>
> WW News Service Digest #37
>
> 1) Super scandal in NFL: Exclusion of Black coaches
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 2) Immigrant workers unionize
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 3) Is there a layoff in your future?
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 4) Struggle halts Illinois executions
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 5) Rally defends Mumia & Shaka
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 6) Is U.S. behind 'quiet coup' in Ukraine?
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 7) U.S. strategy vs. Iraq
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 8) Rocker: too little, too late
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
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>Message-ID: <008001b1fbff$ada332a0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Super scandal in NFL: Exclusion of Black coaches
>Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1988 18:00:45 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Feb. 10, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>BLACK HISTORY MONTH
>
>SUPER SCANDAL IN NFL:
>EXCLUSION OF BLACK COACHES
>
>By Monica Moorehead
>
>Twelve years ago, on Jan. 31, quarterback Doug Williams
>won the Most Valuable Player award after winning Super Bowl
>XXXIII. Williams was the first African American quarterback
>to ever play in this championship game.
>
>The Super Bowl is an annual contest between the National
>Football Conference and the American Football Conference
>within the National Football League. It's the highest
>ranking sports event in the United States and is treated
>like a national holiday.
>
>This year Steve McNair became the second African American
>quarterback to play in a Super Bowl. He almost led his team,
>the Tennessee Titans, to an upset victory over the heavily
>favored St. Louis Rams.
>
>McNair, a 1995 Heisman trophy runner-up from a small Black
>college in Mississippi--Alcorn State--
>gain ed national and worldwide popularity as he lead his
>underdog team to this year's Super Bowl.
>
>There are a few African American quarterbacks in the NFL,
>including Donovan McNabb, Shaun King, Jeff Blake and Ray
>Lucas. The quarterback position is considered the most
>prestigious and heavily scrutinized position because the
>quarterback calls the offensive plays and is ultimately
>responsible for advancing the team toward the goal line.
>
>Being a quarterback requires not only athletic agility but
>also intellectual and memory skills. Usually, when Black
>quarterbacks come out of the ranks of college, the NFL
>automatically turns them into either defensive backs or
>running backs. This is a scandal in itself.
>
>But the biggest crime of all is the ongoing, systematic
>exclusion of African American head coaches in the NFL.
>
>In a league that is now 70 percent Black, there are only
>two Black head coaches: Dennis Green of the Minnesota
>Vikings and Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
>
>The Green Bay Packers fired another coach, Ray Rhodes, and
>his entire African American coaching staff, after just one
>season. Rhodes was the only coach of color hired out of the
>NFL's 31 franchises in 1999.
>
>It is very unusual for a head coach to be fired after just
>one season. Rhodes has been demoted to defensive coordinator
>on another team.
>
>This past winter, there were six vacancies within the NFL.
>The Miami Dolphins replaced head coach Jimmy Johnson with
>his assistant coach, Dave Wannstedt. And the New York Jets
>replaced head coach Bill Parcells with his aide, Al Groh.
>
>A number of Black assistant coaches refer to this approach
>as the "NFL's buddy system." This means that no external
>interviews take place on a particular team when there is a
>job opening.
>
>The New England Patriots interviewed a Black coaching
>assistant, Willie Shaw--but decided to hire former Cleveland
>coach Bill Belichick.
>
>Ted Cottrell is another Black coach who has gotten the
>cold shoulder from NFL teams. Cottrell is the Buffalo Bills'
>defensive coordinator. He has been an assistant coach for 15
>years.
>
>The Bills' defense ranked first last year in total
>defense. But Cottrell has not yet been sought out for any
>head coaching jobs.
>
>Cottrell told CNN, "I have to keep working hard and hope
>my time will come."
>
>`A CULTURE DRIVEN BY WHITE SUPREMACISTS'
>
>Michael Wilborn, a Black sports writer for the Washington
>Post, said angrily on the ESPN program "The Sportswriters"
>that Art Shell--the former Oakland Raiders player and head
>coach--had not been offered a head coaching job in six
>years. Shell has only been interviewed twice within the last
>five years.
>
>While Wannstedt and Belichick were fired from previous
>coaching jobs for producing losing records, Shell had a
>winning record with the Raiders. Wilborn went on to say that
>white head coaches get second and third chances while Black
>coaches like Shell are punished and ostracized if they don't
>win and win big.
>
>Just days before the Super Bowl was played, the Rev. Jesse
>Jackson said that the lack of coaching opportunities for
>Black coaches shows that the NFL is "a culture driven by
>white supremacists. There is a standard for choosing coaches
>in the National Football League and another standard for
>choosing players."
