What kind of "labor solidarity" rally has been planned by the AFL-CIO in the name of "Hands Across Borders?"

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=134259779987965

A letter to a Canadian trade union friend.

There are all kinds of ironies in life.

Here is one of these ironies---

The International Labour Council will be meeting at the scab Grand Portage Lodge & Casino in Grand Portage Minnesota July 15 thru 17th holding a "Hands Across the Border" international labor solidarity rally in a non-union facility rented by a leader of the United Food and Commercial Workers union who doesn't care about the Draconian conditions casino workers are forced to work under.

I wonder if Canadian labour leaders understand that the workers at Grand Portage Lodge & Casino in Grand Portage, Minnesota are forced to work in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws without protections and rights extended to all other workers under the National Labor Relations Act as a result of "Compacts" explicitly created to deny workers their most basic human rights in the so-called Indian Gaming Industry where not one single slot machine is owned by any Native American or Tribal Council?

Does Ken Georgetti know that U.S. labor "leaders" secured this scab facility? Does Ken Lewenza know? Does Kevin Rebeck, President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour know what he is being dragged into? Does Sid Ryan understand what is taking place here?

I remember when some people invited me to speak at a meeting at the Wheels Inn in Chatham, Ontario. Upon getting to the motel I found CAW pickets. I didn't speak at the meeting and I didn't cross the picket line. Later I participated in a demonstration organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour at the Wheels Inn.

I hope you Canadian trade unionists are going to be asking questions about why U.S. labor leaders see fit to rent the scab facilities of the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino in Grand Portage, Minnesota for a "labour solidarity action."

It is disgusting and shameful, but not atypical, for U.S. union leaders to have no sense of solidarity with workers struggling to organize and this is why labor membership in the United States is at an all-time low.

The blatant racism in using this scab facility knowing the conditions workers are forced to endure is most shameful and disgusting.

The International Labour Council President, Jim Gleb from United Food and Commercial Workers, rented these scab facilities. His number is 218-728-5174. How does Jim Gleb explain inviting Canadian trade unionists to such a scab facility under the theme "Hands Across the Border." Would Jim Gleb rent facilities from any of the scab hotels/motels on Canal Park in Duluth?

One can't help but ask why Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson did not inform Jim Gleb of the consequences of such action.

And what about Richard Trumka, the big-mouth who heads up the AFL-CIO?

And what about Leo Gerard, the USW President with the potty mouth?

All these U.S. labor leaders who talk about "solidarity" are now using the dues of their members to rent the scab facilities of the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino and dragging Canadian trade unionists into a dirty, racist, anti-labor activity in the name of cross border labor solidarity. Why hasn't Jim Gleb apprised Canadian trade unionists of the most Draconian conditions the workers at the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino are forced to work under and endure without any voice or rights at work?

Did Jim Gleb tell Canadian trade unionists of the dirty relationship between the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association?

I would suggest that this "Hands Across the Border" solidarity action be moved to a public facility where workers are union members working under a union contract--- like a Minnesota State Park; but, then again, AFSCME members might not have a contract, right?

I wonder if the banners for this "solidarity rally" will be printed by the same outfit who printed James Oberstar's yard signs and other campaign material--- by John McCarthy's "Tony Doom Enterprises?" John McCarthy is the racist rich white man who heads up the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association. John McCarthy hands out campaign contributions on behalf of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association and then with his other hand takes this money back through his business, "Tony Doom Enterprises." 

It's no wonder the United Food and Commercial Workers haven't been able to organize Wal-marts with staff people like Jim Gleb.

In a phone conversation I had this morning (6/24/2011) with Jim Gleb he told me he is not aware of the Draconian working conditions imposed on casino workers through these "Compacts" created by the Democrats in return for hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Like we say here in Minnesota, "Ya, sure; you betcha." 

Yours in struggle and solidarity,

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

Greetings from Walkerville

Greetings from Walkerville

Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL-CIOpresident,  < http://www.wisaflcio.org/ > sends an update on the actions around Wisconsin’s Walkerville.



Day six of the Walkerville tent city protest has seen overwhelming support from Wisconsin workers, students and community members. Over the course of the week, thousands of Wisconsinites have gathered on the cement blocks lining the Capitol Square in order to call attention to Gov. Walker and his legislative allies’ destructive budget proposals—proposals which will cripple Wisconsin’s schools, health care system and communities.

Many have said that they are surrounding the Capitol to bear witness to their elected officials’ decisions and to let their Representatives know that the people of Wisconsin are preparing to take back their government back this summer.

“Walkerville is a way to focus the spotlight on Gov. Walker and Sen. Alberta Darling’s budget that will devastate higher education, public education and Wisconsin as we know it,” explained Michael Rosen, President of AFT Local 212, and professor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. Rosen traveled to Walkerville on Wednesday to spend the night.

About 150 tents have sprung up around the Capitol since Saturday June 4, when the Walkerville tent city was erected.

Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, brought her son, Nicholas to Walkerville. “We are here to tell Scott Walker that his attack on Wisconsin’s unions, middle class, and communities will not stand.

The people are coming together here in Walkerville to fight for a just budget and for an economy that works for all.”

Each day in Walkerville has had a theme, complete with educational programs to inform citizens on the budget and how it will impact their everyday life. Public services, health care, education and higher education have all been a theme of the day. Many local musicians have taken to the stage on State Street to show their support for the protestors and entertain the family-friendly crowd.

“As Wisconsinites, we cannot standby in silence while our friends, family and neighbors suffer at the hand of Governor Walker’s bad choices for our state,” explained Dian Palmer, President of SEIU Health Care Wisconsin and a public health nurse from Milwaukee who has been spending multiple nights in Walkerville. “I am here because what I have heard from Governor Walker does not represent the Wisconsin that I believe in or that my fellow Wisconsinites believe in. And I am here to bear witness and ensure that our leaders do right by education, healthcare and programs for senior citizens.”

Walkerville Events



On Health Care Day, nurses and home care patients took on a mock Scott Walker in the fight for quality health care in a play boxing match. Candice Owley, President of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, took to the ring in order to ensure quality care for all of Wisconsin.

On Public Services day, state and county employees held a mock town-hall listening session
< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/walkerville-mock-listening-session-.htmlwith > characters of Gov. Walker, David Koch, Sen. Glen Grothman and Sarah Palin. On Sunday, Wisconsin teachers held a citizen speak-out:
< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/teachers-rally-walkerville.html >

Last Monday, fire fighters, farmers and cops lead a march of thousands to call for a fair and just budget. Read more about it here:
< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/fair-budget-march-walkerville.html >

As the winds blew in last night Walkerville residence took refuge by patronizing local businesses as they waited out the storm. After the storm, Walkerville citizens returned to their tents, tucked-in for the night and continued to raise awareness of Gov. Walker’s bad budget choices.

More information on Walkerville



For pictures of Walkerville click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/

For Walkerville stories click here: http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/

To donate to help the Walkerville, tent city run click here:
http://wi.aflcio.org/statefed/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=8853d778-e839-4967-982e-c4ca49b2d26c

For live updates from Walkerville visit the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisaflcio

Twitterpages: http://twitter.com/#!/wisaflcio

Press Clips From Walkerville

Wisconsin Protesters Erect ‘Walkerville’ Tent City To Protest Scott Walker’s Budget Cuts, Hufftington Post.

In Wisconsin, Legislative Urgency as Recall Threat Looms, New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/us/politics/08wisconsin.html?_r=3

Friendly Spirit Prevails in Walkerville, Wisconsin State Journal:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_75c648fa-8f6e-11e0-a928-001cc4c03286.html

CNN in Walkerville:
http://www.criticalmention.com/ctv3-1/landing_email.php?type=email&video=true&random_string=67b2d92dedfb1f74df9b4c7a1e8950f9

Check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

I wrote this when I was thinking of running for governor; then I supported Mark Dayton--- big mistake

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008

Make way for the working class to have a say…

This enormous economic mess we are now experiencing, along with the heavy debt the bankers and the politicians of both major political parties have saddled us with, can be summed up very simply: The capitalists have taken all the profits and left the working class with all the problems.

