Resolution in support of a statwide California strike on March 4, 2010. Organized Labor must join with students to halt the attacks on workers and youth.

The resolution below was passed by the Executive Board of AFSCME Local 444 at its meeting on December 3rd 2009.  This local represents the blue collar workers at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the water company serving much of the East Bay.  It hasn't gone out yet to the cc's below, as it was just voted on. When it does we will have a copy on letterhead.

I hope folks in Unions will consider moving this resolution in their own locals or Union bodies so that rather than simply supporting the students in their heroic struggle to drive back the attacks on working people, and our families, the potential power of Labor will unite with the youth and join them in a statewide strike on March 4th 2010; a day without education (or education of a different sort) and a day without workers.

Resolution in support of a statewide strike on March 4 2010

WHEREAS California public education from pre-kindergarten through college and adult ed, is facing its most serious crisis in years; with funding cuts, tuition increases, reduction of college seats available, furlough days for teachers and support staff, and layoffs of employees and outright closures of entire departments; and

WHEREAS unemployment in California has risen to 12.5% and is closer to 25% among youth and even higher among young people of color;

WHEREAS 1.6 million construction jobs have been lost since this recession began with 136,000 construction jobs lost in California this past year and 322,000 public service jobs have been lost in the last four years: and

WHEREAS more job losses are expected as stimulus money dries up; and

WHEREAS 1 in 53 housing units received a foreclosure notice in the California during the third quarter of 2009 as people are being thrown out of their homes as well as their jobs; and

WHEREAS this is occurring as trillions of dollars of taxpayer’s money has been handed to bankers and other financial institutions in the wake of the current crisis, much of it unaccounted for; and

WHEREAS thousands of students at the University of California facing 32% increases in fees and increasing privatization of education, joined striking university employees on September 24th; and

Whereas; following these events a hugely successful conference was held at UC Berkeley on October 24th attended by 800 students, workers and supporters; and

WHEREAS this conference issued a call for a statewide strike and day of action on March 4th 2010 to “Save public education” against budget cuts, fee hikes or layoffs; and

WHEREAS students have faced brutal actions by the police for being in the forefront of the struggle to save education, jobs and for calling for solidarity and joint action with workers; therefore let it be

RESOLVED that AFSCME Local 444 support the October 24th call for a statewide strike and/or day of action on March 4th 2010; and be it further

RESOLVED that AFSCME Local 444 recognizes that without united action no single group or one Union can reverse this offensive; and be it further

RESOLVED that the 1,200 AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions in the California Labor Federation representing 2.1 million union members in such crucial industries as shipping, retail, manufacturing, public service and communications have tremendous potential power; and be it further

RESOLVED that through a united mobilization of all workers and students regardless of status we can win free federally funded education at all levels, increased jobs, a halt to foreclosures and a better life for all; and be it further

RESOLVED funding for such social needs come from diverting funds from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from taxing the corporations and the rich, taxing trades in the stock market and currency trades, and not taxes on workers or the middle class. California, the third biggest oil producer in the country is the only one of the 22 major oil states that does not impose a tax on oil taken from the ground; and be it further

RESOLVED that the leadership of the California Labor Federation, the Change to Win Coalition and the international Unions so affiliated to these bodies, as well as non-affiliated Unions join the call for and participate in a statewide strike on March 4th 2010 and publicly announce such intentions; and be it finally

RESOLVED that the resources of organized Labor in California be used between now and March 4th 2010 to build support among the members of its affiliated Unions, the communities in which we live and work, and among the youth for a successful and united statewide strike against the assault on working people and our families.

Adopted by AFSCME Local 444 Executive Board 12-03-09

cc  California State Labor Federation AFL-CIO
     Alameda County Central Labor Council  AFL-CIO
     AFSCME District Council 57 AFL-CIO
     AFCME International Union AFL-CIO

Wall Street bankers; terrorists par excellance devastate America's communities

The US taxpayer is spending another $30 billion dollars to send 30,000, mostly young working class people, to Afghanistan. My local news the other night had a long segment showing 8, 9, and 10 year-olds making their own Christmas cards for the troops. One thanked the soldiers for “saving our world.” Talk about indoctrination.

