| Berkeley High Students Learn Negotiation Skills
The union made some big wins at Berkeley High on Tuesday. Except that the students were acting as both management and labor and the cash was just play money. Juniors and seniors got together in the school library for a crash course in negotiation—courtesy the California Federa-tion of Teachers (CFT). The day-long session was part of CFT's Collective Bargaining Education Project (CBEP), which was held for the first time at the BHS campus. Based on the popular education techniques of Paolo Freire, the CBEP provides students with a range of labor history and contemporary union organizing and collective bargaining role-plays for the high school classroom. “It's a way of teaching them conflict resolution in the workplace. In this case, we have picked a hospital," said Fred Glass, communications director for CFT.
Hospitals face three weeks of strikes
Radiographers at seven district health boards - Southland, Otago, Canterbury, Hutt Valley, Lakes (Rotorua), Tairawhiti (Gisborne) and Bay of Plenty - yesterday started the first of a series of work bans expected to stretch into early May. Overnight bans on radiographic work, including x-rays, CT and MRI scans and ultrasound, took place last night in Southland, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Whakatane and Opotiki hospitals, while Hutt Valley radiographers walk out today for four days. Yesterday, the Association of Professionals and Executive Employees, which represents about 80 per cent of radiographers at the seven DHBs, issued notice of one-hour strikes in the middle of the day in Canterbury early next month, in addition to overnight work bans and weekend strikes. Next week, medical laboratory scientists with all health boards and the Blood Service walk off the job for two days.
Bush invites Democrats for a meeting, not a "negotiation"
WHITE HOUSE President Bush will invite Democrats to the White House to discuss the standoff over a war spending bill, but the administration makes it clear that the meeting won't be a negotiation over a troop pullout deadline. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says Bush will meet with congressional leaders to discuss how they can give him a "clean bill that he can sign." Both the House and the Senate have approved bills to extend funding for U-S troops in Iraq, but the bills also call for forces to withdraw by certain dates. Bush has repeatedly vowed to veto any bill with a timetable for troop pullout. Perino says the Pentagon will soon send lawmakers a bill to transfer one-point-six (b) billion dollars from other military accounts to cover funding for troops. She says the move is necessary because Congress delayed Bush's funding request.
Mosier to see draft of charter
More than once, the lights threatened to go out on charter talks between Mosier Community School and North Wasco County School District at Thursday’s school board meeting — both literally and figuratively.
At one point, after a switching snafu was nearly resolved in Dry Hollow Elementary’s gymnasium, a building janitor unintentionally turned off one of the main overhead lamps, leaving the board in near-darkness.
That may or may not have inspired board member Brian Stahl’s later expression — "O-dark 30" — to describe the lateness of the negotiating hour at which the Mosier school board was bringing new, proposed changes to the table.
"Why are we talking about this now?" Stahl asked about one of the 15 modifications suggested to the district board just hours before its meeting.
Domestic Law Firms Face Tough Competition
The opening of the legal market has become unavoidable due to the free trade agreement with the U.S. Experts say that domestic law firms will have to undergo serious structural reforms after the market opening unless their competitiveness is immediately strengthened. The Dong-A Ilbo asked five renowned lawyers, including four East Asian regional partners of top 20 U.S. law firms and an international arbitration lawyer of a domestic law firm, about their opinions on the prospects of the legal market after its opening. The paper either personally met or interviewed them through email and phone on Monday and Tuesday; the five legal experts were Kim Gap-yoo of Bae, Kim & Lee, Alan Kim of Sidley Austin, Eric Yoon of White & Case, Park Jin-hyuk of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Han Jin-deok of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton.
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