So what do you think...?
Showing posts with label occupy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occupy. Show all posts
1/30/14
EXPERIMENT: #SocialismMeans...
We here at Public Development headquarters (HQ) think this social media thing has organizing potential. Seriously! So we're dipping our collective toe(s) into the Twitter platform by using what is know as a "hashtag." We want peeps like you to share what you think #SocialismMeans!
So what do you think...?
So what do you think...?
1/13/13
Media Advisory: Autoworkers to Target Worsening Working Conditions as Auto Profits Soar at Detroit Auto Show Protests
Contact: Frank Hammer
AUTOWORKER CARAVAN
313-863-3219
WHO: Autoworker Caravan
WHAT: Informational Picket Lines
WHEN: Sunday, January 13th and Monday, January 14th, 1:30-3 PM
WHERE: Cobo Center, 1 Washington Blvd,, Detroit 48226
View Larger Map
WHY: As the successful turnaround of GM and Chrysler (and Ford’s ongoing success) continue to be touted in the main stream media, the story of the continued sacrifices of the workers who are making it possible continues to be ignored. As a result, the public is left with the impression that autoworkers are sharing in the new-found prosperity, which is decidedly not the case.
12/22/12
Is it raining jaguars?
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| Center (1) : Jaguar Warrior |
Yesterday morning, as I was lying awake in bed, preparing to face "the end of the world," I let my mind wander...
10/5/12
Flyer: State of the UAW: Company Union or Vanguard of Social & Economic Justice?
“State of the UAW: Company Union or Vanguard of Social & Economic Justice?”
WHERE:
UM-Flint University Center KIVA
Parking & Directions: http://maps.umflint.edu/
WHEN:
2:00 p.m. Sunday, October 28th
WHY:
9/17/12
Top 5 Occupy Writings of the Year
On this, the first anniversary of the Occupy Movement, we thought we'd share five writings published over the course of the year that deftly tackle five of the most thorny theoretical and/or tactical sticking points facing the movement.
5/25/12
#OCCUPYTHEPGA: Benton Harbor, MI
FINALIZED WEEKEND PLANS:
Demonstrate in protest of land stolen by Whirlpool Corporation! We’re asking protesters to wear all black if possible, every day.
May 26-27 (Big day: Sat. May 26)
Death March every day: Arrive between 10 – 10:30am, Benton Harbor City Hall, 200 E. Wall St.
Bring kites if possible!
WordPress Blog: http://occupythepga.wordpress.com/
Twitter HashTag: #OccupyThePGA
Facebook Event Page
Demonstrate in protest of land stolen by Whirlpool Corporation! We’re asking protesters to wear all black if possible, every day.
May 26-27 (Big day: Sat. May 26)
Death March every day: Arrive between 10 – 10:30am, Benton Harbor City Hall, 200 E. Wall St.
Bring kites if possible!
WordPress Blog: http://occupythepga.wordpress.com/
Twitter HashTag: #OccupyThePGA
Facebook Event Page
5/14/12
VIDEOS: Flint Rally Against Michigan's Emergency Manager Law (Public Act 4)
Rev. Jesse Jackson's visit to Flint's Foss Avenue Baptist Church the day before this rally helped bring out a large crowd of Flint residents. Rev. Jackson came to Flint to show solidarity with Foss Avenue's Pastor Flynn, who had been arrested earlier in the month for voicing his concerns about the undemocratic nature of Public Act 4 (the Emergency Manager Law) inside Flint City Hall. (NOTE: Apologies for not being able to stay to record Pastor Flynn's remarks).
4/30/12
MAY DAY MOVIE: Black Fury
Black Fury is a classic labor film, perfect for International Workers Day. Company unions, corporate abuses, agent provocateurs, immigrant laborers, and direct action! Solidarity!
4/24/12
FLINT PROTEST: Michigan Emergency Manager Law (P.A. 4) Amounts to "Taxation Without Representation"
 |
| Sign-Making Party for Monday's protest will take place Friday at 6 pm at Occupy Flint |
FLINT, April 24 - On Monday April 30th Flint General Assembly will host a protest against Public Act 4 (the emergency manager law).
The protest will be from 11am to 1pm on the lawn of Flint City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw Street.
The Flint General Assembly began meeting when Flint emergency manager Mike Brown cancelled the regularly scheduled city council meetings late last year. “Our Flint income taxes are due April 30th,“ said Nayyirah Shariff, one of the protest organizers. “As things stand now, because we have an emergency manager, we will have no say in how those taxes are spent.”
