Israel today assassinated the eldest daughter of our Professor Refaat Al-Areer (@itranslate123), Al-Shaimaa, along with her husband and newborn baby. I am out of words, tears, and ways to comprehend this endless loss, this pain, this criminal annihilation of our people.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/sounding-alarm-gazas-pregnant-women/46021
2310 W College Avenue, Appleton, WI at 1 P.M.
Event: https://fb.me/e/23qAo4Wdr
Event by Wisconsin State Workers Organizing Committee
(Location is inside the Rotunda. Near exhibit on Limited Term Employees, up one floor from the ground level. Near Fightin’ Bob La Follette statue.)
Join state employees and our unions, in this gathering to call for work for *Equal Pay for Equal Work* at state agencies. We are calling on Governor Evers and state agency leaders to change their hiring practices, and end the abuse of Limited Term Employees (LTEs) now. Join us in this fight for fair staffing and quality public services!
Equal Pay for Equal Work! LTEs are being cheated!
State agencies have relied on a large number of “Limited Term” Employees for decades. LTE work is not limited to seasonal or temporary tasks, and is widespread among many agencies, in blue collar, technical, professional and scientific job classes. Limited Term Employees (LTEs) are paid significantly less than comparable permanent employees, have no paid sick leave or vacation, and have a waiting period to get health insurance.
These essential workers deserve fair compensation. LTEs are consistently paid far less than permanent employees in the exact same job classification, with similar experience and years of seniority with the state. Over 100 LTEs are making under $15 an hour!
State agencies have used loopholes to keep employees stuck in dead end jobs for years or
decades. This is a big disservice to those workers. Using such a contingent workforce also undermines the stability and quality of key public services for Wisconsinites.
The LTE system contributes to poor morale and erosion in the quality of public services. This combines with related staffing problems in state agencies such as high vacancies, rampant overtime, decades of wage caps, attacks on the Civil Service system, and over a billion dollars a year in wasteful private consulting contracts. There are record vacancies, open permanent jobs in state agencies. There were 5,700 vacancies in FY22, enough to convert all LTEs to permanent workers. These staffing practices contribute to the hollowing out of public programs, making it impossible to serve the people of Wisconsin with quality public services.
State agencies depend on the work of LTEs, who perform core functions year round. All LTEs deserve fair pay and benefits. LTEs may be Seasonal or Part Time, but many are not. Job titles found within the LTE ranks include accountants, paralegals, chemists, hydrogeologists, archeologists, archivists, librarians, revenue agents, technical writers, information technology (computer) workers — even human resources jobs are well represented, ironically. The excuse that these are “temporary” jobs is used to justify poor pay for LTEs. We reject this idea that temporary workers deserve less. But also, deceptive practices are being used to call these jobs temporary when they clearly are not. Hundreds of LTEs have over five years of state service.
LTEs did not get the full raise that other state employees got recently – losing four months of it, typically. Holidays for LTEs are sad because they lose hours and suffer with short paychecks.
Join us to call for an end to the abuse of LTE workers in state agencies.
By Chris Fry, https://fighting-words.net/
April 26, 2024
Before the Wisconsin Democratic Primary on April 2, pro-Palestinian activists campaigned to persuade voters to check the “Uninstructed” box on the ballot rather than vote for “Bomber” Biden. They said that they would consider their efforts to be a success if more than 20,000 voters did so.
That is because the margin of the 2020 vote between Trump and Biden was a mere 20,682 votes out of more than 3.2 million cast in that state. The Palestinian supporters wanted to demonstrate that Biden’s sending vast numbers of bombs and other weapons to Israel’s genocidal revenge war in Gaza threatens his reelection campaign and may very well put fascist Trump back in the White House.
The primary results showed that 47,846 people did indeed check off the “Uninstructed” box on the Wisconsin primary ballot, more than doubling the 2020 margin. You can almost feel the tremors of fear running up the backs of the Biden campaign staff.
An April 4 article in the Guardian analyzed this crisis for the Democratic Party:
The party’s strategy seems to be that if it is “just moderate enough or timid enough, that somehow, magically, these largely nonexistent Republican [swing] voters will cross over the aisle and vote with them”, [Wisconsin State Representative] Clancy told [the reporter] a day before the primary.
