The Clinton and Obama neo-liberals know that the Democratic voters now know neo-liberals are not progressive or Democrat so they are working hard to maintain control of public policy message and neutralize the Democratic Party as a people's platform. This is what to look for in the coming elections.
WE KNOW OUR NATIONAL LEADERS ARE CAPTURED BY NEO-LIBERALS AND DON'T LISTEN TO THEM SAY DEMOCRATIC BASE LABOR AND JUSTICE.
Know who knows neo-liberal economic policy when they see it? Latino immigrants and they overwhelmingly do not trust Clinton and Obama neo-liberals. Yet, organizations like CASA come out in support for Clinton neo-liberals during election primaries and to support neo-liberal policies like Immigration Reform and Race to the Top. As with all labor and justice organizations in the US----the leadership are appointed to be that tie to neo-liberals while the people working in the lower ranks simply want to help immigrants. I speak with Latino and Hispanic immigrants all the time over things like police brutality, wage theft, and racial tensions between people of color and gangs.
THEY KNOW THE PATTERN SINCE IT HAS EXISTED IN LOS ANGELES AND CHICAGO FOR A FEW DECADES OF REAGAN/CLINTON NEO-LIBERALISM.
The goal of International Economic Zone policy is to move US citizens out of these zones and move more and more immigrants into these zones to create that Asian third world dynamic of enslavement labor. Neo-conservative Texas followed neo-liberal California in creating so much fraud, corruption, flooding of communities with immigrants so that work could not be found by Texas and California citizens ----falling wages all sending US citizens out of these states in large numbers. Today Texas, California, and Florida have a majority immigrant population and these are the most neo-liberal/neo-con of states. The same dynamic is happening across the US in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore. You can bet as Latino families move from Texas, California, and Chicago to escape what neo-liberalism brings---they are seeing it in Maryland.
WHO KNOWS LATINO IMMIGRANTS OFTEN ARE IN THE US TO ESCAPE NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMIC POLICIES IN MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND SOUTH AMERICA IN PLACE SINCE BEFORE NAFTA? THESE IMMIGRANTS.
See where CASA is headquartered? Takoma Park----know who gets many of the Baltimore contracts ----Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery County. Baltimore City has Hispanic contractors from Montgomery County, Howard County, and now Prince George's County coming to do much of the city's public work---and those few Hispanic business-owners are gaining wealth and abusing their labor force. These wealthy Hispanic business-owners are the voice of CASA in political elections.
CASA GOES WITH O'MALLEY'S NEO-LIBERAL MACHINE BECAUSE HE GIVES THE LEADERS CONTRACTS.
Latino/Hispanic workers say----we do not listen to CASA for whom to vote---
CASA de Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CASA of Maryland
Founded1985
Location
CASA of Maryland (CASA) (Spanish: CASA de Maryland) is a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization based in Maryland. It is active throughout the state, but has major foci in Prince George's County, Montgomery County and Baltimore. CASA influences Maryland politics on a wide range of policies, ranging from law-enforcement to education.
HistoryCASA was originally known as the "Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland". It is also known as "CASA de Maryland", as well as "CASA Maryland".
CASA was founded in 1985 in the basement of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church by US citizens and Central American immigrants. It has since expanded its scope. It is affiliate organization of the National Council of La Raza. They are a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. CASA is also a founding member of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which promotes "comprehensive immigration reform".
In June 2010, CASA opened a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) multicultural center in the heart of Langley Park and located in the former Langley Park mansion. The project was budgeted at $31 million in 2007. Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said at the fundraising kickoff for the project, "In our Maryland, there's no such thing as a spare American".
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Thom Hartman is often called a left-leaning media outlet but first ---look below at the title of this YouTube ----Liberalism----this continues the misleading connection between social democratic liberals and Clinton neo-liberals. Hartman also equates this abusive neo-liberal policy to Reagan and does not mention Clinton. Hartman identifies movement left giving examples of socialist movements in Latin America and again says nothing about social democracy as the left-leaning polices protecting labor and justice. Hispanic immigrants fleeing neo-liberalism would be those joining Bernie Sanders and social democracy and that is where many Latino groups are moving. Clinton neo-liberal media outlets always create the dynamic of either Reagan Republican vs far-left socialism/communism.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LISTENING TO A CLINTON NEO-LIBERAL MEDIA OUTLET IF REAGAN IS THE ONLY NEO-LIBERAL AND THE FAR-LEFT SOCIALIST/COMMUNISTS ARE THE SOCIAL CHOICE.
Below you see where Latinos knowing the history of neo-liberalism from Reagan AND CLINTON----are moving to social democracy. It will be those Latino business contractors made wealthy that will go Republican.
Sun Oct 04, 2015 at 10:22 AM PDT
Latinos who want Bernieby jamessFollow
We haven't heard much about this, given our insular world-views ... but Latinos have been quietly, sometime not so quietly, expressing their support for Bernie Sanders for President.
Why Latinos Should Vote for Bernie Sanders and Why He Needs Us
by César Vargas, huffingtonpost.com -- 07/07/2015
*******************************************************************
Hispanic Immigrants Come to US Fleeing Liberalism?
thomhartmann YouTube
Published on Mar 16, 2013
Live from CPAC 2013, Thom Hartmann talks with Mario Lopez, President-Hispanic Leadership Fund, Website: http://hispanicleadershipfund.org/, about immigration issues.
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Clinton and Obama neo-liberals are flooding US cities with corporate non-profits geared at leadership development in underserved communities. Baltimore has had these organizations for decades. Most of these leadership organizations are extensions of Clinton and Obama and promote neo-liberal policies like global markets, free markets, deregulation (limited government), and individual freedom. Individual freedom is tied to Libertarianism.....the rich of an individual to become rich.
Right now Maryland is filling with black and Hispanic/Latino leadership organizations finding those in underserved communities and grooming them to neo-liberalism/neo-conservatism.-----globalist. Below you see the Hispanic Leadership Fund to bring people to neo-conservative principles. All the right words-----for globalist.
Latino workers are far less likely to be fooled by these groups because they have had decades of this Tom-foolery in their own nations. Black citizens in cities like Baltimore having had these leadership organizations drawing them for decades to these global policies are also wise ----
Keep in mind----Clinton neo-liberals are Bush neo-cons so they don't care which way Latinos swing as long as it is not social democracy.
Welcome to the Hispanic Leadership FundThe Hispanic Leadership Fund is non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening working families by promoting common-sense public policy solutions rooted in free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom.
Clinton's legacy after leaving his Presidency was expanding International Economic Zone presence in Asia-----Obama's will be expanding neo-liberalism in Africa. Both Clinton and Obama will be doing so in the US. Tying neo-liberal policy to Mandela or MLK is such an insult to these great civil rights leaders. Mandela hates Zuma and his ties to this expansion of neo-liberalism in Africa so Obama could care less about the civil rights-----he simply co-opts progressive leaders and era to move the dismantling of all that is progressive.
These African youth will be groomed as neo-liberals and then come to the US as leaders in the black communities. Black American citizens already are feeling the tensions of leadership in their communities and this added dimension will further weaken American US Constitutional freedoms for this global corporate tribunal.
Obama renames African Leaders Program after Nelson Mandela
By BYP @blackyouthproj 10:18 am July 28, 2014
President Obama will rename a program designed to foster a new generation of young African leaders after late former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Obama is expected to announce the name change at a town hall-style event Monday in Washington.
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As Clinton Initiative brings lots of Asian immigrants to the US all connected to these International Economic Zone neo-liberal economics-----so too will Obama be doing the same in this new African International Economc Zone.
As all of these new immigrants settle into US cities they will become the leadership ---having no connection to US Constitutional rights and citizenship rights---ready to install International Economic Zones in the US. This will occur as Trans Pacific Trade Pact is installed----over the coming decade. American citizens will be overwhelmed by immigrants from nations having only the knowledge of neo-liberal economies. These new immigrants will get business and government leadership positions as American citizens head for FOXCONN global corporate campus living and working.
THIS IS THE CLINTON/OBAMA PLAN----IT IS NOT NECESSARILY HOW IT WILL WORK. GET RID OF THESE GLOBAL POLS AND WE CAN WELCOME NEW IMMIGRANTS TO A RULE OF LAW, EQUAL PROTECTION DEMOCRACY CALLED AMERICA!
What happens to all the black leaders at the local and state level having moved Clinton and Obama neo-liberal policies for these few decades----they will not be needed and thrown under the bus.
Obama Hosts Young African Leaders Forum at White House
President Obama meeting at the White House with young leaders from 46 sub-Saharan African nations
, 03 Aug 2010
Africa Youth Obama report.wmv
Kent KleinAugust 02, 2010 8:00 PM
U.S. President Barack Obama greeted 115 young leaders from 46 sub-Saharan African nations on Tuesday, in the first Young African Leaders Forum at the White House. The president addressed the questions and concerns of young people from across the continent.
President Obama spent an hour talking with some of the young leaders of African civil society, in an unprecedented forum in the East Room of the White House.
He called Africa "the youngest continent," and said that because a large percentage of Africans are under 30-years-old, his administration especially needs to reach the continent's young people.
"If all you are doing is talking to old men like me, then you are not reaching the people who are going to be providing the energy, the new initiatives, the new ideas," said President Obama. "And so we thought that it would be very important for us to bring the next generation of leaders together."
The president encouraged the young leaders to stand up for democracy, transparent government and freedom of the press. He said African men need to give women a bigger voice in the establishment of democracy.
"If you are part of an organization where you have professed democracy, but women do not have an equal voice in your organization, then you are a hypocrite," said Mr. Obama.
President Obama addressed questions about Africa's most troubled countries - Zimbabwe and Somalia.
Sidney Chisi, who founded the Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe, raised a concern about abuses committed by his country's president.
"Robert Mugabe is still using the rhetoric of sanctions, racism, property rights abuse and human rights abuse, in violation of the rule of law," said Sidney Chisi.
Mr. Obama said he is "heartbroken" by the situation in Zimbabwe - a country, he said, that should be the "breadbasket of Africa."
"I think Mugabe is an example of a leader who came in as a liberation fighter, and - I am just going to be very blunt - I do not see him serving his people well," said President Obama.
The president said he would like to increase diplomatic and economic ties with Zimbabwe. But he said he fears that doing so would entrench Mr. Mugabe's rule.
The leader of the Somali Youth Leadership Forum, Abdi Najma Ahmed, then asked whether Americans are prepared to give financial and moral support to those working for democracy in Somalia.
"And being part of the diaspora that went back to risk our lives in order to make Somalia a better place - especially with what we are going through right now - how much support do we expect from the U.S.," asked Abdi Najma Ahmed.
Mr. Obama responded by saying that Americans and the U.S. government desperately want Somalia to succeed.
"I think you will have enormous support from the people of the United States when it comes to trying to create a structure and framework in Somalia that works for the Somali people," said Mr. Obama.
He said American and Somali interests intersect, which he also said is true of other African nations.
Shamima Muslim, who hosts a radio program in Ghana, said her listeners sometimes question the U.S. commitment to its relationships in Africa.
"Is America committed to ensuring a partnership that might not necessarily be beneficial to America, but [is] truly beneficial to the sovereign interests of the countries that we represent," asked Shamima Muslim.
Mr. Obama replied that the interests of the United States and Africa often overlap, and that America has a huge interest in seeing development across Africa.
"We are a more mature economy and Africa is a young and growing economy," he said. "And if you can buy more iPods and buy more products and buy more services and buy more tractors from us, that we can sell to a fast-growing continent, that creates jobs here in the United States of America."
The president also took questions from young leaders from Mali, Liberia, Mozambique and Malawi.
He said that while corruption is still widespread in some African countries, the continent is on the move, thanks to its inspiring young people.
_____________________________________________
In the US low-income white citizens have mostly stayed Republican and since neo-liberals are Republicans ----these communities are not feeling all this wheeling and dealing.
The next big group under the Democratic base is labor-----whether union or not. How will neo-liberals approach them?
I have already shown where US labor unions have been weakened first by neo-liberals allowing unions to operate banks. This is what today has national labor leaders tied to Clinton neo-liberals----they are earning money from corporate profit from killing labor and justice. Below you see how local labor unions are giving Clinton neo-liberals the boot because they understand that these national labor union leaders are too tied to globalists. Yet, national labor leaders are again coming out for Hillary-----as local labor members are shouting
WE DON'T LISTEN TO THOSE NATIONAL LABOR LEADERS AND THEIR ENDORSEMENTS.
This is good but as with organizations of justice with members knowing the leadership is connected to globalists---we can ignore these leaders but all of these organizations' election organizing and funding still goes to the globalist and not social democrats. We need to get rid of Clinton neo-liberal labor union leaders to rebuild our US unions. Justice organization members need to do the same with their globalist leaders.
Local labor unions in states that still have strong union presence and activism are going with Bernie and will ignore national labor leaders supporting Hillary. States like Maryland do not even know social democratic policies and are still tied to Clinton neo-liberals.
WE NEED MARYLAND LABOR TO GET BEHIND SOCIAL DEMOCRATS---GET RID OF GLOBALIST NEO-LIBERALS!
Oct 8 - Nov 9, 2015
The Indypendent e-news
Bernie Sanders speaks earlier this summer before a packed arena in Madison, Wisconsin. Union members are part of the groundswell of support for Sanders, who's won the support of a number of local and state AFL-CIOs. Photo: Bernie Sanders Campaign
Indy Blog
Support for Bernie Sanders Grows in Unions
By
Dan DiMaggio
August 4, 2015Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
While he and the ATU have backed Hillary Clinton for years, Hanley said, “Hillary thus far has not offered us the path that Bernie has.”
So endorsements pose a strategic dilemma. “We don’t want to bruise Hillary so much in the process that she can’t win. We don’t want to lead our members down a dark alley,” he said.
