United Workers

The Media Mobilizing Project recently followed Tavis Smiley and Cornel West on a national Poverty Tour to make visible the plight and fight of the poor in the U.S. Last week, the Tavis Smiley show aired a five part series created by the Media Mobilizing Project encapsulating the stories, lessons, and struggles shared along this eye-opening journey. Ending on a truly inspiring note, the last segment focuses on groups and communities organizing to build a movement to end poverty. It includes interviews and discussion with The Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, Domestic Workers United in New York, Direct Action Welfare Group in West Virginia and Iraq Veterans Against the War, The Vermont Workers Center, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and yours truly, the United Workers. Need a dose of inspiration? Check it out.

Watch The Poverty Tour Part 5 on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.

To learn more about the Media Mobilizing Project go here or come to their Saturday workshop at the Fair Development Conference.

To watch the rest of the videos in this series, go to http://www.pbs.org

Participate in making the Fair Development Conference possible! We are looking for volunteers to help with everything from set-up to childcare to planning Sunday’s action. Pitch in for a few hours, or the whole weekend.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We are excited to announce the featured speakers who will address the conference Friday evening. Our guests represent diverse perspectives in the movement for economic human rights for all, and we are proud that these three inspiring leaders will be joining us to share key lessons and analysis for building power.

Marian Kramer has been an organizer and leader in poor people’s movements, including the welfare rights movement since 1966. She is the former chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. She lives in Detroit, Michigan, where she continues to fight for human rights and an end to poverty.

Janaina Stronzake is a leader of Movimento Sem Terra (MST), or the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers‘ Movement. The MST has led more than 2,500 occupations of large estates in Brazil, leading to the settlement of around 370,000 families on the land. Janaina’s work focuses on the struggle of landless women.

Jan Rehmann teaches philosophy and social theories at Union Theological Seminary and at the Free University in Berlin. He is co-editor of the Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism (HKWM), and his most recent books are Theories of Ideology and Critique of Postmodernist Nietzscheanism.

FOOD FOR… DINNER!

We wouldn’t let you go hungry while you’re listening to our great speakers. Community dinner will be served at 7pm on Friday evening for all conference participants. (That’s one reason why it’s so important to register now.) And we’ve got a treat in store – the dinner will be made by United Workers members, many of whom are cooks in downtown restaurants. Why go to dinner in the Inner Harbor when the food can come to you?

SPREAD THE WORD

Please spread the word about the conference! We are dedicated to making this a grassroots conference, and we need your help to encourage members of your community to participate. Please forward this e-mail widely, or click here to invite friends on Facebook.

DETAILS

Friday Oct. 28, 2011: Dinner, welcome, and keynote

Saturday October 29: Workshops and discussions, film screening and dinner, and dance party.

Sunday October 30: Action event – check your e-mail for more updates on our action soon!

Questions or comments? Please e-mail us at conference@unitedworkers.org

Now that the summer is winding down, we’re kicking off another series of Strategic Dialogues. Join students, faith leaders, artists, media makers, community organizers and United Workers leaders in the next installment of this series. With unemployment and jobs on the tip of everyone’s tongues, we decided to take on this issue. Through a multi-media presentation and discussion, we’ll unpack the figures and the myths, examine how we got here and discuss the value of work with dignity. After taking on this heavy subject, we’ll reach back for lessons and inspiration from our own Maryland history to see how past leaders have organized to demand respect, dignity and end to exploitation: from unemployed sailors in Baltimore during the Great Depression to Abolitionist Movement that helped bring about an end to slavery.

The Strategic Dialogues are an opportunity to come together across many barriers to share food, culture, ideas, and energy. So join us once again for an exciting Strategic Dialogue!

What: Strategic Dialogue
When: Saturday, September 10th, 10:30 AM-2:30 PM
Where: “2640″ St. Paul St. (aka St. John’s Church)
*Lite breakfast and lunch provided

To RSVP, call 410-230-1998 or email ashley@unitedworkers.org

The deadline to submit a workshop proposal for the Fair Development Conference is Monday, August 15th. So far there are some pretty exciting proposals in the works. Everything from the intersection of human rights and economic development to media and movement building, from successful worker-led corporate accountability campaigns to sustainable worker-owned cooperatives, from nuts & bolts trainings on organizing and developing an effective campaign to analysis of the current political economy. But there is still time to add to this growing program and we encourage you to take part in making the Fair Development Conference a powerful and comprehensive national conversation. To learn more about submitting a proposal, go here.

Also, we’ve just set-up on online registration for the Fair Development Conference. So let us know you’re coming and register today!

We encourage you to participate in the Fair Development Conference by submitting a proposal for a workshop, panel, training or presentation. The themes we would like to highlight include:

Analysis of current development practices, with in-depth looks at the economic crisis, service-sector Poverty-zones, mountaintop removal, prisons, corporate monopolies, etc.

Solutions that encompass the alternative world we want to create, such as communal ownership of resources; human rights to dignity, housing, healthcare and education; equitable and sustainable use of public resources; etc.

Strategies for movement building, including organizing models and skills, strategic campaign development, creative tactics, alternative media, faith-based approaches, etc.

We welcome a mixture of formats and proposals from both individuals and organizations. There will be 60- and 90-minute sessions. Based on space and time, we might suggest collaboration if proposals are similar. In your proposal please include a title with a one-sentence description, your partners in organizing, a longer description of the workshop and how your idea relates to the conference themes, session format, and who the workshop is geared towards.

In discussing this vision of Fair Development, we seek to create a space that puts these values into practice. The conference will emphasize the full participation of all attendants through dialogue and exchange, popular education presentations, multiple media formats and documentation, arts and cultural expression, inclusion of faith perspectives, Spanish/English interpretation, childcare, and youth engagement.

Deadline: Monday, August 15, 2011

Please email proposals to conference@unitedworkers.org

Or mail to

United Workers

P.O. Box 41547

Baltimore, MD 21203

Download, Request for Proposals (PDF)

Be a part of the planning!

To learn more about how you can participate in the planning of the Fair Development Conference, come to the Community Interest Meeting on July 20th or email conference@unitedworkers.org

The current economic crisis has made more apparent the growing numbers of people struggling to meet their basic needs—food, housing, healthcare, work with dignity and education. Corporations and government leaders claim that the solution is an economic development model that hands power and public resources over to private entities in the name of job creation.

In Baltimore, this development model takes the form of massive government hand-outs to companies like Wal-Mart and developers at tourist hot-spots like the Inner Harbor. While wealth is consolidated in the hands of a few at the top, workers at these Poverty-zones are denied living wages, healthcare and access to education. This is not unique to Baltimore.  Poverty-zone Development runs rampant throughout the country in both city-centers and rural areas, as controlling forces advocate a kind of development that disregards public needs with empty promises of economic growth and job creation. At the same time, local community struggles highlight the need for an alternative model of development that respects human rights, maximizes public benefits and is sustainable. And to that end, participants in those struggles are using innovative methods to organize, develop leadership, and build power.

The Fair Development Conference is a gathering meant to increase our understanding of these challenging times, connect our various fronts of struggle, share movement-building strategies and develop a collective vision for “Fair Development.” The United Workers and its community partners are calling on grassroots organizers, low-wage workers, academics, faith leaders, artists, activists, students and teachers from across the country to join us in exploring the possibilities for Fair Development in our communities.

Join the United Workers  and community for a fun filled day in the historic Patterson Park! There will be food, games and music for all to enjoy. Tickets are $7 which includes one free meal and games (children under 4 eat free). Individual food items can also be bought separately if you don’t have a ticket. All the proceeds go towards helping the United Workers in our movement to end poverty. So bring your family and friends and enjoy a wonderful summer Saturday with us!

To RSVP and buy a ticket in advance, email robin@unitedworkers.org or call 443-845-6455.

What: FAMILY FUN DAY!
When: Saturday, June 18th, 12 PM-6 PM
Where: Pavilion 2 at Patterson Park (Patterson Park Ave. side of park)

Bus lines: 10, 11, 13, 30

Join students, faith leaders, artists, media makers, community organizers and United Workers leaders in our next Strategic Dialogue! Last December, the United Workers kicked off a series of Strategic Dialogues to involve allies in high level conversations about the Campaign for Fair Development, to build a broader analysis around the problems that affect us, and discuss how all of us can be effective leaders in the movement to secure economic human rights for all.

At this next Strategic Dialogue, we’ll examine the exciting uprisings and protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and Wisconsin, draw the connections to our struggles, and discuss what these examples can teach us about what it is going to take to build a movement to end poverty. We’ll also break-out into groups to begin laying the groundwork for working committees around Media & Culture, Faith, and Leadership Development. These committees are an opportunity for allies to work closely with the United Workers in the fight for Fair Development. All are invited and encouraged to participate in this initial conversation regardless of their participation in the committee. So come be a part of yet another critical and engaging dialogue about how together we can make human rights history!

