CLOSEmsdf Coalition Meeting

Join us on Tuesday, November 12th at 5:30 pm at 1220 W Atkinson, Milwaukee, to get involved with the efforts to decarcerate Milwaukee, #CLOSEmsdf, and #buildCOMMUNITIES.

The #CLOSEmsdf Campaign is now over 50 organizations strong. Visit https://closemsdf.org/ for information.

Sign the #CLOSEmsdf petition at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/its-time-to-close-milwaukee-secure-detention-facility-msdf.

Like us on facebook at CLOSEmsdf. Follow us on twitter at https://twitter.com/CLOSEmsdf.

Demands from the #CLOSEmsdf Campaign Based on Newly Released Parole & Probation Report from Justice Lab at Columbia University:

The Wisconsin Community Corrections Story

On January 22, 2019, the Justice Lab at Columbia University released a scathing report commissioned by #CLOSEmsdf Campaign partner JustLeadershipUSA, entitled The Wisconsin Community Corrections Story. This vital report adds quantitative and qualitative analysis to support what directly impacted people and low income and people of color, especially Black and Native American, have known for decades: there is deep harm, and racial and economic injustice embedded in Wisconsin’s probation and parole policies which exemplify and fuel incarceration.

Community Conversation about Public Education

https://bit.ly/33crRT2

After eleven days on strike, more than 30,000 teachers and support staff in Chicago returned to school after reaching a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot on October 30. They also agreed to make up five of the school days missed during the strike.

“It’s a definitive shift in the entire landscape, not just in Chicago, but throughout the U.S., away from privatization, school closures, charter schools, and the kind of Koch Brother-funding of private schools instead of public schools, a threat we’ve been fending off for the last 30 years,” said Jackson Potter, a high school teacher and union bargaining member in Chicago.

Potter continued, “This contract really represents advances—and not just trying to preserve what we had or prevent the annihilation of the public system—but how to expand it, fortify it, and have a considerable [investment] in low income students of color and their communities that starts to look more [like] what we see in wealthy white suburbs.”

The strike was the longest teacher strike in Chicago since 1987, and Chicago is the third largest school district in the country.

In 2019, thousands of teachers across the country went on strike in Los Angeles, Oakland, Denver, West Virginia, and at smaller school districts in Ohio, Massachusetts, and New York, while teachers in several other states have held rallies and demonstrations pushing their state legislators to increase investment in public education….

 Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Local 73 march during the CTU and SEIU strike on October 18 (Photo by Kevin Gosztola)

Chicago Teachers Union

From: Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee – Oakland

iwoc.oakland@gmail.com

Press contact: Yolanda Huang

yhuang.law@gmail.com

A hunger strike and work stoppage which began on Wednesday, October 30 inside Santa Rita Jail has continued through Friday, November 1. Since Wednesday, the number of individuals refusing to report to work assignments, meals, and jail programs has grown to over 300, according to attorney Yolanda Huang. All kitchen workers are on strike, she says, prompting threats from Santa Rita staff who claim that no one will receive food if the strike continues.

Santa Rita depends on unpaid labor from inmates to produce 16,000 meals a day for its own operations, as well as for other jails across the Bay Area. Huang reports that women inmates are now being forced to work in the kitchen, despite the fact that many do not have medical clearance to handle food. This will only exacerbate the public health issues which prompted the strike in the first place, she argues. Detainees report that they are served food that is spoiled and nutritionally poor. Poor sanitation and lack of access to cleaning supplies has led to “swarms of gnats” in communal areas.

The jailwide strike originated in Housing Unit 31, where a man died on Saturday, October 26. While the jail claims that the man died in booking, detainees allege that the man was in serious medical distress that remained unaddressed by guards until the man stopped breathing. Detainees who called for help were moved to the yard “so that there would be no witnesses,” says Huang. The attitude of guards inside Santa Rita is that “if you are in pain, if you are suffering, then you are a criminal and you deserve it,” she says. Nine people have died in Santa Rita custody in 2019 already.

The Audit Ahern Coalition is calling for a complete audit of the Alameda County Sheriff’s budget and administration of Santa Rita Jail. In addition, Attorney Yolanda Huang argues that supervisors should hold a public forum with Sheriff Ahern and conduct an independent investigation into conditions inside the jail. Advocates are calling on the community to contact the Sheriff’s Office and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to ask that detainees not be punished for engaging in the strike.

Demands of the strike include:

• Better and more nutritious food, that is not spoiled nor served in unsanitary ways

• An end to price-gouging for commissary, phone calls, and video visitation

• More changes of clothing and laundry access

• Cleaning supplies

• Access to lawyers and legal library

• Daily exercise and recreation time

In this era of “reconciliation”, Indigneous land is still being taken at gunpoint. INVASION is a new film about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Gidimt’en checkpoint, and the larger Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against indigenous people.

The 18 minute film is powerful and covers many of the events of the last year.

Organize a community screening of INVASION

This fight is far from over. Getting this story out to the larger public is critical and you can do that by sharing INVASION with friends and hosting a screening in your community!

