Springfield Labor Rally Is Sept. 30

One out of every four Americans has a "net worth" of zero or less, meaning their debts are bigger than their assets. Stephen Schwarzman lives in New York. His personal income was $811 million last year. He is the CEO of Blackstone Corporation, which owns Motel 6.

One way to spread the wealth is to raise taxes on billionaires and use the money to provide affordable housing for poor people. Another is for workers to form unions, and for the public to support the unions when they need help.

The salary of the CEO of Price Rite Corporation is secret because the company isn't traded on the stock market. There are 58 Price Rite supermarkets in the northeastern USA, including one in Springfield. Workers will hold a one-hour rally for higher wages outside the store at 633 Boston Road on September 30 starting at 5 p.m. They are asking the public to join them.

Price Rite pays even lower wages than Walmart, where workers average $10.58 an hour. Walmart is owned by the richest family in the world.

Organizers are asking people to RSVP for the rally be e-mailing action@ufcw1459.com. More information is available by contacting Patrick Burke by e-mail at patrick@ufcw1459.com or by phone at (413) 454-5692.

In related news, on September 21 in Northampton, about 20 people protested at a speech by former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. He was promoting charter schools. One of the protesters was Northampton resident Barbara Madeloni. She is the president of a state-wide teachers' union (www.MassTeacher.org). The protesters are asking Massachusetts residents to vote “no” on “question 2” when they vote for president of the USA and other politicians in the upcoming election. The protesters have a web site at www.SaveOurPublicSchoolsMA.com.

Voting starts October 24. Details are at:

www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleev/evidx.htm

As of last year, Eduardo Melendez was a teacher at Holyoke public schools, a position he had held for 20 years. Melendez provided a link to the Valley Post to a 2014 report by Bill Moyers that said, "Public education from kindergarten through high school pulls in more than $500 billion in taxpayer revenues every year, and crony capitalists and politicians alike are cashing in" by converting public schools to for-profit, publicly-funded "charter schools." The full report is at:

http://billmoyers.com/episode/public-schools-for-sale

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