Vol. 73/No. 24 June 22, 2009
The SWP is running Dan Fein for New York mayor and Maura DeLuca for the city’s public advocate, as well as Tom Baumann for Manhattan borough president. They are the only candidates that put forward a program to unite working people to defend their class interests against the bosses’ and government’s attacks.
“Our campaign is getting a positive response on campuses and through street campaigning in working-class communities,” said Fein. “The petitioning effort provides us with an opportunity to reach more students and workers with the working-class answer to the worldwide crisis of the capitalist economic system that is leaving thousands and thousands without jobs and a deepening social crisis.”
Fein and DeLuca are both sewing-machine operators, and Baumann is a student at Hunter College. All three are active in working-class struggles, from backing workers on strike against union-busting assaults to defending the Cuban Revolution.
Supporters plan to obtain 15,000 signatures—double the requirement—to place the SWP citywide ticket on the ballot.
The socialists’ petitioning drive opens July 7. Teams of campaign supporters will hit the streets in all-day efforts on the July 11-12 and July 18--19 weekends, in addition to weekday signature-gathering. A full-time team of volunteers will also petition in working-class districts and on campuses throughout the city.
Public forums will be organized each of the two Saturday evenings. Several classes for campaign volunteers will be held.
“A proletarian revolution that takes power out of the hands of the capitalists is needed to answer the crisis capitalism has created,” said Fein. “Toward this end our campaign puts forward immediate demands to protect working people from the devastating consequences of this crisis and strengthen our solidarity as a class.”
The SWP platform calls for guaranteed unemployment compensation for as long as a worker is jobless; a raise in the federal minimum wage to union scale; a massive, federally funded, public works program to create jobs; no cuts in medical benefits; a halt to farm and home foreclosures; immediate, unconditional legalization of all undocumented workers; abolition of the income tax for workers; and U.S. troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now.
Two-term incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running for a third four-year term, is on the Republican Party and Independence Party ballot lines. Some prominent Democratic Party figures have also endorsed him. City Comptroller William Thompson is running a token campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination, as is Queens city councilman Anthony Avella.
In early June New York State governor David Paterson won agreement from officials of the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation to cut pension benefits for future employees.
The deal raises the minimum retirement age from 55 to 62. Workers will have to contribute 3 percent of their wages toward pensions for as long as they work, not just the first 10 years. They will wait 10 years, instead of five, to become vested in the pension system.
In return, the governor promised not to lay off 8,700 workers this year. But 7,000 jobs will still be cut. Some 4,500 workers already at retirement age are getting a $20,000 buyout and their jobs are being eliminated.
Another 2,500 positions that are currently funded but vacant will be permanently abolished, reported the June 5 New York Daily News.
In New York City, Bloomberg’s proposed budget threatens to eliminate some 12,000 union municipal jobs, cut $400 million in funds for education, and slash funds for libraries by 22 percent. The library cuts will eliminate hundreds of jobs and reduce average weekly library hours from 52 to 32. Many libraries will be open only four or five days a week, reported the Staten Island Advance.
“This will limit access to the libraries for millions,” Fein pointed out. “We must fight to halt this and all other attacks on working people.”
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