#spreadthestrike

#UCstrike for #COLA4all at #UCSBstrike!

Coalition to March on the DNC Fundraiser Show

Join us at the Riverwest Public House for a fundraiser show!
With music from:
Pink Tide
Gender Confetti
Vanity Plates

Proceeds will go toward any expenses the Coalition may require between now and July 13th.

6-9pm
10$ suggested donation
21+

https://bit.ly/2IuYO4w

Get the Lead Out Community Assembly

This is a community information session open and free to the public which will present research on the lead crisis here in Milwaukee. There will be a short presentation followed by breakout sessions designed to prompt community discussion on the basis of providing a much need democratic platform on which the community can play an active role in the discussion.

The breakout sessions will seek to address two main questions, which can then stimulate further and more in-depth discussion between community members:

-What can we do as the collective public to further the cause of lead lateral removal in the city of Milwaukee, so that it occurs in the quickest and most effective way possible?

-What will we be unable to do without city, county and state government recognition of the severity of the issue of lead poisoning, and active participation in its remediation?

Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

We’re Still Here (Weekly Sit Ins)

new semester, same sit ins! We’re Still Here!

We demand the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees vote to divest from fossil fuels on February 28th, 2020 and divest fully by April 2020.
We’ll be in or outside the Chancellor’s office (107 CL) every Friday from 2-4 PM.
come join us! even if you only have a quick moment between classes or meetings we’d love to have you 🙂

students, staff, faculty, alumni, ever

Fossil Free Pitt Coalition

https://bit.ly/2THX9gZ

“As Oberlin alumni we are outraged at the College’s plan to outsource its custodial and dining services to outside contractors. As a result of this decision, 108 UAW Local 2192 union workers–members of the Oberlin community–stand to lose their jobs. Those who do find jobs with outside contractors will face pay cuts, benefits losses, and degraded working conditions. Unions are critical to upholding living wage jobs and securing rights in the workplace. Replacing union workers with outside contractors in order to cut costs is union busting, plain and simple.

The College has said that these moves are “difficult choices to ensure the long-term health of the institution.” The College must not make “difficult choices” on the backs of some of Oberlin’s most vulnerable workers and their families. This is a gross irony in a county in which only 24% of residents over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree and the income per capita is almost half of the annual tuition at Oberlin College. By devaluing the labor of our dining and custodial staff and undercutting their bargaining power, any statements Oberlin College could make about our legacy of social justice are hypocritical. Oberlin College must maintain its commitment to the Oberlin community and to those community members who provide vital services that support student learning and the College’s mission.

We stand with UAW Local 2192 and will withhold our financial support from the College until this decision is reconsidered.”

SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/3at1s6C

__________

ARTICLE

https://bit.ly/2TLJRjA

When Gown Crushes Town: The Corporatization of Oberlin College

by Les Leopold | March 6, 2020 – 6:19am

Oberlin College, with a long history of promoting justice and fairness in the darkest of times, is in real danger of losing its moral compass. Instead of ameliorating these societal injustices, the administration and trustees of Oberlin College are actively and deliberately exacerbating poverty and illness in northern Ohio by replacing 108 unionized dining hall and maintenance workers with lower-paid non-union sub-contractors. The cost savings, claimed to total $2 million per year, will primarily come from the fact that Oberlin’s unionized workers currently have decent health care benefits while replacement non-union sub-contractors will have none.

As Buffy Lukachko, the head trucker in the Transportation Department at Oberlin College said, “My wages, other’s wages, might be roughly $28,000 a year, but the expense the College has to pay out for health care is also around $28,000 a year….The way around that is outside vendors because they don’t need to worry about health care anymore.”

Nearly all of these 108 people will soon face excruciating challenges as they are severed from multi-generational service to the College. As Erik Villar, the union representative said, “A majority of our members…have had generations of family members work here….To be told out of the blue on a random Tuesday… that these changes would be implemented in less than four months is a slap in our face to everyone here….”

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2020/03/03/a-peoples-response-to-covid-19/

By Greg Butterfield, March 3, 2020

We place no confidence in the anti-science, climate-change deniers of the Trump administration, the pathetically inadequate for-profit U.S. health care system, or Big Pharma and Wall Street to address the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) crisis. The truth is that only a socialized health care system that provides equal access and quality care for all, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status, can address this situation, which is causing fear and anxiety for millions of people.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 actually imposes financial penalties on those unable to afford health insurance; an estimated 27 million people still have no coverage. That’s not counting the millions more undocumented workers, and those whose coverage is so minimal as to be useless. The infrastructure required to contain and treat outbreaks such as COVID-19 exists in countries like China and Cuba, but is sorely lacking in the United States, the richest country in the world, where the disparity of rich and poor is also greatest….

Can’t wait for November elections to respond

The money, people-power and technology exist to respond to the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak and future dangers to the health and well-being of the people. But those resources must be taken over and mobilized by the people and for the people, not for the interests of the profit-hungry 1% who have shown time and again that they don’t care if we live or die.

Photo: AFGE

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2020/02/28/trumps-war-on-unions-stand-with-federal-workers/

By Lev Koufax

On Feb. 21, the Federal Register published a disgraceful anti-worker memo issued by President Donald Trump attacking union rights for civilian workers in the Department of Defense. The memo effectively gives Secretary of Defense Mark Esper the right to unilaterally strip all 750,000 DOD civilian workers of their collective bargaining rights and union representation.

This memo is the latest step in an escalating war by Trump and his big business allies on federal labor unions.

Since 1962, DOD workers have had the right to form unions and collectively bargain. The importance of union representation to the federal workforce cannot be overstated. For decades, federal unions have fought to strengthen benefits for civilian workers and protect them from unwarranted terminations, suspensions and other disciplinary actions.

The rationale behind Trump’s memo is that unionized DOD workers threaten U.S. “national security.” This is simply an excuse to justify an all-out attack on the rights of one of the more blue collar sectors of the federal workforce.

Many civilian DOD workers, especially those more active in unions, are paid at the “wage grade” scale. Essentially, wage grade jobs are more likely to be paid on an hourly basis and involve physical labor or clerical work.

“The substance of [Trump’s] memorandum is unprecedented and is clearly meant not as an effort to protect national security, but as an instruction to carry out the administration’s ongoing effort to undermine federal sector collective bargaining,” the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said in a letter to members of Congress.

The hypocrisy behind Trump’s memo is appalling. He and other imperialist politicians simultaneously declare themselves to be allies of veterans and then attempt to worsen the working conditions of hundreds of thousands of civilian DOD employees, many of whom are veterans.

The entire working class and progressive movement must fight against Trump’s anti-worker agenda and stand in solidarity with federal workers under attack!