by AlanMWolf on 2011-02-21 newsobserver.com blogs
A coalition of labor, civil rights and religious groups rallied in front of the General Assembly offices today to call for an end to North Carolina's ban on public employees' collective bargaining and to resist balancing the state budget at the expense of public sector jobs and programs.
The rally drew about 100 supporters who listened to several speakers representing labor, churches and the NAACP, staff writer Craig Jarvis reports. About two dozen people staged a counter-protest across across the street in Bicentennial Plaza, shouting and chanting throughout the rally.
Both sides cited the public employees' union standoff in Wisconsin, where that state's governor has proposed to reduce public employee's pay and benefits and to limit their collective-bargaining rights.
"In North Carolina and the rest of the Southern states, we are denied collective bargaining," Saladin Muhammad of the International Workers Justice Campaign and UE Local 150 North Carolina Public Service Workers Union. "That came out of a period called Jim Crow."
Coalition members filed into the Legislative Building to present copies of the call for a repeal on the bargaining prohibition to the offices of Sen. Phil Berger, pro tem of the Senate and to Rep. Tom Tillis, speaker of the house. Tillis briefly greeted rally leaders and agreed to schedule a time for a more substantial meeting.
North Carolina and Virginia are the only states that have a complete ban on public employee collective bargaining.
Randy Dye of Pittsboro, one of the counter-protesters, said the network of Triangle conservative organizations only heard about the rally 24 hours earlier, and didn't have enough time to mount a larger presence. "We wanted to face off with them," he said.
The conservative protesters carried signs reading "Unions -- Too Big, Too Costly" and "Wisconsin: Pass the Bill." They shouted "freeloaders!" and chanted "U.S.A"
The other side countered with their own chants, including "People's budget! People's budget!"
Showing posts with label workers rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workers rights. Show all posts
ACT NOW: Wisconsin Gov. Plans to Eject Protesters from Capitol
The Whole World is Watching!
The Capitol Belongs to the People!
Urgent: Protesters Inside Wisconsin Capitol Need Your Support
Gov. Starts Punitive and Restrictive Measures
The Wisconsin Finance Committee Announces Plans to Eject Protesters this Sunday at 4 P.M.
Tell Gov. Walker, the Wisconsin Legislature and the Obama administration:
DON'T EJECT THE PROTESTERS!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wisconsinworkerspetition.shtml
For 12 straight days peaceful protesters: high school and college students, families with children, workers from all of the unions including teachers, state workers, nurses and firefighters have continued a 24 hour presence at the Capitol.
The presence of the people inside is the only way to insure that the politicians and the bought and paid for Governor Walker heed the democratic will of the people.
The Capitol belongs to the people! We built it: we paid for it.
On Friday night, police were ordered to lock doors at 9 P.M. and to restrict people from bringing in bedrolls, blankets and air mattresses to make it more difficult for people to maintain their 24 hour people's lobby.
Prior to this, loudspeaker systems boomed all night long forcing people including the police to wear ear plugs.
None of this has daunted the spirit of those who are participating in the occupation.
But they need your support.
Many inside are prepared to go to jail if need be.
The time is critical-let Governor Walker, the Koch brothers and his rich cronies and all the politicians know that the whole world is watching!
Stop punitive measures! Defend the democratic right of protesters to stay in the Capitol! Eject Walker instead! Defend workers rights! Kill the bill!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wisconsinworkerspetition.shtml
In solidarity,
Bail Out the People Movement www.bailoutpeople.org
Please donate! Go to http://www.bailoutpeople.org/donatewi.shtml
Sign-up for updates at http://www.bailoutpeople.org/bopmupdates.shtml
The Capitol Belongs to the People!
Urgent: Protesters Inside Wisconsin Capitol Need Your Support
Gov. Starts Punitive and Restrictive Measures
The Wisconsin Finance Committee Announces Plans to Eject Protesters this Sunday at 4 P.M.
Tell Gov. Walker, the Wisconsin Legislature and the Obama administration:
DON'T EJECT THE PROTESTERS!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wisconsinworkerspetition.shtml
For 12 straight days peaceful protesters: high school and college students, families with children, workers from all of the unions including teachers, state workers, nurses and firefighters have continued a 24 hour presence at the Capitol.
The presence of the people inside is the only way to insure that the politicians and the bought and paid for Governor Walker heed the democratic will of the people.
The Capitol belongs to the people! We built it: we paid for it.
On Friday night, police were ordered to lock doors at 9 P.M. and to restrict people from bringing in bedrolls, blankets and air mattresses to make it more difficult for people to maintain their 24 hour people's lobby.
Prior to this, loudspeaker systems boomed all night long forcing people including the police to wear ear plugs.
None of this has daunted the spirit of those who are participating in the occupation.
But they need your support.
Many inside are prepared to go to jail if need be.
The time is critical-let Governor Walker, the Koch brothers and his rich cronies and all the politicians know that the whole world is watching!
Stop punitive measures! Defend the democratic right of protesters to stay in the Capitol! Eject Walker instead! Defend workers rights! Kill the bill!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wisconsinworkerspetition.shtml
In solidarity,
Bail Out the People Movement www.bailoutpeople.org
Please donate! Go to http://www.bailoutpeople.org/donatewi.shtml
Sign-up for updates at http://www.bailoutpeople.org/bopmupdates.shtml
Feb 26: Charlotte Protest for Workers & Against Corporate Tax Dodgers
"Since 2009, America’s most profitable companies such as ExxonMobil, General Electric, Bank of America and Citigroup all paid a grand total of $0 in federal income taxes to Uncle Sam."
Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Peaceful Protest of Corporate Tax Evader Bank of America
Bank of America, 8551 US Highway 29 North, Charlotte, NC 28262
We pay our taxes. Why don’t they?
U.S. Uncut is a new progressive, people-powered advocacy organization whose aims include ensuring corporations pay their fair share of income tax on the revenue they make instead of hiding it offshore.
On February 26, demonstrations across the United States and the United Kingdom are taking place to bring awareness to the practices of these huge companies, including demonstrations at Bank of America, Target, Amazon, and Comcast:
You read that right. Charlotte-based Bank of America has paid ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH in federal income taxes since 2009, despite having received $45 billion in tax-payer supported income. Instead of paying taxes, BofA funneled its income to 115 separate offshore bank accounts while it lavished bank executives with bonuses.
Answer the call to Action in Charlotte on Saturday (2/26)
What: Peaceful Protest of Corporate Tax Evader Bank of America
When: Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Where: Bank of America, 8551 US Highway 29 North, Charlotte, NC 28262
We pay taxes on the money we make in our state and in our nation. That money pays for our common defense, paves our streets and highways, affords police, fire, and other emergency responders, protects our air and water from pollution, and pays our teachers and builds our schools to educate our children. Ask yourself:
* Why are these corporate tax dodgers not also paying their fair share?
* How many more public sector workers will lose their jobs because of our state and federal budget deficits?
* How much more should you have to pay so the rich can get richer?
Click here to RSVP for this event on Facebook.
Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Peaceful Protest of Corporate Tax Evader Bank of America
Bank of America, 8551 US Highway 29 North, Charlotte, NC 28262
We pay our taxes. Why don’t they?
U.S. Uncut is a new progressive, people-powered advocacy organization whose aims include ensuring corporations pay their fair share of income tax on the revenue they make instead of hiding it offshore.
On February 26, demonstrations across the United States and the United Kingdom are taking place to bring awareness to the practices of these huge companies, including demonstrations at Bank of America, Target, Amazon, and Comcast:
Enjoying record profits and taxpayer-funded bailouts as the economy slowly recovers from a financial crisis, nearly two-thirds of US corporations don’t pay any income taxes, instead opting to abuse tax loopholes and offshore tax havens. According to this study from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, 83 of the top 100 publicly traded corporations that operate in the US exploit corporate tax havens. Since 2009, America’s most profitable companies such as ExxonMobil, General Electric, Bank of America and Citigroup all paid a grand total of $0 in federal income taxes to Uncle Sam. Tax havens alone account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade, money that could be invested in K-12 education, colleges, public health, job creation and hundreds of other worthy public programs.
You read that right. Charlotte-based Bank of America has paid ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH in federal income taxes since 2009, despite having received $45 billion in tax-payer supported income. Instead of paying taxes, BofA funneled its income to 115 separate offshore bank accounts while it lavished bank executives with bonuses.
Answer the call to Action in Charlotte on Saturday (2/26)
What: Peaceful Protest of Corporate Tax Evader Bank of America
When: Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Where: Bank of America, 8551 US Highway 29 North, Charlotte, NC 28262
We pay taxes on the money we make in our state and in our nation. That money pays for our common defense, paves our streets and highways, affords police, fire, and other emergency responders, protects our air and water from pollution, and pays our teachers and builds our schools to educate our children. Ask yourself:
* Why are these corporate tax dodgers not also paying their fair share?
* How many more public sector workers will lose their jobs because of our state and federal budget deficits?
* How much more should you have to pay so the rich can get richer?
Click here to RSVP for this event on Facebook.
5,000 march in downtown Detroit, urge rebuilding nation
BY NAOMI R. PATTON, Detroit Free Press, Aug. 29, 2010
Thousands of people in downtown Detroit made their way from Jefferson Avenue to Grand Circus Park in what was billed as a march to rebuild America for jobs, justice and peace.
On the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, the event brought out many of state's Democratic politicians -- many of whom were attending the party's convention at Cobo Center. The march and rally were organized by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the UAW.
Along the way, the march grew as convention goers and others joined in. Among the marchers were the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Bob King, UAW president; Detroit Mayor Dave Bing; U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D- Mich.; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and his running mate, Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence.
Workers from the UAW, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Michigan Council 25, American Federation of Teachers and Detroit Public Schools filled Washington Boulevard and Grand Circus Park, advocating for jobs.
"We're not here to tear anybody down ... to divide anybody. ... We care about all the unemployed in America," King said.
He also asked the crowd to return for the city's annual Labor Day march next week and to vote in the November elections.
"We have to put Americans to work," he said.
"I care about jobs," said Tanya Ball, 44, who works at the Ford Wayne Assembly Plant. She attended the march with her sister, Betty Ball, 55. Both are Inkster residents.
"I just came in the spirit of what was happening to our people 47 years ago. ... There's hardly any change," Betty Ball said.
Tom Hopp, 52, of Lake Orion said he has always been a fan of Jackson and came to the march to support the call for jobs. He has worked for General Motors Lake Orion for 32 years.
"It's never a waste of a day coming out to an event like this," he said.
Though political speeches and slogans nearly dominated the day's event, it was Conyers who reminded the crowd of about 5,000 of the historic significance of the day. It was Martin Luther King's march down Woodward Avenue with then-UAW President Walter Reuther that served as the precursor to the March on Washington, during which King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
"We're celebrating jobs, foreclosure moratoriums, universal health care -- cheer for that," Conyers said.
"Today's march commemorates one of the most important days in our history," Bing said after the march. "Our greatest challenge is creating jobs, and that's something I will continue to fight to bring to Detroit."
Contact NAOMI R. PATTON: 313-223-4485 or npatton@freepress.com
Thousands of people in downtown Detroit made their way from Jefferson Avenue to Grand Circus Park in what was billed as a march to rebuild America for jobs, justice and peace.On the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, the event brought out many of state's Democratic politicians -- many of whom were attending the party's convention at Cobo Center. The march and rally were organized by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the UAW.
Along the way, the march grew as convention goers and others joined in. Among the marchers were the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Bob King, UAW president; Detroit Mayor Dave Bing; U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D- Mich.; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and his running mate, Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence.
Workers from the UAW, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Michigan Council 25, American Federation of Teachers and Detroit Public Schools filled Washington Boulevard and Grand Circus Park, advocating for jobs.
"We're not here to tear anybody down ... to divide anybody. ... We care about all the unemployed in America," King said.
He also asked the crowd to return for the city's annual Labor Day march next week and to vote in the November elections.
"We have to put Americans to work," he said.
"I care about jobs," said Tanya Ball, 44, who works at the Ford Wayne Assembly Plant. She attended the march with her sister, Betty Ball, 55. Both are Inkster residents.
"I just came in the spirit of what was happening to our people 47 years ago. ... There's hardly any change," Betty Ball said.
Tom Hopp, 52, of Lake Orion said he has always been a fan of Jackson and came to the march to support the call for jobs. He has worked for General Motors Lake Orion for 32 years.
"It's never a waste of a day coming out to an event like this," he said.
Though political speeches and slogans nearly dominated the day's event, it was Conyers who reminded the crowd of about 5,000 of the historic significance of the day. It was Martin Luther King's march down Woodward Avenue with then-UAW President Walter Reuther that served as the precursor to the March on Washington, during which King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
"We're celebrating jobs, foreclosure moratoriums, universal health care -- cheer for that," Conyers said.
"Today's march commemorates one of the most important days in our history," Bing said after the march. "Our greatest challenge is creating jobs, and that's something I will continue to fight to bring to Detroit."
Contact NAOMI R. PATTON: 313-223-4485 or npatton@freepress.com
Oct 2: National March for Jobs & Justice in Washington DC
One Nation Working Together Coalition
DEMAND THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR
WE BELIEVE everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve the American Dream — a secure job, a safe home, and a quality education. ONE NATION seeks to transcend our superficial differences and bring us together in a common quest for equal opportunity and justice for all.
March with us in Washington, DC on 10-2-10 to create millions of good jobs, repair our immigration system, and reform Wall Street! Your voice is essential to demanding the change we voted for.
Sign up & get more info at http://onenationworkingtogether.org
The leadership for this coalition comes from 1199, the New York based hospital workers union, and the national NAACP. Other unions, including the AFL-CIO and SEIU are already involved. A growing list of community organizations is on board.
DEMAND THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR
WE BELIEVE everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve the American Dream — a secure job, a safe home, and a quality education. ONE NATION seeks to transcend our superficial differences and bring us together in a common quest for equal opportunity and justice for all.
March with us in Washington, DC on 10-2-10 to create millions of good jobs, repair our immigration system, and reform Wall Street! Your voice is essential to demanding the change we voted for.
Sign up & get more info at http://onenationworkingtogether.org
The leadership for this coalition comes from 1199, the New York based hospital workers union, and the national NAACP. Other unions, including the AFL-CIO and SEIU are already involved. A growing list of community organizations is on board.
UAW and Rainbow Push Announce Aug. 28th Detroit March
Talking Union, Aug. 5, 2010
United Auto Workers President Bob King and Rev. Jesse Jackson announced an August 28th march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. Here is the statement at a July 12th press conference in Detroit announcing the march.
