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Locomotive builders in Erie, Pennsylvania, are rallying today to demand that General Electric stop the transfer of nearly a third of the plant’s jobs to a non-union, lower-wage factory in Texas.

Celebrated author Alice Walker urges singer Alicia Keys not to perform for apartheid Israel, as does Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters. Boycott, because Palestinian conditions are worse than they were in US South

Fast food workers strike in Seattle - 7th city in past 8 weeks. Workers say their wages are stagnant and want a living wage of $15, more opportunities to advance, and the right to organize without retaliation. "Personally I'm on food stamps, my hours have been cut back," Burger King worker Andrew Thomas said. "Being here for a year and half. I haven't gotten a raise."

The deepening violence of the Syrian civil war is also in some measure a consequence of Libya: Qaddafi's disbanded army and unguarded weapons moved southward in Africa, but they also moved eastward to Asia. The state terror of the most "surgical" air war leaves in its wake many thousands of stateless terrorists.

Reader Comments: Terrorism, Drones, Afghanistan, Benghazi, Obama terrorism speech, Bradley Manning, Chicago Schools, Climate Change, Letter to "The Nation" from a Young Radical, Math, Malvina Reynolds, Africa, Asia, Hope Foye, Race & Biology, Peabody Coal, Bittorrent... Announcements - Gerald Horne keynote's Chicago Human Rights Awards - Jun 15; Film Premier - Camp Kinderland "Commie Camp" - New York - Jun 28; Jerry Tucker Memorial Conference, St. Louis - Oct 11-13

Companies want a massive expansion of visa holders so they can pay them less. This is about powerful companies pursuing lower wages. "Immigration helps America. People who come here to pursue their dreams and aspire to be citizens strengthen our country. America's unions embrace immigrants and new citizens. We worry about corporations firing or passing over qualified American workers in order to import temporary foreign workers at lower wages." (AFL-CIO)

Yesterday, workers at dozens of Seattle fast food restaurants went on strike against poverty wages. This marks the nation's seventh work stoppage by fast food employees in the last eight weeks. The strikers are demanding a raise to $15 an hour and the right to organize unions without retaliation or intimidation.