>
>Commenting on the firing of Rhodes, Jackson said that "the
>wipeout on that coaching staff set us back 10 years."
>
>NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue defended the league's
>hiring practices regarding Black coaches by saying it is up
>to the owners, not the NFL, to hire coaches. He failed to
>point out that every top owner in the NFL is white--and they
>are mostly all multi-millionaires.
>
>The pressure should not be put on Black coaches to "prove
>themselves." The pressure should be put on the owners and
>the NFL management to stop these racist and degrading
>practices from proceeding another day.
>
>And the only kind of real pressure they will understand
>will have to come from the players themselves--Black and
>white. United, these players have the power to withhold
>their ability to perform on the field until a real
>affirmative action program is established.
>
>If the NFL is 70 percent African American, there is no
>sane reason why coaching staffs should not be 70 percent
>Black as well.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <008601b1fbff$c9c9ec80$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Immigrant workers unionize
>Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1988 18:01:33 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Feb. 10, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>AS IMMIGRANT WORKERS UNIONIZE:
>ACTIVISTS PUSH AFL-CIO TO DEFEND UNDOCUMENTED
>
>By Mary Owen
>
>When nine undocumented Mexicana workers decided to help
>unionize the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Minneapolis,
>they moved immigrant worker rights to the top of labor's
>agenda. The workers--Rosa Albino, Evertina Albino, Reyna
>Albino, Norma del Torro, Bulfrano Albino, Bruna Alvarez,
>Estelle Albino, Amado Flore and Francilia Albino--led a
>drive that brought Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees
>Local 17 into the hotel.
>
>Shortly after the union victory, when they arrived at work
>on Oct. 13, they were called in to the hotel manager's
>office, where Immigration and Naturalization Service
>officials handcuffed them and took most to jail. Consistent
>with their leadership in the organizing drive, the women
>conferred with the union and lawyers, and decided to stay in
>the country as long as possible to fight back.
>
>As a result, they won a combined $72,000 in compensation
>and back pay in a case brought by the Equal Employment
>Opportunities Commission and the National Labor Relations
>Board. Nevertheless, they still face deportation.
>
>"I think it has to be extremely difficult when you're
>handcuffed, led to a van and taken to jail and you know that
>Christmas is coming and you are taken from your family,"
>Lloyd Zimmerman, a senior trial attorney for the EEOC in
>Minneapolis, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I thought
>it was remarkable that people in their situation would
>decide to file with another government agency. They stood
>course when they had no reason to think there could be a
>good outcome."
>
>Zimmerman compared their stand to that taken by Rosa Parks
>in Montgomery, Ala., when she refused to go to the back of
>the bus.
>
>FIRINGS, DEPORTATIONS HINDER ORGANIZING
>
>Employers are increasingly fighting union organizing among
>immigrant workers by firing them, threatening them with
>deportation, or actually calling in the INS.
>
>Immigration status "has come up in every single organizing
>campaign we've had in the last three years," said Jaye
>Rykunyk of HERE Local 17 in Minneapolis. "In a number of our
>hotels, we have lost entire departments. And it really has a
>chilling effect on an organizing drive. People understand
>very clearly--if you are involved in trying to bring in a
>union, you put your job in jeopardy."
>
>Nearly half of the undocumented workers in the United
>States are believed to live in California. There, as
>elsewhere, they toil at farm labor, janitorial services,
>hotel and restaurant work, garment and other assembly jobs.
>
>In some sectors, immigrant workers account for more than
>half the work force. One in three people in Silicon Valley
>is foreign-born.
>
>Joel Ochoa, an organizer for the Machinists union, says it
>is hard to win organizing drives when the workers are
>subject to intimidation. In January, the union lost a hard-
>fought campaign to organize immigrant workers at a wheel
>assembly plant in San Bernardino, Calif.
>
>A substantial number of undocumented immigrants live in
>the New York metropolitan area. Organizing among Latino/a
>green grocery workers, African delivery workers, and garment
>workers from Asia, Latin America and the Carib bean takes
>place under the constant threat of INS raids and
>deportations.
>
>Organizing drives have been thwarted in the Midwest and
>other areas when a "review" of workers' documents has
>brought wholesale firings and arrests, or drove workers to
>quit en masse for fear of deportation.
