written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Walmart Strikers Rally
at Company's Shareholder
Meeting
with
Tsegau Almaz, Walmart Associate, Crenshaw, Los Angeles, member “OUR Walmart Campaign”
Walmart strikers, with support from the OUR Walmart campaign, launched the first extended strike in the company's history, capping it with a rally outside the company's shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Ark, after a
week long “Ride for Respect.” Workers from more than 30 cities joined in the Ride For Respect to mobilize other Walmart workers and educate the public about Walmart’s many abuses. The Walmart workers seek higher pay, more hours of employment, health care, and protection from retaliation when they raise workers rights issues. Walmart's workers also raised the issues of the companies failure to provide for the health and safety of their workers in factories overseas that manufacture the products the retail giant sells – recalling the recent death of 1,239 garment workers in the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh. Kalpona Akter, the Ex. Dir., of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, who implored Walmart to take action to insure that the factories where Wal-Mart products are made should be safe for the workers joined the Bentonville rally.
******************************
Cablevision Breaks Law, Then Attacks NLRB
with
Tim Dubnau, Organizing Coordinator, District One,
Communication Workers of America
Cablevision, the cable giant is asking the federal court to undermine the authority of the National Labor Relations Board in pursing complaints charging Cablevision with multiple violations of labor law. Since Brooklyn
technicians voted to unionize more than a year ago, Cablevision has refused to bargain in good faith. Cablevision actually fired 23 workers in Brooklyn
after the workers used management’s “open door” policy to talk to a vice president about how the company was stonewalling their first-contract bargaining. Cablevision has illegally intimidated workers, brazenly violated
federal law by firing workers for protected activity, while refusing to offer any improvements in wages to the newly unionized technicians in Brooklyn.
*******************
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Posted in
Cablevision NLRB,
Communication Workers of America Cablevision,
Dolan Cablevision workers,
OUR Walmart Campaign,
Walmart Bangladesh,
Walmart strike,
Walmart women workers
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Long Term Unemployment A National Crisis
with Christine Owens, Ex. Dir., National Employment Law Project
Another month and another tepid unemployment report. The nation's unemployment rate just went up to 7.6% with no prospect for a significant decline in sight. The plight of the long term unemployed who represent over 37% of the unemployed is all but forgotten. Facing daunting odds in finding work, they are also being hit with federal unemployment benefit cuts, that states have been forced to implement due to sequestration and now qualify for fewer weeks of unemployment coverage than at any time since the beginning of the economic crisis.
***************
The Economic Elephant
with Robert Reich, Prof. of Public Policy. UC Berkeley, and former
Secretary of Labor
What's really wrong with the economy, and why? Unemployment is still high and job creation hasn't made a big dent this many years into the so-called recovery. Who has the best plan? Is it the Keynesians? On the other end, the Austerics? They both neglect the economic elephant in the room - spreading wealth to the wealthy keeps buying power away from the 99%; it simply does not lead to economic recovery.
Read More...
Posted in
Christine Owens,
economic crisis,
Long term unemployment,
National Employment Law Project,
poverty,
Robert Reich,
sequestration,
unemployment rate
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, June 3, 2013
Wendy's Shame, Farmworkers Exploitation
with
Members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and
supporters in N.Y.C.
The Fair Food Program is a watershed accord signaling the dawn of a "new day" for farmworkers' rights in Florida's tomato fields. For the first time in history, farmworkers and participating buyers and growers are working together to eradicate wage theft, sexual harassment, physical abuse and forced labor.
But, Fast Food giant Wendy's has refused to join The Fair Food Program. To date 11 of Wendy’s competitors, such as McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subways who have pledged to begin to tackle the flagrant exploitation of farm workers in Florida. Wendy's is the last big holdout of the fast food giants, but the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is fanning out across the country to hold them accountable. In NYC they held a rally at Union Square and
marched and rallied at two Wendy's in the area in protest.
Read More...
