Ocasio Cortez Raise

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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 to raise $1 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, is one of the hardest hit districts in the country when it comes to COVID-19 cases. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed up with coffee for members of the Teamsters Local 202, striking produce workers seeking a $1 an hour raise.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley tweeted a fundraiser link to raise bail for 36 counterprotesters of Boston's Straight Pride event.

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

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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.'

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party’s rising socialist star, describes herself as “a girl from the Bronx” to project a working-class image. However, this claim is only half true – to borrow a phrase from the left-wing website PolitiFact.

“Well, you know, the president is from Queens, and with all due respect — half of my district is from Queens — I don’t think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said this week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

She similarly told the Washington Post: “I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family — mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx. I was born in a place where your Zip code determines your destiny.”

The congressional candidate, who pulled off an upset win against high-ranking establishment Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), was indeed born in New York City’s Bronx borough. She currently lives there, too.

So what’s the issue? Ocasio-Cortez omits that for most of her formative years, she was actually raised in one of the United States’ wealthiest counties.

Around the age of five, Alexandria’s architect father Sergio Ocasio moved the family from the “planned community” of Parkchester in the Bronx to a home in Yorktown Heights, a wealthy suburb in Westchester County. The New York Timesdescribes her childhood home as “a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street.” In a 1999 profile of the area, when Ocasio-Cortez would have been ten years old, the Times lauded Yorktown Heights’ “diversity of housing in a scenic setting” – complete with two golf courses.

The paper quoted Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, describing Yorktown as ”a folksy area where people can come, kick off their shoes, wander around, sit in a cafe, listen to a concert in the park, or go to the theater.”

In a fun coincidence, Yorktown, which contains Yorktown Heights, is also home to a 436-acre state park named after – yes, one Donald J. Trump.

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After high school, Ocasio-Cortez studied international relations and economics at Boston University and worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Only after college did Ocasio-Cortez return to the Parkchester complex, where she launched Brook Avenue Press, a publishing group aimed at improving the public image of the Bronx.

Westchester County – which the Washington Post, in a glowing profile on Ocasio-Cortez, describes as only “middle class” – ranks #8 in the nation for the counties with the “highest average incomes among the wealthiest one percent of residents.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049.

Ocasio Cortez Raise

Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 – nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014.

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The 28-year-old’s far-left platform includes abolishing ICE, universal guaranteed employment, and Medicare for all. In an interview with CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said she supports impeaching President Trump, despite warnings from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to avoid the issue.