People Before Profit blog

Parents, teachers and students unite to fight cuts

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:29:00 +0000

New York — Parents, students, teachers and administrators rallied at City Hall March 20 to protest state and city budget cuts to schools. Despite a driving rain, over 10,000 people turned out for the rally called by the Keep the Promises Coalition, made up of 60 community, parent and education groups, along with their allies in the labor movement.

New York City schools have been hit with mid-year cuts totaling $180 million. Rally participants cited the impact of these cuts which include after school programs, arts programs, tutoring and even instructional supplies. An even greater threat, to the tune of an additional $500 million, has been ordered for September.

Thousands of protesters wore bright orange and green caps. Students and teachers carried banners which read “Keep the Promises,” and “Restore the Cuts.”

Many protesters and speakers connected the school budget cuts and the trillions spent on the war in Iraq. Signs read, “No Cuts, No War,” and “$ For Education, Not Occupation.” Shouts of “Mantenga las promesas” rang out repeatedly to denounce the cuts to staff and extra curricular activities. One student speaker ended with the chant, “The students united, will never be defeated.” About 80 students from Lower East Side Prep High School attended with staff members.

Hazel Dukes from the NAACP pointed at City Hall and shouted at New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Education Chancellor Joel I. Klein that protests would continue until promises to children are kept. One parent said, “We fought hard to get CFE (campaign for fiscal equity) money and we are not going to give it back!”

But the most impressive speakers talked about the wasteful military spending in Iraq. Jane Hirschman, from Time Out from Testing, stated that the schools have no money because George Bush sent us to war. She called for 30 seconds of silence for the men and women overseas.

Hirschman highlighted the fact that Mayor Bloomberg spends $80 million on a testing company to track scores and millions for consultants and no bid contracts, but will not make any cuts there.

City Council member Robert Jackson pointed out that this was the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. He asked, “What if a fraction of the cost of the war went to education? We wouldn’t have a budget crisis in our schools.”

UFT President Randi Weingarten said she was dead serious in her opposition to the budget cuts. She said promises were made on the city and state level to keep a steady revenue for education.

Weingarten suggested that a proposed short-term tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers would serve as a better solution than imposing cuts on New York City schoolchildren.

Dennis Hughes, president of the New York State’s AFL-CIO brought greetings of solidarity to the rally. One speaker from the New York Immigration Task Force highlighted the high drop-out rate among immigrant students and the need for extra services, as opposed to cuts.

The list of supporters rolled along a giant screen for all participants and passersby to view. It included dozens of unions supporting the coalition including: AFSCME, DC 37, New York City Central Labor Council, UAW Region 9, IBEW Local 3, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), and Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA).

Community advocates included groups such as the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, ACORN, Hispanic Federation, Time Out for Testing, Alliance for Quality Education, Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, the Staten Island Federation of Parents and Teachers, Coalition for Educational Justice and Working Families Party, Advocates for Children, and several Dominican community organizations.

Forty-two New York City Council members have signed a resolution by Council member Bill DeBlasio opposing the cuts and calling for full funding.

David Samson is a long-time rank-and-file activist and member of the United Federation of Teachers.

Labor backs call by medical students for universal health care

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:27:00 +0000

HOUSTON — About 1,000 medical students and their supporters rallied here at city hall March 14 to demand healthcare for all. The event was organized by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) as part of its annual convention and supported by the local SEIU and Justice for Janitors movement.

The crowd was made up of medical students from around the country and labor union members. Participants were diverse and included men and women of all ethnic and cultural groups. One speaker called for a “revolution in health care.” Many speakers and attendees asserted that “we should be able to treat patients without bias as regards to their ability to pay.”

Participants at the opening of the rally chanted, “Hey, Bush, don’t you know, single payer is the way to go…Whose nation? Our nation.”

Houston City Council Member Peter Brown (D) called for people to register to vote and change the political landscape in the upcoming elections. He noted that Houston has the most advanced medical technology in the country and the “lousiest health care in the country” due to poor access to health care. He called for a movement to “fix the broken system.”

Speakers extolled the solidarity of workers and students participating in the rally.

Two fourth-year medical students from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Jessica Dalby and Stephanie Wuest, expressed strong support for the goals of the rally.

Dalby stated, “I think it’s inspiring. I support a single payer health insurance system. I think single payer is the only way to go because we have to cut out the health insurance companies. They provide no benefit. They only add to the cost. Thirty-one cents of every dollar goes to overhead for the health insurance companies.”

Dalby and Wuest agreed that the increasing profits demanded by health insurance companies and their stockholders also add to the burden of health care costs.

“I have the Baylor insurance and I’ve been refused health care in doctor’s offices because Aetna never pays,” Wuest said. “I find it extremely frustrating to be in health care and I am not able to access health care myself.”

One medical student from Puerto Rico who was attending the conference told the World, “I think health care is for everybody. We should help everybody.”

Leah Bennett, who is the Health Disparities Task Force coordinator for AMSA and a medical student at the University of Arizona at Tucson, told the World, “We’re an association of 70,000 medical students from across the country. We have a 40 year history of fighting for our patients.”

She called for “quality affordable health care,” and said, “We believe health care is a human right. In this country we have so much. We believe no one should be sick when they don’t need to be.”

Bennett added, “We believe our current health care system is broken. There are over 40 million people uninsured. They have to make a decision over whether they spend their money on food, rent or seeing a doctor. We think that’s wrong.

“Our association is in favor of a single payer system. That would cover everyone within our border regardless of income, race, citizenship or economic status,” she concluded. “We believe you should be able to see a doctor if you’re sick.”

Medical student Flavio Casoy, an organizer of the event who works with AMSA, described some of AMSA’s history. “AMSA used to be a part of AMA (American Medical Association) until 1968,” he said.

He noted, “Because of the AMA opposition to Medicare and silence on civil rights and silence on Vietnam, we split. We are completely independent.

“AMSA is a student-run organization that fights for a health care system that reflects the true needs of our patients and the values of our members,” Casoy added. “We represent about two-thirds of the nation’s medical students. We want to let the world know that this nation’s future doctors are pissed off and we will fight like hell to change the health care system. AMSA is all about bringing the future health care providers together around our passions to provide health care for all our patients.”

James Thompson is a psychologist and social justice activist in Houston.

American Axle strikers solid

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:50:00 +0000

Inside UAW Local 235 in Hamtramck, across the street from the largest of the struck American Axle plants, Ray Wood, President of UAW Local 14 at the GM powertrain in Toledo was speaking to Local President Adrian King and Vice President Bill Alford. “Whatever you need….we’re only an hour away, when they mess with one, they mess with all of us, we’re family.” Wood had just traveled up from Toledo and his local had brought a bus and car caravan of union members to walk the picket lines.

Wood said the Toledo local is in local negotiations (those taking place following last fall’s national contract) and told King and Alford “solidarity, that’s what it’s all about” We’re going to be there for the long haul as well.”

“That’s a war wound, brother” said Wood while looking at the large cast on Alford’s leg and ankle, both broken while falling on the ice picketers have had to deal with through much of this strike.

Alford said people are coming out of the woodwork to offer support. This coming Monday, UAW local 412 from nearby Warren is sponsoring a solidarity rally and BBQ lunch for strikers. King and Alford said locals from GM, Chrysler and Ford are bringing everything from pizza, pop, and chips to a dump truck of wood to keep the barrel fires going on the picket line. The local Subway’s donated party trays but Alford said there’s still no Hamtramck Polish sausage – made locally and some of the best in the country – hint! hint!

One step inside the local hall or a walk outside on the picket line quickly shows the determination of the strikers. Morale of members is high, said Alford. They show up on time for picket duty and do not miss their four hour shifts. Some do eight or more, coming in every day. Older guys who have been here 30, 40 years are still coming in here to walk the line, said Alford.

President King said the local is taking steps to help workers who may be having financial problems. One UAW local will be holding workshops to help people with mortgage or credit problems. A welfare rights organization has offered assistance to those needing help with utility payments. The union is identifying couples where both work at the plant and may be in need of special help and are beginning to find locals who will sign up for an “adopt a worker program” for strikers who are having financial problems. This is the solidarity that makes victories possible.

Now in its fourth week, with 29 General Motors plants all or partially shut down and 40,000 workers being affected, the pressure mounts on American Axle to negotiate in a straight forward manner with its 3,650 striking auto workers. Although making over $37 million in profits last year, American Axle is still seeking huge wage and benefit cuts. American Axle’s chief executive, Dick Dauch, has set up eight non-union plants in the United States, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, India and China.

Automotive News estimated that in the years 2003 through 2006, the CEO received $58 million in compensation. Because the company has provided no data to justify the harsh cuts, the union has charged it with unfair labor practices. UAW president, Ron Gettlefinger, has said talks have been a “one-way” street of company demands.

jrummel @pww.org

Labor propels Kucinich to big win

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:50:00 +0000

CLEVELAND — Labor and its progressive allies scored a major victory in the Democratic primary here March 4 when Congressman Dennis Kucinich beat back a heavily financed effort to take his seat.

