Puerto Rican Labor Struggle: Teachers Vote Against Joining SEIU
It’s a major victory for the forty-two-year-old Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico, or FMPR. It was Puerto Rico’s largest union, representing over 40,000 teachers. But earlier this year, after many months of trying to negotiate with the governor, the FMPR was decertified over its refusal to comply with a ban on strikes by public employees. [includes rush transcript]
Why Don't Barack Obama and John McCain Talk About the Working Class?
With the economy the number one issue on the campaign trail, major party candidates John McCain and Barack Obama discuss their tax plans, jobs and the financial bailout on the stump. But are they really addressing the needs of the working class? A new study from the Center for the Study of Working Class Life suggests that neither McCain nor Obama have adequately spoken to the needs of one-fifth of the population—the 60 million Americans who are barely surviving in this economy. [includes rush transcript]
Kambale Musavuli on the "Forgotten War" in the Congo
The latest round of fighting in the Congo has seen a dramatic rise in the number of rapes, and some 200,000 people have been displaced since August, according to the World Food Program. That’s in addition to the nearly 1.5 million people already displaced since 2007. Bringing attention to the dire situation in the Congo and the role of Western corporations in fueling the conflict was the focus of Congo Week, an awareness-raising week of events on campuses across the country that concluded Friday. [includes rush transcript]