Sunday, February 23, 2020
'A Travesty and a Disgrace': Trump Quietly Issues Memo That Could Abolish Union Rights for 750,000 Federal Workers
"This administration will not stop until it takes away all workers' rights to form and join a union."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
25 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/22/travesty-and-disgrace-trump-quietly-issues-memo-could-abolish-union-rights-750000?
President Donald Trump on Thursday quietly issued a memo granting Defense Secretary Mark Esper the power to abolish collective bargaining rights for the Defense Department's 750,000 civilian workers, a move unions decried as part of the administration's far-reaching assault on organized labor.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) condemned the memo, which was published in the Federal Register (pdf) Thursday, as "a travesty and a disgrace."
"When new missions emerge or existing ones evolve, the Department of Defense requires maximum flexibility to respond to threats," the memo states. "This flexibility requires that military and civilian leadership manage their organizations to cultivate a lethal, agile force adaptive to new technologies and posture changes."The memo argues that a unionized Defense Department workforce could pose a threat to "national security" and that, if necessary, collective bargaining rights at the department should be scrapped in the interest of "protecting the American people."
"Where collective bargaining is incompatible with these organizations' missions," the memo continues, "the Department of Defense should not be forced to sacrifice its national security mission and, instead, seek relief through third parties and administrative fora."
It is unclear whether or how Esper intends to act on his legal authority.
Larry Mishel, distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, called the White House's justification for ending collective bargaining rights at the Defense Department "atrocious."
The existence of the memo, which Trump signed on Jan. 29, was first reported by Government Executive earlier this month.
The outlet noted that "the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 includes a provision allowing the president to issue an order excluding agencies and agency subcomponents from collective bargaining rules if the rules 'cannot be applied to that agency or subdivision in a manner consistent with national security requirements.'"
Everett Kelley, AFGE's national secretary-treasurer, said in a statement that denying Defense Department employees "the collective bargaining rights guaranteed to them by law since 1962 would be a travesty—and doing it under the guise of 'national security' would be a disgrace to the sacred oath and obligation that all federal workers make to their country."
Government Executive noted that "unionized workforces within the Defense Department vary widely.""This administration will not stop until it takes away all workers' rights to form and join a union," said Kelley, "and we will not stop doing everything we can to prevent that from happening."
"Civilian workers at the U.S. Coast Guard are represented by the [AFGE], as are the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency," the outlet reported. "Blue-collar workers at military bases and depots across the country are represented by a variety of unions, and teachers at on-base schools for children of service members bargain collectively as well."
Trump and corporate-friendly officials in his administration have been attacking public- and private-sector unions since the president took office in 2017.
Last October, Politico obtained an internal memo penned in 2017 by White House domestic policy adviser James Sherk, who urged Trump "to eliminate all job protections for federal workers and a requirement that federal contractors provide paid sick leave for employees."
"The Trump administration has already acted on key recommendations in the memo," Politico reported. "For example, it has changed overtime pay calculations and put forth rules making it harder for companies to be held liable for labor violations committed by franchisees and contractors."
The memo, Politico noted, also recommended that Trump "issue an executive order eliminating employee unions at the Defense Department on the basis of national security."
In an October statement responding to Sherk's recommendations, AFGE said "the administration's divide-and-conquer strategy with respect to organized labor is as disgusting as it is shameful."
"But it won't work," the union said. "Across this country, our members and the members of every other labor union are getting educated, organized, and mobilized. As the largest union representing federal employees, AFGE will continue to resist the president's mob mentality and disrespect for the federal workforce and the work they do."
'Deep Disdain Masquerading as Journalism': MSNBC Pundit Under Fire for Calling Sanders Staffers 'Misfit Black Girls'
"This misogynoir is disappointing, but not surprising from Dr. Jason Johnson," said Briahna Joy Gray, national press secretary for the Sanders campaign.
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/22/deep-disdain-masquerading-journalism-msnbc-pundit-under-fire-calling-sanders
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the progressive community more broadly, voiced outrage and demanded an apology Friday after MSNBC contributor and Morgan State University journalism professor Dr. Jason Johnson referred to Sanders aides and defenders as "people from the island of misfit black girls" during a radio appearance.
"The man cares nothing for intersectionality," Johnson said of Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, on SiriusXM's The Karen Hunter Show. "And I don't care how many people from the island of misfit black girls that you throw out there to defend you on a regular basis."
"That's where you have crossed the line, sir," replied host Karen Hunter.
"I don't care," said Johnson.
