Holt Baker: Collective Action Key Tool to Building King’s Dream into Reality
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Most people remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legendary 1963 Washington, D.C, “I Have a Dream” speech. But what most don’t know, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said at the AFL-CIO’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance and National Conference in Detroit, is that “the seeds of Dr. King’s dream were sown first,” in the Motor City.
First in the speech he gave in June in Detroit, and later in his more widely known speech in Washington, Dr. King described his dream, the dream that one day the white sons of former slave owners and the black sons of those who had been enslaved would live together as brothers, judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their characters.
Yet we know that Dr. King’s dream was not merely a dream about friendship, not some story about two people communing across a great economic divide. His dream was about true equality—economic, political and social justice.
During yesterday’s opening ceremony, Holt Baker reminded the more than 550 labor and civil rights activists and leaders that King knew that “a chief tool for freedom and progress for all people was collective action”:
whether as a labor union in the workplace or as nonviolent civil disobedience in the shared spaces of this country…whether at a lunch counter or in a park near Wall Street.
She also noted the long partnership by the union movement and the civil rights movement and his close relationship with the UAW. But although the AFL-CIO endorsed the principles behind the March on Washington, the federation did not endorse the march itself. Read the rest of this entry »
DC Union Members Join OWS Marchers from NYC
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| AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and Don Mathis, executive director of the U.S. Community Action Partnership, rallied to support the Occupy movement in McPherson Square. |
Occupy Wall Street marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., today after walking for 10 days from New York City to deliver the message that Congress should stand with the 99 pecent, not the 1 percent.
Despite the abysmal weather, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker led a contingent of union members to McPherson Square to meet the marchers and rally in support.
Holt Baker joined Don Mathis (left), executive director of the U.S. Community Action Partnership, in sending a message to Republican presidential wannabee Newt Gingrinch, who yesterday said Occupy members should “go get a job after you take a bath.” Gingrich, who has attacked mortage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, turns out to have raked in at least $1.6 million while under contract to Freddie.
As Mathis’s sign says:
Hey, Newt! I had a bath today. When will you come clean?
Bank of America’s Unconscionable Debit Card Fee Grab
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The Big Banks still don’t get it. Bank of America recently announced that it will start charging its customers $5 per month to use their debit cards. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are considering similar fees on their customers.
For many workers, debit cards have replaced credit cards as a more affordable way to make purchases with their money. Unlike credit cards that carry high interest rates on their balances, debit card transactions transfer money directly from customers’ bank accounts like writing a check.
The Big Banks claim that these new fees are necessary because the Federal Reserve cut the amount that banks can charge merchants each time their customers swipe a debit card. These so-called “swipe fees” are passed on to customers in the form of higher prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Thousands Rallied to Support Postal Workers, Save 120,000 Jobs
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Thousands of postal workers and their supporters held rallies in 492 locations across the country yesterday to protect the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and save 120,000 jobs.
Members of the four USPS employee unions—the Postal Workers (APWU), Letter Carriers (NALC), Mail Handlers, an affiliate of the Laborers (LIUNA), and the Rural Letter Carriers—and our allies held events in every congressional district as part of a national “Save America’s Post Office” day of action.
Under the guise of a “budgetary crisis,” some in Congress are going after the USPS, proposing massive cuts and job cuts—including laying off 120,000 workers, closing thousands of post offices, eliminating Saturday mail service and closing mail processing facilities. The rallies yesterday urged lawmakers to save the USPS by supporting H.R. 1351. Introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), the bill would restore financial stability to the Postal Service.
King’s Dream of Economic Justice Still Far From Reality
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| Rep. John Lewis called for working people to “make some noise.” |
Devon Lomax, a member of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 9 in New York, hasn’t worked for more than a year. One of his colleagues lost his home and ended up panhandling in the subways.
Katie Hofmann, a teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio, says more and more of her students are homeless. Teachers who have not had a pay raise for five years regularly go into their pockets to buy lunch for children who are hungry and whose families have no money.
