RWDSU Convention Day Three (8/4/10)

Congressman Anthony Weiner (above) today told delegates to the convention that he will continue to help them fight to keep Wal-Mart from moving into New York City, and that he thinks more Democrats should call out Republican members of Congress who are blocking vital legislation.

“I don’t think people are turning on the TV and saying the Democrats are too outraged,” he said in defending his impassioned comments on the House floor last week.  “I think the problem is that we’re not yelling enough.”

He said of his Democratic colleagues, “We sometimes come into knife fights carrying library books.”

Weiner said he was upset last week that Republican House members dismissed his effort to pass a bill paying medical costs for 9-11 first responders who’ve suffered serious health problems from exposure to toxins in the air at Ground Zero.

“You saw license plates on the West Side highway from all over the country .... the dust and debris was awful ...... they said the air was safe .....  Since then, 900 of them have died.”

Weiner said he heard one Republican House member remark, “People die all the time.”

He said Republicans had demanded substantial changes in health care and stimulus legislation, gotten them, and still voted “no.”

“I’m sick and tired of sitting at the altar of Olympia Snowe and Joe Lieberman.”

He praised the union for its work in the successful fight to block Wal-Mart from opening a store in Queens, saying, “We won that fight because we punched up and didn’t sit down.”

Weiner said the union should keep fighting Wal-Mart, because the retail giant not only fails to pay decent wages and provide adequate health insurance for employees, it wrecks the economy in the neighborhoods where it locates.

“Our economy is driven by mom and pop stores, so the idea of displacing those shops isn’t a minor thing, “he said, adding that such small stores provide the jobs that are needed in a community. “They fundamentally change the neighborhoods they go into.”

"Earlier in the day, the convention delegates passed a resolution condemning a compromise with Wal-Mart in Chicago that is expected to open up multiple opportunities for the chain to expand there.

United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez (above) addressed delegates, and talked about the need for immigration reform, and discussed the disruption in domestic agricultural production that would occur if anti-immigrant laws were to pass and become enforced.

He spotlighted the UFW's new "Take Our Jobs" campaign, which encourages American citizens and legal residents looking for work to become farm workers.  So far, only three American citizens have taken the UFW up on its offer of a job in dangerous, tiring, and harsh work that often accompanies agricultural labor. Over 9,000 out-of-work American citizens turned down the job offer when they found out what the lives of agricultural workers are like.

The Alabama and Mid-South Council Choir (above) treated delegates to some moving spiritual music.

 Monsignor Kevin Sullivan the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York - a federation of more than 90 human service agencies that provide help and hope for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in need - (above) shows off his RWDSU Convention badge during his address.