Central Park Boathouse Strikers Swimming For Their Lives
with
Julia Rybak, lead organizer, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council
andBoathouse strikers Alejandra Betancur and Chrissy Makris

The landmark Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park has become almost as
famous for its long history of ugly labor disputes as for its fine dining and
views. Now, the Boathouse workers are on strike to protest management's
firing of workers who exercised their right to join the Union. Since the
organizing effort began in January, nearly 70% of the regular 100-member
workforce have signed authorization cards to join the union and 38 workers
have been illegally fired for union activities. Thefirings and more than 20
charges of unfair labor practice have been filed with the N.L.R.B. by the
union. Last June, six women - current and former employees - filed sexual harassment complaints with federal and state agencies. An audit of the
Boathouse found that management unlawfully confiscated over $3 million
in banquet gratuities from its employees. The Boathouse is operated by
restaurateur Dean Poll under a contract with the city, which owns the iconic
eatery but has not taken any responsibility for the illegal and reprehensible
actions of Boathouse management.

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Corporations Say, Why Bargain With Free Labor When There’s A Captive Labor At Our Disposal?
with
Rania Khalek, independent journalist, AlterNet

Prison labor is every Corporation's dream - cheap labor, no sick leave, no
time off, no holidays and employees that can be easily replaced. Of course,
for human rights activists however, it's a nightmare, because the other side
of the coin is forced labor, no unions, low or no pay and no protections
whatsoever for the workers. Corporations have used or currently uses
prison labor for anything from holiday coffee for Starbucks to cutting
airplane components for Boeing, making Game Boys for Nintendo,
producing equipment for the war in Iraq, shrink wrapping mouse devices
for Microsoft, making dentures, down to sewing lingerie for Victoria
Secrets. The use of slave labor and now the use of prison labor is
a multi-billion dollar business.
********************
Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem
with
MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., Congressional Fellow for the
18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program.
Sara Somers, Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program

Both Democrats and Republicans are missing the point by putting the
emphasis on controlling Medicare and Medicaid costs without effectively
addressing the reasons for our rising health care costs. Rather than
embracing the Republican rhetoric which blames our public insurances,
Democrats would do well to call out the real reason for our health care
spending crisis: our current fragmented and profit-driven model, and
advocate for a national improved Medicare for all. Watching the actions
in D.C. is like watching the same political theater we have seen for each
issue. The crisis, manufactured, or real, becomes an excuse to pretend
to fight over the solutions, all the while continuing to move towards greater
austerity measures for necessities such as health care, housing, education,
jobs and pensions. We must address the root causes of the direction
this country is headed, corporatism and militarism, through unity and mass
acts of resistance. We will not email or elect ourselves out of this situation.

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America's 4-D Economy:
From Deficit Deals to Double Dip Recession
with
Jack Rasmus, author of "Epic Recesssion: Prelude to Global Depression"

First, we were frightened by politicians proclaiming that the
economic ceiling will fall in if the deficit wasn’t cut by trillions.
Then the politicians insisted that in order to raise the debt ceiling
we needed to endure, guess what cuts, cuts, cuts. But, the U.S.
manufacturing sector has collapsed, the public sector is
hemorrhaging jobs, and consumer spending is plunging, and
the jobs that were jobs created, may have kept the recent
unemployment figures from shooting up, but they were hardly
enough to keep pace with those about to enter the workforce and
certainly don’t effect those living on extended unemployment
benefits, those who simply can’t find work, and those who are
underemployed and really can’t support their families. The real
economy is accelerating its slide toward a double dip recession
and the deficit reduction deal approved by Congress will make it
harder to fight the coming re-recession. We’ll discuss why and
what really needs to be done to stimulate the economy.
*************************
Recesssion and Militarism
with
Vijay Prashad, George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut

At a recent lecture at NYC’s Riverside Church, Prashad explored
the boom and bust of the capitalist cycle. Even in boom years
people do not have enough to spend so the economy declines.
But if the people are not strong, even then capitalism resists
spending for social services, preferring to stimulate the economy
with spending on domestic repression and war. Prashad places
this in the context of globalization.

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From Here To Eternity:
U.S. Nuclear Policy From Hiroshima & Nagasaki Through Today
with
Professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Director of Cold War Studies, University of
Southern CA. at Berkley

Discussing his book “Racing the Enemy”, Professor Hasegawa argues that
there wasn’t any moral or political imperative to drop nuclear bombs on Japan
which was already determined to surrender and why we did. The issue with
Japan had to do with Japanese resistance to U.S. insistence that Japan
abolish their imperial system. The bombing schedule was also moved up to
prevent the entry of the Soviet Union in the War against Japan. Professor
Hasegawa demonstrates that it was the Soviet declaration of war, not the
atomic bombs, that forced the Japanese to surrender unconditionally.

and
Greg Mitchell, co-author of "Hiroshima in America" & Adviser to the Award-
Winning Film "Original Child Bomb"

The U.S. engaged in suppression of the film footage following the atomic
bomb attacks on Japan, and for decades afterward suppressed all film shot
in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Now, a portion of that footage will finally reach
the American public so they will be able to judge for themselves why the
authorities felt they had to suppress it, and what impact their footage, if
widely aired, might have had on the nuclear arms race -- and the nuclear
proliferation that endangers us today.

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