Californians Urged to Vote and Avoid a ‘Meg Moment’
One of the worse things that could happen next Wednesday would be for Californians to wake up and find out they’re having a “Meg Moment”—the awful realization that you should have voted, but didn’t.
To make sure Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman doesn’t buy the election after spending $163 million of her own money, the California Labor Federation has launched a new TV ad urging Californians to “Protect Yourself from a Meg Moment” by voting. The ad uses Whitman’s own words to expose her failure to vote for much of her adult life, while at the same time urging people to get to the polls.
The ad is part of the state federation’s largest-ever get out the vote (GOTV) mobilization effort supporting Jerry Brown for governor, Sen. Barbara Boxer and other working family candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Thousands Rally in Los Angeles for Jobs, Candidates Who Will Create Jobs
More than 6,000 union members and allies rallied Friday in Los Angeles for a massive jobs action to tell California candidates for public office that the state needs leaders who can create and save jobs, not corporate-backed millionaires like gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina.
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Trumka: ‘We’re Going to Rebuild America With Jobs’
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In the political showdown between Wall Street and Main Street, California is a key battleground. With the third highest jobless rate in the country and a towering budget deficit, California needs leaders who can create and save jobs, not just spout ”more of the same corporate bull,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a crowd of thousands at a mass jobs rally in Los Angeles today.
“How are we going to rebuild America? With jobs! Who’s going to rebuild America? Working people with jobs!”
The choice for voters is clear in California, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. The Republican candidates for governor and U.S. senator, respectively, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, are mirror images of each other.
Both are failed CEOs. Both slashed thousands of jobs to make themselves richer. And both have a dangerous agenda that will douse any hope for economic recovery. They want to slash jobs. Eliminate pensions. Scale back overtime pay and meal breaks for workers. They’re part of the greed is good crowd. I think it’s pretty clear that’s the wrong direction.
California Workers Call on Whitman to Come Clean on Goldman Sachs Ties
The U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs’ role in the subprime mortgage meltdown prompted California’s workers to renew their calls for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman to provide detailed answers to questions about her close ties to the company.
Last week, the state federation announced plans for a massive grassroots campaign—including the launch of a new website, Wall Street Whitman—to combat the $150 million Whitman says she will spend on the race.
Whitman, who’s expected to win the Republican primary June 8, served on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs in 2001 and 2002 where, according to Wall Street Whitman, she was directly involved in the decisions about executive bonuses and mortgage-backed securities that are now cited as major causes of the economic meltdown and the ensuing jobs crisis.
California Labor Fed Unmasks Wall Street Whitman
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Meg Whitman, the billionaire California Republican candidate for governor, is running for one reason, says Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation: “to do Wall Street’s bidding.”The more we learn about Meg Whitman’s past and her proposals for our future, the clearer it becomes that Meg Whitman is running for governor to do Wall Street’s bidding. Whitman’s plan is for Wall Street and corporate CEOs to get the cake while the rest of us fight for the crumbs.
Yesterday, Pulaski announced the state federation’s plans for a massive grassroots campaign—including the launch of a new website, Wall Street Whitman—to combat the $150 million Whitman says she will spend on the race. He told reporters:
We will never be able to compete with Meg Whitman’s money. Where we will compete is on the ground with grassroots. We will take advantage of this growing energy where people are angry with Wall Street CEOs who’ve gotten filthy rich.
Working Families Win in U.S. House Elections
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| Northeast New York Central Labor Council President Betty Lennon, New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes and union members get out the vote for Bill Owens. |
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| New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes and Rep.-elect Bill Owens |
Last night, on opposite ends of the country, union members helped send two new fighters for working families to Washington. Bill Owens won in a closely contested battle in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, while John Garamendi won a strong victory in California’s 10th District.
Both U.S. House seats were open after ex-Reps. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) and Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) left Congress to take positions in the Obama administration.
The New York State AFL-CIO and affiliated unions united behind Owens’ candidacy as he faced off against Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.
Hoffman, heavily funded by corporate-friendly, right-wing groups like the Club for Growth and the anti-health care “astroturf” group FreedomWorks, drove a pro-worker moderate Republican out of the race, using health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act as scare tactics.
Upstate New York voters rejected these attacks and chose a candidate who supports workers and focused his campaign on job creation and the needs of the 23rd District. Owens is the first Democrat elected to represent this northernmost region of New York in more than a century.
Working Families Take Health Care Reform Message to Capitol Hill
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With the Senate poised to consider comprehensive health care reform soon, more than 100 workers and activists from two dozen states converged on Capitol Hill yesterday to remind lawmakers that the union members and working families who worked so hard on their campaigns last fall are the same people who strongly back health care reform.
They delivered more than 42,000 personally written letters from members of unions and Working America calling on Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation.
California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski was encouraged after his meetings with members of the Golden State delegation. He said both senators and a large number of representatives, including Blue Dog Democrats, are coming out in support of health care reform.
Union Movement Mourns Jack Henning
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The union movement is mourning the loss of longtime California labor leader Jack Henning, who died yesterday at age 93. Henning served as executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation for 26 years before his retirement in 1996.
Henning’s leadership produced some of the great milestones in California labor history. Almost immediately after his election to the top office of the state federation, he joined the struggles of the United Farm Workers, campaigning successfully for passage of the historic Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.
Henning also led the campaign to restore Cal-OSHA in 1988, a year after it was abolished by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, and he spearheaded a successful drive to reform the state’s workers’ compensation system.
Economic Recovery Package Brings Hope to California Workers
California Federation of Labor Communications Director Steve Smith describes how President Obama’s economic recovery package is key to bringing much-needed jobs to the state’s economy.
For California construction and building trades workers, there hasn’t been much good news lately. The state’s unemployment rate jumped to 10.3 percent this week. The housing industry has taken a beating as the economic crisis worsens. State infrastructure projects were idled by the California budget stalemate.
Republican Senators Say They Will Hold Up Solis Nomination
With unemployment at the highest level in decades, Senate Republicans are saying they will hold a vote on the nomination of a key Cabinet member in the fight to restore jobs in this ailing economy. Some conservative lawmakers are vowing to hold up a vote on Rep. Hilda Solis’ (D-Calif.) confirmation as labor secretary because of their opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, which she supports.
Solis, who comes from a union family, has been a champion of workers for more than 15 years combined in Congress and the California legislature, where she was the first Latina elected to the state Senate.
Solis backers have created two Facebook groups in support of her nomination: ”Americans for Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor,” and “1,000,000 Strong For Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor“—and each has some 300 members who signed up in the past few days. The groups give information on how to contact your senators to urge that Solis be confirmed. Sign up for both is open to any Facebook member.
