I’m a retired member of Unite-HERE Local 17 in Minneapolis. I am a long-time rank-and-file working class activist involved in the struggles for worker’s rights, for civil rights, for peace and for socialism.
I think AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka could have done much better in articulating and defending the rights and livelihoods of workers in his recent interview with Bloomberg News; his failure to articulate and adequately defend the rights and livelihoods of workers and working class families shows us just how out of touch this millionaire labor leader is with the working class.
Trumka is wasting precious time defending Democrats who have more in common with Republicans and their Wall Street agenda than in defending the rights and livelihoods of working people.
I hope other workers will share my post and sign our petition to Bailout Workers, Not Wall Street, here:
https://www.petitions.net/bailout_workers_not_wall_street?fbclid=IwAR3rXaTdXIhaT9iYhFHHfFJZDO7jDkApPMFBU3ZvaVaJswyvq4GDznVYn_Q
I look forward to Trumka’s response to my comment.
Long ago, as World War II was ending and the United States government initiated political repression targeting the labor movement here at home while simultaneously developing a thoroughly reactionary aggressive imperialist foreign policy enforced through the threat of nuclear war at Wall Street’s behest in relation to the Soviet Union, the emerging new socialist China and those peoples struggling to free themselves from colonialism and imperialism, far-sighted thinkers and politicians like the progressives Elmer Benson- the former progressive Governor of Minnesota, Henry Wallace and his liberal friend Democratic Senator Claude Pepper who was a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee along with the distinguished peace and civil rights activists W.E.B. Du Bois and Shirley Graham Du Bois together with working class leaders including Harry Bridges, Wyndham Mortimer, Coleman Young, Claudia Jones and Ernest DeMaio put their heads together.
They formulated and proposed an alternative “Jobs Not War” agenda to counter Wall Street’s imperialist agenda.
Their thinking was that if the United States government would focus on creating a better life for our own people the increasingly aggressive and war prone government would not have the will, nor the capacity, to wage wars and meddle and intervene in the affairs of other countries... thus, the United States would become a voice for peace, friendship, mutual respect and cooperation with the rest of the world.
The shameful undemocratic smothering through political repression of progressive voices for peace- in and out of the United States government- towards the emerging socialist revolution in China at its early stages of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s has been all but forgotten; intentionally covered up and hidden from public view today… the case of “the China Hands” should become common knowledge if we are going to right the wrong foreign policy course of our government lest we become entangled in a disastrous new world war which could lead to a nuclear conflagration resulting in a horribly destructive nuclear winter.
These voices of sanity and reason in the past were smothered with anti-Communist repression.
Anti-Communism is, once again, raising its ugly head and is being used in a very sinister and undemocratic way by both Democrats and Republicans to smother progressive voices of reason for peace through dialog and cooperation among nations; this thwarts and stymies any discussion about social and economic justice, too.
In the past, common people from all walks of life, around the world and here in the United States, made their voices for peace known in all kinds of international peace movements including the “Ban the Bomb” movement.
Such movements are needed today more than ever before.
People wrote letters to the editor and to politicians, they petitioned governments and they marched through the streets to make their voices heard.
Again, forcing our government to focus on human needs and the health of the planet will help to prevent wars and contribute to putting an end to this insane militarism which is robbing us of our jobs and the basic necessities of life ranging from education to housing and health care.
We must focus on putting people to work at real living wage jobs solving the problems of the people. This is the way forward.
The voices for peace embodying sanity and reason provided good advice back then and such thinking is what we need in this country now more than ever before.
There is a universal world-wide consensus that for the common good of all people and for the health of the planet: all wars must end; that people’s needs and the health of the planet must come before corporate profits.
As a life-long activist, it is with this in mind, that I have joined with others in bringing forward this very minimal and basic set of four urgently required demands intended to help working class families through this capitalist economic collapse exacerbated by this coronavirus pandemic. These miserly “stimulus checks” amount to next to nothing in comparison to people’s problems resulting in untold misery and suffering.
Of course, something is always better than nothing but we need much more significant reforms as our petition calls for.
