Ocasio Cortez Raise

• Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Parents Wealth
• Blanca Ocasio Cortez

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.

Essential workers should not have to go on strike for decent pay, and no worker should be threatened for exercising their constitutional rights.

AOC: ‘It’s not even, like, a raise!’ However, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Congress deserves the raise. The former barmaid says a $4,500 annual pay bump is a trivial cost-of-living increase.

1. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) whined on Monday about the possibility that she may not get a $4,500 pay raise — which she downplayed as only being a cost of living adjustment — as she compared members of Congress to minimum wage workers. Fox News’ Gregg Re reported that there has not been a cost.
2. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 11, 2019. What this does is punish members who rely on a straight salary, and reward those who rely on money loopholes and other forms of self-dealing. For example, it incentivizes the horrible kinds of legislative looting we saw in the GOP tax scam bill. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 11, 2019.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Parents Wealth

I strongly support Hunts Point Market @Teamsters strikers in their struggle for justice. https://t.co/FhsgvxCGYO

— 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

— 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:

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, has raised more than $280,000 for grassroots organizations working to elect Democratic senators in the Georgia runoff.

Georgia, which had been carried by Republican presidential candidates in every election going back to 1996, appears to have gone blue for President-elect Joe Biden. Although the southern state will carry out a recount, Biden leads President Donald Trump there by just over 14,000 votes. Analysts expect the result to hold, as recounts rarely change more than a few hundred votes at most.

Both of Georgia's Senate races are also going to runoffs, as none of the candidates secured more than 50 percent of the overall vote. Although a new poll released on Wednesday shows both Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler as slightly favored to hold their seats, Democrats are hopeful they can flip them blue.

Blanca Ocasio Cortez

'Georgia isn't a red state. It's a voter-suppressed state. Last night #TeamAOC mobilized to raise $100k *directly* to grassroots orgs @fairfightaction, @NewGAProject,& more,' Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday evening. 'Time to charge forward & support the folks leading the way. Let's kick it up.' The congresswoman included an Act Blue link where supporters could contribute.

Update: Holy cow - we surged to $280k for the GA grassroots last night!

That’s some #EmbraceTheBase ENERGY right there. Keep going! ⬇️ https://t.co/CZV8uDPZRV

Early Thursday afternoon, Ocasio-Cortez gave an update, saying that contributors had already donated well-over a quarter-million dollars.

'Update: Holy cow - we surged to $280k for the GA grassroots last night! That's some #EmbraceTheBase ENERGY right there. Keep going!' the New York representative tweeted.

Newsweek reached out to press representatives for Ocasio-Cortez for further comment, but they did not immediately respond.

Loeffler faces Demcoratic candidate Raphael Warnock, while Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff in the January 5 runoffs. A poll by conservative-leaning Remington Research Group shows Loeffler with 49 percent to Warnock's 48 percent support. The survey showed Perdue with the backing of 50 percent of Georgians while 46 percent supported Ossoff.

Stacey Abrams, a Democratic organizer and politician from Georgia who has been widely credited for helping to flip her state blue for Biden, has expressed confidence that her party can win both Senate seats. She told CNN this week that she has 'no doubt' Democrats can win, describing Warnock and Ossoff as 'the two men who are going to make certain that Joe Biden has the leadership, the support, and the congressional mandate he needs to move this country forward.'

As of Sunday, Abrams had already helped raise about $3.6 million to support the Democratic Senate contenders in the Georgia runoffs. Other high-profile Democrats have said they plan to campaign in the state as well, including former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

'Want to help win Georgia? We have vetted 16 community organizers who can activate voters where they matter most over the next 8 weeks! Give today and let's win the Senate and demote Mitch and co to the minority! There's a LOT on the line - let's win!!' Yang tweeted on Wednesday.

Martin Luther King III, the son of the legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted that he'd be organizing with Yang.

'I'm proud to work with @AndrewYang and a group of incredible organizers in Georgia to mobilize voters for the Jan 5th Senate run-offs. We need to elect @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock to deliver @JoeBiden the senate majority for real change to happen,' King wrote.