Posted in
Coalition of Immokalee Workers,
Florida farm workers Wendy’s,
Wendy’s fair food program,
Wendy’s farm workers
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Huge WIN For Carwash Workers To Unionize
One of the most exciting of the numerous low-wage worker organizing campaigns around the city and across the nation is that of the predominantly immigrant, car wash workers who recently scored a unionization victory in Flushing, Queens. Workers at the Jomar Car Wash voted over- whelmingly to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). This is the sixth car wash workers election the union has won since the launch of its aggressive organizing campaign in NYC. They have been organizing in the WASH NY campaign, a joint effort of Make the Road NY and NY Communities for Change, along with the RWDSU.
***************************
“I Am A Man,”
Say Carwash Workers In Suit To Uphold Dignity
The struggle to unionize carwash workers extends across the country. In Santa Monica, California labor leaders, immigrant rights advocates and members of the faith community gathered to support carwash workers who are standing up for justice. The carwash industry is known for abusive and illegalpractices, but now there's a class action lawsuit filed by the Mexican AmericanLegal Defense and Educational Fund against Santa Monica carwash owners to CLEAN up the industry and uphold the dignity of every worker.
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car wash workers new york city,
car wash workers Santa Monica,
car wash workers unionization,
Communities for Change car wash,
Make the Road car wash,
RWDSU car wash workers
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Mississippi’s Nissan Factory Auto Workers
Take
Message of Worker’s Justice to NY’s International Auto Show
with
.
Raphael Martinez, auto worker Canton, Mississippi
. James Brown, auto
worker Canton, Mississippi
The United Auto Workers union
launched a major union drive at
the transplant Nissan factory, in Canton,
Mississippi in the heart of
the anti-union South. The Canton plant,
with 3000 workers has wage disparities with other Nissan plants, serious
discord over limited and onerous health benefits policies and is
employing growing numbers of temporary workers, creating a two-tier wage and
benefit system to both super exploit the part-time workers and undermine the
maintenance of a full-time work force’s wages and benefits. Nissan has
interrogated workers about their involvement in organizing and forced them
to attend anti-union meetings several times a week and try to scare the
workers intimating that if they unionize the plant could close and they
would lose their jobs. But, the workers from this plant that can build
400,000 vehicles per year are building support for worker justice, both
nationally and
internationally and are now taking their message to consumers
attending the International Automobile Show.
*******************
Actor Danny Glover,
along with Rank & File Nissan Auto Workers Demand Good
Jobs
Mississippi Congressperson Bennie Thompson,
Derrick Johnson, Pres. of the Mississippi NAACP along with noted actor Danny
Glover bring their support to the UAW’s efforts to unionize Nissan
Mississippi auto plant.
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Canton Mississippi Nissan,
Danny Glover Nissan,
Danny Glover UAW,
Nissan union Mississippi,
Representative Bennie Thompson Nissan,
United Auto workers Nissan
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written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Obama’s Immigration Reform, The Truth Or A Cruel Hoax?
with
Amy Gottlieb, Immigrant’s Rights Program Director,
American Friends Service Committee .
Amy Gottlieb holds aloft the banner of immigrants across this country demanding humane immigration reform, discussing what a humane immigrant
reform policy should look like and explains and critiques the substance of
the 844 pages of immigration reform proposals currently under debate in the
Congress
******************************
A
Bangladeshi Worker's Dream
with
Maksuda, a Bangladeshi garment
worker
On a U.S. tour organized by the National Labor
Committee, Maksuda describes the harsh conditions of her life and work.
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Posted in
American Friends Service Committee,
Amy Gottlieb,
Bangladesh workers,
immigration reform
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, May 6, 2013
The Blood, Sweat & Tears Of Bangladesh’s Garment Workers Stain The Clothes of Multi-National Corps. Who Reap Huge Profits From Workers' Misery
with
Barbara Briggs, Asst. Dir., Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights
and
Kalpona Atker, Ex. Dir., Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity
To date, more than 500 are confirmed dead, 2,044 people have been rescued, more than 1,000 of them injured and 1,000 people are unaccounted for, or still trapped inside the concrete wreckage of the collapsed garment factory in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the Western multinational corporations who subcontract sewing their brands to Bangladesh, an economy where 80% of its exports are from the apparel trade stubbornly refuse to join workplace safety plans in Bangladesh. They still refuse to compensate the injured and the families of those who previously died sewing their brands. Since the infamous Tazreen factory fire blaze in November where 112 died there have been dozens more factory fires since and now hundreds killed in this week's Rana Plaza building collapse. How many people will have to sacrifice their lives for the corporate bottom line?
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Posted in
Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity,
Bangladesh’s Garment Workers,
Barbara Briggs,
Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights,
Kalpona Atker,
Rana Plaza,
Tazreen factory fire
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Thursday, May 2, 2013
What Then
Must We Do?
withGar Alperovitz, author, What Then Must We
Do? and The Next
American Revolution: Beyond Corporate Capitalism and State
Socialism
While there's
been no shortage of commentary about the structural crisis plaguing the American economic and political system, from
wage stagnation and chronic unemployment to unchecked corporate and state
power and growing inequality, analyses that offer practical,
politically viable solutions to these problems have been few and far between. Gar
Alperovitz is a rare and stunning exception. Through his new book and film and his research and his activism, Alperovitz highlights efforts already under
way in thousands of communities across the U.S., from co-ops and community
land trusts to municipal, state, and federal initiatives to organize and
democratize capital. Alperovitz marshals years of research to show how
bottom-up strategies can work to check monopolistic corporate power, democratize
wealth, and empower communities.
*******************
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Posted in
cleveland cooperatives,
Gar Alperovitz,
municipal socialism,
state banks,
The Next American Revolution: Beyond Corporate Capitalism and State Socialism,
What Then Must We Do?,
worker cooperatives
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, April 22, 2013
Preventable Deaths: The Texas Explosion & The Tragedy Of Workplace Fatalities
with
Tom O'Connor, Dir., Ntl. Council for Occupational Safety & Health
The latest work place tragedy, the explosion last Wednesday at Texas’ chemical and fertilizer plant left at least 14 people dead and more that 160 injured. In the last year, on average 4,500 people died in workplace accidents. But, while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has jurisdiction over 7 million workplaces the U.S. spent only $558 million a year on OSHA, as increasing numbers of workers died. With a gutted agency it’s not uncommon for some companies to go years without inspection. The Texas plant hadn’t been inspected since 1985 and even then despite being cited for serious violations for storage of anhydrous
ammonia was fined a mere $30.
***************************
Remembering the Triangle Fire
with
Sophia Henderson Holmes
Poet Sophia Henderson Holmes reads from her epic poem commemorating the lives of those who died at the Triangle Fire. The poem itself serves as well as a tribute to Sophia herself, who has since passed on but has left us her stirring words and the challenge to organize for workers' rights.
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Posted in
Dir.,
Ntl. Council for Occupational Safety and Health,
OSHA,
poet,
Sophia Henderson Holmes,
Texas Fertilizer plant explosion,
Tom O'Connor,
Triangle Fire
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, April 15, 2013
Obama Budget Attack On Social Security Hangs Seniors Out To Dry
with
Bob
Borosage, Co-Director, Campaign for America’s Future
The median
income of people over age 65 is less than $20,000 a year. Nearly 70 percent
of the elderly rely on Social Security benefits for more than half of their
income and nearly 40 percent rely on Social Security for more than 90
percent of their income. Meanwhile, the President pushing the myth that
Social Security and Medicare face economic collapse and that the budget
deficit imperils the fiscal solvency of the nation has proposed a cut in the
annual cost of living adjustment that will be a substantial hit to a
population ill-prepared to see a cut in its income. Government programs
like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are critical to keeping seniors
out of financial crisis. Now, the President has proposed slowing the growth
of Social Security benefits and lowering the rate of increase in Social
Security payments, also veterans’ benefits and federal pensions. Obama’s
budget also contains cuts to Medicare services. All this will come at the
cost of those who are already financially at
risk.
***************************
President Rips Off Social
Security Robbing Peter
To Pay Paul
Senator Bernie Sanders and
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka protest the President’s budget proposals
which will further bend the backs of thosealready shouldering the burden of the plutocracy’s
financial disasters by eroding payouts to Social Security.
*******************
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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,
Bob Borosage,
Campaign for America's Future,
Obama budget,
Senator Bernie Sanders,
social security chained cpi,
Social Security cuts,
social security Obama
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, April 8, 2013
Largest Strike Ever of Fast Food Workers Echoes
MLK’s Last Campaign For Striking Memphis Workers
Across New York City hundreds of fast food workers walked off their jobs. It was the second strike in their ongoing Fast Food Forward campaign for higher wages and union recognition. The strikers day culminated in a march with supporters in Harlem, where many strikers carried signs that read “I Am A Woman”. The signs, and strike, which was held on the anniversary of the assassination of MLK in Memphis, echoed his support for striking sanitation workers' call for workplace rights and racial justice.
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Posted in
Fast food forward,
fast food workers union,
Martin Luther King Memphis union,
McDonald’s union,
N.Y. Communities for Change,
United New York
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, April 1, 2013
Love, Justice, Family and Equality
with
Emily Hecht-McGowan, Family Equality Council
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two potentially
landmark cases: the challenge to Proposition 8, which took away the
freedom to marry from same-sex couples in California, and the challenge
to Section 3 of the misnamed "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA), which
denies legally married same-sex couples over 1,000 rights, protections
and responsibilities under federal law simply because they are gay.
Never before has the court heard two significant gay rights cases
simultaneously. Emily Hecht-McGowan, Director of Public Policy for the
Family Equality Council joins us to look at these two cases which could be a defining moment in the LGBT community's decades-long struggle
for equality under the law.
**************************
Children’s Voices On Love, Justice, Family and Equality
with
Zach Wahls
The son of two moms, Zach Wahls, speaks before the Democratic
National Convention on "My Two Moms"
**************************
No Justice, No Pizza – Domino's Beware!
with
The Justice Will Be Served Campaign
Pizza workers and supporters rallied against their employer Domino’s
over years of unpaid wages and retaliation experienced when they stood
up for their rights. During the rally they celebrated their first of its
kind court ruling permitting them to sue Domino’s Pizza Corp. as
a joint employer along with the individual franchise holder, which would
also apply to other fast food workers in establishments like McDonald's
and retail workers at places like Walmarts. The right of the Latino, African
and Bangladeshi workers to proceed with the suit they filed in 2010 against
Domino's Pizza’s franchise owner David Melton and the Domino's Corp.
is a huge victory. The workers had commenced suit after receiving below
the minimum wage, were forced to make deliveries during extreme
weather conditions, and didn’t have a place to take a break or eat during
their excessively long work hours.
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Posted in
California Proposition 8,
Dave Melton minimum wage and overtime,
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
Domino’s Pizza sweatshop,
Justice will be Served,
Zach Wahls
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, March 25, 2013
McDonald’s Student Guest Workers Abuse Stirs Protest
Latin American and Asian student guest workers participating in the U.S. State Department’s J-1 program, expected decent work and a meaningful cultural experience in the USA. Instead, they were sent to work at McDonald’s,who paid them below the minimum wage and when they complained of the exploitation were subjected to retaliation. So, they went on strike against the Pennsylvania stores where they worked and then came in protest to NY’s Times Square McDonald’s with supporters from National Guest Worker Alliance, UnitedNY and the Retail Action Project. There they further announced their plans to take their protest directly to McDonald’s headquarters and the home of CEO Don Thompson if McDonald’s doesn’t take responsibility for ending labor abuses for all its workers.