No group has suffered more from America’s economic meltdown than working men and women. The auto industry was decimated and workers paid the price. Urban America is in crisis and teachers, transportation workers, and all who do the hands-on work that make our cities run are the first to feel the effects of budget cuts. Unemployment continues at around 9.8%. Detroit is ground zero of this national crisis with an unemployment rate that is far higher. From December 2007 to June 2009, auto assembly and parts production accounted for 325,000 lost jobs. The auto industry has gone from a high of 1.5 million workers to 400,000 today.
In Appalachia and the Gulf, years of unenforced regulation, driven by corporate greed and government complicity, have led to needless deaths and destruction in the coal and oil fields. Our national infrastructure is crumbling–industry, education, transportation, environment–while millions of talented workers stand by, ready to stem the tide.
Poverty is on the rise. Home and church foreclosures continue to mount and student loan defaults are increasing. Our cities are under siege. Public transportation services are cut, workers laid off, but fares go up. Teachers are laid off and programs are cut as education budgets are slashed. Public housing faces cuts and we experience reverse redlining in our neighborhoods. We bailed out the predators–banks got money at 0%–while we made loans to the auto industry.
We need a plan for recovery. We need economic reconstruction. We need urban policy geared toward reindustrialization. We need fair trade policies that will even the playing field for American companies and workers and, as more and more people face greater economic need, it’s time to revive the War on Poverty.
On August 28th in Detroit, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and UAW, along with our friends and allies, will march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. We will march for Jobs, Justice and Peace on the anniversary of that day in 1963 when Walter Reuther, president of UAW, Martin Luther King, Jr., president of SCLC, and other civil rights leaders joined with hundreds of thousands of Americans for the March on Washington.
Leading up to that day, marches were held around the country, building momentum for what was to be the largest civil rights rally in history. In Detroit, prior to the March on Washington, 125,000 marchers participated in the Freedom Walk led by Dr. King. At the march, King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time before sharing it with the world in Washington. This year, a massive march has been called for October 2 in Washington.
We will begin to build momentum again right here in Detroit on August 28th.
It’s time to enact real change for working families and all America. It’s time to reverse the policies that have resulted in jobs and investment flowing out, creating economic hardship for millions of Americans. It’s time to Rebuild America with Jobs, Justice and Peace. We are calling on our national leaders to Rebuild America by focusing on:
Jobs–economic reconstruction driven by targeted stimulus, reindustrialization and trade policy that will create jobs, support manufacturing in America, and put workers first.
Justice–enforcement of the law regarding workers rights, civil rights, industrial regulation, and creation of strong urban policy, and fair and just education, economic, and health policy.
Peace–ending the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving lives and redirecting the war budget to rebuilding America.
We invite all who share our commitment to march with us in Detroit on August 28th. Nothing is more important than strengthening our coalition of conscience and restoring the promise of democracy and economic justice for working families.
United Auto Workers President Bob King and Rev. Jesse Jackson announced an August 28th march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. Here is the statement at a July 12th press conference in Detroit announcing the march.
No group has suffered more from America’s economic meltdown than working men and women. The auto industry was decimated and workers paid the price. Urban America is in crisis and teachers, transportation workers, and all who do the hands-on work that make our cities run are the first to feel the effects of budget cuts. Unemployment continues at around 9.8%. Detroit is ground zero of this national crisis with an unemployment rate that is far higher. From December 2007 to June 2009, auto assembly and parts production accounted for 325,000 lost jobs. The auto industry has gone from a high of 1.5 million workers to 400,000 today.
In Appalachia and the Gulf, years of unenforced regulation, driven by corporate greed and government complicity, have led to needless deaths and destruction in the coal and oil fields. Our national infrastructure is crumbling–industry, education, transportation, environment–while millions of talented workers stand by, ready to stem the tide.
Poverty is on the rise. Home and church foreclosures continue to mount and student loan defaults are increasing. Our cities are under siege. Public transportation services are cut, workers laid off, but fares go up. Teachers are laid off and programs are cut as education budgets are slashed. Public housing faces cuts and we experience reverse redlining in our neighborhoods. We bailed out the predators–banks got money at 0%–while we made loans to the auto industry.
We need a plan for recovery. We need economic reconstruction. We need urban policy geared toward reindustrialization. We need fair trade policies that will even the playing field for American companies and workers and, as more and more people face greater economic need, it’s time to revive the War on Poverty.
On August 28th in Detroit, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and UAW, along with our friends and allies, will march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. We will march for Jobs, Justice and Peace on the anniversary of that day in 1963 when Walter Reuther, president of UAW, Martin Luther King, Jr., president of SCLC, and other civil rights leaders joined with hundreds of thousands of Americans for the March on Washington.
Leading up to that day, marches were held around the country, building momentum for what was to be the largest civil rights rally in history. In Detroit, prior to the March on Washington, 125,000 marchers participated in the Freedom Walk led by Dr. King. At the march, King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time before sharing it with the world in Washington. This year, a massive march has been called for October 2 in Washington.
We will begin to build momentum again right here in Detroit on August 28th.
It’s time to enact real change for working families and all America. It’s time to reverse the policies that have resulted in jobs and investment flowing out, creating economic hardship for millions of Americans. It’s time to Rebuild America with Jobs, Justice and Peace. We are calling on our national leaders to Rebuild America by focusing on:
Jobs–economic reconstruction driven by targeted stimulus, reindustrialization and trade policy that will create jobs, support manufacturing in America, and put workers first.
Justice–enforcement of the law regarding workers rights, civil rights, industrial regulation, and creation of strong urban policy, and fair and just education, economic, and health policy.
Peace–ending the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving lives and redirecting the war budget to rebuilding America.
We invite all who share our commitment to march with us in Detroit on August 28th. Nothing is more important than strengthening our coalition of conscience and restoring the promise of democracy and economic justice for working families.
Who Decides if a BP Spill Claim Is Legitimate?
By Bryan Walsh, TIME, June 11, 2010
Legitimate. It's the word that could come to define the extremely expensive, extremely litigious aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Almost from the beginning, BP has promised to pay what it calls all "legitimate" claims by people and businesses affected by the spill. But legitimate, when it's contained in a print ad as part of BP's new multimillion-dollar campaign or poshly pronounced by CEO Tony Hayward in one of the accompanying TV commercials, sounds very different from the way it sounds coming out of the mouth of a bayou shrimper in Venice, La. What constitutes legitimate is still an open question.
At the very least though, it looks like BP won't be the only one who gets to decide. A day after demanding that the company turn over data about its financial-claim payment process, the Coast Guard reported that BP had pledged to expedite payment to affected businesses in the Gulf. "BP recognized that its previous approach of waiting until after the books have closed for each month to calculate losses will not work," Tracy Wareing of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said at a news conference Thursday. "It won't get dollars quickly enough to the businesses that are struggling on the ground." (See pictures of people protesting against BP.)
And reports are filtering back from Louisiana that BP's lost oil seems to be flowing a lot faster than its cash. David Camardelle, the mayor of Grand Isle in southeastern Louisiana, told a hearing of a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that he knew of 37 applications from his community still waiting for their $5,000 claims check from BP. "Every day, I have a mom that comes in front of me and asks me, 'Mr. David, how am I going to get food for my kids,'" Camardelle said. "Please, please send us some help." (See photos of victims of the BP oil spill.)
BP has said that it has already paid over $80 million in claims to more than 10,000 individuals in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, with more coming soon. The company also says that it has opened scores of claims centers around the affected coastline, and that it is trying to process claims in a few days at most. "We'll do this until it's finished," said Darryl Willis, vice president of resources for BP America, in a teleconference with reporters over the weekend.
To aid the company in speeding the payment process, Alabama is considering assigning National Guard troops to work at claims centers — a uniquely effective lever only the government can use. But the very nature of how many people work on the Gulf Coast is going to trump the number that will be answering phones and processing documents. And the very nature of the fishing industry won't help either. Fishing can bring in a lot of money in a very short period of time during the right season, but fishermen might be hard-pressed to provide evidence — bank statements, pay stubs — that can back that up. The same goes for many other businesses: if receipts are dwindling at a restaurant, or guests are cancelling at a resort, how is it possible to prove that the spill alone is responsible? "We're stuck in the middle," says Chris Camardelle, whose seafood restaurant in Grand Isle has been badly hurt by the oil spill. "So it's a tricky situation." (See a brief history of BP.)
The government has insisted repeatedly that BP will pay all the costs of the cleanup and all damages as well — and Washington seems willing to push the oil company as far as it can. But there will surely be limits. President Obama has said that he will push BP to compensate rig workers who have been laid off because of the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling he instituted to fix the industry's safety standards, but there's skepticism that claim could hold. As BP comes under greater pressure politically in Washington, a backlash is beginning to build in Britain, especially over the question of whether BP will be able to make billions in expected dividend payments to shareholders even as the spill is continuing. "I do think it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on international airwaves," London Mayor Boris Johnson told the BBC Thursday.
As the spill worsens, though, the pressure will only increase — and a new scientific estimate of the leak rate shows that Gulf catastrophe could be even worse than we ever imagined. After reviewing better video from the underwater leak, the government's Flow Rate Technical Group estimated on Thursday that the oil was escaping at a rate between 20,000 bbl. and 40,000 bbl. a day, and that was before robots severed the broken riser at the wellhead a week ago, which may have increased the flow by as much as another 20%. That's up from an earlier estimate of between 12,000 bbl. and 19,000 bbl., and an initial number of about 5,000 bbl. a day, though some independent scientists were arguing weeks ago that the flow was far higher than that. And it's still not certain. "Our scientific analysis is still a work in progress," said U.S. geological-survey director Marcia McNutt, the head of the flow-rate team. "In coming days we'll be refining our estimates further. (Read a Q&A on who's liable for the Gulf oil spill.)
The total amount of oil spilled into the Gulf will have an impact on the kind of damages claims the government — and private individuals — can bring against BP. But while it's important to get a fix on the leak, it won't be the final determination of the damage. "Even if we can't be precise about the amount of oil spilled, we can make conservative estimates of the losses suffered here, and they'll be huge," says David Uhlmann, the director of the environmental law and policy program at the University of Michigan Law School and a former prosecutor for the EPA. "But the easy part is going to involve the financial penalties and the civil penalties — the hard part will be restoring the region and making the victims whole."
Indeed, although BP's ubiquitous ads have said repeatedly that the company will "make things right," given the scale of the damages, that might prove impossible. And like with legitimate, the definition of the word right will be up for grabs. It will be defined, ultimately, by the courts; there have already been countless suits filed against BP by private individuals and businesses, and the government is pursuing an investigation of the spill too. "It's gearing up to be the most heavily fought legal battle in history," says Jody Freeman, founding director of the environmental law and policy program at Harvard Law School. So we know that one group will end up better off than when the spill started: the lawyers.
Legitimate. It's the word that could come to define the extremely expensive, extremely litigious aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Almost from the beginning, BP has promised to pay what it calls all "legitimate" claims by people and businesses affected by the spill. But legitimate, when it's contained in a print ad as part of BP's new multimillion-dollar campaign or poshly pronounced by CEO Tony Hayward in one of the accompanying TV commercials, sounds very different from the way it sounds coming out of the mouth of a bayou shrimper in Venice, La. What constitutes legitimate is still an open question.At the very least though, it looks like BP won't be the only one who gets to decide. A day after demanding that the company turn over data about its financial-claim payment process, the Coast Guard reported that BP had pledged to expedite payment to affected businesses in the Gulf. "BP recognized that its previous approach of waiting until after the books have closed for each month to calculate losses will not work," Tracy Wareing of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said at a news conference Thursday. "It won't get dollars quickly enough to the businesses that are struggling on the ground." (See pictures of people protesting against BP.)
And reports are filtering back from Louisiana that BP's lost oil seems to be flowing a lot faster than its cash. David Camardelle, the mayor of Grand Isle in southeastern Louisiana, told a hearing of a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that he knew of 37 applications from his community still waiting for their $5,000 claims check from BP. "Every day, I have a mom that comes in front of me and asks me, 'Mr. David, how am I going to get food for my kids,'" Camardelle said. "Please, please send us some help." (See photos of victims of the BP oil spill.)
BP has said that it has already paid over $80 million in claims to more than 10,000 individuals in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, with more coming soon. The company also says that it has opened scores of claims centers around the affected coastline, and that it is trying to process claims in a few days at most. "We'll do this until it's finished," said Darryl Willis, vice president of resources for BP America, in a teleconference with reporters over the weekend.
To aid the company in speeding the payment process, Alabama is considering assigning National Guard troops to work at claims centers — a uniquely effective lever only the government can use. But the very nature of how many people work on the Gulf Coast is going to trump the number that will be answering phones and processing documents. And the very nature of the fishing industry won't help either. Fishing can bring in a lot of money in a very short period of time during the right season, but fishermen might be hard-pressed to provide evidence — bank statements, pay stubs — that can back that up. The same goes for many other businesses: if receipts are dwindling at a restaurant, or guests are cancelling at a resort, how is it possible to prove that the spill alone is responsible? "We're stuck in the middle," says Chris Camardelle, whose seafood restaurant in Grand Isle has been badly hurt by the oil spill. "So it's a tricky situation." (See a brief history of BP.)
The government has insisted repeatedly that BP will pay all the costs of the cleanup and all damages as well — and Washington seems willing to push the oil company as far as it can. But there will surely be limits. President Obama has said that he will push BP to compensate rig workers who have been laid off because of the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling he instituted to fix the industry's safety standards, but there's skepticism that claim could hold. As BP comes under greater pressure politically in Washington, a backlash is beginning to build in Britain, especially over the question of whether BP will be able to make billions in expected dividend payments to shareholders even as the spill is continuing. "I do think it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on international airwaves," London Mayor Boris Johnson told the BBC Thursday.
As the spill worsens, though, the pressure will only increase — and a new scientific estimate of the leak rate shows that Gulf catastrophe could be even worse than we ever imagined. After reviewing better video from the underwater leak, the government's Flow Rate Technical Group estimated on Thursday that the oil was escaping at a rate between 20,000 bbl. and 40,000 bbl. a day, and that was before robots severed the broken riser at the wellhead a week ago, which may have increased the flow by as much as another 20%. That's up from an earlier estimate of between 12,000 bbl. and 19,000 bbl., and an initial number of about 5,000 bbl. a day, though some independent scientists were arguing weeks ago that the flow was far higher than that. And it's still not certain. "Our scientific analysis is still a work in progress," said U.S. geological-survey director Marcia McNutt, the head of the flow-rate team. "In coming days we'll be refining our estimates further. (Read a Q&A on who's liable for the Gulf oil spill.)
The total amount of oil spilled into the Gulf will have an impact on the kind of damages claims the government — and private individuals — can bring against BP. But while it's important to get a fix on the leak, it won't be the final determination of the damage. "Even if we can't be precise about the amount of oil spilled, we can make conservative estimates of the losses suffered here, and they'll be huge," says David Uhlmann, the director of the environmental law and policy program at the University of Michigan Law School and a former prosecutor for the EPA. "But the easy part is going to involve the financial penalties and the civil penalties — the hard part will be restoring the region and making the victims whole."
Indeed, although BP's ubiquitous ads have said repeatedly that the company will "make things right," given the scale of the damages, that might prove impossible. And like with legitimate, the definition of the word right will be up for grabs. It will be defined, ultimately, by the courts; there have already been countless suits filed against BP by private individuals and businesses, and the government is pursuing an investigation of the spill too. "It's gearing up to be the most heavily fought legal battle in history," says Jody Freeman, founding director of the environmental law and policy program at Harvard Law School. So we know that one group will end up better off than when the spill started: the lawyers.
Congress Fights to Make Sure BP Pays for Oil Spill
Several Democrats have put forward a bill to get rid of the liability cap
By Kent Garber, U.S. News & World Report, June 15, 2010
BP says that it's already spent $1.5 billion on its response effort to the Gulf of Mexico spill, and it's repeatedly promised to pay "all legitimate claims" related to the disaster. But that promise has done little to calm fears that it will try to fight tooth and nail, much as Exxon did after the terrible Valdez tanker spill, to limit how much it has to pay out in the future.. [See which members of Congress get the most from the oil industry.]
Those fears have prompted a burst of activity on Capitol Hill, much of it focused on raising—or eliminating—what's known as the "liability cap." According to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, if a spill occurs, the responsible company has to pay for all cleanup costs, no exceptions. But, in most cases, a company's liability is limited to $75 million for the long-term damage to the local economy, natural resources, and people's livelihoods. The cost of the Gulf spill will vastly exceed that number. [See photos of the Gulf oil spill.]
Last week, the White House voiced support for chucking the cap, saying it wants to make sure BP pays to help states rebuild their coasts and to allow fishermen and businesses to recover. Several Democratic senators agree and have put forward a bill that would get rid of the cap. Over in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she also favors the cap's removal and wants her chamber to produce legislation by July 4. On a separate track, the White House is now pushing BP to create an escrow account that would cover environmental and economic damages.
But striking the cap, it turns out, isn't going to be a slam-dunk, even amid the populist anger against BP. Several Republicans have argued that removing the cap altogether—which is to say, making oil companies fully liable for the entire cost of a spill—would make it close to impossible for all but the biggest oil companies to drill offshore because the potential financial risks from an accident would be too great. "It would appear to me that if we were to take the cap off altogether, it would institute a de facto ban on offshore drilling," Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican, said recently.
Democrats say their goal is not to stop offshore drilling but to make it safer. As Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted, a $75 million cap seems pretty minor compared to the billions in profits oil companies make each year. "How is that an incentive to take safety measures?" she asked in a recent hearing.
In the current situation, these arguments may matter only so much. According to the 1990 law, the $75 million cap doesn't apply if the company is found guilty of "gross negligence or willful misconduct" or of violating "federal safety, construction, or operating regulations." No formal charges of wrongdoing have been leveled against BP yet, but the Justice Department has launched both civil and criminal investigations. With the Exxon Valdez incident, says Lloyd Miller, a lead plaintiffs' attorney in that case, the criminal charges hinged on being able to show that upper management was aware that the skipper of the vessel had a history of drinking on the job. "Once you have the upper management aware," Miller says, the court "can hold the company responsible."
BP, for its part, says that it's acting as if the cap isn't there. Testifying before a House committee this morning, BP America CEO Lamar McKay noted that BP expects to far exceed--and in fact already has exceeded--the cap. But that's providing little reassurance. Exxon has fought the penalties against it for much of the past two decades, and BP may do the same. The Obama administration is clearly hoping otherwise and is having the Coast Guard pressure BP to process claims from fishermen and affected businesses more quickly. That might bring some temporary relief. But the question of how much BP is going to have to pay surely is going to be around for years, if not decades, to come.
* See photos of the Gulf oil spill disaster.
* Check out our editorial cartoons on the Gulf oil spill.
* See who gets the most from the oil industry.
By Kent Garber, U.S. News & World Report, June 15, 2010
BP says that it's already spent $1.5 billion on its response effort to the Gulf of Mexico spill, and it's repeatedly promised to pay "all legitimate claims" related to the disaster. But that promise has done little to calm fears that it will try to fight tooth and nail, much as Exxon did after the terrible Valdez tanker spill, to limit how much it has to pay out in the future.. [See which members of Congress get the most from the oil industry.]Those fears have prompted a burst of activity on Capitol Hill, much of it focused on raising—or eliminating—what's known as the "liability cap." According to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, if a spill occurs, the responsible company has to pay for all cleanup costs, no exceptions. But, in most cases, a company's liability is limited to $75 million for the long-term damage to the local economy, natural resources, and people's livelihoods. The cost of the Gulf spill will vastly exceed that number. [See photos of the Gulf oil spill.]
Last week, the White House voiced support for chucking the cap, saying it wants to make sure BP pays to help states rebuild their coasts and to allow fishermen and businesses to recover. Several Democratic senators agree and have put forward a bill that would get rid of the cap. Over in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she also favors the cap's removal and wants her chamber to produce legislation by July 4. On a separate track, the White House is now pushing BP to create an escrow account that would cover environmental and economic damages.
But striking the cap, it turns out, isn't going to be a slam-dunk, even amid the populist anger against BP. Several Republicans have argued that removing the cap altogether—which is to say, making oil companies fully liable for the entire cost of a spill—would make it close to impossible for all but the biggest oil companies to drill offshore because the potential financial risks from an accident would be too great. "It would appear to me that if we were to take the cap off altogether, it would institute a de facto ban on offshore drilling," Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican, said recently.
Democrats say their goal is not to stop offshore drilling but to make it safer. As Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted, a $75 million cap seems pretty minor compared to the billions in profits oil companies make each year. "How is that an incentive to take safety measures?" she asked in a recent hearing.
In the current situation, these arguments may matter only so much. According to the 1990 law, the $75 million cap doesn't apply if the company is found guilty of "gross negligence or willful misconduct" or of violating "federal safety, construction, or operating regulations." No formal charges of wrongdoing have been leveled against BP yet, but the Justice Department has launched both civil and criminal investigations. With the Exxon Valdez incident, says Lloyd Miller, a lead plaintiffs' attorney in that case, the criminal charges hinged on being able to show that upper management was aware that the skipper of the vessel had a history of drinking on the job. "Once you have the upper management aware," Miller says, the court "can hold the company responsible."
BP, for its part, says that it's acting as if the cap isn't there. Testifying before a House committee this morning, BP America CEO Lamar McKay noted that BP expects to far exceed--and in fact already has exceeded--the cap. But that's providing little reassurance. Exxon has fought the penalties against it for much of the past two decades, and BP may do the same. The Obama administration is clearly hoping otherwise and is having the Coast Guard pressure BP to process claims from fishermen and affected businesses more quickly. That might bring some temporary relief. But the question of how much BP is going to have to pay surely is going to be around for years, if not decades, to come.
* See photos of the Gulf oil spill disaster.
* Check out our editorial cartoons on the Gulf oil spill.
* See who gets the most from the oil industry.
Documents reveal BP's missteps before blowout
Oil giant engineer describes 'nightmare well' six days before rig explosion
By MATTHEW DALY & RAY HENRY, AP, MSNBC.com, June 14, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive oil spill in a well that an engineer ominously described as a "nightmare" just six days before the blowout, according to documents released Monday that provide new insight into the causes of the disaster.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee released dozens of internal documents that outline several problems on the deepsea rig in the days and weeks before the April 20 explosion that set in motion the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The committee has been investigating the explosion and its aftermath.
"Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense. If this is what happened, BP's carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the Gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig," said Democratic Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Bart Stupak.
The missteps emerged on the same day that President Barack Obama made his fourth visit to the Gulf, where he sought to assure beleaguered residents that the government will "leave the Gulf Coast in better shape than it was before."
The breached well has dumped as much as 114 million gallons of oil into the Gulf under the worst-case scenario described by scientists — a rate of more than 2 million a day. BP has collected 5.6 million gallons of oil through its latest containment cap on top of the well, or about 630,000 gallons per day.
But BP believes it will see considerable improvements in the next two weeks. The company said Monday that it could trap a maximum of roughly 2.2 million gallons of oil each day by the end of June as it deploys additional containment efforts, including a system that could start burning off vast quantities as early as Tuesday. That would more than triple the amount of oil it is currently capturing — and be a huge relief for those trying to keep it from hitting the shore.
Possible 'game changer'
"It would be a game changer," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mark Boivin, deputy director for near-shore operations at a command center in Mobile. He works with a team that coordinates the efforts of roughly 80 skimming boats gathering oil off the coast.
Still, BP warned its containment efforts could face problems if hoses or pipes clog and engineers struggle to run the complicated collection system. Early efforts at the bottom of the Gulf failed to capture oil.
Meanwhile, congressional investigators have identified several mistakes by BP in the weeks leading up to the disaster as it fell way behind on drilling the well.
BP started drilling in October, only to have the rig damaged by Hurricane Ida a month later. The company switched to the Deepwater Horizon rig and resumed drilling on Feb. 6. The rig was 43 days late for its next drilling location by the time it exploded April 20, costing BP at least $500,000 each day it was overdue, congressional documents show.
As BP found itself in a frantic race against time to get the job done, engineers cut corners in the well design, cementing and drilling mud efforts and the installation of safety devices known as "lockdown sleeves" and "centralizers," according to congressional investigators.
In the design of the well, the company apparently chose a riskier option among two possibilities to provide a barrier to the flow of gas in space surrounding steel tubes in the well, documents and internal e-mails show. The decision saved BP $7 million to $10 million; the original cost estimate for the well was about $96 million.
'Crazy well'
In an e-mail, BP engineer Brian Morel told a fellow employee that the company is likely to make last-minute changes in the well.
"We could be running it in 2-3 days, so need a relative quick response. Sorry for the late notice, this has been nightmare well which has everyone all over the place," Morel wrote.
The e-mail chain culminated with the following message by another worker: "This has been a crazy well for sure."
BP also apparently rejected advice of a subcontractor, Halliburton Inc., in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well. BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 "centralizers" to make sure the casing ran down the center of the well bore. Instead, BP used six centralizers.
In an e-mail on April 16, a BP official involved in the decision explained: "It will take 10 hours to install them. I do not like this." Later that day, another official recognized the risks of proceeding with insufficient centralizers but commented: "Who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."
The lawmakers also said BP also decided against a nine- to 12-hour procedure known as a "cement bond log" that would have tested the integrity of the cement. A team from Schlumberger, an oil services firm, was on board the rig, but BP sent the team home on a regularly scheduled helicopter flight the morning of April 20.
Less than 12 hours later, the rig exploded.
BP also failed to fully circulate drilling mud, a 12-hour procedure that could have helped detect gas pockets that later shot up the well and exploded on the drilling rig.
A spokesman for BP could not immediately reached for comment on the findings, but executives including CEO Tony Hayward will be questioned by Congress on Thursday.
The letter from Waxman and Stupak noted at least five questionable decisions BP made before the explosion, and was supplemented by 61 footnotes and dozens of documents.
"The common feature of these five decisions is that they posed a trade-off between cost and well safety," said Waxman and Stupak. Waxman chairs the energy panel while Stupak heads a subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
By MATTHEW DALY & RAY HENRY, AP, MSNBC.com, June 14, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive oil spill in a well that an engineer ominously described as a "nightmare" just six days before the blowout, according to documents released Monday that provide new insight into the causes of the disaster.The House Energy and Commerce Committee released dozens of internal documents that outline several problems on the deepsea rig in the days and weeks before the April 20 explosion that set in motion the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The committee has been investigating the explosion and its aftermath.
"Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense. If this is what happened, BP's carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the Gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig," said Democratic Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Bart Stupak.
The missteps emerged on the same day that President Barack Obama made his fourth visit to the Gulf, where he sought to assure beleaguered residents that the government will "leave the Gulf Coast in better shape than it was before."
The breached well has dumped as much as 114 million gallons of oil into the Gulf under the worst-case scenario described by scientists — a rate of more than 2 million a day. BP has collected 5.6 million gallons of oil through its latest containment cap on top of the well, or about 630,000 gallons per day.
But BP believes it will see considerable improvements in the next two weeks. The company said Monday that it could trap a maximum of roughly 2.2 million gallons of oil each day by the end of June as it deploys additional containment efforts, including a system that could start burning off vast quantities as early as Tuesday. That would more than triple the amount of oil it is currently capturing — and be a huge relief for those trying to keep it from hitting the shore.
Possible 'game changer'
"It would be a game changer," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mark Boivin, deputy director for near-shore operations at a command center in Mobile. He works with a team that coordinates the efforts of roughly 80 skimming boats gathering oil off the coast.
Still, BP warned its containment efforts could face problems if hoses or pipes clog and engineers struggle to run the complicated collection system. Early efforts at the bottom of the Gulf failed to capture oil.
Meanwhile, congressional investigators have identified several mistakes by BP in the weeks leading up to the disaster as it fell way behind on drilling the well.
BP started drilling in October, only to have the rig damaged by Hurricane Ida a month later. The company switched to the Deepwater Horizon rig and resumed drilling on Feb. 6. The rig was 43 days late for its next drilling location by the time it exploded April 20, costing BP at least $500,000 each day it was overdue, congressional documents show.
As BP found itself in a frantic race against time to get the job done, engineers cut corners in the well design, cementing and drilling mud efforts and the installation of safety devices known as "lockdown sleeves" and "centralizers," according to congressional investigators.
In the design of the well, the company apparently chose a riskier option among two possibilities to provide a barrier to the flow of gas in space surrounding steel tubes in the well, documents and internal e-mails show. The decision saved BP $7 million to $10 million; the original cost estimate for the well was about $96 million.
'Crazy well'
In an e-mail, BP engineer Brian Morel told a fellow employee that the company is likely to make last-minute changes in the well.
"We could be running it in 2-3 days, so need a relative quick response. Sorry for the late notice, this has been nightmare well which has everyone all over the place," Morel wrote.
The e-mail chain culminated with the following message by another worker: "This has been a crazy well for sure."
BP also apparently rejected advice of a subcontractor, Halliburton Inc., in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well. BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 "centralizers" to make sure the casing ran down the center of the well bore. Instead, BP used six centralizers.
