Tag Archives: card check

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

AFL – CIO : Tell Verizon to treat workers &customers with RESPECT


VERIZON GREED MUST STOP
Verizon has seen its profits and CEO pay soar while it cut jobs and gutted health care and other benefits for workers. These VeriGreedy practices need to stop.Call 800-229-9460 now to tell Verizon to treat its workers and customers with respect.Share on TwitterTwitter

Recently, we launched our CEO Pay and the 99% website1 to expose the outlandish practices of companies giving huge compensation to CEOs while cutting jobs and sitting on record amounts in cash holdings and short-term investments.

One of the most egregious examples of corporate excess and greed is Verizon. While Verizon tripled the salary of CEO Lowell McAdam to $23.1 million last year,2 it also was cutting U.S. jobs, gutting worker pensions and charging current and retired employees and their families thousands of dollars more for health benefits while reducing disability coverage.

This is unacceptable and we need to let Verizon know it.

Call 800-229-9460 now to record a message that will be delivered directly to Verizon executives.

Today, while Verizon holds its shareholders meeting in Huntsville, Ala., working families and Verizon customers in Huntsville and across the country will be calling on the company to end these “VeriGreedy” practices, respect its customers and the workers who keep the company running and save good, middle-class jobs.

Because of the hard work of tens of thousands of customer support representatives, technicians, electricians and other workers who provide the best quality service they can to customers, Verizon has enjoyed success. Verizon workers are part of the solution, not the problem. They should not be punished with job cuts and increased health care and benefit costs while Verizon executives get huge pay raises and the company sits on $14 billion in cash holdings and short-term investments.3

Call 800-229-9460 now and tell Verizon to treat workers and customers with respect—by negotiating a fair contract.

Corporate greed on this scale is bad enough, but when combined with neglecting workers, it’s completely unacceptable. Together we can put an end to these terrible corporate practices—but only if you speak up and make your voice heard.

In Solidarity,

Andy Richards
New Media Strategist, AFL-CIO

P.S. After you have left your message for Verizon executives, make sure to click here to find out if an event is happening in your area today you can attend to support Verizon workers.

1 http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-the-99.
2 http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120319-714892.html.
3 Verizon Communications Form 10-K, filed 2/24/2012.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Goodbye, Abby Wombach …Shelby Knox, Change.org


Change.org

Tell the US Soccer Federation: Don’t shut down Women’s Professional Soccer

The Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league — home to World Cup stars like Hope Solo and Abby Wombach — could be completely disbanded. Change.org members and fans around the country have just 4 days to save it.

The US Soccer Federation, the governing body for the sport in America, is planning to withdraw it’s top accreditation from the league for having fewer than 6 teams (two recently shut down because of financial hardship during the recession, though expansion is expected next year).

If US Soccer strips the WPS of its “Division 1” status, the league loses key support and credibility, almost undoubtedly leading to full collapse.

Alex Sahlen, a defender for the Western New York Flash, is feverishly trying to save her sport, and her petition on Change.org has already attracted 10,000 signatures. But with US Soccer making a final decision on December 5th, there are just days remaining to amp up the pressure.

Please sign Alex’s petition to save women’s pro soccer in America.

US Soccer’s stated mission is to “make soccer a preeminent sport in the United States,” so they are very sensitive to public opinion. If 20,000 of us stand with Alex, we can make sure the governing body knows that a key part of that goal is making sure that women’s soccer thrives.

Abby, Hope, Alex, and the players, coaches, and owners of the WPS know that building a women’s sports league during a recession is an uphill climb. But the fan base is slowly building, and new TV contracts may be on the way. The league could still fail, but it’s up to you to help give them a fighting chance.

