Here's a bunch of stuff for your weekend reading:
1)Update on NOW's Merchant of Shame Campaign against Wal-Mart
2)Like to sing?
3)Local Inauguration Day Protest
4)An article on social security
Have a great holiday weekend!
As always, check out the upcoming events at www.rinow.org and www.rifrn.net!
-------------------------------------
1) Update on NOW's Merchant of Shame Campaign
January 13, 2005
Dear NOW activists:
We are finally getting their attention! This morning, the public was greeted with full page ads in major newspapers from Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The ad blames "special interest groups" and "critics" for spreading "misinformation about Wal-Mart." He says that the public "deserves to hear the truth."
We agree. The National Organization for Women declared Wal-Mart a "Merchant of Shame" in July 2002 because we want consumers to hear about the largest employer in the United States and the widespread allegations that it denies equal wages and promotions to women employees in addition to engaging in unfair labor practices, such as punitive measures against employees who advocate for union representation. Wal-Mart faces today the largest class action suit in history, which was brought by current and former employees (about 1.6 million people) for gender discrimination in pay and promotion across all of their stores.
Here are a few facts:
* Women are about 2/3 of the lower-paid "associates" in Wal-Mart stores, yet are only about 1/3 of store managers.
* And when women reach for management jobs, male trainees earn an average of $23,175 a year, compared with $22,371 for female trainees.
* Even in top management positions, held mostly by men, the average male senior vice-president earns $419,435 per year, while women earn $279,772 in the same position.
TAKE ACTION:
1. Continue to protest Wal-Mart's unfair treatment of women workers at the store(s) near you by distributing information to consumers. You will find some helpful tools online such as flyers, palm cards, and brochures which you can download and reproduce.
2. Write a letter to your local newspaper highlighting Wal-Mart's war on women. You can find more information on our web site and the flyers at the link above also contain factual information.
3. Write a letter to Mr. Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart expressing your outrage at Wal-Mart's discriminatory practices. Tell him that Wal-Mart should be setting the example as a good "corporate citizen" and not leading the race to the bottom. The address is: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR 72716
We congratulate and thank NOW activists and supporters everywhere for taking on the largest employer and retailer in the United States to reveal the real story behind Wal-mart's so called LOW prices. Our actions are having an impact and we encourage you to continue the pressure until we see real changes at Wal-Mart, and fair and equitable treatment of women and all of its workers.
Wal-mart button
Until they do so, the "friendly" faces that are so prominently displayed at their stores will continue to convey the sad faces of workers who have been discriminated against and continue to suffer the low wages and lack of benefits under their employment.
-----------------------------
2) Like to sing?
SINGIN' JAMMIN' MAKIN' NOISE
"UNISONG"
WHAT WE ARE:
UNISONG is a non-performance oriented community singing group. We meet once a month, led by a different guest musical director each time, to explore music from diverse sources. Each gathering will be it's own individual "jam session with a plan" combining a respectful attitude with a curious spirit.
WHAT WE BELIEVE: We believe that music is a deeply powerful source for positive change. With that in mind, we seek to bring together people from different cultures, generations, genders and musical experience/interest in order to learn from each other and have a good time making music. UNISONG seeks to provide a fun, positive, safe, inclusive, flexible, non-judgmental atmosphere in which we can build community, convert differences to harmony and raise a joyful noise that celebrates the human condition.
WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO: Read music, attend every time, prep for any performance, prep at all, have previous experience singing with a group or even join. This is about making music in the moment for music's sake, to lift spirits, open hearts and minds and to have fun.
WHEN: The first Monday evening of each month. Our first meeting is February 7, 2005
WHERE: Gordon Avenue Business Incubator, 17 Gordon Ave., Providence
TIME: 7 PM
QUESTIONS???
CONTACT: Jodi at jlglass53@aol.com
-----------------------------------------
3) Local Inauguration Day Protest
For anyone who is not traveling to D.C. on Thursday the 20th to protest the inauguration, there will be a protest at the Federal Building in Providence on the same day, by members of the Community Coalition for Peace (CCP). It will begin at about 5pm, but some of us will be there as early as 4:30. Please join us. We don't know if we will have enough extra signs for everyone, so please bring your own if possible. Email me with any questions or comments about the CCP action.
