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Building on Election Success, AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls for Economic Mobilization |
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The new Obama administration and the new Congress must urgently address the nation’s growing financial crisis and long-term structural economic decline with a wide range of actions, including an immediate and meaningful economic recovery package, an overhaul of our broken health care system, reform of financial regulations and significant investments in infrastructure, clean energy and workforce development.
But, says the AFL-CIO Executive Council in a statement approved today:
Unless we restore the power of working people to bargain with their companies for a better life, economic growth will not be broadly shared and income inequality will not diminish.
Along with outlining the next steps in winning passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, building on the success of the Million-Member Mobilization and the fall elections that put an even larger pro-Employee Free Choice majority in Congress, the council also outlined a four-step program to renew America’s and the world’s economy.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says:
Entrenched corporate interests have signaled they’ll do whatever it takes to maintain the status quo. Today, America’s working families are sending a signal of our own: We’re continuing the largest grassroots mobilization in history to ensure President-elect Obama and the new Congress can deliver the economic change working people so desperately need.
Meeting in Washington, D.C., the council noted that even with the new administration, larger working family majorities and five years of groundwork building support for the Employee Free Choice Act:
Reversing the erosion of workers’ rights and the decades-long slide in the percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining will only occur if the labor movement is prepared to escalate its grass roots efforts to win popular support for the Employee Free Choice Act as well as unshakeable commitments from elected officials, from the president on down.
We will need the leadership of every affiliate union, every state federation, every local labor council and every local union—as well as the Change To Win unions and the National Education Association.
Later this month, state union leaders will map out member mobilization plans for their states, including member education and contact strategies for reaching out to their allies and partners along with their senator and representatives.
As the state campaigns get under way in December, the AFL-CIO will dispatch many of its field and communications staff to cover the targeted states and the council urged all AFL-CIO affiliates to release staff for the campaign.
In a move to counter what is expected to be a multimillion-dollar campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act by corporate interests—similar to the efforts during the election—the AFL-CIO will train union leaders at every level to serve as spokespersons in the campaign.
In addition, working with American Rights at Work, the AFL-CIO will build a media fund:
to counter the outrageous lies and scare tactics spread by the Center for Union Facts and other corporate mouthpieces.
The council says:
We do not have the luxury of taking a post-election break and waiting until January to gear up. With the full support and engagement of every affiliate union, every state federation, every local labor council and every local union, our campaign must begin now.
On the economic front, the council issued a joint declaration with labor leaders from the other G-20 nations outlining a shared labor position addressing the global financial crisis in advance of the economic summit convened by President Bush and his G-20 counterparts.
The Global Union statement outlined four key elements for global economic recovery:
- A coordinated recovery plan for the U.S. economy and formation of a plan to coordinate fiscal stimulus internationally;
- Re-regulate global financial markets as a quid pro quo for government intervention to save banks and insurance companies. The deregulation of capital markets, excessive leverage in money center banks and the proliferation of complex and murky financial products has precipitated this global financial crisis.
- Establish a new structure of economic governance for the global economy by reshaping the global financial and economic architecture through new negotiations that go beyond the exchange rate regime;
- Address the explosion of inequality in income distribution that lies behind the crisis by ensuring a more balanced growth in the global economy between regions, as well as within countries, between capital and labor, between high and low income earners, between rich and poor and between men and women.
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On a global scale — third, second and first worlds! — they use something called SECTOR-WIDE labor agreements where all employees doing the same job description (e.g., retail clerk) in the same geographic locale must BY LAW work under a single collectively bargained agreement, even for different employers.
Germany has the most comprehensive version of the sector-wide that I know of. Wal-Mart just closed all 88 big-boxes in Germany — the land where Wal-Mart had to pay the same wages and benefits as everybody else.
France and French-Canada use a lite version of sector-wide. In both non-unionized employers simply have to abide by contract conditions negotiated by unionized employers. The lite version would be easiest to adopt here (maybe just in some industries first: airlines and supermarkets could stop competing by how little they pay their employees), the Canadian economy not being radically different from us except in labor bargaining power.
The card check is okay — mandatory elections would answer phony Republican objections about depriving us of the vote (how about mandatory elections Gingrich?). But the card check is just some left over legislative DNA from the 40’s that some labor lawyer was smart enough to notice — almost by accident (suppose he didn’t). Why can’t we think things threw from a modern perspective — especially when sector-wide has already been thought through by the rest of the world (Indonesia to Argentina to modern Europe).
Only sector-wide labor agreements AND NOTHING ELSE (not even mandatory elections) can end the race to the bottom (e.g., new supermarket two-tier contracts).
Reform of U.S. or global capitalism is not possible. Capitalism, to thrive, must always drive to “grow”. That is, to forever increase and maximize profits.
