November
2 & 3
TAKE
ACTION FOR SAFE HOSPITALS
The Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients - www.protectmasspatients.org 每
will hold press conferences/rallies across the state on Monday November 2 and
phone banks November 2 and 3, in conjunction with a hearing on Tuesday
November 3 at the Massachusetts State House. Registered Nurses in
Massachusetts＊ hospitals are being forced to care for too many patients at
once, and patients are suffering the consequences in the form of preventable
errors, avoidable complications, increased lengths of stay, and readmissions. The
Patient Safety Act - H.3912/S.890 - would dramatically improve hospital care by
setting a safe limit on the number of patients assigned to a nurse. The
Department of Public Health would set the safe limits and adjust them based on
patient needs. The Act would reduce errors caused by fatigue and overwork
by prohibiting mandatory overtime, such as forcing RNs to work extra hours or
double shifts. It would also provide initiatives to increase nursing
faculty and nurse recruitment. See What the Bill Does.
MONDAY: PRESS CONFERENCE / RALLY
Noon-12:30pm, near the entrance to Mercy Hospital, 271
Carew Street, at Cass St, Springfield. Labor
and community turnout is strongly encouraged 每 to
※impress the press§. Mass. Nurses Assn.
(MNA) will provide signs. If you can come, please click here or hit
Reply or call 827-0301 x1.
MONDAY & TUESDAY: PHONE BANKING FOR CALLS TO LEGISLATORS
Monday afternoon and evening, Tuesday morning and afternoon, MNA Office, 241 King St #226, Northampton. Nurses and
others will call nurses on Nov. 2 and/or 3 using a computerized dialing system
so that callers will be able to patch the folks they＊re calling through to
their state legislators. To find out more or volunteer: Leo Maley, 781-520-1483, LMaley@MNARN.org.
TUESDAY: LEGISLATIVE HEARING
10am, State House, Boston. The
Patient Safety Act will have a public hearing before the Joint Committee on
Public Health. Testifiers include Jon Weissman of Western Mass. Jobs with
Justice. If you wish to attend, click here or hit
Reply or call 827-0301 x1. If you wish to submit written testimony, contact
Andi Mullin, Mass. Nurses Assn. (MNA),
800-882-2056 x716, amullin@mnarn.org.
To let your State Rep
and Senator know you support the Patient Safety Act (H.3912/S.890),
visit http://www.protectmasspatients.org/how.htm.
CO-OP
VALLEY! THE WORKER CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY
7pm, Food for Thought Books, 106
N Pleasant St, downtown Amherst. Join Food For Thought Books and Valley
Alliance for Worker Cooperatives for a book presentation and fundraiser with
old-time music by Sweaty Buttons. Come learn about the growing critical mass of
worker co-ops in our region and globally and support the publication of the forthcoming
book, CO-OP VALLEY! Written by a five-person team of researchers and
members of the Valley Alliance of Worker Coops (VAWC) (the authors are Janelle
Cornwell, Julie Graham, Michael Johnson, Adam Trott, and Karen Werner), CO-OP
VALLEY! describes the past and present of the worker co-operative movement
while spotlighting existing Valley Co-ops. The book also includes steps for
building a fair trade cooperative economy, drawing on the inspiring examples of
Mondragon, Quebec, and the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. To raise funds for
the book's production, we will be selling advance purchases at the event. Join
this grassroots effort to publish this important resource for and about the
worker co-operative movement. Info: 253-5432, javiera@foodforthoughtbooks.com.
Wednesday November 4
PLANNING THE WESTERN MASS. JOBS
WITH JUSTICE MEMBERSHIP MEETING
9:30-11am, UAW 2322 Office, room
406, 4 Open Square Way, Holyoke (http://www.opensquare.com/map_directions.php).
The WMass JwJ Membership Meeting has been rescheduled for Saturday January 30
2010. Tentative schedule (with notes on our decisions so far):
12:30 :: Registration (Group
rates. Fee can be paid by volunteering.)
