Starting today we're airing these two short features from the Workers Independent News Service on Radio LabourStart:
Florida Minimum Wage Referendum Could Sway Election (9/30/04): A minimum wage referendum placed on the ballot in Florida could change the outcome of the November 2nd presidential election. The measure asks voters to support a one dollar increase in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 an hour this year with annual increases connected to inflation. George W. Bush opposes raising the minimum wage from its 1997 level, while John Kerry supports an increase. WIN producer Sarah Turner reports.
New York Building Service SEIU Members Vote to Strike (9/29/04) : In New York contract negotiations are stalling over affordable health care coverage for members of the building services union, Local 32BJ. If negotiations fail, more than 70,000 workers could go on strike when the contract expires at midnight on September 30th. Rebecca Myles reports.
Today and every day this week you can hear a special appeal from LabourStart editor Eric Lee, urging all listeners to support our online campaign in support of South Africa's telecoms workers.
I heard that John Lennon's killer stands to be released from prison, possibly as early as this week. It's been almost 24 years since that terrible day when the composer of "Working class hero" and "Imagine" was gunned down in front of his New York City home. Today we're featuring a version of "Imagine" on our Monday playlist. Listen and weep.
Adbusters Media Foundation is targeting Nike by launching a new pair of anti-corporate sneakers produced with union labor, called Blackspot. WINS producer Sarah Turner reports. Now playing on Monday's playlist on Radio LabourStart.
If you've never heard this incredible song by John Lennon, prepare yourself for a shock. It's one of the most powerful songs about working class life ever recorded. One stanza begins:
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
Now playing on Radio LabourStart, on our Tuesday playlist.
To be precise, we're now playing a list of 75 songs over the course of 4 hours and 42 minutes, repeated throughout the weekend. This is our longest playlist ever, and includes songs from Barbra Streisand (from the union musical 'Pins and Needles'), Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Utah Phillips, and many many more, including union choirs from Winnipeg and Sydney. It's our longest playlist of the week and we hope you enjoy it.
"Content: very good and I wish I could use it all the time as background whilst I am at my P/C, I speak as a T&G Branch Secretary and Political activist who spends a lot of time using my p/c." - Rachael W.
In 1937, something new appeared on the Broadway stage in New York City -- a musical called "Pins and Needles" written by Harold Rome and starring members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). It ran for 4 years and was revived in 1962. At that time a largely unknown young singer called Barbra Streisand featured in its cast and stole the show.
"Pins and Needles" features songs like "It's Better with a Union Man", "Not Cricket to Picket" and "One Big Union for Two" -- the lyrics to all the show's songs can be found here.
We're delighted to be playing the entire show throughout the week on Radio LabourStart.
Listen to our report from Workers Independent News Service correspondent Sarah Turner -- on our Friday playlist. We'll regularly be running WINS features like this one on Radio LabourStart.
Sure, Dylan wrote some of the best protest songs ever, but it was The Byrds that made those songs palatable to millions. Wednesday's playlist on Radio LabourStart features two new songs -- versions by the Byrds of Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' and Chimes of Freedom.