Category: Economy

The worker occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago’s Goose Island by members of UE Local 1110 went into its third day on Sunday, and workers have vowed to continue the occupation until they are paid back pay and benefits, or until the plant is re-opened. An rally was held Saturday in support of the occupying workers.

Workers who got three days’ notice that their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won’t go home without assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay.
About 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

In a meeting devoid of the drama that led up to it, the San Diego City Council resolved a dispute with the mayor Friday, agreeing to more than $22 million in midyear budget cuts. The council begrudgingly approved the staggered closure of six city customer service centers, but retained three painting jobs the mayor wanted to eliminate.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, shut down the country’s legislature yesterday until January 26, in an effort to avoid a no-confidence vote that he was about to lose. This has provoked a constitutional crisis. Canada’s parliamentary opposition reacted with outrage. The opposition accused Harper of undermining Canada’s democracy. Thousands demonstrated yesterday in protest of the shut-down.

Although the nation’s leading economists have determined that the national recession began in December 2007, regional economists are split over when San Diego County slipped into recession.
Some mark the beginning of the recession as early as spring 2007.

MICHAEL MOORE: You might assume that I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about these miserably inept crapmobile makers down the road in Detroit city. But I do care. I care about the millions whose lives and livelihoods depend on these car companies.

Miami housing activists are organizing homeless people to illegally move into foreclosed homes. “We’re matching homeless people with people-less homes,” Max Rameau said with a grin. Rameau is part of a group of like-minded advocates who have formed Take Back the Land, which so far have moved six families into foreclosed homes, with nine on a waiting list. The organization also helps the new “tenants” with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep.

The National Retail Federation reports that consumer spending during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend was up 7%. This should spell relief for state and local government who depend on sales tax revenues to provide local services like Police, fire, parks, libraries, schools. But look a little deeper in the report to see why local governments are not breathing easier.

DAVID WASHBURN at voiceofsandiego has been doing his homework when it comes to library cuts and City Council votes. How would Councilmember Hueson and the incoming members have voted on cutting libraries and rec centers.

For all the rolling up of sleeves and “everything is going to change” exuberance, however, taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task he faces.

Ocean Beach business – Falling Sky Pottery – commits to donate 5% of sales to the Ocean Beach library, from December 7th to December 21st.

Pat Flannery, of Blog of San Diego, has a perspective on why Mayor Sanders made an abrupt proposal to summarily close down several libraries.