Posted on

Happy May Day: The Internationale

“The Paris Commune had fallen … but now he was fleeing for his life. He was in hiding, Eugene Portier . . . and that very month of May, 1871, he writes six long verses & a chorus calling on all the hard working people of the entire world to overthrow their masters, and he was quite confident that they would, soon.” – Pete Seeger, from the documentary

There are six parts, and it’s a pretty cool bit of history. Gives us in the US, in particular, a little better sense of how exactly one-sided our political conversation has been since the 1950s.

Posted on

DOL Adds Gender Identity to EEOC

Good to see.

TLDEF applauds the United States Department of Labor’s announcement yesterday that it has taken steps to protect its transgender workers from employment discrimination. The Department of Labor added gender identity as a protected category in its equal employment opportunity statement. The policy applies to all hiring, promotion and disciplinary practices for the approximately 17,000 employees of the Department of Labor.

“Whether in private or public employment, what matters is not who you are, but how you do your job,” said TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman. “The Department of Labor now joins the many public and private employers that have recognized that discrimination is bad business. We applaud Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for her leadership on this issue.”

Transgender people face tremendous discrimination in the workplace. In a recent survey, 47% of transgender people reported being fired, or denied a job or promotion, just because of who they are. In a recent case, TLDEF filed a lawsuit on behalf of a transgender man who was fired from a male-only job solely because he is transgender.

“Employers like the Department of Labor set an example for other employers to follow. It is a great day when diversity is embraced and discrimination is rejected in the workplace,” added Silverman.

Posted on

Paging Senator Kohl

I received an email response from Senator Kohl:

Thank you for sharing your concerns about Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Plan.

As part of his budget approach, the Governor has proposed significant changes in how the state government will interact with some unionized public employees.  Throughout Wisconsin, citizens will continue debating the most appropriate distribution of shared sacrifice necessary to help balance our state budget. At the federal level where I serve, we are having a similar debate about budget priorities and I will continue pressing for meaningful, fair, bipartisan solutions.

Governor Walker’s proposal is a state, rather than a federal matter, and will not come before the United States Senate.  As such, I have no official role. Therefore, I encourage you to contact your Wisconsin State Representative and Senator.  There is a toll-free number you may call to leave a message for your state elected officials or to find out who represents you. The number is 1-800-362-9472.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Even though I am not directly involved in matters before the Wisconsin State legislature, I will keep your views in mind. Please contact me again about issues that concern you.

First: of course he has no official role. I wrote back:

Respectfully, I would like to suggest that any public statement made by Democratic leadership in favor of yesterday’s walk-out and in favor of collective bargaining – especially those from the state of Wisconsin – would be very valuable in this debate. I urge you to speak out for the workers and citizens of WI.

Thank you very much for your response.

Please do contact your own Senators, state and federal, to get them to make a public statement in favor of the walk-out and the protests in Madison and Ohio.