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Economic Recovery All Around Us

2009-07-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Originally Posted on Main Street

A LOT has happened on the economic front since I last wrote, something I wouldn’t have known it if I only got my news from the increasingly frustrating mainstream media. The housing crisis continues to get worse, more and more folks are losing jobs, and corporate giants continue to make profits as if nothing had ever happened. What’s going on here? Didn’t we just have an election to change the course Bush and the corporate movement put us in?

Despite the bleak outlook, this is not a moment to despair. There are an incredibly large number of “green offshoots” that indicate that we can turn things around, but you have to know where to look for them. I’m not talking about the numbers and statistics President Obama and the Administration are using; I’m talking about real flesh & blood people working to turn things around.

In the piece “It’s The Economic Paradigm, Stupid!” blogger DaveJ makes some good points:

It is not just the economy out of whack. The business practices that brought us here — overextraction, overextension, overleveraging, overconsumption — have also whacked the planet’s resources…they are going to get things back “on track” by applying more of the same “solutions” that got us to where we are today.

I agree. This to me makes an interesting point clear – economic recovery means Main Street MAKING HARD CHANGES to how business operates. Anything short of this is just more of the same.

Peru
Recently a standoff between Main Street and corporate interests occurred when the Peruvian government decided to allow their buddies in the corporate sector to go into the Amazon by handing out contracts for mining, oil, and gas extraction. This of course was justified and seen as “good” under deals like the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Nothing like making a profit goes their logic, who cares about people, communities, or the environment, right?

Enter Main Street in the Amazon, the indigenous people who have taken care and preserved the land for thousands of years. Realizing that their homes and ways of life were under attack, they organized themselves and warned the government that their actions were illegal and would be opposed.

In the early hours of June 5th, the military descended on a road being blocked by thousands of indigenous people and opened fire. What ensued was a cowardly attack on Main Street because they stood in the way of “progress”, one which Main Street was able to get through largely due to being so well organized and gathering support inside Peru and across the globe. (First-hand account can be read here.)

Honduras

What would you do if you woke up one morning and realized that President Obama had been forcefully removed from office by the super-rich and wealthy class because they didn’t like the change that was occurring? Recently there was a Coup d’état in Honduras of President Zelaya, a business man himself, in which this horrible scenario played out.
Zelaya, a candidate of “change”, was brought to office with support from Main Street who has for decades been getting the short end of a stick economically and politically. (About 70% lives on less than $2 a day.) Realizing that Honduras would never really break out of its dire situation by continuing to practice a business model solely focused on profits, he went out on a limb and defied the establishment by joining the Venezuela-led ALBA, a counter to the traditional U.S. “Free-Trade” model which doesn’t have profits at its center. (for a better explanation, go here)

Unfortunately the situation is only getting worst with the Coup government imposing restrictions on the press and only allowing pro-government reporting, the killings of leaders of organizations fighting for Main Street, and a dangerous strategy to prevent the return of President Zelaya which is getting aided by democrats, republicans, and even the Obama administration. What ultimately happens in Honduras will have repercussions beyond the tiny nation as it’s an example of Main Street vs. Corporate interests.

U.S.

No issue better illustrates how challenging it is to achieve economic recovery in the U.S. than the current fight over a public option on healthcare reform. Main Street wants it, worked to make it happen with the 2008 elections, and has since done incredible work to ensure its passage – yet we still find ourselves in a situation where it feels like it’s an upward battle. What’s going on here?

Corporate interests like the insurance industry are digging in, and throwing millions of dollars at Congress to ensure things stay the same. They know full well that at stake is more than coverage for those who need it, what’s really at stake is the old way of doing business – the profit-centered way. They’ve gotten their pawns on all sides of the aisle, both D’s and R’s, to put as many obstacles in the way of reform.

