PDF Version Here

Whereas, US involvement in wars and the US military aid to other countries are making the
people of the US and the world less safe; and

Whereas, these wars and military aid are bankrupting the people of the US, who are already
suffering from staggering job losses, foreclosures and a broken healthcare system; and

Whereas, despite the so-called economic recovery, the economic crisis for working people has
continued unabated with growing unemployment and continuing home foreclosures and
evictions; and

Whereas, this economic crisis has resulted in the underfunding and degrading of public education
and social services; and

Whereas, there is a growing opposition to the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq by a
majority of the people here in the United States, not to mention the great and ever-growing
opposition by the citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq; and

Whereas, these wars are costing billions of dollars each month;

Therefore Be It Resolved that the California Labor Federation calls on the AFL-CIO and
Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III march on Washington, DC, in the spring of 2010
to demand jobs, housing, healthcare, full funding for public education and social services and
peace;

Be it Finally Resolved that we send this resolution for action and concurrence to the AFL-CIO
and Change to Win.

Dated: February 23, 2010

This coming April 12 is the deadline for submitting the 1 million signatures required to get the California Democracy Act (CDA) on the November 2010 ballot in California. CDA is an essential step toward winning progressive taxation. It would return majority rule to the California State Assembly (instead of the current two-thirds requirement) for all decisions regarding budget AND revenue.

The San Francisco Labor Council, United Educators of San Francisco, Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2121, and many other unions and community organizations have endorsed the CDA and are gathering signatures to get it on the ballot. But at this writing, the signature count is far below where it should be if the CDA is to qualify for the ballot.

The hundreds of thousands of people who mobilized on March 4 to demand “No Cuts! No Layoffs! No Fee Hikes!” need funding for public education and all social services. If the CDA passes, it will remove an important barrier preventing the raising of revenue for schools and social services.

A lot is being said in the press of late about polls and taxes — mostly to explain that voters don’t want to see any tax increases. This, of course, in understandable: Working people don’t want to see THEIR taxes increased. But when people are polled where one of the alternatives is to tax the rich and the corporations, the results are altogether different. (Oregon, where voters resoundingly approved a ballot initiative to tax the rich to pay for desperately needed public services, is a stunning example.)

Two recent polls — reflecting the changing mood of voters — show that a majority supports progressive taxation to preserve the public sector.

An article in the New York Times dated Dec. 10, 2009, reported that, “A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Dec. 3-7 shows that two-thirds of Americans favor taxing the rich to reduce the deficit.”

According to this Bloomberg poll, Americans want the government to create jobs through spending on public works, investments in alternative energy, and/or skills-training for the jobless. They also want the deficit to come down. And most are ready to hand the bill to the wealthy.

An Associated Press poll in mid-March reports that a majority is in favor of taxing the rich to pay for healthcare reform. The AP wire explains:

“When it comes to paying for a healthcare overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich. … The poll found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as ‘Cadillac plans.’”

If labor unleashes its forces and steps up to the plate to help get CDA on the ballot — and then pushes for progressive taxation measures in the State Assembly — we can win. The time is now to begin building a movement with a vision and a strategy to save our public education and our vital social services — a movement aimed at defending working people by making the rich and the corporations pay their fair share!

In solidarity,
Bill Leumer and Alan Benjamin
Co-conveners
Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign

Resolution for an Ad Hoc Labor Council Committee to Save Public Education, Social Services and For Progressive Taxation

[Note: The following resolution was adopted unanimously by the Delegates' Meeting of the San Francisco Labor Council on Monday, March 15, 2010.]

