[olympiaworkers] Fired workers taken to court for blogging about work conditions

Dec. 11, 2012 libcom.org

Solidarity with the Workers of Natais popcorn factory in France! Exposed
to hazardous substances, forced to work on precarious conditions, the
workers tried to fight back. On Thursday, two former employees will be in
court for supposedly "defaming" their former employer!

On Thursday, December 13, 2012, former workers from the Natais popcorn
factory in Bézéril, France will go to trial for supposed „defamation" of
their ex-employer, for talking about their working conditions on a blog.

Among the problems the workers faced was exposure to Diacetyl. This
chemical can cause bronchitis obliterans, also known as „popcorn workers'
lung", or other serious respiratory illnesses. Diacetyl is a component of
the artificial butter flavor used in microwave popcorn. Bronchitis
obliterans is irreversible and can lead to death.

The workers at Natais popcorn factory are not even given masks to protect
themselves from the vapors. They also must work in extreme heat. Around
80% of the people at the factory are temporary workers. The work is hard,
people are sometimes forced to work on Sundays, the pay is bad.

There was even a strike at the factory. A year-end bonus was won, but then
the union called off the strike. Some workers however tried to keep
fighting. For trying to speak out against these conditions, a case was
brought against 2 of the strikers, now former workers of the company.

We call on comrades around the world to support this case by sending an
email to the company. info@popcorn.fr

Sample text: We demand an end to the repression of Natais workers and
support their struggle for safer working conditions and job security. (Add
whatever you like to text.)

You can also BCC or forward your mail to sia32@no-log.org, the local union
in Gers which has been involved.

Some leaflets and more information in different languages is available
here: http://www.zsp.net.pl/natais

[olympiaworkers] Los Angeles port strike triggers fears, lobbying by businesses

(Reuters) - A national coalition of U.S. business groups is urging an end
to a strike at the twin California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
amid fears that a prolonged stand-off will cost the American economy many
billions of dollars, and could even spread to the east coast.

Trade groups led by the National Retail Federation have sent letters to
U.S. President Barack Obama and leading members of Congress asking them to
intervene and help end the strike at America's two busiest container
harbor facilities. Those industry groups say the strike, which entered its
sixth day on Sunday, is already costing $1 billion a day.

The labor dispute has been triggered by 500 clerical workers at the ports,
members of the relatively small Office of Clerical Union Workers. Their
industrial action and clout has been significantly strengthened because
some 10,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
have supported them, refusing to cross the clerical workers' picket lines.

Their action has effectively shut down 10 of the two ports' combined 14
container terminals. Four other container terminals have remained opened,
along with facilities for handling break-bulk cargo such as raw steel and
tanker traffic.

Industry groups say they have fresh memories of a 10-day lockout at West
Coast ports in 2002. They estimate that dispute cost the U.S. economy $1
billion a day and that it took six months before the supply chains fully
recovered.

Groups are also warily monitoring an ongoing labor dispute between the
International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance
which could affect ports from Maine to Texas.

The employment contract between the two groups expired at the end of
September without a new agreement. The contract was temporarily extended
for 90 days, until the end of this year. A federal mediator has stepped in
to oversee negotiations to try an avert a strike that would hit at least
14 ports along the East and Gulf coasts.

"Our members are very nervous and very upset about the impact of the (Los
Angeles) strike on their businesses," said Jonathan Gold, vice president
of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation.

"We have had a lot of feedback. They have very fresh memories of what
happened in 2002 and what is happening on the east coast."

Gold said his organization has been working with groups including the
American Apparel and Footwear Association, the Retail Industry Leaders
Industry Association and the Harbor Truckers Association to pressure
lawmakers in Washington to end the stand-off.

The NRF sent a letter to Obama last week asking him to intervene. Barbara
Boxer and Diane Feinstein, California's two Democratic senators, have also
urged both sides to resolve the dispute.

Negotiations ran late into Saturday and continued Sunday. The clerks had
been without a contract for more than two years when labor talks with
management broke off on Monday. The chief stumbling block has been the
future of union representation for jobs that are lost through retirement.

ILWU leaders are demanding that jobs traditionally performed by their
members remain classified as union work and subject to the union's
contract terms, even after individuals holding those jobs retire. They
accuse the management of seeking to outsource union clerical jobs to
overseas workers paid far less in wages and benefits.

The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container harbor facility,
and second-ranked Long Beach together handled more than $400 billion in
goods arriving or leaving the West Coast by ship, L.A. port spokesman
Philip Sanfield said.

[olympiaworkers] Fire kills 112 workers at Bangladesh garment-maker

Nov. 25, 2012 Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Fire raced up the floors of a garment factory in
Bangladesh, killing at least 112 people, many of them trapped in the
eight-story building with no emergency exits where they make clothes for
major global retailers.

The factory outside the capital, Dhaka, is owned by Tazreen Fashions Ltd.,
a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, which makes products for Wal-Mart and
other companies in the U.S. and Europe.

Firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory and 12 more
people died at hospitals after jumping from the building to escape, Maj.
Mohammad Mahbub, fire department operations director, told The Associated
Press on Sunday.

Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed. The cause of the
blaze that began late Saturday was not immediately clear, and authorities
ordered an investigation.

Army soldiers and border guards were helping keep order as thousands of
onlookers and anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered, Mahbub
said.

Tazreen was given a "high risk" safety rating after a May 16, 2011, audit
conducted by an "ethical sourcing" assessor for Wal-Mart, according to a
document posted on the Tuba Group's website. It did not specify what led
to the rating.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said online documents indicating an
orange or "high risk" assessment after the May 2011 inspection and a
yellow or "medium risk" report after an inspection in August 2011 appeared
to pertain to the factory. The August 2011 letter said Wal-Mart would
conduct another inspection within one year.

Gardner said it was not clear if that inspection had been conducted or
whether the factory was still making products for Wal-Mart.

If a factory is rated "orange" three times in two years, Wal-Mart won't
place any orders for one year. The May 2011 report was the first orange
rating for the factory.

Neither Tazreen's owner nor Tuba Group officials could be reached for
comment.

The Tuba Group is a major Bangladeshi garment exporter whose clients also
include Carrefour and IKEA, according to its website. Its factories export
garments to the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, among
other countries. The Tazreen factory, which opened in 2009 and employed
about 1,700 people, made polo shirts, fleece jackets and T-shirts.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety
measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of
garment products, mainly to the U.S. and Europe.

In its 2012 Global Responsibility report, Wal-Mart said that "fire safety
continues to be a key focus for brands and retailers sourcing from
Bangladesh." Wal-Mart said it ceased working with 49 factories in
Bangladesh in 2011 because of fire safety issues, and was working with its
supplier factories to phase out production from buildings deemed high
risk.

At the factory, relatives of the workers frantically looked for their
loved ones. Sabina Yasmine said she saw the body of her daughter-in-law,
but had seen no trace of her son, who also worked there.

"Oh, Allah, where's my soul? Where's my son?" wailed Yasmine, who works at
another factory in the area. "I want the factory owner to be hanged. For
him, many have died, many have gone."

Mahbub said the fire broke out on the ground floor, which was used as a
warehouse, and spread quickly to the upper floors. Many workers who
retreated to the roof were rescued, he said. But he said that with no
emergency exits leading outside the building, many victims were trapped,
and firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor alone.

"The factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the
ground floor," Mahbub said. "So the workers could not come out when the
fire engulfed the building."

"Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory,
the casualties would have been much lower," he said.

Many victims were burned beyond recognition. The bodies were laid out in
rows at a school nearby. Many of them were handed over to families;
unclaimed victims were taken to Dhaka Medical College for identification.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock at the loss of so many lives.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it
would stand by the victims' families.

[olympiaworkers] Wal-Mart files U.S. labor charge against union

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop
months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union
that it says is behind such actions.

Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and
Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking the National Labor
Relations Board to halt what the retailer says are unlawful attempts to
disrupt its business.

The move comes just a week before what is expected to be the largest
organized action against the world's largest retailer, as a small group of
Walmart workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, typically the busiest
shopping day of the year.

"We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to
continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could
directly and adversely impact our customers and associates," Wal-Mart
spokesman David Tovar said on Friday. "If they do, they will be held
accountable."

The union is undeterred. "Walmart is grasping at straws," said UFCW
Communications Director Jill Cashen. "There's nothing in the law that
gives an employer the right to silence workers and citizens."

Protests and rallies outside Walmart stores around the country and other
actions such as flash mobs have been orchestrated by groups including OUR
Walmart, a coalition of thousands of current and former Walmart workers
that wants to collectively push for better wages, benefits and working
conditions.

"Wal-Mart is in effect firing a shot across the bow of the UFCW,
essentially saying 'Look, you can expect this and more unless you
desist,'" said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of
California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues.

Filing with the NLRB suggests that the protests have caught the attention
of Wal-Mart, which has no union-represented workers in the United States.

OUR Walmart and another group, Making Change at Walmart, are affiliated
with the UFCW, which represents more than 1 million workers including many
at retailers that compete with Walmart. According to a filing with the
Labor Department, OUR Walmart was a subsidiary of the UFCW as of 2011.

Walmart worker and OUR Walmart member Mary Pat Tifft told Reuters that OUR
Walmart is an independent organization that gets technical support from
the union but that the UFCW has no stake or controlling interest in the
group.

"The fact that Wal-Mart is responding in such a public way is itself both
unusual and indicative that they truly don't want to see this spread,"
Shaiken said.

The NLRB typically receives a charge and investigates. At times, it
resolves issues without issuing a complaint, spokesman Tony Wagner said.
While most investigations take about six weeks, they can be expedited
under certain criteria, he said.

Activities over the past year or longer "have caused disruptions to
Walmart's business, resulted in misinformation being shared publicly about
our company, and created an uncomfortable environment and undue stress on
Walmart's customers, including families with children," Walmart outside
counsel Steven Wheeless said in a letter sent on Friday to Deborah Gaydos,
assistant general counsel of the UFCW.

PICKETING PROHIBITED

The National Labor Relations Act prohibits such picketing for more than 30
days without the filing of a representation petition. The NLRA also
requires the NLRB to seek a federal court injunction against such
activity, the letter states.

The OUR Walmart group of current and former Walmart employees has been
organizing 1,000 protests including strikes and what it called online
actions that began this week and will culminate on Black Friday.

For example, workers walked off the job in Seattle on Thursday and in
Dallas on Friday, OUR Walmart said.

Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said that anyone who is not an
employee is prohibited from coming onto its owned or controlled parking
lots or other facilities to solicit, hand out literature or otherwise
engage in any demonstration.

Wal-Mart said that it intends for the UFCW to be held accountable for any
injury or property damage that may occur as a result of the actions led by
the union, OUR Walmart or any of its other affiliates.

Past attempts to unionize Walmart U.S. workers have failed. In 2005, Tire
and Lube Express department workers at stores in New Castle, Pennsylvania,
and Loveland, Colorado, voted against representation by the UFCW.

OUR Walmart is not a union, though the thousands of Walmart employees it
says are members do pay $5 monthly dues.

Wal-Mart has 1.4 million U.S. workers. Of 5 million job applications
Walmart U.S. received in 2011, 20 percent of the workers it hired were
coming back to the company. The turnover rate among Walmart U.S.
employees, 37.26 percent in 2011, was below the industry average of 43.6
percent, it says.

"We just don't think what the unions have to offer is a better deal for
our associates," said Wal-Mart's Tovar.

Wal-Mart filed its charge against the UFCW late on Thursday with the NLRB
regional office in Little Rock, Arkansas. The case number is 26-CB-093342.

For copies of Wal-Mart's letter to the UFCW and the NLRB charge document
click http://bit.ly/Qj5c0t and http://bit.ly/RZoNkD

For copies of Wal-Mart's letter to the UFCW and the NLRB charge document
click http://bit.ly/Qj5c0t and http://bit.ly/RZoNkD

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago. Additional writing by Phil Wahba in
New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Leslie Gevirtz)

[olympiaworkers] Hostess closing Seattle bakery following strike

Mon, 11/12/2012

Hostess Brands Inc. is permanently closing three bakeries following a
nationwide strike by its bakers union.

The maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread said Monday that the
strike has prevented it from producing and delivering products, and it is
closing bakeries in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The facilities
employ 627 workers.

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, operates 36 bakeries nationwide and has
about 18,300 employees. It warned earlier this month that the strike, by
about 30 percent of its workforce, could lead to bakery closures.

"We deeply regret this decision, but we have repeatedly explained that we
will close facilities that are no longer able to produce and deliver
products because of a work stoppage - and that we will close the entire
company if widespread strikes cripple our business," Hostess Brands CEO
Gregory F. Rayburn said.

Hostess said customers will not be affected by the closures.

A representative for the union could not be reached immediately for
comment Monday.

Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and
Grain Millers International Union went on strike Nov. 9 to protest cuts to
wages and benefits under a new contract offer, which the union rejected in
September. Union officials say the company stopped contributing to
workers' pensions last year.

Hostess has argued that workers must make concessions as it tries to
improve its financial position. The privately-held food maker filed for
Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court
in less than a decade. Hostess cited increasing pension and medical costs
for employees as one of the drivers behind its latest filing.

The company, founded in 1930, is fighting battles beyond labor costs,
however. Competition is increasing in the snack space and Americans are
increasingly conscious about healthy eating.

[olympiaworkers] European-wide general strike November 14 - how real? How relevant?

http://libcom.org/blog/european-wide-general-strike-november-14-how-real-how-relevant-22102012

In at least four countries, there will be a general strike on November 14.
There are calls to turn it into a European general strike. What to make of
the idea, how to operate most fruitfully in connection to these and
similar initiatives, is the subject of this article.

November 14 will – at the very least – see strike action against austerity
in four European countries: Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus. (1) There
is the potential of much, much more, and people from very diverse
backgrounds are working in the direction of en Europe-wide general strike
on that day. Does it make sense? How can we contribute in such ways that
N14 – as the date is beginning to be called – can become much more than
yet another mostly symbolic action such as we have been seeing many times
already?

First, the situation itself. Trade union federations have called
nationwide one day general strikes for November 14 in the four countries I
mentioned. Apparently, union federations in France and Italy are
considering the idea as well. Let's be clear on the importance of this.
Union federations do not launch these kind of strikes because they want
serious resistance to austerity. Rather, they want these strikes as a show
of force to strengthen their own positiaon as mediators of the class
struggle, as managers of discontent. They want to show governments and
bosses: hey, there is a lot of discontent amongst workers. We will try to
hold it in check for you; it is our (rather well-paid) job. But you have
to give some concessions, you have to soften your stance on austeriry a
bit. Only that will enable us to play our role, ony then we can say to our
members: trust us, don't rock the boat, we will bring about some
improvements. To show governments that the trade union leaders have to be
taken into account, trade union leaders call their members to strike, as
if to say to govermnent: do you see all these angry workers? Do you feel
the disruption they cause, for just one day? Now, do you appreciate our
trouble to keep them quiet? Please help us doing so, by giving us
concessions to increase our credibility among these workers. Or would you
rather have these workers pushing us aside and fighting on their own
terms? Would you rather have strtikes without fixed duration, wildcat
strikes, all-out class confrontation?

These strikes, then, are entirely bureaucratic in their motivation, as far
as trade union functionaries are concerned. Workers, however, tend to see
them as opportunities to show their anger, and make their anger felt.
Rightly so! For radicals, that makes them relevant. The more a strike call
is supported, in as militant a fashion as possible, the stronger workers
will feel, the stronger ties of solidarity will be built.. In itself, this
does not stop governments or austerity policies. But it builds working
class strength and confidence needed for a serious struggle. Trade union
leaders use these kind of strikes to parade workers as their stage army.
Radical workers, anarchists among them, want to see the soldiers of that
army starting to fight on their own account, turning the stage army in an
independent force fighting from below. That is whay libertarian communists
should, in my view, take these strike calls seriously. Not because we
trust the trade unions, but on the contrary, because we doe not trust
them, and refuse to leave the struggle in their iron grip.

The general strikes on N14 will not, in themselves, stop austerity or
bring down governments. Even a one day European strike will not do that.
Greece has seen 20 general strikes of this type. Yet, the government did
neither fall nor budge because of that. One can say that, without the
discontente expressed through thesee strikes, the Greek goverment and the
EU bureaucrats would feel even more arrogantly confident to push on; in
that sense, the strikes may have acted as a brake. But it is clear that to
beat back austerity, a much more offensive approach – ongoing strikes,
occupations, street blockades, confrontation with the state – will be
needed (2). But the mobilizations around the strikes can be used as
stepping stones in that direction. The same applies to the European wide
strike action now being organized and discussed for N14. And yes, when you
are striking in Spain in the knowledge that workers in Greece, Portugal
and Cyprus (and Italy? And France? And... ?) are out on strike, it
probably raises your confidence, making you feel part of an even bigger
whole. So yes, by all means, let's support the European-wide general
strike – in our own independent fashion. It is not at all the magic trick
to end our problems. But we can use it as part of building our fight – and
spreading our ideas within the fight.

How? I have not very much to say here about the specifics of struggle in
Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. The general idea is clear: making the
strike as forceful as possible, challenging the top-down union
bureaucratic grip on events, connecting with ongoing struggles,
introducing direct-action dynamics within and around the strike and
connected demonstrations. For instance, the anti-austerity protest
organized in Londen last Saturday was by trade unions along familiar,
bureaucratic, blowing-off-steam-and-then-go-home lines. However, as
mentioned in "What October 20 tells us about the state of the movement",
on Libcom (3), Disabled People Against Cuts held a beautiful street
blockade with wheelchairs as part of the action which raised the
temperture and added to the pressure. Initiatives like these can make
mobilizations much more forceful than trade union organizers intend them
to be. Radicals in the countries where the strike is on will find their
way.

There are, however countries where ther is no general strike call from
trade union circles in sight. The Netherlands is one of these countries.
Yes, ETUC, the European trade union federation, has made a call for "a day
of action and solidarity on 14 November, including strikes,
demonstrations, rallies and other actions." (4) Not quite a call for a
general strike, but a step in that direction. The purpose: "mobilising the
European trade union movement behind ETUV policies as set down in the
Social Compact for Europe". Whatever is in that document, people will
understand this call as a protest against the European-wide austerity
policies, at least in their current form. Just like national general
strike calls can be used to mobilize around in the direction of a more
radical approach, the ETUC call can be used to build in the direction of
European-wide strike action and more. This is what people, myself
included, are trying to do in the Netherlands.

It is important to do it right, however. There is the temptation to get
stuck on trade union territory, to just take the ETUC call, step to the
unions and demand that they organize strike action, imploring them,
pressurizing them, leaving it up to them. This is the approach that
Trotskyists use in Britain: demanding that the TUC organize a general
strike. Lenin's Tomb expresses the idea: "there is a basis for mass
industrial action to happen if only the trade unions are willing to
support it." (5) Ah, if only! They will solve the problem for us! And what
if they don't? Wait for better days and Sell the Paper? I think a much
more fruitful approach can and should be tried. The idea of e a general
strike on a European scale can be pushed by radical circles, whether
anarchists, Occupy-related networks, other formal or informal netwerks of
radicals.

For the day itself, street actions can be planned, noisy pots-and-pans
protest marches ans assemblies like in Quebec last summer, blockades of
buildings where hated, austerity-related institutions are seated,
'ordinary' demonstrations, pickets at embassies of states where general
strikes are going forward. People might spontaneously get sick of
austerity on that 14th of November as well. Anything to express solidarity
with the struggle against austerity. Anyything to raise the anti-austerity
temperature. And all exoplicitly connected to the general strike idea for
N14. And who knows, there might just be an office department, a factory, a
company, where workers are already so fed up and confident that they might
come out on strike. There might even be a trade union branch or wing here
and there that is sensitive to the mood, and starts supporting the idea.
You never know how far you come unless you try. However, our approach
should not make itself depend on that unions will or will not do.
Independent initiative and organization from the bottom up, are essential.
Waiting for the unions would be catastrophic and, more importantly, it is
entirely unneccessary.

The idea has been tried before. On May Day this year, calls went out in
the US for a general strike. Occupy- and related initiatives spread the
call, and organized street protests on that day. No, it was not a general
strike. But is spread the idea of such a strike, and it was a step in that
direction. No, a combination of the actions that I mentioned for N14 will
very likely not amount to a full general strike, it may not even come
close. But it would spread the idea that strike action is needed and
should be built, it would be a step in the right direction. And maybe it
could become a dress rehearsal for something much bigger as well, on the
First May 2013...

[1] "Anti-Austerity Allies Coming Together for Cordinated European
Strikes", Common Dreams, 19 oktober 2012,
[2] The insights that Thrasybulus expresses in "General strike: Round 20",
on Libcom.org, are vital here.
[3] Phil, "What October 20 tells us about the state of the movement",
Libcom.org, 21 October.
[4] ETUC, "ETUC day of action and solidarity for a Social Compact for
Europe" , October 17
[5] "Mass protests against the cuts", Lenin's tomb, October 20.

For this article, the forum thread on Libcom, "European general strike? 14
November" , has been very useful.

[olympiaworkers] Walmart Workers Threaten Black Friday Action

By ABBY ELLIN and ALAN FARNHAM
October 10, 2012 ABC NEWS

The latest news in the Walmart labor protests -- which have included
walkouts and marches in Dallas, San Diego, Chicago and Los Angeles -- is
the threat of a strike on Black Friday. That's the day after Thanksgiving,
widely considered the busiest, and most lucrative, retail day of the year.

Some 200 angry protesters showed up at a meeting of investors and analysts
earlier today at Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Under
discussion at the meeting was Walmart's intent to go head-to-head with
Amazon and offer same-day delivery.

Walmart is the world's largest private employer and has long been a target
of workers' rights groups, who advocate higher wages, more flexibility in
hours and an end to the punishments (reduced shifts, for instance) they
claim are meted out to workers seeking to unionize.

Evelin Cruz, a department manager at Walmart in Pico Rivera, Calif., told
ABC News that for many years she kept quiet about what she views as the
company's unjust labor practices because she feared she would be fired if
she spoke up.

"People were really tired that any time they would speak out against the
pay, hours, how much they would work, that management would cut their
hours or not give them a schedule," said Cruz, who is one of thousands of
members of Our Walmart, a labor organization backed by the United Food and
Commercial Workers that defends Walmart workers' rights.

On a conference call today, leaders of Our Walmart, the National Consumers
League and other labor groups said they will join Walmart workers outside
stores on Black Friday if their demands are not met.

NOW president Terry O'Neill said her organization would join in the action
on Black Friday, it was reported in the Guardian. "We are standing in
solidarity with the workers who are walking off the job," said the
National Organization of Women's president.

Last Thursday, about 30 employees from the Pico Rivera store, including
Cruz, wielded signs that read "Stand Up, Live Better, Stop Retaliation"
and "Stop Trying to Silence Us" and marched outside the store. At the same
time, workers at eight other Walmart stores in California protested
working conditions and treatment.

It was the first-ever employee walk-out in the company's 50-year history,
said Dawn Le, a spokeswoman for Making Change at Walmart, a coalition
whose mission is to change the way Walmart conducts business.

"Everyone else has a union," said Le. "Workers in every other country —
Japan, the U.K., Nicaragua, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina — have been
able to form a union, except the U.S. and Canada. We just don't understand
the double standard Walmart has. How come those in other countries get to
have a voice, yet not in the U.S., its home country?"

Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman disputed Le's charges, claiming that most
employees have "repeatedly rejected unionization.

"They seem to recognize that Walmart has some of the best jobs in the
retail industry — good pay, affordable benefits and the chance for
advancement," he said in a telephone interview with ABC News.

Walmart and its practices have made the news a lot lately. In
mid-September, warehouse workers in Southern California were on a 15-day
strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs. Around
the same time, hundreds of people marched in Dallas and San Diego,
demanding better work conditions.

On Monday, Chicago police dressed in riot gear arrested 17 peaceful
protesters blocking the entrance to a warehouse operated by an outside
contractor that supplies Walmart stores, in Elwood, Ill. The protestors
were there to show support for workers who had been on strike since Sept.
15, the Chicago Sun Times reported. What's more, the company faces yet
another sex discrimination lawsuit, filed on behalf of 100,000 women in
California and Tennessee.

According to Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, Walmart
employees across the U.S. have recently filed more than 20 charges of
unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board. "Workers
find how Walmart has tried to retaliate by cutting their hours and not
scheduling them for certain shifts when they tried to speak out, and
they're tired of it," he said.

But the $16 billion company sees it differently, arguing that the
California rally was simply a "publicity stunt by the UFCW to seek media
attention in order to further their political agenda and financial
objectives," said Fogleman.

Cruz, who makes $13.20 an hour — up from $7.40 when she started – begs to
differ. "We just wanted to be treated like humans, not robots. We do have
health insurance, but in most cases, you're not even making enough to live
on, let alone take anyone to the hospital." And though she worries about
losing her job, she didn't see another option but to voice her anger.

"We are still worried that they might retaliate," said Cruz. "We know
exactly how they operate. They wait until you feel confident, or put down
your guard, and then they come after you one way or another. But that's
how tired we are of what's going on in the stores."

[olympiaworkers] SUNDAY! ALL DAY MUSIC AND SPEAKERS AT SYLVESTER PARK!

October 7th, is the 11th anniversary of the Afghanistan occupation & the 1st anniversary of the Movement that will END IT! 11 years ago, America used its collective pain from 9/11 to begin an occupation in Afghanistan. At the time no-one assumed it would go this long, cost this much or inflict this much suffering. 10 years later, Occupy Wall Street was born & Occupy Olympia sprung forth in solidarity.

Localization Not Occupation is a gathering that connects the dots between the Afghanistan occupation, the increasing inequality at home & the movement towards greater local responsibility. By itself, demanding that the politicians and corporations, both of whom are profiting from the war, end the war, is not enough. Localization builds community strength & demands we the people end the war & occupation directly.
https://www.facebook.com/events/396399460423317/

SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE!!
12:45 Music Begins in Gazebo
1PM Opening Ceremony Event Begins, MC Jusby the Clown
1:10 Welcome to event: Swaneagle Harijan
1:20 Glen Anderson
1:30 Bill Moyer
1:40 Music: Olympia Peace Choir
2:00 Chris Stegman
2:10 Music: Mailhotia with guest poets
2:50 Larry Mosqueda
3:00 Music: Calvin Johnson
3:35 Zahid Shariff
3:45 Music: Violet Flame Meditation
4:05 MC Kayla Perez introduce's Peter Bohmer
4:15 Music: Betsy Holt
4:30 Lady Liberty: Mary Spokane
4:35 Music: 1985
5:05 Music: Brian McKracken
5:20 Patty Imani
5:25 Music: Monica Peabody
5:40 Music: Jacob Meyer
6:00 Elissa Goss
6:10 MC: Thank you, last words, reminder that continuing in the Olympia Ballroom will be a very special skype session, brought to us by Doug Mackey, with Afghan youth in the ballroom!
FINALLY A DANCE PARTY!
Clean up and out by dark!

Re: [olympiaworkers] End the Occupation of Afghanistan, celebrating the localization of resistance, Sun., Oct. 7, Sylvester Park, 1-7PM

I said I'd give out flyers but I haven't heard from youDBK

On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 4:52 PM, Bruce Wilkinson <bwildleaf@gmail.com> wrote:

Localization NOT Occupation, this Sunday, October 7, 1-7pm, at Sylvester Park, is the 11th anniversary of the Afghanistan Occupation and the 1st anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street Together Movement that will end it! The 1% profit off wars and then profit off the occupations afterwards. This demonstration is joining together the 99% and localizing our efforts at resistance to the Afghanistan Occupation. Sylvester Park, the birth place of Occupy Olympia, will feature music, speakers, poetry, artwork, tabling organizations, street theater, artful activism, solidarity calls with Afghanistan people, veterans against the war and breakout workshops put on by knowledgeable local people.

Facebook event! SHARE IT! https://www.facebook.com/events/396399460423317
Demanding politicians and war profiteers end the military occupations is not enough. Localization builds community strength, by working on developing the grassroots organizations we are creating the mechanisms for a popular movement that can take direct action aimed at ending the Afghanistan Occupation. When the people lead the leaders follow. Come down to Sylvester Park and be part of something that is great!

WEBSITE: http://www.localizationnotoccupation.org/
Welcome! It is time that we end this war and occupation once and for all! Thanks to Jusby the Clown, Kayla Perez and Terry Zander for MC'ing the event! Thanks to our speakers and musicians who are listed online. Special thanks to the many people who have volunteered to make this happen. You are the messengers of hope that another world is possible and by your actions you are ensuring that another world is happening! THANK YOU!

***MORE INFO ON WHY YOU SHOULD COME AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS***
October 7th, is the 11th anniversary of the Afghanistan war: the unhappy day when America used its collective pain from 9/11 to inflict suffering and occupation upon the poor people of Afghanistan. Eleven years later, with 42% of their population below the age of 15 and their access to information severely restricted, ninety percent of Afghan people have never even heard of 9/11. Within this country the reasons for the war is similarly confused. Not one of the 9/11 hijackers were from Afghanistan and the former Taliban government did not participate in 9/11 either. With US soldier deaths in the Middle East surpassing the number who were killed that day, it is time to end the war and occupation.

On the main stage, speakers will share much more about the enduring reasons why the US government has made the choice to stay far too long there. US corporate interests are making lucrative profits off of oil pipelines, mineral deposits and development work while the indigenous Afghanistan people are treated as second class citizens of their own country that they are severely restricted and suffering in. The continuing racism and stereotypes in the US against the Afghanistan people serve to back up their continued oppression. While the 1% grow wealthy off of Afghanistan, including those profiting off the 90% of the world's opium that is produced there, the US and NATO troops face extensive deployments, increasing danger, PTSD, increasing numbers facing a lifetime with severe war injuries, suicide and other brutal ways of death.

Finally, demanding an unresponsive government end an unconscionable war and occupation is not enough to absolve us from responsibility. We are the 99%, this disgraceful occupation in Afghanistan ends with the soldiers refusing to fight backed by the support of the people. It ends with the people blockading the mechanisms of war with support of the soldiers. It ends with the corporations and banks that profit off of the military industrial complex brought to their knees for their crimes against humanity by the community that has resolved itself to finally acting responsibly when their representatives have refused to.

In the United States many adults now were children when this war started. Some who were adults have children who have never lived in the US without it being at war. The war has had a severe and lasting effect on our society and it effects our children the most. Protecting the children of today and the children we raise of tomorrow from a lifetime of living in a country responsible for the injustice of the Afghanistan occupation is our strongest motivation for change. Though the Afghanistan war is the very definition of extreme violence, resistance to war and occupation within the US doesn't have to be violent and the long lasting restorative change that we need to heal this country, Afghanistan and the world will be a process that is overall restorative. We are going to demonstrate in a way that creates bonds, ensures space for diverse conversation, respects personal boundaries and supports the long high road to a just peace through community building and restorative change. Come prepared to listen, chant, learn and become involved. Leave feeling empowered, informed, activated and with a greater responsibility to a loving community.

Thanks and solidarity!

Bruce Wilkinson
bruce@afgj.org
360-742-0864

[olympiaworkers] End the Occupation of Afghanistan, celebrating the localization of resistance, Sun., Oct. 7, Sylvester Park, 1-7PM

Localization NOT Occupation, this Sunday, October 7, 1-7pm, at Sylvester Park, is the 11th anniversary of the Afghanistan Occupation and the 1st anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street Together Movement that will end it! The 1% profit off wars and then profit off the occupations afterwards. This demonstration is joining together the 99% and localizing our efforts at resistance to the Afghanistan Occupation. Sylvester Park, the birth place of Occupy Olympia, will feature music, speakers, poetry, artwork, tabling organizations, street theater, artful activism, solidarity calls with Afghanistan people, veterans against the war and breakout workshops put on by knowledgeable local people.

Facebook event! SHARE IT! https://www.facebook.com/events/396399460423317
Demanding politicians and war profiteers end the military occupations is not enough. Localization builds community strength, by working on developing the grassroots organizations we are creating the mechanisms for a popular movement that can take direct action aimed at ending the Afghanistan Occupation. When the people lead the leaders follow. Come down to Sylvester Park and be part of something that is great!

WEBSITE: http://www.localizationnotoccupation.org/
Welcome! It is time that we end this war and occupation once and for all! Thanks to Jusby the Clown, Kayla Perez and Terry Zander for MC'ing the event! Thanks to our speakers and musicians who are listed online. Special thanks to the many people who have volunteered to make this happen. You are the messengers of hope that another world is possible and by your actions you are ensuring that another world is happening! THANK YOU!

***MORE INFO ON WHY YOU SHOULD COME AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS***
October 7th, is the 11th anniversary of the Afghanistan war: the unhappy day when America used its collective pain from 9/11 to inflict suffering and occupation upon the poor people of Afghanistan. Eleven years later, with 42% of their population below the age of 15 and their access to information severely restricted, ninety percent of Afghan people have never even heard of 9/11. Within this country the reasons for the war is similarly confused. Not one of the 9/11 hijackers were from Afghanistan and the former Taliban government did not participate in 9/11 either. With US soldier deaths in the Middle East surpassing the number who were killed that day, it is time to end the war and occupation.

On the main stage, speakers will share much more about the enduring reasons why the US government has made the choice to stay far too long there. US corporate interests are making lucrative profits off of oil pipelines, mineral deposits and development work while the indigenous Afghanistan people are treated as second class citizens of their own country that they are severely restricted and suffering in. The continuing racism and stereotypes in the US against the Afghanistan people serve to back up their continued oppression. While the 1% grow wealthy off of Afghanistan, including those profiting off the 90% of the world's opium that is produced there, the US and NATO troops face extensive deployments, increasing danger, PTSD, increasing numbers facing a lifetime with severe war injuries, suicide and other brutal ways of death.

Finally, demanding an unresponsive government end an unconscionable war and occupation is not enough to absolve us from responsibility. We are the 99%, this disgraceful occupation in Afghanistan ends with the soldiers refusing to fight backed by the support of the people. It ends with the people blockading the mechanisms of war with support of the soldiers. It ends with the corporations and banks that profit off of the military industrial complex brought to their knees for their crimes against humanity by the community that has resolved itself to finally acting responsibly when their representatives have refused to.

In the United States many adults now were children when this war started. Some who were adults have children who have never lived in the US without it being at war. The war has had a severe and lasting effect on our society and it effects our children the most. Protecting the children of today and the children we raise of tomorrow from a lifetime of living in a country responsible for the injustice of the Afghanistan occupation is our strongest motivation for change. Though the Afghanistan war is the very definition of extreme violence, resistance to war and occupation within the US doesn't have to be violent and the long lasting restorative change that we need to heal this country, Afghanistan and the world will be a process that is overall restorative. We are going to demonstrate in a way that creates bonds, ensures space for diverse conversation, respects personal boundaries and supports the long high road to a just peace through community building and restorative change. Come prepared to listen, chant, learn and become involved. Leave feeling empowered, informed, activated and with a greater responsibility to a loving community.

Thanks and solidarity!

Bruce Wilkinson
bruce@afgj.org
360-742-0864

[olympiaworkers] "Every Place Will Need To Have A Solidarity Network"

Check out this nice introduction to the Seattle Solidarity Network

<iframe width="560" height="315"
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_unRLeFxTb8" frameborder="0"
allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/_unRLeFxTb8

A mutual support network, open to workers both employed and unemployed,
active and retired. We use collective direct action to fight employers
and landlords who are pocketing our wages, refusing repairs, stealing
deposits, or otherwise cheating or abusing one or more of us.

How to get in touch:
www.seasol.net/contact
info@seasol.net
(206) 350 - 8650

[olympiaworkers] Lyon, France: Strike at Domino's Pizza

Sept. 27, 2012 Libcom.org

News of the struggle against Domino's Pizza Friday in the 8th district to
protest working conditions and low wages. Here is the translated text from
the site, edited for this post.

Contact the strikers at col­lec­tif-domi­nos-lyon8 [AT] hot­mail.fr.
Original page:
http://rebellyon.info/Engagement-d-une-lutte-a-domino-s.html#formulaire_forum.

Friday, 21 September, 2012, 6pm. Employees of Domino's Pizza store Lyon 8e
were given an appointment to find a solution to low wages and poor working
conditions (the leaflet is written attached to the end of the text).

Accompanied by many unionists, workers decided to request a meeting with
their employer. It is not available, employees have decided to unanimously
get out this situation by exercising their right of strike for the evening
after a meeting with the employer was fixed the next day at 10am.

Saturday, 22 September at 10am, employees collectively met their employer
and demanded respect of the Labour Code and the collective agreement of
fast food (which represents a revolution in the franchise), the massive
hiring to compensate for the lack of staff making the conditions of
appalling working and renewal of equipment deliverymen (request an outfit
winter tire quality, protection, ...)

After the employer responded to most requests with rhetoric and
demagoguery, it was decided that it should allow 1 week to allow time for
it to implement various advanced.