Governor Rick Snyder announced the appointment of an emergency manager November 8th, the day Flint residents went to the polls to vote for mayor. Mike Brown started December 1st 2011.
"We're paying for an unelected bureaucrat that doesn't have our interests in mind. He's using our tax money to harm the city," said Blair Neifert, another protest organizer.
Yesterday emergency manager Mike Brown presented his budget to Flint City Council. The budget included public safety layoffs, privatization of city services, and projected increased water rates for residents.
Under Public Act 4, the emergency manager assumes the power of the mayor and city council, the legislative and executive branches of local government.
In February, the grassroots group Stand Up For Democracy turned in 226,637 signatures to repeal the law. The state Board of Canvassers will be meeting April 26th to vote whether to certify the signatures to put the issue on the ballot for November.
"It's up to us to take back our democracy," said Paul Jordan. Mr. Jordan is one of the plaintiffs in the statewide lawsuit challenging the constitutionality for Public Act 4.
The protest will also include a short theatrical event.
For more information about the protest contact: Nayyirah Shariff at (810) 610-3681.
######
4/5/12
2/15/12
Remembering "The Occupy That Won the Union"
Click the kitty to read Autoworker Caravan activist Martha Grevatt's great piece for Workers World commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike and the establishment of the UAW.
1/21/12
AUDIO: Sacco and Vanzetti - A Wobbly Perspective
From the August, 2001 Assembly of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"). Boston Area Branch member Steve Kellerman addressed a crowd at the "War Room" of the Boston Public Library about the life and times of Sacco and Vanzetti, the red-scares and intimidations associated with their trial, an the fascinating anarchist, Italian, and labor movement connections.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
These recordings have been available on radio4all.net since 2001. This version was complied from archive.org.
1/11/12
LEAFLET: "Occupy for Democracy" in Michigan! MLK Day March to Governor Snyder's!
Bus/Transportation Info: http://bit.ly/wXWTqk | Map: http://g.co/maps/fdfp8
MORE: "Occupy For Democracy" #J16
1/5/12
LEAFLET: Solidarity Rally for the 99% and the Planet at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WHAT: Solidarity Rally at the 2012 Auto Show —Fight for the 99% and the Planet
WHO: Autoworker Caravan, an advocacy group for rank and file autoworkers (www.autoworkercaravan.org)
WHERE: Across from Cobo Hall, Downtown Detroit
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2011, 1:30-3:00 PM
CONTACT: Nick Waun 810-728-1717, Stacey Kemp 810-814-3738
This year autoworkers, along with labor and community supporters, celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike. The 44-day occupation that ended Feb. 11, 1937 when General Motors recognized the UAW was part of a movement that brought economic justice, dignity and respect. Today, the Occupy movement of the “99%” seeks the same.
Auto executives—part of the 1%—are crowing about their return to profitability at this year’s auto show. Their recovery comes at autoworkers’ expense: the deteriorating working conditions on the shop floor including less break time, overloading of jobs and draconian absentee policies.
The issues that the Flint Sit-downers were fighting for are issues that autoworkers today are still struggling to win:
* Good jobs for all
* Equal pay for equal work; bring wages and benefits up, not down
* A shorter work week.
Now, with the crisis of global warming facing us, at the same time as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we also must demand that the closed plants be reopened and retooled for green jobs.
The 2011 contracts kept workers’ total compensation down to an annual 1% increase—if that. The claim of new jobs overlooks the 150,000+ auto jobs cut since the Wall Street financial crisis. And some “new” jobs are paying poverty wages.
We maintain that workers need good jobs, not more work to perform in less time, with more management monitoring and control. The 1% -- not workers -- are profiting from the rise in worker productivity.
We want meaningful work—jobs that will help us build a better future. That means prioritizing mass transit and constructing alternatives to fossil fuel. We call for the rapid conversion of closed plants for the manufacture of renewable energy components, electric vehicles, and public transit vehicles. Though politicians promised to create “green” jobs, little has been done. The Detroit Woodward Light Rail, a promising alternative to reliance on the automobile and boon to local development, has been derailed, due to a lack of funds.
We see the 1% making the most outrageous demands. Chrysler/Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne is threatening to pull out of Canada and Italy if workers resist his demands for more concessions. He has attempted to co-opt the demand for equal pay to bring all wages and benefits down.
In addition, here in Michigan Governor-appointed Emergency Managers are dictators: shredding contracts, laying-off workers and contracting out essential public services. Foreclosures in Michigan remain third highest in the nation. Autoworkers stand with public sector workers in demanding decent working conditions. We also need the public services that are deteriorating in this period of austerity.