Kucinich won in a five-way race with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote. His closest opponent, Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, received only 35 percent despite massive financial backing by big business and political support from the corporate media, including right-wing talk shows, that mobilized thousands of registered Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary.

The victory was due in large measure to unprecedented efforts by the labor movement. In what could be a dress rehearsal for November’s presidential election, nearly every union — AFL-CIO, Change to Win, Teamsters and Auto Workers — mobilized as never before in weekend canvasses, membership mailings, phone banks, worksite literature distributions and posting of thousands of yard signs. This massive army of labor was supplemented by hundreds of community volunteers.

Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth, spoke at dozens of meetings of union members and retirees, many of which turned into wildly enthusiastic rallies. Kucinich stressed at every occasion that he held his seat in trust for the working men and women of the 10th Congressional District, that the corporations had many seats in Congress and that they now were trying to take this one as well.

Kucinich said he had dropped out of the presidential race in large measure because labor had appealed to him to return to Cleveland and defend his congressional seat. Now he needed labor’s support, he said, because the corporations wanted to silence his outspoken support for unions, and his opposition to the war in Iraq, to corporate profiteering in health care and to pro-corporate trade agreements costing American workers millions of manufacturing jobs.

When it became clear that every major bank, developer, corporate law firm and downtown business was pouring funds into Cimperman’s campaign, Kucinich appealed to progressives throughout the country, who responded with an avalanche of contributions.

The corporate media bolstered Cimperman’s campaign, which focused entirely on the claim that Kucinich had neglected the district by running for president. The Plain Dealer not only gave Cimperman a lengthy endorsement; it also ran columns and several editorials attacking Kucinich, giving Cimperman advice and urging the others in the race to drop out so as not to split the anti-Kucinich vote.

In addition, WTAM radio, owned by Clear Channel and home of Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing talk shows, mounted an intense campaign urging a Republican crossover vote. Limbaugh called on Republicans in Ohio to vote in the Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton, who, he said, would be easier for Republican John McCain to beat than Barack Obama in November. In addition, the Cleveland station ran hundreds of messages for several days urging Republicans to vote for Cimperman so “Kucinich does not make it out of the primary.”

The Plain Dealer reported afterward that, in fact, “a staggering 16,000-plus Republicans in Cuyahoga County switched parties when they voted in last week’s primary” according to the Board of Elections. Many interviewed said they had done so in response to the WTAM campaign. Kucinich charged that as many as 10,000 of these Republicans voted in his race.

Board member Sandy McNair said he planned to investigate the situation. Those who switch party are supposed to sign a pledge vowing allegiance to the new party. Many did not and lying on the pledge is a felony.

One additional factor in the anti-Kucinich effort was the role of the right-wing pro-Israel lobby. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a news outlet serving the Jewish community, reported in a story the day after the primary that Cimperman “raised $500,000 — much of it from pro-Israel donors furious with Kucinich for his harsh criticism of Israeli policies in the West Bank and in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.”

In fact, Kucinich has condemned the violence against civilians on both sides and called for a more even-handed U.S. policy in the Middle East that insists on the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to statehood and security.

Kucinich now faces Jim Trakas, a former state representative and former chairman of the county Republican Party, in the November general election.

ricknagin@yahoo.com

Workers drown in pink slip flood

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:42:00 +0000

Only a week after releasing the most dismal consumer spending figures in eight years, the government said, March 7, that 63,000 workers lost their jobs in February — another sure sign that the economy is in full recession.

For the second straight month workers from one end of the country to the other were dumped. A month earlier, in January, employers had tossed 22,000 people into the jobless pile.

The bursting housing bubble last summer, the crisis in the subprime mortgage market and the resulting full blown credit crisis has dragged the U.S. economy into recession and slowed economic growth globally.

The Labor Department claimed that the unemployment rate actually dropped a bit from 4.9 percent to 4.8 percent, but this was because the total workforce shrank as 450,000 gave up their job search altogether. Also not counted are 100,000 new young workers each month who need to be absorbed into the job market and for whom there is no employment.

Among those who lost their livelihoods were factory workers, construction workers, store clerks, office temps, child-care workers, hotel workers, teachers and teacher aides, accounting firm employees, computer designers, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and auto workers.

On Wall Street stocks tumbled, but for those swept away in the wave of pink slips life became a nightmare.

In one Illinois town 1,500 people began living that nightmare March 7 when Chrysler eliminated the entire third shift at its Belvidere assembly plant. There are reported to be waiting lists for job applicants at even the Burger King and at the diner in the town.

Laid off Chrysler workers in Belvidere could draw little comfort from President Bush, who said, “I know this is a difficult time, but we recognized the problem early and provided the economy with a booster shot.” Bush was referring to his economic “stimulus” package, which includes tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses.

