United Workers

United Workers Annual Human Rights Dinner is our way of honoring the tremendous leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to social justice and human rights in Baltimore. This event marks our Poverty Scholars graduation. This year we are thrilled to be able to share with you the tremendous work of Armando Tema and Raquel Rojas. Armando is graduating from the program, completing his three years of study and Raquel is advancing to her final year in the program.

Join us April 22^nd at 5pm Presbytery of Baltimore

5400 Loch Raven Blvd. Baltimore

RSVP Now!

Buy your tickets online by going to our eventbrite page

or

Let us know you’ll be coming and paying at the door, 410-230-1998 or info@unitedworkers.org

The Value of an Education

We believe that movements for transformative change are built, not born, by many many leaders united around human rights values. Our goal for 2012 is to recruit 50 new monthly Sustainers, these are people in the community who want to contribute monthly to sustaining this growing movement.  Becoming a Sustainer ensures that the United Workers can continue to carry out the type of long-term leadership development, like the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program. If you can’t attend the Human Rights Dinner, the next best thing is to become a Sustainer or make a one time contribution. You can do so by going here!

Armando reflects on his personal transformation and experience in United Workers Poverty Scholars program:

After coming to the U.S, I experienced many things that were worse than what I experienced in Guatemala. Back in Guatemala I only worked for 8 to 9 hours a day, but here I was working 12 to 14 hours per day under unfair conditions for what I thought was a “good salary.”  But I thought that was just how things work here.  I worked with the same boss for a year until he began paying us with bad checks.  As we pressured him to pay us, he decided to fire us.  I became unemployed, and let me tell you, that was very hard. I thought I’d never find a job; I was sad and worried about all of my expenses. I had to find another job quickly, which led me to work at removing dirt in a basement for 15 days.   I received nothing, not even a penny, because the contractor claimed he himself had not been paid for the job but we never knew if it was true or not. 

I met others with similar experiences and they said there is nothing you can do and that I just had to accept it. I spent a year working just 2 to 3 days per week and when I worked one full week I wasn’t sure if I would get paid for everything.  This was how I lived, day to day. Until one morning I met two people who told me about justice and some ways to solve these problems.   I was unsure if I could actually contribute to change the situation and I did not understand how.  But I thought, “Well, what can I lose if I decide to learn a little bit more about what these people do?” That day I learned, 1st of all what was happening to all workers was not legal, 2^nd, that it was all too common and 3rd that there was something to do to eliminate these situations. I thought to myself, “this is interesting and I want to learn more about what to do.”  I don’t want to work hard for free. 

My difficult and bitter experiences led me to be part of United Workers and strive for the possibility of change; this was the hope that I was looking for. Now I say we must prepare to fight for justice. For over 4 years United Workers has led me where I could not reach by myself. 

You might ask me what place I’m in now.  My answer to that is a place where I better understand the meaning of unity, organizing, justice, solidarity and cooperation. I met other people in different places with the same struggles, but specifically connected with families within our community. I’ve also spent three years studying and reflecting on politics, poverty economy, culture, history, morality and justice, etc. All of these things have impacted and changed my life. They have allowed me to see things from another point of view and see the reality that another society is possible and that united we can achieve the change.  I understand that we have common problems and we can find common solutions if we work together as brothers and sisters. We must leave behind all those obstacles that prevent unity and organization; and that through the unity of the community will build strength and power.

Join us for our 7th Annual Human Rights Dinner (co-hosted by Generations for Peace and Democracy) and another evening of great food, soulful music, inspiring presentations, and good conversation on Sunday, April 22nd at 5 PM at the Presbytery of Baltimore.

Buy your tickets Now Online!

What: Human Rights Dinner
When: Sunday, April 22nd at 5pm
Where: Presbytery of Baltimore (5400 Loch Raven BLVD, Baltimore, MD 21239)

The Human Rights Dinner is an opportunity to step back from the day to day organizing and mounting campaign actions to reflect on the resource that truly sustains the United Workers. Leaders. It is leaders that carry out the vision of the United Workers to help build a movement to end poverty by uniting, organizing, developing other leaders and contributing what they can financially to this work. Making a donation to the United Workers is not an act of charity, but an act of leadership. It will take the collective effort of leaders from all backgrounds to meet the United Workers long-term goal of becoming free from dependency on foundations.

As a step towards this long-term goal, we have set a goal of getting 50 new monthly Sustainers in 2012. Just at our last Strategic Dialogue, six people led this effort by becoming Sustainers. We hope to do even better at the Human Rights Dinner! But there’s no need to wait for the Human Rights Dinner, you can sign up online today to become a Sustainer.

