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NYPD Arrest 181 Black Men in Queens After Cop Shot in the
Leg
Fired Wal-Mart Executive Sues After Blowing the Whistle on
Factory Conditions in Central America
Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights
at Wal-Mart
Rep. Bernie Sanders: "CAFTA is a Disaster for the People
of Central America and the USA"
First American-Born Mad Cow Discovered in Texas
NYPD Arrest 181 Black Men in Queens After Cop Shot
in the Leg
A New York police officer was shot in the leg with his own
gun while trying to arrest a man allegedly smoking marijuana.
During the following three days, police mounted a massive
dragnet in the community, arresting a total of 181 black men
in Queens.
We begin today with a case of a police dragnet in New York
City. On June 14th, Officer Christopher Wiesneski of Queens
was shot in the leg with his own gun while trying to arrest
a man smoking marijuana. During the next three days, police
mounted a massive dragnet in the community. A total of 181
black men in the Queens neighborhoods of Cambria Heights and
Laurelton were arrested on misdemeanor charges and quality
of life violations. Some who were were arrested report that
they were grabbed by the cops, handcuffed and not given any
explanations at the time of their arrests.
The police department and Mayor Bloomberg have remained silent
on the matter despite calls from City Councilman Leroy Comrie,
Queens Representative Gregory Meeks and Democratic Mayoral
candidate Fernando Ferrer to give an explanation for the cops
behavior.
- Marq Claxton, a retired New York Police detective and
is member of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who
Care. Marq is spearheading the efforts to file a lawsuit
against the NYPD.
Read
article by Juan Gonzalez.
Fired Wal-Mart Executive Sues After Blowing the Whistle
on Factory Conditions in Central America
Wal-Mart executive James Lynn, was fired from the company,
he says, after he blew the whistle on factory conditions in
Central America. Lynn documented forced pregnancy tests, 24-hour
work shifts, extreme heat, pat-down searches, locked exits
and other labor law violations. He is now suing the retail
giant. We speak with Lynn's attorney and a Wal-Mart spokesperson.
[includes rush
transcript - partial]
Wal-Mart fired an executive, he says, after he blew the
whistle on factory conditions in Central America - he documented
forced pregnancy tests, 24-hour work shifts, extreme heat,
pat-down searches, locked exits and other labor law violations.
The corporation says it fired James Lynn for having an affair
with a subordinate. Now Lynn is suing Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world. It employees
1.6 million people globally and deals directly with hundreds
of factories throughout Latin America and Asia.
James Lynn worked at Wal-Mart for eight years. He was promoted
from a local manager to being in charge of troubleshooting
for Wal-Mart distribution centers in an entire region of the
country. Then Wal-Mart offered him a position in Costa Rica
overseeing factory certifications and Quality Control. At
the time, Wal-Mart directly operated more than one hundred
factories in the region, mostly in Honduras and Guatemala.
A factory inspection report that Lynn conducted and recently
provided to the National Labor Committee includes a negative
evaluation of workplace environment. The report reads in part,
"some exits are locked and not marked during the working
hours. All exits need to be marked, unlocked and unblocked
at all times. Ventilation in the factory needs improvement."
While the factory improved many of its labor practices after
an initial inspection, Lynn says his supervisor in Costa Rica
downplayed noncompliance. In a letter a Wal-Mart senior executive,
Lynn alleged that his supervisor "pressured inspectors
to pass factories that have failed final inspections."
Lynn says that factories inspections were often ineffective
because managers were told about them beforehand. He told
the New York Times "Some of the workers I interviewed
said, "The factory had a general meeting the day before,
and we were told, You better not say anything wrong or you're
fired."
- Shane Youtz, Lawyer for James Lynn, the Wal-Mart whistle-blower
who reported labor abuses in Central American factories
and then says he was framed by Wal-Mart for allegedly having
an affair. Lynn is suing the corporation in an Arkansas
court.
- Beth Keck, Wal-Mart international spokesperson.
Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's
Rights at Wal-Mart
We speak with Liza Featherstone, author of "Selling
Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart"
about a case representing 1.6 million women - past and present
Wal Mart employees - who are charging the company with sex
discrimination in pay, promotions and training at every corporation
level.
- Liza Featherstone, author of "Selling Women Short:
The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart."
She continues to write on Wal-Mart for The Nation and many
other publications.
Rep. Bernie Sanders: "CAFTA is a Disaster for
the People of Central America and the USA"
As the Senate votes to approve the Central American Free
Trade Agreement, we take a look at the controversial trade
pact and how the Labor Department tried for a year to block
the release of a government-funded study that criticized labor
standards in Central America. We speak with Rep. Bernie Sanders
(I-VT) and Bama Athreya of the International Labor Rights
Fund. The Senate voted Thursday to approve the Central American
Free Trade Agreement by a 54 to 45 vote. 10 Democrats voted
for the trade pact while 11 Republicans voted against it.
The trade agreement, known as CAFTA, would eliminate most
trade restrictions between the United States and six Latin
American countries: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
Thursday's Senate vote set the stage for a showdown in the
House where the trade pact faces overwhelming opposition from
Democrats and enough Republicans to make the outcome uncertain.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted to endorse CAFTA
yesterday in a 25 to 16 vote, and the full House is expected
to take it up after Congress returns from its Independence
Day break.
Critics of the trade agreement say it provides too little
protection to US sugar producers and too little enforcement
of labor standards in Central American countries.
Earlier this week, news emerged that as the White House was
lobbying Congress to win support for CAFTA, the Labor Department
tried for more than a year to block the release of reports
that harshly criticized labor standards in Central America.
The reports were commissioned by the Labor Department to
an outside contractor - the International Labor Rights Fund.
The studies concluded that several of the countries involved
in CAFTA have poor working conditions and have failed to protect
workers" rights. The studies" conclusions contrast
the Bush administration's arguments that Central American
countries have made enough progress on such issues to warrant
a free-trade deal with the United States.
After the Labor Rights Fund submitted their findings, the
Labor Department instructed them to remove the reports from
their Web site, ordered them to retrieve paper copies before
they became public, banned release of new information from
the reports, and even told them they couldn't discuss the
studies with outsiders.
We called the Labor Department and asked them to join us
on the program today, but they declined. In a statement yesterday,
Dirk Fillpot, a spokesperson for the department's Bureau of
International Labor Affairs, said the study was "rife
with unsubstantiated and unverifiable claims, questionable
statistical data, and biased statements of findings and conclusions."
First American-Born Mad Cow Discovered in Texas
The U.S Department of Agriculture announced that the second
case of mad cow disease was found in this country - but it
marked the first time the cow was born and spent his entire
life in the United States. We speak with John Stauber of PR
Watch, author of "Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare
Happen Here?"
As the nation prepares for this weekend's July 4th holiday
and are firing up grills in anticipation of burgers and hot
dog cook-outs - people may want to think twice about their
meat. Last week, the U.S Department of Agriculture announced
that the second case of mad cow disease was found in this
country. The previous case of the disease in the U.S was found
in a cow imported to Washington state from Canada.
But on Wednesday, the department confirmed that this cow
was born and spent his entire life in the United States. So
what does this mean for U.S consumers of meat?
- John Stauber, Executive Director of the Center
for Media and Democracy. He edits the publication PR
Watch based in Madison, Wisconsin. He is author of several
books, including "Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare
Happen Here?"
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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