In an e-mail on April 16, a BP official involved in the decision explained: "It will take 10 hours to install them. I do not like this." Later that day, another official recognized the risks of proceeding with insufficient centralizers but commented: "Who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."
The lawmakers also said BP also decided against a nine- to 12-hour procedure known as a "cement bond log" that would have tested the integrity of the cement. A team from Schlumberger, an oil services firm, was on board the rig, but BP sent the team home on a regularly scheduled helicopter flight the morning of April 20.
Less than 12 hours later, the rig exploded.
BP also failed to fully circulate drilling mud, a 12-hour procedure that could have helped detect gas pockets that later shot up the well and exploded on the drilling rig.
A spokesman for BP could not immediately reached for comment on the findings, but executives including CEO Tony Hayward will be questioned by Congress on Thursday.
The letter from Waxman and Stupak noted at least five questionable decisions BP made before the explosion, and was supplemented by 61 footnotes and dozens of documents.
"The common feature of these five decisions is that they posed a trade-off between cost and well safety," said Waxman and Stupak. Waxman chairs the energy panel while Stupak heads a subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
BP rig's safety valve failed test before oil spill explosion
The safety valve protecting BP's oil well in the Gulf of Mexico failed a key pressure test just hours before an explosion causing the deaths of 11 people and a growing environmental catastrophe.
By Rowena Mason, telegraph.co.uk, May 12, 2010
BP officials told an official hearing that the rig's safety device - known as a blowout preventer - had highlighted problems before the accident.
The Deepwater Horizon rig operated and owned by contractor Transocean caught fire and sank almost three weeks ago, leaving BP responsible for clearing up the huge spill.
At U.S. congressional hearings this week, BP and Transocean, the contractor, blamed one another for "a cascade of failures" that led to the massive oil spill threatening America's south-eastern coastline. BP continues its efforts to seal the leak, which is gushing 5,000 barrels per day into the ocean.
It emerged yesterday in the testimony of James Dupree, BP's senior vice president for the Gulf, that tests before the blast showed "discrepancies" in pressure levels. These tests are meant to ensure the integrity of cement poured into the well to keep out natural gas. Another contractor, Halliburton, had just finished cement work hours before the blast.
"There was something happening in the well bore that shouldn't be happening," said Steven Newman, Transocean's chief executive officer.
A Democrat member of the committee, Bart Stupak, reported that the blowout preventer "apparently had a significant leak". The device had also been modified in "unexpected ways," he said, and may not have been strong enough to shut the well.
Henry Waxman, the Democrat chairman of the committee, said the case cast doubt over the oil majors' insistence that deepwater drilling is safe.
"BP, one of the largest oil companies, assured Congress and the public that it could operate safely in deep water and that a major oil spill was next to impossible," Waxman said. "We now know those assurances were wrong."
By Rowena Mason, telegraph.co.uk, May 12, 2010
BP officials told an official hearing that the rig's safety device - known as a blowout preventer - had highlighted problems before the accident.The Deepwater Horizon rig operated and owned by contractor Transocean caught fire and sank almost three weeks ago, leaving BP responsible for clearing up the huge spill.
At U.S. congressional hearings this week, BP and Transocean, the contractor, blamed one another for "a cascade of failures" that led to the massive oil spill threatening America's south-eastern coastline. BP continues its efforts to seal the leak, which is gushing 5,000 barrels per day into the ocean.
It emerged yesterday in the testimony of James Dupree, BP's senior vice president for the Gulf, that tests before the blast showed "discrepancies" in pressure levels. These tests are meant to ensure the integrity of cement poured into the well to keep out natural gas. Another contractor, Halliburton, had just finished cement work hours before the blast.
"There was something happening in the well bore that shouldn't be happening," said Steven Newman, Transocean's chief executive officer.
A Democrat member of the committee, Bart Stupak, reported that the blowout preventer "apparently had a significant leak". The device had also been modified in "unexpected ways," he said, and may not have been strong enough to shut the well.
Henry Waxman, the Democrat chairman of the committee, said the case cast doubt over the oil majors' insistence that deepwater drilling is safe.
"BP, one of the largest oil companies, assured Congress and the public that it could operate safely in deep water and that a major oil spill was next to impossible," Waxman said. "We now know those assurances were wrong."
Leaking Oil Well Lacked Safeguard Device
By RUSSELL GOLD, BEN CASSELMAN And GUY CHAZAN, WSJ.com, April 28, 2010
The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills.
The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week.
The accident has led to one of the largest ever oil spills in U.S. water and the loss of 11 lives. On Wednesday federal investigators said the disaster is now releasing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, up from original estimates of 1,000 barrels a day.
U.S. regulators don't mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn't have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated.
The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort.
Nevertheless, regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993.
The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.
The U.K., where BP is headquartered, doesn't require the use of acoustic triggers.
On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig.
As a third line of defense, some rigs have the acoustic trigger: It's a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.
An acoustic trigger costs about $500,000, industry officials said. The Deepwater Horizon had a replacement cost of about $560 million, and BP says it is spending $6 million a day to battle the oil spill. On Wednesday, crews set fire to part of the oil spill in an attempt to limit environmental damage.
Some major oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC and France's Total SA, sometimes use the device even where regulators don't call for it.
Transocean Ltd., which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon and the shut-off valve, declined to comment on why a remote-control device wasn't installed on the rig or to speculate on whether such a device might have stopped the spill. A BP spokesman said the company wouldn't speculate on whether a remote control would have made a difference.
Much still isn't known about what caused the problems in Deepwater Horizon's well, nearly a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. It went out of control, sending oil surging through pipes to the surface and causing a fire that ultimately sank the rig.
Unmanned submarines that arrived hours after the explosion have been unable to activate the shut-off valve on the seabed, called a blowout preventer.
BP says the Deepwater Horizon did have a "dead man" switch, which should have automatically closed the valve on the seabed in the event of a loss of power or communication from the rig. BP said it can't explain why it didn't shut off the well.
Transocean drillers aboard the rig at the time of the explosion, who should have been in a position to hit the main cutoff switch, are among the dead. It isn't known if they were able to reach the button, which would have been located in the area where the fire is likely to have started. Another possibility is that one of them did push the button, but it didn't work.
Tony Hayward, BP's CEO, said finding out why the blowout preventer didn't shut down the well is the key question in the investigation. "This is the failsafe mechanism that clearly has failed," Mr. Hayward said in an interview.
Lars Herbst, regional director of the Minerals Management Service in the Gulf of Mexico, said investigators are focusing on why the blowout preventer failed.
Industry consultants and petroleum engineers said that an acoustic remote-control may have been able to stop the well, but too much is still unknown about the accident to say that with certainty.
Rigs in Norway and Brazil are equipped with the remote-control devices, which can trigger the blowout preventers from a lifeboat in the event the electric cables connecting the valves to the drilling rig are damaged.
While U.S. regulators have called the acoustic switches unreliable and prone, in the past, to cause unnecessary shut-downs, Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority, said the switches have a good track record in the North Sea. "It's been seen as the most successful and effective option," she said.
The manufacturers of the equipment, including Kongsberg Maritime AS, Sonardyne Ltd. and Nautronix PLC, say their equipment has improved significantly over the past decade.
The Brazilian government began urging the use of the remote-control equipment in 2007, after an extensive overhaul of its safety rules following a fire aboard an oil platform killed 11 people, said Raphael Moura, head of safety division at Brazil's National Petroleum Agency. "Our concern is both safety and the environment," he said.
Industry critics cite the lack of the remote control as a sign U.S. drilling policy has been too lax. "What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson. "We are seeing our worst nightmare coming true."
U.S. regulators have considered mandating the use of remote-control acoustic switches or other back-up equipment at least since 2000. After a drilling ship accidentally released oil, the Minerals Management Service issued a safety notice that said a back-up system is "an essential component of a deepwater drilling system."
The industry argued against the acoustic systems. A 2001 report from the International Association of Drilling Contractors said "significant doubts remain in regard to the ability of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency back-up control system during an actual well flowing incident."
By 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."
A spokesman for the agency, Nicholas Pardi, said the decision not to require the device came, in part, after the agency took a survey that found most rigs already had back-up systems of some kind. Those systems include the unmanned submarines BP has been using to try to close the seabed valve.
—Jeff Fick contributed to this article.
Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com, Ben Casselman at ben.casselman@wsj.com and Guy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications:
The oil rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico was owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC. A previous version of this article incorrectly said that BP owned the rig.
The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills.The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week.
The accident has led to one of the largest ever oil spills in U.S. water and the loss of 11 lives. On Wednesday federal investigators said the disaster is now releasing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, up from original estimates of 1,000 barrels a day.
U.S. regulators don't mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn't have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated.
The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort.
Nevertheless, regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993.
The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.
The U.K., where BP is headquartered, doesn't require the use of acoustic triggers.
On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig.
As a third line of defense, some rigs have the acoustic trigger: It's a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.
An acoustic trigger costs about $500,000, industry officials said. The Deepwater Horizon had a replacement cost of about $560 million, and BP says it is spending $6 million a day to battle the oil spill. On Wednesday, crews set fire to part of the oil spill in an attempt to limit environmental damage.
Some major oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC and France's Total SA, sometimes use the device even where regulators don't call for it.
Transocean Ltd., which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon and the shut-off valve, declined to comment on why a remote-control device wasn't installed on the rig or to speculate on whether such a device might have stopped the spill. A BP spokesman said the company wouldn't speculate on whether a remote control would have made a difference.
Much still isn't known about what caused the problems in Deepwater Horizon's well, nearly a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. It went out of control, sending oil surging through pipes to the surface and causing a fire that ultimately sank the rig.
Unmanned submarines that arrived hours after the explosion have been unable to activate the shut-off valve on the seabed, called a blowout preventer.
BP says the Deepwater Horizon did have a "dead man" switch, which should have automatically closed the valve on the seabed in the event of a loss of power or communication from the rig. BP said it can't explain why it didn't shut off the well.
Transocean drillers aboard the rig at the time of the explosion, who should have been in a position to hit the main cutoff switch, are among the dead. It isn't known if they were able to reach the button, which would have been located in the area where the fire is likely to have started. Another possibility is that one of them did push the button, but it didn't work.
Tony Hayward, BP's CEO, said finding out why the blowout preventer didn't shut down the well is the key question in the investigation. "This is the failsafe mechanism that clearly has failed," Mr. Hayward said in an interview.
Lars Herbst, regional director of the Minerals Management Service in the Gulf of Mexico, said investigators are focusing on why the blowout preventer failed.
Industry consultants and petroleum engineers said that an acoustic remote-control may have been able to stop the well, but too much is still unknown about the accident to say that with certainty.
Rigs in Norway and Brazil are equipped with the remote-control devices, which can trigger the blowout preventers from a lifeboat in the event the electric cables connecting the valves to the drilling rig are damaged.
While U.S. regulators have called the acoustic switches unreliable and prone, in the past, to cause unnecessary shut-downs, Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority, said the switches have a good track record in the North Sea. "It's been seen as the most successful and effective option," she said.
The manufacturers of the equipment, including Kongsberg Maritime AS, Sonardyne Ltd. and Nautronix PLC, say their equipment has improved significantly over the past decade.
The Brazilian government began urging the use of the remote-control equipment in 2007, after an extensive overhaul of its safety rules following a fire aboard an oil platform killed 11 people, said Raphael Moura, head of safety division at Brazil's National Petroleum Agency. "Our concern is both safety and the environment," he said.
Industry critics cite the lack of the remote control as a sign U.S. drilling policy has been too lax. "What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson. "We are seeing our worst nightmare coming true."
U.S. regulators have considered mandating the use of remote-control acoustic switches or other back-up equipment at least since 2000. After a drilling ship accidentally released oil, the Minerals Management Service issued a safety notice that said a back-up system is "an essential component of a deepwater drilling system."
The industry argued against the acoustic systems. A 2001 report from the International Association of Drilling Contractors said "significant doubts remain in regard to the ability of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency back-up control system during an actual well flowing incident."
By 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."
A spokesman for the agency, Nicholas Pardi, said the decision not to require the device came, in part, after the agency took a survey that found most rigs already had back-up systems of some kind. Those systems include the unmanned submarines BP has been using to try to close the seabed valve.
—Jeff Fick contributed to this article.
Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com, Ben Casselman at ben.casselman@wsj.com and Guy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications:
The oil rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico was owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC. A previous version of this article incorrectly said that BP owned the rig.
Coast Guard rejects BP oil leak plan as too little, too late
By Mark Seibel, McClatchy Newspapers, June 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard has told oil giant BP that its proposed plan for containing the runaway Deepwater Horizon well does not take into account new higher estimates of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and demanded that the company provide a more aggressive plan within 48 hours.
In a letter dated Friday and released Saturday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. James A. Watson also said that BP was taking too much time to ready ships to capture oil spewing from the well.
"You indicate that some of the systems you have planned to deploy may take a month or more to bring online," Watson, who is the federal on-scene coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, wrote Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer. "Every effort must be expended to speed up the process."
The 48-hour deadline is the second the Coast Guard has given BP in the past week and indicates a growing recognition on the part of the Coast Guard that both BP and the Obama administration underestimated for weeks the amount of oil pouring from the well, which began leaking when an April 20 explosion shattered the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers. The rig sank two days later, taking a mile of well pipeline with it.
For weeks, the Obama administration and BP said the spill was leaking 5,000 barrels a day — about 210,000 gallons. On May 27, a government task force of scientists revised that estimate to a minimum of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day, and possibly much more. Then on Thursday, the government doubled those estimates to between 20,000 and 50,000 barrels a day, saying those, too, may understate the size of the leak because a decision to shear off the well's riser pipe to add a "top hat" containment device may have unleashed more oil.
The intervention by the Coast Guard comes as the oil continues to spread across the Gulf. Alabama advised residents not to swim in areas near the Florida border and in the Mississippi Sound. An access route to the Inter-Coastal Waterway, the Pensacola Pass, was closed Saturday evening during flood tide until further notice to keep oil from entering the bay. And tar-ball fields detected in the Gulf appear to be headed toward the Florida Straits.
Watson said the new estimates were the reason for the new deadline, saying the plan Suttles outlined was only "consistent with previous flow rate estimates."
"Because those estimates have now been revised . . . it is clear that additional capacity is urgently needed," he said.
BP said it would respond to Watson's letter "as soon as possible."
The White House was asked Saturday what action it would take if BP doesn’t speed up its effort to containment.
”This isn’t open for discussion,” a senior administration official said. “BP must do better to plan a more aggressive response. In the same way we pushed for second relief well, additional redundancy, more transparency, paying for the berms, etc…we will push them to find better answers to contain the oil.”
