Fall 2012 Newsletter

LABOR PARTYAlachua County Local Organizing Committee

. . . continued on page 2

Alachua CountyLABOR PARTYPost Office Box 12051Gainesville, FL 32604

September 2012

Labor Party General Meeting

Tuesday, September 25

*** Please note: different location***

ACEA Union Hall618 NW

13th Ave. @ 7:00 pm

Satchel’s Pizza arrives at 6:45 pm

For more info or directions call 375-2832

or e-mail aclp@

floridalaborparty.org IN THIS ISSUE:Wage ThefT.......................p. 1-2

The RNC pRoTesT fRom

NixoN To RomNey............p. 3-4

LaboR Daze RepoRT............p.4

The CiW Comes To

gaiNesviLLe..........................p. 5

a CaLL To JoiN The

CommiTTee of 100...............p.7

membeR spoTLighT:

CaRoL Thomas.............p. 8-9

JusT heaLTh CaRe/LaboR

ReaDiNg gRoup NeWs......p.10

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Wage Theft: A Widespread Problem in Alachua County & What We Can About It

When the Labor Party held its July general meeting, member Jeremiah Tattersall and a guest from the IWW told us about a conference they planned to attend that dealt with the issue of wage theft. The conference was sponsored by FLIC, the Florida Immigration Coalition, and it sought to educate Floridians about the widespread problem affecting our state. The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (known as RISEP) at Florida International University released two studies on wage theft in Florida that uses data from the U.S. Department of Labor and several community organizations. The study indicates that an average of 3,036 wage violations per year are reported to the Wage and Hour Division in Florida.

Mark your Calendar for These Labor Party/Com

munity Fall Events:

�

Just Health C

are Reading Group..... Sept 23

�

Labor Reading Group......................T

BA �

Gainesville Pride Fest......................Sat, Sept 29

www.floridalaborparty.org

by Diana Moreno, ACLP Coordinator

q I want to join the Labor Party ($20/year) Membership includes a one-year subscription to the ACLP newsletter. Joining the Labor Party DOES NOT affect your voter registration.

q I want to join the Committee of 100 ($20/mo)Joining the Committee of 100 includes Labor Party membership and a subscription to the ACLP newsletter. I’d like to pay my dues:q Monthly - $20/monthq Quarterly - $60/quarterq Annually - $240/year

Name: _______________________________Address: ____________________________________Phone: ____________________________________Email: ____________________________________

Labor Party Membership FormPlease make all checks to “Labor Party”. Send order form to:

Alachua County Labor Party, PO Box 12051, Gainesville, FL 32604

2 11

Of course, most cases of wage theft go unreported, so the actual amount of cases is likely to be much higher.

But, Jeremiah and other participants didn’t only attend the FLIC conference to learn about the huge problems facing the working people of Florida, they also got a glimpse into a local solution taking place in South Florida. Despite ample evidence of widespread wage theft among low-income workers, the means of claiming and recovering stolen wages at the federal level are ineffective, frustrating, and painfully slow. Existing federal labor laws are not backed up with a properly staffed or a properly funded Departement of Labor, and because Florida lost its State Department of Labor at the hands of Jeb Bush, Floridians are in desperate need of local measures to recover their stolen wages. In early 2010, a Coalition of community activists in Miami-Dade County helped implement such a measure by passing a county-wide Wage-Theft Ordinance. Since its implementation, Miami-Dade has recovered $28 millions in stolen wages from employers. In fact, the ordinance is working so well, that it has already been threatened in the courts by employers and at the state level by bills attempting to strip counties from the power to pass such ordinances. Fortunately, GOP-sponsored bills have failed to pass due to the widespread activism of the Miami community, the Florida AFL-CIO, and organizations like Fight Back Florida.

The Labor Party is interested in becoming involved in a county-wide

campaign to bring a similar ordinance to Alachua County. Although we cannot point to a specific study, it was only a matter of asking our members about their experiences with wage theft at our last general meeting to see just how prevalent the problem is in our workplaces. We also brought wage theft surveys to the Labor Daze Festival and acquired a dozen different stories from community members whose labor was stolen by their employer.

