Blog power for Building Bridges: Radio's labor and community report

Been working on a site for Ken Nash at Building Bridges, he has been adding his audio broadcasts to Union Review for quite some time and I along with Richard had the pleasure to meet him in person. I explained that a blog here at Google can be a web page.

It can also help to embed the broadcasts which are archived at the Internet Archive.

So I took a little time and created a test site for him to look at. Take a look, vote on the poll there and let us know what you think.

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Building Bridges Radio: Colombian May Day brutality and West Coast dock shutdown

Colombian May Day Brutality and West Coast Docker workers shut down the ports

*Click above to listen to story

West Coast Ports

Tens of thousands of docks, members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union shut down the west coast ports in a protest against the war. While an arbitrators decision prevented the ILWU from officially sponsoring the strike, its members turned out en masse. The stand-down at ports including Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle 40% of the imported goods arriving in the United States each year idled ships and halted movement of about 10,000 containers during the eight-hour stoppage.

Colombian Workers Brutalized at May Day Protests

The Bush Administration continues to push through a new free trade agreement with Colombia despite its history of assassinations and repression of trade unionists. The Colombian government claims its fighting that violence, which it says is perpetuated by paramilitary organizations. However, when Building Bridges reporters called Colombia on May 1, 2008 to speak with Javier Correa, Pres. of the Sinaltrainal union we learned that more than one hundred workers at their May Day demonstrations had been arrested, many were beaten and some had been disappeared .

See the full description of the stories and learn more about Building Bridges Radio at UnionReview or at the Building Bridges website

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org, it is also broadcast nationally in many locations. For more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

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Audio file of the week: Forty years since Memphis, struggling to keep King's legacy alive

Forty Years Since King: Struggling to End Racism, Sexism, Poverty, and War with Dr. Clayborne Carson,author & editor of several books about the civil rights struggle in the US, including "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr."

*Click above to listen to story

Dr. Carson joins us to take stock of the legacy of Dr. King and how we, standing at the crossroads of change or regression in 2008 much as we were in 1968, can be informed by his prophetic understanding & activism.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speech at the 30th Anniversary Rally of District 65 at Madison Square Garden in NYC in October 1963. A speech in which he addresses the issues of race and class.

for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org, as well as many other stations across the country, check links below for more info

Find out more about Building Bridges at Internet Archive and BBR's archive of past shows.

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Audio File of the Week - Building Bridges Radio on Labor's agenda fighting corporate greed

Labor's Agenda Fighting Corporate Greed
interview with Richard Trumpka, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO and William Scheuerman, Pres. National Labor College

*Click to listen to 27:54 minute program

In a free wheeling discussion on the agenda for the labor movement, Trumpka and Scheuerman analyze the challenges workers face in an economy controlled by corporate interests who have rigged the system to their benefit at the expense of the living standards of workers. They point to the need for education & political mobilization of the working class to change the system, pointing to some hopeful signs such as new attitudes of workers towards unions, political mobilization of workers outside of unions, the increase in membership in unions and an expanded role of the National Labor College in education of workers and developing clarity on key issues of crucial concern to the movement.

You can view the original story with more information about Building Bridges Radio at UnionReview.com

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Audio File of the Week - Building Bridges Radio interview with author of Unregulated Work in the Global City

This was originally posted in part at UnionReview.com

This is Building Bridges Radio interview with Annette Bernhardt, Deputy Dir. of the Brennan Center for Justice Program at NYU and one of the author's of Unregulated Work in the Global City, a comprehensive study of the underground labor force in New York City.

This report covers the labor violations, the profiteers, the victims and the enablers that let it happen. Unfortunately most people will just bitch about undocumented workers, this report explains in great detail who we as tax paying Americans should focus our anger towards, the unscrupulous employers and those that allow it to happen.

Some quick facts learned via the report:

The policy makers allow what equates to slavery and sweatshop conditions right here in New York. With workers that do not benefit from the labor laws of the state, who are often misclassified and paid off the books, often below minimum wage and are without any means for a safe work environment.

These workers are often forced to work over 10 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, without breaks and usually without overtime pay. They face blatant discrimination and are in constant fear of the bosses reprisal if they step out of line. Sometimes they don't wind up getting paid at all.

Undermanned and under financed investigatory units such as OSHA, with it's 128 inspectors in the entire state, cannot police the jobs (an estimate is that it would take OSHA 96 years to investigate every NYS workplace just once).

Many agencies and politicians which should be regulating these infractions turn a blind eye.

From: The open source Archive-Where you can download this in many formats

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report National Edition

Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg

A recent study by the Brennan Center's Economic Justice Project, details the systemic violation of federal, state & local labor law which is increasingly the way of doing business in N.Y.C. Over a wide range of industries, employers pay less than the minimum wage, and sometimes nothing at all; deny overtime for 60-hour weeks, routinely ignore vital health and safety regulations even after injuries occur; and workers are subject to blatant discrimination, and retaliated against for speaking up or trying to organize.

For more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is nationally broadcast throughout the country,in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area it is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org

In the words of Ed Ott, the Executive Director of NYC Central Labor Council "Every union official should have a copy" when speaking about Unregulated Work in the Global City

Download Links for Report (PDF Format):

Unregulated Work In The Global City - Full PDF

also recommended

Building Up New York, Tearing Down Job Quality: Taxpayer Impact of Worsening Employment Practices in the New York City Construction Industry - Full PDF

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