elections

Union Workers and Students of France Fight Austerity Plans: Let’s Fight to Save our Social Security!

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College Students Barricade the Campus

Workers March against Austerity in Marseilles

by Randy Shannon

Workers and students in France are putting up a heroic battle to protect their civilization from the depredations of the financial elites who want to return to the days of unbridled exploitation of labor.

Meanwhile, will US unions and political leaders meekly await for the Deficit Commission to deliver its proposed slashing of social security and Medicare benefits for US workers? The lame duck Congress will vote in December.

PA 4th CD Congressman Jason Altmire refuses to oppose cuts in social security. Altmire supports working us to death. Will American unions fight to protect our retirees from impoverishment by the banks and their Blue Dog Democrat and Republican servants?

When will we wake up to realize that for the bankers there is no bottom line on concessions. They will take our country back to the days our forefathers fought and died to overcome, a time of poverty, deprivation, indignity, lawlessness, and thievery on a mass scale.

Cong. Altmire needs to face large militant demonstrations against cutting social security. Let’s don’t have another occasion of sitting on our hands and then crying about the outcome. Social security has nothing to do with the deficit. It is our money that Cong. Altmire plans to steal for the banks. It is better to fight and lose than to meekly accept this theft. At least we will still have our dignity.

Steelworkers March
Truckers Nationwide Slowdown
Oilworkers Block Refinery
Workers of Lyon Protest Raising Retirement Age
Paris High School Students March
All Unions United against Austerity
Community, health care, labor

Braddock: UPMC Wrecking Working-Class Health Care

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Braddock Fights for its Hospital

By Kay Tillow
Unions for Single Payer

Oct.17, 2010 – Braddock, the home of many a working class battle, now fights to save its hospital, the best building in town, from the wrecker’s ball. Braddock, Pennsylvania, the site of the US Steel’s Edgar Thompson Works, lies along the north bank of the Monongahela just up the river from Pittsburgh.

Braddock’s story is repeated across the country as mills close and once thriving working class communities are deserted by the hospitals they built. The people of Braddock are saying “no” to the gigantic University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) as it builds in wealthy areas while closing the hospitals where they are needed most–Braddock, Aliquippa, Southside.

The people of Braddock are fighting back. With the help of the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare they organized “Save Our Community Hospitals” (SOCH). In an effort to stop the demolition they are maintaining a vigil at the hospital and seeking legal proceedings to block it. They won a victory when the demolition was halted by an invalid permit.

UPMC, an $8 billion corporation, now occupies the former US Steel building that dominates the Pittsburgh Skyline. In recent years UPMC has established itself as a global enterprise with overseas ventures in Sicily and Ireland. UPMC just announced a $16 million advertising and branding campaign with a new warm and fuzzy purple logo. It has plenty of money to keep the Braddock Hospital open.

SOCH urges supporters to call UPMC CEO, Jeffrey Romoff to demand that the hospital be saved and emergency service be restored to Braddock.

Romoff’s number is: 412-647-3555

The passage of HR 676, national single payer health care, would end the flight of hospitals and health care away from urban centers and hard hit areas that have lost manufacturing jobs. HR 676 would be publicly funded making everyone an “equally valuable” patient stopping the economic incentives that now close hospitals and physicians offices.

After you call Jeff Romoff, call your congressperson and urge co-sponsorship for HR 676.

Kay Tillow
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care–HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217

Email: nursenpo@aol.com
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/

elections

“Swimming with the shark just isn’t working.”

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Rescue Capsule in Mine Shaft

‘Capitalism Saved the Miners’? Only in Wonder Land

10/15/2010 by Steve Rendall
http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/10/15/capitalism-saved-the-miners-only-in-wonder-land/

After the miners’ rescue Wednesday, talk in Chile turned to mine safety and the  conduct of Compañía Minera San Esteban, the corporation that owns the San Jose mines where the miners were trapped. On Thursday, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera publicly addressed safety issues,  vowing “fundamental changes in how businesses treat their workers.”

Stories about San Esteban’s horrible record are legion (e.g., here and here). The company has been host to a number of deaths at its mines in recent years, and accusations of safety violations including the charge that it ignored orders to install safety equipment–a condition of its reopening after a previous accident–which might have made an earlier escape possible for some miners.

Moreover, during the debacle, San Esteban, which played no part in the miners’ rescue, pled poverty and claimed it could not pay the trapped miners wages. As London’s Independent reported, San Esteban “says it has no money to continue paying their wages, let alone cope with the lawsuits that will inevitably arise from the ordeal.”