*******************
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Posted in
immigration reform,
McDonald's guest worker,
National Guestworker Alliance,
State Department’s J-1 program,
student guest workers,
sweatshops
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Cops Who Killed Kimani Gray
Focus Of 5 Prior Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
Another stolen Black life! Sixteen year old, African-American Kimani Gray was mortally wounded after 7 of the 11 bullets fired entered his body both the
front and the back. The murderous shots were fired by Sergeant Mourad and
Officer Jovaniel Cordova, who had already racked up five civil rights violations
in federal lawsuits. Both Mourad and Cordova were accused of exploiting the
“stop-and-frisk” tactic and going outside the confines of the law to hide their
involvement. Building Bridges reports from the scene, Brooklyn’s east Flatbush
section where there has been more than a week of community protests following
the latest death of a Black teen, resulting from the policies and practices by the
NYPD in communities of color.
http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgescommunityProtestsPoliceKillingOfKimaniGrayInBrooklyn
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Posted in
Kimani Gray,
new york city police department,
Officer Jovaniel Cordova,
police brutality New York City,
Sergeant Mourad Mourad,
stop and frisk
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Palestinians Refuse To Be “Cleansed” From Their Land
with
. Dennis Banks, American Indian Movement (AIM)
. Alice Walker, writer
. Zwelinzima Vavi, Gen. Sec., Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
AIM leader Dennis Banks, renowned author Alice Walker, and South African labor leader Vavi came together to an international tribunal to grapple with Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and strategize how to build greater support internationally for Palestinian self-determination. They reveal Israel as an
occupier, an aggressor, confiscating Palestinian land and removing the indigenous residents and then when faced with resistance, operating in a fashion that each panelist viewed through the historical lens of their own people’s brutalization. Dennis Banks reflected on the genocide of Native Americans. Walker referenced the enslavement of Africans and American institutional racism and Vivi thought that the South African system of Apartheid was echoed by Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
*******************
http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgesAliceWalkerDennisBanksZwelinzimaVaviOnPalestine
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Alice Walker,
American Indian Movement,
COSATU,
Dennis Banks,
Gaza,
Palestine,
Zionism,
Zwelinzima Vavi
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, March 11, 2013
Building Bridges says, SOS, Save Our Station!
Don’t allow WBAI radio to go silent!
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE BY GOING TO THE WBAI WEBSITE
http://www.give2wbai.org/category_s/1830.htm
and pledge in the name of Building Bridges
Building Bridges broadcasters Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash give voice to the working class in this intensified period of attacks on it over WBAI radio. Our priorities draw inspiration from Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech at
NYC's Riverside Church, to build a movement for fundamental change of the U.S. economic system, to end discrimination, poverty, and militarism.
WBAI, which steadfastly refuses to be politically manipulated by financing itself through corporate advertising or commercial underwriting is facing its most severe financial crisis in its 53 year history. While we have a number of debts to satisfy and upcoming expenses, our most urgent need is to maintain our broadcast signal. We owe the Empire State Building, where our antenna is located, enabling us to
transmit over a 150 mile radius, $250,000 payable by the end of March. It’s due or die time.
There isn’t a progressive cause that WBAI hasn’t provided broadcast time for, and helped to build support for, at home or around the world. And, now we need you to support your broadcast voice as we never have before, to assure that we
don’t lose this institution that has worked for all your causes, like no other media has done for as long and consistently as WBAI. It’s your station, to advocate for you, to champion your causes and build our movements.
We will not go quite into that good night – certainly not with your financial help. Help us pay our most immediate and necessary debt to Save Our Station, to Save Our Antenna.
Whose Station? Our Station! Make it so, contribute
generously now.
Please post this urgent message to your contacts, listserves, webpage, Facebook,
and other social media.
