Thursday, April 30, 2020
'America In the Age of Trump': Armed Gunmen Enter Michigan Capitol Demanding End to Covid-19 Lockdown
"You aren't allowed to bring in posters to the Michigan State Capitol, but you can bring guns and rifles."
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/america-age-trump-armed-gunmen-enter-michigan-capitol-demanding-end-covid-19
The right-wing movement against public health measures designed to stave off the coronavirus pandemic escalated on Thursday as armed gunmen were among those who stormed the Michigan state house and tried to enter the legislative chamber.
The protesters entered the building after holding a small rally outside the State House in Lansing, calling for an end to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order in accordance with guidance from public health experts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The so-called "American Patriot Rally" was organized by the recently-formed group Michigan United for Liberty and came two weeks after a similar protest dubbed "Operation Gridlock" created a traffic jam outside the government building.
Some demonstrators on Thursday wore "Make America Great Again" hats, while others carried firearms into the Capitol building. It is legal to carry a visible weapon in Michigan.
"You aren't allowed to bring in posters to the Michigan State Capitol, but you can bring guns and rifles," wrote progressive activist Linda Sarsour.
The protesters demanded to be let into the state House chamber, where the Republican-controlled legislature was debating an extension of Whitmer's emergency order, which is due to expire at the end of the day Thursday. The lawmakers eventually adjourned without extending the order.
Democratic State Senator Dayna Polehanki posted photos of armed men with long guns in the public gallery above the floor:
A number of progressive advocates noted that racial and economic justice demonstrations have been met with force in recent years, while the crowd of largely white and pro-Trump protesters was permitted to force their way into the Capitol building with weapons.
The protest—during which one speaker compared the crowd to civil rights leaders including Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—came as the advocacy group Progress Michigan released poll results showing the majority of Michigan residents oppose protests like the American Patriot Rally and Operation Gridlock.
More than half of respondents said they trust Whitmer to handle the state's response to the pandemic, while only 15% said they trust the state legislature and 24% said they trust President Donald Trump.
Only 25% supported the anti-Whitmer protests, and 56% opposed them.
"Once again, the polling shows that Michiganders support Gov. Whitmer's commonsense, science-based handling of the COVID-19 crisis," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. "Operation Gridlock protesters have made a lot of noise, but these numbers make it clear they're only a very vocal minority of our state."
The demonstration came a day after a state court ruled that Whitmer's stay-at-home order does not violate constitutional rights.
"Our fellow residents—have an interest to remain unharmed by a highly communicable and deadly virus, and since the state entered the Union in 1837, it has had the broad power to act for the public health of the entire state when faced with a public crisis," Court of Claims Judge Christopher M. Murray wrote.
Everybody Gets A Plane! (But Sorry Still No Masks, Tests, PPE or Jobless Benefits)
Operation America Unfriggingbelievably Tone-Deaf: Everybody Gets A Plane! (But Sorry Still No Masks, Tests, PPE or Jobless Benefits)
by
Abby Zimet, Further columnist
https://www.commondreams.org/further/2020/04/28/operation-america-unfriggingbelievably-tone-deaf-everybody-gets-plane-sorry-still
In the first of several planned, what-the ever-loving-Christ-were-they-thinking moves, the U.S. military performed exceedingly expensive, nauseatingly pointless flyovers over COVID-embattled New York City Tuesday in what was billed as "a touching display of American resolve." Impeached President Trump announced the brilliant "Operation America Strong" last week, claiming it was "the idea of our great military men and women...who wanted to show support to the American medical workers, who just like military members in a time of war are fiercely running forward the fight (sic)." The half-hour flyovers by the shiny hardware of our endless wars - specifically, Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels - were conducted over New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia in their first run; they're also scheduled for Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Baltimore and over a dozen more cities. New Yorkers were "overwhelmingly uninspired" by the unexpected presence of military-scale jets roaring over a still-9/11 traumatized city: "Oh yeah...planes loudly flying over NYC is an anxiety-free sound that everyone here enjoys." And, "For those of you who were with us on 9/11 and still suffer from PTSD...let us make new memories for you in this great city with, uh, the same sights and sounds as uh, well. Hmm..."