Listen to the full segment.
The clip quickly went viral on social media and was immediately condemned by members of the Sanders campaign.
"I hope we can have political disputes without engaging in open racism and sexism," Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders' national press secretary, tweeted late Friday. "This misogynoir is disappointing, but not surprising from Dr. Jason Johnson. I hope we can all encourage each other to be better."
Phillip Agnew, a Sanders surrogate, called Johnson's comments "deep disdain masquerading as journalism."
"This isn't analysis. This isn't insight," Agnew tweeted. "Hate to see it."
Sanders campaign national co-chair Nina Turner addressed Johnson's comments during the Vermont senator's rally in Las Vegas on the eve of Saturday's Nevada Democratic caucus:
Progressives outside of the Sanders campaign joined the chorus condemning Johnson's remarks.
"No matter which candidate you support or oppose, there is no place for this type of belittling, dismissive attack on their staff," tweeted the Working Families Party, which endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for president. "We hope there will be an apology to Briahna Joy Gray and Nina Turner."
"This is completely uncalled for," added Women's March.
'How Can We Stop the Workers Who Want Higher Wages?' Sanders Mocks 'Nervous' Establishment on Eve of Nevada Caucus
"I've got news for the Republican establishment. I've got news for the Democratic establishment. They can't stop us."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/22/how-can-we-stop-workers-who-want-higher-wages-sanders-mocks-nervous-establishment
During a rally in Las Vegas Friday night on the eve of the Nevada Democratic caucus, Sen. Bernie Sanders mocked the establishment forces agonizing over and attempting to stop his campaign and the diverse grassroots movement fighting for higher wages, student debt cancellation, and Medicare for All.
"As you may have noticed lately, the establishment is getting a little nervous. 'Oh my god, they're putting together a multi-generational, multi-racial movement of millions of people!'" Sanders told the crowd at the "get out to caucus" event. "'Oh my goodness, how can we stop them? How can we stop the workers who want higher wages? How can we stop the young people who want to go to college and not come out with debt? How can we stop the millions of people who understand that healthcare is a human right?'"
"So they're getting nervous," Sanders added. "But you know what? When we stand up together, they ain't gonna stop us."
The Vermont senator repeated that message in a tweet Friday night:
Sanders heads into the Nevada caucus Saturday with a lead of 13 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics polling average, bolstered by strong support among Latinos in the state.
But the senator's campaign has not rested on its polling lead. On Thursday, Sanders announced that his campaign and volunteers knocked on more than 500,000 doors across all 17 Nevada counties ahead of caucus day, far surpassing its goal of 300,000.
"We have built a turnout machine that will propel us to victory here in Nevada," Sarah Michelsen, Nevada state director for the Sanders campaign, said in a statement. "Our goal from day one has been to expand the electorate, and we are so proud to see so many first-time caucus-goers participate during early voting."
The Nevada Democratic Party estimated that around 70,000 people took part in the four-day early voting period—turnout that approaches the 84,000 people who participated in the Democratic caucus in 2016, when there was no early voting. More than half of those who cast ballots early were first-time caucus-goers, a party official told CNN.
As The Guardian reported Friday, Sanders' presidential campaign—fueled by record-breaking fundraising from small donors—"invested big, and early, in Nevada."
"The campaign employs at least 250 people in the Silver State, more than double the staff of Pete Buttigieg, who has the second-largest campaign with 100 people," The Guardian noted. "And an army of volunteers has canvassed for Sanders on foot and on horseback, to reach as many urban and rural voters as possible."
Among those canvassing for Sanders on the eve of caucus day were members of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States. The organization, which boasts over 150,000 members nationwide, endorsed Sanders last November.
"Nurses are tired of watching our patients suffer and die for no reason—just because they are priced out of healthcare," said NNU president Deborah Burger, RN. "Registered nurses and Senator Bernie Sanders have been fighting for Medicare for All for decades so that every person in this country has guaranteed healthcare, and that's one of the reasons why we are so excited to be campaigning for him in Nevada and around the country."
The Latinx Vote Might Carry ‘Tio Bernie’ to Victory
Natasha Hakimi Zapata
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-latinx-vote-might-carry-tio-bernie-to-victory/
There’s no denying Latinx voters are falling in love with “Tío Bernie.” As a supporter of Sanders myself, I’d been reading indications of this phenomenon for many months “con mi corazón en la boca,” a Spanish saying that translates roughly to “with baited breath.” Sanders has led the Democratic field among Latinxs in poll after poll, with a recent survey showing 48% favor the Vermont senator nationwide. In Nevada, that number climbs to 64%.
