Immigration and the American Economy
with
Dave Dyssegaard Kallick, with the Fiscal Policy Institute’s  Immigration Research Initiative that examines the role of immigrants in the New York State economy and beyond

and
Cal Soto, National Rights Coordinator with the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) committed to improve the lives of day laborers in the United States - to protect and expand their civil, labor and human rights. 

Few government policies can have so profound an impact on a nation as immigration. Large numbers of immigrants and their descendants have a significant impact on the cultural, political, and economic situation in their new country. Over the last 3 decades, socio-economic conditions, and the scourge of war and terror campaigns against the population have caused 25 million people to leave their homelands and emigrate legally to the United States.  Additionally, it’s estimated that the undocumented population grows by 400,000 to 500,000 each year.  

As in the past, immigration has sparked an intense debate over the costs and benefits of such a large number of people entering the country. One of the central aspects of the immigration debate is its impact on the American economy.  Presently the debate has been controlled by the white nationalist rants of Donald Trump and others in the Republican Party. But, we’re here to debunk the myths, counter the lies, repudiate the vitriol  and reset the

discussion 

There is a poster that’s stayed in my mind’s eye for years – it’s a portrait of a Native American, which says “if your so against immigration, splendid when do you leave?”

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Time for A New Economy Creating Good Jobs for All

And yes, another world is possible! There are alternatives!  It's time for a new economy! Two of the nation’s leading activists talk about creating jobs, jobs and more jobs and creating new economic models to realize another world is possible. 

with
Ed Whitfeld is a co-founder and co-managing director of the Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC) a private foundation that aims to promote economic democracy and cooperative economics in the U.S. South. In his work with F4DC, Ed helped initiate the formation of the Southern Grassroots Economies Project (SGEP) and the Southern Reparations Loan Fund.  Whitfield has been at the forefront of not just envisioning, but actively building a new economy grounded in justice, democracy, and sustainability. 

and  
Steven Pitts, Associate Chair of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education focuses on issues of job quality and Black workers. In this arena, he has published reports on employment issues in the Black community, initiated a Black union leadership school, and shaped projects designed to build solidarity between Black and Latino immigrant workers. Currently, a major area of his work involves providing technical assistance to efforts in developing Black worker centers around the country.

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Why MORE/New Action Candidates Contest Unity Caucus Seats for  UFT Leadership In Union Elections
with 
Jia Lee, candidate for President

Jia is currently a 4th/5th grade special education teacher and is chapter leader at the Earth School in District 1 and a public school parent. As chapter leader, she supported staff consultation committees on issues from micromanagement and professional conciliation and fostered mediation to support a democratic culture. She testified before the U.S. HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Senate Committee, on the reauthorization of ESEA. She is an opt out organizer with Change the Stakes and NYC Opt Out,
a member of the Stronger Together Caucus and a national network of social justice caucuses.
and
Camille Eterno, candidate for Secretary 
Camille has been an English teacher since 1996. She was elected to chapter leader at the Queens Gateway to Health Sciences and won grievances that were said to be unwinnable and organized her chapter into a force at many union rallies. As a leader in the Independent Community of Educators, she was instrumental in
the battle against the giveback laden 2005 contract. She is now a delegate from Humanities and the Arts High School in Queens.
and 
Jonathan Halabi, High School Division Candidate for Executive Board
Jonathan is a UFT Chapter leader and a math teacher at the H.S. of American Studies at Lehman College.  He’s been on the UFT Ex. Board 2009 to the present. Jonathan has said “Teaching is an honorable career. We help kids learn and grow. Their success is our reward. But not if we are mistreated. Not if our voices are ignored. Not if decisions that affect our schools are made out of incompetence and malice. We are running to ensure all our voices are heard in our union”.

Building Bridges brings to the airwaves the voices of MORE/New Action Caucus candidates for the UFT’s seats in the union’s upcoming election.  MORE/New Action says “if you’re tired of the attacks against teachers and public education; if you’re tired that our students’ education has been hijacked by a “test” prep curriculum focusing our time on “data” instead of teaching then
we need something different. A union that fights for the rights of students, teachers and communities. A union that fights for racial and economic justice inside and outside our schools. “We help kids learn and grow. Their success is our reward. But not if we are mistreated”. 

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Vulture Hedge Funds Circle on Higher Ground
as Puerto Rico Drowns in Debt
with 
University of Puerto Rico Prof. Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl, Working People's Party spokesperson and candidate for the Governor of Puerto Rico, and noted co-author of  Puerto Rico in the American Century A History since 1898

Puerto Rico’s fiscal perils are currently in the news.  It is an island with a poverty rate approaching 50 percent, a public debt that amounts to over $20,000 per inhabitant (more than its median income of $19,518). While most of the attention in Puerto Rico’s case focuses on technical issues relating to the solvency of municipal bonds and austerity measures, the history of U.S. policies have resulted in more than three and a half million Puerto Ricans being treated as second class citizens.  With a poverty rate of more than 45 percent (more than double that of Mississippi), Puerto
Rico has had serious long-term economic problems that, like its current massive public debt, have been historically papered over.  Meanwhile, the hedge fund vultures and Wall Street banks and lawyers charging over $1.4 billion in a seven-year period for charges like swap termination fees are circling Puerto Rico. They are sensing a fiscal death spiral they can feed off and caring little about the consequences for nearly four million residents as they manipulate a financial system largely devoid of any social conscience.  The bottom line is that Puerto Rico is the United States’ largest colony that it decided to take by force 117 years ago and has since treated like a resented orphan it has consistently undernourished politically and economically. Puerto Rico’s current fiscal crisis is, in this sense, really a crisis of American colonial policies and will the United States accept responsibility for the negative consequences of its imperialist past?  Prof. Barnabe Riefkohl, candidate for Gov. of Puerto Rico talks about this and  approaches for the Island’s recovery and more long term solutions for Puerto Rico’s fiscal problems.

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Workers Say Hell No To Verizon’s War On Union Rights & Protections
with
Pete Sikora, Strike Coordinator, CWA Region 1

Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers have hit the picket lines, in what would be one of the largest strikes in the U.S. in recent years. The workers, members of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), are fighting aggressive attacks on their compensation, job security and more--carried out by a corporation that has made $39 billion in profits over the past three years, but won't be satisfied until it breaks the power of their unions.  Verizon is attacking the workers medical, pensions, disability, overtime and is attempting to rescind “Article 8”, which protects the workers’ right to show up to work in the same place, every day, a reasonable distance from where they live.  Verizon’s proposed contract would also allow for closing more call centers and transferring the workers up to 80
miles from their current job sites, as well as opening the door to increased international outsourcing.  And, while there is already a two-tier system for job security the proposed contract would eliminate job security no matter how long you’ve been with the company.  Verizon is seeking to transform the company to be more oriented to Wireless and modeled more on the workplace culture of
Wireless, which is overwhelmingly nonunion.  But, the workers say you can’t break our backs and assert the power of the union to protect against the bosses voracious drive for profits and control.  

Plus, a special message from Bernie Sanders from the union picket line and discussion on why CWA supports Sanders for President. 

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