Tag Archives: Richard Trumka

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Just Dumb


By ThinkProgress War Room

Sequester: “A Fancy Word for a Dumb Idea”

That’s what the President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, called the sequester — and he’s absolutely right.

Republicans have once again shown that they’ll do almost anything to protect the wealthy and special interests like Big Oil — no matter the cost to the rest of us and to the economy. This time, they have allowed devastating across-the-board spending cuts to kick in.

Just yesterday, the Senate voted on a balanced plan to replace this year’s indiscriminate cuts with a mix of targeted cuts and new revenues from ending loopholes for the very wealthiest Americans and corporate special interests. This plan got 52 votes and should have passed but Republicans blocked it by insisting on a 60-vote margin.

It’s clear that Republicans would rather impose painful spending cuts that will hurt the economy and millions of Americans than end a single tax loophole for the wealthy and special interests like Big Oil and Wall Street.

As a reminder, here’s a list of things Republicans apparently prefer to happen instead of eliminating wasteful giveaways in the tax code:

  • 70,000 kids will get kicked off of Head Start
  • 10,000 teacher jobs will be at risk
  • 7,200 special education teachers, aides, and staff could be cut
  • Nearly 140,000 fewer children will receive life-saving vaccinations
  • Up to 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children could go untreated
  • 2,100 fewer food inspections will take place
  • Tax returns and refunds will be delayed
  • The long-term unemployed will see their benefits cut by about 10 percent
  • Nearly a billion dollars in loans to small businesses cut
  • It could take several hours to get through security at the airport
  • More than 100 airports might have to simply close down
  • Our military leaders have said it would weaken our national security
  • The Secretary of Homeland Security said the cuts will make it harder to protect the country from a terror attack and that the border will be less secure

Not all these things will happen overnight, but they will happen. And the longer the sequester goes on, the worse things will get. Worse yet, unless a permanent replacement is agreed to, these painful and damaging cuts will continue for nine years.

BOTTOM LINE: Instead of standing by and watching as our economy and millions of Americans are hurt by these irresponsible and devastating cuts, Republicans need to agree to reduce our deficit with the kind of responsible, balanced approach that three-quarters of Americans prefer. Their reckless behavior got us into this mess in 2011 and now it’s time for them to come back to the table and help get us out of it before the worst impacts of these indiscriminate cuts happen.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Draft State Department report says the Keystone XL pipeline is environmentally sound.

How sequester cuts to the IRS might raise the deficit.

President Obama: marriage equality should be the law of the land.

Happy 100th Birthday, Big Oil tax breaks!

VIDEO: The GOP constantly pretends we haven’t already cut trillions in spending.

Sean Hannity launches Islamophobic attack on Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN).

Austerity fail: European unemployment hits record high, again.

Another day, another extreme anti-abortion bill enacted by the GOP.

Don’t worry, the next manufactured crisis is just over three weeks away!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Palermo Workers Union


This past weekend we hit the three month mark since we began our strike for a safer workplace and voice on the job at Palermo’s Pizza.I’m not going to lie. It has been hard, at times, to keep the strike going over the past three months. But the recent actions outside more than 50 Costco stores all over the country and the thousands of emails and calls that have been generated to Costco have re-energized us.We can win this with your help. To say thank you and to keep your energized for the fight ahead, we wanted to share this new video from one of the Costco actions some of us attended recently.

Watch the video and share it with your friends here.

Your support forced Palermo’s CEO Giacomo Fallucca to meet with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumkalast Friday to finally begin a dialogue to resolve this issue for workers and Palermo’s customers.

But Fallucca is still refusing to meet with us, reinstate fired workers or recognize our union.

Fallucca and Palermo’s representatives claim they create a family atmosphere in the workplace. I’m not sure about you, but firing long-term employees for organizing to improve their workplace and then refusing to meet with them isn’t what I’d call a family atmosphere.

Let’s show Fallucca what people working together for justice can really do. Let’s keep the pressure up.

Click here now to watch and share our new video:

http://go.aflcio.org/palermosvideo

In Solidarity,

Orlando Sosa
Organizing Committee of the Palermo Workers Union

P.S. Can you help us keep the strike going by contributing $3 or more to our strike fund? Click here to donate online now.
~ Recent Post

AFL – CIO … Beyond Wisconsin


A year and a half ago, Gov. Scott Walker and his friends in the Senate forced through an extremist anti-worker agenda that divided the state.

Last night, Wisconsin took back its Senate. While Gov. Walker remains in office after being only the third governor in American history subjected to the humiliation of a recall, his divisive agenda has been stopped cold.

Though Walker was shielded with a flood of secret corporate cash, Wisconsin made its voice heard. While we came closer to recalling Walker than many expected, we ended up coming just short.

The work we did together was about much more than just this one election.

We laid the groundwork for a powerful movement to push back against Walker-style anti-working family policies everywhere. The energy and momentum in Wisconsin have inspired working people from all walks of life to stand together in solidarity in unprecedented ways.

We cannot stop now. Click here to sign our solidarity pledge to commit to building on the momentum working people created in Wisconsin and beyond to protect good jobs, working families and workplace rights.

Wisconsin is a small piece of a broader global movement of people pushing back on the corporate-driven policies that have favored the super-rich at the expense of good jobs, education and the health of our communities.

And we are winning. We’ve seen it in Tunisia, Yemen and other countries where the Arab Spring has taken hold; in Greece and France, where voters rejected the failed, Draconian policies of austerity; and here in the United States, where members of the Occupy movement continue to shine a much-needed light on Wall Street greed and ballooning economic inequality.

Working people are making history every day through their courage and resolve to work together for a better world. For you, it may have begun with Wisconsin, but it should not stop there.

Click here to sign our pledge of solidarity to say you will continue to stand with other working people to protect good jobs, working families and workplace rights.

Thank you for everything you have done and will continue to do for working families.

In Solidarity,

Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Want to be the first to hear about our exciting new campaigns planned for the summer? Sign our solidarity pledge now so you can be one of the first to receive updates.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the so-called JOBS Act bill … AFL – CIO has the facts


Urgent: Congress is rushing to deregulate Wall Street—pushing a cynically named “JOBS Act.” This bill could pass as early as Monday.

Senate Democrats, including Jack Reed, Carl Levin and Mary Landrieu, have offered the “INVEST in America Act” to amend the “JOBS Act” and make it less harmful. We need to support these amendments while making it clear that working families oppose the so-called JOBS Act bill.

Please urge your senators to vote FOR the “INVEST in America Act” to make the JOBS Act less harmful to workers and consumers—and AGAINST the cynically named “;JOBS Act” bill.

America needs jobs. Yet Congress has not yet passed basic legislation like a measure to reauthorize surface transportation programs, which would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Instead, next week Congress once again will look to deregulate Wall Street.

Workers’ retirement savings will be at greater risk of fraud and speculation if securities market deregulation once again is railroaded through Congress. Our economy will be at risk from the folly of policymakers promoting financial bubbles and ignoring the needs of the real economy.

The AFL-CIO calls on Congress to set aside the politics of the 1%, the old game of special favors for Wall Street, and turn to the business of real job creation.

Urge your senators to vote FOR the “INVEST in America Act,” which will amend the JOBS Act to make it less harmful to workers and consumers—and AGAINST the cynically named “JOBS Act” bill.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the AFL-CIO’s General Board voted unanimously to endorse … Barack Obama


  
We’re rolling up our sleeves and getting to work for working families. Will you join us?Pledge to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and other working family candidates.
   

This afternoon, the AFL-CIO’s General Board voted unanimously to endorse President Obama for re-election.

For many reasons, we are pledging to work with President Obama throughout the elections and in a second term. The bottom line is this: As president, Barack Obama has placed his faith in America’s working men and women to lead our country to economic recovery and our full potential. So we’re putting our faith in him.

Please join us in pledging to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and other working family candidates.

Although the labor movement has sometimes differed with the president and often pushed his administration to do more—and do it faster—we have never doubted his commitment to a strong future for working families. With our endorsement today, we affirm our faith in the president. We pledge to work with him through the election and his second term to restore fairness, security and shared prosperity.

Brothers and sisters, the coming election is a choice about values. President Obama honors the values of hard work, mutual respect and of solving problems together—not every person for himself or herself. Each of the Republican presidential candidates, on the other hand, has pledged to uphold the special privileges of Wall Street and the 1%—privileges that have produced historic economic inequality and drowned out the voices of working people in America.

Please join us in pledging to get to work for working people by supporting President Obama and all working family candidates.

Working people are the Davids standing up to Goliath in today’s politics. Our strength is in our numbers, our values and plain, hard work. When we come together, we are formidable. And for this election, we are coming together like never before.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Here are some key reasons we support the president’s re-election:

  1. He took America from the brink of a second Great Depression by pressing Congress to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which saved or created 3.6 million jobs.
     
  2. He championed comprehensive health insurance reform, which—while far from perfect—set the nation on a path toward the health security that had eluded our country for nearly 100 years.
     
  3. He insisted upon Wall Street reform—passed over the objection of almost every Republican. Now, we can finally begin to reverse decades of financial deregulation that put our entire economy at risk.

For these reasons—and many more—President Obama has earned the support of working people for a second term. We hope you’ll join us today in pledging to support his re-election. You can read more about why we’re supporting the president here.