TV and radio shows for organized labor and working people.

11,234 Say No, And 11,227 Say Yes – TWU Workers Say No Deal!

With Ainsley Stewart – V.P. Car Equipment, TWU Local 100 • Tim Schermerhorn, Rank and File Activist, TWU, Local 100 • John Mooney – V.P. Stations, TWU Local 100

City transit workers reject new contract.

TWU Pres. Toussaint said members were worried by Gov. Pataki’s threat to veto a $110 million refund of pension plan contributions while rank and file members indicate they were upset by a provision to require workers for the first time to contribute 1.5% of their income toward their health plan.

While MTA Chairmen Peter Kalikow indicated he will seek binding arbitration and Toussaint said the union was ready to “go back to the drawing board,” we’ll ask those who turned down the contract what they want and how they will advocate for a better contract.

Two Missing Workers Are Found Dead in West Virginia Mine - Three Weeks After Twelve Men Were Killed at the Sago Mine

With Tony Oppegard, Former General Counsel, Kentucky Dept. of Mines

An agonizing two-day wait came to a tragic end on Saturday when rescue workers found the bodies of two miners who were trapped by a fire that began on a conveyor belt 900 feet underground.

Nineteen miners escaped after a fire in the Aracoma Coal Mine in Melville, WV Thursday. The blaze spread from mine equipment into the coal seam, complicating rescue efforts already hampered by thick smoke and roof collapse.

Mining remains one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. We’ll provide an update on the investigation of this disaster and find out what’s happened with the Government probe of the tragedy at the Sago mine, and what needs to be done to safeguard the lives and health of miners.

Striking NYU Workers Keep Up The Pressure Into a New Semester

With Jenny Shaw – Graduate Research Assistant and Asad Raza – Graduate Teaching Assistant

Teaching and graduate assistants of NYU returned to picket lines after the Winter class break as they continue to fight for a second contract.

The strikers, members of GSOC/UAW Local 2110, have been without a contract since August 31,went on strike Nov 9 after NYU repeatedly refused to come to the bargaining table. On Nov 28, NYU President John Sexton threatened strikers with the loss of spring semester appointments and pay stipends if they did not return to work by Dec 5.

Sexton has since been besieged by protest from faculty, thousands of academics and international scholars, other unions and elected officials. The UAW and other unions are planning a major rally for Jan. 26.

Nursing Against The Odds

How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, And Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses And Patient Care with Suzanne Gordon

The nursing profession lacks decent working conditions, recognition, and respect on the job. We have a major shortage of nurses and many RNs are dropping out of health care’ s largest profession.

Gordon examines how health care cost cutting and hospital restructuring undermine the working conditions necessary for quality care.

Dr. Michelle Bachelet, President-Elect of Chile

A woman won the Presidential election in Chile for the first time ever.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet was elected on the center-left multi-party coalition that has been in power in Chile since the end of General Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990. The Global Labor Institute of the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations hosted a reception for Dr. Bachelet in NYC. We bring you Dr. Bachelet’s speech and an interview with Mimi Rosenberg.

• TABOR: The Next Threat to the Missouri Budget?
• Fusion Voting for the Working People’s Party

Judy Ancel and Vicki Walker talk about TABOR and the threat to KS and MO state budgets
• Elana Gordon interviews SEIU’s Lenny Jones about fusion or cross-endorsement voting and the Working Families Party

Know Your Rights welcomes back Doug Bonney to talk about wages.

The News from Our Side • SEIU, The Laborers and the US Chamber of Commerce team up to work for immigration reform • Maryland legislature overrides veto to make big box stores pay more for benefits • African American union members sue their union for discrimination • Alito on workers • IL court wins union buster of the week award

Video: Bridging San Francisco Bay, 10 min, USA, 1937 produced by US Steel/Jam Handy Organization

In spite of symphonic music and melodramatic narration, no politicians appear in this film. This black and white documentary captures the dangerous work of the bridgemen who did the work of building the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The Bridge So Far: A Suspense Story, 55 min, USA, 2005, David L. Brown

An entertaining documentary on the wild and troubled history of the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The documentary finds both humor and drama in the story of one of California’s greatest fiascos.