More than 400,000 people turned
out for the People's Climate March in New York City on Sunday, just days before
many of the world's leaders are expected to debate environmental action at the
United Nations climate summit.
It was the largest climate march in
history, fbigger than the Forward on Climate rally held in Washington, D.C in
2013. Environmentalists including Bill McKibben, Jane Goodall and Vandana
Shiva, Leonardo DiCaprio,marched
alongside policymakers such as Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and former Vice President Al Gore were also there, and more than 550
buses carried in people from around the country.
New Report: World Leaders Call For Ending Criminalization of Drug Use and Possession and Responsible Legal Regulation of Psychoactive Substances
September 8th 2014, MOMA, New York City, the former
presidents of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland
join UN officers and others to call for the end of drug criminalization. They
are also calling for legal and regulated use of psychoactive substances.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy is
releasing Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work, a new,
groundbreaking report at a press conference in New York City. The event will be
live-streamed and speakers include former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, former Colombian President
César Gaviria, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, Richard Branson and
others.The Commissioners will then meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
and UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson in the afternoon following the
press conference.
The report reflects the evolution in the
thinking of the Commissioners, who reiterate their demands for
decriminalization, alternatives to incarceration, and greater emphasis on
public health approaches and now also call for permitting the legal regulation
of psychoactive substances. The Commission is the most distinguished group of
high-level leaders to ever call for such far-reaching changes.
Text from: onebillionrising.org/ One Billion
Rising is the beginning of the new world ignited by a new energy. It is not the
end of a struggle but the escalation of it. NOW is the time to enact change.
This is NOT an annual holiday, we are not waiting until 14 February 2014. NOW
is the time to harness the power of your activism to change the world!
If you want
to know where to direct your energies right now, you can stage a
V-Day
benefit in your community - visit vday.org/our-work/college-community-campaigns
today!
VICTORIES
Brought together
people across movements and causes – mobilizing communities such as migrants,
women in prison, domestic workers, urban poor, LGBTQI, farm workers, the
disabled, and many more.
Created the
opportunity for councils of indigenous women to participate in global problem
solving.
Created
global solidarity and strength cutting across borders, races, class, religions,
sexual orientation, ages, genders. Reignited solidarity between women's
organizations in various countries. Rekindled the ethos of sisterhood amongst
women on a global scale.
Brought to
the surface the intersection of issues both causing and affecting violence
against women: patriarchy, poverty, corporate greed, environmental plunder,
imperialist policies, religion, militarization, interventions of outside
countries, immigration, labor export policies, nationalization of industries,
political repression.
Engaged
masses on a deeper, more embodied level through dancing, poetry, singing, and
art.
Produced
massive media exposure, discourse, and advocacy on violence against women
issues. It also created or was the catalyst for the development of millions of
women citizen social media journalists telling their own narratives by picking
up cameras.
Created
solidarity and safe and free space, through our creativity and numbers, for
violated women to tell their stories, many for the first time, and heal their
trauma by dancing in public, communal open spaces.
Inspired
millions of men to stand and rise as our allies, deconstructing patriarchy
alongside us.
Galvanized
and empowered legislators to generate legislation in support of ending violence
against women and girls globally. Created an opportunity for globally linked
women’s councils to lobby at all levels of government and UN.
Increased
funding and support for programs and education to end violence and women and
girls.
Made
violence against women impossible to ignore and never to be marginalized again.
Reminded the world that women united will never be defeated.
Generated
the best collection of worldwide dance videos ever
Moro de
Providencia is a place of which the name has become synonymous for violence in
Rio de Janeiro. However the reason this favela (shantytown) located in the
center of Rio appeared on television screens in August 2008 wasn’t the regular
scenes of clashes between drug dealers and the police but to present the art
exhibition Women.
In order to
pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society but who are the
primary victims of war , crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism, JR
pasted huge photos of the faces and eyes of local women all over the outside of
the favela, suddenly giving a female gaze to both the hill and the favela.
“It’s a
project made of bric-a-brac, like the favela itself. We had to adapt to this
world where the roofs of houses are made of plastic and children’s revolver are
made of steel. We managed to get by in spite of the steep streets, the unsteady
houses, the unpredictable electric cables and the exchanges of gunshots where
the bullets sometimes go through several houses at once”, says JR.
By Jonathan Lister, eHow Contributor and Samantha Volz.
Maternity leave laws in the state of New York are primarily determined by the federal government. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 governs when an employee may leave work to care for a newborn child and what benefits are extended by an employer during this time. An employer can offer additional maternity leave benefits to an employee, but no existing law requires it. The Family Medical Leave Act, requires all United States employers to provide leave and benefits for its employees for maternity leave. This includes mothers giving birth, fathers who want to be home for the childbirth and couples adopting children. Individual states have been able to implement their own laws adding to this act, and New York features a few variations on the national law. Photo: Fabio Verani Read more: New York State Maternity Leave Laws |
A group of 75 gun-control activists marched on the NRA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters on Monday, denouncing the organization with chants of “Shame on the NRA!” and deeming it responsible for the thousands of Americans who die each year as a result of gun violence.
