Day of Outrage NYC Student Rally at MTA Headquarters
Protesting Metrocard Cutbacks
With
New York City High School Students:
Jordan Orvam, Kyle Maer, Francine Prince, Sherana Woods

NYS Governor’s Budget Attacks School Children
With
Alan B. Lubin , Exec. Vice Pres., NYS United Teachers
and
Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity

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Day of Outrage NYC Student Rally at MTA Headquarters Protesting Metrocard Cutbacks
With
New York City High School Students:
Jordan Orvam, Kyle Maer, Francine Prince, Sherana Woods

More than a thousand students from across NYC protested against a proposal passed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board in favor of serious budget cuts taking place next year. Among the most critical effects of these budget cuts is the discontinuation of a program which provides free subway and bus MetroCards for more than 500,000 city students. This outrageous plan will hit poor families the hardest and will affect many students ability to attend school and obtain the free education that they deserve
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NYS Governor’s Budget Attacks School Children
With
Alan B. Lubin , Exec. Vice Pres., NYS United Teachers
and
Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity

Governor Paterson unilaterally withheld $750 million in scheduled payments to schools and local governments. The impact of these cuts on education statewide from kindergarten to college level will be devastating, especially in the poorer districts. A coalition of teachers’ unions and local school officials countered with a lawsuit againstPaterson arguing that his decision violated New York’s Constitution. Paterson argues cut back while a broad coalition urges among other things tax the rich.

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NYC Transit Workers Take Back Union After Bitter Election
with
. John Samuelsen, President-Elect ,TWU Local 100
. Israel Rivera. Secretary Treasurer-Elect
. Benita Johnson, Recording Secretary-Elect
. Angel Giboyeaux, Administrative VP Elect

Brave New Films presents:Where Was the Fed
with
Senator Bernie Sanders

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NYC Transit Workers Take Back Union After Bitter Election
with
. John Samuelsen, President-Elect ,TWU Local 100
. Israel Rivera. Secretary Treasurer-Elect
. Benita Johnson, Recording Secretary-Elect
. Angel Giboyeaux, Administrative VP Elect

Subway Track Inspector John Samuelsen & the Take Back Our Union slate won the hotly contested TWU Local 100 elections Dec. 7 after a multi-year campaign of criticizing the administration of Roger Toussaint & Acting Pres. Curtis Tate over issues of union democracy & militancy. Their first priorities will be getting the MTA to honor an arbitration award granting union members 11% raises under a 3-year contract & fighting cutbacks due to the reduced revenue to the MTA.
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Brave New Films presents:
Where Was the Fed?
with
Senator Bernie Sanders

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in charge of the central bank since 2006, could have demanded that Wall Street provide adequate credit to small and medium-sized businesses to create decent-paying jobs in a productive economy, but he did not. He could have insisted that large
bailed-out banks end the usurious practice of charging interest rates of 30 percent or more on credit cards, but he did not. He could have broken up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that took Federal Reserve assistance, but he did not.

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President Manuel Zelaya In An Exclusive Interview Condemns
Sellout of Honduran Democracy

Building Bridges speaks with the legitimate President of Honduras in the aftermath of the country’s recent fraudulent election. President Zelaya urges the U.S. to reject the election, as the Honduran people have in their mass boycott of it, subsequent to the ouster in a coup of their populist, democratically elected President. Haunted by the ghosts of authoritarian governments not long in the grave, countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile have argued that an election held by an illegal government is, by definition, illegal, but the U.S.’s fingerprints are all over the coup as Obama supports the oligarchy and dashes hopes for a new engagement with Latin America. Andres Conteris, with the Program on the Americas, Director for Nonviolence International & Coordinator of Democracy Now! en Espanol also joins us from the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where President Zelaya has taken refuge.

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NYC Times Square Demonstration – US Out of Afghanistan

Jobs for All and A Green Economy by Cutting Military Spending and Taxing Securities Transactions
with
Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, Univ. of Mass., Amherst

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NYC Times Square Demonstration – US Out of Afghanistan

The day after President Obama announced the escalation of troops
to Afghanistan by 30,000, Demonstrations across the country
protested Obama’s War. We go the Times Square demonstration
in NYC protesting the War’s devastation as well as the resources
which could better be spent here fighting poverty and putting people
to work in this deep recession.
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Jobs for All and A Green Economy by Cutting Military Spending and Taxing Securities Transactions
with
Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, Univ. of Mass., Amherst

While the stock market is recovering, the official national unemployment rate is still in the double digits and the real rate, which includes underemployment and discouraged workers, is at 17 percent! Pollin argues that this jobs crisis should be addressed by a jobs program which includes shrinking the military and fossil fuel based economy and shifting resources to programs that create more jobs for the money we spend which are also in areas we need such as health, education, social services and green jobs. This jobs program would be paid for by savings from a reduced military budget and a national stock and securities transfer tax.

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Rally at NY City Hall Fights for Paid Sick Leave Now

Student Power Scores Win for Honduran Workers and Tackles U.S. University Budget Cuts
With
Jack Mahoney, National Organizer, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
And
Sana Javed, USAS Activist and Senior, University of Maryland

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Rally at NY City Hall Fights for Paid Sick Leave Now

Whether it’s the swine flu or another illness, workers shouldn’t have
to go without their pay, risk retaliation or even losing their jobs when
they are sick or need to take care of a sick child. But that’s the
situation for 1.8 million NYC workers and it’s not just unfair for them,
it’s a public health risk. Last week A Better Balance and the NYS
Paid Family Leave Coalition sponsored a rally on the steps of NY
City Hall where community and labor coalitions joined NYC elected
officials and special guest Gloria Steinem in supporting long overdue
NYC legislation mandating employers provide paid sick leave.
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Student Power Scores Win for Honduran Workers and Tackles U.S. University Budget Cuts
With
Jack Mahoney, National Organizer, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
And
Sana Javed, USAS Activist and Senior, University of Maryland

The often raucous student movement announced that it had achieved
its biggest victory so far. USAS pressure tactics forced one of the
nation’s leading sportswear companies, Russell Athletic, to agree to
rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when Russell
closed their factory soon after the workers had unionized. In addition
to organizing around the end to sweatshops here and abroad, USAS
is active in fighting against university budget cuts, tuition increases
and layoffs including the campaigns that led to the current wave of
massdemonstrations and occupations at the University of California system.

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