The official, who asked not be named as a matter of policy, said the letter to BP was “a unanimous Obama team decision.”
BP and Coast Guard representatives have been meeting throughout the week, Coast Guard officials have said, to refine the plan, which Suttles outlined in a letter to Watson dated Wednesday — before the new flow rate estimates were released. In his letter, Suttles said the plan had been outlined on Tuesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "No objections were raised," he wrote.
Under that proposal, BP outlined two phases — a temporary one involving three recovery ships and a jerry-rigged system combining the "top hat" containment device with hoses already in place from the "top kill" procedure that failed to stanch the well last month, and a more permanent one that involves construction of two new risers from the well that would be serviced by two large recovery ships that are en route to the site now.
BP said that the temporary phase would bring the amount of oil captured to 20,000 to 28,000 barrels a day by the end of next week. Most of that oil would be recovered by the Discoverer Enterprise drilling ship, which has been collecting around its stated 15,000-barrels-per-day capacity through the "top hat" but that Coast Guard officials believe can be pushed to 18,000 barrels a day. The remaining 5,000 to 10,000 barrels per day would be taken up by a second vessel, the Q4000 drilling platform, which would burn the oil in a rarely used, if not unprecedented, procedure. BP vice president Kent Wells said Friday that burning could begin as soon as Monday.
The burning idea has provoked some experts to raise questions about the health and environmental effects of the process.
Containment capacity would be pushed further during the temporary phase by the addition of a third vessel, the drill ship Discoverer Clear Leader, which would take on an additional 5,000 to 10,000 barrels a day when it is operational in mid July, Suttle wrote.
In the second, more permanent phase, Suttles said BP was building two permanent floating risers to provide oil to the Taisa Pisces and the Helix Producer recovery ships. Each riser takes about a month to complete, Suttles said. One is expected to be finished next week. Work on the second began Monday, June 7. Once operational, the new risers and ships would have capacity to receive between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, BP said.
The plan foresees both the Q4000 and the Discoverer Clear Leader discontinuing operations once the new floating risers are operational, but says the Discoverer Enterprise would remain on site and could provide additional capacity, if needed.
In offering an estimate of the total capacity of the temporary phase, BP's plan is more cautious than numbers Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen used in press briefings with reporters. On Friday, Allen said capacity would reach 38,000 barrels a day once the Discoverer Clear Leader is operational.
BP's numbers may be more realistic, however. While Allen has said that the Discoverer Enterprise could be pushed to receive 18,000 barrels per day, the actual amount it's recovered has declined by a few hundred barrels since it peaked at 15,800 barrels on Wednesday. On Thursday, the ship recovered 15,400 barrels and on Friday, it recovered 15,500 barrels, BP reported Saturday.
How much oil will flow to the Q4000 and the Discoverer Clear Leader is also uncertain. Neither vessel will be "pumping" the oil up from the sea, but instead will rely on the oil's natural pressure to push it up through hoses that were originally used to push drilling mud into the well's dysfunctional blowout preventer during the "top kill" effort. Based on the size of the hoses, the maximum amount likely to flow through to those ships would be 10,000 barrels per day, but could be less, depending on the oil reservoir's pressure.
Both Suttles and Wells warned that there could be additional delays in the plans because of adverse weather and conditions at the drill site, which officials describe as crowded with dozens of ships.
It was also unclear how soon additional equipment could be made available. The Q4000 was under contract to another oil company and only began working the Deepwater Horizon spill after that company agreed to release it. A tanker that will work with the Taisa Pisces to shuttle the captured oil ashore, the Loch Rannoch, is available only because BP has shut down for maintenance the North Sea well it was working, oil industry publications said. BP has yet to identify a second tanker needed to work with the Helix Producer.
WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard has told oil giant BP that its proposed plan for containing the runaway Deepwater Horizon well does not take into account new higher estimates of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and demanded that the company provide a more aggressive plan within 48 hours.
In a letter dated Friday and released Saturday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. James A. Watson also said that BP was taking too much time to ready ships to capture oil spewing from the well.
"You indicate that some of the systems you have planned to deploy may take a month or more to bring online," Watson, who is the federal on-scene coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, wrote Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer. "Every effort must be expended to speed up the process."
The 48-hour deadline is the second the Coast Guard has given BP in the past week and indicates a growing recognition on the part of the Coast Guard that both BP and the Obama administration underestimated for weeks the amount of oil pouring from the well, which began leaking when an April 20 explosion shattered the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers. The rig sank two days later, taking a mile of well pipeline with it.
For weeks, the Obama administration and BP said the spill was leaking 5,000 barrels a day — about 210,000 gallons. On May 27, a government task force of scientists revised that estimate to a minimum of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day, and possibly much more. Then on Thursday, the government doubled those estimates to between 20,000 and 50,000 barrels a day, saying those, too, may understate the size of the leak because a decision to shear off the well's riser pipe to add a "top hat" containment device may have unleashed more oil.
The intervention by the Coast Guard comes as the oil continues to spread across the Gulf. Alabama advised residents not to swim in areas near the Florida border and in the Mississippi Sound. An access route to the Inter-Coastal Waterway, the Pensacola Pass, was closed Saturday evening during flood tide until further notice to keep oil from entering the bay. And tar-ball fields detected in the Gulf appear to be headed toward the Florida Straits.
Watson said the new estimates were the reason for the new deadline, saying the plan Suttles outlined was only "consistent with previous flow rate estimates."
"Because those estimates have now been revised . . . it is clear that additional capacity is urgently needed," he said.
BP said it would respond to Watson's letter "as soon as possible."
The White House was asked Saturday what action it would take if BP doesn’t speed up its effort to containment.
”This isn’t open for discussion,” a senior administration official said. “BP must do better to plan a more aggressive response. In the same way we pushed for second relief well, additional redundancy, more transparency, paying for the berms, etc…we will push them to find better answers to contain the oil.”
The official, who asked not be named as a matter of policy, said the letter to BP was “a unanimous Obama team decision.”
BP and Coast Guard representatives have been meeting throughout the week, Coast Guard officials have said, to refine the plan, which Suttles outlined in a letter to Watson dated Wednesday — before the new flow rate estimates were released. In his letter, Suttles said the plan had been outlined on Tuesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "No objections were raised," he wrote.
Under that proposal, BP outlined two phases — a temporary one involving three recovery ships and a jerry-rigged system combining the "top hat" containment device with hoses already in place from the "top kill" procedure that failed to stanch the well last month, and a more permanent one that involves construction of two new risers from the well that would be serviced by two large recovery ships that are en route to the site now.
BP said that the temporary phase would bring the amount of oil captured to 20,000 to 28,000 barrels a day by the end of next week. Most of that oil would be recovered by the Discoverer Enterprise drilling ship, which has been collecting around its stated 15,000-barrels-per-day capacity through the "top hat" but that Coast Guard officials believe can be pushed to 18,000 barrels a day. The remaining 5,000 to 10,000 barrels per day would be taken up by a second vessel, the Q4000 drilling platform, which would burn the oil in a rarely used, if not unprecedented, procedure. BP vice president Kent Wells said Friday that burning could begin as soon as Monday.
The burning idea has provoked some experts to raise questions about the health and environmental effects of the process.
Containment capacity would be pushed further during the temporary phase by the addition of a third vessel, the drill ship Discoverer Clear Leader, which would take on an additional 5,000 to 10,000 barrels a day when it is operational in mid July, Suttle wrote.
In the second, more permanent phase, Suttles said BP was building two permanent floating risers to provide oil to the Taisa Pisces and the Helix Producer recovery ships. Each riser takes about a month to complete, Suttles said. One is expected to be finished next week. Work on the second began Monday, June 7. Once operational, the new risers and ships would have capacity to receive between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, BP said.
The plan foresees both the Q4000 and the Discoverer Clear Leader discontinuing operations once the new floating risers are operational, but says the Discoverer Enterprise would remain on site and could provide additional capacity, if needed.
In offering an estimate of the total capacity of the temporary phase, BP's plan is more cautious than numbers Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen used in press briefings with reporters. On Friday, Allen said capacity would reach 38,000 barrels a day once the Discoverer Clear Leader is operational.
BP's numbers may be more realistic, however. While Allen has said that the Discoverer Enterprise could be pushed to receive 18,000 barrels per day, the actual amount it's recovered has declined by a few hundred barrels since it peaked at 15,800 barrels on Wednesday. On Thursday, the ship recovered 15,400 barrels and on Friday, it recovered 15,500 barrels, BP reported Saturday.
How much oil will flow to the Q4000 and the Discoverer Clear Leader is also uncertain. Neither vessel will be "pumping" the oil up from the sea, but instead will rely on the oil's natural pressure to push it up through hoses that were originally used to push drilling mud into the well's dysfunctional blowout preventer during the "top kill" effort. Based on the size of the hoses, the maximum amount likely to flow through to those ships would be 10,000 barrels per day, but could be less, depending on the oil reservoir's pressure.
Both Suttles and Wells warned that there could be additional delays in the plans because of adverse weather and conditions at the drill site, which officials describe as crowded with dozens of ships.
It was also unclear how soon additional equipment could be made available. The Q4000 was under contract to another oil company and only began working the Deepwater Horizon spill after that company agreed to release it. A tanker that will work with the Taisa Pisces to shuttle the captured oil ashore, the Loch Rannoch, is available only because BP has shut down for maintenance the North Sea well it was working, oil industry publications said. BP has yet to identify a second tanker needed to work with the Helix Producer.
Seize BP: Make BP & BP Station Owners Fund Cleanup & Compensate Residents
Demand Action to Save The Wildlife & Marine Life & Clean Up This Environmental Catastrophe NOW!!!
Boycott BP & Independent BP Stations Until They Use Profits To Fund Cleanup & Compensate Residents!!
Seize BP's Assets to Fund Clean Up & Pay For ALL Damages - including to workers & businesses!
BP Must Adhere To Environmental & Safety Regulations & Standards NOW!!
What Does The BP "Escrow" Deal Really Mean?
- Seize BP Oil To Pay For Environmental Clean Up & Saving Animals!
- Hands Off Immigrant Workers Cleaning Up Oil Spill
- Reparations to the residents of The Gulf
Independent BP Station Owners That Support BP Are Complicit & Responsible in BP's Crimes!
Owner of BP Station at Randolph Rd & Sharon Amity Rd. in Charlotte, NC Supports BP & Defends BP's Environmental & Safety Violations
Sign inside BP Station window at Randolph Rd & Sharon Amity Rd in Charlotte, NC On June 12News Reports on the June 12 Protest:
WSOC-TV
FOX News 18
MSNBC
WCNC
Politics Daily - AOL
Charlotte Observer
News About BP's Negligence:
Documents reveal BP's missteps before blowout
BP rig's safety valve failed test before oil spill explosion
Leaking Oil Well Lacked Safeguard Device
BP On Wikipedia
Info:
Action Center For Justice
http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com/
charlotteaction [at] gmail [dot] com
Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) - UNCC
BP Announces Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Discovery - Teams Up With Israeli Co.'s Partner Noble Energy
BP website, Release date: June 6, 2007
HOUSTON, TX - BP Exploration & Production Inc. (NYSE: BP) announced today a hydrocarbon discovery in an exploration well that tested its Isabela prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The well is located on Mississippi Canyon Block 562 in approximately 6,500 feet of water, about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans. Isabela was drilled to a total depth of approximately 19,100 feet into Miocene era sands.
“Isabela is an excellent addition to our portfolio of discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico” said Dave Rainey, BP’s Vice President of Gulf of Mexico Exploration. “It will likely be tied back to our Na Kika production platform, helping to maximize the value of that infrastructure.”
The well is operated by BP Exploration & Production Inc. with a 67% working interest and is co-owned by Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL) with a 33% working interest. The lease was acquired at federal OCS Lease Sale 169 in March, 1998.
BP is one of the world’s largest energy companies, with interests in more than 100 countries and over 100,000 employees across six continents. BP’s business segments are Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Gas, Power and Renewables, which includes its Alternative Energy business. Through these business segments, BP provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services, and petrochemical products.
Further information:
Name: Neil Chapman
Office: BP Press office, Houston
Telephone: 281-366-7115
HOUSTON, TX - BP Exploration & Production Inc. (NYSE: BP) announced today a hydrocarbon discovery in an exploration well that tested its Isabela prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The well is located on Mississippi Canyon Block 562 in approximately 6,500 feet of water, about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans. Isabela was drilled to a total depth of approximately 19,100 feet into Miocene era sands.“Isabela is an excellent addition to our portfolio of discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico” said Dave Rainey, BP’s Vice President of Gulf of Mexico Exploration. “It will likely be tied back to our Na Kika production platform, helping to maximize the value of that infrastructure.”
The well is operated by BP Exploration & Production Inc. with a 67% working interest and is co-owned by Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL) with a 33% working interest. The lease was acquired at federal OCS Lease Sale 169 in March, 1998.
BP is one of the world’s largest energy companies, with interests in more than 100 countries and over 100,000 employees across six continents. BP’s business segments are Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Gas, Power and Renewables, which includes its Alternative Energy business. Through these business segments, BP provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services, and petrochemical products.
Further information:
Name: Neil Chapman
Office: BP Press office, Houston
Telephone: 281-366-7115
April 28: Take on Bank of America at Shareholders Meeting
B of A is failing America
Workers, clergy, veterans, civic leaders, and community groups from the NC State AFL-CIO and NC United Power will converge for an important action at the Bank of America shareholders’ meeting in Charlotte on the morning of April 28th.
What: Rally and action at B of A shareholders meeting
When: Wed., April 28 at 9:15 AM (shareholders meeting) and at 11:30 AM (rally after shareholders meeting)
Where: Gathering place is First United Presbyterian Church, 406 N. College Street, Charlotte, NC 28802
Come out and demand accountability from B of A for its billions in taxpayer bailouts. Tell the bank to modify loans and save homes from foreclosure. Call on bank leaders to quit fighting financial reform that would protect consumers. Shame bank bosses for giving themselves fat bonuses with our hard-earned tax dollars.
Download the flyer for more information, including the agenda, and share it with your networks.
Time to hold Wall St accountable for destroying jobs
In an op-ed published in the Charlotte Observer last Thursday, NC AFL-CIO President, James Andrews, and national AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, called for banks to pay their fair share to restore the jobs they destroyed in the 2008 collapse of the financial sector.
Workers, clergy, veterans, civic leaders, and community groups from the NC State AFL-CIO and NC United Power will converge for an important action at the Bank of America shareholders’ meeting in Charlotte on the morning of April 28th.What: Rally and action at B of A shareholders meeting
When: Wed., April 28 at 9:15 AM (shareholders meeting) and at 11:30 AM (rally after shareholders meeting)
Where: Gathering place is First United Presbyterian Church, 406 N. College Street, Charlotte, NC 28802
Come out and demand accountability from B of A for its billions in taxpayer bailouts. Tell the bank to modify loans and save homes from foreclosure. Call on bank leaders to quit fighting financial reform that would protect consumers. Shame bank bosses for giving themselves fat bonuses with our hard-earned tax dollars.
Download the flyer for more information, including the agenda, and share it with your networks.
Time to hold Wall St accountable for destroying jobs
In an op-ed published in the Charlotte Observer last Thursday, NC AFL-CIO President, James Andrews, and national AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, called for banks to pay their fair share to restore the jobs they destroyed in the 2008 collapse of the financial sector.
“But unbelievably, after $700 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, the big banks are back to business as usual. They are still not lending in their communities, and credit remains tight. They are fighting new taxes on financial speculation and excessive bonuses, even after handing out $145 billion in 2009 executive pay and bonuses. And they are pulling out all the stops to resist new financial rules that are so clearly necessary.”Read more the full op-ed by clicking here.
The health care bill: What it means for workers
By Fred Goldstein, International Action Center, March 24, 2010
Tens of millions of people in this country were hoping to be delivered from the clutches of the ruthless profiteers who control the health care system and were hoping for universal health care. But the very opposite has happened.
The latest so-called health care reform bill, signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, has consolidated and legalized the position of the health care profiteers as the central force in the system of health care — under minimal supervision and regulation by the capitalist state.
Furthermore, this bill has been passed by bargaining away women’s reproductive rights and the rights of undocumented and documented immigrants. Its effect is to destroy solidarity while it turns its back on millions of mostly poor women and immigrants.
A statement by Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, explained that one of the bill’s effects is to make public funding of abortion impossible and private funding almost impossible. She wrote that the bill “imposes a bizarre requirement on insurance plan enrollees who buy coverage through the health insurance exchanges to write two monthly checks (one for an abortion care rider and one for all other health care). Even employers will have to write two separate checks for each of their employees requesting the abortion rider.”
O’Neill also wrote that the “bill imposes harsh restrictions on the ability of immigrants to access health care, imposing a five-year waiting period on permanent, legal residents before they are eligible for assistance such as Medicaid, and prohibiting undocumented workers even to use their own money to purchase health insurance through an exchange. These provisions ... are there because of ugly anti-immigrant sentiment, and must be eliminated.”
Those who stubbornly and valiantly fought for some form of universal national health care were shunted aside by the Democratic Party leadership and the Obama administration. Single payer was pushed off the agenda and substituted with the miniscule provision for a “public option.” This was mainly a sop in order to change the subject. The Obama administration had early on negotiated with the health care industry and agreed that there would not be a public option.
Thus health care is still to be sold as a commodity on the capitalist market for profit, instead of being the right that it should be. It is in stark contrast to the socialized health care in Cuba, for example, where despite a U.S. blockade that has impoverished the country for decades, health care is free and accessible to everyone. This is because Cuba’s socialist system means people’s needs are a priority, not profits like under capitalism.
One of the features of this bill is that the masses have been kept in the dark about the process and the bill itself from the beginning to the end. Only the politicians and the lobbyists from the various health care industries and medical professions were able to follow the inner course of the negotiations. Now that it is over, various bourgeois experts have surfaced to “explain” the bill.
Workers to wait until 2014 while 45,000 a year die
The details that are buried in the bill will only come out over time, if ever. Here are some of the major features of the bill that have come out.
To begin with, even the most optimistic estimates project that 23 million people will still be uninsured in 2014.
The bill imposes onerous conditions on millions of uninsured who, starting in 2014, would be forced to buy health insurance from an insurance company or face a fine. This is the bill’s version of giving wider coverage. It was the result of a deal cut with the insurance companies to widen their diminishing customer base, which has suffered during the economic crisis as millions lost their jobs and their insurance, and to ensure future billions in profit.
In 2014 workers and the middle class are to be thrust into one of 50 state-run exchanges. This further atomizes the working class by leaving the burden on the individual to find “affordable” insurance on the Internet. Even when insurance premiums are affordable, the co-payments and deductibles can be in the thousands of dollars and make it unaffordable to actually use the insurance.
Medicare Advantage, home care and hospital payments are to be cut by $200 billion. This is a threat to seniors and the disabled, despite assurances that nothing will be cut. Cuts will be made in the reimbursement to the private insurance companies that work through Medicare Advantage; they will surely reduce services.
Adults with pre-existing conditions will have to wait until 2014, when they can no longer be denied coverage. Poor families of four earning less than $29,327 — 16 million people — will have to wait five years to be covered by Medicaid. Meanwhile 45,000 preventable deaths take place every year because of lack of insurance, according to Harvard Medical School. Half of all bankruptcies are due to medical costs.
The bill, of course, has some positive elements that cover the most outrageous and universally hated practices of the insurance companies. Any positive elements should be closely studied by the workers and taken full advantage of. Many of the practices to be eliminated were exposed in Michael Moore’s popular and widely viewed film, “Sicko.”
In the short run, the insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage if you are sick. They will not be able to put a lifetime cap on coverage. And they cannot deny children access because of a pre-existing condition. Youth up to 26 years old can stay on their parents’ insurance plan, although there may be an additional premium.
But millions of workers will still have to rely on their bosses to get their health care. If you lose your job, you still lose your health care. In this era of layoffs, mass unemployment and underemployment, there is an epidemic of people losing their employer-based coverage. And if you are allowed to keep your health care after you are laid off, few can afford to pay a group rate, let alone an individual rate.
Most important is that the insurance companies will be in charge of the immediate review process. The Department of Health and Human Services will eventually have a higher level of review. But the companies are expert at lying, manipulating and, in the long run, suffering fines in order to avoid giving coverage that is more expensive than the fines. It is a case of the fox retaining the right to guard the chicken coop.
Social Security and Medicare
The conventional wisdom being touted by the Democratic Party leadership is that this health care bill is in the tradition of the establishment of Social Security and Medicare.
In fact, the opposite is true. Marxists must try to understand the difference, not just in terms of personalities or parties, but in seeing the objective circumstances in which these different pieces of legislation were passed and what the class differences are. The most important factor is to view the relationship of class forces that existed then and that exist now.
The Social Security bill was passed in 1935 as part of the Franklin Roosevelt “New Deal.” But it was passed only after a period of mass struggle against unemployment, the famous veterans’ Bonus March in Washington, D.C., and the break up of the veterans’ encampment by federal troops in a pitched battle. It followed the general strikes in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Minn., and Toledo, Ohio, in 1934.
Even at that, it was a compromise in which the bosses wound up having to pay only half of Social Security, with workers paying the other half. But it became a working-class right. The money was held by the government for the workers and paid out every month by the government.
The Medicaid bill was passed in 1964 and the Medicare legislation was passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program. These bills were not passed because the capitalist government suddenly became socially conscious. They came after 10 years of the Civil Rights movement, massive rebellions in the streets of Harlem, N.Y., and Los Angeles, and a growing national liberation movement right here in the U.S.
Just like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid became a legal and political right of the working class and the poor. They were not turned over to private companies and put on the capitalist market as commodities.
The present health care bill reflects the fact that the working class movement, including the movement of the oppressed, has been on the defensive for a long time and has not yet begun to fight back.
Consequently, the fate of the health care bill was really fought out by different factions within the ruling class and their two political parties without any significant intervention by the masses. Secret deals were made with the pharmaceutical and hospital lobbies as well as with elements in the health insurance industry. When these deals became known, there was no mass response. The bosses had their way, relatively unobstructed by any threat from below. The labor movement leadership restricted itself to minuscule protests and lobbying. And the communities and the political movement were unable to mobilize, despite militant attempts by various single-payer groups.
Fight racist, right-wing counterattacks
But this should lead into the next phase of the struggle. The great problem for the workers’ movement is that the health care bill, as minimal as it is, has been fought tooth-and-nail by the Republicans and the extreme right-wing Tea Party movement, which encompasses outright fascists. The Republicans and the corporations have in fact worked with the Tea Party movement to fan the flames of racism and anti-gay and anti-immigrant sentiment.
There was a fascist-like display at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the day the bill was passed, when a mob shouted racist epithets at African-American representative and former civil rights leader John Lewis of Georgia and spat on another Black legislator. The mob then accosted Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is gay, and hurled anti-gay slurs at him. It is notable that this mob was allowed by the Capitol police to get right up in the faces of the lawmakers.
The right wing tried to bring down the Obama presidency over the health care bill. There is already talk among the Republicans of trying to overturn the bill and start up a new town-hall-style, ultra-rightist mobilization.
This fact does not make the bill any better. But it does mean that the workers’ movement, the progressive and revolutionary movement, must work together to assertively combat any reactionary and racist counterattack by the right while at the same time demanding real universal health care.
It is not known at this time if right-wing elements will succeed. But the progressive movement was taken aback during the town hall campaign last fall, when the first right-wing assaults were launched against the health care bill while whipping up a racist campaign against Obama.
Forewarned is forearmed. The fight for health care can be carried into the struggle against the right without having to abandon a working-class, progressive position. Fighting the racists and getting in their face while demanding universal quality health care and Medicare for all can and must be done. “Health care is a right!” should become the battle cry of the movement, along with pro-immigrant, pro-abortion rights, anti-racist slogans and so on. This is the way to resist any right-wing, racist mobilization based on opposition to the health care bill.
The Democratic Party leadership has given in all along the line. The workers, oppressed communities, students and youth all have a stake in this struggle. It can be united with the struggle for jobs, against the budget cuts and foreclosures, and to save public education. All these fronts in the class struggle form the basis to come together in People’s Assemblies or other organs of popular power to unite to launch a powerful, anti-capitalist movement.
Tens of millions of people in this country were hoping to be delivered from the clutches of the ruthless profiteers who control the health care system and were hoping for universal health care. But the very opposite has happened.
The latest so-called health care reform bill, signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, has consolidated and legalized the position of the health care profiteers as the central force in the system of health care — under minimal supervision and regulation by the capitalist state.
Furthermore, this bill has been passed by bargaining away women’s reproductive rights and the rights of undocumented and documented immigrants. Its effect is to destroy solidarity while it turns its back on millions of mostly poor women and immigrants.
A statement by Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, explained that one of the bill’s effects is to make public funding of abortion impossible and private funding almost impossible. She wrote that the bill “imposes a bizarre requirement on insurance plan enrollees who buy coverage through the health insurance exchanges to write two monthly checks (one for an abortion care rider and one for all other health care). Even employers will have to write two separate checks for each of their employees requesting the abortion rider.”
O’Neill also wrote that the “bill imposes harsh restrictions on the ability of immigrants to access health care, imposing a five-year waiting period on permanent, legal residents before they are eligible for assistance such as Medicaid, and prohibiting undocumented workers even to use their own money to purchase health insurance through an exchange. These provisions ... are there because of ugly anti-immigrant sentiment, and must be eliminated.”
Those who stubbornly and valiantly fought for some form of universal national health care were shunted aside by the Democratic Party leadership and the Obama administration. Single payer was pushed off the agenda and substituted with the miniscule provision for a “public option.” This was mainly a sop in order to change the subject. The Obama administration had early on negotiated with the health care industry and agreed that there would not be a public option.
Thus health care is still to be sold as a commodity on the capitalist market for profit, instead of being the right that it should be. It is in stark contrast to the socialized health care in Cuba, for example, where despite a U.S. blockade that has impoverished the country for decades, health care is free and accessible to everyone. This is because Cuba’s socialist system means people’s needs are a priority, not profits like under capitalism.
One of the features of this bill is that the masses have been kept in the dark about the process and the bill itself from the beginning to the end. Only the politicians and the lobbyists from the various health care industries and medical professions were able to follow the inner course of the negotiations. Now that it is over, various bourgeois experts have surfaced to “explain” the bill.
Workers to wait until 2014 while 45,000 a year die
The details that are buried in the bill will only come out over time, if ever. Here are some of the major features of the bill that have come out.
To begin with, even the most optimistic estimates project that 23 million people will still be uninsured in 2014.
The bill imposes onerous conditions on millions of uninsured who, starting in 2014, would be forced to buy health insurance from an insurance company or face a fine. This is the bill’s version of giving wider coverage. It was the result of a deal cut with the insurance companies to widen their diminishing customer base, which has suffered during the economic crisis as millions lost their jobs and their insurance, and to ensure future billions in profit.
In 2014 workers and the middle class are to be thrust into one of 50 state-run exchanges. This further atomizes the working class by leaving the burden on the individual to find “affordable” insurance on the Internet. Even when insurance premiums are affordable, the co-payments and deductibles can be in the thousands of dollars and make it unaffordable to actually use the insurance.
Medicare Advantage, home care and hospital payments are to be cut by $200 billion. This is a threat to seniors and the disabled, despite assurances that nothing will be cut. Cuts will be made in the reimbursement to the private insurance companies that work through Medicare Advantage; they will surely reduce services.
Adults with pre-existing conditions will have to wait until 2014, when they can no longer be denied coverage. Poor families of four earning less than $29,327 — 16 million people — will have to wait five years to be covered by Medicaid. Meanwhile 45,000 preventable deaths take place every year because of lack of insurance, according to Harvard Medical School. Half of all bankruptcies are due to medical costs.
The bill, of course, has some positive elements that cover the most outrageous and universally hated practices of the insurance companies. Any positive elements should be closely studied by the workers and taken full advantage of. Many of the practices to be eliminated were exposed in Michael Moore’s popular and widely viewed film, “Sicko.”
In the short run, the insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage if you are sick. They will not be able to put a lifetime cap on coverage. And they cannot deny children access because of a pre-existing condition. Youth up to 26 years old can stay on their parents’ insurance plan, although there may be an additional premium.
But millions of workers will still have to rely on their bosses to get their health care. If you lose your job, you still lose your health care. In this era of layoffs, mass unemployment and underemployment, there is an epidemic of people losing their employer-based coverage. And if you are allowed to keep your health care after you are laid off, few can afford to pay a group rate, let alone an individual rate.
Most important is that the insurance companies will be in charge of the immediate review process. The Department of Health and Human Services will eventually have a higher level of review. But the companies are expert at lying, manipulating and, in the long run, suffering fines in order to avoid giving coverage that is more expensive than the fines. It is a case of the fox retaining the right to guard the chicken coop.
Social Security and Medicare
The conventional wisdom being touted by the Democratic Party leadership is that this health care bill is in the tradition of the establishment of Social Security and Medicare.
