Waukesha, WI – On July 12, nearly 800 people silently rallied to support Waukesha public school teacher Melissa Tempel. Waukesha Alliance for Education organized the rally and encouraged participants to wear black armbands. This is a subtle nod to Mary Beth Tinker, the lead plaintiff in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ruling, a landmark 1969 decision regarding censorship in education settings.

The Waukesha School District (WSD) held a hearing for Tempel, a teacher at Heyer Elementary School. Tempel was also a union representative within the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Region 7. The hearing was held to consider the recommendation made for Melissa Tempel's termination. The rally was heavily monitored by Waukesha area police at the specific request of the reactionary Waukesha school board members.

This is following the denial from Tempel’s supervisor, the principal of Heyer Elementary, to use the song Rainbowland by Miley Cyrus (featuring Dolly Parton) in a school play. It then went to the school board where they said that the song was “too controversial.”

This decision comes after a ban that WSD introduced that censored material related to “Black lives matter'' and “Pride.” Upon the passage of this policy, WSD Superintendent James Sebert and Deputy Superintendent Joe Koch stated in a letter, “Our advocacy for curricular resources and support for learning are never ending, but our personal beliefs and convictions must stay out of the classroom.”

Tempel and other union teachers took a strong position in 2021 against the bans. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (a WEAC affiliate), the National Educators Association and Free Little Library created a “Read Banned Books” campaign that focused on censorship policies in public schools.

The majority of WSD board members align with reactionary views. The Wisconsin Achievement Partnership (WAP) is a non-profit organization that is staunchly anti-union and anti-LGBTQ. WAP is an organization that most Waukesha school board members have strong ties to. The organization held a counter-protest in support of Tempel’s termination.

Tempel’s supporters argue that she was exercising her First Amendment rights. The right to free speech was seen across the many signs at the rally. Many of Tempel’s fellow educators at the event indicated that it’s important for them to show up for her because this could happen to any one of them.

In spite of the mass protest, the Waukesha School District board voted 9-0 to move forward with Tempel’s termination. She plans to follow up with a federal lawsuit focused on First Amendment violations. While the school board ruling comes as a disappointment, Tempel has an overwhelming number of supporters and fellow teachers willing to fight for what’s best for their students, and Tempel herself is committed to continuing the struggle, not only for herself but for her fellow educators as well as the students she cares deeply about.

#WaukeshaWI #Labor #teachers #Wisconsin #TeachersUnions

Milwaukee, WI – 100 people gathered in the early afternoon, March 8, at the Milwaukee County Safety Building to demand justice for Joel Acevedo, a 25-year-old Puerto Rican man who was murdered by Milwaukee police officer Michael Mattioli. Mattioli was holding a house party on April 11, 2020 during the initial rolling out of the COVID-19 lockdown. March 8 is significant for Milwaukee because, in addition to its being day one for Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, it also marks the start of Mattioli’s trial.

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression asked multiple groups to organize a rally and march to demand the following for Joel Acevedo and George Floyd: 1) Convict Mattioli and Chauvin; 2) Release of the body camera footage; 3) Charge the two other off-duty officers involved with Joel Acevedo’s death, Andrew Janikowski and Christopher Peters; 4) Recall District Attorney John Chisholm; and 5) Solidarity with Minneapolis.

One of the groups that led the demonstration was the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression. Alan Chavoya, a member of MAARPR, told the crowd, “Only community control of the police can ensure that killer cops get convicted. Reforming the police and other band-aid measures have not, are not, and will not work,”

Chavoya continued, “We need to be bold and take control of the police. The people decide who, how, and when we’re policed.”

In the leadup to March 8, Mattioli’s attorney filed a motion to get a change of venue for his client’s case, stating that he wouldn’t get a “fair trial” in Milwaukee because of the “public attention” that it has generated. What Mattioli’s attorney doesn’t mention is that Joel Acevedo received no trial at all, let alone a fair one, before his client decided to murder him. In any case, Acevedo’s supporters received some good news when Mattioli’s motion was denied. It is, however, scheduled to be revisited on April 28 pending the outcome of the trial’s first few weeks.

After the rally at the Public Safety Building, organizations such as The People’s Revolution, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, SDS-UWM, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and many more marched across the 16th Street bridge. In addition to these organizations, Joel Acevedo’s cousin, Jose, joined the march with the group and called for unity in Milwaukee.

Over the next few weeks more details will be released about this case. The people in Milwaukee are ready to keep this fight up until there is justice for the Acevedo and Floyd families.

#MilwaukeeWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Wisconsin #Antiracism #GeorgeFloyd #DerekChauvin

Oshkosh, WI – 30 community members came out, July 8, to protest the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Community activists, artists, teachers, parents and children gathered peacefully on a corner armed with chalk, chants and messages of anti-racism and solidarity with the pro-Black Lives Matter workers.

When protests erupted around the country in late May over the police killings of George Floyd and countless others, the Boys & Girls Club released a statement of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts in early June. The workers, who have been impacted by these repeated killings, were given no external guidance on how to respond or what types of conversations would be expected of them in their classrooms. They assumed the social media posts from the Boys & Girls Club were a green light for employees that wanted to show solidarity.

On June 9, an employee developed their weekly theme around solidarity and propped up signs in the windows that read “Black dreams matter,” “We stand united,” and “Black voices matter.” Supervisors and CEOs alike voiced their immediate concern for their reputation amongst donors and the “non-Black” children and families who would see those signs and feel “left out.” During business hours and despite the employee’s refusal to take down the signs, they were removed in front of a Black staff member.

Multiple private meetings with supervisors as well as two CEOs and the Boys & Girls Club ended with the conclusion from the organization that workers were to remain neutral and that they must not put “opinions” or “personal beliefs” in the windows for the public to see. This did not sit well with employees on the front lines and led to further actions in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ten days later, the Boys & Girls Club's ‘neutrality’ remained firm and tensions were still unresolved between workers and management. This tension expanded further after a Black staff member who solely worked outside for recess experienced a heat-related emergency that was disregarded as hostility. Other staff members rushed to provide basic first aid while supervisors were nowhere to be found. The staff member working outside wrote “I can't breathe” in chalk in the parking lot as another way to speak out against the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh's awful working conditions and treatment towards Black staff. This chalk message was removed by maintenance after business hours.

The Boys & Girls Club sought legal counsel through their labor law attorney connections and spoke privately with donors about what could be done. Employees were left in an exhausting cycle of meetings that included repeating statements, workers being taken away from their classrooms, and threats of termination. Management demanded more time to reflect, welcomed suggestions via email, but remained firm on their position of neutrality as to not lose “critical” donations that keep programs running.

The hostility and subtle gaslighting experienced behind the scenes led to two Black staff resigning to preserve their mental and emotional well-being. A large meeting was called by staff to meet with superiors on June 25 and it was agreed by CEO Marc Dosogne that this meeting would take place as long as it was indoors, private, and no media was in attendance.

The meeting was only minimally effective, but employees were able to share experiences, anger, and explain how crucial it is to publicly defend the Black Lives Matter movement as an organization that serves dozens of Black youth. Workers demanded 100% solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, zero neutrality, real representation for front line staff at every board of directors meeting, shirts in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a possible paid day to volunteer and participate in a Black Lives Matter related action.

A week passed as if nothing had happened despite staff quitting and looking elsewhere for other positions. The staff and concerned parties reached out to grassroots organizations locally to help apply pressure and to expose this specific organizational branch's cover up of racist employer practices. The accounts of racism have sparked outrage in the community. Despite the outrage, the Boys & Girls Club still maintains direct connections with many powerful institutions including the Oshkosh Police Department, whose officers murdered and slandered an unarmed Black man named Isaiah Tucker back in 2017.

The day after the Black Lives Matter chalk-walk protest, social media accounts displayed the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh tagged with the Oshkosh Police Department thanking children for hand delivering candy and cards. Workers and their supporters in the community intend to hold future protests for tangible change, equality and genuine solidarity.

#OshkoshWI #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM

Oshkosh, WI – 30 community members came out, July 8, to protest the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Community activists, artists, teachers, parents and children gathered peacefully on a corner armed with chalk, chants and messages of anti-racism and solidarity with the pro-Black Lives Matter workers.

When protests erupted around the country in late May over the police killings of George Floyd and countless others, the Boys & Girls Club released a statement of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts in early June. The workers, who have been impacted by these repeated killings, were given no external guidance on how to respond or what types of conversations would be expected of them in their classrooms. They assumed the social media posts from the Boys & Girls Club were a green light for employees that wanted to show solidarity.

On June 9, an employee developed their weekly theme around solidarity and propped up signs in the windows that read “Black dreams matter,” “We stand united,” and “Black voices matter.” Supervisors and CEOs alike voiced their immediate concern for their reputation amongst donors and the “non-Black” children and families who would see those signs and feel “left out.” During business hours and despite the employee’s refusal to take down the signs, they were removed in front of a Black staff member.

Multiple private meetings with supervisors as well as two CEOs and the Boys & Girls Club ended with the conclusion from the organization that workers were to remain neutral and that they must not put “opinions” or “personal beliefs” in the windows for the public to see. This did not sit well with employees on the front lines and led to further actions in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ten days later, the Boys & Girls Club's ‘neutrality’ remained firm and tensions were still unresolved between workers and management. This tension expanded further after a Black staff member who solely worked outside for recess experienced a heat-related emergency that was disregarded as hostility. Other staff members rushed to provide basic first aid while supervisors were nowhere to be found. The staff member working outside wrote “I can't breathe” in chalk in the parking lot as another way to speak out against the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh's awful working conditions and treatment towards Black staff. This chalk message was removed by maintenance after business hours.

