Shredding The Child Labor Safety Net
with
Susan F. Feiner, Prof. of Economics & Prof. of Women
& Gender Studies, University of Southern Maine, Portland.

Republicans in Utah, Ohio, Minnesota, Maine and Missouri are
proposing sweeping changes to child labor legislation including
expanding the use of sub-minimum wages for workers up to
the age of 20 & permitting teens to work till 11pm on school
nights. Missouri is taking the lead in the race back to the 19th
century, by drastically cutting back on enforcement & inspection
of child labor protections, including those protecting child
workers' health and safety on the job.

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Holding Women’s Health Hostage
with
LisaLyn Jacobs, Vice President of Government Relations, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW LDF)

House Republicans threaten to shut down the government over federal funding for Planned Parenthood. After weeks of federal budget negotiations, the focus shifted from economic issues to a particular rider that would eliminate all gov't funding to Planned Parenthood through the Title X family planning program. Conservatives are targeting PlannedParenthood because some of its clinics provide abortions, even though those abortions make up less than 3% of Planned Parenthood's services and federal money is not used to pay for abortion services. What was proposed by the House of Representatives is to say that women can no longer go to Planned Parenthood to get their cancer screenings, to gettheir birth control, to get any kind of services through federal programs.
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Highlights From The Money for Jobs, Not for War Rally

Thousands of protesters attended the largest national antiwar protest inyears. The rally juxtaposed the Democrats and Republicans haggling over budget proposals that in any event slashed billions in life-sustaining programs. As the rally organizers stated Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid are being threatened -- but there is always money for another war – but, if we brought the troops home now, the deficit could be wiped out in a heartbeat. Saturday’s demonstration represented a renewal ofthe antiwar movement and we will bring its highlights.

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Just A Cutting & A Slicing:
Bloomberg Seeks To Eliminate Subsidized Day Care
with
G.L. Tyler, Political Action Director, DC 1707

Mayor Bloomberg, is attempting to eliminate nearly 17,000 infants and toddlers from safe, quality and affordable day care. The “Education Mayor” is prepared to devastate subsidized daycare. Once again, Bloomberg has exposed himself to be not the protector of working families but ready to turn his back on working families needing public day care. The Mayor has a $2 billion “Rainy Day” fund that he does not wish to share with New Yorkers in need. He cannot take this money, our money, and give it to the millionaires and billionaires while cutting the jobs of day care providers and forcing working parents out of the work force if they don’t have child care.

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Martin Luther King’s Economic Justice Agenda From Memphis To Wisconsin Forty three years ago, a struggle by 1,300 sanitation workers for economic justice brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis. On the eve of his death, hours after marching with the AFSCME sanitation workers, being denied the right of collective bargaining & facing down the armed forces of a city & state, Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “work that serves humanity…It has dignity and it has worth.” WE ARE ONE Today in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida and more than a dozen other states, well-funded, corporatist politicians are trying to take away the union rights Dr. King gave his life for. This year, to commemorate his sacrifice, the AFL-CIO called for nationwide events and actions to link the struggle of 1968 to the challenges we face today, We Are One. ***** Carrying On The Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King with Dr. Vincent Harding, an associate of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, has written numerous books, including "Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero". On this 43rd year since the death of Dr. King, speechwriter, confidante Dr. Harding discusses Dr. King’s economic justice activism and its relevance for us today as workers battle for the survival of their labor organizations, against give backs, stagnating wages and unemployment **** From Ground Zero Of the War on the Workers: Reports from Wisconsin and Ohio with Peter Rickman, Teaching Asst., LaFollette Law School , Univ. of Wisconsin, & member of Teaching Assistants’ Assn., AFT Local 3220 and Joseph Rugola, Exec. Dir., Ohio Assn. of Public School Employees, AFSCME The Ohio legislature just passed Gov. Kasich’s union busting bill which nullifies public employee rights. Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walkers’ rush to cut public sector worker benefits, and bust their unions in Wisconsin has been stymied by court action. But the workers in both states aren’t taking the assaults lying down, we found out how they’re carrying on the legacy of Dr. King by going live to the We are One demonstration in Madison Wisconsin. stream or download

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From Egypt to Wisconsin, Is NY Next?: Breaking the Silence, NYC’s Protests Against Budget Cuts Buoyed by the new spirit of rebellion flowing from Egypt to Wisconsin, thousands of students, workers & community members from a wide coalition of organizations rallied at City Hall Park, followed by a march on Wall Street to demand higher taxes on the rich, to prevent budget cutbacks. This was the first major NYC demonstration, in an otherwise muted budget debate despite the grim consequences of the State & City proposed cuts. **** Arrests Up The Ante On Albany Budget Negotiations with Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY and James Parrott, Deputy Director & Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Inst. While Albany budget negotiators are reaching agreement, the real question for the public is how much pain and suffering are legislators prepared to hit us with. We’ll analyze the budget and especially, it’s likely impact on NYC, where Mayor Bloomberg,while sitting on a $3 billion budget surplus is threatening major cutbacks, & thousands of layoffs. Bloomberg, like the Governor refuses to consider a millionaires or a securities transfer tax to prevent a slash and burn policy. In otherwise subdued budget protests this year, the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY led an Albany protest in which 33 people were arrested. They sat down and blocked access to the New York State Capitol's Executive Chamber demanding that Albany not pass an austerity budget that pays for a hefty tax breaks for the wealthy. stream or download

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