Contact Your Senator for the 99%
Working familes in Washington, D.C., and Cannes, France (where leaders of the G-20 are meeting), rallied yesterday for passage of a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street. You can join the action by telling Wall Street it’s time to pay its fair share.
The Robin Hood (financial speculation) tax is a tiny pinch that would be felt primarily by high-volume, high-speed traders who deal in stocks, bonds, foreign currency bets, derivatives and other Wall Street financial products. Yesterday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced just such legislation, the “Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act.”
Click here to call your senators in support of a financial speculation tax. If you complete at least one call, we’ll send you a free “I am the 99%” bumper sticker.
Rallies Call for Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
|
Taking the stage in Lafayette Park across from the White House in front of nearly 1,500 union members and Occupy D.C., supporters, a not-quite Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner look-alike vowed “Never, Never, Never” to impose a Robin Hood (or financial speculation) tax on Wall Street.
He then launched into a nearly undecipherable litany of financial jargon, before German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who supports such tax, snatched the microphone away and accused Geithner of spouting “Avant garde financial psychobabble.”
The tongue-in-cheek skit was a re-enactment of a real press conference in Cannes with Merkel, Geithner and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also supports a Robin Hood tax. It kicked off the Washington, D.C., rally in support of a financial speculation tax on banks and financial institution to create jobs and rebuild the economy that Wall Street broke. Actions also are scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco, too.
Earlier today, nurses from National Nurses United (NNU) held a press conference in Cannes calling for adoption of a Robin Hood tax. The leaders of the world’s top economies—known as the G-20—are meeting there and many of the G-20 leaders support such a tax, but the United States does not.
Yesterday, when a financial speculation tax was introduced in Congress, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is Cannes for the G-20 meeting and meetings with labor leaders from those nations, said:
“Reckless Wall Street gambling has cost Americans trillions in lost wages, savings and household wealth. It is time to put Wall Street to work rebuilding Main Street with a financial speculation tax to create jobs, rein in speculation and lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity.”
At the Washington rally, Karen Higgins, an ICU nurse at the Boston Medical Center, who is co-president of National Nurses United, said a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street:
will put us back on the road to reclaiming Main Street….Its day has arrived.
‘Robin Hood’ Tax Bill Introduced in Congress
The day before participants at demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Cannes, France, Los Angeles and San Francisco will call on Congress and global leaders to adopt a small “Robin Hood” tax (financial speculation tax) to create jobs, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to adopt such a tax.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act that would assess a financial speculation tax of .03 percent. The European Commission is proposing .10 percent, on trading in stocks and bonds. In a statement this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is in Cannes for the G-20 summit of the world’s top economies, says:
In order to maximize revenue and minimize opportunities for tax arbitrage, Congress should pass a U.S. financial speculation tax in line with what has been proposed in Europe.
Sen. Harkin and Rep. DeFazio are showing real leadership in introducing this important legislation that would help the 99 percent. America’s most urgent economic challenge is the jobs crisis and we must invest money today to create jobs and rebuild our broken economy. In the medium to long term, that money will have to be repaid, and it is only fair to ask Wall Street to pay for rebuilding the economy it helped destroy.
At G-20 Summit, Union Leaders to Demand ‘Robin Hood’ Tax on Speculators
As world leaders head to France for the the G-20 economic summit in Cannes, labor leaders from around the globe will gather nearby to represent the needs of the world’s workers. Among their demands is a Robin Hood tax on banks and financial institutions that would exact a nano-percentage of each financial transaction to the tune of 0.5 percent. (See video.) That’s one half of 1 percent on every bond or derivative traded, stocks sold and a host of other “financial instruments” bought and sold by the very institutions bailed out by the world’s taxpayers.
Also known as a financial speculations tax, or a financial transactions tax, the idea is catching on in the United States through the activism of unions, especially the National Nurses United (NNU), which has been joining with Occupy protesters to support the Robin Hood tax. The idea has already gained significant momentum across the pond, where British activists are using creative means, such as this video, to sell the public on the Robin Hood tax.
Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), explains it this way:
Join and Follow Nov. 3 Rallies to Make Wall St. Pay Its Fair Share
From California to Capitol Hill to Cannes, France, on Nov. 3 nurses from National Nurses United (NNU) and other union members and community activists will call on the leaders of the world’s top economies—known as the G-20—to adopt a small Robin Hood tax (financial speculation tax) to create jobs.
The Washington, D.C., action will kick off with a rally at Lafayette Park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, followed by a march to the U.S. Treasury Department and an afternoon of lobbying Congress. You can join in and follow the action on Twitter with the hashtag #taxwallstreet.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka also will join the Labor-20 in calling on the G-20 leaders to adopt a plan for jobs and recovery that sustains the recovery and stems the immediate jobs crisis.
In addition to the Washington, D.C., event, NNU and nurses from other nations, along with global activists will hold a press conference in Cannes calling for a financial speculation tax. Actions also are planned in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Click here for details.
Global Unions Demand G-20 Focus on Jobs
The global union movement is calling on the labor ministers of the world’s top economies, known as the G-20, to create millions of new jobs around the world. In a statement prepared for the labor ministers meeting next week in Paris, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) and Global Unions say 110 million jobs are needed by 2015 just to return G-20 countries to pre-crisis levels. That’s 22 million new jobs every year. Read the global unions’ statement here.
“Stretching from China to Chile, we’re seeing the longest unemployment line the world has ever seen,” says ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
Workers, not bankers, will drive the world out of the economic crisis. Big Business is using the economic crisis as a smokescreen to push down wages. Collective bargaining rights are the most effective antidote to greed and will foster growth. Workers know first-hand why it’s important to have a decent wage, and a strong and vibrant business.
Keep the Focus on Jobs at the World Economic Forum
 |
|
On the same day the International Labor Organization warned that worldwide unemployment is still a crisis, the global union movement issued a statement calling on participants in the World Economic Forum to keep their focus on jobs.
The labor delegation to the forum, which includes AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, said, “policymakers must stay focused on stimulating enough economic demand to achieve full employment.”
The ultimate solution to government budget deficits is more employment, higher wages and, hence, increased tax revenue.
Trumka Praises Obama’s Refusal to Accept ‘Inadequate’ Korea Trade Deal
 |
||||
|
||||
President Obama showed he is not willing to settle for an inadequate trade deal with Korea that “doesn’t address the very real concerns of working people and small business,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said yesterday.
South Korea and the United States were unable to jump-start the long-stalled U.S.–Korea free trade agreement and will keep negotiating. South Korea was unwilling to address the non-tariff barriers that currently prevent American products—especially autos—from entering the South Korean market fairly. Obama has insisted that the agreement, which was negotiated during the Bush administration, should be more fair and balanced.
On Eve of G-20 Summit, Global Unions Call On Korea to Honor Workers’ Rights
When the leaders of the world’s top 20 economies, also known as the G-20, meet Nov. 11–12 in Seoul, Korea, the global union movement will shine a light on the Korean government’s repeated violations of workers’ rights.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today joined the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in calling on the Korean government to honor its international commitments and respect workers’ rights. In a letter to Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak, Trumka said:
Repeatedly workers and trade unions in Korea are subject to violations of human and trade union rights. The number of arrests and severity of prison sentences as well as physical violence is increasing.
The AFL-CIO calls on the Korean government to honor your international commitments and respect workers’ rights.
Global Union Leaders: G-20 Needs to Focus on Jobs
 |
||||
|
||||
The finance ministers of the world’s top 20 economies (G-20) should stop catering to the same banks and financiers who caused the global economic crisis and start focusing on the millions of people who are still losing their jobs and suffering from cuts to public services, global union leaders said yesterday.
The world economy is not out of the woods yet, and the cuts in public expenditure being announced by many of the G-20 countries have made the risk of a deeper recession more likely, said International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
The finance ministers, who met in South Korea over the weekend, showed no evidence of governments working together, except to reinforce their apparent determination to achieve “fiscal consolidation” to appease the financial markets, Burrow added.
