Author Archives: wibailoutpeople

About wibailoutpeople

We are a part of the national Bail Out The People movement which formed in 2008 to fight against the bailouts to the banks. Since then we have been in numerous fights against poverty, racism and war. We demand that the people be bailed out not the banks, a moratorium on all foreclosures, a federal jobs program now and other demands. We have been participating in the Wisconsin people's uprising, Bloombergville in NYC and numerous other people's actions.

Support Workers in Virginia Fighting For Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Sector Workers, Help Defeat Jim Crow Era Labor Laws!

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For information on the fight to implement collective bargaining rights for public sectors and for information on how to defeat RTW: Virginia AFL-CIO

Sign Petition to Demand Repeal of RTW: https://bit.ly/38J5R4n

We call on our legislators to support HB 153, and repeal Virginia’s 1947 “Right to Work” law.  Delegate Lee Carter (D) is the Chief Patron of HB 153, which repeals all “Right to Work” provisions in Virginia Code. Delegates Joshua G. Cole (Elect), Patrick A. Hope, Clinton L. Jenkins (Elect), Kaye Kory, Paul E. Krizek, Sam Rasoul, Ibraheem S. Samirah, and Kathy Tran are co-sponsors.

Virginia was one of the first of 28 states to adopt “Right to Work” laws, which prohibit employers from requiring union membership. “Right to Work” does not mean a right to a job, which is a common misconception.  “Right to Work” laws were designed to hurt workers by weakening unions and making it more difficult for workers to organize. This is because non-union workers don’t have to pay union dues but, nonetheless, benefit from the collective bargaining agreements that union leaders negotiate for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. This significantly undermines the union’s ability to negotiate, which is why employers fight so hard to keep “Right to Work” laws.

Sign Petition: https://bit.ly/38J5R4n

Dr. Martin Luther King said it best:
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone… Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.”

Ending “Right to Work” means that unions are strengthened and, in turn, so are the working people who benefit from collective bargaining. “Right to Work” really means the right to work for less, so by repealing “Right to Work” we all win.

This petition will be delivered to members of the hearing committee of the Virginia General Assembly in advance of the January 27, 2020 AFL-CIO lobby day in support of HB 153.

Sign Petition: https://bit.ly/38J5R4n

Quotable: Martin Luther King on “right to work” | News of ...

UW-Milwaukee, January 29, 2020: Film Screening of ‘Youth Unstoppable’

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Youth Unstoppable

6 – 9 P.M. UW-Milwaukee Union Cinema, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd. (Student Union)

THIS SCREENING IS FREE FOR EVERYONE!
Youth Unstoppable takes us inside the rise of the Global Youth Climate Movement. Slater Jewell-Kemker was 15 when she began documenting the untold stories of youth on the front lines of climate change refusing to let their futures slip away. Over the course of 12 years, YOUTH UNSTOPPABLE follows the evolution of a diverse network of youth rising up to shape the world they will live in.

(Slater Jewell-Kempker, USA, English, 91 min, 2018, Digital)

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Photos: Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement

Milwaukee: Environmental Activists Banner Drop to Demand We Energies Stop Investing in Planet Destruction

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Massive banner drop January 23, 2020 outside downtown Milwaukee We Energies building. It’s time for We Energies to stop investing in the destruction of our planet.

People’s Climate Coalition, Extinction Rebellion Milwaukee, 350 Milwaukee, Youth Climate Action Team, Sunrise Milwaukee, Gaia Coalition Network, Milwaukee DSA and NextGen WI. More coverage: People’s Climate Coalition

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Photo: Joe Brusky

UE Stands in Solidarity with Unifor Refinery Workers, Condemns Aggressive Police Tactics

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January 21, 2020
Pittsburgh

 

UE’s officers released the following statement today in solidarity with Unifor Local 594

UE stands in full solidarity with the members of Unifor Local 594 who have been locked out by Co-op Refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan, and the members of Unifor who have come from across Canada to support them. We unequivocally condemn the heavy-handed and aggressive tactics used by the Regina Police, including the arrest on Monday January 20 of Unifor National President Jerry Dias, Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle, and other Unifor members.

Unifor Local 594 members have been locked out since December 5. Co-op Refinery, which makes profits of $3 million per day, is demanding that workers accept steep concessions on their pension plan. Hundreds of Unifor members have come to Regina to join Local 594 members in peaceful protest against this corporate greed.

Ironically, the arrests of Unifor members occurred as we in the U.S. were celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” that “an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”

We join Unifor in demanding that the Regina police halt the unprovoked arrest of peacefully protesting union members, and that Co-op Refinery return to the bargaining table and settle a fair contract with their workers.

Carl Rosen
General President

Andrew Dinkelaker
Secretary-Treasurer

Gene Elk
Director of Organization

‘Iraq for Iraqis’: Hundreds of Thousands Flood Streets of Baghdad to Demand US Military Leave Country

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By Eoin Higgins, staff writer

Over 200,000 Iraqis protested against the U.S. military presence in their country on Friday, demanding American forces leave as requested by the Arab nation’s Parliament in early January after President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani during the general’s visit to Iraq on January 3.

“We don’t need any foreign troops to be in Iraq, we need Iraq for Iraqis,” Hoda Hashimi, an employee in the Ministry of Trade in Baghdad, told the New York Times.

Hashimi added that while U.S. forces are not welcome in the country, the American people in Iraq—most of them there on business—were.

“We don’t want Americans to leave, we want the troops to leave,” said Hashimi. “We want America to support our country but with contracts, not troops.”

The demonstrations were a reaction to the January 10 announcement from the U.S. that despite a January 5 vote from the Iraqi Parliament expelling American forces, U.S. military personnel would stay.

According to the Times:

The protest was concentrated in Baghdad, and people were brought in from other cities to participate rather than holding smaller simultaneous demonstrations across the country.

Although the event was carefully organized and scripted by Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist anti-American Shiite cleric, and given heft by Iraqi armed groups close to Iran, it also reflected a genuine desire shared by Iraqis to have a government and economy that serves the Iraqi people and not outside interests, many participants said.

Video from the pro-government march showed a sea of people waving flags and chanting anti-U.S. slogans.

Thousands of Iraqis gathering at Jadariya, a neighborhood in the Baghdad city center at a rally against the presence of U.S. troops in the country, in Baghdad, Iraq on January 24, 2020.

Thousands of Iraqis gathering at Jadariya, a neighborhood in the Baghdad city center at a rally against the presence of U.S. troops in the country, in Baghdad, Iraq on January 24, 2020. (Photo: Murtadha Al-Sudani/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)