We are partnering with other community groups such as Fight Back Florida, the IWW, and the Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice to begin organizing and lobbying our county commissioners about this issue. At our first organizing meeting at the beginning of September, we were very fortunate to have the help of Alex Cardelle, a UF Political Science student who interened with the Wage-Theft division of the Miami-Dade County government over the summer. He has already brought a wealth of knowledge to the group we’ve tentatively called “The Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force” and has offered his experience to help our campaign get off the ground. If you are interested in helping the Labor Party work towards implementing a Wage Theft Ordinance in Alachua County, you are welcome to attend our next Task Force meeting. It will take place on Thursday, 9/27 at 6:30PM at the Labor Party Office (14 E. University Ave. Suite #204.) Please call or e-mail the Labor Party coordinators for more information or if you’re interested in joining us. Together we can stop the stealing of our hard earned wages in Alachua County. ACLP

The central argument of Reviving the Strike is that collective bargaining is essentially impotent if it isn’t backed by the threat of “a powerful strike capable of halting production.” Burns contrasts what he refers to as the “traditional strike” utilized by labor’s forebears with the “weak, modern version of the strike employed by trade unionists since the 1980’s.” Indeed, the “traditional” strike was a fundamental, indispensable tactic utilized by organized labor throughout the mid-20th century. Its decline over the past few decades, both in sheer number and size of strikes as well as the tactic’s effectiveness, parallels the precipitous decline in organized labor’s bargaining power and market share. Not unrelated, the strike’s decline also parallels our society’s growing socioeconomic inequality and an overall drop in the material conditions of American workers.

Throughout Reviving the Strike, Burns demonstrates a keen understanding of labor history, providing overviews of important strikes as well as the decades-long campaign to undermine organized labor’s power. Burns’ clear, insightful offering provides labor advocates much to consider, and is a worthwhile, thought-provoking read. We hope to have more shared labor readings and discussions in the immediate future. If you’d like to join us, or have suggestions for our next reading, feel free to contact the Labor Party office. -----------------------------------------------------We’d love to hear your suggestions, but the coordinators thought our next labor book should inform our current Wage Theft campaign. We wanted to suggest reading “Wage Theft in America” by Interfaith social justice activist Kim Bobo. Please bring your opinon to our general meeting on Sept 25, or call/e-mail us at the office. ACLP

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Alachua CountyLABOR PARTY

Local Organizing Committee

[352] 375-2832

www.floridalaborparty.org

“Alachua County Labor Party”

aclp@floridalaborparty.org

Mailing Address:Post Office Box 12051Gainesville, FL 32604

Office Address:14 E. University Ave. #204

Office Hours:M, W, F 3pm-6pm

Alachua County Labor Party Board

Chad Hood * ChairDavid Hennig * TreasurerGaby Gross * Secretary

Diana Moreno* OrganizerMarie Dino* Organizer

Board meetings are held on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month in the ACLP office and are open to all

Labor Party members.

Upcoming Labor Party General Meetings:

Tuesday, Sept 25 @7pmACEA Union Hall618 NW 13th Ave.

Gainesville, FL 32601

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Protesting the RNC: from Nixon to Romney

by Labor Party Member Dan Bowser

Dan called the Labor Party a few weeks before the August 27th March on the RNC to ask if he could join our Gainesville carpool to Tampa. He came all the way down from Crescent City to ride down with us. For our Fall 2012 Newsletter, Dan kindly agreed to send us a hand written letter to share the experience of his first RNC protest 40 years ago. A few weeks ago, I was reading our party bulletin and noticed that there was still time to join in the RNC protest in Tampa. I thought to myself, I haven’t been in the streets in front of a Republican National Convention in 40 years. After 25 years of being a loyal member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, I decided it was time to do it again. I won’t go into detail about the changes in the Republican Party from 1972 to 2012. It would be like “Preaching to the Choir.” Let’s just say that in 1972, Richard M. Nixon was the standard bearer of the party and would have been considered far too Liberal for the “Right Wingers” that are running today’s Republican Party.

...continued on page 4

“Jusr Health Care” Reading Group Update

Labor Reading Group Update: “Reviving the Strike”

This group was formed to enlighten ourselves on some of the issues relating to single payer and how groups have succeeded or failed in progressing towards an equitable healthcare system. We meet once a month, usually on Sunday afternoons, and discussions are informal. We welcome new participants. We are currently reading Hijacked!:The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform by John Geyman, MD. It was written just after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and describes how corporate stakeholders dominated the process of drafting that law, analyzes its inadequacies, and makes suggestions for real reform. Although most of us had a general idea of the influence of insurance and pharmaceutical companies, the detail is mind-boggling. The group also read Wendell Potter’s Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Healthcare and Deceiving Americans. Potter defected from Cigna and then spoke

out in favor of single payer. He describes how insurance companies spin for profit at the expense of their insured. Another book, Phillip Longman’s Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care is Better for Everyone, shows how VA doctors resisted bureaucrats and corporations to improve the VA hospital system to the excellent and efficient system that it is now. The VA ‘s single computer system allows patients’ records to be seen at any VA hospital, in contrast, the ACA mandated electronic records are set up by many different computer companies making access difficult and adding to the cost. Some topics are discussed based on Internet research rather than books. For example, we look at the years of organizing by labor groups in Vermont in their establishment of single payer to inform our organizing efforts. We also talk about cost and waste in the healthcare system, and make a valiant effort to absorb the ACA. Our next meeting is Sunday, September 23, 3 to 5 pm. Contact the office for details.

During our most recent strategic planning retreat, the Labor Party discussed how to deepen our relationship with local labor unions and become more actively engaged in labor politics. One idea was to form a reading/discussion group on labor issues, and we recently finished our first book. Jeremiah Tattersall led the group and selected a great book, Joe Burns’ 2011 Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power And Transform America. The book was a quick and easy read, but offered a powerful, visionary critique of modern labor struggles in the U.S. (cont’d on next page...)

by Jason Fults, IBEW and Labor Party member

by Gaby Gross, Labor Party member

READ WITH THE LABOR PARTY

4

RNC (continued from page 3)

What was it like to be on the street in front of the Miami Beach Convention Center in 1972? On the first evening, there was no traffic on the broad avenue in front of the RNC Washington Avenue was barricaded off and some large flatbed trailers were set up as stages for the mostly Anti-Vietnam war protesters wanting a chance at the microphone. The atmosphere was electric, almost festive this evening. The second evening I went by myself, having seen on the news that the situation had turned violent. I parked my old ‘61 Impala

a safe distance away near Lincoln Road and walked the rest of the way. Tear gas was in the air and people were being dispersed by law enforcement in full riot gear. I was trying to photograph a line of riot police stretching across Washington Avenue, when someone yelled, “Here it comes.” Something exploded and part of the debris hit me in the arm. With blood running down my arm, I departed the riot zone as quickly as I could.In contrast, the recent Monday that I marched on the RNC in Tampa was quite peaceful. Thank God, because I can’t run near as fast as I could 40 years ago.

With over 3,000 people flowing in and out of the Bo Diddley Plaza in downtown Gainesville, the 2nd annual Labor Daze festival celebrated the hard working people of Gainesville and their families. Labor unions and progressive organizations were well represented and brought their issues to the community by tabling or giving away food. The International Association of Fire Fighters were passing out free hot dogs along with flyers informing people about their current bargaining situation. Others, such as the Amalgamated Transit Union (our local bus drivers) were discussing public transportation and bargaining issues. The Labor Party gained great responses from the waves of people passing by. Our table was covered with literature ranging from single-payer national healthcare pamphlets, to wage-theft surveys. Our tabling volunteers engaged in good conversation with community members, and our “Healthcare-YES, Insurance Companies-NO” t-shirts drew more people towards our table. But it was the surveys that asked for personal accounts of wage theft that got the most attention. From young workers cheated out of

tips from a chain restaurant, to an overworked elementary school teacher, we recorder about a dozen stories from people whose wages had been stolen in Alachua County drumming up support and interest in our new campaign to bring a Wage Theft Ordinance to Alachua County. Labor Daze was a great opportunity to bring our message to the community. Not only did the Labor Party reach a diverse group of people, but volunteering was also a great way to reach out and converse with current members. I hope to see YOU at our next tabling event: Gainesville Pride Fest on Saturday, September 29! ACLP

