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Worker’s National Day Of Action For Unions #UnrigTheSystem

  • By Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance.

Above photo: Working People’s Day of Action, Washington, DC February 24, 2017, A.F.S.C.M.E. District Council 47

The Working People’s Day of Action is about demanding an end to the rigged economy and defending our freedoms.

On February 24, protesters stood up for the freedom of working people to come together and fight for decent and equitable pay for their work, affordable health care, quality schools, vibrant communities and a secure future for all. Tens of thousands of workers participated in  protests in 28 cities nationwide.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) calls it the “largest national day of public sector workplace actions to ever take place in America.” Jobs With Justice said, “Coast to coast, nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians and other individuals will march arm in arm with leaders and activists from Color of Change, NextGen America, United We Dream, 350.org, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, VoteVets, Greenpeace, the Poor People’s Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice America, NAACP, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, New York Immigration Coalition, Patriotic Millionaires,  and MomsRising as well as AFSCME, AFT, NEA, SEIU and AFL-CIO and many more national organizations.”

Working Peoples Day of Action in New York City to protest attacks on working people at Foley Square Saturday. By Kevin C Downs For the NY Daily News

Workers protested across the country because on Monday, the Supreme Court will consider Janus vs. AFSCME — a case that could weaken public employee unions by challenging a longstanding precedent that protects the ability of public employee unions to represent their members and even nonmembers and to speak out on matters of public interest. The challenge to an Illinois law that allows government employee unions to collect fees from workers who choose not to join could affect more than 5 million government workers in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Public sector union members make up close to half of all U.S. union members.

The national day of action is part of a rising labor movement. Jobs With Justice reported:  “In just the last few weeks, more than 70 cities observed a Moment of Silence to honor the two Memphis workers who were crushed to death on the job and sparked the pivotal 1968 strike; fast-food workers walked off the job in dozens of cities on the anniversary of the strike; and activists in the new I AM 2018 campaign and Poor People’s Campaign kicked off efforts to mobilize and energize thousands of people across the country.”

The Progressive reports “What is at stake is ‘more than just the ability to collect dues,’ says Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice. . . ‘An adverse ruling would fundamentally weaken the institutions of labor … one of the most organized and successful institutions that represents working people in our economy and our democracy.'”

The Daily News reported, “Hundreds of union workers gathered in lower Manhattan Saturday to chant, cheer and wave signs in a show of unity ahead of a Supreme Court hearing that could have a profound effect on organized labor.

 

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