Over the last few weeks I have been writing about the plight of security guards working for a company called Inter-Con, a contractor at Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in California.  One post I wrote on this was titled, Why Don't We Hear About Labor Issues Anymore? and I want to get to that subject some more here.  But first, I want to go over what was covered.

(Continues)

I am proud to be helping SEIU spread the word about this strike.  

This week I wrote about the Kaiser Permanente / Inter-Con Security Security Guard strike.

The post Security Guards Striking for the Right to Have Our Laws Enforced discussed why the guards are striking.  They are employees of Inter-Con Security, Inc., which contracts services to Kaiser Permanente facilities in California.  This company (not Kaiser) is trying to stop the guards from forming a union and the guards are striking to ask that laws allowing union organizing be enforced.

(Continues)

I am proud to be helping SEIU spread the word about this strike.  

I have been writing about the strike by California Kaiser Permanente security guards working for contractor Inter-Con Security, who are demanding that laws be enforced and their rights be honored.

SEIU sent out a press release on the situation, titled, Workers With No Healthcare Protecting Kaiser Facilities, Security Contractor May Be Misleading California's Largest Healthcare Provider.  In summary, the security guards at Kaiser are supposed to be provided with individual healthcare after working for 90 days, but it turns out that many are not.  The security contractor Inter-Con Security has found a way around the promise: they classify workers as "on-call" instead of permanent.

As more and more workers report that Inter-Con is keeping workers on temporary or "on-call" status for months or years, it's still unclear whether Inter-Con is misleading Kaiser or if Kaiser is simply turning a blind eye to these tactics which short-change workers.

And their families are not provided with health insurance at all.  The security guards -- paid as little as $10.40 an hour -- are supposed to buy it.  The result is that 41% of the officers who responded to a survey cannot.  And without paid sick days they cannot afford to take the time off to see a doctor anyway.

(Continues...)

I am proud to be helping SEIU spread the word about this strike.  

It's been a month since many Clinton supporters walked out of the Daily Kos website.  Despite all of the "Don't let the door hit you in the ass!" comments we received, there seems to have been a clear impact of traffic volume at Daily Kos.  It's down.  Significantly.

While the entrenched media try to belittle Alegre's strike, calling us "silly," telling us we don't even know we're on a "boycott" instead of a "strike"; reporters generally are starting to rebel.

Catherine Crier over at Huffington Post: News Room Revolt!

"Anchors have abdicated their role as educated inquisitors; some because, simply, they are unqualified or unprepared, others because they would rather cater to their guests or the corporate bottom line than to the mission to bring truth to the airwaves. And yes, there is objective truth, or at least legitimate facts from which people may divine their own conclusions."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine- crier/newsrooms-revolt_b_92884.html

And then there's Brian Kilmeade at Fox walking off the set in the face of two straight hours of Obama bashing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21 /mayhem-at-fox-news-ancho_n_92743.html

Alegre's strike isn't just about Clinton-bashing and it isn't just about sexism, its about the creeping intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the news and opinion dissemination apparatus in this country.

It has nothing to do with traffic.  It has everything to do with respect.  When those who should be treating you as a partner withing the Democratic Party, or any other partnership, refuse to show you respect and are continually abusive, moving on is the most sane thing one can do.  

Now what does this mean in terms of the Democratic Party?  Some of those who have drawn attention to the strike have agendas that are not helpful to the Democratic Party.  Republican operatives are gleefully talking about the division within the Democratic Party.  But those of us who are striking from dKos want to point out that we are loyal Democrats and that when the primary is over the party will again be united.

(Cross-Posted at DailyKos) Not sure of why I'm posting this. I sympathize with the way the strikers feel, and have been called a "Scab" for some of my comments. At the same time I think the actual strike is pointless, and invited some derision. That said, I was simultaneously surprised and fascinated to see Alegre's name in big orange letters on The Colbert Report last night.

Barack Obama sat, listening intently in his pew -- he didn't register any disapproval -- while his pastor made inflammatory remarks about America. Obama has admitted that he was present when Reverend Wright made controversial remarks about American domestic and foreign policy. He didn't walk out; he kept coming back to a congregation that was demonstrably on the same page as Rev. Wright.