Barack Obama Deals Crippling Blow to Unions, Black Economic Self-Help
This article by Bruce Dixon is re-posted from Black Agenda Report.
Black people love to talk about economic self-help, about what old Elijah Muhammad used to call “doing for self.” What we don’t look at most of the time, is what collective economic self-help actually looks like in the real world. Mostly, it does not look like individual entrepreneurship, everybody starting their own small business.
In the real world, a great portion of the things we use and consume every day from the electric power, transport and communications grids, along with the appliances, vehicles and devices used thereon are produced, delivered and utilized by and through organizations with many hundreds or many thousands of employees. Think about the cable, mass transit and highway systems, the internet and the health care industry. Think government. Think Wal-Mart and McDonalds and you’ll be thinking about the places where millions of poor people work. Any black conversation about collective economic self-help that ignores the existing workforce in existing workplaces is a pretend conversation.
In the real world, the most successful collective economic self-help organizations of the last hundred and fifty years have been labor unions. A single 3 day strike by the black led New York City transit workers in 2005 protected the homes, the medical care, retirement security, college educations and living standards of more black families than the half-dozen wealthiest black Americans – that would be Oprah, Puffy, Bob Johnson, Tiger Woods, Bill Cosby and some real estate guy have employed or helped in their entire careers.
In the real world, working people, especially black and brown working people, are eager to help themselves, and the most potent way to do that has been to form and join unions. When offered the chance, black women are the most likely joiners, followed in order by black men, Latino women and men, and finally by white women and men. Why then, has US private sector union membership dipped to around 6% of the workforce? It’s not because unions were outmoded or greedy or not in step with the times. It’s because increasing corporate domination of US political life has resulted in laws and court decisions which have made most strikes illegal, collective bargaining extremely difficult, and organizing unions in the first place nearly impossible. It’s long been illegal, for instance, to fire workers suspected of union activity, but the fines are so small and long delayed that employers routinely violate the law and pay the fines as an inconsequential cost of doing business.
This week President Obama betrayed the collective economic interest of black and working people by signing into law new restrictions on the formation of unions. From now on bosses in many sectors can file anti-union lawsuits and depose under oath workers who sign union cards. Employers can add unpaid ghosts and no-show workers to eligibility lists to prevent union drives from getting a majority of eligible signatures. The same law also makes it easier for corporations to dismiss union recognition and contracts by changing their ownership.
This was no compromise forced upon the president by unreasonable Republicans. This was the unprovoked and naked surrender of our rights to economic self-help, our rights to struggle for a living wage, for dignity and security for all our families by a Trojan Horse black president elected with black and union support, but governing on behalf of his real masters, the lords of capital.
Grand Rapids IWW to host May Day fundraiser at Bartertown
On Monday, February 27 the Grand Rapids branch of the IWW will host a fundraising event at the only worker run business in town, Bartertown Diner.
The event is a fundraiser for the IWW in order to cover costs of hosting their annual May Day celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in the southeast part of Grand Rapids.
According to the IWW blog, “For the last 2 years the closest Saturday to May 1st MLK Park has been reserved for a community celebration. Hundreds of people from the community have come to the park for food, entertainment, and resources to organize for a better Grand Rapids and society. This year the celebration will take place April 28th at Martin Luther King Jr. Park from 12 noon to 8 pm. There will be a diverse group of acts from solo to rap to rock. There will continue to be a community potluck from 12-2 and food provided by Food Not Bombs and Bartertown Diner. This year will also see another Really, Really Free Market at the park where people can give and take items at no cost. Money from the benefit dinner will go to securing the park, insurance, and a sound system for the celebration.”
The benefit includes a special three-course meal prepared by the Bartertown Chefs with the food will be served by members of the IWW.
3rd Annual May Day Benefit Dinner
Monday, February 27
7:00 – 9:00PM
Bartertown Diner & Roc’s Cakes
6 Jefferson Avenue in Grand Rapids
Tickets are $25
The Ford Airport, Dick DeVos and global sustainability
Earlier today MLive reported that Dick DeVos addressed an audience of 80 businessmen, some with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and some with the Regional Air Alliance of West Michigan.