“But at what point do we get our share? At what point do workers get what we had 30 years ago? We don’t just get that by saluting the status quo.”
An invitation-only event in D.C. on July 13, hosted by leaders of the Postal Workers (APWU) and former Communications Workers (CWA) President Larry Cohen, drew presidents or their designees from 22 international unions to hear the candidate speak.
A similar number showed up for a Clinton event the next night at the home of her campaign manager, John Podesta.
“Bernie Sanders has been a champion of postal workers and consumers, and raising the question of $15 for all as a minimum wage,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “On that basis our union will give him serious consideration.”
ENDORSEMENTS PUSH
Organizers of Labor for Bernie—a grassroots effort to build labor support for the Sanders campaign—say one goal is to discourage the AFL-CIO from making an early Clinton endorsement.
They argue labor has little to gain from an early endorsement. And they want more time for pro-Sanders activism to raise union members’ expectations on the issues being highlighted in his campaign.
They want 5,000 signatures on their Labor for Bernie statement before the AFL-CIO executive council meets July 29-30. As of July 15 they had 3,500.
Sanders, Clinton, Maryland ex-Gov. Martin O’Malley, and Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee are all expected to attend the meeting, where the council could endorse a candidate or decide to hold off. Hanley said the ATU opposes an early endorsement.
Presidential endorsements are the national AFL-CIO’s prerogative, as President Richard Trumka reminded state and local bodies in a recent memo after the Vermont and South Carolina federations passed resolutions backing Sanders.
AFL-CIO bylaws stipulate that these bodies may not “introduce, consider, debate, or pass resolutions or statements that indicate a preference for one candidate over another.” The rule also applies to personal statements by local and state officers.
But Labor for Bernie organizers hope that state and local fed bodies and officers are willing to flout the rules.
So far Sanders has the backing of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2222 in Massachusetts, IBEW Local 159 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Vermont National Education Association (NEA), and Lithographers Local One-L (a Teamsters’ affiliate), among others.
\“We were really happy he decided to run, because it gave us an alternative,” said Myles Calvey, Local 2222’s business manager. “Elected Democratic officials have it in their minds that labor has no place to go.”
Calvey contrasts Sanders with Democrat John Kerry. Just a few weeks after CWA and IBEW settled a hard-fought contract with Verizon in 2012, he said, Kerry was sharing seats in the press box at a Patriots game with CEO Lowell McAdam.
The Electrical Workers (UE) executive board has also issued a statement supporting Sanders, urging “members and locals to take a serious look at Bernie Sanders’s campaign and to consider their active participation in it.”
AFT BACKS CLINTON
Clinton picked up a big endorsement July 11, when the executive council of the 1.6 million-member Teachers (AFT) became the first major national union to announce it would support her in the primaries.
President Randi Weingarten has close ties to Clinton, and serves on the board of the pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA.
An AFT press release said members had supported Clinton 3 to 1 in a poll. But many members condemned the endorsement on social media, calling the process flawed and shallow.
“I was really flabbergasted. I think it seems so premature,” said Candi Peterson, vice president of the Washington Teachers Union, Local 6. She’d never heard about the union’s telephone town hall meetings or its “You Decide” website.
“It was the best-kept secret in town,” said Peterson, whose local is based in D.C., like the national union. “And that’s not typical of the AFT—we get bombarded with information.”
“It feels like the leadership did a ‘we know what’s best,’ that their influence with people in power is more important than the members,” said Jia Lee, a chapter leader of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. “The top campaign contributors to Hillary Clinton are the same groups that support privatization of public education.”
The other big teachers union, the NEA, opted not to endorse early at its July convention. The Vermont chapter sent a delegation outfitted in Bernie T-shirts, with a box full of placards and stickers.
“People came up to us as soon as they saw our shirts and signs,” said President Martha Allen, “and they spread throughout the entire room. We ran out of all our stuff.”
The NEA could still issue an early endorsement in October, through its board and PAC council, or in February. Vermont NEA, meanwhile, will encourage members to knock doors for Sanders in New Hampshire's early primary.
MOVEMENT BUILDER
Cohen, who stepped down as CWA president in June, is now working as an unpaid Sanders volunteer.
The TPP is among the issues motivating him. Sanders has been a leading opponent of the trade deal, while Clinton refuses to take a position.
“What we learned from the trade fight,” Cohen said, “is the gap between what people say when they campaign for the Iowa caucuses and what they then do. I don’t think anybody’s worried about any gap like that for Bernie Sanders.”
For Donna Dewitt, former president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, the key is for Sanders’ message to reach deeper into the Democratic party base and non-voters.
A Sanders event in Columbia, South Carolina, last year drew local leaders from CWA, the Auto Workers, and the Steelworkers. “But the majority [of participants] were young Black workers with the Raise Up campaign, fighting for $15 an hour,” Dewitt said.
“[Bernie] was most impressed with them. The Democratic Party is expanding their base in the minority community, but nobody’s reaching these young workers. None of these people have ever voted before.”
School counselor Susan Sadlowski Garza won a tight race for alderman this year in Chicago’s 10th Ward, after Sanders came out to rally with her, mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia, and Chicago Teachers President Karen Lewis.
“His message is basic things: people before money, working-class people are getting the shaft,” Garza said. “He speaks exactly what we feel. I know people that are staunch Republicans that are swinging toward Bernie, conservatives. His message resonates and crosses party lines.”
Hanley said the ATU is figuring out a process to promote more member involvement in deciding on the presidential endorsement.“If you don’t do that, you’re just another logo put on somebody’s campaign,” he said. “Our real leverage is in, first, organizing our members around a set of beliefs—and then, through our members, organizing the public around those beliefs.”
This article originally appeared at labornotes.org.
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US labor unions grew internationally as global corporations did and that is why national labor leaders remain tied to Clinton neo-liberals while the US local unions are killed by neo-liberals. One thing both global corporations and international labor unions know-----if they are going to make a comeback in the US----THEY HAVE TO DISGUISE THAT THEY ARE STILL GLOBAL ENTITIES. So, global corporations are coming back to the US broken into local offices acting as though they are new local businesses instead of being tied to the Great Giant Squid of the Global Corporate Tribunal. You can usually spot them as having incorporation dates all around the time of the 2008 economic crash. But this will soar as global corporations are given a green light with Trans Pacific Trade Pact to come and operate as they do overseas.
THESE ARE NOT LOCAL BUSINESSES----THEY ARE SIMPLY BRANCHES OF GLOBAL CORPORATIONS.
When a raging neo-liberal like Obama does something for labor it is usually done pretending to be progressive----or to use something for the benefit of corporate profit. The designation of US labor unions as micro unions would be progressive if it was not tied to this same global corporation as branch office policy. These micro union policies simply allow international unions to look like local branches. THIS IS NOT GROWING UNIONS LOCALLY. Obama knows international labor unions are now working as to what is best for workers all over the world----so to win something good for a worker in Europe----they allow American union members to be thrown under a bus. Locally, Sparrows Mill Steel Mill was closed in just such a deal.
