Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
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The Bail Out Our Streets, Not Wall Street Protests. Thousands and thousands of protesters marched to and rallied on Wall Street on April 3rd and 4th. The actions were sponsored by the Bail Out the People Coalition and United for Peace and Justice, both coalitions fighting to make clear it’s the people, who are suffering in the current economic downturn, not the financial institutions who created the crisis, that must be bailed out. Looming large and stimulating the protest messages was the figure of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose efforts on behalf of striking Memphis sanitation workers when he was gunned down April 4 1968, echoed through the mass gatherings.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 24, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Washington to Detroit - Drop Dead?
with
Frank Hammer, Former Pres., UAW Local 909, Warren, Michigan
and
Warren Brown, Auto Columnist, "Washington Post "
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Agriprocessors' Immigrant Worker Exploitation
with
Rev. Paul Ouderkirk – Pastor, St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, Postville Iowa

And
Agriprocessors' Union Busting Kosher?
with
David Young, Organizing Director, Local 342, UFCW

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Washington to Detroit - Drop Dead?
with
Frank Hammer, Former Pres., UAW Local 909, Warren, Michigan
and
Warren Brown, Auto Columnist, "Washington Post "

When auto executives and unions leaders came to Washington last weekto ask for a $25 billion bailout, they expected a cold shoulder from Bush, but got one from the Congress as well. Is the Federal government really willing to take the risk of adding more than a million auto workers to the unemployment lines that snake throughout the Midwest? And, what would happen to the wages and working conditions of auto workers that might keep their jobs with the big three companies, or other auto workers across the region and nation?
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Agriprocessors' Immigrant Worker Exploitation
with
Rev. Paul Ouderkirk – Pastor, St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, Postville Iowa

On May 12, 2008, US Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested approximately 400 workers at the Agriprocessors, Inc. meat-processing plant. Family members of those arrested were terrified to return to their homes. For almost a week after the raid, hundreds of family members sought refuge in St. Bridget's Church. This and other raids are sweeping across the country, wreaking havoc on families, communities and businesses. Father Paul Oudekirk, Pastor of St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa gained national recognition for his work with the families of the immigrants who were arrested in the largest workplace raid in Iowa history and spoke to us during a recent trip to New York.

And

Agriprocessors' Union Busting Kosher?
with
David Young, Organizing Director, Local 342, UFCW

In 2005, workers at the Agriprocessors warehouse in NYC voted to unionize. The Rubashkin family owners of Agriprocessors refused to recognize the union,ironically alleging some of its workers were undocumented. Despite three rounds of judicial rulings that Agriprocessors must recognize the union, the Rubashkin family continues to flaunt the law and super-exploit its workers.
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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, November 17, 2008, 7 – 8 PM EST, over 99.5 FM
58:50
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Anti-Immigrant Hate In Suffolk Responsible for Stabbing Death of Ecuadorian
Laborer Marcelo Lucero
with
Rev. Allan Ramirez, Pastor, Brookville Reformed Church, & noted immigrant advocate

How To End The Recession
with
Robert Pollin, Economics Professor, & founding Co-Director of
the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Mass.
Co-author of Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs &
Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

Fighting Governor Paterson's Budget Cuts
with
Nancy Wackstein, Exec. Director, United Neighborhood Houses
Judy Wessler, Director, Commission on the Public's Health System
Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education

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Anti-Immigrant Hate In Suffolk Responsible for Stabbing Death of Ecuadorian Laborer Marcelo Lucero
with
Rev. Allan Ramirez, Pastor, Brookville Reformed Church, & noted immigrant advocate

Jeffrey Conroy, and 6 other teens declared that they were going to "attack
a Mexican" and headed to the village of Patchogue to hunt, according to
their friends and the authorities. They found Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old
immigrant from a poor village in Ecuador who had lived in the U.S. for
16 years, worked in a dry cleaning store, sending savings home to support
his mother, a cancer survivor. After the boys surrounded, taunted and
punched Mr. Lucero, the authorities say, Mr. Conroy plunged a knife into
his victim's chest, fatally wounding him. While County Executive Steve
Levy, himself distinguished for anti-immigrant legislation, would like to
isolate the attack to what he is now calling "white supremacists" others
believe the attack is a reflection of widespread anti-Latino sentiment and
racial intolerance in Suffolk County.
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How To End The Recession
with
Robert Pollin, Economics Professor, & founding Co-Director of
the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Mass.
Co-author of Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs &
Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

The recession is certainly here, so the question is how to diminish its
length and severity. A large-scale federal stimulus program is the only
action that can possibly do the job. The economy needs a shot of public
investment – and if it's green, the payoff will be greatest. What does a
green stimulus look like; should there be an auto industry bailout and what
happened at the world economic summit?

*******
Fighting Governor Paterson's Budget Cuts
with
Nancy Wackstein, Exec. Director, United Neighborhood Houses
Judy Wessler, Director, Commission on the Public's Health System
Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education

NYS Governor Paterson has proposed that the State Legislature cut $2B
from the State Budget this year and $3.2 B the next by slashing health care,
education and social service funding. Now hundreds of unions & community
groups have banded together in new coalitions 1 NY and Better Choice
Budget Coalition to demonstrate in Albany this Tuesday to demand that
we stop the cuts by raising taxes on higher income people as we did
successfully in the 2003 recession.

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