Click here to sign Alex’s petition to save the Women’s Professional Soccer league:

http://www.change.org/petitions/support-womens-professional-soccer-wps-remaining-a-sanctioned-league

Thanks,

– Shelby Knox and the Change.org team

P.S. Thousands of people are changing the world through petitions on Change.org every week. Here are some that need your support now:

  1. D.C. college student Katie Breslin is petitioning to get Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) kits and trained staff in every D.C. hospital so no sexual assault survivor is turned away without treatment.
  2. Grey2K is petitioning Skechers not to air a new commercial filmed at the the Tuscon Greyhound Park, which has a long record of dog abuse.
  3. Two men in Cameroon were just sentenced to five years in prison for the “crime” of being gay. Now petition starter Stephane Koche is asking Cameroon’s president to drop the charges and let the men go free.
  4. At one school in Massachusetts, students have to carry neon cards in the lunchroom to receive their free or reduced price lunch. Jennifer Kalvinek’s daughter is being bullied for carrying her card, so she started a campaign to get the school to implement a better system.
  5. Leslianne Bouchard is a disabled teacher in California who qualifies for a program to help save her home from foreclosure — but First Mortgage Corporation refuses to let that happen. Leslianne’s daughter is fighting the bank to let her mom keep her home.

Click here to start your own petition.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Senator Maria Cantwell


Some Wall Street banks think they can get away with anything.

 Wrecking the economy with reckless gambling?  Abusing the foreclosure process to put more homeowners out on the street?  Raising fees on consumers whenever they want?  To them, it’s all part of the game.

That’s why we have to be ready for anything in this campaign. Maria has fought her entire career to hold Wall Street accountable, and powerful special interests are determined to defeat her.  They’ll say anything.  They’ll spend whatever it takes.  And it’s up to us to fight back.

Will you help strike a blow against these special interest groups by making a contribution of $5 or more to help Maria fight back today?

 For years Maria has been working to hold Wall Street accountable to the people – voting against the Wall Street bailout, cracking down on speculation in oil markets, toughening restrictions on derivatives trading, and fighting to make the financial reform bill stronger and more progressive.

 But some of the worst offenders on Wall Street are also some of the most powerful special interests in Washington. And they are determined to get rid of one of the Senate’s champions for accountability and sound regulation.

Maria can’t win this fight alone – we all need to stand together against the big banks and their attacks. Please click here to make a contribution today!

 Fueled by huge money from Wall Street special interests, shady right-wing attack groups will do everything they can to defeat Maria.  But these special interests can’t beat us if we stand together.

Please click here to contribute now.

 Thanks for helping Maria stand up to Wall Street.

– Chris

 Chris Gregorich
 Campaign Manager
 Friends of Maria

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Further to the right on immigratio​n


Democrats

It seems the longer the GOP race drags on, the more extreme the candidates get.

In fact, at a debate last week Mitt Romney placed himself further to the right on immigration than any presidential candidate in recent history.

He said he would deport all undocumented immigrants — including grandparents and families who have been in the United States for over 25 years, belong to local churches, pay their taxes, and in some cases have even defended our country in the military.

I’m sure it won’t be the first or last time the GOP candidates use immigration and Hispanic families as political props to score points with the far-right base.

That’s why we need to stand up and fight back every time they do. Don’t forget, we’re all in this together — and we prosper when we stand united.

Join us and say you’ll stand up for Hispanic families in this election and fight for sensible immigration reform.

The thing that makes Mitt’s statement even more troubling is that a mere five years ago — when the politics of immigration among GOP voters were quite different from today — he was singing a different tune, saying that the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country “are not going to be rounded up and box-carred out.”

In an interview yesterday he was reminded of his old talking points, but rather than attempting to moderate his stance, he actually doubled down on his current position.

So why the change of heart? It’s simple, according to Mitt’s 2008 Iowa State Director, Doug Gross. Gross said that while campaigning in Iowa before the caucuses, Mitt began to realize the so-called “political implications” of his stance and switched his position as a result.

“Political implications” shouldn’t be the determining factor in the lives of 11 million people.

But now Newt Gingrich — on the heels of being accused by the right of being compassionate — came out this week in support of a new South Carolina law, similar to the one passed in Arizona, that allows police to demand the immigration status of anyone they pull over.

And Rick Perry recently trotted out the endorsement of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-titled “America’s toughest sheriff,” who’s been known to organize armed, volunteer posses in his county to round up undocumented immigrants to deport.

As the primaries get closer, there’s no way of knowing where the GOP candidates will stop in trying to out-extreme each other when it comes to illegal immigration.

But I can tell you this: We’re going to fight back every time one of them sells out Hispanic families to try to improve their standing in the polls.

Join us today:

http://my.democrats.org/Stand-up-for-Hispanic-Families

Thanks,

Juan

Juan Sepulveda
Senior Advisor for Hispanic Affairs
Democratic National Committee