“Working people can make a difference when we rely on ourselves and act collectively. We are America. And together we can make our voices heard.”

With this summons to the workers of America, the AFL-CIO just announced that it is joining and building the October 2, 2010 Washington, D.C. demonstration, initiated by SEIU 1199 and the NAACP, to demand — above all — jobs. Thus far, 170 progressive organizations have come together to form a coalition, called One Nation, to promote this event.

Introducing this One Nation coalition, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO offered this description:

“ONE NATION is a multi-racial, civil and human rights movement whose mission is to reorder our nation’s priorities to invest in our nation’s most valuable resource — our people. The organizations that have come together to form ONE NATION believe that our goal should be a future of shared prosperity, not stubborn unemployment and a lost generation. Workers should be able to share in the wealth they create, and everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve the American Dream — a secure job; the chance for our children to get a great public education and the opportunity to make their own way in the world; and laws that protect us, not oppress us.

“ONE NATION is a long-term effort to reverse the dangerous economic course of our country over the past four decades. It brings together organizations from across the progressive spectrum — labor, civil rights, environmental, faith and many others — recognizing that none of us alone have been able to achieve our priorities, whether they are large-scale job creation, labor law reform, immigration reform, investing in public education or other concerns, and that we will not realize change until these priorities belong to all of us.”

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.

While some in the labor movement routinely turn to electing Democrats to office as the purported panacea for the plight of working people, this approach is fundamentally flawed. The corporations and Wall Street have funneled billions of dollars into the campaign coffers of the Democratic Party. The oil giant, BP, gave more money to Obama than to any other politician. But these businesses have a keen eye on what they call “the bottom line.” They do not make investments unless they believe their efforts will be handsomely rewarded.

And while every politician has sworn that these campaign contributions have no bearing on their votes and that it is merely coincidental that their policy decisions concur with corporate interests, it is inconceivable that corporations would continue their campaign contributions if these investments did not yield a substantial “return.” Corporate interests are behind the stalling and diluting of the Employee Free Choice Act, the maintenance of a low minimum wage, second-class rights for undocumented workers, the reduction of Social Security benefits, lax environmental regulations, reckless gambling on Wall Street, predatory loan rates, no mercy for workers threatened with home foreclosures, and the list goes on. All these policies have prevailed in Congress, despite the Democratic Party majority.

In California, the Democratic Party recently unveiled its tax reform program. It proposed increasing personal income taxes on everyone except “the wealthiest Californians” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 2010) and instead of repealing corporate tax breaks it merely opted to slightly delay them. The Democratic Party consistently gives Wall Street, the corporations, and the rich what they want. Then it throws the few remaining crumbs to working people.

If the October 2 demonstration is used as an opportunity simply to elect Democrats, workers will stay home. And if the demands of the October 2 demonstration are restricted to what is acceptable to the Democratic Party, they will inspire no one. There was much fanfare over the recent U.S. Senate approval of a state aid package. But when one reads the fine print and discovers that the total package amounts to $26 billion for the entire country, it becomes apparent that this amounts to a drop in the bucket for cash-starved states. California alone is currently faced with a $19 billion deficit.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, trumpeted that the bill “keeps hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters, policemen and other civil employees from being fired or laid off” (The New York Times, August 4, 2010), but he failed to mention the bill leaves over a million working people across the country stranded with no hope while they are being threatened with layoffs because of massive state budget deficits.

We urge our readers to help build the October 2 demonstration in Washington, D.C., but we also want to present compelling arguments to the labor movement organizing this demonstration to embrace a set of demands that truly respond to the needs of working people, not to the needs of the corporations or what the Democratic Party decides is acceptable.

These demands should include:

A MASSIVE JOB-CREATION PROGRAM
NO CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently argued (February 19, 2010): “The best way to reduce the growing federal deficit is to create 10 million jobs now – the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit – not to cut vital programs such as Social Security and Medicare” (<http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/02/19/trumka-creating-jobs-is-best-way-to-fix-deficit/>). This number should be increased to at least 14.5 million to accommodate all unemployed workers.