Neo-liberals are placating US unions with these kinds of policies but we all know global corporations under global corporate tribunal will have no need for unions unless they are working for the global corporations----in which case they are worthless to labor.
So, as we see in this election -----local labor unions are going social democrat and against trade deals that will allow these global structures to be installed---which is good. National labor union leaders are backing Hillary to keep this international structure in place because it makes them rich and powerful.
Corporate executives are not worried---this is kabuki theater.---this is kabuki theater. Remember, Trans Pacific Trade Pact ends all US labor rights and takes labor to third world status.
Fresh Hell From The Obama Administration: Micro-Unions (Updated)
June 14
10:00 2012
by MacAoidh We talk a lot about the evils of public sector unions here at the Hayride, and when we’re challenged on our position that they shouldn’t exist we merely mention that we’re with FDR on the issue.
That doesn’t mean we think private-sector unions shouldn’t exist, though – the market has the ability to regulate private sector unions engaging in destructive behavior, and it has done so quite effectively.
Naturally, of course, those unions are constantly trying to rig the game in their favor. And in this current administration the unions have the best ally in doing so they’ll ever have.
If you’re looking for evidence of this, try micro-unions on for size. If you’ve never heard of a micro-union before, it’s a name for a practice by which a portion of a company’s workforce sharing a job title can opt to unionize while the rest of the workforce opts not to.
It sounds laughable, but Obama’s National Labor Relations Board actually endorsed the practice…
In a recent elections case, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union petitioned to represent 42 of Bergdorf Goodman’s 372 sales associates working in the company’s Fifth Avenue store, that is, only those associates who sell women’s shoes. The employer sought a larger unit, either a store-wide unit or a unit of all its sales associates. The Board’s Regional Director (RD) sided with the union. Why? Because the employer’s other sales associates sell merchandise other than shoes.
According to the RD, although “all sales associates work toward a common goal of selling merchandise, the women’s shoe department has the unique goal of selling shoes in particular.” She explained that sales associates in the other departments do not have prior shoe sales experience and “[i]f a shoe is not sized appropriately for a customer, discomfort and possible knee, back and other physical could result.” Although the RD cited a few additional differences between the 42 sales associates and the store’s remaining sales force, they were minor when compared with the community of interest all the sales associates shared —including the same hiring criteria, common supervision, the same hours and working conditions, the same benefits (health care, vacation and holiday pay), the same evaluation criteria and even a common cafeteria. The RD conceded as much. She said that “an over-all unit including all the Employer’s sales associates might be an appropriate unit.” Might be? It would be an appropriate unit under long-standing Board law, it simply was not the unit sought by the union.
Some 50 years of labor law says otherwise, but law and proven practice has never particularly mattered to the Obama administration.
The establishment of micro-unions comes as a result of an NRLB decision last year allowing unionization by job title, and there’s a bill in the Senate with at least 29 co-sponsors – one of them being Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) – which would overrule the NLRB and bring unionization back to what it’s typically been. Namely, an issue between management and labor.
As in, there’s management, and then there’s a union which represents the employees.
Micro-unions would mean there’s management and then there are unions all over the place representing any tiny group of people who share a job description at the company in question.
Think about how asinine this thing could be. Let’s say you own a restaurant, and the three minimum-wage stoners who wash dishes in the back decide they want to become the Dishwashers’ Union. Now, these clowns almost never show up for work on time. They cop an attitude when they’re asked to actually do their jobs. They’re always in the alley lighting up. And there’s constant turnover as they get arrested, move away, quit or get fired.
And those stoners – the three of them who happen to actually show up for work, that is – walk into the manager’s office one day and say they’re now a union, and demand collective bargaining. They want to demand better equipment, they say they’re going to go on strike unless they’re raised to $10 an hour, they need unlimited smoke breaks, they want to ban drug testing despite the fact it’s obvious they all regularly smoke weed, they want health insurance and they want a grievance process so that they can’t be fired willy-nilly.
Think that can’t happen? Well, consider that 93 percent of private-sector workers aren’t in unions. And the reason for that is 93 percent of private-sector workers understand that if their job sucks, they can either work really hard and get a promotion, or they can find a better job. And that mentality hasn’t changed even in a bad economy.
Which means that the majority of workers out there would laugh at the idea of joining a micro-union. The workers who don’t are the ones who suck at their jobs.
This isn’t the autoworkers or Teamsters, mind you. This is women’s shoe salesmen at Bergdorf-Goodman. What happens when those people decide to go on strike? It hurts the people who work in women’s clothing, women’s coats, the perfume counter and so on. If a strike closes down or creates chaos at the ladies’ shoe department at Bergdorf’s, the women will then go to Bloomingdale’s to escape the commotion. And that means the majority of the workers at the store will suffer because of the idiocy of a few.
Sen. Johnny Isaakson (R-GA), who authored that Senate bill back in November to fight micro-unions, had this right…
The labor board seems to have run amok as far as I’m concerned. Micro unions in any place of business cause discord and are a way to upset an organization that otherwise is not upset. There is not a problem as far as unions being able to organize, but there is a huge problem in that the labor board continues to try to overturn decades’ worth of labor laws that have served us well in order to tip the scales in favor of labor unions. The recent decision at Bergdorf Goodman is an example of the labor board’s doing through regulation what we ought to be doing through legislation on the floor of the Senate.
A little video from the Senator…
Ask yourself whether widespread adoption of micro-unions would have a positive or negative effect on the economy. Ask yourself whether it would have a positive or negative effect on job creation. Or whether it would have a positive or negative effect on small business.
Those aren’t hard questions. And yet an administration with one of the worst economic records in modern history either can’t seem to answer them, or doesn’t care.
Isakson’s bill needs to pass the Senate, and the NLRB needs to be reined in. In a competitive world economy with market share and profits harder to realize now than almost ever before, something this stupid should not be allowed to survive.
UPDATE: This morning is a rather big deal, as the Senate Appropriations Committee is conducting a hearing which started at 9:30am CT on the micro-union issue, among other things, and at some point in that hearing they are going to vote on Sen. Graham’s amendment calling for Congressional action against the National Labor Relations Board’s use of micro-unions.
Among the Senators on that committee is Mary Landrieu, who is seen as a swing vote. If Landrieu goes with the Democrat Party position, you can bet she’s going to catch hell for that vote.
Meanwhile, the Workforce Fairness Institute, who has been the most prominent group fighting against the formation of micro-unions, has a video out with yet another take on the now-infamous “private sector’s doing fine” gaffe from last week in the context of the micro-union debate.
UPDATE #2: It seems Landrieu voted against Graham’s amendment and in favor of the NLRB’s moving forward on micro-unions.
The vote was 15-15, and the amendment failed. Landrieu was the deciding vote.
WE KNOW OUR NATIONAL LEADERS ARE CAPTURED BY NEO-LIBERALS AND DON'T LISTEN TO THEM SAY DEMOCRATIC BASE LABOR AND JUSTICE.
