Mexico celebrates 200 years with huge fiesta,Viva Mexico!

MEXICO CITY  Mexico looked beyond its drug war to throw a 200th birthday bash celebrating a proud history, whimsical culture and resilience embodied in the traditional independence cry: “Viva Mexico!”Across the capital, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets despite their fears, blowing horns and dancing alongside a parade of serpent floats, marching cacti and 13-foot-tall warrior marionettes and staying late into the night at open-air concerts.President Felipe Calderon capped the evening by ringing the original independence bell from a balcony in the Zocalo square and delivering “El Grito,” patterned on founding father Miguel Hidalgo’s 1810 call to arms against Spain: “Long live independence. Love live the bicentennial … Long live Mexico!”Roaring thousands echoed his cry as fireworks exploded in the square and at the iconic Angel of Independence about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) down the city’s crowded main promenade.

“I love being Mexican!” said Michel Dosal, wearing a green, white and red Mohawk wig. “The 15th of September is better than Christmas. It’s better than my birthday!”In cities where drug violence is heaviest, festivities were more subdued. The grito was canceled in Ciudad Juarez for the first time in its history. People still showed their patriotism in the border city – Mexico’s most violent – by hanging Mexican flags from their roofs and hosting family dinners.

In the western city of Morelia, the scene of a cartel-related grenade attack that killed eight during the 2008 independence celebration, barely 2,000 showed up at the main plaza for a “grito” that once drew tens of thousands.”My son asked me to take him to see the grito, so I brought him despite my fears,” said Silvia Godinez Perez, a secretary. “We can’t easily forget what happened two years ago.”

But in Mexico City, a $40 million fiesta, two years in the making, drew people from across the country to the main Reforma Avenue and Zocalo. Moments before Calderon emerged on the balcony of the National Palace, a voice boomed from loudspeakers: “Let’s show the world that Mexico is strong and standing.””This one is special,” said Iris Mari Rodriguez Montiel, a small business owner who had traveled from the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz and waited since morning for the festivities to start. “It gives me chills just to think about it.”

Little girls wearing ribbons of the Mexican flag watched the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) parade down Reforma from the shoulders of their fathers. Other children blew trumpets as the air filled with confetti.”It’s like a Carnival of Rio, plus an Olympic ceremony, plus Woodstock all put together in the same day,” said artistic director Marco Balich, who produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. “For the cost of a warplane, you can celebrate the birthday of a country.”

Several neighboring heads of state and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis attended.Still, anxiety hovered over the festivities in a country that most recently has seen car bombs, the assassination of a gubernatorial candidate, and the massacre of 72 migrants who refused to smuggle drugs for a brutal gang.Military helicopters buzzed overhead in the capital, heavily armed federal agents and metal detectors greeted revelers.

The Interior Department said there were no attacks against the celebrations. Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun said they were investigating whether six men detained with assault rifles and hand grenades had planned an assault on bicentennial festivities. In northern Nuevo Leon state, eight gunmen were killed in a shootout with soldiers, authorities said.”In Mexico, we all live in fear. And the worst part is that we are starting to get used to it,” said Eric Limon, 33, a professional dancer who volunteered to wear a jaguar mask and swing a colorful Aztec club and spear for the parade.

“I want to be part of something important,” he said. “I know this won’t solve our problems, but this is my grain of sand to create a sense of unity. This is what Mexico needs.”Those who stayed away from the city center celebrated from their rooftops and staged their own neighborhood fireworks displays. All night long, rockets whistled and boomed skyward, blanketing the yards and streets with smoke.(AP)

Bill in California would help farmworkers form unions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees as 17-year-old Maria Vasquez Jimenez pruned grapes for nine hours at a vineyard near Stockton in California’s Central Valley.By the end of the day, the pregnant teen was dead from heat stroke, and her death set off renewed calls among union advocates for greater protections for farmworkers. But in the two years since, efforts to unionize workers have largely been unsuccessful.

Unions claim that’s because employers have illegally interfered with union elections, and their Democratic supporters pushed a bill through the California Legislature last week that will automatically declare a union victory if employer misconduct is shown. The bill is awaiting action by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Between 307,000 and 450,000 people work on California farms, depending on the season, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. But fewer than 16,000 full-time farmworkers belong to a union, and a tally by the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board found 40 percent of agricultural labor elections between 2000 and 2007 resulted in a vote against representation.Critics say the bill passed last week is simply an effort by its sponsor, the United Farm Workers, and other unions to boost their anemic numbers by – in the words of the California Farm Bureau Federation – “foisting union representation” on employees.

Nearly one out of every five union workers in the U.S. lives in California, although union membership among agriculture and forestry workers is low.Under a system established in 1975, the union election process begins when a majority of a farm’s employees sign authorization cards indicating their desire to put unionization to a secret-ballot vote. Workers submit those cards to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which calls for an election.

The bill passed last week, SB1474, would not change that. However, it stipulates that in cases of proven employer misconduct, the authorization cards would be considered evidence of workers’ desire to organize, and a union would be authorized.”This bill is about simple parity and basic equality and something positive for some of the hardest-working people in our state,” said its author, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

While the current system allows tainted election results to be thrown out, union advocates say there’s nothing to keep employers from interfering in subsequent elections. And, since many farmworkers don’t speak English and rely on their jobs to support extended families, they are particularly vulnerable to intimidation by anti-union employers.”Given the long history of illegal conduct by some growers, this bill has incredible significance for farm workers and will even the playing field in terms of available remedies that the (agriculture board) has at its disposal,” said Mark Schacht, deputy director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

The bill’s opponents, including the farm bureau and the California Chamber of Commerce, say the agricultural board thoroughly investigates all reports of employer misconduct and there’s no evidence large numbers of farmworkers are being blocked from joining unions.

“There is an option right now to pursue claims of unfair labor practice, and the unions have not availed themselves of that to a significant extent,” said Rich Matteis, administrator for the farm bureau.The Irvine-based Western Growers Association issued a statement Friday predicting the bill would result in unions bullying the agriculture board into setting aside results from valid secret-ballot elections.

The United Farm Workers said that won’t happen but acknowledged union membership was likely to grow if it became law.”We certainly hope this will lead to a system where farmworkers have the right to participate in a fair election and choose to join a union if that’s what they want,” said Merlyn Calderon, UFW’s national vice president.

First, however, Schwarzenegger would have to sign the bill – an outcome that is far from guaranteed.The Republican governor has vetoed four broader bills intended to offer alternatives to secret ballots, a system he has described as crucial to maintaining the integrity of the election process.(AP)

Some Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports for job screening tactics challenged as illegal

WASHINGTON Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.A blanket refusal to hire workers based on criminal records or credit problems can be illegal if it has a disparate impact on racial minorities, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency enforces the nation’s employment discrimination laws.”Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease,” said Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel at the EEOC.

With millions of adults having criminal records – anything from underage drinking to homicide – a growing number of job seekers are having a rough time finding work. And more companies are trying to screen out people with bankruptcies, court judgments or other credit problems just as those numbers have swollen during the recession.Just ask Adrienne Hudson, a single mother who says she was fired from her new job as a bus driver at First Transit in Oakland, Calif., when the company found out she had been convicted seven years earlier for welfare fraud.

Hudson, 44, is fighting back with a lawsuit alleging the company’s hiring practice discriminates against black and Latino job seekers, who have arrest and conviction rates far greater than whites. A spokesman for First Transit said the company does not comment on pending litigation.”People make mistakes,” said Hudson, who is black, “but when they correct their mistake, they should not be punished again outside of the court system.”

Justice Department statistics show that 38 percent of the U.S. prison population is black, compared with about 12 percent of the general population. In 2008, African-Americans were about six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. The incarceration rate for Latinos was 2.3 times higher than whites.If criminal histories are taken into account, the EEOC says employers must also consider the nature of the job, the seriousness of the offense and how long ago it occurred. For example, it may make sense to disqualify a bank employee with a past conviction for embezzlement, but not necessarily for a DUI.

Most companies tend to be more nuanced when they look at credit reports, weeding out those applicants with bad credit only if they seek senior positions or jobs dealing with money. But if the screening process weeds out more black and Hispanic applicants than whites, an employer needs to show how the credit information is related to the job.

About 73 percent of major employers report that they always check on applicants’ criminal records, while 19 percent do so for select job candidates, according to a 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.The same survey found that almost half of major companies conduct credit checks for some job candidates, such as those who would be in a position of financial trust. Another 13 percent perform credit checks for all potential workers.

Last fall, the EEOC sent a strong message to employers when it filed a class-action lawsuit against Freeman Companies, a Dallas-based events planning firm, alleging the company discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and males by rejecting job seekers based on credit history and criminal records. Freeman has denied the charges.The growth of online databases and a multimillion dollar background check industry have made it easy for employers to find out reams of information about potential hires. Companies see the checks as another way to weed out unsavory candidates, keep a safe work environment and prevent negligent hiring claims.

