NURSES Strike Wall Street Speculators

(Photo Right: NNU Tax Wall Street Speculators Message in Times Square)

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, an estimated 10,000 Nurses and community participants joined actions in 21 states today demanding immediate attention to the economic crisis to heal America.

They called on Senators and Congress members in their local district offices to pledge to "support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street."

Events from soup kitchens to feeding the hungry, to community speak outs, to street theater took place from urban centers including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Orlando, to smaller towns, such as Corpus Christi, TX, Marquette, MI, and Dayton, OH. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses with 170,000 members, sponsored the actions.

VIRGINIA:

In Richmond, VA, 120 RNs and allies descended on the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and were greeted by a squadron of police. The RNs responded with singing and a large picket line. Cantor's office invited a delegation to meet with his chief of staff. Fifteen constituents lead by NNU nurses held the meeting.. Cantor's staff heard moving testimony and said the congressman would "respond." The local CBS and NBC stations filmed outside, as they were not allowed in. A "Lady Liberty" character greeted the delegation on Cantor's office lawn as it exited the meeting, and heard stories of the pain caused on Main Street by Wall Street.

"America's nurses every day see broad declines in health and living standards that are a direct result of patients and families struggling with lack of jobs, un-payable medical bills, hunger and homelessness. We know where to find the resources to bring them hope and real solutions," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, outside Cantor's office.

MASSACHUSETTS:

Ringing a bell and shouting "Oye Oye," a town crier dressed in colonial attire drew a crowd of nearly 200 nurses, activists and passersby as he decried the reckless actions of Wall Street and its impact on the working people of Boston's Main Street in front of the office of Senator Scott Brown.

Watch and share a video of the Boston town crier here.

COLORADO:

In Pueblo, CO, a pledge delivered to Senator Udall asked "which side is the senator on: Wall Street or Main Street?" Nurses also criticized Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, a Democrat, for collected $2,409,806 in campaign contributions from Wall Street interests while his state languishes in the top 10 in foreclosures, has 184,689 children in poverty, 116,941 people dependent on food stamps, and 13,390 homeless.

One hundred people attempted to enter Senator Toomey's office near Philadelphia but were blocked by security guards. At Rep. Peter King's Long Island, New York office, 50 nurses and supporters entered his office to serve up the pledge but were kept out.

ILLINOIS:

Chicago's nurses sang the "Economic Blues" as hundreds of nurses and others gathered in support of the pledge.

Watch and share this NNU video of Chicago RNs battling the "Economic Blues"

FLORIDA:

The staff of Senator Rubio in Orlando, FL is accompanying nurses to feed local homeless.

CALIFORNIA:

In downtown San Francisco a soup kitchen was assembled to feed the hungry and drew more than 500.

And outside the office of Rep. Darryl Issa, north of San Diego, a crowd of 300 nurses, including members of other unions and area residents, expressed outrage at allegations of self dealing by the congressman. An RN delegation entered his office and delivered the pledge. Outside, community members shared stories of enduring economic hardships. See picture below.

San Diego, CA RNs with NNU Executive Director RoseAnnDeMoro in white above center.

California Nurses visited home offices of Republicans and Democrats throughout the day with a common message – American families are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement.

In addition, the RNs are releasing data where available contrasting contributions the legislators have received from Wall Street with the plummeting economic conditions in their districts that has left substantial numbers of their constituents in crisis.

WISCONSIN:

Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, a Wisconsin Republican, has accepted $2,417,672 in campaign contributions from Wall Street financial institutions the past 12 years, as a champion for Wall Street interests. But the payoff has been small for his district where 69,241 people are uninsured, 22,884 are dependent on food stamps, and 20,394 children and 7,939 seniors live in poverty.

MORE...

NNU will also be calling for the establishment of Main Street commissions to push real solutions for Main Street communities, such as the Wall Street financial tax, in comparison to what NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro calls "the Wall Street 'super committee' set up in the recent debt ceiling deal whose main goal seems to be more cuts in programs that help people to funnel more resources to Wall Street and foreign banks and investors."

A tax on Wall Street trading of stocks, derivatives, currencies, credit default swaps, and futures – which many other nations have now adopted – could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for programs that "are desperately needed to reduce the pain and suffering felt by so many who feel abandoned across this nation," says NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.

"It's time for Wall Street financiers, who created this crisis and continue to hold much of the nation's wealth, to start contributing to rebuild this country, and for the American people to reclaim our future," says DeMoro.

The $2.4 trillion in government bailouts to financial and other institutions already spent, noted DeMoro, alone would have funded 63 million jobs at the national median level of about $39,000 a year. "Instead we have over 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed, and in the past decade U.S. based corporations added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries while divesting in America, cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S."

"We need to reallocate the money back to our communities, and our actions on September 1 are going to raise the demand to a new level to heal our nation," said NNU Co-president Jean Ross.

