Carolyn Doggett talks about attacks on Middle Class

On the day before the marking of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, CTA Executive Director Carolyn Doggett used her own Sunday morning address to talk about how some of the things King strived for are eroding today.

“We in California and throughout the nation are in the middle of a perfect storm,” Doggett said. “State budget cuts are denying our students the opportunities they deserve and are ultimately destroying the very fabric of our local communities. The attacks on public education, teachers and organized labor are well orchestrated and very well-funded. And, we have a set of tax policies that are destroying the middle class while letting Corporate America take a pass.”

Doggett made note of a few inequities including:
The average CEO earns 185 times more than the average worker.
The richest five percent of Americans claim nearly 64 percent of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 80 percent hold just 13 percent.
The corporate share of our nation’s taxes has fallen from 30 percent of all federal revenues in the mid-1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009.
 General Electric, which had a profit of $14.2, billion paid nothing in taxes in 2010.

“At the same time, 14 million Americans are without a job. Child poverty rates and homelessness are at an all-time high. Students can’t afford to go to college and public schools are shutting their doors,” Doggett said. “This is not the America I want for my nieces and nephews.”

Doggett summoned the words Dr. King said to sanitation workers in Memphis:

"You are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages. The best anti-proverty program for a worker is a union. Now, our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. for now we know that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamberguer and a cup of coffee?"

Doggett further urged Council members to turn out with their colleagues to We Are One rallies that were to occur on April 4 all over the country, as well as to share information from the CTA website on tax fairness.

"We are under attack like never before. The sharks are circling and waiting for us to flounder. It is why we must continue to have a STRONG CTA. A strong voice for our students...for our schools...for our colleges...our union...and our future," she said.