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Students demand Rhode Island School of Design stop investing in fossil fuel companies, sell off current holdings over next five years.

from The Nation

"Eleven students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) held a sit-in Monday in college President John Maeda’s office. The activists are demanding that President Maeda and Board of Trustees Chair Michael Spalter endorse divestment from the coal, gas, and oil industries and commit to presenting the case for divestment to the Board of Trustees at the board’s May 17 meeting.

"This sit-in is the first of its kind in the nationwide divestment movement, through which students at more than 300 colleges and universities are demanding that their schools stand against climate change and divest their endowments from fossil fuel companies.

“'I want to have kids. I want to show them this planet,' said Phoebe Wahl, a RISD senior. 'As artists and designers, we are innovators with the ability to shape our own future. The way that our generation deals with this issue will define the future of civilization.' …"

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Government shared info for anti-terrorism, but not workplace safety.

from truthout

"The twin tragedies of last week –the Boston Marathon bombing and the West Texas Chemical and Fertilizer plant explosion — received vastly unequal media attention. While reporters pored over every detail of the Boston story (including some “facts” that turned out to be false), a study by Media Matters for America found that only two of 63 cable news segments this week about the Texas explosion have mentioned a key finding that became public on Saturday: The plant contained 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, well over the legal limit.

"But it’s not just the media that focus on terrorism over workplace safety; it’s also the government. 

"Although Americans were 270 times more likely to die in a workplace accident than a terrorist attack in 2011, the Department of Homeland Security’s budget that year was $47 billion, while OSHA’s budget was only $558 million. And while the Senate has grilled top intelligence officials about possible information-sharing failures in the lead-up to the Boston bombing, lawmakers have not looked at similar evidence that information-sharing problems may have played a role in the Texas explosion. …"

European Commission president José Manuel Barroso calls for increased emphasis on short-term growth measures.

from Public Service Europe

"The European Union's austerity-driven response to the economic crisis may have been pushed as far as possible because the approach no longer has the required support among citizens and governments, José Manuel Barroso said yesterday — leading critics to welcome what they saw as a major u-turn by the EU leadership.

"At a conference in Brussels, president of the European Commission Barroso said he believed austerity, or fiscal consolidation, was 'fundamentally right' but that it had 'reached its limits in many aspects'. He added: 'A policy to be successful not only has to be properly designed. It has to have the minimum of political and social support.'

"With the eurozone still mired in recession, the comments were pounced on by long-term opponents of austerity. Hannes Swoboda — leader of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament — claimed that protesters in countries hit hardest by deep budget cuts and tax rises were 'at last being heard'. …"

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Airline is suing union for $4 million.

from Toronto Media Coop

Porter Airlines is playing hardball. Rather than negotiate with their striking refueling workers, they are choosing to use any legal means available to avoid dealing with them. Yesterday, Porter and the Toronto Port Authority partially lost a court injunction which had sought to prohibit leafletting and noise even in a public park. That very afternoon, they announced with a civil lawsuit of $4 million against the union, whose bargaining unit at the Porter airport represents only 22 employees.

The Media Coop spoke with Glenn Wheeler of COPE (Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union), the union which represents the fuel workers. "Earlier we had two people charged with trespassing and actually handcuffed and arrested for leafletting in front of the terminal door, which is quite outrageous. That won't be happening any more because of the court order, as the judge said that you can leaflet in the building."

Wheeler was surprised Porter even tried to get such a restrictive injunction: "We were surprised they took the position that they did because we have a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada saying that an airport, for the purposes of union messages, is a public place." 

Wheeler said: that the temporary order "imposed some restrictions – but not the restrictions that the Toronto Port Authority and Porter were seeking and the union feels very good about the result because it means that our constitutional rights were preserved and we can carry on our lawful picketing activities." After the court decision, Porter went public yesterday afternoon about a $4 million dollar libel lawsuit against the union, specifically over twitter use from the union's @PorterStrike account.

Its no coincidence that the airline has targeted social media; Twitter, Facebook and phone campaigns against Porter have been widespread and effective, and have included parodies of Porter advertisements. 

Even city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has been tweeting on the strike, writing yesterday "I'm a Porter client & always pay my own way. Not impressed with them lately: tax arrears, labour disputes, jets & now robo-polls. #smartenup". 

Carrie Sharpe, who has been helping coordinate support for the workers, spoke to the Media Coop about the attempted injunction. "What's scary is that it was even on the table. This is an attempt to shut down dissent. Porter is trying to discourage dissent at a time when they have an application to have jets fly out of the airport and to fill in some of the lake. This injunction process has already had a chilling effect on mobilization, there will be people afraid now to protest island expansion. The very ambiguity of the injunctions is in itself a weapon. They are doing all this in order to shut down protests over use of public assets for profit."

The highest paid fueler at Porter earns $16 an hour. Workers start off at $12/hr (or $14 with a DZ license). Health and safety, including the procurement of basic equipment like safety vests, has also been a key union demand.

For more background on the strike, read Not on the Radar: Porter Airline Refuelers Strike Hits 3rd month.

Economist says government must invest in institutions to create a fairer society.

from iPolitics

"Investing in areas such as education, children and health is key to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor in Canada, economist Diana Carney told Parliament’s finance committee Tuesday.

"Testifying as the committee opened a series of hearings on income inequality, Carney said two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries where the gap between the richest and the poorest has widened in the past decade. While Canada is in the middle of the OECD rankings on income inequality and has remained fairly stable, it is in third place behind only the United Kingdom and the United States when it comes to the proportion of the country’s income that goes to the top one percent of Canadians. …"

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