As those on the ground ignored social distancing rules to gape at the show - "My God...the virus...it has planes now!" - many cited the heedless cost at a time of dire need. The military argued flyovers will incur no additional cost because pilots have to practice anyway, but facts owe: Each $20-million plane costs about $8,000 to fly for an hour, a six-plane flyover at the 2011 Super Bowl cost about $450,000, each plane burns over 1,200 gallons of fuel an hour. Most grievously, estimates of the total cost of this chest-thumping vanity project run to over $1.32 million - enough to buy dozens of much-needed ventilators at $20,000 a pop at New York hospitals that are now "petri dishes," with scores of healthcare workers working long shifts, sometimes sick, for less than a living wage, without masks and other protective equipment. Given that grim reality - never mind widespread hunger and unemployment - the obscene waste incensed: "Here it is. The sum total of the Trump administration's effort to help first responders. Forget the PPE shortages. Forget the complete absence of a plan on testing...Indeed, forget the death toll. Look at the shiny airplanes." And: "The #flyover went right over the hospital in our neighborhood that's using duct tape on ventilators if you're wondering how thrilled we are about this pointless display." Meanwhile, on Wednesday, with over a million cases and 60,000 deaths, Jared Kushner declared the U.S. response "a great success story." Really, just fuck these sociopaths. Let them eat planes.
Polling Shows Two-Thirds of Americans Back Funding for Postal Service in Next Coronavirus Relief Package
"The public expects members of Congress and the White House to show appreciation for the importance of USPS and to ensure that essential postal services continue."
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
3 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/polling-shows-two-thirds-americans-back-funding-postal-service-next-coronavirus
New polling shows 67% of Americans support prioritizing funding for the U.S. Postal Service in the next coronavirus relief funding bill as the American institution faces an uncertain future with current projections showing the agency running out of money by September.
"The public expects members of Congress and the White House to show appreciation for the importance of USPS and to ensure that essential postal services continue," American Postal Workers Union (APWU) president Mark Dimondstein said in a statement.
The APWU commissioned the survey, which was conducted by YouGov between April 21 and 22. Of the respondents who were not in favor of funding the post office, 18% were unsure and only 15% were opposed.
According to the poll, politicians hostile to the agency could see political repercussions down the road:
If congressional leaders do allow the postal service to go bankrupt, half of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate who blocked funding in these circumstances, according to the poll. The figure includes 31 percent of Republicans, 55 percent of independents, and 65 percent of Democrats.
Standing in the way of relief is President Doanld Trump, who said on April 24 that "the Postal Service is a joke" and has demanded the agency raise prices and impose draconian cuts.
In a report on the state of the agency on Wednesday, Common Dreams described efforts on the part of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other progressive lawmakers to save the service.
"If we can bail out Boeing, we can save the Post Office," Sanders tweeted.
Dimondstein, in his statement celebrating the poll results, emphasized the community role of the Postal Service worker.
"Postal workers provide an absolutely essential service to everyone in the country—no matter who we are or where we live," said Dimondstein. "During this pandemic, postal workers have shown strength and commitment, as they process and deliver needed medicine, supplies, and information to a public who are confined to their homes."
"We Need a Working People's Bailout": Unemployment Claims Hit 30 Million as Many Struggle to Afford Necessities
"The relief and recovery packages passed so far are not enough, and more aid is crucial."
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/we-need-working-peoples-bailout-unemployment-claims-hit-30-million-many-struggle
The U.S. Labor Department on Thursday reported that more than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past six weeks as the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the U.S., leading to fresh calls from progressives for congressional action on a bailout for working people.
More than 3.8 million people filed for unemployment in the last week as the pandemic-caused recession begins to affect sectors that were previously thought to be far more stable than the food services and hospitality industries, which were forced to shut down last month when the virus began spreading rapidly to every state in the country.
The new numbers mean that one out of five Americans have filed for unemployment in the past six weeks.
"There is no precedent for figures like this in modern American history," reported the Washington Post, adding that the number of jobs created since the 2008 economic meltdown and recession have now been lost.