The question here is what Main Street will do to make change happen. We find ourselves in a position where we are fighting one another over race, gender, faith, class, etc…while corporate giants continue to get rich off us all. It might be enough to make on want to laugh and withdraw from it, but the impacts are real and more and more Main Street continues to hurt. It would seem to me that there is a need for everyone to step back and take stock of what’s happening around them, who’s fighting for what, and maybe even get over our cosmetic differences (which make us unique individuals) to figure out what’s happening around us, but more importantly figure out which side we are on.

Best Week Ever – Not for the Chamber of Commerce

2009-06-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on Main Street

This week activists across the country are picketing and bringing attention to one of the country’s largest organizations whose mission is “To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility.”

Who are these activists, what is the organization being protested, and why would anyone spend time taking on such a noble-sounding organization? Like always, the devil is in the details.

The activists are part of Jobs with Justice, a national organization that advocates for workers’ rights, better working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively through union representation. Their target is the Chamber of Commerce, whose purpose is “to fight for free enterprise”.

Over the past few months a piece of legislation called the “Employee Free Choice Act” has been making its way through Congress. The Bill would do several things to put more power in the hands of workers, and dramatically shift the conditions for workers who chose to organize unions by making it harder for employers to illegally engage in anti-union activities. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, until you learn the shocking rates at which American companies violate these laws.

This week the fight picked up in intensity when the Chamber declared they’d turned Sen. Feinstein’s (D-CA) vote against the Bill, a statement they soon retracted and which the Senator’s office responded to by saying they were “engaging in wishful thinking”, and that the Senator was still looking for a compromise that was beneficial to workers and business interests.

The Jobs with Justice group decided to remind members of the Chamber’s anti-worker history. They point to the chambers stances against: The eight-hour workday for women, child labor laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, The Voting Rights Act, raising Americans with Disability Act access standards, overtime payments for millions of workers through reforms of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and increases in the minimum wage as indicators that the Chamber is only interested in preserving a system in which working people get the short-end of the stick.

Jobs with Justice asked members to contact their Senators to ask them to ignore the Chamber’s lies and to support the Employee Free Choice Act. They’ve also begun mobilizing activists to turn out to local Chamber offices and educate community members about the Chamber’s true nature and agenda, which they see as anti-worker and part of the failed “free market” ideology which led us to the current financial and economic disasters.

On Tuesday JwJ held demonstrations in Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, and several other cities. Jobs with Justice pledges to continue to “be there” against the chamber and will be holding demonstrations this week and next. You can read the updates here.

To make matters worse for the Chamber, recently a national group of employers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders named “Business Leaders for a Fair Economy” came out in support the Employee Free Choice Act.

One thing is for sure, the stakes are getting higher and higher on this piece of legislation. If you haven’t added your voice to the millions already supporting this Bill, you might want to take some time to figure out if the wages and benefits of union job is something you care about. There are more than 60 million workers out there who would form one if they had the chance. We’ve even heard claims that it might be good for your health.

The End of the World or an Opportunity to Build a Better World?

2009-06-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Originally Posted on Main Street

Economic Recovery Series: Step #1 – Realize you are part of the game

Workers across the globe, meaning you and me, are caught between a rock and a hard place as we try to figure out what happened with the economy and how to ride out this rough economic climate, a climate which according to this article is going to get rockier as we face a potential economic relapse in the coming year.

From everything one reads in the paper, on the web, or sees on TV, you’d think it’s the end of the world. Let’s take a moment to breath and relax, because as scary as this all seems, the truth is that this economic crisis is nothing new. As you can see in the chart below, economic crises have happened before (and before, before that, and even before that), and each time working people have had to play a role in restoring order and moving the nation in a better direction that was more sustainable.

Remember the abolishment of slavery, or “The New Deal”? Someone pushed for that to happen, and if you’re reading this blog chances are it was someone like you.

(This is a chart called the Kondratieff Wave, which stated that capitalist economies held recurring periods of booms and busts. See also here. A more controversial graph which looks at the role of war and economic recovery can be seen here.)

