November, 03 2020, 11:00pm EDT
On Defending Democracy and Advancing Workers' Rights at the Ballot Box and Beyond
Following is a statement by Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project:
"As we await the final results of the presidential election at this pivotal moment for our democracy, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) joins in solidarity with people all around the country who are coming together to defend our democracy and demand that every vote is counted. The will of the voters decides elections.
WASHINGTON
Following is a statement by Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project:
"As we await the final results of the presidential election at this pivotal moment for our democracy, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) joins in solidarity with people all around the country who are coming together to defend our democracy and demand that every vote is counted. The will of the voters decides elections.
"While the huge volume of absentee and early ballots still to be counted may be unique to the 2020 elections, counting absentee ballots after Election Day is not--it happens routinely and is a normal part of the process and must be completed.
"In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and despite deliberate voter suppression comprised of disinformation, attempts to eliminate drop-off locations, intimidation, and white supremacist violence --more than 100 million people voted early. Now, the people who are calling for our democracy to be protected and for every vote to be counted must be kept safe in the days to come, online and on the streets.
"No matter the result of these elections, NELP will contribute to strengthening our democracy by supporting Black, immigrant workers in building power and fighting for a just recovery and secure, stable, and safe jobs.
Results of Key Workers' Rights Proposals Around the Country
"Over the past four years, workers' rights have been under attack while corporations' power has been further consolidated--yet workers and advocates have fought back at the state and local levels. That trend continued this election season with key ballot box efforts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, and Maine.
- In Florida, voters embraced Amendment 2, which will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2026--continuing the momentum of the Fight for $15 movement and making Florida the eighth state (and the second most populous one) to get on the path to $15. Including Florida, 36 percent of the U.S. labor force will now be covered by laws gradually raising the minimum wage to $15. This is a big win for the Fight for $15 movement and shows once again that raising wages for workers in lowest-paid jobs is an issue that all voters can get behind.
- In Maine, voters in two cities--Portland and Rockland--approved measures gradually raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 (and furthermore in Portland, a $22.50 "hazard pay" minimum wage during states of emergency).
- In Colorado, voters approved Proposition 118, the Paid Medical and Family Leave Initiative, which will allow for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave funded through a payroll tax paid by both employers and employees. Workers earning less than half of the state's average pay would get the highest percentage of their salaries, at 90 percent. Under this new law, workers are also protected from employer discipline or retaliation for requesting or using paid leave.
- In Arizona, voters passed Proposition 208, the Invest in Education Act, which will raise teacher salaries by increasing taxes on the state's highest earners.
- California voters, however, passed Proposition 22, the App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative. NELP is proud to be in solidarity with the courageous workers and advocates in California who led the #NoOnProp22 campaign, and with the global movement to defeat these efforts to undermine workers' rights championed by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart. We will continue to fight racist anti-worker laws pushed by corporations that sell labor on apps, and together we will win the protections that Black, immigrant, and all workers need. The passing of Prop 22 means that California app-based workers--notably the Black and Latinx workers who are overrepresented in these jobs--will not be able to claim the rights to fair pay, economic stability, and safety on the job that justly belong to them as employees. The corporations behind the "Yes on Prop 22" campaign resorted to dirty and dangerous online harassment and pressured workers nonstop to vote for their racist business model. Instead of providing basic protections to their workers, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart spent close to $200 million to mislead voters. In spite of Prop 22's passage, NELP is committed to ensuring that all workers have economic security and protections against exploitation.
"As we await the final outcome of the presidential race, people of conscience around the country are rising up and speaking out against disinformation, white supremacist ideology, and voter suppression. We must continue to denounce intimidation and fight against premature cut-offs of the counting process and frivolous lawsuits seeking to invalidate people's votes. At this crucial time, all of us must join together to ensure that every vote is counted and the will of the people is honored and upheld in our democracy."
LATEST NEWS
Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit New Record Levels
"As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere," said one NOAA scientist.
Apr 06, 2024
The three most critical heat-trapping gases in Earth's atmosphere again reached record levels last year, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday, underscoring the inadequacy of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions amid the worsening climate emergency.
NOAA said the three most important human-caused greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide—"continued their steady climb during 2023."
While the levels of these heat-trapping gases did not rise "quite as high as the record jumps observed in recent years," the figures "were in line with the steep increases observed during the past decade."
"We're caught between a rock and a charred place."
Global surface CO2 concentrations averaged 419.3 parts per million (ppm) last year, an increase of 2.8 ppm. It was the 12th straight year in which worldwide CO2 concentrations rose by more than 2 ppm.
Atmospheric methane—which while not as abundant as CO2 is up to 87 times more potent over a 20-year period—increased by 10 parts per billion (ppb) to 1,922.6 ppb, while nitrous oxide rose by 1 ppb to 336.7 ppb.
"As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere," Vanda Grubišić, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory, said in a statement.
According to NOAA:
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere today is comparable to where it was around 4.3 million years ago during the mid-Pliocene epoch, when sea level was about 75 feet higher than today, the average temperature was 7°F higher than in pre-industrial times, and large forests occupied areas of the Arctic that are now tundra.
About half of the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to date have been absorbed at the Earth's surface, divided roughly equally between oceans and land ecosystems, including grasslands and forests. The CO2 absorbed by the world's oceans contributes to ocean acidification, which is causing a fundamental change in the chemistry of the ocean, with impacts to marine life and the people who depend on [it]. The oceans have also absorbed an estimated 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases.
