Killer cops walk in California
District Attorney Grover Trask ruled May 6 that four cops
who discharged a shower of 23 bullets that killed 19-year-
old Tyisha Miller in Riverside, California, last December,
did not commit criminal acts. Miller pulled into a gas
station that fatal night with a flat tire. Relatives arrived
on the scene to help and found Miller behind locked doors,
foaming at the mouth in an apparent seizure. They called the
police for help. When cops got there they banged on the car
windows, shook the car, and flashed lights in the middle of
the night at the sleeping woman, who they claim had a gun on
her lap. When she reacted to this ruckus, cops opened fire,
hitting her 12 times.
Public protests joined by civil rights activists, trade unionists, religious groups, angry Riverside residents, and others followed the brutal killing. "We thought we were going to get justice but we just got the same old thing," said Bernell Butler, Miller's cousin. "Police officers are able to murder and get away with it."
Cyclones rip through Midwest, U.S. gov't aid package pitiful
Vortical wind blasts from 76 tornadoes hit Oklahoma,
Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, and South Dakota May 3, reducing
neighborhoods to rubble and killing more than 50 people. The
myriad of twisters, some gusting up to 300 miles per hour,
caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, as well as
leaving tens of thousands of working people homeless. In the
small town of Stroud, Oklahoma, for example, 107 homes and
buildings were destroyed and damaged, and hundreds of workers
are out of a job. Three days later 95 percent of homes and
businesses still lacked electricity. At least one major
employer there is considering moving out and not rebuilding.
Insured losses alone in the five states hit by the tornadoes
are as high as $1 billion, according to the Insurance
Information Institute.
In this context U.S. vice president Albert Gore toured some of the devastated areas in Kansas May 6 and announced a wee $5.7 million from the Labor Department to help clean up in that state. Other disaster relief programs are similarly inadequate, including payments for temporary housing, minor home repair, and low-interest loans for some businesses. According to one telephone operator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of Emergency Information and Public Affairs, for an uninhabitable home it takes at least 7-10 days before a person could even get help, and there are no guarantees.
EU won't lift beef ban on U.S.
Taking the trade conflict between Washington and its
competitors in the European Union (EU) another step, the
European Commission, the EU's executive body, decided
unanimously May 4 to uphold its 10-year-old ban on hormone-
treated beef. The EU asserts growth hormones often given to
cattle in the United States are carcinogenic. U.S. rulers are
threatening to impose a $300 million sanction on EU exports
if the ban is not lifted by May 13. If the EU statement
"reflects the sentiment in the EU," warned Peter Scher, chief
agriculture negotiator for U.S. trade, "there is clearly not
a serious intention to resolve the dispute, and we will be
forced to exercise our rights in the WTO [World Trade
Organization] to retaliate."
Russian coal miners strike
A thousand coal miners on Sakhalin Island in Russia, began
a 10-day strike May 6 to demand 10 months of unpaid wages.
The strip miners provide coal to the power station in the Far
East region. Although the action is declared through May 16,
a number of miners say they want to strike until they are
paid back in full. Miners waged strikes throughout last
summer and fall, pressuring Moscow to pay part of the wage
arrears.
IMF tells Moscow: squeeze workers tighter to get loan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is demanding the
Russian government step up austerity measures in order to get
a new $4.5 billion loan package over the next 18 months.
"Pushing the controversial reforms through parliament by July
will be no small feat," cautioned an April 30 article from
London's Financial Times. The IMF is pushing for five steps:
a new law to open banks wider to capitalist investors,
changes in laws on bank bankruptcies, raising taxes for
liquor and fuel, raising the regressive value-added tax to 20
percent, and relaxing foreign exchange restrictions. The new
IMF funds won't actually be remitted to Moscow, but instead
go directly to pay interest payments on a previous $4.9
billion loan.
Meanwhile, some 30 million people - one-fifth of Russia's population - will be in "extreme poverty" by next year if the economic crisis continues. "Extreme poverty" is defined as those living on less than half of the minimal subsistence income, which was figured at 830 rubles ($33) per month in February. The World Bank projects an 8.3 percent drop in the Russian economy this year.
Facing discrimination charges, Kodak agrees to pay raises
Eastman Kodak agreed to pay 2,000 employees - women,
Blacks, and Latinos - $13 million in retroactive and current
pay raises in New York and Colorado. The bulk of recipients
are clerks, skilled workers, and factory workers. Individual
employees as well as a local Colorado chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People complained
Kodak was discriminatory in overlooking wage increases for
women and oppressed nationalities by using "performance-
based" raises. "Clearly racism is inconsistent with our
values," asserted Kodak spokesman Charles Smith, "but there
was a discrepancy that appears to be on the basis of gender
and race."
S. Africa bus drivers strike
Bus drivers from the Transport and General Workers Union,
Transport and Allied Workers Union, Western Cape Omnibus
Staff Association, and the Transport Omnibus Workers Union
went on strike April 15 demanding higher wages and a maximum
12-hour work shift. The strike by 18,000 workers ended May 3
with an 8.5 percent wage raise agreed to by the companies.
Transportation bosses lost 80 million rands (US$12.8
million). The 12-hour work cap is still being negotiated by
union officials and bus bosses. Unionists rejected a
government-appointed arbitrator, which they said would hold a
pro-company bias.
Zimbabwe Telecom fires strikers
Engineers and technicians on a national strike against the
Post and Telecommunications Corporation of Zimbabwe (PTC)
were fired April 29, supposedly to "prevent the alleged
further destruction of property," wrote the Xinhua news
agency. The PTC board accused strikers of sabotage. Workers
were demanding a 200 percent wage increase. Acting Postmaster-
General Sizo Mhlanga, trying to sow divisions among workers,
labeled the strikers unpatriotic, selfish, well-paid trouble
makers. The next day union Secretary Peter Manyonda and
Chairman Simon Musvosve were arrested and charged with
inciting other workers and sabotage.
- BRIAN TAYLOR