(Photo Right: NNU Tax Wall Street Message in Times Square)

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, an estimated 10,000 nurses and community participants joined actions in 21 states today demanding immediate attention to the economic crisis to heal America.

They called on Senators and Congress members in their local district offices to pledge to "support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street."

Events from soup kitchens to feeding the hungry, to community speak outs, to street theater took place from urban centers including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Orlando, to smaller towns, such as Corpus Christi, TX, Marquette, MI, and Dayton, OH. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses with 170,000 members, sponsored the actions.

VIRGINIA:

In Richmond, VA, 120 RNs and allies descended on the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and were greeted by a squadron of police. The RNs responded with singing and a large picket line. Cantor's office invited a delegation to meet with his chief of staff. Fifteen constituents lead by NNU nurses held the meeting.. Cantor's staff heard moving testimony and said the congressman would "respond." The local CBS and NBC stations filmed outside, as they were not allowed in. A "Lady Liberty" character greeted the delegation on Cantor's office lawn as it exited the meeting, and heard stories of the pain caused on Main Street by Wall Street.

"America's nurses every day see broad declines in health and living standards that are a direct result of patients and families struggling with lack of jobs, un-payable medical bills, hunger and homelessness. We know where to find the resources to bring them hope and real solutions," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, outside Cantor's office.

MASSACHUSETTS:

Ringing a bell and shouting "Oye Oye," a town crier dressed in colonial attire drew a crowd of nearly 200 nurses, activists and passersby as he decried the reckless actions of Wall Street and its impact on the working people of Boston's Main Street in front of the office of Senator Scott Brown.

Watch and share a video of the Boston town crier here.

COLORADO:

In Pueblo, CO, a pledge delivered to Senator Udall asked "which side is the senator on: Wall Street or Main Street?" Nurses also criticized Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, a Democrat, for collected $2,409,806 in campaign contributions from Wall Street interests while his state languishes in the top 10 in foreclosures, has 184,689 children in poverty, 116,941 people dependent on food stamps, and 13,390 homeless.

One hundred people attempted to enter Senator Toomey's office near Philadelphia but were blocked by security guards. At Rep. Peter King's Long Island, New York office, 50 nurses and supporters entered his office to serve up the pledge but were kept out.

ILLINOIS:

Chicago's nurses sang the "Economic Blues" as hundreds of nurses and others gathered in support of the pledge.

Watch and share this NNU video of Chicago RNs battling the "Economic Blues"

FLORIDA:

The staff of Senator Rubio in Orlando, FL is accompanying nurses to feed local homeless.

CALIFORNIA:

In downtown San Francisco a soup kitchen was assembled to feed the hungry and drew more than 500.

And outside the office of Rep. Darryl Issa, north of San Diego, a crowd of 300 nurses, including members of other unions and area residents, expressed outrage at allegations of self dealing by the congressman. An RN delegation entered his office and delivered the pledge. Outside, community members shared stories of enduring economic hardships. See picture below.

San Diego, CA RNs with NNU Executive Director RoseAnnDeMoro in white above center.

California Nurses visited home offices of Republicans and Democrats throughout the day with a common message – American families are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement.

In addition, the RNs are releasing data where available contrasting contributions the legislators have received from Wall Street with the plummeting economic conditions in their districts that has left substantial numbers of their constituents in crisis.

WISCONSIN:

Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, a Wisconsin Republican, has accepted $2,417,672 in campaign contributions from Wall Street financial institutions the past 12 years, as a champion for Wall Street interests. But the payoff has been small for his district where 69,241 people are uninsured, 22,884 are dependent on food stamps, and 20,394 children and 7,939 seniors live in poverty.

MORE...

NNU will also be calling for the establishment of Main Street commissions to push real solutions for Main Street communities, such as the Wall Street financial tax, in comparison to what NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro calls "the Wall Street 'super committee' set up in the recent debt ceiling deal whose main goal seems to be more cuts in programs that help people to funnel more resources to Wall Street and foreign banks and investors."

A tax on Wall Street trading of stocks, derivatives, currencies, credit default swaps, and futures – which many other nations have now adopted – could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for programs that "are desperately needed to reduce the pain and suffering felt by so many who feel abandoned across this nation," says NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.

"It's time for Wall Street financiers, who created this crisis and continue to hold much of the nation's wealth, to start contributing to rebuild this country, and for the American people to reclaim our future," says DeMoro.

The $2.4 trillion in government bailouts to financial and other institutions already spent, noted DeMoro, alone would have funded 63 million jobs at the national median level of about $39,000 a year. "Instead we have over 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed, and in the past decade U.S. based corporations added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries while divesting in America, cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S."

"We need to reallocate the money back to our communities, and our actions on September 1 are going to raise the demand to a new level to heal our nation," said NNU Co-president Jean Ross.

