Following Fidel - The Real News

Following Fidel
Pepe Escobar: Cuba in transition to more open socialist society

Sask. Party government continues it's assault on working people

The Sask. Party government has decided that there is no place on the Boards of Directors of Saskatchewan's Crown Corporations for a representative of the workers who are employed there.

According to this article in the Regina Leader-Post, the Sask. Party government will not appoint or re-appoint Board Members to the Crowns who are there on behalf of the unions representing the employees in those workplaces. That's a tad hypocritical, especially considering that they (the Sask. Party) have no problem ensuring a place for "labour" on the Board of their new "super board" known as "Enterprise Saskatchewan". In fact, the "Enterprise Saskatchewan" Board has a representative from labour on it written right into the legislation creating the entity.

The Crown Corporations in Saskatchewan belong to the citizens of this province. And that includes the people who work there. They do not belong to the Sask. Party caucus and their cronies.

Perhaps the real reason why they don't want any "labour" reps on the new boards of the Crowns is because they don't want anybody to know about their plans to "Privatize" them.

Premier Brad Wall continues to "reach out to labour".

Why the US has really gone broke

Here's a long, but worthwhile read on Le Monde diplomatique web-site:

"THE ECONOMIC DISASTER THAT IS MILITARY KEYNESIANSIM

Why the US has really gone broke

Global confidence in the US economy has reached zero, as was proved by last month’s stock market meltdown. But there is an enormous anomaly in the US economy above and beyond the subprime mortgage crisis, the housing bubble and the prospect of recession: 60 years of misallocation of resources, and borrowings, to the establishment and maintenance of a military industrial complex as the basis of the nation’s economic life

By Chalmers Johnson

The military adventurers in the Bush administration have much in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. Both groups thought that they were the “smartest guys in the room” — the title of Alex Gibney’s prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global domination." (read more....)

Nonprofit Journalism on the Rise

From truthout.org:

"Nonprofit Journalism on the Rise
By Randy Dotinga
The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday 12 February 2008

At a time of layoffs and budget cuts at traditional newspapers, foundations and donors are funding new journalism ventures.

San Diego - The police chief's rosy crime statistics were a lie, it turned out. The councilman who urged water conservation was discovered to use 80,000 gallons a month at his home, morethan five of his colleagues put together. And the school board president, according to an investigation, spent a full third of his time out of town and out of touch.

The Voice of San Diego, a nonprofit online media outlet, doesn't have enough journalists to field a softball team. Yet it has managed to take on the powerful with the panache of a scrappy big-city paper." (read more....)

The Folly of Attacking Iran: Lessons from History

Watch this video and then go to: justforeignpolicy.org

Clinton defends labor unions as essential

Earlier on this blog I posted a YouTube video of Hillary Clinton and her role on Wal-Mart's Board of Directors. Since then she has renounced Wal-Mart's anti union views. See below:

"NEW YORK, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton says she no longer shares Wal-Mart's anti-union views and believes that labor unions "have been essential to our nation's success."

The New York Democrat and presidential contender, in a 6-year stint on the retail giant's board of directors, reportedly made no defense of labor unions attempting to organize Wal-Mart workers, ABC News said during its "Good Morning, America" broadcast.

As a presidential candidate, Clinton has been endorsed by more than a dozen unions, according to her campaign Web site biography which makes no reference to Wal-Mart." (read more....)

Writers Reach Tentative Deal With Producers

There is a tentative agreement between the Writer' Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

See the New York Times coverage here.


Photo: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Labour has always had to fight an uphill battle for public opinion

The Saturday February 9, 2008 issues of the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix both ran a column written by Leader-Post political columnist Murray Mandryk.

In the Leader-Post the column has the headline: Labour blind to its image problem.
In the StarPhoenix it's title is: Method behind seeming madness.

The column is primarily rooted in the SFL's request to Sask. Party Premier Brad Wall that the provincial government refer its two anti-union, anti-worker, unconstitutional, and anti-democratic labour law Bills (5 and 6) to the Sask. Court of Appeal for determination as to their constitutionality. (The request has been made pursuant to the Saskatchewan Constitutional Questions Act.)

I really enjoy having a conversation (some would call it an interview) with Mr. Mandryk. It's always very intellectually stimulating, interspersed with humour, emotion and passion. In fact, sometimes the process could just as easily be described as sport, or a debate - and Murray is a very capable opponent. No pushover this guy.

As our recent chat concluded (which resulted in the aforementioned column), Mandryk quipped, "you will probably like 50% of the column and dislike the other 50%" - (my paraphrase, I didn't write the exact words down). To which I responded, "Oh, I'll just blog about it!" He laughed.

