What does the future hold for reading?

By  Blake Deppe
People's World
June 3 2011

In the age of smartphones, Androids, iPods, iPads and social networks, an important question arises: Is reading a dying trend in modern America? A review conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, looking at more than 40 studies by universities, foundations, business groups, and agencies since 2004, shows a steady plummet in the number of young people who read over the past two decades, when technology began to captivate youth. In fact, less than half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 never read for pleasure.

The report mentions that reading seems to affect lifestyle, as readers are much more likely to be involved in cultural and volunteer activities than those who don't like reading.

"This is a massive social problem," NEA Chairman Dana Gioi told the Boston Globe. "We are losing the majority of the new generation. They will not achieve anything close to their potential because of poor reading."

Privilege and Policy: A History of Community Clinics in Saskatchewan

By Stan Rands
1994

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Ben Smillie 1923 - 2011

Remembering.ca

Benjamin Galletley Smillie Born September 11, 1923 Died May 31, 2011

Ben died peacefully at Sherbrooke Community Centre at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife Adele and their five children; his sister Jean (Linton) Taylor; and numerous nieces, nephews and grandchildren. He is predeceased by his brother Alistair and his sister Emmaline. Ben was born at the United Church Women's Missionary Society Hospital at Indore, Central India. He was the oldest of four children of missionary parents who worked at a vocational school for orphaned boys at Rasalpura, in central India.

In 1937, Ben and Jean were sent to Edinburgh to attend Scottish private schools, Fettes for Ben and St. Leonards for Jean. They were left in the care of their mother's brother Alistair, who was a Harley Street doctor in London. Ben joined the British Air Force in 1941 but failed flight training in Trenton, Ontario. Ben says that he was hopeless at tight formation and loops and his Chief Instructor said that he was failing Ben because he'd be of more danger to his crew than to the enemy!

The Waffle and the Labour Movement

BY GILBERT LEVINE
Studies in Political Economy
Autumn 1990

Click image above for Program

Not many trade unionists signed the original Waffle Manifesto in 1969. Of the 96 original signers, only six, all of them men, were trade unionists. Just one, Paddy Neale, then secretary of the Vancouver Labour Council, held elective office, the others, Giles Endicott, Tony Carew, Ed Finn, Don Taylor and myself being researchers.

With the exception of Don Taylor, all the signers came from Canadian unions. This rather narrow base made the Waffle's work in the labour movement difficult. Despite this, the Waffle, and its various off-shoots succeeded in exerting a profound and positive impact on Canadian trade unionism.

The Waffle position on the labour movement was clearly set out in the Manifesto. Revitalization and extension of the labour movement were seen as central to the creation of an independent socialist Canada. The Manifesto asserted that,

"[t]he struggle for worker participation in industrial decision making and against management 'rights' is a move toward economic and social democracy." In addition to this general political philosophy the Waffle had a specific labour policy which asserted, in part,

Our goal is a powerful labour movement, based on the principles of unity, militancy, democracy and independence. Such a movement is indispensible for basic social change in Canada. The working class, first made conscious of itself, and then acting on its own behalf, holds the key to the independent and socialist future of Canada. The organized workers must lead the way."

Read more HERE. 

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Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation workers commence job action

SGEU
June 2, 2011

On June 1, 2011, the union representing workers at the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) issued a directive on working hours.  The workers, who are in a legal strike position, issued the directive hoping to provide the incentive needed for management of SCIC to offer the workers a reasonable settlement.

Alan Evans, Co-chair of the Negotiating Committee said, “We are interested in reaching a negotiated settlement with SCIC.  We want to continue to provide the farmers of Saskatchewan with prompt and efficient delivery of their insurance requirements.  However, we cannot do this if we are not valued for our work.”

The directive delivered to all unionized workers advised that as of June 3 at 8:00 a.m. all bargaining unit members will work 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.  Overtime and weekend hours will not be worked for the duration of the job action.