Longshore President Pours Scab Grain into Sea

Longshore Union Workers Dump
Anti-Union Grain to Protect Jobs
(Reminiscent of Boston Tea Party)

Evan Rohar and Jane Slaughter

| September 8, 2011

ILWU President Bob McEllrath was detained by police as Longshore Workers massed on railroad tracks to stop a shipment of grain to a non-ILWU terminal.

Photo: Dawn DesBrisay.

The confrontation between West Coast Longshore Workers and an anti-union exporter exploded as Pickets massed on railroad tracks by the hundreds yesterday to block grain shipments.

Police used clubs and pepper spray on Protesters in Longview, Washington, as they made 19 arrests.

Early this morning a terminal there was invaded and hoppers holding about 10,000 tons of grain were opened onto railroad tracks.

Ports in Washington shut down completely Thursday as hundreds of Longshore workers rushed to Longview, in the state’s southwestern corner.

Bill Proctor, a Longshore Union (ILWU) retiree, was with fellow retirees and active workers on an early morning picket line at a Seattle grain terminal. He said, “If that facility is allowed to go non-ILWU, other facilities will be tempted to follow suit. And the grain terminals on the coast are all going into contract bargaining next month.”

A foreman came out to politely assure the picketers that no one would do their work.

EGT Development, a consortium of three companies, wants to operate its new $200 million grain terminal in Longview using non-ILWU labor, despite a contract with the port requiring it to do so. When the ILWU protested, the company signed up with an Operating Engineers local.

Every other major grain terminal on the West Coast is operated by ILWU Labor, and the Union asserts that EGT’s goal is to go non-union altogether, ending generations of good jobs.

Defied Restraining Order

In a series of protests since July, ILWU members and supporters sat down on train tracks and occupied the new terminal, resulting in 100 arrests. As picketing continued, no trains had attempted to bring in grain shipments since July. But last week a Federal judge issued a temporary restraining order at the request of the National Labor Relations Board, which said ILWU pickets had harassed EGT workers.

Once the restraining order was in place, the BNSF railroad decided to try once more to ship grain. Justin Hirsch, a Seattle Longshore worker, said grain terminals are major customers for the rail companies, who might move 500 trains a year through a terminal.

Pickets in Vancouver, Washington, 40 miles from Longview, delayed the BNSF train yesterday morning, until police cleared rotesters away.

That afternoon, hundreds of Port Workers stood on railroad tracks at Longview to block the mile-long train. Nineteen were arrested and ILWU International President Bob McEllrath was detained briefly—as talk spread up the coast that police had broken McEllrath’s arm. Riot police used clubs and pepper spray on some protesters.

Union officers eventually urged the blockaders to let the train through. But while it sat overnight inside the terminal gates, the word went out. Workers in Seattle left their jobs before the shift ended. Proctor reported that members of Local 19 gathered at 2 a.m. to head the two-and-a-half hours to Longview.

“Overnight people started flooding into Longview,” said Hirsch. AP reported that before dawn, 500 people broke down terminal gates, prevented security guards from interfering, and cut the train’s brake lines.

Noting that a train could hold 107 carloads, Hirsch said the mess on the tracks would be “time-consuming to clean up” and noted “somebody’s not getting paid.”

Proctor said, “This struggle is central to our future because grain work accounts for 20 percent of the financing of our pension and welfare funds.”

Not the First Time

Longshore workers have a history of militant action to defend their jobs. In the 1980s a company called Pier Q tried to use non-union labor to move lumber through the small port of Vancouver, Washington. ILWU Members organized a rally at the port, drawing longshore workers from as far away as Los Angeles. International President Jimmy Herman spoke to a crowd of 2,000 or 3,000 assembled in a warehouse, recalled Doug Rollins, now a clerk at the Port of Tacoma.

The crowd marched out and surrounded the terminal, and Longshore Workers with wire cutters ran toward the lumber bundles sitting on the pier.

“Every time you cut the bands off the lumber, the bundle would just explode and it would be like toothpicks shooting up in the air and coming down in a big pile,” said Rollins. Ten minutes after the start of the action, millions of board feet of lumber covered the terminal.

Rollins reported that a policeman asked Herman who led the action. “I don’t know, we don’t know,” Herman said. The International President was there, but the ranks were in charge, Rollins said. Since there were too many Workers to arrest, the police stood by and watched as the thousands dispersed and went home.

Will It Restrain?

The restraining order, issued by a Federal judge, lasts 10 days. Both sides are back in court today, when the judge will decide if the order should be made permanent.

ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said, “There is no formal action at either the Local or International level, but large numbers of individuals appear to have taken action on their own.” He stressed that no arrests were made at this morning’s action and called the AP’s report of security guards taken hostage “ridiculous.”

“When corporations and the government turn their backs on working families,” Merrilees said, “it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see people step forward and try to fight back.”

Ports in Tacoma and Seattle are closed today, though the International said no job action has been called. One worker said work would resume at 3 a.m. Friday—unless it doesn’t.

