Seattle, WA – Seattle union members and community activists joined a National Day of Protest on March 23 led by the National Association of Letter Carriers, saying “Hell No!” to dismantling the postal service. 300 people attended the rally in front of a Seattle post office, one of several rallies in the region in solidarity with 200,000 letter carriers and 640,000 postal workers who are fighting against President Trump’s attempt to restructure or privatize the U.S. Postal Service.

The Trump administration threatened to reorganize the independent, self-sufficient USPS under the Department of Commerce. Elon Musk recently stated, “We should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized.”

Speakers emphasized the universal, trusted, public service of the USPS and were representative of the breadth and depth of solidarity for letter carriers across the labor movement.

David Yao from the American Postal Workers Union said, “Trump and his evil henchman Elon Musk have come for our public services and that is because the billionaires don’t need those services, the people do! What do they want? Higher prices, less services! But we are going to fight, and we are going to win!”

C Moline, rally emcee, NALC shop steward and delegate, stirred the crowd, stating, “Why was there a 1970 strike? Because we had no collective bargaining, we only had collective begging. Letter carriers deserve fair pay, and fair work.”

Katie Garrow, executive secretary treasurer of the MLK Labor Council, continued the theme, “In 50 years, we will look back on this moment and your children and your grandchildren will ask you: where were you then? You will be able to tell them that you stood in the rain to fight back!”

To close out the rally, the Seattle Labor Chorus sang Solidarity Forever and the union letter carriers led the crowd on a march around the block, situated in a popular strip mall. Workers chanted, “Yes to unionization! No to privatization!” and “When union rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

While this action was at an urban postal office, the NALC has emphasized that while everyone benefits from the widely trusted USPS that delivers 376 million pieces of mail and packages, rural residents benefit the most. USPS letter carriers deliver mail to 51.5 million rural households and businesses where private carriers do not deliver.

A reorganization or privatization of USPS could have a devastating impact, not only jeopardizing the 7.9 million jobs in the mailing industry, but it could also reduce or end services to rural households and raise shipping costs. In this scenario, working-class households are hit the hardest, while a tiny number of bureaucrats and billionaires profit.

The Seattle rally was one of many across the country, demonstrating the desire of letter carriers and postal services workers to fight against Trump’s attacks, and the broad community support for their universal public service.

#SeattleWA #WA #Labor #Postal #APWU #NALC #Privatization #Trump

Los Angeles, CA – On April 22, more than 100 Sheridan Street Elementary School students, teachers, parents and community supporters took to the streets to oppose a privatization threat through the co-location of their school.

Co-location involves the takeover of public school classrooms and resources by an incoming charter school. The KIPP Promesa Charter is the corporation threatening to co-locate at Sheridan and is notorious for doing so at countless LA Unified School District schools. Teachers and staff at Sheridan heard about the plans, and quickly organized a protest to voice their opposition. It was quickly learned that the action resulted in a complete back-off by the privatization threat – a victory for public schools.

Beating on drums, shaking tambourines, and holding handmade posters, the participants chanted, “Boyle Heights says, ‘No to KIPP!’” and “KIPP Promesa, you’re not cool! We don’t want you in our school!”

The march was organized by Sheridan teachers and began at the school. The protesters circled around Sheridan a few times, before heading off on the sidewalk towards downtown. Turning left on Cummings, the marchers then took a right on 1st Street, and continued marching until they ended at Mariachi Plaza. Once at Mariachi Plaza, the large crowd cheered as the successful arrival to Mariachi Plaza signaled the beginning of their rally. A delegation of Centro CSO members participated, supported and helped with the protest.

Edelyn Ortiz, who has been a paraprofessional at Sheridan for years, was one of the organizers and security of the event. At the rally at Mariachi Plaza, Ortiz said, “It’s not okay to come into our school and divide us and our students.”

