|
.jpg)
Rally at the Art Museum - 2 pm Sunday, Sept 6th in support of the Security OfficersHi friends, I want to make a personal appeal to you to come out to a rally on Sunday at 2PM. it's at the Art Museum and will go about an hour or so. Basically, after a nearly 4 year campaign, the security guards at the art museum have filed to become an independent union. Security is a fast growing industry that pays poverty wages in the non-unionized sectors. In Philadelphia, the security guards are 95% African-American and receive about $10 an hour with unaffordable healthcare and zero raises. What this campaign represents is low-wage workers trying to carve out a decent life for themselves, something everyone deserves... The rally is to show the Museum that the workers have heavy community support. The real fight is on the inside, as the workers, who have officially filed for a union election, face incredible crackdowns by the company. They will try to crush the union, which has no larger backing of a bigger union since none of them would take it on. So if you've never come out to one of these rallies, this is the one you want to come to. If you've come out before, we need you again. I urge you to take a stand on Sunday, just an hour of your time. Did I mention the New York Rude Mechanical Orchestra will be there? http:// As well as members of the Black Clergy, and a few other speakers. I've literally put thousands of hours into this campaign for the last four years, and its coming to a head. An independent workers movement wins here, or its crushed, again. PLEASE come out! See you there! James PS: More info below ---------- Forwarded message ---------- http://www.philly.com/ Unhappy guards plan 'welcome' for Art Museum chiefThey will state their case for a union, though Timothy Rub will not have arrived.By Stephan Salisbury Inquirer Culture Writer On Sept. 6, a welcoming party will be held for Timothy Rub, new head of the Philadelphia Museum of Art - though he will not actually be there. He doesn't begin his tenure until Sept. 23, after finishing up as director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. No matter. The gala will take place anyway, though not in the galleries of the temple at the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Chablis will not be poured. Canapes will not be passed. This bash will unfold outside, on the museum steps, with the New York Rude Mechanical Orchestra providing entertainment and a number of the museum's security officers explaining the program's substance. They want a union. ... Thomas Robinson, a security guard at the University of Pennsylvania and an organizer of the union, said that a majority of museum guards had signed cards expressing their desire for a union. "It doesn't matter what site you go to, whether it's UPenn or Temple or PMA, we all see the same issues," he said. "We are all tired of being disrespected by the employer. We are the low man on the totem pole. They viewed us and still view us as replaceable pieces. . . . No one has stood up and fought for us." Robinson said that under the Employee Free Choice Act, now before Congress, the guards would be able to hold a site-specific union election based on the percentage of sign-up cards already in hand. ... Union organizers have produced a 13-minute video, Welcoming Change: A Message to Timothy Rub, directed by David Stuart Randle of the Media Mobilizing Project, in the hope of drumming up support for the union effort. The video has been mailed to 100 local churches and can be viewed at the Jobs With Justice Web site, www.phillyjwj.org.
!!!NEW CELL PHONE NUMBER!!! Eduardo Soriano-Castillo Philadelphia Jobs With Justice is a coalition of labor unions, community organizations, religious and student constituency groups building a movement for worker's rights and social economic justice on the principles of solidarity, reciprocity, militancy and direct action. Philadelphia Jobs With Justice is dedicated to winning victories that matter for working people. Members take the " Ill be there" pledge committing to be there at least five times a year for someone else's fight as well as their own.
|
|
© 1999–2008 Philadelphia Independent Media Center |
|
Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by PhillyIMC.
|
Comments
Post new comment