Senior citizens and their supporters will protest the appearance of the leading proponent of Social Security privatization at a Chicago fundraiser tomorrow.  The action is part of a growing effort to defend the nation’s retirement insurance program.

The Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans, the Main Street Alliance, Citizens Action Illinois, and Chicago Jobs With Justice are among the groups calling a rally for noon tomorrow (Wed., Sept. 1) outside the Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware, where Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) will speak at a fundraising luncheon for Joel Pollak, Republican House candidate in the 9th district.

Ryan’s controversial Roadmap for Recovery proposes privatizing Social Security and Medicare as part of a deficit reduction plan.  According to Media Matters, the deficit reductions claimed by Ryan depend on budget tricks.

For John Gaudette of Citizen Action, the bigger trick is the notion that Social Security is a component of the federal deficit – or that the program faces any kind of imminent financial crisis.

“There is no crisis,” he said.  “It’s one of the healthiest programs we’ve got.”  Social Security is fully funded for the next 25 years, and with no changes could pay 80 percent of promised benefits after that, he said.

With a simple fix – raising or eliminating the income cap on Social Security payroll deductions (currently incomes above $108,000 aren’t taxed) — “you don’t have a problem.” he said.  “You don’t ever have to worry about Social Security.”

He sees the attack on Social Security as the final phase of a generation-long drive by corporations and conservatives to minimize the role of government.

One reason for concern is the Obama administration’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, which some Social Security supporters (including William Greider and Robert Kuttner) view as a vehicle to cut benefits.  The commission is holding hearings and will issue a report after the November elections.

“We hope the White House has learned from health care reform and financial reform” about the dangers of “negotiating preemptively,” Gaudette said.  ”If they want to negotiate at all, it should be from a position of improving Social Security,” he said.

He points to the presence of Senator Richard Durbin and Representative Jan Schakowsky (Pollak’s opponent) on the commission as reassurance that voices in the support of the program are represented.  But tomorrow’s action and similar efforts are aimed at “letting them know that we are watching.”

Local supporters are working with the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of 60 national organizations which opposes privatization and benefit reductions, including an increase in the retirement age.  The group calls for increasing benefits for the lowest-income recipients.

Recently the coalition demanded the resignation of former Senator Alan Simpson as co-chair of the fiscal responsibility commission, after he sent an insulting e-mail to the executive director of the Older Women’s League.  The administration instead accepted Simpson’s apology.

Tomorrow’s action will also highlight a new report (pdf) from Social Security Works which shows that nearly 2 million Illinois residents receive Social Security retirement, disability, and survivor benefits – and the program is responsible for lifting 772,000 state residents out of poverty.

Without a car, any Little Village resident going to the lakefront for the city’s Air and Water Show earlier this month would have had to take several buses – and probably walk a half mile or more in addition.

That’s just one of a number of issues to be raised by an alternative celebration, the Clean Air and Water Show, taking place this Saturday, August 28.

Sponsored by a coalition of grassroots environmental, community, labor and peace groups, the Clean Air and Water Show starts at noon with a rally for clean power at the Crawford coal-fired power plant in Little Village (34th and Pulaski).

Along with a sister plant in Pilsen, Crawford is the leading source of air pollution and carbon emissions in the city, said Michael Pitula of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

At 1 p.m. there’s a bike ride along the proposed route for a 31st Street bus line.  LVEJO has been organizing for restoration of the route for several years, pointing out that there’s a 25-block gap between east-west bus routes in Little Village – and that African American, Latino and Asian American communities on the South and Southwest Sides have no direct transit to the museum campus and lakefront beaches, Pitula said.

The route was eliminated in 1997, but since then several schools have opened, along with housing and shopping, in the area.  Restoring the route was first proposed by students at the new Little Village Lawndale High School, who pointed out that there’s no transportation for students who stay after school for tutoring, sports, or arts programs, Pitula said.

At LVEJO’s urging, the CTA applied for a federal Job Access Reverse Commute Grant and was awarded $1.1 million in 2009, contingent on coming up with matching funds. Then came a series of budget crises and service cuts.

LVEJO plans to ramp up efforts to identify local funding sources this fall, Pitula said; the federal funds must be returned if they aren’t used in the next year.  One idea is to ask the White Sox, Bears, and lakefront museums to kick in for matching funds.

