Grand Rapids, MI – 150 people protested here, March 15, against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s plans to impose extreme budget cuts to health clinics, schools and other social services. The crowd chanted, “It’s not fair!” “Chop from the top!” and “They say cut back. We say fight back!” outside a health clinic serving mainly women and children on Cherry Street in Grand Rapids.

Concerned parents, union members and their children joined March 15 protests in many small cities and towns across the state. For many it was their first protest as they prepared for the big rally in the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing set for March 16. Thousands prepared to protest and possibly occupy the Capitol Building to stop harmful legislation.

The legislation being pushed by Governor Rick Snyder is deemed worse than the anti-union and anti-democratic laws imposed by Wisconsin’s Governor Walker. Michiganders are surprised by the sharp attacks from Snyder, who presented himself as the ‘nerd’ candidate, a sensible and moderate Republican. Snyder defeated two Tea Party candidates to win the Republican primary, but is now carrying forward the Wall Street agenda of imposing cuts in services and breaking unions. Everyone knows the money is in the banks and the rich people are hording it.

The Parent-Teacher Association circulated a notice explaining that Snyder is cutting per pupil funding by $470, while forcing local school districts to pick up 3.8% of pension responsibilities and as much as 20% of health insurance premiums. The Grand Rapids Public Schools Communication Director, John Helmholdt, sent an emergency alert explaining, “In addition to the per-pupil funding cut (a cost of $5.6 million to GRPS), the district is facing an additional $6 million-plus in cuts to the ‘categorical’ funds. Specifically, the Governor's budget cuts or eliminates funding for small class sizes, declining enrollment, bilingual services, special education services (expense reimbursement), school health centers and GRAPCEP Engineering and Biomedical School.”

The actual loss in funding from the state will be closer to $700 per student. This comes at a time when Grand Rapids Public Schools are announcing a successful turnaround in performance, gaining high marks in student achievement. The attacks from the state capitol are targeting urban school districts with large populations of African-American, Mexican-American and working class students.

The rally ended with a call to protest in Lansing on March 16 with unions, students and community organizations. Michigan’s own Michael Moore is organizing buses from all over the state and promising to cheer working people on as they take matters into their own hands at the State Capitol.

#GrandRapidsMI #PoorPeoplesMovements #BudgetCuts #BudgetCrisis #GovernorRickSnyder

Welfare Rights Committee Hails Supreme Court Ruling on UnallotmentDemands Legislature Take Action for Poor and Working People

Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court made the right decision. They took away Governor Pawlenty’s “royal powers” over the state budget.

The Welfare Rights Committee’s Linden Gawboy stated, “Pawlenty thought he was a king. Now he is just pathetic.”

Last year, Governor Pawlenty played dictator with his illegal unallotments and other cuts. He put his personal whims into action and slashed away at some basic safety net programs for the poorest of the poor. He eliminated General Assistance Medical Care, food assistance for the ill and supplemental aid for the disabled. He increased taxes for renters and many cut from many other programs.

The members of the Welfare Rights Committee have felt the effects of all of his cuts to the poor. We have watched as ourselves, our families and friends are forced to scramble for basic needs.

So we hail today’s State Supreme Court decision. After witnessing months of suffering, it is long overdue.

Deb Konechne, of the Welfare Rights Committee says, “Pawlenty thought he could get away again with outright stealing of money from poor Minnesotans, as he has done over and over in his term as governor. Finally his thievery has been challenged and the highest court in the state has deemed his actions unlawful. We, the poor and working people of Minnesota, have always known Pawlenty is a thief. The Supreme Court has righteously agreed.”

Now, we demand justice from the legislature. Many democrats have not been stating what really needs to be done. The state of Minnesota has been in a budget crisis for almost a decade. The state of Minnesota and the rest of country are in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Still, some – the wealthy – are not feeling our pain. In fact, they are getting richer off of our suffering. It is time for them to pay. We say, tax the rich. The DFL must take this opportunity to propose a budget to tax the rich and undo the cuts.

The Welfare Rights Committee will do whatever it takes to drive this message home to Minnesota’s politicians. The Supreme Court has spoken. Now it is up to the people to make sure the legislature and the governor do the right thing.

#MinneapolisMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #WelfareRightsCommittee #BudgetCrisis #TimPawlenty #unallotment

Chicago Il.– El nuevo gobernador de Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, anunció que el presupuesto estatal falta $5 mil millones de dolares, una semana despues de tomar las riendas de poder.

Todo mundo pregunta ¿Como sucedió esto? Según la organización “Citizens for Tax Justice”, este deficit se debe a dos cosas: En primer lugar, en Illinois los ricos pagan menos impuestos estatales que en todos los otros estados menos cuatro. En segundo, en una recesión la totalidad de los impuestos que se recogen es menos.

Los empleados de la Universidad de Illinois in Chicago (UIC) saben una tercera causa. Antes que nos azotó la recesión “los jefes celebraban una pachanga” dice Tom terranova, principal negociador para 900 trabajadores secretariales en la UIC representados por el local 73 del Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU por sus siglas en inglés). Hizo referencia a una investigación llevada a cabo para el sindicato por el Centro Para Analisis de Política Económica, que discubrió que los maximos jefes adminstrativos en dicha universidad han aumentado sus propios sueldos mas que los aumentos salariales de los demas empleados universitarios durante los últimos diez años. Para los 1 porciento de los jefes que se encuentran in los niveles mas altos, sus sueldos han subido de un promedio de $150,000 anuales , a $250,000.

Los empleados se molestaron especialmente cuando se enteraron que un poco antes de que lo crítico de la situación presupuestuaria fue hecho público, muchos administradores de alto rango recibieron aumentos del último momento. Luego cuando se hizo la declaración de la crisis, se hicieron tambien llamados para cortar el personal. Los grandes aumentos de los jefes no fueron retirados. Dice Terranova que como respuesta a esta crisis “La Administración de la UIC y sus socios políticos en Springfield desean balancear al presupuesto en las espaldas de los empleados”.

Los empleados en local 73 tienen la respuesta a estos ataques: ¡Que corten la “carne de puerco”!

El 12 de Febrero mas de 100 empleados de la UIC y sus apoyadores desfilaron a la reunión de La Junta de Fiscales. Luz Martinez, una integrante del comité de negociaciones, le dijo a los canales de televisión en español 44 y 66 “La administración ha cortado empleos y ha congelado a nuestros salarios. Ya tenemos mucho mas trabajo que hacer. No es justo que nos niegen aumentos”.

Shirley McIntosh, una delegada sindical, dijo a la conferencia de prensa: “Cuando nosotros sufrimos, los pacientes y los estudiantes que dependen de nuestros servicios, sufren tambien”. Sirlena Perry, otra integrante del comité de negociaciones, agregó “una congelación salarial es una reducción salarial, cuando se toma en cuenta que no se han congelado las cuentas que tenemos que pagan. Se aumentaron los costos de estacionamento, de calefacción, de gasolina, como de todo”.

Se llamó la marcha para aumentos salariales y un contrato justo para los trabajadores secretariales. Ademas las pancartas de los manifestantes condenaron los aumentos absurdos de los jefes.

“Estos administradores dicen que todo mundo tiene que apretar el cinturon para aguantar los tiempos difíciles” dijo Christine Boardman, presidente del local 73. “Pero todo el peso cae sobre los empleados. Los salarios y gastos de la alta administración no han sido afectados”.

La presidente Boardman refería a un escándalo que ultimamente ha sido revelado por la prensa. La Junta de Sindicos ha gastado mas de $500 millones para rentar aviones particulares para llevar sus miembros a reuniones y eventos deportivos. Esto fue una insulta adicional. Pero el problema principal no ha sido estsos privilegios. Es que la inflación de los salarios de los administradores le ha costado $25 millones a la universidad en los últimos 10 años.

En el medio de los cortes presupuestuarios, el local 73 ha luchado para defender a los intereses de nuestros miembros en varias frentes de batalla. Se venció el contrato en Agosto, y en las negociaciones para un contrato nuevo, el comité de negociaciones ha buscado mas seguridad de trabajos y para defender a lo ganado en los contratos en el pasado. El sindicato tambien ha buscado legislación, como por ejemplo que el presupuesto de la universidad fuera revisada linea por linea, para asi identificar mejor los posibles ahorros que podrían dirigirse a los salarios de los empleados.

