W-2 workers and their supporters will be travelling from Wisconsin to New York City this Aug. 22 to demand Stop the War Against People on Welfare! The trip is being organized by A Job is a Right Campaign and the homeless advocacy group Repairers of the Breach.
Aug. 22 will mark the second anniversary of President Clinton's signing of the national welfare "reform" act. To mark the date, Workfairness, an organization of New York City "workfare" workers, has called for a National Day of Protest. In New York, there will be a major march and rally starting at City Hall at 1 pm. Endorsers include AFSCME International Vice President Bill Lucy; the Rev. Al Sharpton; AFSCME District Council 37; Latino Workers Center; Welfare Law Center; New York Taxi Drivers Alliance; New York Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL); author Gerald Horne; and the Gabriela Network. It's fitting that Wisconsin will be represented at the New York action. Here in Wisconsin, we have seen the most extreme application of so-called "welfare reform" with the complete elimination of AFDC and its replacement by W-2. As a result, evictions in Milwaukee have skyrocketed. Foster care placements are up 30%. Kinship care slots are filled, with hundreds of families on the waiting list. Thousands of AFDC mothers have been forced to leave technical schools or colleges and go to work at low-wage, dead-end jobs.
Meanwhile, W-2 has meant a windfall of profits for area companies and so-called "non-profits." In Milwaukee County, there are now 10,000 "community service" or "transition job" workers providing absolutely free labor to area employers. These workers receive only their welfare checks, not wages. Meanwhile, their free labor helps keep the wages and benefits of all other workers from rising in today's tight job market. That's the real meaning and purpose of W-2.
And now W-2 -- developed with grant money provided by Milwaukee's right-wing, racist Bradley Foundation -- is being exported around the country. Jason Turner, head of the task force that developed W-2, now runs New York's Work Experience Program, or WEP, the largest workfare program in the country. One of Turner's New York innovations was to order over 800 disabled people to come in for a "job screening." And guess who did the screening? Goodwill Industries of Greater New York, following the pattern developed by Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin. Even the press secretary for New York's Health and Human Services Department was recruited from Milwaukee County's Private Industry Council, which oversees W-2 in this area.
This Aug. 22, we'll be following Turner to New York City. From Wisconsin to New York, we're going to fight this new slave labor -- until we win!
For more information on the National Day of Protest, contact: Workfairness, 39 W. 14th St., Rm 206, New York, NY 10011. Ph: (212) 633-6646; Fax: (212) 633-2889.
This past November, 25 members and supporters of the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) were arrested in Plymouth, Mass. The details of their arrest are covered in the following sample letter of support which the UAINE is asking people to send to the Massachusetts District Attorney’s office.
For more information on the case of the Plymouth 25, contact: United American Indians of New England, PO Box 7501, Quincy, MA 02269. Phone/Fax: (617) 773-0406; email: uaine19@idt.net. Or visit their site.
To help build support for the defendants, AJRC has put together an information packet. For a copy, send your name, address and $1.00 (to cover the costs of photocopying and mailing) to: AJRC/Plymouth 25, PO Box 06053, Milwaukee, WI 53206.
[Send to: Michael J. Sullivan, Office of the District Attorney, Post Office Box 1665, Brockton, MA 02403-1665. Send copies to UAINE at the above address.]
District Attorney Sullivan: I am writing regarding the police assault and arrest of 25 Native Americans and their supporters in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Nov. 27, 1997, Thanksgiving Day.
On that day, hundreds of Native American people and their supporters gathered in Plymouth to observe the National Day of Mourning, commemorated for the 28th year, and organized by the United American Indians of New England. This peaceful march was ambushed and attacked by a large combined force of police from the Plymouth Police Department, Massachusetts State Troopers, and other police agencies. During the completely unprovoked assault, the police used pepper spray and mace in the eyes of elders and children, injuring many.
Twenty-five women and men were arrested. They represent the broad character of those who participate yearly in the Day of Mourning--Indigenous people, African-American, Latino, Asian, and white, straight, lesbian, labor and civil rights activists.
All of the Plymouth defendants face false charges ranging from unlawful assembly to assault on a police officer. The people arrested at this peaceful demonstration were simply exercising their civil and constitutional rights. It is a dangerous situation when individuals from all walks of life cannot hold a peaceful march without fear of arrest or police brutality.
The Massachusetts state officials continue to wrongfully press the case against these innocent defendants. At a court hearing on June 11, 1998, the prosecution made a motion to separate the defendants and hold several different trials rather than one trial.
I am shocked by the police attack and false arrests in Plymouth last November and by the clear violation of the civil and constitutional rights of Day of Mourning participants. And I am shocked by the state authorities’ continuing prosecution of this case.
I ask that you immediately dismiss this case and drop all of the charges against the 25 Plymouth defendants. I ask that an open, independent public inquiry be held that brings out the real story about the police attack in Plymouth on Nov. 27, 1997.
And I support the call by the United American Indians of New England for an economic boycott of Plymouth until all charges are dropped in this case.
Sincerely, [Your name here]