Fight these thieving landlords!
At the end of June Progressive Labor Party members who participate in community organizations met at a conference where they were discussing housing budgets in New York. As always, this event was taken advantage of by bureaucrats and opportunist politicians who try to put the class consciousness of the working class to sleep. The mayor appoints the Board of Directors for the Rental Guidelines Board for New York City that decides the rent increases for the 1.5 million apartments with rent stabilization in the City.
Under capitalism it doesn’t surprise us that this kangaroo court decided against the interests of the working class and for the benefit of the thieving landlords. Three percent increases for rental leases of one year and for two year leases, 2.75 percent for the first year and 3.5 percent for the second. Some friends in the community organization said it’s ok because at least it’s better than the original proposal from the landlords. No! It’s a racist attack on working class families that have to choose between paying rent and paying for food and medical care. A rent increase between $40 and 150 a month will push low income people over the edge. The fight must continue!
What can save us is united working class anger and the repudiation of this abusive imposition. It also makes us happy to have gotten a good reception from the crowd to our newspaper CHALLENGE. We distributed 100 copies at the event.
We have to remain united and fight to smash this capitalist system that oppresses us. To the extent that we continue our work inside our community organization, we will continue to intensify the contradiction between reform and revolution, winning more workers to the communist ideas of PLP.
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‘We’re retired, not expired’
Retired NYC municipal workers have been fighting for over two years against a joint city/union plan to force them out of traditional medicare and into a private for profit so-called Medicare Advantage plan. Under capitalism, benefits that workers enjoy are always in danger of being taken away. The plan to reduce retiree health coverage, paid for by the city for over sixty years, is an example of that fact. We need to build for a workers’ state, communism, where bosses and their partners won’t be able to take back what we have fought for. In that spirit, we must redouble our efforts to win our friends into PL study groups and into our party.
On July 7th a New York State Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the city of New York from forcing retirees out of city paid for traditional medicare and a medigap supplemental coverage and into a private for profit so-called Medicare Advantage plan. He said, in part, that retirees would likely suffer irreparable harm if forced into the new plan.
Retirees had packed the courtroom on July 6th and had previously demonstrated at City Hall, union headquarters as well as the city office of labor relations. We had been out in the rain, heat and freezing weather. We bombarded the mayor and city council with calls, letters and in person visits. We showed that we would fight back!
Although retirees were happy that the TRO was granted, many wondered what the city and union leaders of the municipal labor committee (MLC) would do next. Some thought the plan was dead. Others felt that a new plan would be devised. Although we are retired, we haven’t expired and will continue to fight!