Indiana Working Families ‘Standing Up for Hoosiers’
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Indiana AFL-CIO field communications coordinator Mike Uehlein sends this report.
For the 11th straight day, working families will converge at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis to protest the General Assembly’s anti-worker agenda.
Tonight’s “Stand Up for Hoosiers” rally will focus on working families and will feature various local entertainers, faith leaders, workers sharing their stories and a candlelight vigil. AFT President Randi Weingarten also will speak to the crowd.
While Indiana House Democrats remain out of state to prevent passage of anti-worker legislation, House Minority Leader Pat Bauer returned yesterday for negotiations. Rather than bargaining or compromising, Republicans refused to deal on bills that would take away the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees.
Danny Glover: This Is Organized Attack on the Middle Class
Actor and activist Danny Glover addressed a rally at the Indiana State Capitol today. Here’s some of what was said:
It’s not simply your battle, it’s a battle that’s happening across the country. Workers across the country are being attacked, and we have to put an end to it.
This is an organized attempt to take more from the middle class. We all know the statistics, we live the statistics!
Glover then read a poem by Langston Hughes entitled “Let America be America Again,” which includes this verse:
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
Take the Pledge: Buy American
So, the world isn’t flat after all. Not that some of us ever bought into Thomas Friedman-speak. But many in this country did, especially those running the political show, and now we have a chance to shape a progressive future on the ashes of such failed visions.
And that progressive future needs a widespread recognition of the acceptance of the need to Buy America. A good first step is taking the American Auto Revivial Pledge.
One of the hardest connections for those of us in the union movement to make with our progressive allies has been in the area of trade and policies that encourage U.S. consumers to Buy American Made. Especially Buy America.
Why is that so?
‘Keep It Made in America’ Bus Tour Kicks Off
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| Actor Danny Glover tells a Michigan crowd the value of saving U.S. auto jobs. |
With more than 7.2 million paychecks dependent on U.S. autos, a coalition of unions and allies is taking part in a nationwide ”Keep It Made in America” bus tour to send the message that millions of jobs are tied to the fate of the U.S. auto industry. The tour, which kicked off yesterday, will travel to 34 cities in 11 states and ends in Washington, D.C., May 19 for a daylong “teach-in” on the impact of the automotive supply chain in communities and to present a plan to save the auto industry.
The tour is sponsored by the United Steelworkers (USW), the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC). Says Scott Paul, executive director of AAM:
We all have a stake in a strong domestic automobile industry. That’s why we will put forward a plan to strengthen the automotive supply chain and get America back to work.
Bus tour participants include actor and social activist Danny Glover, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders and workers from steel, iron, glass, plastics and rubber, aluminum and auto parts facilities, along with local auto dealers, community employers and local community and elected leaders.
