Tidbits, March 27, 2012

* Re: Nurses: Health Care Crisis Will Continue No Matter How
  Court Rules (John Case)
* Re: Occupy May Day: Not Your Usual General Strike (David
  Worley)
* Jeremy Brecher to speak on April 2 in New York -- The
  Potential of Mass Strikes: Challenges and Opportunities
  Today
* Request for research information (Leonard Yannielli)
* Labor Exchange Seminar to Cuba April 21 to May 5, 2012 Two
  Weeks -- 21th anniversary of the U.S./Cuba Labor
  Exchange.-- April 21 to May 5, 2012
* Inaugural Fundraiser Reception of the National Taxi Workers
  Alliance, April 26 in New York City.
 
 ==========

 * Re: Nurses: Health Care Crisis Will Continue No Matter How
 Court Rules

 I submit the defeat of Obama care by the Supreme Court is
 NOT a matter of no import, as this article suggests. There
 are many features of the Affordable Health Care Act that are
 steps forward: the principle of universality of coverage in
 the first place; the elimination of caps on chronic
 illnesses and bans on pre-existing conditions second;
 reductions in administrative overhead third; funding for
 numerous pilots on getting rid of fee for service schedules
 fourth; and others. Yes -- the individual mandate to buy
 private insurance is worse than single payer as a path to
 universality; yes --- since private insurance,
 pharmaceutical and richer doctor and hospital organizations
 will all still be feeding at the public trough, costs will
 still rise unacceptably; yes -- even though insurance
 coverage may approach universality, access to health care
 will still be unaffordable by many.

 But -- it IS a political step forward. The insurance
 companies got about 70% of what they wanted, not 100%, as
 they have before -- noted by Wendell Potter in his great
 book Deadly Spin. (Potter was a top insurance company public
 relations exec who WROTE many of the insurance company
 talking points and has now turned to Jesus!). Plus, defeat
 of Obamacare will be a big POLITICAL step backwards. If the
 Supreme court overturns the act, outrage sufficient to drive
 the Republican majority on the court should rise! On the
 heels of the Bush election, Citizens United, and other anti-
 democratic rulings --- I have hope the public indignation at
 the court's putrid corruption will reach the limits of
 patience and forbearance.

 John Case

 ==========

 * Re: Occupy May Day: Not Your Usual General Strike

 I'm 100 per cent sympathetic to Brecher's explanation,
 but... Calling something a "general strike" that is
 manifestly something else is both unnecessarily alarming to
 the mass of citizens and easily ridiculed by the press and
 the "1 %". Even the more modest mass action described would
 seem to require more community building than a couple
 resolutions passed by OWS meetings (maybe this is going on;
 I don't want to be cynical).

 May Day should be a teachable moment if it could be brought
 somehow outside of the sectarian games of the self-decribed
 vanguard parties, but can it? Again, maybe, with adequate
 organization that would include the unions and all or most
 of the progressive activist and single issue organizations.
 I hope the latter could happen, but calling a May Day event
 a "general strike" makes that less rather than more likely.

 respectfully

 david worley

 ====

 The opportunity to reach people through Portside really
 helps make this kind of work worthwhile.

 Despite the proliferation of "aggregators," Portside remains
 my favorite -- the one that I look at first and most often
 find things I have to read.

 FYI: I'm giving another talk about Occupy May Day:

     The Potential of Mass Strikes: Challenges and
     Opportunities Today

     Featuring Jeremy Brecher, author of "Strike!" a history
     of mass and general strikes in US history

     With an introduction by Kevin Prosen, UFT member, public
     school teacher, member of Occupy the DOE, and
     participant in the Madison Occupation

     Monday April 2, 6pm CWA 1180 Union Hall 6 Harrison
     Street, Lower Level New York City

 Mass and general strikes in US history show the phenomenal
 power of ordinary people to make revolutionary changes in
 workplace relationships. The massive mobilization of May 1
 2006 by immigrant workers against sweeping legal attacks and
 the specter of a general strike in Madison, Wisconsin last
 year have provoked a new discussion of this tactic.

 Today the Taylor Law, no-strike clauses, and the Taft-
Hartley act (which bans solidarity strikes) stand as
obstacles for activists working to organize against the
bosses, banks, and politicians. This obviously needs to
change and the sooner the better for working people!

 Injustices in society and the workplace have always inspired
 resistance, and continue to today. But changes in the
 economy and the world of work have raised questions about
 whether traditional forms of strike action are still
 possible or relevant. How can the small issues run together
 into a greater movement? Can activists work in the here and
 now to overcome the many roadblocks we face?

 Join a discussion of the examples of mass and general
 strikes in US history, how they came about, and their
 potential to unify people and rock the "status quo" to its
 core.