“SCIC employees have been offered 5.5 per cent over three years,” said Bob Bymoen, President of SGEU.  “This is the same offer that other workers involved in collective bargaining with this government have rejected.  The mandate of 5.5 per cent does not adequately compensate workers for their contribution to the Saskatchewan economy.”

SGEU represents approximately 520 SCIC employees working in the Agristability and Production Insurance programs in 21 locations across the province.  They have been out of a contract since September of 2009.

Click here for news release

The Platform of the Socialist Party of Ontario

Socialist Party of Ontario
June 2, 2011 

Our Vision:

The Socialist Party of Ontario believes that the labour power and natural resources of a society should be used in an ecologically compatible, equitable and sustainable manner for the benefit of all, including future generations.

The economy of a truly democratic society should also be cooperative and democratically managed so that citizens can be active in the running of their workplaces as well as planning the direction of economic development.

Such an equitable, cooperative and democratic economy that planned for the future and took full account of the needs of both people and the planet would be less wasteful, more inclusive and would help to solve many of the pressing problems facing the world.

Read more HERE.

Why Washington Is Worried about Peru's Election

By Mark Weisbrot
MRzine
June 2, 2011

In just a few days, on June 5th, an election will take place that will have a significant influence on the Western Hemisphere.  At the moment it is too close to call.  Most of official Washington has been relatively quiet, but there is no doubt that the Obama Administration has a big stake in the outcome of this election.

The election is in Peru, where left-populist and former military officer Ollanta Humala is facing off against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru's former authoritarian ruler Alberto Fujimori, who was president from 1990-2000.  Alberto Fujimori is in jail, serving a 25-year sentence for multiple political murders, kidnapping, and corruption.  Keiko has made it clear that she represents him and his administration and has been surrounded by his associates and former officials of his government.

A Field Guide To Farmers

By Gene Logsdon
Energy Bulletin
June 2, 2011

Now that farmer-watching has become more popular than bird-watching, urban people need a way to help them distinguish between the various breeds in case they want to rent one, or buy one for a personal pet. Farmers actually resemble other members of the human race in most respects. They walk upright if there is no wheeled vehicle available to ride, have cell phones hanging on their ears most of the time, and feed at short order restaurants more than in their natural environment of open fields.

Like the ivory-billed woodpecker, farmer numbers are decreasing because of urban encroachment on their natural habitat. Little is known about their behavior because they shun the public eye whenever possible. No one has heard their mating call although it is presumed that they do mate because, although the ones most often seen are well above the average breeding age, an immature farmer is occasionally spotted, flitting and fluttering around the giant tractors in which farmers like to nest.

Community service workers in Australia win equal pay case

AN equal pay victory for community service workers means it's time for NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to "pay up", the Australian Services Union (ASU) says.

Perth Now
June 3, 2011
ASU Rally pamphlet HERE.

Fair Work Australia on Monday ruled community service workers employed by non-government organisations (NGOs) are paid less than their counterparts in the public sector.

It also acknowledged that the industry is populated by mostly women.

The ASU's NSW secretary, Sally McManus, said the state government should honour the tribunal's ruling by funding wage increases.

"It's time to pay up," Ms McManus told reporters in Sydney. "No more lip service to equal pay. We have suffered on our low wages for too long."

The unions will ask for at least a 30 per cent pay increase to existing NGO salaries.

"In my view, we're going to be asking for probably higher wages," Ms McManus said. "But what we would like is actually a 30 per cent pay rise."

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Monday's ruling stopped short of determining what pay increases NGO workers should receive and dismissed a suggestion by the unions that any increase should be modelled after a previous equal pay case in Queensland.

The Fair Work tribunal also called for submissions from unions and state and federal governments to justify specific pay increases and how they should be phased in over an expected five-year period.

Ms McManus said she would prefer to sit down with the new state government to negotiate pay rises before making a submission to the tribunal.

"We had a fair bit of support from the (Labor) government here in New South Wales until there was a change of government," she said.

"Now they're arguing against any pay rise.

"So we expect there's going to be quite a battle on our hands to get these new rates of pay funding."

In the NSW government's submission to the equal pay case, it estimated that the increases to NGO wages could cost the budget $998 million.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon warned the tribunal's decision would trigger additional wage cases.

"I can see now there's an opportunity for other cases to be brought forward," he said.

"They now have to step up to the mark and provide the funds to allow these pay rises to take place."

Speaking ahead of the ruling, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the case was only made possible because Labor had dismantled the Howard government's Work Choices regime.

"There was no effective way ... for people whose occupations had been historically undervalued, dismissed as women's work, to get anything that looked like pay equity,'' she told reporters in Sydney.

Cold Porridge: The NDP Labour Law Policy Review

By Dan Cameron
Saskatchewan Office, CCPA
June 1, 2011
Download HERE

The Saskatchewan New Democrats have promised to reform and repeal much of Brad Wall's labour legislation in their recently released policy review "A Rooted and Growing Vision."

While changes to this legislation would be most welcome to the labour movement in the province, should we be satisfied with merely returning to the status-quo if an NDP government were to return to power in the province?

Dan Cameron scans the changing landscape of labour legislation in Canada and offers some provocative and challenging policy suggestions that he believes would return Saskatchewan to the forefront of progressive labour legislation in the country.

As Friend and Foe (1980)

National Film Board of Canada

"The history of the Canadian labour movement has been one of enormous struggle and committment. Throughout, goverment has played a prominent role in defining rights of workers and protecting the power of employers. This is the story of government as friend and foe of Canadian workers."

America's Forgotten Tradition

By Paul Buhle
Tikkun

May 27, 2011

THE ‘S’ WORD: A SHORT HISTORY OF AN AMERICAN TRADITION… SOCIALISM
By John Nichols, Verso, 2011

Just when the confused and often deeply troubled relation of those two global subjects, “United States” and “socialism,” seemed to disappear — and not for the first time — the New Right warned against the dark threat of Obamist socialism, whatever that meant to the likes of Glenn Beck. John Nichols, Nation magazine editorial board member, columnist, and political savant on MSNBC’s Ed Show, cleverly seizes the advantage. Socialism, contrary to generations of conservative (often also, liberal) propagandizing, may not be un-American after all.

Way back in the 1880s, when the socialist movement in Germany was gathering new members by the thousands, German immigrants in the United States, among many other observers, wondered why the most industrially advanced country in the world had so few enrolled socialists. Vulgar answers were offered immediately and have been recycled ever since: what would Americans — prosperous, fat, happy, and individualistic — want with cooperative, fund-sharing doctrines when any one of them might become a millionaire?

Woody Guthrie: Redder than Remembered

Scott Borchert

Monthly Review

May 2011

Will Kaufman, Woody Guthrie, American Radical, University of Illinois Press, 2011

On January 18, 2009, two days before Barack Obama’s inauguration, close to half a million people gathered for a free concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. They were sung to and spoken at by a handful of musical artists, actors, politicians, and other prominent figures, including the President Elect and the illustrious Bono.

Near the end of the concert, Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, and Bruce Springsteen led the crowd in a rendition of that old patriotic chestnut “This Land Is Your Land.” Naturally, everyone sang along, just as people have in countless classrooms, school pageants, political conventions, and rallies since Woody Guthrie’s most famous song entered the national consciousness in the 1960s.

Argentina accuses world's largest grain traders of huge tax evasion

Grain traders ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus deny charges by Argentine government of substantial tax evasion

Felicity Lawrence
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 1 June 2011

Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

The world's four largest grain traders, responsible for the vast majority of global corn, soya and wheat trading and processing, have been accused of large-scale tax evasion in a landmark series of cases being brought against them by the Argentinian government.

In an interview with the Guardian, Ricardo Echegaray, the head of Afip, the Argentine revenue and customs, has given a detailed account of the charges his department is bringing against ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus.

Video: The rise of the far right in Europe

New Internationalist

Our June 2011 issue explores the rise of the Far Right in Europe, and the way its parties have entered the mainstream. This video shows the full extent of this phenomenon, covering France, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Finland. Once you’ve watched it, read K Biswas’s powerful keynote article, Eyes to the far right.