CPD IN THE NEWS

Una coalición de trabajadores latinos afroamericanos se reunirá este viernes con una de las personas más poderosas del sector económicos.

No vamos a hablar con un congresista ni senador, ni tampoco con el presidente Obama. En vez, le contaremos nuestra historia a una persona de la que pocos han oído; alguien sumamente importante, que está a cargo de dictar política: William Dudley, presidente del Banco Federal de Reserva de Nueva York.

La Reserva Federal es un banco central de Estados Unidos que en este momento es la más importante entidad de política económica, pues el Congreso no ha aprobado leyes significativas para estimular la economía y sacarnos de esta recesión. Eso significa que la Reserva Federal está tomando las principales decisiones sobre la economía, algo que históricamente ha hecho sin participación alguna del público.

Pero la coalición Fed Up, que incluye al Centro para la Democracia Popular, New York Communities for Change y Make the Road New York, se dedica a cambiar eso, pues la Reserva debe escuchar a la gente como usted y yo.

A pesar de lo que sabemos sobre la economía –la vida que llevan nuestras familias y su lucha diaria– miembros de la Reserva Federal como William Dudley se rehúsan a ver la realidad.

Tratan de afirmar que la economía se ha recuperado. Quieren aumentar las tasas de interés y dejar de estimular la economía antes de que el resto de nosotros siquiera tenga la oportunidad de recuperarse. Es una pésima idea.

El desempleo todavía es más alto y los salarios todavía son más bajos que antes de la recesión. Además, los salarios de los trabajadores afroamericanos en general no han aumentado en los últimos 15 años.

Dudley y otros miembros muy poderosos de la Reserva Federal viven en una burbuja y tratan de hacer que aceptemos el decepcionante nivel de desempleo y subempleo actual como algo normal.

Pero aún pasamos dificultades: el desempleo entre los latinos en Nueva York es de 8.5%, y el desempleo entre afroamericanos es de 11%. Por más que las cosas vayan bien en Wall Street para los amigos de William Dudley en Goldman Sachs, no van bien en Jamaica, Mott Haven, Sunset Park ni Washington Heights.

William Dudley ha dicho que la decisión de aumentar las tasas de interés representará un cambio tan profundo que será un “cambio de régimen”. Una decisión de tal magnitud es demasiado importante como para dejarla en manos de los banqueros de Wall Street.

Los desempleados, los subempleados, quienes trabajan demasiado y los mal pagados representan la mayoría en la economía, y tenemos el derecho a voz y voto.

Nos reuniremos con Dudley porque las decisiones más trascendentales de la Reserva Federal –las principales decisiones para toda la economía en este momento– son cruciales. Es necesario escuchar también las voces de los trabajadores latinos y de afroamericanos.

The minimum wage has already been an issue on the presidential campaign trail. Now, three national progressive groups plan to use it to pressure Senators in tight races to back higher wages or face a backlash on election day.

The Working Families Organization, the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, and the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund are teaming up with grassroots organizations in seven battleground states to educate voters about where lawmakers stand on a policy they say can help low-wage workers and the economy.

They also plan to pressure candidates who have opposed higher minimum wages or who haven’t picked a side. In the coming weeks, they are planning a series of actions they hope will influence swing voters, drive voters to the polls, and shame lawmakers into advocating for higher pay floors.

“There’s unprecedented momentum this year for raising the minimum wage. Voters are hungry for leaders who’ll take a strong stand in raising wages and frustrated with their Republican majorities in Congress,” said Paul Sonn, a spokesperson for the National Employment Law Project Action Fund.

While the focus is on Senate races, “partners in this effort are educating voters on where candidates for office from president down to city councilperson stand on raising wages,” said Mr. Sonn, who added that Hillary Clinton is a strong supporter of raising the federal minimum wage while Donald Trump “has been all over the map.”

With control of the Senate hanging in the balance after Republicans won the majority in 2014, the groups are betting minimum wage could be a pivotal issue in key races in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. They are in the process of scheduling protests outside of Senate debates, arranging door-to-door canvassing, organizing candidate forums and town halls and doing polling on the issue. Another tactic they plan: inviting candidates to spend a day shadowing a low-wage worker on the job, and possibly exposing those who won’t do it.

Republicans are defending 24 Senate seats this November, while Democrats are defending 10. Democrats need to win at least five net seats to gain back control from Republicans, or four if Hillary Clinton wins the White House and Tim Kaine is elected vice president and can break tied Senate votes.

Some of the lawmakers the groups plan to target because of the lack of support they’ve shown for higher minimum wages are Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who is in a contest against Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, and Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, challenged by Democrat Jason Kander.

In Pennsylvania, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey could feel some heat from the groups in his race against Democrat Katie McGinty, who has repeatedly called for raising the federal minimum wage. And in Wisconsin, they will target Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in his contest with Democrat Russ Feingold, who has made raising the minimum wage a pivotal part of his campaign.

