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UAW Members Rally for Good Jobs Now
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On his first day in office, UAW President Bob King sent a clear message that the union movement is ready and able to fight as long as necessary to gain economic and social justice for all.
After delivering his acceptance speech at the UAW convention in Detroit, King joined Teamsters President James Hoffa and Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams to lead a Good Jobs Now! march and rally in downtown Detroit. Delegates to the convention and other workers joined the march that filled a city block.
The marchers demanded Wall Street pay for its role in creating the recession, which cost 11 million jobs America. They called on Big Bankers to end their opposition to financial reform and to begin to make loans available to homeowners to stop foreclosures, to communities, small businesses and others starved of credit.
King told the crowd that the union movement must return to its roots and fight for social justice as well as economic justice.
If we don’t win social justice for everyone, we don’t win.
That echoed a statement he made a few hours before in his acceptance speech, in which he said:
Our call, I think, is to go back to our roots and take on the fight in America for civil rights, for labor rights, for First Amendment rights.
King said the union is putting together a strategy for the 2010 elections:
We all have disagreement with President Barack Obama. We have forgotten sometimes to put that in context and talk about all the good things he’s done.
He said workers should not let the Republican Party get away with blaming Obama and congressional Democrats for the economic crisis. The truth is, King said, when George W. Bush entered the White House, he was handed a $127 billion surplus by President Bill Clinton. When Obama took office, he was handed a trillion-dollar deficit.
Don’t let any Republican get away with saying Democrats caused this crisis. No president has been as accessible to unions representing workers [as Obama]. He saved General Motors and Chrysler from disaster. The Republicans had no problem giving hundreds of millions of dollars to bankers.
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Getting back to basics:
July 24, 2007
AFL-CIO Testimony of Robert C. Baugh, Executive Director
AFL-CIO Industrial Council: “A 21st Century Energy Policy for Environmental and Economic Progress”
“The task force also recognized that “reliable and affordable electrical energy is the lifeblood of the manufacturing, transportation, construction and service industries;” …and that we must “maintain diversity in the electric utility industry, by retaining all current generating options, including fossil fuels, nuclear, hydro and renewables, to ensure a stable, reliable and low-cost supply of electricity for the United States.”
The current “American Power Act” bill is just another shell game that Bernie Madoff would be proud of. We don’t need legislation and political rhetoric. We need nuclear and hydro energy and we must get started NOW!
The corrupt and even criminal attempts of maintaining the privatized energy industries is wrecking the economy, killing people, and is massively destroying the environment while being the main cause global warming.
The BP “oil spill” is an oil volcano is the inevitable result of corporate energy companies forever cutting corners to maximize profit. The coal companies cut corners on safety killing workers, historically have cut wages and working conditions to forever impoverish and sicken miners. The corporate lobbyists for the nuclear power industry are desperately trying to build up this deadly industry, with no possible solution for nuclear waste, and capping the costs of any nuclear catastrophe.
The entire energy industry (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, electrical, etc.) needs to be permanently nationalized (socialised) to end the multiple threats to the survival of humanity. This privatized industry, driven to satisfy the greed of a relatively few millionaires and billionaires, must be transitioned to an industry dedicated to safely provide the energy needs of society, managed to provide these needs by the working people in the industry.
Only with worker management in an socialised economy can the issues of safety, working conditions, wages and benefits can be resolved.