Friday Updates

- TRAFFIC ALERT: The Ironman Triathlon STREET CLOSING SCHEDULE - Southern Parkway will be CLOSED SUNDAY AUGUST 29TH from 12:30p.m. – 1:00a.m.

- The Beechmont Open Air Market will be open Saturday, August 28, 2010 8a.m.- 12noon at Southern Parkway & Wellington

- With summer winding down and school back in session, Councilman Rick Blackwell is offering residents of District 12 the chance to come out, have a cup of coffee and talk issues on Saturday, September 4th. This month’s event is being held at Starbucks, 6731 Dixie Highway just for September. The event begins at 10:00am. For more information, call 574-1112.

- State Senators Dan Seum and David Williams want to put Frankfort lawmakers in charge of Jefferson County's public schools. The same bunch that couldn't pass a budget now wants make rules for our schools. Just say no. Local control is where it's at. [CJ]

Which Side Are You On?

As we approach Labor Day 2010 in an America that is increasingly hostile to union workers, I felt it was appropriate to share this with you, my readers.  Earlier today I had the pleasure of viewing "Harlan County USA". If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. You can view it in its entirety at the end of this blog post.

From Wikipedia:

Harlan County, USA is a 1976 documentary film covering the efforts of 180 coal miners on strike against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973. It was directed by Barbara Kopple, who has long been an advocate of workers' rights. Harlan County, U.S.A. is less ambivalent in its attitude toward unions than her later American Dream, the account of the Hormel Foods strike in Austin, Minnesota in 1985-86.

Kopple initially intended to make a film about Kenzie, Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle. When miners at the Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky, struck in June 1972, Kopple went there to film the strike against Duke Power Company and UMWA's response. The strike proved a more interesting subject, so Kopple switched the focus of her film.

Kopple and her crew spent years with the families depicted in the film, documenting the dire straits they find themselves in while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages: following them to picket in front of the stock exchange in New York, filming interviews with people affected by black lung disease, and even catching miners being shot at while striking.

The most significant point of disagreement in the Harlan County strike was the company's insistence on including a no-strike clause in the contract. The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision in the agreement would limit their influence over local working conditions. The sticking point was mooted when, a few years after this strike, the UMWA folded the agreement that was eventually won by this group of workers into a global contract.

Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to let the words and actions of these people speak for themselves. For example, when the company goons show up early in the film — the strikers call them "gun thugs" — the goons try to keep their guns hidden from the camera. But as the strike drags on for nearly a year, both sides are more than willing to openly brandish their weapons.

Kopple also produces some interesting facts about the strike, such as the fact that Duke Power Company's profits increased more than 100 percent in a single year. Meanwhile, the striking miners, many of whom are living in squalid conditions without even the basics like running water, only received a 4% pay increase despite a 7% cost of living increase for that same year.

Another key element in this movie is the country and bluegrass music so central to the miners' lives. There are songs by Merle Travis, Hazel Dickens and Florence Reece, who makes a key appearance in the movie. Old as she is — she remembers when Harlan County was known as "Bloody Harlan" in the days of the Great Depression — Florence delivers a touching, throaty rendition of her most famous labor song, "Which Side Are You On?"

For those who may not understand the strike's importance, the specter of death always seems to loom large in this movie. A good case in point is the story of Joseph Yablonski, a passionate, populist union representative who was loved by many of the miners. Yablonski challenged W. A. Boyle for the presidency of the UMWA in 1969, but lost in an election widely viewed as corrupt. Later that year, Yablonski and his family were found murdered in their home. W.A. Boyle is shown early in the film in good health. Later he is seen frail, sickly and confined to a wheelchair, being carried up the courthouse steps to face a conviction for giving $20,000 to another union executive council member to hire the killers.

Almost a full year into the strike a striking miner named Lawrence Jones is fatally shot during a scuffle. Jones was well-liked, quite young and had a 16-year-old wife and a baby. His mother collapsed from grief at his funeral. This tragic moment more than anything else finally forces the strikers and the management to come to the bargaining table.

A central figure in the documentary is Lois Scott, a firebrand who plays a major role in galvanizing the community in support of the strike. Several times she is seen publicly chastising those she feels have been absent from the picket lines. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra. Associate director Anne Lewis compares Scott to Women's Liberation activists in the film's 2004 Criterion Collection special feature The Making of Harlan County, USA.

Jerry Johnson, one of the striking Eastover miners, attributes the ultimate conclusion of the strike to the presence of Kopple and her film crew: "The cameras probably saved a bunch of shooting. I don’t think we’d have won it without the film crew. If the film crew hadn’t been sympathetic to our cause, we would’ve lost. Thank God for them; thank God they’re on our side."

