Job Opportunity, BC CCPA

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 09:04:53 -0400 (EDT)
>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: jim stanford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Job Opportunity, BC CCPA
>Status: U
>
>Dear PEF Members;
>
>The following extended job posting may be of interest to you or someone you
>know.
>
>
>
>EXTENDED JOB POSTING
>
>Job Posting: Researcher
>with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - BC Office
>
>The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - BC office is seeking to hire
>a researcher for a two-year term to staff a newly established Public
>Interest Research Desk (PIRD).
>
>The PIRD researcher will undertake a variety of short and long-term
>research projects related to the role of value of public services, public
>enterprise, the relationship between the public and private sectors, and
>privatization.
>
>Duties consist of a combination of research and writing, policy analysis,
>and media and communications work.
>
>Skills and Qualifications Required:
>
>The position requires a strong background in both social and economic
>policy, and demonstrated research experience dealing with public services.
>The successful candidate must have a strong academic background in a
>relevant field of study. Other skills include:
>* excellent written and oral communication skills, including public
>speaking experience, popular/accessible writing skills, academic writing
>skills, and experience giving media interviews;
>* background in quantitative methods and statistics;
>* strong computer skills, including internet search skills and experience
>with Excel (the office uses a Macintosh computer system);
>* a demonstrated ability to work effectively, both independently and as
>part of a team in an environment that is frequently pressured.
>
>Experience working with a progressive non-profit organization and/or within
>the labour movement is desirable, and some direct experience with public
>services would be an asset. The successful candidate should share a
>commitment to the CCPA's Statement of Purpose.
>
>The CCPA-BC office is relatively new and growing. We are looking for an
>individual eager to help build a dynamic and successful research institute.
>The person hired for the position should feel comfortable working in a
>small office environment. The Centre is committed to employment equity, and
>welcomes applications from women, racial minorities, and other
>traditionally under represented groups.
>
>Job Duties and Responsibilities include:
>* researching and writing policy briefs, research papers, and studies;
>* writing articles and opinion pieces for newspapers, the CCPA Monitor, and
>other publications;
>* monitoring and analyzing provincial public policy with respect to public
>services and public enterprise;
>* developing research proposals and writing grants;
>* providing information and comment to media (including frequent press,
>radio and TV interviews).
>
>Salary will depend on qualifications and experience. The CCPA is a
>unionized workplace and provides a generous benefits package.
>
>About the CCPA:
>
>The CCPA is an independent, non-profit research institute funded primarily
>through organizational and individual memberships. Founded in 1980, it is
>one of the few national institutions addressing Canadian public policy
>issues from a progressive point of view. The Centre undertakes and promotes
>economic and social policy research. The CCPA produces research reports,
>books and other publications (including the Monitor, a monthly magazine),
>and organizes public lectures and conferences. (CCPA web site:
>www.policyalternatives.ca)
>
>The Centre opened it's BC Office in January, 1997. The BC office has
>developed a province-wide team of research associates concerned with issues
>of social and economic justice.  The office undertakes research of national
>interest and of specific interest to British Columbians, promotes the work
>of progressive BC researchers, counters the public statements and reports
>of corporate-backed research organizations, and acts as an alternative
>source of policy ideas for the media.
>
>Closing date for applications: Friday, April 30, 1999, 10:00 AM.
>Please submit your application to: Seth Klein, Director, CCPA-BC Office.
>Address: 815-207 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1H7
>Fax.: (604) 801-5122
>Please send a resume with a list of references.
>
>Jim Stanford
>Economist, Canadian Auto Workers
>Suite 1306 - 2000 Barrington St.
>Halifax, N.S.  B3K 3K1
>1-800-565-1272  (902) 455-9327
>fax (902) 454-9473  email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

FW New searchable Futurework archives

[S. Lerner]

Thanks to Michael Yount, we have a much-improved archive site for
Futurework.  Check out

 http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/   and
bookmark it.

This is the archive capability we have been wanting.  Many thanks, Michael!

Sally

FW democratizing technology- book annoucement (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 12:49:02 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "patricia morales" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MIME-version: 1.0
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-to: LOKA INSTITUTE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: democratizing technology- book annoucement
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>Book announcement by the editor:
>
>Democratising Technology-Theory and Practice of Deliberative Technology =
>Policy Edited by Rene von Schomberg, published by the International Centre
>for = Human and Public Affairs (ICHPA), Hengelo, The Netherlands, 125
>pages.  ISBN 90-802139-6-9, 19,90 US dollar, order by fax +31-74-2918697
>
>Table of Contents
>Introduction
>1. Escaping the iron cage, or, subversive rationalization and democratic =
>theory
>by Andrew Feenberg (San Diego, State University)
>2. Design Criteria and political strategies for democratising technology
>by Richard E. Sclove (Loka Institute)
>3   Why the public should participate in technical decision making
>by Carl Mitcham, (Penn State University)
>4.Democratizing technology or technologizing democracy- the case of =
>   agricultural
>   biotechnology in Europe, by Les Levidow (Open University, England)
>5. Environmental research between knowledge and organisation,=20
>G. Bechmann (Institute for Systems analysis, Karlsruhe, Germany)
>6. Technology Assessment in a deliberative perspective
>by Ole Brekke and E. Erikson (Bergen, Norway)
>

FW ILO report on Asian crisis (fwd) longish

[S. Lerner]

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 13:06:25 -0500
From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Multiple recipients of list STOP-IMF <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: ILO on Impact of Asian Crisis (fwd)

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION 1998 PRESS RELEASES

Asian Labour Market Woes Deepening

ILO Calls for more "Socially Oriented" Model of Development as Job Losses
Mount, including Establishment of Unemployment Insurance

Wednesday 2nd December 1998
Simultaneously released in Hong Kong and Geneva ( ILO/98/42 )

HONG KONG (ILO News) - The social fallout from the sudden unravelling of
economic fortunes in East- and South-East Asia is exceeding initial
forecasts and risks dramatically worsening, according to a new report *,
published by the International Labour Office (ILO) today.

The ILO report, entitled The Asian Financial Crisis: The challenge for
social policy warns that the deepening economic and social troubles in the
region are unlikely to be reversed in the near future and urges governments
and policy-makers to take unprecedented emergency and long-term measures,
especially establishing unemployment insurance for the mounting number of
newly unemployed.

In light of the severity of the crisis, solutions will require "an unusual
degree of flexibility in policy making on the part of domestic and
international actors, including increased social spending, which may prove
unavoidable if countries are to undertake credible efforts to reform and
alleviate the worst social aspects of the crisis," said the report's author,
ILO economist Eddy Lee.

"Just as the Depression in the 1930s forged a new social contract in
industrialized countries in the 1930s, so must the current Asia crisis serve
as an impetus to creating a more socially oriented model for development,"
said Mr. Lee.

Such a social contract must be founded on increased democracy and social
protection, including greater respect for the right of workers to form free
trade unions, are also essential ingredients to overcoming the effects of
the crisis. The ILO analysis insists that "there is no basis for arguing
that poor countries cannot afford to implement basic civil and political
rights," including freedom of association.

The report finds that one in every five formal-sector jobs in Indonesia has
been wiped out this year alone, shattering decades of progress made toward
modern, industrial employment in that country, along with the lives of 4 to
5 million Indonesian workers and their families. An additional 20 per cent
of the Indonesian population, approximately 40 million people, is expected
to fall into poverty this year.

In the Republic of Korea, one in twenty workers lost their jobs during the
nine month period from November 1997 to July 1998 and open unemployment in
the country is expected to increase threefold, from 2.3 per cent to 8.2 per
cent. An estimated 12 per cent of the Korean population is expected to sink
below that country's poverty line this year.

In Thailand open unemployment levels are forecast to triple from 2 to 6 per
cent this year, with partial information indicating a rapid acceleration in
the rate of job losses in the last three months. As access to jobs and
income dry up, it is estimated that 12 per cent of the Thai population will
sink into poverty this year, adding significantly to the nearly 16 per cent
of Thais already living in poverty.

In Hong Kong, China, unemployment rose from 2 per cent to over 5 per cent in
the first three quarters of 1998, an estimated net loss of some 75,000 jobs.
In Malaysia, unemployment levels are expected to double to 5.2 per cent by
year's end. However, both Hong Kong and Malaysia dipped into recession only
this year, indicating a relatively rapid rate of job losses in a
comparatively short period of time.

But the report finds that unemployment statistics tell only part of the
story, citing evidence that "the adverse impact on the labour markets of
these countries has been more widespread (...) apart from open unemployment,
the number of discouraged workers also seems to have increased."
In the Republic of Korea, for example, the labour force participation rate
fell from 63.1 per cent to 61.5 per cent between the second quarter 1997 to
1998: "This represents a decrease in labour force participation of 1.6
million workers compared to what it would have been had the pre-crisis trend
in labour force growth continued."

In Thailand, the number of people of working age shown as being "not in the
labour force" increased by 600,000 in the 12 months between February 1997
and 1998. In Malaysia, the presence of a very large number of illegal
foreign workers in the country may well understate the true extent of job
losses. In Indonesia, where estimated unemployment figures range from 7 to
14 per cent, the low estimate assumes that approximately one-half of all
displaced workers will be absorbed into the country's large informal and
rural sector, a contingency that is remot

FW Monthly Reminder

[S. Lerner]

Monthly Reminder

FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education

FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work
in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need
for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.

What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals?
This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for
income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are
questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn
technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather than
the recipe for a bladerunner society.

Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list
will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and
political agendas worldwide.

The FUTUREWORK lists are hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the
University of Waterloo.

To subscribe to FUTUREWORK (unmoderated) and/or FW-L (moderated) send a
message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   saying

subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress
subscribe FW-L YourE-MailAddress

NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of either list, subscribe to
futurework-digest or fw-l-digest.

To post directly to the lists (once you are subscribed), send your
message to:

[EMAIL PROTECTED] or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Please include 'FW' or 'FW-L'in the subject line of your message, so that
subscribers know the mail is from someone on the list.

FUTUREWORK, the unmoderated list, is for discussion and debate. Subscribers
often add a topic/thread identifier on the subject line (e.g. 'FW downward
mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea--but this is essentially
an open list.

FW-L, the moderated list, serves as a bulletin-board to post notices about
recommended books, articles, other documents, other Net sites, conferences,
even job openings, etc. relevant to the future
of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that
future.  It serves subscribers as a calmer place to post andbrowse. Sally
Lerner and Arthur Cordell serve as co-moderators for FW-L. Normally, posts
to this moderated list should be limited to one
screen.

Archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/

If you ever want to remove yourself from one of these mailing lists,
you can send mail to  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following
command in the body of your email message:

   unsubscribe futurework (or other list name) YourE-mailAddress

If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you have
trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send email
to  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a
human.

We look foward to meeting you  on the FUTUREWORK and FW-L lists.

Sally LernerArthur Cordell
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]

FW Ursula Franklin Lectures in May

[S. Lerner]

>Date:  Mon, 3 May 1999 12:32:58 -0400
>From: Eric Fawcett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Ursula Franklin Lectures in May
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>
>From: Ursula Franklin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Dear friends,
>I am sending you the announcement of four lectures, that I will give later
>in May, in the hope that you might be able to  attend and be part of the
>discussion, I also hope that you will post the notice on any e-mail list of
>interested people, you are part of, or on relevant web sites.
>
>Some of this may have been done already, so please avoid double postings.
>Because of my eye troubles I had to unsubscribe from lists I used to
>receive, so that I can not monitor the distribution of announcements.
>
>The school auditorium is large and it would be nice to raise some fund for
>the Academy; as a new school, there are no successful alumni yet who could
>help out. BUT if any one wants to come and can not spare five bucks, they
>should just say so and will get in.
>
>Many thanks and good wishes. . . Ursula
>===
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Waterman)
>For two weeks in May, your mind will be opened to the next century!
>
>"UPDATING The Real World of Technology"
> ~
>Four public lectures in celebration of a new, enlarged edition of Ursula
>Franklin's 1989 Massey Lectures published by the House of Anansi Press.
>
>Dr. Ursula M. Franklin is Professor Emerita of the University of Toronto,
>Fellow of Massey College and a Companion of the Order of Canada.
>
>Each lecture will update a particular facet of The Real World of
>Technology and correspond to one of the four new chapters added to Dr.
>Franklin's original Massey Lectures.
>Each lecture will stand alone as a topic but the series is intended to
>develop an understanding of the overall theme.
>There will be time set aside for questions and answers following each
>evening's lecture.
>
>The lecture series will take place over four evenings in May:
>
>Tuesday, May 18th  Communications: Ancient and Modern
>
>Thursday, May 20th Technology's Impact on Time
>
>Tuesday, May 25th  Technology's Impact on Space
>
>Thursday, May 27th Synthesis: Living at the interface of the
>   biosphere and the bitsphere
>
>Tickets for each lecture will be available for a minimum donation of $5.00.
>All proceeds will go to the Ursula Franklin Academy Scholarship Fund.
>
>The box office will open at 6:00 pm, doors to the auditorium will open at
>7:00 pm and each lecture will begin precisely at 7:30  pm. Late comers
>will be directed to the mezzanine, but will not be admitted to the main
>floor of the auditorium.
>
>The lectures will be held in the auditorium of Ursula Franklin Academy, a
>public secondary school within the Toronto District School Board. Opened
>in 1995, Ursula Franklin Academy is committed to innovative education that
>utilises technology in the integration of its math,science and liberal
>arts curriculum.
>
>The Academy is located in the Bloor-Dufferin area of central Toronto, five
>minutes from the TTCís Dufferin Station and across the street from the
>Dufferin Mall.
>Adequate parking is available.
>
>
>For lecture tickets contact the UFA main office 416.393.0430
>or reserve by email:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Visit the Academy's Website at www.ufacademy.com
>

FW A moment of silence (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 17:56:04 -0400
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: A moment of silence
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Comment:  Please see http://lists.essential.org for help
>
>As the Dow Jones industrial average shoots past 11,000 on its way to the
>stratosphere, could we pause for a moment of silence to recognize the
>wealth disparity that has resulted and the threat it poses to our fragile
>democracy?
>
>If you read and listen to the corporate press -- the Wall Street
>cheerleaders at Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business
>Daily, or the other major corporate news services -- you might think that
>the market boom has resulted in wealth all around.
>
>For the most part, the corporate press, caught up in their euphoria over
>this bubble economy, has ignored the reality on the ground.
>
>They generally ignored, for example, the bit of reality recently presented
>in succinct detail by the Boston- based United for a Fair Economy.
>
>Last month, the group issued "Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing
>Wealth Gap in America," a report that features the latest findings of
>economist Edward Wolff of New York University, a leading authority on
>wealth distribution.
>
>This is what the report found:
>
>* Most households have lower net worth, adjusting for inflation, than they
>did in 1983, when the Dow was still at 1,000.
>
>* From 1983 to 1998, the S&P 500 grew a cumulative 1,336 percent. But the
>wealthiest households reaped most of the gains.
>
>* Since the mid-1970s, the top 1 percent of households have doubled their
>share of the national wealth. The top 1 percent of U.S. households now
>have more wealth than the entire bottom 95 percent.
>
>* The top 1 percent of households control 40 percent of the wealth.
>Financial wealth is even more concentrated. The top one percent control
>nearly half of all financial wealth (net worth minus equity in
>owner-occupied housing).
>
>* Microsoft CEO Bill Gates owns more wealth than the bottom 45 percent of
>American households combined. In the fall of 1997, Gates was worth more
>than the combined Gross National Product of Central America -- for you
>geography buffs, that's Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama,
>Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize. By the fall of 1998, Gates' $60 billion
>was worth more than the GNPs of Central America plus Jamaica and Bolivia.
>
>* The boom has been a bust for millions of Americans. The
>inflation-adjusted net worth of the median household fell from $54,600 in
>1989 to $49,900 in 1997. Nearly one out of five households have zero or
>negative net worth (greater debts than assets), an increase from the
>1980s.
>
>* Workers are earning less, adjusting for inflation, than they did when
>Richard Nixon was president. Average weekly wages for workers in 1998 were
>12 percent below 1973, adjusting for inflation. Productivity grew nearly
>33 percent in the same period.
>
>* Families have sunk deeper into debt. Household debt as a percentage of
>personal income rose from 58 percent in 1973 to an estimated 85 percent in
>1997. Total credit card debt soared from $243 billion in 1990 to $560
>billion in 1997. Credit card limits have risen to the point that the
>average person can charge more than eight times what they already owe. As
>of 1997, almost 60 percent of American households carried credit card
>balances -- balances that average more than $7,000, costing these
>households more than $1,000 per year in interest and fees.
>
>There is little question that wealth concentration presented in this
>report is being fueled by corporate greed. And the resulting wealth
>inequality poses serious threats to our democracy and civic life.
>
>"The wealth gap reinforces -- and is reinforced by -- widening disparities
>in education, economic opportunity, and quality of life,"  says Chuck
>Collins, co-director of United for a Fair Economy, and a co-author of the
>report. "Even the affluent lose from inequality as it hurts life
>expectancy for rich and poor, fuels violence, and denies all of us the
>contributions of people whose opportunities are denied."
>
>Another co-author of the report, Juliet Schor, argues that "health,
>well-being and satisfaction appear to be heavily influenced by the ways in
>which economic resources, prestige and social position are distributed."
>
>"In more unequal societies, human well-being and quality of life appear to
>be lower," Schor says. Wolff makes the point that "wealth, more than
>income, directly translates into political power." To counter the wealth
>threat to democracy, Wolff proposes a wealth tax on the richest Americans.
>
>As an act of capitalist self-preservation, we think Gates and his buddies
>should agree.
>
>Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
>Reporter. Robert Weissman 

FW Statistics That Matter from The Jobs Letter No.99 (14 May1999) (fwd with permission)

[S. Lerner]

>From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>"The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>"The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 13:08:19 +1200
>X-Distribution: Moderate
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: Statistics That Matter from The Jobs Letter No.99  (14 May 1999)
>Reply-to: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Priority: normal
>
>S T A T I S T I C S   T H A T   M A T T E R
>--- A special supplement to The Jobs Letter ---
>14 May 1999
>
>-
>>
>G L O B A L  U N E M P L O Y M E N T   F I G U R E S
>
>Official Unemployment Rates
>
>SPAIN 18.6%
>FRANCE 11.9%
>ITALY 12.3%
>GERMANY 9.5%
>CANADA 8.3 %
>NEW ZEALAND 7.2%
>AUSTRALIA 8.1%
>OECD AVERAGE 7.0%
>BRITAIN 6.3%
>UNITED STATES 4.6%
>JAPAN 4.3 %
>
>-
-
>
>C R E D I T S
>-
>The Jobs Letter
>Statistics That Matter compiled by Shirley Vickery
>Editor -- Vivian Hutchinson
>Associates -- Rodger Smith, Dave Owens and Jo Howard
>
>ISSN No. 1172-6695
>
>S U B S C R I P T I O N S
>--
>
>The regular (4-6 page, posted) Jobs Letter costs
>$NZ112.50 incl GST for 30 letters.
>This subscription also includes a free email version
>on request.
>
>The email-only version costs
>$NZ56.25 incl GST annually (22 letters)
>and usually has an expanded Diary section.
>All email editions of the Jobs Letter
>are posted to subscribers
>on a "not to be forwarded" basis.
>
>We also maintain an internet website with
>our back issues and key papers,
>and hotlinks to other internet resources.
>This can be visited at
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/
>
>Our website resources are available freely to anyone
>with access to the internet.
>The most recent three months of Jobs Letter issues,
>however, will only be available to subscribers.
>
>An e-mail version of this letter is available to international
>friends and colleagues on an "exchange of information" basis
>and on the understanding that the Letter is not re-posted
>to New Zealand... this is because we need the paid
>subscriptions from our New Zealand colleagues
>in order to pay our way.
>Thanks.
>
>Subscription Enquiries --
>Jobs Research Trust, P.O.Box 428,
>New Plymouth, New Zealand
>phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>ends
>
>The Jobs Letter
>essential information on an essential issue
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
>P.O.Box 428
>New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
>
>visit The Jobs Research Website at
>http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/
>

The Jobs Letter No.99 (14 May 1999)

[S. Lerner]

>From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>"The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>"The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 13:07:51 +1200
>X-Distribution: Moderate
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: The Jobs Letter No.99  (14 May 1999)
>Reply-to: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Priority: normal
>
>T H E   J O B S   L E T T E R   0 9 9
>-
>a subscriber-based letter
>published in New Zealand 14 May 1999
>
>edited by Vivian Hutchinson for the Jobs Research Trust
>P.O.Box 428, New Plymouth, New Zealand
>phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
>Internet address --  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>I N   T H I S   I S S U E
>-
>STATISTICS
>BRUCE JESSON
>OZ APPRENTICESHIPS
>HOW IS YOUR RESTRUCTURING GOING?
>FROM JOB TO PROFESSION
>
>T H E   J O B S   L E T T E R
>an essential information and media watch
>on jobs, employment,  unemployment, the future of work,
>and related economic and education issues.
>
>
>HOW IS YOUR RESTRUCTURING GOING?
>*How's your re-structuring going?  Is there a major business
>or government department in NZ that hasn't been re-structured,
>downsized or 're-engineered' (often repeatedly) in the last 15
>years?
>Has there been any studies undertaken as to how the goals of the
>re-structuring and downsizing were measuring up after the fact?
>
>*In the US, estimates of the numbers of American workers
>who have been 'downsized' from jobs in the major corporates, from
>1980 to 1995, vary from a low count of 13m people, to as high as
>39m.
>
>In the early 1990s, the American Management Association
>conducted studies of firms which had engaged seriously in
>downsizing. The AMA found that repeated downsizings produce
>"lower profits and declining worker productivity..." Another study
>by the Wyatt Companies found that "less than half the companies
>achieved their expense reduction goals; fewer than one-third
>increased their profitability and less than one third increased their
>productivity..."
>
>*Richard Sennett, in his recent book "The Corrosion of
>Character" writes that because managerial ideology presents the
>drive for re-structuring as a matter of achieving greater efficiency,
>we need to ask whether such institutional change has succeeded in
>its goals.
>
>Sennett: "It became clear to many business leaders by the mid-
>1990s that only in the highly paid fantasy life of consultants can a
>large organisation define a new business plan, trim staff and 're-
>engineer' itself to suit, then steam forward to realise the new design.
>
>"Many, even most, re-engineering efforts fail largely because
>institutions become dysfunctional during the people-squeezing
>process: the morale and motivation of workers drop sharply in the
>various plays of downsizing. Surviving workers wait for the next
>blow of the axe rather than exulting in competitive victory over those
>who are fired...
>
>"Institutional changes, instead of following the path of the
>guided arrow, head in different and often conflicting directions:
>business plans are discarded and revised; expected benefits turn
>out to be ephemeral; the organisation loses direction, a profitable
>operating unit is suddenly sold, for example, yet a few years later
>the parent company tries to get back the business in which it knew
>how to make money before it sought to reinvent itself..."
>
>*Sennett says that because institutional re-structurings signal
>to the finance markets that change is "for real", the stock prices of
>institutions in the course of re-organisation often rises, as though
>"any changes are better than continuing on as before..."According
>to the markets, the disruption of organisations becomes profitable.
>
>Sennett: "While the disruption may not be justifiable in terms of
>productivity, the short-term returns to stockholders provide a strong
>incentive to the powers of chaos disguised by that seemingly
>reassuring word 're-engineering'. Perfectly viable businesses are
>gutted or abandoned, capable employees are set adrift rather than
>rewarded, simply because the organisation must prove to the
>market that it is capable of change..."
>
>FROM JOB TO PROFESSION
>by Andrew Kimbrell
>
>*The word job in English originally meant a criminal or
>demeaning action. (We retain this meaning when we call a bank
>robbery a "bank job.") After the industrial revolution took hold in
>18th-century England, the first generations of factory workers felt
>that wage work was humiliating and undignified. Angry about being
>driven from their traditional work on the land or in crafts, they
>applied the word job to factory labour as a way of expressing their
>disgust.
>
>*Even today many of us avoid the word job, preferring more
>upscale terms like occupation or career to describe what we do for
>40-plus hours each week. Yet the older meaning of these words
>also reveals something about the nature of w

FW MAI MARK TWO

[S. Lerner]

>Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Resent-Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 17:51:58 +0200
>X-Authentication-Warning: emiliano.ras.eu.org: uucp set sender to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] using -f
>Reply-To: "Laurent JESOVER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "Laurent JESOVER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "ATTAC LISTE WELCOME" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 17:50:55 +0200
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 3
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4
>Subject: [ATTAC] MAI MARK TWO
>X-Mailing-List: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archive/latest/223
>X-Loop: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: list
>Resent-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE - May 1999
>
>TRANSATLANTIC WHEELING AND DEALING
>
>Watch out for MAI Mark Two
>__
>
>Sheltered from the hubbub of war and crisis, Europe, the United States
>and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are devising agreements that
>will remove the final obstacles to the free play of "market forces"
>and require countries to submit to the unfettered expansion of the
>multinationals. Learning from the failure of the Multilateral
>Agreement on Investment (MAI), big business and technocrats are trying
>to force through a decision before the end of 1999.
>
>by CHRISTIAN DE BRIE *
>__
>
>The corpse of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) hardly
>had time to get cold in the vaults of the Organisation for Economic
>Cooperation and Development (OECD) (1) before the ultra-liberal Dr
>Jekylls led by Sir Leon Brittan, the outgoing European Commission
>vice-president and Thatcherite die-hard, have tried to clone it,
>excitedly hoping to see new Draculas emerge from their test tubes by
>the year 2000.
>
>This urgent work is being carried out in two secret laboratories with
>"keep out" signs to deter anyone not wearing a lab coat: the
>Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP) and the Millennium Round of
>the World Trade Organisation.
>
>The first of these, which opened on 16 September 1998, is dedicated
>(though it will not admit it) to that favourite project of the British
>and the Americans - seeing the European Union dissolved in a free
>trade area with the United States. Following the failure of the first
>attempt in 1994, a rehashed version presented by the European
>Commission on 11 March 1998 under the name NTM (New Transatlantic
>Marketplace) was thrown out by the foreign ministers of the Fifteen on
>27 April.
>
>As he had done before, Brittan went back to his drawing board (without
>seeking a mandate) to come up with a disguised version of his pet
>scheme. If the 27 pages of the Commission recommendation on the
>negotiation of agreements in the field of technical barriers to trade
>between the EU and the US (2) are anything to go by, the outcome
>promises to be instructive. (An abbreviated version was approved by
>the Council, empowering it to negotiate on behalf of the member
>states, then by the European parliament in September and November
>1998).
>
>On the pretext of removing "technical barriers to trade", which
>include health, social and environmental protection regulations, the
>ultimate aim is to "reach a general commitment to unconditional access
>to the market in all sectors and for all methods of supply" of
>products and services, including health, education and public
>contracts. In the inimitable jargon of the Commission, states and
>local authorities are required to make all derogations explicit in the
>form of "a negative freedom" given that the agreements negotiated
>apply to all the territory of the parties, regardless of their
>constitutional structures, at all levels of authority. This is very
>restrictive for the local authorities of the European countries, but
>of little risk to the US, where the federal states are not bound by
>Washington's signature in the matter.
>
>The aim is gradually to draw up common minimum regulations "based on
>the recommendations of enterprises" in order to "create new outlets"
>for them - all this in "a spirit of conviviality". Involved in the TEP
>talks from the outset, the multinationals have greatly influenced the
>content thanks to a powerful lobby that has been institutionalised for
>four years: the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) bringing
>together the upper crust of big business on both sides of the North
>Atlantic. Its last two-yearly meeting took place in Charlotte (North
>Carolina) in November 1998.
>
>Big business to call the tune
>
>In order to allay suspicion, they are trying to rush through the
>establishment of a Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue, a Transatlantic
>Labour Dialogue and a Transatlantic Environment Dialogue for
>consumers, trade unions and ecologists respectively, who will have to
>stay firmly within the bounds set by big business in the TABD. The
>latter has no intention of giving anything more than a half-hearted
>commitment to optional codes of conduct with

1999 G8 Summit Online: Open Registration

[S. Lerner]

>From: G8 Info <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: 1999 G8 Summit Online: Open Registration
>Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 00:14:55 -0600
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>
>eCollege.com (www.ecollege.com) and the G8 Research Group at the University
>of Toronto (www.g7.utoronto.ca) are joining forces to present The 1999 G8
>Summit Online (http://www.g8online.org).
>
>We invite you to participate in this unprecedented interactive dialog with
>the world's top leaders at the G8 Summit. Attendees will interact on the
>Internet with others around the world, debating issues such as the monetary
>and financial architecture of the global economy, economic and social
>policies of an evolving world, and educational needs for a world community.
>
>eCollege.com with the research leaders at the University of Toronto bring
>you exclusive content via the power of the Internet - direct from the G8
>Summit.
>
>This special Internet event is open to the world. Professors, students,
>media and all interested parties will have direct access to quality analysis
>of Summit history and current proceedings provided by top scholars from the
>G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
>
>Registration is OPEN NOW and FREE of charge. There is room for only 5000
>participants - be one of them. Register now at http://www.g8online.org and
>be part of one classroom, one world.
>
>Thank you for your time.
>
>Colt Alton
>Project Director
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>www.g8online.org
>

FW Monthly Reminder

[S. Lerner]

*FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER*
>
>FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education
>
>FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
>deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
>technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work
>in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
>advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
>levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
>and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need
>for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
>business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.
>
>What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
>adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals?
>This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for
>income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are
>questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn
>technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather than
>the recipe for a bladerunner society.
>
>Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
>possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list
>will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and
>political agendas worldwide.
>
>The FUTUREWORK lists are hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the
>University of Waterloo.
>
>To subscribe to FUTUREWORK (unmoderated) and/or FW-L (moderated) send a
>message to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]   saying
>
>subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress
>subscribe FW-L YourE-MailAddress
>
>NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of either list, subscribe to
>futurework-digest or fw-l-digest.
>
>To post directly to the lists (once you are subscribed), send your
>message to:
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] or
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Please include 'FW' or 'FW-L'in the subject line of your message, so that
>subscribers know the mail is from someone on the list.
>
>FUTUREWORK, the unmoderated list, is for discussion and debate. Subscribers
>often add a topic/thread identifier on the subject line (e.g. 'FW downward
>mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea--but this is essentially
>an open list.
>
>FW-L, the moderated list, serves as a bulletin-board to post notices about
>recommended books, articles, other documents, other Net sites,
>conferences, even job openings, etc. relevant to the future
>of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that
>future.  It serves subscribers as a calmer place to post andbrowse. Sally
>Lerner and Arthur Cordell serve as co-moderators for FW-L. Normally, posts
>to this moderated list should be limited to one
>screen.

>Archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/
>
>If you ever want to remove yourself from one of these mailing lists,
>you can send mail to  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following
>command in the body of your email message:
>
>   unsubscribe futurework (or other list name) YourE-mailAddress
>
>If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you
>have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send
>email to  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

>This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a
>human.
>
>We look foward to meeting you  on the FUTUREWORK and FW-L lists.
>
>Sally Lerner   Arthur Cordell

  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

FW Internet Index #24 (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Authentication-Warning: po-1.openmarket.com: majordom set sender to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] using -f
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 00:49:10 -0400
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Internet Index #24
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>   The Internet Index
>   Number 24
> Inspired by "Harper's Index"*
> Compiled by Win Treese ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
> Co-author of "Designing Systems for Internet Commerce"
>  31 May 1999
>
>Through mid-April, amount of money raised by Bill Bradley's campaign
>   web site, in dollars: 30,000
>Amount spent by Dan Quayle's campaign to start a web site, in dollars:
>   26,000
>
>Percent increase in the number of registered domains from 1997 to 1999:
>   118
>Percentage of total domains registered in .com, in 1998: 84
>
>Number of venture capital deals for Internet-related companies, in the
>   first quarter of 1999: 208
>Average financing in those deals, in millions of dollars: 10
>Average financing for Internet venture deals in 1998, in millions of
>   dollars: 7.9
>
>Amount spent on advertising on the Internet in 1998, in billions of
>   dollars: 1.9
>Estimated amount spent on outdoor advertising in 1998, in billions of
>   dollars: 1.6
>
>Estimated number of Internet users, worldwide, at the end of 1998:
>   147,800,000
>Estimated percentage living in the U.S.: 52
>
>Estimated percentage of Australians using the Internet, in 1998: 19
>Estimated percentage of Australians who bought something online, in
>   1998: 7
>
>Number of U.S. households joining the Internet, per hour: 760
>
>Number of commercial e-mail messages sent each day in the U.S., in
>   billions: 7.3
>
>Number of countries with sites on the IPv6 testbed, the "6bone": 41
>
>Rank of Finland in number of Internet hosts per capita: 1
>
>Price of one pair of Internet Society socks, in dollars: 4
>
>See http://www.treese.org/Commerce for more information on
>"Designing Systems for Internet Commerce"
>
>Copyright 1999 by Win Treese. Send updates or interesting statistics to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] "Harper's Index" is a registered trademark of
>Harper's Magazine Foundation.
>
>Past issues and citations to sources can be found at
>http://www.openmarket.com/intindex/. To subscribe to future
>issues of the Internet Index, send a message saying "subscribe"
>in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

FW Sennett on Insecurity, Feature from the Jobs Letter No. 102 (29 June 1999 )

[S. Lerner]

>From The Jobs Letter, with permission.