"Methane's decadal spike should terrify us," Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist who heads the Global Carbon Project—which tracks global emissions but wasn't part of the NOAA effort—toldNBC News.
"Fossil fuel pollution is warming natural systems like wetlands and permafrost," Jackson added. "Those ecosystems are releasing even more greenhouse gases as they heat up. We're caught between a rock and a charred place."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Mexico Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Ecuador After 'Intolerable' Quito Embassy Raid
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Apr 06, 2024
Mexico on Friday night announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito and kidnapped former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was granted asylum after being convicted of what he claims are politically motivated corruption charges.
"Alicia Bárcena, our secretary of foreign affairs, has just informed me that police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faces," Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on social media following the raid.
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, which is why I have instructed our chancellor to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally, and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador," he added.
Bárcena said that "given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador."
Mexican officials said multiple embassy staff members were injured during the raid. They also said that all Mexican diplomatic staff will immediately leave Ecuador, and that Mexico would appeal to the International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador accountable.
Roberto Canseco, head of chancellery and policy affairs at the embassy, told reporters that "what you have just seen is an outrage against international law and the inviolability of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador."
"It is barbarism," he added. "It is impossible for them to violate the diplomatic premises as they have done."
Ecuador's government said that Glas—who served as vice president under former leftist President Rafael Correa from 2013-17—was a fugitive who has been "sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system" and had been granted asylum "contrary to the conventional legal framework."
However, Ecuadorian attorney and political commentator Adrián Pérez Salazar toldAl Jazeera that "the fact that there was this grievance does not—at least under international law—justify the forceful breach of an embassy."
"International law is very clear that embassies are not to be touched, and regardless of whatever justifications the Ecuadorian government might have, it is a case where the end does not justify the means," Salazar added.
Numerous Latin American nations including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela condemned the Ecuadorian raid.
"The action constitutes a clear violation of the American Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which, in Article 22, provides that the locations of a diplomatic mission are inviolable and can be accessed by agents of the receiving state only with the consent of the head of mission," the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The measure carried out by the Ecuadorian government constitutes a serious precedent, and must be subject to strong repudiation, whatever the justification for its implementation."
Honduran President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya—who called the raid "an intolerable act for the international community"—said Saturday that she would convene a special emergency session of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Monday. Castro currently serves as CELAC's president pro tempore.
The Organization of American States General Secretariat issued a statement Saturday rejecting "any action that violates or puts at risk the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions and reiterates the obligation that all states have not to invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations."
"In this context, it expresses solidarity with those who were victims of the inappropriate actions that affected the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador," the body added.
It's been a bad week for the inviolability of sovereign diplomatic spaces. Iran and Syria on Monday accused Israel of bombing the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, an attack that killed 16 people including senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders as well as Iranian and Syrian diplomats and other civilians.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Lawyers Sue Germany in Bid to Block Arms Exports to Israel
"There is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes."
Apr 06, 2024
The Berlin-based Lawyers' Collective on Friday sued the German government in an effort to stop weapons transfers to Israel, whose government and military are waging a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second-largest arms exporter to Israel, providing 30% of its imported weaponry from 2019-23. The top exporter, the United States, provided 69% of Israel's imported armaments during that same period.
"As there is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes, the applicants are hereby demanding that the German government protect their right to life," groups supporting the lawsuit—including the European Legal Support Center, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Law for Palestine, and Forensis—said in a statement.
Ahmed Abed, an attorney in the case who is representing Palestinian families, said during a Friday press conference in Berlin that "Germany has a constitutional responsibility to protect human life."
"The German government must stop its arms exports to Israel, as they are in violation of international law," he added. "The government cannot claim that it is not aware of this."
According to the Lawyers' Collective:
In 2023, the German government issued arms exports licenses to Israel worth €326.5 million, the majority of which were approved after October 7, 2023, a tenfold increase compared to 2022. The German government is currently supporting the Israeli army by approving the supply of 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons, 500,000 rounds of ammunition for machine guns, submachine guns, or other fully or semi-automatic firearms, as well as other military equipment, while in early 2024 Germany was preparing the authorization of 10,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition...
The arms deliveries and support provided by the Federal Government to Israel violate the Federal Republic's obligations under the War Weapons Control Act. The criteria for the approval of arms exports include, among other things, that the weapons are not used against Germany's obligations to international law.
The groups said that since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found in January that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, they believe that "the delivery of weapons is contrary to these obligations."
In February, lawyers from some of the same groups involved in the new lawsuit sued senior German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for "aiding and abetting" Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Last month, Nicaragua filed an ICJ lawsuit against Germany accusing its government of helping Israel commit genocide against Palestinians.
In addition to exporting hundreds of millions of euros worth of arms to Israel, Germany also suspended contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in response to unsubstantiated Israeli accusations that 12 of the agency's 13,000 workers in Gaza were involved in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel. This, as Palestinians starve to death.
The German government has been intensely criticized for its nearly unconditional support for Israel and for violently cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests. Numerous observers contend that Germany's actions are driven by historical guilt over the Holocaust, with some critics claiming the German government is weaponizing that guilt in order to demonize Palestinians and their defenders.
The new lawsuit came as the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday voted 28-6 with 13 abstentions in favor of a resolution demanding that Israel be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The United States and Germany were the two biggest countries to vote against the measure.
Palestinian and international human rights officials say at least 33,173 Palestinians—most of them women and children—have been killed by Israel's bombing, invasion, and siege of Gaza since October 7. More than 75,800 others have been wounded, while over 7,000 Gazans are missing and believed dead and buried beneath the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of homes and other structures damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular