Chicago: With 24 hours warning that four of the largest unions in the federation — the Service Employees, the Teamsters, the Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE — HERE! — were going to boycott and not be seated the first day, the convention hall did not need to look as thin and empty. Only ninety (90) …
Month: July 2005
Ending the Manual Rickshaws
Kolkata: There used to be a t-shirt some years ago that was popular among unionists. In big block letters it read, “Union Rights are Human Rights.” Straight forward, simple and to the point, but it was dramatic in its own way. And, true! The slogan came to mind as I listened to INTUC’s Ramen Pandey recently …
Strikes in the Tea Garden
Jalpaiguri: Two things were immediately clear. First, we had definitely arrived during the monsoon season with rain and the signs of rain everywhere around us. Secondly, we were absolutely in the tea garden. We could see rows of tea plants virtually from the minute we left the apron of the airport. A car from the Tea …