Monthly Archives: June 2020

Statement from American Federations of Teachers Officers on the Killing of George Floyd

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AFT President Randi Weingarten, Secretary-Treasurer Lorretta Johnson and Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus issued the following statement after the death of George Floyd, a black resident of St. Louis Park, Minn. Floyd was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a local police officer’s knee, and later died. Following the incident, all four police officers involved were fired:
“Hate is rising in the United States with a zeal, emboldened by the White House, among others. It is a stain on our humanity, and good people must gather together to resist and repel it. Nearly six years after the death of Eric Garner, how many more black men will die at the hands of authorities after saying ‘I can’t breathe’? George Floyd had a right to live. The haunting question we must ask is: If Floyd had been white, would that police officer have continued to put his knee on Floyd’s neck after hearing him say he couldn’t breathe? Black families deserve to raise their children in a world that does not traffic in this gross inhumanity, and that does not also force them to bear the burden of confronting it. The fact this is not self-evident is, in itself, a moral failing of America.
“If you were jogging like Ahmaud Arbery, or sleeping like Breonna Taylor, or driving like Philando Castile, you were simply living as a black person in America—until you weren’t. Every black person in this country has a right to live, a right to breathe, and a right to be a part of their community without fear of violence and senseless attack simply for the color of their skin. Acts of hate like this are unfortunately not new, unique or disconnected. They represent a serious crisis in our society. This cannot be normalized. People of color in America are exhausted, and they’re terrified, and they have every right to be.
“The Minneapolis Police Department—like many police precincts across this country—must address the systemic stereotypes and profiling that make incidents like these all too common. We support the FBI in conducting a thorough investigation, and we implore the Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into this murder. We pray not to have to mourn one more death like George Floyd’s, and we honor his memory.”

Trumka on AFL-CIO Building and Justice for George Floyd

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AFL-CIO

My heart is heavy at the events of the past few days. I watched the video of George Floyd pleading for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. No person of conscience can hear Floyd’s cries for help and not understand that something is deeply wrong in America.

What happened to George Floyd, what happened to Ahmaud Arbery, what happened to far too many unarmed people of color has happened for centuries. The difference is now we have cell phones. It’s there for all of us to see. And we can’t turn our heads and look away because we feel uncomfortable.

Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color. This is a labor issue because it is a workplace issue. It is a community issue, and unions are the community. We must and will continue to fight for reforms in policing and to address issues of racial and economic inequality.

We categorically reject those on the fringes who are engaging in violence and destroying property. Attacks like the one on the AFL-CIO headquarters are senseless, disgraceful and only play into the hands of those who have oppressed workers of color for generations and detract from the peaceful, passionate protesters who are rightly bringing issues of racism to the forefront.

But in the end, the labor movement is not a building. We are a living collection of working people who will never stop fighting for economic, social and racial justice. We are united unequivocally against the forces of hate who seek to divide this nation for their own personal and political gain at our expense.

We will clean up the glass, sweep away the ashes and keep doing our part to bring a better day out of this hour of darkness and despair.

Today and always, the important work of the AFL-CIO continues unabated.

Mass Rally in Minneapolis June 1 (UniCorn Riot Coverage)

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We are live from a protest in front of the Minnesota governor’s residence. Thousands are gathered in front of the Saint Paul mansion seeking justice for George Floyd.

Earlier families gathered to share stories of their loved ones killed by police — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edeF0f84pM8

For more of our coverage on police killings — https://unicornriot.ninja/category/police/

Statement from RGVALF President Dan Maloney: ‘We must demand that justice be served in the case of George Floyd’

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Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation

Statement from RGVALF President Dan Maloney

We in the labor movement have always known that we can only make true progress towards social and economic justice by standing together in solidarity. The death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis uniformed officer, has been denounced by police organizations, community groups, religious leaders, and various people of good conscience around the country. Yet his senseless death has put a spotlight on questions of structural racism and police brutality. This tragic event has re-opened a festering wound in the fabric of our society. We can only heal this wound and achieve justice by standing together against the forces of hate and evil. We must not allow any issue, individual, or group to divide and weaken our movement. The call for justice in the murder of George Floyd has been echoed and amplified throughout the our union membership. Justice will certainly come, and we can help insure meaningful change if we stay united.
Mayors and Governors from across our Nation have reported “outside agitators” purposely lit a match during peaceful protests to set off the dry tinder of a righteously angry crowd assembled to demand change. The chaos, riots, and looting that followed has detracted from the demand for justice. The effort to insure that the death of George Floyd will not be in vain, was dishonored by acts of violence and lawlessness. The age old strategy of divide and conquer seems to be at play here. This is not a time to fall apart, rather this is a moment to come together, fix what is broken, and move forward, together.
This is what the labor movement does best; organize, mobilize, create positive change, and expand social and economic justice. We can and should do our part to support peaceful protests, and in the era of COVID-19, insure people are safe while having their grievances heard. We must demand that justice be served in the case of George Floyd to restore trust in our American judicial system. We can and should use our political clout to pressure elected officials to enact legislation that will bring long term improvements for our most vulnerable communities. We can continue to advocate to insure the best outcomes for our families and our Nation. We can move the needle towards true social and economic justice, but only if we work together.