TAX THE RICH
As Trumka noted in his address to Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission (<http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/trumkatestimony_06302010.cfm>), making Wall Street and the rich pay for a jobs program reflects a basic sense of fairness: “We believe it is only fitting to ask Wall Street to pay to rebuild the economy it helped destroy.” As for the rich, he observed: “It would also be fitting to ask the wealthiest Americans who benefited most from the failed economic policies of the past 30 years to pay their fair share for rebuilding the 21st century economy and stabilizing the national debt.” He called for a raise in their tax rate, pointing out that “effective tax rates applicable to high-income taxpayers (earning over $250,000 in 2009 dollars) reached their lowest level in at least half a century in 2008.” He argued that these measures are especially urgent, given the growing inequality in wealth that was in part responsible for the current economic crisis.

A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON HOME FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS

Losing a job is often followed by a second disaster: home foreclosure and eviction. Given that working people had no part in creating the Great Recession with its massive destruction of jobs, we should not be required to suffer its disastrous consequences while those who caused it are awarded generous bailouts at our expense. The federal government should institute a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions.

LEGALIZATION FOR UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS NOW
As President Richard Trumka has argued (June 18, 2010; (<http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/sp06182010.cfm>): “The failures of our relationship with Mexico represent a failed economic strategy. They cannot be solved with guns and soldiers and fences. They must be addressed through an economic strategy for shared prosperity based on rising wages in both countries.” This means that the solution to the immigration problem is not to militarize the borders or to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

And he added as a part of his analysis of the problem: “Instead, at the heart of the failure of our immigration policy is an unpleasant fact, one that you almost never hear talked about openly: Too many U.S. employers actually like the current state of the immigration system–a system where immigrants are both plentiful and undocumented–afraid and available.” In other words, employers prefer undocumented workers because they can pay them sub-wages or not pay them at all, which happens routinely, since undocumented workers have no legal recourse to redress injustices.

Trumka proceeded to reject “the return of the outdated guest worker programs that give immigrants no security, no future here in the United States, no rights and no hope of being part of the American Dream.”

Finally, correctly noting that undocumented workers are “the people doing the hardest work for the least money” and that “we are for ending our two-tiered workforce and our two-tiered society … because an underclass of disenfranchised workers ends up hurting all workers,” Trumka concluded that “we stand for the American Dream for all who work in our country,” meaning that undocumented workers should be granted “a fair path towards legalization.”

We should make this demand stronger. Undocumented workers should be granted immediate legalization, since a “path” can take years to traverse, which would mean that none of our problems would be solved except in an unspecified, far distant future.

At its recent convention, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the Latino wing of the AFL-CIO, passed a resolution on August 6 that included the following provision: “Our labor movement has called for basic reform of our immigration laws, and adopted a position at the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles in 1999 that demands the repeal of employer sanctions, immediate amnesty for all undocumented workers, protection of the right to organize for all workers, the strengthening of family reunification as the basis of immigration policy, and opposition to guest worker programs.”

Now is not the time to back-peddle on these important principles.

PEACE
MONEY FOR JOBS, NOT PRISONS AND WARS

The United Auto Workers and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition have joined forces and are organizing a demonstration on August 28 in Detroit on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. At the top of the list of their demands are jobs.

But they have also included enforcement of workers’ rights and civil rights in addition to “ending the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving lives and redirecting the war budget to rebuilding America.” And the NAACP has emphasized the importance of creating jobs, not prisons. These points should be included in the list of demands.

With a set of demands that responds directly and fully to the needs of most workers and with the conviction that “working people can make a difference when we rely on ourselves and act collectively,” the call for October 2 has the potential to strike a deep chord and inspire hundreds of thousands of working people to join the demonstration. SEIU Local 1199 President George Gresham has predicted that this demonstration will be a “massive — and we believe historic — march.”

If the demonstration has the right demands, the right orientation, and is preceded by plenty of organizing, his prediction should prove true.

