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PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ON HOW THE 'FREE TRADE' CASE FOR OFFSHORING AMERICA'S JOBS HAS COME UNGLUED Roberts on the sensational exposure of the faked "gains" and phantom stats of the free traders. Who was America's most anti-imperialist president? Try Grover Cleveland! JoAnn Wypijewski on the unlikely hero of Hawai'i's restoration movement. Alexander Cockburn reports on evangelical Christians in crisis amid fresh onslaughts by forces of darkness. The Warbler's Parable: Rosa Miriam Elizalde on the black-masked visitors to Cuba defying the US economic blockade.
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Today's Stories June 25, 2007 Jennifer
Loewenstein June 23 / 24, 2007 Alexander
Cockburn Jeff
Taylor Oren
Ben-Dor Gary
Leupp Robert
Fisk David
Rosen Russell
Mokhiber Alison
Weir Robert
Fantina D.
K. Wilson Nicole
Colson Stephen
Soldz, Steven Reisner and Brad Olson Dave
Lindorff Benjamin
Dangl Michael
Dickinson Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
June 22, 2007 Andy
Worthington Sherwood
Ross Eliana
Monteforte Robert
Weissman Richard
Rhames Christopher
Brauchli Ramzy
Baroud Ehud
Krinis, David Shulman and Neve Gordon David
Michael Green Kathryn
Webber Website
of the Day
June 21, 2007 Peter
Linebaugh Natsu
Saito Ron
Jacobs Saree
Makdisi John
Stauber Scott
Liebertz Tom
Clifford Robert
Jensen Michael
J. Smith Jeb
Sprague Website
of the Day
Omar
Barghouti Andy
Worthington Margaret
Kimberley Robert
Weissman Russell
D. Hoffman Rannie
Amiri Stephen
Lendman Dave
Lindorff David
Swanson Anne
Dachel Website
of the Day
June 19, 2007 Ralph
Nader Dr.
Shepherd Bliss Bill
and Kathleen Christison Jeff
Leys Dave
Zirin Chris
Floyd Ben
Terrall Anthony
Papa VIPS Linda Flores Website
of the Day
John
Ross Paul
Craig Roberts Martha
Rosenberg Norman
Solomon Don
Santina Isabella
Kenfield James
Brooks Eva
Liddell Sam
Husseini Akiva
Eldar Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn John
Halle Robert
Fisk Andy
Worthington Uri
Avnery Fred
Gardner Saul
Landau P.
Sainath Missy
Comley Beattie Alan
Gregory Walter
Brasch Website
of the Weekend
June 15, 2007 Alan
Farago Andy
Worthington Michael
Simmons Franklin
Lamb Gary
Leupp John
Ross Website
of the Day
June 14, 2007 Michael
Donnelly
Faisal
Kutty Harry
Browne Charles
Jonkel Steven
Higgs Bruce
Dixon Bruce
K. Gagnon
Website
of the Day June 13, 2007 Glen Ford Marjorie Cohn Bill Christison Charles Jonkel Silvia Cattori Richard Gott Firmin DeBrabander William S. Lind Keith Rosenthal Website of the Day June 12, 2007 Jeffrey St.
Clair Paul Craig
Roberts P. Sainath Ralph Nader Omar Waraich Dave Lindorff Harvey Wasserman Malini Johar
Schueller Ramzy Baroud Website of
the Day
June 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Uri Avnery Norman Solomon Eva Liddell Rannie Amiri Rachel Voss Christopher
Brauchli D. K. Wilson Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn George Ciccariello-Maher Saul Landau Robert Fisk Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Ward Boston Conn Hallinan Leonard Peltier Lawrence Davidson John Ross Kate Allan Fred Gardner Stephen Fleischman Monica Benderman Geoff Bailey Missy Beattie Patrick Dyer Tim Lengerich James Irani
Gary Leupp Michael Tillery Michael Simmons Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair
Paul Craig Roberts William Blum Joshua Frank Lance Selfa Dave Lindorff Lawrence Ferlinghetti Website of the Day
Marjorie Cohn Soldz, Reisner
and Olson: Soldz, Reisner
Paul Craig Roberts Bill Quigley Silvia Cattori Carl G. Estabrook Ellen Taylor Corporate Crime
Reporter Brenda Norrell D. K. Wilson Kevin Zeese Website of
the Day
Alain Gresh Gary Leupp Steven Sherman Bruce Dixon Corporate Crime Reporter Brian M. Downing Ron Jacobs George Bisharat Nicole Colson Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Jonathan Cook David Vest Robert Fantina Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury John V. Walsh Richard Cretan Adam Engel William S. Lind Myles Hoenig Jim Minick Website of
the Day
Nizar Latif Diana Johnstone Gregory Wilpert Paul Watson Susan Rosenthal,
MD Richard Ward Eva Liddell Zahi Khouri Evelyn Pringle China Hand Karyn Strickler Website of the Day
June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Marc Levy Martin Smith Diana Johnstone John Ross Uri Avnery Sunsara Taylor Richard Neville P. Sainath Missy Comley
Beattie Nisrine Abiad Rannie Amiri Margot Pepper Eric Stewart Ralph Nader Dan Bacher Shaun Harkin Richard Rhames Frederick Hudson Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Dave Marsh Saul Landau David Phinney Robert Jensen Stanley Heller Yifat Susskind Robert Weissman Paul Buchheit William S.
Lind Sherwood Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Robert Bryce Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Kathy Kelly Marjorie Cohn Chris Kutalik
Corporate Crime Reporter Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway Franklin Lamb Terrence E. Paupp Uri Avnery Alan Maass Rock and Rap
Confidential Ralph Nader Nirmal Ghosh Jean Daniels Tom Barry Website of the Day
Stephen Soldz Eliza Ernshire Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Mike Whitney David Swanson John Holt Cynthia McKinney Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Dr. Susan Block Jeeni Criscenzo Douglas Valentine Website of the Day 
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June 25, 2007 California Deal Left Members Out of Organizing and BargainingSEIU Ends Nursing Home PartnershipBy MARK BRENNER Following months of criticism and sharp internal debate, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) ended its controversial partnership agreement with a group of California nursing homes on May 31. The four-and-a-half-year-old deal was a quid pro quo arrangement that brought over 3,000 workers into SEIU after the union secured higher state government payments to nursing homes that care for Medicaid patients. In addition to giving SEIU organizing access to a number of nursing homes, the agreement provided "template" contract language for these newly organized workplaces. SEIU announced it was ending
the partnership just days after the executive board of United
Healthcare Workers-West (UHW), one of the two SEIU locals that
were party to the original deal, launched a campaign to steer
the agreement in a different direction. "Some in the national SEIU are negotiating an agreement with nursing home employers-in California and nationally-and have repeatedly excluded UHW nursing home members and elected representatives from the process. These agreements could restrict our nursing home members' voice on the job and be implemented without affected members even having the right to vote." UHW leaders proposed three principles that should govern any future employer agreement in the health care industry: union democracy, the right to aggressively advocate for the people they serve, and full union membership for workers organized through partnership agreements. Using the petition campaign and intense behind-the-scenes pressure, UHW leaders demanded that these principles "be embodied by clearly defined contract standards" in all future agreements. WHAT IS AT STAKE? Each of the three principles responds to problems with the nursing home partnership identified by health care workers and patient advocates since its inception. For example, the agreement prohibited the union from reporting problems with organized nursing homes to state regulators or the media, except in cases mandated by law. Short staffing was one such issue, and a top concern for new members organized under the agreement, according to internal UHW survey data. But under the terms of the partnership, the union was barred from waging an aggressive public campaign to address staff-to-patient ratios. Similarly, most workers who joined SEIU through the partnership agreement ended up with "template" contracts that were negotiated before they joined the union. These deals, according to an internal analysis by UHW, "allowed for very little power on the shop floor with no right to strike and no clear path towards full collective bargaining rights." The overall effect was to create a growing pool of second-class union members, with the pre-negotiated deals "discouraging-and in some cases preventing-workers from independently engaging in struggle to improve their working conditions." Finally, the California nursing home agreement reflected a new approach to organizing members and negotiating contracts in the nursing home industry, one aimed at spreading these agreements nationwide. Under this new model the international union, particularly a small group of national officers and staff, played a decisive role in negotiating with nursing home operators. Current nursing home workers, and their elected union leaders, were kept at arm's length during recent talks, leading to a justifiable concern about who was looking out for their interests in negotiations. According to SEIU members in Northern California, interest in this partnership agreement has been high. More than 20,000 people had signed the UHW petition within weeks of its release. "We've signed up over half the members where I work," said one UHW shop steward who asked to remain anonymous. "What really got people upset was this idea that guys in suits, sitting in Washington, D.C., will bargain our contracts. "These are people who have never worked in a hospital and who don't know anything about our jobs. Then, to top it off, we won't even have a right to vote on the contract they negotiate." FAST-TRACK PARTNERSHIPS Although the California nursing home agreement has been shelved, it sparked a national debate inside SEIU, raising important questions about what kind of labor-management partnerships are possible or advisable as the union continues its relentless drive to expand its membership. Jerome Brown, former president of SEIU's massive 1199 New England health care local, has openly questioned whether the union can forge effective employer partnerships from scratch in non-union workplaces. In a review of SEIU International President Andy Stern's 2006 book, A Country that Works, Brown noted that real gains, including organizing rights, were usually "the payoff for years of struggles, strikes, and other conflicts with employers." Only after a period of open conflict, Brown argued, can "strong unions and engaged members enter into mature, cooperative relationships" with their employers. By contrast, the arrangements SEIU has used to organize the nursing home industry left Brown with some lingering concerns: "We have to ask ourselves if these methods can produce a real, democratic workers' organization or if it is more likely that they will produce a 'membership' that is as alienated from the union leadership as it is from the employer. A 'membership' that sees itself, correctly, as a third party in a relationship with union brokers and employers-the very antithesis of true rank-and-file unionism." This perspective, that it's "the bosses bringing in the union" rather than the members, was common among nursing home workers organized under the California agreement, according to internal UHW documents. For UHW leaders, this raised the question of, "What kind of worker organizations aretemplate agreements creating?" After years of experience, some of these leaders have concluded that these arrangements "may come close to becoming what have historically been called 'company' unions." Mark Brenner works as Labor
Notes director in New York City. He can be reached at mark@labornotes.org.  |
CounterPunch Books of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy  Click Here to Buy! How the Press Failed The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn   Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont               CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
