The Political Apocalypse Deck Of Playing Cards - free slideshow

It is time to spread the occupation from Wall Street src=http://www.MADEinUSA.org/musabtn.cgi>  OCCUPY WALL STREET RESOLUTION http://www.teamster.org/content/occupy-wall-street-resolution The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, acting through its General Executive Board hereby adopts the following Resolution this 15th day of November 2011: WHEREAS, "Occupy Wall Street” is the foundation of the nationwide protest against economic inequality, unfair tax structure, bank bailouts and corporate greed that has affected every worker in the United States, including every member of the Teamsters Union, and brought the country to its current economic crisis; WHEREAS, just as "Occupy Wall Street" demands that the nation respond to the unrelenting pressure on the middle class, on workers and on the unemployed, the Teamsters have exposed the "War on Workers” being waged by billionaires and CEOs who seek to blame working people for the state of the economy and to "fix" the economy by giving to the rich and taking from the middle class; WHEREAS, the Teamsters share the outrage of “Occupy Wall Street” over the foreclosure crisis, over out-of-control health care costs, over attacks on pensions, over the fact that corporations are sitting on more cash than anytime in history while millions of able-bodied workers cannot find a job, and that Teamster children may not achieve the standard of living their parents achieved and may never own a home or a pension; WHEREAS, Union members must fight to keep the gains they have achieved through collective bargaining as corporate-backed politicians attack public sector workers with the same ruthlessness they exhibited in the past 11 months, and private sector employers are following their example; WHEREAS, just as workers’ rights to organize, picket and strike are abrogated based on unjustified allegations of a threat to public safety and health, “Occupy Wall Street's” Constitutionally protected right to a peaceful protest and assembly must be protected and cannot be curtailed or contained based on unsupported claims of public safety; WHEREAS, the lockout of 43 Teamsters art handlers by the profitable auction house Sotheby’s has become for “Occupy Wall Street” a symbol of the unrelenting greed of the 1 percent, and “Occupy Wall Street” has for weeks acted in solidarity with the locked-out Teamsters from Local 814;  WHEREAS, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered Liberty Park cleared of all “Occupy Wall Street” protesters and the New York Police Department entered the park with police in riot gear backed up by numerous police vehicles, including a bulldozer, evicting occupiers, destroying property and arresting dozens of occupiers and protesters, including New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez and District Leader Paul Newell, in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, and WHEREAS, attorneys working as the Liberty Park Legal Working Group obtained a temporary restraining order directing that occupiers be allowed back on the premises with their belongings. NOW, THEREFORE, it is resolved as follows: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the working men and women it represents wholly supports and endorses Occupy Wall Street and opposes any effort to unreasonably restrict, contain or stop this lawful protest; and The International Brotherhood of Teamsters commends and extends its appreciation to New York Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings for issuing a restraining order that restores the Constitutional rights of “Occupy Wall Street” to peacefully protest. Share This The Anti-Union Campaign at FedEx Ground- FedEx Ground drivers often face long hours, no benefits, and no control over their work because the company claims they are independent contractors.  When drivers attempt to form unions to address their working conditions, they face an arduous route. First, they must prove they are employees, and not independent contractors who lack the federally protected right to form a union. If they overcome that legal obstacle, they have to go up against FedEx Ground’s sophisticated anti-union campaign. To date, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued complaints charging FedEx Ground with unlawful threats, interrogation, bribery, soliciting grievances, creating the impression that it was spying on workers’ union activities, and harassing, isolating, and firing union supporters. FedEx CEO Fred Smith told The Wall Street Journal in 1989, “I don't intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.” Read below to hear from workers who have first-hand experience with FedEx Ground’s aggressive unionbusting campaign, that frequently includes the following tactics: Saturate terminals with anti-union propaganda Once FedEx Ground gets word of workers’ organizing efforts, it saturates the terminal with anti-union propaganda: ·         Dennis Lynch, a former driver at the Barrington, MA, terminal, recalls that once he and his fellow drivers petitioned to hold a union election, anti-union posters appeared everywhere, even in bathroom stalls. ·         Rudy Trbovich attended an initial union meeting on a Friday, and by Monday, managers had plastered the Fairfield, NJ, terminal with posters. ·         FedEx Ground also distributes anti-union videos to drivers, and according to a complaint filed by the NLRB, it even “coercively solicited employees to appear in an anti-union video.” Send in managers to intimidate drivers According to drivers, high-level management from all over the country descend upon the terminals where union organizing is rumored or underway to pressure drivers against the union: ·         Donna Eickhorst, a union supporter in Northboro, MA, estimates that managers rode in her truck with her six times over the course of three weeks, although “service rides” typically occur only once a year. ·         Dennis Lynch similarly recalled seeing managers “all over the terminal” once the union effort began.   ·         According to Rudy Trbovich, shortly after a union meeting, high-level management showed up and held a series of meetings with food for drivers at the end of the day. Woo the drivers FedEx Ground’s anti-union campaign also attempts to address the drivers’ grievances to dissuade them from voting for the union: ·         Cathy Curran, of the Wilmington, MA terminal, witnessed the company finally repay drivers for payments long overdue, remove an aggressive manager that drivers complained about, and reconfigure routes to help drivers with excessive workloads. Curran’s reaction to the company’s effort: “This is the best year I’ve ever worked for this company.” ·         Dave McMahon recalled similar efforts at the Barrington terminal, as managers helped drivers load their trucks and took people out for steak dinners to sway them against the union. An NLRB complaint charged FedEx Ground with unlawfully soliciting drivers’ grievances and bribing drivers with the promise of benefits to discourage them from supporting this union effort. Isolate, intimidate, and even terminate union supporters Another element of FedEx’s anti-union campaign is to isolate, harass, and even fire union supporters.   ·         Rudy Trbovich, a union supporter at the Fairfield terminal, believes “they let me go first because I was the big mouth of the terminal…and I think they thought I organized [the union effort].” ·         Dennis Lynch was fired in March 2005 from the Barrington terminal. An NLRB complaint charged that FedEx Ground fired him in retaliation for his testimony at an NLRB hearing. He volunteered to stick his neck out and testify because he “knew there would be bloodshed,” and unlike the other drivers, he didn’t have a family to support. Dave McMahon, a fellow union supporter with three young children, had already been terminated shortly after a brief attempt to form a union at the Camden terminal. ·         NLRB complaints charged that FedEx Ground illegally separated known union supporters from other drivers in loading areas to discourage union activity at the Northboro and Barrington terminals. ·         Bob Williams, another union supporter at the Northboro terminal, worked as a senior manager for FedEx in the late 1970s, and enjoyed working for the company. After retirement didn’t suit him, he went back to work as a driver. He quickly became frustrated, so he contacted the union.  After he testified at an NLRB hearing to determine the drivers’ status as employees, he was fired. Challenge election results and stymie negotiations FedEx Ground also uses legal obstacles to stall union efforts: ·         At the Wilmington terminal, despite the company’s anti-union campaign, drivers voted to form a union in October 2006. The company filed an objection to the election, asserting that the immigrant workers could not comprehend English and were misled by a sample ballot distributed by the union before the election. An Administrative Law Judge overruled the objection. ·         Consistent with its strategy of delay, FedEx Ground appealed the judge’s ruling to the NLRB, which in June 2007 overruled the company’s objections and certified the union. Throwing the case back into the legal system, the company refused to bargain, forcing the union to file charges with the NLRB. According to driver Bill Gardner, FedEx Ground told drivers that they intend to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. Sources: Joseph B. White, “Federal Express's Plans for Handling Tiger International Merger Anger Pilots,” The Wall Street Journal,4 Aug.1989.  Cathy Curran, Donna Eickhorst, Bill Gardner, Dennis Lynch, Dave McMahon, Rudy Trbovich, and Bob Williams, personal interviews, by Erin Johansson, March 2007. FedEx Home Delivery,1-CA-42984 et al,NLRB Region 1 Order Consolidating Cases,Consolidated Complaint and Notice of Hearing,30 Mar.2007 (Northboro,MA); FedEx Ground Package Systems,4-CA-3635 et al,NLRB Region 4 Order Consolidating Cases, Consolidated Complaint and Notice of Hearing,30 June 2006 (Barrington,NJ); FedEx Ground,22-CA-26894,NLRB Region 22 Complaint and Notice of Hearing,23 June 2006 (Fairfield,NJ). OWS — Dawn of a New Progressive Movement? Police can break up the various “Occupy” encampments across the country but can they halt the movement? Probably not. As disorganized, disparate and disheveled as some would like to believe Occupy Wall Street and its regional allies are, the barn door is open and the horse is romping freely in the field. Or in this case, the park. We are seeing the early stages of a new progressive movement, according to Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The Occupy gatherings “are most likely the start of a new era in America,” he wrote Sunday in a New York Times article. “Historians have noted that American politics moves in long swings,” he continued. “We are at the end of the 30-year Reagan era, a period that has culminated in soaring income for the top 1 percent and crushing unemployment or income stagnation for much of the rest. The overarching challenge of the coming years is to restore prosperity and power for the 99 percent.” The roots of today’s crises of vast income inequality and wealth transfer, corporate dominance and feckless, inept elected leaders lie with the direction that Reagan took the nation – always making government the problem, slashing taxes for the rich along with outlays on public services and infrastructure investment, and sweeping deregulation. “Reagan’s was a fateful misdiagnosis,” Sachs says. “He completely overlooked the real issue — the rise of global competition in the information age — and fought a bogeyman, the government. Decades on, America pays the price of that misdiagnosis, with a nation singularly unprepared to face the global economic, energy and environmental challenges of our time.” And yet Washington “still channels Reaganomics… Both parties have joined in crippling the government in response to the demands of their wealthy campaign contributors, who above all else insist on keeping low tax rates on capital gains, top incomes, estates and corporate profits. Corporate taxes as a share of national income are at the lowest levels in recent history. Rich households take home the greatest share of income since the Great Depression.” The American people are waking up and the OWS movement wants to challenge and change the channel of inequality. “Following our recent financial calamity, a third progressive era is likely to be in the making,” Sachs writes. “This one should aim for three things. The first is a revival of crucial public services, especially education, training, public investment and environmental protection. The second is the end of a climate of impunity that encouraged nearly every Wall Street firm to commit financial fraud. The third is to re-establish the supremacy of people votes over dollar votes in Washington.” Sachs says the people in Zuccotti Park and more than 1,000 cities have put the nation on a path to renewal. While it’s hard to think in absolute terms about something so new, something without central leadership or a written platform, the need to reverse obvious flaws has touched a chord. Perhaps, as Sachs says, a new generation of leaders who are not on the corporate take is just getting started. Perhaps it is history in the making and the dawn of a new progressive era. Perhaps it needs to be the crowd-sourcing movement it is and not a party or corporation or organization that’s easily corrupted and dominated by the wealthiest few. Perhaps the pendulum—as pendulums do—is swinging back.

or special recognition, please use this button on your home page: src=http://www.MADEinUSA.org/musabtn.cgi>

It is time to spread the occupation from Wall Street OCCUPY WALL STREET RESOLUTION http://www.teamster.org/content/occupy-wall-street-resolution The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, acting through its General Executive Board hereby adopts the following Resolution this 15th day of November 2011: WHEREAS, "Occupy Wall Street” is the foundation of the nationwide protest against economic inequality, unfair tax structure, bank bailouts and corporate greed that has affected every worker in the United States, including every member of the Teamsters Union, and brought the country to its current economic crisis; WHEREAS, just as "Occupy Wall Street" demands that the nation respond to the unrelenting pressure on the middle class, on workers and on the unemployed, the Teamsters have exposed the "War on Workers” being waged by billionaires and CEOs who seek to blame working people for the state of the economy and to "fix" the economy by giving to the rich and taking from the middle class; WHEREAS, the Teamsters share the outrage of “Occupy Wall Street” over the foreclosure crisis, over out-of-control health care costs, over attacks on pensions, over the fact that corporations are sitting on more cash than anytime in history while millions of able-bodied workers cannot find a job, and that Teamster children may not achieve the standard of living their parents achieved and may never own a home or a pension; WHEREAS, Union members must fight to keep the gains they have achieved through collective bargaining as corporate-backed politicians attack public sector workers with the same ruthlessness they exhibited in the past 11 months, and private sector employers are following their example; WHEREAS, just as workers’ rights to organize, picket and strike are abrogated based on unjustified allegations of a threat to public safety and health, “Occupy Wall Street's” Constitutionally protected right to a peaceful protest and assembly must be protected and cannot be curtailed or contained based on unsupported claims of public safety; WHEREAS, the lockout of 43 Teamsters art handlers by the profitable auction house Sotheby’s has become for “Occupy Wall Street” a symbol of the unrelenting greed of the 1 percent, and “Occupy Wall Street” has for weeks acted in solidarity with the locked-out Teamsters from Local 814;  WHEREAS, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered Liberty Park cleared of all “Occupy Wall Street” protesters and the New York Police Department entered the park with police in riot gear backed up by numerous police vehicles, including a bulldozer, evicting occupiers, destroying property and arresting dozens of occupiers and protesters, including New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez and District Leader Paul Newell, in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, and WHEREAS, attorneys working as the Liberty Park Legal Working Group obtained a temporary restraining order directing that occupiers be allowed back on the premises with their belongings. NOW, THEREFORE, it is resolved as follows: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the working men and women it represents wholly supports and endorses Occupy Wall Street and opposes any effort to unreasonably restrict, contain or stop this lawful protest; and The International Brotherhood of Teamsters commends and extends its appreciation to New York Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings for issuing a restraining order that restores the Constitutional rights of “Occupy Wall Street” to peacefully protest. Share This The Anti-Union Campaign at FedEx Ground- FedEx Ground drivers often face long hours, no benefits, and no control over their work because the company claims they are independent contractors.  When drivers attempt to form unions to address their working conditions, they face an arduous route. First, they must prove they are employees, and not independent contractors who lack the federally protected right to form a union. If they overcome that legal obstacle, they have to go up against FedEx Ground’s sophisticated anti-union campaign. To date, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued complaints charging FedEx Ground with unlawful threats, interrogation, bribery, soliciting grievances, creating the impression that it was spying on workers’ union activities, and harassing, isolating, and firing union supporters. FedEx CEO Fred Smith told The Wall Street Journal in 1989, “I don't intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.” Read below to hear from workers who have first-hand experience with FedEx Ground’s aggressive unionbusting campaign, that frequently includes the following tactics: Saturate terminals with anti-union propaganda Once FedEx Ground gets word of workers’ organizing efforts, it saturates the terminal with anti-union propaganda: ·         Dennis Lynch, a former driver at the Barrington, MA, terminal, recalls that once he and his fellow drivers petitioned to hold a union election, anti-union posters appeared everywhere, even in bathroom stalls. ·         Rudy Trbovich attended an initial union meeting on a Friday, and by Monday, managers had plastered the Fairfield, NJ, terminal with posters. ·         FedEx Ground also distributes anti-union videos to drivers, and according to a complaint filed by the NLRB, it even “coercively solicited employees to appear in an anti-union video.” Send in managers to intimidate drivers According to drivers, high-level management from all over the country descend upon the terminals where union organizing is rumored or underway to pressure drivers against the union: ·         Donna Eickhorst, a union supporter in Northboro, MA, estimates that managers rode in her truck with her six times over the course of three weeks, although “service rides” typically occur only once a year. ·         Dennis Lynch similarly recalled seeing managers “all over the terminal” once the union effort began.   ·         According to Rudy Trbovich, shortly after a union meeting, high-level management showed up and held a series of meetings with food for drivers at the end of the day. Woo the drivers FedEx Ground’s anti-union campaign also attempts to address the drivers’ grievances to dissuade them from voting for the union: ·         Cathy Curran, of the Wilmington, MA terminal, witnessed the company finally repay drivers for payments long overdue, remove an aggressive manager that drivers complained about, and reconfigure routes to help drivers with excessive workloads. Curran’s reaction to the company’s effort: “This is the best year I’ve ever worked for this company.” ·         Dave McMahon recalled similar efforts at the Barrington terminal, as managers helped drivers load their trucks and took people out for steak dinners to sway them against the union. An NLRB complaint charged FedEx Ground with unlawfully soliciting drivers’ grievances and bribing drivers with the promise of benefits to discourage them from supporting this union effort. Isolate, intimidate, and even terminate union supporters Another element of FedEx’s anti-union campaign is to isolate, harass, and even fire union supporters.   ·         Rudy Trbovich, a union supporter at the Fairfield terminal, believes “they let me go first because I was the big mouth of the terminal…and I think they thought I organized [the union effort].” ·         Dennis Lynch was fired in March 2005 from the Barrington terminal. An NLRB complaint charged that FedEx Ground fired him in retaliation for his testimony at an NLRB hearing. He volunteered to stick his neck out and testify because he “knew there would be bloodshed,” and unlike the other drivers, he didn’t have a family to support. Dave McMahon, a fellow union supporter with three young children, had already been terminated shortly after a brief attempt to form a union at the Camden terminal. ·         NLRB complaints charged that FedEx Ground illegally separated known union supporters from other drivers in loading areas to discourage union activity at the Northboro and Barrington terminals. ·         Bob Williams, another union supporter at the Northboro terminal, worked as a senior manager for FedEx in the late 1970s, and enjoyed working for the company. After retirement didn’t suit him, he went back to work as a driver. He quickly became frustrated, so he contacted the union.  