On Monday, July 24, 2023, Columbus City Council voted 6-1 to approve the American Campus Communities / Blackstone development proposed at 50 West Lane Avenue.

Blackstone is the largest corporate landlord in history. They own thousands upon thousands of properties across the United States and abroad. They have earned international condemnation for their aggressive rent hikes and use of eviction as a profit-making scheme.

Now, City Council has given them a piece of our city–and are poised to sweeten the deal even further by handing over the public’s money in the form of tax abatements.

Despite so many community members testifying about Blackstone’s horrific human rights record and business practices–including its having been lambasted by the United Nations for its role in the global housing crisis–Council rolled out the red carpet to welcome them into our housing market. Even worse, Blackstone indicated that they intend to seek tax abatements for their trouble.

This is yet another example of Council weighing the business interest of a developer over the wellbeing of its constituents. It confirms our fear that Council’s purported “Housing for All” policies are a sham, meant only to placate voters while they continue to line corporations’ pockets with money lifted from our neighborhoods and schools.
For months, constituents flooded Columbus’s democratic channels with their fears over Blackstone coming into our city, providing written and spoken testimony at the University District Area Commission, the Development Commission, and finally, City Council. Of these bodies, only the Area Commission rejected the proposal, though City Council neglected to listen even to them.

Columbus DSA’s Housing Priority Campaign made it our responsibility to inform the public about Blackstone’s abysmal history and organize opportunities to speak out against them. We are so proud of the energy and tenacity the community supplied to our campaign. Columbus DSA will continue to oppose tax handouts for the rich so long as the working people of our city struggle to find housing that is affordable, dignified, and secure. We are sick of watching the working class get cut out of the deal. We are tired of seeing our schools gutted, our public services plundered, and our neighbors left to rot on the sidewalk. We are finished with the housing crisis being used as an excuse to build playgrounds for the wealthy instead of seeing our people safe. A bed for every person. A meal in every stomach. A city for every one of us. That is our future, and we are the ones to build it. Not Blackstone.

By Emil McDonald

On Saturday, July 22, 2023, fifty workers and community members rallied at San Francisco City Hall in solidarity with 340,000 UPS Teamsters. Since UPS walked away from the bargaining table earlier in the month, UPS workers had been busy preparing for a potential August 1 national strike with the potential to shut down 7 percent of U.S. GDP.

The tide had turned a day earlier, when UPS relented and agreed to return to the bargaining table. Just a few days later, on July 25, the union announced a tentative agreement (TA) for a new five-year contract. Members will be voting on whether to ratify the TA through August 22, and the strike deadline has been postponed. 

At the July 22 rally, Emil McDonald, a five-year UPS worker and member of Teamsters Local 315 in Richmond, CA, spoke about the changes that he saw in the union’s rank and file, and beyond, as a result of strike preparations. – The Editors

A UPS Teamster at the Local 315 “practice picket” in Richmond, July 20. (Photo: R. Marcantonio)

As many of you may know, on July 5th negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS broke down. UPS told our negotiating committee they had “nothing more to give.”  This is a company that recently paid more than $5 billion dollars in dividends to Wall Street and bought back $3.5 billion of its own stock so that executives and major shareholders could fatten their wallets. 

Not only do we know that UPS has a LOT more to give —- we’re gonna make sure they give it.  We’ve made it perfectly clear to UPS that if they can’t find the money to give our essential workers a living wage and reward some of the hardest working people in the country for the tens of billions of dollars we made them during the pandemic,  UPS executives will be putting their own company on strike and that profit faucet is gonna get shut off. 

Thank you all so much for being here and for supporting UPS Teamsters as we fight for a contract that will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers and bring historic change to our union.

The kind of change I’m talking about isn’t just union leadership that is willing to build a credible strike threat and go to the mat for our lowest-paid members. It is the experience of rank-and-file Teamsters put into motion, united with the community to win a good contract for ourselves. 

For the last few weeks, all over the country UPS Teamsters have been holding practice pickets outside of our hubs joined by DSA, PSL, Jobs with Justice, our friends and families–even some of our customers. 

Drivers I work with are asking me about these signs they keep seeing up out on road. In store windows, taped to peoples’ front doors—some have even taped the signs up inside their trucks. 

Your efforts are not going unnoticed. It is one thing to feel cheated or unappreciated as an individual worker. Everyone here has felt that and it sucks. But when you see that you are not alone and that you have brothers and sisters who are willing to fight with you and that the community has your backs — it can be a very powerful thing. 

The experience of banding together and fighting for something that’s right changes you. It cuts through all of the noise and the cultural divides that keep us powerless and disillusioned.  

A couple of Teamsters in my local — who to my knowledge had never attended a picket line before — came out to San Francisco this week to join academic workers at a rally at the UC Regents meeting.  This is the kind of change I’m talking about. Seeing yourself as part of a broader labor movement.  United we fight, divided we beg. 

Emil McDonald celebrates a successful practice picket with a co-worker (Photo: R. Marcantonio.)

Whatever happens between now and when we have a new UPS contract, the contract campaign over the last year has created hundreds if not thousands of new shop floor leaders in our union and given us experience organizing against one of the largest corporations in the United States.  This is something we will continue to build on in the coming years. Militant stewards will be born out of this fight.  Solidarity will be born out of this fight. Five years from now, when it’s time to negotiate the 2028 contract, we will be many times stronger and many times wiser from the start. 

And guess what?  It turns out maybe UPS does have something more to give than poverty wages. They must have checked their couch cushions and went to Coinstar because this week they reached out to our union requesting to go back to the table in an effort to avoid a strike.  

But when Sean O’Brien and our NorCal negotiators go back to the table next week they will not be alone.  They will be backed by the tens of thousands of Teamsters who attended practice pickets, 80,000 supporters who signed petitions demanding a living wage for part-time workers and the knowledge that our members — backed by our brothers and sisters in the labor movement and our communities —- are ready to strike if we have to to win what we deserve. 

Emil McDonald is a UPS Teamster and a member of Local 315 in Richmond, CA.

The delegation of the Houston chapter of the Democratic Socialists ofAmerica stands with the BDS Working Group in support of their proposed amendment to NPC Recommendation #8, “Make DSA an […]

The post HDSA for an Anti-Zionist DSA appeared first on Houston DSA.

For Immediate Release: July 28th 2023

Contact righttocounseljc@gmail.com

The Right to Counsel JC coalition is not surprised by Ron Simoncini’s baseless and frivolous lawsuit meant to slow down the implementation of much needed aid for Jersey City’s housing crisis.

• The Mount Laurel legal decisions made in the New Jersey Supreme Court give municipalities the right to do what they would like with money raised for the affordable housing trust, including utilizing the fees for administrative purposes like distributing the Right to Counsel program.

• Landlords and property owners are already favored by the system, the law, and are more often than not already represented in housing court. This is about balancing the scales and joining 20 other jurisdictions that have also passed RTC.  

• The will to fund our right to counsel with a fee that many other cities in New Jersey have also raised is a political decision. We plan to primarily organize a mass movement of tenants to bring public political pressure on these shady real estate actors, but also fight the suit and win.

• We cannot let a few rich and powerful real estate players determine policy that impacts the over 70% of people who rent in our city.

For over a year, UPS Teamsters have been prepping for the largest private-sector contract fight this country has seen in decades – saving money for personal strike funds, signing pledge cards, and in more recent weeks, organizing practice pickets in the early morning hours outside of UPS facilities. UPS, meanwhile, repeatedly delayed the bargaining process by failing to come to the table in good faith and presenting workers with an inadequate contract. Following broken down negotiations mid-July, thousands of Teamsters and community supporters flocked to practice picket lines and began to seriously accelerate preparations for a nationwide strike.

After weeks of coordinated practice pickets and the increasing fear of a work stoppage, UPS was convinced to return to the bargaining table. On Tuesday July 25th, the Teamsters national negotiating committee announced a tentative agreement with UPS, subject to a vote of its membership which will begin August 3 and last until August 22. DSA stands in unflinching solidarity with the 350,000 UPS Teamsters whose tireless militancy gave their negotiating committee strong leverage throughout this fight.

Despite the narrative pushed by corporate media that the deal is entirely sealed, approval of this tentative agreement is entirely up to the rank-and-file to vote on, and Atlanta DSA commits to stand with workers no matter the outcome of this vote. The gains made in this tentative deal were only possible because of years of hard work and rank-and-file organizing on the ground, and the credible threat of a strike that would cost the company billions. Contrary to UPS’s narrative, it was worker power – not corporate benevolence – that forced UPS’s hands in making significant concessions like ending the two-tier wage system, protecting against forced overtime, securing air conditioning in delivery trucks, making MLK day a paid holiday, and more. Workers bravely organized to withhold their labor, hold down picket lines, and build meaningful community support for their efforts. For this all UPS Teamsters should be extremely proud, and we are proud to stand in solidarity with them through the duration of this fight until the last vote is cast and beyond!

Under capitalism, major companies like UPS are incentivized to maximize profits at all costs, at the expense of human safety and dignity. Both part-time and full-time UPS workers bore the brunt of the pandemic – risking their own lives to deliver essential medication and other goods to working people and families around the country. These workers on the front lines are the reason UPS brought in record breaking profits of $10 billion in 2021, and still, because of corporate greed, UPS CEO Carol Tomé takes home a larger salary in one day than the average UPS worker earns an entire year. DSA will always stand with workers fighting back against injustice and demanding their fair share — no matter whether Teamsters vote to accept or reject their TA. The UPS Teamsters have run a militant, fighting campaign that left a major company shaking in its boots. Their organizing will inspire workers everywhere to continue building power and resistance through their leverage to withhold their labor. Solidarity forever – when workers fight, we win!

When workers at the JFK8 facility in Staten Island won the first union at an Amazon distribution facility on April 1, 2022, by voting to form the independent Amazon Labor Union, their stunning victory was a surprise and an inspiration. Now, a little over a year later, workers at that same facility are organizing for reform to the Amazon Labor Union, which they say has adopted a top-down structure that stifles shop floor democracy. Regular listeners of Revolutions per Minute will certainly be familiar with union reform efforts in more established unions like UAW, the Teamsters, and UFCW, but the Reform ALU movement brings a new twist to this common story by organizing within an independent union that has yet to reach a first contract for its workers. To understand this moment and what led up to it, we speak live with David-Desyrée, a worker-organizer at the JFK8 facility and a member of the Amazon Labor Union Democratic Reform Caucus.

 

Follow the reform efforts inside Amazon Labor Union on Twitter @ReformALU or Instagram @reform_alu.  

 

 

This episode explores the growing alliance between the U.S. and the Indian far right, the various appearances of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism)in US public life, anti-caste discrimination, and how Hinduism and socialism can be mutually informed. For more on this topic, check out – Hindus for Human Rights @hindusforhumanrights www.hindusforhumanrights.org – Sadhana Coalition of Progressive Hindus @sadhanahindus www.sadhana.org

What is happening?

UPS Teamsters are fighting for better pay, hours, and treatment on the job! If UPS doesn’t respond to workers’
demands before their contract expires on July 31st, UPS workers are prepared to launch the largest private-sector strike in decades. We should be there to support them in their struggle!

UPS made over $13 billion in profits last year. But they want their workers to settle for less. It’s unacceptable that UPS CEO Carol Tomé earns more in a day than the average UPS worker makes an entire year! UPS Teamsters are at the bargaining table to demand:

• End Part-Time Poverty: A majority of UPS workers are part-time employees making poverty wages. They want higher wages and more full-time jobs.
• Win Equal Pay for Equal Work: UPS wants to pay some drivers less to do the same job. Teamsters say no way.
• End Excessive Overtime: For many Teamsters, the rallying cry is “I don’t want to be a part-time parent.”

UPS Teamsters voted by 97% to strike if UPS doesn’t deliver a fair contract. And they’re not just fighting for themselves. UPS workers move 6% of the country’s GDP every year. What they win sets the standard for everyone else.

How do I get involved?

1. Let our chapter leadership know you are committed to supporting the strike by signing the Strike Ready Pledge. This way we know how to contact members to get involved.
2. Learn about the demands being made and how DSA can support.
3. Show up to the picket!

The Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America Chapter Committee condemns the amendments proposed by SV-DSA member and District 24 State Assemblymember Alex Lee to SB 403, the anti-caste-discrimination bill endorsed by SV-DSA. While Lee’s proposed amendments were not all adopted as such, they added to a chorus of voices that unacceptably weakened the bill as it moved through the legislative process. Groups like the Hindu American Foundation and Vishva Hindu Parishad, which have long opposed anti-caste-discrimination laws, celebrated this result as a victory.

 

In a June 20 letter (co-authored with AD 26’s Evan Low), Assemblymember Lee:

• Proposed a pause on the legislation for further “study,” when victims of caste discrimination need protection now.
• Echoed the minimizing rhetoric of SB 403 opponents by equating them with supporters and disputing the extent of caste oppression, despite its well-documented status.
• Argued for caste as merely a subset of ancestry. Scholarship from caste-oppressed people and allies has documented the caste system as multifaceted and irreducible to ancestry, in part due to its inextricable links to social stratification and segregation. This “subset of ancestry” line of attack is reflected in the bill’s latest amendments, and will further muddle Californians’ cultural understanding of how casteism occurs in practice.

 

Caste-oppressed people across California have bravely spoken up to share the ostracism and exclusion they have faced. In an environment that often culturally misunderstands their struggles and offers scant legal recourse, our response as socialists cannot be to academically “re-study” their documented lived experiences, miscategorize their oppression, or disbelieve its degree. We demand clear legal protections against all forms of discrimination that subjugate the international working class.

 

The Chapter Committee condemns Lee’s failure to uphold chapter priorities and socialist values. We stand in solidarity with caste-oppressed people and look forward to continuing to learn about and support their struggles.

 

The post Chapter Committee Statement on Assemblymember Alex Lee and SB403 appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

The North New Jersey, Central New Jersey, and New York City Chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America stand in solidarity with former Journal Square Jollibee workers who filed a formal complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after being illegally terminated earlier in 2023. We unequivocally support their demands for reinstatement, back pay, and an apology.

A group of nine workers at Jollibee, a popular Filipino fast food restaurant, were harassed, surveilled, and then terminated after management at the Journal Square store learned they were organizing for fairer working conditions. These workers had organized around a $3 wage increase, holiday pay, and improved working conditions, gaining the support and documented signatures of over 90% of the workers at their location in just a couple of weeks. After filing with the NLRB, the group launched the #Justice4JollibeeWorkersCampaign where they attempted to deliver their written demands to management on National Fried Chicken Day. This is one of the busiest and most demanding days of the year for fast food workers, who experience increasingly dangerous conditions and maltreatment from management during the rush.

As an internationally ubiquitous fast food chain set to open 500 stores in North America in the next five to seven years; Jollibee Food Corporation is valued at over $5B and made $3.2B worldwide in 2022. The workers who make this growth possible haven’t benefited from it. Management uses several tactics to keep their pockets lined, including wage theft, mistreatment, surveillance, chronic understaffing, and intentional misclassification and casualization of workers to deprive them of full-time benefits and pay. The #Justice4JollibeeWorkers campaign demands, at minimum, that Jollibee uphold its workers’ rights to organize at all stores, reinstate fired workers with back pay, and apologize publicly for their retaliation. They have received widespread community support from organized workers in New Jersey, including Pilipinos Organizing for Worker Empowerment and Rights (POWER).

As socialists, we believe that every worker has the right to organize, and that Jollibee’s behavior is unacceptable. We condemn the multinational company’s mistreatment and intimidation of their workforce, disproportionately made up of people of color and members of the Filipino labor diaspora. We applaud the former Journal Square workers for organizing to build power and have their voice heard on the job. The North and Central New Jersey as well as New York City DSA Chapters cover all NJ and NY Jollibee shops in our states’ most populated areas. We support the #Justice4JollibeeWorkers demands and will stand with Jollibee workers as they fight, and until they win.

Sign the #Justice4JollibeeWorkers petition against the Jollibee Foods Corporation here.

The post NNJ, CNJ, and NYC-DSA Stand in Solidarity with Illegally Terminated Jollibee Workers appeared first on Central NJ DSA.