People Before Profit blog

Cuts in affirmative action and wages inundate hurricane survivors

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 05:14:00 +0000

Working families in the Gulf region are being hit by a second disaster as the Bush administration uses the current emergency to slash wages and open the door for discriminatory hiring practices across an area already racked by poverty and inequality.

On Sept. 8, the president eliminated the federal requirement that work done with federal dollars be paid at “prevailing rate.” The next day, he gave new government contractors in the region a pass on requirements to have an affirmative action program for minorities, women, veterans and the disabled.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney accused the administration of being unprepared to respond to Hurricane Katrina, but “moving with astonishing speed to use this human crisis to push an anti-worker, right-wing agenda.”

The AFL-CIO says its seven Worker Centers throughout the Southeast are up and running to provide information and help to hurricane survivors and their families. The centers are in Atlanta; Baton Rouge, La.; Dallas; Houston; Mobile, Ala.; Pearl, Miss.; and San Antonio.

The federation announced that it would establish a blue ribbon panel, including former secretaries of Labor and Housing, to establish priorities for the reconstruction. Town hall meetings and community walks door-to-door in October, reminiscent of last year’s massive election outreach by labor, will mobilize support for national priorities that include rebuilding the Gulf region with good wages and affirmative action.

rwood @ pww.org

Katrina survivors face mental health challenges

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:39:00 +0000

HOUSTON — Many of the people who survived Katrina will face significant mental health issues over the next few months and even years. While the health issues are quite clear — many suffered death, physical injury, infection and exposure to toxic substances — what may not be so apparent are the mental health issues, which are just starting to emerge as a result of the storm.

Generally, when people are exposed to severe stress, they are able to marshal their resources to face the crisis. Only later do the effects of traumatic stress become noticeable. Many soldiers suffer from what is termed “post-traumatic stress disorder.” PTSD was diagnosed in many individuals involved in the Vietnam War.

We can expect to see large numbers of people who will experience PTSD as a result of the catastrophe in New Orleans. Many were traumatized by their experiences in the Superdome. One woman I talked with reported she had stepped on a dead baby in the Superdome before coming to Houston.

Traumas require treatment

Many survivors were suddenly separated from loved ones, either through death or just being lost. Some witnessed shootings by thugs or the authorities. They will need, but likely not get, long-term specialized psychiatric and psychological treatment for these emotional injuries.

So far, I have only addressed new mental health injuries that resulted from the catastrophe. But prior to the storm, New Orleans, like other major metropolitan areas, already had a large population of people with the full gamut of mental health problems, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, etc. These individuals were deprived of their medication, psychotherapy, as well as community and family support as a result of the storm. It will take years to help them put their lives back together. It can be expected that some will not be able to cope, and without adequate treatment, suicides will increase.

I heard an interview with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in which he talked about the drug problem prior to the storm. After Katrina, addicts were suddenly deprived of drugs to which they were addicted and experienced “cold turkey” withdrawal. When a person is addicted to drugs, particularly opiates, benzodiazepines and/or alcohol, sudden withdrawal can leave them vulnerable to seizures, heart attacks and strokes as well as severe mood problems and psychosis.

Other vulnerable populations should be considered also. People with mental retardation have been separated from supportive families and treatment programs.

Privatization compounds crisis

Prior to the storm, the city of Houston already had a serious crisis of availability of mental health treatment. With the increasing privatization of mental health care over the last 20 years, resources are stretched beyond the limit. Commercial insurance coverage for mental health treatment has dwindled to next to nothing. Other state programs such as Medicaid and CHIPS have been stripped of mental health benefits. The influx of a whole new city of people with extraordinary mental health treatment needs will inundate an already swamped mental health care system.

Meanwhile, doctors in Houston have stepped up to the plate and volunteered their time to treat the mentally ill. The need for mental health treatment of the people affected by the storm is tremendous now and will continue for a long time to come. There is a tremendous need for a team of government-employed mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses and social workers to be trained and equipped, ready to meet disasters like this in the future.

Paul Hill (phill2 @ houston.rr.com) is a mental health worker in the Houston area.

N.Y. NOW rallies against Roberts

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:35:00 +0000

NEW YORK — “Abortion is health care, and health care is a right!” declared state Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), leading a crowd of hundreds gathered in Union Square here Sept. 15 to denounce Bush’s nomination of Judge John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

NOW New York City organized the rally along with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, NAACP, NARAL Pro-Choice and others. Public demonstrations are necessary because of the danger that Bush, with two open seats on the court, could “extend his right-wing ideology and disregard for individual rights” to the Supreme Court, “guaranteeing second-class status for girls and women in the U.S. for decades,” said a statement from NOW.

The rally was intended to stiffen the resolve of Senate Democrats to oppose Roberts more vigorously, as well as any other ultra-right judge Bush may put forward to fill Sandra Day O’Connor’s now-open seat.

“Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton — Show us that you are indeed our senators,” demanded NYC Councilwoman Margarita Lopez. “You mobilized the whole nation to save the filibuster. For what? Not to use it?”

“Roberts is hostile … to affirmative action, women’s rights, privacy … everything that Americans want,” Hazel Dukes, New York State NAACP president, told the World. “For 40 years we fought for these rights, and we shouldn’t let them be taken away.”

State Sen. Duane, in his speech to the rally, said that it was important to oppose Roberts now, so people wouldn’t have to fight the law to keep abortion clinics open and sit down in front of major universities to demand equal access to sports. Duane also added that Roberts would be extremely dangerous to the rights of the GLBT community.

A high percentage of the rally was students, both college and high school age. Tracey Sabbah, president of NOW at NYU, said the fight is especially important for young people “because this affects us the most.”

“The Supreme Court could have control over our bodies for our entire reproductive lives,” she added.

“Roberts is stupid, and really inconsiderate of everyone’s rights,” said Tasha, a student at LaGuardia High School. “I’m here because I’m passionate about women’s rights.”

Many in the crowd were optimistic that Roberts could be beaten, but said that even if he was not, these kinds of mass mobilizations would lay the groundwork for assuring that O’Connor’s seat would not be filled by an extremist.

dmargolis @ pww.org

Bay Area demonstrators: Immigrant rights, not vigilante violence

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:16:00 +0000

SAN JOSE, Calif. — On Sept. 15, the eve of Mexican Independence Day, Bay Area immigrant rights advocates called for recognition of immigrants’ great contributions to California’s economy and culture, challenged those who would deny them their human rights and protested the imminent arrival of armed vigilante groups, including the Minutemen, on the state’s border with Mexico. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was roundly criticized for backing the Minutemen.

At a rally at the Santa Clara County Building, they urged the Board of Supervisors to pass a resolution supporting immigrant and human rights. The resolution urges local, state and national leaders to enact fair immigration policy, address the root causes of migration and encourage constructive community dialogue on the issue. It says the Minutemen “create a more dangerous, hostile environment for all immigrants who come here seeking work and a better life for themselves and their families.”

Noting that the county government has “taken the lead in welcoming immigrants and condemning and prosecuting hate crimes,” Supervisor Jim Bell said “the people that are taking the law unto themselves” should “stand down and go through the democratic process.”

Jesus Rosales of the interfaith organization People Acting in Community Together presented over 3,000 letters written by members of nine Santa Clara County churches, asking Schwarzenegger to retract his support for the vigilantes.

“Our governor, himself an immigrant, seems to have forgotten how immigrants have enriched the country socially, culturally and economically,” Rosales said. “We’re sending these letters to the governor next week and we are asking him to send us a response.”

Larisa Casillas of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) said, “Californians are rejecting drastic measures on immigration” and are seeking “real, sensible solutions to our immigration problems.”

Other speakers included Father John Pedigo of St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church and representatives of the Northern California ACLU and Asian Law Alliance.

Two members of the California-wide SEIU Local 1877 janitors union, Maria and Liberada, told of discrimination immigrants face at work and in housing. “I think if we stopped doing all the jobs where they need us, the economy would suffer,” said Liberada. “It’s our hands that clean and care for everything.”

An evening candlelight vigil in Oakland’s largely Latino Fruitvale district honored the hundreds who have lost their lives crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Participants heard Carlos Mares of La Lucha Unida de los Jornaleros (Day Laborers’ United Struggle) demand “better education, health insurance, driver’s licenses and access to all of the human rights.”

“We continue to struggle against this legacy of hate so future generations will not have to deal with these things,” he said.

“The arrival of the Minutemen is really a symptom of a much bigger problem, of the fact that our immigration policy is broken,” said Sheila Chung, executive director of the Bay Area Coalition for Immigrant Rights. “The solution is not vigilantism,” she said, but comprehensive immigration reform “that includes things like family reunification, civil and workers’ rights, and a path to legal residency and citizenship.”

mbechtel @ pww.org

Calif. gov seeks re-election by stomping labor

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:05:00 +0000

Whistling past months of sinking poll numbers, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week announced he will run again for governor in 2006. At the same time he made public his longstanding support for Proposition 75, on the ballot in this fall’s special election, which would greatly restrict labor’s political participation.

Opponents said they are more determined than ever to defeat Schwarzenegger’s right-wing, corporate agenda in the upcoming Nov. 8 election. They said the governor’s announcements would help mobilize campaigners for a “no” vote on his four key initiatives.

“The governor’s public endorsement of Prop. 75 makes our job easier, because it reveals his hidden pro-corporate agenda to more voters,” said California Labor Federation Communications Organizer Chloe Osmer. The labor federation looks to its experience with the similar Prop. 226 in 1998, Osmer said, “because we found then that the more voters knew about it, the less they liked it.”

