Citizen Action Weekly: Friday, April 30th
Friday, April 30th
Renew the Promise. Pass The PRO-ACT.
We have one of the best opportunities since the New Deal to restore the right to organize. Passing the PRO Act is one of the most important things we can do to advance a bold progressive agenda on everything we care about, from health care to racial justice to climate change.
From our Driftless Co-op to our Southeastern Co-op we believe workers rights are human rights. The right to a safe and equitable workspace, no matter where you work, who you work for, how much money you make, we all deserve to be respected, protected, and have the freedom to advocate for ourselves.
Restoring the right to join a union on a New Deal scale will diversify and energize both American politics and organized labor. The sectors ripe for organizing – retail, fast food, agriculture and food processing, the gig economy, low wage caregivers and paraprofessionals, and the emerging green economy – have the potential to inject into our movement tens of millions organized low wage workers, disproportionately women and people of color who are denied living wages. This will contribute more to economic and political equality than any single governmental action within our reach. Now more than ever we must come together and #PasstheProAct for workers everywhere.
Take Action: Contact your Senators or join us on May 1st!
On Saturday, May 1st join Voces de la Frontera Action and VDLF Essential Workers Rights Network to demand of Congress and the Biden Administration to keep their promises to: STOP DEPORTATIONS, COVID RECOVERY FOR ALL, and CITIZENSHIP FOR ALL. Register NOW
New Citizen Action Healthcare Zoom show to debut next Wednesday at 7 pm
Citizen Action Healthcare Co-Op Organizer, Karen Kirsch, and Dr. Mark Nuemann will be hosting a weekly webinar to talk about the issue of Healthcare, with an emphasis on Medicare for All. The first show will be Wednesday, May 5th at 7:00 PM. The show will feature guests, members of the co-op, and other interesting people that Karen and Dr. Mark simply like. It will stream on FB live but if you prefer to stream it on Zoom, please register. By registering to stream the webinar, you will have the opportunity to join Karen and Dr. Mark after the show in the green room to chat and answer any questions and/or hear your healthcare stories after the show. Sign up here!
Dr. Mark was a Franciscan brother for twenty years and for six of those years he was a medical missionary in the central African country that was called Zaire at the time. He served as a pediatrician for thirty-five years. He continues to serve as a father and husband in the La Crosse community.
BadgerCare Expansion is within our grasp! Over 90,000 Wisconsinites are counting on us to help them get the healthcare they need!
It looks like Howard Marklien, State Senator for District 17, might be the deciding vote on whether BadgerCare Expansion makes it into the state budget. If he votes no there is basically no chance of expansion before 2023. He is the JFC chair and reports are showing that he is on the fence. We’re statewide to launch a very fast, very heavy pressure campaign targeting him.
We’re activating as many people in the 17th District as possible, in every way possible. Please visit and share our digital petition and be on the lookout for a major day of action at his Spring Green office in the middle of May. We’re recruiting folks from SD 17 to write letters, send postcards and write letters to the editor.
If you know anyone in the district please connect them to our Driftless Organizer, Ben Wilson at [email protected]
“Can You Hear Us Now” movie screening and discussion
A nonpartisan coalition of Wisconsin organizations in Congressional District 3 is proud to host this special screening of Can You Hear Us Now?, a powerful new film that shows the personal and political impact of gerrymandering in the state of Wisconsin.
Watch the film anytime between May 2 – 5 then join a live Zoom discussion (May 5, 6:30pm to 7:30pm) about what’s happening in Wisconsin to pass legislation and draw fair maps in 2021.
Register for both the film screening and Zoom discussion at bit.ly/3rdCDs
The Zoom discussion link will be sent on May 5th.
Learn More
“Right to Harm” movie screening and discussion
Join us for an online screening of the documentary “Right to Harm”, A documentary discussing the damage CAFOs cause to communities. We will have a post-documentary discussion to hear everyone’s thoughts on the film and discuss how it relates to the water team’s advocacy for a strong nitrate rule in Wisconsin.
Tune in and find out what actions you can take RIGHT AWAY to protect Wisconsin’s clean waters!
Learn More and RSVP here
This week Citizen Action and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO co-hosted a Capitol press conference promoting the Protect the Right to Organize
(PRO) Act, the boldest labor law reform since the New Deal, and we got great statewide media coverage. The event was co-emceed by Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale (also Board Chair of Citizen Action Education Fund) and Citizen Action Executive Director Robert Kraig (pictured above). See coverage in Wisconsin Examiner, ABC TV Madison, CBS TV Milwaukee, Wisconsin Radio Network, WORT Madison, and CBS TV Madison. More news stories on our PRO Act work are in the pipeline.
Citizen Action’s Climate Week of Action (which spanned 2 weeks of actions) continued to draw media coverage around the state.See stories on CBS 5 Green Bay/Fox Valley; and ABC 18 Eau Claire. Citizen Action co-op members are working to support climate transition investments in the state budget. That is of course an uphill battle with the conservative packed Joint Finance Committee, which is about to re-write Governor Evers’ two year state budget.
Citizen Action’s Executive Director Robert Kraig was on the Jeff Santos Show for the full hour to discuss the latest outburst of police killings of Black men and the end game on the filibuster. Listen here.
“Historic Investments” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
Our panel discusses President Biden’s American Family Plan which makes historic investments in paid leave, child care, and tax fairness, but misses an opportunity on prescription drug affordability. Senator Tammy Baldwin and other progressive U.S. Senators are urging President Biden to approve a COVID vaccine patent waiver so all counties can have access to COVID vaccines, while QAnon Ron Johnson spent the week disputing the effectiveness of masks in slowing the spread of COVID. We welcome Eric March from Wisconsin Cannabis Activists Network (WI CAN) to talk about marijuana reform organizing at the local level in Wisconsin. We close with organizer Karen Kirsch from the Citizen Action Healthcare for All Organizing Coop who joins us to discuss her new weekly Facebook live talk show which focuses on healthcare policy, focusing on Medicare For All. The show debuts next Wednesday, May 5th, 7pm – 8pm.
Facebook post of the week
