(This article is reprinted from Union Labor News, May 2020. Rebecca Meier-Rao is Executive Director of Worker Justice Wisconsin.)   I began my position as Executive Director of Worker Justice Wisconsin (WJW) in mid-February. About a month later we had to shut our office doors due to COVID-19, and we began advocating for the rights of workers remotely.   Thankfully, the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters had donated laptop computers to us the week before our office closed, which made our transition to working from home much ...

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  (This is reprinted from Union Labor News, May 2020)   SMART expertise produces much-needed masks.   After two months of coronavirus, most of us have become connoisseurs of face masks. The best ones achieve a good seal with an embedded aluminum strip that crosses the bridge of the nose.   Where do those come from?   Thirteen million of them have come from unions. The idea for making them came from the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) which proceeded to get more than two ...

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  By Senator Jeff Smith At times, there is a real disconnect between science and politics in our country. But, in the case of how we handle a pandemic, it can be dangerous. For decades, we’ve been fed the philosophy that government can’t be trusted. Don’t get me wrong, too many politicians throughout history have brought that on by corrupt and often selfish behavior. Problems within government can become sensationalized and people begin to think that is the standard rather than the exception. It begins to impair our judgement of government and the important ...

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  (This article is reprinted from Yes! Website under the Creative Commons License.) (This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.) A record number of Americans are concerned about climate change, a recent study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication found. If you’re among them, you may be interested in learning more about the climate crisis and what you can do about it. Luckily, you don’t have ...

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  We are finding out – very painfully – that there is much more to “national security” than weapons of war. The current pandemic sweeping the nation adds angst and urgency to the situation. We are seeing the results of excessive military preparedness and insufficient investment in all other government activities that actually make our lives secure.   The U.S. military is the largest and most expensive in the world. It has been since WWII. We spend more on defense than the next eight top spenders combined. We have military bases in 140 other countri...

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  State Senator Tom Tiffany is running to fill US Representative Sean Duffy's seat in Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District. He served in Wisconsin's Assembly from 2011-2013 and the Senate since 2013.   Since Tiffany says he will "drain the swamp" in Washington just as he did in Madison, it makes sense to look at his record.   Tiffany represented Wisconsinites at midnight on a Friday night in November 2015 when he supported, and the Senate passed, a bill that doubled campaign contribution limits from $10,000 to $20,000 and allowed ...

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  In this time of the pandemic, in the midst of suffering, people are reaching out to others. People are helping strangers in very loving ways. I had a similar experience in an April snowstorm of 1956.   At that time, I was working for Marathon County Schools as a speech therapist for the 124 one-room schools. I had agreed to take children to the University of Wisconsin in Madison for possible admission into their summer speech therapy clinic.   It was a different time from now. It was an era of greater trust when folks didn’t worry so much ...

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  Thank You Wisconsinites for your courage, determination, and persistence on April 7, 2020. **Green Bay Wisconsin  Polling places had been consolidated to Green Bay West and East High Schools which meant long lines. Some voters in Green Bay waited past midnight to cast their ballot. The last person to vote was Earyll Guest. Guest voted at 12:30 am. “I thought it was my duty to stand in line and do it the old fashioned way.” As long as people were in line by 8pm they could vote. Some voters stood in line for four hours. **Voters waited for hours to ...

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  Northwest Wisconsin is having another election May 12th. This is a special election in the 7th Congressional district to select a new member for the House of Representatives. The contrast between the two candidates is huge. A look at each candidate's own words (from the “issues” page of their campaign websites) speaks volumes.   Tricia Zunker, the Democratic candidate, identifies eight issues she thinks are important:   “Healthcare, the Farm Crisis, Education and Children, Standing up for Working People and Protecting Equality, The ...

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  We are going through very heartbreaking times. As we continue to see increases in the spread of the corona virus, we are likely to overlook the wonderful things all around us. Consider this:   On a clear night we are able to see thousands of stars shining above. Each star is a nuclear furnace. Most stars are busy crushing hydrogen atoms, creating helium atoms and releasing incredible amounts of energy in the process. Our sun is an example of this sort of star.   We are lucky to have the sun. It is a steady star, shining and energizing our ...

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