Como resultado del escándalo público y las protestas, los empeados ganaron la concesión de una audiencia sobre nuestras quejas de las inequidades aquí. Ahora, junto con los esfuerzos legislativos, se ha ganado una victoria inicial. Los empleados secretariales ganaron una continuación de aumentos por escalas para este años. Hace años, este tipo de aumentos fueron un derecho que gozaba todo empleado de servicio civil. A los comienzos de los 1990, fueron eliminados para todos los trabajadores. Los trabajadores sindicalizados lucharon para retomarlos en 1993. Retener estos aumentos por escala significa que la mayoría de los miembros del local 73 recibirán un aumento de 4% en la fecha de su aniversario. Pero algunos miembros del local ya han llegado al máximo nivel y no recibirán ningun aumento por escala, de modo que la lucha para un aumento en un contrato justo seguirá.

Cortes de Trabajos y Ataques a los Derechos por Antigüedad.

Lo que la gerencia dio en cantidades pequeñas, buscan retomar en cantidades grandes. Todavia amenazan con 1,200 empleos cortados en toda el sistema de la Universidad de Illinois. Lo peor es que los negociadores de la administración pretenden eliminar las protecciones para los empleados con antigüedad en el trabajo. Sería posible que los administradores de departamentos despidan empleados con muchos años de servicio para traer a gente nueva.

Local 73 responde con una lucha para salvar a nuestros trabajos. Esto involucra en parte acción por parte de los miembros. Tambien se planea un esfuerzo para poner fin al abuso de los trabajadores de “Extra Help”, o sea empleados temporales que no reciben beneficios y trabajan muchos años sin ser colocados en un puesto permanente.

“La lucha sigue” dice Glenda Searcy, otro miembro del comité de negociaciones. “Estamos luchando para todos nuestros miembros, por seguridad en el trabajo y para un aumeto para todo el mundo. Si tienen que seguir sin aumento, las vidas de nuestros miembros se verán afectados. Tenemos que seguir luchando”

#ChicagoIL #News #BudgetCrisis #SEIU #ChopFromTheTop #UniversityOfIllinoisAtChicagoUIC #executivePay #jobCuts

Minneapolis, MN – “Not one dime in cuts to poor and working people! Make the rich pay for the budget crisis!” is the rallying cry of Minnesota's low-income families. As Minnesota faces a massive budget deficit, the Welfare Rights Committee is gearing up to go head to head with state politicians.

“We know that these politicians are already scheming to balance their budget on our backs,” said Kim DeFranco of the Welfare Rights Committee. “We live in one of the richest states of one of the richest countries in the world. Yet, when the crunch comes down, they want to make the poor and working people pay for the crisis.”

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura announced that the state budget deficit will run as high as $3 billion. About 40 other states are facing huge budget deficits, too.

“We're already living in crisis. Why should we pay for theirs?” asked WRC's Dede Francis. “Minnesota politicians say we all have to suffer a little. We're already suffering too much. It's not that we all must 'tighten our belts.' The rich and the rest of us are not in the same boat. Let the rich tighten their belts for a change.”

In the last legislative session, Minnesota faced a budget deficit of $2 billion. Legislators used the budget reserve and accounting tricks, as well as some cuts to human services programs and public employees, to pay for the deficit. House Republicans tried to cut medical care and emergency assistance for poor people, but were defeated. In the upcoming legislative session, however, there will be no more reserves or accounting games to use.

“Politicians have a choice – raise taxes or make cuts,” said Linden Gawboy. “We say there are plenty of people and corporations in this state with plenty of money, who got plenty of tax breaks over the years. Politicians should tax the rich instead of hurting poor and working families.”

Five-Year Time Limit Hits Minnesota Families in Time of Recession

On July 1, Minnesota families started to hit Minnesota's five-year limit on welfare. As of October, hundreds of Minnesota families have been cut off welfare. Hundreds more are hitting the time limit and facing cuts each month. Most of those cut off are children.

The Welfare Rights Committee has been fighting against the time limit since it was passed into law. In the 2001 and 2002 legislative sessions, the WRC had bills to repeal the time limit and put a moratorium on the time limit. The moratorium bill passed through the Senate and was a part of the entire budget debate in conference committee. In the end, House Republicans refused to go along with the Senate position in support of a moratorium.