The article essentially states that DeVos was calling for more regional businesses to utilize the Ford International Airport. The article cites DeVos who claims that there is no reason for regional business people to use any other airport, because the Ford airport is the most cost effect.
The MLive reporter did not verify such claims made by DeVos and the only other person cited in the story was Joseph Tomaselli, who chairs Ford Airport’s Board. Interestingly enough, Tomaselli is the CEO of the Amway Grand Hotel, one of the DeVos owned hotels in Grand Rapids and a member of the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Another example of the inter-locking systems of power in this city.
Dick DeVos is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Regional Air Alliance of West Michigan, which also has representatives from OXFORD Partners, Meijer, Treystar Group and Passageways Travel joining DeVos on the board.
In addition, there are numerous private and public entities listed as members and supporters of the Air Alliance, such as Amway, Autocam, Gentex, Herman Miller, Metro Health, Rockford Construction and another DeVos owned entity The Windquest Group. Several area universities are also members along with the Grand Rapids Press. This begs the question as to why a news agency would be a member or supporter of an organization whose main goal is to get more people to travel by plane from the Ford International Airport. The Grand Rapids Press membership in the Regional Air Alliance of West Michigan also calls into question the credibility of their reporting on the Alliance and area air travel in general.
Beyond the incestuous nature of the power brokers in this story, the other issue not addressed by the reporter was the question of ecological sustainability. DeVos and his business network often makes the claim that they practice environmental sustainability. If this is truly the case, how does increased air travel fit into the notion of sustainability?
The British journalist and environmental writer George Monbiot in his important book Heat: How we can stop the planet burning, devotes a whole chapter on the ecological costs of air travel. Monbiot states:
There are two reasons why flying dwarfs any other environmental impact a single person can exert. The first is the distance it permits us to cover. According to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, the carbon emissions per passenger mile “for a fully loaded cruising airliner are comparable to a passenger car carrying three or four people”. In other words, they are about half those, per person, of a car containing the average loading of 1.56 people. But while the mean distance travelled by car in the UK is 9,200 miles per year, in a plane we can beat that in one day. On a return flight from London to New York, every passenger produces roughly 1.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide: the very quantity we will each be entitled to emit in a year once the necessary cut in emissions has been made.
The second reason is that the climate impact of aeroplanes is not confined to the carbon they produce. They release several different kinds of gases and particles. Some of them cool the planet, others warm it. In the upper tropo-sphere, where most large planes fly, hot, wet air from the jet engine exhaust mixes with cold air. As the moisture condenses, it can form “contrails”, which in turn appear to give rise to cirrus clouds – those high wispy formations of ice crystals sometimes known as “horsetails”. While they reflect some of the sun’s heat back into the space, they also trap heat in the atmosphere, especially at night; the heat trapping seems to be the stronger effect. The overall impact, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is a warming effect 2.7 times that of the carbon dioxide alone.
In addition to the environmental costs of air travel, it is important to keep in mind the primary reasons for air travel and those costs to the environment. The number sector of society that travels is the business community, which more often than not are traveling to do business deals that will further deplete resources, create a larger gap between the 1% and the 99% and contribute to global warming.
When Dick DeVos and his circle of business aren’t traveling to make deals that will land them more money they are flying long distances to vacation at exotic locations. For DeVos, this is not done on regular commercial airplanes, he flies on private planes owned and operated by the DeVos Family.
Victories and Losses in the Killer Coke campaign
Over the past decade there has been an international campaign to hold the Coca Cola Company accountable for its complicity in the murder of union organizers in Colombia.
This campaign has included unions from all around the world, student groups, environmentalists and religious groups, all of which opposed Coca Cola’s dismal human rights and environmental record.
There have been some recent victories that are worth mentioning in this campaign. First, a Killer Coke supporter and union member found out that Coca Cola had given a $10,000 donation to the United Farm Workers. Members of the Killer Coke campaign contact the UFW and after sharing information about their work and the anti-worker practices of Coca Cola, the UFW terminated their relationship with the multinational beverage company and removed any references to Coca Cola from their website.
Second, after several years of organizing on campus, a student group in Vermont finally got the University of Vermont to terminate its 10-year contract with Coca Cola. The student group worked hard to educate and mobilize students and faculty to exposed Coca Cola’s human rights and environmental record. This was no small feat and it results in Coca Cola losing an estimate 1.1 million bottles of their beverages not being consumed on campus. The student group used many of the great educational resources available through the Killer Coke Campaign, like the one here on the right.