---

UK TUC (AFL-CIO) General Strike

The British Trades Unions Congress (TUC.org.UK) yesterday (Sept. 11, 2011) instructed the TUC General Council to support and coordinate Joint Strike Action against attacks on jobs, pensions, pay and public services.

Composite Motion Nine: Public Services and Their Importance to the Economy warned: ‘All services are already in danger with the increasing threat of Privatisation evidenced by the Open Public Services White Paper.’

'(TUC) Congress notes that the combination of Public services cuts, Wage freezes, Benefit cuts, growth in unemployment, changes to the calculation for pensions and other benefits from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to Consumer Price Index (CPI) and unchecked inflation amount to the biggest attack upon living standards in this country since the 1920s.’

The motion states: ‘In order to expand the campaign against the government’s austerity agenda, both in the public and private sectors, Congress supports a national day of action with pensioners organisations, youth and student groups and other local community campaigns.’

It states: ‘Congress instructs the General Council to: Support and Coordinate campaigning and Joint Union Industrial Action against attacks on jobs, pensions, pay or public services.’

Mover Jane Carolan of Unison condemned the attack on youth services and the cut in university places, saying: ‘What a time it is to be 17.’ She warned: ‘The Welfare State is no longer a safety net and the NHS is no longer safe.’ She added: ‘Cuts are only part of the agenda, the other part is privatisation.’

She said that with ‘Capitalism in action - there is no time for caring.’

Seconder Janice Godrich of the PCS union said: ‘We say austerity is not the answer.’
She added: ‘Evidence tells us that cuts make the economy worse.’

She said the aim of the government is to roll back the Welfare State. She warned:
‘The NHS will no longer be free at the point of need under the government’s plans.
‘Every cut creates a victim. This composite rejects all cuts.’

She called for ‘biggest industrial action since the General Strike’ and ended by urging everyone to ‘resist’ the cuts.

CWU delegate Tony Kearns, speaking in support, said: ‘We shouldn’t be afraid to say as Trade Unionists that Capitalism has failed.’

He added: ‘We have to stand up for public services.’ He reminded delegates: ‘Our conference called for a 24-hour General strike. We don’t accept cuts.’

Terry Hoad, of the UCU union, said: ‘The government wants to introduce changes that will see a lecturer on a £20,000 pension lose £6,000. ‘Our battle has to be for decent pensions that will see people not in poverty but in dignity in their old age.’

FBU delegate Andy Noble said: ‘Our message to (Conservative Party Prime Minister) Cameron and the government is to stop calling us heroes while making cuts to our jobs, our pensions and trying to privatise the Fire service.’ He condemned the sell-off of London’s fire engines to a private company.

UK Sources: The Guardian, TUC.org.uk

First PEOPLES CONGRESS

PEOPLES CONGRESS No. 1

October 15 - 16, 2011

by William Floyd PDWA

A parallel, Peoples' Congress to debate America's desperate needs such as Millions of Jobs, Peace, Fair Taxation of Wealthy, EFCA, Double Social Security to maimed Vets, blind, deaf and disabled Americans, Single Payer Healthcare, Wall Street Criminality, Wiretapping of American Sovereign People. Also on the job-training for Progressive Candidates (Congress).

Possible Leaders: RUSS FEINGOLD / ALAN GRAYSON ** No commitments definite**

1. JOBS NOW! Progressive Economists explain how Keynes Theory can save US Economy

2. PROGRESSIVE UNIONS: Collective Bargaining is a Patriotic Right. An American tradition like baseball and apple pie. Pass EFCA in 2011. Strengthen the N.R.L.B.

3. Speakers from a dozen UNIONS. AFL-CIO, UTW and independent Trade Unions

4. REPS from Black, Hispanic, Asian and Women's Issues Congressional Caucuses

5. PERMANENT WAR DEPT: Pfc Bradley Manning, Cindy Sheehan, Tom Hayden,

Sgt. Ron Kovic, Tim Carpenter, Marcy Winograd, PDLA, MoveOn S. Monica, PDWA and SMPC William Floyd and 20 more progressives.

Plus 150 female and male, Black, Latin, Asian, and white Progressive Candidates for Congress Nov. 2012.

VENUE: Santa Monica Civic, Hollywood or Westwood Theater

Broadcast: Peoples Congress online, U Tube, Twitter, Face Book, C-Span, Current TV, Link TV, PBS, WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera, Corporate Monopoly Media

Connect 150 new Progressive Labor Candidates to Act Blue; Darcy Burner's Progressive Congress Action Fund.org. Raise $Millions for pro-labor Progressives.

