Ocasio Cortez 2021
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday expressed solidarity with roughly 1,400 essential workers at the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market in the Bronx, several of whom were arrested earlier this week while striking for hazard pay and better healthcare benefits during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
'Essential workers should not have to go on strike for decent pay, and no worker should be threatened for exercising their constitutional rights,' said Sanders, a democratic socialist from Vermont.
Sanders added that he supports the union-led effort, which seeks to raise wages by $1 per hour and secure improved benefits for those who work at the largest produce market in the world and have sacrificed to continue providing most of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the New York City region.
- Ocasio-Cortez discussed how she feared for her life during last week’s Capitol Riot in a live stream on Instagram Tuesday evening, Fox News reported.A viewer asked Ocasio-Cortez if Congress is discussing “truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives” to help with healing following the turbulent events of the past few weeks, the publication reported.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others on the socialist left applauded minor changes in the rules package the House of Representatives adopted on Sunday for the new Congress.
- A Texas man is facing multiple criminal charges after allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and posting death threats against Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and a U.S.
Essential workers should not have to go on strike for decent pay, and no worker should be threatened for exercising their constitutional rights.
I strongly support Hunts Point Market @Teamsters strikers in their struggle for justice. https://t.co/FhsgvxCGYO
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to her Instagram account earlier this week in an hour-long video to reflect on the violence at the U.S. Capitol last week, where she said lawmakers are.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 20, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents a congressional district that includes parts of the Bronx as well as Queens, also endorsed the strike.
She shared information about how to contribute moral or financial support to Teamsters Joint Council 16, which represents 120,000 employees in 27 locals, including the striking workers who are members of Local 202.
See you there! #HuntsPointStrikehttps://t.co/f6LuseM6Ya
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— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 20, 2021
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On strike since Saturday, six workers on the union's peaceful picket line were arrested between Monday night and Tuesday morning for blocking traffic.
'If you live in New York and had produce during the pandemic, odds are that's because of these workers,' journalist Alex Press tweeted on Tuesday night. After having risked their health to feed millions of people throughout the pandemic, Press noted, 'they deserve the city's solidarity, and it's a disgrace that any of them were arrested.'
if you live in New York and had produce during the pandemic, odds are that’s because of these workers—the majority of NYC’s produce passes through Hunts Point. they deserve the city’s solidarity, and it’s a disgrace that any of them were arrested https://t.co/dKYVqDtWnY
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) January 19, 2021
Daniel Kane Jr., president of Teamsters Local 202, also condemned the arrests. 'It is outrageous that after being called essential heroes for months, several of our members were arrested while peacefully protesting for a raise today,' Kane said Tuesday in a statement.
'These are the essential workers who went to work every day through the worst of the pandemic to feed New York,' he continued. 'All they are asking for is a dollar-an-hour raise so they can feed their families, too. The fact that they were arrested on Martin Luther King Day reminds us what side of history we are on.'
'They can use riot cops to get trucks into the market, but the workers they need to unload the trucks are still on the picket line,' the union leader added. 'We will stay on strike until these employers pay their workers the essential wage they deserve.'
In a video recorded earlier this week by a local CBS News channel, Kane said that 'it's not good enough just to clap for them, and say they're essential. When they ask for a decent raise, a fair number, they should be told, 'Yes you can have that, and thank you.'
Watch:
On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she is “extraordinarily encouraged” by President Joe Biden’s executive orders on climate change and that the orders show “a good-faith openness and relationship” to activists by Biden.
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Ocasio-Cortez said, “I’m feeling extraordinarily encouraged. And I think that the significance of President Biden’s executive orders communicates a lot. One is that it really communicates that he meant what he said on the campaign trail, that he would make climate change a central priority of his administration, and that he considers it, not just a national security threat, but frankly, the global matter that it is. But it also really signifies a good-faith openness and relationship to those activist communities that you had mentioned, these grassroots communities and organizations, on the ground workers, etc., scientists, saying, we are not going to be resistant to grassroots movements, but we are going to collaborate and work with grassroots movements all across the United States to make sure that we are creating as many jobs and as much justice as possible as we fight to save our planet.”
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Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett