Tom Morello is a member of the band Rage Against the Machine.
Solidarity Rally Thursday, Noon, Feb 24, in Pittsburgh! More to Follow…
Show Pennsylvania’s
Support for the Fightback!
From Steffi Domike, USW
Dear Pennsylvania USW Friends and Associates:
The billionaire backed Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has declared all-out war on workers’ freedoms. He’s slashing taxes for the richest residents of his state, and wants to eliminate the rights of workers to organize a union, bargain for fair wages or advocate for decent pay and benefits.
In response, more than 25,000 protesters have converged on the state house in Madison to stage a sit-in that blocks the halls, bars the doors of the Senate and fills the state house lawn with tens of thousand of workers. They’re fighting for their livelihoods and they’re fighting for ours as well because if workers lose in Wisconsin, the wave to take away our job rights and wages will spread across the country.
Pennsylvania is joining the Fight Back!
PLEASE JOIN US as we rally in support of American working families and the American Dream.
Today, Wednesday, 2/23, Pennsylvanians will be standing up in solidarity with Wisconsin workers in SCRANTON
WHAT: Solidarity Rally for Wisconsin Workers
WHEN: 12:00 Noon to 12:30, Today, Wednesday, 2/23
WHERE: Labor Leader John Mitchell Statue, Lackawanna Courthouse (Adams Avenue Side) Scranton, PA
On Thursday, 2/24, working Pennsylvanians will be rallying in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
WHAT: Solidarity Rally for the Wisconsin Workers
WHEN: 11:30am, Thursday, 2/24
WHERE: Municipal Services Bldg PlazaAcross from City Hall PHILADELPHIA
WHAT: Solidarity Rally for the Wisconsin Workers (Lunch will be provided)
WHEN: 12:00 pm Noon, Thursday, 2/24
WHERE: United Steelworkers Headquarters, 5 Gateway Center, 60 Blvd of the Allies PITTSBURGH
On Saturday, 2/26, working Pennsylvanians will be rallying to save the American Dream in Harrisburg.
SATURDAY, 2/26 IN HARRISBURG
WHAT: Rally to Save the American Dream
WHEN: Saturday, 2/26 at NOON
WHERE: Capitol Steps, Harrisburg
Please do you best to attend these rallies and please spread the word about them.
YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
Solidarity Is More Than Shouting Slogans, So Lend a Hand!
THE BATTLE FOR UNIONS IN WISCONSIN:
HOW YOU CAN HELP
THE BATTLE FOR UNIONS IN WISCONSIN
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Folks from outside Wisconsin are contacting me and asking how to help with the battle to save collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. (Additional information on the current status of things here is at the end of this letter.)
YOU CAN PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT
People of generally modest means, including many college students, are continuing the occupation of the Capitol and the daily picketing in resistance to the Governor’s plans. Most teachers have had to/have chosen to return to their classrooms, but many other union members remain, people from private sector unions and public unions including police and firefighters. There are many private citizens, often seniors. Those remaining in the capitol and on the picket lines need food, water, transportation, housing. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO is coordinating much of that support. No matter how small, financial support is welcome:
ONLINE: The AFL-CIO is accepting donations online through PayPal or any major credit card. Please go to http://wisaflcio.org for the link.
Continue reading Solidarity Is More Than Shouting Slogans, So Lend a Hand!
‘We’re Not the Democratic Party. We’re the Insurgency of the Democratic Party’ –PDA’s Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America:
300 Tucsonans ready to fight back
by Pamela Powers on Feb. 22, 2011
Beaver County Blue via TucsonCitizen.com
More than 300 unapologetic progressives packed a local YWCA for the inaugural meeting of Progressive Democrats of America, Tucson Chapter. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)
Who said the progressive movement was dead? It is alive and well in Tucson, Arizona.
An estimated 300 activists, liberals, Green Party members, and Democratic Party foot soldiers crammed into a large meeting room at the YWCA on the west side of Tucson Monday night for the inaugural meeting of the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Tucson Chapter.
General Strike? Wisconsin Workers Prepare to Up the Ante vs. the Far Right
Photo: Afl-CIO President Richard Trumka at Madison Protest
Madison Area AFL CIO Votes to Prepare For General Strike
By Mike Elk
Beaver County Blue via michaelmoore.com
This evening in a press release from IBEW Local 2304 President Dave Pokilinski, I received word that the 45,000 member Southern Central Federation of Labor, the local chapter of the AFL-CIO for the Madison and Southern Central Wisconsin area, has voted to make preparations for a general strike.
The press release reads as follows:
Around 10:50PM Wisconsin Time on February 21st the South Central Federation of Labor endorsed the following motions:
Motion 1: The SCFL endorses a general strike, possibly for the day Walker signs his “budget repair bill,” and requests the Education Committee immediately begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike.
Motion 2: The SCFL goes on record as opposing all provisions contained in Walker’s “budget repair bill,” including but not limited to, curtailed bargaining rights and reduced wages, benefits, pensions, funding for public education, changes to medical assistance programs, and politicization of state government agencies.
Continue reading General Strike? Wisconsin Workers Prepare to Up the Ante vs. the Far Right
Solidarity! 80,000 Pour into the Streets of Madison, Standing Up against the Banksters and the Right
On Wisconsin! The Faces and spirit of Solidarity!
