Action Program Adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference

[ckaihatsu]

Action Program Adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference (Kent, Ohio -- June 24-26, 2011)


EMERGENCY LABOR NETWORK
Jobs * Social Security * Labor Rights
Medicare and Medicaid * Peace and Justice
[email protected]
www.laborfightback.org
(please excuse duplicate postings)
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Action Program Adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference (Kent, Ohio -- June 24-26, 2011)

1. The Emergency Labor Network Conference commits itself to helping build a strong, independent labor movement, which, together with our community partners, can defeat the corporate agenda and win a program that reflects the needs, hopes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority. Accordingly, we call upon the labor movement and our allies -- at the local, state and national levels -- to launch a national mobilizing campaign around the following central demands:

* NO CUTS, NO CONCESSIONS IN "ENTITLEMENTS," JOBS, WAGES, PENSIONS, & BENEFITS -- AND IN PUBLIC SERVICES!
* Hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!
* Improved Medicare for All!* Strengthen and Expand Social Security!
* Tax the Rich and the Corporations!
* Federal Public Works Jobs Program Paid for by Taxing Wall Street!
* Bring Home the War Dollars to Meet Human Needs!
* Defend and Expand our Collective Bargaining Rights!
* Moratorium on Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs!

2. To further these efforts, we urge all participants at the ELN Conference to go back to their cities and build Labor-Community Fightback Committees around the demands contained in this Action Program. We also urge these fightback committees to organize Regional Working People's Assemblies to advance the ELN Action Program and organize regional actions in the streets and workplaces.

3. Single-payer health care, or improved Medicare For All, would represent a most important benefit to working people in this country. The AFL-CIO has endorsed a single-payer system. Labor needs to commit more resources at all levels to mobilize to win this crucial fight. It is critical to the anti-poverty program and essential to avoiding debt and deficit spending. We recognize health care as a fundamental right to everyone in the United States and will work to promote the principle of "everybody in, nobody out" in all health-care reform proposals. With regard to Social Security, it was great when this program was put in place, but now it mainly provides poverty retirement. We need to revisit retirement to ensure retirement security. This will require expansion of Social Security to make it much more robust for retired people.

4. We support all actions called by the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and independent unions that are consistent with the demands contained in this Action Program, just as we support all actions aimed at cementing working class unity in opposition to every attempt to divide us by race, color, gender, immigration status, religion, or sexual orientation. In so doing, we will seek to engage the rank-and-file in these actions, and we will urge support for the ELN Action Program. We also support the development of a 24-hour national labor TV channel for all labor and working people where we can promote our national mobilizing campaigns.

5. We support and call on labor and community organizations to mobilize to protect and expand the right to collective bargaining, demanding the repeal of all laws, especially Taft-Hartley and especially in the South, that prevent workers from having the right to bargain collectively and arrive at enforceable contracts. In this regard, we call upon all ELN participants and supporters to circulate widely the recent ruling by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva that (1) found the state of North Carolina out of compliance with international labor standards for denying collective bargaining rights for public sector workers, and (2) called on North Carolina and the U.S. government to repeal this ban on collective bargaining rights. To promote this campaign, we will support the call and efforts to build a Southern Alliance for Collective Bargaining.

6. At the same time, "No Cuts, No Concessions" and building a genuinely independent labor movement will be our conference's signature campaigns that could unify our efforts and provide a framework for the many other efforts that we support.

7. Regarding the "Bring Home the War Dollars to Meet Human Needs!" demand, we urge all-out mobilizations in cities and towns around the country, as well as in Washington D.C., to build the October demonstrations marking the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan war, with the labor movement in on the ground floor in planning such actions and with the unifying demands being "Money for Jobs and Education -- Not for Wars and Occupations! Bring the Troops, Contractors and War Dollars Home Now! End the Wars! Close All Foreign Military Bases with Job Creation for All Displaced Workers!" We also support the New Priorities Campaign promoted by unions and community organizations nationwide.

8. This Emergency Labor Network Conference will propose through an Open Letter to the U.S. Labor Movement and through a model resolution to be submitted to union bodies nationwide, a National Day of Action in the fall at the time of the announcement of the new federal budget to kick off the national mobilizing campaign around the central demands contained in the ELN Action Program.

9. The Emergency Labor Network Conference will also propose to the unions and community organizations that we're in touch with that they mobilize in support of the mass actions called by the SEIU "Fight for a Fair Economy" campaign and the National Nurses United's "Main Street Contract for America" campaign. In addition, we urge support for actions called by other unions and community organizations to oppose the givebacks demanded from public workers on a state level; attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and in favor of other demands that are part of a pro-working class agenda. In such actions, we will promote our ELN Action Program demands -- be it on banners, picket signs, or in any other way that can express the independent labor movement's fightback orientation.