The Boys & Girls Club sought legal counsel through their labor law attorney connections and spoke privately with donors about what could be done. Employees were left in an exhausting cycle of meetings that included repeating statements, workers being taken away from their classrooms, and threats of termination. Management demanded more time to reflect, welcomed suggestions via email, but remained firm on their position of neutrality as to not lose “critical” donations that keep programs running.

The hostility and subtle gaslighting experienced behind the scenes led to two Black staff resigning to preserve their mental and emotional well-being. A large meeting was called by staff to meet with superiors on June 25 and it was agreed by CEO Marc Dosogne that this meeting would take place as long as it was indoors, private, and no media was in attendance.

The meeting was only minimally effective, but employees were able to share experiences, anger, and explain how crucial it is to publicly defend the Black Lives Matter movement as an organization that serves dozens of Black youth. Workers demanded 100% solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, zero neutrality, real representation for front line staff at every board of directors meeting, shirts in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a possible paid day to volunteer and participate in a Black Lives Matter related action.

A week passed as if nothing had happened despite staff quitting and looking elsewhere for other positions. The staff and concerned parties reached out to grassroots organizations locally to help apply pressure and to expose this specific organizational branch's cover up of racist employer practices. The accounts of racism have sparked outrage in the community. Despite the outrage, the Boys & Girls Club still maintains direct connections with many powerful institutions including the Oshkosh Police Department, whose officers murdered and slandered an unarmed Black man named Isaiah Tucker back in 2017.

The day after the Black Lives Matter chalk-walk protest, social media accounts displayed the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh tagged with the Oshkosh Police Department thanking children for hand delivering candy and cards. Workers and their supporters in the community intend to hold future protests for tangible change, equality and genuine solidarity.

#OshkoshWI #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM

Milwaukee, WI – On the afternoon of June 6, over 200 people rallied on the corner of North 76th and West Burleigh Streets near the Milwaukee-Wauwatosa border to stand with the family of Alvin Cole, as well as members of the family of Jay Anderson, Jr. Both Cole and Anderson, along with Antonio Gonzales, were all murdered by Joseph Anthony Mensah, a member of the Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD). Despite these three killings, Mensah still works for WPD. The rally was called co-organized by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).

Alvin Cole was killed by Officer Mensah in early February, shot in the back several times as he fled from police who had their weapons drawn. Alvin was yelling “No gun, no gun!” as he ran. He was 17 years old. The family had remained silent since the incident but have resolved that they can no longer do so upon learning about who the officer was that killed Alvin. Officer Mensah also killed Jay Anderson, Jr., in June 2016 and Antonio Gonzales in July 2015.

“He's a child. How dare Joseph take my son from me. My baby boy,” said Tracy Cole, Alvin’s mother. “I cannot sleep. I cannot function. I cannot think because you took my baby from me.”

Linda Anderson, Jay’s mother, also spoke, demanding justice for her murdered son and for the other two victims of Officer Mensah.

“It's been the worst four years of my life not having my son with me. His anniversary death date is on the 23rd of this month,” Anderson said. “We have got to put [Mensah] in jail. He does not need to be out on the street to take somebody else's life. It's sick! It's disgusting!”

The rallying call is justice for “thee three” – Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson, Jr., and Antonio Gonzales. The Cole family has defined justice as the immediate firing of Officer Mensah from WPD, followed by an arrest, a trial, and a conviction on three counts of murder. They want to make sure that no one else can be hurt by this killer cop. But their cause doesn’t stop there.

The Cole family, vocally led by Alvin’s sister Taleavia, together with MAARPR, is calling for the creation of an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council, or CPAC, to ensure that these police killings don’t continue to plague communities across Milwaukee.

“We want change. We want laws changed,” Taleavia Cole said. “We want change in who investigates these police shootings, because obviously, these police are working with each other.”

After the rally, Lauryn Cross, a leader with MAARPR, joined the Cole family in leading a march to the site of Alvin’s murder, the parking lot of a local restaurant next to Wauwatosa’s Mayfair Mall. A strong contingent joined the march organized by supporters in the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an African American labor organization. The march was tailed by a long line of dozens of cars. More people joined the march and the car caravan as it proceeded to the end point.

When the march reached the scene of Alvin’s murder, people rallied around for instructions from organizers and the family. The 200 plus people were then told by Taleavia Cole to call WPD and demand that they fire Officer Mensah immediately. The lines were quickly overwhelmed. The Cole family is encouraging people in Milwaukee and all over the country to continue calling WPD at 414-471-8430 to demand that Chief Barry Weber fire Mensah.

The family is meeting with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm on June 11. They intend to host a press conference afterward. The Milwaukee Alliance is planning to organize a rally in support of the family outside the site of the meeting.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #GeorgeFloyd #Families

Appleton, WI – There’s a fear in polite American culture to engage in conflict. Strong words are discouraged, anger is derided, and extremism is posed as the singular problem; this unites all the various gasbags who turn our culture into such a toxic environment, where concepts like truth and justice have little hope to survive.