Whereas the economic crisis in both the city of San Francisco and the state of California is deepening for working people with the recent pay cuts for more than 17,000 San Francisco City workers, with over 900 pink slips sent to San Francisco public teachers, with the continuing furloughs of state workers, and with a state deficit of over $20 billion; and

Whereas the income of the top 400 Americans more than doubled since 2001 while they were taxed at a rate of 16.2 percent, which is “the lowest since the I.R.S. began tracking the data;” and

Whereas the income of working people has declined between 1980 and 2005, and the funding of social services has dropped precipitously; and

Whereas March 4 Day of Action confirmed the resolve of working people to mobilize to defend public education and social services; and

Whereas many unions have endorsed the call for progressive taxation, including the California Federation of Teachers; and

Whereas numerous polls show that the majority of people support raising taxes on the rich, including a recent Bloomberg National Poll that showed two-thirds of Americans favor taxing the rich in order to reduce the deficit and they “want their government to create jobs through spending on public works, investments in alternative energy or skills training for the jobless Š and most are ready to hand the bill to the wealthy”; and

Whereas the people of Oregon recently passed by a wide margin two measures that raised taxes on the rich and the corporations; and

Whereas the two-thirds requirement to raise taxes in the state of California, by subverting the will of the majority, is a barrier to passing progressive taxation; and

Whereas the California Democracy Act would, if passed, allow the state legislature to raise taxes with a simple majority vote, as opposed to the current two-thirds requirement; and

Whereas the San Francisco Labor Council has already passed a resolution (September 28, 2009) in support of building a coalition to pursue progressive taxation,

Therefore be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council now establish a committee to actively build a coalition among labor unions, community groups, and interested individuals that will mount a campaign to save public education, to protect public services and to promote progressive taxation to fund them in San Francisco and the state of California; and

Therefore be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council request that the California Federation of Labor endorse the California Democracy Act and call on all its affiliates to actively support this initiative by collecting signatures to place it on the November 2010 ballot.

Submitted by

Conny Ford, Vice President, SF Labor Council, OPEIU Local 3

Dennis Kelly, President, UESF, Exec. Committee, SF Labor Council

Gus Goldstein, President, AFT 2121, Exec. Committee SF Labor Council

Linda Plack, Vice President, UESF

Alan Benjamin, SFLC Executive Committee member, OPEIU Local 3

The best way to reduce the growing federal deficit is to [1] create 10 million jobs now—the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit—not to cut vital programs such as [2] Social Security and [3] Medicare, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

President Obama yesterday signed an executive order creating an 18-member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to propose ways to reduce the growing national debt. Click [4] here to read the executive order.

Trumka cited data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that most of the deficit over the next 10 years will come from the Bush administration’s tax cuts for the rich, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, spiraling [5] health care costs and the recession.

The main driver of the recent increases in deficit projections is worsening economic conditions—in short, the present deficit crisis is largely a symptom of the jobs crisis.

Solving the jobs crisis and the deficit will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street, Trumka said. Read the full statement [6] here.

Also, it is critical that the newly appointed commission not focus on cutting entitlements, Trumka said. The problem with perennial proposals for entitlement commissions and deficit commissions is that they are too often premised on the mistaken assumption that short-term stimulus and entitlement spending are the root causes of burgeoning budget deficits. But that is not the case, he said.

Social Security is fundamentally sound and does not contribute meaningfully to our long-term deficit. With the decline of defined-benefit pensions, the sudden loss of retirement savings for millions and the dramatic increase in economic uncertainty, strengthening Social Security’s core guarantee of retiring with dignity is now more important than ever.

Problems with Medicare financing are a symptom of the larger problem of rising health care costs and can be solved by comprehensive health care reform, not benefit cuts, he added.

Commissions have been, and can be, serious and useful mechanisms to grapple with difficult problems. But the true test of this commission’s success will be whether it helps fix our budget deficits by attacking the jobs deficit, or whether it makes our budget problems worse by sacrificing jobs and urgently needed long-term public investment.