10. With 28 million people unemployed and under-employed, we call on labor and community groups to mobilize and organize the unemployed and unorganized to fight for Jobs and Justice. The ELN-promoted Labor-Community Fightback committees, for example, could begin building actions such as solidarity and support for the campaign to organize package-handlers at FedEx, a union-busting and tax-dodging corporation.

11. The Emergency Labor Network Conference will further propose that the labor movement and community organizations promote and support strike actions around our demands, such as the strike organized by ILWU Local 10 on April 4, 2011, in solidarity with the struggle waged by Wisconsin unions and their community supporters. The workers in Wisconsin, in their struggle, posed the urgent need for workplace actions, including a general strike, to win their demands. The conference calls for the immediate dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the Pacific Maritime Association against Local 10 in retaliation for the local's action!

12. We also support solidarity campaigns to free trade unionists and other peace and justice activists at home and abroad from unjust imprisonment and/or denial of basic civil liberties and human rights. We also urge participants to support current and future mobilizations of prisoners for improved pay and benefits.

13. We urge the labor movement and its community partners to engage in education and discussion on ways to eliminate never-intended constitutional rights and powers of corporations -- as affirmed by Supreme Court decisions.

14. We call on the labor movement to mobilize against the growing wave of criminalization of immigrant workers and for a reform of our immigration laws based on the position adopted by the 1999 AFL-CIO convention -- and reaffirmed by the August 2010 national convention of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (AFL-CIO) -- that demands immediate legalization for all undocumented workers, protection of the right to organize for all workers, opposition to deportations and ICE raids, the repeal of employer sanctions (E-Verify), opposition to guest-worker programs and AgJobs, and the strengthening of family reunification.

15. In addition, given the fact that next year will be marked by the November 2012 elections, as part of this National Campaign for "No Cuts, No Concessions!," the Emergency Labor Network Conference calls on the trade unions and our community allies not to support any candidate for local, state or federal office who has voted for any budget cuts and concessions and/or who does not commit herself or himself to oppose any and all measures or pieces of legislation that include any cuts, givebacks and concessions in public services and/or in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

16. Rather than fund politicians who continue to demand major givebacks from the unions and who do not support the basic needs of working people, the unions should take the money that has been earmarked for these politicians and build a mass mobilization campaign in the streets and workplaces across the country around the main demands of the Emergency Labor Network Conference. This campaign, where possible, could include labor running its own independent candidates on platforms that oppose all cuts and concessions and offer real, pro-labor solutions to the economic crisis -- especially for women, people of color, immigrants and all those who are hardest hit by the crisis.

17. The time has come for the labor movement to promote a discussion on what it will take to build a Labor Party in this country. The ELN will make every effort to publicize and advance this goal. For more information, please visit our website at www.laborfightback.org or write [email protected] or call 216-736-4715 or write ELN, P.O. Box 21004, Cleveland, OH 44121

[ckaihatsu]

Building an Independent Labor Movement Means Fighting for "No Cuts, No Concessions!" -- by Alan Benjamin, Co-Editor, Unity & Independence Cc:

UNITY & INDEPENDENCE
Supplement to The Organizer Newspaper
P.O. Box 40009
San Francisco, CA 94140
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ilcinfo.org
(please excuse duplicate postings)
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BUILDING AN INDEPENDENT LABOR MOVEMENT MEANS
FIGHTING FOR "NO CUTS, NO CONCESSIONS!"

By ALAN BENJAMIN
(Co-Editor, Unity & Independence)

Speaking to the National Nurses United conference in Washington on June 7, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka presented his strongest critique to date of the Democratic Party, insisting that, "We want an independent labor movement strong enough to return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation."

Trumka continued:

"We can't simply build the power of any political party or any candidate. For too long we've been left after the election holding a canceled check and asking someone to pay attention to us. No more! No more!" ... Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a snootful of that shit!"

"When it comes to politics, we're looking for real champions of working women and men. And I have a message for some of our 'friends.' It doesn't matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside -- the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be -- now, in 2012 and beyond."

These fighting words were welcomed by trade unionists and working people across the country, as they correspond to their own views and experiences with the Democratic Party. Yes, more than ever we need an independent labor movement capable of pushing back the corporate steamroller and safeguarding the jobs, rights and gains of all working people and the oppressed in the United States. Without a doubt, at all levels of government the Democrats are controlling the wrecking ball that is responsible for the wholesale attacks against working people and the poor.

So the question arises: How should organized labor go about the task of building an "independent labor movement strong enough to return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation?"

The first and perhaps most important question to ask is the following: Is it possible to build an independent labor movement while continuing to support the budget cuts and concessions demanded by the bosses and imposed by Democratic Party politicians?

Our answer must be an unequivocal "No!"

Take the recent situation in Wisconsin, where AFT President Randi Weingarten told MSNBC that the country's main unions -- AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions alike -- had consulted with her and were prepared to make up to $100 million in concessions in terms of reduced wages and pensions in exchange for having the politicians take out the union-busting provisions in the bill submitted by Governor Scott Walker.