We look forward to celebrating with you at the Human Rights Dinner!

For more information, email todd@unitedworkers.org

Join us for another exciting Strategic Dialogue on Saturday, March 10th. This time we’ve collaborated with the Poverty Initiative in putting together an incredible series of discussions. With a rich Abolitionist history in Maryland, we’ll be traveling back to examine this transformative moment in our country’s past.

Not unlike our times, profound political and economic inequalities preceding the Civil War set the stage for a battle, on the field, but more importantly in the hearts and minds of Americans. We’ll discuss the important role of religion and faith in arguments both for and against slavery. Finally, we’ll look to leaders like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown to guide us along our own journey on the Underground Railroad to freedom from poverty.

While the United Workers has for a long time looked to Harriet Tubman for inspiration as a Marylander and movement leader, coincidentally Frederick Douglass also has a connection to the Human Rights Zone Campaign as a former harbor worker himself! So, don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, share, and grow together as leaders in the fight for human rights for all.

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

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

Leadership Day and the Human Rights Dinner are once a year back-to-back events celebrating leadership in the movement to end poverty.

Leadership Day is a day for members to come together, share updates, plan ahead, and have our Leadership Council election. Harbor workers, stadium workers, friends and family gathered at the Presbytery of Baltimore. We reflected on where we’ve come, the victories we’ve won and the current fight for Fair Development at the Inner Harbor. We assessed the steps we’ve taken, from declaring the Inner Harbor a “Human Rights Zone,” to taking our demands to the top of the profit chain to harbor developers, Cordish and GGP, from staging a community-wide participation play on “Our Harbor Day,” to taking the campaign on the road with Poverty-Zone Reality Tours to New York and Chicago, from demanding that the ESPN Zone do the right thing, to calling out Hooter’s and the Cheesecake Factory out on rampant wage-theft practices. But Leadership Day is not just a reflection on specific actions that we’ve taken, but the leadership that has got us there and the leadership that will be needed to both secure human rights demands for all harbor workers and build a larger movement to end poverty led by the poor.

We often look for lessons in human rights history, like when we prepared for the Living Wages Hunger Strike, we looked to Cesar Chavez and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. This Leadership Day, we looked at the victory for human dignity that was secured by the people of Egypt. We discussed the unity, courage, and willing sacrifice demonstrated by their collective actions to overthrow an oppressive dictator. When we see people unite and organize under incredibly challenging circumstances, it gives us hope that we too can make human rights history, again, and that each of us has a critical role in making this history. GGP and Cordish might not be listening now, but we have faith that they will come to the table with workers, because we will not stop exposing the human rights violations, uniting and organizing ourselves, and connecting with consumers, faith leaders, students, and other community allies.

These conversations prepared us to take on the task us electing new members to the Leadership Council. The Leadership Council is the all member decision-making body of the United Workers and each year at Leadership Day, members elect or re-elect leaders to this body. This year, five members were elected to the Leadership Council bringing the Leadership Council to a total of 19. After the election, we broke up into small groups to plan how everyone can participate in the United Workers as leaders through our “End Poverty Radio” Program, membership-driven fundraising and community outreach.

With little time between Leadership Day and the Human Rights Dinner, we all quickly worked together to transform the room into a vibrant dinning hall. Smells of delicious Creole cooking filled the air as Generations for Peace and Democracy, who catered the evening, began setting up the buffet table. As guests arrived, they were greeted by the lovely sounds of singer and labor organizer, Pam Parker, and guitarist, Richard Miller. Members, family, and community allies mingled, talked, shared stories, and laughed together over an incredible meal.

Janice Watson, a leader from the ESPN Zone, opened the dinner with a poem she wrote called, “Rich Man, Poor Man.” Her poem touched on the “Rich Man’s” unwillingness to look at the “Poor Man” and acknowledge him as a person, valuing his personal possessions above human life. It had a ring of familiarity to it, as Cordish and GGP have failed to acknowledge the well-documented cases of human rights abuses at the harbor and work with workers to make the Inner Harbor a place that benefits all.

Juan Paredes, a Cheesecake Factory cook, and Michael Coleman, Leadership Organizer, gave a Human Rights Zone Campaign update showing photos and videos. They also laid-out what’s next with the release of our Fair Development Report in April and our Fair Development Conference in the Fall.

Then we came to the graduation ceremony for the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program. Raquel Rojas, former Cheesecake Factory cook, graduated her first year of the Poverty Scholars Program and entered into her first year of the New Organizers Program. Armando Tema completed his second year, graduating into the final year of New Organizers. Both read speeches about their experiences in the program and the analysis and skills developed through this leadership development program. Raquel spoke about the challenges of coming to this country and having to leave her children behind so that she could make a better life for them. She connected the organizing at the harbor that she is doing as part of making the world a better place not only for her children, but for future generations. Armando spoke about how he used to believe that he was just a low-wage worker, who, despite his hard work, was to blame for his own poverty. Now after careful reflection on the root causes of poverty, he knows he is a leader and that all of us have the potential to be leaders in this movement.

But the major highlight was Veronica Dorsey, who became the very first person to complete all three years of the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program. She reflected on her journey as a leader: the challenges, the triumphs, and lessons learned. She ended her speech with her own catchy rendition of Curtis Mayfield’s classic, “People Get Ready.” But when she approached Luis Larin expecting to get her diploma, she was told she had to wait just a little bit longer. Rev. Roger Scott Powers of the Light St. Presbyterian Church came up to give Veronica a special gift, a copy of the Poverty & Justice Bible, to lead her in her organizing. But even with bible in hand, she didn’t get her diploma just yet. There was one last thing. A slide show with music played showing photos of Veronica from every event she took part in, from her very first protest at Camden Yards with short hair and coordinated yellow outfit to her at the Human Rights Zone March with her arm in a cast shouting into a megaphone. The room rejoiced in her accomplishments and then the moment finally came and she got that diploma!

It was really hard to top that, but we kept going to announce this year’s Human Rights Champions. Each year one member and one community ally is selected. From the membership, we strayed a bit from tradition. Instead of acknowledging just one person, the Human Rights Champion Award went to the ESPN Human Rights Committee, because it was their incredible unity and familial love for one another that made them such a force. On the community front, we honored Ron Kipling Williams, a long-time reporter and cultural producer, who has demonstrated time and time again his commitment to grassroots movement building.

At the end of this spirited program, Peter Sabonis with Legal Aid asked everyone in the room to help in sustaining the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program by making a one time donation or becoming a monthly sustainer. This Human Rights Dinner we raised over $3,500, almost doubling what we raised last year. Our goal is for the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program to be completely sustained by donations and free from dependency on foundations. So, far we are a little more than a third of the way towards sustaining one Poverty Scholar in the program. To help us get closer to this goal, you can now make a one-time contribution or become a monthly sustainer by donating online.

A movement is a community of leaders organized around shared values that builds on the actions and sacrifices both large and small of each person in that community. It was a marathon of a day that left us with our hearts and minds filled with the reminder of our power and potential. A power and potential that can unite harbor workers and connect with others around the shared fight for Fair Development!

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

The United Workers along with twenty eight organizations from the US gathered at Union Theological Seminary in New York City to participate in the Poverty Initiative’s 7th Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialogue. From West Virginia to South Africa, the Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialogues have become a space for organizations across the country and even the world to come together to learn, share, and inspire each other towards “Reigniting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign.”

For four days, we met in sessions to study and discuss the impact of the economic crisis on our communities and our organizing, the lessons learned from past movements, and how we can develop a unified strategy towards building a social movement to end poverty. We shared lessons from our local work and heard from the NEPA Organizing Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Vermont Worker’s Center. On the third day, S’bu Zikode, President of the Shackdwellers’ Movement in South Africa, spoke to us about their leadership development processes that have led to a growing movement of poor people in South Africa demanding their human right to housing and freedom from poverty. Chris Nizza and Dara Kell from Sleeping Giant screened a sneak peek of “Dear Mandela,” a soon to be released documentary about the Shackdwellers Movement.

But the Poverty Scholars Dialogue was not all talk, we demonstrated our unity and celebrated our victories. On Saturday, we picketed at Mario Batali’s exclusive restaurant Del Posto where workers are organizing with ROC-NY for work with dignity. We sang freedom songs, passed out fliers, and chanted in the multiple languages spoken in New York restaurants. After the picket, we went to the Domestic Workers United Gala to celebrate their 10 year anniversary and their recent historic victory of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York state. Domestic workers and their allies exemplified the change that can be made when people act on their values and demand justice, just as we had done earlier at Del Posto. For years, DWU organized, protested, and met with legislators to make the all too often invisible exploitation of domestic workers visible. This commitment paid off and the Gala was a moment for all of us to celebrate this shared victory in the fight for human rights for everyone everywhere.

We ended the the four day Strategic Dialogue with a conversation about the upcoming Leadership School and how it can serve to further build a broad based movement. We cried about the hard road ahead, we reminded ourselves of our victories, we spoke of the important family bonds we’ve created, and recommitted ourselves to being leaders in a movement to end poverty.

To learn more about the Poverty Initiative and the Poverty Scholars Program, visit http://www.povertyinitiative.org/

Armando Tema, Meimbro de Trabajadores Unidos

Por Armando Tema, Meimbro de Trabajadores Unidos

(English version follows.)

Soy Armando Tema, miembro del consejo de liderazgo de Trabajadores Unidos. El año pasado fui parte del programa becas de pobreza, actualmente estoy en el Programa de Nuevos Organizadores.

Como marcaba nuestro plan estratégico, hoy 1 de mayo, celebramos el día de Nuestro Harbor, este evento comunitario fue posible después de desarrollar la idea por aproximadamente dos años y casi un año de planificación y acciones con los miembros, aliados y amigos  de Trabajadores Unidos.

Puedo decir que el día de Nuestro Harbor fue realmente exitoso. El día de Nuestra Harbor fue un evento comunitario, donde todos participamos y fuimos actores y protagonistas de las obras que fueron contadas y escitas por las mismas personas, reviviendo las historias de luchas en el pasado y que hoy tomaron vida de nuevo, ya que vivimos en la misma situación.

Los problemas de TIERRA, EDUCACION Y TRABAJO, fueron los temas que resaltamos en las obras de teatro, porque consideramos que son estos problemas los que afectan a nuestras comunidades, y tanto las autoridades como las grandes corporaciones y desarrolladores se hacen de la vista gorda, nos hacen pensar que todo está bien pero en realidad todo marcha mal mientras pisotean nuestros derechos  humanos económicos, como nuestra dignidad.

Pero hoy, cientos de trabajadores y aliados dijimos basta de un desarrollo de zonas de pobreza! Basta a la falta de educación! Basta a la contaminación de nuestro medio ambiente!

Los aliados que se levantaron en solidaridad por un desarrollo justo fueron CIW (La Coalicíon de Trabajadores de Immokalee) de Florida; MMP (Media Mobilizing Project) de Filadelfia; Backbone Campaign de  Washington; Puppet Underground de D.C.; El Proyecto Algebra de Baltimore; IWW (Industrial Workers of the World); Red Emma’s; 2640; La Iniciativa de Pobreza de Nueva York; DWU (Trabajadoras Domesticas Unidas) de Nueva York y mucha mas.

Demostramos nuestra solidaridad el uno con el otro porque solo unidos podemos crear un movimiento capaz de terminar con la pobreza. En  esta mañana todos estábamos ansiosos por salir a las calles y gritar por la igualdad de oportunidades que todos tenemos derechos a vivir con oportunidades y llevar una vida con justicia y equidad.

En el acto final quisimos trasmitir a todos los presentes el mensaje que todos somos líderes y capaces de luchar por nuestros derechas humanos. La clave no es solo caminar juntos sin desanimarnos sino solo ver hacia delante y seguir caminando hasta victoria. Los grandes lideres no son los que nos jalan de la mano para seguir. Los grandes lideres son los que caminan con nosotros mano en mano. No podemas sentarnos, y esperar que alguien haga el cambio por nostros. Nosotros, los pobres, somos responsables para luchar contra la injusticia para nosotros mismos, nuestras familias, y nuestra sociedad.

The First Step to Change

by Armando Tema, United Workers Member

My name is Armando Tema. I am a member of the United Workers’ Leadership Council. For the past year I have gone through the Poverty Scholars Program and am now part of the New Organizers Program.

Today May 1st, we celebrated Our Harbor Day, after developing the idea two years ago in our strategic planning process and over a year of planning and actions with members, allies and friends of the United Workers. Our Harbor Day was a complete success. It was a truly community event, where all participated as actors and protagonists in participation plays that were told and written by those same people, retelling the story of past struggles, giving them new life and reflecting how our struggles are connected.

The themes of EARTH, EDUCATION and WORK were turned into plays because we felt they are the problems that affect our communities most.The large corporations and developers ignore the reality, saying everything is okay, but really they are humiliating us by walking all over our economic human rights–our dignity. But today hundreds of workers and allies said enough to poverty zone development! Enough to being denied education! Enough to polluting our earth!

The allies that stood in solidarity for Fair Development were the CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) from Florida; MMP (Media Mobilizing Project) from Philadelphia; the Backbone Campaign from Washington; Puppet Underground from D.C.; the Algebra Project from Baltimore; IWW (Industrial Workers of the World); Red Emma’s; 2640; the Poverty Initiative from New York; the Domestic Workers United from New York, and many more.

We demonstrated our solidarity with each other because only united can we create a movement capable of ending poverty. This morning we were all excited to take to the streets and chant for the equal opportunity and our rights to live a life with justice and equity.

In the final act, we conveyed to all those present the message that we are all leaders and have the capacity to struggle for our human rights. The key is to walk together; to not be discouraged; to look forward, and continue on the path until victory. The great leaders are not those who grab our hand and pull us behind them. The great leaders are those who walk with us hand in hand. We can’t just sit around and wait for someone to make the change for us. We the poor, are responsible for fighting injustice for ourselves, our families, and our society.

Kevin Harris, United Workers Member

By Kevin Harris

Before I told my boss: “I feel like a slave working here” and he fired me.  Today I looked him in the eye at the Our Harbor Protest.  Here’s how it went…

Standing Together. Standing Stronger.

I believe that in order to get treated better as human beings we have to come together as people, no matter what color, and make these developers do the right thing. Without us their businesses can’t be run. We deserve to be treated fairly. How hard is that to ask about something so little?

Wake up, people. The United States right now doesn’t stand for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It stands for the rich-stay-rich and the poor-stay-poor. At the Inner Harbor they lay people off in the winter to take the money that should be yours, but they could care less whether you drop dead or not.

All they care about is money, just like the rest of these scandalous businesses. These businesses could give you money if you are unemployed until you find another job, but yet they are not really trying to give you back anything in return.

We Are Leaders

It feels great to have people fighting for these rights, because we are leaders – just like me. We want things out of life in a sacred and positive way. Instead of this evil system trying to keep us down and wanting us to tap out. We need thousands of the same leaders like MLK, Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman and the whole nine yards.

I feel as though that the only way we can make a change is if we keeping standing together even if the businesses take out one of us by firing us. If we keep standing there we can win. And there will be another who stands, and another, and another, and another leader. Then they will finally realize that they can fire us, or even lock us down, but they can’t take away our knowledge or brain power. And someone will always be standing there.

Then they will finally realize and finally give in to our demands. I think the United Workers is a great organization because they teach and give you a lot of knowledge about the system and show you how to use it against the system and go about it in a correct righteous manner. I just hope that the people in the United States realize now that you have to be a leader to get this thing to happen because I believe that there is more of us than them, we just have to come together and defeat them with our knowledge.

Do Something for a Change

Stop making excuses and do something for a change. You have all the time in the world for everything else, doing what the system is trying to feed you into, but you don’t think your rights are important. Come on, people let’s make a change.

I got tired of being treated like a nobody: no health care, no raise, getting clocked out early, and my pay not being right when I work overtime, by not receiving overtime pay. I felt as though I was lied to so they could play their dirty tricks and use me to keep their pockets fat.

They don’t even care about their workers. If they did, why do they pay us so little and still lay us off? Another thing is why can’t they wait till we do the smallest thing so they could fire us. Huh? Answer that question: I guess so they could bring somebody new in, that’s in desperate need of money, so they think that they can’t complain about the small pay – because they are new at the workplace. That’s why now I think it should be justice for all, because the businesses are wrong with no remorse, and they will have to answer to God on why they treated us in this manner. What are they gonna say to Him?

I Look Boss in Eye. He Runs in Shame.

Today at Our Harbor Day as I marched with hundreds of people to the Inner Harbor, it felt great to see the look on one of my old supervisors face as we were marching near Phillip’s today. He saw me with my sign in my hand (that said “End Poverty Now” and “Human Rights” on the other side) and he ran back in the building with a look of shame on his face.

He knew he was wrong for what he did to me. All I said, on the day they fired me, was that “I feel like a slave working here” and he fired me. But I am not worried. He felt so exposed and ashamed of the decision that he made and he can’t look me in the eye and can’t look at himself in the mirror. He tried to jump out of his skin when we came down the street, when he saw me with hundreds of others backing each other up.

Everyone is  Person Worthy of Universal Dignity

At the end of the day, when I think about how everything is going on I know that we all need to be treated as human beings. I also feel that I have to surround myself with more caring human beings, people that truly want to help someone out and give someone a hand. In my heart I feel: What is so hard about sharing a dollar and being equal?

We the people as fellow humans need to stop the madness against each other, cause right now the system’s story is not adding up like long division. They want to divide us but we’re truly equal. Plus, when you keep adding to a problem it becomes more of a problem and it don’t get solved. All I expect is fair exchange. We put our heart and soul into the businesses, but really are not getting anything in return but slave-like treatment.

For more exciting videos from the Artful Activism Summit, check out our you tube page http://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedWorkers