10/27/07
Why is it that when someone who becomes a hero, the fact that he is a proud union member is not mentioned in the mainstream media? Could it be that the media on a whole is quite a bit anti-union?
I'm not just talking about the likes of Rupert Murdoch, I am talking about the main
6 companies that
own almost everything you see and read, the six that
have to bargain directly with unions and would like nothing more than for people to believe that the working mans plight is hopeless and we must bargain from the scraps left for us. And yes my friends, they want total control of the internet .
Well I've gone a bit off point, the point is that when Wesley Autrey, a member and shop steward of LIUNA Local 79, became New Yorks subway hero on Jan. 3rd. 2007, by putting his life at risk to save another, there was absolutely no mention that he was a union member in any of the big media outlets. I only came to learn that through my diligence in serching out news on the internet. And that my friends is a total shame .
NYPost "Autrey, 50, a construction worker who achieved nationwide fame for his death-defying rescue of a Boston man who had fallen off the subway platform"
NYTimes "Mr. Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker, said he knew something was different when he showed up for work later on Tuesday. His boss, he said, bought him lunch — a ham-and-cheese hero — and later told him to take yesterday off."
USAToday "I just tried to do the right thing," said the 50-year-old Harlem construction worker."
NBC "Wesley Autrey, a Navy veteran and construction worker, was standing nearby on the platform with his children when he saw Hollowpeter fall. Autrey jumped down to the track area and lay on top of Hollowpeter as a train passed about "2 inches" from his head."
What comes to mind that is if this was me, the first thing i would say if asked what my job was would be my union . Now this isn't the only instance whereby I have come to this conclusion , when speaking with an official with OPEIU on the
crisis in downtown NYC regarding HIP's removing 186 union jobs from downtown , good paying jobs they were obligated to keep there when they used "Empire State Development Corp.'s WTC Job Creation and Retention Program", none of the big papers here in New York would carry the story , the Times (which has this so-called worker friendly stance said it was too small an issue) refused as did all the others , the only paper that would run the story was New York Newsday. I consider it very newsworthy, and refuse to buy any other paper. Not to mention the fact that Newsday is the only paper here in New York which reports on employee misclassification and
tax evasion by nonunion contractors .
Media ownership
the tie to net neutrality
"A Federal Communications Commissioner said that the censoring of political speech during a recent Pearl Jam performance illustrates the need for network neutrality." Link
FROM :
SaveTheInternet
What is Network Neutrality? Network Neutrality — or "Net Neutrality" for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web
content based on its source, ownership or destination.
Ok that means hypothetically, that without "Net Neutrality", if Disney, who is partnered with Verizon , has a "Union" issue and someone posts an article on UnionReview about it, Verizon is within their rights to throttle our sites basic internet bandwidth to the degree that it would be frustrating if not impossible to view it. Think this isn't a possibility, think again .
FROM:
SFGate.com
"If you missed the incident, Verizon Wireless initially refused to transmit text messages over its
cellular network from Naral Pro-Choice America, a pro-choice group, to its members. Naral uses text-messaging to update its supporters on
pro-choice policy and the message would have only gone to people who had signed up to receive them. But several days later, Verizon did an about-face and agreed to send the messages. Nonetheless, according to news reports, Verizon did not retreat from its position that it is entitled to decide what messages to transmit. This is censorship of the
first magnitude."
As a matter of fact , those that oppose Net Neutrality have garnered the talents of "spin-doctor' Rick Berman, former lobbyist for big tobacco and current creator of
Center For Union Facts, whose main focus is to tarnish unions through truths, half-truths and out right propag
