- Community Voices Heard
- ROC United (Restaurant Opportunities Center)
- New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice/Stand with Dignity
- San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
- All of Us or None
- National Domestic Workers Alliance
- Miami Workers Center/OLA de Mujeres
- Fe y Justicia Worker Center
- Jobs with Justice
Here is what some of the conference attendees had to say about this year's SHROC!
"I was truly amazed at the overall effort made to bring together labor and community groups around the country. I was given some great network opportunities, and got to hear some really great things going on around the country. I was particularly impress with the youth turnout that was present, my hope is that they'll get a better sense of what it means to be involved. I'll take back all the great enthusiasm of the great organizing group, but in particular the great show of solidarity that reigned the entire weekend."
"I must say, I really had a great time, but my favorite overall has to be the MUSC action. Showing power in numbers in solidarity with our 54 displaced sisters was just amazing. I just loved those chants that eventually led to an impromptu session of the electric slide, what more can you possibly ask for from an action."
"Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to experience the Southern Human Rights conference. Bringing together legendary speakers and union leaders from around the country is exactly the kind of strategy needed to get things done these days. We are at war, and the only way for us to survive this war is to continue to work on a southern strategy and bringing community groups and labor to the table. Thanks so much for the opportunity, I learned a great deal!"
"I learned about some of the struggles in other cities. I specially loved learning more about the cultural/racial challenges in South Carolina and how they connect to labor struggles."
October 6th, 2012, Los Angeles
The first Los Angeles gathering of the United Workers Congress took place this Fall with 15 worker centers participating and over 100 people who participated.
The goals of the meeting were:
• Learn and get excited about the United Workers Congress
• Share analysis and opportunity to think bigger than your own work
• Gain a deeper understanding about different excluded worker
The gathering also included a local ROC United Action and a celebration evening to kick off the official new name of adoption of the UWC. Overall, the first Los Angeles Regional Meeting was great success and the UWC is looking forward to having more exchanges and opportunities to build worker power.
"We need to have more of these events and more often because they are very important for the community."
"I learned that many of our comrades suffer the same type of discrimination and exploitation And if all or our organizations unite than we will have more power."
Watch our LA Regional Meeting Video to see more of a recap of events.
Click this link to view the video: http://bit.ly/VSaYbi
RESTAURANT WORKERS
ROC escalating their national campaign against Darden, a corporation that owns chains such as Olive Garden and Red Lobster, and NY restaurant workers settled their campaign against Mario Batali in NY for $1.5 million and got him to agree to be a high road employer.
GUEST WORKERS
National Guestworker Alliance members went on strike to expose forced labor at Louisiana Walmart supplier CJ's Seafood this summer, and forced Walmart to suspend its contract with CJ's. The Department of Labor also fined the supplier nearly $250,000 in back wages and fines for serious labor violations. Strike leaders are now organizing hundreds of other guestworkers through the National Supply Chain Organizing Committee, which will fight for the civil and labor rights of supply chain workers across the country.
FARMWORKERS
Farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have won groundbreaking agreements with 10 food corporations and continue to push companies to sign onto their Fair Food Agreements.
DOMESTIC WORKERS
National Domestic Workers Alliance has successfully won domestic worker rights through the NY Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and with the creation of a ILO (International Labor Organization) Convention on Domestic Work.
TAXI WORKERS
New York Taxi Workers Alliance has signed a charter with the AFL CIO.
DAY LABORERS
National Day Laborers Organizing Network is fighting against immigrant scapegoating and criminalization by sponsoring legislation against the federal government's Secure Communities program. They are leaders on the Undocubus Tour and organizers in the Turning the Tide campaign.
FORMERLY INCARCERATED
Have been organizing Ban the Box campaigns around the country. Organizers are working to expand the campaign to get the box eliminated from housing applications and getting job training and placement incorporated into community benefits agreements.
WORKFARE WORKERS
Organizing in New York, Communities Voices Heard has created an alternative to workfare of subsidized transitional jobs including one day of training and a pay check in the city's Parks and Sanitation Departments. CVH saved 6,000 positions from being eliminated in the current city budget. CVH has created relationships with Transport Workers United who are currently working to remove Workfare from their contract.
In San Francisco, the Living Wage Coalition is working with the public employees unions, civil service commission and the city department of human resources on developing a pathway to living wage city jobs for
workfare workers. The Department of Human Resources agreed to include a GED as a substitute for high school diplomas in requirements for entry-level city jobs.
SOUTHERN RIGHT TO ORGANIZE
Held a successful Southern Workers Assembly in Charlotte during the same time as the DNC in Sept 2012 and attracted over 300 people. The energetic gathering included workers from several southern states, representing union locals, workers centers and representatives of the S.C. State AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice. Organized by Black Workers for Justice and UE Local 150-North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, the gathering featured a panel on "excluded workers" which included guest workers, agricultural workers and a representative from All of US or None.
May 1, 2013
(*download the below statement- click on PDF attachment @ the bottom)
*
Area Action Links
NYC Actions
LA Actions/ So. Cal
http://occupylosangeles.org/node/18098
California (North & South) Activities
http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/may_day_2013_schedule_of_events
The Senate bill includes important worker protections from the *POWER Act for immigrant workers who blow the whistle on employer abuse. Without these protections, employers use threats of retaliation and deportation to silence whistleblowers and get away with abuse which hurts them and the US workers that work alongside them.
*POWER Act details
Useful Links
- Outline of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 201
- Read the entire 844 Immigration Reform Bill http://1.usa.gov/YvbkkD
- Many different voices responding to the Immigration Reform Bill http://bit.ly/11dfpNN
- Side-by-Side analysis of Senate immigration framework's major provisions against those included in the 2006 and 2007 Senate bills. www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/CIRbrief-2013SenateFramework-Side-by-Side.pdf
- 10 Things You Should Know About The Senate Immigration Bill http://nbclatino.com/2013/04/16/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-senate-immigration-bill/
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NGA Executive Director Saket Soni and NGA Legal Director J.J. Rosenbaum share analysis and comment on specific provisions of the bill. http://www.guestworkeralliance.org/2013/04/senate-bill-sets-stage-for-dignified-immigration-reform/
- Great Visual of Immigration Reform Bill http://bit.ly/17JHYFW
- Five ways immigration reform will help low-wage workers wapo.st/11JQWgv
Videos
- The Dream Is Now, a new 30-minute documentary film by Davis Guggenheim (Academy Award-wining director of An Inconvenient Truth) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiInvpjPtI&feature=youtu.be
*Print/Download PDF version of at the bottom of the article.