As tough as times are, it’s possible to make gains. The Flint Sit-Down strikers in 1937 showed us how to win. We as workers will stand together in solidarity. We are the 99%! We demand a future! Come speak to rank and file workers and community supporters about how we feel about the so-called recovery.
Join us January 8 at Cobo!
-xxx-
Video from last year's "Rally for Jobs & the Environment" at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show:
WHAT: Solidarity Rally at the 2012 Auto Show —Fight for the 99% and the Planet
WHO: Autoworker Caravan, an advocacy group for rank and file autoworkers (www.autoworkercaravan.org)
WHERE: Across from Cobo Hall, Downtown Detroit
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2011, 1:30-3:00 PM
CONTACT: Nick Waun 810-728-1717, Stacey Kemp 810-814-3738
This year autoworkers, along with labor and community supporters, celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike. The 44-day occupation that ended Feb. 11, 1937 when General Motors recognized the UAW was part of a movement that brought economic justice, dignity and respect. Today, the Occupy movement of the “99%” seeks the same.
Auto executives—part of the 1%—are crowing about their return to profitability at this year’s auto show. Their recovery comes at autoworkers’ expense: the deteriorating working conditions on the shop floor including less break time, overloading of jobs and draconian absentee policies.
The issues that the Flint Sit-downers were fighting for are issues that autoworkers today are still struggling to win:
* Good jobs for all
* Equal pay for equal work; bring wages and benefits up, not down
* A shorter work week.
Now, with the crisis of global warming facing us, at the same time as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we also must demand that the closed plants be reopened and retooled for green jobs.
The 2011 contracts kept workers’ total compensation down to an annual 1% increase—if that. The claim of new jobs overlooks the 150,000+ auto jobs cut since the Wall Street financial crisis. And some “new” jobs are paying poverty wages.
We maintain that workers need good jobs, not more work to perform in less time, with more management monitoring and control. The 1% -- not workers -- are profiting from the rise in worker productivity.
We want meaningful work—jobs that will help us build a better future. That means prioritizing mass transit and constructing alternatives to fossil fuel. We call for the rapid conversion of closed plants for the manufacture of renewable energy components, electric vehicles, and public transit vehicles. Though politicians promised to create “green” jobs, little has been done. The Detroit Woodward Light Rail, a promising alternative to reliance on the automobile and boon to local development, has been derailed, due to a lack of funds.
We see the 1% making the most outrageous demands. Chrysler/Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne is threatening to pull out of Canada and Italy if workers resist his demands for more concessions. He has attempted to co-opt the demand for equal pay to bring all wages and benefits down.
In addition, here in Michigan Governor-appointed Emergency Managers are dictators: shredding contracts, laying-off workers and contracting out essential public services. Foreclosures in Michigan remain third highest in the nation. Autoworkers stand with public sector workers in demanding decent working conditions. We also need the public services that are deteriorating in this period of austerity.
As tough as times are, it’s possible to make gains. The Flint Sit-Down strikers in 1937 showed us how to win. We as workers will stand together in solidarity. We are the 99%! We demand a future! Come speak to rank and file workers and community supporters about how we feel about the so-called recovery.
Join us January 8 at Cobo!
-xxx-
Video from last year's "Rally for Jobs & the Environment" at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show:
11/18/11
10/27/11
Autoworker Caravan News Release: Statement on the Chrysler Ratification From Two Tradespeople at Chrysler Warren Stamping
Contact: Martha Grevatt, 216-534-6435; Alex Wassell, 734-629-7226 (skilled trades workers at Chrysler Warren Stamping)
Who: Rank and file autoworker advocacy group, Autoworker Caravan (www.autoworkercaravan.org)
What: Statement on the Chrysler ratification despite skilled trades’ rejection, from two tradespeople at Chrysler Warren Stamping
When: For immediate release, October 27, 2011
Statement:
The contract between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers is being imposed on the entire membership by the International Executive Board of the UAW. A majority of skilled trades workers and a substantial minority of production workers voted against this agreement. Skilled trades workers on the shop floor have been denied a voice in this decision, made less than 24 hours after the last vote was cast at Warren Truck. Trades workers had been adamant in their opposition to the brutal restructuring of their work, misnamed skilled trades “rationalization”. The skilled workforce at Chrysler has seen their numbers cut from 12,000 to 5000 since reductions began under the 2003-2007 agreement. If our union would have opposed this program, skilled trades workers would have applauded their efforts.
