Karl Kramer

Along with an upturn in production, Ciudad Juarez is experiencing a boom of workers demanding their rights. Workers at maquiladoras, “golden factories,” that assemble or manufacture products for export, have been staging various actions to protest poor wages, unsafe working conditions and sexual harassment and discrimination. Read more: https://livingwage-sf.org/fair-trade/factory-workers-in-ciudad-juarez-protest-working-conditions-at-four-plants/

More than 150 members of the first independent union in Juarez in 30 years held a workers assembly on February 7 to develop their proposed demands to Commscope, formerly known as ADC, a manufacturer of fiberoptic equipment for major telecommunication companies. Read more: https://livingwage-sf.org/fair-trade/maquiladora-workers-in-juarez-form-a-union/

The agreement contains various provisions that could affect drug prices for all Americans, including seniors. These provisions would block patent reform and jeopardize the government’s ability to negotiate lower prices for drugs in public programs like Medicare. Read more: https://livingwage-sf.org/fair-trade/stop-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp/

This story is prompted by a picket sign I saw at a recent anti-police brutality protest sponsored by two San Francisco families, one Latino and one Black, whose sons were shot dead in separate incidents following a barrage of police bullets. Among the crowd of 150 activists standing in the pouring rain in front of

Some of the highest employment rates in the advanced world are in places with the highest taxes and most generous welfare systems, namely Scandinavian countries. The United States and many other nations with relatively low taxes and a smaller social safety net actually have substantially lower rates of employment. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/upshot/nordic-nations-show-that-big-safety-net-can-allow-for-leap-in-employment-rate-.html