Lobotero’s Info Ink

06 July

The Homestead Strike. Pinkerton Guards, trying to pave the way for the introduction of scabs, opened fire on striking Carnegie mill steel- workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle, three Pinkertons surrendered; then, unarmed, they were set upon and beaten by a mob of townspeople, most of them women. Seven guards and eleven strikers and spectators were shot to death. 1892

US entertainment conglomerates organized in the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) made their “final offer” to the Screen Actors Guild on Monday, only hours before the expiration of the present contract at midnight. SAG has not asked its 120,000 members nationwide to authorize a strike.

In a message posted on its web site, SAG told its members that “work will continue and all SAG members should report to work and to audition for new work past the expiration date until further notice from the Guild.”

The AMPTP issued a statement asserting “Our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work.” Members of the Alliance include Time Warner, Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., General Electric’s NBC Universal, Viacom, CBS, Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, among others.

AMPTP and SAG representatives were scheduled to meet Wednesday. The conglomerates arrogantly announced that they would answer questions on their ‘final’ proposal, but would not entertain any counter-proposals.

In line with general economic trends, the entertainment giants are determined to cut costs at the expense of the bulk of the industry’s workforce. A piece on “middle-income working actors” in the New York Times June 30 painted a grim picture: “Reality shows have crowded out scripted programs, comedies in particular. The studios are making fewer movies, and the ones they are making are less actor-driven. [Two of the current box office top ten are animated films; most of the others are simply ‘cartoonish.’] Networks like NBC have virtually stopped filming pilot episodes, meaning they are hiring fewer actors. Voice-over work, once a staple for less-known actors, is outsourced to other countries or given to A-list stars.”

If it is not accepted then look for more boring crap on TV–geez that means more Reality TV–oh goody!

05 July

During a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, which had drastically reduced wages, the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago’s Jackson park was set ablaze, and seven building were reduced to ashes - 1892

Battle of Rincon Hill, San Francisco, in longshore strike. 5,000 strikers fought 1,000 police, scabs and national guardsmen.  Two strikers were killed, 109 people injured.  The incident led to a General Strike - 1934

National Labor Relations Act, providing workers rights to organize and bargain collectively, passes Congress - 1935

04 July

Five newspaper boys from the Baltimore Sun died when the steamer they were on, the Three Rivers, caught fire near Baltimore, Md. - 1924

With the Great Depression underway, some 1,320 delegates attended the founding convention of the Unemployed Councils of the U.S.A., organized by the U.S. Communist Party.  They demanded passage of unemployment insurance and maternity benefit laws and opposed discrimination by race or sex. - 1930

Two primary conventions of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization come into force: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize - 1950

In 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, world “liquids” demand is expected to reach 117.6 million barrels per day. Of this amount, unconventional fuels – synthetic liquids derived from tar sands, shale rock, and biofuels – may provide a total of 10.5 million barrels. That leaves 107.1 million to be supplied by conventional petroleum. But what if global oil output has fallen to 60-70% of that amount by 2030, as projected by many analysts? Under those circumstances, no amount of oil from Alaska or the outer continental shelf will be able to save this country (or the rest of the world) from a catastrophic energy crisis.

Some say that any palliative is worth the expense as we head toward certain disaster. But this is not a logical response. Knowing that the age of petroleum is drawing to a close, it is far better to devote our talents and investment dollars on hastening the arrival of its successor, rather than prolonging the agony of oil’s decline.

At this point, we cannot be absolute certain of the dominant energy source of the post-petroleum era. Will it be the Solar Age or the Biofuels Age or the Hydrogen Age? But we do know that it will revolve around some constellation of renewable, climate-friendly, domestically-produced supplies. From now on, America’s top priority in the energy field must be to explore all potential components of this new energy future and move swiftly to develop those with the greatest promise.

2030 is 22 yrs from now and will the next president truly be the author of a new and more environment friendly energy policy? I am thinking…no they will not…..somehow, something will happen to move this to the back burner….yet again.

As reported on Workers Independent News:

The 25,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are still on the job as their union reps continue to negotiate a new labor agreement. The ILWU’s Craig Merrilees
Says a good agreement has been reached on health care and the union is continuing to bargain over other issues. He says the ILWU is determined to win continued good wages and benefits…

[Merrilees]: “This union is well-positioned and I would say unusually well-positioned to try and be a beacon for folks that are holding out against the tide. I mean, how many Americans can’t think about having the kind of health care and retirement benefits that longshore workers have, let alone the pay – starting pay of $22.11 an hour, moving up to a basic wage of $30.68.”