Know who knows neo-liberal economic policy when they see it? Latino immigrants and they overwhelmingly do not trust Clinton and Obama neo-liberals. Yet, organizations like CASA come out in support for Clinton neo-liberals during election primaries and to support neo-liberal policies like Immigration Reform and Race to the Top. As with all labor and justice organizations in the US----the leadership are appointed to be that tie to neo-liberals while the people working in the lower ranks simply want to help immigrants. I speak with Latino and Hispanic immigrants all the time over things like police brutality, wage theft, and racial tensions between people of color and gangs.
THEY KNOW THE PATTERN SINCE IT HAS EXISTED IN LOS ANGELES AND CHICAGO FOR A FEW DECADES OF REAGAN/CLINTON NEO-LIBERALISM.
The goal of International Economic Zone policy is to move US citizens out of these zones and move more and more immigrants into these zones to create that Asian third world dynamic of enslavement labor. Neo-conservative Texas followed neo-liberal California in creating so much fraud, corruption, flooding of communities with immigrants so that work could not be found by Texas and California citizens ----falling wages all sending US citizens out of these states in large numbers. Today Texas, California, and Florida have a majority immigrant population and these are the most neo-liberal/neo-con of states. The same dynamic is happening across the US in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore. You can bet as Latino families move from Texas, California, and Chicago to escape what neo-liberalism brings---they are seeing it in Maryland.
WHO KNOWS LATINO IMMIGRANTS OFTEN ARE IN THE US TO ESCAPE NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMIC POLICIES IN MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND SOUTH AMERICA IN PLACE SINCE BEFORE NAFTA? THESE IMMIGRANTS.
See where CASA is headquartered? Takoma Park----know who gets many of the Baltimore contracts ----Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery County. Baltimore City has Hispanic contractors from Montgomery County, Howard County, and now Prince George's County coming to do much of the city's public work---and those few Hispanic business-owners are gaining wealth and abusing their labor force. These wealthy Hispanic business-owners are the voice of CASA in political elections.
CASA GOES WITH O'MALLEY'S NEO-LIBERAL MACHINE BECAUSE HE GIVES THE LEADERS CONTRACTS.
Latino/Hispanic workers say----we do not listen to CASA for whom to vote---
CASA de Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CASA of Maryland
Founded1985
Location
CASA of Maryland (CASA) (Spanish: CASA de Maryland) is a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization based in Maryland. It is active throughout the state, but has major foci in Prince George's County, Montgomery County and Baltimore. CASA influences Maryland politics on a wide range of policies, ranging from law-enforcement to education.
HistoryCASA was originally known as the "Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland". It is also known as "CASA de Maryland", as well as "CASA Maryland".
CASA was founded in 1985 in the basement of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church by US citizens and Central American immigrants. It has since expanded its scope. It is affiliate organization of the National Council of La Raza. They are a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. CASA is also a founding member of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which promotes "comprehensive immigration reform".
In June 2010, CASA opened a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) multicultural center in the heart of Langley Park and located in the former Langley Park mansion. The project was budgeted at $31 million in 2007. Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said at the fundraising kickoff for the project, "In our Maryland, there's no such thing as a spare American".
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Thom Hartman is often called a left-leaning media outlet but first ---look below at the title of this YouTube ----Liberalism----this continues the misleading connection between social democratic liberals and Clinton neo-liberals. Hartman also equates this abusive neo-liberal policy to Reagan and does not mention Clinton. Hartman identifies movement left giving examples of socialist movements in Latin America and again says nothing about social democracy as the left-leaning polices protecting labor and justice. Hispanic immigrants fleeing neo-liberalism would be those joining Bernie Sanders and social democracy and that is where many Latino groups are moving. Clinton neo-liberal media outlets always create the dynamic of either Reagan Republican vs far-left socialism/communism.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LISTENING TO A CLINTON NEO-LIBERAL MEDIA OUTLET IF REAGAN IS THE ONLY NEO-LIBERAL AND THE FAR-LEFT SOCIALIST/COMMUNISTS ARE THE SOCIAL CHOICE.
Below you see where Latinos knowing the history of neo-liberalism from Reagan AND CLINTON----are moving to social democracy. It will be those Latino business contractors made wealthy that will go Republican.
Sun Oct 04, 2015 at 10:22 AM PDT
Latinos who want Bernieby jamessFollow
We haven't heard much about this, given our insular world-views ... but Latinos have been quietly, sometime not so quietly, expressing their support for Bernie Sanders for President.
Why Latinos Should Vote for Bernie Sanders and Why He Needs Us
by César Vargas, huffingtonpost.com -- 07/07/2015
*******************************************************************
Hispanic Immigrants Come to US Fleeing Liberalism?
thomhartmann YouTube
Published on Mar 16, 2013
Live from CPAC 2013, Thom Hartmann talks with Mario Lopez, President-Hispanic Leadership Fund, Website: http://hispanicleadershipfund.org/, about immigration issues.
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Clinton and Obama neo-liberals are flooding US cities with corporate non-profits geared at leadership development in underserved communities. Baltimore has had these organizations for decades. Most of these leadership organizations are extensions of Clinton and Obama and promote neo-liberal policies like global markets, free markets, deregulation (limited government), and individual freedom. Individual freedom is tied to Libertarianism.....the rich of an individual to become rich.
Right now Maryland is filling with black and Hispanic/Latino leadership organizations finding those in underserved communities and grooming them to neo-liberalism/neo-conservatism.-----globalist. Below you see the Hispanic Leadership Fund to bring people to neo-conservative principles. All the right words-----for globalist.
Latino workers are far less likely to be fooled by these groups because they have had decades of this Tom-foolery in their own nations. Black citizens in cities like Baltimore having had these leadership organizations drawing them for decades to these global policies are also wise ----
Keep in mind----Clinton neo-liberals are Bush neo-cons so they don't care which way Latinos swing as long as it is not social democracy.
Welcome to the Hispanic Leadership FundThe Hispanic Leadership Fund is non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening working families by promoting common-sense public policy solutions rooted in free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom.
Clinton's legacy after leaving his Presidency was expanding International Economic Zone presence in Asia-----Obama's will be expanding neo-liberalism in Africa. Both Clinton and Obama will be doing so in the US. Tying neo-liberal policy to Mandela or MLK is such an insult to these great civil rights leaders. Mandela hates Zuma and his ties to this expansion of neo-liberalism in Africa so Obama could care less about the civil rights-----he simply co-opts progressive leaders and era to move the dismantling of all that is progressive.
These African youth will be groomed as neo-liberals and then come to the US as leaders in the black communities. Black American citizens already are feeling the tensions of leadership in their communities and this added dimension will further weaken American US Constitutional freedoms for this global corporate tribunal.
Obama renames African Leaders Program after Nelson Mandela
By BYP @blackyouthproj 10:18 am July 28, 2014
President Obama will rename a program designed to foster a new generation of young African leaders after late former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Obama is expected to announce the name change at a town hall-style event Monday in Washington.
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As Clinton Initiative brings lots of Asian immigrants to the US all connected to these International Economic Zone neo-liberal economics-----so too will Obama be doing the same in this new African International Economc Zone.