Yet you should fear anyone who tells you not to get mad, especially in age where monstrous ghouls have the power to carelessly take the lives of others with no fear of accountability. You should get mad when someone tells you that your anger is “part of the problem,” because it’s not. Your anger, your harsh words, your inability to refrain from conflict is not part of the problem.

Our problems exist because we live in a world where people who could truly be called monsters are running roughshod over the poor and every other group that can be marginalized out of public concern. This is the hellscape that Wisconsin has become.

If you wonder whether language like “monsters” is going too far, let’s remember how the Walker administration successfully demonized public school teachers in particular as the cause of our economic anxiety and poverty in our state. What kind of people find it appropriate, accurate, moral, or helpful in any way to blame our community’s educators in this way? Nobody. Human beings don’t do that. Monsters do.

This includes people like Representatives Fitzgerald and Vos, who have long led the legislative assault on the working class, working in concert with lobbying partners like the Independent Business Association of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and the extremely wealthy and right-wing figures who top the donor lists of the worst politicians year after year, people like Diane Hendricks, Jere Fabick, and Fred Young – all capitalist owners who have reaped massive profits from the working class. Given their past disregard for the lives of working-class people, can we be surprised that the COVID crisis is further exposing the monstrous among us? We need look no further than the current actions of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like Governor Evers “stay at home” orders are one of the only tools a state has to stop the spread of the virus. The WHO and the global epidemiological community are emphatic that such measures are critical in containing a pandemic. While there is no doubt that such orders in a state without any safety net is causing untold damage to the working class, using that fact to undermine the necessity of the order itself is shameful. And worse, it is most dangerous and even deadly for the most vulnerable among us.

At any moment, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is likely going to strip the governor of the power to implement NPIs. They might then say, “work out a compromise with the [Republican dominated] legislature.” The Republicans will offer a horrible compromise which they know the state will have to reject and then power will devolve to counties and we'll have 72 different orders, i.e. the state order will be over.

While the working class is already exposed to a far deadlier degree, a rapid reopening of the state, especially without reference to epidemiological benchmarks, will only exacerbate that risk, forcing at-risk workers back to dangerous work sites while the more well-off will be work via teleconferencing, like the extremely hypocritical Court itself did as it argued this case.

While differences of opinion exist on what a “lockdown” looks like and how to deal with the inevitable contradictions such a massive policy implementation creates, the particular actions of the far right and the sickening argumentation used shows they have no concern for making informed improvements to the policy, rather, they are turning this into a vicious ideological attack, particularly with Justice Rebecca Bradley stealing the pain of Japanese-Americans and using their internment during World War II as a comparison to attack Evers' “tyranny” and Justice Patience Roggensack dismissal of meat packers as not “regular folk” whose risk to exposure is well within her level of acceptance.

If we’ve ever wondered to what lengths the right wing will go to in order to defend their profit, now we know. They’ll compare themselves to the victims of real racism and denigrate those at risk as somehow less human. When people in power show grave indifference to human life maybe our system isn't all it's cracked up to be? Maybe our culture, our morals are not what they're all cracked up to be? Maybe we've become so indulgent with ourselves as individuals that we don't know to control ourselves as a collective? I know each one of us can’t be blamed for the actions of these monsters, but when are we going to take responsibility for not being able to protect ourselves against them?

Monsters revel in not caring about one another, they aggressively spite those who do otherwise, proud to be blind to, or worse, content with, the sufferings of those who will never cross their paths.

Ignorance is not just blind, it's callous, and that's what a chunk of Wisconsin has become – these lobbyists, politicians, judges, business owners are content to let its “lesser people” fall prey to a cruel survival of the fittest.

#AppletonWI #PoorPeoplesMovements #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #Wisconsin #COVID19 #SaferAtHomeOrder

Fight Back! is circulating the following statement from the Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Employers have launched an aggressive campaign in Wisconsin and several other states to reopen businesses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that is killing thousands of people in the U.S. every day. Forcing people back to work before the pandemic is under control would have a catastrophic effect. Workers, both with or without unions, must organize and fight back against reactionary business owners and demand a safe, science-based pandemic response.

The fight over business closures

On April 16, Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers extended his “safer at home” order to May 26, which keeps non-essential businesses closed until the spread of COVID-19 is under control. In response, reactionary business owners are attempting to overturn closure orders which have proven to be effective at curbing the virus in Wisconsin and several other states with Democratic governors.

The first protest “against excessive quarantine” took place outside the Michigan state capitol on April 15. A small gathering of far-right wing groups including white supremacist and fascist organizations waved confederate flags, Trump signs and other white supremacist imagery. After Trump’s tweets and corporate media coverage amplified the protest, identical Facebook groups “against excessive quarantine” were launched for several different states. The Wisconsin group is planning a protest at the state capitol in Madison for April 24.