The Peoples' Congress: One weekend, Saturday October 15 and Sunday Oct. 16, 2011

Under leadership of retired Congress Members, Progressives, Union executives, and honest former State Legislators, we will conduct a clean Peoples' Congress Hearing on:

• 10-20 Million JOBS, Direct hire by Federal Gov't; green jobs; clerical, creative jobs

• $9-$16 Trillion: Recapture Bank Bailout by Federal Reserve for gambling losses

• SAVE $120 Billion/yr; Exit Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen NOW

• SAVE $70 Billion/yr Fed Subsidies for Oil Corps, big AG, Pharma, NAFTA offshoring

• Collective bargaining is a Patriotic Right – Enact E.F.C.A. now – Strengthen NLRB

• Nixon's Wartime luxury income tax 74% for lucky people earning over $250,000 annually

• One penny fee on Wall Street Swaps and Derivatives (trades of over 1000 shares)

• Double Social Security payments to maimed Vets, PTSD, Seniors, blind, deaf, disabled

• $200 Billion Turbine and Solar incentives in 20 States (Equip. 80% Made in America)

• Peoples' Congressional Debate October 16^th - “Progressive Caucus Budget” and PDWA's “Promise to America” vs. Ryan-Boehner-Cantor 'Crash, slash & burn' GOP

Progressive Democratic Workers for America (PDWA) – William Floyd, Pres.

PEOPLES' CONGRESS 1 (pg 2/2 more detail)

VENUE: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Hollywood Theater, Wordsworth, Westwood

DATE: OCTOBER 15^th - 16^th (Saturday and Sunday)

BROADCAST: U Tube, Twitter, Face Book, C-Span, Current TV, Link TV, PBS, KCET,

WikiLeaks (Iceland), Al Jazeera TV / Pacifica radio, Corporate monopoly media?

HEARING: 20 Progressive 'SENATORS' from 20 States with State flags and signage.

(played by 20 volunteers from S.M. MoveOn, Progressive Democratic Workers for America)

Leader calls Peoples' Congress to order: First business, 10-20 Million New JOBS Now!

EVIDENCE: Corps are not hiring, unemployment is skyrocketing, economy is drowning.

Job Hiring Works: FD Roosevelt directly hired 11 million unemployed, and the economy boomed. Later the GOP came to power and cut Jobs. The economy slipped back into Depression. Next Congress, people elected Democrats, and FDR was able to hire more unemployed workers. The economy boomed again. Jobs conquered the Great Depression.

COMEDY RELIEF: 10 GOP Party “Members,” in 1930 black Tuxedos, with huge name tags on their backs: BIG OIL, BIG PHARM, BIG TV, BIG CELL, BIG PHONE TAP, BIGGER WEAPONS, BIGGEST INSURANCE, PIG FARM FACTORIES, BIG DRUGS, RISKIER WALL ST. SWAPS, TOO FAT 2 FAIL BANKSTER

The Tuxedoed “GOP” bang on Drums and shout loudly: “Cut Taxes, Rich Pay Too Much,” “Ten More Wars,” “Cut Un-Titlements,” “The Poor Shall Inherit the Dirt”

HEARINGS: Fed. Gov't must recover $16 trillion from too-big-too-fail Banksters.

The bank-owned Federal Reserve gave $16 Trillion taxpayer funds to Big Banks,

to cover swaps and derivative gambling losses. Illegal gambling debts must be repaid.

• SAVE $120 Billion per year – Exit Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia

• SAVE $250 Billion on DOD WWII weapons; Cut Nuclear missiles, 835 world Bases.

• CUT $70 Billion Fed Subsidies for Oil Corps, big AG, Pharma, NAFTA-offshoring

• Collective bargaining is a patriotic American right. Enact EFCA. Strengthen NLRB.

• Nixon Wartime upper income tax of 74% for those earning over $250,000 annually

• ONE penny fee on all Wall Street Swaps and Derivatives (trading over 1000 shares)

• DOUBLE Social Security payments to Seniors, hero Vets, blind, deaf and disabled

• $200 Billion Turbine and Solar incentives in 20 States (80% made in America)

• BREAK up strangle hold of 5 monopoly Media, break up Big Oil, Too Big Banks, Big Insure, Big Ag, Bigger Drugs, Bigger Weapons, Biggest cells for Biggest wiretappers

• Expand the dramatically over worked Supreme Court to 11 (eleven) Justices

• 50 State Banks can absorb their State's deficits as Assets. Then, they can loan to States.

• Average citizen candidates for political office via Public Financing; 30 day max Elections.

Expert Economists will testify about New Jobs, Keynesian-Government jobs spending during a Depression. Need for Wealthy to pay fair tax. One penny fee on Wall St Swaps, & derivatives. Union Executives can describe the need for EFCA. The Dept. of Labor should help organize tens of millions of new Union Members, etc. [ Debate: T Bag Budget vs. ‘Progressive Caucus Budget’, WLA-Malibu MoveOn Contract: "Rebuild the Dream," and “Promise to America” by PDWA, on Oct. 16^th ]

Clone Peoples' Congress in 5 Cities, Madison, SFO, NYC, CHI, PHI...then in WASHINGTON D.C.