1:00 :: Opening Plenary
1:30 :: Workshops (※Edgy§)
3:00 :: Break
3:15 :: Business Meeting (WMJwJ
Members only; dues paid up)
4:15 :: Plenary: Report Back
6:00 :: Dinner & Dance
(Public Fundraiser)(Sliding scale: ※We invite you to select a ticket price that
is meaningful to you. Tickets purchased at a higher level enable us to keep the
event affordable for all.§)(Culturally diverse music and food.)
On the Organizing Committee agenda:
Co-sponsorship
Location
Conference Theme
Keynote Speaker
Workshop
Titles/Content/Facilitators
Caterer
Dance Band
Other Entertainment
Movement Bazaar
Day-Of Jobs
Snow Day
Publicity, Outreach
Etc etc
To join the Membership Meeting Organizing Committee, RSVP: wmjwj@wmjwj.org.
Wednesday November 4 (First Wednesday)
FRANKLIN COUNTY WORKERS' RIGHTS
COMMITTEE ~ ORGANIZING AN UNEMPLOYED SPEAK-OUT
7-8:30pm, Traprock Center for
Peace and Justice, 24 Miles St, Greenfield (773-7427). Organizing a public
event where unemployed workers can speak out and develop community standards
for lay-off and recall, etc. Also organizing local solidarity for Franklin
County workers and unions; nurses and other workers at Franklin Medical Center;
Greenfield municipal employees; and statewide and national workers' rights
campaigns. Info: 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org.
Wednesday November 4
GEORGE NOEL, DIRECTOR OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
7pm, Agawam Public Library, 750
Cooper St, Agawam. Guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Agawam
Democratic Committee. Noel will speak about the underground economy and how it
is robbing our State of millions of dollars in income tax and how it undermines
the workers as well. He will also address the important role that
"Responsible Employer Ordinances" can play in protecting cities and
towns by making it harder for unscrupulous contractors to get away with
cheating the system. Info: Corinne Wingard, corinnemarie@comcast.net.
Thursday November 5 (First Thursday)
MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS AGAINST
THE DEATH PENALTY
7-8:30pm, Unitarian
Society, 245 Porter Lake Drive, Springfield. MCADP＊s mission is to keep
the death penalty out of Massachusetts and work to abolish it nationally and
internationally. Info: mcadp1@aol.com or cajowl66@aol.com, 567-3451.
CESAR CHAVEZ＊S FARM WORKER MOVEMENT
8pm, Amherst Books, 8 Main St, Amherst. Miriam
Pawel will talk about her new book, The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope,
& Struggle in Cesar Chavez＊s Farm Worker Movement. Drawing on a rich
trove of original documents, tapes, and interviews, Pawel chronicles the rise
of the UFW during the heady days of civil rights struggles, the antiwar
movement, and student activism in the 1960s & 70s. From the fields, the
churches, and the classrooms, hundreds were drawn to ※la causa§ by the
charismatic Chavez, a brilliant risk-taker who mobilized popular support for a
noble cause. But as Pawel shows, the UFW was ripped apart by the same man who
built it, as Chavez proved unable to make the transition from movement icon to
union leader. Pawel traces the lives of several key members of the
crusade, using their stories to weave together a powerful portrait of a
movement and the people who made it. Info: 256-1547, books@amherstbooks.com.
UNDOING RACISM WORKSHOP
Springfield. Learn to dismantle
institutionalized racism. Should everyone have the same opportunity to the good
life? Have you been working to remove the inequities in your organization? It's
time to Walk the Talk. Info: Undoing Racism Organizing Collective (UROC) of
Western Mass, PO Box 81235, Springfield MA 01138; 736-5136, urocofspringfield@gmail.com.