In fact, the opposite is true. Marxists must try to understand the difference, not just in terms of personalities or parties, but in seeing the objective circumstances in which these different pieces of legislation were passed and what the class differences are. The most important factor is to view the relationship of class forces that existed then and that exist now.
The Social Security bill was passed in 1935 as part of the Franklin Roosevelt “New Deal.” But it was passed only after a period of mass struggle against unemployment, the famous veterans’ Bonus March in Washington, D.C., and the break up of the veterans’ encampment by federal troops in a pitched battle. It followed the general strikes in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Minn., and Toledo, Ohio, in 1934.
Even at that, it was a compromise in which the bosses wound up having to pay only half of Social Security, with workers paying the other half. But it became a working-class right. The money was held by the government for the workers and paid out every month by the government.
The Medicaid bill was passed in 1964 and the Medicare legislation was passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program. These bills were not passed because the capitalist government suddenly became socially conscious. They came after 10 years of the Civil Rights movement, massive rebellions in the streets of Harlem, N.Y., and Los Angeles, and a growing national liberation movement right here in the U.S.
Just like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid became a legal and political right of the working class and the poor. They were not turned over to private companies and put on the capitalist market as commodities.
The present health care bill reflects the fact that the working class movement, including the movement of the oppressed, has been on the defensive for a long time and has not yet begun to fight back.
Consequently, the fate of the health care bill was really fought out by different factions within the ruling class and their two political parties without any significant intervention by the masses. Secret deals were made with the pharmaceutical and hospital lobbies as well as with elements in the health insurance industry. When these deals became known, there was no mass response. The bosses had their way, relatively unobstructed by any threat from below. The labor movement leadership restricted itself to minuscule protests and lobbying. And the communities and the political movement were unable to mobilize, despite militant attempts by various single-payer groups.
Fight racist, right-wing counterattacks
But this should lead into the next phase of the struggle. The great problem for the workers’ movement is that the health care bill, as minimal as it is, has been fought tooth-and-nail by the Republicans and the extreme right-wing Tea Party movement, which encompasses outright fascists. The Republicans and the corporations have in fact worked with the Tea Party movement to fan the flames of racism and anti-gay and anti-immigrant sentiment.
There was a fascist-like display at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the day the bill was passed, when a mob shouted racist epithets at African-American representative and former civil rights leader John Lewis of Georgia and spat on another Black legislator. The mob then accosted Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is gay, and hurled anti-gay slurs at him. It is notable that this mob was allowed by the Capitol police to get right up in the faces of the lawmakers.
The right wing tried to bring down the Obama presidency over the health care bill. There is already talk among the Republicans of trying to overturn the bill and start up a new town-hall-style, ultra-rightist mobilization.
This fact does not make the bill any better. But it does mean that the workers’ movement, the progressive and revolutionary movement, must work together to assertively combat any reactionary and racist counterattack by the right while at the same time demanding real universal health care.
It is not known at this time if right-wing elements will succeed. But the progressive movement was taken aback during the town hall campaign last fall, when the first right-wing assaults were launched against the health care bill while whipping up a racist campaign against Obama.
Forewarned is forearmed. The fight for health care can be carried into the struggle against the right without having to abandon a working-class, progressive position. Fighting the racists and getting in their face while demanding universal quality health care and Medicare for all can and must be done. “Health care is a right!” should become the battle cry of the movement, along with pro-immigrant, pro-abortion rights, anti-racist slogans and so on. This is the way to resist any right-wing, racist mobilization based on opposition to the health care bill.
The Democratic Party leadership has given in all along the line. The workers, oppressed communities, students and youth all have a stake in this struggle. It can be united with the struggle for jobs, against the budget cuts and foreclosures, and to save public education. All these fronts in the class struggle form the basis to come together in People’s Assemblies or other organs of popular power to unite to launch a powerful, anti-capitalist movement.
Call For May Day 2010 Unity Coalition
May 1 Coalition For Worker & Immigrant Rights
Cards in English and Spanish
May Day 2010 is rapidly approaching.
This year’s May Day is more important than ever as the economic and financial crisis continues to strike a heavy blow on workers from the U.S. and around the world. A recovery with no jobs is a recovery solely for the multinational corporations, who are raking in record profits as the people face increasing poverty, joblessness, homelessness, disease and death.
The escalation of war abroad in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the racist, ruthless military occupation of Haiti demand our response.
A powerful and massive united fight-back against this onslaught is urgently needed.
May Day 2010 provides us with that opportunity.
In 2006, immigrant workers rose up in record numbers shutting down their workplaces in response to a malicious attack emanating from the White House. The Sensenbrenner bill attempted to unjustly criminalize workers, especially those without documents. The massive outpouring in the spring of 2006 defeated that bill. The attacks nevertheless continue to this day, including Gestapo-like raids, separation of families, and cruel illegal detentions.
Another significant development that grew out of the 2006 massive national outpouring was the militant revival of May Day in this country. Despite the fact that May Day was born in the U.S., the independent spirit of the working class fighting for its rights in its own name for its own interests has been discouraged and substituted for the misguided belief that our goals and agenda are the same as our bosses and their political parties.
The militant stand of immigrant workers and their joining together with U.S. born workers revived May Day and its true working class fighting spirit. This spirit was reflected not only here, but in 2006 May Day actions took place around the country and worldwide.
We must continue to demonstrate the power of a movement based on the unwavering commitment to strengthen the required solidarity and unity. May Day 2010 must be the clarion call to all those who would dare to build the kind of movement capable of stopping ALL the attacks on workers and our communities. May Day 2010 must support all members of the class who are taking bold organized stands against these attacks.
Our working class youth must be supported in their rapidly developing mobilizations against school closures, the elimination of the MTA cards, tuition increases, police brutality and harassment. The issues of our children and young adults are part and parcel to the overall attacks against working families and their communities.
This year May Day must represent the solidarity and resistance of all working communities who are taking courageous stands against the massive layoffs, loss of homes, health insurance, and the deepening erosion of our rights to organize and bargain collectively for livable wages and just work conditions. This year May Day must once again demand legalization for all workers and declare that we will not allow our origin of birth to divide us from another.
This 2010 May Day must bring together all workers regardless of national origin, language, religion or race. We create the wealth and we must show the world that workers day, May Day, will be honored here in the U.S. as a day of workers’ standing up for justice & resistance.
Since 2005, Million Worker March Movement, union activists, unorganized workers, the unemployed and immigrant community organizations, committed to the independence and militant organization of workers, reaffirmed the tradition of organizing a May Day Rally & March in Union Square. 2006 gave birth to the May 1st Coalition for Workers & Immigrant rights and millions marched from Union Square to Foley Square.
Call for a May Day 2010 coalition.
The following signers invite everyone from the labor, immigrant, anti-war, student, youth, community & progressive movements, to claim your day and join us at a May Day 2010 Unity Meeting.
This meeting will take place on Thursday, February 18 at 6:30p.m. at the Union Hall of Transit Workers Union Local 100, 80 West End Ave. & 64th St. in Manhattan.
Please contact us at MayDay2010@peoplesmail.net to sign on to the call and to indicate your presence on the 18th of February.
Signers,
* Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle
* Amer.-Iranian Friendship Comm.
* Anakbayan NY/NJ
* Artists & Activists United for Peace: U-Savior Washington, Nana Soul, Shawna Glover
* Asia Pacific Action
* Bail Out the People Movement
* BAYAN USA
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March Movement*
* Brian Barraza, Mexicano activista
* Bryan G. Pfeifer, Staff Org. Union of Part-Time Faculty-AFT, Wayne State Detroit*
* Carlos Canales, L.I. Workplace Project, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Casa Freehold
* Charles Barron, City Council Member
* Charles Jenkins, TWU, Local 100*, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Chris Silvera, Secty. Treasurer Teamsters Local 808
* Comrade Shahid, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Diana Crowder, Trabaj. Por La Paz
* Ernesto Nevarez, Port of Aztlan, Labor Organizer
* Fallou Gueye, Union of African Workers/Senegal*, May 1 Co-Coordr
* Filipinas 4 Rights & Empowrment (FiRE)
* Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice – Canada
* FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together youth org)
* Freedom Socialist Party
* Gabriela-USA
* George Guenthel, Working Peoples News
* Gustavo Mejias, MWM
* Guyanese American Workers United
* Heather Cottin, Member Prof. Staff Assoc., LaGuardia College Prof.
* Hector Castillo, Bronx Community May 1st Co-Coordinator
* IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* International Action Center
* Israel Galindo, member Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas
* Johnnie Stevens, Katrina Rita Awareness Walk
* Jornaleros Unidos
* Julie Fry, VP, UAW Local 2325
* Kevin Keating
* Kinding Sindaw
* La Peña del Bronx
* Larry Hamm, Chairperson, Peoples Organization for Progress, NJ
* Larry Holmes, National BOPM Organizer
* Larry Malu
* Lucy Pagaoda, Honduras USA Resistencia
* Manhattan Local Green Party, NYC
* Marina Diaz, Centro Guatemalteco Tecun Uman
* Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Labor for Palestine
* Mike Gimbel, Local 375 AFSCME Chair of Labor/Community Unity Committee, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Million Worker March Movement
* Millions 4 Mumia
* Minnie-Bruce Pratt, Natl Writers Union
* MIUCA ACCION POR EL CAMBIO
* Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), Canada
* Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party
* NAFCON (National Alliance for Filipino Concerns)
* Nieves Ayres, Trabaj.s Por La Paz
* NYCHRP (NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines)
* Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
* Orlando Sepulveda, Internatl Socialist Organization
* Peoples Organization for Progress, NJ
* Philippine Forum
* Prosecute Them Now
* Queer People Of Color Action
* Rebel Diaz Arts Collective
* Rev. Lucius Walker, Exec. Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* Rev. Luis Barrios, Chair Dept. of Latin American & Latino/a Studies, John Jay College, SOAW activist
* Sharon Black, Union Coor., BOPM, AFT Local 2
* Shelley Ettinger, AFT Local 3882
* Stuart Hutchison
* Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition Co-Coordinator, Depty Secty Gen IMA (International Migrant Alliance)
* Tony Murphy, cartoonist
* Tsehai Hiwot
* Víctor Toro, fighting for political asylum
* Women’s Fightback Network
Cards in English and Spanish
May Day 2010 is rapidly approaching.
This year’s May Day is more important than ever as the economic and financial crisis continues to strike a heavy blow on workers from the U.S. and around the world. A recovery with no jobs is a recovery solely for the multinational corporations, who are raking in record profits as the people face increasing poverty, joblessness, homelessness, disease and death.The escalation of war abroad in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the racist, ruthless military occupation of Haiti demand our response.
A powerful and massive united fight-back against this onslaught is urgently needed.
May Day 2010 provides us with that opportunity.
In 2006, immigrant workers rose up in record numbers shutting down their workplaces in response to a malicious attack emanating from the White House. The Sensenbrenner bill attempted to unjustly criminalize workers, especially those without documents. The massive outpouring in the spring of 2006 defeated that bill. The attacks nevertheless continue to this day, including Gestapo-like raids, separation of families, and cruel illegal detentions.
Another significant development that grew out of the 2006 massive national outpouring was the militant revival of May Day in this country. Despite the fact that May Day was born in the U.S., the independent spirit of the working class fighting for its rights in its own name for its own interests has been discouraged and substituted for the misguided belief that our goals and agenda are the same as our bosses and their political parties.
The militant stand of immigrant workers and their joining together with U.S. born workers revived May Day and its true working class fighting spirit. This spirit was reflected not only here, but in 2006 May Day actions took place around the country and worldwide.
We must continue to demonstrate the power of a movement based on the unwavering commitment to strengthen the required solidarity and unity. May Day 2010 must be the clarion call to all those who would dare to build the kind of movement capable of stopping ALL the attacks on workers and our communities. May Day 2010 must support all members of the class who are taking bold organized stands against these attacks.
Our working class youth must be supported in their rapidly developing mobilizations against school closures, the elimination of the MTA cards, tuition increases, police brutality and harassment. The issues of our children and young adults are part and parcel to the overall attacks against working families and their communities.
This year May Day must represent the solidarity and resistance of all working communities who are taking courageous stands against the massive layoffs, loss of homes, health insurance, and the deepening erosion of our rights to organize and bargain collectively for livable wages and just work conditions. This year May Day must once again demand legalization for all workers and declare that we will not allow our origin of birth to divide us from another.
This 2010 May Day must bring together all workers regardless of national origin, language, religion or race. We create the wealth and we must show the world that workers day, May Day, will be honored here in the U.S. as a day of workers’ standing up for justice & resistance.
Since 2005, Million Worker March Movement, union activists, unorganized workers, the unemployed and immigrant community organizations, committed to the independence and militant organization of workers, reaffirmed the tradition of organizing a May Day Rally & March in Union Square. 2006 gave birth to the May 1st Coalition for Workers & Immigrant rights and millions marched from Union Square to Foley Square.
Call for a May Day 2010 coalition.
The following signers invite everyone from the labor, immigrant, anti-war, student, youth, community & progressive movements, to claim your day and join us at a May Day 2010 Unity Meeting.
This meeting will take place on Thursday, February 18 at 6:30p.m. at the Union Hall of Transit Workers Union Local 100, 80 West End Ave. & 64th St. in Manhattan.
Please contact us at MayDay2010@peoplesmail.net to sign on to the call and to indicate your presence on the 18th of February.
Signers,
* Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle
* Amer.-Iranian Friendship Comm.
* Anakbayan NY/NJ
* Artists & Activists United for Peace: U-Savior Washington, Nana Soul, Shawna Glover
* Asia Pacific Action
* Bail Out the People Movement
* BAYAN USA
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March Movement*
* Brian Barraza, Mexicano activista
* Bryan G. Pfeifer, Staff Org. Union of Part-Time Faculty-AFT, Wayne State Detroit*
* Carlos Canales, L.I. Workplace Project, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Casa Freehold
* Charles Barron, City Council Member
* Charles Jenkins, TWU, Local 100*, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Chris Silvera, Secty. Treasurer Teamsters Local 808
* Comrade Shahid, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Diana Crowder, Trabaj. Por La Paz
* Ernesto Nevarez, Port of Aztlan, Labor Organizer
* Fallou Gueye, Union of African Workers/Senegal*, May 1 Co-Coordr
* Filipinas 4 Rights & Empowrment (FiRE)
* Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice – Canada
* FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together youth org)
* Freedom Socialist Party
* Gabriela-USA
* George Guenthel, Working Peoples News
* Gustavo Mejias, MWM
* Guyanese American Workers United
* Heather Cottin, Member Prof. Staff Assoc., LaGuardia College Prof.