The Labor Party Tables at Labor Dazeby Marie Dino ACLP Coordinator

Coordinators Marie Dino and Diana Moreno talk to a member of the IWW about current ACLP campaigns

9

changed to be for corporations and for the insurance folks instead of for the people. I feel that if we don’t get care for everybody, this country really doesn’t have much of a future. I worked in the special care unit at a Boston General Hospital and I have this memory of a young girl who had a hereditary disease that had her confined to a bed with tubes coming out of every orifice in her body. I was asked to assist with the moving of this child from one floor to another on an elevator. I can remember my horror when I was told that it cost $17,000 just to move that child. There was no hope that this family would be able to pay that crap

off. I saw children with sickle-cell anemia. Kids coming in and out of the hospital repeatedly, and every time people came to get medical care and left with those bills, I thought, “This is criminal, there’s got to be a better way.” When I went on and became a tumor registrar I saw the medical care begin to form into a two-tier system of care where you were turned away if you didn’t have the money. We can do better than that, not only as Americans, but as human beings. When we did the healthcare speak out with Occupy Gainesville a year ago, I decided this is where I want to be, this is what I want to devote the rest of my life to. My role is to sow the seeds of knowledge to inform people about their own interests. We talk about democracy, we hope for democracy, but to be a citizen means to be serious about issues, which takes a lot of

effort and a lot of time. But there is power in letting people see that they can change things.

How do you think we can improve and grow our organization?One of the things that I was hoping we would do out of our reading groups is to reach out to various progressive groups and hold forums about single-payer. Invite the California nurses, the doctors in Chicago who work for single-payer, to come and talk about the necessity of it. We need to really dig in and organize it, but this is the sort of educational push that will take months, and then we should spread it throughout the state. We need to build a Just Health Care committee of the Labor Party. Give people next steps after we give them information, after we show the films. Maybe we should also have a yearly Labor Party retreat where we to get to appreciate the skills and vision that different people bring to the organization.And as far as labor in concerned, we have to find a new way to re-build the union movement, to develop consciousness, maybe through cooperatives. To me, the thing that’s missing is class consciousness. We need, desperately, to understand what class consciousness is about. What a weapon and a tool it is, and people who see themselves as consumers should see themselves as workers and be proud of that. We need a rebirth as workers. We need to reclaim the wealth of the world for all the people. It’s not just the General Motors’ or Koch brothers’ wealth.Even though we have a good analysis or good organizational skills, we can’t always be sure that things are gonna work out how we want them, but you’ve still gotta be able to be in the progressive and compassionate side of history.“We are the 99%” and “Another World is Possible”. Those two quotes should go together, because another world is possible, if the 99% participates in making the future livable. ACLP

Every time people came to get medical care and left with those bills, I thought, “This is criminal, there’s got to be a better way.”

The Labor Party Program: A Call for Economic Justice � Amend the Constitution to Guarantee

Everyone a Job at a Living Wage � Pay Laid-off Workers Two Months Severance

for Every Year of Service � Restore Workers Rights to

Organize, Bargain and Strike � End Bigotry: An Injury to One Is

an Injury to All � Guarantee Universal Access to

Quality Health Care � More Time for Family and

Community � Protect Our Families � Ensure Everyone Access to

Quality Public Education � Stop Corporate Abuse of Trade

� End Corporate Welfare as We Know It

� Make the Wealthy Pay their Fair Share of Taxes

� Revitalize the Public Sector � End Corporate Domination of

Elections � Build A Just Transition Movement

to Protect Jobs and the Environment � Enforce Safety & Health Regulation

with Worker Inspectors � Reclaiming the Workplace: Job

Design, Technology and Skill

See the full text of the Labor Party program, “A Call for Economic Justice” on our website:

www.floridalaborparty.org 58

SUBSCRIBE TO LABOR NOTES!Why, you ask?

In addition to some of the best reporting on the state of the Labor Movement, one of their staff writers is none other than former Labor Party co-chair & Gainesville Iguana co-editor, Jenny Brown!

$24 — 1 year subscription $40 — 2 year subscription

Subscribe at www.labornotes.org}

Member Spotlight: Carol Thomas

The Labor Party’s “Member Spotlight” is a new addition to our newsletter. It will feature different members every quarter so that we can learn from each other’s experiences and perspectives, and so that we can get to know one another. We’re proud to start with Carol Thomas, a Labor Party activist since 2000.

When did you get involved in the Labor Party? I lived in Gainesville sporadically between 1999 and 2001. When the non-binding referendum vote came up in 2000, I went door to door a couple of times with Dan Berger, an activist and historian who worked for the Labor Party. I was between Gainesville and Missouri at the time because my mother was ill, but I worked on the issue of single-payer and Medicare for all. I was retired and was on social security, and so were some of my loved ones, I figured there should be social security for everybody all the time. I had also been to Cuba and had broken my toe and was treated there for free. The attention was so different than the attention I got in the US.

What has been the most meaningful action or campaign you’ve been a part of in the Labor Party? The non-binding referendum we got on the ballot in 2000, I kept wondering “Whatever happened to it? We should resurrect it.” When Obamacare came along, I was very excited but then as the process moved I realized it was being

Carol at a 2011 rally protesting against Rick Scott’s anti-union legislation

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers brought their Modern Slavery Museum to Gainesville on September 12. City Commissioner Randy Wells was on hand to welcome them with an official proclamation by Mayor Lowe of CIW Week in Gainesville. At the Mennonite meeting house that night farmworkers Oscar Otzoy, Santiago Perez, and Marley Moynahan told a crowd of fifty people about a typical day in the life of a farm worker and the changes brought by CIW’s Fair Food Agreement. Since its founding in 1993 CIW has done much to improve the lives of workers in South Florida tomato fields. After some false starts, they went after the big tomato buyers who set the prices and the standards for growers and distributors. With ten major fast food and supermarket corporations in their pocket,

they were

finally able to get 90% of the growers to sign a Fair Food Agreement in November 2010. But the holdouts among corporate buyers threaten to undermine these gains, not least by replacing fair trade Immokalee tomatoes with lower cost tomatoes from Mexico. Elena Stein, a CIW organizer told me that the CIW’s success as a trade union is due in part to their diverse enlisting of outside support to form,“an alliance of anarchists and archbishops.” CIW Week in Gainesville reflected that broad appeal. Several hundred students, faculty, and local residents visited the Museum on UF’s Plaza of the Americas and many attended a CIW program in Smathers Library organized by Labor Party member Sheila Payne. Reverend Andy Bachmann of United Church of Gainesville was one of many visitors and called it an eye-opening experience.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers Comes to Gainesville by Richard McMaster, organizer with the Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice and Labor Party ally.

CIW allies Eric Castillo, Victor Yengle, Matias Kaplan and others, protest in front of the 34th street Publix to demand the supermarket chain sign the CIW’s fair food agreement.

Photo courtesy of SDS organizer Michela Martinazzi.

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JOIN THE COMMITTEE OF 100 TODAY!WHAT IS THE COMMITTEE OF 100?

The Committee of 100 is a group of Labor Party members who have pledged $20 a month to fund a full-time Alachua County Labor Party staffer to coordinate the Just Health Care campaign and other Labor Party campaigns.

WHY IS A FULL TIME ORGANIZER SO IMPORTANT?

In 2000, we sponsored a non-binding referendum asking Alachua County voters if they would support a system like Just Health Care. It won overwhelming support, receiving more votes than either Bush or Gore. We’ve determined that having a paid organizer was the key to that highly successful campaign. And keeping a paid organizer is critical for our continued

success.The struggle for Just Health Care is now being fought at the local, state, and national levels. While we coordinate volunteers and events at the local level, we are also working around the state and country to build the coalition of groups fighting for single payer health care.

IT’S WORKING!The contributions of the current Committee of 100 allow us to fund our part-time organizers. By joining you will allow us to expand Diana and Marie’s hours.

