Latest news with #TimStevens
CBS News
28-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Movement targeting major retailers makes its way to Pittsburgh
It's something you may have seen on Facebook or Instagram over the past few days. People have been posting about an "economic blackout" taking place Friday around Pittsburgh. It's some kind of call to inaction, if you will. The people behind it are asking people not to pull out their carts and buy anything at major retailers Friday. But as for why? That's not necessarily uniform. Tim Stevens is hoping he and others can make an impact. "Let's make a dent in the economic structure of America today," he said. Stevens' group, B-PEP, is endorsing Friday's national economic blackout. "We do not buy from any major corporation or company today," he said. This planned pause of spending all started earlier this February. John Schwarz posted a video that's since garnered millions of views calling for a blackout on Friday, February 28, he says he thought of today as a chance to cause an "economic resistance." "The economy does not belong to the rich it belongs to us," Schwarz said. He did not point out specific companies, but some people have. People like Stevens are also targeting places like Target and McDonalds for rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. "We have civil rights champions that are in their graves right now," he said. "If they were able to roll around in their graves, they would be rolling big time right now." Some have encouraged only shopping at small businesses on Friday. Not all small business owners are endorsing this though. "I don't think it's right to hurt someone else to help us," Bill Sunseri, President of Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, said. "They may be just trying to hurt the big vendor, the box store, but it will hurt us too." Some experts do not believe this will make the economic dent Tim Stevens is hoping for. He's not stopping the push. "If the statement's not powerful enough, we can try it again and I'm sure we will," he said. Schwarz and his group, The People's Union USA, have another big blackout planned for April. There are also numerous ones planned throughout the next few months. The next event is a weeklong Amazon boycott in March.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Non-partisan group calling for national ‘economic blackout' in response to moves from corporations
A non-partisan group called the People's Union has called for a national economic blackout. On Friday, the group is urging consumers to shut their wallets. No spending for 24 hours, not in-person or online, the group said this is not political but in response to what they are calling corporate greed. The group said corporations have driven up prices, underpaid workers, and outsourced jobs. John Schwarz is the founder of the People's Union. The 57-year-old teacher said he came up with the idea for a boycott as he was searching for a way to take action. In a span of a few weeks, Schwarz's social media post calling for the blackout was shared thousands of times on both Instagram and TikTok, inspiring similar posts sharing the call for a boycott. 'Even though we may be individually weak, collectively we are strong,' said Tim Stevens. Locally, Tim Stevens, a civil rights leader and founder of B-PEP said his organization will participate in the boycott and even has shared the social post and flyer. Channel 11 News asked Stevens what motivated him to support the efforts, and told us when corporations began removing their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, that was the final straw. 'You have the national administration eliminating diversity programs within the federal government and urging corporations to do the same, we can't have that,' Stevens said. We went to the union's website to learn how the 'blackout' works. According to the site, starting at midnight Friday morning, consumers should stop spending any money, and if they must make an essential purchase like food or medicine, to only support small local businesses. This boycott comes at a critical time when many consumers already feel uneasy. 'There is also that fear of not being able to spend your discretionary income and those two things [a boycott and uncertainty] together are going to have an impact on our economy,' said Point Park Professor Elaine Luther. Retail makes up 6.4 percent of the gross domestic product. Some economists have shared that the effectiveness of financial boycotts may not disrupt the stock market but can send a significant message to corporations. 'One day can make a difference in a particular business, but it will be the signal that they now have two competing pressures against them, and they will have to make a decision,' Luther said. Economists warn that if these boycotts lead to more permanent consumer decisions, corporations may be forced to make changes. 'People were already thinking of alternatives and they may start finding alternatives that are acceptable to them and the big risk is it will be permanent changes,' Luther said. The one-day action has since been expanded by The People's Union: It includes boycotts of various companies and retailers during different time periods including Amazon (March 7-14), Nestle (March 21-28), Walmart (April 7-14) and a second broader one-day economic blackout on April 18. A full description of the action items below: WHAT THE BOYCOTT REQUESTS: Do not make any purchases Do not shop online, or in-store Do not spend money on: Fast Food Gas Major Retailers Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for nonessential spending WHAT THE BOYCOTT REQUESTS: Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary (Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies) If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
CBS News
23-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Hundreds turn out for 27th annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit
Hundreds came to the CCAC Allegheny Campus on the North Side for the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit on Saturday. It is 27 years of banding together, meaning 27 years of community. "You never know when you initiate something, what's going to happen," Tim Stevens, founder of the Black and White Reunion and the Racial Justice Summit, said. Nearly three decades later, people of all races and backgrounds come together for what Stevens started. "Our initial logo was building bridges, so that's what we're going to do today," he said. Saturday's theme was "People, Progress, and Power." "We're trying to figure out how do we get people? Like just, civilians more engaged in the sort of work that it means to like, move political and social justice movements forward," Kevin Jarbo, programming lead of the Summit Planning Committee, said. There were around 12 to 13 workshops on Saturday. "Housing issues, food justice, health equity," Stevens said. "Understanding the recent changes to immigration, that's a big deal right now, climate justice." Jarbo is one of the organizers. He said that while the lack of progress can sometimes be discouraging, there are also bright spots. "Unless you're actually doing the work, you're not seeing incrementally, like gradually, how little-by-little it takes and how long it takes," he said. "You start to see more like coalitional kind of activity and progress be made." Stevens says a lot of that requires being politically engaged. It was one of his messages nationally, but especially at the local level. "We have to keep our energy up," he said. "Even if we have to refocus, if we have to go sit down for a minute, we have to come back and we have to keep fighting."