 Jeremy Brecher

 ==========

 * Request for research information

 Hello From Connecticut

 My name is Len Yannielli. I am a peace and environmental
 activist from Connecticut. I'm hoping you could post the
 below message in Portside.

 Thank You, Len

 Dear Friends of Portside, I am presently conducting research
 on Teachers (K-12) who were fired or forced to quit during
 the Vietnam War era. If you know of such a person, please
 have them contact  [log in to unmask]    Thank You.

 Leonard Yannielli

 ==========

 * Labor Exchange Seminar to Cuba April 21 to May 5, 2012 Two
 Weeks -- 21th anniversary of the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange.

 Join the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange to participate in the
 Cuban Labor Seminar to Cuba Saturday April 21 to Saturday
 May 5, 2012 (one week $1,250)

 Two week of Cuba Labor Seminar-On Cuban education

 Uniting America's Working Class and Increasing its Influence
 Promote people to people contact

  * 73 Anniversary of the CTC Central Workers of Cuba 
  * 53 Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

 This delegation will be in Havana, Cuba from Saturday April
 21 to Saturday May 5, 2012 Our hosts will be the CTC
 Confederation of Cuban Workers. We will visit hospitals,
 schools, and worker centers and participate at the May day
 celebration.

 The price of the trip will include: round trip airfare (from
 Cancun, Mexico to Havana, Cuba to Cancun, Mexico) hotel
 (double occupancy), 2 meals per day (breakfast and dinner),
 internal transportation to and from the program,
 translation, visas and the program.
 
 * The price of $1,650 for two weeks. is good until the end
 of March, The price may increase for any application made
 after that date.

 A group of trade unionists and workers are exercising their
 constitutional right to travel to Cuba, to gather
 educational information and to have an exchange of ideas
 with other workers of the world. These rights are guaranteed
 by the US Constitution and by the International Human Rights
 declaration of the United Nations.

     "...one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust
     laws." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

     "Of all the civil rights for which the world has
     struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn
     is undoubtedly the most fundamental. The freedom to
     learn. Has been bought by bitter sacrifice. And whatever
     we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights,
     we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right
     to learn." - W.E.B. DuBois, "The Freedom to Learn."
     (1949)

For more information, for a copy of the tour application,
contact:

 US/Cuba Labor Exchange P.O. Box 39188 Redford, MI 48239
 Phone/Fax:            (254) 229 1485 Email to:
 [log in to unmask]

==========

* You are cordially invited to the Inaugural Fundraiser 
Reception of the National Taxi Workers Alliance.

Thursday,
April 26th, 2012 
6:00 p.m.
52 Broadway
(United Federation of Teachers HQ) 

Guest of Honor:

President Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO

Host:

Vincent Alvarez, President of the NYC Central Labor Council

			* * * 
 
Ticket Pricing & Packages: General Admission: $100 (NYTWA
Dues-Paying Members, $30)

Friend package: $400, Fourth-Closest to Stage Area (Reserved
seating for 4)

Sponsor: $1,500, Third-Closest to Stage Area (Reserved
seating for 8), Quarter page black/white ad in Journal

Silver Star:  $2,500, Second-Closest to Stage Area (Reserved
seating for 10), Half page black/white ad in Journal, 10
NYTWA T-shirts, 10 copies of "Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in
NYC" Book

Gold Star: $5,000, Closest to Stage Area (Reserved seating
for 10), Full page color ad in Journal, 10 NYTWA T-shirts, 10
copies of "Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in NYC" Book

Journal Ad Only (A): $500, Quarter page advertisement in
black/white Journal Ad Only
(B):$1,500, Half page advertisement in black/white Journal Ad
Only
(C): $3,000, Full page advertisement in color

			* * *

Join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, NYC Central Labor
Council President Vincent Alvarez, and other labor and
community leaders of New York, Philadelphia and beyond in a
passionate articulation of the theme for the evening:  A New
Synergy in the American Labor Movement.

The creation of the National Taxi Workers Alliance, the 57th
chartered union of the AFL-CIO, is a watershed moment in
United States Labor History.  This is the first new charter
for non-traditional workers in over 60 years and the first
for independent contractors.  A new day has dawned in the
industry we call the "sweatshop on wheels" as tens of
thousands of workers -- working class, over 95% immigrant,
majority Muslim and Sikh -- drive back home with organizing
in gear, fueled by solidarity.

The Synergy Reception is a very special event -- one that
builds a range of new relationships and a start-up fund for
the National TWA.  Share your vision, partake of the best
Southern Italian and Argentinian wines and the most sumptuous
array of global hors d'oeuvres.

It's our evening together and a new dawn for millions of
American workers.  We hope to celebrate this moment with you
on April 26th.

In Solidarity,

Bhairavi Desai

___________________________________________

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