As all of these new immigrants settle into US cities they will become the leadership ---having no connection to US Constitutional rights and citizenship rights---ready to install International Economic Zones in the US. This will occur as Trans Pacific Trade Pact is installed----over the coming decade. American citizens will be overwhelmed by immigrants from nations having only the knowledge of neo-liberal economies. These new immigrants will get business and government leadership positions as American citizens head for FOXCONN global corporate campus living and working.
THIS IS THE CLINTON/OBAMA PLAN----IT IS NOT NECESSARILY HOW IT WILL WORK. GET RID OF THESE GLOBAL POLS AND WE CAN WELCOME NEW IMMIGRANTS TO A RULE OF LAW, EQUAL PROTECTION DEMOCRACY CALLED AMERICA!
What happens to all the black leaders at the local and state level having moved Clinton and Obama neo-liberal policies for these few decades----they will not be needed and thrown under the bus.
Obama Hosts Young African Leaders Forum at White House
President Obama meeting at the White House with young leaders from 46 sub-Saharan African nations
, 03 Aug 2010
Africa Youth Obama report.wmv
Kent KleinAugust 02, 2010 8:00 PM
U.S. President Barack Obama greeted 115 young leaders from 46 sub-Saharan African nations on Tuesday, in the first Young African Leaders Forum at the White House. The president addressed the questions and concerns of young people from across the continent.
President Obama spent an hour talking with some of the young leaders of African civil society, in an unprecedented forum in the East Room of the White House.
He called Africa "the youngest continent," and said that because a large percentage of Africans are under 30-years-old, his administration especially needs to reach the continent's young people.
"If all you are doing is talking to old men like me, then you are not reaching the people who are going to be providing the energy, the new initiatives, the new ideas," said President Obama. "And so we thought that it would be very important for us to bring the next generation of leaders together."
The president encouraged the young leaders to stand up for democracy, transparent government and freedom of the press. He said African men need to give women a bigger voice in the establishment of democracy.
"If you are part of an organization where you have professed democracy, but women do not have an equal voice in your organization, then you are a hypocrite," said Mr. Obama.
President Obama addressed questions about Africa's most troubled countries - Zimbabwe and Somalia.
Sidney Chisi, who founded the Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe, raised a concern about abuses committed by his country's president.
"Robert Mugabe is still using the rhetoric of sanctions, racism, property rights abuse and human rights abuse, in violation of the rule of law," said Sidney Chisi.
Mr. Obama said he is "heartbroken" by the situation in Zimbabwe - a country, he said, that should be the "breadbasket of Africa."
"I think Mugabe is an example of a leader who came in as a liberation fighter, and - I am just going to be very blunt - I do not see him serving his people well," said President Obama.
The president said he would like to increase diplomatic and economic ties with Zimbabwe. But he said he fears that doing so would entrench Mr. Mugabe's rule.
The leader of the Somali Youth Leadership Forum, Abdi Najma Ahmed, then asked whether Americans are prepared to give financial and moral support to those working for democracy in Somalia.
"And being part of the diaspora that went back to risk our lives in order to make Somalia a better place - especially with what we are going through right now - how much support do we expect from the U.S.," asked Abdi Najma Ahmed.
Mr. Obama responded by saying that Americans and the U.S. government desperately want Somalia to succeed.
"I think you will have enormous support from the people of the United States when it comes to trying to create a structure and framework in Somalia that works for the Somali people," said Mr. Obama.
He said American and Somali interests intersect, which he also said is true of other African nations.
Shamima Muslim, who hosts a radio program in Ghana, said her listeners sometimes question the U.S. commitment to its relationships in Africa.
"Is America committed to ensuring a partnership that might not necessarily be beneficial to America, but [is] truly beneficial to the sovereign interests of the countries that we represent," asked Shamima Muslim.
Mr. Obama replied that the interests of the United States and Africa often overlap, and that America has a huge interest in seeing development across Africa.
"We are a more mature economy and Africa is a young and growing economy," he said. "And if you can buy more iPods and buy more products and buy more services and buy more tractors from us, that we can sell to a fast-growing continent, that creates jobs here in the United States of America."
The president also took questions from young leaders from Mali, Liberia, Mozambique and Malawi.
He said that while corruption is still widespread in some African countries, the continent is on the move, thanks to its inspiring young people.
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In the US low-income white citizens have mostly stayed Republican and since neo-liberals are Republicans ----these communities are not feeling all this wheeling and dealing.
The next big group under the Democratic base is labor-----whether union or not. How will neo-liberals approach them?
I have already shown where US labor unions have been weakened first by neo-liberals allowing unions to operate banks. This is what today has national labor leaders tied to Clinton neo-liberals----they are earning money from corporate profit from killing labor and justice. Below you see how local labor unions are giving Clinton neo-liberals the boot because they understand that these national labor union leaders are too tied to globalists. Yet, national labor leaders are again coming out for Hillary-----as local labor members are shouting
WE DON'T LISTEN TO THOSE NATIONAL LABOR LEADERS AND THEIR ENDORSEMENTS.
This is good but as with organizations of justice with members knowing the leadership is connected to globalists---we can ignore these leaders but all of these organizations' election organizing and funding still goes to the globalist and not social democrats. We need to get rid of Clinton neo-liberal labor union leaders to rebuild our US unions. Justice organization members need to do the same with their globalist leaders.
Local labor unions in states that still have strong union presence and activism are going with Bernie and will ignore national labor leaders supporting Hillary. States like Maryland do not even know social democratic policies and are still tied to Clinton neo-liberals.
WE NEED MARYLAND LABOR TO GET BEHIND SOCIAL DEMOCRATS---GET RID OF GLOBALIST NEO-LIBERALS!
Oct 8 - Nov 9, 2015
The Indypendent e-news
Bernie Sanders speaks earlier this summer before a packed arena in Madison, Wisconsin. Union members are part of the groundswell of support for Sanders, who's won the support of a number of local and state AFL-CIOs. Photo: Bernie Sanders Campaign
Indy Blog
Support for Bernie Sanders Grows in Unions
By
Dan DiMaggio
August 4, 2015Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president is drawing impressive crowds to rallies across the country—from 7,500 in Burlington, Vermont, to 300 in Birmingham, Alabama.
And it’s no wonder that many union members are part of this groundswell of support, or that he’s already won endorsements from a number of locals and support resolutions from the Vermont and South Carolina AFL-CIOs.
“It would be hard to find many other elected leaders in state or national office who have supported the issues of working families, working people, the working poor, and workplace justice any more than Senator Sanders,” said nurse Mari Cordes, a member of Vermont’s Teachers (AFT) local.
Sanders’ platform includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage, guaranteed vacations and sick leave, lifting the payroll tax cap on Social Security, and single-payer health care. He’s a vocal opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest corporate-friendly trade deal. He rails against income inequality and how the “billionaire class” dominates politics.
“It’s clear that Bernie, like Elizabeth Warren, has been out there speaking about the issues that are boiling up in union halls across the country,” said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
While he and the ATU have backed Hillary Clinton for years, Hanley said, “Hillary thus far has not offered us the path that Bernie has.”