“Past indiscretions may be an indicator of future behavior, especially in the criminal context,” said Pamela Devata, a Chicago employment lawyer who has represented companies trying to comply with EEOC’s requirements.Devata said employers nationwide have seen the EEOC become more active in investigating employer hiring practices. The scrutiny has caused many companies to reevaluate their screening process and move to a case-by-case standard.

Ariela Migdal, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project in New York, said a person might have a blemish that has nothing to do with the job he or she is seeking. And records sometimes are inaccurate or not updated to reflect that someone arrested later had charges dropped or a conviction overturned or expunged, she said.”Somebody with an old conviction that has been rehabilitated doesn’t have any greater likelihood of committing a crime, so its irrational to use that against them,” Migdal said.

Ron Heintzman, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said he’s seen dozens of job candidates disqualified “for reasons that were just ridiculous.” His union, with 13,000 members in First Transit, is paying for the lawsuit that Hudson filed last month against the company which operates bus service in Oakland and several other major cities.

In Hudson’s case, she was fired after just two days on the job as a bus driver because of a 7-year-old felony welfare fraud conviction. The conviction was later dismissed under California law, but her lawsuit, filed in federal court last month, claims the company has a policy to deny employment no matter how old the conviction, the applicant’s prior work history or whether it is related to the job.

(This version CORRECTS name of American Civil Liberties Union.)(AP)

Immigrants in New York City have a lower unemployment rate and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native

Immigrants in New York City have a lower unemployment rate and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native-born Americans, a divergence from the national trends that may reflect optimism about the recovery.The economic recession didn’t hit New York City as badly as other parts of the country. The city lost proportionally fewer payroll jobs than the nation as a whole.

A report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a think tank, shows that in the first five months of 2010 the unemployment rate for immigrants in New York City was 8.8 percent while the rate for native-born residents was 10.9 percent. The city average was 9.9 percent.”When employers see the light at the beginning of the recovery, when they begin hiring again, the first kind of worker they seek will likely be expendable,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Center in Washington.

“New York has always relied on immigrants, and new immigrants, to drive its economy,” he said.Labor participation rates of U.S.-born New Yorkers declined from 59.2 percent in 2008 to 57.1 percent in 2010, while that of immigrant residents rose from 60 percent to 64.1 percent in the same period, the study said.

Labor participation is defined by those employed plus those actively looking for work.”Immigrant labor force participation in New York goes up during the recession, underscoring the notion that as the economy worsens, immigrants are more increasingly looking for work to cover their needs,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, senior fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute who authored the report.

Kallick measured immigrants’ employment, regardless of their legal status, using five months of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.Immigrants laborers are more likely to relocate in pursuit of work, and without access to unemployment insurance many more quickly accept undesirable and temporary jobs.

“We see people coming from towns in Michigan, from Wisconsin, from North Carolina,” said Cirilo Gonzalez, 50, who works on indoor construction, primarily installing drywall.Oscar Hernandez, 39, moved to the United States 12 years ago from the central Mexican state of Morelos, and said labor conditions in New York push some immigrant workers to New Jersey or Philadelphia.”Seven dollars an hour is bad but it’s better than nothing,” Hernandez said. “My family is waiting for food.”(Reuters)

Senate approves $26.1 billion for state aid

The Senate on Thursday approved a jobs bill that would send states $26.1 billion to help them cope with historic budget shortfalls and give Democratic lawmakers a victory to tout on the campaign trail ahead of the November elections.By a 61-to-39 vote, the Senate passed a bill that would send the states $16.1 billion for Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, and $10 billion to prevent teacher layoffs. States could face total budget gaps this year of $120 billion.

The U.S. House of Representatives, in a rare move by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been summoned back from its August recess to vote on the measure. That is expected to happen on Tuesday. The bill would then go to President Barack Obama for his signature. Similar measures previously have passed the House.Republicans say the legislation will add to the deficit and tie states’ hands on how to spend the funds. They have attacked it as a “job-killing tax increase.”

They also say the bill serves “special interest groups,” specifically teachers unions whose members tend to vote for Democrats.Pelosi said that labeling teachers and police officers, who will also benefit from the state aid, is demeaning.”This legislation is about creating and saving American jobs and preventing a double-dip recession,” she said. “It is fiscally responsible and fully paid for.”

Democrats facing a wave of anti-Washington anger hope the bill will convince voters going to the polls on November 2 of their commitment to bring down the U.S. unemployment rate, which is near 10 percent.The fragile economic recovery is foremost on the minds of voters and candidates for the 435 House seats and 37 Senate seats up for grabs.