Saturday
November 7
WORKER SAFETY & HEALTH NATIONAL SUMMIT: A
NEW ERA FOR SAFETY & HEALTH ACTIVISM
9am-5pm, 3001 Walnut St, Philadelphia.
$10〞includes special lunch with Jordan Barab, Acting Asst. Secretary of
Labor/Director of OSHA. Maximize the current momentum to develop a common
strategy for policy change:
• Move forward safety legislation,
• Advance healthy and safety standards,
• Promote the rights of victims and
families.
Sponsored
by Protecting Workers Alliance, a coalition of COSH groups (Coalitions for
Occupational Safety and Health), unions, American Public Health Association
occ/envt. health section, and labor, public health, immigrant rights, family
rights and environmental health activists. Info: Tom O＊Connor, 919-933-6322 or
919-428坼6915, oconnorta@gmail.com, www.protectingworkers.org/node/27.
Saturday
November 7
GREEN ECONOMY FORUM/WORKSHOP
4:30-6pm, UMass Amherst, during the
international conference, New
Marxian Times. Over the past few years, green economy efforts
have spurred the dispersal of billions of public dollars, sprung numerous
coalitions and community organizations, and led to many important campaigns and
projects. At the same time, green economy advocates and organizations have also
been met with great resistance, have encountered conflicting agendas, and have
had to negotiate personal challenges and pragmatic concerns brought about by
deteriorating economic conditions. This forum brings together labor leaders,
organizers, activists, environmentalists, and academics to discuss and assess
our efforts over the past few years and deliberately discuss what we need to do
in the coming years in order to imagine and build a socially just and
sustainable green economy. Info: Boone Shear, bshear@anthro.umass.edu.
November
9 & 10
ACORN FOUNDER WADE RATHKE: CITIZEN WEALTH
Monday: 7pm, Marsh Memorial Hall,
Springfield College, 263 Alden Street, Springfield (748-3000). Springfield
College's Annual Social Science Speaker.
Tuesday: 4pm, Gordon Hall, 418 N Pleasant St,
Amherst, just north of downtown Amherst and south of the main UMass campus; directions
at http://www.umass.edu/lrrc/contact/.
Wade Rathke is the founder of ACORN
(Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), an activist network
engaged in community organizing across the US and Canada. He is currently chief
organizer for ACORN International. Wade is also a founding board member of the
Tides Foundation, chief organizer of SEIU Local 100 in New Orleans, and chair
of the Organizers＊ Forum. Rathke began his career here in Springfield in 1969
as an organizer for the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). Wade has
written Citizen Wealth, drawing on lessons learned in forty years of
organizing in low and moderate income communities. He will describe winning
strategies and partnerships that can end income inequality and create a strong
foundation for working people, building a future that extends beyond paying the
next month＊s rent and electricity bill. Info: drussell@spfldcol.edu.
Tuesday
November 10
CLEAN ENERGY CONNECTIONS: PATHWAYS TO
ECONOMIC GROWTH & GOOD CAREERS
8:30am-5pm, MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St,
Springfield (787-6610). A career and business development information and
networking event. A forum for the individuals and organizations that will
accelerate the growth of our clean energy economy. Access resources to build
your business or start your clean energy career. Meet entrepreneurs and
community groups mobilizing around clean energy. Learn about clean energy
trends. What's hot and what's hype?
Dr. Robert Pollin, UMass
Amherst Political Economy Research Institute, will speak on ※Green Recovery
since the ARRA.§ Full program: www.umass.edu/green/conference/program.html.
Info: Marla Michel, 577-0092, marla@research.umass.edu,
or Loren Walker, 577-3725, loren@research.umass.edu.
Tuesday
November 10
HEALTH CARE IS A
RIGHT! SING OUT FOR SINGLE PAYER!
7pm, North Congregational Church, N Pleasant & Pine Streets, North Amherst.
Contributions $10每$25 for adults and $5 for children; tickets at the door
starting at 6:30pm. Refreshments, single payer items, and CDs for sale. Checks
should be made out to UHCEF (Universal Health Care Education Fund).
Come to a fantastic folk concert to benefit the education fund of Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for
Single Payer Health Care. The concert will feature valley folksingers:
Tracy Grammer & Jim Henry, Charlie King, Pat & Tex LaMountain, Jay
Mankita, Annie Patterson, Sarah Pirtle, Roger Tincknell, and Peter Blood - MC.
With brief remarks by Benjamin Day, Executive Director of Mass-Care, and Kate
Atkinson, MD. Handicapped parking by the building. General parking in the
lot down the hill.
Co-sponsors: American Friends Service
Committee (Western Mass.) , Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition,
League of Women Voters of Amherst, League of Women Voters of the Northampton
Area, Mass. Nurses Association, Pioneer Valley Social Workers for Peace and
Justice, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, Western Mass. Jobs with
Justice, Western Mass. PDA, Western Mass. Single Payer Network. Info: Alice
Swift, 253-3197, acswift@comcast.net.
Thursday
November 12
PIONEER
VALLEY PROJECT'S CLERGY-LABOR LUNCH
12:30-2pm, Trinity United Methodist Church, 361
Sumner Avenue, Springfield. This will be a time for reflection about conditions
in our communities since we last met, given ongoing economic difficulties and
the violence gripping Springfield and how we feel called to respond. Also
updates about PVP campaigns to improve schools, reduce violence, and create job
opportunities, all of which have made important strides over the past 6 months.
RSVP: Fred Rose, 827-0781, fredrose.pvp2@verizon.net.
Thursday
November 12 (Second Thursday)
NORTHAMPTON LIVING WAGE COALITION
7pm, Western Mass Legal Services office, 20
Hampton Av #100, Northampton (enter near Pleasant St, south of, right angle to
Sylvester＊s). Organizing for a City Council resolution updating the 1998
Northampton Living Wage Resolution. Collecting petition signatures supporting
the resolution. Asking local business owners to commit to paying a living wage
or at least commit to working toward a living wage. Publicly recognizing them
if they do. Info: Kitty Callaghan, kcallaghan@wmls.org.
WMASS JOBS WITH JUSTICE HAMPSHIRE WORKERS'
RIGHTS COMMITTEE meets with the NORTHAMPTON LIVING WAGE COALITION. Info:
827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org.
Thursday
November 12
ETHICS & EFFECTIVENESS: EXPLORING THE
RELEVANCE OF ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE TO OUR EFFORTS AT SOCIAL CHANGE
7pm, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, 24 Miles St, Greenfield. An evening
workshop led by Randy Kehler, longtime peace activist, community organizer, and
Traprock co-founder, to better understand the principles and practices of
Active Nonviolence and their potential for strengthening and making more
effective various local, regional, national, and/or global campaigns, and other
efforts we＊re involved in (or considering becoming involved in) whose aim is to
overcome war, hatred, intolerance, inequality, discrimination, environmental
destruction, and/or other forms of cruelty and injustice. Info: 773-7427, info@traprock.info.
Thursday
November 12
RAY LUC LEVASSEUR, DEFENDANT IN THE GREAT WESTERN
MASS SEDITION TRIAL
7pm, Amherst Room, 10th Floor, Campus Center,
UMass Amherst. As part of the Fifth Annual Colloquium on Social Change, the
Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives of the W.E.B. Du Bois
Library, UMass Amherst, sponsors a talk by Ray Luc Levasseur, with opening
remarks by Bill Newman, the Director of the of the Western Regional Office of
the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. In 1989, Ray Luc
Levasseur, along with his comrades Pat Levasseur and Richard Williams, stood
trial here in Springfield on Federal charges of seditious conspiracy. After ten
months of deliberation, in the most expensive trial in Massachusetts history, a
jury found all three not guilty of conspiring to overthrow the US government
through armed force. In his first public address in the Pioneer Valley in 20
years, Levasseur will reflect on the past and present significance of the
Springfield sedition trial. He will also discuss his life experience as a
French-Canadian youth growing up in a Maine mill town; as a Vietnam veteran; as
an anti-imperialist revolutionary active in the Civil Rights, antiwar, and
prison reform movements; as a prisoner arrested with other members of the ※Ohio
7§ and incarcerated for twenty years for his involvement in a series of
bombings carried out to protest U.S. backing of South Africa＊s racist apartheid
regime and Central American right-wing death-squads; and his 2004 release and
ongoing involvement in movements for social justice. Levasseur＊s prison writings
and his closing statement from the Springfield sedition trial are available
at http://home.earthlink.net/~neoludd/ and
http://home. earthlink.
