[act-ma] SAT 2/8, 6 PM: TODAY'S FIGHTING UNIONS!!

[Geoff Carens]

Union rights and working conditions are under attack. We need militant
unions to push back against low pay and unsafe work! Please join the Boston
IWW <http://iwwboston.org/> and USW Local 8751's Team
Solidarity<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Solidarity-the-Voice-of-United-School-Bus-Union-Workers/300080180003514>in
a discussion of the fightback which is daily gaining momentum. This
event brings together activists who are battling corporate greed and
union-busting. Panelists will detail their organizing work, answer
questions, and help interested attendees get plugged into ongoing
campaigns. The event will take place on Saturday, February 8, starting at 6
pm, at Encuentro 5 <http://www.encuentro5.org/home/>, 9 Hamilton Place,
Suite 2A, in Boston (steps from the Park St Red Line T stop & 2 blocks from
Downtown Crossing). The Facebook event is
here<https://www.facebook.com/events/693920710629154/>.


Panelists include:

*Dreadsen* (Chicago)- Dreadsen helped lead a strike against retaliatory
firings that united service workers, Teamsters and locomotive engineers,
shutting down work in multiple rail yards across Illinois and Wisconsin.
Dreadsen and his co-workers at Mobile Rail Solutions (a truck company
servicing locomotives), are struggling for justice under the banner of
the Industrial
Workers of the World (IWW) <http://www.iww.org/>. The union has campaigned
for basic safety equipment like proper gloves and respirators, as well as
pressing for better pay.

*Steve Kirschbaum and Fred Florial *(Boston)- Steve, a founding member of
United Steelworkers' Local 8751, and Fred, Shop Steward and Organizer for
Team Solidarity, will describe the union's struggle against the Veolia
Corporation. Despite agreeing to honor the union contract, since Veolia
took over management of the Boston School Buses, the conglomerate has
violated nearly every article regarding wages, benefits and working
conditions and repudiated the established grievance and arbitration
procedures. When bus drivers demanded a meeting with management to address
the attempted shredding of their contract, Veolia locked the workers out,
then accused them of conducting a wildcat strike. Veolia has since fired
four leaders of the union including Steve. All have been out of work since
November.

*Jonathan Pena* (Boston)- Jonathan is one of the Insomnia Cookies workers
who launched a strike for union rights & recognition on Aug 21. Insomnia
Cookies refused to provide a half-hour break for shifts longer than six
hours. The company also failed to pay minimum wage. Bakers and cashiers at
Insomnia Cookies were being paid $9 an hour, while drivers were paid just
$6/hr. Workers at Insomnia Cookies joined the IWW, and have continued to
struggle for better pay, union recognition and decent working conditions
ever since. Terminated by Insomnia for his union activity, Jonathan keeps
pressing for justice for himself and his fellow workers.

*Tasia Edmonds* (Boston)- Tasia's activism includes defending civil
liberties, rape crisis center work and campaigning for environmental
justice. She has gone public with her IWW affiliation and remains employed
at Insomnia Cookies. Management has been more careful about paying minimum
wage and allowing breaks since the union drive began, but bike delivery
workers and bakers still struggle to make ends meet. Insomnia refuses to
pay Workers' Comp. Employees report that when they get hurt making
deliveries in traffic, the boss's response is to ask "Why are you late?" As
an IWW member, Tasia advocates for improved conditions in her store, and is
engaged in building the union.