Is this the kind of proposal that should be coming from national union officials? Is this the kind of proposal that Richard Trumka should have supported and promoted widely -- which is what he did? Of course not. Asking public sector unionists to make even one cent worth of concessions is unacceptable. The economic crisis was not created by working people, and union officials should not permit the bosses and their hired hands in the federal and state governments -- whether Democrats or Republicans -- to balance their budgets on the backs of the working class and the oppressed.

Building an independent labor movement today means drawing a line in the sand to affirm that the labor movement will no longer accept, much less propose, one cent worth of budget cuts or concessions in any form. It is time for labor to say, "Enough Is Enough. No Concessions, No Cuts!"

"Building an Independent Labor Movement in the Workplaces and Streets"

In this regard, we agree wholeheartedly with National Nurses United Co-President Jean Ross, who in an interview with Unity & Independence newsletter on March 7, 2011, stated the following, in reply to the question, "All we hear in the media are union officials, both local and national, offering to give back $100 million or more in concessions (mainly in relation to pensions and health care) in exchange for having the governor and the state legislature drop the attacks on collective-bargaining rights. What is your view?"

"Our struggle," Sister Ross said, "is against union-busting, but it is also very much about the pensions and benefits that public workers currently have in place as a result of bargaining over the years that must be maintained in order to ensure the state has the appropriate revenue to meet the needs of Wisconsin residents. It is about the values that Wisconsin places on the importance of not cutting essential social services and the crucial safety net that more and more people have to rely on. "

Sister Ross concluded, "What's the point of having a union if not to bargain -- to ensure this economic justice? One of the speakers at our 'No Concessions, No Cuts!" rally this afternoon was very good on this point. He said, 'Yes, we want to keep our union rights. But we also want to keep our dignity'."

In this sense, we also agree with Sister Nancy Wohlforth, a member of the National Executive Committee of the AFL-CIO, who in a speech delivered at an international labor rights conference organized by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) in Geneva on June 4, 2011, stated the following:

"In every country, workers are being asked to pay for a crisis that is not of their making with massive budget cuts, concessions in wages, social protection and benefits -- and the dismantling of fundamental labor rights, such as the right to collective-bargaining. ...

"All of this is occurring under the heading of a new buzz word: 'shared sacrifice.' But the bitter truth is that only the workers are making any sacrifices. The employers and the banks in the United States have been bailed out to the tune of almost $8 trillion, while Main Street -- that is, the working class majority -- is under attack like never before, with close to 30 million people unemployed or heavily underemployed, more than 10 million people victimized by home foreclosures, and close to 50 million without any healthcare insurance, to mention just a few statistics. ...

"But is this inevitable? Can we do nothing to fight back? I say absolutely not. Trade unionists in the United States are ready to fight back. They are far from passive. But they are confronting a number of significant obstacles in their path."

Further on in her speech, Sister Wohlforth underscored one of the main obstacles facing working people -- that is, the absence of an independent labor movement in the United States. She continued:

"What is posed is the question of the independence of the trade unions in relation to the employers and the corporate-dominated parties. It is not the role of the unions, for instance, to propose giving $100 million in concessions in the wages and working conditions of public-sector workers in exchange for pledges to save collective bargaining, as some unions proposed in Wisconsin. The role of the trade unions is to fight against all attacks against the workers, whether it's the attacks on our collective-bargaining rights or it's the attacks on our jobs, wages and working conditions. ...

"In a recent speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka made this point. I am very pleased he said this. It will now take us in the trade union movement to make the labor movement do it; it won't happen without us. ...

"Building an independent labor movement in the workplaces and streets is therefore an urgent need in the United States, both to fend off the corporate attacks and to ensure real progressive change."

The Action Program adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference at Kent State University on June 24-26, 2011, made the issue of "No Cuts, No Concessions!" its central focus. Indeed, this is the precondition, the necessary starting point, for building an independent labor movement. So long as the labor movement continues giving its approval to the "lesser-evil" cuts and concessions promoted by the Democrats (in the name of staving off the Republican cuts), it will be incapable of mobilizing the working-class majority and building a true fightback.

Building an Independent Labor Movement in the Political Arena

Defending the unions and the public sector in Wisconsin and the rest of the country -- particularly in California and New York, where Democratic Party governors are the ones waging the assault on public sector workers -- requires an uncompromising struggle against both the union-busting attacks and the budget cuts. These struggles are inseparable, and they require taking on both Democrats and Republicans.

But it also requires taking the struggle to build an independent labor movement to the political arena.

Take a look at the situation in Wisconsin, once again, from this framework. The budget crisis in Wisconsin would not be what it is today if the Democrats in the state legislature had not caved in to the blackmail of then Governor-elect Walker in the first place.