Following the announcement of a planned protest, Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature said they would ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn Governor Evers’s “safer at home” extension. Earlier this month the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Republican leaders made national headlines for overturning Governor Evers’s postponement of in-person voting. Early data is suggesting a surge in new COVID-19 cases resulted from the in-person voting on April 7.

If the business owners succeed in using the court to prematurely reopen the state, it would force workers to leave the safety of their homes for a dangerous work environment, and create another surge in COVID-19 cases.

Protests backed by reactionary business interests

While the protests are portrayed as being in the interest of regular people who just “want to go back to work,” they are in fact a rich people’s protest by and for bosses who rely on the labor of their employees to make a profit.

With over 22 million people on unemployment, many workers are desperate to start getting a paycheck again. But going back to work in a pandemic puts everyone at greater risk, and is not in the interest of working people. Workers and unions need to demand that the government and corporations need to maintain pay for workers and keep us whole – keeping us financially stable and keeping as many people safe at home as possible.

Protests demanding the right to “go back to work” are funded by major right-wing foundations with links to the Trump administration. Billionaire backers of these foundations include the family of Betsy DeVos, a Trump cabinet member. Facebook groups “against excessive quarantine” in several states were created by the same Facebook account belonging to Ben Dorr, whose profile claims to work for “Minnesota Right to Life,” and other far-right lobbying groups.

A large April 18 protest in the extremely wealthy and conservative suburb Brookfield, Wisconsin demonstrated the class nature of the protests as business owners held signs reading “let the free market decide” and “LIBERATE Wisconsin,” a slogan inspired by a Trump tweet.

One attendee of the Brookfield protest was Dan Zierath, who owns four bars and restaurants in Milwaukee suburbs. Zierath said he will begin reopening his businesses on May 1, violating the state closure order. “I see no harm in it whatsoever,” Zierath told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reactionary bosses like Zierath want to “liberate” employees out of the safety of their homes and into dangerous, exploitative working conditions without any regard for their health.

Reopening the economy will cost lives

Due to the catastrophic mismanagement of the pandemic response by Trump’s cabinet of business interests, the United States has become the epicenter of the virus, reaching nearly 40,000 deaths from COVID-19. The enormous death toll reflects the political priorities of the Trump administration and monopoly capitalist class who value corporate profits over human life.

Countries that were able to stop COVID-19 outbreaks relied on widely available testing, temperature checks at workplaces, free healthcare and sophisticated contact tracing. Wisconsin’s “safer at home” order has been successful in “flattening the curve,” but the virus is not yet controlled. Widely available testing and other measures will need to be in place before businesses can reopen safely, but the U.S. currently has none of these. If the economy reopens without safe measures in place and the pandemic under control, more people will die.

Essential workers on the front lines face the greatest risk of catching and spreading COVID-19. Oppressed nationalities such as Black and Latino workers who are more likely to have essential jobs and less likely to be able to work from home have been the hardest hit by the pandemic. Two of the most affected ZIP codes in Wisconsin are majority Black and Latino respectively. The disparate impact on oppressed nationality workers has been seen across the U.S. as a result of centuries of racist oppression.

The pandemic has exposed the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system. Workers' lives are being sacrificed for capitalist profits. Working people must fight back.

Only a fighting labor movement can win a safe pandemic response

Recent successful job actions have illuminated the source of worker power: collectively withholding our labor – the strike. Since the virus outbreak reached the U.S., we have witnessed a notable increase in worker struggle driven by workplace safety concerns. Thousands of workers have protested, petitioned and went on strike for safer conditions, and all across the U.S. workers who fight back are winning their demands for temperature checks, hazard pay, PPE, paid time off and safe working conditions.

As bosses threaten to reopen non-essential businesses, organized labor must act quickly to prevent them from forcing workers back to work in unsafe conditions. Organized labor is the only force with the potential to take on the capitalist class and ensure a humane pandemic response that saves lives – but quick, decisive and militant action is required to defeat the assault by business interests.

Labor must send the Wisconsin legislature, Supreme Court, and capitalist class a strong message, that we will not go back to work if the “safer at home” order is prematurely rescinded.

We call on Wisconsin’s unions to issue statements supporting work stoppages, and take strike authorization votes if the “safer at home” order is lifted prematurely. Workers in unorganized industries should talk to coworkers and collectively refuse to work in unsafe conditions.

We cannot wait for a fair deal from bosses who want to balance their desire for profit against our desire for health and safety. We must refuse to work in unsafe conditions.

#Wisconsin #WI #CapitalismAndEconomy #Labor #OppressedNationalities #US #Healthcare #AfricanAmerican #DonaldTrump #COVID19 #WisconsinFRSO #pandemic

In response to the wave of worker activity, many companies have begun to offer hazard pay, increased time-off benefits and new safety measures. Warehouse and distribution workers on the frontlines have been leading workplace actions and winning demands. Workers at Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution Inc., which operates in several Midwestern states, are fighting for better sick-time policies, hazard pay, assistance for childcare and other policies to keep workers safe.

