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Action Week in Washington for Global Fairness: CWAers Unite in Cry for Justice in New World Economy
CWA members from around the nation joined an estimated 35,000 environmental, religious and social justice activists who rallied at the Capitol, marched on the World Bank and lobbied the halls of Congress to focus attention on the global economy and financial policies that prevent poor countries from meeting the needs of ordinary citizens.
Bused to Washington, D.C., by AFL-CIO central labor bodies and Jobs with Justice coalitions, they spoke out on behalf of thousands of workers who have lost good-paying American jobs as multinational corporations shut down operations here and moved them to countries where workers endure sweatshop conditions and live in poverty.
“We are giving a wake-up call to our multinational employers like AT&T, GE, IBM and Sprint that we are building international networks of both labor and citizen groups to monitor their behavior and push for change,” CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen told 10,000 activists attending a rally on the ellipse of the White House.
The April 16 rally was sponsored by Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, students, community and religious activists CWA helped start 13 years ago, now active in 40 cities.
“I’m here because our union understands that we have to come together in broad coalitions if we are to fight and win against global corporate power,” Cohen stressed.
Ralliers also heard from Ed Fire, president of the International Union of Electronic Workers, representing 17,000 workers bargaining this year with General Electric. About 45 percent of GE’s workforce is employed outside the United States and the company has predicted that by the end of this year most of its employees will work abroad. GE has employed a global strategy of moving jobs from country to country to avoid environmental, labor or any other kind of regulation.
“GE brings good things to life by cutting 15,000 American jobs,” Fire noted. “All around the world wages and standards are lowered so GE can make a profit.”
“The IMF and the World Bank — they’re lock, stock and barrel for the GEs of the world,” Fire said, referring to the International Monetary Fund, whose finance ministers were beginning two days of meetings a few blocks away.
Rich Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, George Becker, president of the Steelworkers, and other labor leaders also addressed the crowd.
The event took place on a Sunday, and police had closed off about 90 square blocks to traffic. While elsewhere downtown, groups coordinated by the Mobilization for Global Justice confronted police — about 600 were arrested — the JwJ contingent conducted a mass march within a block of World Bank headquarters, chanting loudly, “Whose Streets? Our Streets.”
On April 12, CWAers joined 15,000 union members who rallied at the U.S. Capitol, then visited their congressional representatives. They called upon Congress to reject permanent normal trade relations with China and to continue conducting an annual review of that country’s human rights and workers’ rights.
Wei Jingsheng, a human rights activist imprisoned for 19 years in China, told of workers “locked up in factories while they earn only a hundred dollars a month.” He brought loud cheers when he called for global solidarity.
“When we’re fighting for the Chinese workers, we’re really fighting for ourselves; the Chinese workers are fighting for everybody,” he continued. “You cannot see from the newspaper the way the Chinese workers feel about this.”
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney exhorted the crowd, joining in their chant of “No Blank Check for China,” the theme of that day’s rally. The labor federation is conducting a multi-year Campaign for Global Fairness to raise public awareness and to ignite grassroots support for workers’ rights and human rights in the new world economy.
On Sunday, April 9, CWA and other union members participated in a rally on the National Mall in Washington, calling for debt relief for impoverished countries. The rally was sponsored by Jubilee 2000/USA, a faith-based group, as part of a worldwide movement to provide debt relief, thereby enabling governments to better provide for basic human needs, education, health care and infrastructure.
Bused to Washington, D.C., by AFL-CIO central labor bodies and Jobs with Justice coalitions, they spoke out on behalf of thousands of workers who have lost good-paying American jobs as multinational corporations shut down operations here and moved them to countries where workers endure sweatshop conditions and live in poverty.
“We are giving a wake-up call to our multinational employers like AT&T, GE, IBM and Sprint that we are building international networks of both labor and citizen groups to monitor their behavior and push for change,” CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen told 10,000 activists attending a rally on the ellipse of the White House.
The April 16 rally was sponsored by Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, students, community and religious activists CWA helped start 13 years ago, now active in 40 cities.
“I’m here because our union understands that we have to come together in broad coalitions if we are to fight and win against global corporate power,” Cohen stressed.
Ralliers also heard from Ed Fire, president of the International Union of Electronic Workers, representing 17,000 workers bargaining this year with General Electric. About 45 percent of GE’s workforce is employed outside the United States and the company has predicted that by the end of this year most of its employees will work abroad. GE has employed a global strategy of moving jobs from country to country to avoid environmental, labor or any other kind of regulation.
“GE brings good things to life by cutting 15,000 American jobs,” Fire noted. “All around the world wages and standards are lowered so GE can make a profit.”
“The IMF and the World Bank — they’re lock, stock and barrel for the GEs of the world,” Fire said, referring to the International Monetary Fund, whose finance ministers were beginning two days of meetings a few blocks away.
Rich Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, George Becker, president of the Steelworkers, and other labor leaders also addressed the crowd.
The event took place on a Sunday, and police had closed off about 90 square blocks to traffic. While elsewhere downtown, groups coordinated by the Mobilization for Global Justice confronted police — about 600 were arrested — the JwJ contingent conducted a mass march within a block of World Bank headquarters, chanting loudly, “Whose Streets? Our Streets.”
On April 12, CWAers joined 15,000 union members who rallied at the U.S. Capitol, then visited their congressional representatives. They called upon Congress to reject permanent normal trade relations with China and to continue conducting an annual review of that country’s human rights and workers’ rights.
Wei Jingsheng, a human rights activist imprisoned for 19 years in China, told of workers “locked up in factories while they earn only a hundred dollars a month.” He brought loud cheers when he called for global solidarity.
“When we’re fighting for the Chinese workers, we’re really fighting for ourselves; the Chinese workers are fighting for everybody,” he continued. “You cannot see from the newspaper the way the Chinese workers feel about this.”
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney exhorted the crowd, joining in their chant of “No Blank Check for China,” the theme of that day’s rally. The labor federation is conducting a multi-year Campaign for Global Fairness to raise public awareness and to ignite grassroots support for workers’ rights and human rights in the new world economy.
On Sunday, April 9, CWA and other union members participated in a rally on the National Mall in Washington, calling for debt relief for impoverished countries. The rally was sponsored by Jubilee 2000/USA, a faith-based group, as part of a worldwide movement to provide debt relief, thereby enabling governments to better provide for basic human needs, education, health care and infrastructure.