August 21, 2000


Features

What's in Your Green Tea?
BY FRANCES CERRA WHITTELSEY
An In These Times special investigation.

Why I'm Voting for Nader ...
BY ROBERT McCHESNEY

... And Why I'm Not
BY JAMES WEINSTEIN

Fox Shocks the World
BY RICK ROCKWELL
Now comes the hard part for Mexico's new president.

Tijuana Troubles
BY DAVID BACON
NAFTA is failing workers.

Unions Get Religion
BY DAVID MOBERG


News

Safety Last
BY DAVE LINDORFF
As oil prices soar, so do the number of deadly accidents.

Sale of the Century
BY GEOFF SCHUMACHER
An unusual government auction helps preserve the Nevada wilderness.

Water Wars
BY CHARMAINE SEITZ

A botched deal leaves Palestinians high and dry.

Profile
BY BEN WINTERS

Lowell Thompson, a.k.a Raceman.


Views

Editorial
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
Toxic shock.

Viewpoint
BY KIP SULLIVAN
HMO's invasion of privacy.

Appall-O-Meter
BY DAVID FUTRELLE

A Terry Laban Cartoon


Culture

Give It Away
BY DAVID GRAEBER
The Maussians are coming.

Good Fela
BY HILLARY FREY
The music, politics and legend of Nigeria's Fela Kuti.

Time's Arrow
BY CARL BROMLEY
A Chilean dissident finds the cinema in Proust.

Mission: Impossible 3
BY BILL BOISVERT
Goodbye, Mr. Secret Agent ...

 

Unions Get Religion

By David Moberg

Chanting "si se puede" - yes, we can - and shaking noisemakers, a hundred mostly Latino janitors marched through the hallways of a suburban Chicago office building in June, demanding recognition of their union. They were joined by an unusual contingent of supporters - two dozen students from various seminaries and theology schools who were preparing for a 10-week summer stint working with unions across the country.

They included political veterans like Ellen Winters, a 48-year-old registered nurse who had marched against the Vietnam War and for civil rights, later deciding to enter the Lutheran ministry after her children had grown up. There were also relative novices like Kate Holbrook, a 28-year-old Mormon studying at Harvard Divinity School, who admitted she "didn't know anything about unions" but had been moved by the plight of women workers in developing countries.

"Seminary Summer," modeled on the successful Union Summer program for university students and young workers, is the latest manifestation of a growing alliance between the labor movement and religious leaders. Under President John Sweeney, a devout Catholic, the AFL-CIO has given new emphasis to forging coalitions with constituencies like students, academics, environmentalists and critics of globalization, but the ties to clergy and churches may prove one of the most fruitful new alliances.

 

 


In These Times © 2000
Vol. 24, No. 19