Battle Against GOP Union Busters Spreads to Ohio
Ohio: Collective Bargaining Union Protesters Clash at Statehouse with Tea Party Supporter of anti-Union Bill
Vociferous throngs attend hearings on Senate Bill 5
Thursday, February 17, 2011
By Jim Siegel
The Columbus Dispatch
JONATHAN QUILTER | DISPATCH Photos
Supporters of Senate Bill 5 rallied today outside the Statehouse . . .
. . . as the bill’s opponents rallied inside.
Thousands gather for Senate Bill 5 hearing
More than 3,000 enthusiastic supporters and opponents of the Senates proposed collective-bargaining overhaul enveloped the Statehouse this morning with cheers of kill the bill and yes on 5, prior to the latest hearing on Senate Bill 5.
The spacious Statehouse atrium was packed mostly with public union workers outraged at efforts to end collective bargaining for state workers and significantly weaken the ability for local workers to bargain for their pay, benefits and working conditions.
Unions made a strong showing for the bill’s first two hearings, and they were joined today by more than 200 red-shirt clad tea party activists pushing for the bill’s passage. The mix verbally clashed in the Statehouse rotunda, where each side did its best to drown out the other.
Continue reading Battle Against GOP Union Busters Spreads to Ohio
Defend Social Security: Call Senator Casey
by Randy Shannon
Treas. PA 4th CD Chapter, PDA
The fight to protect social security from the bankers and their hyenas in Congress is not over. The two articles below update developments. Sen. Harry Reid has demanded that Social Security be “off the table” in discussions of deficit reduction. However President Obama announced that “talks” have already begun and did not state that Social Security was off the table.
In the meantime newly elected Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut has announced that he is joining the Defending Social Security Caucus in the US Senate. That makes 14 Senators committed to defending Social Security. We need 41.
I can understand why the Wall Street Poodle Toomey is not in the caucus. But where the hell is Sen. Robert Casey? Pennsylvania has one of the biggest retiree populations in the US. Now that our pensions have been stolen by Wall Street banks, most people are surviving on Social Security.
With unemployment at 9% officially and 16% unofficially and many unemployed giving up looking for jobs it looks like a lot of people are going to need Social Security in a few years. Someone 50 to 55 years old may have to beg to get by until he/she turns 66. These crooks want them to wait until they’re 70. Say what?!!!!
I’m going to call Senator Casey and tell him that I want him to join and support the efforts of the Defending Social Security Caucus. Add your voice, pick up the phone, call, and keep calling 866-802-2833.
Our Egypt Beginning? 12,000 Workers & Students Hit the Streets in Madison
Thousands Gather at Wisconsin Capitol
to Protest Gov.Walker Anti-Union Bill
By CLAY BARBOUR
Beaver county Blue via Wisconsin State Journal
Feb 16, 2011 – In one of the largest protests in recent memory, thousands of angry union supporters gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday to oppose a bill by Gov. Scott Walker that would greatly weaken organized labor in Wisconsin.
More than 12,000 protesters gathered in two separate rallies outside the Capitol, many of them carrying signs and chanting "Recall Walker" or "Kill this bill." Thousands more crowded inside the rotunda and watched TV monitors broadcasting a public hearing on the governor’s proposal.
Capitol Police officers, Department of Natural Resources wardens, UW police and state troopers provided beefed-up security, but the crowd remained peaceful — if loud.
Cheers erupted every time someone in the hearing voiced opposition to the governor’s bill, aimed at erasing a $137 million deficit in the current budget. Unveiled Friday, Walker’s plan would remove collective bargaining rights for most of the 175,000 state and local government employees, allowing most workers to negotiate only over salary.
Continue reading Our Egypt Beginning? 12,000 Workers & Students Hit the Streets in Madison
If the Banksters Are Worried About Deficits, Let Them Close up the Gap
No Mr. Boehner, America is Not ‘Broke’
By Robert Creamer
Progressive America Rising via Huffington Post
Feb 15, 2011 – Once again on the Sunday news shows, Republican Leader John Boehner declared that "America is broke" — his premise for why we "can’t afford" important investments that are critical to America’s future.
In fact, of course, America is far from "broke". It is the largest economy in the world. After collapsing as a result of the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks — and Republican economic policies in late 2008 — the economy has, in fact, grown for six consecutive quarters. The stock market has almost doubled since the crash — regaining most of its value. Corporate profits are soaring. And American corporations are now sitting on close to two trillion dollars in cash.
What’s more, we still have the same highly-skilled, productive labor force and the same stock of plants and equipment that we did before the financial meltdown — the same ability to create the goods and services that are the real measures of economic wealth.
The problem isn’t that America is "broke." The problem is that economic growth is not being shared with most Americans. The problem is that the very rich are wealthier than ever and everyone else is falling behind. Not only does that mean that the massive store of wealth that we create today is not widely shared. It also means that — taken together — we have less wealth as a nation because so many Americans who could be creating goods and services are unemployed, creating nothing.
Continue reading If the Banksters Are Worried About Deficits, Let Them Close up the Gap
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 