"Every Job a Union Job! Every Wage a Living Wage!" That was the slogan on the banner A Job is a Right carried Sept. 7 in the Milwaukee County Labor Day Parade.
W-2, Wisconsin's reactionary welfare reform program, was enacted one year ago, also on Labor Day. Since then, the reality of the program has begun to set in. 25,000 people have been forced off the state's welfare rolls. The government can't say what's happened to them, but every homeless shelter is full, every free food or meal program is overwhelmed, evictions have skyrocketed, foster care placements are up 20% and there are mothers with small children sleeping in the parks.
Meanwhile, of the 13,000 or so people actually employed in Milwaukee County's W-2 program, three out of four are working in "community service" or "transitional" jobs -- being "paid" with their old welfare checks, but now providing absolutely free labor to their new employers. That's 10,000 free workers.
And now come the layoffs. The economic crisis in Asia and Russia has begun to affect workers in the Milwaukee area. Layoffs at Allen-Bradley, Harnischfeger, Case, Louis Allis, Snap-On Tools and others mean that more and more good-paying union jobs are being lost while the pool of super-exploited W-2 workers in increasing. This can only drive down the wages of all workers.
What's the answer? To build the union movement. There are some encouraging signs in the area, with unions organizing new workers and supporting anti-racist struggles like those of the Taco Bell workers in Waukesha or Postal Workers for Justice in Milwaukee. We applaud these developments and will do all we can to support them.
Meanwhile, we also have to support the fight of W-2 workers for dignity and respect. And we have to support the on-going community struggles against racism, including the fight against police brutality and police murders.
In the final analysis, the old union slogan had it right: "An Injury to One is an Injury to All!" That must be our slogan too, as we prepare march into the new century.
Wisconsin Joins New York to Demand "Real Jobs, Not Workfare!"
On the second anniversary of President Clinton's signing of the national welfare reform bill, more than 600 workfare workers, union members and supporters rallied outside City Hall in New York City. The Aug. 22 protest demanded real jobs and an end to workfare slavery.
Nine members of A Job is a Right Campaign, Repairers of the Breach and Women & Poverty Initiative drove nearly 20 hours to be part of the protest. Tara Young of W&PI, a former W-2 worker, and Kate Ludwig of AJRC, a former AFDC mother, led off the rally.
New York's Work Experience Program, or WEP, is the largest workfare program in the country. WEP is run by none other than Jason Turner, the former head of the task force that developed Wisconsin's own workfare program, W-2. So there was a special meaning that the Wisconsin activists were there to attend the New York protest and the crowd returned the favor with a warm welcome.
"A living income is a right," declared William Mason, co-chair of the 9,000-member Workfairness organization, which sponsored the protest. "Everyone has the right to a job, a real job with benefits!" The rally also expressed solidarity with the Million Youth March scheduled for Sept. 5 in Harlem. The MYM, later attacked by the police, was strongly opposed by racist New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
After the rally, Workfairness sponsored a pizza party for the Wisconsin delegation. The get-together turned into a kind of speak-out on both W-2 and the WEP program.
The protest was covered on all three local news stations that evening, with the Wisconsin banner prominently shown. When asked his reaction to the demonstrators' demand for real jobs, Mayor Giuliani said, "They ought to be glad they have any jobs at all."
Job is a Right affiliates with Workfairness of New York City
After the Aug. 22nd rally in New York against workfare, the Wisconsin delegation met with organizers from Workfairness, the group that had sponsored the protest.
Workfairness, an organization of 9,000 participants in the city's Work Experience Program (WEP), has been in the forefront of groups that, like Job is a Right, believe the best solution to workfare slave labor is unionization. Workfairness has been working with New York's AFSCME District Council 37 to do just that.
At the invitation of the Workfairness organizers, Job is a Right has decided to affiliate with the New York group. This should encourage a closer working relationship and help both groups to learn from each other's experiences. We know the government and advocates of workfare are united and our side needs to be united too.
AJRC Forum Hears from James Cameron
James Cameron, founder and president of America's Black Holocaust Museum, was the featured speaker at an AJRC forum held at the Milwaukee Enterprise Center Aug. 8. The topic was "The KKK: What it is & how to fight it." In 1930, Mr. Cameron narrowly escaped death at the hands of the KKK. Two of his friends were lynched by the mob. Mr. Cameron's recommendation: "Tear their hoods off and run their asses out of town!" About 30 people attended the forum, which also heard from Monique Hassman of Anti-Racist Action and Phil Wilayto of AJRC. The meeting was endorsed by ARA, Black Awareness for Change, Movimiento Civil Zapatista and Repairers of the Breach.
Other Recent AJRC Activities:
On Aug. 1, we attended a protest outside the National Governor's Association convention in Milwaukee. The protest was called by the homeless advocacy group Repairers of the Breach to demand an end to police harassment of homeless people in the downtown area. The harassment has increased a lot since the opening of the new Midwest Express convention center, where the governors were meeting. Over 100 people came out to show their support, including members of the NAACP, Milwaukee Peace Action, the Socialist Party and the disabled rights group ADAPT. One young Native American member of ADAPT was arrested.
Earlier this summer, we attended the Milwaukee School Board hearing to support the demand of full funding for the North Side community group Career Youth Development. We also sent a formal letter of support to CYD Executive Director Jeanetta Robinson. Thanks to strong support from the community, CYD has survived the attack and continues its good work of helping troubled youth.
Postal Workers for Justice held a rally Aug. 30 at the Reuss Federal Plaza and then marched to Zeidler Park. The predominantly African American group is demanding better working conditions and treatment of all postal workers. AJRC was one of many groups attending the rally in support of the demands.
Over the past two months, we also: