Occupy Transit! Transit Workers & the Occupy Movement Team Up

Calling mass transit “a genuine civil rights issue,” the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which represents transit workers across the nation, joined with the Occupy Movement, community organizations and transit riders to demand a revitalization of our transit systems. Citing such problems as “older vehicles, deferred maintenance and longer wait times for overcrowded buses and trains,” the ATU was also critical of service cuts and higher fares which have hit working class riders the hardest.

ATU national president Larry Hanley was inspired to ally ATU with the Occupy Movement when he learned of a proposal from Occupy Boston for a national day of protest around transit issues. Occupy Boston had issued this statement:

“In Boston and in cities around the country, our hard-won and necessary transportation systems are under attack. Their viability is being threatened by savage cuts and fare hikes in a calculated push toward privatization by corrupt and unresponsive politicians and their corporate benefactors.”

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Hey Rahm Emanuel! Libraries Are Sacred Spaces!

“I received the fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it.” –Isaac Asimov (American author with hundreds of books to his credit)

Probably the best known library of all time was located in Northern Africa. The great library at Alexandria in Egypt was, before its destruction, one of the ancient wonders of Mediterranean civilization. Containing thousands of scrolls, it was the Library of Congress for its day. Its destruction did not come in a single tragic fire, but several, and even historians can’t agree how many fires burned and who set them alight. There was also scroll deterioration plus the inevitable thefts and losses. For the Library of Alexandria, it was death by a thousand cuts.

How much information and imagination was lost? We’ll never know.

For the Chicago Public Library system, its deterioration is proceeding with death by a thousand budget cuts, cuts coming from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office on the 5th floor of City Hall, following up on cuts made by his predecessor Hizzoner Richard M. Daley. Libraries are especially important in working class communities where people have less income and where educational opportunities are generally more limited. Read more

The Social Worker and the Massacre: A Chicago Labor Story

May 30th 1937: Thirty-one year old Hull House social worker Guadalupe “Lupe” Marshall stood amidst the crowd  in front of Sam’s Place on a warm afternoon. Approximately 1500 people were there to rally support for striking Chicago steel workers. Marshall was researching Mexican workers in the labor movement. Formerly a popular Southeast Side Chicago dance club, Sam’s Place had become a strike headquarters for the young CIO Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC).  Hull House was the Chicago settlement house founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr.

A march to the gates of the Republic Steel plant was scheduled to begin shortly. Workers at  Republic Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Inland Steel and Bethlehem at Johnstown had been on strike for a week. Their goal was union recognition and a decent life in the middle of the worst depression this country has ever known. The strike was known as the “Little Steel” strike because the larger steel companies like US Steel had already peacefully agreed to recognize the SWOC and sign union contracts.

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The War Against Economic Recovery

Phillip Wilson is a foot soldier in the war against our economy recovery. It’s not a one man war, Wilson has help from politicians like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker(Republican) and Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel(Democrat), from powerful corporate leaders like the Koch Brothers and the Pritzker family, plus organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

His weapons are not guns or remotely piloted drones, but his laptop, his books and his videos. He is also a seasoned warrior, one with many years of experience. He’s even testified in Congress. Phillip Wilson (photo on right) runs the Labor Relations Institute. Its innocuous sounding name conceals its actual purpose. It is a “union avoidance consulting firm”. Labor activists use the term “unionbuster”, usually with several NSFW epithets attached to it.

Breaking unions or smashing organizing campaigns pushes down wages and reduces pensions, making it more difficult for people to buy products and services. This lack of spending holds back an already weak economic recovery and threatens to unleash what financial writers like to call a double dip recession. Even certified OnePercenter Fed Chair Ben Bernanke says this:

“The fundamentals that support spending continue to be weak: real household income and wealth were flat in 2011, and access to credit remained restricted for many potential borrowers. The job market remains far from normal.” from the Financial Times 2-29-12

Strong healthy unions raise wages and preserve pensions so that people buy the goods and services crucial to a sustained economy recovery.

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Dr. Beatrice Tucker: Home Birth for Chicago’s Working Class

“In the hospital you’re on duty for 8 hours and if you get into trouble they’ll come and help you out. If you’re out in the district, you know, you sit there for 24 hours if they’re in labor and you really learn about labor. You learn all the physiology of childbirth and you have to know that and know it well before you can really apply your obstetrical knowledge and manage and deliver a baby properly.”—Dr. Beatrice Tucker 1897-1984.

It’s a shame there isn’t a Nobel Prize for Obstetrics. What could be more important than bringing new life into the world? Without new life, there would be no humanity. None of our human accomplishments, whether for good or for ill would be possible.

But if there were a Nobel Prize for Obstetrics, Dr. Beatrice “Tucks” Tucker (photo on right) and her longtime partner Dr. Harry “Bennie” Benaron would have won one as leaders of the Chicago Maternity Center.

The Chicago Maternity Center grew out of the Maxwell Street Dispensary founded in 1895 by Dr. Joseph DeLee to provide free obstetrical care for indigent women while training doctors in the latest methods of safe delivery. Financial problems caused to DeLee to reorganize the Dispensary in 1931 and rename it the Chicago Maternity Center. From 1932 until its doors closed in 1973, the Chicago Maternity Center was one of finest obstetrical facilities on the planet.