If any other individuals or groups are planning anything on the 20th to protest George "Warmonger" Bush's inauguration, please post to any email lists you belong to, and spread the word any way you can. There are a lot of local people who are very interested in knowing. And it would be great if we could join forces and increase our numbers. The sooner the information is posted, the better, since Jan. 20 is very near. The more people in solidarity against Bush the better. Let's encourage the public and show Bush we won't stand for his fascism and disgusting inaugural vanity.
---------------------------------
4) Article on social security
January 14, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html
The British Evasion
By PAUL KRUGMAN
We must end Social Security as we know it, the Bush administration says, to meet the fiscal burden of paying benefits to the baby boomers. But the most likely privatization scheme would actually increase the budget deficit until 2050. By then the youngest surviving baby boomer will be 86 years old.
Even then, would we have a sustainable retirement system? Not bloody likely.
Pardon my Britishism, but Britain's 20-year experience with privatization is a cautionary tale Americans should know about.
The U.S. news media have provided readers and viewers with little information about how privatization has worked in other countries. Now my colleagues have even fewer excuses: there's an illuminating article on the British experience in The American Prospect, www.prospect.org, by Norma Cohen, a senior corporate reporter at The Financial Times who covers pension issues.
Her verdict is summed up in her title: "A Bloody Mess." Strong words, but her conclusions match those expressed more discreetly in a recent report by Britain's Pensions Commission, which warns that at least 75 percent of those with private investment accounts will not have enough savings to provide "adequate pensions."
The details of British privatization differ from the likely Bush administration plan because the starting point was different. But there are basic similarities. Guaranteed benefits were cut; workers were expected to make up for these benefit cuts by earning high returns on their private accounts.
The selling of privatization also bore a striking resemblance to President Bush's crisis-mongering. Britain had a retirement system that was working quite well, but conservative politicians issued grim warnings about the distant future, insisting that privatization was the only answer.
The main difference from the current U.S. situation was that Britain was better prepared for the transition. Britain's system was backed by extensive assets, so the government didn't have to engage in a four-decade borrowing spree to finance the creation of private accounts. And the Thatcher government hadn't already driven the budget deep into deficit before privatization even began.
Even so, it all went wrong. "Britain's experiment with substituting private savings accounts for a portion of state benefits has been a failure," Ms. Cohen writes. "A shorthand explanation for what has gone wrong is that the costs and risks of running private investment accounts outweigh the value of the returns they are likely to earn."
Many Britons were sold badly designed retirement plans on false pretenses. Companies guilty of "mis-selling" were eventually forced to pay about $20 billion in compensation. Fraud aside, the fees paid to financial managers have been a major problem: "Reductions in yield resulting from providers' charges," the Pensions Commission says, "can absorb 20-30 percent of an individual's pension savings."
American privatizers extol the virtues of personal choice, and often accuse skeptics of being elitists who believe that the government makes better choices than individuals. Yet when one brings up Britain's experience, their story suddenly changes: they promise to hold costs down by tightly restricting the investments individuals can make, and by carefully regulating the money managers. So much for trusting the people.
Never mind; their promises aren't credible. Even if the initial legislation tightly regulated investments by private accounts, it would immediately be followed by intense lobbying to loosen the rules. This lobbying would come both from the usual ideologues and from financial companies eager for fees. In fact, the lobbying has already started: the financial services industry has contributed lavishly to next week's inaugural celebrations.
Meanwhile, there is a growing consensus in Britain that privatization must be partly reversed. The Confederation of British Industry - the equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - has called for an increase in guaranteed benefits to retirees, even if taxes have to be raised to pay for that increase. And the chief executive of Britain's National Association of Pension Funds speaks with admiration about a foreign system that "delivers efficiencies of scale that most
companies would die for."
The foreign country that, in the view of well-informed Britons, does it right is the United States. The system that delivers efficiencies to die for is Social Security.
1)Update on NOW's Merchant of Shame Campaign against Wal-Mart
2)Like to sing?
3)Local Inauguration Day Protest
4)An article on social security
Have a great holiday weekend!
As always, check out the upcoming events at www.rinow.org and www.rifrn.net!
-------------------------------------
1) Update on NOW's Merchant of Shame Campaign
January 13, 2005
Dear NOW activists:
We are finally getting their attention! This morning, the public was greeted with full page ads in major newspapers from Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The ad blames "special interest groups" and "critics" for spreading "misinformation about Wal-Mart." He says that the public "deserves to hear the truth."
We agree. The National Organization for Women declared Wal-Mart a "Merchant of Shame" in July 2002 because we want consumers to hear about the largest employer in the United States and the widespread allegations that it denies equal wages and promotions to women employees in addition to engaging in unfair labor practices, such as punitive measures against employees who advocate for union representation. Wal-Mart faces today the largest class action suit in history, which was brought by current and former employees (about 1.6 million people) for gender discrimination in pay and promotion across all of their stores.
Here are a few facts:
* Women are about 2/3 of the lower-paid "associates" in Wal-Mart stores, yet are only about 1/3 of store managers.
* And when women reach for management jobs, male trainees earn an average of $23,175 a year, compared with $22,371 for female trainees.
* Even in top management positions, held mostly by men, the average male senior vice-president earns $419,435 per year, while women earn $279,772 in the same position.
TAKE ACTION:
1. Continue to protest Wal-Mart's unfair treatment of women workers at the store(s) near you by distributing information to consumers. You will find some helpful tools online such as flyers, palm cards, and brochures which you can download and reproduce.
2. Write a letter to your local newspaper highlighting Wal-Mart's war on women. You can find more information on our web site and the flyers at the link above also contain factual information.
3. Write a letter to Mr. Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart expressing your outrage at Wal-Mart's discriminatory practices. Tell him that Wal-Mart should be setting the example as a good "corporate citizen" and not leading the race to the bottom. The address is: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR 72716
We congratulate and thank NOW activists and supporters everywhere for taking on the largest employer and retailer in the United States to reveal the real story behind Wal-mart's so called LOW prices. Our actions are having an impact and we encourage you to continue the pressure until we see real changes at Wal-Mart, and fair and equitable treatment of women and all of its workers.
Wal-mart button
Until they do so, the "friendly" faces that are so prominently displayed at their stores will continue to convey the sad faces of workers who have been discriminated against and continue to suffer the low wages and lack of benefits under their employment.
-----------------------------
2) Like to sing?
SINGIN' JAMMIN' MAKIN' NOISE
"UNISONG"
WHAT WE ARE:
UNISONG is a non-performance oriented community singing group. We meet once a month, led by a different guest musical director each time, to explore music from diverse sources. Each gathering will be it's own individual "jam session with a plan" combining a respectful attitude with a curious spirit.
WHAT WE BELIEVE: We believe that music is a deeply powerful source for positive change. With that in mind, we seek to bring together people from different cultures, generations, genders and musical experience/interest in order to learn from each other and have a good time making music. UNISONG seeks to provide a fun, positive, safe, inclusive, flexible, non-judgmental atmosphere in which we can build community, convert differences to harmony and raise a joyful noise that celebrates the human condition.
WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO: Read music, attend every time, prep for any performance, prep at all, have previous experience singing with a group or even join. This is about making music in the moment for music's sake, to lift spirits, open hearts and minds and to have fun.
WHEN: The first Monday evening of each month. Our first meeting is February 7, 2005
WHERE: Gordon Avenue Business Incubator, 17 Gordon Ave., Providence
TIME: 7 PM
QUESTIONS???
CONTACT: Jodi at jlglass53@aol.com
-----------------------------------------
3) Local Inauguration Day Protest
For anyone who is not traveling to D.C. on Thursday the 20th to protest the inauguration, there will be a protest at the Federal Building in Providence on the same day, by members of the Community Coalition for Peace (CCP). It will begin at about 5pm, but some of us will be there as early as 4:30. Please join us. We don't know if we will have enough extra signs for everyone, so please bring your own if possible. Email me with any questions or comments about the CCP action.
