Only organized labor has the capacity to stand up to the powerful elite by mobilizing the majority of working people to force the politicians to pass legislation that will ensure that every single individual has the opportunity to receive a quality education, work at a job with a comfortable wage, receive proper health care when needed, and retire in dignity. Now is the time for working people to unite and use their collective strength to fight for a society that operates in everyone’s interests. Together we can make a difference.
It would be easy to miss the meaning of the October 2nd One Nation demonstration in Washington, D.C., given that all the media — and many on the left — focused their attention almost exclusively on the calls by top organizers of the action to vote for the Democrats in the coming election. This was, no doubt, part of the picture. But it was not the most important part.
The significance of the AFL-CIO adopting the strategic approach underlying its rallying cry, “Working people can make a difference when we rely on ourselves and act collectively,” cannot be emphasized enough. This approach points in the direction of organizing massive demonstrations in the streets, not simply sending working people to voting booths once every several years to vote for politicians who fail to keep most of their campaign promises.
March 19, 2010
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The Executive Council of the California Labor Federation, representing two million organized workers, over one-sixth of the membership of the AFL-CIO, passed a resolution on Feb. 23, 2010, calling on the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III demonstration in Washington, D.C. for Jobs, Peace and [...]
The official organizing for the October 2nd Washington, D.C. demonstration, which we hope will be massive, has allowed us to catch a glimpse of a crucial ambiguity underlying the event. Will this demonstration be aimed at demanding that the government finally address the real needs of working people, now that it has made the banks whole, despite everyone’s objections? Or will its real purpose be to get Democrats elected to office, in which case demands will be carefully crafted, trimmed, and pre-packaged so as not to embarrass the Democrats and then be used only as bait to lure working people into the election campaigns, not as true goals in themselves?
Over 125 activists from across U.S. plot strategy for coordinated grassroots campaign to win single payer healthcare
Silver Spring, MD – More than 125 union leaders and activists from 25 states gathered at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD last weekend to strategize about next steps at the state and national level to win [...]
May 15, 2010
We are disappointed to inform you that a Solidarity Day III event where the labor movement would mobilize and demand that the government institute a massive jobs-creation program is not going to take place — for now.
Unfortunately, the top officials of the AFL-CIO failed to move on this proposal at the AFL-CIO’s special [...]