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

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

AFL-CIO Backs October 2nd March in Washington DC for Jobs, Justice and Peace

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We learned this morning that the National Executive Council of the AFL-CIO has voted to support and mobilize its members for the October 2, 2010, march on Washington to demand “jobs, economic security, comprehensive immigration reform, a safe and renewable energy policy and a reversal of national priorities from making wars to meeting human needs.” This march was initiated by SEIU Local 1199 and the NAACP.

NAACP President Ben Jealous announced the October 2nd march at the NAACP convention in Kansas City in early July, explaining that “marchers will demand the change they voted for when Barack Obama was elected,” and emphasizing the urgent need to “create jobs and stop moving money out of education and into wars and prisons.” (Kansas City Star, July 12, 2010).

Indeed, while there are many issues of concern among working people, having a job ranks by far at the very top of the list, since so many other basic needs are directly tied to employment. The current Great Recession — some are calling it a depression — has spawned a surge in joblessness, with little recovery in sight. Temporary downward dips in the unemployment rate are resulting from workers becoming discouraged; they stop looking for work because they do not think they can find any, so they are no longer counted as unemployed.

Not enough jobs are being created in the private sector to keep up with the number of new workers who are entering the labor market. According to an AFL-CIO blog (June 7, 2010), 38 percent of Americans report that either they or someone close to them has lost a job. There are officially almost 15 million Americans now out of work, mostly due to the current economic crisis. But if those who are involuntarily working part-time and if discouraged workers are taken into account, the number is much higher.

Claiming that the federal deficit is the greatest threat to the economy, politicians of both major parties are displaying a stark lack of interest in aggressively attacking the problem of joblessness. Recently, Congress callously refused to extend unemployment benefits, thereby cutting a crucial lifeline for over one million unemployed workers. Many believe that this inflated focus on the deficit is simply an excuse by politicians to terminate popular government programs, where the politicians claim the government simply cannot afford to maintain them. Motivated by special interests instead of what is good for the country as a whole, these politicians propose privatizing the programs or eliminating them altogether.

It is within this context that we applaud two significant developments. First, as we have already mentioned, SEIU Local 1199 and the NAACP are organizing the October 2 march on Washington, D.C. SEIU Local 1199 President George Gresham has predicted that this demonstration will be a “massive — and we believe historic — march.” It might, in fact, mark a turning point for organized labor as it launches this fight-back.

Secondly, in Detroit, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Jesse Jackson with his Rainbow PUSH Coalition have joined forces to spearhead a campaign to demand the creation of jobs. This campaign will be kicked off by a march in Detroit on August 28, 2010, the anniversary of the 1963 massive rally in Washington, D.C. where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

The significance of these events cannot be emphasized enough. Here, working people are not sitting back passively, hoping the politicians will throw them a few leftover crumbs after bestowing bountiful favors on the banks and corporations. Rather, workers are relying first and foremost on themselves. They are acting independently of the two major political parties, which are controlled above all by corporate and Wall Street interests.

Politicians act in their own self-interest. But often their self-interest lies in responding positively to whichever sector of the population is exerting the most pressure on them. The rich exert pressure routinely by showering politicians with generous campaign contributions and unleashing a herd of lobbyists on them. In contrast, the most effective weapon of working people is to organize massive demonstrations where their monumental size confirms that they have the support of the majority of the population.

Such demonstrations have succeeded in bringing down governments. Every major gain for working people in this country has resulted from huge demonstrations, including the right to unionize, the 8-hour day, Social Security, unemployment benefits, civil rights, women’s suffrage, immigrant rights, and the list goes on.

A massive government jobs-creation program that would put 15 million people back to work would not simply benefit working people, it would benefit the entire country, especially when linked to the demand that Wall Street and the rich pay for it.

As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka argued before President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission on June 30, 2010, an economic stimulus in the form of a jobs-creation program will help place the country on a stronger economic foundation. For example, it will help avoid a double-dip recession, which happened in 1937 when the government chose to switch course and reduce the deficit rather than stimulate the economy. Also, when people are put back to work, they pay taxes, which contribute to lowering the deficit. Moreover, by creating jobs through rebuilding the country’s public infrastructure, a strong foundation is laid for a future vibrant economy.

