of euro730,000 (US$965,000) per year when he retires. The issue of executive compensation has become a big issue in France after a series of revelations that managers at loss-making firms were pocketing bonuses.

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U.S. unemployment rates are closing in on 10%. U.S. banks have received billions in bailout funds. Jobs at these banks are still being sent overseas…huh? Is it just me, or does it seem like keeping jobs in the U.S. should be a requirement for getting bailed out? The following piece by John Aidan Byrne appeared in yesterday’s New York Post.

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US banks that have taken billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts are still shipping thousands of jobs overseas.

Earlier this month, Bank of New York Mellon, which received $3 billion in TARP funds, opened its third call center in Pune, India, where it now employs 1,300 people.

Doug Brown, who wrote “The Black Book of Outsourcing,” said Bank of America, with $52.5 billion of TARP funds in the kitty, has expanded its India-based payroll to 5 percent of its 301,000 employees in 2009, about 15,000 people.

The moves, which have outraged unions, are 100 percent legal. Congress didn’t put into the TARP law any restrictions on shipping jobs overseas.

Citigroup, which got $50 billion in TARP funds plus $300 billion in government guarantees, plowed ahead with a program last fall to add as many as 1,000 call-center employees in the Philippines — weeks after it got its first round of taxpayer relief.

Representatives for Citigroup and Bank of New York Mellon declined to comment on their outsourcing arrangements. A Bank of America spokesman said the firm has not announced any facility openings outside the US since last year.

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Yes it is. It has been for a long time. We have a chance to grab on and stem some of the loss, but you better believe that Big Oil is going to do everything possible to undermine our efforts. In two weeks, there’s a vote on President Obama’s plan for a new energy economy. But, according to moveon.org, key Democrats are wavering in the face of a flurry of Big Oil ads claiming America can’t afford clean energy.

From a recent letter from the MoveOn team: “If we don’t pass this bill, we’ll lose our chance to create millions of good, green jobs for laid-off workers. We’ll lose our chance to give our kids a vibrant economy. And we’ll lose our chance to pay down our national debt. U.S. investment in wind power lags far behind, but when it comes to solar power, the story is even more infuriating: In the 1990s, the U.S. actually led the world in solar cell manufacturing. But in the Bush-Cheney years, China, Japan, and Europe all zoomed ahead of us in solar production. We can catch up, but only if we start quickly. Obama’s plan would aggressively scale up American wind and solar production-creating millions of new jobs and tackling climate change in one fell swoop.”

MoveOn cites a new report by Ben Furnas of the Center for American Progress. Please read the full report here and consider helping MoveOn counter the dirty-energy companies!

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In the United States we are seeing people purchase guns and ammo at an alarming rate. Looking beyond the immediate unfounded concern certain people have about the Obama administration stripping the right to bear arms, there is the fact that many loath the thought of being pulled towards anything resembling socialism. In this environment the “each man for himself” reaction threatens to undermine a much needed and long overdue sense of global community and global commitment. Let’s hope that corporations choose to give more during these tough times as opposed to holing up and hoarding the goods.

The website www.publicservice.co.uk, which touts itself as The Information Portal for the Public Sector, recently posted a piece called “A recession of rights.” Author Hannah Grene, Researcher with the International Human Rights Network, explores how worsening economies erode basic rights. Please read.

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ColorOfChange.org is an internet-based movement that exists to strengthen Black America’s political voice. Following the natural and man-made disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, James Rucker and Van Jones organized to use the power of the Internet to help make change for Black Americans. The following letter from the ColorOfChange.org team highlights the deeply entrenched rascism of drug sentencing laws. This is a brutal system that has been screaming for change for far too long.

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The so-called “war on drugs” has created a national disaster: 1 in 15 Black adults in America are behind bars. It’s not because we commit more crime but largely because of unfair sentencing rules that treat 5 grams of crack cocaine–the kind found in poor Black communities–the same as 500 grams of powder cocaine, which is the kind found in White and wealthier communities. These sentencing laws are destroying communities across the country and have done almost nothing to reduce the level of drug use and crime.

We now have an opportunity to end this disaster once and for all. A bill is moving through Congress right now that would end the sentencing disparity. It’s critical that members of Congress see support from everyday folks.  Join us in asking our representatives in the House and Senate to push for its passage, and please ask your friends and family to do the same. It only takes a moment:

http://colorofchange.org/crack/?id=2206-426821

At every step in the criminal justice system, Black people are at a disadvantage — we are more likely to be arrested, charged, and convicted, but less likely to have access to good legal representation, and get out of prison on parole. While there’s no denying that the presence of crack has a hugely negative impact in Black communities across the country, it’s clear that the overly harsh crack sentencing laws have done more to feed the broken system than improve our communities.

You have to be convicted of moving roughly $75,000 worth of cocaine to trigger a 5-year sentence. For crack? About $500 worth. These laws punish the lowest-level dealers, while providing a loophole that helps those running the trade escape harsh sentences.

Recently, attention has turned to these ill-conceived policies as prisons burst at the seams with non-violent drug offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which provides sentencing guidelines for judges, has petitioned Congress numerous times to change the sentencing laws.

Last year, we reached out to you when Senator Joe Biden– one of the original architects of the disparity– introduced a bill that would have finally eliminated it and ended the mandatory minimum for crack possession, while increasing funding for drug treatment programs and providing additional resources for going after major cocaine kingpins.

His proposal stalled, but that same legislation is moving through Congress again with new support, and it looks like there’s a real chance it could pass. The White House is a clear ally. President Obama has said many times that punishment for crack and powder cocaine should be the same, and Biden is now Vice President and still an ardent advocate for getting rid of the disparity.

But there are foes of this plan. Others want to see the disparity reduced to 20-to-1 or 10-to-1, but not eliminated. As Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance has said, that “would be like amending the Constitution’s three-fifths clause to make African-Americans fourth-fifths citizens or desegregating 60 percent of public establishments instead of all of them.” Members of Congress need to hear that there is strong support for a full elimination of the disparity, and that now’s the time to support such legislation.

We can take this opportunity to join the Sentencing Commission and countless other advocates in calling on Congress to change this unjust law. Please join us:

http://colorofchange.org/crack/?id=2206-426821

Thank You and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, William, Dani, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team
April 20th, 2009

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