Political Polls@PpollingNumbers
National @MorningConsult Poll Among
Black Voters:
Biden 34% (-1 From Pre NH Primary Poll)
Sanders 30% (+3)
Bloomberg 19% (+3*)
Warren 8% (-)
Buttigieg 4% (-)
Hispanic Voters:
Sanders 48% (+10)
Bloomberg 17% (+1)
Biden 13% (-4)
Buttigieg 8% (+2)
Warren 7% (+4)
6,538
1:52 PM - Feb 13, 2020
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According to the company Plus Three, the progressive stalwart also received $8.3 million in donations from Latinxs in 2019, amounting to 36% of all contributions from the minority group — a number that puts him ahead of all other Democratic contenders in 49 states and every major city.
I witnessed this fervent support firsthand during a December rally in Venice Beach, California, where an estimated 20,000 attendees, musical guests and speakers switched seamlessly between Spanish and English, sometimes in the same breath. Many of the organizers, including youth leader Jocelyn García, who brought her parents onto the stage, spoke about the struggles immigrants, first-generation Latinxs and the greater community are facing in a country whose president has vilified them at every turn.
Latinxs weren’t the only ones “feeling the Bern” that day on Venice Beach (I recall a young mother with a headscarf depicting the U.S. walking with her children and a family speaking Swedish nearby), but they were certainly the largest group present. Two Latinx women confided to me that they hadn’t voted in the 2016 general election, let alone the primaries. “We just didn’t think it mattered,” said Jamie Gonzalez, a first generation Sanders supporter.
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This kind of political disillusionment is not uncommon. As Shawn Navarro, a 33-year-old Sanders volunteer in Las Vegas, told NPR recently:
[Latinos] are tired of listening to talking points from Democrats who come to their neighborhoods, ‘speak a little bit of Spanish’ and ‘eat tacos,’ but then don’t deliver any real results. It’s why, he says, exit polls found that Donald Trump and Mitt Romney, ‘who was far less offensive,’ performed roughly equally with Latinos in the 2016 and 2012 elections.
There is a huge distrust among the Latinx community with the Democratic party that they’re not following through on their promises. Bernie is the exact opposite. He has a real authenticity.
It’s not just authenticity or “barrio cred” that Sanders has going for him, but policy, too. When I asked Jamie what drew her and her friend Carol to a Sanders rally, she rattled off several of his major proposals: Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and the elimination of student debt. Judging by the cheers each of these proposals drew at the rally, Jamie and Carol were hardly alone in their enthusiasm for the Vermont senator’s platform.
Sanders’ success with this voting bloc is less surprising than it might appear to our mainstream media. After largely failing to reach many people of color in the 2015 primaries, the Vermont senator has rectified his mistake, presenting himself to the Latinx community as a grandchild of immigrants. Sanders has also hired more than 100 Latinx staffers nationwide, including Belén Sisa as his deputy press secretary. A native of Argentina, she caught the public’s attention after posting a photo of herself with her tax forms online to remind Americans that undocumented immigrants do, in fact, pay taxes. Sisa is one of the many “Dreamers” protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and her hire has affirmed Sanders’ commitment to the program.
The Democratic candidate’s promise to safeguard immigrant communities does not end there. Sanders has called for a slew of sweeping changes that include a moratorium on all deportations and an end to the construction of a border wall. He also pledges to use his executive authority to remove the threat of deportation for all undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years. Perhaps more significantly, he has called for the dissolution of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This plan doesn’t just distinguish him from his fellow Democratic candidates but from President Obama, who infamously earned the nickname “Deporter in Chief” after expelling more immigrants than his two predecessors combined. The Obama administration’s approach to immigration also partly explains young Latinxs’ lack of interest in former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. According to Voto Latino’s Danny Turkel, the biggest obstacle for candidates like Biden has been “a significant lack of investment in the Latinx electorate on the part of the political establishment.”
“In 2018, 48% of Latinx voters reported not being contacted by a single political party or campaign,” Turkel told Truthdig. “That indicates the apathy that Washington has toward courting and engaging our voters.”
While Turkel notes that Democratic candidates have largely failed to connect with Latinx voters, Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), told Time that “Sanders has the strongest Latino outreach of any campaign.” On a national scale, that’s manifested largely in the form of Spanish mailers, but also community events, some cleverly called names like “Tamales for Tío,’ where Latinxs of all ages and backgrounds have come together to discuss the campaign’s core ideas. Another method has been having callers from states like Florida reach out to their Midwestern counterparts in both Spanish and English as part of a grassroots movement across the country.
