New Clear Vision

Anti-Worker Laws Violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

by Harry Targ

The massive atrocities of World War II led nations to commit themselves permanently to the protection of basic rights for all human beings. Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the wartime President, Franklin Roosevelt, worked diligently with leaders from around the world to develop a document, to articulate a set of principles, which would bind humankind to never carry out acts of mass murder again. In addition, the document also committed nations to work to end most forms of pain and suffering.

Over 60 years ago, on December 10, 1948, delegates from the United Nations General Assembly signed the document which they called “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” It consisted of a preamble proclaiming that all signatories recognize “the inherent dignity” and “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” as the “foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.” The preamble declared the commitment of the signatories to the creation of a world “in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.” (more…)

The Time Is Now

by Carmen Llanes

National news and political debates today are full of reasons why the “mainstream” way of American life is in big trouble. Many people are less interested in the national picture because real solutions seem so few and far between. Where is an inspiring story of victory? As it turns out, little victories are happening now. When it comes to the economy, solutions can come locally, and they don’t always make the news. We can pull ourselves out of this mess, but we have to reach close. We must grab each other at arms length and start supporting our own communities on a business level. There, we may find more solutions than we ever expected.

In fact, much of our recession can be attributed to the lack of input from workers and small businesses. Our economy has been at the mercy of too few hands over the last several decades. Now many folks are using whatever skill they have to get by in a world with fewer local jobs and many, many underemployed people. (more…)

I Just Found 29 Million Jobs!

by David Swanson

No, not 29 million job offers. I’m no better at applying for jobs than you are, and my town offers nothing but dead-end McJobs or positions in the military industrial complex, just like yours. I mean I just spotted an easy way to create 29 million jobs, one for every unemployed or underemployed U.S. worker.

No, I’m not about to say, “Just raise taxes on gazillionaires and hire people to build stuff.” I’m all in favor of that, for lots of reasons, including the political corruption created by a concentration of wealth. We might have to disempower gazillionaires before we can enact any sensible policies, including the one I’m about to propose, but it can itself be done without raising a dime in revenue. This means that the President, who has broad, albeit unconstitutional, powers to move funding around from one program to another could do this himself. Or Congress could. (more…)

Protecting Workers from the Dangers of a Broken System

by Diane Lefer

“Regulation kills jobs.” We keep hearing that mantra from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. What became clear at the forum called on Tuesday evening by the Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health is that we need to say loud and clear that “Lack of regulation kills people.”

According to “ Dying at Work in California,” recently released by SoCalCOSH and Oakland-based Worksafe, 40 years after President Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), an estimated 6,500 workers in California die from chronic exposure to chemical, biological, or physical agents each year and in 2009 (the latest year for which data is available) there were over 300 confirmed worker deaths and 491,000 reported work-related injuries. (The report can be downloaded here.) (more…)

From Rosa Parks to the ‘Walmart Four’

by Will Wilkinson

It was a real Rosa Parks moment on January 13 in Layton, Utah, when Walmart staff caught a convicted felon shoplifting a Netbook. They escorted him into an office where he pulled a gun, cocked it, and charged towards them. The four longtime Layton branch employees (Lori Poulsen, Justin Richins, Shawn Ray, and Gabriel Stewart), acting instinctively, disarmed him before he could barge back into the customer area. The investigating police officer reported that they acted in the “best interest and safety” of everyone around them.

A week later, Walmart dispatched a representative trained to handle situations like this with their well-known sensitivity. “You’re fired,” she told them. (more…)