In an age of corporate-owned media, manufactured consent and the ability of PR firms to convince people to vote against their own interests, this film reminds us of the power of collective action. What is good for workers is good for America.

We, as a community, need to decide. So, which side are you on?

South Louisville Community Ministries Volunteer Opportunities

The Courier Journal reports South Louisville Community Ministries is in need of volunteers. From the CJ article:

Michael Jupin, executive director of the ministries, said volunteers are needed for the following critical needs:

— Pack food orders from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursdays at the ministries, 4803 Southside Drive.

— Pick up then deliver Meals on Wheels to about eight homes from 10:30 to noon Thursdays. Routes start at the Beechmont Community Center and Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital.

— Answer phones, sign in clients and provide information and referrals from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday mornings.

For more information, call Jupin, Kate Husk or Mary Kenney at 361-7763.

JCPS Madness!

- JCPS Confidential is live and on the prowl for whistleblowers. Check it out.

- The monthly school board meeting is 7pm tonight at the VanHoose Education Center. Visitors wanting to speak must "register" by calling 502-485-3342 before 4:30pm.  Be prepared to tell them what you would like to discuss.  Speakers get three (3) minutes.

- Also, JCPS is considering a tax rate increase. [CJ]  UPDATE: Yeah, they passed the tax increase. [WFPL]

Yarmuth to GM: Put U.S. First

Congressman John Yarmuth called on the current and incoming CEOs of General Motors to immediately reconsider opening new facilities in Mexico while that company remains indebted to American taxpayers.

“While the leadership of GM may believe such a decision makes economic sense and helps boost profit margins, it ignores the fact that your company would not exist today were it not for the support of American taxpayers,” wrote Congressman Yarmuth in a letter to GM. “Along with these dollars, GM should also have accepted a responsibility to put America’s economic recovery first, and not that of any other nation.”

Earlier this month, GM announced it would begin production of a new line of vehicles and engines at a plant in Coahuila, Mexico, generating 390 jobs south of the border.

In December of 2008, President George W. Bush announced GM was one of several American automakers that accepted federal aid, ultimately receiving nearly $50 billion in financial assistance.

“The automotive workforce is critical to the manufacturing base of the American economy,” wrote Congressman Yarmuth. “It is both an economic and moral imperative to the American people that these jobs are kept in the United States.”

Full text of the Congressman’s Letter to GM is HERE (PDF).

$3 Spaghetti Special

There's literally no end to this "toll everything" dumbness.  The unelected, unaccountable board charged with finding ways to raise funding to pay for the Ohio River Bridges Project (ORBP) has come up with yet another way to dig into motorists' pockets: Toll Spaghetti Junction. Here's a press release from Say NO To Bridge Tolls:

During today's meeting of the Louisville Southern Indiana Bridges Authority in Prospect, Ky, Wilbur Smith and Associates presented detailed tolling scenarios including plans to toll Louisville's Spaghetti Junction with toll rates as high as $3. The plan Wilbur Smith presented would have local drivers paying a toll every time they drive through Spaghetti Junction. Say NO to Bridge Tolls co-founder Shawn Reilly said, "Tolling Spaghetti Junction would be just as epic a mistake as tolling existing Ohio River bridges. The benefits just don't outweigh the costs. Forcing the working people of our community to pay for this boondoggle is just insane."

When asked about the Wilbur Smith study as a reliable predictor of revenue, Reilly said "Tolling studies like this one are almost always wrong. The Denver Post has already uncovered that, yet here we are in Louisville being asked to rely on one and it just doesn't make any sense."

During a break in the meeting, Kerry Stemler, Co-Chairman of the Authority, told a journalist there's "no stone we shouldn't be looking under" to find funding options for the project. Yet when asked about opening up the record of decision, Stemler told reporters "We're focused strictly on the project at hand to finance the record of decision...the Authority is not looking at options." Curtis Morrison, with Say NO to Bridge Tolls said "It's inconceivable the Authority can claim to be looking at all options while insisting they aren't looking at all options." "Obviously, the project could be divided into affordable phases that don't require tolls, so they can't have it both ways." Morrison said.

Today, mayoral candidate Greg Fischer issued a statement on the idea of instituting tolls on Spaghetti Junction:

“I’m all for creative funding ideas, but that’s the most outlandish thing I’ve ever heard,” Fischer said. “I won’t support that -- and the people of Louisville won’t support that.”

It should be noted that Fischer is a supporter of tolling existing and new bridges, but not the "Spaghetti Junction". While nice, that just isn't good enough.

What is also becoming clear is "the people of Louisville" do not support the project as a whole if tolling is included. Will they ever listen? Please leave your thoughts in the "comments" section.