Capitalists will do anything to reduce their costs that minimizes profits. Thus corporations want to minimize and eliminate all taxes (most corportions do not pay and federal taxes!). Corporations do not want to pay “living wages”, health care, pensions, etc. as these will minimize profits. Corporations do not want to pay taxes for local schools, hospitals, or even for wars carried out to steal resources (oil) from other countries. Rather the U.S. has gone into massive debt to pay for wars and now to help “bail out” corrupt gangster run banks and financial institutions.
Corporate capitalism does not care about humanity or even it’s own employees as “human beings” with human needs. Corporatations call their own employees “human resources” and are paid by the “human resources” department (not payroll department).
The reality is that the labor movement and simple trade unionism cannot possibly expect to see from corpoations ANY of their basic needs fulfilled by even large corporations. They will simply move to China or India to again maximize their profits.
What is the labor movement and working people to do? We must realize, that with the decline and massive collapse of U.S. and global capitalism, with unending recession and depression, poverty, sickness and death facing us all,
we must come to realize we need a new agenda for labor and working people, organized and unorganized!
With the failure of the economic struggle (trade unions) to acquire economic needs, we must now organize and unite working people for a massive political struggle to secure our economic needs. The labor movement must initiate the for mation of a NEW POLITICAL PARTY to eliminate the Democrats (the Republicans are already dead). to represent and secure the economic needs of the people through seizing political power.
Our economic needs: universal public health care for all (single payer) that eliminates corporate profit from health care. Free public education through college. Fully protect and fund Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, Section 8 housing support, etc. in the current economic crises.
How do we secure funding for these essential national progrgams? To fully end all wars for oil and profit in the Middle East! No to Obama! We do not need more troops in Afghanistan. Withdraw all foreign troops, disband all mercenaries, shutdown 90 per cent of the 700+ foreign bases.
Transition from a capitalist economy (that enriches a millionaires and billionaires0 to a socialist economy that is designed to fulfill the needs of working people, the vast majority of people.
The proposals in this article above it is really tragic and pathetic the miserable proposals to restore corporate gangster capitalism to “profitability”
of the owners. We need to nationalize the crooked banks and banking system.
We need to protect the lives and standard of living of now desperate working people. We do not need any longer protect the greed of millionaires and billionaires who are LOOTING THE ECONOMY of the tax monies of millions of working people.
1. The labor movement and working people of this country must realize that capitalism must ended if we the people are to survive.
2. The labor movement should call for the formation of a new political party.
3. The labor movement needs to create new mass media to inform daily and educate us all of the new realities we now face.
4. The labor movement must prepare working people to run for office at all levels of government. WE MUST GET RID OF SCHWARTZZENNEGER perhaps better called Schwartzen-nazi–who is cutting back on vital state employment, billions from schools, BUT MORE PRISONS. A typical fascist!
School teachers should run for school boards! Public transportation for the people is needed1 etc.
A final note: there are many millions perhaps who are under the delusion that somehow Obama is going to “save us” all. No matter that was rightly defeated!
Is Obama and the Democratic Party about “change” or maintaining the “status quo” of economic decline and unending wars? Wake up!
Obama transition points to more war and repression
14 November 2008
Bill Van Auken, WSWS
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/pers-n14.shtml
“As the transition to the new administration unfolds, however, belief in Obama’s promise of change can be sustained only to the extent that one fails to examine the political record of those who are involved in this process.
For the most part, the Obama-Biden transition team is staffed by veterans of the Clinton administration, associated with the US wars in the Balkans and the policy of regime change in Iraq that set the stage for the war that followed under the Bush presidency.”
I do not have a problem with capitalism any more than I have a problem with socialism. Both concepts can be incorporated into an effective government. Private business ownership established for profit is not a bad thing. However, social guidelines and protections for citizens is also necessary. The Republicans effectively did away with the “social” element, by passing legislation to deregulate, disseminate and disenfranchise any logical means to afford protections for those who are not in business for themselves and work, instead, for other businesses and corporations. The result is that the economic divide between the wealthy and the poor increases exponentially.
Social programs must be strengthened and protected by a government that would call itself a democracy. The very young and the very old do not work for wages, but they will eventually or have already. They are not in a position to contribute economically to the welfare of the nation. Our government must assure their survival. There are things that a successful, responsible government must do to protect its citizens - health care, education, affordable food, housing, personal freedoms, etc. A capitalistic society does not mean a society without an adequate and effective social structure. Perhaps the best way to deal with these issues is to take the labeling out of the process.
One can effectively have a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” if one realizes that the safety and well-being of individual citizens rests upon the responsibility of ALL those in the position to affect these outcomes, and this includes both the government and corporations. Bring back strong, effective regulations, and common sense legislation to support this end.