FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: organize@mhvdsa.org
Michaelangelo Pomarico
(845) 728 4005
This year’s budget shows who really pulls the strings in Albany, and why we must build a working-class movement to take back our power.
ALBANY, NY — While New Yorkers secured important victories and stopped some of Governor Hochul’s most dangerous proposals, the State Fiscal Year 2023-24 Enacted Budget demonstrates exactly why we must continue to grow our movement, building power in Albany and in our communities to put the working class in control. Corporate interests and billionaires fought tooth and nail to dominate New York State’s budget. We must organize to fight back for a truly “more affordable, more livable, and safer” New York.
Like Cuomo before her, Kathy Hochul has found power in advancing a right-wing agenda despite the state legislature having a Democratic majority. It’s why she fought at the last minute to ram through a destructive right-wing agenda to roll back bail reform locking up more Black and brown New Yorkers without trial, funnel more public money to privately-run charter schools, and hike MTA fares and tuition for CUNY and SUNY students. In one of the wealthiest states in the country, there is no excuse for a budget that wages war on the working class — and it shows who our leaders really serve.
For months Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, DSA chapters across the state, and working-class New Yorkers have been tirelessly fighting for a vision to #TaxTheRich and fund the public goods our State needs. We went up against the wealthiest and most entrenched powers in the heart of global capital and we were able to hit back hard. Our movement built enormous pressure to block some of Kathy Hochul’s most harmful proposals. With this power, we won the Build Public Renewables Act and increased funding for MTA service and a free bus line in every borough — important steps towards equitable transit and an energy system that serves New Yorkers, not shareholders. While Hochul tried her hardest to cut the BPRA’s powerful union labor protections, ecosocialists and labor stood their ground, fought back, and won back the key provisions that will guarantee we decarbonize New York with strong union labor.
Last year Mid-Hudson Valley DSA led a winning, historic socialist campaign to send Sarahana Shrestha to the State Assembly. Sarahana and many of our members got their start in DSA fighting for public power and to pass the Build Public Renewables Act. Climate crisis and the energy affordability crisis were at the heart of our race last year. Here in the Hudson Valley, DSA has built tremendous power and organized the working class to make history. When people said a climate organizer who had never held public office couldn’t beat a 27 year incumbent, we proved them wrong. When corporations and the fossil fuel industry fought against building public renewables, we built a statewide movement and passed legislation that will shape history.
Despite these important silver linings, this budget is a dismal failure for working-class New Yorkers. New York’s billionaires and corporate lobbyists saw the threat our movement poses to their control of our state’s future. They know our undemocratic budget process is rigged in favor of a Governor who is far out of touch with the vast majority of New Yorker’s needs. That’s why billionaires like Mike Bloomberg swooped in, dropping tens of millions of dollars in lobbying and advertising efforts to maintain their influence in Albany along with their ultimate asset: Kathy Hochul.
We should have had a budget that met working-class needs and made our state stronger. Instead, Kathy Hochul refused to pass any of the #TaxTheRich revenue bills that could have raised tens of billions of dollars to fund life-changing investments because it would mean marginally raising taxes on her billionaire donors. Despite her talk of New York’s housing crisis, Governor Hochul fought against renters’ housing security by blocking Good Cause Eviction protections, the Housing Access Voucher Program, and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Despite her talk of New York’s affordability crisis, Governor Hochul fought against a $21.25 minimum wage, instead ensuring that NYers continue to struggle with poverty wages. Based on this budget, our region will not hit $17 an hour until 2028. While publicly positioning herself as a champion for child care, Governor Hochul actively negotiated against child care investments behind closed doors. Despite her rhetoric about working-class families, Governor Hochul rejected the policies that would most support them.
Throughout this fight, New Yorkers have been overwhelmingly clear: we need Good Cause Eviction, social housing, universal childcare, a New Deal for CUNY & SUNY, fully-funded and reliable public transit, living wages, and a state where everyone has the resources they need to reach their full potential. The struggle is not over. We will keep fighting for the vital bills we already brought to the brink of passing in sessions where our right-wing corporate Governor has much less power to block New Yorkers’ demands. And we will keep organizing outside of Albany to build working-class power and create the future we deserve. We won’t settle for anything less.