“We need to turn the tide on service cuts,” he said.  “We’ve had a decade of service cuts, and it’s getting to the point that there’s not going to be much of a system left.”

At 3 to 6 p.m. there’s a Clean Air and Water Show at the 31st Street Beach, with skits, performances and speeches highlighting the value of clean energy and public transit for the health of Chicago residents – and as a source of jobs.

The contast to the military extravaganza staged by the city on the lakefront is intentional, Pitula said.

“It’s a question of priorities,” he said. “We can choose to spend our tax dollars on war or we can choose things like renewable energy and public transit.”

Hyatt workers locked in tough contract negotiations – and hit by job cuts and reduced hours leading to chronic understaffing and increased injuries – will announce a boycott of one or more Chicago-area Hyatt properties tomorrow.

They’ll be joined by leaders of the Central Conference of American Rabbis announcing support from 200 Jewish leaders nationwide, at a 12:30 p.m. press conference in front of Hyatt Global Headquarters, 71 S. Wacker (Tuesday, August 24).

The rabbis will call on Hyatt to meet biblical obligations to treat workers fairly, and will pledge to honor worker-led boycotts and strikes of Hyatt properties.

Chicago will become the eighth U.S. city with boycotts of Hyatt hotels.  Chicago is home to the hotel chain’s corporate headquarters – and the base of the politically-connected Pritzker family, which controls the corporation.

UNITE HERE Local 1 members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike at four area Hyatt hotels on July 29.  They are among 6,500 Chicago area hotel workers who have been in negotiations since their contracts expired on almost a year ago.

Religious leaders have come out in support of Hyatt workers since 98 nonunion housekeepers were fired in Boston last year and replaced with subcontract workers at minimum wage.   Faith leaders participated in protests at Hyatt’s first shareholders meeting at the McCormick Hyatt in June and in civil disobedience at the Hyatt Regency in July.

Hyatt is “using the recession as an excuse to cut jobs,” said Annemarie Strassel of Local 1.  In ongoing negotiations, the company is proposing a long-term contract that would “flatten wages for years to come” and roll back healthcare benefits, she said.

“Hyatt is trying to lock workers into the recession at a time when the company is profitable and the hotel industry is projecting a recovery,” she said.

The Festival of the Musai is an all-women arts event Saturday night featuring a variety of music, visual art and dance to raise money for the Rumble Arts Center, a nonprofit community art center in Humboldt Park.

The festival takes place Saturday, August 21 (9 p.m. to 3 a.m.) at Multi Kulti, 1000 N. Milwaukee.  It features music by Ugochi (soul/afrobeat), Natalie Oliveri (soul singer/songwriter), Inaru (bomba/plena) and DJ La Perla Taina; a modern dance performance by the Laboratory Dancers; and a visual art exhibition.  There’s an $8 donation requested at the door, and prizes donated by local cafes, stores, and services will be raffled off.

Funds will go to help the center build silk screen and ceramics studios – and to help the organization continue to offer free and donation-based programs and classes.

Rumble Art Center, 3413 W. North, is women-run, founded two years ago by artist Brook Woolf with a vision of making arts education accessible to low-income residents and building meaningful relationships between local artists, neighbors, and community organizations.  Classes range from African drumming to drawing, hip hop and modern dance, yoga, puppetry, performance art and breakdancing.

With anti-Muslim sentiment once again surging, serving now as the latest vehicle for a flourishing politics of divisiveness, Jews and Muslims will gather tomorrow night for a unique interfaith celebration to promote dialogue and tolerance.

Iftar in the Synagogue features “what both [Jewish and Muslim] traditions do best – eating, prayer, discussion and schmoozing,” said Asaf Bar-Tura of the Jewish Muslim Community Building Initiative.

The Iftar is the meal which breaks the daily fast of Ramadan, which coincides with a month of repentance in preparation for the Jewish  high holidays.  Iftar in the Synagogue features joint worship, speeches and discussion, along with a communal meal.

It’s the sixth year the event has been held, drawing hundreds of participants, sponsored by the community building initiative.  JMCBI was started by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in 2001 as a response to the increase in intolerance and hate crimes against Muslims following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

This year the event will include a screening of Road to Unity, a short documentary about the religions and cultures represented on Chicago’s Devon Avenue.