So Murray, if you're reading this blog [and I know that you do ;-)] - the best I can rate the column is 1/3 good, 2/3 not-so-good. A friend of mine could only bring himself to rate it 20% - 80%.

The biggest problem with the column is that it's rooted in the assumption that what government is saying is "accurate" - which it is not; and that Mr. Mandryk has accurately identified the labour movement's motive, objective, strategy and purpose - which he has not.

Just a quick example to illustrate. Murray writes:

"However, the government points out that all jurisdictions but Quebec and Newfoundland allow communication. Similarly, all jurisdictions have some form of essential services legislation."

Actually, Saskatchewan already allows for employer communication too. There is no prohibition against an employer communicating with an employee during a union drive. They just can't attempt to influence the employee's decision - that violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The amendments proposed by Brad Wall and company attempt to make legal what has already been determined to be illegal by the Supreme Court of Canada.

As for "all jurisdictions having some form of essential services legislation". That statement is just not factually true.

There are other examples similar to the above throughout the article.

Further, as for the suggestion that the labour movement is "oblivious to the fact that they are simply on the wrong side of public opinion" -- hardly. We know exactly where public opinion is on this matter, and why it's there. It's because people are being fed a steady diet of biased, inaccurate, one-sided and distorted information. By the government, by their big business backers, and by a sympathetic and supportive corporate owned media.

Labour has always had to fight an uphill battle for public opinion - the deck is stacked against us. Nothing new here.

Here's an idea, I challenge Mr. Norris or Mr. Wall (or both) to a Public Debate on the issue of labour laws in Saskatchewan. It can even be with a specific focus on these two bills. Murray, you can be the moderator. Any takers?

p.s. We must be getting to the government on this file - they've decided they need to have the new part-time Minister of Labour post a bunch of cheesy video responses to a few questions about the new WORST labour laws in Canada on the government web-site.

p.s.s. We might just have to serve up some of our own cheese. Stay tuned.

Corporate Bullying Tactics??

There's a very interesting article in the February 5, 2008 issue of the New York Times which describes a tactic being used by corporate giant Smithfield Foods. Smithfield is suing the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), alleging racketeering - because UFCW has been exposing "labour, environmental and safety issues" at Smithfield to the public. And Smithfield doesn't like it.

The New York Times article is captioned: "A Corporate View of Mafia Tactics: Protesting, Lobbying and Citing Upton Sinclair".

Excerpt below:

"Smithfield Foods, which raises, kills and processes more pigs than any company on earth, does not like some of the things a union has been saying about conditions at its giant slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, N.C., where 4,650 people work and 32,000 hogs die every day.

So Smithfield has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the union, on the theory that speaking out about labor, environmental and safety issues in order to pressure the company to unionize amounts to extortion like that used by organized crime."

More and more people, including MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (see 2:30 point on the linked video) are suggesting that what we are witnessing is actually fascism. Here's an interesting definition: What is Fascism?

What are we witnessing here: Corporate Bullying, or Facsism?

Wal-Mart and Hillary

Well now, how about that!

Essential Services Legislation: Will it facilitate or impair industrial relations? - CCPA

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Saskatchewan Branch has just released a new commentary by Dan Cameron from the Hill School of Business at the University of Regina respecting the Sask. Party's anti-democratic, and heavy handed introduction of so-called "Essential Services Legislation".

His commentary concludes with the following paragraph:

"It is unfortunate that the Essential Services Act has been introduced in acrimony, described in some circles as a settling of old scores with the labour movement and of favouring one collective bargaining party over another. The creation of a toxic relationship between government and labour is not a proper foundation for protecting the people of Saskatchewan from threats to their health, safety and security."

The entire article can be downloaded here in Adobe PDF format and is entitled: Essential Services Legislation: Will it facilitate or impair industrial relations?

SFL asks Government to refer Bills to Court of Appeal

Today, (February 6, 2008) the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour wrote to Sask. Party Premier Brad Wall asking that the Government refer two controversial labour bills to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to determine their constitutionality. The following media advisory was issued by the SFL.

Media Advisory

"For Immediate Release February 6th, 2008

Today the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) asked Premier Brad Wall to refer Bills 5 and 6 to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal for a determination as to the constitutionality of the Bills. The request was made pursuant to The Constitutional Questions Act of Saskatchewan.

If the government agrees to refer these Bills, the Court would be asked to determine whether or not the Bills violate workers’ rights under the freedom of association and the freedom of expression provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Bill 5 is titled An Act respecting Essential Public Services and Bill 6 is An Act to amend The Trade Union Act.