So endorsements pose a strategic dilemma. “We don’t want to bruise Hillary so much in the process that she can’t win. We don’t want to lead our members down a dark alley,” he said.
“But at what point do we get our share? At what point do workers get what we had 30 years ago? We don’t just get that by saluting the status quo.”
An invitation-only event in D.C. on July 13, hosted by leaders of the Postal Workers (APWU) and former Communications Workers (CWA) President Larry Cohen, drew presidents or their designees from 22 international unions to hear the candidate speak.
A similar number showed up for a Clinton event the next night at the home of her campaign manager, John Podesta.
“Bernie Sanders has been a champion of postal workers and consumers, and raising the question of $15 for all as a minimum wage,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “On that basis our union will give him serious consideration.”
ENDORSEMENTS PUSH
Organizers of Labor for Bernie—a grassroots effort to build labor support for the Sanders campaign—say one goal is to discourage the AFL-CIO from making an early Clinton endorsement.
They argue labor has little to gain from an early endorsement. And they want more time for pro-Sanders activism to raise union members’ expectations on the issues being highlighted in his campaign.
They want 5,000 signatures on their Labor for Bernie statement before the AFL-CIO executive council meets July 29-30. As of July 15 they had 3,500.
Sanders, Clinton, Maryland ex-Gov. Martin O’Malley, and Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee are all expected to attend the meeting, where the council could endorse a candidate or decide to hold off. Hanley said the ATU opposes an early endorsement.
Presidential endorsements are the national AFL-CIO’s prerogative, as President Richard Trumka reminded state and local bodies in a recent memo after the Vermont and South Carolina federations passed resolutions backing Sanders.
AFL-CIO bylaws stipulate that these bodies may not “introduce, consider, debate, or pass resolutions or statements that indicate a preference for one candidate over another.” The rule also applies to personal statements by local and state officers.
But Labor for Bernie organizers hope that state and local fed bodies and officers are willing to flout the rules.
So far Sanders has the backing of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2222 in Massachusetts, IBEW Local 159 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Vermont National Education Association (NEA), and Lithographers Local One-L (a Teamsters’ affiliate), among others.
\“We were really happy he decided to run, because it gave us an alternative,” said Myles Calvey, Local 2222’s business manager. “Elected Democratic officials have it in their minds that labor has no place to go.”
Calvey contrasts Sanders with Democrat John Kerry. Just a few weeks after CWA and IBEW settled a hard-fought contract with Verizon in 2012, he said, Kerry was sharing seats in the press box at a Patriots game with CEO Lowell McAdam.
The Electrical Workers (UE) executive board has also issued a statement supporting Sanders, urging “members and locals to take a serious look at Bernie Sanders’s campaign and to consider their active participation in it.”
AFT BACKS CLINTON
Clinton picked up a big endorsement July 11, when the executive council of the 1.6 million-member Teachers (AFT) became the first major national union to announce it would support her in the primaries.
President Randi Weingarten has close ties to Clinton, and serves on the board of the pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA.
An AFT press release said members had supported Clinton 3 to 1 in a poll. But many members condemned the endorsement on social media, calling the process flawed and shallow.
“I was really flabbergasted. I think it seems so premature,” said Candi Peterson, vice president of the Washington Teachers Union, Local 6. She’d never heard about the union’s telephone town hall meetings or its “You Decide” website.
“It was the best-kept secret in town,” said Peterson, whose local is based in D.C., like the national union. “And that’s not typical of the AFT—we get bombarded with information.”
“It feels like the leadership did a ‘we know what’s best,’ that their influence with people in power is more important than the members,” said Jia Lee, a chapter leader of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. “The top campaign contributors to Hillary Clinton are the same groups that support privatization of public education.”
The other big teachers union, the NEA, opted not to endorse early at its July convention. The Vermont chapter sent a delegation outfitted in Bernie T-shirts, with a box full of placards and stickers.
“People came up to us as soon as they saw our shirts and signs,” said President Martha Allen, “and they spread throughout the entire room. We ran out of all our stuff.”
The NEA could still issue an early endorsement in October, through its board and PAC council, or in February. Vermont NEA, meanwhile, will encourage members to knock doors for Sanders in New Hampshire's early primary.
MOVEMENT BUILDER
Cohen, who stepped down as CWA president in June, is now working as an unpaid Sanders volunteer.
The TPP is among the issues motivating him. Sanders has been a leading opponent of the trade deal, while Clinton refuses to take a position.
“What we learned from the trade fight,” Cohen said, “is the gap between what people say when they campaign for the Iowa caucuses and what they then do. I don’t think anybody’s worried about any gap like that for Bernie Sanders.”
For Donna Dewitt, former president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, the key is for Sanders’ message to reach deeper into the Democratic party base and non-voters.
A Sanders event in Columbia, South Carolina, last year drew local leaders from CWA, the Auto Workers, and the Steelworkers. “But the majority [of participants] were young Black workers with the Raise Up campaign, fighting for $15 an hour,” Dewitt said.
“[Bernie] was most impressed with them. The Democratic Party is expanding their base in the minority community, but nobody’s reaching these young workers. None of these people have ever voted before.”
School counselor Susan Sadlowski Garza won a tight race for alderman this year in Chicago’s 10th Ward, after Sanders came out to rally with her, mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia, and Chicago Teachers President Karen Lewis.
“His message is basic things: people before money, working-class people are getting the shaft,” Garza said. “He speaks exactly what we feel. I know people that are staunch Republicans that are swinging toward Bernie, conservatives. His message resonates and crosses party lines.”
Hanley said the ATU is figuring out a process to promote more member involvement in deciding on the presidential endorsement.“If you don’t do that, you’re just another logo put on somebody’s campaign,” he said. “Our real leverage is in, first, organizing our members around a set of beliefs—and then, through our members, organizing the public around those beliefs.”
This article originally appeared at labornotes.org.
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US labor unions grew internationally as global corporations did and that is why national labor leaders remain tied to Clinton neo-liberals while the US local unions are killed by neo-liberals. One thing both global corporations and international labor unions know-----if they are going to make a comeback in the US----THEY HAVE TO DISGUISE THAT THEY ARE STILL GLOBAL ENTITIES. So, global corporations are coming back to the US broken into local offices acting as though they are new local businesses instead of being tied to the Great Giant Squid of the Global Corporate Tribunal. You can usually spot them as having incorporation dates all around the time of the 2008 economic crash. But this will soar as global corporations are given a green light with Trans Pacific Trade Pact to come and operate as they do overseas.
THESE ARE NOT LOCAL BUSINESSES----THEY ARE SIMPLY BRANCHES OF GLOBAL CORPORATIONS.