The question is: can they save Detroit? The terrorists destroying Detroit and numerous other US communities are not from Afghanistan or Iran, they are from Wall Street which is not too far from the motor city.

Left: People are homeless while trees live inside this abandoned home in Detroit. pic: http://detroitiscrap.com/detroit-picture-gallery/


“Wall Street is squeezing one of America’s weakest cities for every penny it can?” writes Business Week in its November 30 issue. The article's title is: Wall Street vs America.  The siege by bankers, speculators and other moneylenders is an economic one. Detroit’s unemployment rate is 28% according to official figures which means it is most likely twice that. Being weak in this way is a good thing for the Obama administrations Afghanistan surge, ther'll be more hungry working class youth whose only option for work will be the military.

The private equity lords, hedge fund managers and the like, didn’t just prey on homeowners and little old ladies; they got their teeth in to whole communities. You see, the unfortunate thing about Detroit (other than the destruction of well paying auto jobs) is that its credit rating dropped. The credit rating is not set by you or I, or the people of Detroit. Moneylenders set it; it is their condition for lending the capital that we create back to us so we can provide vital social services, infrastructure and jobs.

With its credit rating dropped, Detroit, as Business Week puts it, “Owes banks $4.2 million monthly.”

With decent paying jobs gone, Detroit is stuck trying to pay the Wall Street moneylenders their blood money with revenue from its three casinos. This blood money must be paid “before a single cent can go to schools, transportation and other critical services.” Writes BW. This is what capitalism does to a community that helped build the US economy in to a global powerhouse.

This savage onslaught by Wall Street bankers is occurring throughout the nation (and the world of course). “Local governments and related public entities, already reeling from the recession face another fiscal crisis: billions of dollars in fees owed to USB, Goldman Sachs and other financial giants on investment deals gone wrong.” Adds BW.
Wait a minute I ask myself? Haven’t we handed over trillions of dollars of our money to bail these financial firms out of the mess they created?

I read on and see that the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority pays nearly $1 million a month to Moneylenders Goldman Sachs and Co for “derivatives deals tied to municipal debt.” I am getting angrier by the minute.

Private equity firms and hedge funds charge fees for managing money, between one or two percent of the “total pool of assets under management” says BW which amounts to millions of dollars, and they receive this even if their advice or strategy produces losses.

So a whole community is out of work, schools are closed, buses don’t run and the only industry left in town is gambling that is set up by the same people who are receiving this blood money.

My patience is wearing thin here. Headline after headline in the mass media warns me of an invasion by Iran, a bomb from North Korea, terrorists from here and there, and the worst murderers are right under my nose and home grown.

I am not the only one angry. The moneylenders recognize that there is tremendous hatred of them in US society. They are back to their old ways after we handed a few trillion dollars to them on a platter, or more accurately, their politicians handed it over to them on our behalf. They feel they deserve it of course, Lloyd Blankfein Goldman Sachs’ CEO told the London Times recently that Goldman Sachs was doing “God’s work.”

This is a bit too blatant for some, rubbing our noses in it like that; so they’ve quieted him a bit and opened up a new front, much like their commander in Chief has done in Afghanistan, they have a two-pronged approach you see, economic and military. “To keep public outrage from reaching a boiling point, banking chiefs are embarking on a charm offensive.” Business Week tells its readers. This, “Charm Offensive”. Amounts to Blankfein promising to invest $500 million in small businesses and charities. Business Week adds that this amount is “roughly 3% of the $16.7 billion Goldman expects to pay its employees this year.” And remember, we’re not talking about employees here that produce things, this is non-productive parasitic Labor.

Detroit will be eliminating more vital services and its schools like Royal Oak, will be “eliminating after school music programs and asking parents to pay $100 per child to play sports” Business Weeks writes with hardly a quiver of the pen. After all, its not their kids that will suffer.

This is the reality of the market; this is what capitalism does. The misery and death brought about by this activity dwarfs the carnage that their former friend and partner in economic crime Osama bin Laden has wreaked on this world, nasty as he is; and it is done to us by people who say we are one, that we are “United” that we are “all in this together.”  They have that "One nation indivisible" stuff out there for a reason; all nations do it to obscure the class differences and hinder class solidarity across national borders.  We must recall that up until 1999, every Taliban official was on the payroll of the US government; the few thousand unelected people that run this country supported the religious fanatics, armed and fed them; they are all enemies of working people.