>F E A T U R E
>--
>from
>T H E   J O B S   L E T T E R   1 0 2
>a subscriber-based letter
>published in New Zealand 29 June 1999
> -
>
>INSECURITY AND THE CORROSION OF CHARACTER
>RICHARD SENNETT on the personal consequences of work in the new
>economy.
>
>ON FLEXIBILITY
>*The emphasis is on flexibility. Rigid forms of bureaucracy are
>under attack, as are the evils of blind routine. Workers are asked to
>behave nimbly, to be open to change on short notice, to take risks
>continually, to become ever less dependent on regulations and
>formal procedures.
>
>This emphasis on flexibility is changing the very meaning of
>work, and so the words we use for it.
>
>"Career", for instance, in its English origins meant a road for
>carriages, and as eventually applied to labour meant a lifelong
>channel for one's economic pursuits. Flexible capitalism has blocked
>the straight roadway of career, diverting employees suddenly from
>one kind of work into another.
>
>The word "job" in English of the fourteenth century meant a
>lump or piece of something that could be carted around. Flexibility
>today brings back this arcane sense of the job, as people do lumps of
>labour, pieces of work, over the course of a lifetime.
>
>*It is quite natural that flexibility should arouse anxiety;
>people do not know what risks will pay off, what paths to pursue. To
>take the curse off the phrase "capitalist system" there has developed
>in the past many circumlocutions, such as the "free enterprise" or
>"private enterprise" system.
>
>Flexibility is used today as another way to lift the curse of
>oppression from capitalism. In attacking rigid bureaucracy and
>emphasising risk, it is claimed, gives people more freedom to shape
>their lives. In fact, the new order substitutes new controls rather
>than simply abolishing the rules of the past --but these new
>controls are also hard to understand. The new capitalism is an often
>illegible regime of power.
>
>ON CHARACTER
>*Perhaps the most confusing aspect of flexibility is its impact
>on personal character. Character is the ethical value we place on our
>own desires and on our relations to others. The character of a man
>depends on his connections to the world.
>
>Character particularly focuses upon the long-term aspect of our
>emotional experience. Character is expressed by loyalty and mutual
>commitment, or through the pursuit of long-term goals, or by the
>practice of delayed gratification for the sake of a future end.
>Character concerns the personal traits which we value in ourselves
>and for which we seek to be valued by others.
>
>*These are the questions about our character posed by the
>new, flexible capitalism:
>
>How do we decide what is of lasting value in ourselves in a
>society which is impatient, which focuses on the immediate moment?
>
>How can long-term goals be pursued in an economy devoted to
>the short-term?
>
>How can mutual loyalties and commitments be sustained in
>institutions which are constantly breaking apart or continually being
>redesigned?
>
>ON NO LONG TERM
>*Business leaders and journalists emphasise the global
>marketplace and the use of new technologies as the hallmarks of the
>capitalism of our time. This is true enough, but misses another
>dimension of change: new ways of organising time, particularly
>working time.
>
>The most tangible sign of that change might be the motto "no
>long term". In work, the traditional career progressing step by step
>through the corridors of one or two institutions is withering; so is
>the deployment of a single set of skills through the course of a
>working life.
>
>Today, a young American with at least two years of college can
>expect to change jobs at least eleven times in the course of working,
>and change his or her skill base at least three times during those
>forty years of labour.
>
>"No long term" is a principle that corrodes trust, loyalty and
>mutual commitment. The short time frame of modern institutions
>limits the ripening of informal trust. Strong ties depend, in
>contrast, on long association. And, more personally, they depend on a
>willingness to make commitments to others.
>
>*Short-term capitalism threatens to corrode our characters,
>particularly those qualities of character which bind human beings to
>one another and furnishes each with a sense of sustainable self.
>
>Transposed to the family realm, "no long term" means keep
>moving, don't commit yourself, and don't sacrifice. How can we
>protect family relations from succumbing to short-term behaviour,
>and above all the weakness of loyalty and commitment which mark
>the modern workplace? In the place of the chameleon values of the
>new economy, family values emphasise formal obligation,
>trustworthiness, commitment, and purpose. These are all long-term
>virtues.
>
>This conflict between family and work poses some questions
>about adu

FW OASIS-Australia-Newsletter

[S. Lerner]

>From: "Allan McDonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>NEWSLETTER   8/99   29 June 1999
>
>The website of the Basic Income European Network (BIEN) has some interesting
>summaries of recent publications, including one of the book "Poverty in
>Europe", by B.A.Atkinson, Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.  This is a revised and
>updated version of three lectures given by Tony Atkinson, Warden of Nuffield
>College (Oxford) in Helsinki in 1990.
>
>When considering a Europe-wide anti-poverty policy and the form it should
>take, he argues that a means-tested minimum income guarantee is definitely
>not the way forward, because it unfairly penalises the work of poor
>households more than anyone else's, and also because a European-wide minimum
>"has to be based on a benefit that is simpler than means-tested social
>insurance".   The alternative he favours is a universal basic income.
>
>When asking why such a scheme has not got close to being introduced, he
>suggests "a major reason lies in the fact that it does not require any
>counterpart on the part of the recipient".  He then goes on to state that in
>order to secure political support it may be necessary to compromise - not on
>the principle of no test of means, nor on the principle of independence, but
>on the unconditional payment.  He then presents his idea of a "participation
>income", with the belief "that such a Participation Income offers a
>realistic way in which European governments may be persuaded that a basic
>income offers a better route forward than the dead end of means-tested
>assistance".
>
>These extracts were from the BIEN website.  [There is a link with our
>website]
>
>As Atkinson states, the concept of a participation income (read mutual
>obligation) has arisen to help gain political support.  It is in some ways
>the intellectual counterpart of the political dogma  "we won't pay people
>not to work".   This concept has its roots in the traditional welfare
>approach that we take from the rich to help the poor - that welfare benefits
>are funded by the taxpayers.   It is this concept which has pursuaded
>government to introduce a job creation programme based on "work for the
>dole".
>
>The support income system we propose moves the financing of the scheme away
>from taxpayers to national income.  It is based on the principle of
>distribution of national income, not the redistribution of personal incomes.
>It is based on the principle of providing the income as a replacement of
>income foregone.  It is based on the principle of granting every citizen a
>national dividend - invoking the concept of all citizens being shareholders
>in Australia.
>
>Notwithstanding these principles the political reality is that there will
>always be a suspicion when income support is to be granted with no strings
>attached.   The inherent belief that welfare payments, in whatever form they
>may be made, are taxpayer funded has strong political influence.  If we are
>to counter this belief - if we feel strongly that an unconditional universal
>support income is the way to go in this new age - then surely the answer is
>not compromise, as suggested by Atkinson, but in a better understanding
>within the community of what we are trying to achieve.  This means more and
>better research to support our claims, which in turn leads to the next item
>in this newsletter, our submission to government.  In this submission we
>have specifically asked for assistance to enable further research and
>updating of data.
>
>
>Submission to Government.
>
>The submission to government has finally been completed and despatched.
>
>This submission is in the form of a discussion paper entitled:
> UNEMPLOYMENT - A Search for a Solution.  It  is being sent to you as a
>"Following Paper" immediately after this newsletter.
>
>Please let me know if you would also like a printed copy of the report.
>
>Your commments will be greatly appreciated.   They will be valuable should
>any discussion with ministers or advisory staff eventuate.
>
>Following is an extract from the covering letter of this submission.
>
>
>   Re:  UNEMPLOYMENT - A Search for a Solution
>
>On behalf of OASIS-Australia I am pleased to present the attached discussion
>paper as a contribution to the on-going debate on the problem of continuing
>high unemployment.  In making this submission there are two points I would
>like to emphasise.
>
>First, part time employment (as defined by the ABS) is now firmly entrenched
>in our labour market.  Part time employment is no longer the preserve of the
>second wage earner in a two income family, but as a section of the market in
>its own right.  Part time employment has made a  significant contribution to
>the increase in labour productivity in recent years, and this role will
>continue in the future.  The long term objective of full employment based on
>full time employment is no longer realistic, or achievable.  The answer to
>the problem of high unemployment lies in our ability to adapt to this
>changing 

FW Fugitives lured with job offers

[S. Lerner]

No comment.  But think about it.

Boston. The promise of high-paying construction jobs with union benefits
turned out to be an empty one for 102 fugitives with outstanding arrest
warrants. After luring the job seekers to a convention centre with the
promise of a job, Boston police arrested them Sunday.  Some brought friends
who were also wanted and were promptly arrested, police said.  The
fugitives were wanted for crimes that include assault, robbery, drug
offenses, welfare fraud and child support violations. Those who took the
bait were told to attend an orientation at the Bayside Expo Center and
reminded to be on time and bring photo identification. (Toronto Globe and
Mail June 30/99)

FW How to oppose corporate rule (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Tips on How to Oppose Corporate Rule


By Dr. Jane Kelsey


[The business takeover of Canada's economic and political systems is
generating a buildup of opposition by both progressive organizations and
individuals.
One of the strongest critics of the corporate agenda is Dr. Jane Kelsey
of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. An excerpt from her book
on the corporate takeover of New Zealand--"Economic Fundamentalism"--was
published in the March issue of The Monitor.
Dr. Kelsey has devised what she calls "A Manual for
Counter-Technopols"--suggestions and ideas for actions that challenge
corporate rule.
The following is a list of some of her proposed tactics and strategies
that could be adopted by Canadian "resistance" fighters.]


* * *


* Be skeptical about fiscal and other "crises." Examine the real nature
of the problem, who defines it as a crisis, and who stands to gain.
Demand to know the range of possible solutions, and the costs and
benefits of each to whom. If the ansers are not forthcoming, burn the
midnight oil to produce the answers for yourselves.
* Don't cling to a political party that has been converted to
neoconservatism. Fighting to prevent a social democratic party's capture
by right-wing zealots is important. But once the party has been taken
over, maintaining solidarity on the outside while seeking change from
within merely gives them more time. When the spirit of the party is
dead, shed the old skin and create something new.
* Take economics seriously. Neo-liberal economic fundamentalism pervades
everything. There is no boundary between economic, social, environmental
or other policies. Those who focus on narrow sectoral concerns and
ignore the pervasive economic agenda will lose their own battles and we
aken the collective ability to resist. Leaving economics to economists
is fatal.
* Expose the weaknesses of their theory. Neo-liberal theories are
riddled with dubious assumptions and internal inconsistencies, and often
lack empirical support. These right-wing theories need to be exposed as
self-serving rationalizations which operate in the interests of the
elites whom the policies empower.
* Challenge hypocrisy. Ask who is promoting a strategy as being in the
"national interest," and who stands to benefit most. Document cases
where self-interest is disguised as public good.
* Expose the masterminds. Name the key corporate players behind the
scenes, document their interlocking roles and allegiances, and expose
the personal and corporate benefits they receive.
* Maximize every obstacle. Federal systems of government, written
constitutions, legal requirements and regulations, supra-national
institutions like the ILO and the UN, and strong local governments can
provide barriers that slow down the pace of the corporate takeover.
* Work hard to maintain solidarity. Avoid the trap of divide and rule.
Sectoral in-fighting is self-indulgent and everyone risks losing in the
end.
* Do not compromise the labour movement. Build awareness of the
corporate agenda at union local and workplace levels. Resist concessions
that tend to deepen co-optation and weaken the unions' ability to fight
back.
* Maintain the concept of an efficient public service. Resist attempts
to discredit and dismantle the public sector by admitting deficiencies
and promoting constructive models for change. Build support among client
groups and the public which stresses the need for public services and
the risks of cutting or privatizing them.
* Encourage community leaders to speak out. Public criticism from civic
and church leaders, folk heroes and other prominent "names" makes
corporate and political leaders uncomfortable. It also makes people
think. Remind community leaders of their social obligations, and the
need to preserve their own self-respect.
* Avoid anti-intellectualism. A pool of academics and other
intellectuals who can document and expose the fallacies and failures of
the corporate agenda, and develop viable alternatives in partnership
with community and sectoral groups, is absolutely vital. They need to be
supported when they come under attack, and challenged when they fail to
speak out or are co-opted or seduced.
* Establish an alternative think-tank. If one already exists, make sure
it is adequately funded. Neo-liberal and neoconservative think-tanks
have shown how well-resourced institutes on the right can rationalize
and legitimize the corporate agenda. The need is obvious for one or more
equally well-supported think-tanks on the left. Uncoordinated research
by isolated critics will not suffice.
* Invest in the future. Provide financial, human and moral support to
sustain alternative analysis, publications, think-tanks, and people's
projects that are working actively to resist the corporate agenda and
work for progressive change.
* Support those who speak out. The harassment and intimidation of
critics of the corporate takeover works only if those targeted for
attacks lack personal, popular and institut

FW New list of interest (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 02:00:17 -0400 (EDT)
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (ow-watch-digest)
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: ow-watch-digest V2 #129
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>
>ow-watch-digest Saturday, July 3 1999 Volume 02 : Number 129
>
>
>
>OW-WATCH-L From Tim Rouke
>
>--
>
>Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 11:31:56 -0400
>From: Sherrie Tingley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: OW-WATCH-L From Tim Rouke
>
>- --
>From:  tim rourke[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>
>
>Hi!
>
>Workfare-mincome  is a fairly new list  that was started by people
>concerned about the perversion of social welfare into forced labor that is
>generally called workfare. The exact focus of the list continues to evolve
>but most subscribers are interested in strategies that  can stop workfare,
>which means considering what the alternative to workfare is.
>
>Social programs seem to go through three stages;
>1) The punitive stage of workfare, work houses, and work tests.
>2) The welfare entitlement stage that gives people something to survive on,
>but still sees unemployment as temporary. Assistance usually  inadequate
>and comes with demeaning means tests.
>3) The highest stage of evolution, of simply giving people enough to live
>on and letting them do as they please with their own time. In different
>countries it is called Mincome, Citizen's income, Guaranteed Annual Income
>(GAI), and Basic Income.
>
>The question is then how to stop the regression to workfare and engineer
>the progression to mincome? Many subjects touch on it, from Community Work
>against Institutionalised Poverty, to Labor and Civil Liberties Law, to the
>techniques and aims of Public Opinion Polling. It is a moderated list, but
>no submission will be refused unless it is clearly out in orbit.
>
>This is no longer a list for people who have nothing better to do with
>their time and who want to have pointless debates. It is for serious
>anti-poverty activists who want to exchange useful information and
>experience about how to effectively combat workfare in their own
>communities, and to turn it into adequate incomes for all people.
>
>The list is fairly international, with eight countries represented, but the
>bulk of subscribers presently are in Ontario, Canada.
>
>Try this list out. Unsubbing is even easier that subbing.
>
>To s*bscribe go to
>
> http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Workfare-Mincome
>
>or e-mail the moderator at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>
>
>Information about Ow-Watch-L at:
>http://www.welfarewatch.toronto.on.ca/wrkfrw/welcome.html
>Visit the Workfare Watch Project Website at:
>http://www.welfarewatch.toronto.on.ca/
>
>--
>
>End of ow-watch-digest V2 #129
>**
>

FW Please check your posts

[S. Lerner]

I notice that over the weekend we had several posts with problems:
duplicate messages in one case and then a long 'junk' post - just
unintelligible letters and symbols.  It's probably a good idea to check out
your own posts from time to time to catch such problems and remedy them if
possible.

Sally

FW Monthly Reminder

[S. Lerner]

 *FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER*
>
>   FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education
>
>FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
>deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
>technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work
>in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
>advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
>levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
>and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need
>for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
>business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.
>
>What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
>adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals?
>This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for
>income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are
>questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn
>technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather than
>the recipe for a bladerunner society.
>
>Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
>possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list
>will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and
>political agendas worldwide.
>
>The FUTUREWORK lists are hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the
>University of Waterloo.
>
>To subscribe to FUTUREWORK (unmoderated) and/or FW-L (moderated) send a
>message to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]   saying
>
>subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress
>subscribe FW-L YourE-MailAddress
>
>NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of either list, subscribe to
>futurework-digest or fw-l-digest.
>
>To post directly to the lists (once you are subscribed), send your
>message to:
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] or
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Please include 'FW' or 'FW-L'in the subject line of your message, so that
>subscribers know the mail is from someone on the list.
>
>FUTUREWORK, the unmoderated list, is for discussion and debate. Subscribers
>often add a topic/thread identifier on the subject line (e.g. 'FW downward
>mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea--but this is essentially
>an open list.
>
>FW-L, the moderated list, serves as a bulletin-board to post notices about
>recommended books, articles, other documents, other Net sites,
>conferences, even job openings, etc. relevant to the future
>of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that
>future.  It serves subscribers as a calmer place to post andbrowse. Sally
>Lerner and Arthur Cordell serve as co-moderators for FW-L. Normally, posts
>to this moderated list should be limited to one
>screen.

>Archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/
>
>If you ever want to remove yourself from one of these mailing lists,
>you can send mail to  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following
>command in the body of your email message:
>
>   unsubscribe futurework (or other list name) YourE-mailAddress
>
>If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you
>have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send
>email to  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

>This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a
>human.
>
>We look foward to meeting you  on the FUTUREWORK and FW-L lists.
>
>Sally Lerner   Arthur Cordell
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

FW JK Galbraith and Basic Income

[S. Lerner]

Much to my delight, the following appeared in today's Toronto Globe and
Mail: A13  ("J.K.Galbraith, who is 90, delivered this lecture last week on
receiving an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics. It is
reprinted from The Guardian." )

Excerpt: "I come to two pieces of the unfinished business of the century
and millenium that have high visibility and urgency.  The first is the very
large number of the very poor even in the richest of countries and notably
in the U.S.
The answer or part of the answer is rather clear: Everybody should
be guaranteed a decent income.  A rich country such as the U.S. can well
afford to keep everybody out of poverty.  Some, it will be said, will seize
upon the income and won't work. So it is now with more limited welfare, as
it is called. Let us accept some resort to leisure by the poor as well as
by the rich."

FW The Jobs Research Website Update June 1999

[S. Lerner]

>From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "The Jobs Research Website" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 16:30:40 +1200
>X-Distribution: Bulk
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: The Jobs Research Website Update June 1999
>Reply-to: "The Jobs Research Website" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Priority: normal
>
>N E W  N E W  N E W  N E W  N E W  N E W
>on T H E   J O B S   R E S E A R C H   W E B S I T E
>---
>
>July 1999
>
>a New Zealand - based internet resource
>for employment action ...
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/
>
>Hi, we've updated our website, and you might like to check out
>our latest work!
>
>Take a look at these recent Jobs Letter features now freely
>available on the Jobs Research Website ...
>
>* The Big Shift ---Canadian author Bruce O'Hara calls for a shorter
>working week and a two shift workplace and outlines the advantages
>for the workforce, for businesses, for taxation and for domestic
>markets.
>
>http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl09110.htm
>
>* More Work for the Higher Paid --
>A Statistics NZ survey shows that higher paid New Zealanders are
>working longer hours just like their overseas counterparts.
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl09210.htm
>
>*  Toronto Dollars
>by The Jobs Letter editors. Toronto launches a local currency to
>help fund community projects that create work for those who are on
>low incomes, unemployed and homeless.
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl09310.htm
>
>*Australian Jobless Trends -- A report from the Australian Bureau
>of Statistics on the state of umemployment. How many Australians
>are out of work, and for how long ?
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl08910.htm
>
>
>*  Oz Jobless Outcomes -- Ross Gittens of the Sydney Morning
>Herald looks at how the new "outcomes"--driven employment
>strategy, "Jobs Network" is working and finds some un-looked for
>results.
>.
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl09410.htm
>
>
>OUR TOP TEN WEBPAGE HITS
>-
>
>1. Internet Hot-Links recommended by our Editors
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/hot/hotlinks.htm
>
>2. Statistics That Matter homepage
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz /stt/stathome.htm
>
>3. Co-operation, Collaberation and Co-ordination -- the challenges
>of working together on unemployment and poverty by Vivian
>Hutchinson
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/vivian/ccc99.htm
>
>4. Local Employment Co-ordination — What Can a Regional
>Commissioner Do? by Jan Francis and Vivian Hutchinson
>
>http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/art/lec99.htm
>
>5.  A Rifkin Reader
>
>http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/art/rifkin01.htm
>
>6.  James K. Galbraith and Global Keynesianism
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/art/artg0002.htm
>
>7. Strategic Questioning by Fran Peavey and Vivian Hutchinson
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/vivian/stratq97.htm
>
>8. Vivian Hutchinson on the 1998 Anglican Hikoi for Hope
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/vivian/hikoi98.htm
>
>9. Ian Ritchie on Universal Basic Income
>
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/art/ian002.htm
>
>10. Garth Nowland-Foreman on Government and the Civil Society
>
>http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/art/artn0001.htm
>
>
>STATISTICS FOR THE JOBS RESEARCH WEBSITE
>--
>May 1999
>
>Unique Visitors during the month  3,743
>Homepage Hits during the month1,867
>Total Webpage Hits overall  57,703
>
>[Source -- OpenWebScope Website Statistics]
>
>--
>
>REGISTER FOR EMAIL ANNOUNCEMENTS OF WEBSITE
>UPDATES
>
>If you want to be kept informed of developments and updates to
>the Jobs Research Website, we will be sending out an email
>newsletter every 4-6 weeks with new links to information and
>features. We will also include pointers to other material on the
>internet which we have found relevant to our own research and
>projects in the employment field in New Zealand.
>
>You can register for these free announcements by visiting the
>registration page on our website at
>
>  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/register.htm
>
>
>LATEST JOBS LETTERS
>ARE STILL ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION
>While the Jobs Research Website will be freely available to all
>internet users, we do not place the most recent (3-4 months)
>copies of the Jobs Letter on the archive. These will continue to
>be available only to subscribers, and to preserve our income base
>for
>the Jobs Letter -- subscriptions pay our bills.
>
>SUBSCRIPTIONS
>(annual, for 22 letters ... prices include GST)
>
>(a) posted, paper edition (4-6 pages) $79
>this sub also includes a free email edition on request
>
>(b) emailed MS-Word edition $66
>formatted for onscreen reading or printing,
>with hypertext links
>
>(c)emailed edition, raw text only  $55
>
>bulk rates for all editions are available, contact
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>The internet is one big copying machine, but it is our
>subscribers who enable us to provide the 

FW Book sale of possible interest

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 10:15:51 -0400
>Subject: 
>From: "ccpa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Mime-version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 3
>
>CCPA Update
>July 8, 1999
>
>Summer Book Sale!
>
>For a limited time--till the end of August or while supplies last--the CCPA
>books listed below are available at half price or less. All prices include
>shipping, handling and GST #124146473RT.
>
>These publications can be ordered securely on-line at our web site. Or, if
>you wish, you can send a cheque or money order to us at:
>Suite 410, 75 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7
>
>Silent Coup: The Big Business Takeover of Canada
>by Tony Clarke
>
>This expose of how the CEOs of the largest corporations in Canada planned
>and executed their takeover of our country alerts us to the destructive
>effects of corporate rule on our economy, our jobs, our social programs, and
>our political democracy. This book outlines a detailed and workable plan for
>challenging and ultimately rescuing Canada from its corporate masters.
>Summer Sale price: $10.00
>
>Dismantling Democracy: The MAI and its Impact
>edited by Andrew Jackson and Matt Sanger
>
>Dismantling Democracy is a riveting analysis of the Multilateral Agreement
>on Investment, now at least temporarily delayed. It is a key resource for
>anyone wishing to understand this proposed treaty and its ominous
>implications.
>Summer Sale price: $10.00
>
>Tech High: Globalization and the Future of Canadian Education
>edited by Marita Moll
>
>Leading educators examine the computer craze, the attachs on schools and
>teachers, the destructive underfunding of education, and the profit-driven
>invasion of the classroom by the rapacious private "education industry."
>Summer Sale price: $10.00
>
>Under Corporate Rule
>by Ed Finn
>
>The author contends that most Canadian governments have become (willingly or
>unwillingly) the servants of large corporations and financial institutions.
>He exposes the nature and scope of the corporate agenda, and suggests ways
>that Canadians can fight back.
>Summer Sale price: $5.00
>
>Turning the Tide: Confronting the Money Traders
>by John Dillon
>
>The author analyzes the devastating effects of this new "paper economy" on
>jobs, on social security, on our quality of life, and proposes ways to
>regulate speculative capital and redirect it into useful and productive
>activities.
>Summer Sale price: $5.00
>
>Love in a Cold World: The Voluntary Sector in an Age of Cuts
>by Paul Leduc Browne
>
>In this era of government cutbacks, the voluntary sector is being touted as
>the substitute for, or an agent of, government. The author argues that the
>effect is to undermine public servants and public services and threaten the
>identity and autonomy of the voluntary sector itself.
>Summer Sale price: $5.00
>
>If you have any questions regarding our publications, please e-mail our
>publications department at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>---
>
>CCPA updates are sent out on a subscription-only basis (read: we e-mail
>them only to people who have requested to be put on the list); if you feel
>you have received this e-mail in error, please contact us at
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] and we will remove you from the list.
>

BR: New Democracy Forum

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 01:52:00 -0700
>From: Stephen Straker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: "S. Lerner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: BR: New Democracy Forum
>Status: U
>
>Dear Sally,
>
>Has this item been noticed in FW? It ought to be of interest, especially
>Juliet
>Schor's piece on consumption and those that follow.
>
>http://bostonreview.mit.edu/ndf.html
>
>New Democracy Forum
>
>The purpose of *Boston Review*'s New Democracy Forum is to foster politically
>engaged, intellectually honest, and morally serious debate about fundamental
>issues of the day -- both on and off the agenda of conventional politics
>-- and
>to say something about how we might better address them. The project grows out
>of political convictions, a practical premise, and a sense of urgent need.
>
>Topics (each with multiple essays, listed for the 1st topic):
>
>What's Driving Consumption?
>   The New Politics of Consumption  Juliet Schor
>   Market Failures Robert H. Frank
>   The Stone Age  James Twitchell
>   The Price is Right?  Jack Gibbons
>   Quality of Life Clair Brown
>   The Personal Level  Betsy Taylor
>   Postmodern Markets  Douglas B. Holt
>   A New Puritanism?  Craig J. Thompson
>   Too Much Economics Michele Lamont and Virag Molnar
>   Leisure for All Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein and John
>   Schmitt
>   Juliet Schor Responds
>
>Do Rights Handcuff Democracy?
>Global Action to Prevent War
>Is Equality in Our Nature?
>The Promise of Immigration
>The Future of Media
>Keeping the Lid On: Local Control in a Global Economy
>Reflecting All of Us
>Going Global?
>The End of War?
>Getting Wages in Gear
>New Directions for Campaign Finance Reform
>A Plan to Save the Cities
>The New Inequality, and What to Do About It
>
>best wishes,
>
>Stephen Straker
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Vancouver, B.C.
>

FW Workfare for capital (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

 Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 00:14:11 -0500
   From: tim rourke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: workfare for capital

It's time to introduce "workfare for capital"
By Jim Stanford

Frank Stronach, former CEO of Magna International, once explained why
companies weren't investing more in the production of goods and
services.

"Why would you pour a foundation, buy machines, or hire employees," he
asked, "if you can make as much money buying Canadian government bonds?"


The figures bear him out. The average return on equity for Canadian
business from 1990 to 1998 was 5.7%, while the average return on
long-term Canadian bonds during the same period was 8.2%.

Conservatives have long deplored the alleged harm that "easy public
money" has on the work incentive of poor Canadians. In response,
provincial politicians have cut welfare rates and the federal government
has cut unemployment insurance benefits. And they try to justify these
punitive cutbacks by claiming they help to break the poor's "cycle of
dependency."

But the recipients of the biggest public welfare handouts are being left
alone. They are the financial investors who received $77 billion in
interest payments from Canadian taxpayers last year on their holdings of
government bonds. That's almost four times as much as the total cost of
the welfare programs of all 10 provinces, and over six times the total
UI benefits paid out last year.

Our politicians conveniently ignore the impact of all this "easy public
money" on the work incentive of investors, who obviously have lost the
will to earn an honest living. Knowing they can rake in so much money
simply from holding pieces of paper, they have no need to undertake
useful and productive work. Why should they bother financing the
production of goods and services of real value when they can live as
well, or better, just by clipping coupons from government bonds?

These unfortunate investors are clearly locked into a cycle of
dependency. All they can think of is what they will buy when they get
their next government cheques. Will it be expensive booze? A gambling
spree in Vegas? A cruise on a luxury liner? Another Mercedes-Benz?

What these lazy investors need is a healthy dose of tough love. Their
welfare rates--the interest on their risk-free government bonds--should
be slashed by a percentage that at least matches the deep cuts in social
assistance. And, if they still won't go out and get real jobs, they
should be made to enroll in a "workfare for capital" program. In return
for their welfare income, they would have to invest some of it in
community development projects. Like low-cost housing, for example.

Such a worfare program for unproductive investors could be patterned on
the pronouncements of Ontario Premier Mike Harris in his 1995 election
platform. The Common Sense Revolution was the definitive statement on
the benefits of workfare. We reprint it below, with appropriate
editorial changes indicated in bold-face:

"We want to open up new opportunities and restore hope for investors by
breaking the cycle of dependency...We should prepare financial welfare
recipients to return to the real economy by requiring all able-bodied
capital...either to work, or to be reinvested in the community in return
for their benefits...Although the amount of money involved may not be
large, the possibility of community work opens the door for financial
welfare recipients to learn new skills, work towards full-time
employment, and increase their self-esteem."

-


(CAW economist Jim Stanford is a visiting fellow with the CCPA.)

Taken from The CCPA Monitor, June 1999.

FW Clinto poverty tour - comments (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Excerpt from The Jobs Letter (with permission). So subscription info below

V O I C E S
--

ON THE CLINTON POVERTY TOUR
" In a recent speech, Clinton compared himself to Franklin
Roosevelt. Both of them, he said, were "people who were
progressive, people who try to change things, people who keep
pushing the envelope.

"The difference is that Roosevelt was acting at the start of his
presidency in a time of economic crisis, and was almost entirely
willing to try any means that worked to achieve his ends. Clinton, by
contrast, is acting at the end of his presidency in a period almost
bereft of economic crisis, and will only try those means that pass
muster with the stock markets..."
-- Martin Kettle, Washington Diary, The Guardian

"It's positive, and long overdue, that Clinton is addressing these
issues, but to be saying that you want to deal with poverty while
you're calling welfare 'reform' a success is rather disingenuous.
While the US welfare rolls have dropped sharply, studies indicate
that many have simply joined the ranks of the working poor. They
now have jobs that are paying below poverty wages, without
benefits or affordable child care; moreover, states have been
'forgetting' to tell them that they are still eligible for Medicaid and
food stamps ..."
 -- Mimi Abramovitz, Professor at the School of Social Work at
Hunter College and author of "Regulating the Lives of Women"

"It is good that Clinton is going out and calling attention to these
issues, but some of the suggestions are flawed. If you build a base
of incomes and social and physical infrastructure, then business
activity develops, but if you throw business activity in a region where
that does not exist, then you have a sweatshop phenomenon. What
is needed is housing assistance, public services, money to improve
schools and the environment, and income support such as through
the earned income tax credit and a higher minimum wage."
 -- James K. Galbraith, professor at the LBJ School of Public
Affairs,

"If it wasn't for NAFTA, hundreds of thousands of jobs would not
have left the U.S., creating more poverty. If there were minimal
protections for migrant workers, then we wouldn't have the depth of
poverty that we have. If North Carolina, where I live, wasn't a 'right to
work' state, people could do collective bargaining and have the
guarantee of organized workplaces. As it is, they can be fired at will.
What you have now are people who are afraid of losing jobs, so
they don't push for better conditions and safety at their
workplaces..."
 -- George Friday, a member of the Grassroots Policy Project and
a low-income activist.

 "What the president's tour highlights is that there are really
important pockets of poverty in the country. Full employment is the
single most important thing in lifting people out of poverty, and the
president seems to understand that. But a rising tide lifts boats
unequally. While poverty is falling, income inequality remains at
post-war highs ... Using tax incentives just moves investment
around..."
-- Robert J. S. Ross, author of the forthcoming "Hearts Starve:
The New Sweatshops in Global Context"

 C R E D I T S
---

Editor -- Vivian Hutchinson
Associates - Rodger Smith, Dave Owens and Jo Howard
Secretary - Shirley Vickery

ISSN No. 1172-6695

S U B S C R I P T I O N S
--
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(a) posted, paper edition (4-6 pages)  $79
this sub also includes a free email edition on request

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formatted for onscreen reading or printing,
with hypertext links


(c) emailed edition, raw text only$55

Bulk rates for all editions are available, contact us for details.

An e-mail version of this letter is available to international
friends and colleagues on an "exchange of information" basis
and on the understanding that the Letter is not re-posted
to New Zealand... this is because we need the paid
subscriptions from our New Zealand colleagues
in order to pay our way.
Thanks.

Subscription Enquiries --
Jobs Research Trust, P.O.Box 428,
New Plymouth, New Zealand
phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


J O B S   R E S E A R C H   W E B S I T E
--

We also maintain an internet website with
our back issues and key papers,
and hotlinks to other internet resources.
This can be visited at

  http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/

Our website resources are available freely to anyone
with access to the internet.
The most recent three months of Jobs Letter issues,
however, will only be available to subscribers.


M I S C E L L A N E O U S
--
This is a subscriber-based publication --
... which is how we pay our bills and keep going.

If you are receiving this letter on a regular basis
please subscribe.

A Word on Spreading the Word --

We'd like you to let others know about the Jobs Letter
and the work of the Jobs Re

FW New list on workfare and basic income (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Date:Sun, 18 Jul 1999 11:08:07 -0400
From:"P. K. Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: New List on Workfare
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

The moderator is Tim Rourke.

-- Forwarded message --
Workfare-mincome  is a fairly new list  that was started by people
concerned about the perversion of social welfare into forced labor that is
generally called workfare. The exact focus of the list continues to evolve
but most subscribers are interested in strategies that  can stop workfare,
which means considering what the alternative to workfare is.

Social programs seem to go through three stages;

1) The punitive stage of workfare, work houses, and work tests.

2) The welfare entitlement stage that gives people something to survive on,
but still sees unemployment as temporary. Assistance usually  inadequate
and comes with demeaning means tests.

3) The highest stage of evolution, of simply giving people enough to live
on and letting them do as they please with their own time. In different
countries it is called Mincome, Citizen's income, Guaranteed Annual Income
(GAI), and Basic Income.

The question is then how to stop the regression to workfare and engineer
the progression to mincome? Many subjects touch on it, from Community Work
against Institutionalised Poverty, to Labor and Civil Liberties Law, to the
techniques and aims of Public Opinion Polling. It is a moderated list, but
no submission will be refused unless it is clearly out in orbit.

This is no longer a list for people who have nothing better to do with
their time and who want to have pointless debates. It is for serious
anti-poverty activists who want to exchange useful information and
experience about how to effectively combat workfare in their own
communities, and to turn it into adequate incomes for all people.

The list is fairly international, with eight countries represented, but the
bulk of subscribers presently are in Ontario, Canada.

Try this list out. Unsubbing is even easier that subbing.