Lomax and Hofmann were two of the panelists who spoke at the AFL-CIO and The King Center symposium on “Jobs, Justice and the American Dream” this morning. Participants in the first panel, Jobs and the American Dream, agreed that 48 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation is still far from achieving his vision of a nation where everyone who wants to work has a good job and the freedom to achieve to the best of his or her abilities.
Don’t Miss Live Webcast of National Symposium on Jobs and Justice Aug. 26
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You can be a part of the national symposium on jobs, justice and the American dream, hosted by the AFL-CIO and The King Center, on Aug. 26, two days before the official dedication of the historic Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C.
Just RSVP here for our live webcast of the symposium Friday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.
Submit a question for our panels of experts, activists and workers here. Panelists will select from among the questions submitted. The first panel, “Jobs and the American Dream,” begins at 9 a.m. The second panel, “Justice and the American Dream,” begins at 11 a.m.
AFL-CIO, King Center Symposium on Jobs and Justice Set for Aug. 26
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The AFL-CIO and the King Center is hosting a national symposium on jobs, justice and the American Dream on Aug. 26, two days before the official dedication of the historic Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C.
We will live webcast the two featured panels of notable civil rights activists, worker-activists, elected leaders, academics and young people. We’ll let you know the webcast URL next week.
You can participate in this historic symposium by submitting a question for the panelists. Just click here to ask your question. Panelists will select from among the questions submitted.
Tens of Thousands March for Workers’ Rights, Immigration Reform
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Across the country, tens of thousands marched and rallied May 1, May Day, to call for national immigration reform and to support all workers’ rights. Just as we did on April 4, working people declared: “Somos Unos—Respeten Nuestros Derechos” or “We Are One—Respect Our Rights.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a crowd of about 100,000 in Milwaukee that “May Day is our day to stand together shoulder to shoulder for immigrant and worker rights.”
Gov. Scott Walker…has declared war on Wisconsin workers and, like you did before, you joined in a peaceful protest to say “No! No!” We reject the idea that America can no longer be a great nation and that we’re too broke to treat people fairly. We reject the notion that America can’t be the land of shared prosperity.
The crowd marched 2.5 miles across Milwaukee chanting, “this is what democracy looks like,” “sí, se peude,” “Walker eschuca estamos en la lucha” and “Wisconsin no es Arizona.”
Read Trumka’s entire speech here and click here to read more about the Milwaukee march.
May Day Rallies Will Support Workers’ and Immigrant Rights
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This May Day, working people are rallying across the country to oppose attacks on workers’ rights and immigrant rights. Just as we did on April 4, working people will declare: “Somos Unos—Respeten Nuestros Derechos” or “We Are One—Respect Our Rights.”
Workers’ rights and immigrant rights are connected. CEO-backed politicians are targeting all working people—including immigrants—with their corporate-sponsored political agenda and continuing power grab. In addition to demanding protection for collective bargaining and other workers’ rights, ralliers will call for comprehensive immigration reform and passage of the DREAM Act, which would provide undocumented young people a pathway to legal residency through higher education or service in the military.
Unconscionable Executive Pay at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
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The top six executives of the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, received a combined total of $35.4 million during 2009 and 2010. According to a newly issued report by the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the CEOs of both companies alone were paid a shocking $17 million over the past two years.
This level of executive compensation is simply unconscionable at a time of economic recession, financial bailouts and housing price declines. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been bailed out by taxpayers for more than $153 billion to date. The total cost of the federal bailout could rise to as high as $363 billion through 2013.
More disturbingly, these payouts come when millions of working families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac simply have not done enough to modify homeowners’ mortgages to affordable amounts. And some of the mortgage servicers used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac improperly robo-signed foreclosure documents.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were established by our government to help make homeownership more affordable. The top executives of these companies should be paid on the same scale as government regulators, not like Wall Street executives. These payouts show exactly what is wrong with our financial system where corporate greed trumps the public interest.