Their “charm offensive” proves that we are not “united”, that the anger is out there; the healthy hatred of the capitalist class and the system they govern is real. But we have to step to the plate, we have to fight back in an organized way and we have to offer an alternative. So rather than repeat it I will add some suggestions from a recent post on
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

Part of our struggle and an alternative to the status quo is the need to break with the bosses party, the Democrats. Launching the campaign for a program that would solve working people's needs and a one day general strike and day of action (this is planned by the student movement in California that is mobilixing against the cuts ) to launch this would also lay the basis for the launching of a new mass Working Peoples Party which would be an alternative to the Democrats.

#No bail outs for Wall St. and the Banks. Take them into public ownership, nationalize them, under democratic control. .

#For a $15.00 minimum wage or $5.00 an hour increase whichever is the greater.

#No layoffs, no cuts in wages or benefits. Build Hands off our jobs, wages and benefits Committees in the workplaces.

#Not a single family or person to be evicted. For a house building program to build affordable high quality housing for all. Build Hands off our Homes Committees in the neighborhoods.

#For free education to the highest level and free health care for all at the point of use.

#End all foreign wars and occupations, bring home all troops.

# Use the wealth spent on the military and use the country's resources to build a society which provides for the needs of all in a sustainable fashion.

#Build a democratic socialist society.

A friend on the surge: "But why is he doing it?"

A friend of mine who is not politically active but who is trying to understand what is going on keeps asking me why Obama is sending more troops, why does he not get out, sure he cannot win. Sure the British, sure the Russians sure none of them could win in Afghanistan. Sure why cannot he see this? My friend says, I can see this, why can he not see this? It is a good question. My friend recently showed me some interesting statistics which strengthened her questioning.

For the cost of deploying one US soldier for one year in Afghanistan it would be possible to build about twenty schools. And the Taliban have not been interfering with schools (even girls schools as long as the teachers are women) which have local support as long as the teachers are women and as long as the text books do not include pictures of the corrupt ex oil executive President Karzai. Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and From Stones to Schools has built schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. None of his schools have been burnt by the Taliban.

There is also a program with support and success called the National Solidarity Program. (NSP) It helps villages build projects they choose, mostly schools, bridges, clinics, irrigation projects. For the cost of deploying one US soldier for a year you could have the NSP in twenty more villages. My friend keeps insisting the US military should be pulled out and money given to build schools, etc which people need. This seems very logical. And to any reasonable person and system it would be.

At the end of the surge there will be around 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Do the maths. How many schools, bridges, clinics etc could the cost of these build.

I am not suggesting that any US regime would carry out such programs but I am making the point, as my friend does, what would be possible with what is presently being spent on the occupation. Of course even if the US regime did carry out such programs they would be ringed around with such conditions to make sure that they were controlled by the US and its stooges and so this in turn would undermine their affect. You cannot control another country and its people indefinitely with the sword. No as my friend's persistent questioning indicates, there is something more going on here.

The mass media such as CNN continually discuss the surge in terms of can it win. It discusses how weak the US is because it has to deal with the utterly corrupt and weak regime of Karzai. But what is winning? Having a non Taliban regime in the country and having no base for outfits such as Bin Laden's. This seems to be their answer. But this would seem to be best achieved by having a locally popular regime in the country and no foreign occupation. The foreign occupation is a major recruiting tool for the Taliban and Bin laden. Yet the US and its allies continue with their occupation. Again it does not seem to make sense.

However, the issue is not so complicated. The occupation and surge are not about the people of Afghanistan and improving their lives, not about ending the vicious oppression of women, after all Saudi Arabia, the great buddy of the US in the region is one of the most vicious in repressing women not to mention it provided the majority of high jackers for 9/11, this is not about going after Bin Laden and his buddies, after all the US worked with him when the Soviet Union was at war in Afghanistan and it worked with him in the Balkans, this is not about any of these objectives or combination of these objectives. This is about US corporate, that is US imperialism's, control of the regions resources and the region itself, control of the Gulf area and Central Asia and standing up against China and Russia.

