“I never really wanted to start freelancing. It pretty much happened by accident,” said Ray Phomsopha, a young freelancer. “Freelancing sounds great as an idea. Great day rates, freedom, being your own boss.”

Ray is not alone in this thinking. According to Freelancers Union, a non-profit that represents independent workers, nearly 30% of the workforce today can be classified as freelancers or independent workers who have thrown off the drudgery of a regular 9-5 job. They work as writers, graphic and web designers, advertising specialists, translators and artists. They have struck out on their own, becoming their own bosses and having the freedom to decide when and where they are going to work and for how much. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, especially for many young workers who are looking for a new approach to work that includes the flexibility and adventure we crave.

But, behind all the glitz and glamour that freelancing is wrapped in, is a harsher reality that many young workers run into blindly. There are some who are able to make it the freelancing world. Those who can make it work are generally older and more established people in their fields of work. New comers, however, quickly find themselves in protracted struggles just to get by.

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Fifty busloads and hundreds of cars and vans from all over Ontario were headed to Hamilton January 29, in support of steelworkers on the picket line since early November. The rally is being organized jointly by USW Local 1005, the Hamilton and District Labour Council, and the Ontario Federation of Labour, which mobilized Labour Councils and affiliates across the province.

The “People vs. US Steel” rally is to support 900 locked-out Local 1005 members, as well as 9,000 retirees whose pensions will be de‑indexed if US Steel has its way. The company also wants to exclude new hires from the defined benefit pension plan. In a 2007 letter to union members, US Steel had promised to properly fund and protect the plan, because unlike others, it understood the value of good pensions to employees. Clearly, this letter was just part of a cynical propaganda campaign to convince Canadians to support the foreign takeover of Stelco operations. The cost of the purchase was $1.2 billion – the exact cost of the pension plan.

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via Talking Union by dsalaborblogmoderator on 8/30/10

By David Green

Over 10, 000 Detroiters marched down Washington Boulevard from the UAW-Ford National Programs Center to Grand Circus Park on Saturday, August 28th to demand jobs, peace, and justice. The march was organized by United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King and Operation PUSH founder and director Reverend Jesse Jackson. It commemorated the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington.

The dais at Grand Circus Park was teeming with dignitaries—politicians, clergy of every denomination, and union leaders. Among the elected officials present were Representatives John Conyers, Jr., John Dingell, Maxine Waters, and Marcy Kaptur and Senator Debbie Stabenow. Michigan Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero briefly addressed the audience and committed himself to placing the interests of Main Street over those of Wall Street. Among the union leaders who spoke were UAW President Bob King, newly-elected President of the Service Employees International Union Mary Kay Henry, Farm Laborers Organizing Committee President Baldemar Velasquez, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 25 President Al Garrett.

Detroit DSAer marching on August 28

Speaker after speaker pounded away at the themes of creating jobs (through a second economic stimulus bill), withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, fair trade, and a moratorium on foreclosures. In his remarks, Bob King noted that a government’s budget reflects its values. He charged that the Senate was acting “immorally” in delaying extension of unemployment benefits for workers while simultaneously proposing to make permanent the Bush tax cuts benefitting the wealthiest segment of our population. He added that simply eliminating these tax cuts for the wealthy and ending our $150 billion annual expenditure on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would pay for a second economic stimulus.

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Reverend Jackson emphasized the need for citizens to carry over the rage expressed at this march into the November 2nd election. He issued a challenge to Detroit voters: If Detroit turns out 400,000 voters on election day, then progressive candidates will sweep statewide races, progressive members of the Michigan Congressional delegation will be re-elected, and we can pursue a job-creating agenda. “But,” cautioned UAW President King, “we must keep marching.” We must maintain pressure in the streets even as we strive for electoral victories. This is how real change is accomplished.

For this reason, both President King and Reverend Jackson urged Saturday’s participants to join the March for Jobs in Washington, D.C. on October 2nd.

By Arthur Shaw

More than 1,900 registered nurses at five Texas hospitals have voted to join National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas (NNOC-Texas).

The NNOC is an affiliate of the 155,000-member National Nurses United (NNU).

The election wins by the nurses took place during the past two weeks, with the latest victory coming at the Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville. They join the registered nurses in Texas who chose to exercise their rights as US workers at work at four other Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) hospitals: Corpus Christi Medical Center in Corpus Christi, Del Sol Medical Center and Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen.

Only one private hospital in Texas has been previously unionized, Cypress Fairbanks in Houston, also a NNOC-Texas/NNU facility.

The relation between supply and demand for RNs in Texas favors the nurses and thus helps the NNOC labor organizing drive.

A study prepared for the 79Th Session of the Texas Legislature found that in 2010, Texas will have a demand for 180,000 NRs. But Texas will have a supply of only 150,000 RNs. So, Texas in 2010 will be short about 30,000 RNs. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/SB132PP.ppt#271,10,Part

Also significant is study conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics which found Texas has only 676 RNs per 100,000 people while the USA average is 836 RNs per 100,000 people. So, Texas is about about 160 RNs short per 100,000 people.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/SB132PP.ppt#271,10,Part

So, in Texas, the demand for RNs exceeds the supply of RNs in 2010. So, the RNs in Texas are smart to make their organizing move now. And, the NNOC-Texas is also smart to jump in at this time.

As there are 31 million unemployed workers currently in the United States, the International Association of Machinists has launched a website to organize the unemployed as a force for creating jobs. The Machinists are also spearheading a campaign to demand Congress expand the Food Stamp program by expanding the income requirement threshold for food stamp eligibility to include the jobless and increase the maximum allotted benefit amount. Take action now!

On Thursday, February 18 at 3:30 p.m. at Wedge Tower, 1415 Louisiana, in downtown Houston, come participate in a rally for just wages for Houston’s hardworking janitors! Your voice is needed for the janitors to be successful!