Solidarity with Puerto Rican workers

R E M I N D E R : Work session Wed ►Feb 5 @ 6:30 pm for Fri ► Feb. 7 demo Solidarity Center 147 W 24th St., 2nd Fl., NYC  RISE UP FOR THE UNEMPLOYED Restore extended unemployment benefits Jobs for All at a Living Wage FRI ►FEB 7th 12 pm @ The Stock Exchange Wall Street & Broad At 12 PM on Fri., Feb. 7, the Peoples Power Assembly and Occu-Evolve will hold a protest in front of the NY Stock Exchange to demand that extended unemployment benefits be restored. On that day, the labor department will issue the latest unemployment statistics.  Whatever that report says, the truth is already known: The real unemployment numbers — when you include all of the jobless people who are not counted in the official statistics — are consisted with a full-blown economic depression. The termination of extended unemployment benefits has pushed more families closer to homelessness and hunger. In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the financial markets over the past five years, making the richest percent of the population even richer. Activists and unemployed people will be on Wall St. in front of the Stock Exchange this Friday to say “bail out the unemployed, not the banks”. Extended unemployment benefits must be restored immediately. The Feb. 7 protest on Wall St. will also demand living wage jobs for all. It’s time to let the 1% feel our outrage.  ARRIBA LOS DESEMPLEADOS Restauren las Extenciones de las Prestaciones     por Desempleo Empleos para Todos con un Salario Digno VIERNES 07 de FEBRERO MEDIODIA en la Bolsa de Valores En las calles Wall Street y Exchange, Manhattan El viernes, 07 de febrero, el Departamento de Trabajo publicará las últimas estadísticas de desempleo. Ya sabemos la mala noticia. El desempleo esta a nivel de la depresión. Para empeorar las cosas, los beneficios de desempleo han sido cortados. Incluso más personas están subempleadas (trabajan de salario mínimo o de tiempo parcial y empleos temporales cuando necesitan trabajos a tiempo completo con salarios dignos). People’s Power Assemblies 212.633.6646 peoplespowerassemblies.org        PPA Meetings every Wed. @ 6:30 PM 147 W 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10001 OccuEvolve (OWS) occuevolve.com Meetings every Fri. @ 7 pm at 60 Wall St., New York City

WALL ST: HANDS OFF PUERTO RICAN WORKERS’ PENSIONS! Make the Rich Pay! Wall St. bankers have ordered the government of Puerto Rico, a U.S. colony, to do away with government workers’ pensions. The Puerto Rican teachers union held a two-day strike in January to protest this banker-driven austerity. To put more pressure on Puerto Rican workers, Wall St. just downgraded Puerto Rico’s credit status to junk bond status. On Fri., Feb. 7 the Puerto Rican Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the attack on workers’ pensions. The Puerto Rican labor movement and progressive forces will be protesting on that day. In solidarity with them, join with us on Fri., Feb. 7 on Wall St. at 12 noon to also demand ‘WALL ST. HANDS OF PUERTO RICO’ Global solidarity between all workers is the key to victory.

Source: an e-mail from New York City in the USA.

Puerto Rico’s government ordered across-the-board budget cuts of 2 percent on Wednesday and promised more austerity measures to come after the rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the island’s general obligation bonds to junk status: here.

For almost 10 years, since the expiration of a US federal tax credit that benefited corporate investors followed by the financial collapse of 2008, the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has suffered through an economic crisis used by hedge funds and bondholders to hold it hostage. As the island’s official unemployment rate remains above 13 percent and workers leave in the tens of thousands for the US mainland, predatory financiers are creating tax havens for themselves and using the federal courts to protect their interests: here.

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