Democrats said additional steps should be taken now.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said there is a need to “chart a new direction for our economy.”

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama both blamed the job loss on failed Bush administration policies. “The news should put to rest any doubts that our economy is in deep trouble,” Clinton said. Obama said the jobless figures translated into “more heartache and struggle” for Americans.

The nation’s labor movement agreed that immediate relief is needed and called for specific action by the government.

The AFL-CIO demanded a moratorium on home foreclosures and a second stimulus package to extend unemployment insurance, expand the food stamp program and bolster federal aid to states and cities to prevent further cutbacks of vital public services.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, “We should also front-load public investment to maintain our schools and repair crumbling bridges and deteriorating highways. Spending that puts people to work on projects we desperately need is more likely to stimulate the domestic economy than tax cuts that may be saved or spent largely on imported consumer goods.”

Stewart Acuff, the federation’s organizing director, tied the loss of jobs to the issue of the right of workers to organize. He said Congress urgently needs to pass the Employee Free Choice Act which would give workers union representation as soon as a majority sign cards indicating they want to be represented. This would eliminate company-run “elections” often used by employers to harass and fire union supporters.

Acuff said that without the protection of the Employee Free Choice Act, “employers have the power to face down workers and unions with threats to move production to countries where they don’t have to deal with workers’ demands.”

The AFL-CIO Executive Council, at its March 4-6 meeting in San Diego, issued a call for major investment in education, technology, infrastructure and clean energy as part of a new national strategy to rebuild the U.S. manufacturing base with new jobs.

To this end the federation put forward a strategy to deal simultaneously with climate change and job creation.

The union leaders said a policy of improving energy efficiency would create many good jobs while it produces energy savings for the public and reduces greenhouse gases. As part of this approach, unions are calling for modernization and extension of the 160,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines that make up the nation’s electrical grid.

jwojcik@pww.org

Emma Tenayuca fought for women workers

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:18:00 +0000

SAN ANTONIO — Emma Tenayuca was a resident and radical militant of San Antonio’s working class west side. Her political formation was shaped, if not heavily influenced, by her early exposure to frequent political rallies and fiery speeches which took place at the Plaza del Zacate with the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of nearby Mexico’s revolutionary government.

At age 16 she began to organize workers for the national Workers’ Alliance and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. By 1934 she was 18-years-old, and was arrested for her leadership role in the organization of Mexican women in the Finck Cigar Strike.

Four years later, in 1937, she joined the Communist Party USA and soon became its chairperson in San Antonio. It was likely the time when she was given the nickname “La Pasionaria” (literally: the passion flower) after the equally passionate contemporary Basque Communist leader Dolores Ibárruri Gómez.

On January 31, 1938, through her participation with the Workers’ Alliance, she organized and successfully helped lead an estimated 12,000 pecan shellers in a four-month strike which was in response to poor working conditions and the bosses’ cutting shellers’ pay from five to three-cents an hour.

Harsh conditions included a lack of toilets and wash bowls, poor lighting and poor ventilation. The poor ventilation, together with the industry’s indoor dust, contributed to the city’s tuberculosis rate which was disproportionate to the national average.

A 54-hour work week brought in approximately two dollars for pecan shellers who were mostly women and either Mexican or Mexican American. At that time there was a 250-mile radius around San Antonio which was the largest pecan-producing region in the country.

The region yielded 50 percent of the nation’s pecan harvest and was San Antonio’s largest industry. With the representation of International Pecan Sheller’s Union No. 172 and additional organizational work of the Workers’ Alliance –in which Socialist and Communist workers participated — Tenayuca and other labor organizers coordinated the picketing of the city’s 400 pecan shelling factories. Pickets were frequently interrupted by police intervention and mass arrests. By August 1939, she had been elected chair person of the Communist Party USA in Texas and was among others scheduled to speak at a gathering of her party at San Antonio’s Municipal Auditorium.

There was a small number in attendance, less than 200, yet a mob of 5,000 reactionaries rioted outside, and she and the others were placed under temporary, protective custody.

This event was followed by a crackdown on Communists in the San Antonio workforce in which the political-economic machine of this city fired and denied employment to Communist workers and sympathizers.

Tenayuca’s lack of an income would later cause her to move to California where she entered the teaching profession.

Other causes she took on in her youth included the right to strike, a minimum wage and an end to mass deportations.

In 1981, the Institute of Texan Cultures made Tenayuca part of its exhibit of outstanding Texas women. It was one of many honors she received in her lifetime. She died July 23, 1999 in San Antonio, Texas.