Perhaps one of the most important things the democratic socialist has done this election cycle is simply show up and listen. As Turkel pointed out, this simple form of engagement has become vanishingly rare for a generation of politicians divorced from the people they are meant to be representing. Just look at what the Vermont senator achieved in Iowa, a state where only 3.4% of eligible voters are Latinxs. Per Politico:
Sanders is one of the few 2020 contenders who has spent substantial time with Latinos in Iowa, according to Latino operatives and leaders in the state. He has gone to Lotería game nights put on by LULAC and was the only top-tier candidate who appeared at the group’s forum. He’s also held “Unidos Con Bernie” aimed at the Latino community.
And according to The Hill, it was an approach that clearly paid off:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won big among Latino voters in this week’s Iowa caucuses, according to previously unreleased data from the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative.
In the state’s four Spanish-language caucus sites, Sanders, obtaining 428 votes against a combined 14 divided between former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
This is the first presidential election in which Iowa Democrats have made Spanish-language satellite caucus sites available.
‘All of them [voted for Sanders]. It’s amazing what you do when you go to the community to listen to them and then hire them,’ said Sanders senior adviser Chuck Rocha, the architect of the campaign’s Latino strategy.
Sanders has earned the support of Cardi B, sitting down to discuss politics with the Dominican-American rapper at a nail salon in August. (He has since encouraged her to run for office). The co-chair of his campaign is San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who was thrust into the national spotlight after the Trump administration all but refused to assist Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. And one of his most prominent surrogates is perhaps the most recognizable Latinx politician in the country. I’m speaking, of course, about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who has credited Sanders for inspiring her to run for office.
At that same Venice Beach rally, I watched Ocasio-Cortez speak about progressive policies with a passion and eloquence matched only by Sanders himself. Their friendship has been evident from the start — watch the clip below of AOC surprising Sanders in Iowa to immediately understand why — but the two have also co-sponsored key legislation like the Green New Deal:
kurtis wu@kurtis_wu
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When Ocasio-Cortez was asked recently why she chose to endorse Sanders, she told CNN, “He’s the only candidate that very solidly rests all of his policies on a principle of universality. So, he doesn’t believe in means testing. He doesn’t believe in asterisks. It’s not about tuition-free college if you’re good enough — it’s about tuition free college in America. And so those principles of universality I think dovetail quite excellently with humane immigration policy.”
Seeing the two on stage together in California, one thing was obvious: While countless working-class leaders have preceded him, Sanders’ election this year would transform the country. He understands the need to build a movement that will outlive him, hence his slogan “Not me. Us,” and he is already preparing to pass the baton by championing young progressives like Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. United, this movement could provide a left-wing counter to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.
Nationwide strategies aside, the Sanders campaign also understands that California, which boasts the largest Latinx population in the country and 30.5% of eligible voters, will play a key role in deciding the Democratic primaries, especially now that the delegate-rich state has moved its election to Super Tuesday.
“We have built the largest grassroots campaign in the state, thanks to the working class people of California who have given their time and energy, and who have embraced the moral imperative of defeating Donald Trump and transforming our country for the better,” Sanders’ California State Director, Rafael Návar, told Truthdig. “In a moment of extreme inequality, increasing homelessness, and an uncertain future for young people, Californians understand that only Sen. Sanders has the vision to make housing affordable, create tuition-free public colleges, and fight for the good-paying, union jobs that all Americans deserve.
“We are also grateful for the support of the Latino community, which is the strength of our grassroots movement in the Golden State, and we do not underestimate their power in this election. California is an essential part of Sen. Sanders’ movement, and we intend to win.”
There seems to be only one caveat to Tio Bernie’s success among Latinxs, one I could see clearly from where I was standing that warm December day in L.A. It seemed a majority of the Latinxs present at the Sanders rally were under age 50. There were older Latinxs present, just not in such large numbers. This is part of a larger trend media outlets like The New York Times have picked up on: While an undeniable majority of young Latinxs are rooting for Sanders this primary season, their parents and grandparents are a different story, one that’s slightly more complex than first meets the eye.
The median age of Latinxs in the U.S. is 28, so Sanders’ support among young voters is statistically the most important. Many of our parents and grandparents, however, have different voting tendencies, some having to do with Catholic upbringings. This has historically led to many Latinxs voting conservative; others have to do with immigration status and voter eligibility. There are also some older Latinx voters who have had significant exposure to dethroned Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden due to his 8 years as vice president. This might be motivating some Latinxs to vote for a man with whom they’re familiar. Biden is neck-and-neck with Sanders for Latinx support in states like Nevada, for example.
In my own Mexican-American family, many of these national trends were also present. As I reached out to my cousins in Illinois, the state I grew up in, where 11.6% of eligible voters are Latinx, I received a wide range of responses. From apathetic non-voters to Trump supporters, my cousins, all born to parents who were undocumented much of their life, seem to run the political gamut. One cousin, Rocío Zapata, a clinical therapist and school counselor in the Chicago public school system, told me she and many of her Latinx friends were voting for Bernie Sanders.
“I can’t speak for my friends,” she said when I asked what drew her to Sanders, “but I align with his views on free college education, canceling student debt, boosting the pay of educators, universal health care, DACA support, taxing the wealthy, stricter gun laws and his pro-green plans in regard to our climate crises.
“These are important concerns for myself which also impact our communities,” concluded Rocío.
Her father, like many of our aunts and uncles, is not eligible to vote in the upcoming elections due to his legal status. In my nuclear family, my mother, who has always been suspicious of American governmental institutions since her years as an undocumented immigrant hiding her status from “la migra,” — immigration officials — has registered to vote for the first time since she became a U.S. citizen decades ago. What’s different this time? I asked. This time she has someone to believe in, and that someone is Sanders.
As a woman of color living with several disabilities and surviving thanks to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, she has been heartened to hear a politician champion universal health care. Two of her children, myself and her youngest son, have spent many years living in countries such as Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom where health care is a right, and she has witnessed firsthand how these health systems help not just legal residents such as me, but even visitors like her when she required medical attention during a trip to see us. She wants this sort of access for Americans, too, she tells me.
Perhaps the most surprising person in my family to support Sanders has been my middle brother, an MIT graduate and a mechanical engineer at a large tech company. While my youngest brother Nicholas, who is studying to be a social worker, and I have shown an interest in socialist policies throughout our young adulthood, Alexis has spent his early adult years in a much more affluent, less diverse context, and has seemed less keen to delve into politics. And yet, when I finally asked him who he was voting for on March 3, he joked, “He rhymes with Sernie Banders.”
His reasons echoed many of the same policies Rocío had mentioned, which might be unsurprising given that many first-generation college educated brown Americans, like some of my cousins, brothers and I, have been shown to have been disproportionately affected by the 2008 financial crisis and are financially worse off than our peers who did not attend college.
This served as evidence to some of us that the so-called American dream our parents left entire lives behind to chase, was at best, a myth. Matt Baretto, co-founder of the national polling and research firm Latino Decisions, notes how Sanders’ rhetoric actually reflects what many parents wanted for their children when immigrating to the U.S.
“The way he talks about education and college matches the sort of ‘American dream’ experience that a lot of first and second generation immigrant families think about,” Barreto said, adding that, to many in the community, opening doors to higher education means “opportunity and access to social mobility.”
When I asked Voto Latino why Latinx voters are so important to the 2020 election, Turkel had a simple answer.
“This will be the first election in which the Latinx community will be the second-largest voting bloc in the country,” he told Truthdig. “Thirty-two million Latinx people will be eligible to vote this cycle. One million Latinx people have turned 18 every year since 2016.
“That’s four million potential new voters who heard Donald Trump refer to their loved ones as rapists, criminals and drug dealers,” Turkel continued. “This election is the first time they’ll be able to take action and make their voices heard. So, 2020 is the first time we’ll see the Latinx community really step into its growing political power.”
There are already indications of this “growing political power.” In the 2018 midterms elections, a Univision analysis found that Latinx turnout doubled in several states, including Nevada, California, Florida, New York and Texas. And according to some measures, Latinx voters may become the largest minority voting bloc in the 2020 election, surpassing African Americans. The question is whether a Democratic candidate will be able to harness this power to win, not just the primary, but the general election. So far it seems the candidate that’s most willing to try is Sanders, with some calling his appeal to Latinx voters his “secret weapon” or “big bet.”
At Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, we’ll see for the first time if what worked for Sanders in Iowa will work in a state with a much higher Latinx population and plenty more delegates up for grabs; and we’ll see it before March 3 reveals what California and other states voting on Super Tuesday have to say about the democratic socialist’s plans for America.
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