John Kasich really, really hates unions. And we’ve got the video.

The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center is on the ground helping victims of the devastating floods. Here’s one way you can help.

At its Metropolis, Illinois, plant, Honeywell wants to do away with retiree health care and raise annual out-of-pocket expenses for workers to $8,500. When the union said no the company locked them out. Across the border in Canada, the sister USW local that makes the same product signed their new contract with no problem over health care. The Metropolis local, USW 7-669, is fighting back.

The world’s biggest media companies want to define how people will get content over the Internet. Money talks; independent content creators: take a walk. A mega-deal is reportedly in the works in which Verizon will favor Internet content from Google because Google has the spare cash to pay for preferred access. And this is being touted as the model for how content providers and Internet service providers will do business. We have seen the future, and it is exactly like the past.

Dear Sodexo, this is what happens when you chronically underpay your workers and fail to provide affordable health care coverage.

Documentary filmmakers and journalists may breathe a partial sigh of relief today as the Court of Appeals has issued a largely positive order in the case of documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger. Attorney Michael C. Donaldson filed an Amicus Brief on behalf of the Writers Guild of America, East, as well as 22 other industry organizations and individuals, who saw an earlier court order for Berlinger to turn over footage he filmed making CRUDE, The Real Price of Oil as a grave threat to the future of investigative documentaries.

I have some great news. My union, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), has just negotiated a new labor agreement with Kaiser Permanente, the super-huge healthcare provider. I usually write about these issues for my co-workers to read on blogspot (http://kp-victoria.blogspot.com), but I thought I’d try my hand here because I’m so excited about the news.

BP, Massey Energy and Tessoro are all using their safety award plaques like shields to deflect accusations of recklessness. The disconnect between safety prizes and dead workers has enabled these corporations to characterize the three explosions at their facilities in April that killed 47 workers as accidents, random events for which no one really is to blame. That’s why these pseudo-safety awards are so destructive. No agency or association should ever again deceive the public or delude workers by handing awards to corporations that fail to accomplish comprehensive hazard avoidance by meeting the standards of process safety management.

Virginia celebrates Confederate History Month–psst, don’t mention slavery…

Please help. Farm worker families live in homes surrounding fields where the toxic pesticide methyl iodide is applied. A recent scientific study by a national panel said “Adequate control of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible.” In addition the report raised serious questions about the scientific accuracy of the federal review that was done under the Bush Administration. Please help the UFW and other environmental and farm worker groups ask the EPA to rethink allowing this toxic chemical to be used in our fields.