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(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Hurricane Ian’s expected landfall in Florida, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that President Joe Biden has yet to speak directly with GOP Gov. Ron Desantis.
“We don’t have any calls to preview or that’s locked into there, at this time,” Jean-Pierre said when asked by ABC Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega.
Jean-Pierre insisted that the politically tense relationship between the two men is not at issue.
“It’s about the people of Florida. It’s not about public officials, especially in this time. And so again, the president, as president of the United States, as president for — for folks in red states and blue states, he’s going to keep that commitment. And you have seen him do that over the course of the 19 months when there has been extreme — extreme events, extreme weather that has happened again in blue states and red states,” she said.
When another reporter pointed out that President Biden never spoke with Mississippi GOP Gov. Tate Reeves during the height of Jackson’s water crisis, Jean-Pierre said the administration showed up for Mississippians, even without a Biden call to Reeves.
“When you mentioned the governor of Mississippi, they, you’re right, they didn’t speak and we still were able to deliver for the folks in Jackson and for the folks of Mississippi. You had our EPA administrator on the ground, you had FEMA administrator on the ground and not just them, but also folks who work for those — for those two agencies. And you have the Army Corps of Engineers. And so we put the full — the full power of the administration. We surged resources on the ground, to make sure that we did everything that we can to help the people of Mississippi. This is the same, there’s no difference here,” she insisted.
She did say that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who was in Miami Monday, will appear in the White House briefing room Tuesday to provide an update.
“FEMA has prepositioned supplies at strategic locations in Florida and also Alabama. That includes generators, millions of meals and millions of liters of water. FEMA also has staff on the ground supporting planning and preparation efforts. Tomorrow, Administrator Criswell will provide an update on the efforts underway in Florida — Florida to prepare for Hurricane Ian as well as ongoing recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and also Alaska,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has declared a state of emergency exists in Florida and has ordered federal aid to supplement state efforts.
An unrelated Biden trip to Florida scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed because of the storm.
(IZHEVSK, Russia) — At least 17 people, including 11 children, were killed after a man opened fire at a school in central Russia on Monday, officials said.
Local authorities said at least 24 more people were injured, some severely, in the attack in the school in the city of Izhevsk about 600 miles from Moscow, making it one of the deadliest school shootings Russia has suffered. Twenty-two children were among the two dozen injured in the shooting.
Two teachers and two security guards were among the dead, according to the region’s governor.
Police said the alleged shooter killed himself at the school following the attack. They identified him as a 34-year-old former student at the school. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, identified him as Artyem Kazantsev, and posted a video it said showed his body lying in a pool of blood in a classroom.
The motive for the attack was still unclear but the committee said it was investigating possible “neofascist views” held by the shooter, who in the video it released appeared to be wearing a T-shirt with a red swastika.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman called the shooting a “terrorist act.”
“President Putin grieves in connection with the deaths of people and children in the school, where the terrorist act occurred. It was carried out by an individual who, judging by everything, belongs to a neofascist organisation or group,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary told reporters.
The shooting began mid-morning, while children were in class. Video circulating in Russian media showed pupils cowering under desks and with blood stains visible on the floor. Police sealed off the school and emergency services could be seen carrying stretchers with the wounded from the building.
The shooter was armed with two pistols, according to Alexander Khinstein, the chairman of Russia’s parliamentary committee for information policy, technology and communications.
School shootings have been relatively rare in Russia, but in recent years they have become increasingly frequent.
In May 2021, a teenager killed seven children and two adults after attacking a school in Kazan, and in April this year a man shot two children and a teacher dead at a kindergarten in the Ulyanovsk region. An 18-year-old student killed 21 people and wounded dozens more after setting off a bomb in a polytechnic college in Kerch in occupied Crimea in 2018.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s federal student loan forgiveness plan will cost $400 billion over 10 years, according to a revised estimate this week from the Congressional Budget Office.
That’s a lower number than from one leading outside estimate, but the nonpartisan federal agency’s projection drew quick pushback from the White House, which is sensitive to criticism it is growing rather than reducing the government deficit.
In a letter sent Monday to North Carolina Republicans Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Virginia Foxx following their inquiries into Biden’s announcement last month to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans, the CBO noted that the cost of pausing repayments through the end of 2022 will add an additional $20 million onto that $400 billion price tag.
That CBO estimate does not include the cost of another feature of Biden’s plan: lowering the maximum amount a borrower can pay back to 5% of their income, down from 10%. The nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget estimates that would tack on $120 million.
The CBO score, which the agency estimates is “highly uncertain” due to components that include projections dependent on future economic conditions and on how future terms of loans might be modified, is slightly less than the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School assessment that all three components of the forgiveness plan would cost about $605 billion.
Opponents of Biden’s student loan program — including some members of his own party — have insisted that the plan is impractical during a time of historic inflation rates and high gas prices, though the many Democratic supporters of the plan say it helps addresses education’s affordability issues.
The White House maintains that the cost of the student loan forgiveness plan pales in comparison to the president’s ability to foster debt reduction elsewhere.
The estimated loan cancellation price comes in higher than the $300 million amount that the Biden-backed Inflation Reduction Act is expected to reduce the federal deficit by, however. (An administration official noted to ABC News that, overall, the cash flow impact of debt cancellation will be very small in 2023 — about $21 billion.)
MORE: Biden’s student loan forgiveness policy: How to apply, who qualifies, more
In a statement, a White House spokesman emphasized that the president is still likely to reduce the federal deficit this year, despite the outlay for debt forgiveness, and the spokesman compared that with a major tax cut under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s student debt relief plan provides breathing room to tens of millions of working families. It gives people who have been struggling with student debt that shot they want at starting a business, buying that first home, or just having a slightly easier time paying the monthly bills,” Abdullah Hasan said. “It’s a stark contrast to the Trump tax bill, which ballooned the deficit by nearly $2 trillion and provided the vast majority of benefits to big corporations and the wealthiest individuals.”
The White House also circulated a memo pushing back on the CBO estimate, noting that it assumed a 90% participation rate in the forgiveness program — though similar, smaller-scale programs had much lower participation.
The White House memo challenged how the CBO arrived at $400 billion, suggesting that the agency’s own logic pegged the number at around $250 billion.
The debt cancellation program is expected to open for applications in October.
(NEW YORK) — NASA has successfully tested its Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, which collided with an asteroid Monday night.
Asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA said is the size of a football stadium, does not pose a threat to the planet, in this case. But the mission will help scientists test technologies that could prevent a potentially catastrophic asteroid impact.
Here’s what you need to know about the mission:
How did the DART mission work?
The refrigerator-sized aircraft, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November, traveled roughly 7 million miles to reach its point of impact. On the receiving end of that collision was Dimorphos, a small asteroid that is the moon of a bigger space rock, Didymos.
Dimorphos, which means “having two forms” in Greek, spans 525 feet or 160 meters in diameter.
DART will record images with the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation. The instruments will give viewers a first glimpse of Didymos and allow the spacecraft to autonomously steer itself into a direct collision with the small asteroid, Dimorphos.
At the moment of impact, DART was traveling at 14,000 mph, a speed fast enough to cover the last 4 miles in a single second.
The aircraft will not destroy Dimorphos but was expected to redirect the space rock onto a different flight path.
“The idea is that asteroid impacts occur when an asteroid’s orbit and the Earth’s orbit intersect,” Andy Rivkin of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (Johns Hopkins APL), which is building the spacecraft and managing the mission for NASA, told ABC News last November. “So the idea of kinetic impactor is to give the asteroid a bit of a push so it doesn’t show up at the same time, at the same place as Earth.”
“This is the only natural disaster that humankind can do something about,” Rivkin said of asteroid impacts. “And this is our first attempt to kind of take that into our hands, to take our future into our hands that way.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday is expected to announce a new proposed rule that would allow fliers to see the total cost of an airline ticket, including extra fees, before they click on “purchase.”
Under the proposed rule, airlines and travel search websites would have to disclose fees upfront — the first time the airfare is displayed — charges associated with baggage, sitting with your child, and changing or cancelling your flight.
The announcement is part of a larger effort from the White House to help lower prices for consumers as record high inflation continues. It also comes with midterm elections approaching.
“Airline passengers deserve to know the full, true cost of their flights before they buy a ticket,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release. “This new proposed rule would require airlines to be transparent with customers about the fees they charge, which will help travelers make informed decisions and save money.”
Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, believes giving clearer disclosure of these fees upfront will be a “major win for travelers” by making it “far easier” to compare the full cost of different flight options.
He explained that some airlines now make more money on fees than fares, partly due to the fact that fees are exempt from the 7.5% federal excise tax on airfare.
