Metro members:
The call is out for entries for Metro’s Communications Awards for Work in 2011. The deadline for entries is March 16.
Click here or on the image above to download the contest brochure.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget your membership renewal.
On October 5, they came to the Wall Street area by the thousands. They were transit workers. They were teamsters and nurses, teachers and elevator operators, telephone workers and retail clerks. They were students and retirees. Their message was simple: this is our occupation, too.
Occupy Wall Street has struck a chord because those whose futures are being stolen are not only the thousands who have left college because they can no longer pay tuition, nor the millions who have lost their homes to foreclosure, nor even the tens of millions who have no job and no prospect of a job. It is the 99% of us.
The turnout of organized labor in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street has raised the profile and potential reach of the fight to make the rich pay. The challenge before us is to make this a beginning, not an end.
Concrete political demands are on the agenda. Among those that have been mentioned in labor circles are: to tax the rich to pay for a jobs program; to create a financial transaction tax to do more of the same; and most difficultly, to take steps to relieve the crushing burden of debt on much of the population.
Yet, reducing the movement to lobbying for a handful of bills would raise the danger of ending up with neither a movement nor legislative gains.
At the present time, solidarity actions are underway in 200 different cities from coast to coast. It remains to be seen the extent to which they develop, and, crucially, the extent to which local labor forces find ways to embrace them and take them to another level. October 5th in New York City was a key moment, and kudos are due to the local unions and internationals who took a stand and made it possible. But what happens in the next days and weeks will tell us whether we have a movement that can endure.
From the outset, communication has been key for Occupy Wall Street and key for building labor support.
How do a few hundred core occupiers make their presence known in a city of 8 million? An imaginative action was only the starting point. It has been accompanied by tweeting, a website, a blog, a printed journal, and extensive media relations.
Building a labor turnout in a week — unions deciding to take the plunge, sharing that with each other, above all communicating with their members about it — took no less.
Going forward will demand more of communicators, not less. And as we go forward, the responsibility will fall that much more on labor communicators in particular to cut through the haze of misinformation.
The list of winners of our annual contest is now online. You can also download our journal [PDF].
The Matt Doherty/Gwen Wells — Excellence in Broadcast Media award was given to Greg Heires and Clarence Elie-Rivera, DC 37, AFSCME, for their work on this video:
On April 9, New York union members drawn from every every sector of the economy flooded Times Square to declare “We Are One”. In the face of job cuts and threats to collective bargaining in both the public and private sectors, union speakers declared their intent to stand together to resist the attacks. The rally was organized by the New York State AFL-CIO.
Madison February 26
Solidarity with Wisconsin workers throughout the region
Trenton February 25
Albany February 26
NYC February 26
Fresh from Wisconsin: Walker talks to Koch Imitator
| Part 1 | Part 2 |
Written transcript available as pdf at onewisconsinnow.org
Things to Know from Wisconsin
Three Days of Protest
Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.
It’s Not Just Wisconsin
Solidarity Videos:
Solidarity Statement from Egyptian Independent Trade Unions, February 20
Solidarity Rally in NYC, February 19
Wisconsin news roundups:
photo by Dave Katzman
Welcoming the gathering, Jim Perlstein of the Professional Staff Congress’ Solidarity Committee pointed out that how to approach immigration reform is a highly controversial question in the labor movement, and one that deserves discussion.
Each panelist took a different approach, but a few points of commonality emerged in grappling with the dimmed near-term prospects for comprehensive immigration reform. Foremost is that the fears among working people brought on by the recession, fears that at times feed xenophobia, are real and are shared by working people of all backgrounds. A key question facing labor activists and communicators is finding ways to speak to those gripped by those fears.
Our thanks to the PSC and to our panelists and moderator (left to right in photo):
Javier Castaño, queenslatino.com
Bob Ledwith, Local 46 Metallic Lathers
Angeline Echeverría, La Fuente
May Chen, NYS Immigration Action Fund
Esther Kaplan, The Nation Institute
ELECTIONS 2010 AND BEYOND
A conversation on the issues and viewpoints of working men and women at the tipping point – and what can be done to shift the balance this November and beyond.
Join us September 24. This event, hosted by Working America and the AFL-CIO, is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to secure a seat.
| When:
Friday, September 24 3:00pm – 5:00pm
|
Where:
The Great Hall at Cooper Union 51 Astor Place New York, NY 10003 |
Moderated by Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation
Confirmed panelists:
Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
Karen Nussbaum, Executive Director, Working America
Eric Alterman, Journalist & Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Bob Herbert, The New York Times
photo by Linda Schleicher
We regret to announce the passing on August 12 of Marty Fishgold, longtime labor communicator and past president of Metro and of the International Labor Communications Association. Marty was 70 years old.
Marty became president of the Metro New York Labor Communications Council in 1994 and served in that capacity for a decade. In January 2003, he was named president of the International Labor Communications Association on an interim basis, and subsequently was elected to a full term ending in 2005. He also played a role in the organizing of the Labor’s Voices conferences.
At his death he remained editor of SSEU Local 371’sUnionist, a position he had held for nearly three decades.
Marty was an outspoken and sometimes controversial figure in labor communications. He will be remembered for his espousal of union democracy, his orientation toward the most put-upon sectors of the working class, and for the mentoring of young labor communicators.
He will not be forgotten.
Join us for conversation, drinks and light fare in honor of Jane LaTour and Sisters in the Brotherhoods (Palgrave MacMillan).
Wednesday, August 25, 5:45 p.m.
COLORS
417 Lafayette Street
(Astor Place & E. 4th Street)
COLORS is a worker-owned cooperative
www.colors-newyork.com