Pay Attention

It is OUTRAGEOUS that Bank of America spent $10 million on a Super Bowl event when the government just gave them $45 billion in bailout money!

Tell CEO Kenneth Lewis that he deserves a pink slip for this behavior!

Ask the Senate to support green priorities in the new stimulus bill.

Though tipped workers are supposed to get a wage increase, the MO House is threatening to actually reduce their wages. Take action against this bill here .

Though workers at the Jerzeez factory in Honduras have won the rights to unionize–which was incredibly difficult to do!–Russel Athletic is closing the factory to destroy the union. There have also been reports of the union leaders being threatened with violence–which, in Honduras, is particularly disturbing, as a union leader was recently assassinated there.

Please ask Russel to at least delay the closing of the facotory until the safety of these leaders is secure.

Click here to write your local paper in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Concordia Coffee, the supplier for Harvard, Princeton, Purdue, the University of California, and Stanford, has refused to support its striking truck drivers from Oak Harbor. Oak Harbor Freight Lines workers are protesting the labor violations of its company, as well as its use of intimidation on the workers themselves. Instead of listening to the workers’ voices, Oak Harbor hired a strike breaking firm to help intimidate employees even further.

If Concordia Coffee were to support this strike, the workers would truly have a strong ally.  Please ask Concordia to support the strike and help these workers get their benefits back!

The Bush Administration just made some quick cuts to farm worker protection, including making it easy-peasy for growers to slash their workers’ pay. Please ask President Elect Obama to fight these changes and to protect our nation’s farm workers.

THAT, friends, is how much MORE money the average man makes than the average woman in a lifetime.

$434,000.

I don’t know about you, but I could do a lot with  $434,000. I could buy a house. And a car. And send my daughter to private school. And pay off my college debt and other bills.

Worse yet, single moms lose even more money in their lifetimes.

Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce give a damn? Hells no. They’re dragging their heels in the mud, opposing every pay equity reform proposal Congress can come up with. Two of these acts, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, would help ensure that working women get the money they deserve.

Please contact the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today and ask that they support fair pay for women!

Who else is sick of fat cats begging for bailouts when they come in on private jets, own more than one home and one vehicle, and eat $50 steaks for dinner?

Jobs with Justice has an excellent People’s Bailout Plan, and THIS WEEK is the action week for the plan. They are calling for an emergency relief package for the PEOPLE, the passing of the Employee Free Choice Act, the stop of evictions due to foreclosures, and emergency health care.

This sounds a whole lot better than forking over billions so someone can keep his third yacht named “Buffy.”

They also have some prevention plans, some long-term recovery plans, and ways for us to take action! To get in on theWeek of Action, click here.

November 19 is Equal Opportunity Day in the United States. It’s great to celebrate equal opportunities, and to enforce them–but it’s a shame we even have to think on it. The odds are stacked in favor of the few; there’s much to be done to truly create equal opportunities through jobs and education in this country.

To learn more about Equal Opportunity legislation in the United States, check out the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of the Interior Office for Equal Opportunity.

World Toilet Day
No, I’m not joking–today is also World Toilet Day! We pretty much take it for granted that we’ll be able to go Number 1 or 2 when we need to in the US, but that’s simply not the case for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The World Toilet Organization exists to improve toilet and sanitation purposes worldwide. Visit their website to learn more, give the gift of a toilet, and get involved.

You can also take action with your own porcelain god today by:
1. Get a new toilet (only if you need one!) of the low-flow variety.This generally reduces your 5 to 7 gallon flush to a 1.5 gallon flush!
2. Save 5 to 10 gallons of water a day just by displacing your water. Weight a plastic bottle down with some pebbles and stick it in your tank, and you’re done.
3. Write your representative that letter you’ve been meaning to write while you rid yourself of the bean dip you had for lunch.
4. Check your toilet for leaks. This is easy enough: just toss a dye tablet or a bit of food coloring in your tank. If the color shows up in the bowl itself without flushing, you’ve got a leak to be repaired!
5. For goodness sake, don’t use your toilet to flush weird stuff, waste or even cigarettes. (For a really funny story about this, and other super entertaining reads, check out Best American Fantasy.)