Statement from the Communication Workers union: ‘A Executive Board on the Need to Dismantle the Racism that Plagues Our Communities’

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Friday, May 29, 2020

As we reach a tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths due to COVID-19, we find ourselves confronting the other plague that has been rampaging through our communities since long before the pandemic: Racism. Compounding the devastation of a global pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted Black communities, Black people in America continue to face threats, brutality, and death for going out jogging. For being poor. For sleeping in their own bed. For watching birds in a park. For being Black.

The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the blatant display of racism in the Central Park incident with Christian Cooper demonstrate, again, this grim reality. These names are not the first, and without a profound change in ourselves and this country, they will not be the last.

The CWA Executive Board is committed to moving beyond an endless string of reaction statements and demonstrating our continued commitment to justice for Black people through our organizing, representation, political, and movement building work. We commit to creating dedicated spaces for open dialogue on race for our members and leaders to determine outcomes and clear steps the union must take to fight racism in the union, within the industries we represent and the community at-large.

There is no in-between. There is no neutral option. The only real way to dismantle racism and build the working-class power we seek is for every worker to take on the struggle for justice for Black people in this country as their own and to embrace the actions that “an injury to one is an injury to all” demands of us.

It is not enough to punish the perpetrators who have taken these Black lives. It is not enough to simply identify a “few bad apples” to fire or prosecute – a course of action which our deeply flawed legal system makes difficult to pursue. We must also do the hard, transformational work of rooting out racism in America’s consciousness and the institutions that uphold it.

This work is necessary because these incidents did not happen in isolation. They happened in the context of 400 years of structural and systematic anti-Black racism. They happened in the context of centuries of stolen labor; economic pillaging by corporate America of Black communities; underfunding of public schools and services; over-criminalization and incarceration of Black bodies; the use of police as military-like forces in poor, Black and Brown neighborhoods; outsourcing of good, union jobs; persistence of food deserts in urban areas; the treatment of addiction as a crime rather than a disease; the fractured, profit-driven health care system; and the “surgical precision” of Black voter disenfranchisement.

The only pathway to a just society for all is deep, structural change. Justice for Black people is inextricably linked to justice for all working people – including White people. The bosses, the rich, and the corporate executives have known this fact and have used race as one of the most effective and destructive ways to divide workers. Unions have a duty to fight for power, dignity and the right to live for every working-class person in every place. Our fight and the issues we care about do not stop when workers punch out for the day and leave the garage, call center, office, or plant.

We will never build enough power as working people if an entire community is living under the threat of death and subject to discrimination based on the color of their skin. We will never build enough power if an entire community has its neck under an oppressor’s knee.

If we are to make progress, we must listen to the experiences and stories of Black CWA members, Black workers, and the Black community. We must join together – every one of us – to dismantle this system of oppression. This means every White union member, Black union member, Latino union member and every ally, must fight and organize for Black lives. Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. No amount of statements and press releases will bring back the lives lost and remedy the suffering our communities have to bear. We must move to action.

President Christopher Shelton
Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens
District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor
District 2-13 Vice President Edward Mooney
District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt
District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton
District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings, Jr.
District 7 Vice President Brenda Roberts
District 9 Vice President Frank Arce
AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson
IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew
TNG-CWA President Jon Schleuss
NABET-CWA President Charles Braico
T&T Vice President Lisa Bolton
PHEW Vice President Margaret Cook
CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon
Diversity At-Large Member Dante Harris
Diversity At-Large Member Vera Mikell
Diversity At-Large Member Carolyn Wade
Diversity At-Large Member Erika White

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Press Contact:
State Capitol Madison May 30 2020
Madison, Wisconsin May 30, 2020

Racine, June 2, 2020: George Floyd / Tyrese West / Donte Shannon March & Protest

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George Floyd / Tyrese West / Donte Shannon March & Protest

Tuesday June 2 we will meet at the corner of Washington & Phillips in front of the Salvation Army & Auto Tire Shop at 5 pm. We will be marching to the Police Station on Center. We will leave around 5:30 – 5:45 pm . Bring signs & water since it’s supposed to be 87° . When we arrive at the police station we will lay on the ground on our stomach with arms behind our backs for 9 minutes . If you physically cannot walk that long or far you are welcome to meet us at the police station . If you are not able to lie on the ground please just come out and support.