New York Domestic Workers Fight to Pass Bill of Rights
Via Equal Writes, the BBC has recently reported on the struggle of domestic workers in New York state to pass a bill of rights for those in their line of work. In this context, the term domestic workers refers to nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers, of which there are over 200,000 in NY alone. Domestic workers [...]
...read moreHappy César Chávez Day
For those who don’t know, today is César Chávez Day. Chávez was a migrant worker from a young age and co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with the ever-awesome Dolores Huerta. (The NFWA would later merge with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers of America.) In addition to being a [...]
...read more
RIP, Howard Zinn
It is being reported that Howard Zinn, the famed historian, activist, and author, is dead at 87 of a heart attack. To him, to representing the underclasses, and to challenging the status quo.
...read moreThe Economist Debates: Women
The debate issue over at the Economist right now is “This house believes that women in the developed world have never had it so good.” Which… ok. May be true. But I’m with Terry O’Neill, who opposes the whole premise of the motion: The “you’ve never had it so good” canard has long been used [...]
...read moreHealth Insurance, Unemployment and Bankruptcy
Awhile back*, I posted about my daughter’s premature birth, hospitalization, my concurrent job loss, and…..health insurance. I tried to explain to non-U.S. readers exactly why the loss of a job meant the loss of healthcare and probable bankruptcy. We take that for granted in the U.S.—that in the event of a serious illness like cancer, [...]
...read morePhoto Essay: Factory Like A City
Run, don’t walk, to David Bacon’s photo essay, “Factory Like A City”, posted at Z magazine. It’s about Toyota’s announcement of the closing of the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California after General Motors announced it was withdrawing from the partnership. It’s a good illustration of the exponential effects of the demise of manufacturing in the [...]
...read moreIt’s Cold & Flu Season….Do You Have Paid Sick Days?
Not a day goes by lately that I don’t see some update or another on H1N1, or on the seasonal flu vaccine. It’s that time of year again. The National Partnership for Women and Families has a good site on supporting paid sick days, as both a worker justice issue and a public health concern. [...]
...read more
American icon “Norma Rae” dies after struggling with her insurance company to cover her chemo
La Lubu already wrote about this (do check out her post), but I want to re-emphasize it: Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman who fought to unionize her workplace and inspired the film Norma Rae, passed away at 68. She died of brain cancer, after battling for her insurance company to cover her chemotherapy. She could [...]
...read moreWill the Last One Out of ***** Please Shut Out the Lights?!
A pithy saying often heard in the Rust Belt, reflective of…..the loss of community, dearth of culture, malaise/apathy, physical atrophy/blight, urban decay, exodus, and general collapse that accompanies job loss and its attendant economic withering. The recent economic downturn is hardly new to most of us in Flyover Country™. That doesn’t mean there still weren’t [...]
...read moreCrystal Lee Sutton: Labor Heroine
Crystal Lee Sutton, originally of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, died of cancer September 12 at the age of 68. She was instrumental in the 10-year fight to unionize the J.P. Stevens mill, where she once worked for $2.65/hr. You may remember her as “Norma Rae”, as portrayed by actor Sally Field in the Oscar-winning film [...]
...read moreCaty Simon and the Virtues of Vice (part two)
Oh, LOL. Sike. Before I go, I present the conclusion of my email interview with the one and only Ms. Caty Simon. Part one is here. Why do you think people on all sides of the issues involved have such strong feelings about Natalie Dyan and the choices she makes/made about how to make money [...]
...read moreCaty Simon and The Virtues of Vice (Part One)
Soon after I was asked to guest blog at Feministe I emailed my internet friend Caty to ask if I could interview her for one of my posts. She maintains the fabulous blog The Virtues of Vice and is generally one of my favorite people to talk with about politics or pop culture or pretty [...]
...read more
Recent Comments