Turkey’s two major unions—which consist of roughly 800,000 workers—went on a one-day strike on Monday to show solidarity with the protesters who were evicted from Gezi Park on Saturday night. Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler denounced the strike as “illegal.” Sporadic clashes between police and protesters continued in Istanbul, where police violently removed protesters on Saturday night ahead of a rally in support of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At Sunday’s rally, Erdogan told hundreds of thousands that the two weeks of countrywide protests had been manipulated by “terrorists” and denied that he was behaving like a dictator. Meanwhile, the president of the Turkish medical association told the BBC that five doctors and three nurses had disappeared since treating the protesters.

Al Jazeera:

The Turkish deputy prime minister has said that the army could be deployed to halt protests that have swept the nation over the past two weeks.

Bulent Arinc on Monday said the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) could be pressed into action if the police failed to restore order.

"What is required of us is to stop if there is a protest against the law. Here is the police, if not enough gendarme, if not TSK," he said in a televised interview to the A Haber channel.

The threat came as members of two union federations in Turkey went on a one-day strike over the forced evictions of protesters from Istanbul's Gezi Park a day earlier.

Labour groups representing doctors, engineers and dentists are also said to have joined the strike on Monday. The striking groups represent about 800,000 workers.

The Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the strike was "illegal" and warned of police action.

The call for the strike came as police and protesters clashed sporadically in Istanbul overnight following a weekend of scuffles in the city.
Riot police, some in plain clothes and carrying batons, backed by a helicopter, fired teargas and chased groups of rock-throwing youths into side streets around the iconic Taksim Square and Gezi Park late on Sunday night, trying to prevent them from regrouping.

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Chilean police used water canons and tear gas to break up a demonstration calling for more wide-ranging and free education. The protests on Tuesday came as President Sebastian Piñera defended his record in a final state of the nation address to Congress. He recounted his success of creating jobs and announced educational reforms. Demonstrators included students and members of left-wing movements and unions who are fighting against neo-liberal policies and inequality in Chile.

Via Al Jazeera

The House Republican bill H.R. 1406 is the latest in a string of GOP attacks on workers' rights. The bill would force an unnecessary choice between overtime pay that workers rely on and time off that they may never be able to take advantage of. H.R. 1406 -- the "Working Families Flexibility Act" -- would give employers the ability to offer compensatory time off in exchange for any overtime wages the worker has earned.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday that they say gives workers more time off - rejecting criticism from the White House, unions, women's groups and others that the measure is a sham that would force more work for less pay.

Backed by business (There's a shocker.), the bill is part of an effort by budget-slashing Republicans to project a "kinder and gentler image," particularly with women and working families.

On a nearly party-line vote of 223-204, the House approved the measure and sent it to the Senate where President Barack Obama's majority Democrats appear certain to kill it.

The bill would permit workers in the private sector, like those now in the public sector, to swap overtime pay for compensatory time off. They would get 1-1/2 hours time off for each hour of overtime, based on a standard 40-hour work week.

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They work for some of the biggest businesses in the United States, yet they are among the nation's lowest-paid workers.

On Thursday, hundreds of fast-food workers staged protests at McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell and other restaurants in New York City to call attention to their plight. Organizers scheduled the job actions to commemorate the day Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 45 years ago in Memphis, where he was supporting a strike by sanitation workers.

Burger King and McDonald's said in statements to Reuters that most restaurants in their chains are independently owned and operated, and offer compensation consistent with industry standards.

As many as 400 workers from more than five dozen restaurants around New York City committed to turn out for protests planned at various locations throughout the day, said Jonathan Westin, director of Fast Food Forward.

Today’s planned work stoppage represents a major escalation by Fast Food Forward, a campaign spearheaded by the community organizing group New York Communities for Change.

The current minimum wage in New York is $7.25 an hour. New York has passed an increase in the minimum wage to $9 per hour which goes into effect...in 2016. The fast-food workers are seeking $15 per hour now.