Employees returned to work in "partial service", refusing to deliver
without new tires and better equipped scooters. New arrivals were held,
providing reuse their right of withdrawal if they felt too much pressure.
The next appointment with the employer shall be next Saturday!

Insecure jobs, poor working conditions, low wages, committed throughout
the fight!

Leaflet distributed Sept. 21: Domino's pizza Lyon 8e:

STOP THE PUZZLE OF EMPLOYEES!

Students and precarious workers, forced to work for a large majority of
us, we no longer support the use of which we are the object and the
attitude of management who feels above the law!

Employees working in appalling working conditions: Members of the
management team are demoted without prior interview and pushed to the
limit, under constant pressure that brings some of the depression.
Schedules are often notified 2 days before the beginning of the week they
are intended. Lack of occupational visits.

The hours spent in the dressing room are mandatory unpaid but then that
compensation is provided for by the collective agreement of fast food.
Outfits and scooters are a pathetic quality and they do not protect any of
the deliverymen winter cold, rain and road accidents ...... not to mention
temperatures inside the store that have been regularly above 35 ° C!

Poverty wages for niche huge work: 12 week contracts are imposed on the
vast majority of employees, some are forced to work five nights a week to
complete these hours while the salary does not exceed some € 425 net per
month! Management is very flexible schedules imposed on employees
regardless of their personal lives.

Monthly pay slips must be verified by the employees to avoid errors.
Additional hours and overtime are not paid. Illegal practices with the
signing of an addendum to the employment contract after hours they target
are often implemented. It may take months to get compensation for
transport to our workplace, even if the compensation comes a day!

In addition, the lack of manpower (departures not replaced) puts us in a
dangerous situation and a report of conflict with customers who complained
to the employees of the service quality.

Under these conditions a number of employees of Domino's pizza Lyon 8e
will implement articles 40L4131-1 of the Labour Code and following which
include that "the employer may require the worker who has exercised his
right of withdrawal to resume its activities in a work situation where
there is continuing imminent and serious danger. "

[olympiaworkers] South Africa's Lonmin miners accept pay rise to end strike

By Mish Molakeng | Reuters – Sept. 18, 2012

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) - Striking platinum miners at Lonmin's
Marikana mine in South Africa accepted a hefty pay rise offer on Tuesday,
ending six weeks of violent labor unrest that killed 45 people and rattled
Africa's largest economy.

The strikers, grouped on a bare soccer pitch near the mine, 100 km (60
miles) northwest of Johannesburg, cheered when they were told that
management were offering a 22 percent pay increase, and said they would
return to work on Thursday.

"I am happy - and forward with the struggle," said one of the striking
miners, Sithembile Sohati.

"It's a huge achievement. No union has achieved a 22 percent increase
before," Zolisa Bodlani, a worker representative at Marikana, told
Reuters.

At least one analyst expressed concern that the Marikana wage increase
could trigger a rash of pay demands across a mining sector already being
squeezed by low metals prices and rising labor and electricity costs.

Lonmin confirmed that the deal had been signed in Rustenburg on Tuesday
night.

"The agreement includes a signing bonus of 2,000 rand and an average rise
in wages of between 11 and 22 percent for all employees falling within the
Category 3-8 bargaining units, effective from 1 October 2012," it said in
a statement.

In another sign that weeks of trouble in South Africa's platinum belt were
ending, the world's biggest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum,
said it had resumed operations in the strike-hit Rustenburg area.

The spot platinum price fell 2 percent on the Marikana news to
$1,627.49/oz and the rand firmed over 1 percent to 8.166 to the dollar.

The wildcat mining strikes hitting a major sector of the economy had
depressed the rand, increased the cost of insuring against default on
South African debt and spooked some foreign investors into selling mining
shares.

CRITICISM OF ZUMA

The conflict, most notably the police killing of 34 Marikana strikers on
August 16, had also ignited criticism that President Jacob Zuma and his
ruling African National Congress were neglecting poor workers and siding
with wealthy business owners.

Zuma acknowledged that the wildcat industrial action had caught the
government and powerful allies such as the National Union of Mineworkers
(NUM) on the hop.

"This incident has been a surprise given the established procedures we
have in place," he told reporters in Brussels minutes after news of the
settlement.

The deal will see wages raised by up to 22 percent depending on the
category of worker but that percentage hike is not across the board,
according to the Solidarity trade union of skilled workers which was not
on strike but took part in the talks.

The rock drill operators who began the strike will receive an effective 22
percent rise on their total package including allowances which will bring
it to just over 11,000 rand per month, Solidarity said.

"The key worry now is that 22 percent wage rises will be seen spreading
across the mine industry. That is hardly affordable in an industry with
such hefty cost pressures already," said Peter Attard-Montalto, emerging
market economist at Nomura International.

Marikana strikers' representative Bodlani said the workers had asked
Lonmin management to promise that they would work with unions to reach
within two years the 12,500 rand ($1,500) basic monthly salary that the
miners had originally demanded.

The company has not yet responded to this. It had previously argued that
paying 12,500 rand a month would put thousands of jobs at risk and
challenge the viability of the business.

In its statement, Amplats said it considered it was now safe for employees
to return to their jobs but acknowledged that "many mining employees are
still to return to work".

It said smelting and other processing operations at Rustenburg were
already at normal levels.

Amplats suspended operations in the heart of the platinum belt last week
when machete-wielding strikers marched on shafts.

ECHOES OF APARTHEID

The Marikana police shootings were the deadliest security incident since
the end of white minority rule in 1994 and, for many South Africans,
painfully recalled security force massacres of black demonstrators under
apartheid.

In all, 45 people died in the Marikana unrest, which spread beyond Lonmin
to other platinum firms around Rustenburg and some gold mines.

ANC renegade Julius Malema, who was expelled from the party for
indiscipline this year, has used the Marikana unrest to relaunch his
political career and stir up opposition against Zuma ahead of an ANC
leadership election in December.

Malema was barred by police on Monday from addressing the striking miners
at Marikana, but said his campaign to improve workers' pay and conditions
would not be cowed by a government crackdown.

"Not even the president can stop me. Not even death can stop me. My ideas
are out there. Even if I am no more, people will continue those ideas," he
told a news conference.

South Africa is home to 80 percent of all known reserves of platinum and
is a major gold producer. The unrest this year has cost the mining
industry 4.5 billion rand ($548 million) in lost output, Zuma said on
Monday.

An illegal strike by 15,000 workers at the KDC West mine operated by Gold
Fields, the world's fourth largest bullion producer, continued on Tuesday
as its chief executive said the firm would not agree to demands for a
minimum wage of 12,500 rand a month.

In a separate development, parliament approved a 5.5 percent pay increase
for Zuma on Tuesday, taking his annual remuneration to 2.6 million rand
($315,600) a year.

($1 = 8.2075 South African rand)

(Additional reporting by Agnieszka Flak, Sherilee Lakmidas, Ed Cropley and
Ed Stoddard; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Ed Cropley and Kevin
Liffey)

[olympiaworkers] South African bosses suspend 15,000 gold miners over wildcat strike

Sept. 10, 2012 Libcom.org

In the South African region of West Rand, Gold Fields, one of the world's
largest producers of gold have suspended 15,000 miners who yesterday took
unofficial strike action, and are currently seeking a court injunction to
bring the strike to an end.

Reasons for the strike are not 100% clear; however, it is believed that
dissatisfaction with local NUM branch leadership, and demands for improved
pay are the main causes of the dispute.

Throughout the mining disputes across South Africa, workers are becoming
increasingly dissatisfied with the approach of the NUM to negotiating with
the bosses.

Workers rejection of the NUM is likely to escalate, as it has emerged that
senior NUM leaders are earning salaries equivalent to those of union
barons in the UK, despite the wages of the rank and file being
significantly lower. There are also several former NUM leaders who sit on
the board of directors at Lonmin.

The NUM invest significant amounts of union subs into a variety of
companies. There has been an allegation by the new mineworkers union
(AMCU) that the NUM have been investing monies into the mine companies
themselves, hence their refusal to fight for miners interests. This
allegation is unproven at the moment.

Elsewhere, workers at Lonmin platinum mine have failed to show up for yet
another week. Business consultants that Lonmin brought in following the
crash of their share prices has gone on record saying that "Lonmin need to
start closing mines".

The dispute across South Africa's gold and platinum mines has no end in
sight. The more that the corrupt NUM leadership cosy up to the bosses and
the gangsters who run the ANC, the more the workers are going to take
matters into their own hands.

Solidarity comrades!

[olympiaworkers] Supporters Rally Around Chicago Teachers Union as Ten-Day Strike Notice Issued

This story originally appeared at the Occupied Chicago Tribune.

By Nick Burt
September 8, 2012

News of the Chicago Teachers Union's declaration of a ten-day strike
notice spread across the city's evening news broadcasts Wednesday. As
Chicagoans prepared for the first schools shutdown in twenty-five years,
hundreds rallied at the downtown Chicago Temple to build community support
for the prospective teacher strike.Taking turns at the church's pulpit, a
panel of teachers and representatives of parent, community, and labor
organizations addressed a crowd of around 200 supporters–many clad in
t-shirts in the CTU's signature red. The Chicago Teachers Solidarity
Campaign hosted the town hall."We have the opportunity to be the first
large city in the United States to transform education for communities
that have been historically underserved—for children who had the
opportunity to be anything and were intentionally underserved," said Jitu
Brown, an organizer with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. "This
struggle that the Chicago Teachers Union is in, we're in it together."

Erica Clark, a co-founder of the community organization Parents 4
Teachers, said that she became active after watching her child's teachers
become scapegoats for larger social woes.

"I was fed up with the way I saw teachers being treated by the mayor, by
politicians, by CPS," said Clark. "As a parent, when you're out
badmouthing and disrespecting our teachers, you're badmouthing and
belittling our kids."

Clark said she hopes "to take the admiration and respect that individual
parents feel for teachers—even CPS admits that parents give high marks to
their teachers—and translate it into political support so that we're not
just supporting them in the classroom, but out on the streets."

Helping the teachers win a strong contract is only part of the goal, Clark
said. "This is a fight for what education is. Is it a top-down, corporate
model that says we should run our schools like a business, or a vision
that provides a quality education for all children, no matter who their
parents are?"

Several other panelists also directed criticism at the school "reform"
effort and its proponents, including Penny Pritzker, the hotel heiress and
Chicago school board member whose family's Hyatt chain the city recently
awarded a $5.2 million subsidy to build a hotel in Hyde Park.

"When I hear these detached billionaires who have never been to a public
school, have never sent their kids to a public school, force this reform
idea on the schools—that's about shutting them down, privatizing them, and
making a profit," said Michael Brunson, recording secretary for the
Chicago Teachers Union.

"We hear the same phrase over and over again. 'It's for the kids.' That's
too often used as a rhetorical prop rather than a true statement," Brunson
said. "I am a parent. I have two children in Chicago Public Schools. I am
a teacher. I've taught in some of the most challenging areas of the city.
How can I do what I do if it's not for the love of the kids?"

Some of the night's greatest applause was saved for seven teachers from
Madison, Wisconsin, who traveled to the meeting to issue a statement of
solidarity. The teachers, members of Madison Teachers Inc., compared
conditions locally to those that that resulted in a weeks-long occupation
of the Wisconsin capitol building early last year.

"You have been there for us in our struggles," said one member of the
delegation as the others held their picket signs in a row behind her. "Now
we are here for you."

"One of the signs at the state capitol in Wisconsin said 'The Capitol is
my classroom,'" she said. "Everything I learned was printed on a picket
sign back in February of 2011."

A representative of the Letter Carriers Union also pledged union support.

The Chicago Teachers Solidarity campaign was formed earlier this year in
anticipation of a fall contract dispute. The group has participated in
informational pickets taking place this month outside early-opening
Chicago public schools.

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis filed a ten-day strike notice
with the Chicago Public Schools board Wednesday. On Thursday, the union
house of delegates chose September 10 as the start day of the strike,
should a deal not be reached in the meantime.

[olympiaworkers] My Sad Trip..... Brendan Phillips

Hi, I am sorry for reaching you rather too late due to our trip was UN-announced.My family and i took a short vacation and visited Philippines,everything was going on fine until last night when we got mugged by some unknown gunmen.All cash and credit cards was taken off us including some valuables,thank God they didn't hurt anyone or take our passports.Right now we are in a financial mess due to unable to settle bills owed at the hotel.We have reported to the local authorities and have also contacted the consulate but was told to hang on for couple of days before this mess can be straightened out and the worst of it all is our return flight leaves in few hours, At this time i really need your attention to resolve this mess and all i need is some loan to sort things out.I promise to ref refund you every dime owed as soon as i get home.Please write back so i can let you know how to get some money to me Brendan

[olympiaworkers] MAY DAY Spring Celebration

May Day Spring Celebration!
May Day, May 1st, has historically been a day of celebration for the coming of Spring and International Labor Day! In honoring both the green and red inherent in May Day, we strive as Occupy Olympia to make a meaningful event for our heart and soul. Music, community potluck and festivities in the evening starting at 4PM with the music of the Tilted Stilts. Picket the Wall Street banks starting at 4:30, as part of the campaign to close down Wall Street here & everywhere. Building our local community power we set a goal to collect 2400 petition signatures in 24 hours to put an initiative on the ballot for the people's power company over the foreign owned PSE corporation. Danny Kelly is playing at 5:45, followed by reggae in the park till the light fades away with High Ceiling. There may be a MAY POLE.

PETITIONERS ALL DAY NEEDED! Those honoring the general strike are welcome to gather in the park.
8:30AM: Morning Petitioners
Noon: Come picnic! No work, no school, come to the park!
1PM: Mid-Day Petitioners
4PM: Tilted Stilts Music!
4:30PM: Wall Street Bank pickets, meet at Sylvester Park for signs and materials. Small groups of less than ten at every Wall Street Bank in Olympia. There will be a pledge of respectful conduct, no property destruction and no masks.
5:30PM: Potluck! Tabling for local groups.
5:30PM: Afternoon Petitioners
5:45PM: Danny Kelly followed by High Ceiling with reggae in the park.
8PM: Clean up.
8:30PM: Evening Petitioners meet at Urban Onion Lobby
(Rain location across the street at the Urban Onion Ballroom, 7PM)
ADVANCED REGISTRATION encouraged for petitioners!
http://occupyolympia.org/mayday

Contact togetherolympia@gmail.com with questions.

Goals for this day.

• Build community power
  
• 2,400 petition signatures in 24 hours for the Thurston Public Power Initiative. http://thurstonpublicpower.org
• Bank pickets at all the Wall Street Banks in Oly in a way that is informative, respectful and is in an accordance with a sworn community contract that avoids intimidation, the use of masks, offensive language or aggressive behavior. We seek to first avoid and second deescalate all unnecessary confrontations with the management, employees, customers, other protesters and police. We will follow family friendly behavior and have a safety committee trained to make sure that the community contract is honored.
• Solidarity with the general strike in NYC and other cities elsewhere and encouraging folks to be at the park all day if they can. Many people may feel that they are in too precarious a position to take the day off in strike. Building a movement strong enough where workers are supported when they stand up for their rights against the 1% is a big part of why we are part of the occupy movement. Help out in anyway you can.
  
• Finally we will have an afternoon and evening of music, speakers, games and information. There will be a May Pole, flowers, puppets and fun. There will also be a community potluck. All folks are welcome to table during this event.

[olympiaworkers] Olympia May 19, Leonard Peltier Clemency March

PLEASE POST WIDELY

From: Olympia Leonard Peltier March and the Office of the NW Regional Organizer, LPDOC

IN SOLIDARITY WITH
THE LEONARD PELTIER HUMAN RIGHTS MARCH
NORTHWEST REGIONAL LEONARD PELTIER CLEMENCY MARCH
MAY 19, 2012, OLYMPIA, WA

MARCH: 12 NOON; Sylvester Park (off I-5 take exit 105 toward Port of Olympia, merge onto Plum St. SE, turn left onto Legion Way and the park is on the left).  

RALLY: WASHINGTON STATE CAPITAL: 1:00 pm.

  This march and rally is in support of the LEONARD PELTIER HUMAN RIGHTS MARCH which is going across the land and will be in Washington, DC on May 19, 2012. Both the Walk and this March is in support of clemency for Leonard Peltier.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that the real motivation behind both Wounded Knee II and the Oglala firefight, and much of the turmoil throughout Indian Country since the early 1970s, wasâ€"and isâ€"the mining companies’ desire to muffle AIM and all traditional Indian people, who soughtâ€"and still seekâ€"to protect the land, water, and air from their thefts and depredations. In this sad and tragic age we live in, to come to the defense of Mother Earth is to be branded a criminal.” --Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings â€"

Leonard Peltier (of the Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota Nations), long time Native Activist and member of the American Indian Movement. Leonard Peltier, an innocent man who was convicted for the 1975 shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. prosecutors have repeatedly admitted that they did not and cannot prove Peltier's guilt, and the appellate courts have cited numerous instances of investigative and prosecutorial misconduct in this case. As late as November 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that "…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed." The trial of the first two AIM members in this case were found not guilty for reason of self-defense.
  Behind the case of Leonard Peltier and the events that took place on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation is the continuing theft of Native land for energy corporations. High grade Uranium was found in the northwest corner of Pine Ridge. It was well known that the Lakota people would be unwilling to sell their land because they refused payment for the Black Hills. So a plan was carried out to suppress the traditional Oglala Lakota people and their supporters from the America Indian Movement. This lead to the Wounded Knee II Occupation, over 500 AIM members being indited on charges, a two and a half year reign of terror against the Oglala Lakota people, and the firefight near Oglala, that Leonard was charged with, that took place at the same time that a corrupt tribal Chairman was illegally signing away the part of Pine Ridge with the Uranium. The firefight took place as a means to divert attention and to suppress AIM.
  This regional march in Olympia is being organized in cooperation with: members of the Olympia Community, Media Island, The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, the Office of the Northwest Regional Organizer, LPDOC, Tacoma Chapter and Portland Chapter of the LPDOC.
  OLYMPIA COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS: This very important march will need strong Olympia community support. If your organization or group wants to help please start off by endorsing the Olympia Leonard Peltier Regional Clemency March. Please send notice of your endorsement, so that we can list you, to: Rick@mediaisland.org as soon as you can. Thank you.
  FOR MORE INFORMATION: In Olympia: Olympia Leonard Peltier March, c/o Media Island,  P.O. Box 7204, Olympia, WA 98507, (Please send donations to this address,  make checks payable to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee, mark them for Olympia March), e-mail: rick@media.island.org. Northwest Regional Organizer's Office, LPDOC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464, bayou@blarg.net. LPDOC: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info  Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
  RESOLUTIONS FOR CLEMENCY: Leonard needs resolutions for clemency from Tribes, Unions, Human Rights Organizations and others. Please send them to: bayou@blarg.net and www.whoisleonardpeltier.info. See a sample resolution at: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/resolution.htm  
LINKS
Back ground article on Leonard
http://zinelibrary.info/files/2012_case_of_leonard_peltier.pdf
Video: LPDOC NW Regional Organizer Arthur J. Miller speaking about the case history of political prisoner Leonard Peltier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvxqgIVRlo
LPDOC: Constitutional Violations in the Peltier Case:    http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/violations.htm

[olympiaworkers] Unexpected Visit Prompts Pizza Place to Pay Up

Friday, 17 February 2012 Seattle Solidarity Network

It was almost Christmas when Luis got in touch with SeaSol and he hadn't
been paid since before Halloween. A part-time pizza chef at a local
Pizzeria, Luis had not received a penny for his hard work for almost three
months. Instead, management had only given him three bad checks from
different banks and scores of broken promises.

As his bills continued to mount and his family kept asking him when he
would finally be getting paid Luis wondered what he should do. A
dishwasher at the restaurant had recently been slapped in the face and
subsequently fired for being too insistent about being paid on time. Luis
thought about not showing up to work until he got paid or just quitting
for good, but he didn't want to lose his job and knew he shouldn't have
to.

After joining SeaSol, he decided it might be possible to fight for his
stolen wages while continuing to work at the restaurant. On Friday,
January 13th, nearly thirty SeaSol members marched into the restaurant
with Luis on one of his off days to bring a little bad luck to the
thieving establishment.

While the owner was spotted hiding in the back Luis was eventually able to
deliver a letter to the general manager containing a simple message: pay
him everything he was owed within two weeks and do not retaliate against
him in any way or expect further action.

SeaSol received a phone call later the same evening from the general
manager apologizing for how she had behaved during the demand delivery
(screaming, swearing, and calling the police) and assuring us it was all
just a misunderstanding because Luis doesn't speak English. Most
importantly, she promised to pay him the next day.

She broke this promise and time started to run out fast as SeaSol and Luis
could not agree with the restaurant on exactly how much he was owed. As
the deadline of Friday, January 27th, approached SeaSol and Luis began
organizing an action for Saturday the 28th if the restaurant should fail
to pay. However, this action never happened.

When Luis got off work Friday night he was handed a check for $1,774.24.
And this check didn't bounce. There was a small discrepancy regarding an
additional $150 being owed, but once it was brought to their attention
management added this amount to the first up-to-date and in-full paycheck
Luis had received in months the following week. Luis got his money and
kept his job and as of this writing he is continuing to be paid on time
and in full. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible and stay
ready in case anything should change for the worse at Luis's workplace.

[olympiaworkers] Hospital workers across Edmonton walk out on wildcat strike

Feb 16 2012 libcom.org

Hundreds of support workers at the Royal Alexandra and University of
Alberta hospitals in Canada walked out this morning in a dispute over pay
and conditions.

So far dozens of surgeries have been cancelled as diagnostic imaging
clerks, cleaners and technicians downed tools at at least 12 different
sites at 7 AM.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees stated that they believed
workers at Mayerthorpe, Radway, Peace River and Claresholm were also
either taking or considering taking similar action.

One worker told the Edmonton Journal:
<blockquote> "They are constantly adding more duties to our work, without
an increase in pay… We're fed up with our conditions, our pay. Cost of
living is going up, but my pay is not." </blockquote>

Workers are still providing life and limb cover for emergencies, and
blamed their employer for provoking staff in negotiations around working
conditions.

The employer has applied for a Labour Relations Board order to force
strikers back to work. The Board is due to meet later today.

Please post updates or reports if you have more information, or if you are
taking part in the action.

[olympiaworkers] Uniting all of Oly, the state and the nation! Occupy Solidarity Social Forum, this weekend.

We are 24 hours away from opening night of the Occupy Solidarity Social Forum. 44 folks have registered locally so far with an astounding 118 registered from outside of Olympia! We expect that number to increase substantially by this weekend. Already folks nationally are beginning to echo this event with NOW DC calling for an Occupy Social Forum. You all have done an astounding job of opening up your doors and welcoming the movement coming from all over the country! http://ossf2012.org Have you registered yet? Registration helps the food committee, hard workers all of them, make sure that food is for everyone!

Friday starting at 7PM we are having a community potluck at the Labor Council, 906 Columbia St SW, welcoming the Occupy Express and all others who are arriving into town. This will be a time for socializing and networking and to get connected with housing and that kind of thing. Come join us and bring a dish.

Saturday, 8AM, Temple Beth Hatfiloh, 201 8th Ave SE, we will be checking folks in for registration. We are asking folks for $30 but it is pay what you can if you can. Local folks may want to wander in for specific workshops, we're fine with that but still register. Check out the schedule and see what you like of the over 50 that are being presented. With this many workshops everyone will find at least one interesting.

Saturday, 7PM, we have David Korten speaking with Dorli Rainey, look these two fine folks up to see their story. This is a split benefit for Olympia Fellowship Of Reconciliation, our allies, so we are asking $10 at the door but again pay what you can and some of you pay more.

Sunday we have more great workshops and serious discussion time. In the evening we have a great line up of performers back to back at the Olympia Ballroom. Doors open at 6:45 and we will start promptly at 7PM for the Musical Revolutionaries Danny Kelly, David Rovics & Jim Page; also newly added is Autococoon. Directly following that show in the same location will be our after party, featuring Musical Revolutionary underground hiphop artist Mic Crenshaw! If you haven't heard of him watch the youtube video of "Help Me!" from 2010 and listen to the lyrics. We'll have some local talent on that bill as well. There is a beer garden but the event is all ages and we ask folks to donate $10 but again, give what you can, it doesn't pay to be a real revolutionary and we want to support our artists who are!

Don't stay up too late because we need you all in the morning for Occupy President's Day! Rally begins gathering in Sylvester Park at 10AM, with music and speakers, we'll serve food and have an open mic at noon and march to the capitol at 12:45PM. There we have all sorts of fun we are looking at engaging in and feel free to be yourself. Some folks will be lobbying, not us, but we aren't against you giving your representative grief. Others will be doing street theater, die-ins, occu-pieing and confronting corporate lobbyists. We've got the steps of the "Temple of Justice" building facing the capitol till 2 but we won't have a sound system so be LOUD! There are lots of other groups around that day so starting at 2 you are on your own to collaborate with other good hearted folks on the Capitol Steps or do your own thing. Be back at Sylvester Park at 5PM for a debrief General Assembly! Maybe new folks will show and we'll re-march to the capitol and take it over! Who knows!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to participate together. Olympia has been encouraged by the Occupy movement and this is our chance to build on the parts we found engaging to us! I'm listing some links below here so that folks can find out more information.

Occupy Solidarity Social Forum: ossf2012@gmail.com, 360-742-0864, @ossf2012, http://ossf2012.org

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/occupysolidarity

FB events:  http://www.facebook.com/events/260209830707521  ;  http://www.facebook.com/events/326545830715710/  ;  http://www.facebook.com/events/220884014671849/  ; 

Occupy Olympia Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OccupyOlympia

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OccupyOlympia/

Occupy Olympia Listserves:

Main: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togetheroly

Occupy Solidarity: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/occupysolidarity

Health, medical, first aid: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togetherhealth

Food: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togetherfeed

Structure (shelter): https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togethershelter

Art (including performance): https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togetherart

Discussion: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/togethercommunicate

Medical Team: Olympians United for Community Health (O.U.C.H.) www.facebook.com/groups/276609785694824

Food Committee https://www.facebook.com/groups/189957447747931/

Art Group Calendar for Occupy Olympia http://www.my.calendars.net/artoccupyoly

Livestream: http://www.livestream.com/occupyolympia/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OccupyOlympia

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69293302@N04/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MediaOccupyOly

Olyblog: http://olyblog.net/blog/occupy-olympia-solidarity-global-occupywallstreet

[olympiaworkers] Victory in less than a week for newly reformed Glasgow Solidarity Network

Feb 10 2012 Libcom.org

Victory in less than a week for newly reformed Glasgow Solidarity Network

Collective direct action against a letting agent succeeds in the full
refund of an illegal administration fee.

Glasgow Solidarity Network has demonstrated how direct action gets the
goods with a successful conclusion to its first fight.

Two members of the Glasgow Anarchist Federation and their flatmate
discovered that it is illegal in Scotland for letting agents to charge
tenants fees apart from rent and deposits. Their letting agent, Martin &
Co, had charged the three of them them a substantial £250 "check-in" fee
before they had even paid their deposit. They first submitted an official
complaint but received only the receipt listing the fees they had paid as
a reply. Shelter advised them that they could go to the small claims
court, but the court fee would have been £65 with no guarantee of a win!
So instead, on 3rd February, they and 15 friends from the Glasgow
Solidarity Network delivered a letter in person to the head of the Martin
& Co West End office (to the amusement of other staff) giving the company
two weeks to return the money. They left quickly, took a picture outside
for posterity, and dispersed, some to the pub. The manager must have
called the police, because two officers came by the flat on Saturday to
have a friendly chat, but thanks to helpful information from the Scottish
Activist Legal Project, Solidarity Network members know their rights, and
the police left without even taking names.

On Tuesday 7th February, just four days later, the tenants received a
cheque for the money in full.

Don't let letting agents get away with charging illegal fees! Don't let
landlords take advantage of you! Join us!

[olympiaworkers] Greek hospital now under workers' control

Feb 5 2012 Libcom.org

Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and
have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.

The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control. The
workers at the hospital have declared that the long-lasting problems of
the National Health System (ESY) cannot be resolved.

The workers have responded to the regime's acceleration of fascism by
occupying the hospital and outing it under direct and complete control by
the workers. All decisions will be made by a 'workers general assembly'.

The hospital has stated that. "The government is not acquitted of its
financial responsibilities, and if their demands are not met, they will
turn to the local and wider community for support in every possible way to
save the hospital defend free public healthcare, to overthrow the
government and every neo-liberal policy."

From the 6th February, hospital workers will only deal with emergencies
until their wages, and monies owed have been paid. They are also demanding
a return to wage levels prior to the implementation of austerity measures.

The next general assembly will take place on the 13th, and a related press
conference will be given on the 15th.

The following statement has been issued by the workers:

1. We recognize that the current and enduring problems of Ε.Σ.Υ (the
national health system) and related organizations cannot be solved with
specific and isolated demands or demands serving our special interests,
since these problems are a product of a more general anti-popular
governmental policy and of the bold global neoliberalism.

2. We recognize, as well, that by insisting in the promotion of that kind
of demands we essentially participate in the game of the ruthless
authority. That authority which, in order to face its enemy - i.e. the
people- weakened and fragmented, wishes to prevent the creation of a
universal labour and popular front on a national and global level with
common interests and demands against the social impoverishment that the
authority's policies bring.

3. For this reason, we place our special interests inside a general
framework of political and economic demands that are posed by a huge
portion of the Greek people that today is under the most brutal capitalist
attack; demands that in order to be fruitful must be promoted until the
end in cooperation with the middle and lower classes of our society.

4. The only way to achieve this is to question, in action, not only its
political legitimacy, but also the legality of the arbitrary authoritarian
and anti-popular power and hierarchy which is moving towards
totalitarianism with accelerating pace.

5. The workers at the General Hospital of Kilkis answer to this
totalitarianism with democracy. We occupy the public hospital and put it
under our direct and absolute control. The Γ.N. of Kilkis will henceforth
be self-governed and the only legitimate means of administrative decision
making will be the General Assembly of its workers.

6. The government is not released of its economic obligations of staffing
and supplying the hospital, but if they continue to ignore these
obligations, we will be forced to inform the public of this and ask the
local government but most importantly the society to support us in any way
possible for: (a) the survival of our hospital (b) the overall support of
the right for public and free healthcare (c) the overthrow, through a
common popular struggle, of the current government and any other
neoliberal policy, no matter where it comes from (d) a deep and
substantial democratization, that is, one that will have society, rather
than a third party, responsible for making decisions for its own future.

7. The labour union of the Γ.N. of Kilkis will begin, from 6 February, the
retention of work, serving only emergency incidents in our hospital until
the complete payment for the hours worked, and the rise of our income to
the levels it was before the arrival of the troika (EU-ECB-IMF).
Meanwhile, knowing fully well what our social mission and moral
obligations are, we will protect the health of the citizens that come to
the hospital by providing free healthcare to those in need, accommodating
and calling the government to finally accept its responsibilities,
overcoming even in the last minute its immoderate social ruthlessness.

8. We decide that a new general assembly will take place, on Monday 13
February in the assembly hall of the new building of the hospital at 11
am, in order to decide the procedures that are needed to efficiently
implement the occupation of the administrative services and to
successfully realise the self-governance of the hospital, which will start
from that day. The general assemblies will take place daily and will be
the paramount instrument for decision making regarding the employees and
the operation of the hospital.

We ask for the solidarity of the people and workers from all fields, the
collaboration of all workers' unions and progressive organizations, as
well as the support from any media organization that chooses to tell the
truth. We are determined to continue until the traitors that sell out our
country and our people leave. It's either them or us!
The above decisions will be made public through a news conference to which
all the Mass Media (local and national) will be invited on Wednesday
15/2/2012 at 12.30. Our daily assemblies begin on 13 February. We will
inform the citizens about every important event taking place in our
hospital by means of news releases and conferences. Furthermore, we will
use any means available to publicise these events in order to make this
mobilization successful.

We call
a) Our fellow citizens to show solidarity to our effort,
b) Every unfairly treated citizen of our country in contestation and
opposition, with actions, against his'/her's oppressors,
c) Our fellow workers from other hospitals to make similar decisions,
d) the employees in other fields of the public and private sector and the
participants in labour and progressive organizations to act likewise, in
order to help our mobilization take the form of a universal labour and
popular resistance and uprising, until our final victory against the
economic and political elite that today oppresses our country and the
whole world.

[olympiaworkers] Leonard Peltier was from the Northwest

Please post widely

From the Tacoma Chapter of the LPDOC

THE NORTHWEST UNITED IN SOLIDARITY!
  
  LEONARD PELTIER WAS FROM THE NORTHWEST. Leonard had been living in Seattle and was a member of Northwest AIM. He had been involved in a number of local struggles including the occupation of Fort Lawton. When the traditional Oglala Lakota people were suffering under a reign of terror after Wounded Knee II, over 66 of them murdered, many more wounded, villages shot up and so on. Northwest AIM answered a plea by  Oglala Lakota Elders and help them survive. On the very day in which a part of  Oglala Lakota was being illegally signed away to the U.S. government, the FBI attacked the Northwest AIM encampment and a firefight took place.
  The first two AIM members to go on trial, and were found not guilty for reason of self-defense, were from the northwest. The one AIM member who died upon that day, Joe Stuntz Killsright was from Port Angeles. We of the Northwest need to let everyone know that we will not forget and that we will stand strong for our own. Leonard is in prison for the people and we need to be out here for him!
  On Feb. 4, 2012, this coming Saturday, is the INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER, we here in the northwest, Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and other towns in unity, have organized a Regional Leonard Peltier Clemency March and Rally in Tacoma. We need the help of all of you to make this a strong statement that northwest people stand with Leonard in solidarity. Everyone of you is important.
  Please northwest people join with us as we join with people around the world. The Northwest region of the U.S. (Tacoma, Portland, Olympia, Seattle and other towns united together) march in Tacoma, WA;  Toronto and Vancouver; Canada; Binghamton, UK; Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, Germany; Brussels and Antwerp Belgium; Dublin, Ireland; Boulder, CO, San Jose, CA; Gullup, NM; Los Angeles, CA; Albuquerque, NM; San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; Fresno, CA; Buffalo, NY; Macon and Decatur, GA; and other places.
  This is the most important march and rally so far in the northwest for Leonard. If you have marched with us before, please join us again. If you have ever thought about supporting Leonard, now is the time to do it. Please join us, please bring your family and friends. Thank you.

As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist.
-- Sitting Bull

INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
NW REGIONAL MARCH AND RALLY FOR CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 4, 2012, TACOMA, WA.

12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
  
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INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER NW MARCH AND RALLY: FEB. 4, TACOMA.  12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.

  SPEAKERS:
Co-MCs
Matilaja: Yu’Pik Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 38 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Steve Hapy: Long time Leonard Peltier and Native struggles activist, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Leonard Peltier Honor Song:
AIM Warrior Society Drum
Opening:
Dorothy Ackerman: Lakota Elder
Drum:
Albert Combs and Coastal Hand Drum Singers
Welcoming:
Deeahop Conway, Puyallup Tribal member, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Leonard's case and up-date;
Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC,  long time union member and human rights activist
Keynote Speaker:
Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Elder, Life long friend of Leonard Peltier, Grand Mother, Great Grand Mother
Chester Earl: Puyallup Tribal member
Zoltan Grossman: Evergreen State College faculty in Geography and Native Studies, in Olympia. former board member of Midwest Treaty Network in Wisconsin.
Decolonization:
Claudia Serrato
Unity:
Michael One Road: Portland Chapter LPDOC
Closing words:
David Duenas: Puyallup Tribal Member

  Feb. 4, 2012 Regional March in Tacoma Facebook event pages please sign that you are coming and please invite your friends.
http://www.facebook.com/events/#!/events/163763897043790/
http://www.facebook.com/events/#!/events/179938242097693/

  RESOLUTIONS FOR CLEMENCY: Leonard needs resolutions for clemency from Tribes, Unions, Human Rights Organizations and others. See a sample resolution at:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/resolution.htm
  
  For donations: Please make checks payable to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415.
  
  Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

TACOMA CHAPTER, LPDOC, P.O. BOX 5464, TACOMA, WA 98415-0464. bayou@blarg.net

ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,

NORTHWEST PHONE AND E-MAIL ZAP, FEBRUARY 6 TO 10, 2012
White House Comments Line - 202-456-1111; 202-456-1112
E-mail:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Message: Northwest people support clemency for Leonard Peltier

  It is important to keep phone calls, e-mails, and letters going to the White House during the clemency campaign. But we want to make sure that it is very clear that the northwest supports clemency for Leonard Peltier, so we have called for a phone and e-mail Zap (a phone Zap is when a lot of people call around the same time), the week after the regional march and rally. Please northwest folks show your support of Leonard Peltier. Thank you.