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New Orleans Hospitality Workers Demand Income Replacement During Pandemic

From our comrades in the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance, their demands of the city to meet the immediate needs of workers during the COVID-19 emergency:

List of Demands

  1. Immediate expansion of unemployment insurance. Change the current eligibility to include those who stay home during this crisis, who do not have paid leave. This should extend to all gig, independent contractors, and freelance workers. 
  2. Expansion of Medicaid to all who need health care.  
  3. Expansion and an increase of food stamps to all workers and families in need.
  4. Testing, ER visits, and treatment for COVID -19 must be free for all and administered at conveniently located test centers that are geographically dispersed. Expansion of testing must be done urgently
  5. Issue an order that no workers be fired for staying home  
  6. Immediate closure of restaurants, retail shops and bars with a guarantee that when the establishment reopens workers will get their jobs back. 
  7. Those who choose to keep working at essential places like pharmacys, hospitals and supermarkets should be given full protective gear. 
  8. Order a state-wide halt to evictions, foreclosures, water, electric and internet cut offs. (Including student loan payments and credit card debt.)
  9. People without homes should be provided shelter and utilities necessary to protect themselves from both contracting and spreading COVID-19. (We have enough houses to shelter every person in the city, and we demand that anybody in need of housing is granted access to one of our numerous uninhabited units.)
  10. Establish a system for no cost food  and other necessities distribution to quarantined people or areas and to sick or self-isolated households
  11. Price controls put into effect to shield workers from the disruptive effects the virus has on the global economy.
  12. Establish easily accessible centers to replace breakfast and lunch for all students. (Currently New Orleans has only set up one school each on the East and West banks. Closing the schools without many food centers will create massive hunger for Louisiana’s children.)
  13. Waive citizenship requirements for state and local benefits  to ensure all workers have the option to stay home and effectively contain the virus.
  14. Immediate release of migrants in detention camps and incarcerated people not convicted of violent crimes. (These sites are overcrowded with limited access to healthcare. This will improve containment of the virus and cannot be ignored. Provide remaining prisoners with free phone calls as visits are being stopped and deposit money in their commissary accounts especially as prisoners must buy their soap, etc.)
  15. Guarantee replacement income for all (on top of the expansion of unemployment)

The eyes of all workers in Louisiana, who are very aware of the huge inequality between legislators and government official’s income and health coverage, are on the actions of the government.  This is the time to suspend state and local corporate tax exemptions to provide resources for these measures. Suspend the city charter which gives $180 million dollars in tourist taxes to private companies, suspend the $300 million dollars in public funds that is being used for a private convention center hotel and the millions being used for the super dome renovation. 

These public funds MUST be redirected towards this crisis immediately!

We hope you will carry out the responsibilities to the people of our state and work expeditiously to enact these necessary measures.

Sincerely, 

The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance

504.444.9096

www.NOHWA.org

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Protect Trans Children: Withdraw SB172/HB466

The New Orleans Workers Group calls for the withdrawal of two anti-trans bills filed in the Louisiana State Legislature. SB172/HB466, which target trans youth in sports, are designed to humiliate, isolate, and encourage bullying of trans and gender non-conforming youth. The intention of the bill is to terrorize trans people and subject children to genital and hormonal testing by government officials.

This is an attack on trans people, gender non-comforming people, and all children in Louisiana. It is intended to scare trans people back into the closet by encouraging outrage and equating being trans with being a threat to children. It is intended to distract workers from the real predators–the capitalist class–preying on our children. We call for all workers to stand against these attacks and in solidarity with trans children.

These bills and others like it across the country, from South Dakota to Florida, are backed by five national organizations: the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, the Kelsey Coalition, and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

These organizations are funded by the Koch brothers, the Coors family (as in the beer), the DeVos family, war profiteers, the Mellon family of bankers, and other capitalists. The Family Research Council is classified as a hate group.

None of them are from Louisiana, South Dakota, Kentucky, or other states where these bills have been submitted. No one in these states has asked for laws like these to be passed.

These are the same tactics anti-LGBTQ forces have taken for decades. They know they can paint LGBTQ people as dangerous to children and pit workers against one another. They test them out, state by state, to see what will create the most division and the least fight back.

Workers across the U.S. have stopped bills like these; Louisiana workers must not let these capitalists divide us and terrorize our children. Stand with trans people! Withdraw SB172/HB466!

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Pass the Emergency Worker Dignity and Safety Ordinance!