Trumka specifically mentioned such infrastructure examples as roads, bridges, urban transit, schools and university facilities, green generating plants, along with many other sound proposals. He further argued that the current crisis is in part due to the growing inequalities in wealth. When working people’s wages stagnate or disappear altogether because of layoffs, their ability to consume declines accordingly. With a drop in demand, businesses must cut back, lay off more workers, and demand drops even further.

As Trumka noted, making Wall Street and the rich pay for a jobs program reflects a basic sense of fairness: “We believe it is only fitting to ask Wall Street to pay to rebuild the economy it helped destroy.” As for the rich, he observed: “It would also be fitting to ask the wealthiest Americans who benefited most from the failed economic policies of the past 30 years to pay their fair share for rebuilding the 21st century economy and stabilizing the national debt.” He called for a raise in their tax rate, pointing out that “effective tax rates applicable to high-income taxpayers (earning over $250,000 in 2009 dollars) reached their lowest level in at least half a century in 2008.”

Trumka’s campaign for a jobs-creation program and higher taxes on the rich as the best medicine for the economy stands in stark opposition to the alternatives that many politicians are urging, including cutting Social Security benefits. As he argued: “While a jobs-centered approach to debt stabilization would help reverse income inequality and bring us closer to sustainable, broadly shared prosperity, several approaches now under discussion in the debate over deficit reduction would take us in the opposite direction. These approaches include prolonged unemployment, which would permanently cripple the earnings potential of millions of workers, exert downward pressure on workers’ wages, and condemn millions of children to poverty unnecessarily; cuts to Social Security benefits; and cuts to Medicare benefits.” Actually, Social Security has been generating a surplus almost since its inception and has in no way contributed to the deficit, although the media have been intent on giving the opposite impression. Trumka correctly added: “In fact, Social Security should be strengthened to compensate for the decline of traditional pensions and for the stock market losses of retirement savings plans.”

In order to ensure that the turnout for these demonstrations in Detroit and Washington, DC is massive, the demands must reflect the real needs of working people, not what the politicians say is possible after giving the corporations and Wall Street all they want, both of which have been pushing hard on the politicians.

We must push back even harder. President Trumka has called for the creation of 15 million jobs. We should demand nothing less; asking for crumbs will only demoralize our own ranks. If our demands are measured to fit our needs and they are just and fair, and with AFL-CIO resources building October 2, working people will see that a serious fight is being waged, and they will be inspired to join. Under such circumstances, this demonstration could indeed be historic.

We are asking you, our readers and supporters, to get your unions, state labor federations, regional central labor councils, civil rights organizations, antiwar coalitions, and community groups to endorse these demonstrations and to help build them, especially if you are located in the general vicinity of either event. The more people we can bring into the streets, the greater our prospects of success in influencing government policy in favor of the creation of more jobs.

Working people can make a difference when we rely on ourselves and act collectively. After all, we are the majority.

• Jobs for All!
• Hands Off Social Security!
• Tax the Rich and the Corporations!
• Money for Jobs, Not for Wars and Prisons

In solidarity,

Bill Leumer and Alan Benjamin,
Co-Conveners,
Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign

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 meeting of state federations and central labor councils in Orlando, Florida, on April 23-25, 2010.

We did, however, manage to create a significant groundswell where numerous labor bodies across the nation passed resolutions in support of such a Solidarity Day III march and rally in Washington, DC. These resolutions and the many endorsements by leading trade unionists were a reflection of the widespread suffering of working people who are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis through layoffs, furloughs, home foreclosures, loss of health insurance, and so on.

Deep discontent among working people has been spreading and intensifying. It erupted in California on March 4 when tens of thousands of working people and many unions joined students and teacher unionists in demonstrations to defend public education and social services. In Oregon, despite strong opposition from corporations, the unions succeeded in leading the struggle to pass progressive taxation, forcing higher taxes on the corporations and the wealthy. In both cases, working people demonstrated an eagerness to stand up and fight for their own interests. And they represent a huge reservoir of strength that can be tapped.

