[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights] Calendar 8/13-9/5

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

Now
	JOIN THE ONE MILLION FOR THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
	Please sign the petition at http://www.jwj.org/efca.html. The
Employee Free Choice Act would restore workers' freedom to form unions and
bargain for better wages, health care, pensions, and working conditions. It
would:
* Strengthen penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate employees
trying to form unions and bargain.
* Establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers
cannot agree on a first contract.
* Enable employees to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards.
	Can you imagine a CEO agreeing to work without a contract that
guarantees pay and benefits? It would never happen. But when companies
prevent workers from forming unions, that's exactly what they're making
employees do: work without any assurance of pay and benefits. The playing
field is tilted in favor of lavishly-paid CEOs, who get golden parachutes
while we get stuck holding the bag. The Employee Free Choice Act can restore
the balance, giving workers the freedom to form unions and bargain for
better a life.  
	If we collect enough signatures and elect friends of working
families, next year we can enact the Employee Free Choice Act. We're almost
one-third of the way there already! We have 300,000 signatures urging the
new Congress and president to enact the Employee Free Choice Act when they
get to Washington next year.
	Can you help us hit the 500,000 mark by Labor Day? Please sign the
petition at http://www.jwj.org/efca.html. And urge your friends to sign it,
too. 

Wednesday August 13
	VICTOR NAVASKY: "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"
	7pm, Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St (Routes 116 at 47), in the
Village Commons, S Hadley, 534-7307 or 800-540-7307; odysseybks at aol.com;
www.odysseybks.com (www.odysseybks.com/directions.html). Victor S. Navasky
will read from and sign his new book, "Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won
the War in Iraq" - the definitive collection - systematically categorized,
indexed, and footnoted for your convenience - of authoritative
misinformation, disinformation, misunderstanding, miscalculation, egregious
prognostication, boo-boos, and just plain lies, about the Iraq War. At once
an entertainment, a cautionary tale, a critique of mass media, a reference
tool, and a postwar manifesto, "Mission Accomplished!" presents, as no book
has before, the collective wisdom of all those who are presumed to know what
they are talking about on the subject of America's adventure in Iraq.
 
Thursday August 14
	"SEEKING JUSTICE, BUILDING COMMUNITY"
	7pm, Food for Thought Books, non-profit workers' co-op, 106 N
Pleasant St, Amherst (253-5432, info at foodforthoughtbooks.com,
www.foodforthoughtbooks.com). $10 suggested donation, but no one will be
turned away. Money raised will help Western Mass youth and adult organizers
attend the Critical Resistance (CR10) conference in Oakland CA this fall.
Performances by local artists, including the youth of QuEST (a project of
Out Now, Springfield) who will showcase their high-energy performance,
"Inside-n-Out", highlighting the ways the prison industrial complex affects
queer youth. Music by WMUA's DJ Cheba D. Art, food, raffle prizes, t-shirts
& more! 
	Seeking Justice, Building Community and the CR10 Conference are
being organized to address a crisis in this country: in the past two
decades, the number of people in prison in the US has risen 400%. By 2008
the total surpassed 2.3 million, more than the populations of Boston,
Washington DC, and San Francisco combined. Due to extreme racial disparity
in law enforcement and sentencing, one in nine black men in their twenties
is now in prison or jail. Another startling statistic: 75% of women and 55%
of men in state prisons report being parents of children under 18. In
response to this crisis, the organizers of Seeking Justice, Building
Community work to develop alternative structures of support and advocate
replacing prisons with housing, healthcare, jobs, and food, the real needs
of our communities. Info: erika at foodforthoughtbooks.com. See
http://www.outnowspringfield.org/OutNow.html &
http://www.westernmasscopwatch.net.