To subscribe go to

 http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Workfare-Mincome

or e-mail the moderator at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

FW Some sites to try during your summer lull (?) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 14:11:14 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Phil Agre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>[Webzine.  San Francisco.  7/24/99.  Be there.  I've taken the liberty
>of reformatting and slightly editing Ryan's press release.  And here
>are some URL's...
>
>  Texas funding community technology centers
>  http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/20773.html
>
>  summary of technical and policy problems with last-mile broadband
>  http://www.siggraph.org/pub-policy/CGColumn-0599.html
>
>  Powell's bookstore in Portland, Oregon
>  http://www.powells.portland.or.us/
>
>  e-mail case law
>  http://www.lawnewsnet.com/stories/A3309-1999Jul12.html
>
>  University of California Electronic Mail Policy
>  http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/email/email.html
>
>  community networking links
>  http://www.libsci.sc.edu/stephen/CNHandbook/links.htm
>
>  Community Networking Initiative
>  http://www.si.umich.edu/Community/
>
>  European Network for Intelligent Information Interfaces
>  http://www.i3net.org/
>
>  Community of the Future, Siena, Italy, 20-22 October 1999
>  http://www.i3net.org/cof/
>
>  National Neighborhood Networks Conference, Kansas City, 20-24 July 1999
>  http://www.hud.gov/nnw/nnwcbroc.html
>
>  Kyoto Meeting on Digital Cities, 16-18 September 1999
>  http://www.digitalcity.gr.jp/kyoto/conf.html
>
>  Bill Gates Personal Wealth Clock
>  (plus kidder Philip Greenspun's huge collection of MS jokes)
>  http://www.webho.com/WealthClock
>
>  Consortium for Audiovisual Free Expression
>  http://www.eff.org/cafe/
>
>  The Official Paul Krugman Web Page
>  http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/
>
>  The Locales Framework: Understanding and Designing for Cooperative Work
>  http://archive.dstc.edu.au/worlds/Papers/abstracts.html
>
>  Groupware Links
>  http://ww2.UsabilityFirst.com/usability/cscw.html
>
>  Journal Storage (greatest thing since sliced bread)
>  http://www.jstor.org/
>  http://www.mellon.org/jsesc.html
>
>  Internet weather reports
>  http://www.noc.ucla.edu/networking/weather.html
>  http://www.internetweather.com/
>  http://www.internettrafficreport.com/
>
>  Symposium on Cyber-Management and Public Administration
>  http://www.pamij.com/98_3_1.html
>
>  The Computer Delusion
>  http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jul/computer.htm
>
>  unnecessary profusion of incompatible database search languages
>  (parental discretion advised)
>  http://www.teleport.com/~jaheriot/infowar.htm
>
>  P3P software
>  http://www.research.att.com/projects/p3p/pm/
>
>  bank heist through web spoofing and incremental debits
>  http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/07/08/p16s1.htm
>
>  Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide
>  http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/
>
>  Congress, NSA butt heads over Echelon
>  http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0531/web-nsa-6-3-99.html
>
>  The Remedi Project
>  http://www.theremediproject.com/
>
>  secrets of Silicon Valley
>  http://www.sfbg.com/SFLife/33/39/secrets.html
>

FW put it in perspective (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 16:01:59 -0400
>Carl Iddings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Subject: [Fwd: Fw: "Booming" US Economy (Fwd)]

Facts About The "Booming" U.S. Economy

In the 1970s, the top 1 percent of households had about 20 percent of the
national wealth.  This was widely considered excessive.  Today, the number
is over 40 percent and climbing.

Thirty years ago, about 10 percent of American households were broke, with
a net worth of zero or less.  fifteen years ago, the number was about 15
percent.  Today the number is almost 20 percent.

Adjusting for inflation, blue-collar workers are making less than
they did a quarter-century ago.  The U.S. savings rate is now
negative 0.5 percent, the lowest level since the early Depression.

Most Americans have a lower net worth than they did 15 years ago,
when the greatest stock market rally in history began.  the bottom
two-fifths of households have lost about 80 percent of their average
net worth.  The middle fifth has lost about 11 percent.  The richest
1 percent of America owns more wealth than the entire bottom 95
percent combined, and the inequality is increasing.

Twenty years ago, a typical big-time corporate CEO was paid about 40 times
what an average worker received.  CEOs today are paid almost 420 times as
much.  As CEO of Genreal Electric, Jack Welch has eliminated 128,000 jobs.
But GE stock has appreciated about 40-fold, even adjusting for inflation.
So Jack Welch is paid $83.6 million.

Meanwhile, after what economists will soon call the longest economic
expansion in U.S. history, 20 percent of all American children now
>>grow up
in poverty.  And Money magazine can write "Everyone's Getting Rich!" in
giant letters across the cover...

(This is snipped from an article by Bob Harris in the new issue of
Extra!, the quarterly magazine published by Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting. [ http://www.fair.org ]  The figures come from the economic
watchdog group United for a Fair Economy, whose reports can be found
online: http://www.stw.org
__
>>__



>>>
>>>
>+
>

FW Globalization is ruinous to fisheries (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date:  Tue, 20 Jul 1999 22:16:11 -0400
>From: Eric Fawcett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: sfp lists <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: sfp-18: Globalization is ruinous to fisheries
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>
>Thomas Kocherry along with Herman Daly was awarded the International
>environment and development prize, the Sophie prize, on June 24.
>His peech on this occasion follows:
>
>June 15, 1999, Oslo, Norway.
>
>Dear chairperson and friends,
>
>Today we are in the context of GLOBALIZATION - LIBERALIZATION. The words
>look very attractive, but the vast majority of the people, are the victims
>of Globalisation. Globalisation began with COLONIALISM. In the sixteenth
>century Europe was overpopulated and the people began to migrate from
>Europe to other continents as if they were discovering new places. It
>ended up with conquering other places and people. Sword and Cross went
>together. They forcefully enslaved and converted natives and indigenous
>peoples. They conquered lands, exploited the resources and accumulated
>wealth.
>
>In the 20th century, the world witnessed the uprising of peoples for
>political freedom. However economic exploitation continued through
>Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and Trans-National Corporations (TNCs).
>But the rich and the ruling class of the newly freed 3rd world countries
>generally sided with the MNCs for their own advantage, against the
>interest of the common people.  Again the natives and the indigenous
>peoples were the worst hit.  As a result, according to a UN study, today
>the 20% Northern minority of humankind has:
>82.7% of world gross national product
>81.2% of world trade
>94.6% of all commercial lending
>80.5% of all domestic investment
>80.6% of all domestic savings
>94.0% of all research and development
>
>It is in this context that we should understand GLOBALIZATION today. Those
>who have more are bound to get more. This means more accumulation and
>centralisation. The Northern 20% people are better placed to take away
>even the 10-20% of the wealth in the hands of 80% people in the South. The
>real Centre is G8 countries and of course the USA is the real centre of
>the centre. They are wielding POWER of WEALTH and ARMS. They are placed in
>a better position for quick profit at the expense of the vast majority of
>people and the environment. All the rest are in the periphery.  Thus,
>PHERIPHERALIZATION of the vast MAJORITY is the other side of
>Globalisation.
>
>In the period following de-colonisation and political independence of the
>Third World (South) countries, particularly after world war II, the
>international relationships among the countries at bilateral and
>multilateral levels were considered very important and viewed as mutually
>beneficial. This language and practice seems to be in the wane today.
>The Northern MNCs want to take over the control of UN. If the UN does not
>dance according to their tune they will not give their share. They are
>more interested in strengthening the WTO than the UN.
>
>They talk of DEMOCRACY and HUMAN RIGHTS but they have NO CONCERN FOR
>PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH. Market economy determines everything, there is no
>other value in life. MONEY HAS MORE VALUE THAN PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH. The UN
>has become a weak instrument.
>
>Globalisation is beneficial to those who have. All those who are have-nots
>are the victims. Globalisation is a mechanistic process (and therefore
>most easily manipulatable by the wielders of power) in the face of which
>there is no choice and alternative. This is the most insidious aspect of
>this ideology: that it could present itself as the only possible way of
>being. It creates a certain sense of inevitability and absoluteness.
>Outside Globalisation-and Market Economy, there is no salvation.
>
>Let me show how this is true as regards the fisheries sector. In the 1990s
>fishing reached the point of diminishing returns. Many fish populations
>have fallen to levels from which they can no longer recover without
>significant reductions in the catches or a moratorium on fishing. There
>are simply too many boats catching too many fish. The first surge in
>numbers of fishing vessels occurred during the industrial revolution. This
>upwell tapered off during the two world wars, but boomed again in the
>1950s through 1970s. The world's fishing fleet doubled between 1970 and
>1990.
>
>More than 100 million people in developing countries (South) are dependent
>on fisheries for our livelihoods. For us fishing is a way of life, not
>just a source of income. The Sea is our MOTHER. Traditionally, small-scale
>or artisanal fishers have provided fish for local consumption; but as fish
>becomes scarce and its value increases, it enters the global market and
>becomes unaffordable for common people. In the process we are displaced
>and the MNCs take over completely.
>
>Most governments, particularly of the North, are tr

FW URLs -- Millenium Round // Rodada do Milenio (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Of possible interest...


>
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999   From: Andreas Rockstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Update your WTO Bookmarks (fwd)
>
> Chers amis,
>
>Les sites concernant le Millenium Round fleurissent comme des champignons.
>En voici une liste "officiels" ou non.
>Si vous en connaissez d'autres, faites les moi parvenir.
>
> 
>Andreas
>
> 
> "OFFICIELS":
> 
>
>World Trade Organization: www.wto.org
>WTO Seattle: www.wto.org/wto/minist/seatmin.htm
>
>Seattle Business welcomes WTO: www.wtoseattle.org
>
>TABD Mid Year Report: www.tabd.org/about/MYMExecSummary1.html
>and the annex: www.tabd.org/about/MYMTechnicalAnnex.html
>
>
>   "NON OFFICIELS":
>(*Engagés dans la campagne "stop au millennium round")
>
>
>American Lands: www.americanlands.org/forestweb/newwto1.htm *
>
>Corporate Europe Observatory: www.xs4all.nl/~ceo *
>
>MAI niet gezien: www.stelling.nl/mai *
>
>"Millennium Round" (a URL of EP Green Party): www.millennium-round.org *
>
>No2WTO Listarchive:
>>http://no2wto.listbot.com/cgi-bin/view_archive?Act=view_archive&list_id=no2wto
>
>Ontario PIRG's MAI-not Project: http://mai.flora.org
>
>Peoples Global Action (PGA): www.agp.org *
>
>PGA in Seattle:
>http://members.aol.com/mwmorrill/pga.h
>tm *
>List archive:
>www.listbot.com/cgi-bin/view_archive?Act=view_archive&list_id=WTOSeattleDisc
>ussion
>
>People For Fair Trade: www.peopleforfairtrade.org
>
>Public Citizens Global Trade Watch: www.tradewatch.org *
>List archive:
>http://lists.essential.org/mai-intl/
>
>"Road To Seattle":
>www.newsbulletin.org/bulletins/getcurrentbulletin.cfm?bulletin_id=67&sid=
>
>Seattle Citizen Committee: www.seattlewto.org
>
>"SHUTDOWN SEA-TOWN": www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/8771/nowto.html
>
>Third World Network: www.twnside.org.sg/souths/twn/trade.htm *
>
>Brian Jenkins anti-MAI page: www.nettrek.com.au/~brian/
>
>==
>Groupes Européens engagés dans la campagne "Stop au Millennium Round"
>==
>
>BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany):
>www.snafu.de/~bund or www.bund.net
>
>Center for Environmental Public Advocacy (Slovakia): www.changenet.sk/cepa
>
>Friends of the Earth Europe: www.foeeurope.org
>
>Friends of the Earth Czech: www.duhafoe.cz
>
>Friends of the Earth UK: www.foe.co.uk
>Trade, Environment and Sustainability: www.foe.co.uk/foei/tes
>
>KEPA Finland: www.kepa.fi
>
>Movimiento contra la Europa de Maastricht: www.nodo50.org/maast
>
>Observatoire de la Mondialisation: www.ecoropa.org/obs
>
>Oxfam Belgium: www.oxfamsol.be
>
> 
> - Certains autres sites intéressants -
>Cette liste sera remise à jour régulièrement
> 
>
>A SEED Europe: www.antenna.nl/aseed
>A SEED Japan: www.jca.ax.apc.org/~aseed/
>
>ATTAC: http://attac.org/ang/
>(in french): www.attac.org
>
>Corporate Watch: www.corpwatch.org
>
>Critical Mass Seattle: www.oz.net/~nic/cm.html
>
>Critical Mass Tokyo: www.jca.ax.apc.org/~aseed/bicycle2.htm
>
>Earth First!: www.k2net.co.uk/ef
>
>EuroDusnie: http://stad.dsl.nl/%7Erobbel/
>
>Eyfa: http://antenna.nl/eyfa/
>
>Food First: www.foodfirst.org
>
>Food Not Bombs Seattle: www.scn.org/activism/foodnotbombs
>
>Friends of the Eath international: www.foe.org
>
>InterContinental Caravan:
>http://stad.dsl.nl/~caravan/
>
>June 18th: www.j18.org
>
>Les Peripheriques vous parlent: www.globenet.org/periph
>
>PICIS Korea: www.jinbo.net/~picis/top_e.html
>
>Reclaim the Streets!: www.gn.apc.org/rts
>
>Transnational Institute: www.tni.org
>
>Tusovka: www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en
>
>Watching Monsanto: www.monsanto.vigil.net
>List archive: www.egroups.com/list/terminatorseedwatch/
>
>
>

FW Basic Income at SASE (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 16:54:28 -0400
From: Karl Widerquist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: Jerome Levy Economics Institute

This just in from Philippe Van Parijs. It's his account of the SASE
conference for the next BEIN newsletter which will go out to every BEIN
member in a month or two:

Madison (Wisconsin), 8-10 July 1999
"Globalization and the Good Society. Tenth Meeting of the Society for
the Advancement of Socio-Economics"
Founded by the "communitarian" sociologist Amitai Etzioni, currently
chaired by Wolfgang Streeck, director of Cologne's Max Planck Institute,

SASE holds one big international conference every year. The theme of
this one hardly guaranteed that basic income would play a prominent role in
it.
Yet, it did. Among the countless parallel workshops, one was explicitly
devoted to basic income, with a critical review of a number of recent
books
by Karl Widerquist (Levy Institute), a paper on the limits of the work
ethic by Michael Lewis (State University of New York) and a paper on
political resistance to basic income in North America by Sally Lerner
(University of Waterloo), who announced at the end of the workshop her
intention of starting an interactive forum on basic income
([EMAIL PROTECTED]). But the surprise came from the
semi-plenary
addresses and plenary panels. While Robert Haveman (University of
Wisconsin) restated his plea (see OECD Econ. Papers 1996) for a
comprehensive package including a refundable tax credit at two thirds of
the poverty line and employment subsidies targeted at the low skilled,
Ronald Dore (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of
Economics)
made a vibrant plea for a citizen's income at 40% of GNP per capita and
predicted that the Blair Government's Working Families Tax Credit
(analogous to the US Earned Income Tax Credit) would gradually expand
and
move in this direction. Joel Rogers (Department of Law, University of
Wisconsin and leader of the New Party) contrasted his new egalitarianism
(enabling, empowering, responsibility-compatible, decentralized) with
both neo-liberalism and traditional egalitarianism (passivity-inducing,
ex-post correcting, centralized). In reply to comments by Fritz Scharpf
(Max-Planck Institut Köln) and Philippe Van Parijs (Université catholique de
Louvain), he indicated that his views had been moving away from conditional,
"activating" benefit schemes to a non-means-tested unconditional basic
income (which would give more bargaining power to its recipients while
eroding the hurdles that prevent activity). Finally, Erik Olin Wright
(Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin) concluded the last
plenary panel by stating that everything he heard (especially by the
Harvard law professor XXX and Julie Kerksick, director of the State of
Wisconsin's project "New Hope. Buiding Bridges to Work") pointed to the
relevance of introducing a universal basic income. As the the next SASE
Conference (London School of Economics, XXX July 2000) will be on
"Citizenship and Exclusion", there is no doubt more than a fair chance
that "socio-economics" will be pondering again on the virtues and drawbacks
of a basic income.

==

FW One-Sided Class Warfare in the USA (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 16:18:03 -0400
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: One-Sided Class Warfare in the USA
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Comment:  Please see http://lists.essential.org for help
>
>An Outsiders' View of the One-Sided Class Warfare in the USA
>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
>"While in theory U.S. law provides for workers to have freedom of
>association, the right to join trade unions and participate in collective
>bargaining is in practice denied to large segments of the American
>workforce in both the public and the private sectors."
>
>That is the central conclusion of a new report issued by the
>Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
>.
>
>Sometimes it takes an outsider to put matters in perspective. Those living
>in a society may become dulled to its everyday injustices; or key elements
>of society may be hidden from the view of many; or people may come to view
>their culture as the natural state of things, rather than the particular
>result of a certain social arrangement.
>
>It was this outsider's point of view that enabled Alexis de Tocqueville to
>write one of the still-great political sociological critiques of the
>United States, Democracy in America.
>
>And this same perspective enables the ICFTU researchers to plainly,
>directly and concisely convey the widespread sabotage of worker rights in
>the United States.
>
>Here's what the report details with piercing clarity:
>
>* "Employers receive legal protection for extensive interference in the
>decision of workers as to whether or not they wish to have union
>representation. This includes active campaigning by employers among
>employees against union representation as well as participating in
>campaigns to eliminate union representation."
>
>* "Penalties for breaking the law are so limited and ineffective that
>there is a high level of corporate lawlessness with respect to labor law.
>At least one in 10 union supporters campaigning to form a union is
>illegally fired."
>
>* Employers engage in widespread harassment and intimidation against union
>supporters. Often the consultants, detectives and security firms used to
>intimidate workers engage in "surveillance of union activists in order to
>discredit them. In some cases, court, medical and credit records of union
>activists are obtained and the family lives of activists are studied for
>possible weaknesses."
>
>* Many government workers, the report notes, are denied the right to
>strike or bargain collectively over hours, wages and other critical
>issues. Nearly half of public workers suffer from full or partial denial
>of collective bargaining rights.
>
>Union supporters who suffer from illegal firings, harassment, surveillance
>or improper employer electioneering do not have adequate remedies at the
>National Labor Relations Board. NLRB procedures, ICFTU correctly states,
>"do not provide workers with effective redress in the face of abuses by
>employers." NLRB delays and inability to award damages more than job
>reinstatement and lost wages (minus earnings during the period between
>illegal dismissal and NLRB order) are so severe that many wronged union
>supporters simply do not bother filing a case with the NLRB.
>
>Employers also routinely eviscerate the rights of those workers who are
>unionized:
>
>* "The law gives employers the 'free play of economic forces.' If
>employers cannot get what they want through collective bargaining, they
>can unilaterally impose their terms, lock out their employees, and
>transfer work to another location, or even to another legal entity." The
>ICFTU reports refers to Crown Central Petroleum's lockout of 250 Texas
>workers as an example.
>
>* "An increasing number of employers have deliberately provoked strikes to
>get rid of trade unions. Unacceptable demands are made of workers and are
>often accompanied by arrangements for the recruiting and training of
>strike-breakers."
>
>* Strike-breakers are also used to prevent unions from ever reaching a
>first contract.
>
>* And, in one of the great travesties of the U.S. legal system, while the
>law does prohibit the firing of workers for exercising collective
>bargaining rights, at the same time it permits employers to lock out and
>"permanently replace" those workers.
>
>The ICFTU report also criticizes the United States for permitting
>widespread use of child labor, especially in the agricultural industry and
>among migrant workers; and, in a growing number of cases, permitting
>prisoners to be compelled to work for pay (for rates as low as 23 cents a
>day).
>
>"A series of far-reaching measures need to be taken in order to establish
>genuine respect for core labor standards within the United States,
>particularly with reg

FW Testing

[S. Lerner]

Testing

FW Monthly Reminder

[S. Lerner]

   *FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER*

PLEASE NOTE:  A new list dealing only with Basic Income will be launched in
mid-September. Watch for the announcement on the Futurework list.  Also -
we are trying to get rid of the spam that's been hitting the list recently.
It's not easy to do, so please be patient -- and send ideas based on your
experience with spamming.


FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education

FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in
all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for
ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.

What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This
is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income
distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of
how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change
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Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
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FW Millenium Round (citizen's guide) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Resent-Date: Sat, 4 Sep 1999 11:11:43 +0200
>X-Authentication-Warning: emiliano.ras.eu.org: uucp set sender to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] using -f
>Reply-To: "Laurent JESOVER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "Laurent JESOVER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Sat, 4 Sep 1999 11:00:41 +0200
>Organization: ATTAC
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 3
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
>Subject: [ATTAC] Millenium Round (citizen's guide)
>X-Mailing-List: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archive/latest/481
>X-Loop: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: list
>Resent-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>For your information...
>
>
>   THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: A Citizen's Guide
>
>   The World Trade Organization is quickly emerging
>   from the shadows as the most powerful international
>   organization in the world today.  Some analysts
>   see it as the new world government, millenium style.
>
>   The WTO has proven that it can successfully order
>   governments to set aside their own policies in
>   favour of WTO measures.
>
>   Canada has seen the WTO intervene in cultural
>   policy to force the abandonment of measures
>   protecting Canadian magazines.  Europe has seen
>   the WTO order European countries to accept the
>   importation of hormone-treated Canadian beef in
>   spite of healt concerns.
>
>   Now the WTO is expected to attack Canadian drug
>   patent policy, the auto pact, and farm marketing
>   boards.
>
>   The WTO has become the enforcement arm of the
>   world's largest corporations who demand unfettered
>   access to all countries' markets and elimination
>   of any measures that they consider harmful.
>
>   In this pioneering book, trade expert Steven
>   Shrybman offers an independent, knowledgeable
>   intorduction to the WTO, its history, structure
>   and its policies.  His analysis of recent WTO
>   decisiions shows what kind of a world we will
>   have if national governments continue to allow
>   their sovereign powers to be subjected to the WTO.
>
>   Steven Shrybman is a lawyer, and is executive
>   director of the West Coast Environmental Law
>   Association.
>
>   Co-published with the Canadian Centre for Policy
>   Alternatives.
>
>   In (Canadian) bookstores in September.
>   $19.95 (Cdn) paperback
>
>   James Lorimer & Company Ltd, Publishers
>   ...
>For more info, try contacting:
>
> The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 804-251 Laurier Ave. W. Ottawa, ON  K1P 5J6
> http://www.policyalternatives.ca
>
>
>
>--
>Attac discussion list
>For any information about the list and the work done by the Association
>   http://attac.org/ 
>if you want to be taken off the list:
>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe
>

FW U.S. Multinationals, Ethics, and the Law [fwd]

[S. Lerner]

>>From: "Webb, Kernaghan: OCA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>To: volcodes-l <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Subject: U.S. Multinationals, Ethics, and the Law
>>Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 17:08:00 -0400
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Precedence: bulk
>>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>Greetings, online Voluntary Codes Research Forum members.  It may be thought
>>that voluntary codes have no legal implications, since the corporations
>>which make the commitments have not necessarily been legislatively required
>>to do so. It may also be thought that the behaviour abroad of U.S. based
>>multinational corporations may be largely beyond the reach of domestic laws.
>>In fact, however, corporations which make commitments and representations
>>concerning the ethical nature of their products and production processes --
>>be they claims concerning human rights and workers, the environment, or some
>>other matter, be they concerning conduct domestically or abroad -- may face
>>significant legal implications.  These implications may arise under consumer
>>misrepresentation laws (virtually very jurisdiction has legislation
>>concerning deceptive or misleading representations) or through tort law.
>>With respect to the former, Nike has been the subject of a legal action
>>pursuant to California consumer misrepresentation legislation laws,
>>concerning its human rights practices. (information concerning the Nike is
>>located at:
>>).
>>Concerning tort claims, an interesting development is the resurrection of
>>the
>>1789 U.S. Alien Tort Claim Act, which was originally designed to provide
>>redress for foreigners against sea pirates and slavers.  On August 9, 1999,
>>four of the 18 American retailers and clothes manufacturers charged with
>>unethical labour practices in a $1 billion alien-tort suit, filed on behalf
>>of some 50,000 garment workers in Saipan, agreed to settle, without
>>admitting liability. (This case was the subject of a previous volcodes forum
>>posting).  For more information concerning the case, see:
>>
>>
>>More generally, Volcodes Forum participants might also wish to check the
>>"Multinational
>>Corporations and Human Rights" website which has been established by the
>>Department of Public International Law, Erasmus University, Rotterdam.  The
>>website includes links to recent cases and statements of claims, such as
>>those pertaining to Unocal, Texaco, Ford, and Nike.   There are also links
>>to research sites, sustainable development websites, as well as those
>>regarding international law, NGOs, international organizations, and
>>mulitnational corporations.
>>For further information, visit:
>>http://www.multinationals.law.eur.nl/documents/
>>
>>Regards,
>>Kernaghan Webb
>>Facilitator, Online Voluntary Codes Research Forum
>>and Senior Legal Policy Advisor,
>>Office of Consumer Affairs
>>Industry Canada
>> 
>>To post messages to the online Voluntary Codes Research Forum, send your
>>e-mail to:
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>To visit the VolCodes Research Forum website, go to:
>>  http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/ca00973e.html
>>To subscribe to the online Voluntary Codes Research Forum, contact Kernaghan
>>Webb at:
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>

Corp-Focus Listserve Announcement

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 15:40:40 -0400
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Corp-Focus Listserve Announcement
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Comment:  Please see http://lists.essential.org for help
>
>LISTSERVE ANNOUNCEMENT: FOCUS ON THE CORPORATION
>
>Corp-Focus is a moderated listserve which distributes the weekly column
>"Focus on the Corporation," co-authored by Russell Mokhiber, editor of
>Corporate Crime Reporter, and Robert Weissman, editor of Multinational
>Monitor magazine.
>
>To subscribe to Corp-Focus, send an e-mail message to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following all in one line:
>
>subscribe corp-focus 
>
>Focus on the Corporation scrutinizes the multinational corporation -- the
>most powerful institution of our time. Once a week, it reports and
>comments critically on corporate actions, plans, abuses and trends.
>Written with a sharp edge and occasional irreverence, Focus on the
>Corporation covers:
>
>* The double standards which excuse corporations for behavior (e.g.,
>causing injury, accepting welfare) widely considered criminal or shameful
>when done by individuals;
>
>* Globalization and corporate power;
>
>* Trends in corporate economic blackmail, political influence and
>workplace organization;
>
>* Industry-wide efforts to escape regulation, silence critics, employ new
>technologies or consolidate business among a few companies;
>
>* Specific, extreme examples of corporate abuses: destruction of
>communities, trampling of democracy, poisoning of air and water; and
>
>* The corporatization of our culture.
>
>You can check out back columns, and information about Mokhiber and
>Weissman's book, Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the
>Attack on Democracy, at .
>
>Please post this notice on relevant lists, and accept our apologies for
>cross-posting.
>

[Fwd: ILO Study: Americans Work Longest Hours]

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 19:50:14 -0400
>From: 32 HOURS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: 32 HOURS: Action for Full Employment <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [Fwd: ILO Study: Americans Work Longest Hours]
>
>
>
>Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Received: from web.net([192.139.37.21]) (3628 bytes) by netserver.web.net
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>   for swt-digest-approved on Mon, 6 Sep 1999 07:37:51 -0700
>Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 07:45:18 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Timework Web <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: SWT: ILO Study: Americans Work Longest Hours
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Study: Americans Work Longest Hours
>By Geir Moulson
>Associated Press Writer
>Sunday, September 5, 1999; 8:01 p.m. EDT
>
>GENEVA (AP) -- Americans work the longest hours in the industrialized
>world, overtaking the Japanese, according to a United Nations study
>released Monday.
>
>But the U.S. lead in productivity is being whittled away by their European
>and Japanese rivals, who are working less while Americans stay on the job
>more, said the report by the International Labor Organization.
>
>Hard-working Americans run a risk of burning out, said the ILO's Lawrence
>Jeff Johnson, co-author of the 600-page ``Key Indicators of the Labor
>Market'' report. The report was based on figures covering the years
>1980-1997.
>
>On average, U.S. workers clocked up 1,966 hours at work in the most recent
>year, the ILO study said. In 1980, the average was 1,883 hours.
>
>The Japanese were their nearest rivals. They worked an average 1,889 hours
>in the most recent year measured there, 1995, but have been spending less
>and less time on the job since clocking up more than 2,100 hours in 1980.
>
>The study, the first such comparison made by the ILO, found that U.S.
>workers first surpassed the Japanese in 1993.
>While U.S. labor productivity surged 20 percent from 1980 to 1996, Japan
>moved ahead by 38 percent, Johnson said.
>``While the benefits of hard work are clear, it is not at all clear that
>working more is the same thing as working better,'' ILO Director-General
>Juan Somavia noted.
>
>Western Europe also saw a significant fall in hours worked, the report
>said, with Norway producing the shortest hours among the industrial
>nations
>studied -- 1,399 hours, according to latest figures.
>French and German workers labored for 1,656 and 1,574 hours respectively
>in
>1997. In 1980, they worked 1,809 hours and 1,742 hours.
>
>But that trend toward less work was accompanied by a faster increase in
>productivity than in the United States. France progressed by 30 percent
>and
>Germany by 31 percent, the report said.
>
>``As an American myself, working long hours is part of the culture,''
>Johnson said. ``Whether it's correct, whether it's value-added, in the
>long
>haul, who knows.''
>
>``People do burn out,'' he said. ``If they keep working this hard for
>these
>long hours there is burnout and there is diminishing returns.''
>Elsewhere, the report noted ``very little productivity improvement'' in
>Latin America over the past two decades, while working hours -- between
>1,800 and 2,000 hours annually -- fell only slightly.
>
>(c) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
>
>Tom Walker
>TimeWork Web
>http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/worksite.htm
>

FW Sustainability (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 11:19:14 -0400
>H. Hart wrote:
>> If you have not seen this, "The Corporate Elite Bill of Rights" below
>was written by a graduate student in Georgia who got angry.
>> David C. Larkin
>>
>> ---
>>
>> "CORPORATE ELITE BILL OF RIGHTS"
>>
>> "WE, the corporate elite of the United States, in an attempt to suck as
>> much money as possible from the pockets of the working people, in an
>> attempt to promote a quiescent and politically weak work force, fatten
>the
>> pockets of shareholders and CEOs, and secure the blessings of vast
>wealth
>> to ourselves (and ONLY ourselves) and to avoid sharing any of the
>benefits
>> of America's economic boom with terminally whiny people who just won't
>be
>> satisfied working harder than others and still falling behind, give you
>the
>> bill of OUR RIGHTS (only applicable to US--to see what your rights are,
>see
>> the BILL OF NO RIGHTS)."
>>
>> ARTICLE I  -- Only WE have the right to certain luxury material goods,
>such
>> as decent, safe and secure housing. Paying for public housing would
>> interfere with our tax cuts, and the rest of you are expendable anyway
>> (especially the darker-skinned ones, who we believe to be our genetic
>> inferiors).
>>
>> ARTICLE II -- Only WE have the right to health care. In a market-driven
>> system, doctors, hospitals and pharmacies exist to put profit in our
>> pockets, not to cure illness and suffering. If you are sick and have no
>> money to pay stop whining and die already! You are costing us money.
>>
>> ARTICLE III -- Only WE have the right to be free from crime. If crime
>is
>> driven by vast social inequalities, then bring on the crime wave!
>Prisons
>> are profitable for us, too. Anyway, we have the money to hire security
>> guards, get alarm systems, and build private gated communities to live
>in.
>> If any of the rest of you are victimized by criminals created from
>poverty
>> and desperation and you don't know what to do about it, see ARTICLE II.
>>
>> ARTICLE IV -- Only WE have the right to kill people. If you don't
>believe
>> it, just read some newspaper stories about toxic chemical waste, and
>what
>> it does to people's bodies. Or ask yourself whether the onslaught of
>> chemicals we manufacture and profit from have caused the huge increase
>in
>> breast cancer. And let's not even talk about the deaths we caused with
>> dangerous products, like breast implants, poorly engineered cars that
>> explode in minor crashes, etc., etc. If you had killed as many people
>as
>> we have, you'd be on death row right now waiting for them to stick a
>needle
>> in your arm. But we're out on our yachts, enjoying the sunshine. If you
>> don't like it, see ARTICLE II.
>>
>> ARTICLE V -- Only WE have the right to profit from our labor. The rest
>of
>> you can just work harder. If your wages are too low, blame yourselves.
>> Maybe you are a "professional couch potato" who works only two
>full-time
>> jobs. Or maybe you were laid off when we moved our company overseas to
>> employ "non-whiners" who will work happily for fifty cents an hour.
>> Anyway, I have to go, almost time to tee off!
>>
>> ARTICLE VI -- Only WE have the right to elect people who will act on
>our
>> behalf and serve our interests. Remember that when you go to the polls
>and
>> are unable to decide whether the Democratic or Republican candidate
>will
>> screw you over worse. It is important that you keep concentrating on
>> "Whiners" and "Welfare Cheats" because, if you ever really focused on
>how
>> badly we are eroding democracy here and destroying your lives in every
>> conceivable way, you'd do more than just not vote for us. You'd
>probably
>> drag us out of our luxury cars and up to a guillotine, screaming "off
>with
>> their heads!" To make sure that day never comes, we will keep on
>> brainwashing you.
>
>George Francis,
>Department of Environment and Resource Studies,
>University of Waterloo,
>Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
>(519) 885-1211, Extension 3061
>

FW Your Money Or Your Life (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 11:44:03 -0700
>From: Bob Stilger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: bulk
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Your Money Or Your Life
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>Hi all,
>
>
>One of the lessons we learned through our work earlier this year with
>RESILIENT COMMUNITIES was that more and more people are at the point where
>they want hands-on, practical direction in terms of how to live their lives
>differently.
>
>
>That's why, beginning this fall, we are going to be using life-satellite
>technology to bring people together with some of the best practioners of
>resilience.
>
>
>On Saturday, November 13th Vicki Robin, co-author of YOUR MONEY OR YOUR
>LIFE will lead a four hour videoworkshop on simplifying life and reducing
>consumption.  Vicki is just outstanding -- she speaks from the heart and
>from the head, and with a lot of experience.
>
>
>We want to urge you to consider organizing a local downlink site for this
>workshop.  It's pretty easy to find a site and then to invite people from
>around your community together for an inexpensive, highly informative and
>highly interactive 4 hour workshop.
>
>
>Please visit http://www.engagedliving.org for full program details.
>
>
>We hope you'll join us!
>
>
>Best,
>
>
>Bob
>
>
>Robert L. Stilger, Executive Director
>Northwest Regional Facilitators
>East 525 Mission Avenue
>Spokane, WA 99202
>
>
>Fax:  (509) 483 0345
>Phone:  (509) 484 6733
>E-Mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>NRF Home Page:  http://www.nrf.org
>ResilientCommunities Home Page:  http://www.resilientcommunities.org
>