In Solidarity
Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
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WBAI
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at Monday, March 4, 2013
Workers Rising, Low-Wage Worker Organizing
with
. Steven Greenhouse, journalist, N.Y. Times
. M. Patricia Smith, Solicitor of the U.S. Dept. of Labor
. Dorian Warren, Assoc. Prof., Columbia University
. Angelo Falcón, Pres. and Founder, National Institute for Latino Policy
. Debra Axt, Co-Ex. Dir., Make the Road, N.Y.
The Center for Popular Democracy and United N.Y. organized Workers Rising, a conference to celebrate and discuss the exciting new formations and activism of low-wage workers in 2012 to drive that momentum towards more victories in 2013. In 2012, a wave of worker organizing rose across low-wage industries in NYC and across the nation, propelled by workers’ anger at poverty wages and
intolerable working conditions. Supported by community, faith- based groups, unions, and elected officials, these workers participated in nationwide protests at Wal-Mart, led the first coordinated strikes in the history of America’s fast food industry, unionized at car washes and groceries, and took on major N.Y.C.
retailers efforts to offer only part-time work.
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Posted in
Angelo Falcon,
Center for Popular Democracy,
Debra Axt,
Dorian Warren,
Low-Wage Worker Organizing,
M. Patricia Smith,
Make the Road,
Steven Greenhouse,
U.S. Dept. of Labor,
United N.Y.,
Workers Rising
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, February 25, 2013
The Zero Dark Thirty Controversy: Torture, Art, and
Politics
with
Alexander Abdo, attorney, National Security Project,
ACLU
Since the release of the award-winning Zero Dark Thirty,
many critics have condemned the film, claiming it contains serious
historical inaccuracies and accepts some of this country’s worst post 9/11
abuses. Alexander Abdo discusses the relationship and responsibility that
prominent works of culture have to the historic narrative and the American
public, particularly as many of the illegal practices, torture,
extraordinary rendition, and now the advent of extrajudicial killings of
American citizens and the “dehumanized others” along with the secrecy that
shrouds these practices and lack of accountability for the policies
persist.
*******************
Reckoning
With Torture
Featuring
Robert Redford and Paul
Auster
Reckoning With Torture, is a collaborative film project
between Doug Liman, Director of the Bourne Identity, the ACLU and PEN
American Center that examines the human cost of America's post 9/11 torture
program. This excerpt features a collage of readings of testimonies by
torture victims and witnesses introduced by Robert Redford plus author Paul
Auster reading Manner of Death: Homicide, excerpts from autopsy reports of
detainees held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, December 2002 to
November 2004.
****************
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Posted in
ACLU,
Alexander Abdo,
attorney,
Doug Limin,
National Security Project,
Paul Auster,
PEN American Center,
Reckoning With Torture,
Robert Redford,
U.S. torture 911,
Zero Dark Thirty
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Canadian Oil Workers Tell Obama Reject Keystone XL Pipeline:
It’s Bad for the Environment and Bad for Workers
with
Dave Coles, Pres. Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union
of Canada (CEP)
Canada's largest union of forestry, energy, telecommunications,
and media workers
at a conference “Confronting the Climate Crisis: Can Labor Help Shape an Effective
Strategy?” gave thumbs down to the Keystone XL pipeline stating that “We oppose export
pipelines that kill off our oil resources and kill jobs in the process … To deal with the
unfolding ecological policies crisis we must jettison corporation-centric economic
policies in favor of ones that address our world’s social and ecological concerns.”
***************
Eighty-Five Years Old: Ramsey Clark A Life Celebrated
with
Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General, intl. human rights activist
Mumia Abu-Jamal, journalist, activist, political prisoner in tribute to Ramsey Clark said,
“…when the bombs were being readied for Afghanistan and the White House was
swearing vengeance, who dared to stage rallies, predicting disaster? And, in response
to Abu Ghraib, Palestine, drone strikes and wild Islamophobia, fueled by fear and
ignorance who opposed these developments at every step?
And as capitalism sent jobs abroad, hollowing out the middle class, causing dystopian
heels in inner cities, who spoke out against the rapacious greed of Wall Street and the
resultant prison industrial complex and the death industry of Death Row? It was Ramsey
Clark and the organization he helped found in two small rooms of his law office, the
International Action Center (IAC) 20 years ago.
