Just literally minutes before I openened this post, I finished signing an online petition distributed by the US International Brotherhood of Teamsters in support of their members employed in the rail sector to limit "limbo time."  The text of that petition:

Tell Congress: Limbo Rules Are Unfair and Unsafe

Rail workers' time should be their own, but the rail corporations don't see it that way.

Many engineers and trainmen are forced to sit in limbo for up to eight hours at a stretch without pay. Even after working 12-hour shifts, they cannot sleep. They cannot read. They must sit in their trains and remain vigilant, waiting to be relieved. After 20 hours on the job, they only get eight off, before being asked to pilot tons of commodities and dangerous chemicals through American cities and towns.

These needless hours increase train crew fatigue, and fatigue is the leading cause of railway accidents.

H.R. 2095, the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007, would limit limbo time by amending the laws that govern the amount of time railroad operating crews can work.

This important bill is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives Wednesday, but the White House is opposing the legislation. The Bush administration's so-called "statement of administration policy" shows once again that the White House cares more about corporate bottom lines than individual rights and public safety.

Increasingly these things seem to be transnational, that is to say that the same issues are confronting workers in industrial sectors across national boundaries.  I think that there's an argument that neoliberal elites have been able to create international norms, because they are organized and hold political power. It seems to me it's about damn time the Left work to do the same creating international norms that protect worker's rights and the environment.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg