UE150 Solidarity Statement with Duke Workers and Students fighting against Racism! #DismantleDukePlantation #BlackLivesMatter #fightfor15 #1u #blacklivesmatter #duke
Background and updates: Keeping Abele Quad Lit: CALL-IN and Community
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Greetings fellow freedom fighters,
Please pass this along to fellow students and workers at Duke engaged in this important struggle. We will have some of our members print and bring copies of this statement to occupation in next day or two.
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UE150 Stands in Solidarity with Duke Workers and Students fighting against Racism!
UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers sends our unconditional solidarity to the 9 students occupying the Allen building at Duke university, the campus parking and transportation workers, and the growing coalition of worker-student activism at Duke and Durham supporting the A-ville encampment in their struggle against institutional racism at Duke University. Members of our union across the state struggle every day against racist working conditions and urge you to press forward until your demands are met! Our struggle will last one day longer than Duke bosses!
When Shelvia Underwood and Renee Lisa Atkins spoke out about the racist incidents that they faced working at Duke University Parking and Transportation Services, they knew they were not alone. As their testimonies expose, the type of racist harassment, intimidation and working conditions that they faced are experienced by Black workers every day at Duke and in our society. We salute these brave workers for speaking truth to power! We must continue to build organization across Duke and Durham to support this important struggle — drawing in unions, Black Lives Matter activists, anti-war activists, other workers and progressive people. Our history has shown that broad coalitions of this type can move mountains.
Our union is in a big fight against the City of Durham that relies on racist harassment and unfair working conditions to run its Water Department. Two years ago two Black workers, DeCarlos Stanley and Dwight Walker were fired for speaking out about working conditions. Our struggle continues and the city’s Human Relations Commission has made recommendations to end racism in promotions, discipline, hiring and pay. We are still fighting Town Manager Tom Bonfield and City Council to implement these needed changes.
Our union members at Central Regional Hospital in Butner, NC also just won an important fight against a racist manager. She had told a fellow white worker that she thought her unit had too many Black employees and hired 3 white nurses. Later, she called a group of Black workers “a bunch of grapes” and further taunted and discriminated against Black workers. After four months of struggle, union fliers, worker delegations to the CEO, rallies, petitions, countless meetings, filings with EEOC, the workers won and she was forced to resign!
Let’s keep building a broad social justice union movement lead by workers! Let’s defend the right to work free of discrimination! Let’s defend the right to organize and speak-out free of harassment and retaliation! Let’s keep building the moments for $15 per hour and union rights and show that Black Lives Matter at work!
Solidarity Forever!
Executive Board of UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union:
Larsene Taylor, President
Angaza Laughinghouse, Vice President
Jim Wrenn, Financial Secretary
Kevin Yancey, Chief Steward
Bonita Johnson, Assistant Financial Secretary
Nathanette Mayo, Municipal Council
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ALSO:
WWP presidential candidates say: ‘Solidarity with anti-racist, pro-worker occupation of Duke University! Carry the struggle forward to victory!’ http://bit.ly/1TDM0ZN
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