Continue reading “Swimming with the shark just isn’t working.” →

elections

The path to change: “make the connection to the future and hold on to the connection to the past”

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Harry Targ

PROGRESSIVES NEED TO KNOW THAT HISTORY IS COMPLICATED

Harry Targ

I became a radical in the 1960s. I kept putting off being active until the late 60s but I slowly involved myself in the anti-war movement. When I started teaching around this time I noticed that many students became instant radicals; 19 year-old- kids going from lack of political awareness to militancy in a matter of weeks.

The Southern movement was inspiring; young people and their elders were transforming the system of Jim Crow. College campuses were bursting with energy, demanding “student rights” and “relevant” courses. Then the anti-war mobilizations grew bigger and bigger. Each massive mobilization in D.C., in New York, in Chicago, in San Francisco challenged organizers to produce larger and larger crowds and for a time the crowds did get bigger.

Many of us began to see the achievement of peace and justice as just around the corner. We were on the verge of building a new world, not unlike the world of altruism and love envisioned by Che` Guevara.

But then everything seemed to fall apart. The New Left split. African Americans sought to build their own movements. Women and gays began to argue that human liberation should be for them as well.

Nixon was elected. Vietnamization did not end the war but shifted the U.S. role from ground to massive air strikes across all of Vietnam. The Xmas bombing destroyed virtually all of North and South Vietnam. Black Panthers were targeted for assassination by the federal government and local authorities. Students were murdered at Kent State and Jackson State.

The youthful energy, the visions of socialism dissipated. Particularly the young became disillusioned. I remember one student telling me in the early 70s: “I tried the political thing and it didn’t work.”

Continue reading The path to change: “make the connection to the future and hold on to the connection to the past” →

elections

High School Students Join Union Workers in Massive Protest of Austerity Measures. Vive la France!

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Protests attack France pension plan

More than 2.5 million demonstrators take to the streets, unions say, as fears of a fuel shortage loom.

Last Modified: 16 Oct 2010 19:11 GMT
Protesters in Paris as part of a national day of mass rallies against pension reforms [REUTERS]

The battle over a planned overhaul of France’s pension system has intensified, with hundreds of thousands of people taking part in the latest of a series of protests across the country.

Labour unions said that more than 2.5 million people joined the demonstrations on Saturday as strikes
at shut down oil refineries, sparking fears of a petrol shortage, and temporarily cut supplies to Paris’s airports.

“Both sides seem to be really digging their heels in. [President] Sarkozy wants people to know he’s not giving into pressure from the street,” Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from the French capital, said.

A broad alliance of unions, left-wing parties and students warned that another nationwide protest will be held on Tuesday in a final attempt to stop the legislation, which would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and see state pensions not awarded until aged 67, ahead of a government vote on Wednesday.

About 300,000 people had marched from Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation in Paris on Saturday, the labour unions said, but the government has claimed that the protests might be losing steam.

The government said it had counted 850,000 marchers at Saturday’s protest, down from 899,000 at a previous demonstration on October 2.

“I think the French people have understood that pension reform is essential and necessary,” Eric Woerth, the labour minister, told French television.

Continue reading High School Students Join Union Workers in Massive Protest of Austerity Measures. Vive la France! →
elections

How the Banks Rushed to Foreclosure on Defenseless Homeowners

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For foreclosure processors hired by mortgage lenders, speed equaled money

During the housing boom, millions of homeowners got easy access to mortgages. Now, some mortgage lenders and government officials are taking action after discovering that many mortgage documents were mishandled.

   

By Ariana Eunjung Cha and Zachary A. Goldfarb

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 16, 2010; 12:57 AM

Millions of homes have been seized by banks during the economic crisis through a mass production system of foreclosures that was set up to prioritize one thing over everything else: speed.

With 2 million homes in foreclosure and another 2.3 million seriously delinquent on their mortgages – the biggest logjam of distressed properties the market has ever seen – companies involved in the foreclosure process were paid to move cases quickly through the pipeline.

Law firms competed with one another to file the largest number of foreclosures on behalf of lenders – and were rewarded for their work with bonuses. These and other companies that handled the preparation of documents were paid for volume, so they processed as many as they could en masse, leaving little time to read the paperwork and catch errors.

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Community, labor, unemployment

Marching for Jobs, Justice and Peace: A Bus Captain’s Story

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Randy and Tina Shanon, Oct 2 in DC

Photo: Randy & Tina Shannon, Oct 2 in DC

We’re One Nation Working Together

By Tina Shannon

President, PA 4th CD Chapter
Progressive Democrats of America

October 11, 2010 – It was a real pleasure to work with labor folks and other community leaders to organize four buses to leave Beaver County for the One Nation Rally that took place on Saturday Oct. 2nd. We started planning and soliciting donations in September.

