Public Employee Press

200,000 march for jobs and justice

By GREGORY N. HEIRES and JANE LATOUR

More than 1,100 fired up DC 37 members and retirees joined the massive "One Nation Working Together" rally for jobs and civil rights Oct. 2 in the nation's capital.

Members of more than 500 labor, civil rights, veteran, immigrant, religious, student, environmental and peace groups trekked to Washington for the demonstration, which was sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza and others. Organizers estimated the diverse throng at almost 200,000.

"We are gathered here to say we believe in America," said AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka. "We come together because America needs jobs - good jobs."

The rally provided a dramatic answer to the fear, hate and divisiveness preached by conservatives and the Tea Party, and Trumka pointed out that, "Behind the hate are the forces of greed that did so much damage to our country."

"We will not remain silent when 44 million Americans live under the poverty line," said Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore Sr., president of the Virginia-based Progressive National Baptist Convention.

As class polarization deepens in America, the marchers stood up for social and economic justice. Public employees, autoworkers and coal miners chanted slogans, wore buttons and held hand-made signs calling for an end to racism, anti-immigrant bias and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We march to end racial profiling and resegregation - from Arizona to Atlanta," said Local 1549's Ayanna Gabriel, one of the young activists who addressed the huge crowd. A leader in DC 37's successful organizing drive at the MetroPlus HMO, Gabriel said, "We march to ensure that every worker has a voice at work. We march for green jobs and safe workplaces, so no worker will have to choose between her livelihood and her life."

District Council 37's national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, had a strong presence at the rally, with thousands of members in green T-shirts dotting the lawn around the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

"I want to see more people working"

DC 37 members filled 21 buses and others drove or took the train. Layoffs and cutbacks were among their chief concerns.

"We have to have good jobs and benefits," said School Aide Earllene Duggins-Wilson, a Local 372 shop steward. She said she was sad that the attacks on the public sector had hit home, noting that the Dept. of Education has laid off 500 School Aides last year and cut her own work schedule from five hours a day to four.

"I want to see more people working and our living standards improving," said Attendant Guard Kenneth Aguillera, the 1st vice president of Brooklyn Museum Local 1502.

The feelings of Aguillera and other demonstrators reflected a growing concern that something is wrong with America, that well-paid, unionized jobs with good benefits are disappearing - and won't return.

During the first decade of this century, the U.S. economy eliminated more jobs than it created and by August, 15 million were unemployed. The official unemployment rate was almost 10 percent, but the real rate - including part-timers who need full-time jobs and those too discouraged to look for work - was almost 20 percent.

At a prerally gathering outside RFK stadium, where scores of buses arrived with thousands of AFSCME members from around the country, Secretary Treasurer Lee Saunders urged activists to send a message.

"You have a voice and you have a vote," Saunders said. "And on Nov. 2, you've got the most important job of all: using your vote to restore, reclaim and rebuild America!"

With only seven of every 100 workers in the private sector now in unions, the need to restore the power of the labor movement was on the minds of many activists.

Over 30 percent of public employees are union members, but they face vicious attacks from Wall Street and other conservative interests whose agenda includes gutting pensions, health care and salaries in addition to eliminating and privatizing government services. Nationwide, the economic downturn has cut revenue, and state and local governments are firing employees and imposing furloughs, pay freezes and benefit cuts.

Forty-seven years after hundreds of thousands heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, his message reverberated at the 2010 rally. Posters with King's image said, "Stand against war and racism: Jobs not war," and T-shirts carried a photo of the striking AFSCME sanitation workers King was supporting when he was killed in Memphis in 1968.

President Obama's picture stood out on the T-shirts of many demonstrators. Speakers blasted Republicans for blocking legislation to create 250,000 jobs for low-income workers and for opposing Obama's stimulus package - which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says created up to 3.3 million jobs - while they called for further government action.

Crucial elections

With the crucial midterm elections only a month away, the rally helped energize union and progressive activists to volunteer and vote to stop the drive by Tea Party and Republican forces to defeat Democratic candidates and cripple the Obama administration, said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Local 1549 member James Wright has worked for the Human Resources Administration for 18 years. "I voted for Obama and we have to rely on him," he said. "But the right wing is coming after us - on jobs, on pensions and even on health benefits. This is our future we are trying to protect."

Like a steady drumbeat, antiwar feelings were prominent at the rally. Members of Military Families against the War traveled to Washington from upstate New York with banners and a strong message.

One mother carried a poster with a photo of her young soldier son and the words, "Shattered Dreams" to convey her world of sorrow at his death.

Vietnam and World War II veterans wore their uniforms, now tight, as they spoke out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Retool for Peace" buttons asked, "Why is there always money for war and never for health care?"

Local 1549 member and Chapter Chair Dorothea Nedwell, a union member and activist for 31 years, summed up the experience at the end of the day.

"It was tremendous to see the outpouring of all the people. What moved me most were the kids who sang the song, 'One Nation.' They were of all nationalities and genders. It was impressive to see the number of people from DC 37 who got to the union by 5 a.m. to get on the buses, and so many people from so many unions and organizations."