Another key organizer of the event, Esperanza Polley, said, “Some of our teachers have been at Sheridan for over 25 years; Boyle Heights is our community. Today was incredible, it really showed everyone that teachers will always fight for their students and that parents are able to move mountains when they unite.”

Antonia Montes, who is a teacher at Eastman Avenue Elementary School and a member of Centro CSO, spoke about the damage done at her school. Eastman is currently co-located by the Extera Charter corporation. Extera has taken over much-needed classrooms, poached students and not paid any rent to the LA Unified School District (LAUSD). Dr. Rocio Rivas spoke about the need to rein in the growth of charter schools at LAUSD. Dr. Rivas is running for LA school board and is supported and endorsed by many organizations that fight for public education, including Centro CSO and United Teachers Los Angeles.

On the stage, various speakers talked about the reality public schools face against privatization efforts. Corporations like KIPP, Extera and Ednovate-Esperanza hide under the guise that they are better options for students. In reality, charter schools are highly selective of their students, have high suspension rates, and oftentimes reject students with disabilities and African American students.

Due to the bad press KIPP received from this inspiring action, KIPP announced they would not be co-locating Sheridan Avenue Elementary. This was a victory because of the rapid action taken by teachers, students and parents.

To join efforts to protect public education and to become a member of Centro CSO, attend the next Centro CSO Education Committee meeting. They meet every first Tuesday of the month, at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. You may contact CSO at 323-943-2030, CentroCSO@gmail.com, and @CentroCSO on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

#LosAngelesCA #ChicanoLatino #privatization #BoyleHeights

Eulalia “Laly” Centeno was interviewed Oct. 23 at the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation office in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Centeno is a teacher at the Salvador Brau Elementary School in Cayey and active with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation. She talks about the danger of the government using the crisis of Hurricane Maria to impose massive school closings and privatize public education in Puerto Rico – as they’ve tried to do for years but have not been able to because of resistance from teachers and the community. She warns that the government is using the model that was used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when public schools were closed en masse and changed to privatized charter schools. Interview and translation into English by Brad Sigal. Fight Back!: Can you tell us who you are and what’s happening with your school? Eulalia Centeno: I’m Eulalia Centeno Ramos, better known as Laly Centeno. I’m a teacher and affiliated with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR). I’m an elementary school teacher at the school called Salvador Brau, which is a K-6 school. In this difficult moment that the country is living through, the school where I work is in the best possible condition because it has electricity, it has water, and it’s clean because the teachers and workers of the school did all the cleaning. We got everything ready. We organized the program to welcome back students and start the academic process. All areas are ready to start classes.

But then the Education Secretary announced that in this school, this town, this region, classes won’t start until the Commission of Engineers from the U.S. comes and certifies it. They are saying that for now the students aren’t allowed to be in the school. But the workers, all the workers are in the school! I can’t understand that.

What makes us think that the government has a plan with the intention to get more money out of FEMA and is projecting to close schools and eventually merge them is that this already was the plan that the Fiscal Control Board had. Now Hurricane Maria has just opened the doors for them to come in and undo everything and play with the emotional state and conditions of our children, our parents, our staff, so that they can impose school closings and eliminate teachers from the system. With our children living in the subhuman conditions in which we’re living in terms of health and security they even said we couldn’t use the school kitchens in our schools in the center of the island to provide food for the people.

Because of all this, it’s clear they want to do long-term school closings so they’re being very selective about which schools to reopen first because this would be a new class cycle. They’re being very selective and that way they can close schools and provide ‘alternatives’ to the children of our country.

Fight Back!: And these school closings are part of a privatization agenda, like what happened after Hurricane Katrina? Centeno: Yes, they want to go through a process of privatization. Yes. Because what happened with Katrina, they have established in writing that they are using the Katrina model here in Puerto Rico. Already, right now, they are offering the public school up to the association of private schools to use the buildings of the public schools. They are ready to give them over to them so they can use them. But they are not opening the schools up to the people in the same way.

The most lamentable part of all this is that the [other] union that is supposed to represent teachers, the Association of Teachers, is being complicit in this process of school closings, of privatization of the schools in the country. It’s in writing and the governor and education secretary have said that the model they’re using is the Katrina model from New Orleans and we know this is what happened there. So we in the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation are alerting the country, we’re alerting parents, we’re alerting the community that we can not allow this.

What they are doing is not helping the country, it’s for the benefit of a few rich people using the needs of the people to do it.

#SanJuanPuertoRico #SanJuan #PuertoRico #privatization #TeachersUnions #FederaciónDeMaestrosDePuertoRico #PuertoRicanTeachersFederation

Jacksonville, FL – Dozens of union workers rallied outside of the Staples store on Beach Boulevard here to oppose the proposed privatization of key United States Postal Service (USPS) jobs.

The protest was part of a nationwide day of action on April 24, called by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the Mail Handlers Union, and National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) supported it. Rallies, pickets and protests took place across the country at 50 locations in 27 states and drew out hundreds of workers, according to the APWU.

The Jacksonville protest drew a sizable crowd from all four of the major unions that represent workers at the USPS. Several members of Teamsters Local 512 who work at UPS also came out to show their solidarity as fellow package handlers.

“It's important because the Postal Service employs a lot of workers,” said Doris Orr-Richardson, President of the APWU 7041 in Jacksonville. She said of the Staples move: “It's a back door way to privatization by hiring minimum wage workers to do skilled labor. Each and every postal worker has to sign a ‘sanctity of the mail’ affidavit. Staples workers are told, ‘Here is the product, sell it.’”

Waving signs that read, “Stop Staples,” and “U.S. mail, not for sale,” the protesters received honks and cheers of support from passing cars.

Early in the rally, a Staples manager came outside to watch the protesters and photograph the event.

The privatized outsourcing of major USPS functions to Staples is the latest in a long series of attacks by major corporations and monopoly banks on the publicly-owned postal service. Congressmembers and Senators from both the Republicans and the Democrats have pushed harmful legislation that puts undue financial burdens on the post office in order to make it fail. In 2006, a bipartisan Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which forced the USPS into a 75-year liability for retirement benefits. Although the Post Office is an incredibly efficient operation, this requirement has USPS overfunding retirement by paying for postal workers who have not even been born. No other federal agency is expected to fund their retirement plans 75 years in advance.

The USPS administration handled this artificial crisis predictably by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.

Earlier in 2014, International APWU President Mark Dimondstein announced a nationwide alliance between the APWU, the NALC, the Mail Handlers Union, and NRLCA. The focus of this historic unity between the four postal unions is to reverse cuts made to the USPS service, resist privatization attempts like Staples and work with the people to better the post office for workers and customers.

#JacksonvilleFL #privatization #Capitalism #USPS #workersRights #AmericanPostalWorkersUnion

Jacksonville, FL – Protesters from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition stood outside of a local Staples retail store, Feb. 8, demanding that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stop using non-union labor at Staples. In order to cut costs, the Postal Service recently opened up mail centers at participating Staples stores around the nation as part of a test program. Instead of employing union postal workers with good pay and benefits, these new centers are staffed by underpaid, non-union retail workers.

“Union membership has been declining since the Reagan administration,” said Marina Djordjevic, lead organizer of the event. “If people do not voice immediate opposition, union busting will persist.”

Due to a 2006 decision by Congress, the U.S. Post Service was forced to make unprecedented yearly payments of almost $6 billion in healthcare costs for future retirees. That is, the U.S. Postal Service is prefunding retirement benefits and turning its surplus into a deficit.

U.S. Postal Service administration handled this artificial crisis predictably, by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.

“This is part of a move to shift work in this country to low paid part-time employees,” said Fernando Figueroa, member of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. “Either the mail centers employ postal workers or we have to organize all Staples employees into a union of their own. The unions need to build towards a strike or their jobs are going to be privatized.”