There are only two sources of wealth: Labor and Mother Nature.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense understands that if you allow labor to be continually exploited and Mother Nature to be repeatedly abused and raped there will be severe consequences.

We are now reaping the consequences for allowing this parasitical monster of state-monopoly capitalism to have spun its web of corruption in the form of a cannibalistic military-financial-industrial complex which now threatens to consume and destroy our families, our communities, our State and our Nation while wreaking havoc in other lands.

Enough!

The time has come to put the needs of people before corporate profits.

There is only one alternative; for working people to come together to build a new society on the foundation created by the socialists of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.

We need to fight and struggle to re-establish the liberal, democratic and progressive socialist traditions for which Minnesota is known around the world.

We have complex problems before us… but, any country which can spend trillions of dollars on wars to steal the oil of other nations, and trillions of dollars bailing out corporations and bankers looking for using socialism to solve the problems of their own creation as they have sought to prop up their rotten capitalist system--- which they have touted to the world as being the best--- at our expense… This Nation can now come up with the resources to use socialism to solve the problems for the rest of us, too.

What is good for the goose is, in this case, is even better for the gander.

Let Barack Obama and John McCain volunteer to go off exploring the caves of Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for Osama Bin Laden; we have better things to do.

Our first priority is to end these dirty wars for oil and redeploy those funds--- as we bring home the troops--- to creating a world class socialized health care system which will create millions of new jobs; five messes the money-grubbing Wall Street coupon clippers and their bought and paid for politicians created, all solved at the same time by ending these dirty imperialist wars for oil and regional domination--- we get health care not warfare, and we begin to solve the problem of unemployment--- and when we put people to work in this way we begin to create a new--- functioning--- people oriented, cooperative, socialist economy where democracy will flourish because it will require the full participation and involvement of all people working together in order to succeed.

Second, without further delay, we need to establish the State Bank of Minnesota to accomplish for our State what the State Bank of North Dakota was set up, by workers and farmers, to do--- fund enterprises to keep people working.

Third, we need a minimum wage which is a real living wage arrived at by the calculations of the United States Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development--- based upon the real figures relating to the real cost of living and this minimum wage should be required by legislation to be updated quarterly right along with the release of all economic indicators to assure a quality life and decent standard of living for all working people and their families.

We have finally come to the point where even the parasitic bankers and the exploiting industrialists now concede that only socialism can bail them out of this horrible mess and solve their problems... capitalism has reached the end of the line and the only thing now to be had from the system is unending human misery.

At the point where society has to pay to clean up the corrupt mess these parasitic predatory lenders and financial institutions have created, this is the time to say:

Enough!

What tax-payers finance, tax-payers must own.

If Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs do not like these terms, these greedy pigs should make the trip to their off-shore banks in the Cayman Islands and make withdrawals from their accounts to pay to solve their own problems.

The time has come to roll up our sleeves, come together, and get to work quickly before this entire rotten system collapses---like the I35-W Bridge--- and crushes us all while leaving our children and grandchildren with the clean-up and the bills.

I firmly believe working people can run our country and our state better than any of the big-business politicians being funded by the corporate lobbyists.

Effectively using the tools of public ownership and nationalization combined with modern, scientific planning for the common good, we can put people to work in decent jobs at real living wages... we hear it all the time just before Election Day: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs... but we never see the jobs, and if we do, these jobs are poverty wage jobs no one can live on.

I intend to run for Governor of Minnesota in 2010.

I invite all working people who think that it is possible to create something better than the mess we are now in, to come together and work from where socialist Governors Floyd B. Olson and Elmer A. Benson left off in trying to create a just and decent society where people live and work in harmony with Mother Nature, to join with me, in establishing the Minnesota Party to give the bankers, the mining, forestry and power generating industries along with the industrialists and big-agribusiness a real run for their money.

Let’s run these parasites that have been living off of our labor and destroying Mother Nature right out of our state. We can get along just fine--- even better--- without them.

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

and

Candidate for Governor of Minnesota

Former member: Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party State Central Committee