The People's Summit: A Way Forward for Peoples Power
with
RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director, National Nurses United
and
Winnie Wong, Founder, People for Bernie & A People’s Summit Organizer

So you couldn’t attend the Peoples Summit, well we’ll provide a report back on the historic convening of organizations and individuals committed to social, racial and economic justice June 17-19, in Chicago to bring together activists committed to a People’s Agenda that can enhance and expand issue campaigns and hold all elected officials accountable to popular demands for justice, equality and freedom. The Summit envisioned as deepening the relationship between participating organizations rooted in principled anti-corporate politics, development of community leaders, direct action not based on partisan identification, and strategic organizing to build power. The Summit was devoted to key issues such as the Fight for 15, mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, voting rights and expanding democratic participation, a tax on Wall Street speculation to fund human needs and jobs, climate justice toward a sustainable economy, improved Medicare for All, the fight for free and debt-free higher education, secure retirement through expanding social security, ending HIV/AIDS, achieving Constitutional pay equity for women, and ending deportations and support for DREAMers, among others. WOW, that’s a heck of an agenda and aspiration and we’ll find out how it turned out! 

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Riding with Robin Hood to Take from Wall Street

and Distribute to Main Street!
with
The Robin Hood Tax campaigners who take to the streets

Think about it, in this the wealthiest country in the world the newest USDA data shows more than 48.9 million Americans lived in households struggling against hunger in 2012. But, despite this the House Republican Leadership’s Nutrition-Only Farm Bill just cut $40 billion dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the newest term for food stamps. They also voted to defund President Obama's health care law, setting up another fiscal showdown just before the October 1st  federal budget 

deadline. These draconian cuts are a renewed attack on all safety-net and poverty-alleviation programs. They say “where’s the beef, there’s no money”. 

But we say we’re sitting on a virtual pot of gold that could fund hunger, healthcare, and education.  So we’ll head to the streets of NY where Robin Hood and his followers say it's time to tax Wall Street to feed Main Street with a Robin Hood Tax.

http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgesTheRobinHoodTaxCampaignersTakeToTheStreets

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http://archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesTheRobinHoodTaxCampaignersTakeToTheStreets/robinhoodntl2.mp3 

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Nation’s Largest RN Organization Says Healthcare Bill Cedes Too Much to Insurance Industry
With
Jean Ross, Co-President, National Nurses United

San Francisco Hotel Workers Heat Up the New Year
Produced by
The Labor Video Project

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Nation’s Largest RN Organization Says Healthcare Bill Cedes Too Much to Insurance Industry
With
Jean Ross, Co-President, National Nurses United

National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, criticized the healthcare bill passed by the U.S. Senate saying “it is tragic to see the promise from Washington this year for genuine, comprehensive reform ground down to a seriously flawed bill that could actually exacerbate the healthcare crisis and financial insecurity for American families, and that cedes far too much additional power to the tyranny of a callous insurance industry.” NNU believes that the bill seems more likely to be eroded, not improved, in future years due to the unchecked influence of the healthcare industry.
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San Francisco Hotel Workers Heat Up the New Year
Produced by
The Labor Video Project

Over 1400 hotel workers and their community allies demonstrated in down-
town San Francisco, on Jan 5 against major hotel corporations’ refusal to
settle fair contracts. They were joined by Richard Trumka, President of the
AFL-CIO, and UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm, who along with over
150 union members and community supporters sat down in front of the Hilton
Hotel to launch a customer boycott of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
The action comes after nearly five months of negotiations and street actions
(including strikes), in which Hotel Managements have called for cutbacks while
the workers have been seeking modest increases to sustain health care and
retirement benefits. Meanwhile, despite the economic downturn, major hotel
companies have continued to prosper.

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