Marina Dimitrijevic, the state director of the Wisconsin Working Families Party, one of the grassroots groups involved, said the organization plans to bring a crowd to a mid-October debate between Sen. Johnson and Mr. Feingold. It will also invite Mr. Johnson to a roundtable discussion about raising minimum wages.

“I hope he comes and listens,” she said.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and leading Democrats in Congress have gained no traction on bills to increase it. Pay floors have been rising in cities and states instead to as high as $15 an hour.

Hillary Clinton has said she supports a $12 federal minimum wage but thinks states or cities should be allowed to set higher rates if they have local support. She has stopped short of backing the $15 federal minimum many unions and other left-leaning groups are calling for, but she has won many of their endorsements nonetheless.

Donald Trump has wavered on the issue, saying last year that wages were “too high,” then saying this year that he would like to see an increase in the minimum wage. He recently called for a $10 federal minimum, though he said the states should really call the shots.

By MELANIE TROTTMAN

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Sen. Jeff Flake cracked a joke Saturday about the viral moment we was confronted by sexual assault survivors on an elevator last week over his support for embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

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The Huffington Post - November 17, 2013, by Farah Mohamed & Ryam Grim - In times of economic weakness, the ruling class has tended to pit domestic workers against immigrants, warning the former that wages are low and jobs are scarce because of the latter.

The effort in the United States has led to tremendous hostility toward immigrants, exhibited by then-GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recommendation that conditions be made so unbearable for undocumented immigrants that they "self deport."

With precious little Latino support, the Republican coalition doesn't need to reconcile its domestic and foreign-born workers. But the Democratic Party, which includes many Latinos, Asians and African-Americans, is strengthened when the various elements of its coalition see themselves as aligned in a similar struggle -- one for jobs, better conditions and higher wages.

It's the kind of strengthened coalition that two major grassroots community organizations say they're hoping to build with a previously unreported merger. The Center for Popular Democracy and the Leadership Center for the Common Good will merge on Jan. 1, to become a larger and better resourced Center for Popular Democracy, officials at both groups tell HuffPost.

The new organization, which will have offices in New York and Washington, and staff in California, Minnesota and Illinois, will be composed of 35 staff members and 11 core partner organizations with more than 70 partner organizations in 27 states.

"We are actually trying to connect the world of immigrant justice and the world of economic justice by bringing together two hubs," said Ana Maria Archila, co-director of the new organization. "We haven't seen this level of popular trends and organizations in a while, and our merger is really kind of at the center in the world of economic justice, worker community and immigrant rights."

The Center for Popular Democracy, based in New York, has worked with a range of organizations fighting for social justice. Some of its victories include reforming the New York City Police Department's stop-and-frisk policing, raising New York's minimum wage and forcing the passage of legislation requiring paid sick leave for 1 million New Yorkers. The Washington-based Leadership Center for the Common Good advocates for low- and moderate-income communities, communities of color and immigrants.

By uniting, the two hope to increase their reach. For instance, the CPD maintains that its strongest ties are with immigrants' rights and worker organizations. LCCG, by contrast, works with partners rooted within the African-American community.

The merger would fill a vacuum in strong community advocacy. In 2009, conservative provocateur James O'Keefe targeted the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a low- to middle-income grassroots activism group, in a series of videos which resulted in the dissolution of ACORN in 2010. House Republicans still include language in spending bills to ensure no federal money goes to the organization, even though it no longer exists.

But Archila and her new CPD co-director Brian Kettenring, who is a veteran of ACORN, see the new partnership as something different. "We're building something entirely new. We're not building a closed network," Archila said.

The new Center for Popular Democracy's mission, according to a concept paper provided to The Huffington Post, is to "build the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda." Staff will be organized around nine "core capabilities," including capacity building, campaigns and politics, and will focus on immigration rights and racial justice, economic justice, voting rights and democracy, education and housing, and Wall Street accountability.

"I would describe the new CPD as a campaign, policy and capacity-building center for community organizations," Kettenring said.

CPD will not launch new campaigns because of the merger, he added, but it does have projects in the works for January, including one that will focus on "articulating a firm vision -- a progressive vision -- of what public education should look like" and "defeating what we see as a corporate takeover of education in America."

By expanding the scale, strength and reach through the merger, the new CPD hopes to play an increasingly crucial role in the rejuvenated battle for social justice.

"There is tremendous energy in our communities -- in communities of color, in working class communities -- to change the way the things are done," Archila said. "There is tremendous political energy, and what we need is organizations -- institutions -- that will take advantage of that and will nurture that and drive it in the direction of concrete victory ... We know how to bring institutions together to make sure that it doesn't just mean one plus one equals two, but one plus one equals so much more. And that's what we think is going to happen with this merger."

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