The coalition quickly grew to include the local NAACP, members from many unions, who were present at various points in time, as well as the Minority Coalition. The religious community of Beaver County was also represented.

I was surprised how quickly donations rolled in from the various union locals. Our PDA chapter made our modest contribution right away. Several union organizations, namely SEIU, USW, and Beaver-Lawrence Labor Council were very supportive. The NAACP made a contribution. Individuals pitched in too.

Continue reading Marching for Jobs, Justice and Peace: A Bus Captain’s Story →

antiwar, trade unions, unemployment

Huge Attendance at Rally in DC for Jobs, Justice, Education and Peace

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‘One Nation’ March Shows the Tough Fight

Ahead for the Emerging Progressive Majority

By Carl Davidson

Beaver County Blue

If you wanted to know what a dynamic and emerging progressive majority of Americans looked like, the place to be was the National Mall at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on the beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon of Oct. 2, 2010.

It was a sight to behold. Pulled together by the ‘One Nation Working Together’ coalition of some 400 groups, an estimated 175,000 people filled the area. They were the country’s trade unions, civil rights, women’s rights, and community organizations, peace and justice groups, and many more. The focus was jobs, justice and education, with sizable contingents against the wars as well.

“I hope they look at the mall today,” stated the Rev. Al Sharpton from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, referring to the GOP and the Tea Party right, “because this is what America looks like, not just one color or one gender.”

A rainbow of nationalities, men and women, young and old, and with a solid core from all sectors of the working class filled the area. The crowd’s mood was upbeat and militant, and they let it be known with a range of voices, from old-fashioned liberals to the socialist left, that they were fed up with the right wing assaults from Tea Party, the GOP neoliberals and the Blue Dog Democrats going along with them.

“This gathering is a wakeup call for the American people,” declared Harry Belafonte, in one of the strongest and most critical speeches of the day. “”Do we really believe that sending 100,000 troops to kill innocent men and women in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes any sense?” he continued, clearly and sharply criticizing Obama’s concession to the war machine. The actor-singer went on to attack the “crippling poison of racism” and “the undermining of the Constitution and the systematic attack on our most inalienable rights….At the heart of this danger is the Tea Party which is coming close to achieving its villainous ends. On November 2, in the millions, we must overburden our voting booths, and vote against those who would have us become a totalitarian state.”

Continue reading Huge Attendance at Rally in DC for Jobs, Justice, Education and Peace →

elections

New Crimes as Banks Rush to Evict Homeowners: Demand Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Act, Call 202-514-2001

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Pelosi Calls For Investigation Of Foreclosure Fraud

First Posted: 10- 5-10 04:17 PM   |   Updated: 10- 5-10 07:32 PM

Pelosi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other California Democrats are calling for an investigation into the foreclosure fraud scandal that has forced the nation’s biggest banks to halt foreclosures in 23 states.

“It just shows the irresponsibility of the banks, so eager were they to securitize those loans they didn’t care almost what they were,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an interview with HuffPost on Tuesday.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Ally Financial (formerly known as GMAC) halted foreclosures in 23 states after employees admitted in sworn depositions that they didn’t verify information in thousands of foreclosure documents.

Continue reading New Crimes as Banks Rush to Evict Homeowners: Demand Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Act, Call 202-514-2001 →

elections

Global Bankers’ Measures to Increase Profits Destabilizing World Economy: Time to Nationalize the Federal Reserve and the Bailed Out Criminal Banks to Pay for Massive New Jobs Stimulus

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Fed, ECB throwing world into chaos: Stiglitz

Economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz in a file photo. REUTERS/Mike Segar

On Tuesday October 5, 2010, 5:37 pm EDT

By Walter Brandimarte

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ultra-loose monetary policies by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are throwing the world into “chaos” rather than helping the global economic recovery, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Tuesday.

A “flood of liquidity” from the Fed and the ECB is bringing instability to foreign-exchange markets, forcing countries such as Japan and Brazil to defend its exporters, Stiglitz told reporters in a conference at Columbia University.

“The irony is that the Fed is creating all this liquidity with the hope that it will revive the American economy,” Stiglitz said. “It’s doing nothing for the American economy, but it’s causing chaos over the rest of the world. It’s a very strange policy that they are pursuing.”

Continue reading Global Bankers’ Measures to Increase Profits Destabilizing World Economy: Time to Nationalize the Federal Reserve and the Bailed Out Criminal Banks to Pay for Massive New Jobs Stimulus →