Friday August 15
	HANDS AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING: "NO" TO WAR ON IRAN
	4pm, 1550 Main St, Springfield. With joined hands in the Spirit of
Love and Peace we will encircle the Federal Building, symbol of federal
actions and policy in our region. "A nation that continues year after year
to spend more money on military defense (and offense) than on programs of
social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Dr. Martin Luther King,
1967. Info: American Friends Service Committee, 584-8975, afsc at crocker.com,
http://www.westernmassafsc.org.  

Tuesday August 19 (Third Tuesday)
     FRANKLIN/HAMPSHIRE HEALTH CARE COALITION
     7pm, Lathrop Village Community Room, Shallow Brook Drive, off Bridge
Rd, Northampton. Organizing for the Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund
Bill (S.703/H.1137) - a universal health care system, providing universal
access, a comprehensive range of physical and mental health benefits, choice
of provider, quality, unified financing and cost controls, accountable
governance, and stability. A Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund will be a
"single-payer" of all health care costs, statewide. Info: info at fhhcc.org.

Tuesday August 19
	NORTHAMPTON LIVING WAGE COALITION
	7pm, Western Mass Legal Services, 20 Hampton Ave, Northampton.
Drafting a City Council resolution updating the Northampton Living Wage to
reflect the cost of living increase since 1998, bringing the living wage
from $7.49/hour for employees with health insurance to $9.52, and from $9 to
$11.44 for employees without health insurance. Collecting petition
signatures supporting the resolution. Asking local business owners to commit
to paying a living wage or at least commit to working toward a living wage.
Info, to help get signatures: Kathryn Collins, kathryncollins52 at yahoo.com.

Thursday August 21
	SACCO/VANZETTI NIGHT
	5-7:30pm, Bishop Marshall Center, St Michael's Cathedral, Elliott St
off State St, Springfield. Free; donations accepted. Refreshments.
Remembering the wrongful execution on August 23, 1927, of Nicola Sacco &
Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Main speaker: local writer Bruce Watson, author of
"Sacco and Vanzetti". Honoree: State Rep Angelo Puppolo, for his vote
against the latest Massachusetts death penalty bill. He will speak on the
process that led him to the decision to vote that way. Info, donations:
Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, Hampden County Chapter,
Irene Kimball, 69 Deroche Circle, Ludlow MA 01056; mcadp1 at aol.com. 
 
Wednesday August 20
	ARE "GREEN JOBS" UNION & COMMUNITY JOBS?
	5:30-7:30pm, Pioneer Valley CLC, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield. "Green
Jobs" are all the rage now - for good reason, especially in Western Mass,
where retrofitting buildings could provide a lot of jobs and we have the
expertise. For a labor perspective, please read
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/14/sweeney-unions-investors-must-push-for-cle
an-environment-green-jobs/ and http://www.wed-works.org/info.html. But not
everyone is talking Green Jobs as Union Jobs and Local Community Jobs, and
the possibility of Scabby Green Jobs looms large here in Western Mass. A
Green Economy Working Group is discussing the issue. Info: Jon Weissman,
827-0301, wmjwj at wmjwj.org, or Eduardo Suarez, 335-6224, echonyc at hotmail.com.
	Join the listserve for Western Mass. advocates for a Green Economy
which (1) serves local communities; (2) guarantees workers' rights to
organize; and (3) promotes community-owned sustainable projects. Subscribe
at http://lists.gaiahost.coop/mailman/listinfo/greenwork, or send an email
to greenwork-subscribe at lists.gaiahost.coop. 

Friday September 5 (register by August 31)
	PIONEER VALLEY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL ANNUAL LABOR DAY BREAKFAST
	8:30am, doors open at 8am, Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Drive,
Chicopee. $20. Each year we pause to reflect on Labor's contributions to our
lives and our communities. Come break bread with the working men and women
of the Pioneer Valley and Congressional, State, and Local officials.
Register by August 31. Contact (413) 732-7970 or mail at pvaflcio.org.
No tickets. Check in at the door.
 
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[Workers' Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show
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Western Mass Jobs with Justice
640 Page Blvd #101
Springfield MA 01104
(413) 827-0301