PRESS RELEASE from Welfare Warriors, Wisconsin
6th Annual Global Women's Strike

2711 W. Michigan St, Milwaukee WI 53208
            414-342-6662 (MOMA) Fax: 414-342-6667 (MOMS)
web: welfarewarriors.com

 Contact: Pat Gowens: 414-342-6662
 Sandy Stadler: 414- 967-0234
 Marie Badarne: 972 (0)4 656-1996

To celebrate the 6th Annual Global Women's Strike on Wednesday March 8, 2006, Welfare Warriors joins Peace Action Center, Ss.Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church, Casa Maria, Milwaukee Women¹s Muslim Coalition, and Laborers Voice (of Nazareth, Israel) to sponsor a W-2 protest rally, a Caring-Not-Killing Car Caravan, and an Anti-War March. The Global Women¹s Strike promotes a world which values all women's work and all women's lives-- an end to no pay, low pay and overwork. The theme worldwide is "Invest in Caring, Not Killing."

The Strike will be kicked off with a protest rally from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Maximus W2 agency, 1304 S. 70th street. It will be followed by a Car Caravan down Wisconsin Avenue from 68th and Wisconsin to Red Arrow Park at Water and Kilbourn. The Caravan will join an Anti-War Rally starting at Red Arrow Park at 4:30 and marching to the Federal Building on 3rd and Wisconsin. The march demands an end to the war in Iraq and the investment of U.S. funds in life and welfare, NOT warfare.

Maximus, a Milwaukee agency which receives $86 million in state and federal funds to administer the W-2 program, is the target of the Global Women¹s Strike because they routinely force eligible families in poverty into homelessness and other crises by denying them W2 cash assistance. And they force their single mother clients into unpaid workfare rather than assisting them to find paid employment. Maximus also heads up the "Wisconsin Plan" in Israel which forces Arab mothers to work off their family's Income Supplement at 30 hours a week for no pay (workfare).  

Strike Demands:

• Payment for all caring work - in wages, pensions, land & other resources.

• Invest in life & welfare, not military budgets.    

• Pay equity for all, women & men in the global market.

• Economic security for breastfeeding mothers, paid maternity and breast-feeding leave.

• End 'Third World debt'.  

• Accessible clean water, healthcare, housing, transport, literacy.

• Protection & asylum from all violence & persecution, including by family members

• Open Borders: Big Business travels freely across borders, why not workers?

STRIKE SONG:   sung to the tune of "Put Your Arms Around Me Baby, Hold Me Tight"

Women of the World Let Us Throw Off Our Chains

Women of the world let us throw off our chains
Let us have a taste of economic gains
OH OH March 8 we will strike; With all people we¹ll unite

We want motherwork made a priority
Funds for caring not for killing globally
OH OH No more funds for war; Stop all wars against the poor

Moms need water, housing, transportation, too
Time to breastfeed and to care for all the youth
OH OH Motherwork for pay; Third world debt canceled today

Fight to end the wars for greed and profit too
Exxon, Shell and Mobil will no longer rule
OH OH Women must be safe; At home, work and everyplace

Celebrate the mothers who are in your life
Momma, sister, granny, auntie, daughter, wife
OH OH Join with the moms; Strike for peace and pay today