Rally to save mass transit and jobs

By John Bachtell
CHICAGO – Thousands of transit workers and passengers rallied at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) on March 27 to demand federal funding for public transit systems nationwide.

“This is a national transit crisis,” declared Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of RPC. “We say rebuild rail, make the steel in Gary, Birmingham and Pittsburgh. Make the buses in Detroit. Make the windmills in Indiana. Put American back to work now.”

Transit worker unions and RPC are forming a national coalition to save public transit and union jobs. The rally was the first in a national tour to unite transit workers with the communities they serve.

While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated nearly $50 billion for surface and transit projects, including $8 billion for high speed rail construction, the recently passed Jobs for Main Street Act was mostly stripped of mass transit funding.

Jackson railed against federal and state policies, mostly written over the years by Republican legislators, which have choked funding for urban transit. Services cuts and layoffs are especially impacting working class, poor, African American, Latino and other communities of color.

Layoffs are also disproportionately hitting workers of color, and eliminating good paying union, family-sustaining jobs.

The coalition is demanding immediate passage of legislation by Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) that would allow cities over 200,000 to use up to 50% of their federal transit funding for operating expenses.

Unions are also demanding federal and state funding ratios be changed. For example the Chicago area Metra system, which mainly services the suburbs around Chicago, gets five times more funding per passenger than the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

The CTA laid-off 1,100 transit workers Feb. 7 to close a $300 million budget deficit. The cuts resulted in the elimination of bus lines, longer wait and packed buses and trains.

But Chicago is not alone. According to the American Public Transit Association (APTA), 90% of large transit agencies have been forced to raise fares or cut services and lay-off workers in the last few years.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City is facing an $800 million deficit and may lay-off 1,300 workers. Washington DC transit officials will lay-off 150 workers to close a $40 million gap. Trains are already bursting at the seams with passengers.

The Chicago rally brought together leadership from Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Transport Workers Union and United Transportation Union.

“We’re talking about creating a new economy, but at the same time local governments are dismantling our transit system,” said Harry Lombardo, Executive Vice President of the Transport Workers Union.

“They’re bailing out Wall Street, bailing out the banks and auto industry but letting transit die. It makes no sense,” he added.

“I bring the solidarity of 38,000 New York City transit workers,” declared John Samuelson, president of the Transport Workers Local 100 of New York City to cheers. “Our message is simple: we stand together, we win. We stand alone, we lose.”

APTA says there are $15 billion in public transit projects “shovel ready” and should be included in any federal jobs legislation. This would create 450,000 jobs. For each $1 invested in public transit, $6 is generated in economic return. A $1 billion investment in public transit would create 30,000 jobs.

According to Tyrone Jordan, bus operator and ATU Local 241 member, the layoffs are overworking the remaining workers. The money to solve the crisis has to come from the government, he said.

“They’re cutting mass transit everywhere,” said Vern Hodge, abus operator and union rep for ATU Local 241. “We’re here to put up a fight for more funding.”

New Chicago trend: charter school teachers unionize » peoplesworld

New Chicago trend: charter school teachers unionize » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

Wrongly convicted and unjustly imprisoned - Montell Johnson update

From Chicago National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression:

Montell Johnson’s case against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (CDRC) will probably be transferred to a Federal Court in California. Northern Illinois U. S. District Court Judge Robert M. Dow said at a status hearing on the case today that this was the direction toward which he was leaning. Regarding Johnson’s suit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) about the treatment that almost resulted in his death three years ago, Judge Dow said he would rule on the State’s motion for summary judgment soon.

Meanwhile, a settlement conference with the State is scheduled for April 29, and Judge Dow granted a motion by Johnson’s attorneys to depose Dr. Demetrios Skias, the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital neurologist who examined Johnson earlier this month regarding his condition.

Observers said that a settlement that allowed Johnson to be paroled to the home of his mother, Mrs. Gloria Johnson-Ester pending resolution of the case against California in that state might be acceptable to Johnson and his family.

Johnson is currently incarcerated in the Sheridan Illinois Correctional Center. He has chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and is almost completely paralyzed. He is completely bedridden and dependent on others for care.

Johnson was sent to Illinois in 1998 by the CDRC to stand trial for the murder of Dorianne Warnesly. At that time Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and California Governor Pete Wilson signed an Executive Agreement that should Johnson not be executed in Illinois he would be returned to the CDCR. He was serving a life sentence there for another murder. He has consistently claimed he was wrongfully convicted in both cases.

Johnson was sentenced to death for the Warnesly murder in Illinois, but his sentence was commuted to 40 years by former Gov. George Ryan after the victim’s mother appealed to Ryan and submitted evidence that Johnson was wrongfully convicted.