Teamsters Local 344, which represents Great Lakes Coca-Cola workers in Wisconsin, says the company continues to discipline employees who call out due to COVID-19, and has not fulfilled information requests regarding safety measures the company is taking to protect employees.

Secretary-Treasurer Bill Carroll said the company has “yet to provide any useful response as to what measures they are taking to reduce the risk of our members getting or spreading infection.” Teamsters Local 727 in Illinois also blasted Great Lakes Coca-Cola, calling them a “greedy, anti-worker corporate bully,” saying the company “once again picked profit over people.”

Coca-Cola's leading competitor, Pepsico, is one of many companies that has provided an increase in pay and benefits to employees since the wave of worker activity began. Teamsters are asking Great Lakes Coca-Cola to match competitors who have provided up to a 20% hazard pay bonus and improved safety measures, but so far Great Lakes Coca-Cola has not done so. Instead of offering hazard pay, Great Lakes Coca-Cola proposed a weekly lump sum bonus of $100 if workers show up consistently and do not call in sick.

“This misguided policy would incentivize employees to come to work sick, which contradicts the recommendations put out by government and health authorities,” said Local 344 Business Agent Kevin Schwerdtfeger.

Teamsters are taking the fight beyond the warehouse and going public, asking supporters to call Great Lakes Coca-Cola management at 847-653-0784 and tell them to prioritize worker safety over profits.

#MilwaukeeWI #Healthcare #Teamsters #strike #CocaCola #Wisconsin

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Wisconsin District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Milwaukee, WI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization was named in an article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on January 7 after a candidate for Milwaukee County Executive was pictured at an anti-war protest near a FRSO banner.

Wisconsin FRSO does not currently endorse candidates for public office, however, we appreciate political candidates that are willing to take a principled stand against Trump’s escalation of war with Iran.

Over 100 community members, trade unionists, students, elected officials, and progressive candidates attended the anti-war rally on January 4th to say “Money for human needs, not war,” “No war against Iran,” and “U.S. Out of Iraq!”

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has played a leading role in organizing mass movements in Milwaukee for over a decade. Nationally, FRSO claims hundreds of members as leaders in the anti-war, labor, immigrant rights, campus organizing, and police accountability movements. These popular movements encompass a broad spectrum of political ideologies, from liberalism, to social democracy, to Marxism-Leninism. FRSO believes a broad united front strategy is necessary to defeat our enemies, the billionaire capitalist class – the 1 percent.

As a billionaire’s son, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has used his inherited wealth to buy power and attack the interests of working and oppressed people in Milwaukee County. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that a representative of Abele referred to FRSO as “kooks” in the Journal Sentinel’s redbaiting hit piece.

FRSO wants to replace the inherently undemocratic system that allows the super-rich, such as Abele and Trump, to implement their racist and anti-worker agendas over the working class majority. Recent polls show that socialism is extremely popular among young people, so while billionaires slander Socialists as “kooky,” we know that now is the time to build a mass movement for socialism to end the power of the billionaire class. We believe the working class should run society.

FRSO will play a leading role in the January 14th protest outside Trump’s rally at the UWM Panther Arena at 5:00 pm. We look forward to working with other socialists, as well as progressives, liberals, and all others who oppose Trump’s racist, anti-worker agenda.

#MilwaukeeWI #Iran #frso #OpEd #Wisconsin #Trump

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Wisconsin District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Milwaukee, WI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization was named in an article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on January 7 after a candidate for Milwaukee County Executive was pictured at an anti-war protest near a FRSO banner.Wisconsin FRSO does not currently endorse candidates for public office, however, we appreciate political candidates that are willing to take a principled stand against Trump’s escalation of war with Iran. Over 100 community members, trade unionists, students, elected officials, and progressive candidates attended the anti-war rally on January 4th to say “Money for human needs, not war,” “No war against Iran,” and “U.S. Out of Iraq!” The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has played a leading role in organizing mass movements in Milwaukee for over a decade. Nationally, FRSO claims hundreds of members as leaders in the anti-war, labor, immigrant rights, campus organizing, and police accountability movements. These popular movements encompass a broad spectrum of political ideologies, from liberalism, to social democracy, to Marxism-Leninism. FRSO believes a broad united front strategy is necessary to defeat our enemies, the billionaire capitalist class – the 1 percent.As a billionaire’s son, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has used his inherited wealth to buy power and attack the interests of working and oppressed people in Milwaukee County. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that a representative of Abele referred to FRSO as “kooks” in the Journal Sentinel’s redbaiting hit piece. FRSO wants to replace the inherently undemocratic system that allows the super-rich, such as Abele and Trump, to implement their racist and anti-worker agendas over the working class majority. Recent polls show that socialism is extremely popular among young people, so while billionaires slander Socialists as “kooky,” we know that now is the time to build a mass movement for socialism to end the power of the billionaire class. We believe the working class should run society.FRSO will play a leading role in the January 14th protest outside Trump’s rally at the UWM Panther Arena at 5:00 pm. We look forward to working with other socialists, as well as progressives, liberals, and all others who oppose Trump’s racist, anti-worker agenda.