While insurgent campaigns against the Democratic “establishment” are getting less attention this election season, a tectonic shift appears to be happening whether the party wants to acknowledge it or not. The anti-war vote, and an inadequate response to that movement at multiple levels of government beyond the White House, could permanently drive away some of the party’s base: progressive and younger voters. Many progressive voters have no interest in showing up purely to vote against Trump; unless they have a Democrat they really believe in, they’ll simply stay home.
Other state primaries showed similar results, particularly in so-called “battleground” states like Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada. Pennsylvania, which holds its primary on April 23 and which Biden won by a narrow margin in 2020, has a very active campaign urging voters to write in “Uncommitted” on their ballots.
Of course, this struggle within the bourgeois-controlled electoral arena is only part of the picture, as thousands of youth hold “camp-ins” on numerous college campuses and march in the streets in cities across the country, often blocking streets, bridges and freeways.
This heroic effort has been met with harsh repression by college administrators, city mayors and, of course, the police. Nevertheless, these youth have not let up, demanding an end to the U.S.-supported Israeli genocidal war in Gaza.
One element that is new is the upsurge in the class struggle in this country, as strikes and union organizing campaigns have reached a level not seen in decades.
This comes at the same time as Trump’s announcement that he intends to impose a fascist dictatorship “on day one” when he assumes office, whether by election or by coup. He has indicated his plan to send troops not just to the border to attack migrants, but also into the streets of major cities.
Imperialism’s “dead end”.
The Democratic Party leadership and their media minions often accuse the Republicans of wanting to “turn the clock back to the 1950s”. That is certainly true as far as Jim Crow, the oppression of women and LGBTQ+ people and so on.
But this is also a distortion. The Democratic Party leadership yearns for that same era of labor ejecting its Communist leadership of the mammoth class struggles of the 1930s and confining itself to increased wages and benefits that imperialism was able to provide because of its dominance in the post WWII period.
This allowed both parties to wage wars against Korea, against Vietnam, to overturn progressive regimes all through the “Global South”, to occupy oil-rich countries in the Middle East and to pursue the so-called “Cold War” against the socialist countries.
The settler state of Israel became a key component of that U.S. imperialist strategy as it became a powerful military base in the Middle East, and also a major weapons developer for the U.S. war machine.
But as the U.S. military adventures faltered in Korea and then Vietnam with numerous soldier mutinies, first the Pentagon turned to a more reliable “volunteer army” and most recently, proxy wars, trying to head off internal opposition to these wars.
But Ukraine’s forces face imminent collapse and Netanyahu’s genocidal “revenge war” against Hamas has slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, in Gaza, but has failed to defeat the Palestinian resistance forces. And Biden is facing worldwide condemnation for not only supporting Israel’s war, but also for blocking international efforts to effect a cease fire and peace talks.
What next?
On April 23. USA Today posted an article with the title: “Young voters aren’t warming to Biden; They know it means Trump could win again.”
The article contains an interview with Viviana Ramos, who lives and works in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and whose views are shared by many young people today who are confronting the 2024 election choices:
Ramos, 24, voted for him [Biden] in 2020 but is now unsure whether she can bring herself to support him again, even if it means a second presidency for Donald Trump, whom she dislikes even more.
“That fuels the rage. It’s really disheartening. I have a moral battle with myself: Do I even vote this time around? I don’t want to have to choose between them. One is slightly worse than the other. It’s horrible,” said Ramos, who works at a coffee shop inside downtown Chattanooga’s historic train station.
Ramos is one of many young voters stewing with grievances over the country’s future, from the existential crisis of climate change to the frustration over inflation, reproductive rights, high interest rates, Israel’s war in Gaza, immigration reform and the power corporations have over their working conditions.
This “moral battle with myself” is both genuine and legitimate. The ruling class has presented to the young, to workers and students of all ages, and to the oppressed communities a choice between a warmonger and a fascist (of course Trump would continue to support the brutal war against the Palestinian people as well).
Of course, the billionaires prefer both bourgeois party programs. They support Trump’s using the state and his fascist supporters as a “battering ram” to eliminate all the hard-won social gains from the New Deal to today. And they support Biden’s strategy of U.S. imperialist alliances and war to maintain their global domination.
With the growth of anger at the Democrats among a large number of the population who are also alert to the dangers of the Trump/MAGA movement, the question must be asked – What is to be done? Rejection of both of the big capitalist parties, Democrats and Republicans, is entirely justified. This could, and ought, to lead to a movement for a mass, third, radical and independent party. Unfortunately, so far such a movement has not materialized. But conditions inside the U.S. are ripening for that development, though this may take a while to mature.
