I'm really bored. It's a saturday night and i have nothing to do, and i feel like a big, dumb, asshole. If you want to hang out with someone who's bored, has nothing to do on a saturday night, and feels like a big, dumb, asshole, give me a call.
If you don't want to do that, or if you're a normal person and aren't sitting in front of your computer screen on a saturday night, you can check out the now-publiished and very incisive
Blackboard Blues report. It's hard hitting stuff that points to both the crisis facing the academy and Yale, and a way of resolving that crisis and ensuring a democratic future for higher education.
If the report isn't enough to sate you, you can also check out Page Austin's
great Op-Ed in yesterday's YDN, as well as this very good
article by Jessica Feinstein. Feinstein should note, however, that the panel today, which about 35 people attended and which went really well, was organized and moderated by UNDERGRADS, not GESO.
Ghettopoly got banned by Urban Outfitters, and thsi is a good thing. Sarita Barton
rightly asks why more white students didn't firmly condemn this racist game. But nobody points out what popped into my mind -- that the real Ghettopolist here may be Urban's landlord.
Pickets in the aisles?
70,000 UFCW members in California are poised to strike several large supermarket chains over health care and retirement benefits. They've released this to the press:
Over the past several days, Southern California supermarket workers have been voting on a contract offer from three of the largest supermarket operators in the country.
They have been confronted with a stark choice—give up health care benefits not for only themselves and their families—but, to sacrifice future generations of supermarket workers.
In unprecedented numbers, Southern California supermarket workers turned out to vote and sent a clear message--they will fight for affordable health care.
They delivered a mandate to their union—if needed to save health care—strike to protect our families— strike to save health care coverage for the next generation of workers.
These workers are heroes—they are willing to make the sacrifice—to take up the fight to save health care.
This is a fight for all Southern California workers this is a fight for all supermarket workers—union and non-union—here and across the country because if these three supersize, super-profitable, supermarket chains can cut benefits here then every worker is at risk.
We are announcing that on October 11, we will strike one of the supermarket chains. We will limit our job action to a single chain, so we will limit the inconvenience to our customers.
We are asking the employers to also respect our customers – and not to take retaliatory action against workers through a lock out. There should be no lock out.
After all the customers, are the ones that we depend on for our jobs and the companies for their profits.
Following today’s meeting with the companies and the federal mediator, we will announce the time and the target of the strike.
We will make an effort to avoid a strike—but, workers will not give up on health care—we are not asking for more—we are asking to keep the benefits that we have.
We have passed out some information on company profits and health care costs.
I want you all to note—employers’ profits have risen 10 times faster than their hourly contribution to worker health care.
Their profits overall have gone up 91% since 1998.
You will also see that we have contained health cares cost—the increased costs for health care for these employers have been significantly below the national average.
Meanwhile, it looks like a company that works with people with cerebral palsy is up to
foul play in White Plains.
Thanks, Yaleinsider
Yaleinsider, in an informative reading of Paul Bass's analysis of Doug Rae's book and New Haven's response to the Lee-era project of urban restructuring (there wasn't too much renewal involved, except for the renewed militancy of Yale workers and New Haven Teachers) posts a link to a text transcription of
Go To School, Learn To Rule, a seminal text from the era of the 1970 uprising published by the American Independent Movement (NOT, as the website claims, the American Indian Movement. (Thanks, Michael Denning)) Everyone needs to read this now.