Fast food workers deserve union representation, said Richard Trumka, national president of the AFL-CIO, who stopped by the Wendy's protest.

"They're being mistreated, they're being underpaid, they're going to stand together until they get fair treatment and we're going to stand with them," Trumka said.

Several protesters wore signs that said "I am a man" or "I am a woman," echoing placards carried in Memphis in 1968.

Via OccupyWallSt:

The Great Hall at Cooper Union in lower Manhattan was packed, standing room only on this November 22nd, 1909 day. Garment workers from all over the city came to the same auditorium where Abraham Lincoln had denounced the proliferation of slavery nearly fifty years earlier. They were there to consider an industry-wide strike in support of the striking Triangle Shirtwaist Factory workers. Union leaders (men) droned on for nearly two hours, when suddenly a 23 year old, immigrant union organizer named Clara Lemlich burst up onto the stage uninvited, and said, “I would like to say a few words.” She then turned to her audience and said, “I have listened to all the speakers and I have no further patience for talk. I am a working girl, one of those striking against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in generalities. What we are here for is to decide whether or not to strike. I offer a resolution that a general strike be declared now!” Her peers were wildly supportive. She then led a modified version of an old Jewish oath, “If I turn traitor to the cause, I now pledge may this hand wither from the arm I now raise.” And so began what was soon known as The Uprising of 20,000. The next day, all over the city garment workers walked off their jobs, and met in Union Square Park for a solidarity rally. The eleven week strike saw over 700 arrests. Strikers were being beat by company-hired thugs, and prostitutes, and police often turned their backs, and in some cases even participated in the beatings. Finally it ended with a Peace Protocol, with the hundreds of clothing manufacturers making different deals with their workers. Many companies became union shops where only union workers could be hired. The owners of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory resisted, giving in to only modest wage and hour concessions. The unsafe, over-crowded conditions remained the same at Triangle with doors only opening inward, shabbily constructed fire escapes, a barrel of oil stored on the floor, cloth tailings that were not removed on a regular basis, and incredibly exit doors that were locked during working hours.

Then late in the afternoon on a beautiful spring Saturday (March 25th, 1911), while having tea with a friend near Washington Square Park a woman named Frances Perkins suddenly heard screams and sirens going off. She ran across the park and came upon the horrific site of seeing the first of 50-60, mostly women jumping out of the fire engulfed upper floors, of the ten-story Asch building. Triangle Shirtwaist occupied the 8th-10th floors. In the little more than a half hour that fire raged, 146 people died; 129 of them were women; Italian and Jewish immigrants mostly; the average age was 19, and the youngest, Kate Leone and “Sarah” Rosaria Maltese only 14. The bodies were brought to a covered pier on E 26th St so families could conduct the gruesome task of identifying their loved ones, if they could.

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Since their first issue in December 2011, Tidal has made it their practice to give name to our struggle, wrestling with the big ideas that propel us into the streets, with what we should do when we get there, and with where there in fact is.

This Friday, the folks at Occupy Theory will release their fourth issue of the magazine, featuring original pieces by organizers of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Sandy, Strike Debt and Free University. Join them that night for conversation as we move together towards the empowerment that greater clarity and the free exchange of ideas can bring.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy in the News

Jenna Pope documented last Sunday’s Forward on Climate Rally. Beautiful sights--the vistas of activists in D.C. to make their voices heard about climate change--beautifully captured.

Kevin Gosztola writes at FireDogLake’s The Dissenter blog about the recent history of climate change actions and points out just how high the stakes are. Our only hope to defeat the monstrosity of the Keystone XL Pipeline is continued, passionate action, that is to say, “...if everyone demonstrating channeled the spirit of the Occupy movement...”

Les Leopold of the Huffington Post explains why “the raison d’etre for Occupy Wall Street is proving correct. Much of high finance is based on a ‘corrupt business plan.’” Proof of Wall Street’s corruption continues to mount, with ratings agencies on the take, money laundered for drug cartels, and rampant insider trading, among many other ethical and moral malignancies.

