18 October, 2007

Corporate free Music! and Manny Ramirez?

What is Socialism?
Workers and their Unions are the only force in society in which in order for any person's lot in life to get better, all of their co-workers have to profit together. In most of capitalist society we are mostly told to be greedy at the expense of our co-workers. But the bosses do everything they can to discourage our Union activism.

Music:
Today we're playing a lot of music that is free of corporate domination. Woody Guthrie refused to bow to the interests of corporate music. He prefered to roam the country, playing at working class bars and surviving on basically the same wages that the people he played for did. Radiohead's latest album, "In Rainbows" is being offered online for whatever donation is decided by the listener. Immortal Technique has continually refused to sign with a major label and has built is career around his own promotion and the strength of his lyrics and his music.

Manny Ramirez - Baseball isn't war...


Solidarity Announcements:

Anti-War demonstrations the weekend of Oct 26 & 27

Sickout/Walkout Oct 26th 12noon - Walkout of school and call in sick to work on Friday, Oct 26th. Gather for a rally followed by a march on the Boston Common at 1pm. See www.sowoco.org for more information.

National Day of Action against the war - Saturday Oct 27th, 12noon, Boston Common.
www.October27.org or www.newenglandunited.org

On November 6th,
Vote Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large. Matt Geary is the candidate of Socialist Alternative. See www.votegeary.com for his full program. Look for Matt on BNN tonight!

Nigerian Students charged with trumped up charges. Heres who you can protest to: The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
• Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
• OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
• Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
• the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website


Reading the Papers:

MBTA debt will cause MORE fare hikes in the next five years.
MassPIRG's report is here. It says that the MBTA has 3 choices: Fare increase, service cuts or more borrowing (ie, more debt). The Boston Globe article on it is here.
Where does the debt come from? Forward funding legislation passed in 2000 put the funds in the hands of the stock market and out of the hands of the Mass Legislature. MBTA debt service is over $250 million a year!

Nurses rally in Boston to push for Card Check union recognition in the Longwood Medical area. Ben Affleck supports them!

24 hour transportation strike in France. Sarkozy is trying to cut back on the pensions that transporation workers have won in the past.

Clear Channel is trying to break the union and pay their billboard workers nothing. Their workers are on strike but their tactics are largely symbolic and are not preventing billboards from being updated.

History of post-WWII healthcare on ZMag
.

Wealth gap increasing and increasing. Largest its been since the 1920s.

Abortion rates stay the same, legal or illegal (international herald tribune).

11 October, 2007

UAW - Fake Strikes, wtf?

Audio:


What is Socialism?

Solidarity Announcements

Today! Protest "No Match" letters being sent to immigrant workers to keep them from working.
3:00 PM in front of the Social Security Office, O’Neill Building, (North Station, 10 Causeway St. Boston, MA) or more information contact Mauro at mauro@massjwj.net or (617) 524-8778.

Boston Globe - Social Security database full of errors, could get many non-immigrants fired. Nobody is safe!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
BE FAIR TO THOSE WHO CARE! Join 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers, not yet-union hospital workers, and community activists as we say: 3:30-5:30 Longwood Medical Area. Too many hospital workers can't afford healthcare for themselves or their children and many struggle to pay their rent on low wages that don't reward their years of labor. Many caregivers have been quietly working together to form a union with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, with a vision of making our hospitals the best they can be for our patients and workplaces where caregivers are treated with Dignity, Rights and Respect.
For more info: call Corey Hope Leaffer 617-284-1142

Anti-War Events weekend of Oct 26-27
Friday Oct 26, Sick of War? Walk out of school, call in sick to work, join the Rally at the Boston Common at 1pm. For more info: www.sowoco.org

Saturday, Oct 27, End the War Now - National Day of Action. 12noon Boston Common.
www.Oct27.org, or, www.NewEnglandUnited.org


Matt Geary Campaign:
www.VoteGeary.com
Forum at Roxbury Community College tonight!
Standout for Geary in Charlestown on Saturday.


Reading the Papers:
UAW told GM to stockpile before starting negotiating.
UAW strikes Chrysler, settles 6 hours later. Ford is next.
Roots of the UAW - the Auto-Lite Sit-down strike in 1934 heres a wikipedia article about it.
Some GM plants vote down contract.

Home Heating Costs on the rise.

Ex-president Carter Says, "US tortures prisoners."

Teamsters settle with UPS 10 months early.

Illegal Rendition = Kidnapping by the government

Go see SICKO!

Recalled food Item went to BJ's stores. (after be recalled)

Hazardous levels of Lead
found in 1/3 of lipstick.

Homelessness on the rise in Massachussetts
.
Mass State Turnpike fare hikes
.

09 October, 2007

audio for Oct 4th Show

You can listen here, in this mp3 player (though it takes a while to load):


or you can download it at: Download from host

i've edited it so theres no music (so its a smaller file).
enjoy!
-josh

04 October, 2007

First Thursday Show!

Hi everybody!
The WMFO website isn't working at the moment so we don't have audio for you at the moment. We're working on recording straight from the board so we can post to the blog in the future, but at the moment we'll just have to post in writing what we're doing.

See our play lists


Our Topics:

What is democratic Socialism?
1 out of every 3 Americans have no vacation time.

Solidarity

Rally to support Boston Hospital Workers:
Tuesday, October 16th, 4pm-5:30pm @ the Longwood Medical Area in Boston
For more information call Corey Hope Leaffer at 617-284-1142
SEIU Local 1199


Harvard fires HUCTW library worker
(Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers)
Co-workers and activists concerned about discrimination

Harvard University recently fired David Toomey, a very dedicated and productive library assistant with over 20 years experience. Before firing David, Harvard managers sent two different emails to hundreds of co-workers asking them to report “concerns” about David. Harvard then used co-workers’ complaints about David to terminate his employment.
As David has a very serious medical disability, co-workers and fellow union members are upset about Harvard’s solicitations of complaints. Many are even more upset that Harvard used these complaints to terminate his employment.
Despite his disability, David has worked very hard for Harvard College Library helping build the impressive French/Italian collection. He routinely put in overtime and he consistently maintained admiration and respect from colleagues. His performance has been excellent. Despite this, Harvard resisted granting David’s requests for accommodation to his disability and managers were often reluctant to work with union representatives trying to help David.
Friends and colleagues of David’s have asked Harvard to reverse the termination. David should be able to keep his job and he should be able to access internal grievance processes.

Please join the campaign to:
Reinstate David
Fight Discrimination at Harvard
Support following local problem solving (grievance) processes
&
Encourage Harvard to support the Disabled by acknowledging employees’ conditions and accommodating their reasonable workplace requests

Email the following to voice your concerns:
Bill Murphy, Director, Labor and Employee Relations
bmurphy@camail.harvard.edu

Steve Marley, Director of Human Resource Services, Harvard College Library
marley@fas.harvard.edu

SAMPLE TEXT:
“I am concerned that management solicited complaints about David Toomey. Harvard should not discriminate against workers with disabilities. David should get his job back, and Harvard should respect the HUCTW contract.”

To help, get more information or share your story of discrimination, email: stopharvardsdiscrimination@gmail.com


Oct 26th Anti-War student walkout and worker sickout.
www.sowoco.org
Oct 27th Anti-War rally 2pm Boston Common. www.stopthewars.org



Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large
Workers councilor on a workers wage: Matt pledges to donate more than half of the $87,000 city councilor's salary back to the movement and only take the average wage of his constituents. VOTE GEARY!

Democratize Boston!
-Boston School Board - appointed, not elected
-Boston Redevelopment Authority - appointed, not elected (mainly wealthy businessmen)
-Make the T affordable again! Reverse the fare hikes?

Boston Organizer - Boston Socialist Alternative website

Keep your eye out for candidate forums... Matt will be there!

Reading the Paper

Walkout Newsletter of Justice
Walk out of classes, call in sick to work - Oct 26th in Boston, check www.yawr.org for other cities.

For US Workers, Anxious Times
UAW stuff (Christian Science Monitor)

UAW agreement, 15 factories slated to be closed - Boston Globe
Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union

Ford and Chrysler next for UAW

Boston Herald - T fare hike has decreased public transportation usage. Ridership could continue to drop.

USA is the top arms dealer to the developing world, reports the NYTimes.

Congress approves billions more for the Iraq War


U.S. Pays Steep Price for Private Security in Iraq

Burma - Thousands Killed...

Obama, whats up? are you more than empty rhetoric?