Today's Teamster News 11.20.11

Egypt protesters resume occupation of Tahrir Square  BBC   ...Several hundred protesters spent the night in the square, having fought off police attempts to remove them...
SF police arrest 6 Occupy protesters in early raid  Associated Press   ...San Francisco arrested six anti-Wall Street protesters early Sunday and dismantled a tent encampment...
Lobbying Memo Seeks Methods to Discredit Occupy Movement  firedoglake   ...MSNBC’s Chris Hayes ... obtained a memo from a DC lobbying firm spelling out a strategy to undermine Occupy Wall Street...
Thousands rally against Wisconsin Republican governor  Reuters   ...The Wisconsin Department of Administration estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 people gathered at an afternoon rally at the Capitol building to boost the state-wide petition drive for a Walker recall election that began on November 15...
Older, Suburban and Struggling, ‘Near Poor’ Startle the Census  New York Times   ...100 million people — one in three Americans — (are) either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it...
Why Not Break-Up Citigroup?  Baseline Scenario   ...Earlier this week, Richard Fisher – President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank – captured the growing political mood with regard to very large banks: “I believe that too-big-to-fail banks are too-dangerous-to-permit...”

'A Teamsters semi is back on the square!!!' in WI

An estimated 30,000 -- or maybe 60,000? -- Wisconsinites return to the streets of Madison today to kick off the "Recall Walker" campaign.

Tweeters were excited to see a Teamsters semi back on Capitol Square. Back during the spring protests, Joint Council 39's semi was parked on the square for weeks. peerless blogger blue cheddar told us how good it was to see such a big, bold, proud union symbol.

@legaleagle tweeted:

Recall Walker rally.

A Teamsters semi is back on the square!!! 

Today, Joint Council 39 is running a can drive in conjunction with the rally ("Can Scott Walker" -- get it?). People are signing petitions to recall both Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker and his lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch.

The Isthmus explains,

Organized under the banner of United Wisconsin, the campaign officially started at midnight on Tuesday, November 15, and runs for a total of 60 days, during which time organizers will attempt to collect more than 540,208 total validated signatures from state voters to trigger a recall election.

blue cheddar tells us they've already collected 105,000. Out on the Square, people are using recycling bins as tables to sign petitions. The Solidarity Singers (who sing union songs every weekday at noon in the Statehouse) are leading the crowd in the "Roll Out the Recall" Polka.

Inside the Capitol, the Rotunda is rocking with drums and cowbells and chants of "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Scott Walker has got to go." @legaleagle tells us,

"Wisconsin families will not abandon Wisconsin children" gets a resounding cheer from the crowd!

And from @PurrpleCatMama:

Walker supporters.

Teachers on the March in Wisconsin! Teamsters, FireFighters, You and Me, and Puppies for Democracy!

Fifty counterprotesters showed up.

@legaleagle tweeted:

I'd like to thank the 50 counter protesters for coming, as everyone who is here just committed to working harder to defeat you! #WIrally

What the 99% can do together (animation)

MK12 ZeroFilm NYC Open from MK12 on Vimeo.

Occupy Atlanta mic checks Home Depot for union busting

An Atlanta Home Depot got occupied on Thursday, the International Day of Action, by 75 protesters including Teamsters from Local 728, Jobs with Justice and Occupy Atlanta. They came to protest Home Depot for attacking workers' rights. "We stand with the rights of workers, not their millionaire bosses," they shouted in unison.

Home Depot contracts with Republic Waste, a Teamsters employer that's trying to cut workers' health benefits.

Three television cameras waited outside just before the scheduled mic check. Though the police knew the Occupiers were coming, there wasn't much they could do as they arrived at Home Depot separately. Protesters placed fliers that said "Home Depot, Stop the Hate," among the products. They then converged to "mic check" the store. (Here's the Daily Dot with an explainer of "mic check":

Now the phrase has become a battle cry for Occupy Wall Street protesters to launch coordinated protests that interrupt speakers.

In the mic-check process, one speaker stands up and starts chanting "mic check." He or she then leads a crowd in a call-and-response fashion. It’s being used all around the country to interrupt speeches from politicians.

The script was written by Occupy Atlanta. Here's part of it:

Home Depot has a long history of suppressing the rights of workers. From all-out union-busting to corporate agenda indoctrination. The corporation attempts to brainwash its employees with a "training" video falsely depicting union organizations as invasive and destructive of workers' rights.

"Our business is based on our values," says the propaganda video. But it is Home Depot who has shown its harmful stripes by bonding with the union-breaking Republic Waste Corporation.