Prop. 226 started out ahead, but was decisively defeated on Election Day.

Osmer said Schwarzenegger’s announcement will energize union members “because it validates what we’ve been saying, that he is targeting teachers, nurses, firefighters and other key public workers and trying to silence key working-class constituencies.”

Cautioning, “we can’t take anything for granted,” Osmer said the federation will step up its work to mobilize the greatest possible participation by union members and supporters in the campaign.

Though Schwarzenegger’s announcement that he’ll run again is aimed at raising more money for his special election measures, “the issues are still bad, the governor is still unpopular and still unwilling to listen to the people of California,” said Robin Swanson, spokesperson for the labor-community Alliance for a Better California.

Schwarzenegger had to create a scripted “town hall meeting” to announce his re-election bid, Swanson said, while the real town hall meeting was held outside by hundreds of protesters.

Field Poll figures released earlier this month show 56 percent of California voters don’t want to re-elect Schwarzenegger as governor next year, and only 36 percent favor his re-election — a complete reversal from February. A 57 percent majority, including 29 percent of Republican voters, would support calling off the Nov. 8 special election.

Meanwhile, three initiatives the governor supports continue to lose ground. Prop. 74, which would make teachers wait five years for permanent status, is now favored by only 46 percent of likely voters, down from 61 percent in June. Approval of Prop. 76, to cap state spending and let the governor cut the budget, has sunk to 19 percent, while Prop. 77, to shift redistricting from the Legislature to retired judges, is backed by only 32 percent.

Only Prop. 75, which would force public employee unions to get yearly written consent from every member to use dues money in political campaigns, is running ahead, at 55 percent, virtually the same as in June. Opponents point out, however, that union members already have the right to opt out.

The Los Angeles Times noted Sept. 16 that, despite an enormous fundraising drive that has taken the governor to events around the U.S., his campaign accounts are actually in the red at the moment. Times staff writer Michael Finnegan quoted analysts as saying the governor’s rapid campaign spending, and his need to raise millions more in the coming weeks, support opponents’ claims that he favors corporate allies over working Californians.

mbechtel @ pww.org

Union women call for unity

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 02:14:00 +0000

Over 500 union women activists and many brother unionists adopted an action plan for the fight for women’s rights. They met at the national convention of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) in Detroit on Sept. 14-17.

Barbara Barnes, a pipe fitter from Pittsburgh, was one of many attending a CLUW convention for the first time. She was all fired up. “I was always active in my union,” she said, “but when I joined CLUW my whole life expanded.”

CLUW’s success in advancing women to union leadership was echoed by many of the speakers. They credited CLUW for opening doors that used to bar women from high union office. Before CLUW was organized, there were no women on the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Now at least 33 percent of the council must be women or people of color.

The war in Iraq, needless deaths and destruction from Hurricane Katrina, and worry about the split in labor were on the delegates’ minds. They cheered Joyce Miller, past CLUW president, when she called for unity of all women unionists. She said that CLUW was one place where women from all unions could come together. Miller reminded delegates that CLUW almost split before it started in March 1974. There was a fight between the leaderships of two unions. But Delores Huerta of the Farm Workers and Clara Day of the Teamsters hugged each other and ended the divisive debate.

Huerta and Day were united on CLUW’s four goals: organizing the unorganized, promoting affirmative action, increasing women’s participation in their unions, and increasing women’s participation in political and legislative activities.

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, advanced “health care for all” as a key issue. He called on working women to speak up on health care and the high cost of prescription drugs. “Health care costs are rising,” he said, “but shifting the cost to workers is not the answer.

“A universal health care plan is the answer,” Gettelfinger said to loud applause.

Before the convention opened, CLUW endorsed the Sept. 24 “End the War on Iraq” march in Washington, D.C. That represented a big change in sentiment since the last CLUW Convention in 2003.

The strongly progressive tone of the convention was highlighted by Linda Chavez-Thompson. Chavez-Thompson is the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. She presented labor’s position on the rebuilding of New Orleans and other devastated Gulf communities. She outlined the need to invest in the infrastructure, strengthen pensions and Social Security, require employers like Wal-Mart to cover health care, establish a system to provide health care plan for all, and get fair trade agreements. On the minimum wage, she exclaimed, “Congress gave themselves raises seven time and kept the minimum wage frozen!”

Finally, Chavez-Thompson spoke “woman-to-woman.” She said, “Don’t let them see you cry. It’s OK to go home and cry. There are many heartbreaks when you try to push up to give leadership and you get pushed down.” Then she fired up the delegates by saying, “Elect more women to public office. Imagine a women’s majority in the House, in the Senate, and as president of the USA!”

bealumpkin @ aol.com