Librarians Guild  AFSCME Local 2626  514 Shatto Place, 3rd Floor  Los Angeles, CA  90020

WHEREAS in the aftermath of the Massachusetts special senatorial election, AFL-CIO President  Richard Trumka issued a statement declaring, “It’s time to organize and mobilize as never before to  make every elected or aspiring leader PROVE he or she will create the jobs we need in an economy we  need with the healthcare we need. I know we are the people who can mobilize a massive army to force  elected leaders to deliver;” and

WHEREAS despite the so-called economic recovery, the economic crisis for working people has  continued unabated, with growing unemployment and underemployment, rising home foreclosures and  evictions, and the underfunding of public education and vitally needed social services; and

WHEREAS the government has bestowed billions of bailout dollars on the financial institutions whose  recklessness and greed created this economic crisis and who are rewarding those responsible with  obscene gigantic bonuses; and

WHEREAS the labor movement’s legislative priorities — a massive program for jobs, true universal  healthcare, and enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act — are all in great peril; and

WHEREAS while the government has no problem allocating a trillion dollars for two wars thousands  of miles away, it has not committed funds critically needed to put America back to work, with  healthcare and quality education for all; and

WHEREAS right wing, anti-labor forces, such as the Tea Bag movement, have brought hundreds of  thousands of people into the streets to advance their reactionary demands; and WHEREAS there is a  growing movement within the House of Labor to counter the right-wing offensive against workers’  living standards with our own massive mobilization; and

WHEREAS various union bodies, including the South Carolina AFL-CIO, the South Bay Labor  Council (CA), acting on a resolution submitted by Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, Troy Area Labor  Council (NY), and the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, have adopted resolutions calling upon  the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III March on Washington D.C. in the  spring of 2010 to demand jobs, healthcare, housing, full funding for public education and social  services, and peace; now therefore be it

RESOLVED that the Librarians’ Guild, AFSCME Local 2626, joins with our brothers and sisters in  calling for a labor-sponsored march on Washington for jobs, peace and justice, which would have the  capability of mobilizing the kind of massive army Brother Trumka spoke of; and be it finally

RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.

(Adopted by  the Librarians’ Guild, AFSCME Local 2626 Executive Board  -  February 11, 2010)

I’m delighted to inform you that the The Council of New Jersey State College Locals (CNJSCL), AFT, AFL-CIO  http://www.cnjscl.org/ voted unanimously in our state-wide meeting of delegates on February 12, 2010 to endorse the resolution calling upon the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III March on Washington D.C. in the spring of 2010 to demand jobs, healthcare, housing, full funding for public education and social services, and peace.

The CNJSCL is comprised of 11 Locals and represents over 8,000 faculty, adjunct faculty, librarians and professional staff at the following nine institutions of higher education:
1) The College of New Jersey,
2) Kean University,
3) Montclair State University,
4) New Jersey City University and the A. Harry Moore School,
5) Ramapo College of New Jersey,
6) Richard Stockton College,
7) Rowan University,
8) Thomas Edison State College and
9) William Paterson University.

I have attached both Word and pdf copies of our resolution to use as you see fit. Please feel free to contact me directly if you need more information.

Hope to see you in D.C. soon.

Solidarity

Terry Epperson
Member, Executive Board
AFT Local 2364
The College of New JerseyResolution in Support of a Labor-Sponsored March on Washington

WHEREAS in the aftermath of the Massachusetts special senatorial election, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued a statement declaring, “It’s time to organize and mobilize as never before to make every elected or aspiring leader PROVE he or she will create the jobs we need in an economy we need with the healthcare we need. I know we are the people who can mobilize a massive army to force elected leaders to deliver;” and

WHEREAS despite the so-called economic recovery, the economic crisis for working people has continued unabated, with growing unemployment and underemployment, rising home foreclosures and evictions, and the underfunding of public education and vitally needed social services; and

WHEREAS the government has bestowed billions of bailout dollars on the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed created this economic crisis and who are rewarding those responsible with obscene gigantic bonuses; and

WHEREAS the labor movement’s legislative priorities — a massive program for jobs, true universal healthcare, and enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act — are all in great peril; and

WHEREAS while the government has no problem allocating a trillion dollars for two wars thousands of miles away, it has not committed funds critically needed to put America back to work, with healthcare and quality education for all; and

WHEREAS right wing, anti-labor forces, such as the Tea Bag movement, have brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to advance their reactionary demands; and

WHEREAS there is a growing movement within the House of Labor to counter the right-wing offensive against workers’ living standards with our own massive mobilization; and

WHEREAS various union bodies, including the South Bay Labor Council (CA), acting on a resolution submitted by Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, Troy Area Labor Council (NY), and the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, have adopted resolutions calling upon the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III March on Washington D.C. in the spring of 2010 to demand jobs, healthcare, housing, full funding for public education and social services, and peace; now therefore be it

RESOLVED that the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT, AFL-CIO (CNJSCL) joins with our brothers and sisters in calling for a labor-sponsored march on Washington for jobs, peace and justice, which would have the capability of mobilizing the kind of massive army Brother Trumka spoke of; and be it finally

RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and to all CNJSCL Locals for their consideration.