Although states have been begging for the Medicaid money, they are wary of the teachers’ fund as it requires them to keep education spending at 2008 levels, which many cannot afford.Supporters say the bill will not add to the deficit because it is paid for by closing tax loopholes, eliminating advance refunds on the earned income tax credit and ending stimulus funds for food stamps earlier than expected.

One loophole that would be closed would raise more than $10 billion over a decade by preventing companies from claiming foreign tax credits for income not yet subject to U.S. tax.More than half of the 50 U.S. states counted on the additional funds for Medicaid for fiscal 2011, which started last month for many.

States use federal reimbursements to run the program. The $862 billion economic stimulus plan passed last year boosted the reimbursements, but the extra money runs out in December and states have been considering spending cuts and tax cuts to fill the void.The Medicaid money will also give older people access to healthcare, said AARP, the lobbying group for older Americans.

“States are better able to continue offering the often less costly home and community-based service that older Americans overwhelmingly prefer to more expensive nursing homes,” said the group representing retirees.The healthcare industry generally found reassurance in the Senate vote, saying the extra money will help hospitals and pharmacies continue to provide services.

One state, though, was not pleased. The bill would require Texas to agree to maintain or increase education funding during fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013, in order to receive any of the teacher funds.The federal government was targeting the Lone Star state, said Governor Rick Perry, a Republican running for reelection in November.”Washington would be taking yet another step toward usurping the state’s authority by determining how to fund our schools, and what’s worse, no other state is subject to this provision,” Perry added.(Reuters) –

Facebook to overtake Google as the best technology company to work

Facebook to overtake Google as the best technology company to work. Company social networking site of origin of Palo Alto, Calif. The award from the Business Insider is researching employee opinion IT companies. Facebook employees reported, the company did not provide luxuries like other Silicon Valley companies such as savory dishes or the office is equipped with various entertainment facilities. But Facebook is interesting because of freedom given by the company to employees.

No office politics, a bit obnoxious, middle-class managers, and opportunities to work in different divisions into a plus for employees. The company is also known to have a ‘boot camp’ to speed up new employees in adapting to the company. “Employees here are very smart but humble, making a very supportive work environment to develop new things,” said an employee survey, as quoted from AllFacebook, August 5, 2010.

“Process management is also very good, not much interference. Many of the freedom granted to employees to work on things that interest them and make important decisions. Management also provides a lot of trust and responsibility, “said another employee. In a survey conducted the previous year, Facebook only gets the title ‘Honorable Mention’ for not having enough respondents who reported about how the attitudes of companies and executives.

Google this year ranked second was to enjoy a luxurious office. However, employees reported that they were frustrated with the middle management at the company. Nevertheless, for the survey to comment on the level of employee satisfaction to the top, Google is still better than Facebook. As many as 97 percent of employees are satisfied with the performance of Google’s Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google, while only 92 percent of employees who claimed Mark Zuckerberg worked fine.

Tony Hayward will leave BP at the upcoming October

Prepare “got away” with golden lifeboat when the ship was aground. Maybe that’s the right impression for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of oil company BP, Tony Hayward. When the company he led was a problem with leaking oil wells that pollute waters of the southern United States (USA), Hayward would leave it preached. He did not go empty-handed, but brought abundant coffers. If so leave the British company that Hayward will soon receive a pension amounting to 600 000 pounds sterling per year. Hayward reportedly will leave in October following the BP refinery oil spill tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. According to BP’s pension scheme, as quoted from the page of the BBC, Monday, July 26, 2010, BP employees who joined before April 2006 can receive a pension at any time at the age of 53 years. Hayward, who has worked with BP for 28 years, is entitled to receive the facility.

In addition to pensions, Hayward will also receive one-year salary plus benefits worth more than one million pounds sterling. Thus, the total retirement package to be received later Hayward approximately 11 million pounds sterling. British executives were also able to maintain its shareholding in BP. Those shares could be worth several million pounds sterling depending on the performance of BP shares on the stock.

Although the official announcement from BP will be made on this Tuesday, the news that the Hayward will retire in October will aggressively overseas media reported yesterday. His position will be replaced by a colleague, a U.S. citizen named Robert Dudley. While according to the news, Hayward will be promoted to non-executive positions at BP’s joint venture in Russia. Hayward is one of BP’s boss is reaping a lot of criticism. That followed a statement-related statement handling oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico are considered to offend the local community.