Progressives Led Democratic and GOP Parties

“Progressive-Populists' Revolt Led to Control of

Both Democratic and GOP Parties 1885-1920”

In 1885, Democrat Grover Cleveland took office over a deep Bank caused deflation. Wheat was driven down to 50 cents a bushel. Corn descended so low, it was burned for fuel more often than food. It sat rotting in mammoth Midwest warehouses. Yet in America's great cities, hundreds of thousands of unemployed black and white working families were starving. Railroad barons never got rich shipping food for free. President Cleveland founded the Interstate Commerce Commission in an attempt to gain some control over the Railroad barons. Many foreclosed farmers committed suicide. Most revolted. They organized the popular Grange movement, and launched Farmers' Alliances, town by town, and state by state. African American farmers organized separately. They were excluded from the Farmers' Alliance and Grange movements.

Mine workers in the mountainous West were also starving from falling prices. They joined the Western Federation of Miners, led by Big Bill Haywood, songs by Joe Hill.

Between 1881-1900, Progressive-Populist workers conducted over 23,000 Strikes

In May 1891, at Cincinnati, Ohio, the Populist Party was founded, by white farmers, miners, and the highest skilled craft unions from the AFL. Their demands:

1. 1. A new “Income Tax” would include wealthy Trust owners at a progressive rate

2. 2. Public (Government) ownership of monopoly Railroads, Telephone, and Telegraph

3. 3. Very popular Initiative, Referendum, and (corrupt politician) Recall were introduced

4. 4. 8-hour day (1890's average, 12 hours, 6-7 day week)

In July 1892, hungry steel workers struck the huge Homestead Works owned by steel and coal baron, Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie hired Pinkerton detectives to sail barges down a River, surround and attack the Union picket line. When they reached the Works, the Pinkerton detectives opened fire on defenseless picketers. Fellow Union brothers heard the gunfire, and descended on the Carnegie Works from the high in the hills.

An explosive battle erupted. Oil was poured into the River. One of the Pinkerton barges caught fire. They screamed to surrender. The Union arrested hundreds of trigger-happy detectives. The local District Attorney charged them with Murder. In the end however, steel baron Andrew Carnegie called in the State Militia, and broke the bloody strike.

Populism was demonized in the day's Faux-scare Media as “Treason,” and/or “Socialist.”

But in 1892, so wildly popular was the Populist Party, they received 30% as a third Party. In 1893, Banks failed, causing 15,000 businesses to close, and wide unemployment.

By 1896, Populists took control of the Democratic Party. The Populist-Democrat candidate, William Jennings Bryan was a charismatic lightening rod who traveled 18,000 miles. He visited every township and village in the country. At each stop, the charming Populist champion delivered electrifying speeches, such as his famous “Cross of Gold”.

Unfortunately, his Wall St.-bankrolled Republican opponent, William McKinley used banksters to threaten farmers with cancellation of their mortgages. Industrial workers were paid off, and told not to return, if Bryan won the Election. These bare knuckle tactics proved decisive. McKinley won. He joined 'yellow journalist' Randolph Hearst

to launch the disastrous, imperialist Spanish American War 1898-1900. Luckily, an anarchist's bullet ended President McKinley's Empire yearnings in January 1901.

By 1901, the U.S. Congress was the personal property of 5-7 billionaire Baron families. The Railroad monopoly was dominated by two men. The coal mines and steel mills were owned by Carnegie. The Oil monopoly and silver mines belonged to John D. Rockefeller. The Banks to J.P. Morgan, Chase, Mellon and their Trusts. These billionaire Barons wined, dined, and bought every Congressman, and each Republican and Democratic President. (Compare with Citibank, GE, Wallmart, Exxon, Fox Empire, AT$T today)

Against this Corporate domination arose the brave Knights of Labor (1896), the American Federation of Labor (AFL-1896), Western Federation of Miners, the Populist Party (1891), and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW in 1905). Of these labor heroes, only the Knights of Labor and the IWW recruited African Americans.

BOTH PARTIES FALL to PROGRESSIVE-POPULIST SWEEP

After gaining control of the Democratic Party, Progressive-Populists took leadership of the Republican Party as well (Pres. Roosevelt and Taft). Progressive-Populists also captured Governorships in Wisconsin (Bob La Follette, Populist GOP), and California (Hiram Johnson, Democrat-Populist).

This was the result of Progressive ideas, dreams, policies and platforms, but mostly

2 decades of 23,000 labor strikes.

Nick-named 'Trust-buster Teddy,' Roosevelt (1901-1909) filed over 40 law suits to break up mammoth Monopolies dominating American life. However, the Railroad Trusts and Banksters did not surrender easily. Standard Oil and American Tobacco Trusts would only dissolve years later, via the Supreme Court, under Pres. William H. Taft (1909-1913)

In 1902, thousands of Pennsylvania coal miners struck after a series of mine disasters. They asked for a 9 hour day. The arrogant mine Barons refused to even negotiate.