Johnson’s 40 year sentence was commuted in November 2008 by then Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on compassionate grounds. He continues to be held at Sheridan, however, because of a request by California that the terminally ill man be rendered there to die in prison under a 1998 executive agreement between the governors of the two states.

Johnson’s attorneys argue that the agreement was effectively abandoned when California did nothing to have Johnson returned to them after Gov., Ryan commuted his death sentence in 2003.

The lawsuit against the IDOC was filed in July 2007. They allege that the inadequacy of Mr. Johnson's medical care by the IDOC at Dixon Correctional Center (Johnson-Ester v. Elyea et al., No. 07-4190, U.S.D.C. N.D. Ill.) violated the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Johnson’s attorneys also filed suit against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the CDCR on August 31 2009. They are asking for a preliminary and permanent injunction barring the “rendition” of Johnson to the CDCR “until the Defendants can demonstrate how they intend to provide constitutionally adequate health care” for Johnson.

The State of California is in a severe, ongoing budget crisis, and the California Prison Health System is under receivership for consistently failing to provide constitutionally adequate health care. (Plata v. Schwarzenegger, No. COl-1351 TEH, U.S.D.C. N.D. Cal. 26.) In spite of this, the CDCR has made no provision for Johnson’s medical care, or shown that it has the means, the funds, the desire, the ability and the intention of actually caring for Mr. Johnson.

Regarding inmates with chronic conditions, such as Johnson, Judge Thelton Eugene Henderson, the presiding judge in the California case wrote, "A sizeable portion of the CDCR prisoners suffer from chronic illness, yet defendants have failed to devise and implement a system to track and treat these patients, and such patients suffer from a lack of continuity of care" (2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43796, at **2-3 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 3,2005) at *46). The medical staff is "incompetent and abusive" (Id. at *47).

As a result of his suit against the IDOC, from November 2007 to September 2008, Mr. Johnson remained in hospitals receiving specialized care, first at the University of Illinois Medical Center and then at Kindred North Hospital in Chicago. His mother was able to visit him regularly and assist with his care while he was in these facilities. In September 2008, Johnson was transferred to Sheridan Correctional Center. Johnson remains at Sheridan. His mother is able to visit him there five days a week, and is critical to his care and continued survival.

Johnson is represented by Attorneys Harold C. Hirshman and Camille E. Bennett of Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal. They may be reached at 312-876-800.



Ted Pearson, Co-chairperson
Chicago Branch, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
1325 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 105
Chicago IL 60605
312-939-2750 office
312-927-2689 cell

Chicago Teamsters join thousands in DC for Immigration Reform

By a Teamsters Local 705 member:

Teamsters Local 705 sent a bus of 40-plus “rank-and-file” UPSers to last Sunday’s (March 21) Immigrant Rights march. This was in response to UPS being on the verge of firing hundreds of workers in the Chicago land area through the company’s participation in the E-Verify system.

In January, it was announced that all UPS workers in the Chicagoland area would have to fill out an I-9 form and they had until March 31st. Coincidently or not, April 1st was the date UPS announced it was going to cut management jobs nationwide. With desperation, the workers reached out to Local 705.

The Local has been very responsive to the workers concerns, even going as far as attending a public meeting with the immigrant rights group, Immigrant Solidarity Dupage. They have met with workers and stewards after general membership meetings on how to fight back some of the abuses the workers have endured during this whole process, which includes intimidation and racism from management. Local 705 have even sent extra representatives to the Addison plant where there is a huge concentration of Latino workers that have met with these abuses.

We joined half a million people in D.C. pressuring our leaders for immigration reform. The bus was a large majority Latino rank and filers from many different age ranges, with a few officers. It was a great experience and brought us all together.

A horrendous tale - but shared by millions

A letter from a Chicago reader:

Maybe you could add to the horrid stories of human death be it slow or sudden one from me, a Social Worker / Activist from the communities Obama has called home.

My story continues to unfold with the latest chapter being my struggle to NOT BECOME HOMELESS, as I continue to get a job, deal with the lack of health care because the Cook County limit of liability system has stopped functioning leaving me and huge numbers of others having the only alternative to use the emergency room for primary health care.

As I right this message to you I struggle with the challenges of: constant back pain resulting from an auto accident that was not my fault, lack of a primary care physician because the doctors at the community based Cook County system on the south side of Chicago where I currently live refused to treat my condition, needing to pack my entire 57 years of personal and professional life to prepare for my looming housing court date where my attorney says may result in my having to move at the end of the month, my auto insurance companies fighting the payment of the medical bills resulting from their claim the accident was my fault while the documented evidence shows the contrary, the death of two elder family members; one in mid December and the next in mid February. If that is not enough the list goes on!