The disaster at the Hard Rock was preventable. Workers had documented the shoddy construction and corners cut days before the collapse, but the bosses ignored their warnings. In order to prevent another deadly incident of this sort, workers urgently need to be able to walk off the job if they deem the worksite a threat to their lives. If this right cannot be enforced by a union contract, it should be protected by city law. Every worker in New Orleans deserves this basic protection.

Workers should be free to exercise their rights without fear of retaliation or loss of work and wages; otherwise, a right is a right in name only. The case of Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, the Hard Rock worker who was captured by ICE and deported for taking the courageous step of blowing the whistle on criminal developers, should be an outrage to all workers. To tolerate this type of terrorism is to give the bosses a free pass to walk over any right or protection that stands in the way of their profits.

The New Orleans Workers Group has proposed and is petitioning signatures for the following Emergency Worker Dignity and Safety Ordinance to be passed by the city as soon as possible. Sign the petition here. The ordinance is as follows:

  • The City’s immediate response and top priority is to properly and safely remove people’s bodies from an accident site so that their families can begin to have closure.
  • Any group of workers who decide that their job site conditions are unsafe have the right to walk off the job free of penalty and with the day’s pay.
  • Such action, and/or any potential accident, will immediately trigger an independent investigation.
  • Workers who walk off their job for safety concerns will be protected from termination.
  • Workers classified as 1099 contractors are protected under the ordinance.
    Workers’ rights to walk off the job due to safety concerns are protected under the ordinance regardless of documentation status and are protected from ICE involvement and deportation.
  • All workers who utilize their right to walk off an unsafe job are protected from retaliation and termination should they go to the press about their experience. This is to protect “whistleblowers.”
  • Workers will receive full pay and benefits for the time they are unable to work until employers address the workplace safety conditions.

To get involved in the campaign to pass the Emergency Worker Dignity and Safety Ordinance, contact the New Orleans Workers Group:

nolaworkersgroup@gmail.com or 504-671-7853.

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New Orleans: Demand City Return Killed Hard Rock Workers to Their Families Before Demolition

Five months have gone by and the Hard Rock building still stands as a testimony to the murderous greed of the developer group 1031 Canal Development, LLC and the criminal indifference of the city. For killing three workers, causing injuries to 18 workers and lost wages for hundreds more, and for disrupting bus service on 21 lines, the developers have yet to be charged with any crime. Nor have they paid a dime for the havoc their greed and negligence has caused.

Worse, five months have gone by and the remains of two of the workers killed in the disaster, Quinnyon Wimberley and Jose Ponce Arreola, have yet to be removed from the rubble. Their families have been denied the basic dignity of a proper burial while the city claims to have already spent more $12 million to deal with the fallout from the collapse. New Orleans residents deserve a full accounting of this figure. How much of this money could have been spent hiring a crew that specializes in excavating human remains from buildings damaged by earthquakes or bombings?

Now, against the wishes of the mourning families, Mayor Cantrell has ordered the building to be demolished with the bodies of the killed workers inside. This outrage cannot stand. The city estimates that the demolition and recovery will cost an additional $11 million at least. This money should go towards the safe removal of the killed workers before the building is imploded. The families of Quinnyon Wimberley and Jose Ponce Arreola deserve respect!

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International Working Women’s Day Is March 8

New Orleans Peoples Assembly leads the 2019 International Working Women’s Day March.

By Sanashihla

On Sunday, March 8, the New Orleans Peoples Assembly will host its 2nd Annual International Working Women’s Day demonstration, rallying at Congo Square at 1:00pm, followed by a march to the steps of City Hall. The purpose of the demonstration is to build local and international solidarity of working class women to end what causes us harm, while building toward the new society that we so urgently need and want.

This year’s theme is anchored in a demand for higher wages. The minimum wage in New Orleans, and the entire state of Louisiana, remains unchanged since 2008 at $7.25, with no current signs of rising above that amount. This is despite the constant increase in the cost of housing, healthcare, childcare, food, water, etc.!

New Orleans blames Baton Rouge and says that it cannot raise wages without the state’s cooperation. The state of Louisiana, primarily run by white conservative Republican men, caters to the greed of the rich ruling class of Louisiana and refuses to concede to the demands of the people. Yet the local government (currently led by Democrats) is not actively challenging the dictates of the state. Ever wonder why?

All of this is a problem. However, WE ARE THE SOLUTION! Our revolutionary sister Assata Shakur said, “People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.” Now, in 2020 nobody wants to think of ourselves as enslaved. Yet, if the material conditions demonstrate that forces are placed upon our people that are oppressive, we need to work actively to change those conditions.

Though we are no longer facing literal chattel enslavement, we face enslavement by new names and in new ways, from mass incarceration to the reformed exploitation of labor called “wage enslavement.”

Just as our ancestors who resisted chattel enslavement fought back, and won to move the needle forward, we must continue to the struggle toward complete liberation. When we fight, we win! Join us in the streets on Sunday, March 8 at 1:00pm!

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How Should We Fight Back and Exert Power? Women, Workers, Youth: Take to the Streets!

By Gavrielle Gemma

All eyes are focused on the upcoming presidential election to replace Trump who represents the filthy rich capitalist class. Trump has declared war on workers, women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, the environment, social security and Medicaid, and on all the species of the planet. Trump is funneling trillions of taxpayer dollars to war profiteers, private prison companies, and militarized police, and he is best friend to every racist, ultra-right, anti-working-class dictator in the world.

The Sanders campaign has unleashed a movement that is either anti-capitalist or else critical of capitalism. That many in this movement believe in some form of socialism is a breath of fresh air in the United States. This movement challenges the attacks on social programs that have become the status quo in the U.S. for the last 50 years. Hopefully this movement will grow and continue its political development so as to stimulate a struggle. Already, the movement is more progressive than Sanders himself—especially against imperialist war.

Relying on elections alone puts the movement in a precarious position. Even if Sanders wins the nomination, it’s doubtful the capitalist backers of the Democratic Party will throw their support behind him. The capitalist system is not democratic, as it is presented to be. For example, both parties agree with the undemocratic appointing of the Supreme Court and federal judges for life.

The exploitation of workers, racism, and sexual oppression are built into this system, which will continue to ravage life in order to keep profits flowing to the capitalist class.

If the Democratic Party does not see our movement in the streets on all our issues of concern, they will at best halt the attacks but not reverse them. And Sanders himself, a long-time participant in capitalist politics, needs to feel the heat. He has already indicated he would go to war with Iran, North Korea, and support “humanitarian” (what a lie!) interventions. Notwithstanding a few slipped comments about the great things Cuba has done—which he followed up with the usual imperialist slanders—Sanders ignores the right of self-determination for the people of Venezuela and has done nothing to support Bolivian workers, peasants, and indigenous people in their fight to unseat their capitalist rulers who are violent reactionaries and puppets of the U.S. We cannot separate domestic policy from foreign policy. This error always leads to disaster.

Sanders, who does not want workers to replace the capitalist state with a state for themselves, has sown confusion around his use of the term “socialism.” Sanders is setting the stage for mass disillusionment by merely promising the rewards of “socialism” without promoting the need for workers to orient their struggle towards the total seizure of power from the capitalists.

This has been the historic role of social democrats, especially in Europe, who enjoyed great working-class support and electoral victories. But once in office, their collaboration with the capitalists reversed the course of progress. Failing to really unseat capitalism has led many European workers to turn to right wing parties.

On the other hand, the movement could turn in a revolutionary mass direction.
A movement that does not look to the path ahead will falter. A movement that stays solely in the realm of electoral politics will not win. Many say, “Well, what do you call for? After all, we propose a concrete change.” So do Revolutionary Socialists. We’re not against the Sanders movement—just the opposite: it is potentially a great development. This is especially true for the thousands of young women, women workers, and oppressed women pouring into the campaign associated with socialism.

But why not take this movement into the streets? Laws have always come after the mass movements that won labor rights, civil rights, women’s or LGBTQ advances. Even if the Democratic Party wins, it will be critically necessary to unite and hit the streets so there is enormous pressure and a visible commitment to fight for the needs of the people in solidarity with the workers and oppressed nations of the world.

When the civil rights act of 1966 was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, there were three justices who were in the KKK, and they voted for it. How do you explain that? It was the power of the people in the streets everywhere.

Women are powerful; we are the rock in every industry in every city in every state. The work of women—paid and unpaid—moves society forward. But without organized action, that power is only potential.

Our challenge is to organize, unite and exert a power that cannot be ignored. This is what the women of Chile, Iraq, the First Nations of Canada, India, Brazil, and many more countries are showing the world under difficult circumstances. We cannot be lulled into the false belief that we can change the world by pulling a voting lever alone. We must fight to win.

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Reject Billionaires’ Red-Baiting Of Bernie Sanders! Defend and Fight for Revolutionary Socialism!

By Malcolm Suber

The billionaire ruling class and its bought-and-paid-for politicians, newspaper editorial writers, and TV talking heads are in a tizzy about the possibility that Bernie Sanders, an avowed democratic socialist, could win the Democratic party presidential nomination. They ask: haven’t our scare tactics and fairy tales worked? Have we produced a century of anti-socialist propaganda in vain? Haven’t workers and youth absorbed our basic teaching that capitalism = good; socialism = bad?

Never mind that the rich U.S. ruling class, with its much hyped “freedom of speech,” has done everything in its power to suppress dissent among the working class and oppressed. The billionaires’ control over public education give them years to hammer into our heads that the “free enterprise system” is preferable to “collective ownership.”

The purpose of red-baiting is to prevent the working class and the oppressed from discovering their own history of struggle to achieve checks on the rapacious greed and disregard for human life by the capitalist class. The 8-hour day, the elimination of child labor; the right to have unions, sick pay and paid vacation time, as well as the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid are all progressive reforms wrested from the ruling class through working class struggle.

The U.S. ruling class downplays the revolutionary, violent struggle that led to the founding of this country. “Revolution” is treated as an historical event that was perhaps good and necessary in the 18th century but dangerous today.

Don’t be fooled: to end the rule of the capitalist class, revolution is certainly needed today. Our task is to organize the workers through teaching and defending our revolutionary history as an inspiration and guide to our struggle today.

The billionaire ruling class and its flunkies in the bourgeois state are dismayed at the popular interest in socialism, no matter what brand. A majority of workers and youth are beginning to realize that capitalism holds no hope for the future. This terrifies the billionaires because in a socialist society they would be forced to give up some of their ill-gotten gains. Just about everyone except for billionaires accepts that they should not be allowed to dodge all taxes and shuffle their stolen wealth among off-shore bank accounts.

Both capitalist political parties, Democrats and Republicans are the willing tools of the ruling class and allow the rich to control the US government. Most of the laws proposed by Congresspeople and Senators are actually written by the paid lobbyists of the rich. The capitalists ply “our” representatives with bribes, convincing them that they too can enjoy the leisurely life of the rich if only they pledge to be sponsors for the lucrative government contracts that are awarded to their companies.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) leadership is panicking because their rigged primary system is actually proving an avenue for more people to examine Bernie Sanders’ Democratic Socialism. They are trying to force a Biden v. Sanders showdown where Biden will champion the line that socialism is an unwinnable with the USA electorate. We believe that workers will choose socialism, the only system that promises improved living and working conditions for the masses of people ground down by the current capitalist regime.

We are duty-bound to beat back the vicious red-baiting unleashed by the ruling class. Let us have discussions about the kind of society that best advances the living conditions of the working class.

At the same time, we must distinguish reform and revolution. Reform leaves in place the private ownership of the main means of production such as factories, mines, utilities, banks, etc. Revolution calls for the rule of the working class under which the property of the rich will become the property of the working majority, democratically run and administered to meet the needs of the working class.

We must fight to counter the confusion and deceptions advanced by the capitalists and all their propaganda outlets. We must make the case for revolutionary socialism.

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Democrats Used Impeachment to Promote War

By Milton Meyer

The Democrats did not impeach Trump for putting children in cages or for advocating white supremacist terrorism. Nor did they impeach him for the crimes against humanity he has committed against the people of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Yemen, Afghanistan, or Iran. For these reasons and more, millions of workers would have loved to see Trump impeached. But the capitalist Democratic party wouldn’t dare inflame workers’ rage over the real causes of our troubles whether they be low wages, endless wars, or the constant onslaught of racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ attacks.

On questions of unending wars, the slashing of social programs, the militarization of the police, mass incarceration, and tax breaks for the rich, Republicans and the Democrats differ only in the details. Both parties are dominated by Wall Street banks, fossil fuel companies, and the military industrial complex. However, while the openly white supremacist Republicans focus their energy on scapegoating immigrants and demonizing Muslims, the Democrats prefer to stoke fears that the Russians are the root of all our problems.

The Democrats could have impeached Bush for starting illegal wars, placing the entire U.S. population under surveillance, or authorizing torture. The Republicans could have impeached Obama for waging 11 illegal wars, ordering drone assassinations, or using the military as a domestic police force. Trump could have been impeached for his Muslim ban, his criminal neglect of Puerto Rico, or his support for the genocidal war on the people of Yemen. But these crimes are apparently not “impeachable” because both parties would have to indict themselves.

The Democrats centered their impeachment around Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine in order to depict him as “soft” on Russia, reinforcing their absurd claim that Trump is aided by the Kremlin in his war on “American democracy.” Never mind the disturbing fact that next month the U.S. will deploy 20,000 troops to participate in hostile war games on Russia’s border.

In addition to stoking anti-Russian paranoia, the Democrats figured their impeachment of Trump would enable them to pose as the “resistance” to Trump while millions of workers really are desperate to resist his attacks. But as the countless testimonies of generals and CIA analysts made clear, the Democrats’ fake “resistance” was never mounted on behalf of workers but on behalf of the enemies of the workers: the generals and the millionaires on the boards of war profiteering companies. Without the real support of the masses, their case for impeachment flopped. In effect, Trump is emboldened to wield his power even more recklessly.

The impeachment farce should make clear to workers that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent the interests of the working majority of the country. We cannot depend on these capitalist parties to safeguard our rights. We must build an independent movement—of workers and for workers—to finally free ourselves of would-be fascists and war profiteers.

Send Trump To Jail

Trump Gives Tax Cuts to Billionaires & Trillions to War Profiteers.
Pardons Millionaire Criminals
Tells Workers, “F” You
Wants Budget Cuts To:
Social Security, Medicaid
Food Stamps, Housing Assistance
Environment, Species Preservation
Education, Disability Programs
Trump is Gutting Civil Rights, While Supporting Racists
He Attacks Women and LGBTQ People
PUT THIS CRIMINAL IN JAIL AND NO PARDON!

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A Poem in Support of a Fully Funded Relocation for the Residents of Gordon Plaza

by Ryan Jones

Dear mayor,
in the office
hear my call
my people are dying
while you having a ball,
with death lingering
under our feet
for years
y’all refuse to hear us speak,
people had to die more can come
but you sit and play games
like this is for fun
filling us with broken promises
covering us up with ash
y’all created prisons
and police cameras instead
and say that is that,
this is not fair
I’ll tell you the truth
you would not like it if this was you,
all we ask is to be removed
from the cancerous place called
Gordon Plaza you fool,
from the pain to the tears of the ones we lost
this is not us this is your fault
how can you do this? it’s easy to do
you do have the power
but instead you use it you cater to others,
take your time make sure they’re fine
but now is our turn as victory is mine
you will hear our voice; you will see us speak
and at the end of this fight there will be peace,
remove us from this toxic land or forever
we will make you understand,
may your guilty conscious haunt
you at night with the darkest
of your mind that you reside – we will win,
until then mayor – goodnight,
sincerely,
ryan jones

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Outdoor Workers Must Join Fight for Heat Protection

Louisiana farmworkers protest conditions at Bimbo’s Best Produce. Amite, LA in 2008.

By Nath Clarke

As summer creeps closer and temperatures start to rise, workers across the South are subjected to sweltering heat. With Trump and other politicians refusing to take action in the face of global warming, the problem will likely only get worse: because of a steady increase in greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures will continue to rise, and so will heat-related injuries.

The Farmworkers Association of Florida (FAF), a grassroots organization fighting for the rights of farmworkers and rural communities, has been one of the only groups to agitate around this issue in Florida. The organization, founded by and made up of mostly Black and Brown farmworkers, collaborated on several studies highlighting the heat-related health risks faced by farmworkers, construction workers, and other outdoor workers.

A report from Public Citizen, the Farmworker Association of Florida and an Emory University researcher found that in every single Florida county, temperatures exceeded the Center for Disease Control’s safe limit for heavy labor for at least 71% of days between May 1 and September 30. That’s 71% of days where outdoor workers were risking their lives on the job. Chronic exposure to such conditions increases the risk of dehydration, muscle cramps, headaches, nausea, and acute kidney injury.

The FAF told the Workers Voice they’d continue to agitate around this issue until the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issues a rule protecting workers from dangerous heat. Through petitions, advocacy, and workplace organizing, the FAF has already started conversations all over the South around workers’ safety in the face of heat stress; but the bosses and other members of the ruling class are already fearing for their profits and pushing back. If we truly want federal rules on heat stress to change, a massive movement of workers will need to support any such initiative.

All workers in southern states should support such an initiative. Louisiana has the highest rate of heat-related emergency department visits out of all the states in the Southeast. We don’t need studies to tell us what our lives show us: our bosses would gladly poison us with toxic chemicals, work us to physical exhaustion, or subject us to dangerous heat and dehydration, in the name of profit. Just as workers in Florida are rising up, workers in Louisiana must get organized to make sure our working conditions are safe.