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"Union members across the country should take note of Wal-Mart's support of mea- sures like "right to work" before they spend any of their union wages at Wal-Mart stores." Oklahoma rejected a right-to-work law in 1964, when Martin Luther King, Jr, came to campaign against the proposal. This time around, however, powerful right- wing interests combined with Wal-Mart to push the initiative. The Daily Oklahoman contributed advertising space and Governor Frank Keating and US Senator Don Nickles campaigned in support of passage. (Source: Madison Capital Times, August 2001) rolled back or even rescinded as a result of inefficiency and abuses. While most state correctional officials are aware of the problems, the federal gov- ernment continues to expand contracts with the private prison industry. Private prison industry officials make significant cam- paign contributions and their lobbyists have spread their influence widely in Congress. High-ranking private prison company offi- cials have served as directors of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) under former Presidents Reagan and Bush. (Sources: The American Prospect, September 10, 2001; The Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2001) fattened up and sold for slaughter. The meat is then exported to European and Asian markets for human consumption. (Source: The Animals’ Agenda, March/April 2001) 24: Wal-Mart Takes Union Busting to the State Level Wi has been pouring a consider- able amount of money into a political campaign supporting a law that will reduce the wages and benefits for workers in Oklahoma. Oklahomans voted on the "right-to-work" law in September 2001. The law bans labour contracts that require workers to pay union dues or representa- tion fees. The law also makes it difficult for unions to negotiate solid contracts. Wal-Mart hopes to use Oklahoma as a model for a renewed campaign to reduce the wages and benefits for workers nation- wide. This campaign will inevitably under- mine the ability of unions to organise effec- tively. The right-to-work law has union members angered and concerned, as expressed by a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: 25: US Federal Government Bails Out Private Prisons F’ close to a decade, the private prison industry was booming because state legislators thought they could be both tough on crime and fiscally conservative by contracting with private prisons. However, private prisons have been rife with more abuse and lawsuits than state-run prisons, leading to a decline in state-level support. By last year, not a single state solicited pri- vate contracts and many contracts were Editor's Note: Our coverage of Project Censored's top 25 news stories for 2001-2002 is extracted and edited from Censored 2003, published by Seven Stories Press (see review this edition and visit the website http://www.sevenstories.com). For additional background on these news stories, and to submit your pick of the news to the Project Censored team, visit their informative website, http://www. projectcensored.org. 74 = NEXUS Project Censored: The Most Undercovered News in America Continued from page 18 www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2002 — JANUARY 2003