Airlines for America (A4A), which represents major U.S. passenger airlines, responded to the rule arguing that airlines already “offer transparency to consumers from first search to touchdown.”
“U.S. airlines are committed to providing the highest quality of service, which includes clarity regarding prices, fees and ticket terms,” the group said in a statement. “A4A passenger carriers provide details regarding the breakdown of airfares on their websites, providing consumers clarity regarding the total cost of a ticket. This includes transparency regarding taxes and government fees on airline tickets, which account for more than 20 percent of many domestic one-stop, roundtrip tickets.”
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before it can be finalized.
(NEW YORK) — Amazon has announced a second Prime event happening next month, just ahead of the busy holiday season.
The retail giant has introduced Amazon Prime’s early access sale which will take place Oct. 11-12, making it the first time there will be two Prime events in one year.
The 48-hour shopping event first took place in July and is back to give Prime members exclusive early access to holiday deals across all categories including electronics, fashion, home, kitchen, pets, toys and Amazon devices.
Amazon Prime’s early access sale will include deals on big-name brands including Peloton, New Balance, Philips Sonicare and more.
For the first time, the company is also planning to curate a top 100 selection of some of its best deals including offerings from iRobot, KitchenAid and Samsung. Prime members will have the added benefit of shopping up to 80% off select Fire TV smart TVs, as well as additional savings on Alexa-enabled devices and products from Adidas, LEGO, Ashley Furniture and more.
“We are so excited to help Prime members kick off the holiday season with Amazon’s new Prime Early Access Sale — an exclusive opportunity for members to get deep discounts on top brands we know they are looking for this time of year,” Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement. “And members can start enjoying exclusive Prime benefits and offers now, plus find gift ideas for the family with our holiday gift guides and this year’s Toys We Love list.”
News of Amazon’s fall Prime shopping event follows other retailers rolling out their own early pre-Black Friday sales shopping events.
Target Deal Days is slated to kick off Oct. 6-8 offering thousands of deals on everything from toys and gifts to everyday essentials.
Additionally, Walmart has shared news that the company will be hosting a sales event similar to Amazon and Target, but further details and dates have not yet been confirmed.
Experts agree that these earlier-than-usual sales may be a result of rising inflation.
“First, by starting earlier, retailers are giving holiday shoppers longer durations of time to stretch those paychecks that are already tight,” ABC News technology and consumer correspondent Becky Worley said on Good Morning America.
“Because of inflation, consumers are buying fewer discretionary items like clothing, so expect sales there,” she added. “Then, there’s the whiplash effect with inventory which was scarce during COVID — in many cases, now there’s too much stock.”
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of what could be their final investigative hearing, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, members of the House Jan. 6 committee on Sunday offered a small preview of what is to come as they rapidly approach the end of their timeline.
“We’re not disclosing yet what the focus will be. I can say that, as this may be the last hearing of this nature — that is, one that is focused on sort of the factual record — I think it’ll be potentially more sweeping than some of the other hearings,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“But it too will be in very thematic,” he said of the hearing. “It will tell the story about a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election. And the public will certainly learn things it hasn’t seen before, but it will also understand information it already has in a different context by seeing how it relates to other elements of this plot.”
After the committee’s vice-chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, said Saturday that she believes the group will move forward unanimously, Schiff agreed and went a bit further when asked if there was going to be an unanimous criminal referral made about the former president’s conduct. (Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong and cast the committee, which includes two Republicans, as partisan.)
“It will be … my recommendation, my feeling, that we should make referrals,” Schiff said. “But we will get to a decision as a committee, and we will all abide by that decision, and I will join our committee members if they feel differently.”
Cheney has also said the committee received around 800,000 pages of communications from the Secret Service in response to a subpoena. Members of the committee said Sunday they are still going through that information.
While the provided materials are not a substitute for the Jan. 6-related messages that were deleted, they offer some additional context, according to Schiff.
“We are still investigating how that came about [the deleted messages] and why that came about. And I hope and believe the Justice Department, on that issue, is also looking at whether laws were broken in the destruction of that evidence,” Schiff said on CNN. “But we do have a mountain of information that we need to go through. But I think it’s fair to say that it won’t be a complete substitute for some of the most important evidence, which would have been on those phones.”
Asked about former committee adviser Denver Riggleman’s recent suggestion that “the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter’s phone” during the attack on the Capitol last year — and if he viewed such a development as significant to the investigation — Schiff downplayed the comment.
“I can’t comment on the particulars. I can say that each of the issues that Mr. Riggleman raised during the period he was with the committee, which ended quite some time ago, we looked into. And one of the things that has given our committee credibility is we’ve been very careful about what we say, not to overstate matters,” Schiff said, adding, “Without the advantage of the additional information we’ve gathered since he left the committee, it poses real risks to be suggesting things. So, we have looked into all of these issues.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and was asked about the likelihood that the Jan. 6 committee will have testimony from Ginni Thomas and Newt Gingrich before Wednesday’s hearing.
“I doubt that. But I think that there is an agreement in place with Ginni Thomas to come and talk and I know the committee is very interested,” Raskin said, referring to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, a noted conservative activist who was in touch with Trump’s team as he pushed to overturn the 2020 results.
Raskin said that those testimonies — once they are given — will be included in the committee’s final report if the hearings have already concluded.
He was also asked if that report will be finished by the midterm elections.
“I don’t know whether it will be done then, but our commitment is to get it done by the end of this Congress [by January],” Raskin said. “The House of Representatives, unlike the Senate, ends every two years. A completely new Congress comes in. So that’s the end of our lease on life and we have to get it out to the people.”
Pressed further on the amount of work still left for them to do, Raskin pledged that the committee will “make sure our materials are made public and available for the future, and we’re going to preserve them. We’re not going to allow them to be destroyed.”
The committee chair, Bennie Thompson, told reporters last week that the hearings were wrapping up.
“Unless something else develops, this hearing, at this point, is the final hearing. But it’s not in stone because things happen,” Thompson, D-Miss., said then.
He promised “substantial footage” of the riot and “significant witness testimony” that hadn’t previously been released.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., reiterated this weekend that she would campaign against election deniers, singling out Republican gubernatorial nominees in Arizona and Pennsylvania who’ve floated conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential race.
Cheney, who lost her primary last month to a challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday that she would seek to prevent Arizona Republican Kari Lake and Pennsylvania Republican Doug Mastriano from being elected to their states’ governors’ mansions.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected,” Cheney said at the closing night of the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
“I think we have to do everything we can in ’22 to make sure those people don’t get elected,” she added.
Turning to the governor’s race in Pennsylvania, she said, “We have to make sure [Doug] Mastriano doesn’t win.”
She also criticized Republican leaders like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin for, in her words, accommodating election deniers even as she praised Youngkin because he “hasn’t bought into the toxin of Donald Trump.”
When asked if her efforts to stop Lake, Mastriano and others could include campaigning for Democrats, Cheney simply replied, “Yes.”
“In this election, you have to vote for the person who actually believes in democracy,” she said. “And that is just crucial, because if we elect election deniers, if we elect people who said that they’re not going to certify results or who are going to try to steal elections, then we really are putting the republic at risk.”
Cheney’s latest comments offer more specificity on a vow she made earlier this year while being interviewed by ABC News: to make faith in the electoral process a litmus test in the midterms.
“I’m going to be very focused on working to ensure that we do everything we can not to elect election deniers. … We’ve got election deniers that have been nominated for really important positions all across the country. And I’m going to work against those people, I’m going to work to support their opponents; I think it matters that much,” she told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in August.
In taking on Lake and Mastriano, Cheney is challenging two far-right Republicans who are popular with conservative voters and who could have outsized sway in two key presidential battlegrounds.
Lake has been adamant in making unfounded claims that election fraud threw the 2020 White House race and has said she wouldn’t have certified Arizona’s results from that year.
Mastriano, who has promoted similar groundless allegations, would have the power as governor to appoint Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, who oversees elections there.
After Cheney’s criticism Saturday, Lake shot back in an interview on Fox News, pointing to Cheney’s loss in Wyoming last month.
“That might be the biggest, best gift I’ve ever received. I mean, the people of Wyoming can’t stand her. I’m pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don’t like Liz Cheney,” Lake said Sunday. (Mastriano’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cheney from ABC News.)
Beyond Lake and Mastriano, Cheney called out Youngkin, who has said President Joe Biden was legitimately elected but who will campaign soon with Lake.
“That’s the kind of thing we cannot see in our party. We cannot see an accommodation like that,” Cheney said on Saturday.
In response to Cheney’s criticism, Youngkin’s office referred ABC News to what he said when appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival.
There, when asked about campaigning for Lake given her attacks on elections, he cited Virginia’s issues grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic — relating in particular to school closures and “economic progress” — and said, “I was elected in 2021 and therefore was able to go to work in a state that had been blue and demonstrate what I believe are conservative commonsense solutions to problems and progress that we’ve made. I think I’m uniquely positioned to share this perspective.”
Cheney’s own electoral future is unclear. After her primary loss, she launched a political group that some saw as a potential vehicle for a 2024 presidential bid of her own — a prospect she has not ruled out.
However, one thing she has ruled out is supporting Trump if he runs in two years, even going so far as to say she could leave a party that was once nearly synonymous with her last name.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee,” she said. “And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 26, 10:14 AM EDT
Ukrainian first lady ‘worried’ about Russian mobilization
In a new interview, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenka told ABC News that recent developments in the war are upsetting, saying this is not an “easy period” for the people of Ukraine.
“When the whole world wants this war to be over, they continue to recruit soldiers for their army,” said Zelenska, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week that he is mobilizing 300,000 more troops against Ukraine. “Of course, we are concerned about this. We are worried and this is a bad sign for the whole world.”
Zelenska, who spoke with ABC News’ Amy Robach through a translator, said Ukrainians will continue to persevere in the face of conflict.
“The main difference between our army and the Russian army is that we really know what we are fighting for,” she said.
Zelenska attended the United Nations General Assembly in-person in New York City, where she spoke to ABC News about the U.N.’s recent finding that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine by Russian troops. An appointed panel of independent legal experts reported that Russian soldiers have “raped, tortured, and unlawfully confined” children in Ukraine, among other crimes.
“On the one hand, it’s horrible news, but it’s the news that we knew about already,” she said. “On the other hand, it’s great news that the whole world can finally see that this is a heinous crime, that this war is against humanity and humankind.”
Sep 26, 5:40 AM EDT
Man opens fire at Russian military enlistment office
A man has opened fire at a military enlistment office in eastern Russia, severely injuring a recruitment officer there.
An apparent video of the shooting was circulating online, showing a man shooting the officer at a podium in the officer in the city of Irkutsk.
Irkutsk’s regional governor confirmed the shooting, naming the officer injured as Alexander V. Yeliseyev and saying he is in intensive care in a critical condition.
The alleged shooter has been detained, according to the governor.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced a high-level shake-up in its military leadership amid reports Russian forces are struggling in the war against Ukraine.
The defense ministry said Saturday that Col. Gen. Mikhail Y. Mizintsev has been promoted to deputy defense minister overseeing logistics, replacing four-star Gen. Dmitri V. Bulgakov, 67, who had held the post since 2008.
Bulgakov was relieved of his position and is expected to be transferred “to another job,” the Defense Ministry statement said.
The New York Times reported that Mizintsev — whom Western officials dubbed the “butcher of Mariupol” after alleged atrocities against civilians surfaced in the Ukrainian city in March, previously served as chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, which oversees military operations and planning.
In this previous role, Mizintsev became one of the public faces of the war in Ukraine, informing the public about what the Kremlin still calls a “special military operation.”
Mizintsev was put on international sanctions lists and accused of atrocities for his role in the brutal siege of the Mariupol.
Sep 25, 11:58 AM EDT
Russian recruits report for military mobilization
Newly recruited Russian soldiers are reporting for duty in response to the Kremlin’s emergency mobilization to bolster forces in Ukraine, according to photographs emerging from Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week a mobilization to draft more than 300,000 Russians with military expertise, sparking anti-war protests across the country and prompting many to try to flee Russia to avoid the draft.
Putin signed a law with amendments to the Russian Criminal Code upping the punishments for the crimes of desertion during periods of mobilization and martial law.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview Sunday with ABC News This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos that Russia’s military draft is more evidence Russia is “struggling” in its invasion of Ukraine. He also said “sham referendums” going on in Russia-backed territories of eastern and southern Ukraine are also acts of desperation by the Kremlin.
“These are definitely not signs of strength or confidence. Quite the opposite: They’re signs that Russia and Putin are struggling badly,” Sullivan said while noting Putin’s autocratic hold on the country made it hard to make definitive assessments from the outside.
(NEW YORK) — On hot days, some over 100 degrees, workers spend hours harvesting fruits and vegetables for very little money — produce that ends up on kitchen tables of people across the country.
Tens of thousands of these workers have experienced heat-related injuries and hundreds more have died from heat, all while earning an average of $25,000 to $29,999 per year in one of the most hazardous jobs in the country, the Economic Policy Institute found.
The workers, a majority of whom are Latino and undocumented, are in a constant battle for fair and safe labor practices.
However, the labor rights movement transcends industries, though it may look quite different for others.
And in local and federal government agencies, interns have been at the center of a debate about unpaid labor.
It wasn’t until recently that some government offices have begun paying their interns, which has created a new pathway for people from lower-income households to support themselves while gaining entry-level experience in policy and politics.
Pay Our Interns, created and spearheaded by two Latinos, fueled this change through their advocacy on Capitol Hill.
Latinos have been a major force in the labor rights movement for decades, with icons such as Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and Emma Tenayuca as the leaders of the fight.
Farm workers harness collective organizing power
On Aug. 3, farm workers began a 24-day, 335-mile “March for the Governor’s Signature” to urge California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a farm a farm workers rights bill.
The bill would make it easier for workers to vote for a union,, without intimidation from supervisors, foreman and labor contractors. Farm workers say that voting, as it is now, discourages participation in union efforts.
“Currently, the only way that they do it is in person, at the premises of the employer, where the supervisors are looking over their shoulders, where they hire security, where, in many cases, immigration has been called and farm workers have been deported,” said Teresa Romero, the president of the labor union United Farm Workers.
However, Newsom has expressed concerns about the bill.
“We cannot support an untested mail-in election process that lacks critical provisions to protect the integrity of the election,” Newsom spokesperson Erin Mellon told CalMatters.
Farmworkers face challenging workplace conditions, including low pay, unsafe conditions, and very few if any protections against abuse or misconduct.
Romero, who leads the organization, says many undocumented workers pay taxes, but can’t collect social security and can’t retire. Some are left working long hours for years past the average retiring age.
“They work and feed us all,” Romero said.
She continued, “They move from crop to crop, moving their children from city to city to be able to support their family. And if we knew that, all of us would be willing to pay a little more for our food, just so these people have the respect, dignity, and the pay that they deserve.”
Without them, she says, we wouldn’t have food on our tables.
Romero urges people to be conscious of where they buy their food, how workers are represented and how they’re protected. She said the fight for fair working practices shouldn’t stop and end with farm workers themselves. She said their labor fight is a collective fight.
“This is not just manual labor,” she said. “These are professionals who know exactly what to do when to do with different crops.”
Fighting for fair labor conditions in the office
“Our society got too comfortable with unpaid labor,” says Carlos Mark Vera, a co-founder of Pay Our Interns.
He and Guillermo Creamer Jr. created the group to put an end to unpaid labor primarily in the public service space. Before 2017, Pay Our Interns found that only 10 percent of congressional interns were paid.
The organization has since worked with Congress to allocate $48 million for lawmakers to pay their interns.
“Since then that fund has actually been growing each year, which is unheard of, you know, usually programs don’t increase that quickly,” said Vera. “Now that we have Congress invested in this, and they’re very supportive of this, we’ve leveraged that for other ones. So this past year, we secured funding for White House interns, State Department interns for the first time in history.”
Unpaid internships push low-income or financially strained students out of the running to gain experience.
Unpaid internships often force students to choose between finding a job that pays their bills or paying for an internship out of their own funds – since Vera says that internship expenses like traveling or supplies often come from the intern’s wallet.
This primarily affects Black and brown students, and makes it harder for some students to enter certain fields if only unpaid internships are available.
“How do you grow wealth in this country? A lot of times, it’s just entering through professional pathways. But when there’s a price to participating in these opportunities … We know that many Black and brown families cannot afford to do that,” said Creamer.
They say they were raised in a culture where people had to “pay their dues” through unpaid labor. However, they say the culture is shifting and people are learning that their work should be valued at all levels.
Vera’s own sister, a sophomore in college, was interviewing for an internship when she asked if it was paid – and the employer said it wasn’t.
She explained that her brother had an organization dedicated to eradicating unpaid labor, and declined the opportunity.
“They call the next day, and they’re like, ‘Okay, how about $18 an hour?'” Vera said, applauding his sister for advocating for herself.