That he took some of the toughest cases in the nation and with the IAC, fought some
of the toughest battles against the might of the Empire is telling and high tribute.
play stream
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Posted in
Communications,
Dave Coles,
Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP),
Keystone XL Pipeline,
Ramsey Clark,
unions and the environment
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written by building bridges radio
at Monday, February 11, 2013
The Central Park Five, Exonerated But Justice Still Denied!
with
Yusef
Salaam, exoneree
Sharonne Salaam, parent
Roger Wareham,
attorney
A long-delayed $250 million NYC civil suit finally
goes to trial this year —putting the reputations of some of the city’s most
powerful on the line. After 22 years the then teens, Kharey Wise, Kevin
Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and
Raymond Santana, are no longer convicted felons or registered sex offenders, but they’re still best known as the Central Park 5. Each served from 7 to 13 years in prison for a
rape they didn’t commit, after Mayor Koch, the police, prosecutors and the media, along with mogul Donald Trump, who actively advocated for the death penalty for the youth, whipped the city into a
racist lynch mob. Now, 22 years & counting, after five convictions, then
one shocking confession that upended the lives
of all involved the Central Park jogger case is about to break open again
— pitting the city’s most powerful crime fighters against each other
and the teens they wrongly jailed for the attack, who still await justice.
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Central Park Five,
Central Park Five Yusef Salaam,
Donald Trump Central Park Five,
Mayor Bloomberg Central Park Five,
Mayor Koch Central Park Five,
Roger Wareham,
Sharonne Salaam
»
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Greece’s Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA Leader in Alexis Tsipras in U.S. Says
No To Austerity Politics
with
Alexis Tsipras, member, Hellenic
parliament, Pres. of the Synaspismos political party, head of the SYRIZA
parliamentary group, and leader of the opposition since June
2012
The Radical Coalition of the Left (Syriza) has become
Greece's second-largest party following its dramatic success in
parliamentary election’s. It has campaigned steadfastly against the
recovery blueprint for Greece drawn up by
the European Union (EU) & the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The party is led by the country's
youngest political leader, Alexis Tsipras. Tsipras talks about the
unpopular EU-IMF plan, known in Greece as the ''memorandum'' and says that
the election result represented radical change in both Greece and Europe,
showing that people are not prepared to settle for "barbarous memorandums"
and bailouts.
***************
ATU Local
1181 Strike Update
with
Jimmy Hedge, Exec. Board Member/Delegate,
Amalgamated Transportation Union (ATU) Local 1181
Members
of Local 1181 have been on strike, walking picketlines, with the weather in
the teens since Jan.16, in protest of NYC's most recent special education
contract bid, which would exclude their Employee Protection Provision (EPP)
guarantees. The bid fails to protect both special ducation students, &
NYC's most experienced and safe drivers and escorts jobs. Local 1181
members all come from modest means, and keeping their EPP’s, their job
security is about maintaining their livelihood and the integrity of their
union.
play stream
http://archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesGreekSyrizaLeaderTsiprasInNyCondemnsAusterityNyc/greecentl.mp3
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Posted in
Alexis Tsipras,
ATU Local 1181,
Bloomberg school bus strike,
Europe economic crisis austerity,
Greece austerity,
Jimmy Hedge ATU Local 1181,
NYC school bus strike,
SYRIZA
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Against The Death Penalty: Wrongful Conviction & Exoneration
with
Jeffrey Deskovic, exoneree, The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice
Exoneration has been incredibly important for those who oppose capital punishment —since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 138 death row inmates have had
their convictions overturned. Building Bridges highlights The Jeffrey Deskovic
Foundation For Justice that came into being for the prevention and eradication of
wrongful convictions, as the result of its founder’s own wrongful conviction for rape
and murder at age 16. At 33 years of age Jeff was exonerated and left prison, with
a mission to prevent what happened to him from happening to others.
