Fight For A Fair Economy
Tax Day Actions in Saginaw and Jackson
Here is a summary of the Tax Day actions in Saginaw and Jackson that SEIU members participated in to support the 99% and the “Buffett Tax Rule.”
ABC12 – http://www.abc12.com/story/17512397/supporters-of
Supporters of ‘Buffett Rule’ gather at Saginaw post office (with video)
By Rebecca Trylch
SAGINAW (WJRT) – (04/17/12) – Supporters of the so-called ‘Buffett Rule’ chose Tax Day to demand action on legislation which was shot-down by the Senate Monday. They gathered at the downtown post office on Washington Avenue in Saginaw Tuesday.
The Buffett Rule was introduced by President Obama last year.
It’s named for wealthy businessman Warren Buffett, who has said it is unfair for him to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary.
The Buffett Rule would raise taxes for people earning more than $1 million a year.
Some believe that tax hike would level the playing field between the wealthiest Americans, and the other 99% who pay a higher tax rate.
“If they don’t raise the taxes on them, what are we to do? Who is responsible? The 99%, we can’t pay it,” said Patricia Mayo, a Saginaw resident.
Ernie Ahmad, an SEIU Local 517M member, brought a sign that read, “stop cuddling the super rich. Pass the Buffett Rule.”
Some people honked as they drove by, a sign of support to the protestors. “That means we’re fighting, we’re out here and we’re letting the American public know, Saginaw, that we’re out here. We are trying to be a part of the solution and not the problem,” explained Cheryl Merrill, the SEIU Local 517M chapter president.
Just Monday, the U.S. Senate failed to move the legislation forward. President Obama blames Republicans for blocking it. Meantime Republicans argue there just wasn’t enough Democratic support for the plan.
These protestors say they’re not done fighting.
“We have to continue to fight for whatever we need to do, we need to continue to fight. You know the fight isn’t over but if we don’t do anything about it, we don’t say anything about it, that’s means we’re just accepting it the way it is, and we have to fight for what we want,” said Merrill.
Meantime, Republican Congressman Dave Camp called it a ‘job-killing tax hike’ in a statement released Monday night.
Camp’s full statement is: “President John F. Kennedy once said that the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates now. Apparently, modern day Democrats just don’t see it that way. Instead, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have pursued higher taxes at every turn under the pretense that raising taxes is fair. Nothing could be further from the truth, and this latest job-killing tax hike will only provide them with more money to feed even more reckless spending. The real truth is not that families and job creators are taxed too little, it is that Washington is spending too much. There is nothing fair about the federal government taking between 30 and 40 percent of your income, especially on top of all the other taxes you pay – like sales taxes, gas taxes, and state and local taxes. Tax Day is a timely reminder that instead of increasing taxes, we should reform the tax code so that it really is fairer for families and so we can spur greater investment, innovation and job creation here at home.”
NBC25 - http://www.minbcnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=743146#.T47EpdUud3U
National protests in favor of the “Buffett Rule” reach Saginaw on tax day
Small group supporting the law organized by S.E.I.U. union
SAGINAW — The Service Employees International Union (S.E.I.U.) is fed up with what they call an “unfair” tax system. On Tuesday nationwide protests organized by the union reached Saginaw. NBC25 visited a group of about 2 dozen people holding up signs in support of the “Buffett Rule”. The rule is named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett who famously came out and said that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does, and then teamed up with the White House to try and pass legislation to change that.
“For him to stand up and say this isn’t right… the system isn’t set up right… we need to do something about that. That’s what we’re standing up for,” said protestor Roderick Pritchett, also an SEIU organizer. “We agree with him, he’s right.”
The “Buffett Rule” would apply a minimum of 30% tax rate to individuals making over 1 million dollars per year. Something opponents say could be a job killer. The bill is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Press Coverage of Jackson Action
http://www.wlns.com/story/17516667/supporters-of-warren-buffett-rule-protest-in-jackson
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/04/buffett_rule_failure_to_clear.html
New Solutions Focuses on Foreclosures in Saginaw
Saginaw Citizens’ Plan Makes Banks Pay When They Neglect Foreclosed Homes
Ordinance is one of first in Michigan to hold big banks accountable
On a rainy Tuesday, April 3, 2012, outside a dangerous foreclosed home abandoned by Bank of America, Saginaw citizens and leaders urged the city to become the first in Michigan to hold big banks accountable by requiring them to maintain foreclosed properties or pay fines.
“If the big banks are going to take homes away from our residents, they have a moral and financial responsibility to prevent those properties from creating blight in our neighborhoods,” said Grady Holmes Jr., lead organizer of Ezekiel Project, a nonprofit community organization. “What we are dealing with is a whole new round of exploitation by the banks that foreclosed on thousands of our city’s families in the first place. It is outrageous that the CEOs of Chase and Bank of America are giving themselves bonuses while our community pays to clean up the damage they caused.”
More than half of the nearly 1,000 foreclosures in Saginaw are bank-owned homes that can sit unattended for months, becoming eyesores, crime magnets and public health hazards. This decline drains city resources and drives down property values, starving the city and schools of much-needed revenue. The citizens group proposes a Saginaw city ordinance that would require all owners of foreclosed on homes, including big banks, to maintain properties in foreclosure or face fines.
“A strong foreclosure maintenance policy will enable our community to hold the vacant building owners – including big banks – accountable for the impact their actions have on our neighborhoods,” said Annie Boensch, a Saginaw City Council member and one of the initial supporters of the policy. “When banks and other corporations take over homes and walk away, they leave behind vacant buildings that endanger our families, hurt property values and drive residents away. Saginaw needs to put responsibility where it belongs by requiring banks to maintain foreclosed homes or else pay the price.”
Cities in New York, Illinois, and other states already have similar policies to hold banks accountable for their role in the continuing foreclosure crisis. Saginaw has been one of the hardest-hit areas in the country, with the sixth-highest foreclosure rate. [1] The ordinance would require owners of foreclosed on homes to pay a fee to register foreclosed properties with the city, including contact information, and pay fines if they fail to maintain them.
“The worst neighbor you can have is a foreclosed house owned by a bank,” said Nina Jones, a Saginaw resident whose home is surrounded by foreclosures. “These banks and corporations do not care about us. They are not here when kids start these empty houses on fire, or addicts use them as places to do drugs, or when someone is shot to death in the street, which happened on my block. I can’t even let my daughters walk to school any more. This ordinance won’t solve everything, but it is something important we can do as a community right now and we need to do it.”
Saginaw, like other cities, is forced to use precious taxpayer dollars to maintain foreclosed properties when they are neglected. It’s doing so at a time when home values are down and the population is falling, leaving the city with fewer resources to use. A foreclosed home can cost a local government up to nearly $20,000 a year, experts say. 2
“Vacant foreclosures are dangerous for everyone,” Saginaw Fire Marshal Greg Barton said. “We get many calls to vacant homes. After multiple fires, some of them are so structurally deficient they are on the verge of collapsing and they have to be torn down at the city’s expense. A lot of these homes are owned by banks that are absentee landlords who have shifted the burden onto the city, and they are draining taxpayer resources. Our city simply can’t absorb these costs.”
Saginaw Chief Inspector John Stemple said SCENIC wants to be able to do more to keep neighborhoods safe and clean.
“Residents have a right to expect the owners of a property to maintain it, and there should be the same standard for a local resident and a bank ,” Stemple said. “With a bank-owned property, though, the bank is often headquartered over on Wall Street, and you can’t even talk to someone about a violation. We need this policy so that everyone who owns a foreclosed on home registers with the city – including big banks – and we have the resources we need to hold them accountable. SCENIC has always been about solutions for our community, and this ordinance is a solution that everyone can get behind.”
View Op-Ed from a neighborhood activist about the foreclosures.
SEIU International Resolution on Public Services
The following is a DRAFT RESOLUTION that our Executive Officers and other Delegates will be voting on during the Public Division Day at our International Convention this May. This document was generated through several months of discussion by the Public Division Executive Board and many conversations with SEIU public employees across the country in November, December, and January. This RESOLUTION, when approved at the Convention, will set the direction for our public division priorities for 2012-2016. It should be our “north star” in all of our actions. It will be up for formal approval by the SEIU Local 517M Executive Board at the May 18th Board meeting.
Our Vision for Quality Jobs and Quality Services for America
We envision a society where the services we provide are the foundation of safe, strong and healthy communities.
To realize that vision, we must rise to overcome incredible challenges: the devastating effects of the Wall Street-driven financial crash that have gutted state and local budgets and the unprecedented corporate-funded attacks that have put the public services we provide and the very existence of our unions in serious jeopardy. The result has been even deeper economic inequality in our communities.
We see the effects of the crisis every day: People struggling because they are out of work. Families who can’t afford child care. People with disabilities unable to access the support services they need to live independent lives. Crumbling and potentially dangerous roads and bridges. The list goes on.
At the same time, the 1 percent—the super-rich and big corporations – are funding attacks on the services we provide by taking aim directly at us and our unions. They don’t want to pay their fair share for the public services we all rely on. So they are trying to gut our retirement security and eliminate our ability to have a collective voice to stand up to their 1 percent agenda.
As a result, 99 percent of us are paying the price and entire communities are suffering. What’s worse, they are trying to blame us for the budget crises that they helped create through coordinated efforts to starve our states of resources needed to provide quality services.
We are uniquely positioned to tell the story of what is happening in our communities and to advocate for solutions that restore equality and justice for all. To be successful we need new goals, strategies, and tactics that reflect the challenges we face and our imperative to build a bigger, stronger movement to win a more just and equitable society.
Therefore be it resolved that: The SEIU Public Services Division adopts the following plan as our Division’s contribution to the union’s goal of winning a fair economy for all. SEIU Public Services members will:
Tackle economic inequality.
- We will demand and win equitable revenue reform that provides enough resources to fund quality public services and forces the 1 percent – the super-rich and big corporations – to pay their fair share.
- We will be a pro-active voice for concrete budget solutions at all levels of government in which our members provide services.
- We will reframe the public debate about the role of government, public services, and the workers who provide those services and build support for the belief that government is an equalizing force in our communities.
- We will support the broader union program to change the political environment; by aggressively pursuing policies that benefit all working people, we will advance our belief that unions are a force for the common good and the primary solution to the economic inequality crisis.
- We will take on corporate-funded attacks on our jobs, our retirement security and our collective bargaining rights, and we will fight irresponsible efforts to contract out the services we provide.
- We will work to promote retirement security for all Americans by strengthening Social Security, creating innovative models to expand retirement security for more workers and advocating for needed reforms to make public pension plans sustainable.
Unite more public and publicly-funded workers to win good jobs and a stronger voice to improve public services.
- We will unite more public and publicly-funded workers in human services, child care, education, state and local governments and other areas where workers provide critical public services.
- We will continue broad participation in union-wide national campaigns to address income inequality and to help private sector workers win a voice through unionization.
- We will identify new opportunities that result from the restructuring of government and public services to unite more workers.
- We will build a stronger organizing culture by integrating our best practices into every campaign in the division.
Engage members on a broader scale and in a deeper way than ever before.
- We will build locals with strong member leadership by doing representation work more efficiently and by focusing resources and staff time on mobilization and leadership development.
- We will use the bargaining process to advocate for principles that seek to benefit the common good and reduce economic inequality.
- We will create more opportunities to develop and engage more member leaders. We will prioritize engaging members in actions that address broad economic inequality in our communities and in our efforts to unite more workers in our union.
Develop strategic partnerships to improve funding for quality services and build a stronger movement to achieve a more equitable society.
- We will lead coalitions in our communities, including strengthening partnerships among public employee unions, to raise revenue and to focus on the services we provide.
- We will join with strategic partners in broader coalition efforts to promote movement-building work and to support important priorities like comprehensive immigration reform and health care reform.
Build power for Public Services workers in the South and Southwest.
- We will develop leaders to help address the unique member engagement challenges we face in right-to-work states and help drive toward majority membership in our South/Southwest locals.
- We will grow our union in the South and Southwest in our current core industries, with particular focus on long-term growth in the key states of Texas and Florida.
- We will develop joint tables, training and leadership development programs with our strategic partners in the South and Southwest region around the 99 percent agenda and income inequality.
- We will call upon Local Union leaders to develop a union-wide platform to share strategies for organizing a Right to Work framework.
Our Call to Action
We call on our SEIU brothers and sisters in all of our divisions to join us in speaking out about the importance of lifting up government as a force for the common good and the critical role of reliable public services in keeping our communities safe, strong and healthy.
Wall Street may have recovered but the needs in our communities have continued to grow.
Together, we can raise our voices to make the 1 percent—the super-rich and the big corporations they control – pay their fair share to support quality public services.
Together, we can hold big corporations and the super rich accountable for the budget crises they helped create. Only then can we restore and maintain the services our communities need and deserve like safe roads, affordable child care and quality education.
Together, we can make sure that all working people can gain a collective voice through unionization, and a path to a better future for their kids and grandkids.
Together, we can build a movement to end income inequality and chart a course toward a more just and equitable society.
We need workers in the movement, in the streets, calling for an end to income inequality and calling for the 1 percent to do their part for a more just and equitable society.
99% Arrive in DC to Take Back the Capitol
This week, unemployed and underemployed people, students, community activists, union members, healthcare advocates, and occupiers from coast-to-coast are joining together to“Take Back the Capitol.” By day we’ll show up at Congressional hearings and the offices of K Street lobbyists, and by night we’ll crash in church auditoriums, union halls, and in tents around the Capitol.
The situation for the 99 percent is dire. Nearly 14 million workers in the U.S. are without jobs and income inequality is at its worst since the 1920s. Unless Congress acts swiftly, federal unemployment insurance programs will expire December 31–cutting off benefits to nearly 2 million jobless Americans in January alone, with more than 6 million cut off during the coming year. And while the middle class and working people are suffering, taxes for the 1% are at an all-time low.
If you can’t be in DC, you can still make an impact.
- Click here to send Congress a message as members of Congress deliberate the extension of unemployment insurance benefits for more than 2 million people and decides on deficit reduction recommendations. We’ll be stopping in on Congressional offices to remind members of Congress that the Capitol is the People’s House.
Bridge Action Press Coverage
The actions at bridges in Saginaw, Kalamazoo and Detroit have ended. View the press coverage of these events below:
Coverage From Detroit including video: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/protesters-shut-down-2nd-avenue-bridge-in-detroit
Coverage from Saginaw including video: http://www.wnem.com/story/16068390/occupy-protest-hits-midland-saginaw
Coverage from Kalamazoo: http://www.wwmt.com/news/detroit-1398500-michigan-street.html
Today is the 99% Campaign Visibility Day
On November 18 – 19th we will be following up our bridge day actions with a show of support for the 99% Campaign. The 99% Agenda includes: Good Jobs! No More Cuts! End the Tax Cuts for the Richest 1%; and Wall Street and Corporations must pay their Share of Taxes. The 99% symbol is rapidly becoming the symbol for the 2012 Election Cycle on behalf of working people across this country.
We felt that with so many millions of people unemployed and hurting, and Congress not doing anything about it, we had to do something dramatic to call attention to this crisis. In fact, Congress and its “Super Committee” are proposing Trillions of dollars in Cuts to programs for working people. That will cost millions more Americans their jobs while continuing to give the 1% richest Americans more tax breaks!
Members are encouraged to display the 99% signs in their homes, cars, workplaces, Facebook profile pictures, and computer desktop wallpaper to show their support for the campaign.
Signs for printing and distribution to the membership and the community and the Facebook graphic to use on Facebook and as a desktop wallpaper are provided below.
November 17th is Bridge Action Day
Join with SEIU members and community activists on Thursday, November 17, 2011 on Bridge Action Day. There will be actions in Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Saginaw. We will be highlighting the need for investment in our infrastructure and the jobs that these investments would provide. Michigan needs jobs now. Instead of giving handouts to big corporations, we need our leaders to stop the power struggles and focus on creating good jobs that pay a fair wage. By investing in our crumbling local bridges, we can put Michigan back to work and get our economy moving again. View the specific event flyer below:
America Wants to Work Rally in Kalamazoo
RALLY IN KALAMAZOO ON TUESDAY NOV 1ST!!
Tell Rep. Fred Upton: We Need Jobs, Not Cuts!!!!
WHAT: Rally calling on U.S. Rep. Fred Upton to push for more jobs, not more cuts as member of Congressional Super Committee
WHO: Local workers, community leaders
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov 1st, 5:00-6:30 pm
WHERE: Upton District Office, 157 S. Kalamazoo Mall
WHY: Michigan needs jobs now, not more cuts to vital public services like Social Security and Medicare. We need our leaders to focus on creating good jobs that pay a fair wage. The “Super Committee” needs to address the Deficit by asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share and closing tax loopholes for big Corporations NOT by cutting jobs and vital services or cutting the pay and pensions of middle class!
Members Protest Lack of Jobs
On September 29, 2011 a group of around 65 SEIU members and community activists protested outside of Congressman Dave Camp’s Midland office. They were protesting the Congressman’s lack of support for job creation and for the tax breaks he supports for the wealthy. Using slogans like “Where are the Jobs?” and “Tax The Rich, Create Jobs” the crowd conveyed the need for action on the part of Congress to fix the economy and protect the middle class.
Muskegon Activist Training Being Held
We Are The People – a diverse coalition of SEIU members, students, seniors, workers, families and organizations fighting to protect Michigan’s middle class – is hosting a Community Action and Organizing Workshop on Saturday, October 1st from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This workshop will provide local activists and those interested in community organizing an excellent learning opportunity focused on improving our local communities. It’s all free of charge, with food, beverages and snacks provided. This event is open to anyone and everyone who is interested in learning how they can play a role as a local activist in stopping attacks on working families and moving Michigan forward.
The event is being held at:
Stevenson Center
Muskegon Community College
221 S. Porterline Rd 49442 Muskegon
Entrance in the Back of Building
Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Topics will include:
- Amplifying our message of middle-class values jobs, education, health care, basic rights.
- Using the power of 1-on-1 conversations to organize people and build movements;
- Creating a local action plan together linking up with others willing to participate; and
- Holding Lansing politicians accountable.
Visit: http://wearethepeoplemichigan.com
Like us: http://facebook.com/WeAreThePeopleMI
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7hfxpZXc9s
We look forward to seeing you there!