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BTL:Jesse Jackson Supports Yale University Strikers...
...Makes Connections Between Labor and Civil Rights Struggles Excerpt of speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at Yale University, Produced by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
Jesse Jackson Supports Yale University Strikers; Makes Connections Between Labor and Civil Rights Struggles
Excerpt of speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at Yale University, produced by Melinda Tuhus
Over the course of several days in the last week of August, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stood in solidarity with striking workers at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union represent 4,000 office, maintenance and dining hall workers who walked out Aug. 27, 19 months after their last contract expired. They're seeking better wages, more protection against layoffs through outsourcing, and higher pensions. The average monthly pension for those with 20 or more years of service at Yale is $621, while the president of Yale, Richard Levin, recently got a deal from the university's board of trustees to pay him a pension of $29,000 a month when he retires.
Jackson has been in the streets rallying with thousands of Yale strikers and their supporters among faculty, students and community residents. He also held a private meeting with Levin after eight retirees conducted a sit-in at the office of David F. Swensen, the university's chief investment officer. The long-time civil rights leader was arrested on Labor Day at Yale, along with 18 others after they blocked an intersection in an act of civil disobedience.
Aug. 28 was the 40th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington, best known for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Jackson delivers a national address every year on the anniversary of the march. This year he spoke from a platform set up on a New Haven street where Yale employees have been picketing. Hanging from the platform was a banner with the words "Bux (as in 'bucks') et Veritas," a spoof on Yale's motto of "lux et veritas" or "truth and light." The following are excerpts from Jackson's speech, recorded by Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus.
For more information, about the demands of the workers and the latest developments in Yale's labor struggle, call HERE at (203) 624-5161 or visit http://www.yaleunions.org
Related links
* "Jackson Arrested at Labor March," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2003
* "Yale Braces for Long Strike," by Mary E. O'Leary and Mark Zaretsky, New Haven Register, Aug. 27, 2003
* "The Yale union protests in pictures," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2003
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:
http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to btlsummary-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to btlqa-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
betweenthelines [at] snet.net
*
Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions
*
©2003 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.
**
Excerpt of speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at Yale University, produced by Melinda Tuhus
Over the course of several days in the last week of August, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stood in solidarity with striking workers at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union represent 4,000 office, maintenance and dining hall workers who walked out Aug. 27, 19 months after their last contract expired. They're seeking better wages, more protection against layoffs through outsourcing, and higher pensions. The average monthly pension for those with 20 or more years of service at Yale is $621, while the president of Yale, Richard Levin, recently got a deal from the university's board of trustees to pay him a pension of $29,000 a month when he retires.
Jackson has been in the streets rallying with thousands of Yale strikers and their supporters among faculty, students and community residents. He also held a private meeting with Levin after eight retirees conducted a sit-in at the office of David F. Swensen, the university's chief investment officer. The long-time civil rights leader was arrested on Labor Day at Yale, along with 18 others after they blocked an intersection in an act of civil disobedience.
Aug. 28 was the 40th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington, best known for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Jackson delivers a national address every year on the anniversary of the march. This year he spoke from a platform set up on a New Haven street where Yale employees have been picketing. Hanging from the platform was a banner with the words "Bux (as in 'bucks') et Veritas," a spoof on Yale's motto of "lux et veritas" or "truth and light." The following are excerpts from Jackson's speech, recorded by Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus.
For more information, about the demands of the workers and the latest developments in Yale's labor struggle, call HERE at (203) 624-5161 or visit http://www.yaleunions.org
Related links
* "Jackson Arrested at Labor March," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2003
* "Yale Braces for Long Strike," by Mary E. O'Leary and Mark Zaretsky, New Haven Register, Aug. 27, 2003
* "The Yale union protests in pictures," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2003
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:
http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to btlsummary-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to btlqa-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
betweenthelines [at] snet.net
*
Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions
*
©2003 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.
**
For more information:
http://www.btlonline.org
Add Your Comments
Comments
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Jesse Jackson is a lifelong con artist who has enriched himself as an extortionist with the demands that employers hire his gang or else and by hustling for the Democratic Party. His arrest at the Yale strike was a complete publicity stunt to promote the Democrats, as this kind of arrest is usually just a traffic ticket.
The World Socialist Website of 9/3/03 at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/yale-s03.shtml
had this to say about con artist Jackson:
"The union bureaucracy has provided a campaign platform for two candidates in the Democratic Party primaries for US president, including Joseph Lieberman, the unabashedly pro-big business senator from Connecticut. Democratic Party politician Jesse Jackson has spoken before rallies and was arrested in a civil disobedience publicity stunt on Labor Day. Meanwhile, Jackson, who has a long record of collaborating with the AFL-CIO to sabotage workers’ struggles, has been actively cajoling both sides in the hospital workers dispute to come to an agreement that will put an end to that strike."
The Democratic Party is just as anti-labor as the Republican Party as they are the twin parties of capitalism. Joe Lieberman is the notorious pro-war candidate for president.
As we can see, the union itself is not very militant. From the same article:
"While the union has claimed that Yale is a wealthy institution with an $11 billion endowment, the union leadership is not actually demanding that the university accede to its pension and wage demands. It is only asking that the entire dispute be resolved through binding arbitration, something Yale refuses to do."
The World Socialist Website of 9/3/03 at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/yale-s03.shtml
had this to say about con artist Jackson:
"The union bureaucracy has provided a campaign platform for two candidates in the Democratic Party primaries for US president, including Joseph Lieberman, the unabashedly pro-big business senator from Connecticut. Democratic Party politician Jesse Jackson has spoken before rallies and was arrested in a civil disobedience publicity stunt on Labor Day. Meanwhile, Jackson, who has a long record of collaborating with the AFL-CIO to sabotage workers’ struggles, has been actively cajoling both sides in the hospital workers dispute to come to an agreement that will put an end to that strike."
The Democratic Party is just as anti-labor as the Republican Party as they are the twin parties of capitalism. Joe Lieberman is the notorious pro-war candidate for president.
As we can see, the union itself is not very militant. From the same article:
"While the union has claimed that Yale is a wealthy institution with an $11 billion endowment, the union leadership is not actually demanding that the university accede to its pension and wage demands. It is only asking that the entire dispute be resolved through binding arbitration, something Yale refuses to do."
For more information:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/...
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