N.J.’s Wowkanech: Workers’ Rights, Civil Rights Same Struggle
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At a jammed Electrical Workers (IBEW) hall in Trenton yesterday, New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech reminded the audience of union, community and civil rights activists that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“understood the link between economic justice and social justice, and that the fight for labor rights and civil rights was the same struggle.”
The We Are One event on the anniversary of King’s 1968 assassination included AFT President Randi Weingarten, Pulitzer Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, civil rights leaders and lawmakers.
King was killed in Memphis helping sanitation workers fighting for collective bargaining rights and a union. Weingarten tied King’s life-long struggle for equality to today’s struggles for workers’ rights.
Dr. King fought for civil rights, economic opportunity and educational opportunity, and that’s what we are fighting for today—not budget issues.
‘Just Say No’ Republicans Sideline DREAM Act in Senate
Just hours after the historic House vote last night to pass the DREAM Act, the Senate voted today 59-40 to table consideration of the bill. This means the bill could come up again during the lame-duck session. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said having a vote now to bring the bill to the floor was “futile” because there were not enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster against the bill.
If you’re on Twitter, take a minute to retweet this: RT @americasvoice BREAKING: Senate tables #DREAMAct in order to take up House bill. Call ur senators! 866-996-5161 #ri4a
The Senate version of the bill is different from the one passed by the House and the Senate may take the legislation up when it receives the House version as early as Monday.
Obama to Address AFL-CIO Executive Council
President Barack Obama will address the AFL-CIO Executive Council during its meeting in Washington, D.C., this week. Obama will speak to the council on Aug. 4, the first day of the two-day meeting—and also the president’s birthday.
Obama spoke to the AFL-CIO Convention last September in Pittsburgh. In that speech, he said he’s committed to the same goals as the union movement: restoring the economy, securing health care for everyone and passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
Senate Passes Bill Extending Health Coverage to Low-Income Children
Some 4 million more low-income kids are getting closer to receiving health care coverage, after the Senate last night approved (66-32) a four-and-a-half year extension of a state-based program that provides health insurance for low-income children. Some 7 million children are currently enrolled.
It’s not been an easy path for the children’s health care program. Bush twice vetoed similar bills in 2007. But President Barack Obama will sign the legislation. Says Sen. Max Baucus:
When President Obama signs this bill, the real victory will belong not to politicians, but to kids…[it] gets kids in low-income working families the doctor’s visits and medicines they need when they’re sick, and the checkups they need to stay well.