If any other individuals or groups are planning anything on the 20th to protest George "Warmonger" Bush's inauguration, please post to any email lists you belong to, and spread the word any way you can. There are a lot of local people who are very interested in knowing. And it would be great if we could join forces and increase our numbers. The sooner the information is posted, the better, since Jan. 20 is very near. The more people in solidarity against Bush the better. Let's encourage the public and show Bush we won't stand for his fascism and disgusting inaugural vanity.
---------------------------------
4) Article on social security
January 14, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html
The British Evasion
By PAUL KRUGMAN
We must end Social Security as we know it, the Bush administration says, to meet the fiscal burden of paying benefits to the baby boomers. But the most likely privatization scheme would actually increase the budget deficit until 2050. By then the youngest surviving baby boomer will be 86 years old.
Even then, would we have a sustainable retirement system? Not bloody likely.
Pardon my Britishism, but Britain's 20-year experience with privatization is a cautionary tale Americans should know about.
The U.S. news media have provided readers and viewers with little information about how privatization has worked in other countries. Now my colleagues have even fewer excuses: there's an illuminating article on the British experience in The American Prospect, www.prospect.org, by Norma Cohen, a senior corporate reporter at The Financial Times who covers pension issues.
Her verdict is summed up in her title: "A Bloody Mess." Strong words, but her conclusions match those expressed more discreetly in a recent report by Britain's Pensions Commission, which warns that at least 75 percent of those with private investment accounts will not have enough savings to provide "adequate pensions."
The details of British privatization differ from the likely Bush administration plan because the starting point was different. But there are basic similarities. Guaranteed benefits were cut; workers were expected to make up for these benefit cuts by earning high returns on their private accounts.
The selling of privatization also bore a striking resemblance to President Bush's crisis-mongering. Britain had a retirement system that was working quite well, but conservative politicians issued grim warnings about the distant future, insisting that privatization was the only answer.
The main difference from the current U.S. situation was that Britain was better prepared for the transition. Britain's system was backed by extensive assets, so the government didn't have to engage in a four-decade borrowing spree to finance the creation of private accounts. And the Thatcher government hadn't already driven the budget deep into deficit before privatization even began.
Even so, it all went wrong. "Britain's experiment with substituting private savings accounts for a portion of state benefits has been a failure," Ms. Cohen writes. "A shorthand explanation for what has gone wrong is that the costs and risks of running private investment accounts outweigh the value of the returns they are likely to earn."
Many Britons were sold badly designed retirement plans on false pretenses. Companies guilty of "mis-selling" were eventually forced to pay about $20 billion in compensation. Fraud aside, the fees paid to financial managers have been a major problem: "Reductions in yield resulting from providers' charges," the Pensions Commission says, "can absorb 20-30 percent of an individual's pension savings."
American privatizers extol the virtues of personal choice, and often accuse skeptics of being elitists who believe that the government makes better choices than individuals. Yet when one brings up Britain's experience, their story suddenly changes: they promise to hold costs down by tightly restricting the investments individuals can make, and by carefully regulating the money managers. So much for trusting the people.
Never mind; their promises aren't credible. Even if the initial legislation tightly regulated investments by private accounts, it would immediately be followed by intense lobbying to loosen the rules. This lobbying would come both from the usual ideologues and from financial companies eager for fees. In fact, the lobbying has already started: the financial services industry has contributed lavishly to next week's inaugural celebrations.
Meanwhile, there is a growing consensus in Britain that privatization must be partly reversed. The Confederation of British Industry - the equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - has called for an increase in guaranteed benefits to retirees, even if taxes have to be raised to pay for that increase. And the chief executive of Britain's National Association of Pension Funds speaks with admiration about a foreign system that "delivers efficiencies of scale that most
companies would die for."
The foreign country that, in the view of well-informed Britons, does it right is the United States. The system that delivers efficiencies to die for is Social Security.
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