All posts by Robert Greenwald

Meet The New American Sweatshop

The professional carwash industry is a $23 billion enterprise, one which more and more Americans make use of every year. If you visited a carwash lately – which judging by the latest industry report you probably have or will in the near future – you may have noticed the fast and arduous labor of carwash workers. You have seen that even in the most extreme heat or cold weather, carwash workers are hard at it – focusing on every nook and cranny of your vehicle. What you probably missed – as is the case in many carwashes across the country – is that this work is accompanied by obscene labor abuses, health hazardous conditions, employer exploitation and intimidation. Carwash workers are the face of the new American sweatshop.

Carwash operators routinely violate basic employment laws like those requiring workers be permitted to take rest breaks or have access to shade and clean drinking water. Workers frequently work more than 10 hours a day, more than 6 days a week, without even the slightest thought of overtime. In fact, car wash workers are often paid much less than the legal minimum wage, sometimes earning less than $3 an hour or working for cash tips alone. Employees who complain about the exploitative conditions at the workplace are often intimidated and threatened by car wash operators.

A majority of carwash workers are Latino and immigrants – many do not have a clear understanding of their rights, which opens the door for abusive car wash operators to take advantage. Cuéntame has launched a documentary video and a national campaign exposing the sweatshop practices and is calling for individuals who have witnessed these or other abusive conditions at their local car washes to submit there stories on their website.

Cuéntame has documented how carwash workers are subject to health and safety hazards such as constant exposure to water and to dangerous chemicals without protective gear. Workers in the industry have reported severe kidney damage, respiratory problems and nerve deterioration. Most lack health insurance, services or protection and end up using up all their earnings to pay their medical bills. It is a shameful and vicious cycle with no apparent end.

According to the Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), an advocacy organization working to protect car wash workers’ rights, in Los Angeles, CA alone there are approximately 10,000 carwash workers that are potentially exposed to this abuse on a daily basis. This past June, the Clean Carwash Campaign helped a former Los Angeles carwash worker win an $80,000 lawsuit against his ex-employers who forced him for years to work early in the morning but prevented him from clocking in officially until later in the day. The campaign has been working to improve conditions and to ensure that carwash employers meet labor standards and abide by fair workplace practices, but there is still much more that needs to be done.

The exploitation of car wash workers is the face of a new American sweatshop, one that operates in plain daylight in our communities, in our neighborhoods and at our corner carwash. It’s time to stop turning a blind eye to it.

Why Do Politicians Want To Cut Jobs? Budget Cuts Equal Job Cuts.

We are in a painful recession.  Too often it seems like DC hears more about the concern of billionaires who don’t want to lose their tax cuts, and too little about the parent of two who works long hours and barely is getting by.  And yet Congress votes on whether the billionaire will have more, and whether the working class parent will lose his or her job.  These are the votes presently occurring, and which are being treated like a drawn out political game.

The proposed Federal budget cuts are turning into another political sideshow. The process of the budget is being treated as a chess game, a battle over politics and procedure, and one that may go on for a long time still, narrated by talking heads throughout.

If you are an American in need of a job, or one afraid that your job will be cut in the budget proposals, it isn’t just a DC soap opera.  The reverberations of the proposed cuts are drastic and personal.  States and cities throughout the country feel the impact of the cuts through the stories of those waiting with every news cycle to hear whether their job, or hope of a job, will be slashed.

The City of Los Angeles is a perfect example of this harm.  Los Angeles is already affected by the recession with a whopping 14.5% unemployment.

The proposed federal budget cuts are not abstract to Los Angeles.  They would eliminate funding for job creation projects, projects needed to help Vets find work, and they could wipe out training services for youth hoping to find skills, or the homeless, hoping to break the cycle of poverty.

In Los Angeles, the community is not sitting back and letting these proposed cuts happen without a fight.  Next Wednesday, March 23rd, Angelinos will rally at the Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles to say no to such cuts.  Cutting jobs is not the answer to recession budgeting.  It’s time that our government prioritized working people over billionaires.  

If democracy is to work, we have to hope that Wisconsin and Los Angeles, and the other communities that have had enough, send messages strong enough to penetrate the walls of Capitol Hill.  It’s time our government support those struggling to get by, and not just those with the money to access power in private backrooms.  It’s time we make it know:  budget cuts equal job cuts.  And America simply can’t afford to cut anymore jobs.

Wall Street Attacks Your Garbage Collector

The wealthy right wing have always liked to pick on the working class. And now Wall Street wants to blame Main Street for the financial crisis our country is in. Big bankers taking home large bonuses are blaming the childcare workers and parking-meter collectors in this country, saying that their jobs are the reason we’re in a recession.

If you stop to actually look at the people and jobs Wall Street is attacking, you realize that we need to stop the lies. Public-service workers make little money and do the hard jobs necessary to keep our country running.

In 2009, public service worker Joe Wisniowski made $40,000 as an Airport Equipment Operator for an Ohio airport. Meanwhile Wall Street raked in $20.3 BILLION in bonuses during the same year.

As Robert Bonds, a parking meter collections assistant in Detroit, puts it: “What is this teaching my son? You can work hard, go to college to get your degree, and it’s all out of your hands; your success is based on somebody sitting in an office somewhere on Wall Street… that’s not what I want him to believe.”

Public-service workers are coming under attack like never before. Wall Street has the money, the power and the media mouthpiece to spread lies about those who serve our country in necessary jobs. We can’t let Wall Street destroy the backbone of America. Join with us to defend public service workers.

PacMan vs. Palin? You Betcha!

Written by Robert Greenwald and Laura Beatty

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Meg Whitman: California is NOT for Sale

Meg Whitman truly believes that California is for sale. She has spent a record-breaking $140 million of her own money in an attempt to buy the state. But California isn’t just some eBay item Whitman can bid on.

Whitman has run 80,000 TV ads to promote her conservative version of a future for California. That one video above is fighting against the, at least, $60 million Whitman has spent buying up airtime and producing commercials for herself.

What else has Whitman spent her money on in this race? Here are some recent calculations. On staff and spouse travel, lodging and meals: $2,643,529. Fundraising events: $1,028,538. On campaign consultants: $11,085,653. On print ads: $4,247,724. On polling and survey research: $1,254,627.

In all of this tossing of money around like life is a game of Monopoly, Whitman’s true goal is an attempt to buy democracy. She’s acting on a belief that if she throws enough of her own wealth out to woe voters, she can buy their votes. As if California is up for auction and the deciding factor of who wins is who bids enough.

California is not for sale. Please share this blog and the above video with other Californians who cannot be bought.  

5 Reasons Why “Carly Fiorina No Es Mi Amiga” (Carly Fiorina Is Not My Friend)

Written by Robert Greenwald and Axel Caballero

Carly Fiorina, the 2010 Republican nominee for the Senate representing California, has launched a strong campaign to lure Latinos under two main premises: 1) She has always been a friend of Latinos 2) she holds the same values as Latinos.

Her campaign has launched a website titled “Amigos de Carly” (Friends of Carly) where she appears in a picture banner surrounded by what appear to be Latino business folks. The conservative group American Principles Project has also summoned millions for her and have launched the campaign titled “Tus Valores” (Your Values) in an attempt to make Fiorina appear as if she has always cared for Latino issues.

The problem is that there is absolutely no way to substantiate this. In fact as recently as the primaries Fiorina was speaking out against many of the issues and “values” that Latinos truly hold dear.

As a response the campaign The Real Carly: “Carly No Es Mi Amiga” (Carly Is Not My Friend) duly points out how Fiorina's attempt to lure Latinos is yet another charade of California GOP candidates who can't hide from their recent anti-Latino words and actions.

As part of this effort, The Real Carly: “Carly No Es Mi Amiga” project has put together a video, a more “adequate” picture banner for Fiorina's site, as well as the following top 5 reasons why Fiorina is not a friend of Latinos:
 
1. Fiorina pretends to be a friend to Latinos, but her positions on immigration, education and health care put her in direct opposition to the values that Latinos hold dear. DO NOT BE FOOLED, Fiorina is not good for Latinos in California.

2. Carly Fiorina fiercely supports SB 1070 and racial profiling in Arizona. In fact Fiorina was quoted saying, “This law [SB 1070] is necessary because the Federal Government isn’t doing its job and the people in Arizona are in danger.” (Fox News)

3. Carly Fiorina opposed emergency state aide to help teachers for our schools and Medicaid for our community’s poor. The emergency state aid bill saved the jobs of approximately 13,700-16,500 teachers in California and also funded Medicaid programs serving approximately 7 million Californians.*

4. California’s Latinos need a strong economy, and not a job killer CEO Senator with a history of outsourcing jobs and firing thousands of workers. While CEO of HP, Fiorina outsourced jobs and called the move “smartsourcing.” In 2003, she dismissed almost 18,000 people from HP. She had already created job loss in California, and we don’t need her to cause any more.**

5. Carly Fiorina wants to repeal President Obama’s health care bill which would help this nation’s uninsured. ***

Carly Fiorina: Runs to the Tea Party, Away From the Truth

Carly Fiorina doesn’t want all Californians to know how much she has courted and aligned herself with the Tea Party.

Even before this video was released, the Fiorina Campaign was already on the defensive attack, trying to take the public’s attention away from her Tea Party/Palin support. They are distorting the truth, hiding from the facts and hoping people forgot about her pursuit of the Tea Party.

Everyone in America has at this point seen and heard what the Tea Party is about. Our video uses carefully date-labeled footage of a Tea Party rally we had video for that occurred in March. We also use clearly date-labeled footage of an April Tea Party rally Fiorina spoke at, as well as a clip of her saying that she believes the Tea Party is “making a huge difference in the political dialogue in this country.”

The fact of the matter is that Fiorina has sought to align herself with the Tea Party. She believes in what they stand for and what role they’ve played in the political dialogue. We believe she should denounce them.

Why won’t Carly Fiorina denounce the Tea Party? Why is she actively trying to align herself with their style and messaging? Why is she trying to deceive the voters of California by changing the topic?

California doesn’t need our own Tea-Party-loving, Sarah-Palin-endorsed Republican. But as long as Fiorina is trying to buy this election, we’ll continue to tell voters the truth about who she is.