A response to a member of an AFL-CIO affiliated union...
We are fighting every day for what is right. Provable? What I say is so blatant it embarrasses Richard Trumka to even think about the plight of workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry... I have all kinds of documentation. I will be happy to make a presentation to the AFL-CIO Executive Board any time... I speak to union locals all over the Midwest about the plight of casino workers. Beginning on Labor Day 2011 I will be touring through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania talking about the plight of casino workers in the Indian Gaming Industry and how our plight is a symptom of the problems in the Democratic Party and the labor movement and the problems we are fighting to solve that will benefit the entire working class--- and why we need to dump Obama. Some people in the labor movement whose members have been tossed a few scraps and bones from Obama don't like to hear me say this; but, consider our position... we are getting nothing but shit. And since you haven't itemized one single thing you have gotten out of Obama and the Democratic Party I assume you and your members have gotten a pile of shit, too.
Furthermore, if you doubt anything I say, it is up to you to prove me wrong. I have a lot of things posted on my blogs about the plight of casino workers and the betrayal of the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO... you see, I don't need lectures about what to do or how to do it; the very fact that people from all over read what I post on here, on my blogs, listen to what I say in union halls and church basements and sitting in living rooms and around kitchen tables and more and more people are listening. And the more people listen the greater the embarrassment becomes for the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party.
Here are the facts; what more do I need to prove?
Two million American workers are employed in the Indian Gaming Industry at over 350 casinos, hotels/motels, convention centers, restaurants and theme parks working in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws because the Democratic Party, with the full knowledge and complicity of the AFL-CIO whose many affiliates have their pension funds invested in these casinos--- notably the Teamsters (CTW) and the Teacher Union Pension Funds and the Building Trades Unions have worked out sweetheart agreements with these mobsters for their members to be employed constructing these casinos BUT their members aren't even protected by written contracts and business managers, business agents and union stewards are not even allowed on these job sites which are not even policed by OSHA or any of its state bodies where state building and fire inspectors are not permitted on the construction sites. By the way, the United States Department of Labor refuses to even enforce things so basic as wages and hours.
Employers have been responsible for creating some terrible working conditions in this country but never before has a political party been so involved in seeing to it that government is used to actually create these conditions as is the case with the Indian Gaming Industry that was established through "Compacts" intentionally drafted and designed to create this most horrendous situation... try working in one of these loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos for a few months and then let's see if you doubt what I am telling you.
You wouldn't send your children to work at a Burger King or McDonalds under these conditions and yet the Democratic Party with full complicity of the AFL-CIO sends two-million Americans to work under these conditions: Why? Because the Democratic Party is reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from these casino managements every election cycle.
Certainly you understand that workers without a voice at work and without any rights at work have no rights in the communities they live in because the first time they open their mouths about what is going on they get fired.
Workers employed in this Indian Gaming Industry are forced to sign statements as a condition of their employment that they understand they will be fired if they participate in any union organizing activity... blatantly illegal in any other industry here in the United States... and against all international labor covenants and standards.
Richard Trumka is worried about the plight of workers in China but he has lifted a finger or opened his big, fat mouth about the plight of casino workers forced to work in this great bastion of democracy under these conditions.
Some politicians and "labor leaders" complain that nothing is being done about this situation because of the manner I have raised this issue--- well, I ask them why they allowed this to develop in the first place then they wouldn't have to listen to me--- and, there is nothing stopping Richard Trumka from insisting that these "Compacts" be opened to include full protections extended to all other workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry.
November 17 2010
The labor movement has persuasively argued that the election's mandate was to create jobs and resolve the economic mess in the interests of working people. The election's mandate was not to make that mess worse. And yet, this is precisely what the Republican policies of draconian spending cuts would do. Nothing could be more harmful.
What is delaying an economic recovery is not too much spending and a growing deficit, but not enough federal spending.
The economy is stalled and spending is down. Consumers are up to their ears in debt and are understandably reluctant to use scarce dollars to buy things like refrigerators, cars, houses, or home improvements. And don't hold your breath waiting for the capitalist class, sitting on roughly two trillion dollars - yes, $2,000,000,000 - to invest its surplus cash in new hiring and productive capacity.
The crisis gripping the country and world is one of demand insufficiency. Thus to cut government spending for jobs, infrastructure, green technology, public education, and aid to local governments in these circumstances is like throwing fuel on a fire - things will get worse, maybe much worse, before they get better.
Nevertheless, the Republican right, if it has its way, is determined to take a meat axe to people's programs at the federal, state and local level. Government, it is said, has to live within its means like everyone else does.
But the truth is just the opposite. For the time being government has to live, not within, but beyond its means. Its immediate imperative is to put dollars in the hands of people who will spend those dollars, namely working and poor people, people of color, youth, and seniors. Nothing could be worse than for the government to tighten its belt in a period when the economy is slumping, unemployment is stuck in the double-digit range, investment in new plants and equipment is meager, and consumer demand is low.
That would be economic suicide. It could turn the warnings of a "double dip" of the economy into a reality.
The millions who went to the polls two weeks ago didn't cast their vote for policies that will drive the economy further downward.
