'The Movement Is Still Here': Sanders Allies Chart Next Steps in Fight for Medicare for All, Green New Deal, and a Just Future

"Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign but you can't suspend a revolution. We have a lot of work to do."


by
Jake Johnson, staff writer





19 Comments

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/06/movement-still-here-sanders-allies-chart-next-steps-fight-medicare-all-green-new




Campaign veterans and progressive allies of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 Democratic presidential run gathered on a livestream late Tuesday to announce the formation of a new political action committee with the goal of advancing the struggle for Medicare for All, student debt cancellation, and the Green New Deal—longstanding priorities that have taken on new urgency in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.


"Most importantly, if Bernie's [delegate] total goes over 1,200, we will have over 25% of the key standing committees: rules and platform," said Larry Cohen, board chair of advocacy group Our Revolution. "The rules committee matters because we want to at least continue the reforms we enacted between 2016 and 2018 that eliminated superdelegates' role on the first ballot."The short-term objective of the Once Again PAC is to help Sanders win enough delegates in upcoming primary contests to exert influence over the Democratic Party rules and platform at the convention in August.

Cohen said Sanders allies "want to fight to get in the platform Medicare for All, ending fracking, decent immigration, and many other issues." Under current party rules, reaching the 25% threshold would allow Sanders delegates to introduce minority resolutions on the floor of the Democratic convention, giving progressives leverage over platform negotiations.

"We're all disappointed that Bernie is no longer an active candidate, we have to pick up the ball," said Cohen. "We have to continue to convince people that it matters to vote for Bernie."



Sanders suspended his campaign on April 8 but said he intends to stay on the ballot in remaining states to continue adding to his delegate total, which currently stands at 984.

On Tuesday night, as Common Dreams reported, a federal judge ordered New York election officials to restore Sanders and other candidates to the state's Democratic presidential primary ballot after the Board of Elections voted last month to remove them.

The ruling, which New York election officials may appeal, represented a tentative victory in the effort to send as many Sanders delegates as possible to the Democratic convention.




Activist Linda Sarsour, an adviser to Once Again PAC, emphasized Tuesday night that more than 20 states have yet to vote in the Democratic primary.


Sarsour acknowledged the demoralization many Sanders supporters felt after the senator suspended his campaign and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination but said the fight for progressive priorities must continue for the sake of vulnerable communities across the nation."The movement is still here," said Sarsour. "Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign but you can't suspend a revolution. We have a lot of work to do."

"I was disappointed too, but I'm an organizer," said Sarsour. "I'm an activist just like many of you are. And I know that this work was never going to begin with Senator Sanders and it was never going to end with Senator Sanders."

The Once Again PAC was founded by several supporters of Sanders and advisers to the senator's 2020 campaign, including Winnie Wong, Claire Sandberg, RootsAction.org co-founder Norman Solomon, and others.

According to Once Again's website, the group's platform features four major progressive priorities: Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, cancellation of all student debt, and ending U.S. wars overseas.

Wong, co-founder of advocacy group People for Bernie, said Tuesday that if Democrats want to take back the presidency in 2020 and "end the Trump nightmare," they must "rally around a truly progressive platform that doesn't capitulate to Wall Street elites or corporate lobbyists but puts working people and their health at the center of a visionary political platform."

"America is at an inflection point, and the people of this country have a crucial choice to make," said Wong. "We can't continue the nihilistic Trump policy of grotesque transfers of wealth from the working and middle class to the 1%... We also can't go back to the centrist inertia of the Obama-Biden era that exacerbated so many of the preexisting social and economic problems that continue to haunt the country."

What's the Difference Between Corporate CEOs and Pigs?

For starters, pigs are remarkably intelligent animals with a sense of social responsibility to the common good of the group.


by
Jim Hightower





16 Comments




https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/05/06/whats-difference-between-corporate-ceos-and-pigs







Monty Bennett was just another faceless right-wing millionaire on the long list of high-dollar donors to Donald Trump—until he suddenly surfaced in April as the nation's biggest bagger of government cash in the emergency Paycheck Protection Program.

