Strike Locally, March Globally

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College has less than one week to avert a strike. Members of the faculty union, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), unanimously authorized a walkout that would begin Tuesday if a new contract isn’t in place before the current one expires at midnight Monday. The union voted 118-12 in favor of accepting the recommendations of a fact-finder appointed by the State Employment Relations Board. The fact-finder’s report includes a strong endorsement of the importance of maintaining tenure-track faculty positions at Cincinnati State, according to Pam Ecker, president of the Cincinnati State Chapter of AAUP.

The college’s board of trustees is scheduled to meet Thursday. If the board also approves the fact-finder’s report, contract negotiations are essentially completed, Ecker says. If the board rejects the fact finder’s report, negotiations can resume until the strike deadline.

Nearly 96 percent of Cincinnati State’s 181 full-time faculty are AAUP members. The first faculty contract at Cincinnati State went into effect in 1990. In both 1993 and 1996, negotiations concluded a few hours before strike deadlines.

Now is the time to speak out against the Bush regime’s war on Iraq. The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC) has reserved a 47-passenger bus for the National Mobilization Against the War, organized by United for Peace and Justice, which organized the massive protests against the Republican National Convention last year (see “Gangs of New York,” issue of Sept. 1-7, 2004). The IJPC bus leaves Cincinnati at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 23, travels through the night and arrives in Washington, D.C., in time for the legal march and rally. The bus leaves about 7 p.m. on Sept. 24 and returns early the next morning.

The cost is $65; limited scholarships are available. To make reservations, call 513-579-8547. If you can’t go but want to support the peace movement, send donations to Sept. 24 Bus to DC, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, 215 E. 14th St., Cincinnati, OH, 45202. For details about the National Mobilization Against the War, visit unitedforpeace.org.

Bullshit Worthy of Your Attention
The American Family Association (AFA) — the right-wing group that last year organized a boycott of Procter & Gamble for supporting repeal of the anti-gay Article 12 of the Cincinnati City Charter — has declared this “National ‘Truth For Youth’ Week.” The organization is distributing free copies of the New Testament that include full color comics packed with “absolute truths” about evolution, “sexual purity,” homosexuality, abortion and “secular Rock music.”

To sample the comics — some of which are a hoot — visit truthforyouth.com. After you do that, call 800-733-4737 and tie up their hotline for a little while. Ask questions about dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark, why God made some people gay or lesbian and other questions sure to stump the fundamentalists answering the phone. Do it for the children.

The Rev. Charlie Winburn wants voters to think that, if they elect City Councilman David Pepper mayor of Cincinnati, their worst fears will be realized: 98u will come after them with baseball bats, a gun and an ’80s time-warp jeans jacket, collar up. Hold on, that’s not 98u, it’s … New Kids on the Block? Backstreet Boys? Silly CityBeat, that’s not a boy band at all. It’s Winburn’s idea of a gang of thugs.

“David Pepper wants to be mayor, but he doesn’t want you to know the truth about crime in Cincinnati,” proclaims the front of Winburn’s four-page, full color glossy brochure.

The truth must be that Cincinnati’s criminal element shops at United Colors of Benetton. Hangin’ tough for the photo op are four of the prettiest, most clean-cut gang members never to terrorize the West End. No tatts, no piercings, no do-rags, no baggy white Ts. Pants jacked up above the hips. So as not to be racially insensitive, Winburn apparently also invited Bob Saget’s little brother to pose. He looks like an annoyed frat boy more likely to speak to the manager about the overcooked steak than pound in anyone’s head.

Inside, Winburn makes hay of the rise in crime during Pepper’s tenure as chair of city council’s Law and Public Safety Committee. Then, for good measure, Winburn also throws in the worst picture ever taken of Pepper, who’s disheveled and talking on a cell phone while clutching a half-eaten sandwich in one hand and what looks like a can of orange Faygo in the other.

This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2005.