Sadly, there continues to be human rights abuses against union organizers in Colombia. “On January 26, in Barranquilla, reports indicate that Ricardo Ramon Paublot Gomez, a leader from Sinaltrainal, the National Union of Food Workers, who was employed by the National Industry of Sodas-Industria Nacional de Gaseosas S.A. (Coca-Cola) was murdered by gunfire.”
Sinaltrainal is the union that represents Coca Cola workers in Colombia and has been the target of numerous assassinations over the years. For decades the Coke union in Colombia has been fighting against unfair labor practices and repression by Coca Cola, the Colombian military and death squads, which has resulted in the numerous union worker deaths.
This most recent murder prompted AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka to send a letter to President Obama urging him to postpone the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia that was signed last fall. Trumka writes, “I am both alarmed and outraged by these murders, especially as they have taken place in such quick succession. I fear that the passage of the Colombia FTA has now given a green light to the enemies of democratic labor unions in Colombia to launch a new wave of anti-union violence, just as happened in Guatemala after the signing of DR-CAFTA.”
DeVos Family funds another new “development” entity coming to West MI
Yesterday, MLive reporter Jim Harger posted a story about the Detroit-based Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) announcement that they were opening up a branch office in Grand Rapids.
This brief article was a “happy piece” about the ULI and the organization’s thoughts on moving to Grand Rapids. One of their representatives said, “The resurgence of downtown Grand Rapids, the exciting redevelopment of downtown Benton Harbor, the Lansing riverfront redevelopment and the revitalization of downtowns in Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Holland are just a few examples of the transformative activities in our region.”
According to the Urban Land Institute website, “the 30,000 members worldwide represent the entire spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines, working in private enterprises and public service. As the pre-eminent, multidisciplinary real estate forum, ULI facilitates the open exchange of ideas, information and experience among local, national and international industry leaders and policy makers dedicated to creating better places.”
Such a statement requires one to ask who will be benefiting from these “better spaces.”
The Urban Land Institute is essentially made up of real estate professionals seeking to invest in urban centers around the world. Their Board of Directors is made up of sme of the most powerful real estate people/companies in the world. According to ULI they focus on 5 areas of urban development:
- Resort and residential
- Retail and destination development
- Office and industrial development
- Transportation and parking
- Real estate finance and capital markets
The Urban Land Institute also has a foundation, which channels money into projects that primarily benefit real estate development and has partnerships with other foundations and financial entities such as Bank of America.
Bank of America is also a sponsor of the Urban Land Institute, along with many other major economic players in the country and the DeVos Family, which is listed as a Gold Sponsor.
The DeVos Family’s financial support of ULI makes complete sense, especially since they own a tremendous amount of downtown Grand Rapids property, with new investments like the purchasing of the old Morton House apartments building, which is slated to be another hotel. The Morton House did provide low income housing to people in Grand Rapids for years, but the DeVos purchase forced those people to relocate.
It also makes sense for the DeVos Family to financially support a non-profit entity like the Urban Land Institute, which can provide the research and advocacy to bolster other land deals in Grand Rapids down the road. Such an entity fits in with the strategic scheme of Rick DeVos and his family funded project known as ArtPrize.
The Urban Land Institute recently endorsed the transfer of state taxpayer funds to remove buildings on the south end of downtown Grand Rapids to make way for the new “Urban Market” that is now underway. The Urban Market is a project spearheaded by Grand Action, a Dick DeVos-founded entity that was behind the Van Andel Arena construction and other downtown development projects.
Unfortunately, the readers of MLive would not as easily connect the dots on the DeVos/Urban Land Institute relationship, since their article did not bother to investigate the real function of this real estate front group.
EXPOSED: The 19 Public Corporations Funding The Climate Denier Think Tank Heartland Institute
This article is re-posted from Think Progress.
One in a series of posts about the Heartland Institute’s inner workings, from internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green. Heartland has issued a press release claiming that some of these documents were sent to an outsider under false pretenses and that one document in the set is a fake, but the AP independently verified their contents.
Internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green reveal that the climate-denial think tank Heartland Institute received funding from at least 19 publicly traded corporations in 2010 and 2011. The companies’ combined contributions exceeded $1.3 million for an array of projects. As Think Progress Green reported on Tuesday, the Heartland Institute’s projects included a secret plan to teach children that climate change is a hoax.
The companies backing the Heartland Institute:
Some companies have issued statements about their contributions, but none have committed to ending their support for the Heartland Institute.
“Diageo provided a small contribution (nearly two years ago) to Heartland Institute – related to an excise tax issue,” a spokesperson said. “We vigorously oppose climate skepticism and our actions are proof of this. We will be reviewing any further association with this organization.”
While disavowing climate denial, Microsoft has indicated no intention to stop its in-kind tax-deductible contributions to the think tank.
“GSK absolutely does not endorse or support the Heartland Institute’s views on the environment and climate change,” a Glaxo Smith Kline spokesperson said. “We have in the past provided a small amount of funding to support the Institute’s healthcare newsletter and a meeting.”
Asked about the contributions, General Motors defended the Heartland Institute as “careful and considerate,” even though the radical think tank has accused “Government Motors” of “corporate welfare-sucking” and told people to “never again buy a GM car or truck.” Forecast The Facts has established a petition to GM asking them to stop funding climate denial.
US Needs to ‘Back Away from Kill Your Way To Peace’
Since 9/11 much of US policy in the Middle East has been based on indiscriminate killing of civilians believed to be either terrorists or collaborators with terrorists.
This policy has involved targeted assassinations and the use of military drones that have resulted in thousands of deaths in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Syria.
The news source Russia Times did an interview with Jeremy Scahill based on a recent article he wrote for The Nation magazine. In this 15 minute interview Scahill talks about the US military drone strikes and the idea that the Obama administration has “normalized assassination.”
Renter Rights and Foreclosure Fights event 2/25 in Grand Rapids
In recent years millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure as the financial sector engaged in massive fraud and preyed on working families.
The Obama administration just sided with the mortgage industry by not holding them accountable for their roll in deceiving the public in order to increase their profits.
This Saturday, the Bloom Collective will host a discussion entitled Renters Rights and Foreclosure Fights to let people know what has been happening around these issues in West Michigan.
According to their Facebook event, the Bloom Collective promises “a lively discussion about renter rights, the housing foreclosure crisis and some creative ways that people are resisting being evicted and abused by landlords around the country. We have invited guests who work on these issues, but we welcome all ideas and perspectives on how to stand up for everyone’s right to descent housing.”
This is a potluck event where people are invited to bring a dish to pass. The event is free and open to the public.
Renters Rights and Foreclosure Fights
Saturday, February 25
Noon – 2:00PM
Bloom Collective
671 Davis NW – Lower Level of the Steepletown Center
President Obama’s proposed budget and LGBT security
Earlier this week the White House announced some of its 2013 budget proposals that would provide “Security to the LGBT Community.”
In his address to Congress, President Obama made the following statement about economic security, “we are in a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get there.”
Such sentiments seem rather shallow from an administration that continued the Wall Street Bailout, passed a health care plan that will channel more public money into the private health care system, continued Bush tax policies that benefit the rich, implemented several foreign trade policies that will benefit corporations and not working people, maintained massive amounts of corporate welfare and increased the annual US military budget for the third year in a row.
The White House statement went on to say, “To construct an economy that is built to last while providing opportunity and security for the LGBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS, the 2013 Budget will:
Strengthen Anti-Discrimination Enforcement, Support Federal Employee Domestic Partner Benefits, Combat Hate Crimes, Support Equal Rights for Hospital Visitation, Support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and Expand Investments in Prevention, Care, and Research, Expand the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, Support Housing Assistance for People Living with HIV/AIDS, Combat Violence and the Bullying of Children and Support the President’s Ambitious Goals to Address Global AIDS.
On first glance this list seems fairly progressive, but what are the real benefits of such proposals for the LGBT community?
The administration says it will support federal employee domestic partner benefits, which is certainly a benefit to the federal employees who identify as LGBT. The original legislation was proposed in 2007, with an amended version in November 2011. Therefore, despite three years in the White House, domestic partner benefits for federal employees has not been made a priority by this administration. In addition, considering that this is an election year, the likelihood that this issue will become law in 2012 is next to none.
