Spell it out
I am a steelworker and subscribe to the People’s Weekly World. I like the paper a lot and post articles, like the ones on May Day, on our union bulletin board at work. But please do not refer to the Employee Free Choice Act as EFCA. People don’t know what that stands for and we need to keep saying that it will give workers the Free Choice to join a union without company interference.
Donna Buchanon
Cleveland OH
Labor law system is broken
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, commonly called the Wagner Act, outlawed anti-union activity, but opponents have weakened its provisions, and the fines are now so low that the law is routinely violated. An estimated 86,000 workers were fired for trying to exercise their legal right to organize during the George W. Bush administration.
The Employee Free Choice Act would reduce or eliminate the Bush crimes against labor. Under the Free Choice Act, fines would be raised to $20,000 per violation, back pay would be tripled when an employee is discharged or discriminated against during an organizing campaign, and the National Labor Relations Board would be required to seek a federal court injunction when companies have been found in violation of the law.
Seventy-three percent of the nation and a majority in Congress support the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill has the support of labor, civil rights organizations and numerous church groups. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “firmly opposes organized efforts to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing.”
Catholics for Working Families, in one of its supporting statements, says, “The current labor law system is broken. Corporations routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and fire people who try to organize unions — and today’s labor law is powerless to stop them. Every day, corporations deny working people the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union.”
Lou Incognito
Philadelphia PA
Pakistan at a crossroads
I read the article “Pakistan at a crossroads” (www.pww.org), which I believe portrays the actual picture and the problems in Pakistan. After a long time, I’ve found such a good article, which has spoken the truth and keeping all other things constant: religion, country and social ideologies!
I appreciate your written words and hope to see your continuous hard true efforts for any country in the world. Cheers.
Mohsin Moosa
Via e-mail
After announcing a pittance $100 million to Pakistan, in the same breath Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also offered American Army assistance to be sent to Swat Valley, clandestinely, to help their Pakistani counterparts. America is only waiting for Pakistan’s request.
This is hair-raising news. A fundamentally unacceptable gesture to Pakistan.
No incumbent president or prime minister of our beloved country could dare invite such a devastation. All what America has done is part of her grandeur neocolonisation process in the areas and Pakistan has been the bearing the brunt for many decades of western hegemonial influence in the region.
Historically it was demonstrated how difficult it had been to evict American forces from Pakistan decades ago from their military base in Budabeer near Peshawar.
Sociopolitical turmoil will be of unimaginable proportions. It would be a situation of “from the frying pan into the fire,” for everybody involved. This poor developing nation would drift back many decades.
Dr. Muhammad Tariq Khokhar
London UK
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