New York Construction Workers United and AALDEF Launch Campaign to Stop Wage Violations in Trades Jobs

New York, NYFour lawsuits for unpaid wages involving six immigrant construction workers and five contractors were filed today on behalf of the workers by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) in federal and New York State court. The workers, all members of New York Construction Workers United (NYCWU), say that after long hours of work in dangerous conditions, they were sent home without pay. The legal action signifies the growing organizing among South Asian laborers, a relatively new, but fast growing ethnic workforce in New York City s massive construction industry.

NYCWU and AALDEF held a press conference earlier today with the workers.

Kalvinder Samra, a Sikh immigrant from India , performed masonry and construction work at a public school in Queens over the course of nine weeks in 2004. For his work, Mr. Samra was paid only $1,000 by his contractor employer. Our incomes are low. Sometimes we have to work with our bare hands because the contractor wont give us equipment. And there is so much discrimination in who gets hired, so we dont always get steady work, said Mr. Samra. Mr. Samra also says that physical threats and harassment on the job are common. He hopes that other workers will see his coming forward as a sign that they must also. We have to fight together for justice and real change in our industry.

Balvinder Singh, a Sikh immigrant...

UPDATE:

We received alot of positive feedback to our posting of Guy Kawasaki's Spring, 2013 talk at the UC Berkeley Startup Competition (Bplan).

The former chief evangelist of Apple and co-founder of Garage Technology Ventures is such a good speaker that you wanted to hear more of him.  He was the keynote speaker at the first Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond in 2005, and its timeless. 

You can click on the top blue headline to the full story and his video or click here. In his keynote, "The Art of the Start" he gives insight into the characteristics that make a successful start-up.

His first test is, "Are you making "meaning?"  He finds that the start-ups which have the highest chance of success are created by people who have a mission. He says they want to make "meaning" and not money. He feels the entrepreneurs who more often succeed are those who want to change the world. They want to make the world a better place, to improve the quality of life, to right a wrong, to fix something and change it to make it better, or they want to prevent the end of something good. 

He urged his audience of students to be "Prototypers" not typists. He was referring to entrepreneurs who create things, or develop something, versus those who merely write a business plan with a mission statement. 

Kawasaki says, "Get going." "As an entrepreneur - Think different. Don't look...

Dell Shares Minority Supplier Best Practices During China Visit

ROUND ROCK, Tex.--(U.S. ASIAN WIRE) --June 14, 2007 Dell is a lead sponsor of this week's National Minority Supplier Diversity Council Mission to China. The objective of the Mission is for businesses to share information about how to develop partnerships with historically underutilized Chinese suppliers. As a leader in the Mission's group, Dell shared practices that help promote Chinese economic development and growth for local communities. Read more about Dell's role during the Mission and other recent Dell activities in China at http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archiv e/2007/06/14/18180.aspx (English) http://chinese.direct2dell.com/archive/20 07/06/14/656.aspx (Chinese).

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/c onversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

Corporate Asian Women's Leadership Conference 2007

"Born to Lead: Corporate Asian Women Trailblazers", a panel discussion and networking reception sponsored by the Asian Women In Business (AWIB), takes place on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at One Time Warner Center, 10th Fl. in New York City.

CNN Correspondent Alina Cho moderates the panel of top Asian women executives who will be sharing their insights and strategies on opportunities, challenges and other issues of concern to Asian women in Corporate America. The speakers represent a broad spectrum - from media to finance to consumer products - bringing a wealth of unique experiences to address issues that affect Asian women across the board. The event is the third annual conference organized by Asian Women In Business as it continues a dialogue on issues impacting corporate Asian women.

Panel Participants
Yvonne Chan, Partner, Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Michelle Kim, VP, Chief Counsel, Time Warner Cable
Punita Kumar-Sinha, Senior Managing Director, The Blackstone Group
Seong Ohm, Senior Vice President, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc

Launched in 2005, AWIB's Corporate Initiative has been a forum for corporate women to share their experiences, raise concerns and network. This year's event is being held in partnership with Time Warner.

Attendance is by invitation only. A suggested contribution of $35.00 will go towards the AWIB Scholarship Fund to support female Asian college students. For more...

Democratic Candidates to Appear on ALL AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL FORUMS ON PBS moderated by Tavis Smiley

(U.S. ASIAN WIRE via BLACK PR WIRE)-- June 11, 2007

Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Senator Joe Biden, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, former U.S. Senator John Edwards, former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Senator Barack Obama and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will appear on a live broadcast of "All-American Presidential Forums" on PBS, moderated by Tavis Smiley, from the Howard University Cramton Auditorium in Washington DC on JUne 28, 2007 (9pm-10:30pm ET)

The "All-American Presidential Forums" on PBS is an historic broadcast marking the first time that a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color will be represented in primetime. Tavis Smiley, along with journalists Michel Martin of National Public Radio , nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. and USA Today and Gannett News Service columnist DeWayne Wickham, will question candidates on issues ranging from healthcare and housing to Katrina relief, the economy and the environment, among others, as outlined in the #1 The New York Times best-seller, Covenant With Black America .

(A second forum for Republican presidential candidates will be held on September 27, 2007, on the campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.)