Charter School Organized by Mass AFT

From our own Jim Snow in the Boston Globe:

Right to Organize Not on the Table
THANK YOU for your front-page story on the unionization of charter school teachers. The back and forth between the union and a phalanx of experts and advocates for charter schools was interesting, but the premise that the rights of workers - teachers in this case - to organize should be balanced against the latest fad in public policy is unacceptable. State law and international law, as well as the overwhelming body of human rights law and thought, establish the right to organize for mutual aid and protection.

Simply put, the failure of public educators to improve our public schools is not a reason to compromise this right.

Fresh Air at Regency Towers

Thanks to information provided by the Lang Administration, and to a forceful push by unions, the SE Massachusetts Labor Council, and allies in the political world, the sale of Regency Towers in downtown New Bedford has gone to a developer who is new to New Bedford, and who promises to have a positive impact on the community.

MassHousing, the state's housing development agency, has long struggled with the building. Poor maintenance and handling of the business end of the building have cost the agency milions. The agency finally threw in the towel, and after foreclosing on the previous owner, decided to sell. The bidding was high stakes for the city, organized labor, and the effort to revitalize the area.

The winning bidder was Trinity Financial which has promised two important things. First, the project will be re-built with union workers. Second, 25% of the residential units will be affordable. Although the building will be converted into condominiums, current tenants will be allowed to stay as renters.

Although he did not endorse a particular bidder, Congressman Barney Frank was a strong supporter of decent wages and working conditions on the project. Similarly, the Patrick Administration stood with us to promote community standard wages and benefits on the project. CLC President Cynthia Rodrigues and the SE Massachusetts Building Trades also pushed hard to obtain a progressive outcome.

People First Interview with CEDC

Victory at City Council for Eagle Workers

Due to a significant one-on-one campaign of meetings with
city councilors, and a mobilization of local labor activists and
students, we won this part of the fight.

It was a chilly evening in front of New Bedford City Hall
with a rally featuring Eagle workers, the mayor, and UNITE
leader,Warren Pepicelli. A boss from Eagle even dropped
by to do a little surveillance. The mayor confirmed his
steadfast commitment to keep the plant here and his desire
for a "pristine" union election. Warren gave a rousing
speech about the fight for fairness and respect at the plant.
Several workers passionately highlighted conditions at
the plant.

Inside the City Council chamber, it was standing room only.
A group of us made it to the balcony, only to be
moved later. About an hour into the meeting, the Eagle
motion came up. Brian Gomes gave a very strong statement
that included confirming the bad conditions for the workers.
Several other Councilors spoke in support of the motion.
It was wrapped up by Republican Linda Morad reading from
a letter from the company confirming they are committed
to staying in New Bedford. A follow up comment from
Brian Gomes, was much appreciated, stated that is
was only from the worker and community mobilization that
the company reacted in the way we had hoped.


From the Standard-Times:
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll
/article?AID=/20081114/NEWS/811140339/-1/ARCHIVE

(You may need to cut and paste this in your URL box,
it's one line).

Standard-Times says "Union, council aflutter over Eagle's fate"

The campaign to keep the factory open got a big boost today - the local paper tied the mayor and city council to the efforts of the union to keep it open. The article by Becky Evans also lays out the union's case that it may close - and best of all, it has forced the company to go on record about their plans. In addition, it announced our rally for tomorrow! Congratulations to Zach Lutz and UNITE HERE for the excellent press.

To read the story, click here, or cut and past into URL box:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081112/NEWS/811120345

Announcement from UNITE HERE for rally/city council meeting this Thurs - 11/13

Job Loss/Factory Closing Rally & New Bedford City Council Meeting
New Bedford City Hall 133 William Street
Thursday, November 13, 6pm

Mounting evidence raises fears that Eagle Industries, a local military
apparel manufacturer, may be planning to close its New Bedford facility. This step, if taken, could cost the community 330 jobs. Since purchasing the former Michael Bianco plant last fall, Eagle has repeatedly promised to increase production and create jobs at its local plant.

The company’s actions, however, do not seem to match its words. Eagle has not taken advantage of numerous public funding opportunities and has shipped machinery out of the factory. New Bedford currently has the highest unemployment rate in the state of Massachusetts and has already lost much of its manufacturing base. This community simply cannot afford
to lose another plant.

Now is the time to stand up for New Bedford jobs. New Bedford has a strong tradition of fighting plant closures but with limited success. There’s good reason to hope that this time will be different. Military apparel is a protected industry, meaning that Eagle cannot ship these jobs to the developing world. Further, as a federal contractor, Eagle is subject to meaningful oversight. A labor-friendly administration may not look favorably on a decision to abandon the workers of this community.

A coalition of labor and community activists and local political leaders can play an important role in this effort. Therefore, we ask you to join with us at UNITE HERE! Let’s work together to stop Eagle from being the latest employer to exit this community. Stand up now and we can begin to rebuild a just and equitable manufacturing base in New Bedford.

On November 13, the New Bedford city council will take action to determine Eagle’s future plans for its New Bedford facility. We ask you to attend and join our efforts to save New Bedford jobs.

Lining up City Councillors to Keep Eagle Plant Open

Work by People First activists and Eagle workers is underway to get every New Bedford city councillor to support a motion urging Eagle to stay in New Bedford.  The plant can't be organized if it's out of town - right?  What's the downside of taking action to keep work here?  The tricky discussion will be about the wording of the motion, which is being considered by all now.  

We need to continue keeping the pressure on before the Nov. 13 meeting - check your calendar and write it in to be there at 6 pm for the rally and meeting. 