The PPP is the $660 billion rescue package for America's thousands of small businesses, helping them keep people employed during today's shutdown of the U.S. economy due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bennett was among the first in line for payroll relief, applying for $126 million and immediately getting about 55% of that. But wait. There's nothing mom-and-popish about Monty's business. Operating through a maze of tightly interwoven financial trusts and corporate subsidiaries, he runs a sprawling Dallas-based conglomerate named Ashford Inc. that owns and operates 130 hotels and luxury resorts across the country including the Marriott Beverly Hills and the Ritz-Carlton in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

How does a multibillion-dollar empire get such payments while legitimate small businesses are shut out? The old-fashioned way: by paying lobbyists and lawmakers to rig the rules so corporate thieves can raid the treasury. Bennett, a major donor to Trump and GOP Congress critters, pressured his political henchmen and hired two lobbying firms in March to punch a huge conglomerate loophole in the PPP bill. Led by Sen. Marco Rubio, Congress inserted a special-interest proviso decreeing that while a big business cannot apply for payments, each unit of the corporation can.

So ... gotcha! In early April, before most of America's Main Street enterprises even knew relief was available, Ashford Inc.'s squad of manipulators was running all-night sessions for its hotels, getting them to rush out "individual" applications. This twisting of the PPP fund made the slick Dallas hotelier king of Bailout Hill, having scooped up 339 times more than the average applicant.

In addition to stiffing small businesses, Bennett balked at the requirement that the bulk of taxpayer dollars be used to maintain the paychecks of Ashford hotel employees. Instead, he loudly insisted that government aid should be available to bolster corporate owners — i.e., him.

Did you know that "boss" spelled backward is double SOB?




There's a general sentiment today that multimillionaire corporate chieftains are pigs. But I think that's unfair—to pigs. Those oinkers are remarkably intelligent animals with a sense of social responsibility to the common good of the group.

Compare that ethic to the pompous and petulant sense of entitlement that seems to infest corporate executive suites today. For one extra-ugly example, when Bennett grabbed millions meant for small businesses, it was so ethically stinky that even the thievish Trumpistas made him return the money. Yet, a shameless Bennett continues to insist that he was just taking his corporation's fair share: "What are all those taxes we paid supposed to provide us with anyway?" he whined.

Well, Monty, maybe a literate workforce, clean water, paved streets, fire and police protection, and other public basics that subsidize your profit. But our taxes aren't meant to guarantee your profit. Bennett flaunts his cluelessness: "I won't apologize for being a capitalist in America," he wrote in March as he pushed his way to the front of the line demanding a taxpayer handout.

Worse, he's apparently a very poor capitalist, having saddled his corporate empire with an unsustainable debt load even before the coronavirus catastrophe struck. Last year, the Ashcroft trust that he heads had a $113 million loss and saw its stock value nosedive from $5.60 a share to barely 70 cents today. Yet, he took special care of himself, pulling down $5.7 million in personal pay last year.

Meanwhile, Monty the Unapologetic Capitalist is still grabbing government goodies. He and his lobbyists have helped push Trump & Co. to create a new $500 billion pot of cash exclusively reserved as "emergency aid" for giant corporations ... like his. And, sweetest of all, Bennett and his ilk can take this public money with no requirement to use any of it to protect the paychecks or save the jobs of employees. Indeed, they can use our money to raise their own pay! In CEO World, taking care of No. 1 is Priority No. 1. Then, as a second priority, repeat Priority No. 1.

AOC Offers Hint on Why Wall Street Surges as Workers Suffer and Die From Covid-19: 'It Starts With a C and Ends With -apitalism'

"This is what happens when Wall Street captures Congress and writes themselves bailout check after bailout check as working people die."


by
Jake Johnson, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/06/aoc-offers-hint-why-wall-street-surges-workers-suffer-and-die-covid-19-it-starts-c




Why is Wall Street thriving as the coronavirus pandemic causes mass suffering and sends unemployment levels soaring to Great Depression levels?

The answer, according to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), is not a difficult puzzle to solve.

"Hint: it starts with a C and ends with -apitalism," she tweeted Wednesday in response to a Vox article exploring why the stock market is "divorced from what's happening" to ordinary people.

"This is what happens when Wall Street captures Congress and writes themselves bailout check after bailout check as working people die," Ocasio-Cortez added.