“When the Minnesota government failed to undo the five year lifetime limit on public assistance, they created a non-ending crisis for poor families.” said Angel Buechner. “Already, over 1,200 children have hit the time limit and been cut off survival assistance. This means thousands of Minnesota kids and their caregivers are facing homelessness and hunger.”

According to WRC's Trishalla Bell, “Putting a time limit on survival assistance is a crime even in good economic times. Now we're suffering from a major recession. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in Minnesota over the past months. When we're trying to get off welfare, we're the last hired and the first fired.”

The 2001 legislature passed into law some 'hardship extensions' to the time limit. For now, about half of the families hitting the time limit are receiving extensions. Members of the Welfare Rights Committee say that these extensions are not enough. For example, except for the severely disabled, parents have to be working at paid employment for at least 20 hours per week in order to get an extension for their families – a catch-22 which leaves many families cut off. Also, individual counties grant extensions at different rates, pointing to discrimination in the system.

“We won many extensions to the limit, but that's not enough. If even one family is cut off the survival lifeline, it is one too many,” said WRC's Kim Hosmer.

Low-Income Families Gear Up for Battle at the State Legislature

Low-income families are preparing for the 2003 legislative session, which starts on Tuesday, Jan. 7. The Welfare Rights Committee, along with other organizations, will begin the session with a protest at the State Capitol on opening day.

“If Minnesota lawmakers think we are going to just stand by and let them attack us, they've got another thing coming!” declared Bell. She continued, “They're throwing our kids into the street. They're taking food out of our babies' mouths. Now they want to solve the budget deficit they created by cutting us more. We're ready to do battle. Poor and working people are fed up. Our demands are clear. Stop the time limits. Not one dime of cuts. Make the rich pay!”

#StPaulMN #SaintPaulMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #WelfareRightsCommittee #BudgetCrisis

Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota's poor are going on the offensive against budget cuts and welfare cut-offs. Faced with a $4 billion budget shortfall, politicians want to balance the budget on the backs of poor and working people. Organizers of the Minneapolis-St. Paul based Welfare Rights Committee have announced plans for hard hitting demonstrations under the slogans, ‘No cuts to poor and working people. Stop the welfare cut-offs,” and ‘Make the rich pay for the crisis.'

“Why should the rich gain and poor people feel the pain?” said Deb Howze of the Welfare Rights Committee.

Budget Crisis

Politicians from both political parties are pushing the idea that everyone needs to sacrifice because of the economic crisis. Newly elected Governor Pawlenty and republican legislators are trying to create a political climate where social services are placed on the chopping block.

Last year, House republicans tried balance the budget by eliminating General Assistance and General Assistance Medical Care – the only programs available to poor individuals who are unable to work – and to eliminate Emergency Assistance to poor families and people in crisis. Those attacks were defeated.

Over the past decade, Minnesota politicians have systematically lowered taxes for the rich and their corporations. This set the stage to allow the current economic downturn to turn a large budget surplus into one of the largest state budget deficits ever.

A Welfare Rights Committee statement makes the case: “Minnesota gave out the largest tax cuts in the entire United States for three of the last five years. 53% of Minnesota's budget surplus went to tax rebates and permanent tax cuts. This adds up to about $9.5 billion dollars of the Minnesota surplus that was squandered for tax cuts and rebates in the last four years. We all know that these cuts and rebates go disproportionately to the rich. Money going into the pockets of the rich contributed to the budget deficit we are facing today. Now it is their turn to pay.”

During the time of state surplus, health and human services got almost nothing. Because lawmakers stole federal welfare dollars from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant to replace state spending, the Department of Health and Human Services was the only department that actually contributed to the surplus.

Rich Must Pay

“Those with the most ability to pay should pay for the budget crisis,” said Trishalla Bell of the Welfare Rights Committee. “They should cut from the corporate welfare, not from the human services that serve our families.”

WRC's Kim Hosmer slammed the idea that rich and poor alike should sacrifice. “It's a whole different thing for someone who has enough money to play the stock market and who can afford to lose on the stock market than it is for those of us who barely have enough money to pay rent and keep food on the table!”

The failure of the Minnesota legislature to deal with time limits on welfare has created a crisis of huge proportions. Nearly 2000 children have been cut off of welfare and are facing homelessness because of the time limit.

The Welfare Rights Committee is pushing legislation that would stop the welfare cut-offs. A major demonstration will coincide with the opening of the legislature. Poor people from around the state will lay siege to the hearings where the budget cuts are debated.