Another question is – What are progressive people doing right now in case Trump & Co. move toward a fascist dictatorship. This could be a “cold coup” if he wins the election in November or it could occur if Trump loses the election and unleashes his forces as he did on January 6, 2021. It would be foolish to depend on the courts, the police or the military to preserve our so-called “democratic rights.”
In January of this year a call was issued to all progressives to form an Anti-Fascist Organizing Committee (AFOC). Its statement in part reads:
We believe that it is imperative to begin now to organize a powerful, independent movement of workers in unions and unorganized, along with the broadest range of progressive organizations, that can protect the rights of the working class and oppressed peoples. Local, statewide, regional and national committees cannot wait for a possible Trump electoral victory, or another coup, to challenge his announced undemocratic goals.
Among our tasks is to discuss the idea of a General Strike if it becomes necessary. We also should spread literature among the members of the United States military on the looming danger and urge them to be prepared to disobey illegal or immoral orders. Every locality should begin forming joint defense committees that can immediately protect union and community meetings, progressive rallies, demonstrations, and leaders.
The fight against Biden’s and Netanyahu’s vicious war against the Palestinian people and the fight against the impending Trumpist dictatorial program is in fact one struggle. War and fascism both stem from the same rotting system of capitalist and imperialist exploitation and oppression. It is the growing mobilization of millions of progressive people on the campuses, at workplaces and in the streets that will be the decisive factor for victory.
UAW President Shawn Fain and the UAW Daimler Bargaining Committee will be on Facebook Live at 10 pm ET to announce major updates regarding negotiations with Daimler Truck.
Representing the 7,300 Daimler Truck members, the Bargaining Committee has been clear from the very beginning: the April 26 expiration date of the current contract is a deadline, not a reference point.
The Bargaining Committee has worked for weeks to win the record contract that members deserve. Unfortunately, the company has decided todrag its feet during much of these negotiations, continually stalling talks on the issues most important to Daimler Truck workers: equal pay for equal work, significant wage increases, COLA, and job security. We filed four separate unfair labor charges against them.
Now, we’re down to the wire. The clock is ticking, and it’s up to Daimler to get serious and come to the table to bargain a record contract.
The ball is in their court.
With less than 10 hours before the expiration of the current contract, members are ready to Stand Up and do what needs to be done.
Join us tonight to find out where things stand and what our next steps will be.
WHAT: UAW President Shawn Fain & UAW Daimler Bargaining Committee to Announce Major Updates Ahead of Midnight Contract Expiration at Daimler Truck
WHO:
UAW President Shawn Fain
UAW Daimler Bargaining Committee
WHERE: VIRTUAL UAW Facebook Live
WHEN: Friday, April 26 at 10pm ET
In solidarity,
UAW Daimler Bargaining Team
| Dear Fellow Railroad Workers: On April 23rd a fellow rail was killed on the job near Clearwater, British Columbia. Brother Juver Balmores, 36, was involved in a fatal head-on collision near Clearwater, B.C. Another USW member was hospitalized due to injuries, while one occupant in a semi-truck passed away and another sustained injuries. “Joining CN Rail in 2022, Juver quickly endeared himself to his colleagues with his kindness, dedication and unwavering commitment to his work,” said Cole Kramer, USW Local 2004 president. “His passing leaves a profound void in the hearts of all who knew him, within the CN Rail community and beyond.” While we are saddened at the news of our brother’s death, we must double our resolve to build a safer workplace where such tragedies are not so commonplace. The Railroad Workers United Program for Fallen Rails urges you to do the following on behalf of our fallen brother, or sister their friends and family, co-workers and all railroad workers: Commit yourself to following up on how and why our brother or sister was killed. What is the behind-the-scenes story? What role did unsafe conditions, including short staffing, crew fatigue, inadequate training and/or qualifying, deferred maintenance, or other factors play in this fellow worker’s death? Get involved in the national movement against blame the worker “behavior-based safety” programs. Help build real union-based safety committees and programs that focus on hazard elimination and do not ignore the underlying causes of accidents, injuries and fatalities sustained on the job. For more information, see the webpage https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/oppose-behavior-based-safety Take part in the RWU annual Railroad Workers Memorial Day each April 28th. For more information, see the webpage https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/remember-fallen-rails Join RWU and fight to build solidarity and unity among all railroad workers, and make safer workplaces for all. Thank you. Railroad Workers United P.S. Please forward this email to fellow railroad workers. |
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 