At the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), director of policy Heidi Shierholz wrote that the CARES Act and subsequent relief packages, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), other small business assistance, and one-time $1,200 payments to many Americans, "are not enough" to protect millions of people from financial ruin.
"The next package should [include] $500 billion in aid to state and local governments, protect workers' paychecks, include worker safety and health protections, and invest in our democracy," wrote Shierholz.
Shierholz suggested that the federal government use one solution to help solve both the crisis of unemployment and that of the spreading pandemic by establishing a large-scale contact-tracing program to detect how the coronavirus is being transmitted and to whom:
We must also make significant investments in testing and contract tracing because, absent a vaccine or effective treatment for the virus, there is no way we will be able to reopen the economy successfully without an effective system of testing and contact tracing in place. It is likely that with 200,000 contact tracers, we could establish an effective tracing program. The federal government hires half a million temporary workers every ten years to conduct the decennial census—we could and should do large-scale hiring of public workers for contact tracing. That is one investment that would help not just in controlling the virus and allowing us to reopen earlier, but would also help the workers who would get those jobs, and their families, and therefore help the broader economy.
Without adjusting the unemployment numbers for seasonal changes as the Labor Department did, Shierholz wrote, nearly 28 million Americans, or one in six workers, applied for unemployment benefits in the last six weeks. Even with these lower numbers, she said, the unemployment rate is still "over five times the worst period of the Great Recession."
EPI also reported Thursday that an estimated 12.7 million Americans have already lost their employer-based health insurance as a result of the pandemic.
On Thursday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) reiterated her demand for Congress to pass her Paycheck Guarantee Act, which would ensure large and small businesses across the country are able to continue paying their workers' salaries of up to $100,000 per year.
"We need a working people's bailout immediately. Nothing less," wrote Michael Whitney, former fundraising manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, on social media.
The new unemployment numbers came on the heels of a survey by the national parent-led organization ParentsTogether Action showing that about half of U.S. families will struggle to pay rent or mortgage payments on May 1 without reducing other necessary expenses, like groceries or medications.
National groups including Indivisible, the Center for Popular Democracy, and Greenpeace have been calling for weeks for a People's Bailout, which would provide substantial direct economic relief for families and help for businesses which prioritizes workers—not shareholder profits and executive pay.
The "hard-to-fathom" unemployment numbers prompted progressive New York congressional candidate Mondaire Jones to demand "direct cash payments every month to Americans until this crisis is over."
"A one-time $1,200 check to working people is a slap in the face," Jones wrote.
In 'Terrifying' Indictment of For-Profit System, 12.7 Million Workers Estimated to Have Lost Insurance Due to Coronavirus
"If we take anything away from this pandemic, it's that health care should not be tied to employment."
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/terrifying-indictment-profit-system-127-million-workers-estimated-have-lost
New research from the Economic Policy Institute reveals that the number of Americans who are losing their employer-based health insurance is growing rapidly, with more than 30 million people laid off or furloughed in the last six weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
EPI estimates that 12.7 million of the people who have lost their jobs since early March have lost their health insurance.
"The linkage between specific jobs and the availability of health insurance is a prime source of inefficiency and inequity in the U.S. health system," wrote EPI research director Josh Bivens and economist Ben Zipperer. "It is especially terrifying for workers to lose their health insurance as a result of, and during, an ongoing pandemic."
EPI released its new research shortly after government watchdog Public Citizen tweeted sarcastically that the U.S. has a "normal and fine healthcare system," sharing a news story about health insurer Cigna's skyrocketing profits for the first months of 2020 alongside EPI's earlier headline from just two weeks ago when the think tank estimated 9.2 million Americans had lost their employer-based health insurance.
Thursday's report also shines a light on the wide range of industries in the U.S. in which lay offs and furloughs have resulted in the loss of insurance.
In the hospitality and food services industry, which has lost more than 41% of its workforce so far due to the pandemic, more than 23% of workers have employer-based health coverage.
More than 56% of people who work in healthcare and social work have employer-sponsored insurance; that industry lost more than three million workers in recent weeks.
In the manufacturing sector, meanwhile, about 69% of workers have health insurance through their employers; manufacturing has also lost about three million workers.