The US used 9/11, of which some of the US elite at least were aware in advance, as an excuse to invade Iraq. The majority of high jackers came from Saudi Arabia, there was no connection with the Iraq regime. But they invaded Iraq. Why? They wanted to begin their invasion of the whole area by taking on this large country and opening the door to Afghanistan and the Central Asian area. They are still in Iraq with no sign that they are getting ready to get out. Now they are increasing their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and in spite of Obama's speech there is no way they will be out in eighteen months, nor do they have any intention to be. And they are also at war in Pakistan. What is going on here is a brutal military invasion of the region by US imperialism. Their objectives are to secures the resources of Central Asia, secure the region of the Persian gulf, surround China face up to Russia and permanently strengthen their military forces in the entire region. They intend to dig in and stay in and crush any opposition.

This is why building schools, bridges, clinics etc are very secondary on their agenda. What they are interested in is laying doing a permanent military presence in the entire region which they intend to keep in place indefinitely. They and their ally Israel are trying to get themselves together to attack Iran unless that country buckles to all their demands also. What we are witnessing is the invasion and occupation of the entire region by US imperialism. This was the case under Bush and is the case under Obama. Obama, the Democrats, the Republicans are united in their pursuit of war and the objectives of US imperialism.

There is the increasing poverty and hunger in the US itself, there is the mass starvation world wide. Yet what are the sociopaths who run US imperialism doing? They are spending trillions on military spending and wars, they are killing hundreds of millions in these wars, and they condemn hundreds of millions more to starve to death due to their capitalist economic policies which are enforced by their military power. Look at this one simple fact. America's military spending in Afghanistan alone next year will exceed the entire official military budget of every other country in the world. This is a crime against humanity.

Students and working people must unite in the US and internationally to end this savage rotten system of imperialism and capitalism. We must replace it with a Democratic Socialist System. Contact us and let us work together to this end.

Sean.

url for anti surge demonstration at West Point. One of over 100.

http://tinurl.com/yfzd4lk or it may be http://tinurl.com/yfz41k that is I m not sure if the second last digit is an el or a one. I think it is an el.

Sean.

Labor Party Pakistan Organizes Protests Against Obama's Afghan Policy

LPP rejects Obama Afghan policy, will hold protests across Pakistan

Labour Party Pakistan condemns President Obama Afghan policy and demanded that all NATO forces immediately withdraw from Afghanistan and stop drone attacks on Pakistan. Labour Party Pakistan decided to protest against this new escalation of war efforts in the region. The first protest will take place on 4 December 2009 in front of American Consulate Lahore at 3pm. There will be more demonstrations in different parts of Pakistan. 

Nisar Shah, general secretary and Farooq Tariq spokesperson LPP said that when Mr. Obama took office less than a year ago, there were only 32,000 US troops in Afghanistan. By next spring there will be 100,000. Mr. Obama has given Gen Stanley McCrystal, the US and Nato commander in Kabul, more or less the numbers he wanted. Mr. Obama clearly spelt out to the Pakistanis that ''a safe haven for those high-level terrorists, whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear, cannot be tolerated''. This clearly means more bombs, more drone attacks and more bloodshed in the region.

The Labor Party Pakistan leaders said that President Obama has disappointed many who had the illusions that he may bring peace and prosperity for the world.  They said that Guantanamo has not yet closed. Secret prisons are still functioning in US, torture continues, land mine policy unchanged and living standards even in US are declining. The war in Iraq unchanged and the war in Afghanistan is escalating. In Pakistan, the situation is getting worst and worst. The new Afghan policy will mean more terror in Pakistan. The religious fanatics will not be silenced by more drone attacks, but on the contrary, it will promote more suicidal attacks in desperations

The Labour Party Pakistan leaders said in a press statement that for many Americans, the promise of the new Obama administration was that finally the United States would reject the neocon concept that America can ignore international law and use indiscriminate violence around the world to assert its interests. That hope was largely snuffed out when President Obama gave his hawkish generals and the neocon pundits most of what they wanted by expanding the eight-year-old Afghan War and guaranteeing more violations of the laws of war.