Specializing in home births, its record of live births and live moms set a standard for delivering babies that can still surprise those unfamiliar with its work. Given that the USA now has one of the worst infant and maternal death rates in the developed world, maybe it’s time to step into the WayBack Machine and see how Drs. Tucker and Benaron got the job done. Read more

America’s Ports: The Place Where Old Trucks Go To Die- Updated

Quick Update I have to go to court because an Occupy Chicago arrest: Seattle Port truckers ended a two week walkout as talks continue. According to the Seattle Times:

“Port leaders will continue to meet with the drivers to grapple with safety issues, said Port spokesman Peter McGraw. Issues include overweight loads and worn or flawed truck chassis that are owned by freight companies and used and returned by drivers each day.

In addition, several trucking firms have agreed to boost the pay per load to $44 from $40 a trip; to compensate drivers stuck in line more than an hour; and to pay for some trips drivers make when they have no load, according to Paul Marvy, a labor-union researcher advising the truckers.”

There is a bill before the state legislature to turn the drivers into actual employees with labor rights including the ability to have a union. The Teamsters’ hope to organize them.

Truck driver Demeke Meconnen, one of the leaders of the walkout, said the group saw that employers were starting to lose their accounts, so drivers wanted to move cargo again while continuing to push for changes.

The trucking firms, except one, recently joined in talks with the drivers, he said.

“This is not only about the money. We’re talking about safety, respect, dignity and fairness,” Meconnen said.

Truckers seethed about derogatory or racist terms directed at them on the job, but they have begun to win community support, he said. “All the drivers are very happy for what they have done.”

This is great news. Solidarity Forever!

Back to the original diary below:

Aynalem Moba doesn’t want to kill anyone. He doesn’t want to injure anyone. He certainly doesn’t want to poison anyone. No, he is not a draftee in a horrible war he doesn’t believe in. He is an American truck driver who drives loads at the Port of Seattle.

“Every day, I haul two or three loads that are overweight, possibly putting myself and others at risk. The truck could tip over. I’m afraid I might kill myself or someone else. Sometimes we’re carrying hazardous materials, and we don’t know it.”— Aynalem Moba, a 14-year port veteran.

Aynalem Moba is not the only one speaking out.

“The shipping and rail lines force us to use faulty equipment. One time I got a load that was 4-5,000 pounds overweight, and it was on a chassis that was insufficient for carrying heavy loads. The company told me to take it anyway. I was really nervous about it. All that extra weight puts a lot of wear and tear on the truck. It blew my wheel seal…It cost me $450. My truck is my livelihood. If it doesn’t work, I don’t work.” —Calvin Borders, a 13-year driver.

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Alice Peurala: A Woman Of Steel

“They’re telling workers they’ve got to step back and do with less. What does that mean? Not having a car? Not being able to make the payments on their house? Not being able to send their kids to college? Not having any money for recreation? I thought that what’s it all about–to make the life of the worker decent and with dignity and the ability to enjoy the things of society like culture and recreation. Now they’re saying we’ve taken too much from the corporations.”  —Alice Peurala 1928-1986.

The fires of steelmaking burned all along the southern shores of Lake Michigan when Alice Peurala entered US Steel’s South Works in 1953. Today most of those fires have gone out and with them the thousands of jobs that were once the economic support system for the Southeast Chicago–Gary region, a region that has still not recovered in 2012.

Contrary to what you may have read, this was not a “loss” of manufacturing, like dropping one’s car keys in a parking lot or having a few coins slip between your couch cushions. This was deliberate theft and vandalism by what we now call the 1%. By failing to properly invest in modernization, failing to see the impact of globalization, failing to see the importance of a national industrial policy as their foreign rivals did, and turning a deaf ear to their own workers, the steel company owners helped create the economic disaster that we have today. The United Steel Workers(USW), the union that represented most of the steel mills, was trapped in an organizational structure and bargaining model that was unprepared for the employer onslaught.

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The Second Death of Jane Addams

On January 19, 2012 a spokesperson for the Jane Addams Hull House Association announced the closing of the remaining 3 Hull House community centers that are the legacy of Jane Addams.

“During these challenging times, we have remained committed to the mission established by Jane Addams more than 120 years ago,” said Board chairman Stephen Saunders. “Now, our goal is to ensure the families and individuals we serve continue to have access to the services they need. This was a very difficult decision, but it was the responsible thing to do.” from the Associated Press.

The Jane Addams Hull House Association cited financial problems as the main reason for the proposed closing. Donations and government support has dwindled even though the need for its services has grown. Approximately 60,000 children, families and community organizations make use of it every year. Its annual budget is estimated at about 20 million dollars. It is scheduled to close its doors in the spring
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Now Repeat After Me…We’re Electing a President, Not a Messiah

So Barack Obama is tacking to starboard. That’s steering to the right for you landlubbers. But as a politician who lives next to those inland seas we call the Great Lakes, he must have seen sailors do this hundreds of times. He’s already tacked to the port or the left side. Now it’s time to tack to the right or the starboard side. Paradoxically, that’s how you sail in a “straight” line and end up arriving at your destination.

Let’s remember that Barack Obama is a South Side Chicago politician. Veering to the right after starting out on the left is a time honored Windy City tradition.

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