OSU Students Disrupt Basketball Game to Protest Sodexo-Marriot's treatment of Employees

    March 2nd, Value City Arena at the Ohio State University. It was the last home game of the season and the champsionship game of the Big-Ten and OSU fans were out in droves, but there were a group of students who had more to say than beat Illinois. During the 2nd half of the game a group of students wearing purple SEIU (service employees international union) shirts pulled out banners and signs saying CLEAN UP SODEXO while chanting "O-H-I-O Clean Up Sodexo". The arena security were none too happy with the banners and proceeded to take them away from the protestors. After the banners were gone another round of chanting was cut premature as the threat came from security that there would be repurcussions for OSU students if they didn't stop. The irony of students potentially being in trouble for chanting at a OSU game was not lost on many. The crowd in general was confused and annoyed that people were disrupting their viewing experience but at this point the buckeyes were already up 9 points and there wasn't excitement happening on the court.

    This action was the the latest in a campaign by students supporting Sodexo workers who primarily work in the food service behind the scenes at the Arena. Two days prior a group of students met with Gordon Gee's assistant Kate Wolford to address the many issues they have with Sodexo's treatment of it's employees. Some of the concerns are employees get poverty-level wages, sub-par health coverage and no annual percentage raises. This is a cost-cutting measure at OSU that enables them to take advantage of workers that are making far less than they would if they were OSU employees and enjoying far less benefits. Organizers say this will not be the last action as they continue to support the effort of Sodexo employees to unionize.

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Indymedia.us and the EFF successfully fight back against bogus FBI subpoena

Indymedia.us is happy to announce that we've managed, after nearly a year of legal action on our behalf by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to successfully fight back against a bogus subpoena request issued by the FBI in conjunction with a grand jury investigation. The request demanded we turn over all IP address logs for a day in June of 2008 - not only did Indymedia.us object to this blatantly illegitimate and overly broad request, but, per accepted Indymedia best practices, we do not keep such logs in the first place, in order to maximally ensure the privacy of our site users.

On the idea of the United States as a non-super-power

I am not suggesting that the United States should walk on eggshells or otherwise cater to our enemies or adversaries, nor am I embracing the idea that the United States is the villain in global affairs.

Rather, I am suggesting that members of the US general public not believe in absurdities regarding US foreign policy or otherwise embrace cartoonish or simplistic ideas about US foreign policy.

Maybe coming to terms with the likelihood that the United States will sooner or later lose its super-power status is a good idea, in terms of preserving quality of life in our society. No empire in history has lasted forever.

Are Senior Meal Providers Linked to Pork Producers In their Unhealthy Offerings

Are Senior Meal Providers Linked to Pork Producers In their Unhealthy Offerings

The privately owned Area Office on Aging, based in Unionstown Ohio,
seems to be aligned with Pork Producers in the senility engendering
meals it is approving for seniors.
In 4 days of 1 week, ham, bacon, pork and pork were featured,
with their high cholesterol, amyloid plaque (cause of Alzheimers's), ecoli,
uric acid, bacteria, antibiotics, hormones, food dyes etc. In aeddition these foods cause global heating, animal agony, energy waste, deforestation, pollution of our water system.

Mature Services is another group promoting food guaranteed to send
seniors out of their bodies earlier than God's design.

Answering the union's call while bargaining with city hall

 

 

Over forty-five members of CMAGE/CWA Local 4502 flooded the Columbus City Council Session last Monday night, October 19th 2009. The Union represents workers from all departments of the City of Columbus, including the Columbus Police and Fire Departments and Parks and Recreation, and includes professional and technical staff and supervisors.