Respectfully submitted

Nagesh Rao, Member, AFT Local 2364, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)

Terry Epperson, Member, Executive Board, AFT Local 2364, TCNJ

Adopted by The Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT, AFL-CIO, Feb. 12, 2010

SolidarityDayIIIresolution

1. South Carolina State AFL-CIO
2. San Francisco Labor Council
3. South Bay Labor Council (San Jose, Calif.)
4. The Council of New Jersey State College Locals (CNJSCL), AFT, AFL-CIO NEW
5. Chris Silvera, Secretary – Treasurer, Teamsters Local 808 NEW
6. Chris Driscoll, Recording Secretary, The Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics NEW
7. National Jobs for All Coalition   NEW
8. Prosperity Agenda   NEW
9. Kevin Zeese, Executive Director, Prosperity Agenda  NEW
10. Alan L. Maki, Director of Organizing Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council (for identification only)   NEW
11. Joe Tonan, Claremont Faculty Association, a Chapter of the California Teachers Association (for identification only)   NEW
12. Gregory W. Paquin, Business Manager, Native American Indian Lab or Union #12 (for identification only) NEW
13. San Mateo Central Labor Council
14. Hartford (CT) Central Labor Council
15. Troy (NY) Central Labor Council
16. AFT Local 1021 (Los Angeles)
17. Executive Council, AFT Missouri
18. California Peace and Freedom Party
19. Harlem Tenants Council
20. Harlem Antiwar Coalition
21. Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
22. Ohio State Labor Party
23. Railroad Workers United
24. Painters and Dry Wall workers Local  93 (Bay Area)
25. Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report)
26. Donna Smith, American SiCKO, American Patients United
27. Harry Kelber (Labor Educator)
28. Sharon Black (Organizer, Bail Out the People Movement)
29. Monadel Herzallah (Arab American Union Members Council)
30. Andy Griggs (UTLA member)
31. Don Bechler (chair, Single Payer Now!)
32. Larry Duncan (Labor Beat-Chicago)
33. Allan Fisher (AFT 2121)
34. Fred Hirsch (South Bay Labor Council)
35. Jerry Gordon (Ohio State Labor Party)
36. Bill Balderston (Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice)

Rank-and-file unions from various parts of the country, as well as Central Labor Councils, have been passing resolutions calling on the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a massive Solidarity Day III demonstration in Washington to demand job-creation programs as well as other programs vital to working people. [See initial list of endorsers below.]

This campaign just took a qualitative leap forward when the statewide South Carolina AFL-CIO passed a similar resolution, which you will find below.

These resolutions have a receptive audience. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently argued: “It’s not time to leave it to any political party to take care of us once we put them in office. It’s time to organize and mobilize as never before to make every elected or aspiring leader PROVE he or she will create the jobs we need in an economy we need with the healthcare we need. Š I know we are the people who can mobilize a massive army to force elected leaders to deliver.”

Together, these developments signal that now is the time to act. We want to encourage all of you to raise similar resolutions in your union locals and labor/community organizations. Every resolution will help, and any single resolution might just provide the essential tipping point that results in a nationwide call for a Solidarity Day III demonstration.

Every recent poll has concluded that job loss is the top concern of the American public. If we succeed in winning a call for Solidarity Day III march in Washington, this diffuse sentiment will achieve concrete expression in the streets as working people across the country mobilize under the banner of a demand for job-creation programs, single-payer healthcare, an end to home foreclosures and evictions and war, money for education and vital social services, and so on.

