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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>The Rev. Jesse Jackson has proposed a march on <?xml:namespace
prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on"></st1:State></st1:place></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=2><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on"></st1:State></st1:place></FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>Once again, in the immediate aftermath of the November 6 election, many
of those politicians elected with labor support are turning on us with a
vengeance. In the Dec. 1-2 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Nancy Pelosi
is quoted as saying, "Everybody knows that we have to have cuts, we have to have
growth, we have to have revenue. So why are we
stalling?"<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>Pelosi is expressing the dominant sentiment of Wall Street, certainly not
the sentiments of the great majority of the population, who oppose cuts
(according to the December 15, 2012 Gallup Poll, 74% of respondents oppose cuts
to Medicare as a way of coping with the deficit/debt
problem).<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>President Obama has several times made clear his readiness to support
major cuts in the safety net so long as he gets increased revenue along with
it.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>The Rev. Jesse
Jackson has proposed a march on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>. The ELN supports this
proposal, with the understanding that if it is called, it will not be just
"another march," but will have as its goal to mobilize millions, with every
effort made to reach out not only to our allies and partners but also to the 90
million Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid beneficiaries. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Such a demonstration should be
planned with a program of action that will demonstrate to ruling circles that
cutting these cherished programs will not be permitted. We are the majority and
there is no reason in the world why the bi-partisan politicians should be given
license to cut our earned benefits. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>We also need to be out in the streets in cities and states throughout the
country demanding:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4> </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>NO TO UNION BUSTING AND RIGHT-TO-WORK! </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>MEDICARE FOR ALL! </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>EXPAND MEDICAID IN ALL STATES! </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>PROTECT RETIREMENT SECURITY! </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>REDIRECT WAR SPENDING TO FUND HUMAN NEEDS! <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Labor
has made no headway in winning its top priorities under the Democratic
administration. These include a jobs program that would put 25 million workers
back to work; card check legislation; labor law reform; Medicare For All;
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">trade
agreements that guarantee enforceable workers' rights, especially the right to
collective bargaining and the right for workers to form unions of their choice
in all the signatory countries; </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">etc.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
again underscores the need for a new kind of labor politics, one based on
organizing as a class, not in coalition with the big business forces that
control the Democratic Party. A first step is to run independent labor/community
candidates for public office.</SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><U><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>Unity<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></U></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=4> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>Given the gravity of the situation, it would seem that at the very least
the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, National Education Association and other independent
unions could form a council to advance the cause of a united labor front around
issues and campaigns that all would agree to. The best thing that such a Council
could do would be to call an "Emergency Congress of the U.S. Labor Movement" to
plan a program of action that would permit the full power of labor and its
allies to be brought to bear.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=4>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-no-proof: yes"><FONT size=4>Issued
by the Emergency Labor Network (ELN)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-no-proof: yes"><FONT size=4>For
more information write </FONT><A title=mailto:emergencylabor@aol.com
href=""><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><FONT
size=4>emergencylabor@aol.com</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=4> or <st1:address
w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">P.O. Box 21004</st1:Street>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">OH</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">44121</st1:PostalCode></st1:address> or call
216-736-4715 or visit our website at </FONT><A
title=http://www.laborfightback.org/ href=""><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><FONT
size=4>www.laborfightback.org</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=4>. Donations
gratefully accepted. Please make checks payable to the ELN and mail to the above
P.O. Box. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>