FW Protestor's Guide to WTO Seattle, 11 Sep 1999 (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 16:36:16 -0400
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Protestor's Guide to WTO Seattle, 11 Sep 1999
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
>
>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 15:25:06 -0300
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: (en) (Fwd) Millenium Round -- self-organizing in Seattle
>
>From: "Lisa & Ian Murray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: self-organizing in Seattle against the WTO/Seattle Times article
>Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999
>
>This was on the front page of the paper yesterday.  "Things" are starting
>to catalyze rather quickly.  For more info see
>-http://www.seattlewto.org
>-http://www.peopleforfairtrade.org
>-http://www.ruckus.org
>
>These sites have been updated quite a bit in the last few weeks and have
>info of significant use to those who are making the trek to Seattle.
>
>
>
>Local News : Friday, September 10, 1999
>
>Protesters busily practice for WTO meeting in Seattle
>
>by David Postman
>
>Seattle Times Olympia bureau
>Seattle Times Olympia bureau
>Seattle Times Olympia bureau
>
>When World Trade Organization negotiators from more than 130 countries
>arrive in Seattle in November, they will be greeted by giant puppets,
>street dancers, anarchists, activists dangling from skyscrapers and a
>mass of protesting steelworkers and Teamsters.
>
>Here, in one of the most trade-friendly spots in the nation, thousands
>of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets around the
>Washington State Convention and Trade Center on Nov. 30 in what is
>likely to be the biggest protest in America against the globalization
>of commerce.
>
>The goal of opposition organizers was bluntly stated in a recent e-mail
>circulated among protest organizers:
>
>"SHUT DOWN THE WTO TUES NOV. 30"
>
>"MASS NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION"
>
>"This is the time to really draw a line in the sand and say this is the
>largest and most influential corporate gathering of the millennium, and
>it is not going to happen," said John Sellers, director of the
>Berkeley-based Ruckus Society.
>
>His group will hold a weeklong training camp for protesters next week
>in Snohomish County.
>
>The Seattle Police Department is doing its own special training for both
>VIP protection and crowd control, said Capt. Brent Wingstrand, who heads
>the department's WTO detail.
>
>"We have to plan for something big and then adjust our deployment to
>what the reality turns out to be," he said.
>
>Likewise, Seattle organizers of the WTO meeting said they don't know
>what to expect.
>
>"We support people's right to express their opinion, and we hope they
>continue a Seattle tradition of holding demonstrations peacefully,"
>said Susan Kruller, spokeswoman for the WTO/Seattle Host Organizing
>Committee.
>
>Several activist groups see the Seattle meeting as the best opportunity
>to turn the tide of public sentiment against global free trade.
>
>The meeting's U.S. location guarantees it will be the most-covered WTO
>meeting. Its end-of-the-century timing gives it a millennial gloss.
>Seattle, organizers hope, could be the Million Man March for WTO
>opponents, a sort of Earth Day in the efforts to build a sustainable
>anti-free-trade movement in the United States.
>
>"We win in Seattle if we can peel off enough of the political elite,
>the trade ministers, the government functionaries from this slavish
>devotion to a corporate agenda and get them to look at the legitimate
>expectations of workers and the environment," said Mike Dolan, deputy
>director of Global Trade Watch, a part of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen.
>
>Now on loan to the Citizens Trade Campaign, Dolan, a former trial lawyer
>and veteran political organizer, has opened a storefront office in
>Seattle to help coordinate dozens of protests during the WTO meeting.
>
>People's Global Action, a year-old international group that calls for
>confrontational, nonviolent protest, is planning events around the
>world Nov. 30 and organizing a caravan to bring foreign protesters on a
>"direct action" tour across America. Members of the Canadian Union of
>Postal Workers, where an organizer's phone message says, "Remember,
>capitalism does suck," hope to be in Seattle. So do representatives of
>the Nicaraguan farmers union.
>
>And the trade ministers might take a close look at that concierge
>working the convention center. A California group recently circulated
>to fellow protesters some applications for volunteer jobs with the WTO
>host committee.
>
>The WTO has chosen one of the most trade-dependent states in the country
>for its meeting. Boeing is one of America's great exporters, Microsoft
>has extraordinary global reach, and Washington farmers ship hundreds of
>millions of dollars worth of wheat and apples overseas each year.
>
>Politicians of all stripes tout free trade, none more than Washington's
>high-profile governor, Gary Locke. Former Gov. Booth Gardner was the
>United States' ambassador to

FW Turkish material

[S. Lerner]

Since our server, majordomo, cannot be configured to screen out posts from
non-subscribers to an unmoderated list (and Futurework is unmoderated), we
have to put up with non-relevant posts from time to time. Thank goodness
for the delete key!   Sally

Shutting down Seattle

[S. Lerner]

>From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Shutting down Seattle (WTO)
>
>The Seattle Weekly 8/19/99
>
>Shutting down Seattle
>
>   BY GEOV PARRISH
>
>The World Trade Organization's talks are scheduled to be held in free
>trade-friendly Seattle this fall. So is "the Protest of the Century," as
>WTO opponents gather to give the ruling class a kick in the groin.
>
>On a cool but soon to be warm, sunny, and perfectly serviceable midsummer
>Saturday morning, when you'd think otherwise rational people would have
>something midsummerlike to do, some 120 organizers filed into the Labor
>Temple in Belltown. They came to hear the true believers fire them up over
>global trade issues. They also came to prepare for days, months from now,
>when it will be cold and dark and wet.
>
>And loud.
>
>"It's historic . . . the confrontations in Seattle will define how the
>bridge to the 21st century will be built and who will be crossing
>it--transnational corporations or civil society." That's Michael Dolan
>speaking, field organizer for the Washington, DC-based Naderite group
>Public Citizen. If Dolan has his way, the opening talks of the Seattle
>Round of World Trade Organization consultations, set for November 29 to
>December 3 this year, will be a benchmark, a huge protest of corporate
>dominance of the global economy that will give politicians pause and CEOs
>cold sweats.
>
>The WTO represents over 100 countries in an unprecedented effort to
>globalize commerce. Advocates see it as a means of boosting the world's
>economy by bringing down trade barriers. But opponents believe the WTO is
>systematically gutting worker, consumer, and environmental protections,
>and deliberately usurping the rights of each country to make its own
>laws--especially when those laws might conflict with trade.
>
>
>Dolan is working on behalf of the Citizens' Trade Campaign (CTC)--a
>broad-based national coalition including Public Citizen; labor groups like
>the United Auto Workers; consumer groups; environmental groups like
>Friends of the Earth and Clean Water Action; farm groups like National
>Farmers Union and National Family and Farm Coalition; church
>organizations; and many more.  Over 700 international groups have signed
>on to the CTC's demand to oppose the Multilateral Agreement on Investments
>(MAI), a controversial free trade proposal that will probably be on the
>WTO's Seattle agenda. Instead of donating money to the cause of organizing
>against the trade meetings, the CTC has donated Dolan, who has spent much
>of the spring and summer meeting with community activists and lining up
>logistical support.
>
>This month, the CTC opened a storefront operation downtown that will work
>until December to help coordinate protests. And that's only one of the
>anti-WTO organizing efforts under way. The AFL-CIO has dispatched two
>full-time field organizers to coordinate a massive march and rally set for
>November 30, days after labor union heads from around the world will
>convene in Seattle for their own conference. The teamsters, longshoremen,
>and other industrial unions are each conducting their own mobilizations;
>the steelworkers' union has reserved 1,000 hotel rooms in Tacoma and
>Bellevue.  There will be teach-ins and alternative conferences and press
>conferences and rallies and marches and blockades galore. Farm groups like
>the Northern Plains Resource Council, Western Sustainable Agriculture, the
>Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, and the Campaign to Reclaim
>Rural America will be bringing outrage. There is talk of a procession of
>tractors. Scores of nongovernmental organizations will come to try to make
>their voices heard. The Zapatista-originated Peoples' Global Action is
>bringing caravans across North America to descend on Seattle. The Sierra
>Club is mobilizing its membership.
>
>Even peace groups like the War Resisters League are involved--free trade,
>by specifically exempting military spending from its agreements, acts to
>encourage the arms trade and military buildups by Third World governments.
>Art and Revolution is bringing its giant puppets and public spectacle from
>the streets of San Francisco. And the Evergreen State College, well, they
>might as well close the campus--they'll all be in Seattle, as will
>students from around the country, led by the Boston-based Center for
>Campus Organizing.
>
>Steven Staples, British Columbia field organizer for the Council of
>Canadians, estimates that "hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands" will be
>coming down from Canada, where activists are concerned about the WTO's
>threat to their country's education and health care systems. After
>Vancouver's experience with heavy-handed riot police at the 1996 APEC
>meetings (pepper spray, preemptive arrests), Staples says, "people got a
>very clear idea of whose interests were being served." All in all, Seattle
>will see traffic snarled and resources stretched to 

FW Reminder about searchable archives

[S. Lerner]

Searchable archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/

FW Definition of Poverty: Le Monde, Sept 1999 (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

> For the poor, poverty is not a matter of definition.
> It is the harsh reality of daily life.
>
>
>
>
>Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 00:44:48 -1000
>From: "Viviane Lerner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: From Le Monde Diplomatique - Who are you calling poor?
>
>
>DEFINITIONS OF DISTRESS: Who are you calling poor?
>DEFINITIONS OF DISTRESS: Who are you calling poor?
>DEFINITIONS OF DISTRESS: Who are you calling poor?
>
>
>http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/09/?c=06poverty
>- 
>
>Poverty as a blot on society has been eclipsed by other priorities,
>especially the need to determine a financially acceptable level of social
>welfare cover. The swings in public opinion between concern and indifference
>reflect an ongoing controversy about the nature of poverty. The issue is a
>political football. And the argument cannot be solved by a straightforward
>appeal to the "facts" because the statistics are open to interpretation by
>those who set out to define the characteristics of the poor.
>by GODFRIED ENGBERSEN
>
>- -
>
>Since the mid-1980s the growth of inequality throughout the world (1) has
>been accompanied by the re-emergence of poverty in Western Europe and the
>United States. The coexistence of public poverty and private affluence in
>the West is nothing new and has given rise to heated debate on several
>occasions in the post-war period. But only in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s did
>the extent of the phenomenon become apparent. With growing numbers in
>marginalised groups (now known as the "excluded"), increasing job
>insecurity, the direct attack on the welfare state and the difficulties
>involved in integrating ethnic minorities, poverty has regularly captured
>public attention. But so far such attention has been short-lived. Poverty as
>a blot on society has been eclipsed by other priorities, especially the need
>to determine a financially acceptable level of social welfare cover.
>
>The swings in public opinion between concern and indifference reflect an
>ongoing controversy about the nature of poverty. The issue is a political
>football. And the argument cannot be solved by an appeal to the "facts",
>because the disagreements concern both the relevance of the statistics
>invoked and their interpretation.
>
>Some people say that if low-income groups own consumer durables such as
>cars, computers and video recorders, then they are not poor. Others say it
>shows that modern poverty is not just a matter of material needs, it is
>essentially one of social frustration. In the same way, some people say that
>the high proportion of unemployed among the poor is to do with the growing
>laziness of people on welfare benefits. Others stress that fewer and fewer
>jobs are available. In other words, how you choose and interpret the facts
>largely depends on your value system.
>
>This can be seen in the linguistic wrangle about poverty. In addition to the
>language of the poor themselves, at least four types of discourse can be
>distinguished - bureaucratic, moralising, dramatic and academic (2) - with
>their terminology resembling the Tower of Babel. Adepts of emotional
>language complain about the heartless jargon of the bureaucrats. The complex
>terminology of the social scientists, with its multitude of definitions and
>approaches, is the despair of politicians. Meanwhile those directly
>concerned fail to recognise themselves in the welter of conflicting jargon.
>For the poor, poverty is not a matter of definition. It is the harsh reality
>of daily life.
>
>Bureaucratic language concentrates on defining a poverty line. The poor are
>those with incomes below a given level. In many European countries the state
>sets a limit below which it grants assistance. Here the terminology is
>abstract, technical, almost neutral.
>
>Moralising language is very different. It makes a judgement about the
>behaviour of the poor, depicting them either as irresponsible, dangerous and
>lacking in motivation, or as unfortunate, innocent and needy. Rooted in
>American traditions of social help, this language is mainly concerned to
>distinguish between those who deserve charity and those who do not. Its use
>has increased considerably over the last ten years.
>
>In the 1980s and 1990s dramatic language has played a major role in securing
>material aid for the poor and, more generally, in rousing public opinion.
>Specific, expressive and emotional, it differs from bureaucratic jargon in
>describing the daily problems of the poor - the school transport they cannot
>afford, the humiliation of the dole queue, the bitterness of those who
>suffer in silence. Dutch bishop Martinus Muskens used this language when he
>asserted that a pauper with no means of survival had the right to take a
>loaf of bread from a shop. And the Dutch prime minister was speaking the
>same language when he retorted: "In my family we 

FW A US Futurework website (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Check this one out...

Futurework - Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century_


http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/futurework/report.htm


Published by the US Department of Labor (DOL), this report explores
the social impact of the new economy and the role of the
"twenty-first century work-place" in America. _Futurework_ cites
three elements necessary for the stability of American workers:
"rising economic security over a lifetime," "a work and family
balance," and "workplaces that are safe and fair." Using numerous
charts, tables, and graphs, the report examines topics such as
workforce diversity, wage growth, changing workplaces, technology and
globalization, and future trends affecting working conditions and
worker morale. The report may be downloaded by chapter in HTML or
.pdf format. Tables, charts, and boxes may also be downloaded
separately. Additional resources at the site include a number of
full-text conference papers (in HTML or .pdf formats) and related
links. [MD] [EM]

Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of
Regents, 1994-1999. The Internet Scout Project
(http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences
Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides
information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education
community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number
NCR-9712163.

FW Cure for the cancer of capitalism (Korten) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 18:27:48 -0400
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Cure for the cancer of capitalism (Korten)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
> David Korten says:
>
>   "The relationship of capitalism to a market economy
>   is that of a cancer to a healthy body."
>
> He then explains that the cure is within our grasp.
>
>
> Published quarterly
> by the Positive Futures Network
> by David C. Korten
>
>
> Over the nearly 600 years since the onset of the Commercial Revolution,
> we have as a species learned a great deal about the making of money and
> we have created powerful institutions and technologies dedicated to its
> accumulation.
>
> But in our quest for money, we forgot how to live.
>
> Now, on the threshold of the third millennium we find our planet beset
> by growing climatic instability, disappearing species, collapsing
> fisheries, shrinking forests, and eroding soils, while the institutions
> of family, community, and the nation-state disintegrate around us and
> the gap between rich and poor becomes more unconscionable by the day.
>
> Our obsession with money has led us to create an economic system that
> values life only for its contribution to making money. With the
> survival of civilization and perhaps even our species now at risk, we
> have begun to awaken to the fact that our living planet is the source
> of all real wealth and the foundation of our own existence. We must now
> look to living systems as our teacher, for our survival depends on
> discovering new ways of living -- and making our living -- that embody
> life's wisdom.
>
>
> Living Economies
>
> Since the dawn of the scientific revolution, we have been so busy
> subduing nature that we have given little thought to the possibility
> that living systems might embody wisdom essential to our own lives.
>
> This is beginning to change. Industrial ecology, for example, draws on
> life as a model for the design of closed-loop production processes in
> which all products and by-products are eventually used and reused, just
> as they are in nature. Likewise, a number of organizations are drawing
> from living systems models to enhance the creativity and effectiveness
> of employees. However, aside from social Darwinists who use only a
> narrow spectrum of natural processes to justify an ideology of
> unrestrained economic competition, there have been few serious efforts
> to distill principles from nature's economies for the design of human
> economies as a whole. Since the economy's incentive systems and
> feedback loops are so central in determining how we produce and for
> whose benefit, and who pays the costs, this area clearly holds enormous
> promise.
>
> All living systems, from individual cells to biological communities,
> are complex self-organizing economies in which many individual entities
> cooperate to sustain themselves and the life of the whole -- as when
> plants produce food and oxygen needed by animals, which in turn produce
> fertilizers and carbon dioxide that feed pllant life. As Willis Harman
> and Elisabet Sahtouris write in Biology Revisioned, "Trees shelter birds
> and insects, bees pollinate flowers, mammals package seeds in fertilizer
> and distribute them, fungi and plants exchange materials, sapotrophs,
> whether microbes or vultures, recycle, birds warn of predators, etc."
> The species that survive and prosper are those that find a niche in
> which they meet their own needs in ways that simultaneously serve
> others.
>
> Life, then, consists of countless individuals self-organized into
> "holarchies" -- nested sets of cells, multi-celled organisms, and
> multi-species communities or ecosystems with ever greater complexity
> and capacity. Each individual functions both as a whole and a part of
> a greater whole.
>
> Take our own bodies as an example. Each of us is a composite of more
> than 30 trillion individual living cells. Yet even these cells
> constitute less than half of our dry weight. The remainder consists of
> microorganisms, such as the enteric bacteria and yeasts of our gut that
> manufacture vitamins and help metabolize our food. These symbiotic
> creatures are as necessary to our survival and healthful function as our
> own cells. Each cell and microorganism in our body is an individual,
> self-directing entity, yet by joining together they are able as well to
> function as a single being with abilities far beyond those of its parts.
>
> Throughout its life span, each organism constantly renews its physical
> structures through cell death and replacement. Ninety-eight percent of
> the atoms in our bodies are replaced each year. Yet the identity,
> function, and coherence of the body and its individual organs are
> self-maintained -- suggesting that each cell, organ, and body possesses
> some degree of inner knowledge and awareness of both self and the
> larger whole of which it is a part.
>
>
> Life's Lessons
>
> Lif

New From the CCPA

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Fri, 08 Oct 1999 14:24:42 -0400
>From: Bruce Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Organization: CCPA
>X-Accept-Language: en
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: New From the CCPA
>
>
>October --1999
>
>Dear members and friends of the CCPA
>
>From: Bruce Campbell, Executive Director
>
>This is the first of what will be regular update of new publications
>from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. A lot of our material
>can be freely downloaded from our web site. So check us out at:
>http://www.policyalternatives.ca
>
>Also, feel free to contact me if you have any comments about our work.
>
>--
>
>The World Trade Organization: A Citizen’s Guide
>
>by Steven Shrybman  (CCPA/Lorimer)
>
>
>The World Trade Organization is a global institution of staggering
>power. With a membership of 135 countries and a mandate to administer
>and enforce international trade agreements worldwide, it is not an
>exaggeration to say that this organization constitutes a form of world
>government.  The WTO is using it is extraordinary powers to force
>governments to modify public policies most often to conform to corporate
>interests. Steven Shrybman offers an independent view of the WTO and how
>it is using its powers in areas ranging from agriculture and environment
>to labour and culture.
>
>World leaders meet in Seattle later this year to launch the so-called
>millennium round of WTO negotiations.  WTO: A Citizen’s Guide is a
>timely and valuable resource for all who want to understand its profound
>impacts on our lives.
>
>Copies of The World Trade Organization: A Citizen’s Guide can be
>obtained from the CCPA for $19.95 each (price includes shipping within
>North America, handling and GST #124146473RT). (Discounts available for
>bulk orders)
>
>
>
>Ten Tax Myths
>
>by Murray Dobbin
>
>The high-powered campaign for tax cuts in Canada, mounted by big
>business and relentlessly promoted by right-wing politicians,
>think-tanks and the commercial media, is based on misleading data,
>specious arguments, and outright falsehoods. That is the central finding
>of best-selling author and activist Murray Dobbin, His report is
>designed to expose and refute the prevalent tax myths and to provide the
>facts about our tax system that its attackers conveniently ignore.  "Ten
>Tax Myths" will equip citizens with the information and analysis needed
>to debunk these myths.
>
>Ten Tax Myths has been met by a predictably hostile response from the
>tax cut lobby. For example Michael Walker of the Fraser Institute says:
>"there is a superficial appeal to the analysis that does not stand up to
>careful scrutiny."
>
>Ten Tax Myths can be downloaded for free from the CCPA web site at
>http://www.policyalternatives.ca >
>Hard copies are available for $10.00 each. (bulk orders are available
>for $5.00 each plus shipping)
>
>Murray Dobbin is available to speak at conventions and conferences.
>
>--
>
>The Future of Medicare: Recovering the Canada Health Act
>
>by Monique Begin
>
>According to former Federal Health Minister Monique Begin, the
>growing privatization of Canada's health care system, government
>under-funding, the de-listing of services, the imposition of
>extra-charges and user fees, and the failure to enforce the Canada
>Health Act are combining to erode Medicare in Canada. Now professor
>emeritus at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Health Sciences,
>Begin, the main architect of the 1984 Canada Health Act, analyzes and
>documents the erosion of our public health care system.
>
>The Future of Medicare can be downloaded for free from the CCPA web
>site. Hard copies are available for $10.00 each. (bulk orders are
>available for $5.00 plus shipping)
>
>
>
>Out of Control: Canada in an Unstable Financial World
>
>edited by Brian K. MacLean  (CCPA/Lorimer)
>
>Unless forceful measures are taken to regulate global financial
>markets, the world is in danger of repeating, on an even larger
>scale, the Asian financial crisis which shook the world economy in
>1997-98. This is a central message of Out of Control Out of Control,
>edited by Laurentian University economics professor Brian MacLean,
>contains contributions from leading Canadian experts and commentators
>who bring a range of perspectives and experience to this  subject. They
>include: Linda McQuaig, Jacques Parizeau, Douglas Peters, and Jim
>Stanford. The authors explore the causes of financial market turmoil and
>propose a variety of workable measures Canada can take to shield itself
>from destabilizing international forces. They also stress the need for
>international solutions showing what Canada can do to promote a more
>stable world financial system.
>
>Copies of Out of Control can be obtained from the CCPA for $19.95 each
>(price includes shipping within North America, handling and GST
>#124146473RT). (Discounts available for bulk orders)
>
>Early praise for Out of Control  came 

FW Phony Tax Revolt: Murray Dobbin (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:13:27 -0700
>From: Murray Dobbin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: phony tax  revolt
>
>
>The crisis of high taxes is a phony crisis
>The crisis of high taxes is a phony crisis
>The crisis of high taxes is a phony crisis
>
>By Murray Dobbin
>
>
>Following on months of scare mongering by the National Post, Canadians
>now face the country's three largest business lobbies joining together
>in a deafening call for massive tax cuts. The call will be repeated and
>repeated in the hope that Canadians will gradually give in and accept
>the message. It is a repeat performance of the deficit hysteria of the
>early nineties and like that campaign based on carefully constructed
>myths.
>
>Let's examine some of them. First and foremost, is the myth about how
>high corporate taxes are in Canada.  Examining OECD figures reveals that
>Canada's corporate tax regime places us in the middle of the pack of 29
>industrialized nations. But what about our main competitors? The
>international firm KPMG has done several studies that show Canada's
>effective corporate income tax rate (the actual rate of taxes paid) is
>very competitive. In on such study, comparing Canada with Britain, the
>US, Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden, Canada had the lowest tax rate -
>27.4% versus 40% for the US. In addition, respecting the two other major
>taxes affecting investment, payroll taxes and property taxes, Canada was
>significantly lower than the US and the other countries examined.
>
>The loudest calls for tax cuts are aimed at personal income taxes
>compared with the US. The argument is made that we have to remain
>competitive with the US in being able to attract high skilled workers
>and to reverse the brain drain.  The brain drain argument persists even
>though the data shows that in fact Canada has a net brain gain - we lose
>8,000 university graduates to the US while gaining over 32,000 from
>other countries. Most of those we lose are in the health field, forced
>to emigrate because of spending cuts.
>
>Two studies indicate that though our personal taxes are higher in Canada
>than in the US, when other factors are added in the differences
>disappear. A study by Standard and Poor's DRI revealed that when you
>take account of the money Americans have to spend in the private sector
>for health care and education, the so-called "tax burden" is virtually
>identical in the two countries. Supporting that conclusion is a study
>done by Michael Wolfson, the director general of Stastcan. It revealed
>that the average Canadian family has more take-home pay than their
>American counterpart: $30,200 versus $29,500.  Only in the top one-fifth
>of income earners do Americans have a higher take-home pay - in the
>bottom four quintiles Canadian do better.
>
>It is ironic that the tax-cut advocates pitch their appeal on the basis
>of job creation when for the past ten years these same voices have
>lobbied hard to keep inflation low and unemployment high. But in any
>case the argument that tax cuts will actually increase tax revenue
>through economic stimulation doesn't hold up either - unless those cuts
>are given to the lowest income Canadians who are obliged to spend all
>they earn. According to the Ottawa firm Informetrica, the most
>stimulative tax cut would be the GST. A $100 million cut here would
>produce 55,000 jobs. But a $100 million in increased government spending
>on medicare or education would result in 70,000 new jobs, on child care,
>130,000 jobs.
>
>Perhaps the most dubious part of the tax cut campaign is the myth that
>there is "tax rage" in the country, that Canadians are demanding tax
>cuts. In fact, Canadians have shown in poll after poll that they want
>more money spent on health care and education. The most comprehensive
>polling in the country, conducted by Ekos in its yearly "Rethinking
>Government" study, asked people what the federal government's priority
>should be. Tax cuts placed seventh, behind health care, education, child
>poverty, improving productivity, supporting children and families, and
>reducing the national debt. Even in Ontario, in the middle of the last
>provincial election, an Angus Reid poll revealed that 53% wanted the
>government to forget the tax cut and spend the equivalent amount of
>money on health care and education, while 22% said forget the cut and
>bring down the deficit.
>
>The purpose behind the tax cut campaign is clear and it has nothing to
>do with job creation, international competitiveness, or the brain drain.
>It has to do with permanently lowering the government's revenue so that
>its capacity to provide public services is diminished, clearing the way
>for increased privatization of health, education, and other services.
>Canadians in their vast majority do not want this. But if they fall for
>the tax cutters propaganda that is what they will get.
>
>
>   -30-
>
>Murray Dobbin is a Vancouver writer and broadca

FW Phony Tax Revolt (Canada) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:13:27 -0700
>From: Murray Dobbin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: phony tax  revolt
>
>Bob... I have just published a booklet called "10 Tax Myths"  with the
>CCPA. The op ed below highlights some of its more interesting findings.
>
>Murray D.
>
>The crisis of high taxes is a phony crisis
>
>By Murray Dobbin
>
>Following on months of scare mongering by the National Post, Canadians
>now face the country's three largest business lobbies joining together
>in a deafening call for massive tax cuts. The call will be repeated and
>repeated in the hope that Canadians will gradually give in and accept
>the message. It is a repeat performance of the deficit hysteria of the
>early nineties and like that campaign based on carefully constructed
>myths.
>
>Let's examine some of them. First and foremost, is the myth about how
>high corporate taxes are in Canada.  Examining OECD figures reveals that
>Canada's corporate tax regime places us in the middle of the pack of 29
>industrialized nations. But what about our main competitors? The
>international firm KPMG has done several studies that show Canada's
>effective corporate income tax rate (the actual rate of taxes paid) is
>very competitive. In on such study, comparing Canada with Britain, the
>US, Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden, Canada had the lowest tax rate -
>27.4% versus 40% for the US. In addition, respecting the two other major
>taxes affecting investment, payroll taxes and property taxes, Canada was
>significantly lower than the US and the other countries examined.
>
>The loudest calls for tax cuts are aimed at personal income taxes
>compared with the US. The argument is made that we have to remain
>competitive with the US in being able to attract high skilled workers
>and to reverse the brain drain.  The brain drain argument persists even
>though the data shows that in fact Canada has a net brain gain - we lose
>8,000 university graduates to the US while gaining over 32,000 from
>other countries. Most of those we lose are in the health field, forced
>to emigrate because of spending cuts.
>
>Two studies indicate that though our personal taxes are higher in Canada
>than in the US, when other factors are added in the differences
>disappear. A study by Standard and Poor's DRI revealed that when you
>take account of the money Americans have to spend in the private sector
>for health care and education, the so-called "tax burden" is virtually
>identical in the two countries. Supporting that conclusion is a study
>done by Michael Wolfson, the director general of Stastcan. It revealed
>that the average Canadian family has more take-home pay than their
>American counterpart: $30,200 versus $29,500.  Only in the top one-fifth
>of income earners do Americans have a higher take-home pay - in the
>bottom four quintiles Canadian do better.
>
>It is ironic that the tax-cut advocates pitch their appeal on the basis
>of job creation when for the past ten years these same voices have
>lobbied hard to keep inflation low and unemployment high. But in any
>case the argument that tax cuts will actually increase tax revenue
>through economic stimulation doesn't hold up either - unless those cuts
>are given to the lowest income Canadians who are obliged to spend all
>they earn. According to the Ottawa firm Informetrica, the most
>stimulative tax cut would be the GST. A $100 million cut here would
>produce 55,000 jobs. But a $100 million in increased government spending
>on medicare or education would result in 70,000 new jobs, on child care,
>130,000 jobs.
>
>Perhaps the most dubious part of the tax cut campaign is the myth that
>there is "tax rage" in the country, that Canadians are demanding tax
>cuts. In fact, Canadians have shown in poll after poll that they want
>more money spent on health care and education. The most comprehensive
>polling in the country, conducted by Ekos in its yearly "Rethinking
>Government" study, asked people what the federal government's priority
>should be. Tax cuts placed seventh, behind health care, education, child
>poverty, improving productivity, supporting children and families, and
>reducing the national debt. Even in Ontario, in the middle of the last
>provincial election, an Angus Reid poll revealed that 53% wanted the
>government to forget the tax cut and spend the equivalent amount of
>money on health care and education, while 22% said forget the cut and
>bring down the deficit.
>
>The purpose behind the tax cut campaign is clear and it has nothing to
>do with job creation, international competitiveness, or the brain drain.
>It has to do with permanently lowering the government's revenue so that
>its capacity to provide public services is diminished, clearing the way
>for increased privatization of health, education, and other services.
>Canadians in their vast majority do not want this. But if they fall for
>the tax cutters propaganda that is what they will get.
>
>
>  

FW More on WTO

[S. Lerner]

2)  No. 197
Wednesday October 13, 1999
Page AA-4
ISSN 1523-567X

Leading the News

International Trade
Gephardt Calls for 'a Seat at the Table'
For Labor, Environmentalists in WTO Talks

LOS ANGELES--The next round of World Trade Organization negotiations
should include representatives of organized labor and environmental
groups, House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) said Oct. 11 at the
AFL-CIO's biennial convention.

The WTO should have the labor and environmental issues "squarely on the
agenda," Gephardt said, to avoid the kind of misery that the North
American Free Trade Agreement has produced in Mexico.

In a speech to delegates and a press conference afterward, Gephardt
endorsed the AFL-CIO's call for a massive rally of workers and their
families to coincide with the Nov. 30 WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle.

The first step toward getting a place at the negotiating table "is to get
out in the street" in Seattle, Gephardt said in response to a reporter's
question.

In his address, Gephardt said the misery among workers in the
"maquiladora" industrial area near the U.S.-Mexican border is now worse
than in 1993, just prior to the NAFTA signing, because negotiators refused
to heed the calls of organized labor--and Gephardt--to include labor
rights and environmental protections in the body of the agreement.

Gephardt called for adoption of what he termed "a new path," one that
promotes greater international trade, but also establishes protections for
human and worker rights and the environment. "It's not the easy way, but
it's the right way," he said.

He also chided business interests that oppose inclusion of such
protections in trade agreements, noting they have no qualms about pushing
for similar safeguards for capital flows and intellectual property rights.

At the press briefing, Gephardt, who has already endorsed Vice President
Al Gore for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, said that if, as
expected, the AFL-CIO officially endorsed Gore before the convention's
end, Oct. 13, it would be because Gore "earned it on his record" of
supporting working families.

Gephardt acknowledged that Gore backed the NAFTA treaty that organized
labor vehemently opposed. But the vice president is now espousing an
approach to global trade much closer to his and the AFL-CIO's, he added.

Trumka Echoes Call

The core of that approach is including in the WTO basic workers' rights
and environmental protections, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka
told the convention audience shortly after Gephardt's address.

Those rights should include freedom of association, the right to organize
and bargain, no use of forced or compulsory labor, no child labor and no
discrimination, Trumka said. Moreover, the WTO should include strong
enforcement procedures, so that membership benefits may be withdrawn
quickly from governments that fail to enforce the rules, Trumka added.

The AFL-CIO also wants new applicants to the WTO to comply with workers'
rights before they are admitted, Trumka said. "If human and workers'
rights have no place in China, then China has no place in the WTO," he
said.

Trumka, who echoed Gephardt's call for "a seat at the table" for unions
and other citizens' organizations, also demanded that the WTO establish
stronger safeguards so that national action can be taken quickly when
import surges threaten domestic industries.

AFL-CIO's Broader Attack

Trumka's remarks were part of the AFL-CIO's broader attack on what it
views as the flawed rules now governing global trade. Those rules have led
to huge trade deficits in the United States, the loss of hundreds of
thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs, and "a system of
international rules that has undermined domestic measures designed to
protect human rights and the environment," according to a resolution on
the global economy to be debated at the convention. Trade and investment
rules have focused on promoting the mobility of goods, services, and
capital across borders, but have failed to adequately address the social
impact of such liberalization, the resolution charged.

"As a result, American workers have found themselves increasingly in
head-to-head competition with workers in other countries who lack basic
human rights and legitimate national regulations protecting the
environment," it added.

To combat this situation, the resolution calls for the AFL-CIO to push for
strengthening workers' rights provisions in existing U.S. trade laws and a
renegotiation of NAFTA to correct "serious flaws in a number of areas,
including investment rules, safeguard measures, and cross-border trucking
access. The labor and environmental side agreements need to be
strengthened and made enforceable."


The resolution also calls for development of a comprehensive national
policy on the transfer of technology, production, and production
techniques that makes the rights and interests of U.S. workers a priority.

By Tom Gilroy

Copyright  1999 by The Burea

FW WTO Book, Oct 1999 (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 14:26:49 -0700
>From: "David I. Hay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: FW: (wto) NEW BOOK ON WTO - NOW AVAILABLE!!
>To: SPAN-List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
>Margrete Strand-Rangnes
>Sent: October 19, 1999 2:22 PM
>To: Multiple recipients of list MAI-NOT
>Subject: (wto) NEW BOOK ON WTO - NOW AVAILABLE!!
>
>
>NEW BOOK ON WTO - NOW AVAILABLE!!  NEW BOOK ON WTO - NOW AVAILABLE!!
>
>   THE 5 YEAR TRACK OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
>   IN LANGUAGE ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE, NOT GATTese!
>
>
>PUBLIC CITIZEN'S GLOBAL TRADE WATCH LAUNCHES NEW BOOK ON WHAT HAS BEEN
>CALLED THE  "MOST POWERFUL INSTITUTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY"
>
>ANNOUNCING: "Whose Trade Organization? Corporate Globalization and the
>Erosion of Democracy"
>Foreword by Ralph Nader
>By Lori Wallach and Michelle Sforza, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
>
>
>Imagine a Central American country being forced to choose between
>maintaining the UNICEF baby formula policy  that has saved thousands of
>children's lives or facing an expensive defense in a Swiss trade tribunal
>and then possible trade sanctions for not protecting the trademark rights
>of a corporation whose label violates the UNICEF code.
>
>Imagine a powerful corporation "renting" a WTO Member nation to pursue its
>special interests - and kill a trade- based development policy - behind
>closed doors in Geneva to the detriment of tens of thousands of peoples'
>livelihoods and the rented country's own economic and security interests.
>
>Imagine, ten years of environmental activism reversed with the sweep of a
>pen in Geneva, Switzerland, where a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has
>ruled that a law protecting endangered sea turtles poses an illegal barrier
>to trade and several countries are now threatening new challenges against a
>country's enforcement of international environmental treaties - this time
>the Kyoto Treaty on climate change.
>
>Imagine, a clean air regulation designed to reduce gasoline emissions is
>weakened because the WTO claims it could inadvertently hurt foreign gas
>producers.
>
>Imagine,  consumers forced by the WTO to choose between rescinding a
>popular food safety law or facing economic sanctions.
>
>No need to imagine. These are but a handful of examples of the WTO's
>real-life impacts on food safety, environmental conservation and protection
>and economic development documented in WHOSE TRADE ORGANIZATION?.
>
>After a year of intensive research, Harvard educated trade lawyer and Global
>Trade Watch Director Lori Wallach and  Global Trade Watch Research Director
>and trade policy analyst Michelle Sforza document the WTO's actual impact
>on democratic governance, wages, jobs, economic growth, food security,
>access to healthcare, food safety, labor rights and environmental
>protection. With WHOSE TRADE ORGANIZATION, citizens, policymakers and public
>interest advocates can learn the following:
>
>o How the WTO is used to pressure poor countries to abandon their
>  efforts to make desperately needed medications more affordable through
>  generic drugs and other policies. See page 119.
>
>o How the WTO is being used to attack a European proposal to cut
>  electronics pollution. See page 30.
>
>o How WTO rules may threaten U.S. school lunch and food stamp programs.
>  See page 164
>
>o How WTO rules threaten millions with starvation by allowing
>  agribusiness companies to patent seeds created over generations in
>  villages around the world and then charge annual fees for the
>  subsistence farmers who developed the seeds to have the right to
>  plant them again.
>
>o How an individual with a monetary interest in  a WTO case was
>  appointed to judge the case. See page 201.
>
>o How Daimler-Chrysler and Ford Motor Company are using  WTO threats to
>  undermine a  Japanese clean air law adopted under the Kyoto Protocol on
>  Climate Change. See page 31.
>
>o Why beleaguered U.S. steel workers may face a WTO challenge to
>  loan guarantees for the ailing U.S. steel industry. See page 157.
>
>o How WTO rules allow corporations to secure exclusive marketing rights
>  over medicinal remedies that have been used by indigenous groups for
>  centuries. See page 108.
>
>o How the threat of WTO action was used to pressure Guatemala to drop its
>  infant health law enacting the WHO/UNICEF Code on Marketing Breastmilk
>  Substitutes. See page 115.
>
>o How a major campaign contributor effectively rented the U.S. government
>  to mount a successful WTO challenge to Europe's preferences for Caribbean
>  bananas, even though the U.S. doesn't export a single banana. See page 141
>
>WHOSE TRADE ORGANIZATION translates the WTO's jargony trade rules into
>understandable prose for the layperson, policymaker and academic alike. It
>is designed with the knowledge that  WTO rules and rulings affect everyone
>-- not just importers and trade lawyers -- and therefore must be accessible
>to everyone

FW A knowledge economy for the many or for the few?

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>From: Tim Rourke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>http://pl.net/~keithr/rf99PublicPrivateKnowledge.html
>A knowledge economy for the many or for the few?
>
>Keith Rankin, 23 August 1999
>
>
>
>The government's reelection strategy - codenamed Bright Future - is to
>convert New Zealand into a "knowledge economy". Ireland and Finland are
>seen as pioneering models of small country knowledge economies.
>
>The concept of a knowledge economy is ambiguous, and I think that
>National Party strategists are fully aware of this. It is difficult for
>potential critics to oppose any plan to create a knowledge economy. Few
>of us would own up to preferring an 'economy of ignorance'.
>
>Orthodox (ie neoclassical) economics assumes that, under textbook
>conditions of perfect competition, both consumers and producers have
>"perfect knowledge". But that only means that consumers know all of the
>spending choices available to them, know what competing firms are
>charging for identical products, and know about the qualitative
>differences between substitute products. For firms, perfect knowledge
>means knowing resource prices, knowing the alternative techniques for
>making their product, and knowing what other products they could make
>with the resources they command.
>
>Thus, to a neoclassical economist, knowledge is only of use to the
>extent that it serves the interests of producers or the utility of
>consumers. Investing in more knowledge than is needed for that purpose
>is seen as wasteful.
>
>Nevertheless, although it is understood in strictly utilitarian terms,
>knowledge in economics is a public resource. Knowledge belongs in the
>public domain. Attempts to inhibit the dispersion of knowledge - eg
>through patents - are regarded as forms of market failure.
>
>Political proposals to create a "knowledge economy" today, however, are
>as much attempts to privatise knowledge than they are attempts to expand
>it. This process has two dimensions.
>
>The first dimension is the creation of a 'knowledge elite' within New
>Zealand. It is an exclusive process of rationing knowledge to those most
>equipped to profit from it. Knowledge is a source of economic rent to
>the knowledge-rich. This process is not a matter of creating scientists
>instead of entrepreneurs, as Roger Kerr (Herald, 20 August) worries. Max
>Bradford wants to create applied scientists who sell for high prices the
>products of patented knowledge.
>
>Creating a knowledge elite is a process of intervention; of picking
>winners, which means picking losers. Mr Bradford would like four of our
>seven universities and all of our institutes of technology to do less
>research, not more. Those outside of the elite three, as "teaching
>universities", would be spoonfed only the knowledge that is deemed good
>for them.
>
>The second dimension of the policy to exploit privatised knowledge
>relates to New Zealand's competitive advantage in the global economy.
>The plan is for New Zealand Incorporated to gain market share in the
>world economy by being more knowledge-rich than New Zealand's rivals
>are.
>
>This view - of the opportunistic nation state - fails to appreciate the
>nature of the globalisation process. Globalisation is a process that
>diminishes national borders and national economic plans. In practice,
>New Zealand's knowledge elite will have far more in common with the
>knowledge elites of other nations than with the knowledge-poor majority
>in our own land.
>
>Ireland's present success is due in large part to opportunistic
>behaviour on the part of Irish policymakers. Ireland has chosen to make
>itself more attractive than its potential rivals to transnational
>corporations. It is paying them huge subsidies - in the form of tax
>concessions - to set up in Ireland instead of somewhere else. Ireland's
>success has depended on it pursuing tax policies that differ from other
>nations.
>
>If the majority of nations choose to emulate Ireland's strategy, then
>Ireland's miracle economy will disappear. It will not reappear
>elsewhere. Rather, the shareholders of the companies that get worldwide
>taxbreaks will be the winners, and everyone else will pay through the
>loss of their tax-enabled social wage.
>
>The solution that is best for the world as a whole, and therefore best
>for each nation in the world, is to treat knowledge as a free public
>resource. Knowledge creation would be understood as a component of
>social investment, funded by taxes. The public knowledge economy should
>yield an increment to the social wage that represents a return to each
>of us from our past social investment. Our social wage includes our
>health system and our social security system.
>
>In an internationally cooperative public knowledge economy, nations do
>not seek to undercut each other by offering corporations tax subsidies
>and non-unionised labour forces. Rather, moderately high income taxes
>are seen as the price that all producers pay for public knowledge.
>

FW WTO's Coup Against Democracy (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 15:56:51 -0400
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: WTO's Coup Against Democracy
>
>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
>
>
>Whose Trade Organisation?  Corporate Globalisation
>and the Erosion of Democracy   229-page report
>
>
>
>Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 06:02:20 -0700 (PDT)
>From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: WTO's Coup Against Democracy (fwd)
>
>
>   *** 13-Oct-99 ***
>
>Title: TRADE: WTO's Coup Against Democracy
>
>By Danielle Knight
>
>WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (IPS) - The World Trade Organisation (WTO), founded
>five years ago to enforce rules governing global trade, instead had
>launched a coup against democratic governance worldwide, a leading WTO
>critic declared Wednesday.
>
>''In the WTO forum, global commerce takes precedence over everything -
>democracy, public health, equity, the environment, food safety and more,''
>said a report from Public Citizen, a public interest group founded by
>consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
>
>''Under this new system, many decisions affecting people's daily lives are
>being shifted away from our local and national governments and, instead,
>are being made by a group of unelected trade bureaucrats sitting behind
>closed doors in Geneva,'' Nader said.
>
>The 229-page report, entitled ''Whose Trade Organisation?  Corporate
>Globalisation and the Erosion of Democracy,'' warned that, as a result of
>WTO rulings - and even threats of challenges before the trade body -
>countries had rolled back social policies won after decades of citizen
>activism.
>
>Domestic regulations, challenged before the trade body primarily by
>corporate interests, had been found to be barriers to free trade, said the
>report released in advance of the WTO's ministerial summit, scheduled to
>be held Nov 30.-Dec.4 in Seattle, Wash.
>
>''This is not free trade,'' said Joan Claybrook, president of Public
>Citizen. ''It's corporate-managed trade...that concentrates more and more
>power in the hands of fewer and fewer powerful corporate CEOs.''
>
>Countries that are signatories to the trade body are allowed to challenge
>other countries' domestic laws, if they feel it violates the principles of
>free trade.
>
>Once the WTO dispute panel, which hears the challenges, rules against a
>country's law, that nation must either repeal the regulation or face
>perpetual fines to the country that brought the challenge before the trade
>body.
>
>''The WTO's five-year record looks like a quiet, slow-motion coup d'etat
>against democratic and accountable policymaking and governance
>worldwide,'' declared Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global
>Trade Watch.
>
>WTO rules go way beyond basic trade principles, such as treating domestic
>and foreign goods the same and imposes value judgements on how much
>environmental or food safety protection a country will be allowed to
>provide, said the report.
>
>It listed about 100 domestic regulations which have been challenged, or
>threatened to be challenged, before the trade body.
>
>The United States initiated about half of the challenges and, unlike many
>developing countries, the United States had the economic resources to
>aggressively pursue and defend numerous challenges before the WTO, said
>Claybrook.
>
>After one such US challenge, Guatemala weakened its implementation of the
>United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organisation Code on
>the marketing of breast milk subsidies, which banned infant formula
>packaging depicting plump, healthy babies.
>
>The Code was created to ensure that illiterate mothers did not associate
>the formula with healthy infants, because many infants had become ill or
>had died after drinking formula diluted with contaminated water.
>
>Health experts also were concerned the advertising would sway mothers away
>from breast feeding.
>
>The baby-food manufacturer Gerber, however, threatened to bring the case
>before the trade body, noting that a fat baby's face was part of its
>trademark and was protected by WTO intellectual property rules.
>
>''Faced with the threat, Guatemala exempted imported products from its
>labeling law,'' said the report.
>
>In another case, South Korea weakened its food safety policy in order to
>avoid a US challenge on its 30-day shelf-life limit for meat.  Seoul
>authorities agreed to shorten the duration of Korea's produce inspection
>process, alllowing fruit and vegetables to be sold before the results of
>safety tests were complete.
>
>US health and environmental regulations have also been challenged at WTO
>hearings.
>
>When Mexico threatened to enforce a ruling under the 1991 General
>Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, the treaty that lay the groundwork
>for the WTO) the United States gutted provisions of the Marine Mammal
>Protection Act that were designed to protect dolphins from tuna fishing
>nets.
>
>''For the first time in 20 years, tuna caught in nets placed around
>schools of dolphins will a

FW Corporate Hospitality at the WTO (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 20:36:33 -0400
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Corporate Hospitality at the WTO
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Comment:  Please see http://lists.essential.org for help
>
>Corporate Hospitality at the WTO
>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
>Tired of getting fundraising letters in the mail?
>
>Just imagine how hard it would be to be a corporate CEO. Not only does
>virtually every politician come hat in hand seeking a campaign
>contribution, but you are besieged by a long line of nonprofit
>organizations seeking support for their charitable endeavors. Then your
>fellow bosses hit you up for contributions to support one or another
>political lobbying effort. And now there is a new panhandler that CEOs
>must handle: the mega-intergovernmental conference.
>
>The latest example: The World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting
>in Seattle, to be held in late November and early December.
>
>"I know you are on the receiving end of many requests for support from
>organizations and events, but the hosting of the WTO Ministerial is truly
>a unique opportunity," wrote Lawrence Clarkson, chair of the fundraising
>committee of the "WTO Seattle Host Organization" in a March 15 fundraising
>appeal to corporate executives. Host Organization co-chairs are
>Microsoft's Bill Gates and Phil Condit, CEO of Boeing.
>
>"The Seattle Host Organization is committed to ensuring that the private
>sector is an integral part of the events surrounding the Ministerial. We
>are working very closely with the USTR [Office of the U.S. Trade
>Representative] and WTO officials every step of the way to coordinate
>schedules and venues to maximize interaction between the officials and the
>private sector."
>
>The corporate-sponsored gathering in Seattle is no groundbreaker, as Susan
>Kruller, media and public relations director for the Seattle Host
>Organization, notes.
>
>When NATO gathered for its fiftieth anniversary blowout in Washington,
>D.C. earlier this year, a dozen companies contributed a quarter of a
>million dollars each to have their CEOs serve as directors of the NATO
>Summit's host committee. Others kicked in smaller amounts.
>
>Similar arrangements have been made at a recent G-7 meeting in Denver
>(presidents and top officials of a group of the world's most powerful
>countries meet at the G-7) and a Summit of the Americas in Miami. At a
>1996 National Governors Association conference focused on education
>issues, each governor was paired with a CEO from their state.
>
>Corporate sponsorships of mega-event host committees are now routinely
>structured into event planning by the U.S. government, Kruller says.
>
>In agreeing to host the WTO meeting in the United States, the U.S.
>government obligated itself to pick up the incremental costs between
>holding the meeting in Geneva at the WTO's headquarters and locating the
>gathering away from the WTO's home, Kruller says. The U.S. government
>turns to the private sector to help defray resulting taxpayer expenses.
>
>The private sector is set to kick in $9.2 million to defray the
>ministerial's costs.
>
>When the news first broke of the Seattle Host Organization's request for
>contributions, a controversy ensued over Clarkson's letter's promise that
>high donors would be able to attend a conference at which "the private
>sector will meet senior U.S. trade officials to discuss priorities for the
>upcoming Round." That offer drew a rebuke from the Office of the U.S.
>Trade Representative, and the promised meeting was cancelled.
>
>Corporate contributors are not being denied all goodies, however. Those
>donating at the Emerald Level, a $250,000 contribution, are entitled to
>send five guests to the Host Organization's opening and closing receptions
>and to an exclusive ministerial dinner. They can send four guests to
>private sector conferences the Host Organization is arranging. They are
>provided with briefing updates on the ministerial's progress, assistance
>with room reservations, media assistance and hospitality service. Their
>logos are permitted to appear on the Host Organization's web site and they
>are given signage and display of corporate materials. Companies at the
>Emerald Level are Allied Signal/Honeywell, Deloitte & Touche, Ford, GM,
>Microsoft, Nextel, Boeing, US West, plus the State of Washington.
>
>Lesser benefits are conferred on those making less generous donations. The
>Diamond Level supporters ($150,000 to $249,999) are Activate.com, UPS and
>Weyerhaeuser. Platinum Level supporters ($75,000 to $149,999) are AT&T,
>Bank of America, Columbia Resource Group, Eddie Bauer, Expeditors
>International of WA, Hewlett Packard, Seagram's, Preston Gates & Ellis and
>The Production Network. Gold Level supporters ($25,000 to $74,999) include
>Caterpillar, IBM, Luce

FW CRASH denounces 80-hour week for truckers

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 15:50:05 -0400
>From: 32 HOURS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: CRASH denounces 80-hour week for truckers
>
> NEWS FROM 32 HOURS:
>
>Attached is a news release from Canadians for Responsible and Safe
>Highways (CRASH) regarding the launch of their campaign against changes
>which could result in truckers working in excess of 80 hours per week.
>
>Anders Hayden
>32 HOURS
>
>---
>
>Safety Group Launches National Campaign to Stop Longer Truck Driver Hours
>
>OTTAWA, Oct. 25 /CNW/ - Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways
>(CRASH) today launched a national campaign to rally public opposition to
>longer hours of work for transport truck drivers.  Transport Canada, trucking
>industry lobbyists and some provinces want to raise the limit on weekly hours
>of work for truck drivers by 40 per cent, from an average 60 hours to over
>80.
>``Fatigue kills.  Big truck crashes will increase and as many as 70 more
>motorists and truck drivers will die each year if regulators proceed with
>this
>plan'', said Bob Evans, Executive Director of CRASH.  ``Transport Canada is
>ignoring its own scientific panel which said that the proposed increase in
>hours of work would be dangerous.''
>Evans was critical of the spin industry lobbyists and Transport Canada
>officials are putting on the proposed regulatory changes.  ``They are
>spinning
>numbers in an attempt to make an increase look like a decrease.''
>``In reality, they are proposing a higher limit on weekly hours of work.
>The industry wants more hours, week in and week out, from its drivers in
>order
>to get more revenues from its trucks at the lowest cost.  And regulators are
>caving in to this demand.''
>Evans announced the launch of a two-pronged national campaign to stop
>what he called an irresponsible proposal that puts industry profit ahead of
>people's lives:
>- Postcard campaign to help other road users express their opposition to
>  sharing the road with exhausted and sleep-impaired drivers of
>  transports weighing up to 138,000 pounds
>- Outreach to municipalities to inform them of the risk to safety on
>  municipal roads posed by proposed changes to federal and provincial
>  regulations governing heavy truck transport
>
>Evans was joined at the press conference by Clive Doucet, a member of the
>Council at the Regional-Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton which, on October 13,
>1999, voted unanimously to oppose longer hours for truck drivers.
>``I don't want the 130,000-pound truck following me into a fog bank to
>have a sleep-impaired driver'', said Councillor Doucet.  ``I don't want the
>responsible driver of a truck carrying dangerous goods through our city
>sharing the road with another truck driver who has been at the wheel for
>70 to
>80 hours a week for several weeks in a row.''
>Evans said that improvements to the current regulatory structure are in
>order, but public and driver safety must be paramount as changes are made.
>``Already there are almost 50,000 big trucks in collisions, and 12,000
>Canadians killed or injured in big truck collisions every year. This is no
>time for back room deals to allow the trucking industry to push drivers to
>work an extra 40 per cent,'' Evans said.
>
>Fact Sheet
>- Federal and provincial government officials of the Canadian
>  Council on Motor Transport Administrators meet November 7/8/9 in
>  Halifax on the proposal to increase truck driver hours of work
>- A scientific panel commissioned by Transport Canada has said that an
>  84-hour workweek would be dangerous for both truck drivers and other
>  road users.  It said there was no scientific evidence to support
>  increasing truck driver hours beyond the current average 60 hours a
>  week
>- The U.S. National Safety Board has said that fatigue is already a
>  factor in 30 to 40 per cent of big truck crashes
>- An Angus Reid poll in April 1998 found that 83 per cent of Canadians
>  are opposed to increasing the weekly limit on hours from 60 to 70
>- Between 1993 and 1997, there were an annual average 586 people a year
>  killed in big truck crashes. The number of big trucks in fatal
>  collisions increased 11.5 per cent in 1997 over 1996 (Transport Canada
>  statistics released Oct. 17, 1999)
>- Truck drivers in Canada can already be required to drive up to 13 hours
>  in a shift.  This is the longest in the regulated world and compares to
>  just 10 hours in the U.S. The Transport Canada/trucking industry
>  proposal would increase this to 14 hours on average or as much as 16
>  hours every second day.
> 
> 
>
>-30-
>
>For information:  Bob Evans, (613) 860-0529 or 1-800-530-9945; Clive
>Doucet, (613) 560-1224. To obtain a copy of the eight page CRASH briefing
>paper ``An Outsiders Guide to the Plan to Increase Truck Drivers' Workload''
>phone 1-800-530-9945 or down

FW Economic Commentary (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 1 (Highest)
>Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 00:57:00 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Tim Rourke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>List-Unsubscribe: 
>Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: [mincome]  Economic Commentary
>
>From: Tim Rourke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Danny Cox)
>
>>From the Longwaves list:
>
>
>Special to The Sunday Examiner by Rick Ackerman
>The dismal science will never be the same if Dr. Kurt Richebacher's
>dire predictions for the global economy should come to pass.
>The former chief economist and managing partner at Germany's Dresdner
>Bank says a deflationary collapse lies ahead that will ravage the
>world's bourses and usher in a dark period of austerity and financial
>discipline.
>Probably not one economist in fifty shares his views, at least not
>publicly. Richebacher, now living in France, says many of his American
>colleagues have been seduced into ignorance and complicity by Wall
>Street's billions as well as by their love affair with mathematical
>models that shun fundamental laws of economics.
>Where they see a New Era of productivity growth and industrial
>efficiency, he sees duplicitous bookkeeping and manufacturing's steep
>decline. They talk of a booming U.S. economy, he sees a profitless
>mirage. They worship capitalism's bold risk-takers, he scorns them for
>recklessly piling leverage to the sky.
>Someone's going to be wrong, but judge for yourself who.
>Like the theories of Copernicus 500 years before him, Dr. Richebacher's
>logic strikes one as no less sound and compelling than the Polish
>scientist's once-heretical notion that the earth revolves around the
>sun.
>Richebacher asserts, for one, that the U.S. investment boom in
>computers borders on statistical hoax. It began in 1995 with the
>government's implementation of a "hedonic" price index designed to
>capture both the falling prices and the rapid rise of computational
>power of each new computer.
>This is akin to measuring GM's auto sales by tallying the horsepower of
>all the engines in its cars, says Richebacher.
>Applied to the computer business, it has exaggerated investment levels
>exponentially. For example, during the 12-month period ended March 31
>the business sector increased its net investment in computers from
>$91.8 billion to $97.2 billion, accounting for a paltry 1.3% of nominal
>GDP growth.
>But when government statisticians multiply that $5.4 billion increase
>by their hedonic supercharger, the figure swells to $146 billion.
>This has worked wonders on America's bottom line, boosting the computer
>sector's nominal 1.3% contribution toward GDP growth for the period to
>49%, and the 4% contribution for the years 1996-1998 to 38%. For the
>first half of 1999, the effect has been even more pronounced, giving
>the computer industry a whopping 93% share of GDP growth.
>Remove the computer industry from the ledger, however, and the vastly
>larger rest of the economy had actual growth of just 2.5% during the
>three-year period versus a reported 4%. Meanwhile, last year's
>expansion would have been a middling 2%, and the uptick in productivity
>that has recently cheered economists would fade to insignificance.
>The obvious question is, how could the computer industry, with barely
>more than 1% of the total workforce and plunging product prices, be
>responsible for what most economists read as a dramatic improvement in
>America's standard of living?
>The answer is that it could not. And has not. Hedonic accounting makes
>the computer sector look like an economic hero, but any statistically
>significant improvement in our standard of living would necessarily
>have to come from the spreading use of computers across the entire
>economy.
>Computers are indeed everywhere, but evidence that they have
>substantially boosted U.S. productivity remains elusive to say the
>least, says Richebacher.
>In this assertion he has corroborating testimony from no less an
>authority than Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.
>In a 1997 speech in Frankfurt, Germany, Greenspan acknowledged that a
>straightforward interpretation of certain service-economy data suggests
>that productivity -- output per man hour -- has actually been falling
>for more than two decades.
>Greenspan called this implausible, offering the explanation that prices
>may have been mismeasured. But whatever the reason for the anomaly, the
>Fed chairman is obviously at pains to convince us that he and his staff
>of PhDs truly understand how to measure productivity accurately.
>If productivity growth in recent years has been largely illusory, the
>spectacular expansion of credit during that same time has been all too
>real, warns Richebacher (pronounced REESH-a-baisher).
>It didn't happen by accident. The economist says the Fed started the
>real orgy la

FW CCPA Update/ Publications (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 14:46:49 -0400
>From: Bruce Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Organization: CCPA
>X-Accept-Language: en
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: CCPA Update
>
>November 2, 1999
>
>NEW FROM THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES
>
>Dear Members and Friends of the CCPA:
>
>From: Bruce Campbell, Executive Director
>
>Hello! Here is our regular update of new publications from the Canadian
>Centre for Policy Alternatives. You can order our publications directly
>from the our web site.  A lot of our material can be freely downloaded.
>So check us out at: www.policyalternatives.ca
>
>Feel free to contact me if you have any comments about our work, or you
>want to become a member.  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>ALTERNATIVE FEDERAL BUDGET 2000
>
> AFB 2000, co-hosted by the Centre and CHO!CES, released a report on
>November 1, 1999 entitled: Alternative Fiscal and Economic Update:
>Policy Options for the Federal Government.  as a counterpoint to Paul
>Martin’s economic statement released today.
>
>The main finding of the report is that the federal government  has lots
>of fiscal room for public reinvestment without increasing tax levels and
>without threatening its balanced budget position.  Under reasonable
>economic assumptions, the federal government will generate a final
>fiscal surplus of over $6 billion in the current (1999-2000) fiscal
>year, and almost $12 billion in the fiscal year covered by Paul Martin’s
>upcoming budget (2000-2001).  Over the next five budget years (fiscal
>2000-01 through fiscal 2004-05), federal surpluses (in the absence of
>major new program or tax changes) will cumulate to a whopping $117
>billion. These large surpluses arise thanks to the positive impact of
>continued economic growth on federal tax revenues, and the ongoing
>decline of debt service payments as a share of GDP (the result both of a
>falling debt burden and lower effective interest rates).
>This report was produced by Dr. Jim Stanford, chair of the Macro and
>Fiscal Policy Committee of AFB 2000.   The full report, Alternative
>Fiscal and Economic Update: Policy Options for the Federal Government,
>can be downloaded from the CCPA web site at; 
>
>-
>
>BEHIND THE NUMBERS: "Who Deserves a Break Today: What To do With The
>Federal Surplus,
>
>By David Robinson; Released October 28, 1999,
>
>Robinson makes a convincing case that Canadians have paid the price of
>deficit elimination mainly in reduced programs and transfers rather than
>lower taxes. Moreover the bottom 20% of families have experience by far
>the largest increase in their income taxes between 1993-97 (40.5%)
>compare to the top 10% whose taxes rose a mere 4.7%.  Tax relief
>measures should be targeted at low and middle income households.  David
>Robinson is Director of Public Policy at the CAUT and a research
>associate of the CCPA
>
>"Who Deserves a Break Today: What To do With The Federal Surplus" can be
>downloaded from the CCPA web site at; 
>
>
>
>---
>
>YNN AND THE COMMERCIAL CARPET BOMBING OF THE CLASSROOM.
>
>By Erica Shaker, CCPA Education Researcher
>
>Released October 26, 1999
>
>This latest report from the CCPA provides a detailed explanation of
>private broadcaster Youth News Network (YNN), its evolution, the plans
>of its US parent corporation, the implications of commercial classroom
>involvement, and the means by which commercial ventures of this sort run
>counter to the fundamental principles of public education.  Youth News
>Network (YNN) which consists of 10 minutes of "current events" and 2.5
>minutes of commercials, will begin airing this fall in a handful of
>Canadian schools, despite stiff resistance from students, parents,
>teachers, community groups, and the majority of provincial governments.
>YNN is based on the enormously profitable Channel One, currently in 40
>percent of American schools and watched by 8.1 million students daily.
>At a time when schools are increasingly vulnerable due to chronic
>under-funding, the public needs to be armed with the tools to keep our
>classrooms free of corporate manipulation so they can
>continue to provide quality education to all Canadians.
>
>Copies of the report are available on the CCPA web site:
>http://www.policyalternatives.ca
>
>
>MISSING PIECES: AN ALTERNATIVE GUIDE TO CANADIAN POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
>
>By Denise Doherty-Delorme and Erika Shaker (eds.)
>(CCPA publishing)
>Coming November 18, 1999
>
>The narrow criteria traditionally used to rank Canada’s universities and
>colleges neglect or underestimate the impact of government under-funding
>and corporate intrusion, and fail to assess the quality and
>accessibility of post-secondary education from the standpoint of students.
>MISSING PIECES  focuses on the effects of education policy on a
>province-by-province basis ranking each provincial government
>performance. The editors, along with other education researchers,
>critically examine the post-secondary educ

About SASE

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 09:19:27 -0500
>
>I am writing on behalf of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics
>(SASE), an organization to which I belong.  SASE is an international
>multi-disciplinary organizations with members in over 50 countries.  The
>purpose of SASE is to advance the understanding of economic behavior across a
>broad range of
>academic disciplines.  We are interested in developing closer contacts with
>individuals and organizations with similar interests.
>
>The 12th annual meeting on Socio-Economics will be held at the London School
>of Economics from July 7-10, 2000.  The theme of the meeting is "Citizenship
>and Exclusion." A copy of the Call for Papers and other information on SASE
>is posted on the SASE web site at:  www.sase.org.
>
>Please contact the SASE office (e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED])  if you have any
>questions about the meeting or the organization.
>

Report takes on tax 'myths' (Canada)

[S. Lerner]

>>
>>Monday, October 4, 1999
>>
>>Report takes on tax 'myths'
>>
>> By SUE BAILEY -- The Canadian Press
>> OTTAWA -- Corporate Canada's call for tax cuts is a cleverly disguised
>> bid to undercut social programs, says a report being released today by
>> the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
>>
>> "Couched in terms of job creation and 'relief' for ordinary citizens,
>> this campaign is designed to permanently lower government revenues,"
>> writes author Murray Dobbin in Ten Tax Myths.
>>
>> The result would "further weaken the ability to deliver social programs,
>> redistribute income, and manage the economy in a way that benefits all
>> of us and not just a privileged few," concludes the British
>> Columbia-based writer and broadcaster.
>>
>> His 34-page report, culled from Statistics Canada figures, "mainstream"
>> economic reports and other sources, is touted as the left's response to
>> persistent calls for general tax relief.
>>
>> Dobbin argues that tax cuts, if they happen at all, should be aimed at
>> low- and middle-income Canadians -- not the rich.
>>
>> "When businesses or political parties call for broad-based, deep tax
>> cuts they're appealing to people's selfishness," he said in an interview.
>>
>> "They're saying to older people: 'You're don't go to school anymore, why
>> should you pay for education?' And to young people: 'You're not getting
>> sick, why should you pay for medicare?'"
>>
>> "If you look at the polling, the vast majority of people don't put tax
>> cuts high on their priority list," Dobbin said. "In fact, they put it
>> quite low if you ask an open-ended question."
>>
>> Canadians would even pay more for the programs their taxes finance, says
>> his report.
>>
>> "In truth, the vast majority of Canadians recognize that, if we want good
>> government and the services it provides, we must pay taxes."
>>
>> Dobbin disputes claims that Canadians are generally overtaxed, that
>> corporate tax is too high to encourage investment, and that it would be
>> too difficult to cancel the hated Goods and Services Tax.
>>
>> Business interests would gain if less tax revenue went to potentially
>> lucrative medicare, education and other public programs, he suggests.
>> Weakened public services would mean more demand for private,
>> profit-making alternatives.
>>
>> "It's not so much a conspiracy," Dobbin said. "It's in the interest of
>> big business to do this.
>>
>> "We spend $72 billion a year on health care. Opening that up to
>> investment where profits could be made would certainly be in the
>> interest of the corporations."
>>..
>>
>>
>>   .
>>   Bob Olsen, Toronto  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>   .
>>
>

FW Canada at the WTO - media are mum! (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:02:46 -0500
>From: Eric Fawcett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: sfp-89: Canada at the WTO - media are mum!
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by
>helios.physics.utoronto.ca id QAC2070706
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Mailman-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: bulk
>List-Id:  
>X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>I rely on the Globe and Mail and internet for news, and I've seen seen
>nothing at all yet in either about the Canadian government's position
>that was belatedly released on Monday, Nov 15, except for the Article and
>Readers Letters in reply copied below. Since the outcome of the
>negotiations in Seattle may be the biggest national story in busy 1999,
>it deserves nomination for the prize awarded annually by Project Censored!
>
>
>G&M Tuesday, Nov 16, 1999
>
>Article on Commentary page: Canada risks sleepwalking into Seattle"
>by Patrick Grady and Kathleen Macmillan, Ottawa economic and trade-policy
>consultants, who have written a BOOK about the WTO published by Global
>Economics Ltd.
>I didn't try to download this article, since it's rather turgid and
>uninformative. They tell us of course that "The next multilateral round
>will address matters that would vastluy improve our economic and social
>well-being.  Such new trade issues as the environment andlabour standards
>are on the table.."
>But,  they tell us, "a rainbow coalition of protestors will be massing
>outside to demonstrate against globalization"...having..."tasted blood
>with their success in getting the industrialized countries to scrap the
>proposed MAI."  "Governments have been spooked by the virulent opposition
>of non-governmental organizations to trade and investment negotiations.
>A new euphemism - 'civil society' - has even been coined to refer to
>these, not always civil, groups.'
>Their stirring advice: "Canadians [who do they think many of the NGO
>members are?] shouldn't allow themselves to be browbeaten by anti-trade
>forces into surrendering before the negotiations have even begun,
>especially since most of the protesters know little about trade and
>economics" [unlike Patrick and kathleen].
>They are wringing their hands in despair because "the government waited
>until yesterday to produce an official position paper on its negotiating
>objectives."
>
>
>Readers Letters to the G&M, Wednesday, Nov 17, 1999
>
>Health care on the table
>
>By Judy Darcy, National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees
>Ottawa -- According to your headline, Canada Risks Sleepwalking into
>Seattle (Comment -- Nov. 16). Indeed, Canada -- or rather, our elected
>representatives -- risk sleepwalking into Seattle. So do the authors of
>this opinion piece.
>
>It is truly remarkable that there is not a single mention of the fact
>that, for the first time in our history, health care, education and other
>vital public services are on the negotiating table. Not just bits and
>pieces -- the whole hog. Wielding the carving knife are the United States
>and the European Union, which have been lobbied hard by corporations eager
>to tap into what they see as profitable industries. They're clear in their
>goal, and make no effort to hide their plans.
>
>Yet the ChrÈtien government slumbers, rolling over occasionally. Canada's
>recently released position on WTO negotiations includes plans to expand
>market access for Canadian exporters, particularly those in agriculture
>and services. Elsewhere, the Departments of Foreign Affairs and
>International Trade acknowledge that "Canadian requests for further
>liberalization in export markets will likely lead to similar requests from
>other countries for further liberalization of the Canadian services
>regime." Translation: The floodgates will open to multinationals peddling
>for-profit services. Some strategy.
>=
>
>Environment on the table
>
>By Manuela Bizzotto
>Vancouver -- Call me ignorant, but it's my understanding that the WTO has
>begun to repeal environmental regulations that it has taken citizens 30
>years to enact. In 1998, the WTO ruled that the European Union, which
>banned the import of carcinogenic hormone-treated beef, must now pay the
>U.S. $150-million each year as compensation for lost profits. The WTO has
>also declared illegal a U.S. regulation that imported shrimp must be
>caught by methods that minimize harm to endangered sea turtles. In 1997,
>the WTO overturned part of the U.S. Clean Air Act, which prevented the
>import of low-quality gasoline with a high potential for air pollution.
>
>Granted, this information comes from an alternative media source.
>Unfortunately, the corporate-controlled, mainstream press has been
>curiously silent on the actions of the WTO, much to

FW Shaping the Network Society (Conference Announcement) -- Fwd

[S. Lerner]

>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Shaping the Network Society (Conference Announcement) -- Fwd
>Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 06:45:53 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Loop: 70438
>
>> > ---
>> > Please distribute widely to interested people and lists -- thanks!
>> > ---
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Shaping the Network Society
>> >
>> >The Future of the Public Sphere in Cyberspace
>> >
>> >   DIAC-00
>> >
>> > A Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) Symposium
>> >
>> >Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
>> >
>> >
>> >   First Call for Abstracts / Papers
>> >
>> >
>> >May 20 - May 23, 2000
>> >
>> >   Seattle, Washington, USA
>> >_
>> >
>> >Cyberspace may become the dominant medium through which people create
>> >and share information and ideas. How their conversations about the
>> >environment, culture, leisure, and political decisions, are conducted
>> >and how they are resolved are likely to have major social
>implications
>> >in the future. What directions and implications does cyberspace
>> foretell
>> >for community, democracy, education and culture? Addressing those
>> >questions may be among the most urgent tasks facing humankind today.
>> >
>> >The objective of DIAC-00 is to integrate many perspectives,
>> >conversations, and people from around the world on the topic of
>public
>> >space in cyberspace: What is it? What should it be? What would we do
>> >with it? What can we do about it?
>> >
>> >While DIAC-00 will present "best practices" and other lessons learned
>> >"from the field" there is an urgent need for theoretical work (or
>> >"condensed practice") as well. For that reason, DIAC-00 is strongly
>> >encouraging reflective work on strategic and policy levels. There is
>> >enormous energy found at the grassroots level and it is growing. The
>> >big problem today is framing the idea of public space in cyberspace
>in
>> >a way that engages intellectuals, decision-makers, artists, and
>> >citizens. This can only be done by combining "best practice" stories
>> >with strong provocative conceptualizations of what is happening in
>our
>> >world and how public cyberspace can play a role. We need theories,
>> >concepts that can help us discuss, reflect, and take action on these
>> >critical matters. As an integral part of the DIAC-00 conference
>social
>> >scientists, engineers, computer scientists, artists, journalists, and
>> >other members of the research community will contribute their
>thinking
>> >on these pressing issues:
>> >
>> >  * Community Informatics
>> >  * Civic Knowledge, Civic Infrastructure
>> >  * New Tools, Applications, Services, and Institutions
>> >  * Theoretical Frameworks
>> >  * Methodological Frameworks
>> >  * Critical Theory
>> >  * Social Economy of the Internet
>> >  * Computers, Work, and Cyberspace
>> >  * New -- and Retooled -- Media
>> >  * Participatory and Community-Centered Design
>> >  * Community Initiatives
>> >  * Public Access and Community Networks
>> >  * Practitioner and Researcher Co-Learning
>> >  * Bridging the Digital Divide
>> >  * Cyberspace Policy -- Social Policy -- Cultural Policy
>> >  * Computer-Supported Community Work
>> >  * Localism and Globalism
>> >  * International Perspectives and Partnerships
>> >  * Social Movements and Collaborations
>> >
>> >DIAC-00 will be a multifaceted event. This call for abstracts /
>papers
>> >addresses the research or academic component of the symposium. There
>> >are other opportunities for participation within this framework. The
>> >guidelines for workshop proposals will be released soon.
>> >
>> >DIAC-00 will be the seventh symposium sponsored by Computer
>> >Professionals for Social Responsibility in the "Directions and
>> >Implications of Advanced Computing" series. DIAC-00 is intended to
>> >broaden the discussion and awareness about the future of cyberspace
>> >both in terms of topics and in terms of participation. It is also our
>> >intent to provide visibility to topics and perspectives that are
>often
>> >neglected by the media.
>> >
>> >Each extended abstract should contain a description and outline of
>the
>> >work, supporting evidence and data, and references. Abstracts and
>> >papers should be written in English. All extended abstracts should be
>> >submitted (in plain text only!) electronically to Peter Day
>> >([EMAIL PROTECTED]). Abstracts should be fewer than 2,000 wo

FW 10 Reasons to Dismantle the WTO (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: 10 Reasons to Dismantle the WTO
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Comment:  Please see http://lists.essential.org for help
>Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 11:14:04 -0500 (EST)
>
>10 Reasons to Dismantle the WTO
>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
>Add a new constituency to the long list of World Trade Organization (WTO)
>critics which already includes consumers, labor, environmentalists, human
>rights activists, fair trade groups, AIDS activists, animal protection
>organizations, those concerned with Third World development, religious
>communities, women's organizations. The latest set of critics includes WTO
>backers and even the WTO itself.
>
>As the WTO faces crystallized global opposition -- to be manifested in
>massive street demonstrations and colorful protests in Seattle, where the
>WTO will hold its Third Ministerial meeting from November 30 to December 3
>-- the global trade agency and its strongest proponents veer between a
>shrill defensiveness and the much more effective strategy of admitting
>shortcomings and trumpeting the need for reform.
>
>WTO critics now face a perilous moment. They must not be distracted by
>illusory or cosmetic reform proposals, nor by even more substantive
>proposals for changing the WTO -- should they ever emerge from the
>institution or its powerful rich country members. Instead, they should
>unite around an uncompromising demand to dismantle the WTO and its
>corporate-created rules.
>
>Here are 10 reasons why:
>
>1. The WTO prioritizes trade and commercial considerations over all other
>values. WTO rules generally require domestic laws, rules and regulations
>designed to further worker, consumer, environmental, health, safety, human
>rights, animal protection or other non-commercial interests to be
>undertaken in the "least trade restrictive" fashion possible -- almost
>never is trade subordinated to these noncommercial concerns.
>
>2. The WTO undermines democracy. Its rules drastically shrink the choices
>available to democratically controlled governments, with violations
>potentially punished with harsh penalties. The WTO actually touts this
>overriding of domestic decisions about how economies should be organized
>and corporations controlled. "Under WTO rules, once a commitment has been
>made to liberalize a sector of trade, it is difficult to reverse," the WTO
>says in a paper on the benefits of the organization which is published on
>its web site. "Quite often, governments use the WTO as a welcome external
>constraint on their policies: 'we can't do this because it would violate
>the WTO agreements.'"
>
>3. The WTO does not just regulate, it actively promotes, global trade. Its
>rules are biased to facilitate global commerce at the expense of efforts
>to promote local economic development and policies that move communities,
>countries and regions in the direction of greater self-reliance.
>
>4. The WTO hurts the Third World. WTO rules force Third World countries to
>open their markets to rich country multinationals, and abandon efforts to
>protect infant domestic industries. In agriculture, the opening to foreign
>imports, soon to be imposed on developing countries, will catalyze a
>massive social dislocation of many millions of rural people.
>
>5. The WTO eviscerates the Precautionary Principle. WTO rules generally
>block countries from acting in response to potential risk -- requiring a
>probability before governments can move to resolve harms to human health
>or the environment.
>
>6. The WTO squashes diversity. WTO rules establish international health,
>environmental and other standards as a global ceiling through a process of
>"harmonization;" countries or even states and cities can only exceed them
>by overcoming high hurdles.
>
>7. The WTO operates in secrecy. Its tribunals rule on the "legality" of
>nations' laws, but carry out their work behind closed doors.
>
>8. The WTO limits governments' ability to use their purchasing dollar for
>human rights, environmental, worker rights and other non-commercial
>purposes. In general, WTO rules state that governments can make purchases
>based only on quality and cost considerations.
>
>9. The WTO disallows bans on imports of goods made with child labor. In
>general, WTO rules do not allow countries to treat products differently
>based on how they were produced -- irrespective of whether made with
>brutalized child labor, with workers exposed to toxics or with no regard
>for species protection.
>
>10. The WTO legitimizes life patents. WTO rules permit and in some cases
>require patents or similar exclusive protections for life forms.
>
>Some of these problems, such as the WTO's penchant for secrecy, could
>potentially be fixed, but the core problems -- prioritization of
>commercial over other values, the con

FW ]Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 12:09:10 -0800 (PST)
The side of the American miracle that we don't hear much about.   Sally
>
>DIGITAL NATION
>
>November 22, 1999
>
>Project Applies Power of Net to L.A. Housing Woes
>
>By Gary Chapman
>
>Copyright 1999, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved
>
>Despite the booming economy and the unprecedented wealth being
>generated by high tech, U.S. cities face serious problems with
>housing, especially in low-income neighborhoods.
>
>An interesting project at UCLA, with an impressive array of local and
>national partners, is using the Internet to do something positive
>about housing in Los Angeles.
>
>Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu) is a
>Web site aimed at improving and preserving neighborhoods. NKLA is an
>online tool that provides easy access to a vast collection of data
>about properties and neighborhoods that are in danger of falling into
>urban blight.
>
>The conditions the project and its partners are trying to fix are
>sobering. Using U.S. Census data from 1997, the Los Angeles Citizens
>Committee on Slum Housing found that the number of L.A. area rental
>units occupied by tenants living below the poverty level grew from
>217,200 in 1989 to 422,500 in 1995, a 95% increase over six years.
>The Census' American Housing Survey reported in 1995 that in the Los
>Angeles-Long Beach area there were 154,400 substandard apartments in
>need of major repair, 107,900 units infested with rats and 131,700
>units without working toilets. Such grim statistics are the product
>of severe pockets of poverty in Los Angeles, one of the wealthiest
>cities in the world but one in which one-third of all children live
>in poverty, according to U.S. Census data. The United Way of Greater
>Los Angeles and Los Angeles County reports median rent for an
>apartment in L.A. is $654 per month, or nearly $8,000 per year. More
>than a fifth of L.A. families live below the poverty level of $16,450
>a year for a family of four, according to United Way and L.A. County.
>A full-time minimum-wage worker makes about $11,000 per year.
>
>Leaders of the NKLA project, which is based at UCLA's School of
>Public Policy and Social Research and funded by the city of Los
>Angeles Housing Department, Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of
>Commerce's Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure
>Assistance Program, use computer data from a variety of public
>sources to look for "early warning signs" that properties in Los
>Angeles are headed for unlivable status.
>
>"One of the best predictors of housing abandonment is tax
>delinquency," said Neal Richman, director of NKLA and associate
>director of UCLA's Advanced Policy Institute. The researchers
>involved with the NKLA project use tax data to look for a
>characteristic pattern in housing serving low-income residents.
>Property tax delinquency is often followed by building code
>violations and tenant complaints, then by abandonment of the
>property. The worst violators are slum landlords who "work the
>system" by buying a building and milking the tenants for rent without
>paying for maintenance or taxes, and then disappear when the
>government threatens legal action.
>
>The NKLA project and similar community data projects in other cities
>are good examples of two phenomena made possible by the Internet.
>
>The first is that the Internet tends to blur the boundaries between
>institutions -- in the case of NKLA between a university, the city
>and county governments, and community activist organizations. This
>blurring is very common in the private sector but is only beginning
>to emerge in the public and civic sectors. It needs to happen more,
>which means public officials need to think more creatively about
>developing innovative partnerships like NKLA.
>
>The second phenomenon is that NKLA shows what can be done with what
>would otherwise be underutilized public information. Richman says
>that the key value that UCLA brings to this project is its
>researchers' ability to use public data to serve specific ends,
>particularly community development.
>
>Finally, the story of NKLA is that new technologies can be used in
>ways that give people left out of the high-tech boom some real hope,
>when those technologies are used as tools for solving specific,
>concrete problems.
>
>The NKLA site and its online databases allow citizens and housing
>activists to look for properties with tax problems, code violations
>or other difficulties, such as tenant complaints or fire violations,
>that could be precursors to abandonment, neighborhood deterioration
>and urban decline. The Web site offers searchable databases by ZIP
>Code or other parameters, and shows individual properties on
>interactive maps of L.A.
>
>NKLA researchers also work with grass-roots community organizations,
>tenant groups and activists to promote code enforcement by government
>officials. Richman said the NKLA project and its community partners
>played a role in deve

FW Wanted: Left-Wing Economics Columnist(s) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 16:54:40 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Jim Stanford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Wanted: Left-Wing Economics Columnist(s)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>Dear Members of the PEF;
>
>An English-language newspaper in a major Canadian city is looking for one
>or two individuals to write a weekly column on economics issues approached
>from a left point of view.  (If two columnists were doing it, they would
>alternate weeks.)  Occasional columns would appear elsewhere in Canada
>through a syndication service.
>
>The prospective candidates would need to be able to write in an accessible
>and entertaining manner, respect deadlines and time limitations, and
>address a range of topical economic issues from a progressive point of view.
>
>This is a rare and important opportunity to expand the range of economic
>commentary in Canada.  I would love to draw upon the rich resources of the
>PEF to help to ensure that this opportunity is taken advantage of.
>
>If you would be interested in pursuing this opportunity, please reply to me
>by the end of this week (Friday Nov. 26).
>
>Many thanks in advance,
>
>Jim Stanford
>PEF Chairperson
>

FW Showdown in Seattle (news from Seattle-WTO) (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>>
>Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 22:12:27 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Armine Yalnizyan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> PRESS RELEASE: Please print, post or distribute
>
> CONTACT: Independent Media Center (206) 262-0721; fax (206) 262-9133
>
> Showdown in Seattle: Five Days That Shook the WTO
>
> In a Challenge to Multinational Corporate Power
>
> Independent Media Producers Rally to Make People Voices Heard.
>
> As the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial approaches,
> independent video makers, radio producers, journalists, and activists
> are rallying under the common goal of social and economic justice to
> challenge the WTO. In an effort to reclaim media democracy, this
> unprecedented media collaboration will make public the voices and
> concerns of tens of thousands of people from all over the world who will
> gather in Seattle from November 29 to December 3. Simultaneously, it
> will offer to all media outlets independent, non-commercial analytical
> and investigative programming and coverage of the issues and
> implications surrounding multilateral organizations such as the WTO and
> how it directly impacts the lives of public citizens.
>
> The Independent Media Center will broadcast directly from Seattle
> (www.indymedia.org) a unique daily news and public affairs program. This
> programming will contribute to a more educated and meaningful
> understanding of the issues by your listeners and viewers. These
> grassroots and independent producers will cover the daily
> counter-events, stage demonstrations and debates, as activists from
> around the world, representing labor, the environment, civil society,
> international law and Indigenous Nations converge on Seattle to offer
> solutions and alternatives to the current free trade organizations like
> the WTO.
>
> http://WWW.INDYMEDIA.ORG
>
> The IMC in collaboration with these independent producers will be
> offering the following:
>
>  a.. VIDEO: Daily 60 minute satellite-cast series collaboratively
> produced by BigNoise Films, Changing America, Citizen Vagrom, Deep Dish
> Satellite TV, Paper Tiger TV and Whispered Media (the series will
> consist of one 30-minute program covering the dayís events and a
> second 30-minute pre-produced program focusing on specific global
> issues;
>
>  b.. AUDIO: Daily 27-minute program that can be broken into 3-5
> minute segments covering the day's highlights; several in-depth
> 30-minute and hour-long interviews and field reports (perfect for
> cutting edge public affairs programs); and 24/7 LIVE streaming audio
> from Seattle at www.indymedia.org.
>
>  c.. WEB PAGE: Filled with late-breaking news stories and analysis,
> with print stories and video and audio clips.
> This new and important organizing effort in grassroots and independent
> media will bring your listeners and viewers the voices, opinions and
> points of view that are likely to never been seen or heard on commercial
> mainstream media. We hope your station will take advantage of this
> opportunity and schedule this vital series into your regular
> programming. This is a unique opportunity to allow your listeners and
> viewers a chance to hear another side of the story and to glimpse the
> powerful alternatives that will be discussed by national and
> international leaders and organizations. We recognize this is a last
> minute change in your programming, but this "Showdown in Seattle" will
> be the most important event of the millennium.
>
> Questions about programming or late breaking news, check out
> http://www.indymedia.org.
>
> Independent Media Center: The Independent Media Center is a grassroots
> community-based organization committed to public interest media. It is
> our goal to illuminate and analyze local and global issues that impact
> ecosystems, communities, and individuals; and to inform the public of
> these issues through a non-commercial media perspective. The Center is
> founded on the premise that the vital link between democracy,
> self-determination, cultural expression and communication needs to be
> restored to its rightful place in a democratic society.
>
> Independent Media Center, 1415 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
> (206) 262-0721, http://www.indymedia.org, [EMAIL PROTECTED];
> Fax: (206) 262-9133.
>
> The Grassroots Media Network
> 1602 Chatham
> Austin, TX 78723
> (512)459-1619
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.onr.com/user/gnn
>
> We are:
> Grassroots News Network, Queer News Network, Pueblos-Unidos News Exchange,
> Theoretical Ammo Arts Brigade, Wmyn's News Service, Enviro News Service,
> Grassroots Film & Video Collective
>
> and in partnership with:
>
> Comite de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Mexico, Fountain of Youth Productions,
> KO-OP Radio 91.7FM, Tejano Artists Museum, Stop Metro Scam
>
> To recieve daily news articles please select the list you want and send the
> appropriate message in the subject line
>
> general news (for general news)- "add me to gmnnews"
> queer news  (for queer news)- "ad

FW Techno-Eugenics Email List newsletter #3 (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Of possible interest to FWers

>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: (Fwd) Techno-Eugenics Email List newsletter #3
>Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 07:39:05 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Loop: 70438
>
>Hi - thought this might be of interest to you.  to subscribe send a
>message to marcy (bottom of newsletter).
>
>mike
>
>
>
>
>Welcome to the
>
>Techno-Eugenics Email List Newsletter
>
>   Number 3
>
>  November 21, 1999
>
>  Supporting genetic science in the public interest
>   Opposing the new techno-eugenics
>
>
>
>
>  This is Issue Number 3 of the Techno-Eugenics Email List
>  newsletter, as far as we know the only on-line newsletter
>  focused on the politics of the new human genetic and
>  reproductive technologies.  If you're receiving this news-
>  letter for the first time, please see the instructions for
>  subscribing and submitting items at the end of this message.
>
>---
>---
>
>  "We cannot find our humanity in our genes.  But because
>  of the increasing progress in genetic diagnostics and
>  manipulation, we will increasingly confront genetic
>  questions and problems that *challenge* our humanity."
>
>  --Craig Holdrege, Genetics and the Manipulations of Life:
>  The Forgotten Factor of Context (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne
>  Press, 1996, page 151)
>
>---
>---
>
>  CONTENTS
>
>
>I.WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT: "The Ethics and Politics of Human
>  Germline Engineering" (UC Berkeley, Sunday, December 5)
>
>II.   RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND STATEMENTS OPPOSING TECHNO-EUGENICS
>
>  1.  Anti-eugenics protest in London at Galton Society
>  2.  John Horgan calls techno-eugenic predictions "irresponsible"
>  3.  Jedediah Purdy on human genetic engineering
>  4.  New article on human genetic engineering by Leon Kass
>
>III.  RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND STATEMENTS PROMOTING TECHNO-EUGENICS
>
>  1.  Time magazine provides forum for designer baby advocates
>  2.  Developments in research on artificial chromosomes
>  3.  Francis Fukuyama: The end of (human) history, reconsidered
>  4.  Bioethicist Arthur Caplan predicts designer babies
>  5.  Lester Thurow advocates genetic enhancement
>
>IV.   OTHER POINTERS AND NEWS
>
>  1.  German philosophers debate eugenic engineering
>  2.  New web site on early American eugenics movement
>  3.  Japanese cloning researchers break the rules
>
>V.ABOUT THE TECHNO-EUGENICS EMAIL LIST NEWSLETTER
>
>
>
>I.   WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT
>
>The Case Against Designer Babies: The Politics and Ethics of
>Human Germline Manipulation
>
>Sunday, December 5, 1:00-5:00 pm, Sociology Department Commons,
>402 Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley.
>
>The workshop presentation will summarize the formal ethical debate
>on human cloning and germline engineering, and update participants
>on the escalating campaign to promote these technologies.
>
>The main focus of the presentation and the discussion that follows
>will be on articulating and developing a political framework for
>opposing human germline manipulations.  We will consider where and
>how to draw the lines that matter, and how to embed opposition
>to germline engineering in a commitment to equality and democracy.
>
>Registrants will receive a detailed agenda and logistics information.
>To register, or for other information, contact Marcy Darnovsky at
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Briefing materials from the September 10 workshop, on the
>technologies of human genetic engineering, are available
>from Rich Hayes at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
>
>
>
>II.   RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND STATEMENTS OPPOSING TECHNO-EUGENICS
>
>1.Anti-eugenics protest in London at Galton Society
>
>This report from David King in London:
>
>"On September 17, activists from People Against Eugenics disrupted
>the meeting of the Galton Institute, formerly the Eugenics Society.
>The action prevented Arthur Jensen from delivering his Galton
>lecture on race and IQ."
>
>[Jensen is the UC professor of educational psychology who claims that
>the differences between African American and white American IQ scores
>are genetically caused, and who has urged `genetic foresight.']
>
>"The decision of the venue (The Zoological Society of London) to
>close down the meeting also prevented Glayde Whitney

What's Been Powering the U.S. Economy?

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 16:07:05 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: What's Been Powering the U.S. Economy?
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
>
>Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 13:31:15 -1000
>From: "Viviane Lerner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: What's Been Powering the U.S. Economy?
>
>>From The Left Business Observer
>===
>http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_current.html
>
>An obsession of this page has been figuring out what's been powering the
>U.S. economy. Conventional explanations, like the wondrous flexibility of
>our labor markets, don't convince, since these features haven't changed
>profoundly from the time when our major economic rivals were outgrowing us.
>Technological miracles don't persuade either, since there's little
>difference between productivity growth in the U.S. and the famously stagnant
>EU - and there's strong evidence that almost all the reported improvement in
>U.S. productivity figures in recent years can be traced to the computer
>industry alone. Outside computers, economist Robert Gordon estimates that
>productivity performance in the late 1990s is worse than the 1972-95
>average. To anyone schooled in Keynesian economics, the expansion has been
>particularly puzzling because it's happened despite substantial fiscal
>tightening - the budget deficit, almost 5% of GDP in 1992, was transformed
>into a surplus of 1% in 1999, a massive shift that might have been expected
>to render an economy torpid.
>
>So what's been driving it? LBO's preferred theory has been the growth in
>debt. That theory, and then some, is nicely developed in a paper by Wynne
>Godley, published by Bard College's Levy Institute (www.levy.org). To
>Godley, the U.S. economy is characterized by seven unsustainable processes.
>
>These are:
>
> 1) the fall of private savings deeply into negative territory;
>
> 2) the rise in the flow of lending to the private sector (with 1) and 2)
>jointly meaning more borrowing and less saving);
>
> 3) rapid growth in the money supply (the trace of all that borrowing
>entering the spending stream);
>
>4) a rise in asset prices - mainly stocks - at a rate far in excess of
>   growth in GDP or profits (which contributes to confidence, but provides
>   no fresh cash, unlike incomes earned in production - money taken out by
>   selling stock can only be replaced by fresh buying);
>
> 5) the rise in the federal budget surplus;
>
> 6) the rise in the current account deficit (the deficit on trade and
>investment income the U.S. is running with the outside world, which
>adds to our foreign debt); and
>
> 7) the rise in U.S. foreign debt (when domestic savings fall, and
>domestic borrowings rise, the shortfall can only be made up from
>abroad).
>
>In other words, while the U.S. government has grown prudent, the private
>sector hasn't: both households and businesses are spending more than
>their income (the income of businesses being profits).
>
>- --
>
>
>   .
>   Bob Olsen, Toronto  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   .
>

FW New Book

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 08:55:02 -0800
>From: "Michael Gurstein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Fw:  New Book
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: Bulk
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>- Original Message -
>From: d.raphael <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Friday, December 03, 1999 6:32 PM
>Subject: New Book
>
>
>>   Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids:
>>   The Tragedy and Disgrace of Poverty in Canada
>>   by Mel Hurtig   (McClelland & Stewart).
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Hurtig continues to fight
>>  the good fight in crusade
>>  against poverty in Canada
>>
>>  MICHAEL VALPY
>>
>>  Thursday, December 2, 1999
>>
>>  It is breakfast-time in a downtown Toronto
>>  hotel. Across the table from me is Mel Hurtig.
>>  I have two thoughts. One: His shirts are the
>>  most dazzling white in the country. Two: The
>>  country still has definitive Canadian heroes.
>>
>>  A third thought, a question, comes later. It is
>>  this:
>>
>>  What keeps Mel Hurtig at it -- years after
>>  Canada's elites (in which Mr. Hurtig has
>>  platinum-card membership) have ceased
>>  admiring people who write about the country
>>  with love, who write about economic activity
>>  as if it should serve the goal of national glue,
>>  who write about the mythology of a Canadian
>>  compassionate society as if it should exist,
>>  who write about Canadian poverty?
>>
>>  The answer, in all certainty, is that the notion
>>  of being in or out of fashion has never
>>  occurred to him.
>>
>>  Between us on the breakfast table is the
>>  67-year-old Mr. Hurtig's new book: Pay the
>>  Rent or Feed the Kids: The Tragedy and
>>  Disgrace of Poverty in Canada
>>  (McClelland & Stewart).
>>
>>  It started out to to be a book exploring
>>  Canadian myths and reality. Just three of its
>>  chapters were going to be on poverty. The
>>  rest undoubtedly would have tilted at those
>>  who assault the iconography of Mr. Hurtig's
>>  creed: the nation's social programs, the tatty
>>  garments remaining of economic sovereignty,
>>  the frail last stand of government to protect
>>  Canadian identity and distinctness from global
>>  capitalism's careening Zambonis.
>>
>>  But as he travelled across the country doing
>>  research, interviewing people, visiting
>>  socio-economic nooks of Canadian society
>>  formerly alien to him, Mr. Hurtig got angry.
>>  He discovered -- the italics are his -- what
>>  poverty really means.
>>
>>  He discovered, at a downtown school, a
>>  seven-year-old girl sneaking her two
>>  preschool siblings into the school's hot-lunch
>>  program. The family had no father. The
>>  mother had been sick in bed for months. They
>>  always ran out of money before the end of the
>>  month. There was a utility bill to be paid or
>>  the threat of child welfare taking the children
>>  away. There was nothing in the house to eat.
>>
>>  Mr. Hurtig discovered, at another inner-city
>>  school, the story of the businessman who
>>  donated six pairs of warm winter boots. Out
>>  of 240 children at the school, probably 150
>>  needed the boots. So the school held a draw.
>>  One little girl -- who had been coming to
>>  school in minus-30 weather wearing running
>>  shoes, won a pair. Once having put the boots
>>  on, however, she refused to take them off,
>>  even for gym class. Several days passed
>>  before her principal discovered why: The little
>>  girl whispered to her that she didn't have any
>>  socks.
>>
>>  Mr. Hurtig discovered the mother --
>>  consumed with guilt -- who had lost her
>>   

FW Seattle police violence video

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 15:06:29 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Seattle police violence video
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
>
>From: "AEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>- Original Message -
>From: Anne-Marie Sleeman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>> WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATIONdirectly from Seattle
>
>> Tonight we purchased a 19 minute long home made (high quality) video of
>> the protests yesterday. This cameraperson was everywhere!! This will be
>> available through us..Bluegreen Society at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (here) for press
>> and interested parties. We are going to show it to anyone who wants to
>> watch. It really sums up the police brutality and the protests. very
>> intense.
>
>>
>> _
>> Anne-Marie Sleeman, Executive Director
>> BC Environmental Network (BCEN)
>> 1672 East 10th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, BC Canada V5N 1X5
>> EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Ph: (604) 879-2279;  Fx: (604) 879-2272
>> BCEN Web Site: www.bcen.bc.ca
>
>
>
>   .
>   Bob Olsen, Toronto  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   .
>

FW Monthly Reminder and BI List Announcement

[S. Lerner]

FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER



*BASIC INCOME - a new list*

A new list dealing only with Basic Income (BI) was launched this October.
This is a list for BI advocates and others interested in the idea to
discuss ways to get BI onto the political agenda in North America, as well
as how to work with others--the Basic Income European Network BIEN, for
instance--who have the same objective. To subscribe, send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   saying   subscribe basicincome
YourEmailAddress.

Sally Lerner[EMAIL PROTECTED]


*FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education*

FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in
all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for
ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.

What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This
is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income
distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of
how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change
into the opportunity for a richer life rather thanthe recipe for a
bladerunner society.

Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list will
help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and
political agendas worldwide.

FUTUREWORK is well-known for discussion and debate that is both spirited
and civil, intelligent and provocative.  It also serves as a bulletin-board
to post notices about recommended books, articles, other documents, other
lists and websites, conferences, even job openings relevant to the future
of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that
future.

The FUTUREWORK list is hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

To subscribe to FUTUREWORK,  send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
saying  subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress

NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of the list, subscribe to
futurework-digest

To post directly to the list (once you are subscribed), send your message to:

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Please begin the subject line of your message with FW, so that subscribers
know the mail is from someone on the list. Subscribers almost always add a
topic/thread identifier on the subject line (for example, 'FW downward
mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea.

Searchable archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/

If you ever want to remove yourself from the Futurework list,
you can send mail to  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following
command in the body of your email message:

   unsubscribe futurework YourE-mailAddress

If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list (if you
have trouble unsubscribing or have questions about the list itself) send
email to  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

We look foward to your participation in the ongoing FUTUREWORK discussions.

Sally LernerArthur Cordell
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]

FW Viviane Forrester -- L'horreur Economique (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>"The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1999 10:32:07 +1300
>X-Distribution: Moderate
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: Viviane Forrester -- L'horreur Economique
>Reply-to: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Priority: normal
>
>
>F E A T U R E
>--
>from
>T H E   J O B S   L E T T E R   1 1 3
>a subscriber-based letter
>published in New Zealand 6 December 1999
> -
>
>THE ECONOMIC HORROR
>
>French author VIVIANE FORRESTER's book L'horreur
>Economique (The Economic Horror) has just been published in an
>English edition. The 1996 book is already a huge bestseller in
>France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South America, and reviewers
>predict that it set to become the biggest economics bestseller since
>Das Kapital.
>
>The 72-year old author has become a heroine in France where
>unemployment now stands at more than 12%. Young jobless have
>taken to photocopying pages from L'horreur - notably those
>passages decrying the culture of shame attached to unemployment
>- and sticking them up on job centre walls. The author's effigy can
>also be found at the front of workers' marches, with banners quoting
>>from her book.
>
>International financier George Soros was so impressed with
>L'horreur that he arranged to meet with the author in Paris. The book
>has also been discussed by the Mexican parliament, and politicians
>in Peru have invited the author to lecture in Latin America.
>
>This official interest has come despite the author's argument that
>there is a conspiracy by "those who control economic power" to
>"hide from the workers the truth that they are no longer needed by
>the capitalist system" and that we are witnessing "the end of
>employment as we have known it."
>
>In this special feature, The Jobs Letter profiles Viviane Forrester
>and gives an essential summary of her views on the future of work.
>
>*   Viviane Forrester's economics is largely self-taught, and until the
>publication of L'horreur, she was better known as a novelist and
>literary critic. Yet, according to Ian Cotton of The Guardian Weekly,
>Forrester has emerged as "... a fine example of the outsider who
>sees things insiders cannot."
>
>Forrester's thesis is that employment as we have known it for three
>centuries throughout the West, has had its day and is becoming
>less plausible by the year as a way of distributing wealth.
>
>L'horreur also attacks the present policies of Western governments
>as it makes ever more desperate attempts to keep the jobs-and-
>wages system alive. Forrester cites the constant downsizing of ever
>larger numbers of the working and, now, middle classes; the steady
>attrition, internationally, of welfare and union rights; and the growing
>destabilisation of those in work, let alone of the unemployed.
>
>All this has created an employment and unemployment (and
>underemployment) culture that is not merely stressful, regrettable
>and unpleasant but has also, according to Forrester, "spawned an
>economic world that is an obscenity, an affront to human nature"
>and, in the words of the book's title, a "horror".
>
>*   Ian Cotton remarks: "This is not a thesis likely to appeal to
>Messrs Clinton and Blair. After all, it doesn't square with the fact that
>the United States economy is enjoying the longest, strongest
>economic boom in post-war history. Or that unemployment in Britain
>is at its lowest for 19 years. Yet there is a curious thing about
>Forrester's reading of the situation: a vast number of ordinary
>people believe it..."
>
>*   Forrester finds that the book has certainly struck a nerve: "When I
>was promoting the book in South America I'd go to these town
>meetings of factory workers, clerks, ordinary people. The cheering
>would start before I entered the hall..."
>
>"My book has brought me in touch with the powerful as well as the
>poor, and there is this strong feeling among political elites that you
>must not tell the people the truth about today's economic realities;
>that they just can't take it.
>
>"In fact, I found the opposite: people aren't, in fact, afraid ... but they
>are indignant. They're not stupid, they can see what's going on, and
>the thing that really angers them is denial. Indeed, it's surprising how
>many people have told me that reading my book has actually
>reduced their anxieties ...
>
>"Waiters, bankers, housewives, taxi drivers, students, young
>unemployed ...  they say to me: ''I've had exactly the same thoughts
>you wrote in your book myself, for years. But it wasn't until I read
>L'horreur that I even realised I'd been thinking them - let alone
>started taking such ideas seriously' ... "
>
>*   Forrester argues that economic neo-liberalism has introduced a
>new economic paradigm: "Increasingly it offers the most vulnerable
>in our society a quite new choice - poverty at work or poverty on the
>dole..."
>
>For examples,

FW New book on Basic Income

[S. Lerner]

FWers - Just to let you know - a primer on Basic Income is now available
from Between the Lines books in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.. Authors are
Sally Lerner, Charles M.A. Clark and W. Robert Needham. I take no royalties
- the book is meant to be widely circulated and read to stimulate
discussion.

"Framing the idea for Canada, this new book makes a compelling case for the
introduction of a universal Basic
Income.  Canadian workers face continuing turbulence as demands escalate
for a "flexible" workforce. Globalization and
rapid technological change are pressing in on all of us.

The authors trace in detail the arguments for and against Basic Income, how
it might be funded and delivered, the ways in
which it could increase employment and offer varied life choice
options.  Seen as more than a cheque in the
mail, Basic Income is evaluated as a policy strategy for
dealing with the realities of the contemporary
'great transformation'."

120 pp.   $16.95 ISBN 1-896357-31-8   Payment by check or VISA
 Between the Lines   720 Bathurst St. #404. Toronto, ON Canada M5S 2R4
(416) 535-9914 or 1-800-718-7201 fax (416) 535-1484
www.btlbooks.com

Sally Lerner

FW Rebels in Search of Rules

[S. Lerner]

>
>Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 13:22:07 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Armine Yalnizyan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: hitting the mark
>
>Personally speaking, this is the most intelligent take I've
>seen about the whole Seattle thing yet.
>
>
>from NY Times
>
> Rebels in Search of Rules
> By NAOMI KLEIN
>
>
> TORONTO -- It is all too easy to dismiss the protesters at the World
> Trade Organization meeting in Seattle as radicals with 60's envy. A
> seemingly more trenchant criticism is that they are simply behind the
> curve, fighting against a tide of globalization that has already
> swamped them. Mike Moore, the director of the W.T.O., describes his
> opponents as nothing more than protectionists launching an assault on
> internationalism.
>
> The truth, however, is that the protesters in Seattle have been bitten
> by the globalization bug as surely as the trade lawyers inside the
> Seattle hotels -- though by globalization of a different sort -- and
> they know it. The confusion about the protesters' political goals is
> understandable: this is the first movement born of the anarchic
> pathways of the Internet. There is no top-down hierarchy, no
> universally recognized leaders, and nobody knows what is going to
> happen next.
>
> This protest movement is really anti-corporate rather than
> anti-globalist, and its roots are in the anti-sweatshop campaigns
> taking aim at Nike, the human rights campaign focusing on Royal
> Dutch/Shell in Nigeria and the backlash against Monsanto's genetically
> engineered foods in Europe.
>
> At any time, one huge multinational company may be involved in several
> disputes -- on labor, human rights and environmental issues, for
> example. Activists learn of one another as they aim at the same
> corporate target. Inadvertently, individual corporations have become
> symbols of the global economy in miniature, ultimately providing
> activists with name-brand entry points to the arcane world of the W.T.O.
>
> This is the most internationally minded, globally linked movement the
> world has ever seen. There are no more faceless Mexicans or Chinese
> workers stealing our jobs, in part because those workers'
> representatives are now on the same e-mail lists and at the same
> conferences as the Western activists. When protesters shout about the
> evils of globalization, most are not calling for a return to narrow
> nationalism, but for the borders of globalization to be expanded, for
> trade to be linked to  democratic reform, higher wages, labor rights
> and environmental protections.
>
> This is what sets the young protesters in Seattle apart from their
> 60's predecessors.
>
> In the age of Woodstock, refusing to play by state and school rules was
> regarded as a political act in itself. Now, opponents of the W.T.O. --
> even those who call themselves anarchists -- are outraged about a lack
> of rules and authority. They are demanding that national governments be
> free to exercise their authority without interference from the W.T.O.
> and asking for stricter international rules governing labor standards,
> environmental protection and scientific research.
>
> Everyone, of course, claims to be all for rules, from President Clinton
> to Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates. In an odd turn of events, the need
> for "rules-based trade" has become the mantra of the era of deregulation.
> But deregulation is by definition about the removal of rules. The W.T.O.,
> charged with defining and enforcing deregulation, is only concerned with
> rules that regulate the removal of rules.
>
> The W.T.O. has consistently sought to sever trade, quite unnaturally,
> from everything and everyone affected by it: workers, the environment,
> culture. This is why President Clinton's suggestion yesterday that the
> rift between the protesters and the delegates can be smoothed over with
> small compromises and consultation is so misguided.
>
> The face-off is not between globalizers and protectionists, but between
> two radically different visions of globalization.
>
> One has had a monopoly for the last 10 years. Then other just had its
> coming-out party.
>
>
>
>
>   .
>   Bob Olsen, Toronto  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   .
>

FW Yes - you need the name of the BI book!

[S. Lerner]

Sorry I omitted the name of the book before.  I think it would be a good
primer for anyone, not only Canadians. I feel OK about flogging it a bit,
since I' m allowing the press to keep the royalties.   I just want it to
get out and about.   Sally


FWers - Just to let you know - Basic Income: economic security for all
Canadians, a primer on Basic Income is now available from Between the Lines
books in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.. Authors are
Sally Lerner, Charles M.A. Clark and W. Robert Needham.
120 pp.   CAN$16.95 ISBN 1-896357-31-8   Payment by check or VISA
 Between the Lines  720 Bathurst St. #404. Toronto, ON Canada M5S 2R4
(416) 535-9914 or 1-800-718-7201 fax (416) 535-1484
www.btlbooks.com

FW Economic Horror by Viviane Forrester: excerpts (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>   The Economic Horror by Viviane Forrester
>
>
> "Full employment is a thing of the past"
>
>
> "...there is something worse than actually being exploited -
> and that is no longer to be even worth exploiting!"
>
>
> "Today the great thing is to be "profitable", not "useful".
> This raises a very serious question: Should people be
> profitable in order to "deserve" the right to live?"
>
>
>
>Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 05:42:07 -0800 (PST)
>From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: full UNEMPLOYMENT - the globalization of poverty
>
>
>
>The Economic Horror
>by Viviane Forrester
>(pub 1999 by Blackwell ) ISBN 0-745-61994-0
>
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0745619940/thejobsresearctr
>
>
>VIVIANE FORRESTER
>ON A PROFOUND CHANGE
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>* I think that each of us, whatever our walk of life, should feel concerned
>about the present state of the world, which is entirely governed by
>economics. If Shakespeare were to come back to life today, I think he would
>be fascinated by the tragic interplay of powerful economic forces which are
>stealthily transforming the lives and destinies of the citizens - or rather
>the populations - of all countries.
>
>* To my mind we are witnessing a profound change, a transformation of
>society and civilization, and we are finding it very hard to accept. How
>can we say good-bye to a society that was based on stable jobs that
>provided a safety net and the basics of a decent existence? Job security is
>on the way out.
>
>For the first time in history, the vast majority of human beings are no
>longer indispensable to the small number of those who run the world
>economy. The economy is increasingly wrapped up in pure speculation. The
>working masses and their cost are becoming superfluous. In other words,
>there is something worse than actually being exploited - and that is no
>longer to be even worth exploiting!
>
>* It is true that this state of affairs is not being concealed, but there
>is a tendency to avoid talking about it clearly. In democratic societies,
>at any rate, you don't tell people that they are regarded as superfluous.
>Under totalitarianism there might be an even worse danger than joblessness
>and poverty. Once salaried work has disappeared, why should a totalitarian
>regime not simply eliminate those forces that have become useless?
>
>In democratic countries there is an urgent need for vigilance. It is often
>claimed that the industrial age, when a regular wage provided the means of
>subsistence, can somehow be patched up. But those days are over.
>Wage-earning is disappearing and the panoply of temporary doles and
>allowances designed to replace it is shrinking, something that is nothing
>less than criminal.
>
>* The managers of the economic machine exploit this situation. Full
>employment is a thing of the past, but we still use criteria that were
>current in the nineteenth century, or twenty or thirty years ago, when it
>still existed. Among other things, this encourages many unemployed people
>to feel ashamed of themselves. This shame has always been absurd but it is
>even more so today.
>
>It goes hand in hand with the fear felt by the privileged who still have a
>paid job and are afraid of losing it. I maintain that this shame and this
>fear ought to be quoted on the stock exchange, because they are major
>inputs in profit. Once upon a time people pilloried the alienation caused
>by work. Today falling labour costs contribute to the profits of big
>companies, whose favourite management tool is sacking workers; when they do
>this, their stock market value soars.
>
>* Today we hear a lot about "wealth creation". In the past it was simply
>known as profit. Today people talk about this wealth as if it will
>automatically go straight to the community and create jobs, yet at the same
>time we see highly profitable businesses cutting down heavily on their
>workforce.
>
>When people talk about society's "movers and shakers", they aren't talking
>about the bulk of their country's population but about business leaders who
>relocate at the drop of a hat. Politicians make jobs their priority, but
>the Stock Exchange is delighted whenever a big industrial complex fires
>workers and gets worried whenever there's the slightest improvement in the
>unemployment figures. I wanted to draw people's attention to this paradox.
>A company's stock market quotation depends largely on labour costs, and
>profit is generated in the last analysis by reducing the numbers of those
>who have a job.
>
>* The present situation raises a vital question for the future of the
>people of our planet, above all for young people and their future. Today
>the great thing is to be "profitable", not "useful". This raises a very
>serious question: Should people be profitable in order to "deserve" the
>right to live? The commonsense answer is that it is a good thing to be
>useful to society. But we are preventing people from being useful, we are
>squande

FW World Labor Conference (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Date:Fri, 17 Dec 1999 22:40:51 -0500
From:RS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

> This article appears in the November issue of the Dispatcher, newspaper
> of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union
>
> OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE OF WORKERS TO BE HELD IN SAN FRANCISCO
> >From across the United States and around the world trade union leaders
> and activists will gather in San Francisco, Feb 11-14, 2000 to discuss
> how to work together  to combat the global corporate "free trade" aganda
> and defend their hard-fought for gains.  Sponsored by the San Francisco
> Labor Council, AFL-CIO and endorsed by unions in 74 countries including
> the ILWU and Teamsters Joint Council 7, the Open World Conference of
> Workers in Defence of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights is
> a pivotal next step after protests in Seattle against the WTO.
> Baldemar Velasquez, President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and
> co-chair of the Labor Party is a member of the OWC Organizing
> Committee.  Velasquez stressed, " Corporatre owners are determined to
> undermine and eliminate unions as independent organizations acting to
> defend workers' interests.  Besides their direct attacks on workers.
> their schemes of 'roundtable agreements' and 'social pacts' are ploys to
> make trade unions responsible for carrying out layoffs, downsizing,
> elimination of benefits,part-time work and an end to job security."
> The objective of the conference is to develop specific campaigns to
> reinforce our rights to organize and link struggles internationally.
> For more info contact Mya Shone and Ed Rosario, OWC conference
> coordinators at (415) 641 8616 or at www.owc@igc
>

FW Citizens on the Web: `A war against poor people' (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 13:40:25 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Tim Rourke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [workfare] Citizens on the Web: `A war against poor people'
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>`A war against poor people'
>
>The homeless in New York already risk
>jail - and the mayor wants to get even
>tougher
>
>  By Kathleen Kenna
>  Toronto Star Washington Bureau
>
>NEW YORK - It's a crime to be poor in the richest
>city on Earth.
>
>Anyone lingering at the wrong doorway for too
>long, asking strangers for money or slumping on
>the sidewalk risks arrest.
>
>Drinking booze in the park, relieving oneself in an
>alley, or cursing on a street corner can bring jail
>time from a couple of days to a year.
>
>And no one is to sleep outdoors anymore on
>Mayor Rudy Giuliani's turf.
>
>``Streets do not exist in civilized societies for the
>purpose of people sleeping there,'' Giuliani argues.
>``Bedrooms are for sleeping.''
>
>Since the mayor authorized widespread sweeps of
>street people on no less charitable a day than
>Thanksgiving, more than 3,200 have been
>questioned by police.
>
>They're stopped on suspicion of a charge that
>doesn't appear anywhere in American law -
>homelessness.
>
>The situation could get even worse this holiday
>season: City lawyers go to court next week to
>fight injunctions stalling a new Giuliani directive to
>get tougher with the city's burgeoning shelter
>population.
>
>``There's a war going on,'' says Archdeacon
>Michael Kendall, head of the New York diocese of
>the Episcopal Church. ``It's a war against poor
>people.
>
>``Having wiped out the (social) safety net, we've
>forced people into homelessness and now the
>mayor is criminalizing the poor,'' he says. ``It's so
>outrageous. It's absolutely intolerable.''
>
>Since the crackdown began three weeks ago, 460
>people have been arrested.
>
>Most of the charges involve minor violations and
>misdemeanours, including panhandling, disorderly
>conduct, ``public lewdness,'' littering and
>obstructing sidewalks, trespassing, and jumping
>subway turnstiles without paying.
>
>No one is arrested because they're poor, says
>Police Commissioner Howard Safir. He denies
>charges from social workers, legal aid lawyers and
>street people that cops are harassing the
>homeless.
>
>``The law is very clear,'' says Safir. ``You can't
>sleep blocking the sidewalk. You can't be in parks
>after they're closed. You can't take up residence
>on someone else's private property.''
>
>Refusing an officer's order to move or be taken to
>a shelter or Bellevue Hospital psychiatric facilities
>can mean as much as a year in jail.
>
>Soon, entering or staying in a shelter won't be as
>easy as an invitation to climb into a police cruiser.
>
>Under the new policy, anyone deemed employable
>who refuses to work for a tax-funded bed can be
>denied shelter. That includes single parents,
>whose children may be sent to foster homes.
>
>``It's possible, on the eve of Christmas, if the
>city succeeds, women and children could be
>thrown out on the street,'' warns Steven Banks,
>lawyer for the Coalition for the Homeless and the
>Legal Aid Society's Homeless Rights Project.
>
>Two judges who issued the emergency injunction
>against the city warned it could violate state law
>if kids are ordered into foster care just because
>their parents don't have permanent homes.
>
>``Implementation of this strikes terror in the
>hearts of people who have children,'' Justice
>Elliott Wilk of State Supreme Court said last week.
>
>Critics charge Giuliani, who is expected to be the
>state's Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate
>next year, is moved more by conservative
>ideology than compassion, and the heavy-handed
>actions against the homeless is an ugly tactic in
>his bid.
>
>``I have no qualms at all in identifying him as a
>racist who targets the oppressed, people of
>colour, the weak - he is a bully and a coward and
>he is a racist coward,'' Rev. Bob Castle says at
>his Harlem church.
>
>``This man operates this city like a plantation. In
>the South, the plantation owners made you work
>for your housing. This city makes people work for
>housing and a little change and they remain
>exploited and depressed.
>
>``It's wrong, in the richest city in the world. It's
>evil,'' Castle charges.
>
>All of the city's faith groups and 100 agencies
>serving the poor have denounced the new
>policies.
>
>Giuliani has yet to respond to their demand for a
>meeting to discuss better ways of helping shift
>the poor off government dependence, whether it's
>boosting job training and substance-abuse
>counselling or offering more child care.
>
>Despite its fabulous wealth, New York has the
>largest homeless population in the United States
>and it's growing - mostly among single-parent
>families - amid tough welfare reform laws and a 3
>per cent vacancy rate.
>
>New York's 134 shelters average 6,800 singl

FW OECD doubts benefits of dole work for jobless (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 01:11:54 +1100 (EST)
>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Bartlett)
>Subject: [workfare] LL:ART: OECD doubts benefits of dole work for jobless
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>The Sydney Morning Herald
>http://www.smh.com.au/news/9912/21/text/national11.html
>
>OECD doubts benefits of dole work for jobless
>
>Date: 21/12/99
>
>By MATT WADE
>
>Australia's work-for-the-dole scheme impeded unemployed people from gaining
>work or acquiring skills which made them attractive to employers, the
>Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found.
>
>In its latest report on Australia, released last night, the OECD said the
>scheme, expanded by the Federal Government in this year's Budget, could
>affect "the integration of the unemployed into gainful work".
>
>The Government increased spending on the scheme by $139 million in the
>Budget. It has created an extra 65,000 work-for-the dole places this
>financial year.
>
>The OECD report notes the requirement that work-for-the-dole jobs must not
>compete with paid employment in the regular labour market. As a result,
>unskilled jobs with little potential for training are favoured by the program.
>
>When it was first introduced in 1997, the scheme targeted job seekers aged
>18-24 who had been unemployed for more than six months and required them to
>work 24-30 hours per fortnight for six months.
>
>The program was expanded earlier this year to include school leavers who
>had not found work for three months and to 25- to 34-year-olds who had
>received unemployment benefits for 12 months.
>
>The Opposition spokesman on employment and training, Mr Lindsay Tanner,
>said: "The fundamental weakness of work for the dole is its inadequate
>provision for training, and the OECD assessment confirms that people with
>insufficient skills are not receiving adequate training assistance from the
>Howard Government."
>
>The OECD also said more should be done for young school leavers who face
>the greatest risk of ending up in dead-end jobs.
>
>"Many early school leavers remain at considerable risk of being locked into
>marginal labour market activities that may not lead to better skills and
>employment prospects," the report said.
>
>It also noted the rate of early school leavers was too high and additional
>measures were required to make school curriculums relevant to those at risk
>of leaving early.
>
>The report recommended the broader educational system co-operate more
>effectively with vocational training programs such as TAFE.
>
>The OECD confirmed Australia's good economic performance, noting the
>resilience of the economy in the face of the Asian economic crisis last
>year. The report forecast growth to continue at 3-4 per cent with
>unemployment to fall to 6.5 per cent by 2001.
>
>However, the report warns that the introduction of the GST could kick off a
>sustained higher level of inflation and not simply cause a one-off price
>rise as predicted by the Government.
>
>The OECD identified two potential threats to Australia's long period of
>economic growth: a stockmarket crash in the US and the possible evaporation
>of the Asian economic recovery.
>
>The OECD report lent support to the Government's so called "second" and
>"third wave" industrial relations reforms, including further simplifying
>award conditions and using the corporations powers to create a unified
>industrial relations framework.
>
>This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or
>mirroring is prohibited.
>
>
>
>*
>This posting is provided to the individual members of this  group without
>permission from the copyright owner for purposes  of criticism, comment,
>scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal
>copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of
>the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
>
>
>
>--
>
>   Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
>
>Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
>Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
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>
>
>
>
> Workfare-defeat: a list for discussion about the international
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> "subscribe workfare-defeat" in the BODY of the message
> **  This material may be freely distributed, provided this  **
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>

FW Working Homeless (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>From: "Victor Milne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "Citizens on the Web" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Working Homeless
>Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 17:01:28 -0500
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 3
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>"Working homeless shatter old stereotypes" - Toronto Star,  Dec. 21/99
>- not in online edition   Forty-four per cent of homeless people in the
>United States  have some sort of job according to the latest statistics
>from U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development.   In its rush to
>create more billionaires, America's miracle  economy of the 90's has left
>a lot of people behind.   Los Angeles housing activist Jeff Farber has
>encountered  homeless telemarketers, nursing assistants, home-care and
>child-care providiers,  homeless data entry clerks and computer-repair
>technicians.   "In Los Angeles it's $1,000 (U.S.) a month for a two
>bedroom.  A low-wage family of four would have to work 100 hours a week
>just to pay the  rent," says Farber.   Sixty-seven per cent of the adults
>who requested emergency  food aid in 26 major American cities this year
>were employed, according to a  report released recently by the U.S.
>Conference of Mayors.  
>

FW Sustainable Development & Health/SantÈ & DÈveloppement durable

[S. Lerner]

>From: e-network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: e-network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Sustainable Development &  Health/SantÈ & DÈveloppement durable (fwd)
>Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 13:05:06 -0500
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-UnityUser: Magma
>
>(le français suit)
>
>Population Health, Sustainable Development and Policy Futures Discussion Paper
>To download http://lists.magma.ca:8080/T/A17.44.56.1.760
>
>Sustainable development requires policies that address economic, social and
>environmental concerns in the medium and long-term time frames. The Discussion
>Paper by Michael Hayes, professor of geography at Simon Fraser University, and
>Sholom Glouberman, Director of the Health Network of Canadian Policy Research
>Networks, examines the overlap between the social dimensions of sustainable
>development and the socio-economic influences on health, and clarifies the
>similarities and differences between sustainable development and population
>health issues.
>
>Population health research, which gathers information about the general health
>of populations rather than on individuals, suggests that such things as
>physical
>environment and genetics are far less critical in determining a person’s
>health
>than are factors associated with social circumstances— such as the impacts of
>poverty, periods of unemployment, divorce or emotional stress. Policies to
>support sustainable development that might arise from this recognition could
>include investments in early childhood education, support for expectant
>mothers,
>reducing economic disparity to improve health, and government/employer
>collaboration to increase employees’ control over their work.
>
>The paper arises from the work done by Canadian Policy Research Networks to
>assist federal policy-makers to meet the Government’s mandate to provide
>policies in support of sustainable development. The Auditor General has noted
>that while good progress has been made in economic and environmental policy
>areas, there is less integration of sustainable development ideas into social
>policy areas such as health.
>__
>Santé de la population, développement durable et avenir des politiques.
>Document
>de recherche Cliquez icihttp://lists.magma.ca:8080/T/A17.44.56.2.760
>
>Le développement durable nécessite des politiques qui tiennent compte de
>préoccupations économiques, sociales et environnementales dans une optique à
>moyen et à long terme. Le document de recherche préparé par Michael Hayes,
>professeur de géographie à l'Université Simon Fraser, et Sholom Glouberman,
>directeur du Réseau de la santé des Réseaux canadiens de recherche en
>politiques
>publiques, est consacré à l'analyse des chevauchements entre les dimensions
>sociales du développement durable et les incidences socio-économiques sur la
>santé et il s'emploie à faire ressortir les similitudes et les différences
>entre
>le développement durable et les questions de santé de la population.
>
>La recherche sur la santé de la population, qui s'intéresse à la cueillette de
>données sur la santé générale de la population et non sur celle des individus,
>donne à penser que des éléments comme le milieu physique et la génétique
>jouent
>un rôle beaucoup moins crucial dans la détermination de la santé d'une
>personne
>que des facteurs liés aux conditions sociales - comme l'incidence de la
>pauvreté, les périodes de chômage, le divorce ou le stress émotionnel. Des
>politiques visant à appuyer le développement durable qui résulteraient de la
>reconnaissance de ces conditions pourraient inclure des investissements
>dans des
>programmes d'éducation de la petite enfance, une aide aux femmes
>enceintes, une
>réduction des disparités économiques pour améliorer la santé et une
>collaboration entre le gouvernement et les employeurs pour resserrer le
>contrôle
>des employés sur leur travail.
>
>Ce document a été préparé dans le cadre des travaux entrepris par les Réseaux
>canadiens de recherche en politiques publiques visant à aider les décideurs
>fédéraux à remplir le mandat du gouvernement en matière d'élaboration de
>politiques de développement durable. Le Vérificateur général a souligné que,
>même si des progrès satisfaisants avaient été accomplis dans le domaine des
>politiques économiques et environnementales, l'intégration des notions de
>développement durable est beaucoup moins avancée dans le secteur des
>politiques
>sociales comme celle de la santé.
>
>
>
>-
>
>This message was forwarded through the e-network news service.
>For information on e-network, including instructions for (un) subscribing,
>see:
>http://www.cprn.org/e-network_e.html or send a message to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>e-network is a weekly news service from the Canadian Policy Research Networks.
>
>-
>
>Ce message a été transmis par le service de nouvelles e-network. Pour obte

FW Footnotes for RACHEL article

[S. Lerner]

==
[1] Linda Greenhouse, "High Court Voids Theory Used to Press
Independent Counsel's Case Over Gifts to Espy," NEW YORK TIMES
April 28, 1999, pg. unknown. And: "Corrupt Gift-Giving Made
Easier [editorial]," NEW YORK TIMES May 3, 1999, pg. 28.

[2] Larry Wheeler and Carl Weiser, "Ethics experts say it's hard
to nail corruption in Congress," USA TODAY November 22, 1999,
pg. 22A.

[3] John M. Broder, "Governors Join Ranks of Full-Time Campaign
Money-Raisers," NEW YORK TIMES December 5, 1999, pg. 22.

[4] David E. Sanger, "Meet Your Government, Inc.," NEW YORK
TIMES November 28, 1999, pgs. D1, D6.

[5] David Cay Johnston, "Reducing Audits on the Wealthy, I.R.S.
Turns Eye on Working Poor," NEW YORK TIMES December 15, 1999,
pg. A1.

[6] Associated Press, "Study Says Welfare Changes Made the
Poorest Worse Off," NEW YORK TIMES August 23, 1999, pg. A12.

[7] Peter Applebome, "Where Money's a Mantra Greed's a New
Creed," NEW YORK TIMES February 28, 1999, Week in Review
Section, pg. 5.

[8] Anthony Lewis, "Punishing the Country," NEW YORK TIMES
December 21, 1999, pg. A31.

[9] Timothy Egan, "Less Crime, More Criminals," NEW YORK TIMES
March 7, 1999, pgs. D1, D16.

[10] Linda Greenhouse, "47% in Poll View Legal System as
Unfair to Poor and Minorities," NEW YORK TIMES February 24,
1999, pg. A12.

Descriptor terms: money in politics; corruption; Congress; racism;
judiciary;

FW Rachel #680: MONEY RULES

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 10:47:33 -0500 (EST)
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Rachel #680: MONEY RULES
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>===Electronic Edition
>.   .
>.   RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #680   .
>.---December 16, 1999---.
>.  HEADLINES:   .
>.  MONEY RULES  .
>.  ==   .
>.   Environmental Research Foundation   .
>.  P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD  21403  .
>.  Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   .
>.  ==   .
>.All back issues are available by E-mail: send E-mail to.
>.   [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the single word HELP in the message.   .
>.  Back issues are also available from http://www.rachel.org.   .
>.  To start your own free subscription, send E-mail to  .
>.  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words   .
>.   SUBSCRIBE RACHEL-WEEKLY YOUR NAME in the message.   .
>.The Rachel newsletter is now also available in Spanish;.
>. to learn how to subscribe, send the word AYUDA in an  .
>.  E-mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]   .
>=
>
>
>[Rachel's will publish again January 5.]
>
>
>MAKING THE MOVEMENT VISIBLE
>
>The grass-roots environmental movement is largely invisible.
>Thousands of groups are working at the local level but they have
>no way to learn about each other's existence, and therefore no
>easy way to communicate. A journalist looking for a grass-roots
>perspective on environmental problems or job safety may not know
>who to call. Someone concerned about policy at the state or
>federal level may not be able to find anyone who can provide a
>community-based perspective on environment-and-health problems.
>
>The RACHEL'S staff has begun a project to identify local groups
>working on any aspect of "environment and health," including, of
>course, occupational safety and health. We call it, Making the
>Movement Visible.
>
>Groups that are working on any aspect of "environment and health"
>at the community level are invited to add themselves to our
>public database of grass-roots environmental groups on the
>world-wide web (www.rachel.org). Naturally, organizations that
>service the needs of grass-roots community groups or job-safety
>groups are also welcome. To list your group (or some other group
>that you admire), just go to the "organizations" section of our
>web site (www.rachel.org) and add your group to the list. (Note:
>Your listing will not become public immediately, so you may not
>see it for a few days. We review all entries, to prevent fake
>groups from being added to the list.) No matter where you are
>working -- in Iowa, Ixtapa, or Istanbul -- if you have a
>community or workplace perspective on health and environment,
>please add your group to the database. Let's all do ourselves a
>big favor and Make the Movement Visible! Check yourself in at
>www.rachel.org.
>
>
>MONEY RULES
>
>Here we begin our traditional year-end review of significant
>events and trends.
>
>One of the most important trends of the last half of the
>twentieth century was the spread of democracy into many countries
>that had never enjoyed it before. At the same time, democracy
>within the U.S. continued to shrivel as a wealthy elite gained
>increasing control. All three branches of government actively
>encouraged this shift of power from "the rest of us" to the
>wealthy.
>
>In April, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for the wealthy
>to curry favor with government officials. The court ruled that
>substantial gifts to a government official are legal unless the
>official performs a "specific official act" in return for the
>gift. The matter came before the court because Sun-Diamond
>Growers of California gave gifts worth $5900 to Mike Espy when he
>was Secretary of Agriculture. Since Espy did not perform any
>specific official act on behalf of Sun-Diamond in return for the
>gifts, the gifts were legal, the court ruled. The American League
>of Lobbyists, expressed relief at the court's ruling. Lobbyists
>now know they can shower Congress with gifts without running
>afoul of the law.[1] One favorite tactic is to give money to
>Congressional staffers, rather than directly to members of
>Congress. Another favorite is to pay for lavish vacations for
>members of Congress, disguised as "fact-finding trips."
>
>By November, it was clear that the Supreme Court's April ruling
>would deepen the level of corruption in Congress. Federal
>prosecutors dropped almost all cha

FW Families can't afford kids (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 22:15:38 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Families can't afford kids
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>
>
>  "The myth of the impoverished family with many kids is long-gone"
>
>
>  "Many people are just priced right out of the having-babies
>  market."
>
>
>
>[National Post]
>Thursday, December 23, 1999
>
>Families can't afford 'luxury' of kids
>StatsCan study blames low incomes for falling
>  [Hockey Challenge]birth rate
>
>[Careerclick]   Elena Cherney
>National Post
>
>Canada is suffering from a declining birth rate
>   [Home Delivery]  as a result of the relative impoverishment of
>young Canadian couples compared with their
>parents and with previous generations, according
>  -->   to a new Statistics Canada study.
>
>
>
>   .
>   Bob Olsen, Toronto  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   .
>

FW Our own little Y2K problem

[S. Lerner]

In case you were puzzled by uncharacteristic lack of FW discourse between
Dec. 28 and Jan 6...so were we!  The  server at U. of Waterloo was down for
upgrading, and no one had passed that news along to Sally.  But we're up
and running again as of yesterday - Jan 7th. Perhaps a little breathing
time over the holiday wasn't totally unwelcome.   Sally and Arthur


   *FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER*

PLEASE NOTE:  A new list dealing only with Basic Income (BI) was is up and
operating.
To subscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
saying
subscribe basicincome YourEmailAddress.  This is a list for BI advocates
and others interested in the idea to discuss ways to get BI onto the
political agenda in North America, as well as how to work with others--the
Basic Income European Network BIEN, for instance--who have the same
objective.

*FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education*

FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to
deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and
technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in
all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the
advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill
levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines
and/or in low-wage countries.  Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for
ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing
business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth.

What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure,
adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This
is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income
distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of
how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change
into the opportunity for a richer life rather thanthe recipe for a
bladerunner society.

Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as
possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list will
help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and
political agendas worldwide.

FUTUREWORK is well-known for discussion and debate that is both spirited
and civil, intelligent and provocative.  It also serves as a bulletin-board
to post notices about recommended books, articles, other documents, other
lists and websites, conferences, even job openings relevant to the future
of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that
future.

The FUTUREWORK list is hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

To subscribe to FUTUREWORK,  send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
saying  subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress

NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of the list, subscribe to
futurework-digest

To post directly to the list (once you are subscribed), send your message to:

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Please begin the subject line of your message with FW, so that subscribers
know the mail is from someone on the list. Subscribers almost always add a
topic/thread identifier on the subject line (for example, 'FW downward
mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea.

Searchable archives for the Futurework list are available at
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/

If you ever want to remove yourself from the Futurework list,
you can send mail to  [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following
command in the body of your email message:

   unsubscribe futurework YourE-mailAddress

If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list (if you
have trouble unsubscribing or have questions about the list itself) send
email to  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

We look foward to your participation in the ongoing FUTUREWORK discussions.

Sally LernerArthur Cordell
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]

FW An interesting website

[S. Lerner]

Try this website for some interesting idreas, books, links on work:
http://www.whywork.org/

FW Hoover Fellowship 2000-2001 (Urgent)

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 19:01:18 +0100
>To: Annick DABEYE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: Annick DABEYE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Hoover Fellowship 2000-2001 (Urgent)
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>Elkin),
>[EMAIL PROTECTED],
>Dear colleague,
>Please find below a call for applications to the Hoover Fellowship in
>economic and social ethics for 2000-2001.  If yourself or someone else
>around you (who holds a doctorate and is active in the area of economic and
>social ethics) are interested, bear in mind that the deadline is 28
>February 2000.
>Yours sincerely,
>Philippe Van Parijs
>
>
>HOOVER FELLOWSHIP
>IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ETHICS
>2000-2001
>Thanks to the continued support of the Hoover Foundation for the
>Development of the Catholic University of Louvain, the Université
>catholique de Louvain's Hoover Chair in Economic and Social Ethics offers
>every year a postdoctoral fellowship.  The fellowhip is intended for
>scholars from outside Belgium, who hold a PhD or possess equivalent
>qualifications and are active in the field of economic ethics or (more
>broadly) social ethics.  At least some rudiments of French and an active
>knowledge of either English or French are required.
>The fellowship provides a gross monthly stipend of BEF 70.000 (about Euro
>1,750), plus a contribution to travelling expenses, for a period of nine
>months.  It is likely to be divided among several applicants to enable each
>of them to come for a shorter period.  The length of a fellow's stay can
>also be extended beyond the tenure of her/his fellowship.  In the case of
>senior scholars on sabbatical leave, it can be combined with an income from
>another source.
>The fellow will be provided with office space, some secretarial assistance
>and help in finding accommodation, (s)he will have access to the
>University's seminars, lecture courses and libraries, and will be welcome
>to take an active part in the Hoover Chair's activities.
>
>If you wish to apply, please send to Philippe Van Parijs (address below) by
>28 February 2000
>(1) a detailed Curriculum Vitae, including a description of your linguistic
>abilities
>(2)  a short description of your research interest
>(3)  a statement about your preferences as to the length and timing of your
>stay, and about whether you intend coming with your family;
>(4)  two reference letters (preferably sent directly by their authors).
>
>
>
>philippe van parijs
>université catholique de louvain
>chaire hoover d'éthique économique et sociale
>3 place montesquieu, B-1348 louvain-la-neuve, belgique
>Tél.: 32-10-473950; 32-10-473951 (secr.+rép.); 32-10-473952 (fax)
>
>site web de la chaire hoover:
>http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be
>web site of the basic income european network:
>http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/BIEN/bien.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Annick Dabeye
>Chaire Hoover
>Université catholique de Louvain
>Place Montesquieu 3
>1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)
>Tel.: +32(0)10-47.39.51
>Fax : +32(0)10-47.39.52
>E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Web site : www.etes.ucl.ac.be/
>

FW BI: from a sociological perspective (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 14:18:21 +0100
>From: Manuel Franzmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>X-Accept-Language: de,en
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: Basic Income Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: BI: from a sociological perspective
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Precedence: bulk
>
>   Dear colleagues,
>
>those of you, who can read German texts, I would like to inform about an
>interesting paper concerning Basic Income from a sociological perspective.
>The (translated) title of the paper written by Ulrich Oevermann is: "The
>crisis of the 'society of work' and the 'probation'-problem of the modern
>individual".
>
>A central thesis of the paper is that the much discussed crisis of 'work'
>is in the core a crisis of the traditional 'work ethics', which goes back
>to Max Weber's "Protestant ethics" and has determined our social life
>since then. A basic premise of the traditional work ethics is as well
>known that 'work' has to be 'income gaining work'. That the traditional
>work ethics actually has entered the state of epochal crisis as
>orientation framework for the individual, one can read off from the fact
>that most of the politico-economic concepts in present politics hurt a
>very simple criterion of reasonableness: the criterion that each
>politico-economic concept must reasonably be aligned to carry both: the
>realization of a maximum of the present technological rationalization
>potential and a fair distribution of the national economic income. This
>simple criterion of reasonableness is hurt, obviously because the target
>of 'job creation' has become (before the background of holding to the
>traditional work ethics) an end in itself. Whether the "neoliberal"
>promotion of low wage jobs through a "negative income tax" or the social
>democratic redistribution of work (e.g. through a reduction in working
>hours) or some other concepts: In most cases the main target is to create
>jobs for all. In such cases the job creation is placed into the foreground
>(debited to the realization of the present rationalization potential!),
>because the distribution of the societal prosperity is organized
>exclusively through "income gaining work" (notice that unemployment
>benefits etc. are defined as 'exceptions' and exceptions prove the rule!).
>What was decades ago still reasonable, today becomes increasingly a chain
>of productivity and a workhouse like requirement to work. The holding to
>the traditional work ethics is obviously connected with the difficulties
>people presently have to imagine a society in which fundamental principles
>like justice, reciprocity, autonomy can be realized without the societal
>norm of "income gaining work". Oevermanns Paper analyses this subject very
>clearly. The paper is accessible under the URL-address:
>
http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~hermeneu/Arbeit-Bewdhrung-1999.rtf

I hope you can get the text! If not, try to resolve the
charset-problem with the word "Bewaehrung" in the URL-address on your
own.

>An older paper (1983) of Oevermann with the same subject is:
>
>http://www.rz.uni
>-frankfurt.de/~hermeneu/Arbeitsleistung.rtf
> 
>
>Yours sincerely
>
>Manuel Franzmann
> 
>
>___
>
>Manuel Franzmann (M.A.)
>Universität Leipzig
>Abteilung Religions- und Kirchensoziologie
>Emil-Fuchs-Straße 1
>D-04105 Leipzig
>Germany
>Tel.: 0049 - 69 - 95 62 23 21
>Fax: 0049 - 341 - 97 35 499
>Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>___
> 
> 
> 
>

FW Call - Justice Research (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 16:58:44 +0100
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (International Sociological Association)
>Subject: Call - Justice Research
>Apparently-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>To: Members of the International Sociological Association
>
>
>Call for Papers
>
>International Society for Justice Research, ISJR
>VIII Conference on Social Justice and Social Exclusion
>September 18-21, 2000
>Tel Aviv, Israel
>
>The International Society for Justice Research is a network of
>scientists who work on justice- related issues. It is
>interdisciplinary in nature and includes most social and
>behavioral sciences. The biennial meetings constitute a venue
>for the scientific exchange of theoretical developments and
>recent investigations.
>
>The main theme of the conference - Social Justice and Social
>Exclusion - addresses one of the critical problems for both
>advanced and less advanced societies in the last decades. The
>conference will focus on theoretical and empirical causes, forms
>and processes of social justice, exclusion and integration.
>Beyond the main topic, the conference may include empirical,
>conceptual, theoretical and applied work on additional issues.
>
>Please feel free to suggest additional topics!
>Submissions are due no later than February 15, 2000.
>
>Session Organizers: provide a brief description of the session
>you would like to organize. Session proposals should include the
>title of the session, and the names and full addresses of all
>participants. A session should include 4-5 papers of 15-20
>minutes each. Sessions should not be longer than one and a half
>hours.
>
>Paper Presenters: submit a 200 word abstract of your paper.
>Abstracts should be in English and in the following format:
>title of paper in CAPITAL LETTERS, author(s), institutional
>affiliation(s), complete mailing address, phone number, and
>e-mail address.
>
>Submission format: Authors and organizers may (1) send their
>abstracts and/or session proposals by e-mail to
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] as a WORD ATTACHMENT, or (2) mail their
>abstracts and proposals on a 3+" diskette (IBM formatted) in
>Word for Windows, together with a hard copy.
>
>Send information on sessions and papers to:
>  Dr. Dahlia Moore,  e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>  Department of Behavioral Science
>  College of Management - Academic Studies
>  9, Shoshana Persitz St., Tel Aviv, 61480, Israel
>  Fax : 972-3-699-0460
>

FW J. Maxwell-Commentary: Globalization (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>From: e-network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: e-network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: J. Maxwell-Commentary: Globalization/Commentaire: Mondialisation
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 13:54:39 -0500
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-UnityUser: Magma
>
>(le français suit)
>
>This commentary was published in the Toronto Star on Sunday January 9 and the
>French version appeared in Le Devoir on Wednesday the 2nd.
>
>Globalization – Who will be the guardian of the public interest?
>
>By Judith Maxwell
>
>Globalization and new technologies unleash two contradictory forces –
>prosperity
>and polarization.  Together, they risk creating paralysis in public
>policy.  How
>can we tame these forces for the public good?
>
>Prosperity
>
>Fortunes are being made by corporations and by some individuals.  New
>knowledge-based businesses are born. Technology stocks are booming. The
>economic
>expansion in North America is now into its eighth year and finally gaining
>real
>strength in Canada.
>
>At the same time, companies built and sustained by people over many years are
>now bought, sold, divided and combined like spare parts for a car. The
>breathtaking speed of change leaves some long-time employees and some
>communities on the sidelines and slower moving companies in a state of high
>anxiety.
>
>Polarization
>
>The rising tide is not lifting all boats.
>
>Incomes from employment have been polarizing into good jobs and bad jobs
>for the
>past 25 years. Some people are simply not earning enough to support a family.
>Poverty has increased in the 1990s because it now takes 74 hours of work per
>week at the minimum wage to push a family above the poverty line.
>
>Even the middle class is polarising into high flyers with good jobs and those
>left behind.  The high flyers are actively involved in the global marketplace.
>They may live in Canada but their expectations are set elsewhere. They say
>they
>need a level playing field – similar tax policies, tax rates, social policies,
>and regulatory structures to what they encounter in the United States or
>elsewhere.
>
>Many others in the middle class are not flying so high, however. They are
>working hard but their incomes have declined in the 1990s.  At the same time,
>they see their access to public services diminish, even as they pay more
>taxes.
>Many other social programs are highly targeted to the poorest Canadians,
>meaning
>that this part of the middle class hears about economic boom, but faces
>diminished well-being.
>
>
>Countervailing forces
>
>But globalization and new technologies also create countervailing forces:
>interdependence and a quest for community.
>
>A borderless world creates interdependence. Countries, regions, provinces, and
>sectors are bound together by shared vulnerability to financial instability,
>global warming, and virulent new infections.
>
>These are not risks that can be managed by markets or by one government or
>institution acting alone.  Working together, they have a chance.   But working
>together requires trust, rules, standards, money, and highly qualified
>professional public servants.
>
>Many citizens also experience a sense of helplessness in the face of
>globalization.  They yearn for belonging and identity.   They can achieve this
>in very positive ways by building communities of interest in their
>neighbourhood
>or through their professional or faith group.  Or, they may opt for negative
>routes, forming their own gangs, or tightening exclusive community ties and
>blaming others for their misfortune.
>
>In their quest for community, citizens turn to the public sector  to help
>rebuild community, to protect them against the excesses of polarization,
>and to
>defend national symbols of their identity.   They expect governments  to be
>sensitive to their quality of life.  The polling evidence shows that they want
>governments to be guardians of the public interest.
>
>But governments are fighting paralysis.  They have spent 15 years fighting
>deficits and debt.  Now they are under tremendous pressure to cut taxes, while
>renewing their commitment to social spending. When they want to take action,
>they face a society deeply divided on priorities. Their slow-moving
>decision-making make them look like dinosaurs in a world where markets are
>transforming rapidly.
>
>To break out of the paralysis, governments must actively take on the
>challenges
>of interdependence and community.  Intelligent policy-making is needed here,
>that can:
>
>- Balance short and long term goals such as cutting taxes and strengthening
>social infrastructure, like education, health, and supports for children and
>families;
>- encourage community and business leaders to invest in shared public spaces,
>citizen participation,  and building connections and trust within their
>communities;
>- mobilize all the players in society to invest in economic opportunities for
>those who are young and those who have been left behind; and
>- design regulatory and gover

FW The Nature of the Machine (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 19:08:06 -0500 (EST)
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: [corp-focus] The Nature of the Machine
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Mailman-Version: 1.1
>Precedence: bulk
>List-Id: Sharp-edged commentary on corporate power
>
>X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>The Nature of the Machine
>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
>Imagine this: you study your entire life to reach the pinnacle of your
>profession. First, you secure an undergraduate degree in biology from
>Oregon State University. Then a PhD in developmental biology at Yale
>University. Then on to Indiana University, where you teach and run a lab
>on the cutting edge of plant research.
>
>And you have tenure. But you wake up one day and realize that by doing the
>scientific research, you are creating the road map for corporations to
>come in and apply the science for profit, thus destroying the nature that
>attracted you to the study of biology in the first place.
>
>By this time you have become well known in your field. You are
>"respected." In 1990, your lab gets the cover story in The Plant Cell, the
>leading journal of the field. But exactly one month later, you decide to
>write an editorial for the same publication announcing that such
>scientific research is unethical and that you will no longer conduct such
>research, thus effectively ending your scientific career.
>
>That, in a nutshell, is the career trajectory of Martha Crouch, a
>Professor of Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington.
>
>As a leading researcher in the field of plant molecular biology, Crouch
>got in on the ground floor, when corporations were just starting to become
>interested in biotechnology. In fact, Crouch consulted with a few of the
>them in the late 1980s, including the giant British multinational
>Unilever.
>
>Then, in 1989, Crouch picked up a copy of the New Scientist magazine and
>read how Unilever was using her tissue culture research to harvest palm
>trees in the tropics.
>
>Palm trees are grown for the oil in their seeds. The seeds are used for
>snack foods and industrial lubricants. Unilever wanted to expand its palm
>oil operations, but the trees were too variable in size to be
>industrialized.
>
>So, Unilever tried to make genetically uniform oil palm trees through
>tissue culture.
>
>"Some of the work that we did on rapeseed tissue culture helped them
>perfect their techniques so they could make identical copies of the plant
>and create large plantations of genetically identical palms," Crouch told
>us recently.
>
>Unilever started buying out small farmers in places like Malaysia. Crouch
>learned that the resulting oil palm boom was responsible for the cutting
>down of tropical rainforests and the displacement of indigenous peoples.
>Also, processing factories for palm oil caused severe water pollution.
>
>After reading the article, she asked herself: How could the research we
>did in our lab be applied in this way that damaged nature?
>
>That question, combined with her day-to-day feeling of disconnection from
>nature, stopped her in her tracks. She began to re-examine what she was
>doing with her life. And that re- examination led to her editorial in
>Plant Cell announcing that she was quitting research because she thought
>it could not be done ethically.
>
>The editorial drew scores of responses, many of them from scientists who,
>like Crouch, felt uneasy about the new emerging biotechnology companies
>and how they were hijacking basic plant cell research.
>
>But many others were angry with Crouch. One of her colleagues confronted
>Crouch and told her she was "more dangerous than Hitler," apparently on
>the grounds that her views might limit government funding for researchers
>like him, and that might slow the progress of medical or agricultural
>discovery. "Therefore millions of people would die that wouldn't have to
>die if science was progressing at a faster rate," she says. "And I would
>be responsible for this carnage. "
>
>But Crouch had come to a different world view.
>
>She came to believe, for example, that the Green Revolution -- the use of
>mechanized and chemical agriculture -- had resulted in an incredible
>increase in hunger around the world. Farmers worldwide were better off
>growing food organically and with appropriate technology -- as they had
>done for thousands of years.
>
>"You are basically treating the agricultural environment as if it was a
>factory where you are making televisions or VCRs," Crouch said. "If nature
>is not a machine, if organisms are not machines, then to treat them as if
>they are, is going to create big problems."
>
>Some of her students have quit the study of biology to pursue sustainable
>agriculture -- one is a logger in Kentucky who uses draft horses -- but
>most are working for the biotech industry -- one is at Monsanto and is
>responsible for helping to commercialize genetically engineer

FW Corporate Crime (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

Date:Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:10:40 -0500
From:Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Corporate Crime
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


http://www.sfbg.com/focus/71.html

Crime of the Century


The corporate century ends with private enterprise unanswerable to the public.

By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman


AS WE MOVE to the end of the millennium, it is important to remind
ourselves that this has been the century of the corporation, when largely
unaccountable, for-profit organizations of unlimited longevity, size, and
power took control of the economy and of the government. And did so largely
to the detriment of the individual consumer, worker, neighbor, and citizen.

Let us again remind ourselves that corporations were the creation of the
citizenry (thanks here to Richard Grossman of the Project on Corporations,
Law, and Democracy for resurrecting and teaching us a history we would have
collectively forgotten).

In the beginning, we the citizenry created the corporation to do the
public's work build a canal or a road and then go out of business. We asked
people with money to build the canal or road. If anything went wrong, the
liability of these people with money * shareholders, we call them today *
would be limited to the amount of money they invested and no more. This
limited liability corporation is the bedrock of the market economy. The
markets would deflate like a punctured balloon if corporations were
stripped of limited liability for shareholders.

And what do we, the citizenry, get in return for this generous public grant
of limited liability? Originally, we told the corporation what to do. You
are to deliver the goods and then go out of business. And then let us live
our lives.

But corporations gained power, broke through democratic controls, and now
roam around the world inflicting unspeakable damage on the earth. Let us
count the ways: price-fixing, chemical explosions, mercury poisoning, oil
spills.

Need concrete examples? These are five of the most egregious of the century:

Archer Daniels Midland and price-fixing
In October 1996, Archer Daniels Midland, the good people who bring you
National Public Radio, pled guilty and paid a $100 million criminal fine at
the time, the largest criminal antitrust fine ever for its role in
conspiracies to fix prices to eliminate competition and allocate sales in
the lysine and citric acid markets worldwide.
Union Carbide and Bhopal
In 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, released
90,000 pounds of the chemical methyl isocyanate. The resulting toxic cloud
killed several thousand people and injured hundreds of thousands.
Chisso Corporation and Minamata
Minamata, Japan, was home to Chisso Corporation, a petrochemical company
and maker of plastics. In the 1950s fish began floating dead in Minamata
Bay, cats began committing suicide, and children began getting rare forms
of brain cancer. Thousands were injured. The company had been dumping
mercury into the bay.
Exxon Corporation and the Valdez oil spill
Ten years ago, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit a reef in Prince William
Sound, Alaska, and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil onto 1,500 miles
of Alaskan shoreline, killing birds and fish and destroying the way of life
of thousands of Native Americans.
General Motors and the destruction of inner-city rail
Seventy years ago, clean, quiet, and efficient inner-city rail systems
dotted the U.S. landscape. They were eliminated in the 1930s to make way
for dirty, noisy gasoline-powered automobiles and buses. The inner-city
rail systems were destroyed by those very companies that would most benefit
from the destruction of inner-city rail oil, tire, and automobile
companies, led by General Motors. By 1949, G.M. had helped destroy 100
electric systems in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, Oakland,
Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. In 1949 a federal grand jury in
Chicago indicted and a jury convicted G.M., Standard Oil of California, and
Firestone, among others, of criminally conspiring to replace electric
transportation with gas- and diesel-powered buses and to monopolize the
sale of buses and related products to transportation companies around the
country. G.M. and the other convicted companies were fined $5,000 each.

These are not unusual examples. Books have been written documenting the
ongoing destruction. The question remains how do we put a stop to it? And
the answer seems clear to us reassert public control over what was
originally a public institution.

How to reassert such control is the subject of debate and conflict, in
Seattle and around the world. But it seems clear to us that as the 20th
century was the century of the corporation, the 21st promises to be the
century in which flesh-and-blood human beings reassert sovereignty over
their lives, their markets, and their democracy.

Let us not forget that corporate control was never inevitable. They took it
from us, and it is our responsibi

FW [corp-focus] One Big Company (fwd)

[S. Lerner]

>Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 19:51:54 -0500 (EST)
>From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: [corp-focus] One Big Company
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Mailman-Version: 1.1
>Precedence: bulk
>List-Id: Sharp-edged commentary on corporate power
>
>X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>One Big Company
>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
>Bring 'em on.
>
>A few years ago, even a few weeks ago, we might have opposed the AOL-Time
>Warner merger.
>
>But now we're ready to leave twentieth century thinking behind.
>
>We recognize that this merger has "synergies that make some observers
>drool," as the Wall Street Journal explained. AOL will highlight InStyle
>magazine? Moviefone will pitch Warner Brother movies? Time Warner will
>include AOL disks in promotional mailings? That's progress, baby!
>
>In the past, we might have echoed the concerns of those who worried that
>the merger might interfere with open access to high-speed internet
>connections. AOL has been a leading proponent of open access -- meaning
>those who control high-speed internet access through cable systems or
>other means not have the power to discriminate against internet service
>providers that they do not control or favor. In buying Time Warner, AOL
>suddenly acquires one of the largest cable systems in the country, and
>gains a material interest in opposing open access.
>
>But that's OK. We're satisfied by AOL's verbal commitment that it will
>voluntarily permit open access in the cable systems it will control (though
>Time Warner currently has contractual obligations through 2001 to favor
>Roadrunner internet service).
>
>A few months ago, we might have agreed with media critics like George
>Gerbner, who say that goliaths like AOL-Time Warner undermine media
>diversity, that they are so big that their vast size means there will be an
>array of issues they cannot cover properly because they have a vested
>interest in the outcome.
>
>Now, we say, "C'mon George." AOL Chief Steve Case says he understands and
>is eager to learn more about the importance of journalistic integrity.
>
>Not along ago, we might have sympathized with the views of Robert McChesney,
>author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy: "This is the last nail in the coffin
>for anyone who believed that the internet is the last stronghold of media
>competition."
>
>Now, we tell Bob to get over it. The internet's still a free medium --
>hey, AOL-Time Warner isn't stopping us from sending this column around the
>net. And you want media democracy? Broadband CNN news content will be
>distributed on AOL Plus!
>
>Just a short time ago, we might have noted the consensus that the AOL-Time
>Warner merger will spur a slew of new media and internet consolidations
>("It's what the future is," a chief executive who runs theme parks and a
>movie studio told the Washington Post. "It sure feels like you need to be
>bigger -- bigger yet."), and urged that antitrust authorities block the
>merger to prevent this trigger effect.
>
>Now, we say, "More mergers? That means more synergy!" (As the late Walter
>Adams, one of the leading critics of corporate giantism, said, no merger was
>ever announced without a ritual incantation of the synergistic gains to be
>realized.)
>
>More mergers is exactly what we need.
>
>Microsoft needs a media company to compete. It is already partnered with
>NBC, so we figure it should buy NBC. GE currently owns NBC -- Microsoft
>might as well buy General Electric, too.
>
>And as long as its on a buying spree, it seems highly inefficient to have
>two major multinationals based in Seattle. Microsoft should purchase Boeing.
>And once you have planes, you might as well get cars. We recommend buying
>GM, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota and the rest.
>
>Meanwhile, it is obvious that, with the oil companies facing a serious
>political challenge on the global warming issue, they need their own voice.
>We recommend they purchase Disney-ABC. Of course, that would be after
>Exxon-Mobil finishes buying BP-Arco and the other oil companies. With oil
>naturally comes chemicals (DuPont, Dow, etc.) and with chemicals comes
>pharmaceuticals. They should all gravitate to the Exxon-Mobil-Disney pole.
>
>Don't worry about competition, the oil companies still face competition
>from other energy sources, like the food companies.
>
>Speaking of which, with the chicken, beef and pork processors all rapidly
>consolidating, the grain traders merging, the seed business quickly moving
>toward monopoly, supermarkets combining and food processors growing
>larger, it is time to speed the process of creating a single food company.
>Let's call it Philip Morris -- already the largest food company in the
>United States.
>
>The food/tobacco company probably should consider merging with AOL-Time
>Warner. Just think of the synergy of ordering all your food through AOL!
>
>Among the major U.S. media companies, that leaves Viacom-CBS in n

FW guaranteed income meeting

[S. Lerner]

>From: "Michael Lewis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Organization: HSC, SUNY Stony Brook
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], en16@columbia,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
>[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 13:29:35 -0500
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: guaranteed income meeting
>Priority: normal
>
>Hi All,
>
>On Thursday January 20 at 5:00pm Charles Clarke of St John's
>University will give a talk entitled, "How the Irish Might Save
>Civilization Again: A Basic Income Proposal for Ireland. The talk
>will be followed by a discussion of how to build support for a basic
>income in the United States. The discussion will be held in room 919
>on the 9th floor of the Hunter College School of Social Work on 79th
>St. and Lexington Avenue. Go right after getting off the elevator. It
>is a large conference room with a large table. Hope to see you there.
>
>Michael A. Lewis
>

FW Book Launch for Basic Income book

[S. Lerner]

We will do a book launch for our new book, Basic Income: Economic security
for all Canadians (Between the Lines, Toronto, 1999) from 7-9 pm on Friday,
January 28 at the Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor St. W., Toronto.
All are welcome for some good discussion.

Sally Lerner, Charles Clark and Bob Needham

Corp Research Workshop, York University

[S. Lerner]

>
>--GNcVWTeLVVOIXRNTHSDaQGUEAYOGaS
>Date:Mon, 17 Jan 2000 17:10:20 -0500
>From:Sam Lanfranco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: CORPORATE RESEARCH WORKSHOP: March 4, 2000 York University
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>From: Steven Tufts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>CCPA CRWS
>
>The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and The Centre for Research on
>Work and Society, York University
>
>present:
>
>STRATEGIC CORPORATE RESEARCH: A ONE-WAY WORKSHOP
>
>Saturday, March 4, 2000
>York University's Osgoode Hall
>
>
>WHY STRATEGIC CORPORATE RESEARCH?
>
>The retrieval and analysis of information and the application of knowledge
>in creative ways to improve the lives of workers is an increasingly
>important part of labour activism.
>
>Strategic corporate research (SCR) is focused on collecting information
>and developing strategies to exert constant pressure on employers in order
>to achieve union goals (higher wages, certification, etc.). Unlike policy
>related research, the aim of SCR is to arm the union with the knowledge
>necessary to disrupt an employer's ability to operate smoothly and
>inevitably increase its cost of doing daily business putting it at a
>competitive disadvantage.
>
>SCR has two components:  information retrieval and strategy development.
>In simplest terms, getting the information and deciding what to do with
>it.  It is important, from the outset to recognize that these components
>are interrelated and each informs the other.  For example, a strategy to
>exert pressure on an employer may be conceptualized before the necessary
>information is collected and will define where and how information is
>gathered. At the same time, the amount of information available will
>define the strategy chosen to gain leverage over an employer.
>
>THE WORKSHOP
>
>The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Centre for Research on
>Work and Society have brought together a number of speakers from within
>and outside the labour movement to share their ideas and corporate
>research skills.
>
>An opening panel on the future of union corporate research in Canada, will
>be followed by concurrent seminars on some information gathering
>techniques. In the afternoon guest speakers will present how this
>information can be effectively used when dealing with employers.
>
>
>WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
>
>The object of a one-day SCR workshop is to introduce approaches to
>corporate research used by non labour practitioners in different
>environments (eg. business, journalism) to both experienced and
>inexperienced activist researchers. These skills will be useful not only
>to union representatives but to community activists as well.
>
>SPEAKERS
>
>Kevin Bousquet is a private investigator and President of Corpa Group Inc.
>
>Tony Clarke is an experienced research activist and president of the
>Polaris Institute.
>
>Rob Cribb is an investigative journalist at the Toronto Star concerned
>with freedom of information issues.
>
>Craig Fleisher is a Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University's School of
>Business and Economics specializing in competitive intelligence.
>
>Elizabeth Watson is head of York University's Business and Government
>Publications Library
>
>WORKSHOP AGENDA
>Saturday, March 4, 2000
>
>8:45am-9:15am Registration
>
>9:15am-10:30am Opening Panel: The Future Challenges of Corporate Research
>Bob Baldwin, CLC
>Bruce Campbell,  CCPA
>Hugh Mackenzie, USWA
>*Lynne Pajot, CUPW
>Jane Stinson, CUPE
>*to be confirmed
>
>10:30am-10:45 Refreshment Break
>
>10:45am-12:15 Information Retrieval
>(Note: Morning seminars will run concurrently)
>
> Internet and Library Sources, Elizabeth Watson
>
> Corporate Research: A Private Investigator's Perspective, Kevin Bousquet
>
> Freedom of Information: Notes from an  Investigative Journalist, Rob
>Cribb
>
>12:15pm - 1:15pm Lunch (provided)
>
>1:15pm-3:30pm Strategy Building
>
> Competitive Intelligence Analysis: A Union Tactic? Craig Fleisher
>
> Building a Corporate X-Ray, Tony Clarke
>
>3:30 - 4:00pm Closing Remarks
>Carla Lipsig-Mumm,  CRWS
>
>
>***PLEASE PRINT THIS SECTION OF E-MAIL AND SUBMIT WITH REGISTRATION FEE***
>
>SCR WORK SHOP REGISTRATION FORM
>
>Name:
>
>Organization:
>
>Mailing Address:
>
>Phone Number:
>
>E-Mail:
>
>Preferred Morning Seminar (check ONE):
>   Internet and Library Sources
>   Corporate Research: A PI's Perspective
>   Freedom of Information: Notes from an Investigative Journalist
>
>Note: Due to space limitations we may not be able to accommodate your
>first choice. If sending more than one representative from your
>organization, please have each person participate in different morning
>seminars.
>
>Registration Fee: $60.00 (enclose cheque)
>
>Please send by MAIL this form with a cheque payable to the Centre for
>Research on Work and Society to:
>
>Centre for Research on Work and Society
>276 York Lanes, York University
>4700 Keele Street
>North York, Ontario, M3J1P3, CANADA
>
>If you requ

FW Useful website

[S. Lerner]

Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 19:27:11 +0100
From: Info <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


Hello, The website of the french organization Transnationale is now
on-line at www.transnationale.org.You will find:

  a.. reference articles on more than 40 essential topics, from GMO
(transgenic organisms) and baby milk to offshore banking, the world trade
organization, privatization of education, retirement pension, human
cloning ...
  b.. the list of relevant transnational corporations
  c.. answers and alternatives. Thanks to information collected by our
network of correspondants, already 3000 corporations are listed, with
their brand names, subsidiaries, major shareholders, manager compensation,
social policy, lobby membership, corporate image...  For instance, NestlÈ,
Monsanto, Hachette ou Chiquita.

A search by corporation name or brand name is possible.

The website is updated daily and now largely translated in english. Access
to the entire website is free and unrestricted, a CD-Rom is available for
offline browsing for 25 Euros.

Sincerely,

RÈgis
Coordinator,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Fwd: FW CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS OF SCALE

[S. Lerner]

>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 21:48:14 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Jim Stanford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Fwd: CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS OF SCALE
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Status: U
>
>Dear PEF Members;
>
>The following conference announcement may be of interest.
>
>>Subject: CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS OF SCALE (fwd)
>>
>>Governance and the Politics of Scale:
>>Democracy, Capitalism and Power in a Global Age
>>
>>Time:   February 4, 2000
>>9:00 am - 5:30 pm
>>Place:  York University, Toronto
>>Senate Chamber
>>9th Floor, Ross Building
>>
>>
>> The conference will present some of the foremost voices in this
>>debate in North America, particularly from all over Canada. The conference
>>will, perhaps for the first time anywhere in this dense a format, present
>>speakers with interests in areas as diverse as community politics, the
>>urban question, regional development, national economic policy, and
>>international relations to address questions of the scaling of governance
>>under globalization.
>> The conference will interrogate current hegemonic politics in the
>>rescaling of political power at a number of levels. We will pay particular
>>attention to neo-social democratic proposals of various third ways, to the
>>intervention of new social and political actors, to possibilities and
>>openings for radical social critique and resistance, and to what has come
>>to be termed globalization with a human scale.
>>
>>9:00Registration and coffee
>>
>>9:15Opening Remarks: Hugh Armstrong, Studies in Political Economy
>>
>>9: 30 - 11:00 am
>>
>>Governance in a Global World: Reform Agenda - Utopian Dreams?
>>
>>Chair:  Rianne Mahon, Carleton University
>>
>> Neil Brenner, New York
>>University
>> Kanishka Goonewardena,
>>University of Toronto
>> Stephen Gill, York
>>University
>> Harriet Friedmann,
>>University of Toronto
>>
>>11:00-11:15 am
>>
>>Coffee Break
>>
>>  11:15 am - 12:45 pm
>>
>>Sovereignty, Capitalism, Power: Post-National States?
>>
>>Chair:  Fred Judson, University of Alberta
>>
>>Leo Panitch, York University
>>Warren Magnusson, University of Victoria
>>Pablo Idahosa, York University
>>Feyzi Baban, Humber College
>>
>>12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
>>
>>Lunch break
>>
>>1:45 pm - 3:15 pm
>>
>>Governance and the New Regionalism: Is This the Third Way?
>>
>>Chair:  John Shields, Ryerson University
>>
>> Vince Della Sala, Carleton
>>University
>> Ellie Perkins, York
>>University
>> Thomas Hueglin, Wilfried
>>Laurier University
>> t.b.a.
>>
>>3:15 pm - 3:30 pm
>>
>>Coffee break
>>
>>3:30 pm - 5 pm
>>
>>An Urban Globe?
>>
>>Chair:  Caroline Andrews, University of Ottawa
>>
>>Stefan Kipfer, York University
>>Stephen Dale, Ottawa
>>Katharine Rankin, University of Toronto
>>Roxanna Ng, OISE, Toronto
>>
>>5:30 pm
>>Conference disperses
>>  Governance and the Politics of Scale:
>>Democracy, Capitalism and Power in a Global Age
>>
>>Time:   February 4, 2000
>>9:00 am - 5:30 pm
>>Place:  York University, Toronto
>>Senate Chamber
>>9th Floor, Ross Building
>>
>> Globalization has created new spatial relationships on a variety
>>of scales. Together with the spatiality of global capitalism came an array
>>of new governance institutions and mechanisms, as well as redrawn internal
>>and external boundaries of states and other governance institutions. This
>>is partly a consequence of the changing role of nation states and of
>>systems of nation states. Particularly urbanization and regionalization
>>are among the dynamic material dimensions of globalization.
>> These processes establish distinct complexes of social
>>relationships and of political forms of governance on all socio-spatial
>>scales. This vision defies much of current globalization discourse both of
>>the aggressively boosterist neoliberal Right (which sees only bliss in
>>globalization) and of parts of the traditional defensive Left (which
>>fetishizes globalization beyond any strategic usefulness). It allows us to
>>pose new questions about the incongruence of different levels of market,
>>state and society. It has also presented policy makers with new sets of
>>challenges and opportunities, and has led to new arenas of social
>>struggle.
>> For political economists relationships of spatiality and
>>governance are of central concern as the (national) state has undergone
>>multiple processes of restructuring which begs the general question of
>>political form in a changing economic environment. Especially, what has
>>been termed the rise of civil society and the emergence

FW Hunger in America

[S. Lerner]

>From: "Franklin Wayne Poley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [workfare] Fw: [WORKFARE] Hunger in America
>Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 12:53:59 -0800
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>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Monday, January 24, 2000 6:35 PM
>Subject: [WORKFARE] Hunger in America
>
>
>>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>Report: Hunger Persists in America
>>By ROBIN ESTRIN Associated Press Writer
>>
>>BOSTON (AP) - In these times of low unemployment and overnight stock market
>>fortunes, 30 million Americans worry about where they will get their next
>>meals, according to a new study.
>>
>>The number of Americans who go hungry has held steady for the last four
>>years, despite unprecedented economic growth, the Center on Hunger and
>>Poverty at Tufts University found.
>>
>>``I think people assume that the rising tide lifts all boats and, in fact,
>>at the lowest end of the spectrum, there are as many hungry people as
>>ever,'' said Deborah Leff, president of America's Second Harvest, a
>>Chicago-based agency that delivers 1 billion pounds of food to food banks
>>annually.
>>
>>The Tufts study is billed as the most comprehensive analysis of domestic
>>hunger since welfare was overhauled in 1996. Researchers pulled together
>>federal and state estimates on hunger, along with reports from food banks
>>and shelters, to provide a detailed picture of hunger and so-called ``food
>>insecurity'' - the fear that there won't be enough to eat.
>>
>>America is now in the longest economic expansion since the Vietnam War. The
>>stock market is soaring. The national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent is
>>the lowest in 30 years.
>>
>>Yet, the study found that nearly one in six children lives in a household
>>where meals are an endless concern. Some families face a harsh choice: heat
>>the home or feed the children.
>>
>>``We're constantly hearing these great economic forecasts,'' said Ashley
>>Sullivan, a co-author of the Tufts report, which was to be released
>Thursday.
>>
>>``It seems like one wouldn't expect to see the persistence of hunger and
>>food insecurity in a society that has such wealth and low unemployment,''
>>Sullivan said.
>>
>>The Tufts study makes several recommendations to Congress, including:
>>
>>- Ensure that those eligible for food stamps receive them.
>>
>>- Increase the allowable assets for food stamp eligibility so a family can
>>own a car and still get necessary government food assistance.
>>
>>- Create savings incentives to provide financial safety nets for the
>>working poor.
>>
>>.
>>
>>--- ONElist Sponsor 
>>
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>>
>>
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