Tuesday October 6

GREEN JUSTICE COALITION WILL TESTIFY AT ENERGY EFFICIENCY ADVISORY COUNCIL

Meet at 5pm at 100 Cambridge St, Boston. The Green Justice Coalition is a statewide partnership of more than 35 community organizations, labor unions, environmental organizations, and faith based alliances that have come together to build support for Massachusetts’ move towards an environmental and economically sustainable green economy. GJC advocates that:

- Resources for greening must be accessible to all.

- We must repair economic inequities by promoting family-sustaining green jobs, career pathways, and local and community owned businesses.

- Economically marginalized communities must be at the forefront of the green wave.

The Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC) was created as a result of the Green Communities Act in 2008 and approves the newly required utility and municipal aggregator-operated energy efficiency programs. The Coalition is currently focused on ensuring that EEAC addresses the needs of low-income communities and communities of color. Specifically the Coalition is asking the EEAC to require the following in the 3-year plans that it must approve by December 30:

•  Financing should make deeper energy efficiency retrofits accessible to all residents and small businesses.

•  A community-driven approach must be part of effectively engaging economically marginalized residents in carrying out retrofits.

•  Establish high road jobs with quality, training and safety standards with accessible career pathways.

•  Set up an Equity subcommittee of the Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee.

            Info, including Western Mass. rides: Boone Shear, 658-7171, bwshear@yahoo.com.

 

Tuesday October 20

            PUBLIC HEARING FOR MASSACHUSETTS SINGLE PAYER BILL

10am, State House Hearing Room A1, Boston. The Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund Bill calls for a universal health care system, providing universal access, a comprehensive range of physical and mental health benefits, choice of provider, quality, unified financing and cost controls, accountable governance, and stability. A Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund will be a "single-payer" of all health care costs, statewide.

Western Mass. ride and other info: Mary Grace Farley, marygrace@gracebodywork.com. To testify: Ben Day, director@masscare.org.

 

Tuesday October 20

THE FUTURE OF THE MEDIA IN THE VALLEY

7pm, Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic St, Northampton. $5 – all proceeds benefit the Valley Post – a new media outlet for the Connecticut River Valley. The Valley Post hosts this discussion by Sut Jhally and Alexandra Russell with plenty of time for questions and comments from the public. The moderator will be Eesha Williams. editor of the Valley Post and author of Grassroots Journalism. Tea and cookies will be served. Jhally is professor of Communication at UMass Amherst, and founder and director of the Media Education Foundation. Russell is outreach director at the national media reform group Free Press in Northampton. She was director of Mass. Voters for Fair Elections. To reserve a ticket, please click “donate” on any Valley Post page, then send an e-mail from the “contact” page to let Valley Post know you’re coming. The deadline for reservations is noon on October 20. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door. Info: Eesha Williams, 802-254-2531, ewilliams@valleypost.org.

 

PLUS

 

More coverage of October 1

http://necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/10/01/Former-Hyatt-housekeepers-hold/1254449565.html

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20091002boston_union_workers_rally_over_layoffs/

http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/953

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeldablue/sets/72157622499773726/

 

 

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[Workers' Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: "I'll be there for workers' rights at least five times a year!" This is the core mission of Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org), affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Workers' Rights".

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