“More than anyone else, the NRA is responsible for the more than 12,000 people murdered by guns every year in this country,” said Josh Nelson, campaign manager for the progressive CREDO Action group that organized the protest, adding: “We call on the NRA’s lobbyists to stand down and allow Congress to pass common-sense gun laws.”
One protester held a sign reading “SHUT DOWN TERRORIST-ENABLING NRA. FREEZE ASSETS” on one side, and “KILL THE 2ND AMENDMENT. NOT CHILDREN” on the other. The group repeatedly chanted “Shame on the NRA!”
But long-time activists among the group — which skewed older and white — said they were also filled with optimism about the chances of movement on gun control. In a speech Sunday night, President Barack Obama said the country was not doing enough to protect its children. On Monday morning, NRA-backed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) called for action on gun control.
Martina Leinz, the president of the Northern Virginia chapter of the Million Mom March, was blunt when asked why gun control’s time had arrived.
“Twenty dead six-year-olds,” she said, referring to Friday’s massacre. “It’s just too horrible.”
“Now is the moment,” said Leinz, who has been working for gun control since the first Million Mom March 12 years ago. “Obama has the political will now, and the country is united behind him to stop the carnage.”
Eddie Weingart, a 34-year-old man who held a simple sign reading “I AM A VICTIM OF GUN VIOLENCE,” said he had been attending pro-gun control protests since he was 14. Weingart’s mother was killed by her ex-husband when he was only two years old. Weingart said the man turned the gun on him, but it malfunctioned, saving his life.
While he has seen the movement’s ranks grow after each previous mass shooting — Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Ariz., and Aurora, Colo. — he said he was more confident in action now than ever before.
“It’s raised my optimism,” Weingart said of the response. “I really believe that this is going to be addressed.”
“As long as the NRA is going to keep going the way they are — in silence and denial — we’re going to keep seeing this,” Weingart added.
The group marched the short distance from Spirit of Justice Park near the Capitol to the NRA’s federal lobbying headquarters on 1st Street SE.
There were no counterprotesters, except for a single man who repeatedly yelled “Arm The Teachers” out a nearby window before coming outside and bellowing the same slogan. (The NRA has kept silent since the massacre, shutting down its Facebook page and avoiding Twitter.)
“The truth is that if there was one teacher or principal armed, they could’ve end the violence with one shot,” said Larry Ward, the president of Political Media, a GOP advertising firm with offices on the same block as the protest.
While organizers managed to keep most of the protesters away from Ward, they couldn’t stand in the way of the media, which rushed over to cover the lone gun-rights supporter.
“Folks, what we’re here for is over here,” march organizer Andrew Nazdin said to reporters, pointing back to the mass of protesters.
The U.S. Department of Labor requires covered employers to comply with the federal government's sick leave policies. Employers with at least 50 full-time employees within 75 miles, employers who provide public health-care services, hospitals, state and local governments and schools must comply with the Family Medical Leave Act. Under the federal law, employers must provide their employees with job restitution and continued group health-care benefits for qualified medical emergencies or qualified service-member family emergencies. Employers must provide their employees with up to 12 weeks of excused absence annually for medical emergencies and up to 26 weeks of excused absence for military-related emergencies. Medical emergencies include those that are not commonplace, such as seasonal allergies or colds. Excused military leave allows family members to use time away from work to take care of their injured service-member dependents.
New York Family Leave Requirement
Although each state is free to enact legislation that requires employers to provide paid leave to their employees, most states do not. New York's wage and hour regulations do not include mandatory paid leave. Employers in New York do not have to provide their employees with paid leave. However, according to the New York State Department of Labor, employers who voluntarily provide these benefits must allow their employees to use paid leave as part of their Family and Medical Leave allowance.
New York Labor Law
Under New York Labor Law Section 195(5), employers must notify their employees of their fringe-benefit policies through written correspondence or written public posting. Their policies become contractually binding, and they must honor their agreements to provide their employees with paid leave. Employers must allow their employees to use any paid leave during their excused family and medical leave absences. Conversely, under the federal labor laws, employers also have the right to require their employees to use paid leave before taking unpaid leave.
State Temporary Disability
New York provides its residents with a unique set of discrimination insurance protections. Under the state's disability insurance laws, employers are required to purchase short-term disability insurance coverage for their employees. Although the federal Family Medical Leave Act provides employees with job security and continuing health benefits, it does not provide them with paid leave. However, under the state law, New York employers must allow their employees who suffer off-the-job injuries to apply for insurance coverage. As such, employees may receive disability compensation and receive medical benefits under the federal leave laws. Normally, the short-term disability state law does not require employers to provide their employees with medical benefits.
Considerations
Since employment laws can frequently change, do not use this information as a substitute for legal advice. Seek advice through an attorney licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction.
