Open Media Boston

metro news from the ground up

Home / Opinion

Op-ed

Peace Movement Connects with Labor for Big October March in DC

3 September 2010 - 9:25pm | suren
by Suren Moodliar

Back in April, peace movement activist Paul Shannon began looking round for a national project that spoke to his values while addressing the economic crisis. Soon Paul's search had him in conversations with AFL-CIO and other trade union leaders. Everyone seemed to think that 2010 is an exceptional year: business-as-usual would simply mean defeat for everything folks like Paul care about: implementing effective climate-protection measures; bringing all the troops home; creating decent green jobs.

Labor Day Thoughts (with Link to Commercial for Working People)

3 September 2010 - 3:59pm | Rand Wilson
by Rand Wilson

Labor Day is coming up. I hope all everyone gets a chance to enjoy some time with their friends and families.

This is the holiday brought to you by the labor movement. What is the labor movement? It's people just like yourself, working together for a voice on the job and better wages and working conditions.

Labor Day celebrates our achievements: the eight hour day, occupational safety and health laws, child labor laws, minimum wage laws; the Fair Labor Standards Act, etc.

Change the Media Change the World: The National Conference for Media Reform - Boston April 2011

3 September 2010 - 3:44pm | Candace Clement
by Candace Clement

Extra, extra! Celebrity gossip! Horserace election coverage! Reality television! The same song (again) on (every) radio station! Even higher Internet bills for slower speeds!

Wait. Anyone else feeling they are being ripped-off? Or perhaps falling into the “mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore” category?

Alright -- so let’s do something about it.

Confronting The National Guard Recruiters in Boston

21 August 2010 - 6:05pm | nosanctions
by Michael Borkson

Some of us who attend the weekly sat. peace vigil at Park Street in Boston heard from a passerby that the National Guard was staging a recruiting event/military display at Faneuil Hall a few blocks away. So after our vigil ended a little after 2pm, 3 of us went down to the National Guard event to protest.
When we got there around 2:30, there was about 25 soldiers in camouflage, 2 hum vees with mounted machine guns, and even a racing stock car with the National Guard logo. A lot of passersby were looking at the

4-Way Race for Governor and One Clear Choice for Democracy

10 August 2010 - 7:54pm | eli_beckerman
by Eli Beckerman

It's Democracy Day today, and Massachusetts voters have a clear choice before them. They can support the one candidate who refuses to take corporate money to fuel her campaign, or the 3 candidates who swim through lobbyist-fueled campaign coffers like Scrooge McDuck. They can support the one candidate who unequivocally stands up for justice and sustainability, or the 3 candidates who treat ill-fated and harmful get-rich-quick schemes as though they were sensible, thoughtful, and helpful policy.

Telecom Workers Begin Year-Long Campaign for Good Jobs and Reliable Services at Verizon

6 August 2010 - 5:06pm | Rand Wilson
by Rand Wilson

Hundreds of telephone workers united in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) rallied for good jobs on Thursday, August 5 at Verizon's New England headquarters. The current labor agreement with Verizon expires on August 6, 2011.

Massachusetts Legislature Approves Historic Changes to Criminal Record Laws

2 August 2010 - 6:09pm | atanaka
by Aaron Tanaka

On the last day of the 2009-10 formal session, the Massachusetts state legislature gave final approval to an overhaul of the state’s criminal background check system. Intended to improve access to jobs, housing and other vital services for those with arrest records, reforming the Criminal Offender Record Information—known as CORI—has been an area of interest by community and labor organizations for nearly a decade.

SB1070 - Injunction from the Streets!

29 July 2010 - 9:12pm | suren
by Suren Moodliar

Following weeks of street pressure and before a divided political establishment, an Arizona judge issued an injunction against some of the most odious features of SB1070, the anti-immigrant legislation passed by that state's government. Stripped of its worst aspects, including some of the racial profiling requirements, the law still targets immigrant workers and has the state's police enforcing federal legislation. Together with the expected appeal, this signals months more of grassroots resistance such as the one documented here.

Gov. Deval Patrick Signs Law Banning Deadly Floor Products

21 July 2010 - 12:00am | superuser
by Marcy Goldstein-Gelb and Jeff Newton (Advocate)

Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a landmark bill that ends the use of dangerous floor finishing product.

The law bans the commercial use and sale of a highly flammable wood floor finishing product linked to tragic home fires that has killed floor finishers, left families without homes and caused an estimated $1.5 million worth of damages in Massachusetts. Filed at the urging of the industry-labor-community Floor Finishing Safety Task Force, the law targets lacquer sealer – a floor finishing product that can burst into flames at the slightest trigger.

Alliance to Develop Power Meets with U.S. Senator Scott Brown to Discuss Economic Crisis

11 August 2013 - 12:18pm | Alliance to Dev...
by Caroline Murray

On July 8, members of Alliance to Develop Power met with Senator Scott Brown at his office in Boston. The 60 minute meeting, the first meeting of the Senator's tenure with a grassroots community organization, was largely focused on Brown's pivotal role as the 60th vote needed for passage of legislation in the U.S. Senate and his campaign promise of "Big Tent" bipartisanship. Senator Brown's announcement yesterday that he expects to vote in favor of the Dodd-Frank reform bill marks a victory for ADP and the millions of Americans affected by the economic crisis.

Pages

User login