From: benjamin_mckean (ben@usasnet.org)
Date: Wed Sep 11 2002 - 23:22:59 EDT
hey folks,
Please check out the following update from the students and workers
in Boston. 10,000 janitors there are working jobs for low wages and
no health insurance -- and now, are working without a contract, so
they are about to strike. Students from Boston are beginning to put
themselves on the line, and there's a lot that students across the
country can do to help; these contractors like UNICCO and these
building owners like Boston Properties are across the country, and
they're going to need to feel the heat everywhere before janitors can
win a solid victory in Boston.
If you're interested in organizing an action or a leafleting for
Justice for Janitors in your area, please let me know.
thanks very much,
ben
Subj: [bostonslap] 5PM, 9/12: STUDENTS RISK ARREST IN SUPPORT OF
JANITORS!
Date: 9/11/2002 6:07:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: ljirmanus@yahoo.com
Boston area students met last Monday, September 9th and decided to
organize the following events in support of the janitors! For action
announcement and more information about the campaign and the Justice
for Janitors Strike Update #6, please, read on…Also visit
www.bostonslap.org and www.massjwj.net.
*********************** PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY ***********************
STUDENTS RISK ARREST IN SUPPORT OF JANITORS
DEMAND COMPANY ISSUE STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF J4J
5PM on Thursday, September 12, Prudential Mall, Boylston Street
Entrance
Join Students from Boston SLAP as they risk arrest tomorrow at the
Prudential Mall to demand that Boston Properties support the Boston
janitors in their demands for health care, full-time jobs and decent
wages. Boston Properties, which owns the Prudential and the Long
Wharf Marriot, is the only remaining major Boston building owner who
hasn't made a statement in support of the janitors. Boston
Properties, you make us sick! (nearest T stop: Hynes)
**********************************************************************
4PM Boston SLAP City-Wide Student Meeting
MIT Building 8, Room 302.
http://whereis.mit.edu/bin/map?locate=bldg_8
Join students from universities throughout the city to organize
student supportfor the janitors as they are on strike. Of the 10,000
over 2,000 work on ourcampuses (Northeastern, MIT, Emerson, Lesley,
Simmons, Emmanuel, UMass Boston,BHCC and others...) and another 2,000
on off-campus university propertyincluding that of Northeastern,
Harvard, BC and MIT. If you get lost call Laraat 781-724-6354.
(Nearest T stop: Kendall)
**********************************************************************
Northeastern University: Do the Right Thing!
Boston SLAP Rally at Northeastern
4:45 PM on Monday, September 23
Students from schools across Boston will gather at Northeastern to
pressure the Northeastern administration, which has the most janitors
covered under this contract of all the Boston-are schools, to support
the janitors. Stay tuned for details!
**********************************************************************
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Check out our web-site for more information about these events,
recent news coverage, and to sign the online pledge: www.massjwj.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*****PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!*****
Justice for Janitors : Strike Bulletin #6
Welcome to the Justice for Janitors Strike Bulletin. If you're
receiving this message as a forward and would like to join our list,
visit www.massjwj.net and sign the online Solidarity Pledge. Even if
you're on our email list, please, visit our website and sign our
online pledge which has already been signed by200 people.
After having spent a week in extended contract negotiations, the
janitors union, SEIU Local 615, BROKE OFF NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE
BUILDING CONTRACTORS for a second time. The union walked out of
negotiations, rejecting the contractors' final proposal of an measly
increase to $12.50 over a period of four years, no health benefits
and no increases in full-time work opportunities, which two items
comprise the centerpiece of the union demands.
As a strike looms, the cleaning contractors remain intransigent. Jim
Canavan, negotiator for UNICCO and primary negotiator for the
cleaning companies, spoke about the janitors' demands for health care
and full-time work as if they were ludicrous. However, yesterday, the
second to last major building owner in Boston, Fleet Bank, issued a
statement in support of the workers. BostonProperties, owner of the
Prudential and the Long Wharf Marriot, stands alone as the only major
Boston building owner which hasn't issued a statement in support of
the workers. The corporation will the final target in actions this
week: including a STUDENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTION at the Prudential
Mall, Thursday, September 12th at 5pm, a janitors delegation to the
Prudential at 3pm Thursday, and leafleting the Long Wharf Marriot
this Sunday at 10am. Other building owners who've issued statements
in support of the janitors include Fleet, Equity and State Street
Bank.