The insurer Humana said Wednesday it will cut about 2,500 positions as it adjusts to a smaller enrollment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. The insurer Humana said Wednesday it will cut about 2,500 positions as it adjusts to a smaller enrollment.Its Medicare enrollment slid 24 percent last year to 3.4 million people, while its commercial enrollment fell 6 percent to roughly the same amount.The Louisville company, however, said it will add 1,100 positions in growth areas like medical-cost containment and pharmacy management.The net loss of 1,400 jobs amounts to 5 percent of its work force. The reductions will come mostly from attrition, outsourcing and job eliminations.Humana said the changes would not affect its 2010 earnings guidance of between $5.15 and $5.35 per share.Humana said it has to align its size with its membership. The insurer’s total enrollment fell 11 percent last year. Humana finished 2009 with about 10.3 million people.Humana Inc. sells commercial insurance and Medicare Advantage plans, administers Medicaid coverage and provides coverage through the military’s Tricare program.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said he’s confident Humana will emerge from the restructuring as “a more efficient and competitive business.” Beshear said the state is ready to assist Humana with the restructuring and help people who lost jobs with the transition to new jobs.”Make no mistake, today’s news is difficult to hear,” Beshear said. “We hope many of those displaced will be employed in these developing positions.”Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said the city will try to lure as many of the 1,100 new positions to Louisville as possible.”I’m hopeful the restructuring will make Humana a stronger company and put it back on the road to the levels of job expansion we have seen in recent years,” Abramson said.Other health insurers also have announced job cuts over the past several quarters. Insurers have struggled during the recession with enrollment losses in their employer-based plans, as companies cut jobs and reduced the number of people covered by private insurance.

Aetna Inc. has cut 1,250 jobs since November. WellPoint Inc. and Cigna Corp. also have cut more than 1,000 jobs since the recession started.Humana said the reduction will help it create “a more efficient, agile infrastructure,” while also giving it resources to invest in growth opportunities.Humana earned $250.7 million, or $1.48 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2009 on $7.63 billion in revenue.The company’s commercial segment reported a wider fourth-quarter pretax loss mainly due to a higher percentage of premiums going to cover medical claims along with other higher expenses. Chief Operating Officer Jim Murray said earlier this month Humana was “stepping back and reorganizing our commercial business.”(AP)

British Airways cabin crews will strike over the busy Christmas period

British Airways

LONDON  British Airways cabin crews will strike over the busy Christmas period, throwing the plans of thousands of holiday makers into uncertainty.The Unite union said Monday crew members plan to walk off the job on Dec. 22 and strike for 12 days.The union says 92.5 percent of the workers who voted were in favor of the action.BA staff members are unhappy about layoffs and changes in work practices that they argue have been illegally imposed by the airline.

BA has announced sweeping changes as part of its bid to cut costs after suffering big losses amid lower demand for travel during the global recession. It says plans to axe thousands of jobs, freeze pay for current staff and offer lower wages for new employees are necessary for its survival.

http://www.youtube.com/v/7vmmbcNNgbM&rel=0&fs=1

a fatal Afghan airstrike ordered by German forces

Former German Defense Minister and current Labor Minister Franz Josef Jung has resigned over a fatal Afghan airstrike ordered by German forces, the Labor Ministry said Friday.It comes the day after the head of the German army stepped down over the same incident.The resignation of Gen. Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the army’s chief of staff, came after Germany’s Bild newspaper reported he knew civilians could be killed when the Sept. 4 airstrike was ordered.The attack in the northern province of Kunduz killed at least 90 people, according to reports at the time. Bild said 142 people were killed. Local Afghan officials said at least half of the dead were civilians, and NATO acknowledged soon afterward that civilians had been killed.

NATO said the death toll is contained in a classified report about the incident that is now in the hands of German authorities.The German commander in the area called in the strike after Afghans tried to siphon fuel from two tankers hijacked by the Taliban a day earlier. The fuel had been earmarked for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).Bild said it had access to confidential documents and it posted a video of the airstrike on its Web site. It said German Col. Georg Klein was not able to rule out the possibility of civilian victims before he ordered the strike.

The newspaper said a report dated Sept. 6 — two days after the strike — made clear that it was impossible for Klein to verify information his informant had provided before he called in the airstrike.Jung said Friday he was taking responsibility for miscommunication following the incident.Bild reported that for days after the incident, Jung — who was then defense minister — repeated that there had been no civilian victims. That was despite Jung having videos and documents that proved the defense ministry knew about civilian victims and also had insufficient information before the strike was ordered, Bild said.

“Although this information painted a completely different picture of events, Minister Jung repeated in newspaper interviews and before Parliament, again and again, that ‘terrorist Taliban exclusively’ had been hit, and that the local commander had had ‘clear information’ that the people by the tankers were exclusively insurgents,” Bild reported.