On occupywallstreet.net Heather Marsh argues for a society with no financial system at all, a currency-free system in which the endless cycle of excessive consumption and meaningless busywork is ended. The proof that this could work already exists. “With no financial incentives,” Marsh says, “the internet has managed to create collaborative efforts which have pushed the potential of society far beyond what could have been possible before the internet.”

On the OWS Direct Action Blog, Mark Adams gives us the push we need to meet, to talk, to plan for spring.

Revisit Liberty Plaza in full swing in Why We Occupy, an open-source book of interviews gathered in the park in 2011. See the park grow and change in real-time through the heartfelt words of the participants.

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A new ad from AFSCME, SEIU and the NEA, this one It's a Wonderful Life-themed, pins House Speaker John Boehner as the bad guy in fiscal curb negotiations. The ad, backed by a six-figure buy, will run in the districts of Republican Reps. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Mike Coffman of Colorado, John Fleming of Louisiana, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, and Scott Rigell of Virginia, as well as on national cable.

"What will happen if House Speaker John Boehner gets his way on the budget?

Welcome to Boehnerville, where the rich won't pay their fair share; our children's educations will be cut; Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will be put at risk; and the economic recovery would falter.

Call your member of Congress and tell them to stand up for middle-class families. Because in America, everyone deserves a wonderful life."

The ad launched yesterday and will run through the weekend.

And while your making those calls, don't forget to tell President Obama to take Social Security cuts off the table, in current and in future negotiations.

H/T Laura Clawson

It seems Americans for Prosperity wants some more air time on Fox News for their staged and highly edited videos from the "right to work for less" protests in Lansing on Tuesday.

From a press release Thursday morning:

Grassroots activists, innocent bystanders, and coalition groups will gather on the south Capitol lawn today, Thursday, Dec. 13th, at 2:30 p.m., to denounce the endangerment, assault, and trampling on of their first amendment rights by union protestors. The group is demanding “justice” for the episode, which occurred on Tuesday around noon, in which union protestors tore down a tent even as people under the tent struggled to get out from underneath it.

“This goes beyond politics and even the issue of right-to-work,” said Scott Hagerstrom, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Michigan. “It wasn’t our tent; it was our first amendment rights that were trampled on by a mob of angry union protestors. We are calling on union leaders, Mayor Virg Bernero, and others to condemn this sort of violence and intimidation.”

The presser will feature compelling video footage of the event, and activists also hope to bring their tent back to the Capitol lawn for the news conference. Tarver will share his story.

No doubt some of the video footage (or all?) will be from the selectively edited video footage that was revealed by Fox News:

NYT:

"Unfortunately for Mr. Crowder, a look at the video broadcast on the Sean Hannity show appears to show quite clearly that he left out an important section of the footage when he put together his edit. A section of the Fox News broadcast preserved by the Web site Mediaite shows that Mr. Hannity’s producers at Fox News started the clip five seconds earlier than Mr. Crowder did. What the extra footage reveals is the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian."

Or perhaps they will show some of the also highly edited videos that show hot dog vendor Clinton Tarver when "racist union goons" (As Michelle Malkin calls them.) allegedly tear down the right wing group's tent.

As MLive reports, Mr. Tarver was in the wrong place at the wrong time:

A fixture on the local food scene was in the wrong place at the wrong time Tuesday: under the Americans for Prosperity tent on the lawn of the state Capitol when it collapsed, allegedly at the hands of pro-union protesters.

Clinton Tarver operates a popular hot dog stand at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Capitol Avenue, across from the state Capitol, from March to November each year.

In the off-season, he takes on catering work.

Tarver was set up under the Americans for Prosperity tent, his wife, Linda Lee Tarver, said Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, he got caught up in the mayhem yesterday,” she said.Tarver had been hired by the conservative, anti-union group to cater in the tent the group set up.