As the community and students mobilize for three major actions
tomorrow, the union prepares for a strike. They vow to continue to
push for decent wages(most janitors currently earn about $39/night),
affordable family healthcare(most janitors have no health care) and
full-time job opportunities (75% of jobs are currently part time).
Join us tomorrow for a series of three actions that should send the
janitors well on their way to winning this struggle, certain to be
the largest labor struggle Boston has seen in years. At NOON, we'll
be on the streets by 185 Franklin St, Post Office Square, with IBEW
2222as they announce their support for the janitors. At 3PM, join
SEIU 615 janitors at the SEIU office on 11 Beacon St. in Boston to go
on a delegation to BostonProperties. And at 5PM join the students
from Boston SLAP at the Prudential Mall to tell Boston Properties
it's time to issue a statement in support of the janitors!
SEIU Local 615 now prepares for a strike, which could begin as early
as tomorrow. But tonight, the union will step outside during their
shifts to light a candle in remembrance of brothers and sisters lost
on September 11, 2001. Join them in five central locations in Boston
and Cambridge.
**********************************************************************
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!
Solidarity Rally for Justice for Janitors
12 Noon, Thursday, September 12
185 Franklin St., Post Office Sq., Downtown Boston
Join IBEW 2222 and Jobs with Justice to show your solidarity with the
janitors in the first major action since the union returned to the
bargaining table last Tuesday. At the rally, IBEW 2222 Business
Manager Myles Calvey and IBEW 2222members will publicly pledge their
support for the janitors in SEIU Local 615.Let's get hundreds of us
out there, to send a message, loud and clear, to the building owners
and contractors, still refusing to provide benefits and fair
increases for all the janitors, that the community will not stand for
their intransigence for much longer. March with Jobs with Justice
directly after this short rally for another brief action at a TBA
location. CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?!! (Nearest T stop: Blue&Orange Line -
State)
*******************************************************************
DELEGATION TO BOSTON PROPERTIES
3PM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Join SEIU Janitors as they go on a delegation to tell Boston
Properties, enough's enough. Boston Properties, which owns the
Prudential and the Long Wharf Marriot, is the only remaining major
Boston building owner who hasn't made a statement in support of the
janitors. Meet at SEIU 615 Office: 11 Beacon Street, 2nd Floor
(Nearest T: Park St)
**********************************************************
BILINGUAL ORGANIZERS NEEDED!!
*In the event of a strike, SEIU is in need of experienced, bilingual
organizers to notify workers in their 1400 buildings. Please, contact
Jobs with Justice to Volunteer.
THE UNION ALSO URGENTLY NEEDS HELP MAKING PICKET SIGNS to be used
when they goon strike. If you have an hour, please go to the union
office at 11 Beacon St, Suite 200 and ask for Suzy. Call or email
Suzy Stone for more info at stone8@brandeis.edu or 781-883-7117.
******************************************************************
Coming up…
In the next couple days, we'll be escalating the community support,
as the workers prepare for a strike. With students getting arrested
Thursday, community members will gather for a CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
PRACTICE on Saturday at Noon. In addition, SEIU will continue to put
pressure on Boston Properties to take a stand in support of the
janitors with leafleting on Sunday at 10AM at the Long Wharf Marriot.
As the campaign continues to heat up in the next few days, we're
gathering people for civil disobedience; keep those pledges rolling
in. Stay plugged in by reading our pledges, on email and online at
www.massjwj.net, for the most recent media coverage and frequent
updates, and to sign the Solidarity Pledge! See the calendar below
for a listing of upcoming events. For details on the student effort,
visit the Boston Student Labor Action Project
website:www.bostonslap.org.
Get involved!
