Experiments with truth: 09/29/09
- More than 40 musicians took part in a flash mob protest at the Oakland Whole Foods on Friday to protest CEO John Mackey’s recent comment that health care is not a human right. They gathered in the back of the store and began performing a take off of Toni Basil’s 1982 pop hit “Hey Mickey”, only changing the lyrics to address Mackey.
- A group referring to itself as the “Greenwash Guerrillas” dropped a banner that read “UN: Cap + Trade is a Dead End” over Manhattan’s 42nd street bridge on Friday, which halted a caravan of police-escorted limousines and SUVs carrying UN delegates. The group then dropped leaflets onto the stalled traffic articulating their demands
- Following vocal public protests and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s threat to have state employees launch a boycott, Hyatt Hotels has agreed to offer new jobs with health coverage and the same pay to the nearly 100 housekeepers it laid off at three Boston hotels.
- The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals held a rally outside Temple University Hospital Monday to protest what they are describing as the health system’s “bad faith approach” to contract negotiations.
- Around 20 demonstrators in Edinburgh, Scotland blocked garbage trucks being used by private contractors for the third time since last week to protest the use of nonunion workers by the city.
- More than 1,000 hotel workers and their supporters rallied in San Francisco on Friday to campaign for a fair contract. Over 100 were arrested while participating in a nonviolent sit-in.
