West Coast Grocery Strike?

UPDATE 3-California supermarket workers to vote on strikeBy Dana Ford
Reuters

LOS ANGELES, June 21 (Reuters) - Unions representing 65,000 workers at three Southern California supermarket chains asked members to authorize a strike after contract talks broke down on Thursday, raising the possibility of a repeat of 2003's crippling stoppage.

Union spokesman Mike Shimpock said members at Safeway Inc.'s (SWY.N: Quote, Profile , Research) Vons and Pavilions units and Kroger Co.'s (KR.N: Quote, Profile , Research) Ralphs chain, will begin voting on Sunday. Workers at Supervalu Inc.'s (SVU.N: Quote, Profile , Research) Albertsons stores authorized a strike in March.

"It authorizes the leadership and the negotiators to call a strike if and when they reach an impasse," Shimpock said in a conference call.

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Peasants Vs Lula!

Brazil’s Landless Workers Confront Lula
Isabella Kenfield
Canadian Dimension

Last week the Brazilian Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) held its fifth National Congress in Brasília, the country’s capital. The power the MST has garnered throughout its 23 years was palpable, as more than 17,500 delegates from 24 states and almost 200 international guests marched to the Square of the Three Powers, situated between the buildings of the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. Marchers hung a huge banner in the square that read, “We accuse the three powers of impeding agrarian reform.”

In the minds of most MST members, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Workers’ Party (PT) have failed to implement the radical economic and social reforms that were promised, especially agrarian reform. According to José Maria Tardin, who was elected as the first PT mayor in the state of Paraná in 1989, and now works in the MST, “For the left, Lula is the biggest political tragedy in the history of Brazil.”

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Precariats of the world, unite!

'Precariat' workers are starting to fight for a little stability
By TOSHIHIKO UENO
Kyodo News

The new rallying cry of nonregular workers may become "Precariats of the world, unite!"

"Precariat" is a new Japanese word combining the English words "precarious," referring to the insecurity of part-time and contract work, and "proletariat."

Part-time workers dubbed "freeters" and nonregular contract employees, who together accounted for about a third of the overall workforce of some 51 million in 2006, are increasingly standing in open rebellion against the wide-spread claim in the "self-responsibility" debate that the youth of today prefer an unsettled life.

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