Members of the Socialist Connection Action Network (Socialist C.A.N.), of which I am a member, propose an emergency action agenda for all people’s unity around these very minimal and basic demands; we seek to work with all individuals and organizations to attain these goals:
1. A Basic Income Guarantee of $2000.00 a month for every adult over 18 and $200.00 for each child in the family.
2. A $650.00 increase for everyone receiving Social Security.
3. Cancel ALL student debt.
4. Increase the Federal Minimum Wage to $16.00 an hour.
The money can come from a hefty tax on the rich, a tax on Wall Street transactions and profits, Federal Stimulus Funds for public needs along with a Peace Dividend.
We have launched a campaign involving petitioning and letter writing to get this movement underway and to put pressure on Congress and the President to enact this as legislation.
We need your help.
Please copy, post and distribute this as widely as possible.
Contact:
Alan Maki
512-517-2708
red_finn@live.com
For twelve years Democrats and Republicans have been using the financial resources and levers of government to assist and bailout Wall Street from this mess we as working people have had no voice in nor part in creating.
Now it’s time to bailout working class families.
We are not asking for a handout since we create all the wealth with no little amount of help from Mother Nature.
Every campaign of this nature requires many people helping to educate people.
Every campaign of this nature requires “all hands on deck.”
Every campaign of this nature requires the broadest possible unity in activity and action with as many people and organizations possible involved.
It will require building some kind of huge “people’s lobby” to win these reforms.
Will you sign our petition?
The main reason there is no solution forthcoming for working people as far as a stimulus package from Congress is that no mass pressure has been applied by the working class to force these Wall Street bribed politicians to do what is right.
The situation is urgent for tens of millions of working class families and you can sign our petition and then ask others to sign so we begin to bring some pressure to bear on these politicians.
Yes; the situation really is urgent.
Please sign our petition.
Millions of people are suffering.
Action is required now.
Politicians will not respond unless pressured to do what is right.
You can help by signing and then circulating this petition.
Feel free to copy and print this petition, collect signatures and return the petitions to us.
We are organizing a campaign that with broad support will become a powerful movement.
There are many discussions here on FaceBook, on Twitter and other social media where you can just copy and paste this post as a comment.
Copy and paste this post to your notes so you have it at hand and easy to post.
Copy and paste this post to your FaceBook page or blog.
Can we win these very minimal and basic demands?
Speaking from experience, as the leader of the national effort that led to unemployment compensation being extended during times of high unemployment- the Unemployment Extension Act of 1971 signed into law by Richard Nixon- I believe we can prevail.
We started with a similar petition campaign that led to meetings with members of Congress.
We held demonstrations in front of unemployment offices and on busy street corners.
We passed out leaflets everyplace while asking people to sign our petition.
We invited all organizations and unions to join our effort.
We initiated forums and debates.
The mainstream media along with the billionaire owners of social media have conducted misinformation campaigns intended to thwart efforts to win real reforms. Much of what they do is targeted at dividing working people so we can’t effectively mobilize.
We must respond to this crisis with:
Education.
Organization.
Unity.
Working class action.
Together, we can win.
Some AFL-CIO unions threatened a general strike to defend Biden’s win should Trump try to hold on to the presidency. So, we know these union leaders know what a powerful weapon labor has in the general strike. This begs the question: Why haven’t these unions used the general strike to advance working class demands for our rights and to improve or livelihoods?
“Together” is the key word we need to focus on.
Educating the working class is important and fundamental to building a powerful working class movement. Unions are way behind what is required in this area.
A couple suggestions: Working people should read books like “Labor’s Untold Story” published by the United Electrical Workers and “Organize” written by Wyndham Mortimer who led auto workers in the great Flint Sit-down Strike. The book, “Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins” by George Martin.
We need to be concerned with the working class- the power and the movement.
One would think Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, would be more concerned with the politics and economics of livelihood concerning the working and living conditions of working people rather than holding up the tails of these Dumb Donkeys like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris trying to pick up what the sparrows leave behind.