To help the millions of people across all industries who are now without health coverage, EPI said, Congress must expand the free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare which already exists through Medicare and Medicaid.
"Because the United States is unique among rich countries in tying health insurance benefits to employment, many of the newly unemployed will suddenly face prohibitively costly insurance options," wrote Bivens and Zipperer. "A comprehensive policy solution would be to extend Medicare and Medicaid to all those suffering job losses during the pandemic period, with the federal government funding this expansion."
Bivens and Zipperer rejected a Democratic proposal, introduced earlier this month by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), to offer expanded COBRA subsidies to people. The COBRA program allows laid-off employees to pay out of pocket to stay on their former employers' health plans.
"While this policy proposal will help many workers continue coverage, in some states it will not help workers from small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, who are not eligible for COBRA," the authors wrote.
In an op-ed for Politico Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expanded on how Democrats must propose far bolder action than offering COBRA subsidies to unemployed Americans.
"There's another, better way to guarantee that everyone in America gets all the health care they need, without cost, for the duration of the pandemic: Empower Medicare to pay all of the health care costs for the uninsured, as well as all out-of-pocket expenses for those with existing public or private insurance, for as long as this pandemic continues," wrote Sanders.
"Expanding COBRA during the pandemic would do nothing to cover those who already lacked insurance," he added. "It also won't help the many Americans who continue to receive employer-provided health care but are still prevented from going to the doctor by massive deductibles and co-pays. In fact, the average family with employer-provided insurance faces $4,700 in out-of-pocket costs every year. The deductible alone for the average low-income worker is $2,600 a year. Maintaining the status quo does nothing to address these extraordinary costs, made worse during the pandemic economy."
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich this week echoed the call to expand Medicare to all Americans, and said the pandemic makes the most compelling case yet for doing so.
"If we take anything away from this pandemic, it's that healthcare should not be tied to employment," said Reich. "Anything short of Medicare for All is unacceptable."
'We Should All Be Alarmed': McConnell to Bring Senate Back Not to Fight Covid-19 But to Confirm More Trump Judges
"McConnell cares more about ushering his unqualified 38-year-old crony onto one of the country's highest courts than about ensuring Americans' health in the middle of a pandemic."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
33 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/we-should-all-be-alarmed-mcconnell-bring-senate-back-not-fight-covid-19-confirm-more
Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups are accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of endangering the health of members of Congress and Capitol Hill employees for political gain as the Kentucky Republican presses forward with plans to reconvene the chamber next week for the sole purpose of confirming more right-wing judges—including his unqualified 38-year-old protégé.
"McConnell is calling the Senate back in, ignoring D.C.'s stay at home order, and putting thousands of Capitol employees at risk," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "Not to do oversight of Trump's pandemic response. Not to pass a new relief bill. But to ram through more conservative judges."
"The current plan is to go back in session on May the 4th," McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on April 22. "I haven't seen anything that would discourage me from doing that. And as soon as we get back in session, we'll start confirming judges again. We need to have hearings, and we need to confirm judges."McConnell made clear in an interview last week that resuming rapid-fire confirmations of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees will be the Senate's top priority when it reconvenes Monday, despite the desperate need for additional relief for frontline workers and the unemployed as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause mass layoffs across the nation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on Twitter Wednesday that instead of advancing "real solutions to the nation's hardship and heartbreak," McConnell is "recklessly endangering Capitol workers and others for pure partisan politics."
The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), announced Wednesday that despite opposition from every Democratic member of the panel, it plans to hold a nomination hearing on May 6 for Justin Walker, Trump's pick for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Walker, a McConnell ally with ties to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association when Trump nominated him last year to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The Republican-controlled Senate disregarded the ABA rating and confirmed Walker last October, and now the judge is on track for a promotion.
Politico reported Thursday that McConnell "is gambling that 100 senators can safely meet on the Senate floor and throughout the Capitol complex. Many of them will travel across the country for the Senate's reopening, risking [Covid-19] exposure on airplanes and in airports."
In addition to Walker, the Senate next week is also expected to quickly advance the nomination of Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Cory Wilson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Confirmation of Walker and Wilson would leave no more vacancies at the circuit court level.
