Front Page. April 28: Workers' Memorial Day

Transcription

1 From: 1021 NewsWire Subject: Fight to the finish with the 1021 NewsWire - April 27, 2012 Date: To: Reply-To: Vol. V, Issue April 27, 2012 April 28 is Workers' Memorial Day: Live and let die on the FRONT PAGE. Like "Tax the Rich" in ACT! HERE! NOW! Why unions do politics in THE LIVE WIRE. Take our May polls in CALENDAR. Aren't you in the 1021 Network yet? 1021 NewsWire SEIU1021.org Facebook Twitter YouTube SEIU1021.TV Front Page April 28: Workers' Memorial Day Huffington Post: "End the Delays Deadly to Workers" by Leo Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers [T]he very corporations and Chamber of Commerce that constantly deride government red tape demand it for this special case -- to delay implementation of rules to protect workers. And this is their justification: Corporate profits trump worker lives.... Last Workers' Memorial Day, Robert Stubblefield, 66, a member of my union, was killed on the job at Republic Special Metals in Ohio. Over the next 12 months, 34 more Steelworkers died, one every 10 days. They made glass, tires, cement, aluminum and steel. They refined oil and mined potash, platinum and palladium. They logged forests and

2 constructed earthmovers. They produced the products that build North America. They should not die for that. No worker should die for a job. Traditionally, Memorial Day is the first day of the season when women wear white -- white shoes, white purses, white hats. On Workers Memorial Day, Saturday, April 28, wear black for the workers who perished on the job last year. Hold loved ones close and hope that the delays imposed on OSHA won't cause for another worker's family the suffering endured by Robert Stubblefield's widow, five children and nine grandchildren. "People used to rob the stagecoach. Now the stagecoach robs us." Lisa Gatchallan regrets the day she took out her home mortgage loan with Wells Fargo. Problems for the 20-year SEU 1021 member who works, ironically, at the Alameda County Housing Authority, began in 2009 when her husband got laid off from his construction job. She called the bank to tell them she was going to have difficulty making her monthly payments, and they told her not to worry, they had programs for unemployed people. She filled out the paper work and her payments were reduced, but later she was told the money she did continue to pay had not been put towards her mortgage, but had gone into escrow and that she owed nearly $9,000 and they wanted it now. Not that they could tell her what months she owed for. Lisa and a thousand other offended and outraged union members, community activists, Occupyers and clergy joined a demonstration against Wells Fargo and its practices on April 24, part of a wave of 99% Spring actions. They marched noisily from the foot of San Francisco s Market Street to the bank s annual stockholders meeting in the Merchant Exchange Building across the street from the Wells Fargo headquarters. Read more about it: Photo of SEIU 1021 member John Shaban trying to gain access to the Wells Fargo shareholder meeting ThinkProgress: "Protesters Rally Against Wells Fargo Foreclosures, Bank Responds: We're A 'Responsible Corporate Citizen'" Hundreds of protesters, including religious leaders, union workers, and other 99 Percent Movement activists, gathered outside Wells Fargo's shareholder meeting in San Francisco today, protesting the bank's fraudulent foreclosure practices. Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage servicer, has a well-documented history of using fraudulent practices like robo-signing, and even more came to light last week when an insider account detailed the bank's foreclosure unit as operating "exactly like an assembly line." Ahead of the protests, a Wells Fargo spokesperson told San Francisco's ABC news affiliate that the bank has paid taxes and is a "responsible corporate citizen" that "makes an effort to keep people in their homes." SF Bay Guardian: "Pissed off shareholders, homeowners, and taxpayers converge on Wells Fargo meeting" MSNBC: "Occupy movement targets Wells Fargo meeting in San Francisco" Rick Smith (Radio) Show: Listen online or download the April 24 podcast

3 Act! Here! Now! Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act Facebook Friends: Tweet "Tax the Rich #cataxtherich The "Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012" would finally do what Local 1021 members and all Californians have been demanding for years: create new revenues to support important public services. Next week is the deadline to turn in 1.2 million signatures to qualify this important measure for the November ballot. As of press time it's looking good. SEIU 1021 members and staff have exceeded our commitment to the campaign: more than 11,000 signatures and still counting. The Act also called the "Tax the Rich" initiative would raise up to $9 billion a year for public schools, city and county services, health and dental care, child care, police and fire protection, parks, transportation and programs for seniors and the disabled and poor. Campaigning socially From now until our victory in November (54 percent of likely voters say they'd support the measure), we're asking SEIU 1021 members to ratchet our commitment up a notch by engaging each other and the public in the Tax the Rich campaign through Facebook and Twitter. Local 1021 has been building an online presence through the 1021 Network; now we're ready to turn it on for a long-term local-wide campaign. That's where we all come in. Sign and circulate the petition. Then join us in the world of social media. As a first step, simply: Like SEIU 1021 on Facebook at facebook.com/seiu1021. on Twitter at twitter.com/seiu1021. To play a bigger part in the strategy, help build our social media buzz around "Tax the Rich" by taking it one, two or three steps further: 1) Make a commitment to posting or commenting on our Facebook Timeline once a week, twice a week, or however often you can. 2) tweets about the "Protect Schools and Local Public Safety Act" and use the #seiu1021 and #cataxtherich hashtags in your own tweets. 3) Sign up to receive our new "1021 Act Now" text alerts. You'll receive approximately three messages per month on local-wide campaigns and events of general public interest. Subscribe in either of two ways: - Click the "1021ACT" image link on our Facebook Timeline and subscribe online; or - Text 1021ACT to from your mobile phone. (Local 1021 never charges for texts but your carrier's message and data rates may apply. Text STOP to cancel and HELP for help.) Sample Tweets & Facebook Posts Twitter Tweet these or and retweet them:

4 It's time wealthy Californians paid their fair share! #cataxtherich Provide support for safe, quality education for our children! #cataxtherich We can restore $9b to CA state budget. #cataxtherich How many school workers have been laid off in your area? [XX] in ours. #cataxtherich Facebook: In your own words When you post on our Facebook Timeline, write from your heart. Pick one thing that really sticks in your craw about the impact of budget cuts in your community and tell Local 1021 members and our Facebook community about it. If you're having trouble thinking of something, here's a sample to get you started: When I went to school in the 1970's in California, schools provided more supplies, more field trips and enrichment activities. And our public schools were the top in the country! Now parents have to pay for those things on their own and we struggle to reach the middle of the pack. And middle income taxes have gone up! It's time that rich Californians and giant corporations pay their fair share Facebook 1021 #seiu1021 The Live Wire The Live Wire: SEIU 1021's Political Action Central A new blog series on the state of the labor movement Crooks & Liars: "The State of the Labor Movement, Part 2: Working America" Follow blogger Kenneth Quinnell on For the second post in our series taking a closer look at the state of the U.S. labor movement, we have an exclusive interview with the executive director of Working America, Karen Nussbaum. Karen Nussbaum says Working America has had a lot of success in the last nine years, by listening to working families and talking to them on a one-on-one basis. She said that Working America started with the theory that union members view the world differently than many other people - they're more progressive, they vote differently, they have a different view on government. And if non-union people living in the same neighborhoods were given the same information and the same sense of empowerment that they could make a difference in government, they would think and act similarly to union members. Why unions do politics

5 Why unions do politics AlterNet: "Labor Unions' Fight for the 99% Goes Way Beyond Raising Campaign Dollars" You'd think people would have learned the lesson in 2011: labor is an integral part of the progressive coalition, one of the only forces capable of acting as a counterweight to the organized money that's taken over our politics. Yet as election season wears on, many politicians and reporters seem to have forgotten... that unions represent millions of working Americans, struggling under the weight of austerity policies and a stagnant economy, who are getting increasingly fed up with their treatment by politicians. "The labor movement has always given money to candidates," Damon Silvers, policy director and general counsel at the AFL-CIO, told AlterNet. But when it comes down to winning elections, their greatest contribution is boots on the ground. "And not just any boots, but people who are plugged into their communities, who are trusted. They're the backbone of America's civic culture, the people who are the poll watchers, the people who volunteer at food banks, local leaders in unions, the shop stewards, the people who pound the pavement. They are the core of civil society in the United States."... As [Jason] Perlman [of the Ohio AFL-CIO] pointed out, unions are workers' organizations that do politics, not political organizations. But with only 11.8 percent of Americans represented by a union, the political action unions do has become the public face of labor. "Modern unions developed in response to unchecked corporate control over both the political system and workingclass lives after the Civil War," Erik Loomis, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island, explained. "The inability of workers to have a voice in their working conditions was tied to the fact that they had essentially no voice in influencing legislation that would help them either. Unions became one of the only organizations that working-class people could use to stand up for themselves in the workplace and at the polls." Election 2040: Dire leadership vacuum expected by mid-century Onion News Network: "Report: Every Potential 2040 President Already Unelectable Due To Facebook" From America's finest news source, a troubling report finds that by 2040 every presidential candidate will be unelectable to political office due to their embarrassing Facebook posts. Visit SEIU 1021 on Facebook at facebook.com/seiu1021. Say something you can run for office on. Calendar 1021 Calendar Find an SEIU 1021 Office Moon Phases - 1st Q, April 29 - Full, May 6-3rd Q, May 12 - New, May 20 The Onion Horoscopes: Week of April 24 Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You'll feast on the flesh of your mortal enemy, which is lucky for you, as your mortal enemy is the orangebraised duck. Download your free April 2012 social justice calendar from RLM Studios.

