#Sidney's Picks: Anti-Union Liberals; Bangladeshi Murder Mystery; and the Wal-March | Hillman Foundation

Clear It With Sidney

The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein

#Sidney's Picks: Anti-Union Liberals; Bangladeshi Murder Mystery; and the Wal-March

  • Sarah Jaffe of AlterNet calls out five supposedly liberal pundits for bashing the striking Chicago teachers.
  • Bangladeshi labor organizer Aminul Islam disappeared on April 4, after an extended campaign of police harassment. His tortured body was found a few days later. Many believe Islam was murdered for trying to organize workers at local Tommy Hilfiger and American Eagle factories. Four months later a lead surfaced: On the day he disappeared, a man with suspected intelligence ties showed up and asked Islam to officiate his wedding. Islam left with him in a rickshaw and was never seen again.
  • President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered an investigation into a fire that killed 258 garment workers in the Pakistani capital of Karachi, Businessweek reports. Labor activists have been pushing for an investigation and compensation for the families of the victims.
  • About 100 warehouse workers from the Inland Empire set out on a 50-mile “Wal-March” to protest wages and working conditions at Wal-Mart warehouses, Thursday.

[Photo credit: Wander Mule, Creative Commons.]