Late Wednesday, Trump—who is responsible for picking around one in five current U.S. federal judges—announced his intent to nominate Aileen Mercedes Cannon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and Dirk Paloutzian to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
"Instead of focusing on Covid-19, Republicans have decided to prioritize stacking our federal courts with conservative ideologues," Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, tweeted Wednesday. "We should all be alarmed."
Workers Gear Up for Major May Day Strike in Pushback Against Unsafe Conditions Amid Pandemic
One organizer explained that the goal is to "push back with large numbers against the right-wing groups that want to risk our lives by reopening the economy."
by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/29/workers-gear-major-may-day-strike-pushback-against-unsafe-conditions-amid-pandemic
Workers at some of the nation's biggest companies including Amazon and Target are preparing to symbolically lock arms Friday for a May 1 strike and demand better protections on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the lead organizers of the action, Motherboard reported Wednesday, is Chris Smalls, the Amazon worker who was fired last month from his job at a fulfillment center in Staten Island after organizing a protest.
"We formed an alliance between a bunch of different companies because we all have one common goal which is to save the lives of workers and communities," Smalls told Motherboard.
"Right now isn't the time to open up the economy," Smalls added. "Amazon is a breeding ground [for this virus] which is spreading right now through multiple facilities."
Adam Ryan, who works at a Target store in Virgina, is another lead organizer of the May Day action. He explained to Motherboard that the goal of the strike is "to shut down industry across the board and push back with large numbers against the right-wing groups that want to risk our lives by reopening the economy."
As Motherboard reported:
While the mass strike action might not be enough to shut down society, the collective action certainly echoes the calls for a general strike—a coordinated work stoppage across businesses and industries in pursuit of a common goal—the likes of which have not been seen in the United States since World War II.
The workers are demanding their profitable employers provide increased pay and paid leave, health insurance for all workers, and for Covid-19 affected stores to be shut. The workers are also calling on customers to show solidarity by not shopping at the stores on May 1, according to a flier shared on social media.
The Intercept also reported on the upcoming strike, with Daniel Medina writing Tuesday:
The May 1 strike is the latest in a wave of actions led by union and nonunion front-line workers. Last month, Amazon workers in New York City and more than 10,000 Instacart workers across the country staged a walkout. Whole Foods employees led a national sickout on March 31, while upwards of 800 workers skipped their shifts at a Colorado meatpacking plant as coronavirus cases were confirmed among employees. Sanitation workers in Pittsburgh and bus drivers in Detroit both staged wildcat strikes.
"These workers have been exploited so shamelessly for so long by these companies while performing incredibly important but largely invisible labor," said Stephen Brier, a labor historian and professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. "All of a sudden, they’re deemed essential workers in a pandemic, giving them tremendous leverage and power if they organize collectively.”
"May 1 is a celebration of working people around the world," Margaret Kimberley wrote Wednesday at Black Agenda Report. "It is the perfect moment to begin the fight for economic justice which has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Workers Plan May Day “People’s Strike” to Demand Safer Workplaces
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/29/headlines/workers_plan_may_day_peoples_strike_to_demand_safer_workplaces
Workers at some of the biggest corporations in the United States are planning an unprecedented wave of strikes on May 1, International Workers’ Day.
Employees of Amazon, Whole Foods, Walmart, FedEx, Target and Instacart will walk off the job demanding compensation for unpaid time off work, hazard pay, sick leave, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies at workplaces.
Many of the workers are part of a growing coalition that will join a May 1 People’s Strike launched by worker cooperatives in Mississippi.
This is Kali Akuno, co-director of Cooperation Jackson.
Kali Akuno: “We’re asking everybody to start with these basics: no work, no shopping, no rent, no mortgage, no school, no borders, no prisons. Right? Let us all take joint action together.”
Kali Akuno: “We’re asking everybody to start with these basics: no work, no shopping, no rent, no mortgage, no school, no borders, no prisons. Right? Let us all take joint action together.”