Imagine a system that can not address the basic needs of those who have attained higher education status, I have a Masters Degree in Social Work and over 15 years experience, without that individual having to become totally destitute.

The emotional and psychological reality of the real life situation I am experiencing is one of trauma and crises.

Useless war: Afghanistan needs peace to develop » peoplesworld

Useless war: Afghanistan needs peace to develop » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

March For America » peoplesworld

March For America » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

Women leaders call for urgent action on Illinois budget crisis » peoplesworld

Women leaders call for urgent action on Illinois budget crisis » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

Remembering Frank Lumpkin

By Victor Grossman, living in Germany:

A few days ago Frank Lumpkin died, a true American hero. I am still
grateful that I was lucky enough to know not only him but his whole
big fighting family!

I was fresh out of Harvard, a red diaper New York radical in 1949, set
on working in a factory and the union movement, where, I was
convinced, the main decisions would be made. There were no jobs in
Syracuse, where I first landed, so the party organizer gave me a tiny
note saying: Hattie Lumpkin, 263 Watson St. He had no money, nor did
I, so I hitched my way and found the address, right in Buffalo's black
ghetto. In a rocking chair on the veranda of a rickety wooden house
was a rather plain looking woman; maybe the grandma, I thought. Could
she tell me where to find Hattie Lumpkin? With just a little twinkle
in her eye she answered the naïve looking white kid: "That's me, son!"

She took me in, fed me some southern dish (with okra), and sent me to
stay with white comrades across town. "No sense being conspicuous if
you want a job!" But first she slipped a ten dollar bill into my hand.

I got a job and kept strictly to myself for the 3 month probation
period. Even after that, often on late shift, the next year and a half
was very lonely for me, a technical imbecile, trying not to betray my
college upbringing in the worsening McCarthy hysteria. The one thing
that saved me was the warmth I found in the Lumpkin house. I found
that Hattie, her husband, the grandma and ten sons or daughters had
moved up from Orlando to find a halfway decent life. One daughter,
Jonnie, later known as Pat Ellis, got in with a leftist crowd and
joined the Young Communist League. Hattie, still religious, wanted to
throw her out. But one by one Jonnie won them all over, including her
mother, who became a leading Buffalo Communist - a fighter loved by
all in the neighborhood, especially those whose evictions she helped
reverse. Jonnie, a leader in the youth movement, she recruited over a
hundred new members in one campaign, got a job at Bell Aircraft, and
made a fighting speech from the wing of a new plane while leading the
campaign to get African-Americans including herself off jobs like
sweeping and into production. She was a fighter.

And so was her brother Frank, a powerful boxer and then a steelworker,
like several of his brothers, when there were jobs, that is. Frank
told me in those days of his dreams of a better world, and even
thought of how good life might be some day on a genuine cooperative
farm.

But the world was cold in Buffalo in those McCarthy years. Spiting it,
young ghetto people and white ex-students like myself formed a
defiantly jolly, singing group of the new Labor Youth League- that was
the child of American Youth for Democracy which was the child of the
Young Communist League, with each child smaller than its parent.
When the pleasure liner to Crystal Beach in Canada decided not to sell
tickets to "single males" the group went to test them; our white
"single males" got tickets; our black "single males" got none. We
complained. Before we knew it two cops appeared. We continued to
complain, peacefully, until one cop hit Frank over the head. While the
blood poured, and we shouted, the second cop drew his pistol.
Immediately Jonnie (Pat), nine months pregnant, threw her arms around
her brother's neck, weeping loudly and hysterically. It was an act,
all right, one which probably saved him. Months later we were able to
get Frank acquitted of attacking a cop. Before Buffalo, I knew nothing
of ghetto life; my only acquaintance with African-Americans had been a
couple of intellectuals. I hated racism but knew very little about it.
I learned plenty!

I was drafted soon afterward, had Mcarthy trouble and fled the country
(and the army). So I never met Hattie, Frank, Bessie Mae or Gladys
again.

From abroad, over the decades, I heard occasionally about Jonnie, a
leader in Harlem and then, with her active, fighting husband Henry
Ellis, in Chicago. And even more about Frank, and how he led laid-off
steelworkers of Chicago in the long, hard battle for their rights.
What an extraordinary family, a real American epic of fighters and
leaders! For me, the Lumpkins were an education and an inspiration for
as long as I have lived. For Frank, a true hero, we can only say
"Presente"!

Immigrant Advocates Win Movement from White House

Push Obama to Announce Hard Deadline for Senate Bill Outline

From the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights website:

Today, March 11, 2010, a group of 13 leaders from national and grassroots immigrant advocacy organizations, labor unions, and clergy met for 1 hour and 15 minutes with President Barack Obama and top advisors Melody Barnes and Valery Jarrett to discuss immigration reform.

Participants asked President Obama to work with Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to present a framework for a comprehensive reform of immigration prior to the March for America on March 21. The leaders also asked for an end to deportations.

ICIRR Executive Director Joshua Hoyt handed out the written testimonies of the Chicago youth who “came out” as undocumented yesterday during the Immigrant Youth Justice League “Come Out of the Shadows” march and rally in downtown Chicago, sending a strong message from those who are directly affected by our broken immigration system.

The President re-stated his commitment to passing comprehensive immigration reform and expressed exasperation that there was not enough Republican support. He agreed to work actively to get bi-partisan support and to announce an outline for a Senate immigration bill prior to the march. He also agreed to focus deportations on criminals and to examine those deportations that are affecting people who are not criminals at a follow-up meeting with Janet Napolitano. The President asked for our help to deliver Republican support for immigration reform.

It is clear that the march is forcing the President and the political leaders to focus on immigration reform. We encourage everyone to come to Washington D.C. on March 21st to keep the pressure up--and we will judge the President by whether his actions follow his words.

Undocumented and unafraid, youth rally for immigration reform » peoplesworld

Undocumented and unafraid, youth rally for immigration reform » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

Chicago students walkout to protest sports cuts

By John Bachtell
CHICAGO – Hundreds of high school students walked out of classes across the city March 10 to protest elimination of junior varsity sports programs. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced last week cuts to all sophomore teams for Spring sports, including softball, baseball and soccer.

CPS is in a severe fiscal crisis and trying to close a $500 million budget deficit that is expected to grow to $1 billion next year. By cutting sophomore sports programs, CPS expects to save approximately $1 million.

Last week CPS CEO Ron Huberman also called on the Chicago Teachers Union to reopen its contract and make big concessions. He demanded either reduced pension contributions, rescinding of a scheduled pay hike or larger class sizes, which would mean 600 teacher layoffs. In essence, teachers are being pitted against their students.

Students from Little Village-Lawndale High School were having none of it. They walked out of classes and stood on all four corners of 31st and S. Kostner near the school, urging drivers to honk in support.

Several of the students angrily criticized the nation’s spending priorities, which they said were shortsighted and harmful to the nation’s youth.

“The government should have enough funding for all schools,” said Itzel, a junior. “It shouldn’t just appear out of nowhere.”

“Please don’t take away what many have achieved. Bring back our funding. You’ve got hundreds of millions for war and can’t spend $1.4 million on sports programs. That’s bad government,” said Carlos Cuevas, a sophomore who participates in football, basketball and baseball.

“They’re wasting a lot of money on wars,” said Jassel Curiel, a freshman swimmer. “Our soldiers are dying. Instead of wasting that money sending soldiers there to die, they could spend it here on sports.”

“Why does the government want to cut these programs when they are wasting $21 million per mile to build a (US-Mexico border) wall. Why do they have to hurt the kids?” asked Leonardo Sanchez. He says his volleyball program is being eliminated.



Illinois is experiencing a $13 billion deficit and approaching meltdown. In his budget address to the state legislature March 9, Gov. Quinn proposed slashing education spending by $1.3 billion. To prevent the cuts he also called upon the state legislature to pass an increase in the personal income and corporate tax rate from 3% to 4%. The Governor dropped an earlier proposal to shield low income and poor taxpayers with an increase in the earned income tax credit.

The Responsible Budget Coalition, which represents many unions, community organizations, and service agencies across the state maintain the governor’s proposal will not come close to filling the budget gap. In a statement, the Coalition said, "(We) believe the best and fairest way to adequately fund all our essential priorities--not just education but health care, human services, public safety and more--is through comprehensive tax reform like House Bill 174.

"(This) increase falls far short of the comprehensive tax reform that's needed. It is an invitation to put off real solutions yet again,” the statement said.

Others believe HB 174 will not result in a true progressive income tax and in any case will leave the state far short of needed revenues.

Frank Lumpkin - "Saint of Chicago" 1916-2010

Frank Lumpkin, the "Saint of Chicago" and life long fighter for worker rights, full equality and socialism, passed away March 1 at the age of 93.

Lumpkin led a remarkable life. Born in 1916 into a family of sharecroppers in Washington, Ga., his early years were shaped by the struggle against poverty and sweltering racism of the Deep South.

Lumpkin began work at age six for his uncle, hauling heavy sacks of "blue stone" that were used for paving. It shaped his lifetime attitude toward hard work.

His parents moved the family, including Frank and 5 siblings, to Orlando, Florida in search of work. There they lived and worked on an orange grove, where four more brothers and sisters were born.

At age 15, Lumpkin quit school to work full time in the citrus plantations. He also started boxing professionally and soon excelled at the sport. He was unofficially known as the "heavyweight champ of the South" and "KO" Lumpkin.

In 1940 in search of a better life, Frank followed his older brother to Buffalo, N.Y. where he worked in construction, in an aircraft factory and at Bethlehem Steel. The rest of the family, including Frank's mother and father followed soon after.

In Buffalo, Frank's sister Jonnie met and worked with Communists at her workplace who were active trade unionists. Her activism eventually led to the rest of her family being introduced to the Communist Party. The Lumpkin home became a center for struggle in Buffalo. They led struggles against home evictions, racism and against the growing menace of fascism.

When theUnited States entered World War II, the Army refused Frank because one of his hands had been injured in childhood. So to help in the war effort, Lumpkin became a Merchant Marine and joined the National Maritime Union.

Lumpkin's union experience and the family activism in Buffalo led him to join the Young Communist League along with 200 other young workers at a mass meeting. Later he joined the CPUSA.

After the war, Lumpkin continued to work in the Merchant Marine until his ship was sold from under him in Greece. He returned to Buffalo in 1948 and was hired on at another steel plant. He arrived just in time to campaign for the Progressive Party candidate for President, Henry Wallace.

In 1949, he answered a Communist Party call to protest racism on a Lake Erie cruise ship. Lumpkin was cruelly clubbed by police and arrested on a charge of interfering with an officer making an arrest. Lumpkin insisted on a jury trial and an all-white jury acquitted him.

That same year Paul Robeson returned to Peekskill, N.Y., for a mass rally in defiance of fascist thugs and Frank Lumpkin was determined to be there. He traveled from Buffalo with a group of steelworkers and walked through a racist mob to act as security with other WWII veterans. The rally participants were later attacked and brutally assaulted while State and Local police stood off to the side and watched.

Lumpkin proudly recounted the story, "The night before the concert I told my brother Warren, you know Paul Robeson is going back to Peekskill. Warren said, 'is he crazy, they almost killed him the first time.' So I answered, 'but this time we'll be there.'"

During this period, Frank Lumpkin had fallen in love with Beatrice Shapiro, a sister activist and they decided to get married. But times were tough during the post-war recession so they moved to Chicago, because "if you couldn't find work in Chicago, you couldn't find work anywhere."

Lumpkin finally landed a job at Wisconsin Steel, owned by International Harvester, and worked there for 30 years as a chipper, scarfer and millwright.

In March 1980, over 3,000 workers arrived at work to find the gates padlocked. International Harvester, through sham moves, had "sold" the company to Envirodyne to avoid paying pensions. In addition, the bank that handled the payroll had stolen the workers' final pay by not honoring the checks.

Rather than go home quietly, the Save Our Jobs Committee was born and the workers fought. Lumpkin led them against an array of powerful forces and corrupt politicians backed by the mob. They marched and protested from city hall, to the state legislature and Congress.

From the start, Lumpkin never, ever considered the possibility of giving up. For 17 years the workers fought refusing nothing less than victory, which finally came in, winning $17 million in stolen pension money that was distributed to the workers. For that he became known as the "Saint of Chicago."

He was involved in every major fight spanning the decades, including the election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first African American mayor. He was present at the first meeting to organize the campaign and become one of the initiators of a Labor for Washington Committee. After the election Mayor Washington appointed him to governmental task forces on the steel industry and dislocated workers.

Lumpkin continued the fight for independent politics by running for State Representative three times on the Independent Progressive line, challenging the famed Chicago Democratic Party "machine." His slogan was, "Send a Steelworker to Springfield."

During the economic crisis of 1981-83, Lumpkin helped organize Jobs or Income Now, a grassroots organization of the unemployed and the national Congress of Unemployed Organizations held in Chicago. Lumpkin gave the keynote address and was elected chair of the Congress.

Watch this tribute below from Chicago's public TV station WTTW.

Lumpkin was a longtime member of the CPUSA's National Committee, and traveled the world. Jarvis Tyner, national executive vice chair of the CPUSA, said about Lumpkin, "What a working class hero. Frank lived an exemplary life for all who believe that the people come first to follow. Frank was a communist first and foremost and stood strong for the freedom of his class and people. He will not be forgotten."

Lumpkin was also an active member of the Coalition for Labor Union Women, and founding member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. He was also active in Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees and the Alliance of Retired Americans. He served on the Policy Council of Illinois Citizen Action.

At age 90 he was still active, including a labor walk for Tammy Duckworth, a candidate for Congress in 2006 in the 6th CD in Illinois.

Despite never having finished school, Lumpkin was a worker intellectual, an avid reader and always took an interest in new ideas.

He and his wife of 60 years, Bea, enjoyed a full and active life together, in addition to their four children had three grandchildren. Always a gregarious man, Lumpkin loved people and was in turn loved and respected by his comrades and co-workers and will be missed by all.

Donations can be sent in Frank's memory to his favorite newspaper, the People's World and to the Workers Education Society, a tax-deductible charity. His ashes will be interred next to the Haymarket Memorial in Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park at noon April 24, followed by a memorial service at 1:30 pm at Workers United, 333 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago.

Republic Windows heroes continue the good fight

By Lance Cohn and John Bachtell
CHICAGO – When 260 workers sat in at Republic Windows and Doors Dec. 5, 2008 for five days, they were hoping to prevent the company (and chief creditor Bank of America) from running off with their vacation pay and pensions. Their action got the attention of the nation, including president–elect Obama, who sided with them. They beat all odds and won.

The workers could not have known how their actions would inspire others across the country to stand up for their rights. Since then, the name Republic Windows and Doors is known to workers everywhere. They were featured in Michael Moore’s latest movie, “Capitalism: a love story” as one example of how people are taking the fight against Wall Street greed into their own hands.

Armando Robles, president of UE Local 1110 was one of the leaders in this momentous struggle and became a star of Moore’s movie. He sat down with the People’s World to reflect how life has changed since the sit-in.

Despite the victory, the last year has been a difficult one for most of the workers. Shortly after the takeover Serious Materials, a maker of highly energy efficient windows and doors, bought the company and promised to hire everyone back and respect the union contract.

To date only 29 workers have been rehired although things have picked up recently. Robles said this was due to a combination of factors.

“This is a new production line so the windows have to be certified. In addition, the old Republic management told us not to clean up the last six months. It took us 3 months just to clean the plant and paint the floors,” said Robles.

With the economic crisis, sales haven’t rebounded yet. Nor are they yet getting any hoped for sales from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress, that would go to funding weatherization projects.

Serious is in negotiations with hardware retail giant Lowe’s to supply the chain in the Midwest. Contractors from around the region are also checking the windows out.

“There is some talk of putting our windows in Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. We started making windows for large commercial buildings. This is a market Republic never had,” he said.

Robles also said the company supplies windows for 75 contractors of CEDA, the federal program that assists low-income families with their gas and light bills. CEDA has a weatherization program and Serious provides the windows for Illinois.

“To weatherize the homes and offices across the country is a huge market,” he said. “We’ll need more companies like (Serious) and more workers would be put back to work.”

Jobs creation is a big concern for Robles and the other workers. “If the money goes to the workers, the economy will improve. The government gave the money to the banks to help people with their foreclosures. But the people are still having a problem because the money never got to them,” he said.

“We need is people to spend money. Stores will start selling stuff. But they way they did it, the banks are keeping the money. Workers are still losing their homes and jobs,” he said.

While a public works jobs program would be great, Robles doesn’t think the Obama administration is convinced it’s needed yet.

“We have to convince people that we can do it and it will work,” he said. “We have to believe in us and act!”

Robles and the other workers remain on the front lines of the battle, regularly participating in demonstrations and election campaigns. They continue to encourage others to fight.

When asked how it felt to be a movie star, Robles laughed. He said his son gives him the thumbs up, but he feels more comfortable fighting with his fellow workers at the grassroots than being an actor.

Gov. Quinn says economy needs new ideas

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI) -- 3/5/2010

By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer

ORLANDO, Fla.(PAI)--Pat Quinn claims he is thinking out of the box. The times -- and the economy of both his state and the nation -- demand it. And he wishes politicians in Washington would do the same.

The Illinois governor brought that message to a small breakfast meeting of 75 current and potential backers during the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Orlando, Fla., and to an exclusive interview with Press Associates Union News Service.

Just finishing his first year in office, and having won a narrow Democratic primary victory over the state treasurer Dan Hynes, downstate Democrat Quinn seeks his first full term in the Prairie State’s governor’s chair. “Primaries are family fights,” he says.

Unlike many past years, which saw many notable politicians, hat in hand, come to AFL-CIO union presidents seeking support, Quinn was the ranking elected official in Orlando, with one exception: Democratic Vice President Joseph Biden, who spoke to the council on his second of two stops in the economically hurting Sunshine State.

But like virtually all other governors, Quinn faces a plethora of problems: Double-digit jobless rates, declining tax revenues, strain on public services, “foreclosures at all-time highs,” a huge budget deficit -- of $13 billion -- and angry and disaffected voters.

Most governorships nationwide are up for election this year, and their occupants all face the same ills and voter anger, as do pro-worker U.S. lawmakers. The anger has shown up electorally: Four of the governors of the nation’s six largest states either cannot run again, are seeking higher office or are retiring.

Only Quinn and Right-Wing Texas Republican Rick Perry seek new terms, and both had tough sledding. Perry faced a bitter 3-way primary on March 2 and a potential runoff. Quinn won 50.3%, or about 8,000 votes -- a landslide compared to the winner of Illinois’ 6-way GOP gubernatorial primary, who triumphed by 250 votes.

Republican foe Bill Brady, whom Quinn did not name, “is very anti-labor,” the governor says. “I don’t believe we should have a situation where people don’t have a decent wage and decent working conditions,” Quinn adds.

But the economic ills of Illinois and other states forces Quinn to think differently, he says, adding others should also do so. “We have to throw away the ordinary playbook,” in solving the widespread economic ills, he declares.

But Quinn’s solution, like that of other governors of both parties, is a 4-letter word: Jobs. That same emphasis won conservative Republican Bob McConnell the Virginia race last November. A 12.4% statewide jobless rate helped push term-limited California GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into retirement.

One difference in his jobs push, Quinn says, is that he’s working closely with the state’s unions. Schwarzenegger is at constant loggerheads with the California Labor Federation. Perry shares the anti-union attitude of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

And one similarity between what Quinn’s doing in Illinois and what former Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, now president, is doing, is that they’re emphasizing revitalizing manufacturing to put people back to work and create a new economy.

In one example, Quinn said Illinois state government “worked hand-in-hand” with the state’s United Auto Workers in a campaign to get Ford to build its new assembly line for the Explorer at a plant in Chicago’s Southwest Side.

“They enjoyed a big increase, 90%, in sales of the Taurus, which is built there,” Quinn said of the only Detroit-based car company that did not need or take federal loan guarantees -- and that reported a profit. That sales success was a big selling point for the state, and Illinois won Ford’s nationwide competition.

But autos are part of the “old” economy, even though the new Ford assembly line, to start this year, will bring 1,200 more factory jobs to Chicago, plus six spin-off jobs for each factory job.

Quinn’s other big example is a $31 billion infrastructure plan he pushed through the legislature last year, despite Illinois’ red ink. Like Obama’s stimulus law, Quinn’s mixes traditional construction jobs and new “green” jobs: Weather-stripping, energy efficiency, solar panels on buildings, high-speed trains from Chicago to St. Louis and elsewhere. Quinn calls it the biggest state public works plan in the U.S. “We need to use public works to put people back to work,” he says. (The rail money is federal.).

And that leads to another Quinn idea, which is really an old one: Revive FDR’s Depression-era Works Progress Administration, on the state level. U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., a former UNITE shop steward and garment worker, has a similar idea for the federal government. “We need a state Conservation Corps and a ‘Green Teens’ corps. We have problems with youth violence and we need to counter that,” by teaching jobless teenagers “how to use caulking guns,” Quinn explains.

“The big issue is to get our economy back on track,” Quinn said, agreeing with Biden, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, and every other speaker in Orlando.

PRESS ASSOCIATES UNION NEWS SERVICENews, Graphics And Commentary For The Nation's Unions, Their Media And Their Members2605 P Street NWSecond FloorWashington DC 20007PH: 202-898-4825 e-m: press_associates@yahoo.com

UE Election Victory: Drivers at Hemisphere's Largest 'Inland Port' Join the Fold - Working In These Times

UE Election Victory: Drivers at Hemisphere’s Largest ‘Inland Port’ Join the Fold - Working In These Times

Rally: Jobs crisis a life and death emergency » peoplesworld

Rally: Jobs crisis a life and death emergency » peoplesworld

Posted using ShareThis

Chicago youth demand, ‘jobs now’

By John Bachtell
CHICAGO – “Jobs now” echoed across a frozen Federal Plaza as hundreds of youth rallied to demand passage of federal youth jobs legislation and voice their anger over being left out of the legislative process.

The March 1 rally also symbolized growing frustration at the slowness the Obama administration and Congress are addressing the jobless emergency and outright Republican Party and right wing obstruction.

“I’m angry because the Federal Government gave $800 billion to the banks to rescue them, but what do you have so far?” asked Brian Brady, director of the Mikva Challenge, the rally sponsor. The crowd responded with an emphatic, “nothing!”

The youth came from high schools, colleges and communities across the city to demand passage of the Youth Jobs Act of 2010 (S2929), introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and co-sponsored by Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL).

“We feel like we are being ignored in the current jobs bills (in the US House and Senate), said Brittanie Corner, age 18, a freshman at Malcolm X College. “Youth need jobs too. For those of us in college, we have college fees. We want our voice heard.”