When a raging neo-liberal like Obama does something for labor it is usually done pretending to be progressive----or to use something for the benefit of corporate profit. The designation of US labor unions as micro unions would be progressive if it was not tied to this same global corporation as branch office policy. These micro union policies simply allow international unions to look like local branches. THIS IS NOT GROWING UNIONS LOCALLY. Obama knows international labor unions are now working as to what is best for workers all over the world----so to win something good for a worker in Europe----they allow American union members to be thrown under a bus. Locally, Sparrows Mill Steel Mill was closed in just such a deal.
Neo-liberals are placating US unions with these kinds of policies but we all know global corporations under global corporate tribunal will have no need for unions unless they are working for the global corporations----in which case they are worthless to labor.
So, as we see in this election -----local labor unions are going social democrat and against trade deals that will allow these global structures to be installed---which is good. National labor union leaders are backing Hillary to keep this international structure in place because it makes them rich and powerful.
Corporate executives are not worried---this is kabuki theater.---this is kabuki theater. Remember, Trans Pacific Trade Pact ends all US labor rights and takes labor to third world status.
Fresh Hell From The Obama Administration: Micro-Unions (Updated)
June 14
10:00 2012
by MacAoidh We talk a lot about the evils of public sector unions here at the Hayride, and when we’re challenged on our position that they shouldn’t exist we merely mention that we’re with FDR on the issue.
That doesn’t mean we think private-sector unions shouldn’t exist, though – the market has the ability to regulate private sector unions engaging in destructive behavior, and it has done so quite effectively.
Naturally, of course, those unions are constantly trying to rig the game in their favor. And in this current administration the unions have the best ally in doing so they’ll ever have.
If you’re looking for evidence of this, try micro-unions on for size. If you’ve never heard of a micro-union before, it’s a name for a practice by which a portion of a company’s workforce sharing a job title can opt to unionize while the rest of the workforce opts not to.
It sounds laughable, but Obama’s National Labor Relations Board actually endorsed the practice…
In a recent elections case, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union petitioned to represent 42 of Bergdorf Goodman’s 372 sales associates working in the company’s Fifth Avenue store, that is, only those associates who sell women’s shoes. The employer sought a larger unit, either a store-wide unit or a unit of all its sales associates. The Board’s Regional Director (RD) sided with the union. Why? Because the employer’s other sales associates sell merchandise other than shoes.
According to the RD, although “all sales associates work toward a common goal of selling merchandise, the women’s shoe department has the unique goal of selling shoes in particular.” She explained that sales associates in the other departments do not have prior shoe sales experience and “[i]f a shoe is not sized appropriately for a customer, discomfort and possible knee, back and other physical could result.” Although the RD cited a few additional differences between the 42 sales associates and the store’s remaining sales force, they were minor when compared with the community of interest all the sales associates shared —including the same hiring criteria, common supervision, the same hours and working conditions, the same benefits (health care, vacation and holiday pay), the same evaluation criteria and even a common cafeteria. The RD conceded as much. She said that “an over-all unit including all the Employer’s sales associates might be an appropriate unit.” Might be? It would be an appropriate unit under long-standing Board law, it simply was not the unit sought by the union.
Some 50 years of labor law says otherwise, but law and proven practice has never particularly mattered to the Obama administration.
The establishment of micro-unions comes as a result of an NRLB decision last year allowing unionization by job title, and there’s a bill in the Senate with at least 29 co-sponsors – one of them being Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) – which would overrule the NLRB and bring unionization back to what it’s typically been. Namely, an issue between management and labor.
As in, there’s management, and then there’s a union which represents the employees.
Micro-unions would mean there’s management and then there are unions all over the place representing any tiny group of people who share a job description at the company in question.
Think about how asinine this thing could be. Let’s say you own a restaurant, and the three minimum-wage stoners who wash dishes in the back decide they want to become the Dishwashers’ Union. Now, these clowns almost never show up for work on time. They cop an attitude when they’re asked to actually do their jobs. They’re always in the alley lighting up. And there’s constant turnover as they get arrested, move away, quit or get fired.
And those stoners – the three of them who happen to actually show up for work, that is – walk into the manager’s office one day and say they’re now a union, and demand collective bargaining. They want to demand better equipment, they say they’re going to go on strike unless they’re raised to $10 an hour, they need unlimited smoke breaks, they want to ban drug testing despite the fact it’s obvious they all regularly smoke weed, they want health insurance and they want a grievance process so that they can’t be fired willy-nilly.
Think that can’t happen? Well, consider that 93 percent of private-sector workers aren’t in unions. And the reason for that is 93 percent of private-sector workers understand that if their job sucks, they can either work really hard and get a promotion, or they can find a better job. And that mentality hasn’t changed even in a bad economy.
Which means that the majority of workers out there would laugh at the idea of joining a micro-union. The workers who don’t are the ones who suck at their jobs.
This isn’t the autoworkers or Teamsters, mind you. This is women’s shoe salesmen at Bergdorf-Goodman. What happens when those people decide to go on strike? It hurts the people who work in women’s clothing, women’s coats, the perfume counter and so on. If a strike closes down or creates chaos at the ladies’ shoe department at Bergdorf’s, the women will then go to Bloomingdale’s to escape the commotion. And that means the majority of the workers at the store will suffer because of the idiocy of a few.
Sen. Johnny Isaakson (R-GA), who authored that Senate bill back in November to fight micro-unions, had this right…
The labor board seems to have run amok as far as I’m concerned. Micro unions in any place of business cause discord and are a way to upset an organization that otherwise is not upset. There is not a problem as far as unions being able to organize, but there is a huge problem in that the labor board continues to try to overturn decades’ worth of labor laws that have served us well in order to tip the scales in favor of labor unions. The recent decision at Bergdorf Goodman is an example of the labor board’s doing through regulation what we ought to be doing through legislation on the floor of the Senate.
A little video from the Senator…
Ask yourself whether widespread adoption of micro-unions would have a positive or negative effect on the economy. Ask yourself whether it would have a positive or negative effect on job creation. Or whether it would have a positive or negative effect on small business.
Those aren’t hard questions. And yet an administration with one of the worst economic records in modern history either can’t seem to answer them, or doesn’t care.
Isakson’s bill needs to pass the Senate, and the NLRB needs to be reined in. In a competitive world economy with market share and profits harder to realize now than almost ever before, something this stupid should not be allowed to survive.
UPDATE: This morning is a rather big deal, as the Senate Appropriations Committee is conducting a hearing which started at 9:30am CT on the micro-union issue, among other things, and at some point in that hearing they are going to vote on Sen. Graham’s amendment calling for Congressional action against the National Labor Relations Board’s use of micro-unions.
Among the Senators on that committee is Mary Landrieu, who is seen as a swing vote. If Landrieu goes with the Democrat Party position, you can bet she’s going to catch hell for that vote.
Meanwhile, the Workforce Fairness Institute, who has been the most prominent group fighting against the formation of micro-unions, has a video out with yet another take on the now-infamous “private sector’s doing fine” gaffe from last week in the context of the micro-union debate.
UPDATE #2: It seems Landrieu voted against Graham’s amendment and in favor of the NLRB’s moving forward on micro-unions.
The vote was 15-15, and the amendment failed. Landrieu was the deciding vote.
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