The ILWU for decades has been a strong, progressive union and an inspiration to workers nationwide.

[Merrilees2]: “If nothing else, perhaps we can act as a beacon of hope for workers who are feeling the heel of the capitalists that are really cranking down the ropes on folks.”

“As goes Chevy, so goes America”, an old saying that I do hope is not true.

General Motors Corp. stock closed below $10 per share Wednesday — its lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was president, power brakes were new and the Bel Air was the automaker’s hot new car — after dreadful June auto sales led one analyst to write that “bankruptcy is not impossible.”

Even if GM management feels it doesn’t need to borrow the money, doing so probably would ease investor anxiety.

Although bankruptcy could make it easier for GM to shrink its brand and dealer network to the size it truly needs in North America, “for a consumer-product company, it’s a fearful prospect to contemplate because of consumer perceptions,” Phillippi said.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization might help GM become more competitive, he said, but it would have to worry that customers would stop buying its products for fear parts and service wouldn’t be available or that the company wouldn’t survive.

“We believe that the weakness in demand and deteriorating mix through the first half of 2008 are just the beginning of what is shaping up to be a more severe downturn than even the most bearish industry observers expected,” Murphy wrote. “In the wake of a deteriorating economy, a weakening consumer and rising gas prices, we expect industry volumes to decline significantly.

03 July

Children, employed in the silk mills in Paterson, N.J., went on strike for 11-hour day and 6-day week. A compromise settlement resulted in a 69-hour work work week - 1835

Feminist and labor activist Charlotte Perkins Gilman born in Hartford, Conn. Her landmark study, “Women and Economics”, was radical: it called for the financial independence of women and urged a network of child care centers - 1860

ConEd and the union have reached a possible deal as reported in the NY Daily News.

Con Ed’s lead negotiator Claude Trahan, the company’s vice-president of human resources, agreed to the contract terms with union president Harry Farrell. The union represents almost 9,000 Con Ed workers in all of New York except Staten Island as well as Westchester County.

Both sides were still hammering out details of the contract hours after the handshake, and would not immediately discuss how it resolved their other sticking points, including a wage increase and health care costs. The union’s membership must vote to ratify the deal, which could take place within a month.

Con Ed prepared for the strike by posting managers in its control rooms and operating centers, telling them to be prepared to work 12-hour shifts.

The company was poised to bring in outside contractors and shift managers from other Con Ed divisions, as well as to halt routine maintenance and meter reading during a strike.

Con Ed prepared for the strike by posting managers in its control rooms and operating centers, telling them to be prepared to work 12-hour shifts.

The company was poised to bring in outside contractors and shift managers from other Con Ed divisions, as well as to halt routine maintenance and meter reading during a strike.

American Axle CEO Richard Dauch was awarded an $8.5 million bonus for defeating the three-month strike by 3,650 auto workers and successfully imposing deep wage and benefit cuts on the company’s hourly workforce, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last Friday.

In addition to the bonus Dauch received $1.5 million salary, stock awards and other compensation, which brought his total to $18.7 million in 2007, more than double his compensation in 2006. Dauch, one of the highest paid auto industry executives, has pocketed over $300 million since leading a group of private investors who took over several auto parts factories from General Motors in 1994.

Auto workers in Michigan and New York went on strike last February to oppose wage cuts of up to 50 percent. The bitter 87-day walkout was isolated and betrayed by the United Auto Workers bureaucracy, which had agreed to substantial rollbacks even before the strike began.

The new contract cut wages from $28 an hour to $14.50 and to as low as $10 an hour at the company’s Three Rivers, Michigan plant. In addition, the company is closing two plants and eliminating 2,000 of 3,650 jobs, including 1,100 in Detroit.

The board’s compensation committee—made up of fellow millionaires, including auto executives and Wall Street investors—decided to award higher bonus payments to “reward AAM’s leadership team for their accomplishments and commitment during a period of significant change in our industry and to motivate them.”

Due to the “successful resolution of our negotiations with the UAW,” the statement read, the compensation committee had scrapped its plans to give executives a 4 percent increase based on the company’s posting of a $37 million profit last year. Instead the top executives were given increases of from 44 to 200 percent.

During the course of the strike Dauch repeatedly insisted the company could not afford to pay wages of $28 an hour. He insisted that such wages were not “market competitive” and that it was necessary to eliminate “the Detroit entitlement mentality,” by which he meant the belief that workers should be able to make a decent wage and have certain benefits.

As usual the union bureaucracy came down on the side of the profiteers and left the workers out to dry.  Personal opinion is that it is time for the workers, ALL workers to find new leadership.