Netroots Nation 2010: Labor, Online Progressives and Union Beer
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Union activists are joining a couple thousand online progressives this week for the annual Netroots Nation conference. The July 22–25 event in Las Vegas brings political powerhouses like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) together with progressives from across the nation for workshops, panels and speaking events like the dynamic full-conference lunch session July 24 with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
Along with Harvard legal professor Elizabeth Warren, Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson and others, Trumka will take part in the panel, “Building a Progressive Economic Vision,” where he will focus on the key steps the nation needs to take to rebuild our nation’s economy (hint: Trumka’s proposals don’t include slashing the deficit at the expense of jobs).
Progressives Set for America’s Future Now Conference, June 7–9
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More than a year into the Obama administration and with November elections just ahead, progressive activists will gather June 7–9 in Washington, D.C., to forge a strategy to build a majority for real change in America.
The America’s Future Now conference, sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF), traditionally is the largest gathering of progressives in the country. There’s still time to register for the conference. Register now here or click on the America’s Future Now icon above.
Grassroots activists and policy-wonk analysts have gathered at the campaign’s conferences each year for six years to forge an economic agenda for change—and the organizing strategies for taking that agenda to the country.
Trumka: Don’t Let Wall Street Go Back to Business As Usual
Wall Street has not learned its lesson from the nation’s economic crisis. Far from it: CEOs have gone back to business as usual and the American people must stand up and take the economy back, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.
During a live webcast announcing the launch of the 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, Trumka said the nation’s Big Six banks helped destroy 11 million jobs and they should start paying to restore those jobs. Yet the banks, all of which accepted federal bailouts, are paying out obscene salaries and bonuses to executives while withholding the credit that small businesses need to create jobs. At the same time, they’re spending millions to lobby against meaningful financial reform that could prevent a future crisis. The webcast was live-tweeted on the AFL-CIO website.
Trumka said working Americans will take their concerns straight to Wall Street on April 29 with a massive demonstration. Some 200 events already have been held nationwide at branches of the six Big Banks—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. He urged viewers to
let Wall Street know that hard-working Americans are not going to be their ATM.
At Orlando Forum, Residents Hard-Hit by Jobs Crisis Share Their Hardships
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On the heels of huge jobs rallies in Evansville, Ind., and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this weekend, a packed local Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) union hall heard workers and community leaders in the Orlando area discuss the economic struggles area residents face.
Jobs for Justice played a key role in putting together the forum, which included panels of leaders who questioned workers who testified. The panelists included Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Larry Olness from the Heart of Florida United Way said the organization’s help line is inundated with calls from families lacking the resources to cope with the crises they face.
Tamecka Pierce, who is unemployed, told of her inability to find a job. She needs a job with benefits because she suffers from a chronic illness.
The truth is, to have a good quality of life, you have to have a good job with paid sick days and affordable health care.
Barbara Medina, an office staff person who works at the IUPAT local union hall where the forum was held, was homeless four years ago. She described how she built a new life, thanks to a good job after she was laid off and had to send her children back to Puerto Rico because she couldn’t afford to support them.
Bail Out Average Americans, Not Bankers
Behind all the hype and technical jargon surrounding the nation’s banking and mortgage crises, the bottom line comes down to answering this question: Does the nation want to spend its resources on rich bank stockholders or on roads, bridges, schools and other necessary projects?
Speaking during a workshop at the America’s Future Now conference this morning, several members of a panel on the banking crisis said the financial system is broken and that the Obama administration’s plan to fix it doesn’t address the scope of the problem. The three-day conference is sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future.
(Click here to read more news and views from the America’s Future Now conference. You also can listen to the conference sessions live on BlogTalk Radio here.)
The administration is holding its breath, hoping big banks will recover the value of some of their assets over time if taxpayers bail them out over the short haul, said Damon Silvers, vice chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel.