To become involved in organizing fundraising for the strike
fund, "meet your janitors" days for tenants in Downtown Boston, using
arts to support the strike and workers contact
254brunsting@mindspring.com or call Liz Steinhauser at617-523-
6150x437. COME TO A SLAP MEETING!!! SUNDAY, at 4pm at MIT!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Justice for Janitors: Calendar
Thursday, September 12
12PM - CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW - Solidarity Rally for Justice for
Janitors185 Franklin St., Post Office Sq., Downtown Boston Join IBEW
2222 and Jobs with Justice to show your solidarity with the janitors
in the first major action since the union returned to the bargaining
table last Tuesday. At the rally, IBEW 2222 Business Manager Myles
Calvey and IBEW 2222members will publicly pledge their support for
the janitors in SEIU Local 615.Let's get hundreds of us out there, to
send a message, loud and clear, to the building owners and
contractors, still refusing to provide benefits and fair increases
for all the janitors, that the community will not stand for their
intransigence for much longer. CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?!! (Nearest T
stop:Blue&Orange Line - State)
3PM Janitors Delegation to Boston Properties
SEIU janitors will march over to Boston Properties buildings to
leaflet and demand that they be upstanding corporate citizens and
take a stand in support of the Justice for Janitors campaign, as
Equity, State Street Bank, FleetBoston and others did last week. If
you can come, RSVP to Vonda Brunsting, SEIU 615 Community Organizer,
at254brunsting@mindspring.com or by calling 617-523-6150x437
(Nearest T stop:Park Street)
5PM Students Risk Arrest, Demanding Boston Properties Support
Janitors Prudential Mall, Boylston Entrance Join Students from Boston
SLAP as they risk arrest tomorrow at the PrudentialMall to demand
that Boston Properties support the Boston janitors in their demands
for health care, full-time jobs and decent wages. Boston Properties,
which owns the Prudential and the Long Wharf Marriot, is the only
remaining major Boston building owner who hasn't made a statement in
support of the janitors. Boston Properties, you make us sick!(Nearest
T stop: Hynes)
***
Saturday, September 14
12Noon Civil Disobedience Practice
Location TBA, Contact JWJ for details
As the campaign heats up in the next few days, and the janitors
prepare for a strike, joining Jobs with Justice and Community Members
in a Civil Disobedience practice...Already, nearly fifty community
members have pledged that they are willing to participate in civil
disobedience in support of the janitors!! RSVP Jobs with Justice at
617-524-8778 or bostonjwj@m... to find out the location.
***
Sunday, September 15
10AM Boston Properties: Do the Right Thing!
Long Wharf Marriot Hotel
Join members of SEIU Local 615 as they leaflet the Long Wharf
Marriot, which is owned by Boston Properties, one of the top three
building owners in Boston, and the major remaining one that hasn't
come forward in support of the janitors. Once we force Boston
Properties to cave, we've almost won! (Nearest T stop: Blue Line,
Aquarium)
4PM Boston SLAP City-Wide Student Meeting
MIT Building 8, Room 302.
http://whereis.mit.edu/bin/map?locate=bldg_8
Join students from universities throughout the city to organize
student support for the janitors as they're on strike. Of the 10,000
over 2,000 work on our campuses (Northeastern, MIT, Emerson, Lesley,
Simmons, Emmanuel, UMass Boston, BHCC and others...) and another
2,000 on off-campus university property including that of
Northeastern, Harvard, BC and MIT. If you get lost call Lara at 781-
724-6354.(Nearest T stop: Kendall)
***
Wednesday, September 17
Interfaith Vigil for Justice for Janitors
8PM, Location TBA
The Massachusetts Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice and the
Jewish Labor Committee will host an interfaith vigil next week. It
will be a space for the community to come together and reflect upon
the importance of this struggle. For more information, contact Katie
Proulx at the Massachusetts Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
at 617-569-7878.
***
Thursday, September 19
6-9:30PM ART FOR JUSTICE: Open-Mike/PSA for J4J contest/Art-Making
138 Tremont Street, Sproat Hall in St. Paul's Church Join Project
Think Different, Boston Student Labor Action Project, and SEIU 615as
they get the word out about the janitors' struggle through art and
music. During a festive evening with open mic for hip hop and spoken
word performers and a public service announcement contest for Justice
for Janitors to be judged by celebrity judges, we'll create artful
signs, banners, paper mache puppets for use in the strike. The winner
of the PSA contest will receive $300!
PSA Entries:
Perform a one minute jingle, spoken or musical, that includes themes
surrounding the J4J campaign—i.e., economic justice, workers rights,
poverty, living wage, the "American Dream," corporate greed,
fairness, "Si se Puede," etc. Call 617-320-6433 to pre-register or
just show up by 6pm. Winner will receive $300 and appear on Video
Flava.
Visit www.massjwj.net for more information and frequent updates. When
the strike starts, frequent updates will be available on the site and
via email. Sign-up online!
**********************************************************************
Boston SLAP JUSTICE FOR JANITORS
Youth and Student SOLIDARITY PLEDGE
You can fill this out online at http://www.bostonslap.org
Boston Student Labor Action Project
c/o Boston Jobs with Justice
3353 Washington St
Boston, MA 02130
Phone: (617) 524-8778
Fax: (617) 524-8996
Email: bostonslap@h...
You can fill this out online at http://www.bostonslap.org
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