What: Strategic Dialogue #3
When: Saturday, April 16th, 10:30 AM-2:30 PM
Where: 2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21218
*Lite breakfast and lunch provided

To RSVP, call 410-230-1998 or email ashley@unitedworkers.org

We’ve been told again and again that sports and politics don’t mix, that games are just games and athletes should just “shut up and play.” But according to Nation magazine sports editor Dave Zirin, this notion is just flat-out wrong. In Not Just a Game, the powerful new documentary based on his bestselling book The People’s History of Sports in the United States, Zirin argues that far from providing merely escapist entertainment, American sports have long been at the center of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time. In a fascinating tour of the good, the bad, and the ugly of American sports culture, Zirin first traces how American sports have glamorized militarism, racism, sexism, and homophobia, then excavates a largely forgotten history of rebel athletes who stood up to power and fought for social justice beyond the field of play. The result is as deeply moving as it is exhilarating: nothing less than an alternative history of political struggle in the United States as seen through the games its people have played.

As a passionate commentator on sports and politics, Dave Zirin has written about the United Workers Living Wages Campaign at Camden Yards in the Nation and his recent book Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love. Our paths crossed yet again this past Fall when he wrote an article for the Nation about ESPN Zone workers standing up to parent company Disney for shutting down without warning to workers. To read this most recent article, go to http://www.thenation.com

Proceeds from the screening will go to United Workers and Baltimore Algebra Project, a youth-led organization fighting for the right to a quality education. The film will be followed by a discussion and question & answer period. $10 donation requested.

What: Not Just a Game: Power, Politics & American Sports with Dave Zirin
When: Tuesday, March 29, 7:30 PM
Where: 2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21223

Watch a trailer of Not Just A Game here . To see more from Dave Zirin, go to http://www.edgeofsports.com/

We are pleased to announce that the amazing singer Pam Parker will be performing Sunday, February 27 at our Annual Human Rights Dinner, along with guitar virtuoso, Richard Miller. Pam Parker is an incredibly talented and versatile singer, performing Blues, Swing, Jazz, Folk, and R & B. Richard Miller has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music. We are also pleased to say that it is not too late to reserve your spot today!

The Human Rights Dinner is a special evening to take pride and joy in movement building through culture, food, and community. Movement building is hard work, no doubt about it. It takes the efforts of many people working together carrying out small, often unseen, but intentional acts everyday to build the power needed to secure a world that respects the inherent worth of all people. That’s why once a year, we throw this dinner to celebrate where we’ve come so far and to ask our community to take part in sustaining this necessary leadership development and organizing work. So, come enjoy a delicious gourmet dinner prepared by Generations for Peace & Democracy, wonderful music, and presentations by United Workers leaders!

Human Rights Dinner

Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 5 PM

Presbytery of Baltimore—5400 Loch Raven Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21239

Tickets $20

To reserve you spot and pay at the door, email info@unitedworkers.org or call 410-230-1998

Or

Buy your tickets online, http://humanrightsdinner.eventbrite.com

On September 15, 2008, the day the U.S. fell into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, filmmakers Sílvia Leindecker & Michael Fox set off on a trip to hear people across the U.S reflect on this crisis. Two years later with Wall Street back to pre-crash levels, the filmmakers set out once again to document this ever deepening crisis.

“Crossing the American Crisis” documents the stories of workers, truck drivers, farmers, homeless, ex-felons, natural disaster survivors, indigenous, immigrants, and residents from coast to coast—covering nearly 40 states across the nation. Together their stories reveal a broad human rights crisis- in housing, education, work with dignity, health care, etc. But in the midst of this crisis, Leindecker and Fox talk to people who are fighting back and organizing for a more just and equitable world. United Workers leaders Luis Larin, Michael Coleman, and Veronica Dorsey are featured, as well as the Vermont Worker’s Center; the Poverty Initiative; LA’s Bus Rider’s Union; Oakland’s Green Jobs Now; and other grassroots groups and social justice leaders from across the country.

To learn more about this powerful documentary and the tour schedule, go to http://www.crossingthecrises.com/

In response to the first anniversary of Citizens United vs F.E.C. US Supreme Court Decision, The Backbone Campaign and Coffee Party USA organized a Movement for the People Rally and and two-day summit rally on January 21 and 22.

Activists, grassroots organizers, academics, and policy experts from across the country came to share their struggles for corporate accountability and strategies for building power. C-SPAN covered the first day of the For the People Summit. That evening a panel of organizers and activists told the story of how they’re fighting back, from the Indigenous Environmental Network’s efforts to highlight the devastation caused by the Alberta Tar Sands to City Life/Vida Urbana’s innovative organizing in Boston around the foreclosure crisis.

In this video, Veronica Dorsey with the United Workers talks about how organizing around transformative human rights values led to our first human rights victory at Camden Yards and how it is key to building a community of leaders that will secure a Fair Development Agreement at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Movement.

As always, we enjoyed another opportunity to see our friends with the Backbone Campaign, forge new relationships, and learn about all the exciting organizing going on across the country. Through these spaces for reflection and sharing, we see how the Campaign for Fair Development connects to so many of these local struggles for human rights standards, public benefits, and sustainability in the face of growing corporate power. To see more videos, photos and coverage from the For the People Summit, visit http://www.backbonecampaign.org

Last Thursday, February 3rd, Gimmie Shelter presented the United Worker with a gift. It was a gift of labor, love and solidarity. Gimmie Shelter threw a “Conscious Party,” an incredible benefit show for the United Workers at 2640. Over twenty artists, poets, and musicians performed in order to raise money for our New Organizers Program, a university level paid training program for members to study, reflect, and develop community organizing skills. As a part of the New Organizers Sustainers Fund, allies have been hosting house parties and organizing events to both sustain this program and move the United Workers towards greater freedom from foundations. The Conscious Party was a creative twist on this model of community-driven fundraising, fusing art & culture with fundraising.

With our deepest appreciation, we thank Ron Williams, Marcus Colasurdo, Alan Barysh, and everyone with Gimmie Shelter for organizing this amazing event and for their commitment to grassroots movement building. We’d also like to thank the incredible artists that performed: 901 Arts Drum Line, the Barrage Band Orchestra, Mark Sanders, Christina Van Norman, Sam Schmidt, Virginia Crawford, Marcus Colasurdo, In the Clear, Maximum Rain, Michael Monroe, Woody Lissauer, Alan Barysh, RAM, Dick Ochs, Katie Lautar, and Tom Swiss. We were touched by this expression of solidarity and look forward to continuing to work together towards a world in which all of our human potential can be realized and celebrated. Thanks.

Check out these videos from the “Conscious Party” shot by independent videographer, Maurice Morales. To watch more of Morales’s videos of many of the performances and speeches, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/maurice11

Gimmie Shelter founder, Marcus Colasurdo, speaks to the power of art and movement building and why Gimmie Shelter organized a benefit for the United Workers.

Whether marching alongside us through the harbor on Our Harbor Day or raising the roof at 2640, the Barage Band is always down for a good struggle.

Gimmie Shelter, a grassroots cultural organization working to address the needs of poor communities, is throwing a Conscious Party to benefit the United Workers. As part of their mission, Gimmie Shelter seeks to sustain grassroots organizing for economic and social justice. But money is not the only thing we’ll be raising at this fundraiser, we’ll be raising the roof, raising our spirits, and most importantly our consciousness. Don’t miss this incredibly line-up of entertainment. Join us for a night of music and movement building!

What: Conscious Party: Gimmie Shelter Fundraiser for the United Workers
When: Thursday, February 3rd, 7 PM-10 PM
Where: 2640 St. Paul St.
Ticket: $5

Featured Entertainment Includes!!!!

The 901 Arts Drum Line, Mark Sanders, Woody Lissauer, Christina Van Norman, In the Clear, Marcus Colasurdo, Alan Barysh, Katie Lautar, Michael Monroe, Suzanne X, Sam Schmidt, Virginia Crawford, Maximum Rain, RAM (Radical Artist Movement) and the Barrage Band Orchestra!!!

For more information, contact Marcus Colarsurdo with Gimmie Shelter at 443-627-8774, or the United Workers at info@unitedworkers.org or 410-230-1998.

Listen to our latest segment of “End Poverty Radio” to get a feel for tomorrow’s action and hear from harbor workers talk about why we’re staging this “Human Rights Hunt” and what the Fight for Fair Development means to us.