[act-ma] Urgent: Organizing Drive at FedEx Ground

Tue Jul 19 13:43:41 PDT 2011

Workers in Brockton are trying to slay a giant! Organizing Drive at
Tax-Dodging, Union-Busting FedEx Ground!

*In This Email*
1. Rallies to Support Brockton FedEx Workers!
2. Public Meeting in Brockton
3. An Appeal for Support

*
*
*1. Rallies Friday, July 22nd to Support FedEx Workers in Brockton*

Rally!
Support the Union drive at Fed Ex Ground!

985 Belmont St. Brockton

Friday, July 22nd
Two Chances to Participate!
7:30am and 4pm

The package handlers at FedEx ground have initiated a union election with
the Teamsters local 653. Trade unionists, community members, and all working
people come show your support for the right of workers to join a union!  .

Last year Fed Ex posted a 33% increase in profits, while they paid less than
.0005% of it in taxes while we face budget cuts and job losses. They credit
their skyrocketing profits to “pricing and expense control” which is a way
of saying they spend little on wages and have allowed working conditions to
get worse.

Corporate greed is running rampant, and we need unions to defend and improve
living standards.  The package handlers at Fed Ex are setting an example
that can be followed by other workers.  It is time working people stood
together to fight back against these attacks. The struggle at FedEx is
crucial to all of us!

Join us in Brockton to encourage and support the workers' right to organize
a union!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=249041001774493

*2. Public Meeting in Brockton*

Saturday, July 23rd
Brockton Public Library, 304 Main Street
2pm Start

Unemployment, Under-Employment and Youth Violence: ORGANIZE and UNIONIZE!

Speaker: Eljeer Hawkins

A visiting Socialist Alternative speaker from Harlem, NY, Eljeer was a
founding member of Youth Against Racism and Poverty in Harlem and a member
of SEIU 1199 and the Teamsters.

*On this day, actions will also be happening throughout the country to
support the courageous workers in Brockton! Contact us for details of the
action in the Boston area!*

*3. An Appeal for Your Support*

[image: image.png]

In the wake of last year’s elections, the corporate media claimed that the
U.S. population had shifted to the right. But when the Republican Governor
of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, tried to carry out his “mandate” through a
full-scale attack on public sector workers and social services, it led to a
mass opposition, clearly demonstrating a widespread rejection of right-wing
anti-worker policies.

Unfortunately, the top union leadership in Wisconsin failed to seize the
opportunity to step up the struggle to defeat Walker. Socialist Alternative
consistently explained that while the mass protests were essential steps in
building a mass movement they would not be enough to force Walker to drop
his bill. We campaigned for a one-day public sector general strike as the
next step to increase the pressure, a step that was widely discussed and
debated in Wisconsin, particularly when the bill was illegally pushed
through the Senate.

However, the top union officials put the lid on the call for strike action
and instead directed the movement to an effort to recall the Republicans
from office through a protracted, months-long campaign. Of course these
Republicans should be recalled, but that won’t be enough to stop this
attack. Furthermore, the union leadership aims to replace the Republicans
with Democrats, who also have corporate backing and agreed to the cutbacks
in workers’ pensions and benefits!

The fight isn’t over. Michael Moore correctly stated that this is a “class
war,” and that means returning to the ideas of class struggle. There is a
huge opportunity now to organize the rank and file and transform the unions
into democratic organizations fighting in the interests of all workers and
youth. The cutbacks and attacks all over the country point to a burning need
to build anti-cuts campaigns and rebuild a massive struggle against the
attacks from both corporate parties.

This is part of a global crisis that has set off the early stages of a new
era of mass movements. From Europe last year to Egypt this year to Wisconsin
here in the U.S., working people and youth are beginning to fight back and
have shown that it is possible to stand up to the ruling establishment.
We are now in the process of building a new branch of Socialist Alternative
in Madison, Wisconsin as well as a broader base of support for the idea of
transforming the union movement and stepping up the struggle with bolder
action. The day after the bill was passed in the Senate, Socialist
Alternative played a leading role in organizing a student walkout of over
2,000 to protest Walker.

Nationally, the entire ruling establishment says cuts are necessary and
seeks to make working people pay for a crisis created by Wall Street.
Socialist Alternative is campaigning against the cuts wherever we are based.
In the pages of Justice, the bi-monthly newspaper of Socialist
Alternative, we argue that the super-rich and big business should pay for
their own crisis, and we call for a mass, united fight-back, including
running independent candidates to challenge the lies of corporate
politicians and to create a real voice for working people.

All this work requires huge resources, and if you agree with what Socialist
Alternative is doing and saying we’re asking for your help. Each week of the
struggle in Wisconsin we had to produce new material as the situation
developed. We’ve sent full-time organizers and volunteers for weeks. We
recently pushed to produce a rush issue of Justice, and in general we would
like to increase the frequency of our paper to stay up to date with rapidly
developing situations. We are also organizing a speaking tour with antiwar
activist Cindy Sheehan, who has run as an independent candidate against the
major parties and will deepen a discussion about how we can build a
political alternative to the two parties of big business.

As of June 15, we raised nearly $6,500, but our goal is to reach over
$10,000 to continue our efforts in Wisconsin and all around the country.
It’s up to all of us to come together, organize, and find a way out of this
economic and social crisis. The time is now to get active and give your
support. Please consider making a donation today to help us build the
fight-back. We greatly appreciate any contribution that you can make.

*Donate*

   - Online:

   - Send checks payable to “Socialist Alternative”
   to P.O. Box 150457, Brooklyn, NY 11215.

If you want to get active with Socialist Alternative please contact us to
join <http://www.socialistalternative.org/join/>! We see the major problems
in society, such as budget cuts, unemployment, poverty, discrimination, war
and environmental destruction as rooted in the global system of capitalism.
We aim to unite basic struggles on day-to-day issues and link them to the
broader struggle to fundamentally transform society to democratic socialism,
which puts human need before profits. Please donate and consider joining the
movement for a socialist world today!

To join and for more information and analysis,
see www.SocialistAlternative.org <http://www.socialistalternative.org/> and
www.SocialistWorld.net <http://www.socialistworld.net/>.

-- 
-Boston Socialist Alternative
www.socialistalternative.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://act-ma.org/pipermail/act-ma_act-ma.org/attachments/20110719/8adf81f7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 80820 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://act-ma.org/pipermail/act-ma_act-ma.org/attachments/20110719/8adf81f7/attachment.png>