UCF SLAP takes action!
By Curtis Hierro, President of University of Central Florida SLAP.
On September 1, SLAP at the University of Central Florida participated in a national day of action with National Nurses United, a union representing over 150,000 registered nurses across the country.
The day of action centered on NNU’s campaign to “heal” the American working-class by taxing Wall Street financial speculation. Their proposal consists of a 0.5% tax on Wall Street transactions like stocks, bonds, foreign currency bets and derivatives. According to estimates, the modest tax, which is already enacted in over 40 other nations, could raise as much as 350 billion dollars; money which could be put to use in stimulating job creation, investing in education or even cutting the deficit.
The day of action was planned in 20 states, targeting 60 legislators, with the union demanding that representatives and senators stand with “Main Street” rather than Wall Street. Our target was Florida senator Marco Rubio, a Tea Party favorite, who has continually thrown working families under the bus in the name of so-called fiscal responsibility. One might suspect the over two and a half million dollars he received from corporations for his last campaign might have something to do with that. Regardless, SLAPatistas joined the Nurses and other local progressive and labor allies in protest outside Rubio’s Orlando office.
We also joined the delegation that went up to Rubio’s office to speak with his state director, Todd Reid. While cordial, the political operative listened to our proposals without providing any substantial feedback, cleverly trying to deflect Rubio’s voting record and rhetoric on specific issues. In particular, when we assailed Rubio’s support for cutting the Federal Pell Grant program, all his director could say in response was that Marco understood how high the price of college was and that he was still paying off his own loans. However, if Senator Rubio comprehends the financial burden of attending an institution of higher learning, than does that not make his position even more egregious?
Our other remarks mainly centered around the shrinking of the once prized American middle class, due in large part to tax policies that create huge inequalities in wealth. We put an emphasis on the failure of supply-side “trickle-down” economics, which has resulted in the top four hundred wealthiest Americans having more wealth than the bottom half of the country, roughly 150 million people. Mr. Reid had no response to that argument.
Although Sen. Rubio will likely continue his career as a pawn for corporate oligarchs and multinational corporations, the event was integral to letting the adversaries of the working class know that we are not only fighting back but providing concrete solutions to our nations problems. Additionally, the event attracted media attention from the Orlando Sentinel, raising the campaigns visibility while allowing SLAP to stand in solidarity with our labor friends.
