[act-ma] 9/8 - Bail Out the People Movement/G20 Organizing Comm. Mtg; 9/13 - G20 March for Jobs Fundraiser

Sun Sep 6 18:22:51 PDT 2009

*in this email:

1) 9/8 - Next G20/March for Jobs Organizing Meeting
2) 9/13 - Fundraising BBQ/Get Together for G20 March for Jobs in 
Pittsburgh, PA
3) School bus union stops Boston layoffs
4) Major labor unions back jobs march in Pittsburgh*

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*1) The next meeting of the Bail Out the People Movement and the G20 
Organizing Committee will take place at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, Sept, 8 at 
the Action Center, 284 Amory St. (The Brewery), JP.*

The Sept. 20 March for Jobs is building momentum especially with the 
recent endorsements by the Steelworkers union and the United Electrical 
union. These are the only international unions with national 
headquarters in Pittsburgh.  (see below for more information)

There is much to be done in order to have a significant delegation from 
the Boston Area at the March for Jobs and to participate in the Tent 
City and all of the important actions being planned to coincide with the 
G2O meeting in Pittsburgh on Sept 24 & 25.

What can you do?
Get involved and attend the 9/8 meeting
distribute flyers in your community, school, workplace, union hall, etc.
make a donation to help print flyers and assist people in going to 
Pittsburgh

Please contact BOPM by phone or email if you are interested in going to 
the Sept. 20 March for Jobs in Pittsburgh.
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*2) Fundraising BBQ/Get Together for G20 March for Jobs in Pittsburgh, PA*

Enjoy Delicious Food, Marvelous People, Great Music, Interesting 
Conversation and Lots of Fun!

*Sunday, September 13, 2009
2-6:00 PM
Suggested Donation: anywhere from $1.00 to $100.00 (or more!)*

Please bring a dish, something for the BBQ or drinks.  

Phebe and Vincent's house
452 Medford St.
Somerville, MA 02145

Located near the Davis Square T stop on Red Line and Sullivan Sq. T stop 
on the Orange Line

Call for a ride from T if you need one:
617-838-9219 or 617-628-1104
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3)

  School bus union stops Boston layoffs

Labor-community solidarity leads to victory

By Frank Neisser

At a time when millions are laid off and unemployed throughout the 
country during the worst economic crisis since the depression of the 
1930s, the Boston School Bus Union---Steelworkers Local 8751---has 
succeeded in round one of a long fight to protect jobs and vital 
services to the communities the union serves.

Boston School Bus Drivers Union, USW Local 8751.

On Aug. 25 when the union received the annual bus route schedule, it 
learned that the school bus company First Student and the Boston School 
Department planned to eliminate 46 jobs by creating unsafe speedup 
conditions just as the school year is set to begin. The attack came in 
last-minute information to the union about the planned fall runs 
provided just prior to the Aug. 27 "fall bid," where drivers bid on runs 
for the fall based on seniority.

As soon as the union learned of the attack, which violates the union 
contract, it swung into action and notified all the drivers. Within a 
day they produced a bulletin, scheduled and organized an emergency 
membership meeting for the night before the bid, and met with community 
leaders to alert the parents and community of the attack on their 
rights. The union's Web site carried up-to-the-minute bulletins on the 
struggle.

The union demanded an immediate high-level negotiating session with the 
company and the School Department at noon on Aug. 25 at Local 8751 union 
hall. They also let the School Department and the company know that 
unless the union contract violations were satisfactorily resolved, there 
would be no driver participation in the fall bid or transportation at 
the opening of school.

Five top School Department and company representatives came to the 
negotiations, including Boston Public Schools CEO Michael Goar, First 
Student Regional V.P. Robert Timilty, and BPS Director of Transportation 
Michael Hughes. They found themselves surrounded by 50 militant 
rank-and-file bus drivers---many of whom faced layoffs due to the sneaky 
job-cut proposals---who were making placards and preparing materials for 
the struggle.

The negotiations were intense and lasted several hours. Union militants 
insisted the session go on until justice was achieved.

In the end, not one driver was laid off. The union won restoration of 22 
full-time jobs with full benefits, with other jobs to be added by the 
October bid. An historic agreement was reached to end outsourcing of 
athletic and charter work, and an expedited process was put in place to 
correct unsafe routes that would have required double and triple loads 
and drivers to be in multiple places at the same time.

While no driver was laid off, there was still a reduction of nine jobs. 
The union will struggle, once the school year starts, to restore the 
remaining routes that were cut as a result of overcrowding and speed-up.

*School resegregation plan stopped*

In June the union in alliance with the Coalition for Equal Quality 
Education---a broad coalition including the Black Educators Alliance of 
Massachusetts, Work 4 Quality/Fight 4 Equity, rank-and-file teachers, 
parent organizations, the Bail Out the People Movement, other activists 
and Boston's councilors-of-color Chuck Turner, Charles Yancy and Sam 
Yoon---successfully stopped a racist rezoning plan which would have 
further segregated Boston schools and made the oppressed communities pay 
for the economic crisis.

That plan would also have resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs. The 
superintendent announced on Aug. 26 that this plan, which was originally 
to have been reworked and resubmitted this fall, has been scrapped and 
would not be resubmitted. However, she announced plans for a study over 
the next year of how other urban school systems cut transportation 
costs. The union and community activists are poised for more rounds in 
this ongoing fight.

The Boston School Bus Union has shown that the answer to the bosses' 
attacks and layoffs is militant, united rank-and-file action and 
solidarity with the community. The union has vowed that the struggle 
will go on until all jobs are restored and the racist rezoning plan is 
stopped for good. An injury to one is an injury to all!

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4)

  Major labor unions back jobs march in Pittsburgh

By LeiLani Dowell

Momentum is building for the National March for Jobs and Tent City from 
Sept. 20-25 that will confront the leading finance ministers and bankers 
of the world's wealthiest nations who will be meeting in Pittsburgh for 
the G-20 Summit.

In a major development, both the Steelworkers union and the United 
Electrical union---the only two international unions with national 
headquarters in Pittsburgh---have endorsed the Sept. 20 March for Jobs.

The Steelworkers union, which originally only represented those working 
in the steel industry, has diversified through a series of mergers and 
now represents workers in other industries as well, including those in 
other metals and manufacturing, paper and forestry products, the 
chemical industry, health care, pharmacies and pharmaceuticals, public 
employees, mining, and energy and utilities.

UE, one of most radical unions in the country, calls itself "the rank 
and file union." The union represents "some 35,000 workers in a wide 
variety of manufacturing, public sector and private non-profit sector 
jobs." (ueunion.org)

*No to a jobless recovery*

Bail Out the People Movement activists, along with others mobilizing for 
the Global Week in Solidarity with the Unemployed, note that G-20 summit 
participants will be meeting from Sept. 24-25 to discuss plans to 
protect their interests during the economic crisis---but not those of 
the working people throughout the world who are affected the most by 
this crisis.

While the March and Tent City will address multiple concerns---including 
U.S. imperialist wars, health care, foreclosures and evictions, 
political prisoners and more---the principal issue will be the need for 
a serious jobs program. Organizers wish to carry on the legacy of the 
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose final struggle in the days before he 
was assassinated was the fight for jobs at a living wage.

The March for Jobs will assemble at 2 p.m. at Monument Baptist Church, 
located in the Hill, an historic African-American community adjacent to 
downtown Pittsburgh. Marchers will return to the Tent City, located in a 
lot next to the church and dedicated to the unemployed people of the world.

Both events will demand the rejection that a jobless recovery should be 
accepted or tolerable. BOPM organizer Larry Holmes told WW, "We must not 
accept a recovery only for Wall Street---a recovery for profits, but a 
jobless recovery."

*Building actions throughout country*

Outside of Pittsburgh, activists are organizing to bring caravans of 
unemployed and their supporters to the week of action. A big push is 
being made at Labor Day events throughout the country to win the support 
of more unions.

Many activists vowed their support at a labor meeting in New York on 
Aug. 31, which featured workers from the Stella D'Oro factory in the 
Bronx; the president of the Vulcan Society, Black firefighters who just 
won a discrimination lawsuit against New York City; the vice president 
of Service Employees Local 1199; a co-chair of the May 1st Coalition for 
Worker and Immigrant Rights; among others.

A speaking tour of Ohio is gathering momentum for the events, and an 
organizing meeting will take place in North Carolina involving Black 
Workers For Justice, the youth group FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand 
Together), UE Local 150 and other community and labor forces.

Resolutions supporting the March for Jobs and Global Week in Solidarity 
with the Unemployed have been adopted by the San Francisco Labor 
Council, the International Longshore Warehouse Union Local 10 executive 
board and Golden Gate Branch 214 of the Letter Carriers union.

For more information, visit www.bailoutpeople.org.

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-- 
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*Bail Out The People Movement
Boston*
617-522-6626
bopmboston at gmail.com <mailto:bopmboston at gmail.com>
http://bopm-boston.blogspot.com

*National Office*
212-633-6646
bailoutpeople at safewebmail.com <mailto:bailoutpeople at safewebmail.com>
http://www.BailOutPeople.org

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