GA Teamsters rally keeps working spirit alive

Our Teamster brothers and sisters in Atlanta are raising hell about a heinous anti-worker bill to criminalize picketing. The video above was posted just last night at a rally against Georgia Senate Bill 469, which will be voted on tomorrow.

Our Teamster brother Chuck Stiles from Local 728 in Atlanta says SB 469 is not just anti-worker, it's anti-Christian:

This bill will destroy our first amendment rights. This bill would prevent churches from protesting adult book stores, crack houses etc that try to move into our communities and civic organizations would be prohibited from engaging in actions to prevent landfills in our neighborhoods. Your organization or church could be fined 10000 per day and convicted of conspiracy under this poorly written bill.

Four Senators, all members of the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, filed the legislation on Feb. 21. ALEC, a corporate bill factory, has tentacles that spread throughout all 50 U.S. statehouses. It's crucial to strangle the bill in its Georgia cradle. Otherwise it will pop up everywhere.

Many believe SB469 was introduced in retaliation for a sit-in at AT&T's regional headquarters to protest the layoff of 740 workers.

A Feb. 28 hearing on the bill drew a huge crowd of community, elected, labor and faith representatives. Atlanta Progressive News reported:

SB 469, an anti-union and anti-protest bill, would turn nonviolent civil disobedience into a felony punishable by imprisonment for one year and a fine of ten thousand dollars for organizations and one thousand dollars for individuals. It also has provisions intended to weaken unions...

"People I know voted for you folks because they thought you were for less government, but this is big government run amok for a few. I will be in every church I can in south Rockdale County telling them what somebody is trying to do to Christians. Christians in here [on the committee] not letting us exercise what we all hear about on right-wing radio every day, let’s go back to the Constitution," Chuck Styles, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said.

The groups opposing the bill include Georgia State AFL-CIO, Georgia ACLU, Sierra Club of Georgia, Occupy Atlanta, 9 to 5, Interfaith Workers Justice, Health Care Now, Jobs with Justice, Georgia Stand Up, Georgia Trade Up, Metro Atlanta Labor Council, A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Georgia Federation of Teachers, Communication Workers of America, United Auto Workers, SEIU, IUPAT (Painters), Sheetmetal Workers, Operating Engineers, and (last but not you-know-what) Teamsters.

Big props to our brothers and sisters at Local 728 who are leading the fight to keep the working spirit alive!