While the wealthy use their money to lobby politicians, ordinary working people have historically turned to organizing huge protests to press for their needs. Accordingly, such protests served as a vital tool in winning union recognition in the 1930s. They were key to the success of the Civil Rights movement, they contributed to ending the U.S. war in Vietnam. They have helped to defend immigrant rights, and they have brought down governments around the world. Their power emanates from their size: When they are huge, it becomes unambiguously clear that they represent the desires of the majority of society.

Nevertheless, most top officials of the labor movement have rejected — for now — the option of organizing a massive demonstration for jobs. They view themselves as acting pragmatically by navigating through what they perceive as a permanent configuration of political alignments. In particular, most union officials look to the Democratic Party with the hope of winning some benefits, and they do not want to jeopardize the prospect of modest gains. Horrified at the possibility of inflicting the slightest injury on the Democrats, labor officials are avoiding organizing large demonstrations that would pressure the Obama government into creating jobs. They fear that the Republicans will be quick to take advantage of fissures in the relationship between labor and the Democrats.

The problem with this strategy, however, lies in the duplicitous role of the Democratic Party. On the one hand, it claims to be a friend of labor and has been quick to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from unions each year. On the other hand, it receives far greater contributions from corporations, which have been adamant in insisting that labor occupy a far subordinate position in this unsavory triangle.

President Obama has received more money from financial institutions than any other sector of the economy. Consequently, administrations, whether headed by Democrats or Republicans, have allowed banks to engage in predatory loans and charge interest rates amounting to usury when people have overdrawn their bank accounts; they have allowed taxes on corporations and the wealthy to incessantly slide downwards, thereby squeezing public education and social services; they have given corporations a free hand to proceed recklessly so as to cause environmental catastrophes; they have permitted corporations to keep wages low in order to push profits higher; and they have enabled the wealthy to become wealthier than ever before.

Currently, the Obama administration has failed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, even though it had a super-majority in Congress, it refused to consider single-payer health care, it dropped any form of a public health care option, despite strong labor support, it applauded the mass firing of teachers in Rhode Island, and it is supporting charter schools, which constitute a direct attack on unions.

In fact, never before in the history of this country have so few had so much at the expense of so many. And it raises the question: For how long will huge amounts of wealth belonging to a small minority of the population who enjoy untold luxuries be allowed to prevail over the basic needs of the working people of this country, who constitute the vast majority?

Worse still: The economic crisis for working people is far from over. Unemployment remains high, public education and social services continue to be gutted, and the enormous federal government budget deficit is looming in the background. President Obama has already established his deficit-reduction committee, headed by Republican Allan Simpson, and there has been incessant chatter about reducing Social Security benefits, which constitute the most modest lifeline for millions of Americans. The banks, the corporations, and the wealthy are pushing hard to compel the Obama government to protect their privileges at our expense. The labor movement will be forced to stand up and fight. Otherwise, what little we have will be taken from us.

We are confident that the Solidarity Day III campaign is not at an end but at the beginning. The organized labor movement will be compelled to mobilize working people to defend their standard of living. And the only effective means at its disposal will be to establish a broad united coalition, led by labor, to bring people into the streets to demand the creation of 11 million jobs while taxing Wall Street to pay for them, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has proposed.

By refusing to rely on the politicians and by establishing an independent movement of labor, working people will be in a position to reach out and unite the majority of the population so that in solidarity we can create a powerful movement to fight for our common interests.

Bill Leumer and Alan Benjamin
Co-coordinators
Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign

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 Justice. Other unions and organizations that recently passed similar resolutions include the Labor for Single Payer Campaign — representing a broad array of local unions, labor councils and state federations — as well as the San Francisco Building Trades Council.

These resolutions are in response to a deteriorating situation for working people. Unemployment continues unabated, home foreclosures are still rising, and because of the recession, many states are suffering huge budget deficits, meaning that they are slashing social services and funding for education so that even more people are losing their jobs. Instead of mounting a massive jobs-creation program, the federal government is contemplating reducing the federal deficit by attacking entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has recently condemned these trends and offered a different approach: “The best way to fix the deficit is to create 10 million jobs now — the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit. This will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street.”

In response to the Massachusetts Senate elections where Republican Scott Brown won, President Trumka also stated: “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.”

We agree with these statements by President Trumka. Now is the time to rely on ourselves, not on the politicians, and to mobilize a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C. for Jobs, Peace and Justice. Although small demonstrations are helpful, massive demonstrations, because they cannot be ignored by the media, place much more pressure on the politicians to do the right thing. Huge demonstrations give the participants the conviction that they are not alone, that they truly represent the interests of the majority of the people in this country, that our cause is just, and that we have the power to win. In this way these demonstrations enthuse and energize the participants who then want to continue the struggle.

The AFL-CIO has recently launched a two-week campaign across the country, calling for rallies and demonstrations at the Big Six Wall Street banks (Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia) in order to broadcast the following message: “It’s time to create good jobs now, and the big Wall Street banks that destroyed jobs should pay to restore them.” There are three demands: “Stop refusing to pay your fair share to restore the jobs you destroyed, stop fighting financial reform, and start lending to your communities, small businesses and others starved for credit.”

We encourage you to attend one of these demonstrations and raise the idea of calling on the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a massive demonstration of working people to demand that the government resolve the economic crisis in favor of working people by creating jobs and taxing Wall Street, rather than resolving the crisis at our expense so that the bankers can continue their outrageous bonuses.

We have included a Model Resolution for such a Solidarity Day III demonstration below, along with an endorsement coupon. You will also find below an updated list of endorsers of this important campaign.

We hope to hear back from you.

In solidarity,

Bill Leumer and Alan Benjamin
Co-Conveners,
Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign

MODEL RESOLUTION
in Support of a Labor-Sponsored March on Washington
For JOBS, PEACE & JUSTICE

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 health care we needs. 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 health care, 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 health care and quality education for all; and

WHEREAS right wing, anti-labor forces, such as the Tea Party movement, have brought hundreds of thousand 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 California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO), the South Carolina Labor Federation (AFL-CIO), the Labor for Single-Payer Campaign, the San Francisco Building Trades Council, the South Bay Labor Council (CA), Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, Troy Area Labor Council (NY), San Mateo Labor Council (CA) and the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the Council of New Jersey State College Locals (CNJSCL, AFT-AFL-CIO), among others, 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 or summer of 2010 to demand jobs, health care, housing, full funding for public education and social services, and peace; now therefore be it

RESOLVED that the ________ [NAME OF YOUR UNION/ORGANIZATION] 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.

WERC ENDORSEMENT / FINANCIAL SUPPORT COUPON

[ ] I endorse the Model Resolution [see above] Urging Support for a Solidarity Day III March in DC for Jobs, Peace and Justice.

[ ] My union / organization endorses the Model Resolution Urging Support for a Solidarity Day III March in DC.

[ ] I pledge a contribution of $ _____ toward your WERC financial campaign. My check will be made payable to “WERC” and mailed to WERC, P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.

NAME

UNION/ORG (for info purposes only)

CITY

STATE

ZIP

TEL

EMAIL

(please fill out and return to wercampaign@gmail.com)

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

(as of March 19, 2010)

- California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- 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
- Labor For Single Payer Campaign
- AFT Local 1021 (Los Angeles)
- Council of New Jersey State College Locals (CNJSCL), AFT-AFL-CIO
- Executive Council, AFT Missouri
- National Jobs for All Coalition
- 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)
- Prosperity Agenda

- 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)
- Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Union Local 808
- Kevin Zeese, Executive Director, Prosperity Agenda
- Chris Driscoll,* Recording Secretary, Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics
- Alan L. Maki,* Director of Organizing Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
- Joe Tonan,* Claremont Faculty Association, a Chapter of the California Teachers Association
- Gregory W. Paquin,* Business Manager, Native American Indian Labor Union #12

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)

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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 comprehensive health care reform. The group is promoting a “single-payer” reform plan that would work like the Medicare program, except improved and expanded to cover everyone.

The national meeting was the second convened by the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Healthcare which is spearheaded by trade union organizations. The group supports the national single-payer bill, HR 676 that has been endorsed by 39 state AFL-CIO federations, 135 Central Labor Councils, 22 international/national unions and more than 500 local unions. The bill has 87 co-sponsors in Congress.