After briefly tanking in March as the coronavirus outbreak panicked investors, the stock market rebounded quickly in April, which closed as the best month for U.S. stocks since 1987.

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 30 million Americans have filed jobless claims since mid-March as Covid-19 keeps large segments of the U.S. economy shuttered.


Nolan argued that the stock market's gains amid mass layoffs and unprecedented economic disruption are the result of a "political choice" by the federal government to protect Wall Street profits over workers and the unemployed.In These Times labor reporter Hamilton Nolan wrote Tuesday that "the glaring disconnect between the real economy, of working humans with jobs and bills to pay, and the investor class economy, embodied by the stock market, is one of the most brutal and devious political issues of this age of crisis in which we're living."

"Instead of choosing to support everyone during this temporary shutdown—guaranteeing the incomes of workers, instituting widespread debt relief, and pouring stimulus money directly into the base of the wealth pyramid, which supports everything else—the government has instead done what it is built to do: protect the biggest businesses and the accumulated wealth of the richest people, herding society's most powerful into an economic fortress," Nolan wrote.

"The mystifying government response that allows a crisis of unemployment and sudden poverty to happen and then refuses to solve it even while doling out trillions of dollars to business," Nolan added, "is in fact just American capitalism working as we have designed it to."

'The Problem Is Systemic': Over 200 Artists and Scientists Dare World to Envision a Different Post-Covid Future

"Adjustments are not enough."
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer





4 Comments

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/07/problem-systemic-over-200-artists-and-scientists-dare-world-envision-different-post




Over 200 artists and scientists issued a demand to world leaders that the planet's leaders not attempt to "go back to normal" after the coronavirus pandemic passes, calling for substantive and swift action to address the climate crisis, consumerism, and economic inequality in the wake of the crisis.

"Adjustments are not enough," the group says in a letter published Wednesday in France's Le Monde newspaper. "The problem is systemic."


The letter, written by actress Juliette Binoche and astrophysicist Aurélien Barrau, calls for a "radical transformation" in how the world works and to address the oncoming climate crisis with the urgency it deserves. The letter was signed by artists and activists like Javier Bardem, Naomi Klein, Vandana Shiva, Barbra Streisand, Joaquin Phoenix, and Sting as well as scientists and economists like Carlo Rovelli, Muhammad Yunus, and Xuan Thuan Trinh.

As the letter explains:


The ongoing ecological catastrophe is a meta-crisis: the massive extinction of life on Earth is no longer in doubt, and all indicators point to a direct existential threat. Unlike a pandemic, however severe, a global ecological collapse will have immeasurable consequences.

"Pollution, climate change, and the destruction of our remaining natural zones has brought the world to a breaking point," says the letter.




Read the letter in full and the list of signatories below:


Please, let’s not go back to normal

The Covid-19 pandemic is a tragedy. This crisis is, however, inviting us to examine what is essential. And what we see is simple: adjustments are not enough. The problem is systemic.

The ongoing ecological catastrophe is a meta-crisis: the massive extinction of life on Earth is no longer in doubt, and all indicators point to a direct existential threat. Unlike a pandemic, however severe, a global ecological collapse will have immeasurable consequences.

We therefore solemnly call upon leaders—and all of us as citizens—to leave behind the unsustainable logic that still prevails and to undertake a profound overhaul of our goals, values, and economies.

The pursuit of consumerism and an obsession with productivity have led us to deny the value of life itself: that of plants, that of animals, and that of a great number of human beings. Pollution, climate change, and the destruction of our remaining natural zones has brought the world to a breaking point.

For these reasons, along with the urgency of renewing with a politics of social equity, we believe it is unthinkable to go back to normal. The radical transformation we need—at all levels—demands boldness and courage. It will not take place without a massive and determined commitment. We must act now. It is as much a matter of survival as of dignity and coherence.