Protesters waved signs that read “Save our service” and “Stop Staples union busting.” Drivers passing by on Beach Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in Jacksonville, honked their horns and gave thumbs up to show their support for union jobs.

If the pilot program goes well, the non-union mail centers are threatening to spread to the thousands of other Staples stores around the country. This is a major step towards privatizing the U.S. Postal Service.

#JacksonvilleFL #privatization #unionBusting #postalWorkers #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #Staples

This is the second great setback for workers and unions in Michigan, coming on the heels of last year’s ramming through of so-called ‘right to work’ laws by Republicans and right-wing Governor Snyder. That same Republican-dominated legislative session overrode a fresh, legally binding referendum passed by Michigan voters that rejected Governor Snyder’s use of Emergency Financial Managers (EFM). The Republicans simply tinkered with the old law and passed a new EFM as part of an appropriations bill – which cannot be put to a referendum.

For union workers in Detroit, a city which is 84% African American, the bankruptcy is a disaster. Despite union givebacks and changes to retirement and pension plans, workers are hearing bankruptcy experts say they can expect between 10 and 20 cents on the dollar for their years of hard work and dedication. So despite years of union contracts, negotiated with local elected officials and approved under state laws, a judge will ultimately decide how much of a pension workers will get.

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union, or AFSCME, represents about 70% of Detroit city workers, excluding categories like police and firefighters. AFSCME says their pension benefits were reduced by nearly 40% since 2012. In addition, on the job workers took a 10% pay cut in the past fiscal year to help avoid bankruptcy. Right now the average yearly pension is $19,000, but could go down to $9000 after the judge’s ruling.

There is no doubt that Detroit is a suffering city, whose manufacturing base along with hundreds of thousands of jobs largely disappeared since the 1970s. In previous decades Detroit was seen as a successful and exciting city, popularly known throughout the world for cars, sports, Motown music and good jobs. African Americans and their labor were a large part of this success. People in Detroit were proud of their city, their struggles and their accomplishments and they exercised more control over their lives than ever before.

However the big capitalists began to abandon Detroit starting in the 1970s, taking their investments and production elsewhere – to the suburbs, the South and overseas. Population began to fall, reaching less than half of what it once was, down to 701,000 today. With population falling steeply after 2000, Detroit now has a smaller tax base and the same and sometimes greater responsibilities. Corporations that did stay paid less in taxes. The good jobs dwindled. The great economic crisis that hit in 2008 left even more workers unemployed – today around 18% – hurting city income even more.

During the great economic crisis, the U.S. government spent billions to bail out banks and insurance companies, but there is no lifeline for Detroit and its workers. Instead they are being punished with bankruptcy, as if it is the only option. In the process, the politicians and judges are breaking contracts and abandoning long-held promises to workers and unions. Republican Governor Rick Snyder, instead of working with Detroit to avoid crisis, cut state funding in recent years ($66 million was cut between 2011-2012) and then took over local government by appointing an Emergency Financial Manager, sidelining the Mayor and other elected officials. The Governor has used the EFM to take over in small blue-collar towns, local school districts, and now the city of Detroit. The result of the EFM is always the same: cuts in social programs, privatization of schools and services and a refusal to negotiate with union workers, followed by their eventual replacement. In most cases thus far, the targets of EFM are government bodies run by African Americans.

Detroit faces real problems, but the rich and their politicians take advantage of the situation, and turn it into a crisis so they can seize power. Next they privatize valuable assets, like the Detroit Water and Sewage Department, at bargain basement prices. Wall Street wants to get their hands on the water works, so they can charge higher prices to homeowners and make a profit off of what should be a public utility. The EFM for Detroit, Kevyn Orr, has outside experts providing ‘valuations’ of the full range of city assets, including the parking meters and parking garages, publicly owned land like Belle Isle and other parks, the Detroit-WindsorTunnel (to Canada) and the Coleman A. Young International Airport. It may soon all be up for sale.

Even the public works of art in the Detroit Institute of Art are not safe. Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr had all the art appraised this week by Christie’s auction house. Orr’s representative, the New York investment banker Ken Buckfire, had secretly sent Christie’s appraisers to the art museum in June on an ‘informal’ basis. This past week, Buckfire was forced to cancel an ‘informal’ tour of Detroit. ‘Advisers’ were going to be shown the assets of the city that are going up for sale.

Judge Rhodes’ ruling is an attack on pensions, workers and unions across the country. It opens the door for other cities to run out on their contracts and displace unions. With Illinois pensions being called into question and some California cities facing similar funding problems, Detroit is now a test case. Republicans are leading the charge to force bankruptcy, suspend and override election results, to sell off assets and to cut and privatize social services. The Democrats are shrugging their shoulders and promising things will be different at the next election. The unions are in a life and death fight in Detroit. Workers have a lot at stake.

#DetroitMI #PoorPeoplesMovements #pensions #privatization #RepublicanAgenda #GovernorRickSnyder #antiunionBusting #workersRights

Lansing, MI – Nearly 200 protesters rallied here July 25. They stood for three hours on the steps of the Michigan “Hall of Justice,” to demand an end to Governor Rick Snyder’s use of Emergency Financial Managers (EFM).

The EFM law is a new dictatorial method used by Governor Snyder to impose cutbacks and privatization, as well as violate the local autonomy of elected officials. Snyder, a Republican who campaigned as “the Nerd,” presented himself as likeable and harmless, but he quickly went to work cutting funding, suspending elected officials and taking over school boards and local governments using unelected state appointed Emergency Financial Managers.

As protesters made speeches outside, the Michigan Supreme Court heard the case about an upcoming ballot initiative to do away with Emergency Financial Managers. Over 200,000 signatures were collected on petitions to put the EFM on the ballot for voters to decide in November. Instead of allowing a vote, the ballot to end EFM is being dragged through the courts by Republicans. The Sterling Corporation, which runs a group called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility is trying to kill, or at least delay, the EFM ballot initiative in court by claiming the font size on the titles of the petitions was too small. In Michigan, this is what ‘democracy’ looks like. The Stand Up for Democracy coalition, which collected the petitions, is forced to eat up time and money in court, instead of campaigning for public support.

Speaking at the rally, Councilman Kermit Williams of Pontiac said, “Governor Snyder’s Public Act Four is not an act for the public, but an act for the corporations.” He added, “The EFM has more power than a governor. They can come in to local government and do what they want. The government has failed us today!”

Led by preachers, the crowd chanted, “Put it on the ballot. Let me vote!” and “The judges don’t decide. We decide!” Speaker after speaker representing African-American activist groups, local government officials and important unions were present: Black Women’s Political Caucus of Muskegon, AFSCME Council 25, UAW Local 6000, National Action Network of Detroit, the Reverend Pinkney of Benton Harbor with the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), Lansing Occupy and the Left Forum of Grand Rapids.

Pat Driscoll, a worker and member of United Steel Workers Local 1299, was in the courtroom with 60 or more people seeking a decision from the Michigan Supreme Court. Coming out of the court, Driscoll said, “They need to let the people vote. These big business types are using technicalities and maneuvers to keep this off the ballot. The Emergency Financial Managers are used to cut public services and break union contracts. It is all to protect the banks’ money after the big bank bailouts, and now the government is selling off assets for bargain prices, privatizing and forcing concessions on workers.” Later Driscoll added, “It is racist too, they are targeting majority African-American areas to start with.”

The Supreme Court is not likely to announce a decision until the end of August, delaying the ballot initiative another six weeks. When the referendum is put on the ballot, the EFM law is automatically suspended until the November vote. There are seven cities and/or school districts with EFM’s: Flint, Pontiac, Ecorse, Benton Harbor, Detroit, Muskegon Heights and Highland Park. The gains of the civil rights movement are being turned back in Michigan.

#LansingMI #privatization #Racism #bugdgetCuts #GovernorRickSnyder