When the tent came down, allegedly at the hands of pro-union protesters, Tarver and his catering equipment were caught inside.

His cart was not on-site, Linda said.

(Emphasis mine)

No charges have been filed in Mr. Tarver's case or in Crowder's case, according to Michigan State Police:

Meanwhile, community members have rallied to support Tarver, raising more than $10,000 to replace his equipment and offset losses.

Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk, whose agency policed Tuesday's massive demonstrations at and about the Capitol, said no formal complaint has been filed.

"Nobody has come to the State Police to file a complaint, whether it's the hot dog guy or whether it's the people who own the tent," he said. "We need someone to be a complainant, otherwise there's nothing we can do.

"The State Police would gladly take a report, but no one's come forward."

Adamczyk added a Fox News contributor who was punched by a protester also has not filed charges.

Some facts about Mr. Tarver, he happens to be a Republican who supported Mitt Romney, as noted in this article from Slate:

"Romney’s Saturday started off well. He was the star of the Ingham County Lincoln Day breakfast, an eggs-and-coffee-and-county-commissioner-placards affair in the dining room of a Lansing, Mich., country club. Before he spoke, Republicans heard “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by the Old School Fellas, a zoot-suited amateur doo-wop group. “Mitt’s a good, Christian man like I am,” explained Clinton Tarver, wearing the reddest of the zoot suits."

Tarver also happens to be married to the Michigan Republican Party’s Ethnic Caucus Vice-Chair.

All just a big coincidence, no doubt!

Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder has signed into law two highly controversial anti-union bills, officially making the historic union stronghold the 24th so-called "right-to-work" state in the country. On Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators flooded the state Capitol in Lansing to denounce the bill as an organized attack against labor that will lower wages and diminish collective bargaining rights.

Nermeen Shaikh and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! are joined by two people who attended the demonstrations: Katie Oppenheim, a registered nurse and president of the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council, and Andy Potter, state vice president of the Michigan Corrections Organization and the chair of SEIU’s National Republican Member Advisory Committee. We also speak with Lee Fang, a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, about how the bills were pushed through by powerful corporate interests and secretive billionaires.

Michigan lawmakers are also using the lame-duck session to significantly restrict women’s reproductive rights with three bills that would ban abortion coverage in many insurance plans, and another bill that would allow employers and medical professionals to refuse to cover or provide health treatment on moral grounds.

Full transcript available after the jump.

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Video streaming by Ustream

Update: 7:45pm EST: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has reportedly signed the controversial bill banning mandatory union membership Tuesday night. As anger escalated among the estimated 10,000 protesters in Lansing, police donning riot gear arrived with pepper spray, which was used on at least one activist. Police also arrested two demonstrators, and surrounded the Romney State Office Building.

A few photos, and I'll have much more later...

Civil disobedience inside the Capitol rotunda earlier Tuesday.

"Owned by Dick DeVos"

Update 9:20am:

Michigan Avenue, now...

Update 9am EST:

Snyder, GOP leaders to unveil right-to-work legislation plans at 11 am.

Inside the Capitol...

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An amazing crowd in Lansing right now, as the march to the State Capitol building is about to begin! I'm sure there are thousands, but I sure couldn't make a guess from here in the heart of it all beyond that. So many people from outside Michigan here to stand with us in solidarity -- it's truly touching -- thank-you all! A few notes before I'm off:

For anyone wishing to donate pizza to everyone protesting at the Michigan Capitol building, please contact Cottage Inn Pizza at (517) 267-9000 and they will see to it that your order is donated to the hungry, winter warriors.

Email from Progress Michigan (517-999-3646):

"We’re opening our office as a pit stop during the rally tomorrow. If you’re in town, join us at 115 W. Allegan, Floor 7 (above the Biggby), to get warm, grab some hot cocoa, recharge your phone, log onto free WI-FI, and make a quick bathroom break."

Details on the day's events here.

Will update either here on via Twitter @DianeSweet whenever possible.