In the lame-duck session on Dec. 15, 2010, before the Republicans took over the legislature, the 17 contracts running from July 2009 to June 2011 for tens of thousands of workers -- all of which did not include the union-busting provisions that were made such a prominent part of the Walker demands -- were stalled in the Democrat-led state Senate, when outgoing Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Wausau) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) voted with the Republicans against the contracts.

The votes were a dramatic victory for Walker and his fellow Republicans, who argued that the contracts should be left for them to deal with, so that they could extract concessions from the unions on pensions and healthcare benefits. Otherwise, Walker and his cronies insisted, they would have to make deeper cuts in areas such as healthcare and education to address a budget shortfall of about $150 million through June and a gaping hole of up to $3.3 billion for the two-year period after that.

On June 14, the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin ruled that Republican lawmakers did not violate the state's open meetings law last March when they rammed through Gov. Scott Walker's bill that eliminates collective-bargaining rights for public employees. A lower court had ruled the Walker law was invalid because its passage violated the open meetings law.

In July, Wisconsin voters will go to the polls to recall six state senators who voted for the bill. What should be labor's independent stance in relation to this recall and the political struggle that will ensue?

First, it is absolutely necessary to recall the six Republican state senators who voted for the Walker bill. But then what? Who should replace these state senators?

The Action Program adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference addresses this question directly in its Points No. 15 and 16 when it states:

"15. In addition, given the fact that next year will be marked by the November 2012 elections, as part of this National Campaign for 'No Cuts, No Concessions!,' the Emergency Labor Network Conference calls on the trade unions and our community allies not to support any candidate for local, state or federal office who has voted for any budget cuts and concessions and/or who does not commit herself or himself to oppose any and all measures or pieces of legislation that include any cuts, givebacks and concessions in public services and/or in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

"16. Rather than fund politicians who continue to demand major givebacks from the unions and who do not support the basic needs of working people, the unions should take the money that has been earmarked for these politicians and build a mass mobilization campaign in the streets and workplaces across the country around the main demands of the Emergency Labor Network Conference. This campaign, where possible, could include labor running its own independent candidates on platforms that oppose all cuts and concessions and offer real, pro-labor solutions to the economic crisis -- especially for women, people of color, immigrants and all those who are hardest hit by the crisis."

What better place than Wisconsin to put forward these benchmarks for supporting -- or running -- candidates who will fight for labor's independent agenda? What better place to get the ball rolling in terms of building an independent labor movement in the political arena?

As longstanding advocates of a Labor Party based on the trade unions and involving all the communities of the oppressed, we strongly support the ELN Coordinating Committee's call for labor to take a first step in asserting its independence in the political arena. In this sense, we fully endorse Point No. 17 of the Action Program adopted by the Emergency Labor Network Conference, which states:

"17. The time has come for the labor movement to promote a discussion on what it will take to build a Labor Party in this country. The ELN will make every effort to publicize and advance this goal. For more information, please visit our website at www.laborfightback.org or write [email protected] or call 216-736-4715 or write ELN, P.O. Box 21004, Cleveland, OH 44121."

* * * * *

[ckaihatsu]

Greetings from Emergency Labor Conference to Workers in Greece and Across Europe Fighting for No Cuts, No Concessions


Greetings to the Workers in Greece and Across
Europe Fighting for No Cuts, No Concessions
Dear Sisters and Brothers:

We -- labor and community activists from all across the United States gathered at the Emergency Labor Network Conference at Kent State University (Ohio) on June 24-26, 2011 -- send greetings to our sister and brother unionists and activists in Greece and throughout Europe who are fighting against the deadly austerity and privatization plans implemented by all the European governments at the behest of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and U.S. corporate and financial interests.

We have gathered at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio -- the place where four young student antiwar activists were murdered by the U.S. National Guard on May 4, 1970 -- to work on strategies to mount a full labor-community fightback against the corporate assault against our unions, our jobs and working conditions, our homes, and our very communities. Building a national campaign around the call for "No to the Cuts and Concessions" imposed upon working people and our unions in the name of reducing the federal and state budgets was one of the central decisions of our conference.

At our evening rally on June 25, a speaker highlighted the central role played on the world scene today by the workers of Greece who have risen up in countless, huge protests in the streets and general strikes to oppose all the heinous policies imposed on the Greek people in the name of reducing the public deficits and paying back the foreign debt.

We were heartened to learn that in the recent demonstrations in Athens, Greek workers marched behind banners that proclaimed, "We don't owe anything. We will not pay anything!"

This is what we believe the trade unions in our country should be saying in reply to all the banksters and politicians who demand "share sacrifice" in the name of "our common interests." Working people, whether in the United States, Greece, France, Spain, Portugal -- or Egypt and Tunisia, and beyond -- did not create the crisis that is devastating our countries. It is not our crisis, and we refuse to pay for it!

