From: benjamin_mckean (ben@usasnet.org)
Date: Tue Oct 22 2002 - 11:23:09 EDT
doesn't seem like this went through the first time.
----- Forwarded message from Jessica Fragola
<fragola@fas.harvard.edu> -----
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 01:18:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jessica Fragola <fragola@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: Jessica Fragola <fragola@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: NE conference POSTPONED + EMERGENCY IN BOSTON
To: usas@yahoogroups.com, nesas@yahoogroups.com
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
----- End forwarded message -----
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