Since I've been to all three YearlyKos/Netroots Nation conventions, I can say that it has become almost a ritual.
Those of us in labor scratch our heads wondering why bloggers don't seem to read our diaries and send us to the top of the rec list.
"If they really care about labor, why doesn't the Netroots get more excited about our issues?" we ask.
Meanwhile, bloggers outside labor wonder what they can do to help us. Everyone I run into loves Labor, or at least recognizes how a strong labor movement helps the Progressive movement in general and, more specifically, Progressive candidates.
"How can we engage labor?" they ask. "What can we do to gain labor's support?"
Well, after three years at this sixth-grade dance -- where the boys and girls are still wondering if they should wait for the next song -- I think it's time to shake it up.
The U.S. has a long history of using its forces and laws to put down Labor. In the late 1800s Pinkerton agents, paid by the DOJ, became famous for infiltrating the Molly Maguires. In the early 1900s, state militias and local police were used to break strikes by breaking heads.
Today, the criminal immigrant isn't an Irish miner; it's a Mexican warehouse worker, meatpacker or hotel maid. And today's Pinkertons are ICE agents working outside their own rules and the rule of law to coddle exploiters and criminalize the exploited.
The latest incident is occurring in Long Island City, Queens, where the Teamsters of Local 805 are working to organize nearly 900 warehouse workers at a FreshDirect warehouse.
"But today these rights are under attack. Decisions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Supreme Court in 2005 have put at risk the fundamental rights of open access on the Internet. These rule changes would allow a few media multinationals to control the speed at which information can be moved across the Internet, and ultimately control whose information is not moved at all.
"Some believe these rules would foster increased investment in new technologies and create new jobs. I believe, however, that this is a very shortsighted view. For example, what would happen if these workers decided to fight for better working conditions? Would they be able to list their grievances on a web site?
"Just this week, AT&T updated its terms for Internet service. The company will now suspend or cancel Internet service to anyone who speaks out against the company in any way.
"When corporations control communications and the ability to appeal to the public for justice, workers will ultimately lose.
"That was the experience of Canadian telecom workers when they struck Canadian telephone giant Telus in 2005. The company blocked access to voices-for-change.ca and 600 other sympathetic web sites for about 16 hours.
"Consolidation of the mainstream media has already led to a visible decline in coverage of workplace issues. The Internet has become the last refuge for truth and balance for organizations fighting for public safety, public security, workers' rights and the public's right to know.
Equating labor rights with open internet is correct. Both are grouping or organizing tools.
I just got word that Teamsters in Laredo, Texas, and San Diego, California, are going to protest the DOT's illegal pilot project to allow Mexican trucks beyond the current 25-mile border safety zone tomorrow.
I will update with times and places as the details become available.
We welcome all bloggers, vloggers, photographers, and supporters. Help us send a message to the Bush administration that we have a Congress for a reason.
The Teamsters have been complaining and organizing against a Bush administration move to let Mexican trucks into the US (their campaign site is here). Basically, the Bush administration cherry picked a small number of safe Mexican trucks and is letting them in under a pilot program to assess whether cross-border trucking is safe. When there are very few safety problems, Bush will open the border to all the unsafe Mexican trucks, even though that's probably against the law.
The plan to let Mexican trucks operate throughout the United States has prompted a war of words and legal papers between the Bush administration and Jim Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Hoffa and his allies at the Sierra Club and Public Citizen have sued in federal court to stop the government from issuing permits to Mexican freight haulers. Their lawyers argued in court that Mexican trucks pose a danger on the roads and threaten increased human and drug smuggling.
It's a travesty, as are many things in this administration. The goal is to reduce the leverage of unionized truckers and increase the power of big business at the expense of consumers, drivers, and workers. Shocker I know. Now, I'm not sure, but I bet if someone polled this fight it'd be one of those 80/20 gut level angry issues that cuts across partisan lines. Chris Hayes has done a fascinating story about the NAFTA superhighway, a completely mythical monstrous road designed to cut through the American heartland and bring America into a North American Union government. I'm not kidding. It's a huge issue for the super-patriotic right, and you can tell this is the case by the politicians stepping up on it.
Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda of Kansas, Republican Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio are all deeply connected to the populist streak that is anti-NAFTA, and they are all outspoken on this one. I think it's a winner, just like the Dubai ports deal. Unlike the Dubai deal, though, this narrative is very pro-union. I would pick this fight, Senator Schumer.
In 2004, it can be argued that IAFF's endorsement of John Kerry provided him with the manpower and support he needed to win Iowa (and as a result the nomination).
(Jeff Haynes, AFP)
(This is a response to my post on the Teamster's divestiture of their pension funds from companies that do business with Iran.
Matt - promoted by Chris Bowers)
The Teamsters do not support attacking Iran. We are not the puppets of Fox News. And we are not a tool of some covert Neo-con conspiracy to take over the world.
What we do stand for is labor rights. We consistently speak out about labor rights violations in Iran, Latin America, Asia and anywhere people are punished, imprisoned and killed for their basic human right to freely associate and form unions.
We are National Guard and Reserve members, parents of active duty service people and veterans who served this country in times of peace and conflict.
To suggest that our effort to put economic pressure on Iran, a country that has repeatedly imprisoned labor organizers, is part of a "PR ploy for military action against Iran" is ludicrous, especially coming from our friends in the progressive community.
This is just lovely (from Neil King Jr at the Wall Street Journal).
Teamster boss James Hoffa is jumping into the Iran-divestment movement, urging the union's pensions funds to shed all shares they own in companies doing business in Iran.
In a letter set to go out on Thursday to more than 170 fund managers, Hoffa cites the recent crackdown in Iran on top labor leaders and widespread allegations that Iran is arming and training insurgents in Iraq as reasons why fund managers should "give consideration to divesting" in Iran-related shares. The Teamsters' pension funds amount to about $110 billion.
In the letter he sent out, Hoffa cites labor violations as one reason for the divestment, but the reality of his words is that this is just one more PR ploy for military action against Iran.
Further, Iran supplies weapons and training to Shia militant groups that attack our troops in Iraq, according to the U.S. State Department...
What I am concerned about, though, is that Teamsters' hard-earned money would support in any way an enemy of the United States of America. No Teamster should ever have to worry that his or her retirement money is used to support terrorism in any way.
I have no special insight on Iran strategy, but it's obvious and it's been obvious for months that there's a PR campaign to gin up war with Iran. John Bolton, Bill Kristol, and Michael Rubin are all pushing for it. Now Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters are in on an expansion of an unethical war to new countries.
I think someone did invent a time machine and put all of us in it.
Update: I put Robert Greenwald's Fox Attacks Iran up top so you can see that this is part of a PR roll-out of a new product.
I've really been amazed at the amount of goodwill that has been expressed since the end of YearlyKos. Now it's time to put action behind those words. Please help us keep the momentum rolling for worker justice, a stronger labor movement and a cleaner environment.
You've just sat through two hours of presidential candidates wrestling over sound bites - it's Miller Time ... or Bud if you prefer (both are delivered by Teamsters). And while you're at it grab a burger or a dog and listen up.
By joining forces -- in our communities, states and across the US - unions and the Netroots community could build a stronger Progressive movement. That means victory in 2008 and beyond. It means justice for workers. It means affordable health care, secure retirements and an affordable education available to all.
It can be done. You have the voice. We have the experience in taking campaigns to the street. Together, we have the people and the power to make change happen.
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