* Hector Castillo, Bronx Community May 1st Co-Coordinator
* IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* International Action Center
* Israel Galindo, member Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas
* Johnnie Stevens, Katrina Rita Awareness Walk
* Jornaleros Unidos
* Julie Fry, VP, UAW Local 2325
* Kevin Keating
* Kinding Sindaw
* La Peña del Bronx
* Larry Hamm, Chairperson, Peoples Organization for Progress, NJ
* Larry Holmes, National BOPM Organizer
* Larry Malu
* Lucy Pagaoda, Honduras USA Resistencia
* Manhattan Local Green Party, NYC
* Marina Diaz, Centro Guatemalteco Tecun Uman
* Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Labor for Palestine
* Mike Gimbel, Local 375 AFSCME Chair of Labor/Community Unity Committee, May 1st Co-Coordinator
* Million Worker March Movement
* Millions 4 Mumia
* Minnie-Bruce Pratt, Natl Writers Union
* MIUCA ACCION POR EL CAMBIO
* Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), Canada
* Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party
* NAFCON (National Alliance for Filipino Concerns)
* Nieves Ayres, Trabaj.s Por La Paz
* NYCHRP (NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines)
* Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
* Orlando Sepulveda, Internatl Socialist Organization
* Peoples Organization for Progress, NJ
* Philippine Forum
* Prosecute Them Now
* Queer People Of Color Action
* Rebel Diaz Arts Collective
* Rev. Lucius Walker, Exec. Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* Rev. Luis Barrios, Chair Dept. of Latin American & Latino/a Studies, John Jay College, SOAW activist
* Sharon Black, Union Coor., BOPM, AFT Local 2
* Shelley Ettinger, AFT Local 3882
* Stuart Hutchison
* Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition Co-Coordinator, Depty Secty Gen IMA (International Migrant Alliance)
* Tony Murphy, cartoonist
* Tsehai Hiwot
* Víctor Toro, fighting for political asylum
* Women’s Fightback Network
A Labor Day Appeal: A Jobless Recovery Means Fight Back Or Starve!
SEPT. 20 MARCH FOR JOBS IN PITTSBURGH BEFORE THE G20 SUMMIT
"Fight or Starve" read the headlines of a leaflet being distributed by the Unemployed Council members in 1933. Flash forwards 76 years and it’s Labor Day 2009. A year ago the collapse of Lehman Brothers set off a worldwide melt down of the banking system and the biggest world economic crisis since the 1930s. One year later, after more than 13 trillion dollars of help from the government, they say Wall Street is okay. As finance ministers prepare for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh this month, the spin is that the recovery is here or near and that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke saved the country and the planet from a second great depression.
Saved who from a depression? The official unemployment rate in Detroit , Michigan is 29%. That’s depression-level unemployment. But it’s not just Detroit . While the official national unemployment rate just edged up to 9.7%, when the unemployed and underemployed who are not counted in the official rate are added, it’s really closer to 17%. For teenagers it’s a whopping 25% and for African-American young adults it’s closer to 50%.
We're talking about depression-level unemployment. The rate of home foreclosures continues to soar and it’s only going to get worse.
High unemployment affects every worker. Why? Because it drives down wages and benefits across the board and weakens or breaks union contracts. The real news is that things are never going to be the same unless we do something about it. The jobs that were lost are not coming back. The global economic crisis that hit the fan a year ago has ushered in a permanent and ever-escalating war on the working class and the poor. There will be no more respites of peace and prosperity for most of us.
The only question is what are the workers going to do about it? What are the labor unions going to do about it? What are organizations and activists who are dedicated to social and economic justice going to do about it? Will there be a massive fight back of the kind we haven’t seen since the workers said “we’re not taking anymore” in the early and mid-1930s and then proceeded to stop evictions, organize, strike, occupy factories and scare the hell out of the powers that be?
There’s no nice way of putting this. If poor and working people don’t start fighting back we are going to be destroyed by the greedy, profits before people, rich sociopaths from all the Wall Streets all over the globe.
The eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh in a few days because the heads of governments and their head bankers will be meeting there to talk about how they can continue their jobless recovery on the backs of the working people of the world.
On Sunday, Sept. 20, the first day of the week of the G20 summit, there’s going to be a major march for jobs. Unemployed and homeless people and their supporters will be coming to Pittsburgh for the march for jobs. With the support of some labor including the United Steelworkers union--which is headquartered in Pittsburgh --and the support of the Black community in Pittsburgh , the march for jobs will assemble in the historic Black community of Pittsburgh known as “The Hill”. The goal of the march is to revive the dream that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted the final days of his life to--a second civil rights movement for the right of all to a decent paying job. After the march and rally that day, many will return to a patch of land next to the Monumental Baptist Church on the Hill, where they will live in a tent city dedicated to the unemployed people of the world for the rest of the G20 summit week.
Everything has to start sometime and somewhere. Maybe we can help start the fight back in Pittsburgh this month. Will you be there? Find a bus, a car, a van or a train headed towards Pittsburgh and bring everyone you can with you. Go to BailOutPeople.org.
March For Jobs and Tent City Conveners include:
Bail Out The People Movement
Picture The Homeless
The Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign
Peoples Organization For Progress
May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Workers Rights
United Electrical Union
United Steelworkers union
San Francisco Central Labor Council
Million Worker March Movement
Local 10 ILWU
Peoples Fight Back Campaign
Moratorium Now! Coalition Against Foreclosures and Evictions
Pastors For Peace
If your community, union or student group is not already on board—there is still time to get involved.
If you are going to be participating at the ‘Solidarity with the Unemployed’ Tent City following the March 4 Jobs—it’s critical to register to make sure there are resources and space available. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required.
Register at http://www.bailoutpeople.org/septg20register.shtml
"Fight or Starve" read the headlines of a leaflet being distributed by the Unemployed Council members in 1933. Flash forwards 76 years and it’s Labor Day 2009. A year ago the collapse of Lehman Brothers set off a worldwide melt down of the banking system and the biggest world economic crisis since the 1930s. One year later, after more than 13 trillion dollars of help from the government, they say Wall Street is okay. As finance ministers prepare for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh this month, the spin is that the recovery is here or near and that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke saved the country and the planet from a second great depression.
Saved who from a depression? The official unemployment rate in Detroit , Michigan is 29%. That’s depression-level unemployment. But it’s not just Detroit . While the official national unemployment rate just edged up to 9.7%, when the unemployed and underemployed who are not counted in the official rate are added, it’s really closer to 17%. For teenagers it’s a whopping 25% and for African-American young adults it’s closer to 50%.
We're talking about depression-level unemployment. The rate of home foreclosures continues to soar and it’s only going to get worse.
High unemployment affects every worker. Why? Because it drives down wages and benefits across the board and weakens or breaks union contracts. The real news is that things are never going to be the same unless we do something about it. The jobs that were lost are not coming back. The global economic crisis that hit the fan a year ago has ushered in a permanent and ever-escalating war on the working class and the poor. There will be no more respites of peace and prosperity for most of us.
The only question is what are the workers going to do about it? What are the labor unions going to do about it? What are organizations and activists who are dedicated to social and economic justice going to do about it? Will there be a massive fight back of the kind we haven’t seen since the workers said “we’re not taking anymore” in the early and mid-1930s and then proceeded to stop evictions, organize, strike, occupy factories and scare the hell out of the powers that be?
There’s no nice way of putting this. If poor and working people don’t start fighting back we are going to be destroyed by the greedy, profits before people, rich sociopaths from all the Wall Streets all over the globe.
The eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh in a few days because the heads of governments and their head bankers will be meeting there to talk about how they can continue their jobless recovery on the backs of the working people of the world.
On Sunday, Sept. 20, the first day of the week of the G20 summit, there’s going to be a major march for jobs. Unemployed and homeless people and their supporters will be coming to Pittsburgh for the march for jobs. With the support of some labor including the United Steelworkers union--which is headquartered in Pittsburgh --and the support of the Black community in Pittsburgh , the march for jobs will assemble in the historic Black community of Pittsburgh known as “The Hill”. The goal of the march is to revive the dream that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted the final days of his life to--a second civil rights movement for the right of all to a decent paying job. After the march and rally that day, many will return to a patch of land next to the Monumental Baptist Church on the Hill, where they will live in a tent city dedicated to the unemployed people of the world for the rest of the G20 summit week.
Everything has to start sometime and somewhere. Maybe we can help start the fight back in Pittsburgh this month. Will you be there? Find a bus, a car, a van or a train headed towards Pittsburgh and bring everyone you can with you. Go to BailOutPeople.org.
March For Jobs and Tent City Conveners include:
Bail Out The People Movement
Picture The Homeless
The Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign
Peoples Organization For Progress
May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Workers Rights
United Electrical Union
United Steelworkers union
San Francisco Central Labor Council
Million Worker March Movement
Local 10 ILWU
Peoples Fight Back Campaign
Moratorium Now! Coalition Against Foreclosures and Evictions
Pastors For Peace
If your community, union or student group is not already on board—there is still time to get involved.
* Endorse – Organize – and Mobilize!VERY IMPORTANT: Please REGISTER for the Tent City.
* Distribute flyers and send out email notices.
* Bring a bus, van or car from your city, town or neighborhood – tell us so we can plan parking.
* Donate $ so that those without funds can attend.
If you are going to be participating at the ‘Solidarity with the Unemployed’ Tent City following the March 4 Jobs—it’s critical to register to make sure there are resources and space available. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required.
Register at http://www.bailoutpeople.org/septg20register.shtml
September 5: Raleigh Forum on Economic Crisis and G20
Fight for jobs, human rights, education, and an end to imperialist wars!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
12:00pm - 1:30pm
The Richard B. Harrison Library
1313 New Bern Avenue
Raleigh, NC
Sponsored by Triangle F.I.S.T. and the Bail Out the People Movement
Info: BailOutPeopleNC@gmail.com
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144891892094
"If you don't have a job, fight to get one-
If you have one, fight to keep it"
"A new world is possible, but we must fight for it."
Unemployment, especially of youth and people of color, is skyrocketing, despite the misrepresentation in the mainstream media that unemployment is still low*. Many, many more are underemployed, often having to work two, even three jobs to barely make ends meet. Even more do not receive adequate benefits, such as affordable health insurance, from employment.
Many of those fortunate enough to have jobs are facing forced cuts in hours, pay, and benefits. Tuition is increasing and financial aid options are decreasing whilst class sizes continue increasing and the quality of education is decreasing.
On September 24-25, delegates from the 20 countries with the largest economies and delegates from the IMF and WTO will gather in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the G20 summit to discuss how they can further further corporate and imperialist interests.
To protest the G20, a Tent City march will occur outside from September 20-25.
Protests will commence with a mass March for Jobs on Sunday, September 20, where we will fight for jobs at a living wage for all.
On August 29, 2009, a panel of speakers will present on the aforementioned various issues working class people are facing in relation to the G20 (youth issues, unemployment, workplace oppression, along with general information on the G20) and answer your questions
Triangle F.I.S.T. and Bail Out the People Movement NC are organizing a caravan from NC to Pittsburgh for the march and summit. More information will be provided at this forum.
So, invite all your friends and build the movement!
*mainstream unemployment figures only take into account those who are still actively searching for jobs, not taking into account people who have withdrawn from the job market, are underemployed, and/or have resorted to working 2-3 part time jobs to make ends meet.
This is even worse for youth, as: “Only 65 of every 100 men aged 20 through 24 years old were working on any given day in the first six months of this year. … For male teenagers, the numbers were disastrous: only 28 of every 100 males were employed in the 16 through 19-year-old age group. For minority teenagers, forget about it. The numbers are beyond scary; they’re catastrophic.” (source http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/opinion/11herbert.tm)
**NOTE: This forum is for anyone who's interested in the economic crisis at hand, unemployment, tuition hikes, budget cuts, repression in the workplace, and how to fight the increased burdens being placed on the backs of working people, NOT just people who are interested in going to the G20 march and/or tent city.
If you need a ride, we will provide it for you.**
http://raleighfist.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/aug-29-raleigh-meeting-to-build-for-g20-protest-jobs-march/#more-542
http://bailoutpeople.org/
Saturday, September 5, 2009
12:00pm - 1:30pm
The Richard B. Harrison Library
1313 New Bern Avenue
Raleigh, NC
Sponsored by Triangle F.I.S.T. and the Bail Out the People Movement
Info: BailOutPeopleNC@gmail.com
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144891892094
"If you don't have a job, fight to get one-
If you have one, fight to keep it"
"A new world is possible, but we must fight for it."
Unemployment, especially of youth and people of color, is skyrocketing, despite the misrepresentation in the mainstream media that unemployment is still low*. Many, many more are underemployed, often having to work two, even three jobs to barely make ends meet. Even more do not receive adequate benefits, such as affordable health insurance, from employment.
Many of those fortunate enough to have jobs are facing forced cuts in hours, pay, and benefits. Tuition is increasing and financial aid options are decreasing whilst class sizes continue increasing and the quality of education is decreasing.
On September 24-25, delegates from the 20 countries with the largest economies and delegates from the IMF and WTO will gather in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the G20 summit to discuss how they can further further corporate and imperialist interests.
To protest the G20, a Tent City march will occur outside from September 20-25.
Protests will commence with a mass March for Jobs on Sunday, September 20, where we will fight for jobs at a living wage for all.
On August 29, 2009, a panel of speakers will present on the aforementioned various issues working class people are facing in relation to the G20 (youth issues, unemployment, workplace oppression, along with general information on the G20) and answer your questions
Triangle F.I.S.T. and Bail Out the People Movement NC are organizing a caravan from NC to Pittsburgh for the march and summit. More information will be provided at this forum.
So, invite all your friends and build the movement!
*mainstream unemployment figures only take into account those who are still actively searching for jobs, not taking into account people who have withdrawn from the job market, are underemployed, and/or have resorted to working 2-3 part time jobs to make ends meet.
This is even worse for youth, as: “Only 65 of every 100 men aged 20 through 24 years old were working on any given day in the first six months of this year. … For male teenagers, the numbers were disastrous: only 28 of every 100 males were employed in the 16 through 19-year-old age group. For minority teenagers, forget about it. The numbers are beyond scary; they’re catastrophic.” (source http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/opinion/11herbert.tm)
**NOTE: This forum is for anyone who's interested in the economic crisis at hand, unemployment, tuition hikes, budget cuts, repression in the workplace, and how to fight the increased burdens being placed on the backs of working people, NOT just people who are interested in going to the G20 march and/or tent city.
If you need a ride, we will provide it for you.**
http://raleighfist.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/aug-29-raleigh-meeting-to-build-for-g20-protest-jobs-march/#more-542
http://bailoutpeople.org/
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