AOL Protects Kids from Democrats

America Online provides "youth filters" that are supposed to keep kids out of dangerous websites, but they seem designed to eliminate creeping liberalism. For example, if you've set up AOL to restrict your children to "Kids Only" websites: Your children can easily view the site of the Republican National Committee, but the Democratic National Committee is blocked.

Children can call up the conservative Constitution Party and Libertarian Party, both of which are promoting their own U.S. presidential candidates. But if they attempt to view Ralph Nader's Green Party or Ross Perot's Reform Party, they see only a "not appropriate for children" error.

None of the blocked sites contain depictions of nudity or even models in swimwear. "It's not just indecency that AOL is trying to keep away from children," says Susan Wishnetsky, a Chicago librarian. As a board member of a youth rights organization, Wishnetsky feels the dominant Internet service provider is "eliminating the scope of experience kids have access to."

AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato said that he was "unaware of any conservative bias" in the youth filters used by the service.

History of May Day

The following excerpt is by Neale Towart from a New South Wales cybernewsletter.

"May Day as a modern working class celebration and commemoration began from the 1886 events in Chicago where workers were demonstrating for an eight-hour day. But the day already had special significance for working people before then. As a working peoples celebration its origins go back much further, with connections to Ancient Roman rituals. In pagan Europe it was a festive holy day celebrating the first spring planting. The ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1 as Beltane or the day of fire. Bel was the Celtic god of the sun.

"In the 1700s the Churches banned the pagan rituals, just as bosses today want workers to forget any traditions of solidarity and celebration of workers rights, but many peasants continued the tradition. Church and state were the butt of many jokes at May Day celebrations, and this certainly did not endear the craft guilds and others, who organised celebrations, to the authorities. The Goddess of the Hunt, Diana, and the God Herne led parades. Later, with a move to a more agrarian society, Diana became a fertility goddess, and Herne became Robin Goodfellow, a predecessor to Robin Hood. This also indicated a shift in the division of labour and perhaps to a shift in power relations, with Robin remaining a symbol of the hunter from the woods, while Diana changed from being a hunter to a symbol of the fertility of the fields.

"May Day was popular through to the nineteenth century, with the form of the celebration changing. The two most popular feast days for Medieval craft guilds were the Feast of St. John, or the Summer Solstice and May Day.

"The Diana myth was transformed into the Queen of May, who was elected from the eligible young women of the village to rule the crops until harvest. [Along with] the selection of the May Queen was the raising of the phallic Maypole, around which the young single men and women of the village would dance holding on to the ribbons until they became entwined, with their (hoped for) new love.

"May Day was a celebration of the common people. Priests and lords were the butt of many jokes. Mummers would make jokes and poke fun of the local authorities."

Oregon Temps Organize

Temporary government workers in Oregon cast a groundbreaking vote to unionize on May 11. The 600 temporary state employees voted overwhelmingly to join the Oregon Public Employees Union, Local 503 of the Service Employees International Union. The union told the state it plans to start contract talks in the next few weeks.

"Instead of waiting for the state, we wanted to get to the table and bargain and make changes as soon as possible," said Steve Ward, director of organizing for Local 503. The temp workers want a contract that will include benefits they've long been denied like sick leave and vacation time.

The union also sees the Oregon vote as a warning to private and public employers nationwide that temps won't tolerate being used to perform permanent workers' jobs without adequate compensation.

Exploitation of temps has grown as the bosses try to cut back on payrolls and benefits. In Oregon alone, more than 70,000 workers hold temporary or part-time jobs. But many of them are probably a lot like public planner Joyce Felton who got fed up with her perma-temp status and voted for the union to gain guaranteed job security.

Labor Calendar

This 2001 calendar contains 365 days of exciting labor history dates, information, and images. The 21st annual labor history edition published by Pacific NW Labor History Association will be available by August. The bright red and black calendar features images from the Battle of Seattle and other not-so-recent labor history events. You can get yours by sending a check for $11.25 (includes postage) to PNLHA, PO Box 75048, Seattle WA 98125. PNLHA Y2K members ignore please, you'll be sent one free. Bulk quantities can be shipped directly from printer if prepaid orders received by July 24. Email [email protected] for bulk prices and shipping costs.

A Reason Why

The following report may supply another reason to have a labor party, beyond electoral politics and a few other common senses: A computer deal to deliver home computers and Internet access to Australian workers' homes for less than US$6.50 per week will deliver 66 percent equity to the key stakeholders--which are the New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) Labor Council and NSW ALP (Australian Labor Party). Unions would have a one-third stake in the Labor Council venture--to be called "getonboard.com.au". Key aspects of the proposal include: a personal computer deal involving Gateway computers, the largest supplier in the US home PC market; a suite of Microsoft Word software (including Word); the option to also purchase a Canon bubble-jet colour printer for an extra $1.50 per week, and access to 4,000 popular websites, including most of the top 100 sites, plus access to specialist sites for 30 hours per month in prime time or 60 hours per month off-peak.

International Action

Nine out of ten Argentinean workers stayed home on June 9 in a massive rejection of Inter national Monetary Fund economic policies. The one-day strike shut down the giant South American country, leaving streets in every major city empty and littered with uncollected trash. Tens of thousands of Ecuadorans answered the call for a 48-hour strike beginning June 15. The Coordination of Social Organizations--an umbrella of unions, peasant, and community groups--and the Popular Front initiated the action. The strikers protested President Gustavo Noboa's plans to"dollarize" the economy. Noboa wants to replace the sucre with the U.S. dollar as the national currency. Workers' and peasants' groups charge that the move will decimate their purchasing power. Doctors, teachers, electrical and oil workers, and students joined the protests on the first day. Hundreds of taxi and van drivers blocked traffic in central Dili, the capital of East Timor, on June 7. The transport workers were protesting a fuel price hike. Unionists in Ljuubljana, Slovenia, staged a protest rally against low wages on June 14. The 2,500 workers also called on bosses to take inflation into account in computing raises. Unions complain that wages are too low to support the workers in this former autonomous region of Yugoslavia.

Ross Rieder is President of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association and a union trainer.

"Do you do windows?" We got this nifty postcard in the Free Press mail. the website is soliciting real-life accounts of secretarial life.