net/~neoludd/ statement. html. Info: Robert Cox, 545-2780, rscox@library.umass.edu; http://www.library.
umass.edu/ spcoll/images/ levasseur_ 2009.pdf.
Thursday
November 12
CHRISTOPHER PYLE: GETTING AWAY WITH
TORTURE
7pm, Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St (Routes
116 at 47), in the Village Commons, S Hadley, 534-7307 or 800-540-7307; odysseybks@aol.com; www.odysseybks.com (www.odysseybks.com/directions.html).
The moral standing of the United States will not be restored, Pyle argues, until
a concerted effort is made to bring our secret government under the rule of
law. That American forces should torture prisoners in their ※war§ on terror is
disturbing, but more shocking still is that the highest officials of the
Bush-Cheney administration planned, authorized, encouraged, and concealed these
war crimes. When the Supreme Court ruled that the officials were bound by the
Geneva Convention, a Republican Congress responded by granting amnesty to all
responsible, from lowly interrogators to the president, while conservative
judges erected a wall of secrecy to protect them even from civil liability.
Meanwhile, timid Democrats have shown little stomach for repealing the amnesty
law and bringing those responsible to justice. Many Americans, including those
who endorsed torture to find ※ticking bombs§ that never were, are now
embarrassed by credible reports of CIA kidnappings for purposes of torture,
secret prisons into which prisoners have disappeared without a trace, and
rigged tribunals to convict al-Qaeda＊s criminals on evidence obtained by
torture. But the problem is not just embarrassment; it is the widespread
acceptance of unaccountable, secret government that now threatens to destroy
the very foundations of constitutional government.
Friday
November 13 (Second Friday)
STREET HEAT - THE AFL-CIO MOBILIZATION
COMMITTEE
9:30-11am, AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Blvd, near
corner of Osborne Ter, across the street from the old Westinghouse,
Springfield. On the agenda: EFCA; Mass Mutual Center workers; Safe Hospital
staffing; Green Jobs; Immigration Reform; Postal job loss; Servicenet; Your
Organizing! Community and labor activists are urged to attend. Info,
send agenda items to: Jon Weissman, 732-7970, street_heat@pvaflcio.org.
Friday
November 13
MARK RUDD: UNDERGROUND: MY LIFE WITH SDS
AND THE WEATHERMEN
7pm, Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St (Routes
116 at 47), in the Village Commons, S Hadley, 534-7307 or 800-540-7307; odysseybks@aol.com; www.odysseybks.com (www.odysseybks.com/directions.html).
In this gripping narrative, Rudd speaks out about a tumultuous time, the role he
played in its crucial events, and its aftermath, revealing the drama and
tension, as well as the naivet谷 of young activists, fighting in the name of
peace and social justice, who believed that their actions mattered. In 1968,
Mark Rudd led the legendary occupation of five buildings at Columbia
University, a dramatic act of protest against the university＊s support for the
Vietnam War and its institutional racism. Rudd was the charismatic chairman of
the Columbia chapter of SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, the largest
radical student organization in the US. After a violent police bust, the
Columbia occupation turned into a student strike that closed down the entire
campus, turning Rudd into a national symbol of student revolt. Rudd went on to
become the cofounder of the Weathermen faction of SDS, which took control of
the student organization and helped organize the notorious Days of Rage in
Chicago in 1969. But Mark Rudd wanted revolution. Rudd and his friends sought
to end war, racism, and injustice〞by any means necessary, even violence. After
a tragic turn that lead to the death of three members, who were killed when the
bombs they were making in a Greenwich Village townhouse exploded, they
transformed themselves into the Weather Underground Organization. By the end of
1970, after a string of non-lethal bombings by the organization, Rudd, now one
of the FBI＊s Most Wanted, went into hiding for more than seven years before
turning himself in to great media fanfare.
November
13-14
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JOBLESSNESS
New York City. 30 million people are
unemployed or underemployed, and millions more who work full-time are working
poor. Our country had a chronic problem. Now we have a crisis. Even those who
see "green shoots" of recovery warn of high joblessness long after
the recession is over. This is the time to address both the chronic and acute
problems. A coalition of religious, labor, social welfare, anti-poverty
organizations and individuals is hosting a national conference to arouse public
awareness and action on behalf of the jobless and in support of the right to a
living-wage job for all. We propose creating living-wage jobs that fill other
social needs 每 infrastructure repair, elder- and child-care, affordable housing
每 as well as address the imperative of an ecologically sustainable
economy. Info: www.JobsConference.org.
Saturday
November 14 (Second Saturday)
HEALTH EQUITY ROUNDTABLE
9:30-11:30am, Tapestry Health, 365 Bay St,
Springfield. Addressing existing disparities in health care and outcomes, and
the underlying racism, poverty, and homelessness. This Springfield Health
Disparities Project roundtable provides a forum to engage community people in
dialogue with folks working on community health initiatives, keeping the
community abreast of what is happening, and getting people involved in working
with others to improve community health. Info: Betty Agin, 627-4028, betagi7@verizon.net.
PHOENIX ARTS PROJECT'S 4TH ANNUAL
ART SHOW & SALE
2-8pm, Christ Church Cathedral, 35
Chestnut Street, Springfield.
The artists are homeless and low-income individuals who participate in the
Loaves and Fishes community meal site. (Some of the artists are also the cooks!)
There will be a lovely, soft-lit "cafe" downstairs
with delicious dinners and snacks, surrounded with the artists' work.
There is so much artwork that pictures are downstairs and upstairs in the
church and hallways. Craft items are also for sale upstairs. At 3:15pm
there is a performance featuring the Sci-Tech Drum Ensemble, Joe Sallins, and
community poets.
The Phoenix Arts Project is an
artist collective birthed among guests and staff of the Loaves and Fishes Soup
Kitchen in Springfield, MA. Since 2006, Nehemiah Ministries, Inc, a local
non-profit community development organization, has been providing free art
classes and supplies twice a week at Loaves and Fishes for anyone who wishes to
participate. Info: 732-7778 or 313-1323, Shiloh_dean@yahoo.com, phoenixartsproject.org.
November
14-15
HEALTHCARE-NOW! NATIONAL STRATEGY CONFERENCE
St Louis, MO. Join activists from around the
country to plan our strategy to win guaranteed single-payer national health
insurance. By learning and sharing from one another we can build on the
successes of the last year and plan to push Congress to implement single-payer
national health insurance NOW. Info: Katie Robbins, 800-453-1305, info@healthcare-now.org, http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/strat-conf/.
Tuesday
November 17 (Third Tuesday)
FRANKLIN/HAMPSHIRE HEALTH CARE COALITION
7pm, Lathrop Village Community Room, Shallow
Brook Drive, off Bridge Rd, Northampton. Organizing for the Massachusetts
Health Care Trust Fund Bill - 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. Also organizing for the national
alternative to state action: Medicare for All 每 HR 676. Info: info@fhhcc.org. Please visit www.masscare.org and www.healthcare-now.org.
AMERICAN WOMEN SINCE
1960
7pm, Hooker Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College,
Rt 116, S Hadley. Gail Collins will read from and sign her new book, When
Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the
Present. Picking up where her previous successful, and highly lauded book, America＊s
Women, left off, Collins recounts the sea change women have experienced
since 1960. This is the definitive book about five crucial decades of progress,
told with the down-to-earth, amusing, and agenda-free tone this beloved New
York Times columnist is known for. Info: Odyssey Bookshop, 534-7307 or
800-540-7307; odysseybks@aol.com; www.odysseybks.com.
Wednesday
November 18
DEADLINE TO BE REGISTERED FOR THE PRIMARY
ELECTION FOR SENATOR
Primary Election: December 8. Deadline
to be registered for the General Election: December 30. General Election:
January 19.
Wednesday
November 18 (changed from normally Fourth Wednesday due to holiday)
GREENWORK: THE WESTERN MASS GREEN ECONOMY
WORKING GROUP
Noon-2:30pm, Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO Hall, 640
Page Boulevard, Springfield (732-7970). Brown Bag Lunch at Noon. This Working
Group consists of advocates for a Green Economy which serves local communities;
guarantees workers' rights to organize; and promotes community-owned sustainable
projects. On the agenda: progress report by GreenWork
Organizational Subcommittee on our Articles of Organization and By-Laws; review
Clean Energy Connections, November 10.
Subscribe to the GreenWork listserve at http://lists.gaiahost.coop/mailman/listinfo/greenwork
or send an email to greenwork-subscribe@lists.gaiahost.coop.
Info: Jon Weissman, 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org,
or Eduardo Su芍rez, 335-6224, director@echosd.org.
Wednesday
November 18 (Third Wednesday)
MASS SENIOR ACTION COUNCIL 每 WESTERN MASS
1:30-3pm, 1124 Berkshire Avenue, near corner
of Page Blvd, Springfield. Light refreshments, 50/50 raffle. MSAC was founded
in 1981 to promote the rights, well being, and dignity of all people,
particularly vulnerable senior citizens. Open to people of all ages.
MSAC has a proud history of effective community organizing and legislative
advocacy on health care, housing, transportation, and other issues. Info:
543-2334, http://www.masssenioraction.org.
Wednesday
November 18 (Third Wednesday)
PIONEER VALLEY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL
5:30pm, AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Blvd, near
corner of Osborne Ter, across the street from the old Westinghouse,
Springfield. Community and labor activist guests are welcome, but RSVP
to Jon at 732-7970, mail@pvaflcio.org,
or Rick at 374-1492, rbrown@pvaflcio.org.
DR
STEPHANIE WOOLHANDLER: HEALTH REFORM: THE NEED FOR SINGLE PAYER NATIONAL HEALTH
INSURANCE
7:30pm,
Gamble Auditorium, Art Building, Mount Holyoke
College, Rt 116, South Hadley. Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler, Professor
of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a founder of Physicians for a
National Health Program, will probe the political, social, and economic facts and
distortions surrounding single-payer health coverage and what＊s at stake if the
United States fails to extend comprehensive health care to all. Throughout the last
century, powerful social justice movements championed the call for universal
coverage, while public opinion has overwhelmingly supported guaranteed health
care for all. Why has universal health coverage consistently failed in the
United States, and what hope is there for guaranteed health care for all in the
future? Part of the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts
program, Rethinking Health
Care. Info: 538-3071, wcl@mtholyoke.edu.
Thursday November 19
NATIONAL
DAY OF ACTION TO STOP WAGE THEFT
Find
out how you can get involved in putting an end to this national
scandal--and complete
a survey to find out if you've been affected by Wage Theft.
Thursday
November 19 NOTE TIME CHANGE
IMMIGRANT & WORKERS RIGHTS COALITION
7-8:30pm, Conference Room, second floor, room
234 &/or 236, Potpourri Plaza, 243 King St, Northampton (opposite Stop
& Shop, http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=243+King+St,+Northampton,+MA).
Organizing for comprehensive immigration reform and local issues, including know
your rights training, Franklin County Jail project, and restaurant workers
project. Info: American Friends Service Committee, 584-8975, afsc@crocker.com.
Friday
November 20
CONFERENCE ON IMMIGRATION AND THE FUTURE OF
WORK
9am-3:30pm, Gordon Hall, 418 N Pleasant St,
Amherst, just north of downtown Amherst and south of the main UMass campus; directions
at http://www.umass.edu/lrrc/contact/.
The Labor Center at UMass Amherst will host a free conference, with lunch, on
immigration and work in Massachusetts. We'll have scholars present new research
on:
﹞
work
lives of immigrant youth
﹞
the
impact of immigration raids on workers and communities in the Commonwealth
﹞
patterns
of change in local labor markets
﹞
opportunities
for organizing in immigrant communities
Keynote Addresses: EDDIE ACOSTA, National
Worker Center Coordinator, AFL-CIO; and ROBYN RODRIGUEZ, Assistant Professor of
Sociology, Rutgers University, author of "Migrants for Export: How the
Philippines Brokers Labor to the World". Info, to register: bberry@lrrc.umass.edu, www.umass.edu/lrrc.
Friday
November 20
FREE FINANCIAL SEMINARS FOR UNION
OFFICIALS
9am-3pm, IBEW Local 7, 185 Industry Ave, Springfield (734-7137).
Free continental breakfast and lunch included! Who Should Attend: Union
officers, employees, trustees and e-board members. Topics Include:
﹞
Understanding
financial statements
﹞
Budgetary
control & cash flow management
﹞
Audit
preparation
﹞
Investing
fundamentals
﹞
Accounting
processes terms and concepts
﹞
U.S.
Department of Labor forms and filings
﹞
Campaign
Finance Rules and Requirements
Reserve your seat today by:
﹞
Registering
online at www.ftub.com/register
﹞
Emailing
Tom Iacobucci at tiacobucci@ftub.com
﹞
Calling
Tom Iacobucci at 800-242-0272 x7309
﹞
Faxing
to 617-330-1061, attn: Tom Iacobucci
﹞
Mailing
Tom Iacobucci, First Trade Union Bank, One Harbor St, Ste 201, Boston, MA 02210
MEMORIAL GATHERING FOR GEORGE MARKHAM (8/15/1909-10/25/2009)
2pm, Unitarian Society, Main St, Northampton.
In lieu of flowers, Arky asks that you make a contribution to the Warren J. Plaut
Charitable Trust, memo＊d for the Markham-Nathan Fund, PO Box 943, Northampton
MA 01061, or to UHCEF (MassCare 每 Mass. Campaign for Single Payer Health Care),
33 Harrison Ave. 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02111.
Tuesday
November 24 (Fourth Tuesday) NOTE TIME CHANGE!
HAMPSHIRE/FRANKLIN CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL
5:30pm, Northampton Fire Station Community
Room, 26 Carlon Drive at King St/Route 5, Northampton (587-1148). Community and
labor activist guests are welcome, but RSVP to Pres. Fiore Grassetti,
877-725-0357, org7@comcast.net.
November
28 & 29
PEOPLE'S SUMMIT
Seattle WA. The ten-year anniversary of the Battle
in Seattle, the largest civil society demonstration against the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and its vision of globalization. Info: http://seattleplus10.org/.
Monday
November 30
MOBILIZATION FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
The Mobilization for Climate Justice invites
communities, organizations and activists across North America to organize mass
action on climate change on the ten-year anniversary of the successful shut
down of the WTO in Seattle and preceding the upcoming UN Climate Conference in
Copenhagen. Info: http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Workers' Rights".
[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".
Western
Mass Jobs with Justice
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Springfield MA 01104
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