AS AMAZON, WALMART, AND OTHERS PROFIT AMID CORONAVIRUS CRISIS, THEIR ESSENTIAL WORKERS PLAN UNPRECEDENTED STRIKE
Daniel A. Medina
https://theintercept.com/2020/04/28/coronavirus-may-1-strike-sickout-amazon-target-whole-foods/
AN UNPRECEDENTED COALITION of workers from some of America’s largest companies will strike on Friday. Workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, and FedEx are slated to walk out on work, citing what they say is their employers’ record profits at the expense of workers’ health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
The employees will call out sick or walk off the job during their lunch break, according to a press release set to be published by organizers on Wednesday. In some locations, rank-and-file union members will join workers outside their warehouses and storefronts to support the demonstrations.
“We are acting in conjunction with workers at Amazon, Target, Instacart and other companies for International Worker’s Day to show solidarity with other essential workers in our struggle for better protections and benefits in the pandemic,” said Daniel Steinbrook, a Whole Foods employee and strike organizer.
The labor action comes as workers and organizers say Amazon, in particular, has not been forthcoming about the number of Covid-19 cases at its more than 175 fulfillment centers globally.
Jana Jumpp, an Indiana Amazon employee, along with her small team of fellow Amazon workers, has over the last month tallied Covid-19 cases at Amazon warehouses in the U.S. According to Jumpp, there have been at least 500 coronavirus cases in at least 125 Amazon facilities.
Jumpp suspects that the number is much higher, but says this is what she and her team have been able to directly confirm through their sourcing, which includes screenshots of internal company texts and voicemails to employees when cases have arisen, in addition to messages received from Amazon workers on private Facebook groups. The numbers, which have not been previously reported, are the most comprehensive to this point.
Amazon declined to comment on the numbers of sick workers compiled by organizers. “While we respect people’s right to express themselves, we object to the irresponsible actions of labor groups in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon during this unprecedented health and economic crisis,” said Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty. She added, “We have gone to extreme measures to understand and address this pandemic.”
The May 1 strike is the latest in a wave of actions led by union and nonunion front-line workers. Last month, Amazon workers in New York City and more than 10,000 Instacart workers across the country staged a walkout. Whole Foods employees led a national sickout on March 31, while upwards of 800 workers skipped their shifts at a Colorado meatpacking plant as coronavirus cases were confirmed among employees. Sanitation workers in Pittsburgh and bus drivers in Detroit both staged wildcat strikes.
“These workers have been exploited so shamelessly for so long by these companies while performing incredibly important but largely invisible labor,” said Stephen Brier, a labor historian and professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. “All of a sudden, they’re deemed essential workers in a pandemic, giving them tremendous leverage and power if they organize collectively.”
The workers coalition will unveil a set of demands. Among them are: compensation for all unpaid time off used since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis in March; hazard pay or paid sick leave to be provided for the duration of the pandemic; protective equipment and all cleaning supplies to be provided at all times by the company; and a demand for full corporate transparency on the number of cases in facilities.
The workers chose May 1, International Workers Day, as a signal to workers everywhere that collectively, they can take on corporate behemoths, said Christian Smalls, a lead organizer of the strike. Amazon fired Smalls on March 30, only hours after he led his colleagues at a company warehouse in Staten Island, New York, on a walkout in protest of Amazon’s response to the pandemic. Amazon said Smalls was fired for violating a company-enforced quarantine.
The firing galvanized front-line workers everywhere, who sent dozens of messages daily to Smalls asking how they too could organize work stoppages to protest their workplace conditions. Smalls joined forces with workers rights groups like Amazonians United, Target Workers Unite, Whole Worker, and the Gig Workers Collective, among others.
The coalition organized the strike over the last several weeks on Zoom calls and encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and Signal. Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson joined in on one Zoom call to briefly address the organizers, offering the full support of his Rainbow Push network. “I am with you in your struggle,” Jackson told the call’s participants.
The Intercept spoke to 20 organizers from more than half a dozen states, reflecting the widespread nature of the strike. From Whole Foods workers in Boston to Instacart gig workers in Silicon Valley to Amazon warehouse organizers in Kentucky and Michigan, their stories and demands varied but together illustrated a pattern of corporate neglect toward workers now regarded as essential — alongside doctors, nurses, and EMT workers — during the coronavirus outbreak that has forced much of the nation into home lockdown.
“All of these workers are coming together and building power,” said Vanessa Bain, an Instacart worker and co-founder of the Gig Workers Collective, which counts more than 17,000 members and advocates for gig workers’ rights. “May Day is not just a one-time symbolic action, but also about building real, vast, and broad sweeping networks of power.”
Companies Not Doing Enough
The company that has faced the most sustained criticism throughout the outbreak has been Amazon, whose CEO Jeff Bezos has personally become $24 billion richer during the pandemic.
Last week, Amazon announced that it was ending its temporary policy of unlimited, unpaid time off on April 30. In response, on early Sunday morning, more than 50 Amazon workers in Minnesota walked out of a company warehouse in suburban Minneapolis to protest the move and decry their working conditions.
In March, Amazon announced plans to hire 100,000 workers to meet surging demand and to cover for workers who had taken out the unpaid leave over fears of exposure to the virus at their workplace. This month, the company announced plans for an additional 75,000 hires. For its part, Instacart hired 300,000 new shoppers in March alone — more than its entire existing workforce to that point — and last week announced that it would hire an additional 250,000 workers to meet the historic demand.
The hiring binge by Amazon and Instacart exposed the winners and losers in the pandemic, as businesses not deemed essential by the state fight mass layoffs, said Brier.
Critics say the opportunities to “cash in” on the pandemic have not come without risks. Pressured by worker protests and elected officials, companies granted some concessions to workers. Amazon, Walmart, and Target increased hourly pay by $2. Amazon now provides personal protective equipment at its facilities and more actively cleans workspaces, while Target has mandated its workers to wear masks after weeks of reports that they were reprimanded for doing so.
The Intercept reached out to all six companies targeted in Friday’s strike. FedEx and Walmart did not offer comments. Instacart said the company remained “singularly focused on the health and safety of the Instacart community.” In a statement, Target said it had taken many measures to ensure the safety of its employees and customers. Of the May Day strike, the company said, “While we take them seriously, the concerns raised are from a very small minority. The vast majority of our more than 340,000 frontline team members have expressed pride in the role they are playing in helping provide for families across the country during this time of need.”
After publication of this story, a spokesperson for Whole Foods said the company had taken measures to enhance its cleaning operations and impose policies to minimize the spread of coronavirus among its workers. “Our focus right now is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our Team Members, which remains our top priority, while continuing to serve our customers and communities,” said the spokesperson.
A Staten Island Amazon worker, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the company, has been on unpaid leave for more than a month. As someone with a number of underlying health conditions, the worker said contracting the virus would be “a death sentence.” They are surviving off meager savings and had to move into a friend’s home because they could no longer pay rent.
“They need to close down the warehouse and do a thorough, deep cleaning for it to be safe,” the worker told The Intercept. “If someone dies, they have blood on their hands.”
An Amazon worker in Detroit, who plans to call out sick on Friday, described a warehouse where, for weeks, there was no enforced social distancing and no gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer provided to workers, even as the city became a national coronavirus hot spot. Multiple colleagues confirmed the worker’s claims to The Intercept.
“You either come to work or take an unpaid leave of absence,” said the worker, who has a serious underlying health condition. “If I miss one paycheck, it would mean I lose my vehicle, I lose my place to live. I lose everything.”
A Whole Foods worker in Southern California spent weeks organizing colleagues to strike on May 1, as the number of coronavirus cases have increased at stores. The worker said that managers — even those sympathetic to their demands — are helpless against the Amazon subsidiary’s corporate office. The strike, like the sickout last month, is the only way that employees can get concessions from the company, said the worker: “Nothing happens unless they see their bottom line affected.”
Whole Worker, the group that advocates for Whole Foods workers rights, has compiled its own list of positive coronavirus cases at Whole Foods stores in a document shared with The Intercept. According to the group, there have been a total of 249 cases in at least 131 stores. (The Whole Foods spokesperson said, “Statements made by this group misrepresent the full extent of Whole Foods Market’s actions in response to this crisis and do not represent the collective voice of our more than 95,000 Team Members,” adding that the grocery giant was following guidance from authorities.)
