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Hits of the Day
Toronto mayor pushes his union-busting dream
by acanuck 2/5/2012 - 12:36 am
The city could be ready as early as today to start stripping job security from its biggest union of outside workers, in what appears to be a Canadian test case on American-style restrictions on public sector unions.
Job security has been at the heart of the city’s contract talks with 6,000 employees, belonging to the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416 and including garbage collectors. The Ford administration warned Friday it would jettison the contract if there’s no agreement and do what it wants, including announcing layoffs and firings in order to contract out to private companies.
Read the full article at
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1126512--will-union-bargaining-in-toronto-create-template-for-curbing-rights
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In the News
-
Doctor Who Helped Find Bin Laden Given Jail Term (for...
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
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Russia lawmakers advance bill on penalties for protesters
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
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In Cuba, Mystery Shrouds the Fate of an Undersea Internet...
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
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Domestic violence is biggest threat to west Africa's...
By Tamasin Ford in Monrovia, Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict west Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released on Tuesday.
The IRC report, Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence in West Africa, based on data collected over 10 years by the IRC in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, said domestic violence is the "most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in west Africa" [.....]
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US Army more selective on recruits, re-enlistments
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, May 22, 2012
WASHINGTON -- Uncle Sam may not want you after all.
In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.
The Army is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less in bonuses to attract recruits or entice soldiers to remain.
It's all part of an effort to slash the size of the active duty Army from about 570,000 at the height of the Iraq war to 490,000 by 2017. The cutbacks began last year, and as of the end of March, the Army was down to less than 558,000 troops.
For a time during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army lowered its recruiting standards [....]
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Ack,
Say it ain't so. We depend on you guys up north to set an example for the role unions should play in a free and democratic society and how collective bargaining should work.
We've got a buffoon Mayor here, Bruce, but in the end, I think the worst case was avoided.
Well, the initial skirmish is over, with a tentative deal after all-night bargaining.No details yet but, as usual, both sides had to put water in their wine:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1126534--strike-averted-city-and-outside-workers-reach-tentative-agreement
The union knew it lacked public support because of the messy strike/lockout that preceded the current contract, and Mayor Ford ran the risk his unilateral actions would be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, which in 2007 found that "freedom of association" includes the right to collective bargaining.
Ford, by the way, is a troglodyte whose ham-fisted approach to city employees and the media has created dissension even within his own party. One of his first cost-cutting moves was to target Toronto's excellent library system. He obviously doesn't read, and he didn't see why taxpayers should subsidize those elitists who do.
In Dylan's song, "Brownsville Girl" are the following lines.
You know it's funny how things never turn out the way you have them planned
The only thing we knew about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter.
The only thing we know about Qnonymous is that his name is not Qnonymous, and even that is unverified, but its funny how his comments just don't yurn up the way he had them planned.
That last part isn't in a Dylan song as far as I know.