After he testified at an NLRB hearing to determine the drivers’ status as employees, he was fired. Challenge election results and stymie negotiations FedEx Ground also uses legal obstacles to stall union efforts: ·         At the Wilmington terminal, despite the company’s anti-union campaign, drivers voted to form a union in October 2006. The company filed an objection to the election, asserting that the immigrant workers could not comprehend English and were misled by a sample ballot distributed by the union before the election. An Administrative Law Judge overruled the objection. ·         Consistent with its strategy of delay, FedEx Ground appealed the judge’s ruling to the NLRB, which in June 2007 overruled the company’s objections and certified the union. Throwing the case back into the legal system, the company refused to bargain, forcing the union to file charges with the NLRB. According to driver Bill Gardner, FedEx Ground told drivers that they intend to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. Sources: Joseph B. White, “Federal Express's Plans for Handling Tiger International Merger Anger Pilots,” The Wall Street Journal,4 Aug.1989.  Cathy Curran, Donna Eickhorst, Bill Gardner, Dennis Lynch, Dave McMahon, Rudy Trbovich, and Bob Williams, personal interviews, by Erin Johansson, March 2007. FedEx Home Delivery,1-CA-42984 et al,NLRB Region 1 Order Consolidating Cases,Consolidated Complaint and Notice of Hearing,30 Mar.2007 (Northboro,MA); FedEx Ground Package Systems,4-CA-3635 et al,NLRB Region 4 Order Consolidating Cases, Consolidated Complaint and Notice of Hearing,30 June 2006 (Barrington,NJ); FedEx Ground,22-CA-26894,NLRB Region 22 Complaint and Notice of Hearing,23 June 2006 (Fairfield,NJ). OWS — Dawn of a New Progressive Movement? Police can break up the various “Occupy” encampments across the country but can they halt the movement? Probably not. As disorganized, disparate and disheveled as some would like to believe Occupy Wall Street and its regional allies are, the barn door is open and the horse is romping freely in the field. Or in this case, the park. We are seeing the early stages of a new progressive movement, according to Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The Occupy gatherings “are most likely the start of a new era in America,” he wrote Sunday in a New York Times article. “Historians have noted that American politics moves in long swings,” he continued. “We are at the end of the 30-year Reagan era, a period that has culminated in soaring income for the top 1 percent and crushing unemployment or income stagnation for much of the rest. The overarching challenge of the coming years is to restore prosperity and power for the 99 percent.” The roots of today’s crises of vast income inequality and wealth transfer, corporate dominance and feckless, inept elected leaders lie with the direction that Reagan took the nation – always making government the problem, slashing taxes for the rich along with outlays on public services and infrastructure investment, and sweeping deregulation. “Reagan’s was a fateful misdiagnosis,” Sachs says. “He completely overlooked the real issue — the rise of global competition in the information age — and fought a bogeyman, the government. Decades on, America pays the price of that misdiagnosis, with a nation singularly unprepared to face the global economic, energy and environmental challenges of our time.” And yet Washington “still channels Reaganomics… Both parties have joined in crippling the government in response to the demands of their wealthy campaign contributors, who above all else insist on keeping low tax rates on capital gains, top incomes, estates and corporate profits. Corporate taxes as a share of national income are at the lowest levels in recent history. Rich households take home the greatest share of income since the Great Depression.” The American people are waking up and the OWS movement wants to challenge and change the channel of inequality. “Following our recent financial calamity, a third progressive era is likely to be in the making,” Sachs writes. “This one should aim for three things. The first is a revival of crucial public services, especially education, training, public investment and environmental protection. The second is the end of a climate of impunity that encouraged nearly every Wall Street firm to commit financial fraud. The third is to re-establish the supremacy of people votes over dollar votes in Washington.” Sachs says the people in Zuccotti Park and more than 1,000 cities have put the nation on a path to renewal. While it’s hard to think in absolute terms about something so new, something without central leadership or a written platform, the need to reverse obvious flaws has touched a chord. Perhaps, as Sachs says, a new generation of leaders who are not on the corporate take is just getting started. Perhaps it is history in the making and the dawn of a new progressive era. Perhaps it needs to be the crowd-sourcing movement it is and not a party or corporation or organization that’s easily corrupted and dominated by the wealthiest few. Perhaps the pendulum—as pendulums do—is swinging back.