The Obama administration says it will support equal rights for hospital visitation in this new announcement, but that is a policy that already exists. In November of 2010, “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued new rules for Medicare-and Medicaid-participating hospitals that protect patients’ right to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay, including a visitor who is a same-sex domestic partner.” Thus, the inclusion of this policy in the recent White House statement is a bit misleading since the right already exists.
On the matter of increasing funding for hate crimes prosecution, many see this as a commitment of support for the LGBT community. However, the hate crimes legislation has been coming under scrutiny for several years now from the more grassroots and radical sectors of the LGBT community. Groups like FIERCE, Queers for Economic Justice, Pink and Black and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project all argue that hate crimes legislation not only does not act as a deterrent, hate crimes legislation channels more public money into the criminal justice system, a system that these groups argue engage in systemic abuse of those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer. These claims are further substantiated in two excellent books that have been published in the passed year, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States and Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law.
The other main issue addressed by the Obama administration that would “support” the LGBT community was funding for HIV/AIDS. The administration states it will increase funding for HIV/AIDS projects, both domestically and internationally. Again, on face value this seems like a positive action on part of the administration, but the fact is that the amount of money they are talking about allocating for HIV/AIDS programs both domestically and internationally are grossly inadequate. In regards to expanding the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, the administration will add $67 million to last years budget. However, when put next to the amount of money the Obama administration will provide the state of Israel this year, $3 Billion, the $67 million seems rather miniscule.
At this point I can hear rumblings of, “these proposals are better than nothing,” or “they are better than what happened under the Bush administration.” I would respond yes to both. Yes, the actions of the Obama administration to LGBT concerns are better than nothing and they are better than what the Bush administration did. However, this should not prevent those of us who care about justice and equality to be content with what the current administration is doing. Why should we set the bar so low? Why is what we want based on what the power structure in this country is willing to do?
Imagine if this administration were to write a check to the LGBT community, a check that would alleviate all economic concerns and inequalities. Imagine if there was enough funding to do real HIV/AIDS prevention work, to fund anti-bullying efforts, provide domestic partner benefits for everyone, eliminate workplace discrimination and funding that would provide adequate housing for everyone who identified as LGBT. This is what we should be fighting for. This should be the goal. This should be where we set the bar for equality and justice for the LGBT community. Let us not be content with the crumbs the Obama administration throws at the LGBT community.
During the Wall Street Bailout we all heard the politicians say, “the banks are too big to let them fail.” What if we had an ethos in this country that said, “the lives of those in the LGBT community are too important to let them endure further injustice and inequality.”
Criminalizing the poor: ACLU of Michigan tells court to strike down anti-begging laws
Yesterday, a lawyer with the ACLU of Michigan asked a federal judge to, “strike down a state law that criminalizes peaceful panhandling in all public places.”
The ACLU appeared in federal court in Grand Rapids as a follow up to a lawsuit they filed against the State of Michigan in September, a lawsuit intended to do away with arresting people who ask for money on the street.
According to a Media Release from the ACLU of Michigan:
“Anti-begging laws that punish that most vulnerable segment of our society are not only harsh, they are unconstitutional,” said Miriam Aukerman, ACLU of Michigan staff attorney. “Removing the reminders of poverty from our sight is not the answer to Michigan’s economic woes. The ACLU is not opposed to laws that protect citizens from threats, intimidation and harassment. However, jail time is a harsh price to pay for holding up a sign or simply asking for spare change.”
Grand Rapids factors heavily into this issue, since the ACLU lawsuit was filed on behalf of two men arrested in Grand Rapids for asking people on the street for money, James Speet and Ernest Sims.
Since the lawsuit has been filed, James Speet claims that the Grand Rapids Police Department has stopped him several times and harassed him because of the lawsuit. The Chief of Police from Grand Rapids responded to such allegations today in a story that appeared on MLive.
In addition to the legal advocacy that the ACLU of Michigan is providing on this issue, they recently produced a short video that provides a clear explanation on why the anti-begging laws are unconstitutional. The video also provides testimony from Ernest Sims.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 