Iftar in the Synagogue takes place Thursday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m. (following a community service activity at 5:30) at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation, 540 W. Melrose.

The transportation and distribution of manufactured goods is a growing industry in the Chicago region, which is a major hub in the global shipping chain, but it won’t fulfill its potential as an engine of economic development unless a crisis in employment conditions for warehouse workers is addressed.

That’s the upshot of a new study which found that 63 percent of warehouse workers in Will County work as temporary employees for poverty-level wages.

Warehouse Workers For Justice and the Center for Urban Economic Development at UIC will release the study tomorrow (Monday, August 16) at an 11 a.m. press conference at Sacred Heart Parish, 329 S. Ottawa in Joliet.

The study found warehouse workers employed at the same warehouse for as long as 12 years without obtaining permanent employment or the benefits that come with it, including paid holidays, sick days, and vacations.

“The level of wages is shocking,” said Abraham Mwaura of WWFJ.  “We think it’s a crisis.”

WWFJ members and staff surveyed employees at about half the 300 warehouses in Will County, he said.

Major retail chains hire warehouse management companies which subcontract with temporary services, and now the temp services are starting to subcontract out payroll services.  That keeps labor costs low – and avoids liability for unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and wage law violations, Mwaura said.

About a third of respondents reported having been disciplined or fired after reporting an injury on the job, and another third said they hadn’t reported an injury out of fear of being fired, he said.

The emphasis on temporary employment makes it very difficult for unions to organize warehouse workers, he said.  At the Bissell Co. warehouse, when 80 percent of workers signed a union petition, the company simply got a new temporary agency, Mwaura said.

WWFJ member Tory Moore said he worked for six years as a temp at a Del Monte warehouse in Kankakee without ever getting permanent employment – or a paid holiday or sick time.  Over six years his pay went from $6.50 an hour to $10, he said.

“A lot of people there had to go on food stamps to make ends meet,” he said (though he didn’t, he says with some pride).

Not having a permanent position makes it hard to rent an apartment or obtain a loan, he said.  “You’ve got no foundation,” he said.  “You should have an opportunity to grow with the company.”

He objected when the payroll company began paying workers with debit cards.  The company charges users’ accounts every time they make a withdrawal, he said.

“If you want $20, you’ve got to give them $2 or $3,” he said.  “It’s supposed to be your money.

“A person should have a choice about how they want to get paid,” Moore said.  “I want to see my check stub, make sure I’m getting paid for the hours I worked, see what they’re deducting for.”  The company said he’d have to access his pay statement online – but he doesn’t have a computer.

“We know these can be good jobs,” said Mrauwa.  “We found people who have good, living wage jobs.”

But Moore said people making more than the average “are walking on eggshells,” knowing the company “is looking for reasons to fire them” and replace them with low-paid temps.

Mrauwa said he expects the study to bolster efforts to win legislative protections.  He points out that Arizona has banned the use of debit cards for payment of wages.

While Shorebank struggles to survive – with regulators hesitating to back recapitalization efforts, according to reports – community investment advocates say “Shorebank is worth saving” and suggest that policies that favor big banks don’t take community needs into account.

Meanwhile community groups will demand action on banking issues on two fronts tomorrow – picketing US Bank and Bank of America on LaSalle Street, and testifying at a Federal Reserve hearing on modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act.

Something is wrong with policies that bail out big banks after they’ve torpedoed the economy with high-risk investments in toxic subprime loans, while “community banks which have been meeting the needs of low-income neighborhoods for decades” are allowed to fail, said Karen Harris of the Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. (See her post at the Shriver Brief.)

“Shorebank didn’t do subprime loans,” she said.  “Shorebank should be the bank being saved.”

Founded in 1973, Shorebank is the nation’s oldest and largest community development bank, serving as the model for scores of smaller institutions.

Harris points out that the unmet credit needs which Shorebank was founded to address continue to exist.  Bailout funds that were supposed to provide credit in communities are being hoarded by big banks – and paid out in huge bonuses to executives.

“They’re still not lending,” she said.  “The credit needs are still out there.”