About Mid-Hudson Valley DSA
Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists is a local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America—the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 85,000 members. Mid-Hudson Valley DSA is run by its 350+ members and activists who are working together to build a democratic socialist organization in Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster County.
Adopted: 3/28 by the Mid-Hudson Valley DSA’s Steering Committee
Whereas: all 340,000 non-management UPS workers are covered by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and UPS Teamster members have been organizing escalating contract actions across the country as the contract fight heats up, and will need community support as they get closer to the August 1 deadline; and
Whereas: If they strike, they will need the whole labor movement behind them to show that when we fight, we win; and
Whereas: the Resolution #5 from the 2021 convention of the Democratic Socialist of America mandates the National Labor Commission engage DSA as a whole with labor work; and
Whereas: the Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America stands in unwavering solidarity with workers and prioritizes the labor solidarity work,
Therefore be it resolved: that Mid-Hudson Valley DSA will take the following steps to be STRIKE READY:
By February 28:
- The Chapter will publicly commit to the national Strike Ready campaign and listening to rank-and-file UPS Teamsters about what support they need throughout the contract fight.
- The Chapter will ask any and all socialist elected officials with connections to their chapter to commit to supporting the Teamsters throughout their contract fight.
By March 30:
- The Chapter will democratically choose at least two Solidarity Captains to liaise with the NLC for coordination on the national campaign to support the UPS Teamsters in their contract fight and ensure they are connected with the NLC and attending Labor Corps Solidarity Calls.
- The Chapter will review the Strike Ready 2023 Chapter Kit and familiarize members with key concepts of labor solidarity
By April 30: The Chapter will:
- Systematically ask chapter members to sign the Strike Ready Pledge.
- Identify chapter members to assist Solidarity Captains in local support with chapter listwork and map the local labor community as outlined in the Strike Ready Kit.
By May 31: The Chapter will run a fundraiser for the DSA Labor Solidarity fund as a structure test to measure what sort of turnout the chapter can expect at picket lines. The chapter will engage in direct individual outreach to chapter members, including text messages and phone calls, as well as a social media campaign and a fundraising event.
Throughout June and July :
- The Chapter will canvass their membership, local contacts and the community to build support for the UPS Teamsters by asking them to sign the Strike Ready Pledge.
- The Chapter will support escalating contract actions as announced by the IBT, local UPS Teamsters, and the National Labor Commission.
August 1: The Chapter will turn out members and community supporters to show up at the picket line or the contract ratification celebration.
After the fight: The Chapter will use the excitement generated by the contract fight to recruit chapter members to commit to the rank and file strategy and debrief on experience to prepare for future labor solidarity actions.
Our next General Assembly is scheduled for February 25, 2023, location TBD. Check back this website later for more details.
What is a General Assembly?
The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the chapter and where the democracy happens. We elect new leadership for the chapter called the “steering committee”. Any member can run for an open position on the steering committee (3 from each county) and bring resolutions to the floor for a vote. There might be suggestions on how to change our chapter structure, so it is important you attend! Keep an eye out for an email with details.
The Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America will be holding a Brake Light Clinic and multi-purpose mutual aid event on Saturday, September 17 from 11am to 3pm in the public lot at 138 Broadway in Newburgh.
Broken brake lights + other minor car maintenance issues are a leading cause of police stoppages. We believe that the safest interaction with police is no interaction, and so we want to provide our community with a free way to fix these types of car issues and prevent stoppages. Come by with your car and we will take a look and address whatever we can.
We will also be grilling and serving food, and having organizing conversations with our neighbors about what we can do as a community to build working class power in the Hudson Valley
If you have any questions, feel free to email mutualaid@mhvdsa.org
Join Mid Hudson Valley DSA in Barmann Park in Kingston to celebrate International Workers’ Day, the Labor Day that your boss doesn’t want you to know about. We’re starting at 3pm with a cookout, music, and information from our Poilitical Education working group. All power to the working class!
May Day Cookout 2022: International Workers’ Day
Barmann Park, Kingston
As the underdog we have to work 10 times harder to get on the ballot! Join us in our efforts:
March 5 Birthday Petition Kickoff w/ After party
March 1 Day One Shifts Morning 9am-1pm
Mid-day 1pm-4pm
Afternoon 4pm-7pm
Please join fellow Democratic Socialists for the annual general assembly of your chapter, the Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, on Sunday, 2/20 at 5pm. This meeting elects the leadership, sets the governance structure and updates the priority for your chapter, and your participation is key!
Please RSVP via ActionNetwork.
As at past General Assemblies, we will be “passing the hat”. This time we are incorporated as a chapter and can more easily accept money via ActionNetwork. We hope to set up a system that will accept ACH transfers to reduce fees in the near future. Donations to the chapter fund the chapter’s work but are not required to maintain DSA membership which you do by renewing with National DSA at dsausa.org/join
A portion of monthly donations made to National DSA are passed on to the chapter so we encourage you pay dues monthly.
We distributed approximately 350lbs of produce, 50+ burgers, 25+ hot dogs, $500 worth of socks and hygiene products, and boxes and boxes warm clothes. Throughout the day dozens of people came by and took what they needed. At the end all the leftover clothes were donated to the Newburgh Warming Station at 13 Bridge Street.Thank you Councilmember Giselle Martinez for helping translate our coat drive flyer to Spanish, going canvassing with our team to advertise the event, and then helping pass out clothes. Thank you to the Melanin_Unchained, For the Many, and Keep It Moving members who brought donations. Thank you to the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley for donating fresh food. And of course, thank you to all of our amazing DSA members who did the hard work of planning the coat drive, recruiting volunteers, and running the event. We had so many great conversations with Newburgh residents about how to build an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few. Mutual aid isn’t charity, it’s about building working class power by bringing us closer together. We’re looking forward to having more events like this in the spring and summer. Our Mutual Aid Working Group meets every other Sunday at 8 on Zoom to plan these events. Send an email to mutualaid@mhvdsa.org for this week’s Zoom link!
A brand new member joined us on Sunday and had this to say: “Today was my first time participating in mutual aid with my comrades! It was a wonderful experience and it felt great finally putting my beliefs into action. This is an incredible group of individuals and our movement can only grow in strength from here.” ✊
The labor movement is critical to the success of the left, and the decline of unions in recent decades has corresponded with increasingly dangerous working conditions, stagnating wages, rising costs of living, and accelerating wealth inequality. But now a new generation of workers is fighting back, forming unions, and striking, as interest in unions reaches its highest points since the 1970s.
To better educate the public about what unions do, and help people get involved, Mid-Hudson Valley DSA is teaming up with the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation (HVALF) for a discussion about organized labor right here in the Hudson Valley.
On Tuesday, December 7th at 8 pm, we’ll be speaking on Zoom with panelists from a range of industries and organizing experiences, followed by a brief Q & A. You’ll have a chance to hear about why unions increase democracy in the workplace, how they form and get results for their members, and what you can do to help support the growing labor movement in the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Our panelists include:
BETH WILSON is President and Academic Delegate of the United University Professions (UUP) New Paltz Chapter and lecturer of art history. She is an HVALF affiliate and Education Committee Co-Chair under the AFL-CIO.
BRYAN NELSON is a Local Representative of NewsGuild of New York, with over 10 years of experience in a variety of union settings in both the private and public sectors, including a workers’ center where he helped build power among undocumented workers and community allies to fight wage theft and recover unpaid wages. Bryan has also represented nurses and health professionals and served as a Unit Chair and Executive Council member of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.
SARAH DOWD is an elected Delegate for the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), New York’s largest union of registered nurses, an Emergency Department RN for New York City Health + Hospitals and a member of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America Labor Branch.
ASHWINI SUKTHANKAR has more than a decade of experience fighting for international labor rights and transnational labor regulation, serving roles such as Director of Global Campaigns at UNITE HERE, Director in the International Commission for Labor Rights, and President of Global Labor Justice’s International Labor Rights Forum. She is an HVALF affiliate and Education Committee Co-Chair under the AFL-CIO.
All are welcome to attend. RSVP to access the Zoom link.
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