Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

• By "looking at the plight of farm workers," the union is helping to build productivity on the farm and to build a strong agricultural sector-one that will be needed more than ever as Zimbabwe struggles to rebuild and restore democracy.
• Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Bernard Pollack, Working Life

Gertrude Hambira doesn't look like someone who gets arrested regularly. Nor do the other women and men in suits who work with her at the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), formed in the mid-1980s to protect farm laborers. But arrest, harassment and even torture have been regular occupational hazards for Gertrude-the General Secretary of GAPWUZ-and her staff for many years.

Unfortunately, things have not gotten much better since the 2008 elections when President Mugabe refused to cede power to the democratically elected Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader himself. The resulting power-sharing agreement has left the two sides battling for control as the nation plummets deeper into unemployment and poverty. At least 90 percent of the populati0n is not part of formal workforce.

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‘Workers need our own political party’

Angel Lariscy and Brian Williams, The Militant

Socialist Workers candidates in New York talk with participants at Pathfinder booth during Harlem Book Fair July 17. Behind table from right, Willie Cotton, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate, and Róger Calero, candidate for U.S. Congress in 15th District. Militant/Brian Williams

Socialist campaigners here celebrated completion of a 10-day effort July 18 to collect 7,000 signatures to place Róger Calero on the November ballot for U.S. Congress in the 15th District. The Socialist Workers Party is also running Dan Fein for governor and Willie Cotton and Sarah Ruth Robinett for two open U.S. Senate seats.

Some 50 people came to a campaign forum the evening of July 17 where Calero and Robinett spoke. This included two people who had met campaigners on the streets that day or in the week before, as well as a coworker of Fein and two others attending their first socialist event. A successful meeting to launch the ballot effort was also held the first weekend.

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In a job market that’s nothing short of daunting, these nine women recently landed terrific positions. They share their strategies with you.

Stephanie Booth, Real Simple

“I Gave Speed-Networking a Try”

Meryl Steinberg
, The job she landed: Human-resources and payroll-benefits coordinator.

How she did it: Following a year of unemployment, Meryl snagged a job, thanks to 30 bucks and a few hours in a bar. After nearly two decades as the benefits manager for the National Basketball Association, in New York City, Meryl, 54, was laid off in the fall of 2008. Traditional job hunting turned up nothing, so a fellow unemployed friend suggested that they check out a high-speed–networking event (sponsored by Networking for Professionals, a local organization), in which 30 or so businesspeople meet clients, one-on-one, for five minutes at a time. Shortly after the function began, Meryl met Shannon Walker, manager of board relations and stewardship for the nonprofit organization Madison Square Boys & Girls Club. “I noticed her friendliness, determination, and extensive experience,” says Walker. She forwarded Meryl’s résumé to her boss, and just over a month later Meryl was employed once again. “Everyone else at the event had a job and was selling a product, but I didn’t feel out of place,” says Meryl. “I was there to expand my circle and network.”

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• That’s right, kiddies: Emmer’s doing his own Bizarro World riff on the infamous glibertarian War on the Waitstaff. Never mind that the mean annual wage for Minnesota waiters and waitresses is actually well under $23,000 a year — reality is as nothing against the need for well-off Republicans to screw working-class citizens into the ground.
• But it gets better.

Phoenix Woman, FireDogLake

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

Graphic courtesy of Tildology

Say, did you know that waiters and waitresses pull in $100,000 a year? Really! Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, says so — and he said it in front of a whole bunch of reporters at a press conference he’d called. Seriously:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Emmer said the state could gain jobs if employers could a pay a lower hourly wage to employees who earn a lot of money from tips.

He stopped by the Eagle Street Grille in St. Paul Monday morning, saying government needs to listen to businesses about reducing regulatory burdens and adding jobs.

We’re facing a coalition of the heartless, the clueless and the confused (and corrupt)
17 senators from states with double-digit jobless rates repeatedly vote to filibuster unemployment benefits
Angle: I Would Cut Jobless Benefits Because They Make Workers ‘Afraid To Go Out And Get A Job’

Paul Krugman, New York Times | NY

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

Paul Krugman | Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

There was a time when everyone took it for granted that unemployment insurance, which normally terminates after 26 weeks, would be extended in times of persistent joblessness. It was, most people agreed, the decent thing to do.
But that was then. Today, American workers face the worst job market since the Great Depression, with five job seekers for every job opening, with the average spell of unemployment now at 35 weeks. Yet the Senate went home for the holiday weekend without extending benefits. How was that possible?

The answer is that we’re facing a coalition of the heartless, the clueless and the confused. Nothing can be done about the first group, and probably not much about the second. But maybe it’s possible to clear up some of the confusion.

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