HOW DO I SIGN UP ???1. Join easily and securely on our website:

floridalaborparty.org/alachua/join 2.Fill out the C-100 Membership form on the last page and mail it to us at:

PO Box 12051 Gainesville, Fl

Tom AlmquistKirk AnthonyArlene BargadLuJoye BarnesBill BatlleNEW! Scott BillingsNEW! Kali BlountJoey BrennerJenny BrownCaron CadleBill CalhounRandi CameonScott Camil &

Sherry SteinerLynn ChackoCandi ChurchillIra ClarkAmy CoenenChris CogleAndrea CostelloJoe CourterArthur & Mary

CrummerSally & Josh

DickinsonShawna DoranRebecca ElgieMarilyn EisenbergPennie Foster (in memoriam)Adele FransonNEW! Jason FultsCarol GiardinaBill GilbertDanny GimenezAlice GoldmanNorma GreenGreen PartyGaby GrossNicole HardinDan HarmelingDave Hennig Jane & Norm

Holland

Chad HoodRobert IngBeth & Kurt KentLavery, LindaAlex LeaderHarriet LudwigRosemary Lynch

& Norman Balabanian (in memoriam)

Murdo MacLeodEve MacMasterRichard MacMasterJeff MasonKathleen MaynardNEW! Martin Glen

McClureChris MedvedAlbert MeyerPam MoormanJim Morrison &

Betty OdumAnn Murray

Jon F. Nutting Jack Penrod (in memoriam)Eric PiotrowskiMark PiotrowskiNina PostlethwaiteNEW! Stephanie

RidgewayJean RiggFe RipkaClint RobinsonHoward RosenfeldEileen RoyKathie SarachildZoharah SimmonsHerbet SpencerBill Stephenson &

Michelle GouldTimothy StrauserZot Szurgot &

Audrey HoltRich TemplinCarol Thomas

Genevie Trachsel (in memoriam)Martin & Vibeke

ValaVeterans for PeaceTom WardBill & Sally WarrickKenneth WeeksJerry & Larissa

WilliamsonCharles Willett (in memoriam)Paul Wojtalewicz Steedly & Patricia

YoungNEW! James Ingle#89—Pledge your

name here !

88 Committee of 100 Members, 12 to go!

* Donors in memory of John Penrod, Spanish Civil War veteran: Carol Giardina, Mark Piotrowski, Chad Hood, and Albert and Meredith Bacharach. 6

Throughout nearly 10 years of organizing in the Labor Party, we have made the greatest advances when we pool our resources to support a paid organizer. Having someone consistently in (and out) of the office, contacting members to follow-up, and coordinating tabling and events moves us beyond a typical volunteer organization. It gives us a momentum and continuity that is otherwise difficult to achieve.The Committee of 100 is the way we make that happen. – dedicated supporters who have pledged $20 per month to fund our paid organizers over the years. We couldn’t do it without this vital group of people. Thank you!

A consistent conclusion amongst our organizers is that we can do so much more when there are two people in the office, working together, exchanging ideas, and motivating each other. However, there have only been brief periods in our history when we have been able to support two organizers.Fortunately, we have entered that period again with the recent addition of Marie Dino. Marie already has a great prior track record working together with co-coordinator Diana Moreno on other activist projects. Having the two of them together is a great leap forward for the Labor Party. It also gives us the ability to organize on two fronts simultaneously – continuing to spread the word about national health care, and fighting for the rights of working people with other labor groups across the state. But we are currently only funded to provide 10 hours per week each to Marie and Diana.

We could do so much more if we continue to build the Committee of 100, allowing us to add more hours for these amazing organizers. Many of you reading this have been Labor Party supporters because of our track record pushing for single payer health care. Others have been involved to help build a stronger labor movement in support of working people. Some are supportive of both important causes.

If you haven’t already joined the Committee of 100, I encourage you to do so today so that we can increase our strength and our ability to move forward on all fronts to protect the working class. If you are already on the Committee of 100, I thank you for your help. If you can increase your pledge or refer a friend, we can do even more. Chad Hood Chair, Alachua County Labor Party