#MilwaukeeWI #frso #OpEd #Wisconsin #MilwaukeeJournalSentinel

During Walker's time in office, he and his cronies in state government were able to consolidate power and authority into the hands of a few reactionary business-class puppets. After taking office in 2011, Walker and his administration immediately went to work dismantling workers’ rights, unions, health care, welfare and public education.

Protests against Walker's attacks on public sector unions numbered 250,000 people as working and oppressed people gathered for rallies and an occupation of the state capitol. Energy from the 2011 uprising was funneled into a Democratic Party recall campaign that failed to unseat Walker or stop his agenda of dismantling union rights. But the mass movements against Walker continued organizing for seven years, raising awareness of the negative impact of his attacks on public schools, unions, oppressed nationalities and working people. These efforts finally dealt Walker an electoral defeat this fall as his opponent Tony Evers ran a successful campaign to fully fund public schools and undo many of Walker's attacks.

In the weeks since the election results came in, Wisconsin GOP lawmakers worked in secret to strip as many powers as possible from the incoming governor. A surprise announcement of the special legislative session in the late evening on November 30 sparked a wave of outrage from the masses of people who had finally rid themselves of the reactionary Walker administration.

Labor groups organized phone-banks in an attempt to sway state senators, or at least make them aware of the outrage of their constituents. More than 1000 people flocked to Madison on the day of the session for the public hearing section. While the hundreds of people who signed up to speak out against these measures waited for their opportunity, still more hundreds more packed the chamber of the Joint Finance Committee (JFC), the hallways leading into it, and the capitol's overflow room. The righteous protesters chanted and banged on the walls, prompting the police to lock the doors to the committee chamber. The people would not be so easily subdued, however, and the police ultimately began removing the most vocal opposition. After the hours-long public comment hearing ended, the masses of people bore the brunt of harsh Wisconsin winter weather and continued to rally in the dark while the JFC voted to approve passing the bill package on to the state legislature.

By the time the dust settled on the morning of December 5, the GOP senate had shifted a long list of powers to GOP-controlled offices and bodies. Lame duck Governor Scott Walker would sign the bills all into law on December 14 before a confused Venn diagram that has since been relentlessly mocked on social media.

With their power grab as law, the reactionaries in government have severely handicapped the Evers administration and further diminished the ability for the masses to participate in the paltry corporate democracy offered to them to begin with.

Some measures include: the restriction of early voting; elimination of the ability of the governor to approve withdrawal from lawsuits, effectively derailing Evers' campaign promise to remove Wisconsin from a multi-state lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act; requiring Medicaid recipients to hold a job while also giving the legislature oversight over any future attempts of the governor to seek waivers for health care; and requiring state health officials to implement a waiver granted by the Trump administration which allows Wisconsin to demand that childless adults must work in order to receive health insurance from a state program designed for the poor. The bill prevents Evers from withdrawing the waiver and from gaining control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) – a private-public hybrid agency created under Walker which is allegedly responsible for job creation – through new appointments, instead expanding the number of legislative appointments.

The power grab in Wisconsin is not unique. Similar events have occurred in Michigan and other states. This is an attack on democratic rights and the rights of working and oppressed people. This is one attack in a long history of attacks on voting rights for African Americans and other oppressed people. The outrageous voter suppression that occurred in Georgia's 2018 mid-term election is another recent example of the ruling class seeking to undo years of advances earned through the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 60s.

Another major piece of the power grab in Wisconsin is the component that takes away the governor's control over the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Walker oversaw the establishment of the WEDC to facilitate the stripping of Wisconsin's environmental regulations, thus making the state more appealing to monopoly capital investment. In other words, the function of the WEDC is not to create jobs, but to make the billionaires who have propped Walker up all the more rich.

In 2017 Walker's WEDC facilitated an enormous transfer of wealth from Wisconsin's working class to the Taiwanese corporation Foxconn to the tune of $3 billion in taxpayer money. The bourgeoisie and their reactionary political representatives in the Wisconsin GOP want to continue to control the WEDC in spite of the democratic will of the majority for a change of direction. The ruling class and their allies seek to prevent Governor-elect Evers from being a conduit of a developing movement toward mass resistance to the continued selling off of the state.

Governor-elect Tony Evers wants to lead the state in a more progressive direction, but has his own ties to big business. He has repeatedly emphasized relying on cooperation, compromise and finding “common ground” with the Republican-dominated legislature. After the unprecedented lame duck power grab it is clearer than ever that the GOP has no interest in cooperating to accomplish any reforms that would benefit working and oppressed people.

At the end of the day, what is happening currently in Wisconsin demonstrates the naked reality of bourgeois democracy: the billionaires can change laws or government structures to their benefit, all while the votes of the majority can be ignored.

