From SWOP: City Hall will offer free bus service Wednesday as part of Strive Not to Drive week. The city is encouraging people to take alternative transportation all week. With gas at $4 a gallon, its important that the public have an alternative to single-occupancy vehicles, Mayor Martin Chvez said. More >>
From Domestic Workers United Blog: May 11, 2008 - 10:51am
By Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou More >>
From Southwest Workers' Union: With record shattering turn out, the voters of Hondo, Texas elected 3 members of the Hondo Empowerment Committee (HEC) to the Hondo City Council on May 10th. In an elections typically decided by less than 10% of registered voters, the efforts of HEC and SWU turned out over 51% (or 1,622) voters. Focusing on low-income and Latino areas of town, the Nuestra Voz campaign brought out first time and newly registered voters in force. This is the first time in known history that the Mexican majority town has had a Mexican majority on the Council. More >>
From Project South: HELLO FRIENDS!Come on out to Project South's Anniversary Weekend Celebration MAY 16-17!ALL ARE WELCOME! We hope you will join us and folks from across the region to celebrate and share stories of ou... More >>
From SWOP: From the NY Times:
...aides to [Obama and McCain] said Latino voters would be central to victory in a swath of Western states now viewed as prime battlefields, including Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.See the map. More >>
From SWOP: Real Change Hondo slate goes 3 for 3 in a landslide. More >>
From SWOP: 5:45pm - Real Change slate is up 237 to 196... into the last hour. From this point out, every additional voter could be the tie breaker. We are pulling them out of their homes one at a time and driving them to the polls... More >>
From SWOP: Battle for Hondo - Dispatch 2
May 10, 2008 More >>
From Community Voices Heard: Here are the documents that we use in order to give a Media 101 Training. We thank the SPIN Project for giving us the basis for much of this training. Below there is a PDF of the power point presentation we show while we give the training as well as an example of an article with a negative frame for public housing. Feel free to use these documents as a basis for media trainings you would like to hold with your organizations members. More >>
From Community Voices Heard: This is the documents used by Community Voices Heard in order to give a Fundraising 101 Training. It includes a PDF of the power point, a packet of information to follow along with the power point, a sponsorship sheet, and a 1 page description of the organization. Feel free to use this information to create your own trainings and help your organization fundraise. More >>
From Southwest Workers' Union: 20 years in the struggle for dignity & justice. More >>
From Domestic Workers United: The Indypendent www.indypendent.org Domestic Workers Demand Fair Labor Laws By Jessica Lee From the April 25, 2008 issue More than 200 New York City residents rallied at the state capitol in Albany April 15 in support of legislation that would set labor standards for the estimated 200,000 nannies, caretakers and housekeepers in New York state. It was at a Westchester County preschool more than six years ago that Joycelyn Gill-Campbell discovered there were other women just like her. An immigrant from Barbados, Gill-Campell had found work as a nanny, watching two young boys of a well-to-do lawyer couple. I found out about Domestic Workers United (DWU) through a friend who was also a nanny, Gill-Campbell said. The two little boys [we watched] went to the same preschool. Now a full-time DWU organizer, Gill-Campbell helped lead more than 200 New York City domestic workers, students, labor organizers, church members and activists to Albany April 15 to lobby key... More >>
From Community Voices Heard: Community Voices Heard participated in a large May 1st rally with the Teamsters Local 237 union, the union that represents maintenance workers in NYCHA buildings. CVH leader and public housing resident Agnes Rivera spoke at the rally sharing the stage with many elected officials, union members, and supporters of public housing. We were rallying to demand that funding be restored for public housing both to preserve jobs for the teamsters as well as preserve housing for the residents.read more More >>
From Vermont Workers' Center:
Livable Wage Victory for Burlington Food Service & Custodial Workers:
Burlington, VT After a three and a half year campaign, Burlington school food service and custodial worker of AFSCME Local 1343 won an agreement that will bring its all of its members up to a livable wage by the end of the contract. This agreement is being celebrated as a ground-breaking victory. This is the second livable wage victory in less then a year, last fall the Burlington para-educators had the first livable wage victory in the Burlington Schools. More >>
From Community Voices Heard: This is a story about the public hearing that CVH members testified at. The press conference CVH members held prior to the hearing is mentioned and CVH member Valerie Pearson is quoted. More >>
From Community Voices Heard: CVH Press Conferance In Front of City Hall read more More >>
From UE: UPDATED: More than 100 UE members took our unions top concerns to Capitol Hill in three intense days of UE political action April 27-30. Delegates from 28 UE locals in 14 states met with over 60 members of Congress or their aides, as part of the 2008 UE Political Action Conference. More >>
From Vermont Workers' Center: VWC members and allies sing Solidarity Forever at the 10th Anniverary Dinner. At the Vermont Workers' Center 10th Anniversary Dinner last night, 150+ people celebrated ten years of struggle, recognized workers' victories from the past year, and kicked off the VWC's new Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign. More >>
From Vermont Workers' Center:
Four VWC leaders and staff attended the US Human Rights Network's 2008 National Conference in Chicago this past weekend. They learned from and networked with others around the country who are applying international human rights standards to the domestic context in the US, and will be bringing back that knowledge to help lead upcoming VWC campaigns around Housing is a Human Right, Healthcare is a Human Right, and organizing low-wage workers. Below is an account by one of the delegates: More >>
From Southwest Workers' Union:
"Walls are built to imprison, create obstacles to movement of people, (and) keep people out. They are built in the mind, in the heart, and, over time with suspicion, fear, racism (and) classism."
SWU applauds the efforts of the Edgewood Independent School District in west San Antonio to denounce the proposed border wall. More >>
From Southwest Workers' Union: Tropical Disconnect -- Arriving on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico recently, it was clear we have come to an extraordinarily beautiful place. The beaches are gorgeous, the water is crystal clear, the tourist hotels and restaurants are laid-back and the tropical vegetation and terrain are stunning, especially in the fiery light of sundown. More >>
From UE: In California and Vermont, workers employed by U.S. government subcontractors at U.S. Customs and Immigration Service Centers (USCIS) are learning UE-style rank-and-file democracy as they elect negotiating committees and prepare for first-ever bargaining with their employers. More >>
From UE: UEs three national officers President John Hovis, Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple and Director of Organization Bob Kingsley have sent solidarity greetings to Bob McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union as ILWU members prepare to shut down all of the West Coast ports on May Day to protest Bushs war policies. More >>
From UE: Two global union federations and more than 40 labor organizations in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. representing several million workers, have jointly filed a charge against the United States, under the North American Agreement for Labor Cooperation (NAALC), the labor side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (List of participating organizations below.) More >>
From UE: School paraprofessionals in Wallingford, CT are using a video to focus public attention on their plight as public employees working without healthcare. More >>
From Vermont Workers' Center: The Vermont Workers Center - Jobs with Justice has an opening for a full-time organizer to coordinate our new "Healthcare Is A Human Right" grassroots organizing project. This position will be focused on building a statewide action network of Vermonters in working class communities and organized labor to fundamentally change the politics of healthcare reform. Applicants should have experience in union and/or grassroots community organizing, strong written and oral communication skills, computer skills, drivers' license/vehicle and strong work ethic. Excellent benefits and the salary is at least $32K and will be more based on experience. For a more detailed job description, questions or to apply send your resume and a letter explaining why you would be a great fit for this job to info [at] workerscenter.org More >>
From Domestic Workers United Blog:
Some of you may have received our new update, and, of course wouldn't be a first time thing without a little bit of a mistake! Just so you know..it was not a test, but the real thing ;) . But, if you have suggestions or ideas on how to make it better, by all means let us know! More >>
From Domestic Workers United: DWU is excited and proud of our ongoing collaboration with Community News Production Institute (CNPI). The Community News Production Institute is the nation's only radio news bureau of grassroots community organizers! CNPI trains grassroots community organizers and workers in radio production and media advocacy. The CNPI trainees learn production, writing, editing and research skills, and use them all to support local organizing campaigns. Through technical assistance from CNPI, immigrant workers learn radio journalism skills to document issues affecting their own communities, as well as the broader society in New York. CNPI aims to not just have historically excluded communities tell their own stories and represent themselves, but to also join the city's reporter pool and change mainstream coverage of their issues, using both the independent and mainstream media to win their organizing goals. CNPI is a project of People's Production House. DWU Leaders have been hard at work creating... More >>
