As gas prices approach $4 per gallon in the St. Louis area, union activists and Working America members gathered at a service station to protest the rising cost of gas, tax cuts for Big Oil and the failure of George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain to propose a workable national energy policy.
Meanwhile, in Pemberton, N.J., activists gathered outside a McCain event at Burlington County College. The rally, led by the Burlington County Central Labor Council, spotlighted McCain’s record on oil and gas and asked for real solutions to the economic problems faced by working families.
Millions of Americans are angry and frustrated over the mess that’s been made of our nation’s economy, foreign policy, constitutional rights and more—and that anger is spurring many to take action and bring about change. That uprising could be the beginning of a major political shift in which progressives take back the country and make significant and lasting changes—if we get our act together, says author David Sirota.
Sirota, whose latest book, The Uprising, moved this week to The New York Times best seller list, told a recent forum in Washington, D.C., that most of us have been hit with many crises at once—rising food and gas prices, skyrocketing health care costs, the ongoing war in Iraq and jobs shipped overseas. This growing public discontent is creating a new populist political movement that is having a strong impact on the 2008 elections as grassroots groups are more openly tackling community problems.
Members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) are fighting back against insurance companies that care more about profits than people.
CNA/NNOC members, nurses, doctors, patients and Americans of every stripe will join in a national day of protest against insurance companies June 19. In more than 15 cities from Baltimore to Pittsburgh to San Antonio, workers will call for a quality, affordable health care system for all.
The largest protest is expected in San Francisco, where thousands will rally outside the annual convention of America’s Health Insurance Plans—the insurance industry lobbyists. To find out more or to join a protest in your area, click here.
Sen. John McCain twice voted against making permanent Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy—now he supports this boondoggle for the rich.
He moved from being a campaign finance reformer to a candidate whose campaign is run by lobbyists.
The former POW once opposed torturing prisoners of war—but recently voted to allow water boarding.
He’s flip-flopped so much on the issues, he’s now trying to say he never changed his position on an issue crucial to us all: Social Security privatization.
In this report, Sue Ledbetter, Wisconsin Labor 2008 state director, reports on workers protesting gas prices in Madison.
With gasoline costing $4 a gallon, more than 20 union members rallied in front of a Madison gas station yesterday to protest John McCain’s proposed tax cuts for Big Oil while average working families strain to pay ever-rising prices.
Motorists passing by honked their horns in support of the protestors who carried signs proclaiming “Bush & McCain Love Big Oil” and “Tell McCain: No Tax Cuts for Big Oil.”
Don Manning, New Mexico Labor 2008 director, reports on a rally in Albuquerque this week, one of many held across the nation by working families to protest high gas prices and ask why John McCain is a big fan of Big Oil, just like George W. Bush.
Driving down Central Avenue in Albuquerque, you could hear the blare of horns honking in support of a boisterous crowd from AFL-CIO and community affiliates as we protested the rising cost of gasoline.
Members of AFSCME, AFT, IBEW, NATCA, SMWIA and UA waved signs proclaiming “Bush + McCain Love Big Oil” to spread the message about how gas prices are hitting working Americans hard.
The combination of the sluggish economy and the housing crisis affects all workers, and Latinos have been hit hard. A recent report released by the Pew Hispanic Center shows Latinos lost 250,000 jobs in the past year, mainly in the area of home construction, which has been the mainstay of job growth for Latino workers, especially those who are immigrants.
The Pew study shows the unemployment rate for Latinos in the first quarter of 2008 was markedly higher in comparison to the rest of the population, rising to 7.5 percent, well above the 4.7 percent rate for all non-Hispanics. As recently as the end of 2006, the gap between those two rates had shrunk to a historic low of 0.5 percentage points—4.9 percent for Latinos compared with 4.4 percent for non-Latinos, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Click here to read the Pew report.
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