Thank you to the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO for standing with UAW members on strike at GM for a fair contract and a pathway to permanent seniority for temporary workers! #StandWithUS
Join UAW Local 598, UAW Local 651, UAW Local 1811 and UAW Local 659 for a Solidarity Sunday Rally this Sunday at the Local 659 Pavilion in Flint. Get ready to join our brothers and sisters on the picket line following the event and be sure to wear red!
Thank you to the NEA Today for standing with our members on strike at GM as they stand up for job security, fair wages and quality affordable health coverage. #StandWithUS #Solidarity #1u
Thank you to the Maritime Labor Alliance for supporting our members on picket lines at GM facilities across the country. #StandWithUS #Solidarity #1u
By Abayomi Azikiwe
“None of the Above: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal, Corporate Greed, and the Criminalization of Educators” by Shani Robinson and Anna Simonton, Beacon Press, Boston, 2019
This study chronicles the plight of 35 educators, all of whom were African Americans except one, in Atlanta, Georgia, a majority Black-populated municipality in the South, who were accused of felonies under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) alleging that they were involved in a plot to fix the outcomes of standardized tests during 2009.
Author Shani Robinson and journalist Anna Simonton detail the circumstances surrounding the indictment of these teachers and the role of the corporate media in creating the atmosphere which led to the conviction of the educators.
In April 2015, Robinson was only 30 years old and an expectant mother, when she was convicted of the RICO charges. Rather than accept the sentence in the case, Robinson has publicly rejected the basis for the prosecution and the evidence presented by the prosecutors. Robinson remains out of prison on appeal bond largely due to the fact that she was about to give birth to her child at the time of sentencing. She continues to fight to exonerate herself utilizing the publication of this book to further expose the racist and anti-public schools trajectory which has fueled such investigations in dozens of school districts across the United States.
Of the 35 indicted educators, including both teachers and administrators, only 12 refused to accept plea deals. Out of the remaining defendants tried, 11 were convicted and given prison sentences….
https://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/
Support is pouring in from every corner of Wisconsin for UAW Local 722 workers on strike for over 21 days at a General Motors distribution center in Hudson. At midnight on September 15, nearly 48,000 members of the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) walked out on strike for a fair contract at GM. Workers are striking for fair wages, affordable health care, job security, a fair share of profits, and a pathway to permanent status for temporary workers.
Dan Norton, UAW Local 722 Shop Chairman, explained the importance of solidarity to striking workers and laid out some of the issues workers are striking for.
“It’s been great that so many locals have come out to help,” said Norton. “We’re standing up and fighting for fair use of temporary employees and other issues. Temp workers used to be hired for 90 days, now it’s several years. Currently, there are four different pay scales for people doing the same work. We think everyone should get the same pay for the same work.”
Union members, community supporters, and elected leaders have been on the line, visiting UAW Local 722 workers and bringing supplies and solidarity to booster morale and stand together.
Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale was on the line recently bringing pizza to strikers and meeting with local leadership. Gov. Tony Evers tweeted his support. Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, whose father is a proud UAW member, joined striking workers on October 3. Wisconsin Senator Patty Schachtner walked the line with workers. The NFLPA, the union which represents NFL players including the Packers, tweeted support as have international and national unions around the globe.
On Friday, October 4, the Western and Wisconsin AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Councils hosted a BBQ Cookout and Family Day, delivering groceries, diapers, and supplies for UAW Local 722 families. The building trades members rolled out the trailer with the grills to cook up fresh and hot brats for striking workers and their families. Wisconsin AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Delie joined the line on Family Day.
Greg Erickson, Western Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades President, explained that “we’re happy to stand with UAW workers to help in their fight for temporary employees having a path to full employment and fair healthcare. This is what being union is all about standing strong together in solidarity and helping one another out when it’s needed.”
Striking GM workers are taking a brave stand for the middle class. Their fight is a fight for all of us. A decade after receiving a massive bailout from taxpayers, GM is now one of America’s most profitable companies. These profits would not be possible without the skill and dedication of our UAW brothers and sisters.
Laurie Gruber, OPEIU and Secretary of the Greater West Central Area Labor Council, stated “it’s important we’re here to show solidarity and support our fellow workers. It’s the only way we’re going to get the middle class back. We bailed this company out and now they’re taking it out on the workers.”
While spirits remain high, we know there are many difficulties endured by workers and their families during a strike. Your support and visits to the line boost solidarity and mean a great deal to striking workers. While negotiations between the UAW and GM continue, we stand united as one labor movement to support striking GM workers in Hudson. See you on the line!
Today, October 10, 2019, there will be a hearing in the case against former Honduran military intelligence officer Roberto David Castillo Mejía for the murder of Indigenous and social movement leader Berta Cáceres. The outcome of this hearing will decide if Castillo – the only intellectual author charged to date for Berta’s murder – will face trial or not. Castillo is the President of the Board and CEO of the Honduran company DESA that was trying to build the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project on the Gualcarque River, which Cáceres opposed.
