Vol. 77/No. 38      October 28, 2013

One of the questions concerned steps taken by the city to eliminate hundreds of city workers and contract out jobs to private companies paying less for custodians, lawn care and other jobs.

“I think the heart of the solution is fighting for a massive government jobs program that puts millions of people to work and builds and services the kinds of things we need,” Rosenfeld said, “as opposed to throwing money and tax breaks at businesses so they can so-called create jobs but in fact use that as an advantage to employ workers at very low-paying jobs.” The practice, known as outsourcing, has reduced city government annual expenses by $1.8 million, according to the Register.

“Outsourcing has saved us significant dollars and allowed us to keep an additional police officer or firefighter on the payrolls,” said Hensley, a self-described moderate Republican.”

“We need to stop this nonsense of thinking we’re going to save money by outsourcing,” challenger Woods said. “It drags the entire economy down.” He said lower-paid workers would qualify for food stamps, housing assistance and other government programs, so it is really “a cost-shift to the other taxpayers.” Woods has been endorsed by the South Central Iowa Federation of Labor.

Rosenfeld said when the city outsources, the point is to drive the union out of those jobs and lower workers’ wages. That’s why, he said, opposing outsourcing should be combined with a fight to “unionize workers and raise the minimum wage. This is part of knitting solidarity among workers.”

He pointed to the example of fast-food workers across the country who have taken to the streets demanding $15 an hour and a union. “This grabs workers’ imagination,” he said.

Capitalism pits workers against each other in dog-eat-dog competition, Rosenfeld said. Gains like this would build solidarity among workers. Our class interest is to fight for jobs for all, not jobs for me and the hell with others.

“I would use the city council to help build a movement along these lines,” Rosenfeld said.

The program is available on the paper’s website, desmoinesregister.com.

BRONX, N.Y. — “Our struggle did not start with the campaign and it doesn’t end with the campaign,” Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Bronx borough president in New York City, told the Sunday Daily News Oct. 6 in an article titled “They Mean Business.” The paper said Calero admits that “getting the borough’s workers motivated to start a movement was his party’s ultimate goal.”

“Calero — whose main aims are eradicating unemployment, stopping the deportation of immigrants and raising the minimum wage — says his campaign has already been a success,” the paper wrote, after attempting to dismiss his campaign by pointing out that Calero does not have his own website, raised less then $10,000 in contributions, is not a natural-born citizen and faced deportation in 2002. (The government failed in its effort to deport Calero in face of a strong political defense campaign.)

“The leftist continues to push on, fighting for what he believes is right.”

“The expectations are the same,” Calero said. “That goal to build a movement is the same.”

— John Studer 

ATLANTA — Rachele Fruit, Socialist Workers Party candidate for city council president here, joined school bus drivers, members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1644, at the city’s school board meeting Oct. 7 demanding compensation for unpaid work and for safer working conditions.

“My campaign stands in solidarity with the APS [Atlanta Public School] bus drivers who dare to demand the right to be paid for the work they did,” Fruit said to applause. “The collective action of these workers is an example.”

— Janice Lynn