"We don't owe anything. We will not pay anything!" is the very same perspective that we are putting forward with our campaign for No Cuts, No Concessions here in the United States.

We salute all trade unionists and working people across Europe who are leading the way in our common struggle against the brutal offensive waged by the transnational corporations and the politicians who are doing their bidding.
And to trade union members and officials we wish to add one last word: We are firmly opposed to the fact that the leadership of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) -- to which our union federations in the United States, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, are affiliated -- invited Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to by the opening speaker at its Second ITUC Congress in Vancouver in 2010. This is the very same individual who is responsible for imposing the brutal austerity and privatizations measures against which the Greek people are rising up.

There must be no place for such people at our trade union gatherings. The trade unions -- whether in the United States or Greece -- must break their bonds of subordination to all the politicians, whatever their political stripe, who are implementing the corporate agenda.

Once again, we are at your side in the difficult struggles you will be waging in the coming months.

In solidarity,
Participants at the Emergency Labor Network Conference
Kent State University,
Kent, Ohio
(June 26, 2011)

U&I <[email protected]> Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 10:33 PM

[Quoted text hidden]

[RedTrackWorker]

anyone knows who's behind this and such? The idea of building up a national public campaign around "no cuts, no concessions" is important I think.

[RED DAVE]

Here's a list of the endorsers of the OP statement. I don't recognize most of the names, but they seem to lie in the orbit of the general labor left, Labor Notes, etc. people like Dan LaBotz and Dennis Serrette are old timers


Endorsers of Emergency Labor Meeting Held in Cleveland March 4–5, 2011

Donna Dewitt, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO


David Newby, President Emeritus. Wisconsin State AFL-CIO*



Jos Williams, President, Washington Metro Council, AFL-CIO



Ken Riley, President, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Local 1422


Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union (AFT) Local 1*


Henry Nicholas, President, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME


Jim Savage, President, USW Local 10-1


Lew Moye, President, St Louis Chapter, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists



Eduardo Quintana, President, International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 933*


David Poklinkoski, President and Business Manager, IBEW Local 2304


Monadel Herzallah, President, Arab American Union Members Council – USLAW-affiliate


Dominick Patrignani, President IUE-CWA Local 81359


Jeff Crosby, President, North Shore Labor Council


Traven Leyshon, President Green Mountain Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO


Ron Dicks, International Vice President, International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE)*


Erin McKee, President, Charleston Central Labor Council*


Tim Paulson, Executive Director, San Francisco Labor Council


San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO



Laborers Local 310


Laborers Local 483


GEO 6300 (IFT-AFT).



Portland Jobs with Justice


Sonia Ivany, National Vice-President, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, President, New York City, LCLAA


Andrea L. Delgado, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)


Dennis Serrette, Education Director, Communications Workers of America*


Tom Leedham, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 206


Ashaki Binta, Field Orgnizer, UE*


Sal Rosselli, Interim President, National Union of Healthcare Workers*



Gladys McKenzie, Field Representative, AFSCME Council 5 (Minnesota)*


Phil Qualy, Minnesota State Legislative Director, United Transportation Union*



Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator, Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Health Care*


Saladin Muhammad, member of Black Workers For Justice and Coordinator of UE Local150's International Worker Justice Campaign


Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union (AFT) Local 1*



Virginia Robinson, former Treasurer and Reporting Secretary, Cleveland AFL-CIO; retired member, Steelworkers Union


Bill Henning, Vice President, CWA Local 1180


Gabriel Prawl, ILWU Local 52 ,Executive Co-chair African American Longshore Coalition



Eduardo Rosario, Grievance Representative, AFSCME Local 375, New York City*



John Wagner, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Tri-County Regional Labor Council, AFL-CIO*



Jan D. Pierce, retired Vice President, CWA District One


Ed Sadlowski, Staff Representative, Wisconsin Council 40, AFSCME, AFL-CIO*; Member, Local 938; membership in Council 40 Field and Support Staff Union


Mary Prophet, Co-Chair, Ca Teachers' Association Peace & Justice Caucus; KPFA

Community Advisory Board; Steering Committee, USLAW*


Jerry Tucker, former Intl UAW Exec Board Member; Center for Labor Renewal Co-Founder


David Riehle, United Transportation Union Local 650 Vice-Chairman; past local Chairman 1989-2007


Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 808


Sandy Eaton, RN; Chair, National Nurses United Legislative Council*


Dr. Peter Rachleff, professor of history, Macalaster College; author and researcher on U.S. labor, immigration and African American history


Mary Nichols-Rhodes, LPN, Ohio coordinator, Progressive Democrats of America


Dean Gunderson, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees Region 5 Director and past local president



Gregory Cendana, Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO


Bill Fletcher, Jr., Center for Labor Renewal; BlackCommentator.com



Jim Lafferty, UAW Legal Service Workers; Director, National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles


Dr. Jack Rasmus, Member, American Federation of Teachers University Council, University of California Berkley; Former National 1st Vice President, National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981; former local union Vice President and Business Representative, CWA Local 9415 and SEIU Local 715


Alan Benjamin, Executive Committee, San Francisco Labor Council; Co- Convenor, Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign


Jim Hamilton, State Executive Committee, Missouri AFT*


Carolyn Park, Steward, AFSCME Local 232*


Mike Carano, Member Teamsters Union Local 348, member, State Council, Single-Payer Action Network Ohio (SPAN Ohio)*



Bill Leumer, Former President, International Association of Machinists Local 565*; Co-Convenor, Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign


Russell Bannan, LCLAA Denver Metro Communication Coordinator; Colorado Jobs with Justice Executive Board; Colorado Young Workers Steering Committee



Bill Onasch, Retired former vice president, ATU Local 1287*


Steve Early, labor journalist, lawyer, and former CWA International Representative; author of Embedded with Organized Labor and The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor

Dan La Botz, National Writers Union/UAW*



Clarence Thomas. Executive Board, ILWU Local 10


Lenny Potash, Co-Chair Labor United for Universal Healthcare*



Fred Hirsch, Executive Board Member, Plumbers & Fitters Local 393; Delegate to the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and to the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building & Construction Trades Council*


Dan Kaplan, Executive Secretary, AFT Local 1493, the San Mateo (CA) Community College Federation of Teachers*


Ann Robertson, Executive Board Member, California Faculty Association – San Francisco State University – Delegate to San Francisco Labor Council*


Allan Fisher, Executive Board Member, AFT Local 2121 — Delegate to San Francisco Labor Council*


Marc Rich, United Teachers Los Angeles delegate to Los Angeles County Federation of Labor*


Paul Bigman, Business Representative, IATSE Local 15; Treasurer, Washington State Jobs with Justice*


Harry Kelber, The World of Labor


Genevieve Morse, member, Massachusetts Teachers Association, shop steward in the Classified Staff Union at the University of Massachusetts Boston and elected delegate to 2010 annual MTA conference


Steve Edwards, President, AFSCME Local 2858, Chicago, IL and Steering Committee member, Public Workers Unite!


Ira Grupper, labor journalist, Louisville KY


Phyliss Walker, President, AFSCME Local 3800 (clerical workers) at the University of Minnesota


Muata Greene, Labor Liaison for EMT's,Paramedics & Inspectors of FDNY


Lee Sustar, member, National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981; labor journalist


Ron Lare, UAW Local 600, former Local-wide Executive Board member


Bernie Hesse, Political Director and Director of Special Projects, UFCW 1189 (St Paul MN)*


Randy Raskin, Vice General Chairman, United Transportation Union General Committee of Adjustment (UP-former C&NW) St Paul/Minneapolis*
SEIU Local 49 (Portland, OR)



Jerry Gordon, Retired International Representative, United Food and Commercial Workers Union*; Secretary, Emergency Labor Meeting


[* for id only]RED DAVE

[ckaihatsu]

Why Labor Must Mobilize in the Streets to Demand Hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and Why We Can't Rely on Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid


UNITY & INDEPENDENCE
Supplement to The Organizer
P.O. Box 40009
San Francisco, CA 94140
Email: [email protected]
(please excuse duplicate postings)
----------

Why Labor Must Mobilize in the Streets to Demand Hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and Why We Can't Rely on Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

In a July 7 posting to the AFL-CIO blog, Tulia Connell introduced the statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in opposition to Barack Obama's proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In her presentation, Ms. Connell stated that House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid have also come out strongly in opposition to the proposed cuts, suggesting that Pelosi and Reid are viewed by the AFL-CIO as key allies in the fight to preserve these three vital benefits programs.

But are Pelosi and Reid really allies in this fight?

Let's look at what they are saying today and, more important, let's look at what they actually did not long ago when the "threat of the collapse of the financial markets" was also invoked to deal a blow to the working-class majority?

What They Are Saying Today?

On July 8, Pelosi issued a statement in which she noted that Democrats do not want to "subsidize tax cuts for the rich" on the backs of seniors and others, and are demanding "no benefits cuts in Medicare and Social Security." She also said she has "serious concerns" about what might happen with Medicaid. (Fox News, July 8)

This was a strong statement. But at the very same time, after meeting for half an hour at the White House with Obama, Pelosi said she was sensitive to the president's concerns about raising the debt ceiling by August 2 "to prevent the collapse of the financial markets and to prevent the economy from slipping back into recession." (Ibid.)

As for Reid, his opposition to the cuts was hardly forceful or unequivocal -- contrary to what Tulia Connell suggests.

On July 7, Reid issued a statement supporting Obama's drive to reduce the deficit by August 2, while warning that debt-reduction should be done "responsibly" so that "the wealthiest Americans contribute their fair share as we try to bring our fiscal situation back into balance." To avoid any possible misunderstanding, Reid's chief of staff, David Krone, told the media that "Senator Reid wants as robust a deficit reduction as possible, but it has to be balanced between spending and revenues, in terms of timing, specificity and dollars." (San Francisco Chronicle, July 8)

Even the most liberal of Democrats have made it clear that while they are uneasy about Obama's proposed massive cuts to Medicare or Social Security, they are not necessarily opposed to smaller cuts. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., for example, insisted that "we do need entitlement reform, but we need to do this thoughtfully." McGovern suggested that one option might be to "look at less generous adjustments for inflation" as a means to reduce future Social Security payments. (AP, July 9)

All Democrats have insisted that tax revenue must be part of the equation, while pointing out that increasing taxes on the rich and the corporations, a desired objective, is not a deal-breaker with the Republicans; simply closing tax loopholes or repatriating some of the off-shore taxes would be good enough.

But herein lies the problem confronting Obama: He is willing to (1) make up to $4 trillion in cuts, and (2) back off from raising one more penny in taxes from the rich and the corporations, as the Republicans have demanded -- but he needs some tax revenue to be able to sell his packet to the Democrats and to the unions. And this is the hitch: The Republicans, at the urging of its Tea Party wing, equate any form of additional tax revenue with a tax increase.

At a photo session at the White House on July 10, Obama was asked whether he could break the debt-limit stalemate and reach a deal with congressional leaders in 10 days. "We need to," said the president, who was flanked by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as well as by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

What Their Record Shows

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's dire warning that Wall Street could collapse, with a possible global depression in short order, if a deal is not reached by August 2 is not the first time in the recent past that a Treasury secretary has invoked such a threat to impose massive attacks on workers and their allies.

In September 2008, the Bush administration, led by then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, insisted that the federal government must provide $700 billion to bail out the country's leading banks and financial institutions, which were facing huge losses due to their market manipulation and speculation. Paulson warned lawmakers that an imminent meltdown in financial markets threatened to destroy the wealth and jobs of millions of Americans.

A resolution adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on September 22, 2008, noted that, "this proposed bailout will fall on the shoulders of the working class, some $2,200 for every man, woman and child in America -- on top of the $3 trillion debt imposed on us by the two unending wars."

The Labor Council resolution went on to resolve that, "We stand opposed to any taxpayer-financed bailout of the shareholders and executives of the financial giants who have created this crisis and of the speculators who have put all of us at risk."

This resolution expressed the sentiment of the majority of people across the United States; polls at the time showed that 59% opposed the Wall Street bailout, while only 20% supported it. Such was the outrage of the American people that on September 29, a majority of members of Congress voted against the Bush-Paulson bailout plan.

With their millions of protest letters and phone calls to Congress (one Congressman from South Carolina reported that 99% of the letters urged him to vote "NO" on the bankers' bailout), the American people had compelled the politicians in Washington to heed the massive outcry from below.

It should be noted that Nancy Pelosi, then-Senator Barack Obama and Senator Harry Reid all voted for the bailout plan -- in opposition to the majority of the members of Congress. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on September 27, 2008, that, "Pelosi said that with the major changes that are being incorporated, both parties will swallow hard and pass it, convinced of its necessity by the dire warning of economic collapse by Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke."

The "major changes" that Pelosi alluded to proved to be nothing but window-dressing and band-aids over a gaping wound. Paulson had agreed to include language about regulatory mechanisms over the financial industry, some limits on the financial compensation packets for the CEOs, and some funds for mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure, among other points.

But no sooner was the vote taken on September 29 than Paulson and the Republicans began proclaiming the imminent collapse of Wall Street if the vote were not immediately overturned. And the powers-that-be that control Wall Street carried out a provocation to back their words, with a carefully orchestrated 777-point drop of the Dow Jones -- the biggest single-day fall in history -- aimed at sending a signal to Congress to go back and vote the right way.

The main architects and promoters of the new Wall Street bailout plan -- which was ultimately adopted on October 2, 2008 -- were Obama, Pelosi, Reid, John McCain and House Minority leader John Boehner.

Labor Called for Bailing out Wall Street AND Main Street

Throughout the bailout discussions in the fall of 2008, the top leadership of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win failed to challenge the Bush-Paulson $700 billion bailout plan. Instead of drawing a line in the sand to say, "Not One Penny for the Wall Street Banksters and Speculators!", as the San Francisco Labor Council had done, the top labor officials called for bailing out Wall Street AND Main Street.

But as proponents of an independent labor movement noted at the time -- and as the experience over the past two-and-a-half years has taught us -- you can't bail out Wall Street and Main Street at the same time. Giving in to Wall Streets demands -- as the union officials did at the behest of Obama, Pelosi and Reid -- meant turning one's back on Main Street. And this is exactly what the AFL-CIO and Change to Win did, however critical they may have been about the bailout plan. The fact is that they legitimized the bailout plan.