Adam Ryan, a Target worker in southern Virginia and liaison with Target Workers Unite, said the May 1 strike is the first collective action by Target employees in the company’s nearly 60-year history.
Ryan said, “It’s up to us to fight for ourselves.”
How Are You Gonna Pay For It? Stop Giving Money to Israel
David Swanson
April 30, 2020
https://citizentruth.org/how-are-you-gonna-pay-for-it-stop-giving-money-to-israel/
Israel is not a poor country. It is certainly not the poorest in the world. So why is it the top recipient of US military “aid?”
(DavidSwanson.org) —Did you know that the U.S. government has done something odd with your tax dollars? The ones you get so furious and indignant about when they’re used to feed anybody who’s hungry? It has given over 280 billion of those dollars to the government of Israel (not counting classified hush-hush super-secret amounts).
Source
Israel is not a poor country. It is certainly not the poorest in the world. Why is it the top recipient of “aid.”
It isn’t. Its military is. Most of those billions of dollars are for weapons, and most of those weapons have to be bought from U.S. weapons dealers — you know, the ones crammed into close quarters risking the spread of a deadly disease because their jobs have been deemed “essential.”
Economists tell us that military spending reduces jobs, that you get more jobs by never taxing the money, or by taxing it and spending it on anything else. That has to be even more strongly true when funneling the money through a foreign military. So, this scheme is the opposite of a domestic jobs program. It also has some surprising corrupting influences on U.S. state governments, which themselves pile more billions onto the mountain of free loot for the Israeli military.
A new book by Grant Smith called “The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of The Virginia Israel Advisory Board,” recounts how the state of Virginia has created a state agency called the Virginia Israel Advisory Board which uses state funds to launch Israeli companies in Virginia at the expense of Virginia companies in Virginia, while boosting Israeli imports to Virginia, and — last but not least — enriching its members with state funds. Oh, and also “attempting to insert Israeli government propaganda into the curriculum in the K-12 system” of Virginia schools at public expense.
It’s not all weapons. Have you ever bought Sabra hummus? You can’t answer no if you’ve paid taxes in Virginia.
Well, one might ask, (as is perhaps implicitly asked by the silence of Virginia media outlets) what’s so wrong in a completely corrupt political ecosystem with spreading a bit of the corruption to Israel as a sort of fifty-first state? After all, there was a Holocaust 75 years ago, and there were fascists chanting about Jews in Charlottesville 3 years ago. Surely worrying about corruption only when Israel gets in on it is Antisemitic just as worrying about Trump’s worldwide corruption only when Russians are involved is Russophobic.
I have 10 responses to that.
1) I worry about all corruption everywhere, oppose giving free weapons to any country on earth, and just wrote a book highlighting 20 of the worst governments armed and trained by the U.S. military. Israel wasn’t in that list by virtue of not technically being a dictatorship. No other nation is in this list because no other nation gets the deal from the U.S. and Virginia that Israel does.
2) Some of the motivations for arming Israel with money that’s desperately required for human and environmental needs are a lot crazier than misguided anti-Antisemitism. They involve Islamophobia, militaristic madness, and magical schemes to bring back Jesus at the expense of destroying the world — including destroying you, dear reader.
3) As Grant Smith points out, “Under the Symington and Glenn amendments now incorporated into the Arms Export Control Act, no U.S. president knowing about Israel’s nukes is supposed to approve aid transfers, absent specifically issued waivers. Rather than comply with the law, presidents pretend they don’t know Israel has nukes and issue agency wide gag orders threatening any government employee who talks about it.”
4) Israel uses its weapons for horrific wars against the trapped and brutalized people of illegally occupied territories.
5) Israel uses its weapons to enforce a vicious Apartheid state.
6) Israel uses its weapons to train U.S. police departments in how to treat the U.S. public as a wartime enemy.
7) Israel pushes the United States toward illegal, murderous, catastrophic wars and programs of sanctions.
8) The United States is already too big and doesn’t need another state from thousands of miles away that gets the privileges without the responsibilities of inclusion in the federal system.
9) The United States has colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific and Washington D.C. that should be given priority as 51st state.
10) Global unity and survival come through cooperation among all nations, not the imperial expansion of one.
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