Join Us Today to Make Wall Street Pay!
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If you’re not already on your way to New York City to join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and 10,000 union and community activists as they march on Wall Street’s Big Banks this afternoon, it’s not too late to join the call for real Wall Street reform.
You still can be part of the more than 13,000-14,000-16,000 strong virtual marchers to let the Big Banks know its time to pay to restore the millions of jobs their reckless practices destroyed and to let Congress know that working Americans will settle for nothing less than real Wall Street Reform. Click here to join the virtual march. And click here to send your friends a Facebook invite to the virtual march and rally.
You also will be able to follow all the action live right here on the Web, via Twitter and text messaging. We will webcast the rally and march live at www.aflcio.org/wallstreet, and while the events unfold, we’ll also scroll the names of the virtual marchers—so keep an eye out for yours.
As Trumka writes at The Huffington Post this morning:
Our message is simple: Big Banks tanked our economy and took our money when they needed a bailout. Now they’re thumbing their noses at our communities but making billions in profits. It’s time they pay up.
Labor Across Prime Time TV
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Prime time last night was well worth watching. The NewsHour on PBS profiled AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann hosted California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
NewsHour showcased Trumka’s start as a coal miner in Pennsylvania and his graduation from Villanova Law School, his rise to president of the Mine Workers and his key role in the tough battle against Pittston Coal Co. The segment included clips from those early days, through to his emotional acceptance speech at our convention in September, when he was elected AFL-CIO president.
As NewsHour pointed out, Trumka made his name “as a bulldog against corporate overreach” while he was AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer.
Ed Schultz Kicks off New MSNBC Show with USW’s Gerard
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Popular progressive radio show host Ed Schultz, who now anchors ”The Ed Show“ on MSNBC television, hosted Leo Gerard, president of the Steelworkers (USW), on the program’s first installment Monday night.
Gerard told viewers: “We cannot put this country back on its feet by continuing to worship at the knees of the financial community that put us in this mess. We’ve got to go back to start to make things in America; we’ve got to put people back to work; we’ve got to save the auto industry.”
Gerard discussed the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States and what the demise of our auto industry would mean to other sectors. He stressed the need to reform health care and fix our trade policies with China. (Click here for the full interview.)
Auto Crisis Threatens Entire Economy; Union Ready to Do Its Part—Again
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If Congress does not soon approve emergency loan legislation to keep Detroit’s Big Three automakers operating as they ride out the nation’s financial crisis, job losses will ripple not just through the auto industry but through the entire economy, warned UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
At a news conference today following an emergency meeting with UAW local and regional leaders, Gettelfinger said the union is willing to “take the extra step” to aid the industry. Union leaders, he said, have agreed to delay automakers’ payments to a union-administered health care fund and to modify the union’s job banks program that provides laid-off workers with a portion of their wages and benefits.
But he reiterated that UAW members already have agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have lowered labor costs at the Big Three.