I wouldn’t be the first to admit that the solutions weren’t perfect and had flaws, but what’s made America a beacon of hope has been our uncanny ability as a people to turn a crisis into an opportunity for advancement.

The financial crisis, if seen in this context, is our challenge and opportunity to lead the U.S. and global economy in a better direction. We have an opportunity to turn record levels of food production into a solution to the global food crisis. We have an opportunity to address inequalities like American workers making less money today than their grandparents did 30 years ago, even though the U.S. workforce is more productive today than in times past.
Over the coming weeks I hope to join my fellow editors in a conversation about how to move beyond the economic crisis, and what workers can do to ensure that they are part of finding solutions that everyday people will feel and see. Solutions like passing universal health care, leveling the playing field for workers by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, or passing comprehensive immigration reform that does not criminalize workers looking for a better life.
In that spirit, I submit that the first part of economic recovery is to figure out where you stand in relation to the economic crisis. That is to say, how did we contribute to it, what are the impacts we are feeling, and what are 2-3 things I can do to help restore the economy? Need a hand figuring out what you can do? Check out this awesome poster/tool that the folks over at Yes! Magazine put out on 31 ways to jump start the local economy (PDF).

What do you think?

Some Friendly Advice for Workers from the Wall Street Journal

2009-05-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on Main Street

Last week the Wall Street Journal published a piece examining the impacts of the economic slowdown on young workers, and found that young workers were at higher risk of becoming unemployed.

Employees in their 20s and 30s are finding themselves more at risk of a layoff, according to labor lawyers, as employers look to avoid age-discrimination lawsuits by adopting a “last one in, first one out” policy and turn to tenure as a means of conducting layoffs.

Fear not my friends; the WSJ ended this great piece with some friendly advice:

You might also try to align yourself with someone in senior management… Should it come to layoff decisions, “It doesn’t hurt to have someone in the executive conference room on your side”…

There you have it folks, we should be sucking up to management and owners across America… what do you say?

Well there is another way, one the WSJ doesn’t even bother telling you, it’s called the union way. That’s right, you can either give sucking up a try, or decide you and your co-workers should have a say about how things go down at work.

What can I get as a young worker in a union? The folks over at CEPR did some research and found that it’s actually quite a bit (PDF). Among their findings:

unionization raised wages 12.4 percent – or about $1.75 per hour relative to young workers with similar characteristics who were not in unions
About 17 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health
About 24 percentage points more likely to have a pension.

Today I literally jumped up with joy when I read about workers in Manhattan who chose the union way. Last Friday workers at H&M ratified their first contract — maybe they forgot to read the paper last week?

From the NY Times Blog:

More than 1,000 employees at nine H&M stores in Manhattan will receive wage increases and other benefits in their first-ever union contract… The three-year contract provides a 3 percent wage increase in the first year, with wage re-openers in the second and third years. An additional merit-based increase is included in each year of the contract.

What’s so new or exciting about this? Well not sure when the last time you all went to H&M was, but a large part of those workers belong to a demographic which currently only makes up a small percent of the labor movement, young workers. What’s of particular interest to me is that this is definitely not an isolated event, in fact globally there is a growing activity by unions to reach out to young workers and organize them to improve working conditions. (Examples here and here).

I know we often hear about how we keep losing jobs to overseas competitors as a result of “free trade” policies like NAFTA (and I think that’s true), but what we can’t forget is that there IS an increasing job market out there in the service-oriented economy. Imagine what the country would look like if the current batch of mostly low-wage, part-time, and non-union service jobs were turned into high-paying, people-friendly, sustainable jobs that allowed folks to live a good life in their communities. Is this too much to ask for? The H&M workers certainly didn’t think so, and they are right. We can’t give up on the jobs we have. Let’s turn them into good jobs.