Lynsey Addario, grand reporter ; Isabelle Adjani, actress ; Roberto Alagna, opera singer ; Pedro Almodovar, film director ; Santiago Amigorena, writer ; Angèle, singer ; Adria Arjona, actress; Yann Arthus-Bertrand, photographer, film director; Ariane Ascaride, actress ; Olivier Assayas, film director ; Josiane Balasko, actress ; Jeanne Balibar, actress ; Bang Hai Ja, painter; Javier Bardem, actor ; Aurélien Barrau, astrophysicist, honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France ; Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, choreographer ; Nathalie Baye, actress ; Emmanuelle Béart, actress ; Jean Bellorini, theater director ; Monica Bellucci, actress ; Alain Benoit, physicist, Académie des sciences ; Charles Berling, actor ; Juliette Binoche, actress ; Benjamin Biolay, singer ; Dominique Blanc, actress ; Cate Blanchett, actress ; Gilles Bœuf, former president of the National Museum of Natural History ; Valérie Bonneton, actress ; Aurelien Bory, theater director ; Miguel Bosé, actor, singer ; Stéphane Braunschweig, theater director ; Stéphane Brizé, filmdirector ; Irina Brook, theater director ; Peter Brook, theater director ; Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, actress, film director ; Khatia Buniatishvili, pianist ; Florence Burgat, former president of the National Museum of Natural History; Guillaume Canet, actor, film director ; Anne Carson, poet, writer, Academy of Arts and Sciences ; Michel Cassé, astrophysicist ; Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; François Civil, actor ; François Cluzet, actor ; Isabel Coixet, film director ; Gregory Colbert, photographer, film director ; Paolo Conte, singer ; Marion Cotillard, actress ; Camille Cottin, actress ; Penélope Cruz, actress ; Alfonso Cuaron, film director ; Willem Dafoe, actor ; Béatrice Dalle, actress ; Alain Damasio, writer ; Ricardo Darin, actor ; Cécile de France, actress ; Robert De Niro, actor ; Annick de Souzenelle, writer ; Johann Deisenhofer, biochemist, Nobel Prize in chemistry ; Kate del Castillo, actress ; Miguel Delibes Castro, biologist, Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences ; Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, theater director ; Claire Denis, film director ; Philippe Descola, anthropologist, CNRS gold medal ; Virginie Despentes, writer ; Alexandre Desplat, musicwriter ; Arnaud Desplechin, film director ; Natalie Dessay, opera singer ; Cyril Dion, writer, film director ; Hervé Dole, astrophysicist, honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France ; Adam Driver, actor ; Jacques Dubochet, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Diane Dufresne, singer ; Thomas Dutronc, singer ; Lars Eidinger, actor ; Olafur Eliasson, plastic artist, sculptor ; Marianne Faithfull, singer ; Pierre Fayet, member of the Academy of Sciences ; Abel Ferrara, film director ; Albert Fert, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Ralph Fiennes, actor ; Edmond Fischer, biochemist, Nobel Prize in medicine ; Jane Fonda, actress ; Joachim Frank, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, actor ; Marie-Agnès Gillot, prima ballerina ; Amos Gitaï, film director ; Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu, film director ; Timothy Gowers, Fields Mathematics Medal ; Eva Green, actress ; Sylvie Guillem, prima ballerina ; Ben Hardy, actor ; Serge Haroche, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Dudley R. Herschbach, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Rob Hopkins, founder of cities in transition ; Nicolas Hulot, honorary president of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Man ; Imany, singer ; Jeremy Irons, actor ; Agnès Jaoui, actor, film director ; Jim Jarmusch, film director ; Vaughan Jones, Fields Mathematics Medal ; Spike Jonze, film director ; Camélia Jordana, singer ; Jean Jouzel, climatologist, Vetlesen Prize ; Anish Kapoor, sculptor, painter ; Naomi Kawase, film director ; Sandrine Kiberlain, actress ; Angélique Kidjo, singer ; Naomi Klein, writer ; Brian Kobilka, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Hirokazu Kore-eda, film director ; Panos Koutras, film director ; Antjie Krog, poetess ; La Grande Sophie, singer ; Ludovic Lagarde, theater director; Mélanie Laurent, actress ; Bernard Lavilliers, singer ; Yvon Le Maho, ecophysiologist, member of the French Academy of Sciences ; Roland Lehoucq, astrophysicist ; Gilles Lellouche, actor, film director ; Christian Louboutin, designer ; Roderick MacKinnon, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Madonna, singer ; Macha Makeïeff, theater director ; Claude Makélélé, soccer player ; Ald Al Malik, rap artist ; Rooney Mara, actress ; Ricky Martin, singer ; Carmen Maura, actress ; Michel Mayor, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Médine, rap artist ; Melody Gardot, singer ; Arturo Menchaca Rocha, physicist, former president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences ; Raoni Metuktire, Raoni Indian Chief ; Julianne Moore, actress ; Wajdi Mouawad, theater director, writer ; Gérard Mouroux, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Nana Mouskouri, singer ; Yael Naim, singer ; Jean-Luc Nancy, philosopher ; Guillaume Néry, freediving world champion ; Pierre Niney, actor ; Michaël Ondaatje, writer ; Thomas Ostermeier, theater director ; Rithy Panh, film director ; Vanessa Paradis, singer, actress ; James Peebles, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Corine Pelluchon, philosopher ; Joaquin Phoenix, actor ; Pomme, singer ; Iggy Pop, singer; Olivier Py, theater director ; Radu Mihaileanu, film director ; Susheela Raman, singer ; Edgar Ramirez, actor ; Charlotte Rampling, actress ; Raphaël, singer ; Eric Reinhardt, writer ; Residente, singer; Jean-Michel Ribes, film director ; Matthieu Ricard, buddhist monk ; Richard Roberts, Nobel Prize in Medicine ; Isabella Rossellini, actress ; Cecilia Roth, actress ; Carlo Rovelli, physicist, honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France ; Paolo Roversi, photographer ; Ludivine Sagnier, actress ; Shaka Ponk (Sam et Frah), singers ; Vandana Shiva, philosopher, writer ; Abderrahmane Sissako, film director ; Gustaf Skarsgard, actor ; Sorrentino Paolo, film director; Sabrina Speich,oceanographer, Albert Defant medal ; Sting, singer ; James Fraser Stoddart, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Barbra Streisand, singer, actress, film director ; Malgorzata Szumowska, film director ; Béla Tarr, film director; Bertrand Tavernier, film director ; Alexandre Tharaud, pianist ; James Thierré, theater director, dancer; Mélanie Thierry, actress ; Tran Anh Hung, film director ; Jean-Louis Trintignant, actor ; Karin Viard, actress ; Rufus Wainwright, singer ; Lulu Wang, film director ; Paul Watson, Navigator, writer ; Wim Wenders, film director ; Stanley Whittingham, Nobel Prize in Chemistry ; Sonia Wieder-Atherton, violoncellist ; Frank Wilczek, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Olivia Wilde, actress ; Christophe Willem, singer ; Bob Wilson, theater director; Lambert Wilson, actor ; David Wineland, Physic’s Nobel Prize ; Xuan Thuan Trinh, astrophysicist ; Muhammad Yunus, economist, Nobel Peace Prize ; Zazie, singer.

Day After Trump Says Testing Makes 'Ourselves Look Bad,' Harvard Researchers Call for Tripling of Testing as Covid-19 Deaths Surge

"I think what people have to remember is that the virus isn't gone. The disease isn't gone."

by

Eoin Higgins, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/07/day-after-trump-says-testing-makes-ourselves-look-bad-harvard-researchers-call

Less than one day after President Donald Trump declared publicly that "by doing all this testing we make ourselves look bad," new research from the Harvard Global Health Institute out Thursday morning reveals that nationwide testing is dangerously behind where it needs to be in order to curb the intensifying Covid-19 pandemic gripping the United States.

The Harvard researchers found that as projections of deaths and infections are reassessed upward, testing in the U.S. remains perilously low—with over three times as many daily tests as are in place today needed to safely reopen the country.

"Just in the last few weeks, all of the models have converged on many more people getting infected and many more people [dying]," Global Health Institute director Ashish Jha told NPR.

The projections for increased infections and fatalities are paired in the analysis with a national testing regime that is woefully under capacity and a White House desperate to get the country back to work for political gain. 

According to Jha, the institute's research projects the U.S. would have to test over 900,000 people a day in order to safely begin reopening the economy and loosen social restrictions. The country as a whole is currently testing 247, 657 people a day. 

"Testing is outbreak control 101, because what testing lets you do is figure out who's infected and who's not," said Jha. "And that lets you separate out the infected people from the non infected people and bring the disease under control."

A Center for American Progress (CAP) analysis Monday found that "no state currently meets both the incidence and testing thresholds estimated for their state; only eight states—Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia — meet the incidence threshold; and only Rhode Island meets the testing threshold."

CAP Health Policy vice president Topher Spiro said that the lack of testing would have negative ramifications for the country's attempts at economic reopening.

"These estimates suggest that, across the board, states' decisions to relax stay-at-home efforts are premature and risk a substantial second wave and corresponding economic shutdown," said Spiro. "Whether or not a state's economy is legally open, the public will not engage with it unless and until the virus is contained."

On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers told the House Committee on Appropriations that she believed the country was at a "critical moment of this fight" and that loosening restrictions in the country would be a catastrophic mistake. 

"We risk complacency in accepting the preventable deaths of 2,000 Americans each day, we risk complacency in accepting that our healthcare workers do not have what they need to do their jobs safely, and we risk complacency in recognizing that without continued vigilance we will again create the conditions that led to us being the worst-affected country in the world," said Rivers.

Harvard's Jha told NPR that the country needs to be prepared for a long haul approach to the disease.

"I think what people have to remember is that the virus isn't gone," said Jha. "The disease isn't gone. And it's going to be with us for a while."

Despite repeated warnings of testing capacity and the virus' spread, President Donald Trump has maintained the need to reopen the country and told the New York Times Wednesday that he was disinclined to order more tests because of the message that would send.

"In a way, by doing all this testing we make ourselves look bad," Trump said. 

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns said that comment was itself disqualifying.

"If he is not prioritizing public health but his electoral prospects, he should be voted out of office on this statement alone," said Burns.

'Just Straight Cronyism': Top Trump and GOP Donor Picked to Lead US Postal Service in Time of Crisis

"President Trump rewards a partisan donor by installing him at the United States Postal Service. This crony doesn't cut it."


by
Jake Johnson, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/07/just-straight-cronyism-top-trump-and-gop-donor-picked-lead-us-postal-service-time




The U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors—which is controlled by appointees of President Donald Trump—announced late Wednesday that it has unanimously selected a top Trump and GOP donor to serve as postmaster general, installing an ally of the White House to lead a popular agency that has long been a target of right-wing reforms and is currently under severe threat of collapse due to the Covid-19 crisis.


DeJoy is expected to take over as postmaster general on June 15, following the retirement of current USPS chief Megan Brennan.In a statement, the Board of Governors touted Louis DeJoy's experience as "an accomplished business executive" in North Carolina. As the Washington Post reported, DeJoy—the head of fundraising for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte—is set to become the "first postmaster general in two decades who did not rise through the agency's ranks."

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a vocal critic of the president's recent attacks on the USPS and refusal to provide the agency with desperately needed aid, slammed the selection of an executive and GOP donor with no experience working at the Postal Service, particularly at such a perilous moment for the nation's most popular government institution.

"President Trump rewards a partisan donor by installing him at the United States Postal Service," Connolly said in a statement. "The Postal Service is in crisis and needs real leadership and someone with knowledge of the issues. This crony doesn't cut it."


DeJoy's appointment comes as the Postal Service is struggling to weather the sharp decline in mail volume brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The agency's recent financial troubles have been compounded by a 2006 congressional mandate requiring it to fund its retirees' health benefits through 2056.

Last month, Postmaster General Brennan told members of Congress that USPS—which has not received federal funding for decades, running entirely on revenue from products and services—needs an infusion of $75 billion to avert financial ruin within the next several months. House Democratic leaders are reportedly pushing for $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service in the next Covid-19 stimulus package.




But Trump continues to stand in the way of aid for USPS—dismissing the agency as a "joke"—and threaten to block legislation that includes any direct funding. The CARES Act, which Trump signed into law in March, contained a $10 billion loan for the Postal Service—funding that the Trump administration is reportedly holding hostage in an effort to impose long-sought changes to the agency.

"At a time when the country needs us now more than ever, [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin and his Wall Street cronies are attempting to exploit the crisis to raise prices, demonize heroic postal workers, and cut service, all so private delivery companies can profit," Mark Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union, said in a statement last month.

The collapse or privatization of the Postal Service could have disastrous and far-reaching implications, including for the prospect of nationwide vote-by-mail, which advocates say will be necessary to safely hold the November elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, tweeted late Wednesday that it is "hard not to be cynical about the motivations" behind DeJoy's appointment.

"It's an ominous sign," said Gupta. "The USPS is a public good. So many jobs especially for people of color and delivery of essential items depend on it. And our democracy (vote-by-mail, the census) amid COVID-19 depends on it."


In a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday, more than 100 advocacy groups urged lawmakers to "act now to save the USPS, the hundreds of thousands of jobs included in its diverse workforce, and the communities that depend upon this critical federal agency."

"A vote against adequate, timely funding for the USPS is an anti-civil rights vote," the groups wrote. "At a time where people in America need the Postal Service more than ever, we must prioritize funding to ensure that this agency has the resources it needs."

Amazon Warehouses Flouting Sick Leave Law as Outrage Swells Over Worker Conditions in Midst of Pandemic

"We're risking our safety for the company."


by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer




https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/07/amazon-warehouses-flouting-sick-leave-law-outrage-swells-over-worker-conditions







New reporting Thursday reveals that Amazon is jeopardizing the safety of its southern California warehouse workers with policies that essentially force them to choose between losing their jobs and risking their safety as another employee of the e-commerce giant died of Covid-19.

"I'm afraid to come to work, but I don't have a choice," a 48-year-old San Bernardino worker who was identified as Eddie told the Guardian. "We're risking our safety for the company."

According to a Thursday report from the Guardian, workers at an Amazon warehouse in the Inland Empire region have been hit by the company's May 1 ending of a policy allowing workers unlimited unpaid time off and its flouting of a state order, issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, granting food sector employees—including "workers at warehouses where food is stored"—two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave.

As Sam Levin explained:


Employees also shared emails showing that Amazon has dismissed some paid sick leave requests by claiming a California law intended to provide supplemental sick leave during the pandemic does not apply to the warehouses.

[...]

[E]mployees say that when they have asked about Newsom's order in recent weeks, the human resources department has ignored their questions or responded that the facilities are not considered part of the food sector.

A spokesperson for the state labor department confirmed to the Guardian that the executive order does, in fact, apply to Amazon warehouse workers. An Amazon spokesperson told the Guardian the company has complied with state requirements.

While an employee may still apply for unpaid leave, because Amazon said it can review such requests on a case-by-case basis, "it can take weeks for Amazon to respond to these requests, and multiple employees who asked for this said their requests were 'pending' and that they were worried they would soon lose their jobs," Levin wrote.

The Guardian added:





Amazon has experienced a boom in sales during the pandemic, with revenues of $75.4bn in the first three months of 2020, over $33m an hour. The fortune of CEO Jeff Bezos has grown by $24bn during the crisis.

The new reporting comes days after Amazon and other workers continue to demand better workplace safeguards from the highly infectious virus. The personal risk the company's workers are exposed to was punctuated Tuesday after labor advocates said a worker at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse, dubbed JFK8, died of COVID-19.

"For a long time now, workers at JFK8 and other Amazon facilities around the world have been demanding safer working conditions—especially during this pandemic," said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. "Yesterday's death unfortunately has shown the true cost of Amazon's failure to provide a safe work environment."

Those who've spoken up about that failure have faced retalation. "Amazon has fired at least four employees who called for greater safety protections for warehouse workers during the pandemic," CNBC noted Thursday

ABC News adds:


It is unclear how many of the hundreds of thousands of workers employed by Amazon have gotten sick or died during the pandemic. According to the New York Times, there have been cases in more than 50 facilities and the first warehouse worker died at the end of March in California.

Dissent over worker conditions has also come from the higher ranks—earlier this week, as Common Dreams reported, an Amazon vice president, Tim Bray, resigned in protest.

"I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19," Bray wrote on his personal blog. "It's a matter of fact that workers are saying they're at risk in the warehouses."

According to Bray, "at the end of the day, the big problem isn’t the specifics of Covid-19 response. It's that Amazon treats the humans in the warehouses as fungible units of pick-and-pack potential. Only that's not just Amazon, it's how 21st-century capitalism is done."