[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights] Calendar 4/20-30

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

April 20 & 21

WAR CRIMES, ACCOUNTABILITY, PROSECUTION

Monday: 7pm, Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield. Progressive Democrats of America Board Member David Swanson and Valeria A. Gheorghiu.

Tuesday: 7pm, Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst. Swanson and PDA Board Member John Bonifaz.

Is it still a crime if a President does it? If Obama keeps the powers Bush seized, what powers do we have? If war criminals walk, what will prevent war crimes? Join the conversation. Info  <http://www.chathampeace.org/> http://www.chathampeace.org, http://davidswanson.org/node/1680. 

 

Tuesday April 21

THE NEW NATIONAL UNION OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS

1- 2:30pm, New Africa House Room 109, UMass Amherst. United Healthcare Workers West (UHW), a Local of SEIU, was trusteed by the international in January. In response, much of the union has left SEIU, and formed a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). Since then, the NUHW has grown rapidly, filing representation petitions for more than 90,000 workers. There has been considerable controversy and debate about the SEIU-UHW struggle. Attend this session to hear what's happening in California health care from NUHW representatives, and discuss this development in the context of broader changes in the labor 

movement. Info: Stephanie Luce, 545-5907, sluce at econs.umass.edu. 

 

Tuesday April 21 (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 - 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. Also organizing for the national alternative to state action: Medicare for All – HR 676. Info: info at fhhcc.org. Please visit www.masscare.org and www.healthcare-now.org.  

 

Wednesday April 22

            PROTEST MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET CUTS

            4:30pm, State Office Building, 436 Dwight St, Springfield (784-1200). Join community and labor organizations whose communities will be devastated by proposed cuts. The House Ways and Means budget proposal is worse than the Governor’s. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center’s analysis says it relies on $489 million less in stabilization fund money than the Governor recommended, and approximately $300 million less in new revenues. Proposed cuts include a 32% cut in unrestricted local aid and significant cuts in education, human services, health care, and most other areas of state government. The cuts recommended in the House Ways and Means budget are deeper than they would need to be if the state were to use all of the federal stimulus money to maintain services - as Congress intended - rather than to reduce draws on the stabilization fund. More at www.massbudget.org. Info: Liz Wills-O'Gilvie, Western Mass Director, Neighbor to Neighbor, 739-2951, lizw at n2nma.org. 

 

Wednesday April 22 (Fourth Wednesday) Note time & location this month

WESTERN MASS GREEN ECONOMY WORKING GROUP ~ EARTH DAY GATHERING

5-7:30pm, Springfield Technical Community College, Scibelli Building 7th Floor, 1 Federal St, Springfield. Speaker: Marybeth Campbell, Workforce Development Program Director, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. This Working Group consists of advocates for a Green Economy which serves local communities; guarantees workers' rights to organize; and promotes community-owned sustainable projects. Subscribe to the WMGEWG listserve (“GreenWork”) at http://lists.gaiahost.coop/mailman/listinfo/greenwork or send an email to greenwork-subscribe at lists.gaiahost.coop. Info: Jon Weissman, 827-0301, wmjwj at wmjwj.org, or Eduardo Suárez, 335-6224, echonyc at hotmail.com. 

 

Thursday April 23

UNDERSTANDING THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

6:30-9pm, 3rd Floor Gordon Hall (UMass Amherst Labor Center), 418 N Pleasant St, Amherst. Mark Brenner, Labor Notes, leads this Labor Extension Program Workshop. $15. Are you angry that bankers get bailed out and workers get sold out? We know that our economy’s in freefall. What can the government do? That depends on the goal: Are we looking to save the financial system or to save good jobs? How can unions make a difference here in Massachusetts and across the country? This workshop will discuss what a real recovery would look like, why our bosses are fighting it, and what labor needs to do. Info: Dale Melcher, 545-6166, dmelcher at lrrc.umass.edu. 

 

Rescheduled from Thursday April 23 (Fourth Thursday) to Wednesday May 6 (First Wednesday)(new monthly schedule)

            FRANKLIN COUNTY WORKERS' RIGHTS COMMITTEE

7-8:30pm, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, 24 Miles St, Greenfield (773-7427). Organizing local solidarity for Franklin County workers and unions; nurses and other workers at Franklin Medical Center; Greenfield municipal employees; and statewide and national workers' rights campaigns, including People's Bail-Out and Employee Free Choice Act. Info: 827-0301, wmjwj at wmjwj.org. 

 

Friday April 24

            WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY COMMEMORATION

Noon, City Hall, 210 Main St, march to memorial stone near Jake's restaurant, 17 King St, Northampton. Info: Fiore Grassetti, 246-8508, org7 at comcast.net. 

 

Friday April 24

RALLIES FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE ~ “MEDICARE FOR ALL”

4-5:30pm, Town Common, Greenfield. Speaker: Jackie Wolfe, co-president, MassCare. Info: Susie or Les, 625-9388.

5-6pm, Park Square, Route 7, downtown Pittsfield. Part of a national week of Single Payer actions. Info: Tim Carpenter, info at pdamerica.org.  

 

Saturday April 25

            WMCOSH NYC BUS TRIP

8am, leave from West Springfield High School; leave New York City 7:30pm. $35. Fund-raising bus trip benefits the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. Passengers are on their own to plan their day. Drop-off points include the Metropolitan Museum, Times Square, Radio City, and Ground Zero. Info: 731-0760 or send name, phone number, and check payable to Western MassCOSH, 640 Page Blvd, Suite 104, Springfield, MA 01104.

 

 April 25-26

            TRAINING FOR TRANSITION

9:30am-5pm; Saturday: Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Ave, Amherst (www.gracechurchamherst.org); Sunday: Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 525 South Pleasant St, Amherst (www.hitchcockcenter.org). $215, includes lunches. A new movement, “Transition Towns”, is now spreading around the world: more at www.transitiontowns.org  & www.transitionus.org. Western Mass activist Tina Clarke is one of a handful of certified Transition Towns trainers in the US. She will offer this “Training for Transition” for people who would like to know more. Info: 549-6834, tinaclarke2 at comcast.net.  

 

Saturday April 25

DEMAND CONGRESSMAN NEAL TAKE ACTION FOR SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE ~ “MEDICARE FOR ALL”

Noon, corner of Main & King Sts, Northampton. Urge passers-by to take out their cell phones, or use ours, to call Rep. Richard Neal’s office and direct him to support HR 676, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. Neal's Washington office has voice mail on the weekends, so we can call until the mailbox is full; then we’ll urge people to call again on Monday to Neal’s offices in both Washington and Springfield. We’ll also pass out leaflets with more info on lobbying Neal for single payer. Info: Jackie Balance, PDA,  <mailto:jrickball at yahoo.com> jrickball at yahoo.com. 

 

Tuesday April 28 (Fourth Tuesday)

HAMPSHIRE/FRANKLIN CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL

7:30pm, Northampton Fire Station Community Room, 26 Carlon Drive at King St/Route 5, Northampton (587-1148). Community and labor activist guests are welcome, but RSVP to Pres. Fiore Grassetti, 877-725-0357, org7 at comcast.net.

 

Wednesday April 29

ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION LOBBY DAY

10am-1:30pm, State House, Boston. No previous lobbying experience necessary! Make your voice heard on critical civil rights and liberties issues in Massachusetts: Increase voting rights: Enable eligible voters to register to vote at certain polling locations on election day. Info: www.aclum.org/events. 

 

Wednesday April 29

RALLY AT BANK OF AMERICA ~ PART OF NATIONWIDE DAYS OF ACTION MONDAY & TUESDAY

Noon, 1 Monarch Place, at Boland Way & Main St, Springfield. Tell Bank of America:  FIRE KEN LEWIS! Stop Fighting the Employee Free Choice Act! Stop Intimidating Your Workers! Stop Foreclosing on our Communities. Stop Consumer Abuses. Provide Quality Health Care for all of your employees and their families! Commit to Real Financial Reform and Regulation. 

Bank of America has received $45 billion in federal bailouts. That makes the government and us taxpayers BoA’s largest single shareholder. CEO Ken Lewis is the poster boy for the CEO and corporate excess that crashed the economy and continue to drain working families’ finances. It’s time for Ken Lewis to go. And if we really want to create an economy that works for everyone again, we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure that all workers have a voice on the job to protect consumers. April 29 is BoA’s Annual Shareholders Meeting in Charlotte NC, and we will be rallying here to support rallies there to demand justice from Bank of America. Info: Chris Patterson, 508-791-1670,  <mailto:cpatterson at seiu615.org> cpatterson at seiu615.org. 

If you would prefer to rally at your local BoA, we’ll get you the materials and publicize your event. Simply contact Jon at WMJwJ, 827-0301,  <mailto:wmjwj at wmjwj.org> wmjwj at wmjwj.org.  

 

Wednesday April 29

FREE FILM: STIMULUS ROADBLOCK?

7pm, Amherst Community Television, 246 College St, Amherst. Part of "Empowering Ourselves: Think Globally - Act Locally" film series screening timely eco conscious films: Stimulus Roadblock? <http://Stimulus%20Roadblock?>  Info: 256-6005, www.actvamherst.com. 

 

Thursday April 30 

WARD REPRESENTATION HAS ARRIVED IN SPRINGFIELD!  WANT TO RUN?

5:30pm-8pm, Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield (732-7970). Refreshments. 

Want to run for elected office in Springfield? Want to help somebody else run? Arise for Social Justice with Avi Green from MassVOTE present “Pathways to Elected Office”. What’s a platform? How do you build a campaign? Recruit volunteers? Raise money? And more. Info: 734-4948.

 


More events at http://www.westernmassafsc.org/calendar/calendar.html & http://people.umass.edu/jgerber/SustEvents.htm.

A NOTE ABOUT PUBLIC MEETINGS & CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES:  Men and women are requested to avoid wearing scented personal products when attending public meetings. Scents trigger adverse responses in those with chemical sensitivities, allergies, and asthma. Note that many workers develop chemical sensitivities on the job. 

 

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[Workers' Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for JwJ members to fulfill their pledge:  <http://www.jwj.org/pledge.html> "I'll be there for workers' rights at least five times a year!" This is the core mission of Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org <http://www.jwj.org/> ), affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to wmjwj at wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Workers' Rights".

Western Mass Jobs with Justice
640 Page Blvd #101
Springfield MA 01104
(413) 827-0301 

 

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