"At Home Depot our associates already have a voice," they say. Yet Home Depot has opposed employee free choice legislation through million-dollar lobbying efforts each year...

They believe in the rights of their corporate bosses. WE SAY it is the workers who deserve those rights.

WE ARE THE 99%

WE STAND WITH THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS!

NOT THEIR MILLIONAIRE BOSSES!

WE STAND WITH THE PEOPLE!

NOT THE 1%!

As you can see from the video, the protesters unfurled a banner that said "Home Depot, Stop the Hate, Respect Civil Rights," and marched out of the store -- across the mall to a Verizon store, where they set up a picket in solidarity with CWA workers.

The Occupy Atlanta woman leading the mic check was taken out of the store. Then Ben Speight, organizer with Local 728, took over. He was pulled out of the store. Said Ben,

It was Occupy Atlanta's first action hitting a corporate target. They've hit banks, but they hadn't hit a corporate target for labor abuses. It was the first one we did to show how workers' organizations and unions are at the center of the most vital interests of the 99 percent.

You can replicate it anywhere. The acoustics are great.

Today's Teamster News 11.19.20

Hoffa Elected To Fourth Term By Overwhelming Margin  IBT   ...According to unofficial results provided by the Office of the Election Supervisor, the Hoffa-Hall Slate defeated their two challengers with 60 percent of the vote...
Occupy Wall Street protests aren't over by a long shot New York Daily News   ...Then the crowd of nurses and teachers and Teamsters and telephone company workers took up the chant: “All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street.” And for one brief moment, you got an inkling that the mindset of a city, perhaps a nation, was on the cusp of change...
What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe  The Independent   ...Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living down its nickname as "the Vampire Squid", and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the eurozone, sceptical voices are raising questions over its influence...
Rally to recall Walker  United Wisconsin   ...Join United Wisconsin, We Are Wisconsin, and our partners on Saturday, November 19th in Madison on the Capitol Steps to Stand up for our values and recall Walker and Kleefisch!...
Newt: Fire the janitors, hire kids to clean schools  Politico   ...Newt Gingrich tonight said at an address at Harvard that child work laws "entrap" poor children into poverty - and suggested that a better way to handle failing schools is to fire the janitors, hire the local students and let them get paid for upkeep...
Nevada Files Felony Charges for Mortgage Fraud  Economic Populist   ...The Nevada Attorney General just filed felony criminal charges for mortgage fraud, but wait for it, so far it is just two little fish...

Teamsters, CWA, Occupy Wall Street protest Mayor's girlfriend

Protesting Brookfield Properties, which evicted OWS; Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend is a director of the company as well as of Sotheby's.

As many police officers as protesters occupied the pavement today in front of 3 World Financial, the headquarters of Brookfield Properties. Teamsters, members of CWA Local 1101 and Occupy Wall Street rallied to protest the company's eviction of the camp at Zuccotti Park. We posted earlier about Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend's links to Brookfield and to Sotheby's.
 
Jason Ide, president of Local 814, said Brookfield was not happy about the rally, which included about 50 police officers and 50 protesters. Their target was Diana Taylor, Mayor Bloomberg's galpal. She wants to run for Senate.

Check out the police-to-protester ratio.

Said Ide,

We passed out handbills calling on Diana Taylor to let Occupy Wall Street back in the park. Some of the members talked about getting locked out of Sotheby's, and why Diana Taylor's labor practices are so terrible. We had a chant,

Zuccotti Park out in the streets, there goes your Senate seat.

We asked, 'How can you represent New Yorkers with a labor record like this?

Both the Teamsters and CWA workers, whose wages and benefits are under assault by Verizon, have been helped by Occupy Wall Street. Ide said he was glad unions could help them as well.

This is what we union T.H.U.G.S. do in Wisconsin

We donate food to local food pantries -- even as we're recalling Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker and his sidekick, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

Kleefisch apparently doesn't think hungry people should be fed. Today she said, "I'm appalled at the way the union thugs are acting in our state."

Teamsters Joint Council 39 is sponsoring a Can Walker Food Drive tomorrow. We Are Wisconsin tells us that thousands are expected at the Recall Walker rally tomorrow, and participants are asked to bring food donations. Recalling Scott Walker and helping families in need are both ways to stand up for Wisconsin.

Says Beth Kirchman of Local 662:

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we felt it was especially important to remember our fellow Wisconsinites in need. From supporting our local food pantries to recalling a governor who attacks our rights, our jobs, and our quality of life, the members of Teamsters Joint Council 39 are doing our best to make Wisconsin a better place to live.

"THUGS," by the way, stands for "Those Helpful Union Guys."