In the face of what may appear to some to be insurmountable obstacles, how can we fight back and win? We cannot wait for Evers to bring the fight to the GOP and the billionaire interests they represent. Whether he does anything at all will be entirely dependent upon the progressive forces across Wisconsin. Without a mass movement pushing Evers, little will be accomplished.

While some of the lame duck changes are already being challenged in the courts, we shouldn't hold our breath for those courts to overturn any of the contents of this legislation. The people behind the movements fighting to overturn Act 10, fighting against racist police and immigration policies, against the attacks on women's reproductive rights, on the rights for trans and other gender non-conforming people to exist, and all of the other mass struggles need to hold Evers's feet to the fire.

#MilwaukeeWI #Labor #Wisconsin #ScottWalker #GOP

Oshkosh, WI – Members of United Action Oshkosh (UAO) and UW-Oshkosh Students for a Democratic Society (UWO SDS), as well as supporters from the broader community, gathered at the Opera House Square in downtown Oshkosh to stand in solidarity with survivors and victims of sexual violence. The emergency rally was centered on the ongoing confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States, specifically related to the many rape and abuse allegations brought forward by women from his past.

The demonstration, emceed by UAO member Lindsey Spietz, consisted of chants attacking Kavanaugh and the system that enables people like him. Residents of Oshkosh driving by or out for an evening stroll responded with honks and calls of approval. A few even stopped by to personally thank the activists for speaking out for survivors.

“As a survivor, I was honored to lead the chants in my city, alongside others who had also experienced some type of violence,” Spietz said. “Victims rarely, if ever, get the chance to speak out or report what has happened to them. Abusers continue to go free in our country. This moment, this national action, is not only empowering but necessary for our society to acknowledge and fight for the rights of survivors of violence, perpetrated by the patriarchal capitalists in this country.”

Kavanaugh is only the most recent example of the ugly reality that the wealthy elites in this country expect to live by a different set of rules than the rest of us, and that men in particular occupy spaces in society that rarely call into question their repugnant behavior. Despite the difficulty of having to relive past traumas, Spietz has faith in the power of the people.

“The voices of survivors and the masses that support them will not be denied, no matter the outcome of the Kavanaugh nomination,” she said “We will continue the fight.”

The call for justice and accountability is something that resonates with a wide range of people because of its applicability to a number of different struggles. For example, the fight against sexual violence and patriarchy is in line with the fight against police crimes.

When the police are responsible for policing their own activity, victims of their criminal behavior – sexual or otherwise – authentic accountability is impossible to achieve. With this in mind, UAO and UWO SDS are co-hosting their first informational meeting on a police accountability council, why Oshkosh needs one, and how we can win it on the evening of October 16 at Reeve Memorial Union on campus at UWO. As ever, the struggle for justice for those who have been wronged by this parasitic system presses onward.

#OshkoshWI #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #BrettKavanaugh #womensMovement

Kenosha, WI – Protesters rallied outside the Kenosha County Detention Center, July 7. Dozens came together to demand the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a show of solidarity with the detainees held in the center. Demonstrators hoped to raise local awareness of the impact that the federal agency has on Wisconsin’s immigrant communities, including the threats of detention and deportation.

People gathered before the march at Kenosha’s DMV on County Highway H. One of the organizers, John Fleissner, explained, “What we are doing is pointing our forces in the direction of the machine that is actively detaining people and deporting families from this country. We believe in the power of the working class to stop these horrible atrocities.”

Tania Chavez, an activist with Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) and DACA benefactor, expressed her anxiety about deportation, which threatens her family.

Then YES member Luis Tapia said, “Look at all of us, we’re together. And it’s great to see that I have people that will stand up for the people locked up, not being able to see their families.”

Tapia retold his chilling history of having to cross the border as a baby and the difficulties he and his brother had to endure just to get to safety within the U.S. Tapia ended his speech by calling, “If we don’t get it?” and the crowd responding, “Shut it down!”

The protesters formed a rank with banners and signs held high and proceeded to march up the highway, towards the detention center. Chants continued for several minutes followed by a speech from Fernanda Jimenez of YES. With power in her voice, she told her story of running from ICE and at the end her message was clear, “We need solidarity in the struggle if we hope to win!”

“We do not abolish ICE without standing with our Black and refugee communities, we do not pass a Clean Dream Act unless we stand with no Muslim ban, unless we stand with ending racial profiling. If you only stand for one issue, how can you stand for every issue? You stand for every issue; it is one struggle,” Jimenez said.

Considering Trump’s most recent order allowing for the detention of refugees indefinitely, this action is a beautiful and much-needed act of solidarity among the people of southeastern Wisconsin. Jess Patel, the primary organizer of the action, said this is the beginning of a long struggle and is looking forward to future actions within our communities.

Local community activists, namely members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), organized the rally.

#KenoshaWI</