>
>"There are many stories of employers calling people before
>a union vote to check their papers, even in cases where they
>helped them get over the border," said Service Employees
>Local 1877 Mike Garcia. His local represents janitors in Los
>Angeles.
>
>"As long as everything's quiet, these issues don't get
>raised. But firings are always available. That's the problem
>with the law. It's become another weapon for the employer."
>
>LABOR MUST DEFEND UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
>
>Garcia is among a group of labor activists pushing the
>AFL-CIO to recommend a repeal of the 1986 "employer
>sanctions" law because it has been used to punish workers
>rather than bosses. Garcia told the Los Angeles Times the
>government should legalize undocumented workers and spend
>more to enforce wage and safety laws.
>
>Immigrant-rights activists and unions with many members
>who are immigrants have long called for the labor movement
>to take a stronger stand in defense of undocumented workers.
>With pressure mounting from member unions and federations,
>the AFL-CIO has convened a task force on immigration laws
>that is expected to call for major reform as early as this
>month.
>
>The 13-million-member federation has also agreed to
>sponsor town hall meetings in the spring to address the
>exploitation of immigrant workers and the retaliation many
>face when they try to organize.
>
>`IMMIGRATION LAWS SHOULD BE BROKEN'
>
>The AFL-CIO task force will review a proposal, backed by a
>growing number of labor coalitions, that opposes cooperation
>with immigration authorities, urges repeal of sanctions, and
>advocates adoption of a new amnesty program for undocumented
>workers. The proposal has been endorsed in California by the
>South Bay Labor Council, sister councils in Alameda,
>Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, and the 2.1-million-member
>California Labor Federation.
>
>"We basically feel immigration laws should be broken. We
>should protect undocumented workers, we should harbor them,
>we should not cooperate with the INS," Warren Mar told the
>San Jose Mercury News. Mar is a Labor Immigrant Organizing
>Network member and AFL-CIO recruitment coordinator for the
>Northwest.
>
>The proposal will also be the subject of a February
>conference in Washington. Traditionally sponsored by the
>National Immigration Law Center, the conference will for the
>first time be co-hosted by two AFL-CIO constituency groups--
>the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and the Labor
>Council for Latin American Advancement.
>
>Taking a stronger stand on immigrant rights and supporting
>amnesty for the undocumented could help the labor movement
>grow by leaps and bounds. By targeting apple pickers from
>Washington state to farm workers in Florida, the AFL-CIO and
>its member unions have shown a readiness to bring immigrant
>workers into the labor movement. Now labor has to take on
>the legal obstacles that keep immigrant workers in bondage.
>
>There is every reason for optimism as this process
>unfolds, according to Matthew Finucane, deputy director of
>the AFL-CIO civil rights department. "The percentage of
>minorities in the labor movement is increasing. The rate of
>immigration is higher than at other times, and there's
>really just a whole lot of energy and willingness to stand
>up for worker rights among many immigrant communities," he
>said.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <009401b1fbff$effecec0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Is there a layoff in your future?
>Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1988 18:02:37 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Feb. 10, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>IS THERE A LAYOFF IN YOUR FUTURE?
>
>By Gary Wilson
>
>President Bill Clinton claimed credit for an economic
>miracle in his State of the Union address Jan. 27. But for
>many workers the miracle is that they still have a job.
>
>On Jan. 27, Coca-Cola announced a massive layoff of 20
>percent of its work force--more than 6,000 workers.
>
>That same day, Lockheed Martin announced it is cutting
>2,800 jobs in its aerospace division.
>
>Pratt & Whitney announced on Jan. 21 that it will
>eliminate another 1,700 jobs. This is on top of 3,500 jobs
>that have been cut since 1998.
>
>Venator Group Inc., formerly Woolworth, said on Jan. 26
>that it is closing 358 stores and laying off 3,700 workers.
>
>The merger of EMI with Time Warner's music division is
>expected to eliminate about 3,000 jobs.
>
>There were dozens more layoff notices that went out in
>January. Many of these are in the traditional manufacturing
>industries.
>
>HIGH RATE OF LAYOFFS
>
>The last two years have set records for layoffs. According
>to Challenger Gray & Christmas, a firm that tracks layoffs,
>job-cut announcements for 1999 totaled 675,132.
>
>That is just short of the record number of job cuts made
>in 1998--677,795.
>
>Job cuts from mergers and acquisitions in 1999 reached a
>five-year high of 79,219, Challenger Gray & Christmas
>reported. In December 1999, one out of every four layoffs
>
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