Many were influenced by the toxic environment that was engineered by the right-wing media and corporations and, sorry to say, abetted by the inadequate responses of the Democratic Party to an avalanche of misinformation, demagogy and lies. But it is still a good bet that for millions change looks like a job at a livable wage, a moratorium on mortgage payments, an extension of unemployment insurance, tax breaks for everybody but the richest families and corporations, stiffer regulations on banks and bankers' pay, an expansion of public infrastructure projects, a health care plan that is affordable, universal and easy to understand, well-funded public schools, and retirement security.
Ask Americans feeling the pinch of this economic crisis if their priority - if they have to choose - is the list above or a balanced budget.
I strongly suspect it is the former, not the latter.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt drank the Kool-Aid of austerity in 1937 and as a result a steep price had to be paid - the economic recovery that was under way lost its steam, hardship grew, and the president and the New Dealers in Congress took a hit in the 1938 elections. Hopefully, this mistake will not be repeated today, because the results will be much the same, including in 2012.
The Republican right won a major victory in this month's midterm elections, but the Democrats and people's movement retain important bases of power.
2010 is not 1994. Obama is not Bill Clinton, who was quick to declare the "era of big government is over." The Senate remains in Democratic hands. The Progressive Caucus in the House is bigger and battle-tested. The coalition opposing the right is more united and more politically attuned. And the people reeling under the weight of a protracted downturn want relief first of all.
The economic policies of the Republican right are also full of contradictions and unsustainable.
The next two years are going to be a dogfight on the ground and in the corridors of political power. And, if the recent elections taught us anything it is that the battle over ideas cannot be underestimated. Right-wing extremism learned this lesson years ago. Our side of the class struggle has to learn and master it now.
To be successful everyone who desires a way out of the current crisis has to become a voice for reason, decency, fairness and economic justice. Simple logic tells us, and we should say it loud and clear: We were not at the switch when the economy unraveled, but we know who was - high finance and the same Republican voices who are now insisting that the government rein in spending for jobs and people's needs and walk away from a wounded and bleeding economy.
Photo: Budget cuts protest at San Francisco State University last year.
What is delaying an economic recovery is not too much spending and a growing deficit, but not enough federal spending.
The economy is stalled and spending is down. Consumers are up to their ears in debt and are understandably reluctant to use scarce dollars to buy things like refrigerators, cars, houses, or home improvements. And don't hold your breath waiting for the capitalist class, sitting on roughly two trillion dollars - yes, $2,000,000,000 - to invest its surplus cash in new hiring and productive capacity.
The crisis gripping the country and world is one of demand insufficiency. Thus to cut government spending for jobs, infrastructure, green technology, public education, and aid to local governments in these circumstances is like throwing fuel on a fire - things will get worse, maybe much worse, before they get better.
Nevertheless, the Republican right, if it has its way, is determined to take a meat axe to people's programs at the federal, state and local level. Government, it is said, has to live within its means like everyone else does.
But the truth is just the opposite. For the time being government has to live, not within, but beyond its means. Its immediate imperative is to put dollars in the hands of people who will spend those dollars, namely working and poor people, people of color, youth, and seniors. Nothing could be worse than for the government to tighten its belt in a period when the economy is slumping, unemployment is stuck in the double-digit range, investment in new plants and equipment is meager, and consumer demand is low.
That would be economic suicide. It could turn the warnings of a "double dip" of the economy into a reality.
The millions who went to the polls two weeks ago didn't cast their vote for policies that will drive the economy further downward.
Many were influenced by the toxic environment that was engineered by the right-wing media and corporations and, sorry to say, abetted by the inadequate responses of the Democratic Party to an avalanche of misinformation, demagogy and lies. But it is still a good bet that for millions change looks like a job at a livable wage, a moratorium on mortgage payments, an extension of unemployment insurance, tax breaks for everybody but the richest families and corporations, stiffer regulations on banks and bankers' pay, an expansion of public infrastructure projects, a health care plan that is affordable, universal and easy to understand, well-funded public schools, and retirement security.
Ask Americans feeling the pinch of this economic crisis if their priority - if they have to choose - is the list above or a balanced budget.
I strongly suspect it is the former, not the latter.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt drank the Kool-Aid of austerity in 1937 and as a result a steep price had to be paid - the economic recovery that was under way lost its steam, hardship grew, and the president and the New Dealers in Congress took a hit in the 1938 elections. Hopefully, this mistake will not be repeated today, because the results will be much the same, including in 2012.
The Republican right won a major victory in this month's midterm elections, but the Democrats and people's movement retain important bases of power.
2010 is not 1994. Obama is not Bill Clinton, who was quick to declare the "era of big government is over." The Senate remains in Democratic hands. The Progressive Caucus in the House is bigger and battle-tested. The coalition opposing the right is more united and more politically attuned. And the people reeling under the weight of a protracted downturn want relief first of all.
The economic policies of the Republican right are also full of contradictions and unsustainable.
The next two years are going to be a dogfight on the ground and in the corridors of political power. And, if the recent elections taught us anything it is that the battle over ideas cannot be underestimated. Right-wing extremism learned this lesson years ago. Our side of the class struggle has to learn and master it now.
To be successful everyone who desires a way out of the current crisis has to become a voice for reason, decency, fairness and economic justice. Simple logic tells us, and we should say it loud and clear: We were not at the switch when the economy unraveled, but we know who was - high finance and the same Republican voices who are now insisting that the government rein in spending for jobs and people's needs and walk away from a wounded and bleeding economy.
Photo: Budget cuts protest at San Francisco State University last year.