In order to explain this request, the SFL will hold a news conference:

February 7th at 9:30 a.m.
at the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour office
#220-2445 13th Avenue, Regina

The SFL represents about 95,000 unionized workers across the province in 37 affiliated unions."

CBC Saskatchewan coverage: Labour group wants court to examine controversial bills

Olbermann: Special Comment: On FYCA and the Telecoms

Proposed Essential Services Legislation - Has the government gone too far?

Saskatchewan Union of Nurses Lawyer, Ronni Nordal has written an article in the most recent issue of the union's official newsletter - SUNSpots - Winter 2008 - under the following heading: "Proposed Essential Services legislation amounts to a denial of SUN members' right to strike". (Download is in Adobe PDF format).

"If passed, this legislation could amount to a denial of the right to strike for SUN members. Debate will commence on Bill No. 5 when the legislature next sits in March, 2008. If passed, SUN will be required to either negotiate an Essential Services Agreement, or run the risk of the Employer serving Section 9 notice and only having the ability to argue against the number of employees required before the Labour Relations Board. SUN is considering all of its options, including a legal challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms." (Full article available here.)

Bolivia and democracy - Conflict over fundamental change in Bolivia

Part 1


Part 2

Taxi to the Dark Side

Official Website: TaxitotheDarkSide.com

Yahoo Canada Movies Link: Click here

200,000 protestors take to the streets in Mexico City to protest NAFTA

Reproduced from the Common Frontiers Canada website:

"February 1, 2008

200,000 protestors take to the streets in Mexico City to protest NAFTA

Rally organizers for the march from the Angel of Independence to the Zocalo estimated that more than 200,000 people took part to demand that the Agricultural Chapter of NAFTA be renegotiated. Marchers also demanded that the privatization of the energy sector be halted, and that the new Social Security law be repealed.

Side note: The Globe and Mail has a mention of the march in today's Report on Business section (Page B6 - Reuters) where the crowd is described as "Thousands of mexican farmers...". The Toronto Star didn't carry the story at all.

- Report filed by Common Frontiers' Executive Director Rick Arnold, who is in Mexico for meetings with the four civil society networks.

- Foto by María Meléndrez Parada". (read more....)

Doublespeak!

According to Wikipedia "doublespeak" is described as follows:

"Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a communication bypass. Such language is often associated with governmental, military, political, religious, secular, interest group and corporate institutions and its deliberate use by these is what distinguishes it from other euphemisms."

There is an excellent new posting over on the "Owls and Roosters Blog" posted Feb. 1, 2008 entitled: "Graham Parsons & Prairie Policy Centre: economist and think tank push conservative message; major players contributed to Sask. Party". The article pulls the covers off of the Saskatchewan based "ultra-hard-right-wing propaganda machine" called the "Prairie Policy Centre".

Owls and Roosters Blog owner Joe Kuchta does a masterful job of weaving together and exposing the organization, it's key players, the hard-right ideology, the contradictions, and the political connections. It's well worth reading.

Is what we are seeing right now from organizations such as the Prairie Policy Centre, and others on the hard-right, classic Doublespeak?

Big Business Is Even More Unpopular Than You Think

The Multinational Monitor has an interesting article posted on it's blog about how unpopular Big Business is in the United States. I expect similar numbers would result from a survey of Canadians:

"Big Business Is Even More Unpopular Than You Think

The U.S. public holds Big Business in shockingly low regard.

A November 2007 Harris poll found that less than 15 percent of the population believes each of the following industries to be "generally honest and trustworthy:" tobacco companies (3 percent); oil companies (3 percent); managed care companies such as HMOs (5 percent); health insurance companies (7 percent); telephone companies (10 percent); life insurance companies (10 percent); online retailers (10 percent); pharmaceutical and drug companies (11 percent); car manufacturers (11 percent); airlines (11 percent); packaged food companies (12 percent); electric and gas utilities (15 percent). Only 32 percent of adults said they trusted the best-rated industry about which Harris surveyed, supermarkets.

These are remarkable numbers. It is very hard to get this degree of agreement about anything. By way of comparison, 79 percent of adults believe the earth revolves around the sun; 18 percent say it is the other way around.The Harris results are not an aberration. The results have not varied considerably over the past five years -- although overall trust levels have actually declined from the already very low threshold in 2003.

The Harris results are also in line with an array of polling data showing deep concern about concentrated corporate power." (read more....)

February 2, 2008 - Energy Day of Action

Maude Barlow, Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, encourages everyone to get involved with a National Day of Action in support of a Canadian Energy Strategy on February 2, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.canadians.org/energy/action/