A violent battle between mine families and Pinkerton Detectives left hundreds of women and children injured. Teddy Roosevelt intervened, and settled the strike in the miners' favor. He also passed several ground-breaking mine safety laws.

In America's textile mills, coal mines, wheat or corn farms, steel mills, and industrial factories, African American workers were systematically excluded. When all white coal miners or steel workers struck, the Coal/Steel barons often brought in immigrants, African Americans, or child labor to scab. Only the sea port Longshoremen were integrated. In the New Orleans Port Strike of 1902, African American and white stevedores fought together. Side-by-side, they defeated the Port's divide-and-conquer strategy, so corruptly successful in thousands of coal and steel strikes.

The Lawrence, Mass. Textile mill consisted of 25 different nationalities. In Jan. 1912, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Big Bill Haywood sent in organizers speaking many different languages. Once their organizers had signed 1000 IWW members, all 25,000 Lawrence ladies walked out for “Bread and Roses.” With the IWW's help, they won a brave strike.

The 1913 Paterson Silk workers strike was also led by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Big Bill Haywood of the IWW. They created a Musical Pageant about the Paterson Strike for a Broadway opening in NYC. It was a huge hit. The dramatic performances, by the silk strikers themselves, won over the influential NYC public, and the strike was successful.

In the 1913 Ludlow Massacre, Colorado state militia was called in by the wealthy Coal and Oil baron, John D. Rockefeller, to smash starving UMW coal miners. The UMW only asked for an 8 hour day. The state militia's intense rifle fire set fire to a Tent. A special Tent. A Tent hiding 11 small children, who burned to death for the greed of Rockefeller.

The 1912 Presidential Election featured 3 Progressive-Populist Presidential Candidates. The Republicans were split between current Pres. Taft, and the new Progressive Party's Teddy Roosevelt. This split allowed the Progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.

He immediately selected “Gold Cross” William Jennings Bryan as his Secretary of State. Between 1913 and 1921, Wilson introduced many pro-labor laws, and Corporate business restrictions. Woodrow Wilson appointed the first Cabinet Secretary in the new Department of Labor. He spearheaded laws ensuring 8 hours pay, for 10 hours work. In 1914, he passed the Clayton Anti-Trust Act to break up Monopolies that crush competitors. Wilson also happily signed the 19^th Amendment (Vote for Women).

However, Wilson's Progressive program was sidelined by a growing foreign conflict. A War between the decrepit Kings of Europe. This aristocratic conflict had nothing to do with us. But our weapons lobby, and the Hearst 'yellow journalism' media empire, conspired to drag American working people into the feudal conflict. 1 million dead. WWI (1917 - 1918)

Does Democrat Wilson's dilemma feel familiar? FDR's New deal-WWII; L. Johnson's Civil Rights-Vietnam; Barack Obama's National Healthcare - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya.

After WWI ended in 1918, Corporations drastically cut hours and canceled overtime. Workers who skimped patriotically for the War effort, now struck for a 'Peace dividend'. There were nearly 4000 strikes in 1919. Wilson was criticized by GOP Congressmen for being soft on Labor. Were not these 'rabble,' the same 'socialist' and 'anarchist' strikers who protested the War effort? To prove his mettle, and stifle the growing strikes, Wilson unleashed Attorney General Palmer. He arrested the anti-war leaders of the IWW, Populist Party and Socialist Party. Big Bill Haywood, Helen Gurley Flynn, Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, and hundreds of Progressive-Populists were prosecuted and convicted. Eugene Debs got a 10 year sentence. Their crime – criticizing the Corporate Democrat Party's and war profiteering Republican Party's jingoistic drum beat for War.

By goading Pres. Wilson to arrest and imprison his Progressive-Democratic activist base, the Republicans got Wilson to destroy the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.

Corporate GOP'ers returned to power easily in 1921. The Progressive resistance was in jail.

Democrats were denied political power for the next 12 years.

But the Progressives returned with fire in 1933. The new CIO Labor militancy of John L. Lewis, and the Auto and steel sit down strikes and the bloody coal miner strikes kept Democrats in power from 1933-1950.

Progressive Democratic Workers for (a new) America

https://pdwamerica.blogspot.com

“Progressive-Populists' Revolt Led to Control of Both Democratic and GOP Parties”

8/11/11 by William Floyd

“Cross of Gold” by William Jennings Bryan [ 1896 ]

US was in a terrible Bank recession. Banks and the Gold Standard made

dollars very scarce. Populists wanted to increase the amount of currency

via silver, to jump start employment and prosperity. Republicans insisted

on Gold only.

“Having behind us the producing masses of this nation, and the world,

supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the

Toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard

by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor

this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a Cross of Gold.”

-– William Jennings Bryan

I am the people – the mob - the crowd – the mass.

Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world's food and clothes.

I am the audience that witnesses history. -– Carl Sandburg

IWW

If the Workers take a notion,

They can stop all speeding Trains.

Every Ship upon the ocean,

They can tie with mighty chains.

Every wheel in the Creation,

Every mine and every mill,

Fleets and Armies of the Nation,

Will, at their command, stand still.

–- Joe Hill

Bibliography

Joyce Kornbluh, Rebel Voices, the IWW in Poems and Songs

H.S. Commager, ed. Documents of American History, Appleton-Century-Crofts

Mary R. Beard, A Short History of the American Labor Movement

Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography

Progressive Democratic Workers for (a new) America

https://pdwamerica.blogspot.com

8/11/2011

CWA Strike Support

CWA Workers to Verizon:

‘We Need To Draw A Line Here’

by James Parks, Aug 12, 2011

Picket lines are strong and growing at Verizon and Verizon Wireless locations as workers across the country join the more than 45,000 Verizon workers on strike from New England to Virginia. The members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW) are on strike to stop the company’s attacks on the middle class.

Workers in New Hampshire will rally today at a Verizon Wireless store in Manchester. Tomorrow, strikers and supporters will rally in downtown Washington, D.C., at 1314 F Street NW at 11:00 a.m. And on Monday, Aug. 15, workers from across Missouri will rally at the Verizon Wireless Store in Creve Coeur, a suburb of St. Louis. Click here to join the Missouri rally.

In an open letter to union members, the Missouri AFL-CIO said:

The fight for Verizon workers is the fight for all of us. This corporation continues to rake in record profits but is trying to outsource more jobs, demand workers pay more for benefits and undermine workers’ retirement security.

After cancelling several bargaining sessions, Verizon returned to the table this week, but the company is still demanding $1 billion in concessions, which amounts to $20,000 per Verizon worker per year. Those demands have been on the table since bargaining began on June 22.

Workers recognize this is a strike with national significance. As Bob Master, CWA District 1 legislative and political director, explained earlier this week in a conference call with supporters:

This is an enormously profitable company, which we believe is trying to take advantage of an anti-union environment and, in a sense, to replicate at a giant private-sector corporation what the governors of Ohio, New Jersey and Wisconsin have been trying to do to the public sector. Our members feel very strongly that we need to draw a line here.

You can show solidarity with the Verizon workers and “Adopt a Store” to leaflet and educate the public about the importance of this strike by visiting http://cwa-union.org/pages/support_the_strike_adopt_a_store.

Here are some other actions you can take to support the strikers:

• Find a local picket line to support here.
• Download leaflets here.
• “Like” the strikers on Facebook here and change your Facebook and/or Twitter profile picture in solidarity here.
• Click here to demand that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam value employees’ work and share his corporation’s success with those who make it possible.
• Click here for a list of picket sites in the New York and New Jersey area.`
• Click here to sign and Tweet an act.ly petition demanding Verizon drop its outrageous concessionary demands.
• To Tweet about the strike, use the hashtag #verizonstrike and feel free to direct to @VZLaborfacts.

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More Info:

http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/08/12/verizon-workers-we-need-to-draw-a-line-here/

AFL Support Actions for CWA Strikers

Eagles Fans Learn About Verizon Greed from Striking CWA Workers, Their Union Allies

Liz McElroy of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO field communications staffer Nora Frederickson send us this report about a Verizon action in Philadelphia.

As 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) on the East Coast continue their strike against Verizon to maintain quality, middle-class jobs, union locals in southeastern Pennsylvania decided to take their message directly to the public – at the local ballgame.

More than 500 CWA Local 13000 and Local 13500 members and their allies showed up for the Philadelphia Eagles pre-season game at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia last night–not to tailgate but to educate Eagles fans about the real reasons behind their strike at Verizon.

Members of the local unions there as elsewhere in New England and south through Virginia, have been on strike since Sunday. Rather than reward the hard work of Verizon employees who have provided the quality service that earned the company more than $32.5 billion in revenue over the past three years, management continues to insist on cuts that total $1 billion. That’s about $20,000 per Verizon family. These workers have played by the rules—and now Verizon wants to break them.

Union members from AFT, AFSCME, NALC, PSEA, PASNAP and UFCW joined the leafleting to show their support.

Retired Postal Letter Carriers (NALC) Local 157 member Joe Piette said he joined union members in leafleting because the strike is about more than just their negotiations with Verizon:

Workers everywhere are under attack. I’m here to support these strikers because we all need strong Unions in this country.

The Philadelphia fans were overwhelmingly supportive of the workers, many stopping to talk with the Union members about their strike and what it means for the middle class.

State Representative Bill Keller (D) joined the crowd to express his support for the Verizon Strikers and to talk about the bigger picture.

We need to be talking about putting people back to work, not destroying the good middle class jobs we have. Labor is always with me and I’m standing with them.