From: Jessica Fragola (fragola@fas.harvard.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 22 2002 - 01:18:27 EDT
The Janitors' struggle in boston has come down to the wire, and
as a result, we've had to prioritize organizing for that over organizing
our conference, for obvious reasons. The conference will still take
place, just 3 weeks later: Nov 22-24, in Amherst. You can still register
on the site: www.usasnet.org/nesas
And now, we need students to come to boston for a day of direct
action against the cleaning companies and building owners who continue to
fight against the janitors' right to fair wages and benefits. Already
there are people coming in from all over the region to participate.
PLEASE JOIN US! Festivities start a 6 am with a LOUD wake-up call to the
CEO's of some of the most obnoxious cleaning companies, and there will be
a student spokes council the night before. Housing will be provided and
if you need transportation, we can get it for you. Below is the official
call to action. PLEASE FORWARD IT EVERYWHERE! schedule and contact info
below.
-----------------------------------------
TAKE THE DAY OFF FOR JUSTICE!
If you've ever marched for food not bombs, or chanted "No blood for oil!"-
WE NEED YOU TO FIGHT UNICCO!
On strike since September 30, the 10,000 janitors in Boston need your solidarity now more than ever. Almost all of them are immigrants, forced from their home countries by corporate globalization and the same American foreign policy agenda which now seeks to invade Iraq, only to clean the offices and bathrooms of the same corporate cronies who enforce the policies of neoliberalism and work to maintain the military-industrial complex. (Janitors are even on strike in the MIT-owned Lincoln Labs) Janitors in our community are paid $39/day without health care, and are denied opportunities for full-time work. Most are forced to work 2 or 3 jobs, and still barely live paycheck to paycheck, with no hope for working themselves out of poverty. We’re standing up to demand that these insane abuses of human rights end!
BUSH’S WAR HAS BEEN TAKING ATTENTION AWAY FROM CRITICAL DOMESTIC ISSUES AND SERVED AS A SMOKESCREEN FOR THREATS TO RIGHTS OF ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY WORKERS AND IMMIGRANTS
It hardly needs to be said that the Bush administration is using the guise of "national security" to undermine the labor rights of American workers. Bush has denied thousands of dockworkers along the west coast the right to walk off the job; he's seeking the power to ban public sector unions in the proposed Dept of Homeland Security, and he's encouraged massive roundups and prolonged jailings of immigrant airport workers (including the Logan 19 – members of SEIU 254, the same union that represents the janitors), a blatant tactic of worker intimidation.
It's never been more important for the anti-war movement to support the people who are increasingly becoming victims of our "War on Terrorism". The Boston janitors have not yet come under similar attack. They have, however, suffered as a result of the domestic problems from which Bush is using the to distract us.
JOIN US IN THE STREETS FOR A DAY OF SOLIDARITY, THURS, OCT24
Contractors, the largest being UNICCO, building owners like Equity and Fleet Bank of Boston have refused the janitors full-time work opportunities, health care, and decent wages for too long. A diverse coalition, breaching lines of race, faith, age, class, gender and sexual orientation has come behind the consensus the janitors deserve to be treated with dignity. At a rally in Copley yesterday, 1500 people stood shoulder to shoulder to send that very message to the building owners of Boston.
Now, that coalition, along with the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), and Jobs with Justice calls upon all people of conscience to stand with the janitors in a day of multiple direct actions and rallies across the city this Thursday, October 24th. We are asking people to "Take the Day Off for Justice" to create a mass mobilization though the streets of Boston and the hearts of the corporations holding our community back.
For more information, and details as they become available, please visit www.massjwj.net and www.bostonslap.org.
A Jobs With Justice Call to Action:
Take a Stand for Justice for Janitors
A Day of Conscience…A Day of Action
Thursday, October 24th
Join with community, student, labor and religious supporters from across the region in a massive display of community support for Boston’s striking janitors. After almost a month on strike, we need a decisive show of support that tells the Building Owners and Cleaning Contractors that the community will not tolerate the continuation of the strike and keeping these janitors in poverty.
EQUITY OFFICE PROPERTIES and BOSTON PROPERTIES, the two largest commercial real estate giants, continue to be in collusion with corporate predators like UNICCO and JANITRONICS. They continue to deny janitors decent wages, full-time jobs, and health insurance. On Thursday, if the contract is not settled, we will take to the streets of the Financial District to tell the powers that be there will be no business as usual until the Janitors are back to work!
Different groups and organizations are organizing throughout the week. What follows is a comprehensive 7schedule of public events.
NOTE: *Inclusion of organizations’ activities does not imply endorsement of all events and activities.
Thursday, October 24
SICK OF INJUSTICE? CALL IN SICK ON THURSDAY!
7:00 am Gather at the Jobs With Justice Convergence Center at Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St.
7:45 am Direct Actions in the Financial District
8:30 am Stand Up to Inequity, Sit Down for Justice Civil Disobedience Action, JWJ
10:00 am Gather at the Convergence Center, Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St. for Delegations
Noon Solidarity March and Rally, One Post Office Square, Mass. AFL-CIO,
2:00 pm Gather Convergence Center, Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St. for afternoon delegations
3:30 pm Students Take Action at Northeastern, contact SLAP
Building Trades Solidarity Rally, One Post Office Square
5:00 pm Janitors March for Justice, Gather 100 Summer Street, march to the Prudential Center for Festival de la Comunidad/People’s Celebration, SEIU 615/254
Wednesday, October 23
All Day: Community Delegations to building owners, JWJ
12:00 City Council Meeting on Responsible Real Estate Owner Resolution, GBIO
5:00 pm The Walls of Jericho Come Down, Religious March at the Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St.
7:00 pm Jam for Justice at the Four Seasons during Northeastern U Biggest Donors Dinner, 200 Bolylston, JWJ
7:00 pm JWJ Civil Disobedience Training, Old West Church, Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St.
9:00 pm Student Labor Action Project Spokes Council, Old West Church, 131 Cambridge St.
*Contacts: Jobs With Justice at 617-524-8778
SLAP (Student Labor Action Project) at 617-524-8110
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) at 617-825-5600
Mass. AFL-CIO 617-227-8260
SEIU Local 254/615 617-523-6150
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