Jacqueline Leavy, who works with the Coalition to Save Community Banking, sees “hypocrisy” when regulators call on banks to invest in low-income communities and then crack down on those that do.  Regulators are “trying to look tough” in the aftermath of the 2007 bailout, “but they’re not taking into account the real-life consequences on the ground in communities.”

She wonders why a small portion of the bailout funds that were to be dedicated to community banks aren’t being deployed more rapidly.

The tough-cop approach is probably not helping economic recovery.  Now “community banks that we talk with are so scared, they’re looking over their shoulder, afraid the FDIC will come after them, that they don’t want to make loans either,” said Bob Vondrasek of the South Austin Coalition, also part of CSCB.

(While we spoke Monday, a housing counselor at SAC learned that Shorebank had approved a mortgage modification, with monthly payments for an Austin homeowner reduced from $1,140 to $790.  Shorebank is “a lot better at doing modifcations” than bigger banks, Vondrasek said.)

CSCB was formed last year when the FDIC seized community-based Park National Bank and handed it over to US Bank, the nation’s fifth largest bank.  Since then, negotiations to encourage US Bank to continue PNB’s community service have dragged on, and action on even minor commitments has been slow, Leavy said.

SAC and other CSCB members will picket U.S. Bank’s downtown office, LaSalle and Adams, tomorrow (Thursday, August 12, 12 noon), demanding a community benefits agreement including a “community restoration fund” to modify mortgages and restore abandoned homes.  They’ll also picket Bank of America, recently identified as “Chicago’s biggest forecloser.”

Also Thursday, community groups from across the city and state will be testifying at a Federal Reserve hearing on modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act, which like Shorebank is the product of anti-redlining campaigns in Chicago in the 1970s.  CRA is considered a “remarkable success” in leading banks to begin serving communities they had previously written off.

The Woodstock Institute is calling for expanding the act to cover mortgage brokers, insurance companies and credit unions and to do a better job tracking new activities like online banks and credit card banks.

National People’s Action points out that large banks whose practices have put millions of families in foreclosure have gotten “outstanding” community investment ratings under the current system.  The group calls for counting predatory lending against banks’ ratings – and for giving automatic failing grades to banks that offer less credit or inadequate services in minority communities.

Woodstock, which recently identified a trend of  “re-redlining” in minority communities, held a series of workshops on the issue for local community groups and reports that “disinvestment and safe and sustainable credit are still pressing needs.”  At workshops, community activists “shared stories of how disinvestment was hurting their communities and lamented the dwindling number of community banks that invested in their neighborhoods in the past.”

The hearing takes place Thursday, August 12 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 230 S. LaSalle.

The U.S. Department of Labor will file a motion tomorrow in the bankrupcty case of a Streamwood plastic factory, charging that owners pocketed deductions for health insurance, the Chicago Workers Collaborative reports.

Labor department attorneys will move that the funds be considered an administrative cost – giving former employees of Duraco Products priority over other unsecured creditors in case money is recovered from company owners Michael and Kevin Lynch, said Leone Jose Bicchieri of CWC.

Following the hearing tomorrow morning, former Duraco workers and their attorneys will discuss the situation at the Federal Building, 219 S. Dearborn (Wednesday, August 11, 10:30 a.m.)

In February Newstips reported that Bankruptcy Court Judge Eugene R. Wedoff ordered Duraco into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, shutting down the lawn furniture manufacturer, when he learned the company had shown him false payroll reports in order to cover up wage theft.

In March former employees filed a class action lawsuit seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages which they allege were stolen over the past two years.  Last week attorneys from Working Hands Legal Clinic representing workers were arguing for a default judgment for the plaintiffs, Bicchieri said.

“We want to send a message that declaring bankruptcy is not a way out,” said Bicchieri, referring to perpetrators of wage theft. “If you try to escape into bankruptcy, we’re going to go after you.”

He said right now CWC is dealing with several cases similar to Duraco, where workers are getting paid only part of the time.  “In this economy it’s beginning to look like a new business model,”  he said.  At one worksite, “every week when they get paid, they run to the nearest bank and hope they’ll be able to cash their check.

“It’s such a bad economy, they say, ‘At least we’re getting paid some of the time – and what else are we going to do?’” Bicchieri said.