Bailing out Wall Street, concretely, meant putting on the back burner the fight for an economic stimulus package; money for jobs, not war; a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions; a public works' programs to put the country back to work and to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

Raising this incorrect slogan of bailing out Wall Street AND Main Street -- one that stemmed from an incorrect view that labor and Wall Street have common interests and that all must engage in "shared sacrifices" -- also meant not mobilizing the ranks of the labor movement and its community partners in the streets against the Bush-Obama-Pelosi bailout plan.

Denis Mosgofian, the law and legislative director of the San Francisco Labor Council, wrote an open letter to the labor movement at the time, urging labor mobilizations against the bailout plan.

"There were 'No Bailout!' demonstrations in 140 cities across the country yesterday [Sept. 15, 2008]," Mosgofian wrote. "But where were the AFL-CIO and Change to Win? Where was the call for a nationwide Labor action to stop the Bailout?"

Mosgofian continued:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was right there urging that we move quickly to bailout the bankers. ... Let's support the bankers? Somehow, the benefits of this bailout will trickle down, won't they? And isn't the trickle down the best we can expect as dumb working people? I feel the trickle down all the time from deregulation, NAFTA & 'free" trade', and the oil wars."

And Mosgofian concluded:

"The AFL-CIO must approach this [new situation] as if it were a powerful force representing millions of angry people. We are angry, and we have no other more powerful representative. Be the leaders! Act! ... The AFL-CIO could call for a national mobilization in Washington, D.C., and even a one-hour general strike across America -- and workers would respond, and there would be little or nothing the government could do, since so many many people across the board are pissed."

Unfortunately, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win failed to act like leaders; they failed to mobilize the millions of people who could have been mobilized in the streets to say "NO!" to the Wall Street blackmail against working people and democracy itself!

The result of this leadership failure is well known: Close to 30 million people unemployed or under-employed today. Tens of millions of people facing foreclosures. A growing assault on the unions' rights to collective bargaining. More repression against immigrant workers and workers of color. More funding for wars of occupation abroad. And now, a new offensive against Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The list goes on.

The Time To Act Is Now!

It is not too late for the labor movement to act independently -- that is, as a real independent labor movement. But time is quickly running out.

The Coordinating Committee of the Emergency Labor Network has put out a call for the labor movement to mobilize in the streets in huge numbers to prevent even one penny of cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This urgent appeal needs to be heeded by unions and community organizations nationwide.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are not our allies in this struggle. Subordinating our demands or independent initiatives to these Democratic Party officials, or to an electoral strategy that would call for support to the Democrats, is not only a dead end; it is part of the problem. It's what prevents the building of an independent labor movement. It's what prevents labor from taking decisive action in defense of the working-class majority in this country.

The ELN Call to Action titled, "Statements Are Fine but Mobilization Is Needed to Prevent Cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid," charts an independent way forward. The Call states, in part:

'[I]t will take more than statements [from top labor officials] to stop the steamroller intended to put the burden of dealing with the economic crisis squarely on the backs of working people and the poor. It will take ACTION of the most massive kind. ...

"The labor movement will not be taken seriously unless and until we mobilize our members and our allies so that we can play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of this historic struggle between Wall Street and the great majority of the American people.
"Specifically, the Emergency Labor Network urges:
"* Formation of local coalitions in cities and towns throughout the country around the demands "Hands Off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid! Tax the Corporations and the Rich! End the Wars Now and Redirect War Spending to Solve the Fiscal Crisis!"

"* A full-blown educational campaign showing the multiple additional sources of funds available to meet the fiscal crisis: create millions of good paying jobs which would generate hundreds of billions in additional revenue, close tax loopholes which allow the corporations and the rich to reap untold billions in extra gains, cancel the Bush tax cuts, eliminate the cap on taxable Social Security earnings so that the high rollers pay Social Security taxes on all of their income, not just the first $106,800, and other measures so that the wealthy, not those of low or medium income, shoulder the responsibility for solving the crises that they created and have substantially profited from.

"* Adopt the resolution approved unanimously by the San Francisco Labor Council on July 5. [For a copy of the resolution, and for more information about the Emergency Labor Network, please go to www.laborfightback.com.]

"* Demonstrations at every Social Security office and federal building in the country.

"* Organize a March on Washington -- perhaps on October 1, the first day of the new fiscal year, marking the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war -- to demonstrate labor's power and our intention to defeat the corporate agenda and all of its austerity measures aimed at the working class."

We urge our readers and supporters to promote the ELN Call to Action and its various proposals. Let's follow the example of the Greek workers, who continue to march by the hundreds of thousands in the streets of Athens around the demand, "This Is Not Our Debt! We Are Not Paying It!"

In solidarity,

Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin
Co-Editors,
Unity & Independence