[Davis Democrats] Union for UCD Food Service Workers-Tuesday, May 1, noontime rally

[John Chendo]

Tuesday, May 1, at noontime, at the Memorial Union Quadrangle on the UCD
campus at the south end of Howard Way (off Russell Blvd.)---there will be a
RALLY in support of allowing the UCD Food Service Workers to unionize. UCD
is the only UC campus which contracts out the food service workers to a
private multinational corporation, with high health insurance premiums.
Please show your support for the working families by attending the rally or
by contacting the UCD administration with your expression of concern.

Below is an unrelated, but late-breaking news story from the United Steel
Workers.  This has not been a U.S.  administration favorable to labor
unions. Yet labor unions ensure an educated middle-class, which is essential
to representative democracy. Union membership in the US is down to about 16%
from  post-WWII 45%.

  

  USW urges Justice Department Probe of Drummond
 Union Offers Santuary to Columbian Senator
   (Pittsburgh, Penna.)  -- United Steelworkers (USW) International
President Leo W. Gerard has urged U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to
join his counterpart in Colombia, Colombian AG Mario Iguaran, in
investigating the links between the AUC paramilitaries and Drummond Coal
Company and its subsidiary, Drummond Td. (³Drummond²).   The USW urged the
probe as Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Iguaran are scheduled to meet in Washington
today about the support of U.S. companies, including Drummond, for the AUC,
a designated terrorist group.  Gerard stated in a letter to Alberto
Gonzalez, ³We urge the U.S. Justice Department to join Mr. Iguaran in
commencing its own investigation of Drummond¹s paramilitary ties.  This
investigation is made all the more crucial by the revelation last week that
a high-ranking official of Drummond, Col. (ret.) Julian Villate, allegedly
authored a plot to murder sitting Senator Gustavo Petro, a Senator the USW
actually brought up to Washington about three weeks ago to lobby Congress.²
A plot to murder Senator Petro was reported by the AP last week.  On the
heels of this revelation, the USW offered Senator Petro sanctuary in the
United States from further attempts upon him and his family.   In a
conversation between the USW and Senator Petro last week, Senator Petro
stated that he continues to believe his life and the lives of his family
members are in grave jeopardy from paramilitary reprisals as a result of
Senator Petro¹s high-profile exposure of links between Colombian elites and
the AUC.   Since 2002, the USW has been involved in a lawsuit against
Drummond stemming from the violent assassinations of union leaders Valmore
Locarno, Victor Orcasita and Gustavo Soler. Gerard wrote to Mr. Gonzalez,
³These murders were carried out by AUC paramilitaries who, evidence shows,
received substantial material support as well as encouragement² from
Drummond.  The USW is seeking justice for the families of these trade union
leaders as well as for their union, SINTRAMIENERGETICA.
http://www.fightbackamerica.net <http://www.fightbackamerica.net/>  - United
Steelworkers  AFL-CIO.CLC
 

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