EDITORIAL

One year ago, the American people rose up with one voice to oppose the first Wall Street bailout demanded by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Millions of letters and calls were made by working people to demand that the Congress reject the Paulson bailout plan. And on Sept. 30, 2008, the U.S. Congress — under immense pressure from this spontaneous movement from below — voted to reject the $700 billion bankers’ bailout scheme.

It took Obama and Pelosi to lobby the members of Congress who had voted “no” — particularly the members of the Congressional Black Caucus — to turn them around and support the Paulson Plan, the first of many government bailouts to the billionaire speculators who got us into this economic mess in the first place.

Obama and Pelosi have made it clear to all who wish to look reality squarely in the face that their top priority is to bail out the banks and the profiteers. And this they have done, to the tune of close to $4 trillion (including funds from the Federal Reserve), which has produced a much-touted “economic recovery” that has only created more unemployment and led to more foreclosures and more hardships for working people — particularly the most oppressed sector of Blacks and Latinos. Their “jobless recovery” is nothing but a cruel joke for the majority of the American people.

The Obama plan is not a jobs-creation plan. Extremely little stimulus funding is actually going to create jobs. The only ones benefiting from this government largesse are the bankers, speculators and CEOs, whose hefty bonuses are finally getting some media attention of late.

The labor movement needs to put its own jobs-creation program on the table and fight like hell to win it. It needs to craft a bill for the U.S. Congress that bans all layoffs and that creates full employment through a genuine public-works, jobs-creation program.

But the question then arises: How will the labor movement, in alliance with all the communities of the oppressed, get its voice heard? How can it best press for a real jobs-creation program?

“When Do We March on Washington?”

The labor movement would do well to heed the call issued by filmmaker Michael Moore. What Moore says below in relation to the fight for single-payer healthcare applies, as well, to the fight for jobs for all.

On Sept. 14, Michael Moore premiered his new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh. The film showing followed a march of 1,400 unionists and healthcare activists in the streets of Pittsburgh who chanted “Health Care is a Right” and “Single-Payer Now.”

In his introduction to the film, Moore stated:

"I am honored that the U.S. premiere of my film will be held in just a few minutes here in Pittsburgh at the convention of the great confederation of our unions. ... We're at a turning point. A majority of the American people want universal healthcare with a strong government component. They have spoken.

"Let the politicians make the compromises they feel they need to make. That's not our fight. We don't have to make any compromises. We need to fight for what we want. We must keep fighting."

Moments later, a healthcare activist cried out from audience and posed a question to Moore that has been on the minds of thousands of unionists and single-payer activists across the country. She stated,

"My name is Joella Bouchard-Mudry and I am the president of the A&R Retirees Council [affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers -- Ed. note] in Hartford, Conn., and I have one question: When do we march in Washington?"

Moore's response was to the point:

"I think we need to do this. To see a small minority of rabid right-wingers at the town-hall meetings and in the streets of Washington makes me say, 'Where are we?' They think they're going to win. They are organized. We need to do the same. We need to take to the streets. We need to get organized.

"Seventy-five percent of the country wants universal healthcare, wants the government involved in universal healthcare. ... Maybe by Thursday [the closing day of the convention -- Ed. note] the AFL-CIO will call a date when we all have to be in Washington, D.C."

Moore's response received a thunderous ovation from the convention delegates.

The time is now to organize a national march in Washington, D.C. -- a Solidarity Day III march -- for jobs and single-payer healthcare!  — The Editors