4-11-07, 9:27 pm

Gabcast! Poltical Affairs #10 - Congressional Democrats Up the Ante in Iraq Debate

Sen. Feingold introduces a bill to end military involvement in Iraq; Verizon workers demand a union; Some congressional leaders want new relations with Cuba; Union leaders criticize guest worker immigration reform plans; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act sees new light in Congress.

Sen. Feingold Introduces Bill To End US Military Involvement In Iraq


Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced legislation April 11th which would bring US military involvement in Iraq to an end. The bill would require the President to begin redeploying US troops from Iraq 120 days after enactment.

Effective March 31, 2008, the bill would cut off appropriations for the war except to conduct operations against Al-Qaeda, provide security for US persons and property, and to train and equip Iraqi security services.

Feingold stated that, “The President says he will veto legislation already passed by the Senate that both funds the troops and responds to Americans’ demands for an end to the Iraq war. Since the President refuses to change his failed Iraq policy, that responsibility falls on Congress. By setting a date after which funding for the President’s failed Iraq policy will end, we can give the President the time and funding he needs to safely redeploy our troops so we can refocus on the global terrorist networks that threaten the lives of Americans.”

The bill has been cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid said that if the President vetoes the emergency supplemental spending bill, he will work to ensure Feingold’s bill gets a vote in the Senate before Memorial Day. Go to ActforChange.com to send a message to your Senators in support of Feingold-Reid.

Verizon Workers Demand a Union

A clear majority of technicians at Verizon Business in New York and New England have signed authorization cards showing they want to be represented by two labor unions.

But Verizon management refuses to recognize the majority's choice. Instead, they have launched an anti-union campaign, spreading misinformation about unions and holding 'captive-audience' meetings, according to a recent action alert from Jobs with Justice.

After Verizon Communications acquired MCI in 2006, company executives created a new subsidiary called Verizon Business. While Verizon Communications has more than 85,000 employees who are members of the Communications Workers of America or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, MCI's workers did not have the benefit of union representation.

Now, the unrepresented workers at Verizon Business are demanding the justice and respect that their unionized co-workers enjoy.

Union activists say that with the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Verizon would be legally required to recognize the union that its employees have voted for. Further, they could be penalized for waging a coercive anti-union campaign instead of bargaining in good faith.

You can send an electronic message to corporate executive at Verizon and tell them to respect the rights and wishes of the workers by going to Jobs with Justice's website at: .

New Relations with Cuba?

Bipartisan efforts to change US-Cuba relations are gathering momentum in the new Congress. Most efforts are aimed at reversing the 45-year old US trade embargo against the island country by lifting severe travel and trade sanctions.

But other measures have broader purposes. A bill introduced by Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) looks to overturn policies put in place by the Bush administration that restrict the ability of Cuban Americans in the US from visiting their families or financially assisting them. Another bill, introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) would allow US oil companies to work with Cuban enterprises in new oil drilling projects in Cuban waters.

Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) is sponsoring legislation that would waive prohibitions against Cuban nationals coming to the United States to play professional baseball.

Two bills have been introduced that would lift the trade embargo against Cuba, and a third offered by Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS) would remove cash-for-food requirements imposed on the Cuban government. Another Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi (WY), wants to lift the ban on travel to Cuba.

H.R. 654, a House bill that would lift the travel ban as well, has the broadest bipartisan support. It currently has close to 100 co-sponsors in the House including several Republicans. You can ask your member of Congress to support the bill by going to PoliticalAffairs.net and scrolling down the right-hand Take Action column.

AFL-CIO Criticizes New Guest Worker Immigration Reform

According to the AFL-CIO's blog AFL-CIO Now, the union's President John Sweeney is criticizing immigration reform proposals known as 'guest worker programs.'

In a guest op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Sweeney and coauthor Pablo Alvarado, of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, characterized the guest worker proposal as a 'worn out labor idea.'

Those programs assure a steady flow of cheap labor by indentured workers too afraid of being deported to protest low wages, poor benefits, and unsafe working conditions.

Because many guest workers borrow large amounts of money in order to move to the US, they are often heavily indebted.

Sweeney and Alvarado described such a system as 'not only morally indefensible, it is economically nonsensical.'

This situation, write Sweeney and Alvarado, makes them 'essentially 'bound' to employers who can send them home on a whim and who do not have to prove a need to hire them in the first place.'

The solution to the immigration issue will require a new approach, Sweeney and Alvarado say.

First, everyone who is admitted into the country to work must immediately be on a track toward permanent residency or citizenship.

Employers should have to prove they have tried to hire workers already in the US, and high levels of wage and safety and health standards should be enforced.

The union leaders also called for caps on labor-based entry visas based on economic conditions not on lobbying, hype, or politics.

Recruitment in other countries should be forbidden. Hiring should be done through a regulated job bank.

Immigrant workers should enjoy the same rights and protections as US workers, including freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life, concluded Sweeney and Alvarado.

Immigrant and labor rights activist David Bacon recently told Political Affairs that immigration reform should go further than what Sweeney and Alvarado have proposed.

Bacon said, 'We have to make sure that [immigrant workers] have visas which don't require them to remain employed. Otherwise, the risk of getting fired and being unemployed will be so high ... that they are still effectively prisoners.'

A New Beginning for ENDA

Civil rights and labor activists will be pushing the current Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA. In line with the opinion of the vast majority of Americans (as many as 85 percent in recent surveys), ENDA would outlaw discriminatory hiring and firing practices against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

While federal law protects working people from firing or penalization based on race, religion, national origin, gender or physical ability, no federal law exists to protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Earlier this year, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union launched a campaign to compile the stories of LGBT working people who have faced discrimination.

Deborah Vagins of the ACLU, said that in just a little over a month, the project had already collected over 300 responses from LGBT people and their families about being fired, harassed, or refused employment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The stories they have received paint a picture of 'pervasive discrimination all over the country' against people of all ages in all fields of work, said Vagins.

A 2001 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law shows that reports of discrimination based on sexual orientation are roughly equal to the number of reported instances of discrimination based on race or gender.

Dozens of civil rights organizations, faith-based groups, the labor movement, and other community organizations have endorsed the bill, which is expected to be introduced in April. A signature-gathering campaign has been launched by Pride at Work, AFL-CIO to bring 100,000 signature cards to Congress by September, when a vote on the bill is expected.

Read the full story at our website: Political Affairs.net

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