“Women on the ninth floor pushed the elevator call button, but so did workers on the eighth. The cars rose to the eighth, filled and descended, over and over. On the ninth floor, panicked women pried open the outer elevator doors and threw themselves down the shafts. Passengers inside the cars could hear the percussive thud of bodies on top of the car, then the rattling of coins falling out of pockets and through the metal grating.”
—A Times Mag description of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, in which 146 people, mostly teen immigrant girls, were burned alive or jumped to their deaths. In the fire’s aftermath, young women lobbied—before they could even vote—for safe working conditions. (See the HBO doc on the subject).
Pro Unionization Rights VS Pro-[Mobbed-Up]-Unions
“Conservatives cannnot cheer unions oversees and then be blindly anti-union here at home” [Newt Gingrich?]
I didn’t varify this quote but Beck read it off of Huffpo on air, so if he got wrong, Beck-Bashers here’s a little diving board, riiight next to my throat. Jump on down there.
And now for my commentary…
WTF!!!???
What ‘conservative’ is quote “cheering unions overseas”!? The closest thing to this on my radar is not wanting China etc to have slave labour & union organization outlawed… but those are authoritarian-ee countries, sooo, there are no unions to cheer. [maybe its an old quote with something contemporary to the time goin on]
But ProgNewt just, in one sentence, gave a false ‘either or’ choice. Which is to be expected his being a prog, who’s philosophy is based upon the false choice in Statist Government.
Either you suport “Unions” here and abroad, and all that they may do, or you don’t support unions… IE the right of Unionization? Awe Heyll Noh!~
I aint gotta support Mobbed Up Unions that force people to join in order to work at a place or use mandatory dues from said required workers to promote political S they don’t give a crap about, you fat lizardly toad man.
The right of the individual citizen to associate and organize does not imply the Employer’s lacking the right to either fire all their asses or just fold up shop until he can higher some workers on his own terms.
The RIGHT of protest does NOT entail the right to obstruct!
You know the now infamous episode of Kitchen Nightmares with Amy’s Baking Company? Well, there’s now a petition out to have the place investigated by the US Department of Labor because of the allegations of owners stealing tips from the wait staff. Please sign here to see this happen:
Reblog to spread the word!
Why postal workers need your support
socialistworker.orgTHE U.S. Postal Service (USPS) may soon lay off 120,000 employees—the worst attack ever on U.S. postal workers if it goes through, and the biggest offensive yet in the war on public-sector unions across the country.
This attack should be a call to action for all of organized labor. Everyone who cares about social justice and workers’ rights should step forward and offer their solidarity to postal workers during the national day of action called for September 27.
Israel shames the memory of the Holocaust
and as a Jewish person, I could not imagine a poorer representative:
Israel deports children to preserve “Jewish character” of state …
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time: “We all feel and understand the hearts of children. But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. We don’t want to create an incentive for the inflow of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers.” But many of the undocumented workers lost their legal status simply by giving birth, as Israeli policy formerly stipulated that migrant workers who give birth must either send their babies back to their home countries, or keep their children and lose their work visas.
Sorry, Mom, we have to keep this land safe for the Master Race, ahem, sorry, I mean the Chosen People. Totally different! The Israeli Supreme Court has again intervened to some extent - they are a significant source of restraint in a country that seems determined to push the boundaries of irony - but has failed to make their ruling retroactive, for reasons that escape me.
Petition the G20 for Women's Economic Equality!
I’m submitting this to a bunch of different social justice/feminist tumblrs in hopes that I can help this take off. Please read, sign, and reblog!
An organization called Vital Voices, affiliated with NYU’s Florence campus, has launched the Third Billion campaign: a petition that will be sent to the G20 to convince them to help protect and promote women’s economic security around the world.
As you may know,women make up 50% of the world’s population, and own 25-33% of all private business, but they receive less than 1% of the job opportunities offered by corporations and governments. In many countries, women aren’t allowed to own businesses or even drive cars, and when you ignore the economic potential of 50% of the population, it hurts us all. The G20 has the power to help protect and promote these opportunities for all women.
And it’s easy to help out! Click here, take a moment to watch the video if you’d like, but be sure to sign your email and name on the form. All it takes is 30 seconds, and together we can let the G20 know that women are an important section of the economy, too!
The 3rd Billion Campaign (in coalition with Villa La Pietra in Florence, Italy)