The labor movement in this country represents the interests of the majority of the people in this country. The bankers do not. We have a solemn duty to press for Solidarity Day III so that the collective voice of the majority of working people can be heard across the nation.

In Solidarity,

Alan Benjamin and Bill Leumer
WERC Co-Conveners

********************
SOUTH CAROLINA AFL-CIO
Post Office Box 39 * Swansea, S.C. 29160 *
(803) 798-8300 * Toll free 866-798-8300 * FAX (803) 798-2231 *
E-Mail: scaflcio@bellsouth.net
———-

Resolution in Support of a Labor-Sponsored March on Washington
WHEREAS in the aftermath of the Massachusetts special senatorial election, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued a statement declaring, “It’s time to organize and mobilize as never before to make every elected or aspiring leader PROVE he or she will create the jobs we need in an economy we need with the healthcare we need. I know we are the people who can mobilize a massive army to force elected leaders to deliver;” and

WHEREAS despite the so-called economic recovery, the economic crisis for working people has continued unabated, with growing unemployment and underemployment, rising home foreclosures and evictions, and the underfunding of public education and vitally needed social services; and

WHEREAS the government has bestowed billions of bailout dollars on the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed created this economic crisis and who are rewarding those responsible with obscene gigantic bonuses; and
WHEREAS the labor movement’s legislative priorities — a massive program for jobs, true universal healthcare, and enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act — are all in great peril; and

WHEREAS while the government has no problem allocating a trillion dollars for two wars thousands of miles away, it has not committed funds critically needed to put America back to work, with healthcare and quality education for all; and

WHEREAS right wing, anti-labor forces, such as the Tea Bag movement, have brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to advance their reactionary demands; and
WHEREAS there is a growing movement within the House of Labor to counter the right-wing offensive against workers’ living standards with our own massive mobilization; and

WHEREAS various union bodies, including the South Bay Labor Council (CA), acting on a resolution submitted by Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, Troy Area Labor Council (NY), and the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, have adopted resolutions calling upon the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III March on Washington D.C. in the spring of 2010 to demand jobs, healthcare, housing, full funding for public education and social services, and peace; now therefore be it

RESOLVED that the South Carolina AFL-CIO joins with our brothers and sisters in calling for a labor-sponsored march on Washington for jobs, peace and justice, which would have the capability of mobilizing the kind of massive army Brother Trumka spoke of; and be it finally
RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the AFL-CIO and to Change to Win.
(Adopted by the SC AFL-CIO Executive Board – February 2nd, 2010)

********************

Initial list of endorsers of Call for a Labor-Sponsored
Demonstration in Washington for Jobs, Peace and Justice

- South Carolina State AFL-CIO
- San Francisco Labor Council
- South Bay Labor Council (San Jose, Calif.)
- San Mateo Central Labor Council
- Hartford (CT) Central Labor Council
- Troy (NY) Central Labor Council
- AFT Local 1021 (Los Angeles)
- Executive Council, AFT Missouri
- California Peace and Freedom Party
- Harlem Tenants Council
- Harlem Antiwar Coalition
- Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
- Ohio State Labor Party
- Railroad Workers United
- Painters and Dry Wall workers Local 93 (Bay Area)

- Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report)
- Donna Smith, American SiCKO, American Patients United
- Harry Kelber (Labor Educator)
- Sharon Black (Organizer, Bail Out the People Movement)
- Monadel Herzallah (Arab American Union Members Council)
- Andy Griggs (UTLA member)
- Don Bechler (chair, Single Payer Now!)
- Larry Duncan (Labor Beat-Chicago)
- Allan Fisher (AFT 2121)
- Fred Hirsch (South Bay Labor Council)
- Jerry Gordon (Ohio State Labor Party)
- Bill Balderston (Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice)

WERC Interim National Committee Members:

- Kali Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Gulf Coast Reconstruction activist
- Alan Benjamin,* Executive Committee member, San Francisco Labor Council
- Mike Carano, Progressive Democrats of America
- Colia Clark, Veteran, Civil Rights Movement
- Donna Dewitt*, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO
- Pat Gowens, National organizer, Welfare Warriors
- Bill Leumer,* International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 853 (ret.)
- Luis Magaña, Coordinator, Organization of Farmworkers of California (OTAC)
- Cynthia McKinney, Former Member of Congress, 2009 Green Party presidential candidate
- Jack Rasmus, Economist, Professor at St. Mary’s College
- Al Rojas, Coordinator, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior
- Marc Rich, United Teachers of Los Angeles
- Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star mother, antiwar activist
- Clarence Thomas, Member, ILWU Local 10
- Mark Vorpahl*, SEIU Local 49, Portland, OR
- Nancy Wohlforth*, Co-Pres., Pride at Work/AFL-CIO, Vice Pres.,California Federation of Labor

(* titles & org. for id. only)

WORKERS EMERGENCY RECOVERY CAMPAIGN
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140
Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 626-1217
email: wercampaign@gmail.com
website: www.wercampaign.org

All Out For March 4 Rally at the Civic Center in Defense Of Public Education and All Public-Sector Services!

The San Francisco Labor Council calls on all labor affiliates, community organizations, and student groups to mobilize their memberships to attend the 5 p.m. rally and demonstration at the San Francisco Civic Center on March 4. This rally is being organized and sponsored by United Educators of San Francisco, AFT Local 2121, and the California Faculty

Association as part of the statewide March 4 Strike/Day of Action in Defense of Public Education that was called by a statewide conference of students, faculty, and staff unions held in Berkeley on October 24, 2009.

Responding to layoffs, furloughs and widespread cutbacks, the October 24 conference summoned all sectors of education to struggle collectively to save public education in California. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and California Teachers Association (CTA) have endorsed the Day of Action. Massive demonstrations are being organized across the state on March 4.

The San Francisco Labor Council believes that those who work in the education sector should not be placed in competition with state workers, where each fights against the other for scarce funds.

That is why we are urging that California enact a program of progressive taxation. This could ensure that all our communities can thrive. We could create ample funds so that everyone has the opportunity, through quality, accessible education, to fully develop their potential and become productive members of society. And, at the same time, we could establish fully funded social services and job security for public workers.

Note: UESF is calling on all teacher unionists and K-12 families to gather at 4 p.m. at the State Building on the corner of Van Ness & McAllister before joining the mass rally at the Civic Center.

PDF from the San Francisco Labor Council

Despite its control of the presidency and its super-majority in Congress, the Democrats have done little to alleviate the suffering of working people, while bestowing trillions of dollars on bankers.  Accordingly, those who caused this economic crisis through their recklessness and greed have been reimbursed for their losses and are back to business as usual, rewarding themselves with huge bonuses once again.  In contrast, working people, who had nothing to do with creating this crisis, are bearing the burden of suffering through the loss of our jobs and our homes and the erosion of public education and social services.

The recent Democratic Party loss of the Senate seat in Massachusetts reflects the growing disconnect between the policies of the Democratic Party and the needs of working people. There are already indications that the Democratic Party plans to move even more to the right in pursuit of a corporate agenda that further attacks the rights and working conditions of the rest of us.

As Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, recently announced in response to the Massachusetts elections: “It’s not time to leave it to any political party to take care of us once we put them in office. It’s time to organize and mobilize as never before to make every elected or aspiring leader PROVE he or she will create the jobs we need in an economy we need with the health care we need. I know we are the people who can mobilize a massive army to force elected leaders to deliver.”

Now is the time to organize a massive Solidarity Day III demonstration in Washington, D.C. and possibly on the West Coast to make our voices heard in favor of:

• a massive job creation program
• single-payer health care
• a stop to foreclosures and evictions
• passage of EFCA, with card check
• peace

The history of the labor movement is filled with massive mobilizations of working people that won the eight-hour day, the right to unionize, civil rights, unemployment insurance, welfare, and so on.  When the challenges were enormous, working people rose to the occasion.  We can turn things around today by employing the same successful tactics. And we should insist that since working people constitute the majority of the population, society should operate in the interests of the majority!