The demonstration was organized by more than 300 groups, ranging from the AFL-CIO and individual unions to civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war and community groups. Participants came from as far away as San Diego.
Organizers sought to motivate progressives for the stretch drive for the election and as a warning to politicians that workers and their allies, not the Radical Right, represent the majority in the country.
Some 10,000 members of the Communications Workers, a similar number from AFSCME, at least 25,000 Service Employees, 1,000 Utility Workers, thousands more Steelworkers, 25,000 Teachers, and hundreds of Auto Workers, Transport Workers, National Nurses United and NEA members made up a large share of the crowd of several hundred thousand people stretching from the Lincoln Memorial down the Mall.
Jobs was a consistent theme of every speaker, on the platform and in the crowd. So was politics. So was denunciation of big business and its influence.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said strengthening workers’ rights, specifically by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, is the way to combat corporate clout. Trumka brought a dozen union workers to the microphones to make the case, too.
He also aimed at the Radical Right.
“If you watch too much TV, you’d think America is a nation full of hate,” Trumka said, an implicit reference to the Glenn Beck-Tea Party rally at the Lincoln Memorial in September. “But America is President Lincoln. America is Dr. King. And behind the hate are the forces of greed that did a lot of damage to the country.”
Admitting “it’ll take something big” to rebuild the United States, Trumka demanded creation of jobs reconstructing roads and schools and in “green energy” and high technology. “And we must make sure every man and woman has the freedom to make every job a good job by having the freedom to join together and
bargain,” he declared.
“We know when we join hands as health care workers, janitors, public service workers” and with others, “we can make change happen,” new SEIU President Mary Kay Henry told the crowd. “And SEIU brothers and sisters are here to say we have had it with a corporate America that insists on higher and higher pay and bonuses while millions of Americans are losing their jobs.”
Workers and activists interviewed concentrated on jobs and on holding politicians accountable if they’re not created in a time of recession.
“We want to show everyone in this nation deserves good jobs, plus Social Security and Medicare,” Deborah Burger, one of four NNU co-presidents, told Press Associates as her colleagues Jean Ross and Malinda Markowitz agreed.
“We’re here to insure our politicians understand what we the people need – and not what the corporations, the racists and the misogynists want.”
“We advocate for patients getting good quality care and that should not depend on whether you have a job,” Ross, a Minnesotan and also an NNU co-president, said. As RNs, she added, they see the impact of the recession in people who come to hospitals sick because they can’t pay for primary care because they’ve lost their jobs.
“We continue to organize to get the word out there” to hold politicians accountable for “creating jobs that have a decent wage,” said Janet Benefield of Teamsters Joint Council 3 of Denver and surrounding states. “I have people who were laid off two years ago – and can’t find a job paying more than $9.50 an hour.”
SEIU Local 617 President Rahaman Muhammad linked jobs to pushing President Obama into action, despite Congress. “We have to stand up for the change we voted for. We’re tired of our voices not being heard – and of the
venomous rhetoric of the Glenn Becks,” the Newark resident told PAI. “We want to reclaim America, with decent jobs for the good of all. Corporate greed has gotten very out of hand.”
Daman Turner, a CWA Local 4400 member from Cincinnati Bell, also said the rally was a reminder to pols. “It was urgent to show a force from the other side – and we get active and we vote.”
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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The demonstration was organized by more than 300 groups, ranging from the AFL-CIO and individual unions to civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war and community groups. Participants came from as far away as San Diego.
Organizers sought to motivate progressives for the stretch drive for the election and as a warning to politicians that workers and their allies, not the Radical Right, represent the majority in the country.
Some 10,000 members of the Communications Workers, a similar number from AFSCME, at least 25,000 Service Employees, 1,000 Utility Workers, thousands more Steelworkers, 25,000 Teachers, and hundreds of Auto Workers, Transport Workers, National Nurses United and NEA members made up a large share of the crowd of several hundred thousand people stretching from the Lincoln Memorial down the Mall.
Jobs was a consistent theme of every speaker, on the platform and in the crowd. So was politics. So was denunciation of big business and its influence.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said strengthening workers’ rights, specifically by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, is the way to combat corporate clout. Trumka brought a dozen union workers to the microphones to make the case, too.
He also aimed at the Radical Right.
“If you watch too much TV, you’d think America is a nation full of hate,” Trumka said, an implicit reference to the Glenn Beck-Tea Party rally at the Lincoln Memorial in September. “But America is President Lincoln. America is Dr. King. And behind the hate are the forces of greed that did a lot of damage to the country.”
Admitting “it’ll take something big” to rebuild the United States, Trumka demanded creation of jobs reconstructing roads and schools and in “green energy” and high technology. “And we must make sure every man and woman has the freedom to make every job a good job by having the freedom to join together and
bargain,” he declared.
“We know when we join hands as health care workers, janitors, public service workers” and with others, “we can make change happen,” new SEIU President Mary Kay Henry told the crowd. “And SEIU brothers and sisters are here to say we have had it with a corporate America that insists on higher and higher pay and bonuses while millions of Americans are losing their jobs.”
Workers and activists interviewed concentrated on jobs and on holding politicians accountable if they’re not created in a time of recession.
“We want to show everyone in this nation deserves good jobs, plus Social Security and Medicare,” Deborah Burger, one of four NNU co-presidents, told Press Associates as her colleagues Jean Ross and Malinda Markowitz agreed.
“We’re here to insure our politicians understand what we the people need – and not what the corporations, the racists and the misogynists want.”
“We advocate for patients getting good quality care and that should not depend on whether you have a job,” Ross, a Minnesotan and also an NNU co-president, said. As RNs, she added, they see the impact of the recession in people who come to hospitals sick because they can’t pay for primary care because they’ve lost their jobs.
“We continue to organize to get the word out there” to hold politicians accountable for “creating jobs that have a decent wage,” said Janet Benefield of Teamsters Joint Council 3 of Denver and surrounding states. “I have people who were laid off two years ago – and can’t find a job paying more than $9.50 an hour.”
SEIU Local 617 President Rahaman Muhammad linked jobs to pushing President Obama into action, despite Congress. “We have to stand up for the change we voted for. We’re tired of our voices not being heard – and of the
venomous rhetoric of the Glenn Becks,” the Newark resident told PAI. “We want to reclaim America, with decent jobs for the good of all. Corporate greed has gotten very out of hand.”
Daman Turner, a CWA Local 4400 member from Cincinnati Bell, also said the rally was a reminder to pols. “It was urgent to show a force from the other side – and we get active and we vote.”
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.