March, 31 2021, 12:00am EDT
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Saunders: President's Bold Infrastructure Plan Will Benefit All Communities, Working People
AFSCME President Lee Saunders issued the following statement in response to President Joe Biden's groundbreaking American Jobs Plan:
WASHINGTON
AFSCME President Lee Saunders issued the following statement in response to President Joe Biden's groundbreaking American Jobs Plan:
"The president's plan provides the kinds of bold and comprehensive investments we need to build more modern, equitable and sustainable communities that will benefit all working families. We cannot afford to merely rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure. We must think bigger and toward the future to create good paying union jobs, invest in public services and protect our communities from the threat of climate change. That is the only way we can build back better and address rising inequality exacerbated by the pandemic."In addition to fixing battered and neglected roads, bridges and railways, President Biden's plan will make significant and much-needed investments to other critical infrastructure, including public health, housing and emergency response. It will invest in public services like clean drinking water, and it will provide the funding our schools and child care centers need to give our kids the safest possible learning environments."President Biden believes that working people and public services are the backbone of our communities. That is why instead of giving lavish tax breaks to profitable corporations, his plan will ensure they pay their fair share. AFSCME members - our first responders, nurses, bridge inspectors, child care providers, school staff and many others - have stood up for their communities every day during the pandemic. Serving on the front lines, they have sounded the alarm when years of underinvestment and austerity has hurt families, costing jobs and lives. Now is the time to go big and invest in the infrastructure that will make our communities safe, healthy and strong for years to come."
AFSCME members provide the vital services that make America happen. With members in hundreds of different occupations, AFSCME advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services and prosperity and opportunity for all working families.
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AFT Signs On to UAW's Push for 2028 General Strike
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain applauded the teachers union for helping to push for a "mass movement" for workers' rights.
Jul 24, 2024
At the American Federation of Teachers' annual convention in Houston on Wednesday, the AFT's 1.8 million members got a round of applause from one of the country's top union leaders—United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain, who has called on the U.S. labor movement to join a nationwide strike in 2028.
"We want to create a mass movement—a general strike if we have to—to win our fair share not just for workers here but for... working-class people all over this globe," said Fain. "You guys passed a resolution to push unions to do just that... And that's how we do this. When we fight and when we win, people want to be a part of that, they want to join the movement."
Fain's comments came a day after the AFT passed a resolution to support May 1, 2028 as the expiration of all contracts for local unions—the same date chosen by the UAW when Fain led negotiations with the Big Three automakers after the union's historic "stand-up strike" late last year.
The strategic date would ensure union contacts end on May Day, 2028—the holiday marking the struggles and successes of the international labor movement—setting the stage for a nationwide work stoppage across the U.S., where, as the AFT said in its resolution, "big business and their political allies have waged a war on workers."
"We want to create a mass movement—a general strike if we have to—to win our fair share not just for workers here but for... working-class people all over this globe... You guys passed a resolution to push unions to do just that."
Fain said earlier this year that the nation's workers "should have stood up and walked the hell out" in 1980 when then-President Ronald Reagan fired air traffic controllers who went on strike.
"We missed the opportunity then, but we're not going to miss it in 2028. That's the plan. We want a general strike. We want everybody walking out just like they do in other countries," said Fain in January.
In the AFT's resolution passed on Tuesday, the teachers union noted that "union workers are fighting back, in order to secure fair contracts for themselves and for their communities," and called on labor organizations to "find creative ways to maximize our economic power and fight against corporate greed."
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), part of the AFT, had already proposed a May 1, 2028 expiration date for its next contract in negotiations with Chicago Public Schools.
The AFT said in its resolution that it would encourage all of its locals "to consider this common expiration as a useful tactic in the fight to advance racial, economic, and social justice."
The adoption of the resolution, said CTU vice president Jackson Potter, is s step toward winning "more for working people in bargaining, at the statehouse, and all the way up to the White House."
The pro-labor media organization More Perfect Union added that the AFT's move "adds significant power" to Fain's call for a general strike.
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Kamala Harris Wins March for Our Lives' First-Ever Endorsement
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives."
Jul 24, 2024
March for Our Lives, which was launched six years ago after yet another U.S. mass shooting, announced its first-ever political endorsement on Wednesday, backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the White House.
"The stakes couldn't be higher," said the group, which was founded in the wake of the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "As one of the largest youth-led movements in the nation, we are clear-eyed about the challenge ahead and we believe that Kamala Harris is uniquely suited to meet this moment."
Warning of the threat posed by Republican former President Donald Trump—who just survived an assassination attempt—and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), March for Our Lives said that "the country that young people will soon inherit stands at the precipice—on one side, authoritarianism that threatens our fundamental rights, including our right to live freely without fear of gun violence; on the other, a world where we can keep fighting to build the future that young people know we deserve."
"We need an ardent defender of democracy, a gun violence prevention champion, and a leader who will listen to young people, give us a seat at the table, and fight for our future. We believe that Kamala Harris is that candidate, and the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve," the organization continued, detailing how she has been "a forceful champion for gun safety and for young people" as vice president and a U.S. senator representing California.
"Young people are inheriting an increasingly precarious world," the group added, highlighting youth deaths from gun violence, Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, the escalating climate emergency, and far-right politicians pushing extremist policies. "We have been struggling to feel excited about voting in this election, and are increasingly pessimistic that change is possible. But we know that another Trump presidency is simply not an option that young people can afford—our lives are literally at stake."
Harris began seeking the Democratic nomination for November after President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her on Sunday. March for Our Lives said that "we call on her to run a campaign that fights for the policy solutions that young people want, like an assault weapons ban, action on climate change, a vigorous defense of abortion, court reform, and an immediate and lasting cease-fire in Gaza. Young people are savvy voters, who will see through empty promises and cynical horsetrading. We believe that Kamala will step above that and fight for a bold, progressive future—and we will hold her accountable for that."
Since Sunday, Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg has been fiercely supporting Harris, posting on his social media frequent updates about her historic fundraising successes over the past few days.
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives," Hogg said in a statement Wednesday. "Given her strong record on gun safety and prioritizing youth voices during her time in office, I'm proud that Kamala Harris will receive March for Our Lives' first-ever endorsement, and I'm so excited for our work to mobilize young people for her campaign."
Natalie Fall, the group's executive director, toldABC News—which first reported on the endorsement—that "we see a lot of energy around Vice President Harris in this election; there's no denying that. I think everybody's seeing it right now."
"I just think young people in particular didn't really see themselves represented or reflected in the Biden ticket in the way that they wanted. It's not to say that President Biden hasn't had great accomplishments," she explained. "But I think we need someone who can meet this moment and who is up to the challenge of taking Donald Trump to task and really defeating his effort to erode all of our institutions and our democracy."
March for Our Lives members plan to participate in this year's election through creative campaigns, door-knocking, and phone banks, Fall said. In a statement, she added that the group aims to elect not only Harris but also candidates "up and down the ballot" who support its priorities.
"March for Our Lives will work to mobilize young people across the country to support Vice President Harris and other down-ballot candidates, with a particular focus on the states and races where we can make up the margin of victory—in Arizona, New York, Michigan, and Florida," she pledged. "We are ready to double down on this commitment and elect the first woman, first Black woman, and the first person of South Asian descent to become our next president."
The gun violence prevention group's endorsement adds to Harris' mounting pile. Throughout the week, she has also received support from many Democratic governors and members of Congress as well as climate, labor, and reproductive rights groups.
As young people rally behind Harris, she is also seeing support from advocates for older Americans. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "Joe Biden has been the best president for seniors in over half a century. Kamala Harris will be even better."
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Ben-Gvir Endorses Trump, Says He's More Likely to Back War on Iran
The Israeli security minister, who leads the far-right Jewish Power party, accused the Biden administration of thwarting Israel's victory against Hamas.
Jul 24, 2024
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir endorsed former U.S. President Donald Trump—the 2024 Republican nominee—for the White House in an interview published Wednesday in which he accused the Biden administration of preventing Israel from winning its war on Gaza.
"I believe that with Trump, Israel will receive the backing to act against Iran," Ben-Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, toldBloomberg. "With Trump, it will be clearer that enemies must be defeated."
"A cabinet minister is supposed to maintain neutrality," the 48-year-old minister conceded, "but that's impossible to do after [U.S. President Joe] Biden."
"The U.S. has always stood behind Israel in terms of armaments and weapons, yet this time the sense was that we were being reckoned with—that we were trying to be prevented from winning. That happened on Biden's watch and fed Hamas with lots of energy," added Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism after he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
While Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other administration officials have decried Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and high civilian casualties—at least 140,000 Palestinians killed, injured, or missing, according to local and international agencies—the U.S. has approved billions of dollars in new military aid and more than 100 arms sales to Israel since October.
During his White House tenure, Trump—who boasted that he "fought for Israel like no president ever before"—moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and brokered the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab nations Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump has said that Israel should "get the job done" in Gaza, while criticizing the Israel Defense Forces for posting videos showing its obliteration of the embattled Palestinian enclave.
"I don't know why they released wartime shots like that. I guess it makes them look tough. But to me, it doesn't make them look tough," Trump said in April. "They're losing the PR war. They're losing it big. But they've got to finish what they started, and they've got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life."
While Trump says he wants a deal with Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, as president he unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—also known as the Iran nuclear deal—and oversaw a "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran featuring deadly economic sanctions.
On the advice of Iran hawks in his administration including then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump also ordered the January 2020 assassination of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.
Ben-Gvir's interview was published as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to address a joint meeting of U.S. Congress Wednesday in Washington, D.C. A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have called for not only a cease-fire in Gaza but also a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, whose conduct in the war is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have signaled they will skip Netanyahu's speech. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the Senate president, said she will not preside over Wednesday's session. Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in the wake of Biden's withdrawal from the race on Sunday, said she will meet privately with Netanyahu on Thursday.
Echoing calls from groups including CodePink and the Council on American Islamic Relations, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said this week that the prime minister should be arrested for war crimes and genocide.
Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, has
applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes including extermination committed on and after October 7.
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