Read More...
Posted in
coerced confessions,
Death penalty,
exoneration,
Jeffrey Deskovic,
wrongful conviction,
wrongful incarceration
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written by building bridges radio
at Saturday, January 19, 2013
Mayor Bloomberg Provokes School Bus Strike, Hurting
Workers, Parents and
Children
with
Richard Gilberg, Attorney, ATU Local 1181
and
Jimmy
Hedge, Exec. Board Member, ATU Local 1181
Union busting is
disgusting. NYC's Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, representing school
bus drivers, escorts, and mechanics was forced onto picketlines to save its
very existence, due to Mayor Bloomberg's insistence on removing Employee
Protection Provisions from contract language affecting the 9,000 workers.
This change would impact current and future union members, allow companies
to low bid contractors due to cheap labor, and put 150,000 children’s lives
in the hands of inexperienced drivers to navigate the hectic streets of
NYC. This is a lose lose situation for union members and parents and
children!
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Posted in
ATU Local 1181,
Jimmy Hedge ATU,
Mayor Bloomberg school bus strike,
NYC school bus strike,
Richard Gilberg ATU
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Lincoln Used Greenbacks To Fight Civil War, Can’t We To Eradicate Debt!
With
Timothy A. Canova, Prof. of Law & Public Finance
In 1862 Pres. Lincoln signed an act to create a new government-issued paper money, Greenbacks, not redeemable in gold or any precious metals. His successful experiment helped finance the North to prevail in the Civil War. We’ll explore why Lincoln chose this path and the lessons we can learn, including discussing the issuance of a $1 trillion dollar coin, as our recovery is threatened by obsessive concern by both parties about cutting deficits and funding the government – the so-called debt limit and the fiscal cliff.
http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgesLincolnGreenbacksTodaysDebtDebate
play stream
http://archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesLincolnGreenbacksTodaysDebtDebate/greenbacksntl.mp3
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Posted in
debt ceiling,
fiscal cliff,
greenbacks,
Lincoln civil war finance,
Timothy Canova,
trillion dollar coin
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written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Unprotected Sandy Cleanup Hires Face Health and Safety Threats.
With
Joel Shufro, Exec. Dir. NY Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (“NYCOSH”)
and
Luzdary Giraldo, NYCOSH Community Outreach Organizer
NYCOSH is demanding employers and government agencies respond to the massive health and safety violations thousands of cleanup workers face in the wake of Sandy, so as not to repeat the 911 fiasco which continues to cost the lives of first responders. Thousands of Sandy workers are facing health and safety hazards as they clean up the wreckage, and are forced to work 10 - 12 hour
shifts often without even receiving the minimum wage.
*****************
350 Economists Warn Obama and Congress:
Unwise Deficit Reduction Could Kill Recovery.
Economy Needs Growth and Jobs, Not Austerity.
With
. Robert Pollin, Univ. of Massachusetts, Economist and
co-director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)
. Teresa Ghirarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for
Economic Policy Analysis at the The New School
Warning that the U.S. economy is still “marked by mass unemployment, rising poverty, and declining wages.” 350 prominent economists issued a statement with the Campaign for America’s Future that, “the fragile recovery is threatened by obsessive concern with cutting deficits that
has infected both parties.”
The economists’ statement highlighted that drastic spending cuts adopted in a “grand bargain” aimed at avoiding sequestration could have such a contractionary impact on the still-fragile economy that the U.S. could join European countries in plunging into recession as a result of misguided
austerity policies.
http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgesSandyCleanupHiresFaceHealthSafetyDangersAnd
play stream
http://archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesSandyCleanupHiresFaceHealthSafetyDangersAnd/nycoshntl5.mp3
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Posted in
austerity,
budget cliff,
government debt,
Joel Shufro,
NYCOSH,
Occupational safety and health Sandy,
Robert Pollin,
Teresa Ghirarducci
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