The LPP leaders said that the religious fanatics and the imperialist forces are providing each other excuses for escalating more violence. The religious fanatics can not be illuminated by military means. There has to be a comprehensive and wide ranging political and economic strategy to fight the fanatics. The Pakistani state must end its all forms of support to religious madrassas. At least 10 percent should be spent on education and education must be free till university level for all Pakistanis. The state must ensure delinking with religious practices.

 The LPP leaders said that we condemn the both imperialists and the religious fanatics.  They said that Pakistan government is acting blindly on the dictations of Obama administration. The political and economical dictations by American imperialism and their institutions like IMF and World Bank are promoting war and more economic miseries for people of Pakistan. Pakistan government must change its political and economical priorities and must end to side with American imperialism.   

Farooq Tariq
spokesperson
Labour Party Pakistan
40-Abbot Road Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: 92 42 6315162 Fax: 92 42 6271149  Mobile: 92 300 8411945
labour_party@yahoo.com  www.laborpakistan.org  www.jeddojuhd.com

"UC Commission on the Future" - it was made for privatization

Hi folks - this is what BAMN is sending out to its listserv. It includes an exposure of what tomorrow's "UC Commission on the Future" actually is: a committee to make proposals to cheapen and privatize UC. Please share this information with your lists:

This Thursday, Dec.3, 9:00AM in Pauley Ballroom, students must speak out against and expose UC President Yudof's "Commission on the Future" hearing at UC-Berkeley. The Commission is charged with making proposals to adapt to reduced public funding by cheapening and privatizing the UC system.

Formed in September 2009 and co-chaired by UC President Yudof and Regents Chairman Russell Gould, the "UC Commission on the Future" is charged with exploring different ideas, including:
* finding sources of private funding
* expanding "collaborative research" with "industry partners" (i.e. corporation-directed research)
* reducing undergraduate programs that are not "cost effective" (i.e. social sciences and liberal arts)
* online classes
* reducing UC freshman enrollment, and increasing the number of transfers from community colleges
* reducing the number of California residents admitted in favor of out-of-state residents who pay higher fees and are much less racially and economically diverse

Another proposal highlighted in the Commission's press materials is asking firms to pay the UC system a fee for every UC graduate they hire.

[Website at: http://ucfuture.universityofcalifornia.edu/welcome.html ]

Taken together, these proposals would lead to the privatization of the UC system. Inequality would increase, and in particular Latina/o, black, Native American, immigrant, undocumented, and low-income students of all races would be pushed out of the UC system.

For the past few weeks, thousands of students have been mobilizing to defend public education. This new movement has the power to reverse the fee hikes, and to stop the privatization of our university.

Join us Thursday and defend public education!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3:
8:00AM – Gather at People's Park, march to Bancroft + Telegraph
8:30AM – Meet at Bancroft + Telegraph
9:00AM – "UC Commission on the Future" hearing, Pauley Ballroom (MLK Student Union)

- Ronald Cruz
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
ronaldsf@gmail.com

UC San Diego Rally

Stop UCSD Executive Greed
Yes to Student Services
Rally Outside the Chancellor's Office
Friday, December 4
3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

UCSD Campus - Administration and Chancellor's Complex
PARKING and TRANSPORTATION:  metered parking is available in the Gilman Parking Structure, bring $2 worth of quarters.
Bus: take the highway 101 bus and exit at the VA hospital; the bus costs $4 for a round trip, click on the link for a timetable http://www.sdcommute.com/Services/Routes/Timetables/vertical/101WS.htm

UCSD Executives prefer to keep giving themselves raises instead of providing students with essential services such as keeping students safe and healthy
UCSD has laid off 20 families on campus in a department that's been understaffed for more than three years
UCSD has implemented a 15 percent reduction in time for more than 200 workers making an already understaffed department worse off to provide quality services to students who the regents have recently voted to increase tuition by 32 percent
UCSD administrators claim the cuts were necessary, but have not provided the much needed proof or have sat down with the unions to discuss the reasons
The highest paid administrators in the whole UC have taken only a 10 percent furlough, while taxing the lowest paid workers 15 percent

Together We're Stronger!

For more information,
contact Matias Marin at:
(619) 296-0342
mmarin@afscme3299.org