Last month, School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), Guatemala Human Rights Commission, International Platform Against Impunity, Due Process of Law Foundation, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights published an extensive report profiling Castillo, entitled ‘Violence, Corruption, and Impunity in the Honduran Energy Industry’.
The report describes evidence admitted in the 2018 trial against the first seven people convicted of the murder of Berta Cáceres, which provides significant information about how the murder of Cáceres was planned and executed. Telephone data and other evidence makes clear that SOA graduate Douglas Bustillo, a former employee of Castillo’s as head of security for DESA, coordinated with former soldier Henrry Hernández to carry out the murder and that their motive was financial; they were going to be paid. Hernández was convicted for his role as ringleader of the group of hitmen that executed Cáceres’ murder and Bustillo was also convicted, having served in the role of intermediary. Fellow SOA graduate Army Major Mariano Díaz also participated in the coordinations and was also convicted; one of his phone lines had been wiretapped by authorities during the murder planning because he was under investigation for drug trafficking and kidnapping.
The evidence suggests that during the murder planning, Bustillo was an intermediary who communicated with his former boss, Roberto David Castillo, and with Díaz and Hernández. For instance, on February 5, 2016, the first attempt to murder Cáceres took place. That day, Castillo sent a Whatsapp message to Bustillo reminding him to ‘remember the accidents and the scene’ (english translation of original Spanish message; citations and all footnotes are available in the report). Bustillo met with Hernández in the Honduran city of Siguatepeque to prepare for the murder attempt, providing him with a gun and accessing pictures of Cáceres on his cell phone. Hernández then traveled to La Esperanza, apparently accompanied by an unidentified second person. However, later that night he reported to Díaz that they could not carry out the murder, indicating that there were a lot of people at Cáceres’ home.
The next morning Hernández confirmed to Díaz they had been at the scene and concluded they would need a car and a different plan for the next attempt to carry out the murder. Hernández then spoke to Bustillo four times, after which Bustillo wrote a Whatsapp message to Castillo informing him the mission had been aborted and that he would wait for what Castillo had said because he had no more money for logistics. Bustillo repeated that he needed what Castillo was going to budget for logistics. Castillo replied, ‘Copied, mission aborted’ (english translation of original Spanish message; citations and details are footnoted in the report).
Whatsapp messages between Castillo and Bustillo indicate that on February 29, 2016, they coordinated a meeting for the next morning, March 1, 2016, so Castillo could provide Bustillo with money. On March 2, 2016, men who entered Berta Cáceres’ home fatally shot her and shot at and injured Gustavo Castro between 11:30-11:40 pm. Shortly after the murder was executed, Hernández sent a text message to Bustillo. Hours later, according to phone company reports, Bustillo left Tegucigalpa and traveled north to the department of Cortes, communicating with Hernández en route, presumably to deliver the money promised to the hitmen. While in Cortes, Bustillo communicated with Castillo via phone call and text message.
The report Violence, Corruption, and Impunty in the Honduran Energy Industry also details phone and other evidence admitted in the 2018 trial that suggests a pattern of human rights abuses and corruption by Castillo and others at DESA, especially as they sought to neutralize Berta Cáceres and COPINH’s opposition to the Agua Zarca Project. Information extracted from the phones of Bustillo and Sergio Rodríguez, DESA’s Social, Environmental, and Communications Manager, as well as wiretapped phone conversations, suggest that DESA executives and employees sought to monitor and neutralize Berta Cáceres and COPINH using paid informants. These informants claimed to be members of COPINH but secretly provided DESA with information about the plans and activities of Berta Cáceres and COPINH.
Evidence admitted in the trial also suggests that DESA executives, directors, and employees, including Castillo and those under his supervision, enlisted the support of Honduran security forces and justice operators. The evidence suggests they used their contacts with government officials to ensure police and military were deployed to the Agua Zarca Project area, and security forces were often at the disposition of DESA in its efforts to neutralize the opposition to the project. This includes the U.S. trained special police forces unit known as TIGRES.
Castillo is not only accused of the murder of Berta Cáceres but has also been indicted on charges of fraud and use of false documents related to the permits for the Agua Zarca Project. Castillo worked for the Honduran state energy company ENEE when it signed the contract with DESA to sell energy to the ENEE from the Agua Zarca Project. Additionally, Honduras’ High Tribunal of Auditors found that Castillo had illegally received a double salary from the Armed Forces and the ENEE and that another company of his sold equipment to the Armed Forces at inflated prices. For more details, read the full report here.
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Peace Center, 1001 E Keefe Ave. Milwaukee
Friday, October 18, 7 PM
Joyce Ellwanger, from Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, WISDOM and MICAH will be speaking.
Wisconsin spends $1.5 billion on prisons, spending more on corrections than on higher education. It has a higher than average incarceration rate, private prisons, a racist criminal justice system, a broken parole department that has a lack of compassionate release for older prisoners and revocation of parole with no new crime, and many more problems.
Sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, co-sponsored by Peace Action of WI, End the Wars Coalition and more.