Simply download the film here, make a Facebook event using this graphic, and download and print the poster designed by Gord Hill and plaster around your town. You can host anywhere from a living room to a local theater.

You can pass the hat for donations to send to the camp and hold a discussion about how people can help further Indigenous movements for self-determination. If you plan to fundraise at your screening please use the fundraising guide and let us know about your event so we can help promote it!

If you need any help organizing an event or have any questions please shoot us an email!

Donate
The struggle at Unist’ot’en continues forward and financial support is needed to maintain the camp and fund legal challenges. You can support the Unist’ot’en financially here: http://unistoten.camp/support-us/donate/

Come to Camp
Supporters who can stay 2 weeks or longer are needed on an ongoing basis! Register today!

Thank you for your ongoing support,
Unist’ot’en Solidarity Brigade

Rebel Diaz

https://bit.ly/2Js1XTw

By Abayomi Azikiwe

After days of mass demonstrations and work stoppages, the Ecuadorean people have illustrated their revolutionary tradition in the ongoing battle against the imposition of austerty.

Beginning on October 3, people responded angrily over the withdrawal of fuel subsidies which had been in place for four decades.

The government of Lenin Moreno, adhering to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality, announced the new economic program which resulted in the sharp rise in the price of diesel by 100% and petroleum by 30%. These price increases happened over night making it impossible for many working people and farmers to pay for their household expenses.

These hyperinflationary trends also resulted in the rise in food prices and the cost of transportation. The Moreno government initially rejected the demands of the unions and mass organizations saying that fuel subsidies had cost the country over $60 Billion.

An additional series of labor and tax measures were specifically designed to make Ecuador eligible for a $4.2 Billion loan from the IMF. As part of the austerity package, a 20% cut in salaries for public sector workers was enacted along with the reduction in vacation time from 30 to 20 days annually.

These huge price increases and reduction in pay proved to be the spark which ignited broad sectors among the working class and peasantry into action. With a minimum wage of only $394 per month, the material impact of the IMF imposed policy would drive many more people into abject poverty.

On the first two days of the austerity program, October 3 and 4, unions representing workers in the taxis, buses and trucking sectors went on strike blocking roads and consequently paralyzing the entire country. After talks with the government, the transport unions called off their strike after October 4.

Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of others representing the Indigenous people, students, mass organizations and local transportation workers, entered the streets demanding that the IMF imposed measures be revoked. These demonstrators blocked traffic prompting clashes with police resulting in the deaths of eight people, 1,300 injuries and the arrest of over 1,100 others.

The mass resistance continued during the week of October 7 even after Moreno had declared a national security emergency. The administration was forced to move its operations outside the capital of Quito to Guayaquil due to the intensity of the clashes between the workers, farmers and youth against the security forces.

Members of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) led the demonstrations in Quito where they blocked streets along with the entry into key government buildings therefore choking off the ability of the state to conduct its normal business. After intense confrontations with the police, there was extensive property damage and arson.

Moreno was forced to hold direct talks with CONAIE. The alliance of Indigenous nationalities refused to negotiate until the government reinstated the fuel subsidy program.

Indigenous groups have grievances which extend beyond the recent price increases. They are opposed to the extraction of natural resources from their traditional lands which have created tensions with successive governments over the last decade….

https://bit.ly/2Wj0BiW

https://geopoliticsalert.com/

Santiago (FAIR) – Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, people are rising up against right-wing, US-backed governments and their neoliberal austerity policies.

Currently in Chile, the government of billionaire Sebastian Piñera has deployed the army to crush nationwide demonstrations against inequality sparked by a subway fare hike.

In Ecuador, indigenous peoples, workers, and students recently brought the country to a standstill during 11 days of protests against the gutting of fuel subsidies by President Lenin Moreno as part of an IMF austerity package….

Police in Chile blast protesters. Flickr | Carlos Andrés Gamero Esparza (leondeurgel)

ANALYSIS FROM THE RANK-N-FILE: Autoworkers Caravan

FROM THE UAW:

https://uaw.org/

UAW International Union

Longest National Automotive Strike in Nearly 50 Years Ends

Detroit  ̶  UAW General Motors members ratified the 2019 Collective Bargaining Agreement this evening ending the longest automotive strike in 50 years.

“General Motors members have spoken,” said Terry Dittes, UAW Vice President and Director of the UAW-GM Department. “We are all so incredibly proud of UAW-GM members who captured the hearts and minds of a nation. Their sacrifice and courageous stand addressed the two-tier wages structure and permanent temporary worker classification that has plagued working class Americans.”

With ratification of the contract, the UAW members strike has ended, and workers will begin to report to work as instructed by General Motors.

The ratified contract includes an economic package of an $11,000 per member signing bonus, performance bonuses, two 3% annual raises and two 4% lump sum payments and holding the line on health care costs.

“We want to once again thank our members’ families and their local communities for their outpouring of support,” said UAW President Gary Jones. “Our members not only joined together in solidarity but felt the support of their whole community throughout this important stand.”

The UAW will announce the next pattern bargaining company, FCA or Ford shortly.