Nearly the entire generation of African American teenagers in Chicago is out of work. In 2008 even before the current economic crisis only 15 percent of African American teens were working along with 30 percent of Latinos and 33 percent of whites.

Among 16- to 24-year-olds, 27 percent of Blacks and 17 percent of Latinos were out of school and work in 2008. Across the country over 5 million youth are out of work and school. In 2009, 60% of those who lost their jobs were youth.



S2929 would create 450,000 summer and full time jobs nationwide for youth ages 14-24, at the cost of only $1.5 billion. The act provides job training and resources for youth and is seen as an economic stimulator.

“This bill won’t solve the problem, but it will be an important start,” said Paris Britton, age 19, a sophomore at Daley Community College. “I go to school full time and work full time just to support my house. Without a job I don’t know where I would be.”

Justyna Obrzut came to the United States from Poland four years ago. She is a 19 year-old student at Loyola College, which is increasing tuition by 4% next semester. “I need a job to afford it,” she says. “My friends are all looking for work. It’s a bad situation.”

City Clerk Dorothy Brown who called for federal action joined the youth. “Let them hear all the way to Washington DC that we want jobs! Having jobs for young people will help save lives. We need to be able to save you so you have a wonderful future.”

“If we get jobs we can get youth off the streets and away from gangs,” said Tony Astorga from Little Village Lawndale High School. “They will actually care about school, get a better job and help out their families. We need jobs where we can use the skills we learn in school.”

The youth marched to Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) office to deliver hundreds of post cards asking for passage of the bill. They will travel to Springfield to introduce a similar bill in the state legislature as part of an ongoing campaign.

The Mikva Challenge is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that involves youth in the electoral and legislative arena. They are working with the Chicago LIFE Campaign, a coalition of youth serving programs in community centers across the city to build the movement for youth jobs.

Chicago youth demand, ‘jobs now’

By John Bachtell
CHICAGO – “Jobs now” echoed across a frozen Federal Plaza as hundreds of youth rallied to demand passage of federal youth jobs legislation and voice their anger over being left out of the legislative process.

The March 1 rally also symbolized growing frustration at the slowness the Obama administration and Congress are addressing the jobless emergency and outright Republican Party and right wing obstruction.

“I’m angry because the Federal Government gave $800 billion to the banks to rescue them, but what do you have so far?” asked Brian Brady, director of the Mikvah Challenge, the rally sponsor. The crowd responded with an emphatic, “nothing!”

The youth came from high schools, colleges and communities across the city to demand passage of the Youth Jobs Act of 2010 (S2929), introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and co-sponsored by Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL).

“We feel like we are being ignored in the current jobs bills (in the US House and Senate), said Brittanie Corner, age18, a freshman at Malcolm X College. “Youth need jobs too. For those of us in college, we have college fees. We want our voice heard.”

Nearly the entire generation of African American teenagers in Chicago is out of work. In 2008 even before the current economic crisis only 15 percent of African American teens were working along with 30 percent of Latinos and 33 percent of whites.

Among 16- to 24-year-olds, 27 percent of Blacks and 17 percent of Latinos were out of school and work in 2008. Across the country over 5 million youth are out of work and school. In 2009, 60% of those who lost their jobs were youth.



S2929 would create 450,000 summer and full time jobs nationwide for youth ages 14-24, at the cost of only $1.5 billion. The act provides job training and resources for youth and is seen as an economic stimulator.

“This bill won’t solve the problem, but it will be an important start,” said Paris Britton, age 19, a sophomore at Daley Community College. “I go to school full time and work full time just to support my house. Without a job I don’t know where I would be.”

Justyna Obrzut came to the United States from Poland four years ago. She is a 19 year-old student at Loyola College, which is increasing tuition by 4% next semester. “I need a job to afford it,” she says. “My friends are all looking for work. It’s a bad situation.”

City Clerk Dorothy Brown who called for federal action joined the youth. “Let them hear all the way to Washington DC that we want jobs! Having jobs for young people will help save lives. We need to be able to save you so you have a wonderful future.”

“If we get jobs we can get youth off the streets and away from gangs,” said Tony Astorga from Little Village Lawndale High School. “They will actually care about school, get a better job and help out their families. We need jobs where we can use the skills we learn in school.”

The youth marched to Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) office to deliver hundreds of post cards asking for passage of the bill. They will travel to Springfield to introduce a similar bill in the state legislature as part of an ongoing campaign.

The Mikvah Challenge is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that involves youth in the electoral and legislative arena. They are working with the Chicago LIFE Campaign, a coalition of youth serving programs in community centers across the city to build the movement for youth jobs.