Teach-in demands EFCA passage, bailout for workers

Over 200 people attended a May 9 teach-in and mass action organizing meeting in San Francisco to “Bail Out Working People, Not the Banks!” The event was initiated and supported by the San Francisco Labor Council, the South Bay Labor Council, the Alameda County Central Labor Council and the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign. The organizing committee was comprised of progressive trade unionists and labor council delegates.

Clarence Thomas

Chaired by Conny Ford, vice-president of the San Francisco Labor Council, the teach-in began with several greetings from Bay Area organized-labor leaders. Tim Paulson, S.F. Labor Council executive director, called upon everyone to get involved in the fight to pass the Employee Fair Choice Act. “EFCA is not only the most importance piece of legislation for working men and women since the 30s, it also lets workers pick how they want to join these unions, not the corporations,” stated Paulson.

Alan Benjamin, a member of the S.F. Labor Council Executive Committee, WERC and a member of the organizing committee, stated very clearly today’s theme: “Our unions’ only role is to defend the jobs of our members. We say, not one layoff.”

May 9 teach-in.

Benjamin went on to talk about the growing national labor and community fightback against the layoffs, foreclosures and giveaways to the banks. “We are going to propose supporting a series of actions in Detroit [organized by the Moratorium Now! Coalition and others] with a local demonstration on June 13 around the demand, ‘Bail Out the People, Not the Banks!’” Benjamin told the crowd.

Community leaders from POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) and Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, challenged the crowd of union activists and officials to actively support and embrace grassroots community efforts against foreclosures and evictions, gentrification of poor communities,  Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and attacks on quality education for young people of color.

Steven Williams, executive director of POWER, condemned the gentrification by the banks and developers in Black and Brown communities of the Bay Area. “Housing should be a human right for all, not a commodity,” Williams told the crowd.

N’tanya Lee, executive director of Coleman Advocates, described the impact of gentrification and “racial tracking” on Black and Brown children in the Bay area. Lee called upon labor to stand together with communities of color to “fight these injustices.”

Clarence Thomas, a leader of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, talked about his recent trip to Cuba. “In Cuba, people have free health care from the cradle to the grave and undergraduate and graduate education does not cost young people a dime.” Thomas contrasted this picture with what is happening today to poor and working people in this country.

Thomas challenged the audience to work to pass the EFCA. He alluded to the several port shutdowns led by the ILWU and noted that civil disobedience will have to be part of our struggle.

Following the teach-in, several ideas for local actions were discussed during an open mike period. The proposal to support the People’s Summit in Detroit by holding a local action on June 13 to demand, “Bail Out the People, Not the Banks!” and others will be taken up at a follow-up organizing meeting.
—Report & photos by Judy Greenspan