It was 47 years-ago today that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Capitol and delivered his famous, "I have a dream" speech." That speech was given at "The march for jobs and freedom," there were 250,000 people participating.

As many of us remember Dr. King as a hero, a leader among leaders -- we must not forget that just a few days ago a hardworking cab driver in NYC was brutally stabbed for being Muslim.

Earlier this week a yellow cab driver in New York City, Ahmed Sharif began his shift in the late afternoon. He picked up a white kid, seemingly harmless down on 24th Street and Second Avenue. The two headed to Times Square. The passenger began a friendly conversation with the driver. He asked him where he was from, how long he'd been in the US, if he was Muslim and if he was observing Ramadan.

According to a press release issued by the New York Taxi Worker Alliance, the passenger fell silent for a few minutes, and then began his outburst. He began cursing and screaming at Sharif before screaming "Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint," and then slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck.  As Mr. Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face (from nose to upper lip), arm and hand.

While the Senate "recognizes" low-wage workers, more than 1.5 million home care workers are currently living at near-poverty level earning a median income of $17,000 a year. Most of these workers, who both love their work and are good at their work, must have two and three jobs to just make ends meet. Many of these workers need food stamps to put food on their tables. All this ultimately hurts the consumer, who often finds it difficult to find and retain high quality home care services.

On the Union Review Facebook page, where a lot of us are meeting up more than the site these days, I put up this question.

This is whole issue came up for me when a lot of people on a list-serv started to chime in. A few began talking for labor as a whole, and that began pissing me off. So I posed the question to the FB page.

As I figured, there are a number of differnet thoughts around this. There is no right or wrong here, but I think it is definitely worthy of discussion.

Feel free to comment here, or head over the FB page.

For the last few months I've been thinking about and writing about home care workers. In my work, I find that if folks haven't had to hire a homecare worker for themselves or their family, it appears that most of these workers fall off the radar.

The problem here is somewhat circular. The demand for homecare services is exploding as the baby boomer generation ages and more seniors and people with disabilities choose to live at home rather than in a nursing home. Low wages, no federal minimum wage or overtime protections, and no benefits contribute to homecare workers leaving their profession (turnover is estimated to be as high as 60% per year). Consumers and patients have difficulty finding and keeping homecare services as a result. Which leads to - yes - increasing demand for homecare workers.

This was submitted to UnionReview.com by Leo Gerard, president of the United Steel Workers.

Red, as in furiously red, defined the day last fall when a consortium of companies announced it wanted $450 million in U.S. stimulus money to build a wind farm in Texas, creating 2,000 jobs in China and 300 in America.

Now, nine months later, things have cooled down and turned around. In a deal with the United Steelworkers (USW), two Chinese companies have agreed to build as much of the wind turbines as possible in America, using American-made steel, and creating perhaps 1,000 American jobs.

The majority of home care workers earn poverty wages. There are no benefits. No healthcare coverage. The lack of federal labor protections only exacerbates these working conditions. As a result, home care workers struggle to care for their own families. This needs to change, and can.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization or PATCO was a United States trade union which operated from 1968 until its decertification in 1981 following a strike which was broken by the Reagan Administration. The 1981 strike and defeat of PATCO has been called "one of the most important events in late twentieth century U.S. labor history."
 

Above from Wikipedia.

Full disclosure: I am a staff member at SEIU. This piece is being cross posted from the International's website.

We don't usually think about home care workers until our parents or grandparents need their services. They are the workers who are in the homes with the patients, and who have to deal with the most intimate responsibilities. They are caregivers who believe that everyone -- no matter their age or illness -- deserve proper care, companionship, and, in many cases, love.

And they deliver!

Most people don't realize that these hard workers are excluded from minimum wage and overtime protections. No matter the intense and often thankless work, many have to have two or three jobs just to make ends meet; yet they are taking care of our parents and grandparents in ways we cannot.

Filene’s Basement is a popular clothing retailer known for its exceptional prices on brand name clothes. Now, thanks to the largest successful organizing campaign in Local 1102 history, when shoppers take advantage of the great prices and products at the store, they’ll be shopping RWDSU

Leo W. Gerard, USW International President sent in this post to UR today.

 In the piece he writes: 

For 110 years America has reigned as the world’s number one manufacturing nation. Next year, China is expected to wrest that title from the United States.

Last year, the U.S. manufactured $1.7 trillion worth of goods; China fell second at $1.6 trillion. Next year, China is expected to edge out America with production worth $1.87 trillion.

Please click through to this important piece and pass it along/comment, if you can. 

This is not real. I am at at a New Media training in Washington, DC. Part of this training is to help run a campaign for a faux Texas Congressional candiate named Peggy Hudson. In keeping with plans, Peggy is posting a blog to UR to reach out to her union supporters. -Richard/UR

Leo Gerard, USW International President, sent this piece into UnionReview.com In the piece he says, "The trade clash between China and America, the Asian giant has gravely wounded the United States. China knows it. U.S. voters of all political stripes know it. But too many American politicians, are in denial."

 Please a take minute to read throug this and fee free to comment.

Over 75 Rite Aid workers from the Southwest Distribution Center in Lancaster, CA marched off the job during their lunch break to join supporters from dozens of other unions demanding that Rite Aid management negotiate a good contract.

Rite Aid workers attended a raucous shareholder meeting in Harrisburg, PA on June 23 where they spoke out for good jobs and showed support for the five-year struggle by more than 550 employees to form a union at Rite Aid's massive distribution center in Lancaster, California.