Gillie Townsend states that Minnesota's low-income community will “let the politicians know that this is a crisis for poor people. The politicians are making the rich richer every day and making the poor poorer!”

“The more we stand up for our rights, the more we are heard. People make power,” says WRC member, Jamila Vance.

#StPaulMN #SaintPaulMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #WelfareRightsCommittee #BudgetCrisis #Pawlenty

St. Paul, MN – A team of Welfare Rights Committee members marched up with the ladder and put it against the iron gate of the Minnesota governor’s mansion, Sept. 24. Deb Konechne of the WRC climbed to the top. Surrounding her were dozens of angry women chanting “Hey Pawlenty, come out today! We have bills that you must pay!”

Eventually, glaring state troopers gave up, standing by helplessly while members of the crowd came up to the fence one after the other and presented household bills, denials of medical coverage, utility shut-offs and eviction notices. After giving short, impassioned speeches about each bill, the people reached through the fence and put the items in the ‘mailbox’ that Konechne had dropped over the fence onto the governor’s walkway. Amid chants of “Make Pawlenty pay,” the protest ended with the troopers carrying the mailbox into the mansion, for delivery to the Governor.

Biggest cuts in history

The protest by the Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Welfare Rights Committee was against the biggest cuts to the Minnesota’s safety net in history. A statement from the WRC summarizes the worst cuts: “On July 1, the cuts took $125 per month per disabled person from the rest of the family’s welfare grant. This is outright stealing from disabled families and children! On Sept. 1, most of us who are in subsidized housing saw our already-too-small grants slashed by $50 per month. In the future, we looking down the barrel of 100% sanctions for supposed ‘non-compliance’ with welfare rules and a ‘family cap’ that steals from innocent babies.” Besides the cuts to cash welfare, many day care providers had their income cut in half. Over 30,000 Minnesotans lost health care.

Behind the Attack

The cuts were the result of Minnesota politicians making the decision to balance the state’s budget by cutting services and programs for poor and working people, instead of increasing taxes on the wealthy. According to Konechne, “Minnesota legislators stole money from poor families, in the name of ‘balancing the budget.’ While these cuts are having a devastating effect on our families, the sickening reality is the grant cuts to our families didn’t have that much of an impact on the whole state budget. The politicians did it just to be cruel; just to make families on welfare suffer. They have wanted to get rid of welfare for years.”

Yolanda Moore, one of many affected by the cuts, states “The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. If my rent goes up, I might wind up living with Pawlenty. We can’t give our kids a good education and all if we gotta worry about how they’re gonna eat or where I’m gonna get their clothes for the winter. I would like for him to try my living for two years. He needs to just stop it.”

Welfare programs were started during the economic crisis of the 1930s, in response to a near revolt of poor unemployed working people. Today’s economic crisis is showing the need a survival safety net again. For all its problems, the welfare program’s cash grants provide a ‘floor’ below which workers’ wages cannot fall. “Without this, the employers would be paying us around $2 per day, like in other countries,” said WRC’s Trishalla Bell. “Its part of the whole globalization thing.” It is no coincidence that one of first ‘re-structuring’ demands of the IMF to debtor countries is to get rid of social safety nets – from unemployment insurance, to healthcare, to education, to public water systems and on and on.

Minnesota is a racist state. For years, politicians have used welfare as a codeword for ‘Black’, and presented welfare cuts as a way to attack people of color, even though, up until recently, most welfare recipients in MN were white.

WRC’s Deb Howze explains the situation this way; “We all know welfare was not originally for people of color,” referring to how Black parents were shut out of the program at the beginning. But now, “Politicians say, ‘those lazy black people are on welfare; they’re taking our money. We’re not going to take care of them with our tax dollars.’”

Howze continued, “What about white America who uses the government tax dollars? No one is screaming about that. Why? Because it’s the rich who are collecting tax dollars and running with it – that’s the real welfare in this country.”

Recent revelations about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s shady financial dealings are a snapshot of the bizarre world the rich inhabit. For over a year, he collected $4500 per month from a fellow republican, but he cannot show what he did to earn his $60,000. Welfare Rights’ Angel Buechner declared, “A man who casually pockets $4500 in one month then has the nerve to slash away at the survival income of poor