Conference participants celebrated a significant achievement since their first meeting in St. Louis last year. After receiving a record number of resolutions from the grassroots, the AFL-CIO unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Medicare for All approach to health care reform at its national convention in September 2009. AFL-CIO resolution 34 stated, “In building on Medicare to move toward a universal program, we can find a practical, achievable and affordable solution to our country’s health care crisis.” The resolution committed the AFL-CIO to, “mobilize our members to build support for bold, meaningful and comprehensive reform and work to pass legislation that assures everyone comprehensive coverage.”

“All of us involved in the fight for health care reform know that single payer is the only real solution,” said Larry Cohen, President, Communications Workers of America. “Everything else is just a step along the way. Our union is committed to single payer, to bringing our health care system into the 21 century.”

Other speakers at the conference included national union officers, AFL-CIO Executive Council members, AFL-CIO state federation and central labor council presidents along with many other major union leaders. A list of conference speakers is at the end of this news release.

Over the course of the weekend meeting, delegates heard presentations on “Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future,” “Strategies to Move Forward,” Impact of the Health Care Crisis on Collective Bargaining” and how to deepen labor’s support for Medicare for All at all levels of our organizations.

Congressman John Conyers, the lead sponsor of HR 676, participated in the entire conference. He gave a keynote presentation on “Current Legislative Issues and the Future of HR 676,” and he and his staff frequently lent their expertise and political savvy to the discussions.

Delegates were also treated to a rousing speech from Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards. “Just because a health care reform bill is passed and signed into law this year doesn’t mean that our fight is over,” she said. “We’ve got to redouble our efforts for legislation that will provide real health care for all.”

Participants vigorously discussed and debated strategies to promote single payer reform within the labor movement while developing action plans for securing more support within their unions and communities.

“Achieving Medicare for All is critical to the future of the labor movement,” said David Newby President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “Our movement is growing because the proposed national reforms fall far short of the health security that all workers need. Our economic future depends on making the right policy choices on health care — and that’s single payer.”

“Our meeting highlighted the serious grassroots organizing that thousands of workers and their unions are doing to change the terms of the debate on health care reform,” said Martha Kuhl, Secretary-Treasurer of the National Nurses United and a working nurse. “Still, many unions need to expand member-to-member education so that workers understand that an improved and expanded Medicare for All is the best solution to the health care crisis. We emphasized the need for union activists to redouble their efforts to push some labor leaders to actually lead on this issue.”

“In virtually every contract negotiation, employers are seeking to shift the cost of health care to workers. It has resulted in highly contentious bargaining and many strikes. For the vast majority of workers without a union, the situation is even more desperate. A publicly financed, national health care plan similar to our Medicare system that could efficiently cover all Americans is the only solution that will control costs, increase access and improve the quality of care,” said Jeff Crosby, president of the North Shore Labor Council in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Speakers at the conference included:

• Stewart Acuff, Special Assistant to the President, Utility Workers Union of America
• Larry Cohen, President, Communications Workers of America
• Jeff Crosby, President, North Shore Labor Council
• Donna Dewitt, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO
• Peter Knowlton, New England Regional President, United Electrical Workers
• Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy, National Nurses United
• David Newby, President, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO
• Clyde Rivers, Past President, California School Employees Association
• Robert Score, Recording Secretary, Local One, Theatrical Stage Employees, IATSE
• Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care
• Jos Williams, President, Washington DC Central Labor Council
• Nancy Wohlforth, member, AFL-CIO Executive Council

Conference speakers and other participants are available for interviews about the single payer approach to health care reform and the labor movement’s campaign to win it.

Download a PDF of this press release

Labor for Single Payer Healthcare

AVideo clip of CWA President Larry Cohen speaking at the conference

Labor Campaign for Single-Payer  Healthcare

Healthcare Is A Right — Not A Privilege

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), the Troy Area  Labor Council (NY), the San Francisco Labor Council, and the South Carolina 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 Labor Campaign for Single Payer 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 LCSP National Meeting, March 7, 2010.

Download a PDF of this resolution.

Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare

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)