For that to happen we will need some basic things to change, first among them bringing an end to the corrupt system workers have to face when trying to organize unions. We can do that with the Employee Free Choice Act, check out the video to learn more about it and get involved.

From Trinidad & Tobago: Change or More of the Same?

2009-04-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on "RaceWire: The Colorlines Blog"

By Carlos Jimenez

The V Summit of the Americas, and the counter IV Peoples’ Summit, has brought a wide representation of peoples and communities of all colors and histories to the small island of Trinidad. While both gatherings have similar topics in their agendas including regional collaboration, migration, job creation, security, and the economy, the approach and implications for working people and communities across the continent could not be more different.

On one side of the island (and a few cruise ships), representatives of 34 nations of the Americas with the notable exception of Cuba is gathering to discuss how to continue the Bush-style policies of “free trade” and “economic progress” which have unleashed devastating consequences on issues of critical importance to the peoples of the Americas like the environment, education, health services, access to food, and a decent standard of living. In another part of the island, a vibrant and open gathering, with Cubans well represented, is gathering to discuss how to fix the problems caused by the current economic model and address the root causes of the multi-dimensional crises women, workers, young people, indigenous communities, and future generations are faced with which have brought the continent and world to a cliff from which there is no return (a topic which is notably absent from the official summit).

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), and other U.S. based organizations like the Alliance for Responsible Trade and TransAfrica Forum, are attending the Peoples’ Summit to engage in the deep debate and discussions with other social movements across the continent to offer perspectives and cross strategize on how provide alternative to the crises. It’s been immediately clear that our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and in the Americas aren’t getting a clear picture about the situation in the U.S. through traditional media outlets. Everywhere we’ve gone, the question of what an Obama victory has meant to us has been asked, the assumption being that Obama is of a same mindset as left-leaning leaders in Latin America with a new brand of politics, an assumption that is yet to be proved through actions. We’ve learned it’s not just the hopes of the people living in the U.S, but of the entire continent, which have come to rest on the shoulders of the President. But the hope is not blind, and anything short of breaking with the “cowboy” diplomacy and unilateral actions of past administrations is sure to result in strong opposition from other nations and social movements which would be a nightmare for the administration.

If President Obama is serious about a new chapter in relations with the Americas and Caribbean, a smart and strategic objective for re-setting hemispheric relations, a few fundamental issues will have to be addressed. Among them:

Conduct a fundamental reopening of the debate regarding the future of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, with inclusion and broad representation of the sectors most impacted by its consequences. Policies that have resulted in devastation for communities across the U.S. and the Americas and have shifted millions of jobs oversees to move impoverished countries and are responsible for the massive disparity in wealth we now see.
Close the working groups which President Bush began towards the development of so called “Security and Prosperity Partnerships” (SPP). Pacts which have been created in secret meetings by private companies, who have removed public interest from having a voice in discussions of critical importance to working people.
Announce a change in immigration policy which ends the criminalization of migrant workers seeking a better life and will work to address the root causes behind people abandoning their homes and lands.
Demilitarize the border between the U.S. and Mexico and bring down the “wall of death”
Unite behind the imperative to recognize Cuba as a full diplomatic partner in the hemisphere.

Just a few months ago, we voted for change. In the process we broke barriers to elect a candidate that made those campaign promises. It wasn’t easy, but the alternative made it a necessity and in the end we made history. Today, President Obama has an opportunity (and mandate) to break with the policies that have impoverished and devastated communities of color and working people in the U.S. and the Americas. Its clear that it is a difficult challenge because there are sectors of society that want nothing more but to preserve the status quo, obviously for them the system has been working. Let’s hope President Obama isn’t more of the same.

As the Peoples’ Summit comes to a close, resolutions and declarations on the way forward will be pronounced. Whatever the outcomes are at the Summit of the Americas what has been clear to us is that deeper relations and integration amongst the peoples of the Americas is the basis for long term solutions to this current crises.