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Union Members Set to Take Action on Bush’s Failed Economy |
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The nation’s economy is in a tailspin with the stock market plummeting, gas prices skyrocketing, jobs disappearing and mortgage payments ballooning out of control.
From New York City to California, union members are taking a close look at what’s wrong with our economy and learning how they can be part of the solution.
More than 340 central labor councils, state federations, trades councils and other union-related groups plan to hold meetings over the summer to give grassroots union leaders a look behind the dismal economic numbers and to mobilize to make the economy a central issue in the 2008 political campaign.
The meetings on the economy follow a whopping 337 central labor council meetings in April on health care reform. Combined, that’s nearly 700 central labor council and state federation meetings since April reaching more than 30,000 union leaders and activists on the key issues in Labor 2008 political mobilization effort to Turn Around America.
The “Turn Around America” mobilization is reaching out to working family voters around the country, building grassroots momentum to elect leaders who will fight for health care, workers’ freedom to form unions, fair trade and an economy that works for all.
Already, several councils have kicked off their summer meetings, and the economy is a big issue, drawing enthusiastic responses. In Alameda County, Calif., workers are gearing up for a major march tonight in support of 50,000 workers whose contracts expire at midnight. Sharon Cornu, executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, says the council held a barbeque June 9 that attracted three times the number of regular CLC attendance.
We had a fantastic response. The leaders of the unions made an immediate connection between the economy and politics. They immediately saw the need to elect local officials and a president that supports workers.
In Chicago, hundreds of union members came together to discuss the economy at a special meeting. And the New York City CLC meeting drew a packed house of more than 125 people.
Local union leaders at these special meetings also are being asked to sign petitions supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. In Colorado, more than 7,000 sign-up cards have been requested for the Million-Member Mobilization to pass the legislation. Also in Colorado, the Ironworkers requested hundreds of copies of the DVD shown at the meeting to distribute to its members in the state.
The meetings on the economy stress the key issues facing workers and tie the solutions to rebuilding the strength of unions to balance the power of corporations. The imbalance of corporate power has led to a growing gap in wealth and a war on workers’ rights.
As Cornu puts it:
Our members are in a lot of pain with gas prices and the foreclosure crisis. We have to organize to find the right ways to solve these problems.
To request materials for your CLC or state federation to hold a special meeting on the economy, contact Tiffany Heath of the AFL-CIO’s Voice@Work department at 202-639-6247. Click here to find out more about creating an economy that works for all and here to learn more about preventing the corporate agenda from boxing in workers.
1 Comment
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I am a member of the working community and I feel that President Bush is not the complete problem with our economy and that the people should be informed about the real issues that are at stake.
I feel that a lot of the problem with our economy is with the big companies transferring major job across seas to places like China, the Middle East to just name a few.
I feel that we need to bring our industry back to the USA so we can live the American Dream and stop trying to make the rest of the world believe that we are a well off country. We need to take care of our country first and by not facing these problems we are just avoiding this and giving the rest of the world a fake appearance.
We have children here in our own country that are starving each and everyday and all we try to do is cover this up by sending doctors to the “less fortunate” countries and charge our own people 1000’s of dollars and do nothing for our own. This is neither a Democrat or Republican problem it is a national problem and I blame all that do nothing to stop this falseness.
It is shameful that when these companies begin to have a little bit of a problem their workers whine and complain to our so called Union leaders that buy into their political BS and blame the leaders of this wonderful country. Instead of protecting these big corporations, do something by standing up to them and do what is right for the American people. Bring our jobs back where they belong and you will see the economy improve, you will see the gas prices become more manageable and you will see your own people being able to live the American Dream once again.
The only part of this blog that makes any kind of sense is to bring rights back to the workers and balance the power of the large corporations but to do this it leads back to moving jobs over seas to countries that will work for less and do not care if they give us products that do not meet our standards in production. It is embarrassing when you go into your local Wal-Mart and have to struggle to find an item that is made in the United States. I always believed that Wal-Mart was formed to help put Americans to work not to support the low wages of the sweat shops of Communist countries. We don’t even trade with Cuba because they do not follow our belief’s but everything you buy is from a country that could care less if we survive as individuals or not. The last time I checked, China was just as Communist as Cuba.
Put your priorities straight here people. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
This year my vote is not for Obama as he is too wishy washy. He will say anything that you want to hear to get your vote. This man is a loaded gun waiting to go off.
Let’s remember, Sept. 11 started way before this horrifying date. If the last Democratic President would have done something when he was in office instead of trying to break every record for being the most scandulous President in history, President Bush would not have had to deal with this on his own. I’m pretty confident when I say, if President Bush had his way we would not have been attacked by extremists. What would Obama do if we withdrew from the middle east and we were attacked again.
Stop pushing your problems onto one individual and start working of a solution to the problems that face this Nation.