[2009] in peace2
CALL TO ACTION! Justice for Janitors! THIS THURSDAY!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sweiwang@MIT.EDU)
Tue Oct 22 18:11:02 2002
From: sweiwang@MIT.EDU
Message-ID: <1035324468.3db5cc34e8cd0@webmail.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 18:07:48 -0400
To: peace-announce@mit.edu, utr-announce@mit.edu, labor-announce@mit.edu,
greens-announce@mit.edu
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hello,
this thursday, oct24, is the "day of conscience. day of action. day of chaos"
in the justice for janitors campaign. they have to win this fight for a decent
living and they have to win fast!!! if you are interested in direct
action/civil disobedience, especially here at mit or in cambridge, please
contact me (sweiwang@mit.edu) or 617-225-8538
check the boston student labor action project (SLAP) website for more details:
http://www.bostonslap.org
* * * CALL TO ACTION * * *
If you've ever gone up against the IMF-
If you hate the WTO-
WE NEED YOU TO FIGHT UNICCO!
***************************************************
On strike since September 30, the 10,000 janitors in Boston need your
solidarity now more than ever. Almost all of them are immigrants, forced from
their home countries by corporate globalization only to clean the offices and
bathrooms of the same corporate cronies who enforce the policies of
neoliberalism. Janitors in our community are paid slave wages, denied full-
time work opportunities and have no health care. Most are forced to work 2 or
3 jobs, and still barely live paycheck to paycheck, with no hope for working
themselves out of poverty. We’re standing up to demand that these insane
abuses of human rights end!
NOW IS THE TIME FOR WORKERS AND STUDENTS TO UNITE AGAINST CORPORATE CONTROL OF
OUR LIVES AND COMMUNITIES
"They still seem to cling to the idea they want to see more full-time jobs
with more people having health insurance."
Unicco negotiator & VP James Canavan, quoted in Boston Herald 9/10/02
Contractors, the largest being UNICCO, building owners like Equity and Fleet
Bank of Boston -- which was entrenched in the IMF program that fueled the
economic collapse of Argentina -- have refused the janitors full-time work
opportunities, health care, and decent wages for too long.
In an unprecedented mobilization, the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP),
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), Jobs with Justice along with
national and local community groups, call upon students and people of
conscience to stand with the janitors in a day of multiple direct actions
across the city. We are asking people to "Take the Day Off for Justice"to
create a mass mobilization though the streets of Boston and the hearts of the
corporations holding our community back.
WE NEED YOU TO JOIN US IN BOSTON
Never has a local struggle been so important to the larger movement. The
companies have drawn the line in the sand here in Boston.
A setback here, in a local struggle of this magnitude, would be interpreted as
a failure of solidarity, and could lead to major losses in the labor movement.
A diverse coalition, breaching lines of race, age, class, faith, ethnicity and
gender has reached a consensus: that janitors should be treated with dignity.
Today, Saturday the 19th, over 1500 people from these communities rallied and
marched through Boston in support of Justice for Janitors. The mayor is
meeting daily with the janitors, students have walked out of classes, the
governor has kicked UNICCO out of the State House, over 50 people, including a
state senator, have been arrested in acts of civil disobedience, unions have
refused to cross picket lines, and congressmen are pressuring building owners.
Even so, in the face of all of this, companies are still trying to starve the
workers out. In order to hold these corporations accountable, we must take
direct action. A win in Boston is the gateway to victories across the country,
and proof that worker-community solidarity can succeed in overthrowing
corporate power.
We are arranging FREE transportation from a number of cities across the
country for anyone wishing to spend the day in solidarity with the janitors in
Boston. Get here for the spokes council on Wednesday night; if you can’t make
it, we’ll have a briefing Thursday morning. If you or your organization is
interested in coming, or if you are willing to get arrested, please e-mail
BostonSLAP@hotmail.com or call Mandie at 617-824-7135.
Boston SLAP supports non-violent, diverse tactics to topple the corporate
tyrannies that seek to undermine our unions, our democracy, and a decent
standard of living. For a schedule of events, more information on the
campaign, or on Boston SLAP, please see www.bostonslap.org, (details available
on 10-21).
See you on the streets!!!
Festivities start at 6 am with a wake up call for UNICCO. Lisa Fithian, of
Seattle and LA Justice for Janitors renown, will be helping to organize direct
actions all day long
