East Palestine residents demand justice and healthcare

This Saturday, March 23, unionists and labor leaders, environmental justice groups, community organizers, community members from other “sacrifice zones,” and supporters from around the country are coming to East Palestine to join residents as part of the newly formed Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers coalition. The coalition has come together in recent months and mobilized around the core objective of pressuring President Biden to invoke the Stafford Act and issue a major disaster declaration for East Palestine. If Biden does this, organizers say, it will immediately unlock a whole suite of federal resources that residents desperately need and have been demanding for a year, and it will also immediately guarantee every resident emergency healthcare. For residents like Chris Albright-a former pipeline worker and LIUNA member who has been disabled by the toxic fallout from the derailment, is now experiencing severe heart failure, can’t work, and has subsequently lost his health benefits-this is a matter of life and death, and we are racing against the clock.
This episode is a compilation of voices from across the growing Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers coalition. Speeches in the first half are from a panel cohosted by Steve Zeltzer and Penny Logsdon and recorded by the Labor Video Project on Feb. 3, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the derailment; speeches in the second half are from another panel cohosted by Steve Zeltzer and Penny Logsdon and recorded by the Labor Video Project on March 9, 2024. Speakers include: Steve Zeltzer (Labortech); Penny Logsdon (Lee County Labor Chapter); Chris Albright (East Palestine resident, LIUNA member); Jami Wallace (East Palestine Unity Council); Steve Mellon (Pittsburgh Union Progress); Jeff Kurtz (Lee County Labor Chapter); Maximillian Alvarez (The Real News Network); Mike Stout (protest musician); Charlie Wishman (Iowa AFL-CIO); John Palmer (Teamsters, San Antonio); Bob Anspach (BLET-IBT 391); Vina Colley (Portsmouth Pikeston Residents for Environmental Justice).
From the Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers organizing committee: “We will be hosting a National Conference for the people of East Palestine along with supporters in Ohio and throughout the country to build this campaign for healthcare on Saturday, March 23, 2024, where we will bring community members, labor, environmentalist and allies together in our urgent campaign. This Conference will be held from 12-5pm ET at the East Palestine Country Club. To contact the Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers organizing committee, reach out to Steve Zeltzer: labormedia[at]gmail[dot]com or Penny Logsdon: onecent7921[at]gmail[dot]com. In solidarity.”
Additional links/info: workingpeople.libsyn.com/labo...
Featured Music: Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song
Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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[@susiebowser8636]

God bless East Palestine! And God bless you for reporting on it!

[@slampersand3145]

I remember the biden administration blocking the railroad workers striking for safety and overworked concerns a few months before. Bless the common people 💖

[@stevekaylor5606]

Marginalization and financialization - even for railroads!

[@TheMetaModern]

Sounds a lot like what the Palestinians in Gaza are 'demanding'.

[@AdolfsGirl]

the government did this cause it had the name Palestine.

[@haretbanimania8527]

from palestinian in palestine 🇵🇸 to palestine 🇺🇸 hope you all alright brothers

[@Vbluevital]

I'm so sorry for the Palestinians. 🇵🇸💔

[@AdolfsGirl]

the government did this cause it had the name Palestine

[@Mimicry161]

?

[@MinkytheMinkY]

Very insightful, thank you so much wealth of knowledge.

[@user-hn1sw4cf7x]

Godspeed

[@lynnhilding3200]

Your voice and focus are extremely compelling. Thank you for your tenacity

[@lestergarcia4827]

Yes this can happen anywhere there was just a derailment in Socorro New Mexico. My heart goes out to all these people God bless them all.

[@caylia9989]

Thank you ❤

[@3g0st]

- "health insurance companies will not necessarily cover the medical / chemical testing" (Assuming documentation is needed to obtain the financial relief...) - "PPE was discouraged because it would have given the impression something was wrong" (for corporations, optics and gaslighting are key in their narratives)

[@slugvomit7856]

As someone local to Baltimore (Northern Anne Arundel county) thank you for getting me hip to the sacrifice zone in Curtis Bay

[@3g0st]

Thank you for gathering these accounts of abuses, I knew it was bad but I didn't know it was quite so bad. However I'm not surprised. They create conditions for failure to thrive in then contract it out so that results can be massaged, compartmentalized, and subsequently ignored. These affected populations need drinking water and healthcare. The fact that some people can get payouts from cleanup programs means nothing, it still requires dehumanizing amount of paperwork and putting yourself through the medical wringer. One speaker mentioned she felt like a guinea pig. People should not have to sacrifice their dignity in order to only be tested upon under the guise of medical treatment. Despicable, and this is what happens when you privatize, ignore regulations and value profits over human life. This only speaks to availability of options, not competency in the staff who treat their health, there's still no guarantee for that, nor any guarantee the government programs get to everyone who has been affected (they are trying to make it cost less by filtering ppl through paperwork which also works in their favor by hiding damages in perpetual clerical work). What a heartwrenching heartbreaking situation. Corporations need to be split up and held accountable and the EPA needs a kick in the ass. To summarize another potion they would like to label East Palestine as a "mass causality incident" under the Stafford Act . This is one takeaway that we should make our legislators,friends, and family aware of. They are seeking a national campaign and joining of union members and allies starting in Ohio.

[@rael4821]

I absolutely agree that the residents of East Palestine should be granted healthcare for life... BUT why should it be paid for by the government? The government doesn't have any money unless they collect it from us first. WE are not responsible for the negligence of a private company. The PRIVATE COMPANY should be awarding the residents healthcare for life!! Blessings to you all. Godspeed.

[@robertburnett6348]

Whike we worry about tictoc.

[@johnnada.]

Another task is to root out corporate tax loopholes

[@jasrelaxing]

they'd be allocated more aid, cash & empathy if they'd just change their name to "west Israel"

[@kimberlywaldrop5959]

Real news 👉PLANDEMIC

[@pedrorivera7931]

ZECHARIAH CHAPTER 12 VERSE 3. ↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️↗️

[@SarvaCrew]

So, a bunch of people and organizations got together to form another organization? That's it? Why are donations flowing into this new organization and not into actually fixing the problem?

[@grabithard2534]

The only problem is you're asking the government for health care...when it should be the corporation that caused the derailment and decided to burn it. How about more individual accountability instead of saying tax payers need to cover what someone else did? Calling people out by names helps others know who are responsible.

[@RealRyanFlynn]

Corporations own the government anyway, so it’s all part of the same pot. But yes, direct accountability is necessary to correct behavior like this. Unfortunately, those corporations are just going to have any fines or judgments against them subsidized by tax breaks because they constitute losses under tax law. This needs to be attacked on both fronts: direct accountability for the corporations and divestiture of the corporations from government. Corporate money must be blocked from election campaigns and lobbying (aka legalized bribery).