Here's the roll call of city councillors and let's keep them accountable:

Agreed to sponsor - all that have been asked - Gonsalves, Lawrence, Morad, Alves, Martins, and Pimental.  Brian Gomes is meeting with workers and supporters tonight.

Needed to be spoken to: Coelho, Saunders, Dehner, and Duarte.  If you have a connection to any of these councillors, please let me know.  Dehner and Duarte and being reached out to by constituents, but we need contacts for Coelho and Saunders.

People First supporter and the experienced and passionate community organizer, Camilo Viveiros, has begun a website to publicize the campaign and for other uses.  Now, it's a list of closed factories and rousing pictures, but there will be more and Camilo is also working on getting video on YouTube related to the campaign.  

The website is at: savenewbedfordjobs.org

Thanks to Gloria Clark for the post on Restorative Justice.  It's part of the People First agenda for hope and good jobs for youth.  Please join her by posting something of interest.

Restorative Justice

There exists a Restorative Justice Task Force as part of Family Nonviolence, Inc. in New Bedford. I have been participating in it for about a year.
What is it?
Restorative Justice(RJ) is an alternative to criminal justice. If you go online and look it up you will find web sites to further inform you of its principles and practices.

Briefly RJ is a value based approach to conflict and harm. You can think of it as a conflict resolution mechanism whose goal is to keep some accused of a crime out of the courts. It is victim and offender centered and enables them and members of their families and communities to come together in a structured environment to respond to the harm caused by a crime. It promotes responsibility, reparation, and healing for all parties.

In New Bedford we have been working with Juvenile Court Judge Bettina Borders and with the H.O.P.E. Collaborative to address alternatives to the current methods of handling juvenile crime.
The Judge would like alternatives or diversions for youth who may be able to be kept out of the criminal justice system. There is a Youth Court in New Bedford which appears to be modeled after the criminal system, and we would like additional alternatives to be developed.

While some support this, others are threatened by it. Nevertheless, it can be another approach to keeping out kids out of the criminal justice system. Where it is practiced it has a good track record of reducing recidivism among the participants. ROCA in Chelsea is multi-cultural youth development organization which works with teens using RJ techniques. Suffolk U and Northeastern U Law Schools have RJ centers. Australia and New Zeakand use it country wide. Minnesota and VT use it.

Some of the models/techniques used are: victim-offender conferences, family group conferences, peacemaking circles, and sentencing circles. It takes the court out of the middle between victim and offender.

Hope this informs.

Gloria Clark

We Need You to Write for this Blog

This is set up as a team blog.  Anyone signed in can and should write for it - even if just a paragraph or two off the top of your head.  This does require a gmail account - I suggest using a familiar user name and password to make it easier on yourself....

I really didn't set this up for me only to weigh in and spout off.  Join the conversation, it about strengthening our local connections and being in closer communication between People First activities.  Of course, there is always a strong need to pass along info on union struggles in the area.  Pass the web address to anyone else you think might be interested.

Green Jobs Misery in New Bedford - Food for Thought and upcoming action

As Corinn Williams of the CEDC says, we have plenty of the original green jobs (tire and other material recycling) here - but they are the dirtiest, lowest paid, unfair and most exploitive jobs for immigrants in our community.  Workers at one plant have been fighting for a year for owed overtime and other pay, while at another plant, OSHA stepped in a few years ago to force the company to make changes.  

In the next month, we expect some of these abuses to become public.  The  most shocking angle on this is the loss of fingers of numerous workers - in recycling as well as in fish processing.  What could be a clearer example of the callousness and disregard for life and limb towards immigrant workers in our community?

Be prepared for some action for accountability of these owners in the near future.  Sorry, but the vagueness is necessary at this time - this will change.

Eagle Industries - former Bianco plant

We all need to come together, in the strongest way, to stand with the workers at Eagle.  Clear your calendars for two weeks from now - Nov. 13.  We will be rallying together and attending the NB City Council to fight for a motion to keep the plant here.  This will be in the late afternoon/early evening.  Our brothers and sisters at UNITE, who are organizing inside the plant,  need our full participation.  If you are a NB resident, we especially need your help talking with city councillor in preparation for the meeting.  Contact me if you can help.

There has been enough tragedy at this place - let's do absolutely everything to make this a decent workplace with dignity and justice for the workers.

Underground Economy Meeting - Oct. 20 in Fall River

Many local activists attended this meeting to confront the practices of exploitive employers, especially as related to abuses of immigrant workers.  The Underground Economy task force is a group of state agencies, joined with unions and community groups to take on unscrupulous employers who creates an unfair advantage to "good"employers".  

The three areas the Underground Economy deals with are:

Employers who 1) willfully avoid licensing, labor, and tax laws, 2) deal in cash or other off the book practices, and 3) engage in misclassification  of employees 

As worker rights advocates, we need to participate in order to push for the strongest enforcement of Mass laws on these issues - and especially as this is a coordinated effort that could really make some examples.  Michael Bradley, Executive Director of this group, emphasized that immigration status has no bearing on work on the Underground Economy and that there is no relationship to ICE.

Jobs with Justice organized many of the groups to attend this meeting and will be helping facilitate follow up.  Thanks to all of our local activists that participated, including as speakers - Brian, Ron, Tony, Adrian, and Dave.  Other attendees where Jose, Tony, Corinn, and Jim.

Welcome to the People First Blog

Welcome to the new home of the SE Mass People First blog.  Here in the new location at blogger, we can have multiple writers contributing together.