6 WBAI Special: Live May Day Coverage Building Bridges Radio: Your Community & Labor Report Tu 5/1-12-4p PST Streaming live at stream.wbai.org May Day began in the U.S. in 1886 as a nationwide general strike, led by immigrant workers, fighting for the eight-hour work day. While celebrated across the globe, it has been largely ignored in the U.S., until recently, when immigrant workers revived it. Now, a new chapter in the history of May Day will be written with the involvement of Occupy Wall Street, the organization making history with its public encampments and protests against the global financial community. Building Bridges will be there for this new chapter in the movement, reporting from May Day events throughout the day, here and from rallies across the country. May 9: Schools Lobby Day in Sacramento Click here to download a Lobby Day flier: Fight back and save California schools from disaster. This is our chance to meet the folks who work on budgets and spending without ever seeing the results of their work. Let's show them. Round-trip bus transportation is available from/to the SEIU 1021 offices in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Fairfield, Oakland (Oak St.) and Chabot College in Hayward. Lunch will be provided. Event Information: 1021 Schools Industry Council SEIU 1021 Leadership Sa 5/19 - Executive Board - 10a-5p - Santa Rosa; location TBA Sa 5/19 - Phase 2 Bylaws Revision - 9a-1p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield - Teleconference: , Access Code: # - Info: Committee on Political Education (COPE) Tu 5/1 - Alameda County - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland Tu 5/1 - Sonoma County - 6-8p - SEIU 1021, 600 B Street, Santa Rosa We 5/2 - Solano County - 6p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield Tu 5/ COPE - 6p Rhode Island, #100 South Building, San Francisco - Live via videoconference at SEIU 1021 offices in Fairfield, Oakland (Myrtle), San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Stockton and Sacramento; phone conferencing available - RSVP for a location at Education & Training View the complete catalog and register at Mo 4/30 - Public Sector Budgeting - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield

7 Sa 5/5 - Political Program Training - 10a-4p - Location TBD (Marin) Mo 5/7 - Pension Training - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland Th 5/10 - New Officers Training - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield Th 5/10, 5/17, 5/24 (3 sessions) - Basic Shop Steward Training - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland We 5/16 - Labor-Management Committee Training - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 350 Rhode Island, #100 South Building, San Francisco We 5/23 - Getting Results from Meetings - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield San Francisco All events take place at the SEIU 1021 San Francisco office, 350 Rhode Island, #100 South Building, unless noted otherwise. Th 5/3-6-8p - SF COPE We 5/9-6p - SF Industry Council Regions & Industries Mo 4/30 - Sonoma/Lake Regional Stewards Council - 5:30-7:45p - SEIU 1021, 600 B Street, Santa Rosa - Info/RSVP by noon 4/30 to nancy.atwell@seiu1021.org - Sa 5/12 - Cities Industry Council - 10a-2p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland Sa 5/12 - Counties Industry Council - 10a-2p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield Sa 5/12 - Schools Industry Council - 10a-2:30p - SEIU 1021, 2300 Boynton Ave., Fairfield Tu 5/15 - East Bay (Region 4) Area Meeting - 5:30-8p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland; RSVP for dinner to the Member Resource Center, OUR-1021 Social & Economic Justice Th 5/3 - Lavender Solidarity Committee - 4:30-6:30p - SF General Hospital, 1001 Potrero, San Francisco - The committee now meets the *first Thursday* of each month; location and time will vary. Information: Eileen Berkun, Committee Chair, eberkun@ix.netcom.com Th 5/3 - Latino Caucus - 5:30-7:30p - SEIU 1021, 350 Rhode Island, #100 South Building, San Francisco Th 5/10 - Women's Committee - 6-8p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland, Wille Gholar Room Th 5/17 - Social & Economic Justice Committee - 6-8p - SEIU 1021, 350 Rhode Island, #100 South Building, San Francisco Su 5/20 - Asian Pacific Islander Committee - 3-5p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland, Wille Gholar Room Mo 5/21 - AFRAM Solidarity Committee - 6p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland

8 Mo 5/21 - Disability Caucus - 6p - SEIU 1021, 100 Oak St., Oakland Peace & Solidarity Committee - Contact Linda Ray at dadaray2002@yahoo.com or for meeting information. Retiree Councils Tu 5/ Retiree Council - 10a-1p - SEIU 1021, 155 Myrtle St., Oakland Th 5/3 - Sacramento Valley Retirees Chapter - 10a-12p - SEIU 1021, th Street, 8th floor, Sacramento Mo 5/7 - Alameda Co. Retired Employees (ACRE) - 10a-Noon - SEIU 1021, 155 Myrtle St., Oakland Th 5/10 - East Bay Retirees Chapter p - Hs. Lordship's Restaurant, 199 Seawall Drive, Berkeley Mo 5/21 - West Bay Retirees p - SEIU 1021, 350 Rhode Island, #100 South Building, San Francisco * * * * ADMINISTRIVIA DO NOT REPLY TO THIS . It was sent from an account that is not monitored by people. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Got comments? Write them on the back of $20 bill and mail them -- or them for free -- to randy.lyman@seiu1021.org. Please indicate if you give permission to publish your comment in the NewsWire. Only your first name and location (city, county or worksite) will be used, but you may request we not publish your name. The NewsWire reserves the right to edit letters for length or clarity (e.g. punctuation). MEMBER SERVICES. For all worksite issues and representation questions, contact the 1021 Member Resource Center at OUR-1021 or 1021MRC@seiu1021.org. CALENDAR. Send all Calendar announcements, corrections and changes to calendar [at] seiu1021.org. The 1021 NewsWire is published every Friday by the SEIU 1021 Communications Dept. Interim Director: Stephanie Batey. Editor: Randy Lyman (randy.lyman@seiu1021.org).