Tuesday May 6 CELEBRATE NATIONAL NURSES DAY & RALLY FOR PATIENT SAFETY 10am-2pm, Boston. GET ON THE FREE BUS: Leaving Pot Pourri Plaza, 243 King St, Northampton (opposite Stop & Shop) at 6:30am and Plantation Inn, Chicopee (opposite Mass Pike Exit 6) at 7:15am. Contact Heather at the Mass Nurses Assn Region 1 office today to reserve a seat: 584-4607 or region1@mnarn.org. Please get there ten minutes early for check in, and coffee! 10am to Noon: Nurses, nursing students, and supporters of nurses will convene in Hynes Convention Center for inspiring speeches by Grammy-award winning singer Patti LaBelle and renowned health care journalist Suzanne Gordon. Free food, transportation, and great prizes. Grand prize is a $2,500 scholarship! 1 to 2pm: Make your voice heard during a rally on the State House steps for safe patient limits. See www.massnurses.org/safe_care/Safe_Staffing. CAN'T MAKE THE RALLY? Call your State Representative and Senator at (617) 722-2000 and let them know that you care. Ask them to support a vote on HB 2059, The Patient Safety Act (to require the Department of Public Health to set a limit on the number of patients a nurse has to care for at one time). Or click here: www.unionvoice.org/campaign/patientsafetyactnow. Wednesday May 7 (First Wednesday) WESTERN MASS JUSTICE @ SMITHFIELD COMMITTEE 7-8:30pm, Conference Room, room 234 &/or 236, second floor, Potpourri Plaza, 243 King St, Northampton, opposite Stop & Shop. http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=243+King+St,+Northampton,+MA. On the agenda: Report on 4/19 and 5/1 leafleting; Latest on the national campaign and lawsuit; One Million Mobilization for the Employee Free Choice Act. Info: 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org. Thursday May 8 CONNECTING THE DOTS: Healthy Communities, Revenues, Taxes, & the Role of Government 10am-1pm, Campus Center Room 917, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, UMass Amherst. Lunch provided. Sponsored by ONE Massachusetts, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, PDM in Greater Springfield, and Public Higher Education of Massachusetts (PHENOM). ONE Massachusetts is a network-in-formation of people and organizations sharing a common vision: rebuilding public confidence in our capacity to work together, through our government, to expand economic opportunity and improve the quality of life in Massachusetts. Info, RSVP: Michael Forbes Wilcox, PDM of Greater Springfield, mfw@mfw.us, www.onemassachusetts.org. Thursday May 8 ANNUAL PIONEER VALLEY PROJECT COMMUNITY ACTION 6:30-8pm, Holy Family Church, 235 Eastern Avenue, Springfield. The Pioneer Valley Project is a faith-based organizing project with 25 member congregations and unions, including founding member Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO. PVP and WMJwJ are reciprocal members of each other's coalition. We work to improve the quality of life in the Springfield area around issues that the community itself defines as important. We bring together people from all parts of the community - across racial, economic, neighborhood, and faith lines - to work together around common concerns. On Thursday May 8, please join the Labor Contingent at PVP's Community Action and Call to • Create a Network of Congregation-Based Youth Centers; • Fund teacher home visits to improve relationships with parents; • Support Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) for school construction to ensure job training for minority city residents; • Oppose Repeal of the State Income Tax - it’s a fair way to pay for the services we need. If you will join the Labor Contingent, please Reply to this email. Info: 827-0781, fredrose.pvp2@verizon.net. Saturday May 10 ANNUAL LETTER CARRIERS FOOD DRIVE US Postal Service Letter Carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America will deliver much more than mail when they walk and drive along their postal routes. They will also gather the generosity of their postal customers participating in the 16th annual National Assn of Letter Carriers National Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the nation. In 2007, 70.7 million pounds of food were delivered to local community food banks, pantries, and shelters. An estimated 30 million people face hunger every day in America, including more than 12 million children. This drive is one way people can help those right in their own city or town who need help. All citizens need do is to place a box or can of non-perishable food next to their mailbox before their Letter Carrier delivers mail on May 10. Info: www.nalc.org. Sunday May 11 SCOTT RITTER ON "IRAQ, IRAN, & THE STATE OF U S FOREIGN POLICY" 10am, Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, North Peasant St, downtown Amherst between Bart's Ice Cream and the Post Office. Ritter will be giving the Sermon/Talk during the Sunday morning service. All are welcome! Ritter is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who was a chief weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991-1998. He publicly opposed the latest US invasion of Iraq and argued Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction. He predicted we would become mired in the Iraq War. His insights are essential. Info: reneandsusan@comcast.net. Sunday May 11 MOTHER’S DAY MARCH FOR PEACE & JUSTICE 11:45am-1:45pm, Northampton: Beginning at 11:30am, meet at Bridge Street School, Route 9. Noon: march through downtown on Main St. 1pm: Speak out plus at Masonic Street mural. HONORING ALL OUR WORLD’S CHILDREN & THE WOMEN WHO CARE: Let us speak of women who have made a difference in the lives of children here and everywhere! See the Peaceable Planet Puppets, join a sing-a-long, march to drummers, welcome the Raging Grannies. And more! Inspired by Julia Ward Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation: "Arise, then women of this day! ... Our sons (and daughters) shall not be taken from us to unlearn all we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons (and daughters) to be trained to injure theirs. ..." Info: 256-1760. JOIN THE WESTERN MASS JOBS WITH JUSTICE CONTINGENT! Info: 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org. MORE EVENTS AT www.westernmassafsc.org/calendar/calendar.html. And please post your events there by emailing Roger Conant, conant@ecs.umass.edu, with Event for AFSC Calendar as the Subject, with this information in the body of the email: Date and Time; Location; Brief description of the event; How to get more information about the event. Please help Roger keep the recurring events page accurate - see www.westernmassafsc.org/calendar/calendar2.html#recurring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Unsub 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, affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Worker's Rights". Western Mass Jobs with Justice 640 Page Blvd #101 Springfield MA 01104 (413) 827-0301 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.8/1415 - Release Date: 5/5/2008 6:01 AM