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People for Bread, Work and Justice
2065 Kittredge #E, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 649-8173 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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2000 March and Rally in Oakland
to Protest Cuts in Welfare, Call for Living Wage for All
Oakland, CA: Chanting, singing and marching, two thousand protesters
marched and rallied Saturday, March 1st in downtown Oakland to
protest cuts in social welfare in an event sponsored by a new
alliance of over 100 national and Bay Area organizations. The
alliance, named People for Bread, Work and Justice, mobilized
unionists, church members, activists and welfare recipients to
protest recent cuts in welfare and to call for legislation creating
jobs and guaranteeing a living wage for all. Marking the day when
the first cuts in Food Stamps will impact unemployed Americans, the
spirited protest became the lead story on local television news
broadcasts across the region.
Preceded by a prayer vigil at Old Man's Park, the march
assembled at 11am at the Federal Building in Oakland where speeched
denounced the role of Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress in
passsing so-called welfare "reform" that will devaste the lives of
the poor. Rosa Bernard, a leader of the Coalition to Abolish
Poverty, called for passage of national legislation sposored by
Congressman Ron Dellums that would guarantee full employment. "We
need a change in this country that includes everybody. We know you
can't cut welfare if there aren't jobs, and there aren't jobs."
Protesters marched down Broadway, the main street in Oakland's
downtown, to a short minI-rally in front of Wells Fargo Bank where
speakers denounced the corporate recipients of government aid, even
as those corporations downsize and throw workers into unemployment.
"Cut the Strings" puppet theatre used giant puppets to visually
illustrate the corporate welfare received by many of the largest US
firms.
The march then continued down to Jack London Square, Oakland's
key tourist/shopping district for a rally at 1pm. Speakers at the
rally included Owen Marron, head of Alameda County's Central Labor
Council, Anuradha Mittal of the international Institute for Food and
Development Policy, Virginia Hall of the Emergency Services Network,
Nam Thia of the National Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Kathleen
Leon of the National Organization of Women (NOW), Sun Lee of
APIForCE, Malik Miah of the Machinists union, Wilson Riles of the
American Friends Service Committee, along with others representing
the broad range of organizations in the alliance.
The alliance stresses the fact that all working families share
an interest in fighting these welfare cuts, since the lack of full
employment in the economy means that more job searchers will drive
down wages for everyone. A key demand of the alliance is that
welfare and jobs policy by the government be designed to keep wages
high for everyone while assuring a living wage for all. Argued Rene
Picot of the Women's Economic Agenda Project, "If everyone has to
work now in order to eat, then we demand livable wage jobs, and
decent affordable housing, and child care for women who are over 54%
of the workforce. We want our people off the streets and in
housing."
People for Bread, Work and Justice was formed as a broad
alliance of labor unions, religious, social services, seniors, youth,
women's, political, and community service organizations dedicated to
organizing against the sweeping cutbacks in food stamps and welfare
(AFDC, SSI, General Assistance) pushed through by President Clinton,
Governor Wilson, and the ultra-conservative Congress. The new
alliance advocates the alternative of a full employment policy that
promotes jobs at livable wages, paid for by progressive taxation on
corporations and the wealthy to create a massive jobs program.
"We are looking for a national jobs bill," said boona cheema,
executive director of the social service agency BOSS and a leader of
the alliance. "We timed the march today because today is the day
food stamp cuts are implemented, with immigrants and able-bodied
people being hit in succession by April 1st. The total impact of
welfare cuts will be half a million people in California by June
1st."
The alliance intends to continue organizing in the Bay Area and
with allies across the country to move forward a new agenda for
economic justice and full employment.
Attached is the list of all organizations endorsing the alliance
and the March 1st march and rally.
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ENDORSERS OF PEOPLE FOR BREAD, WORK AND JUSTICE ALLIANCE
AND THE MARCH 1ST MARCH & RALLY (PARTIAL LIST)
ELECTED OFFICIALS:
State Senator Barbara Lee
Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson
San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano
San Francisco Supervisor Amos Brown
Berkeley City Council Member Maudelle Shirek
Berkeley City Council Member Chris Worthington
LABOR:
Alameda County Building Trades Council
Alameda Central Labor Council
San Francisco Central Labor Council
San Mateo County Central Labor Council
APALA
Oakland Education Association
Peralta Federation Of Teachers
Health Care Workers Union Local 250 SEIU
Social Services Union Local 535 SEIU
HERE Local 2850
Labor Party East Bay
RELIGIOUS:
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
American Friends Service Committee
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
Jewish Youth for Community Action
Third Baptist Church.
SOCIAL SERVICES:
Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS)
Central City Hospitality House
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth
Emergency Services Network
Food Not Bombs
Helpline
Prescott Healthy Start
Riley Center
Womens Economic Agenda Project
Coalition on Homelessness.
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:
Asian Immigrant Women Advocates
Berkeley City Council
California Congress of Seniors
California Legislative Council for Older Americans
Californians for Justice
Campaign to Abolish Poverty (CAP)
Coalition for Ethical Welfare Reform
Committees of Correspondence
Food First- Institute for Food and Development Policy
Gray Panthers
Green Party (SF, Contra Costa, and Alameda Counties)
Habitat for Humanity
Hayward Democratic Club
John George Democratic Club
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
National Lawyers Guild
National Organization for Women (NOW),
National Peoples Campaign
Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Peace Action
Peace and Freedom Party
Peralta Federation of Teachers
Progressive Alliance of Alameda County
Solidarity
Women of Color Resource Center
Alameda County Taskforce on the California Budget
APIForCE
Bay Area Policewatch
Bay Area Radical Women
Bay Area Social Investment Forum
Bella Vista Area Neighborhood Group
Berkeley Community Law Center
Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
Citizens Opposing Polluted Environment
Coalition for the Medical Rights of Women
Committee for Health Rights in the Americas
COYOTE
DataCenter
Democracy Center
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
hipMamma
Housing Rights Committee
Inter-Relations
International Socialist Organization
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
Middle East Children's Alliance
Mount Diablo Peace Center
National Committee for Independent Political Action
Noe Valley Democratic Club
Northern California Land Trust
People Opposing Welfare Reform
Political Ecology Group
Project Censored
San Franciscans for Tax Justice
San Francisco Liberation Radio
Speak Out! Speakers and Artists Agency
STORM
The Praxis Project
TUC Radio
Unity Foundation
Urban Habitat Program
US Vietnam Friendship Association
Vote Health
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Workers World Party