We now wonder how many skilled workers will be left in the plants at the end of this contract. Over thirty skill sets will be reduced to five; there will be three working groups where it is up to trades workers to give each other on the job training. Under the expanded “autonomous maintenance” program, production workers are forced to take over many of our daily tasks. Outsourcing will continue. Building maintenance will now be done exclusively by outside contractors. Tradespeople whose classifications are being eliminated will have to transfer to a “related trade” where they will be at the bottom of the seniority list for three years. Brick masons, carpenters, painters and other building tradespeople will have to exit skilled trades or find their way back through another apprenticeship.
Eventually there will be too few of us to keep up with the variety of unfamiliar tasks we will be asked to perform, and safety will suffer.
The company and our union leadership are refusing to address our legitimate concerns, with the rationale being that our biggest complaints were just about “economics.” This is not true. As skilled trades workers we are extremely concerned about the integrity of our respective trades, work rules, safety, training, maintaining lines of demarcation, and prohibiting the outsourcing of our work.
While we have our particulat complaints, UAW-represented Skilled Trades Workers at Chrysler do stand in solidarity with the production workers on the shop floor. We share their hopes and aspirations for fair and equal compensation for our labor. We hope that by rejecting this agreement we can further the fight for a more equitable society.
This imposed “ratification” by the UAW leadership is yet another example of the union’s failure to confront the greed of Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. We feel that the massive propaganda effort to win ratification through the fear of arbitration by the administration was wrong and the implied threat to move new work to locals that approved the contract was unconscionable. Without this fear factor, we are sure the contract would have been shot down by the entire membership.
We call on President King and Vice President Holiefield to reopen the contract provisions pertaining to skilled trades. We are betting that when Chrysler releases its third quarter results Friday you will have further proof that the company can well afford to treat its workers fairly.
Who: Rank and file autoworker advocacy group, Autoworker Caravan (www.autoworkercaravan.org)
What: Statement on the Chrysler ratification despite skilled trades’ rejection, from two tradespeople at Chrysler Warren Stamping
When: For immediate release, October 27, 2011
The contract between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers is being imposed on the entire membership by the International Executive Board of the UAW. A majority of skilled trades workers and a substantial minority of production workers voted against this agreement. Skilled trades workers on the shop floor have been denied a voice in this decision, made less than 24 hours after the last vote was cast at Warren Truck. Trades workers had been adamant in their opposition to the brutal restructuring of their work, misnamed skilled trades “rationalization”. The skilled workforce at Chrysler has seen their numbers cut from 12,000 to 5000 since reductions began under the 2003-2007 agreement. If our union would have opposed this program, skilled trades workers would have applauded their efforts.
We now wonder how many skilled workers will be left in the plants at the end of this contract. Over thirty skill sets will be reduced to five; there will be three working groups where it is up to trades workers to give each other on the job training. Under the expanded “autonomous maintenance” program, production workers are forced to take over many of our daily tasks. Outsourcing will continue. Building maintenance will now be done exclusively by outside contractors. Tradespeople whose classifications are being eliminated will have to transfer to a “related trade” where they will be at the bottom of the seniority list for three years. Brick masons, carpenters, painters and other building tradespeople will have to exit skilled trades or find their way back through another apprenticeship.
Eventually there will be too few of us to keep up with the variety of unfamiliar tasks we will be asked to perform, and safety will suffer.
The company and our union leadership are refusing to address our legitimate concerns, with the rationale being that our biggest complaints were just about “economics.” This is not true. As skilled trades workers we are extremely concerned about the integrity of our respective trades, work rules, safety, training, maintaining lines of demarcation, and prohibiting the outsourcing of our work.
While we have our particulat complaints, UAW-represented Skilled Trades Workers at Chrysler do stand in solidarity with the production workers on the shop floor. We share their hopes and aspirations for fair and equal compensation for our labor. We hope that by rejecting this agreement we can further the fight for a more equitable society.
This imposed “ratification” by the UAW leadership is yet another example of the union’s failure to confront the greed of Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. We feel that the massive propaganda effort to win ratification through the fear of arbitration by the administration was wrong and the implied threat to move new work to locals that approved the contract was unconscionable. Without this fear factor, we are sure the contract would have been shot down by the entire membership.
We call on President King and Vice President Holiefield to reopen the contract provisions pertaining to skilled trades. We are betting that when Chrysler releases its third quarter results Friday you will have further proof that the company can well afford to treat its workers fairly.
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