Tag Archives: Carl Davidson

Community, Economy

County Residents Give Congressman Altmire and Transport Officials An Earful

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Photo: Jason Altmire, (D-4th-PA) at labor meeting

Residents Speak Up
at ‘Town Hall’ Forum
on Transportation
and Job Issues

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Congressman Jason Altmire got an earful at the Feb. 17 “Town Meeting’ on transportation issues held at Beaver County Community College, with some voices straying beyond the official agenda. But then, that’s what the representative from PA’s 4th CD called for when he launched sessions around the district inviting public participation.

The topic was Pennsylvania’s roads, bridges and traffic patterns, and how to keep the state, district and county from being shortchanged on all fronts. But it widened to include environmental protection, youth unemployment, racism in hiring, high-speed rail, rebuilding lock and dams, and general praise for President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. Continue reading County Residents Give Congressman Altmire and Transport Officials An Earful →

health care, labor

Once Again, Aliquippa Workers Hit the Streets to Demand Their Pay

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aliquippa-workers

Photo:  CMC workers gather for vigil and march

Bridge Finance
Dragging Feet on
Final Payment to
Hospital Workers

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Why is a major Chicago financial group with millions once again behaving like a low-life deadbeat, needing to be dunned for payment by the hospital workers it owes, and who have very little?

That’s the question that sent Aliquippa’s former employees of the Commonwealth Medical Center back to the shutdown hospital Feb 16 for a candlelight vigil and nighttime march through neighborhood streets. About 50 nurses and staff, fired last December, braved freezing weather to demand, once again, their full back wages. About two weeks earlier, after a brief sit-in in the facility, they got about half their money, with the other half promised within weeks. The promise proved empty, if not deceitful. Continue reading Once Again, Aliquippa Workers Hit the Streets to Demand Their Pay →

Economy, Environment, Infrastructure, labor

Green Jobs 2009: Steelworkers Meet Hip-Hoppers and Tree-Huggers

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Photo: AFLCIO’s Richard Trumka at Green Jobs 2009

Blue-Green Insurgency
Gets Fired Up at the
DC Green Jobs Conference

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

When you walk into a large and stately Washington, DC hotel lobby and find it teeming with thousands of smiling, buzzing people-half in labor union jackets and ball caps, the other half dressed in 30-something hip-hop causal-you know some special is happening.

This was the lively, energized scene for three cold wintry days this Feb 4-6 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, as nearly 3000 activists and organizers gathered for the “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” National Conference. The gathering was convened by more than 100 organizations, representing every major trade union and every major environmental group in the country, among others. Continue reading Green Jobs 2009: Steelworkers Meet Hip-Hoppers and Tree-Huggers →

Community, health care, labor

No Shame: Hospital Workers Robbed in Court

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Photo: Closed Hospital in Aliquippa

Injustice In Aliquippa:
New Labor Battle
Over Hospital Shutdown

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Hundreds of fired hospital workers are awakening the historic spirit of class struggle in Beaver County, as they confront an effort by heath industry financiers and a bankruptcy court to steal their wages after destroying their jobs.

That was the message made loud and clear at a rally of over 100 Commonwealth Medical Center workers and their allies at the Serbian Club on a snowy afternoon, January 9, in Aliquippa, Pa. The members of SEIU Local 1199 are organizing for further action at the US Bankruptcy court in downtown Pittsburgh on Jan.27, as well as at the offices of Bridge Finance Group in Chicago.
Continue reading No Shame: Hospital Workers Robbed in Court →