United Workers

Last Thursday, 40  students from Union Theological Seminary and leaders from the Poverty Initiative kick started “Occupy the Malls” with a creative flash mob at GGP’s Gallery Mall. Inspired by the biblical story of Jesus cleansing the temple of thieving money changers, this group of faith leaders “cleansed” this temple of consumerism through song and prayer. Disrupting business as usual, they burst into the spiritual, “Get on Board,” calling on workers, shoppers, and GGP to get on board with human rights. The flash mob ended with a prayer circle and reflection at the entrance to GGP’s mall.

In her blog entry entitled the “Cathedrals of Inequality,” Union Theological Seminary student, Valerie Freseman, reflects on the power of this action.

For six minutes today, however, we started to chip at the facade of this false cathedral. Those who are consumers at that mall and those who are workers became a bit more visible to one another- and to me, our action was almost the same as throwing the money changers out of the temple.”

To read the full entry, go here

“Occupy the Malls” calls on allies to stage creative flash mobs and actions at GGP malls in solidarity with low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Last Thursday’s prayerful flash mob was an incredible kick-off to “Occupy the Malls” and demonstrated the imaginative and unique possibilities that allies from all backgrounds can bring to the fight for Fair Development. Great work to the Poverty Initiative and all for an outstanding demonstration of solidarity and vision.

As the second largest mall owner in the country, GGP has properties all over. So no matter where you are, there’s likely a mall near you! Break out your creative cap and stand with harbor workers by staging your own Occupy the Malls flash mob. To learn more how you can take part, email info@unitedworkers.org.

We closed out 2011 by embarking on a major ramp-up of the Human Rights Zone Campaign. This past December 10th marked the two-year anniversary of the day that harbor workers mailed letters GGP and Cordish, the developers that control the Inner Harbor. After two years of silence and inaction despite repeated attempts for dialogue, low-wage workers announced an escalation in the fight for fair development by staging “letter drops” at GGP malls this holiday season.

Here’s a media round-up from this holiday’s actions

Articles:

• Baltimore Brew: “Inner Harbor mall blanketed by blizzard of protest letters”
• Towson Patch: “Workers Group To Protest at Towson Town Center”
• In These Times: “Baltimore’s United Workers Disrupt Christmas Shopping, Demand Stable Jobs, Better Wages”

Videos:

• First letter drop marking ramp-up
• Holiday “drop” at Towson Mall

In our letter to GGP, sent in 2009, we requested face to face talks with them before Christmas of that year, as a first step towards making progress on our demands. And yet another Christmas has passed that GGP has failed to come to the table with workers. But with a new year comes a resurgence of hope and energy towards the possibility for change. Our New Year’s resolution is to continue to escalating our demands for justice and human rights at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. From Baltimore to GGP’s headquarters in Chicago, we will carry out letter drops and actions calling on GGP to act now. We hope that GGP has made a New Year’s resolution as well to be truer to their statements of sustaining “a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees.”

So here’s to a new year of intensifying the fight for Fair Development in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor! Stay tuned for next steps!

Check-out this recent article from Kari Lydersen reporting for Working In These Times.

For full article, go to http://inthesetimes.com/working

On December 10, Christmas shoppers at the Gallery Mall in Baltimore were interrupted by chanting and thousands of fliers fluttering from balconies of higher floors, where a banner was also unfurled.

The fliers called on one of the country’s largest mall-development companies, Gallery Mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP), to provide stable jobs, better wages, benefits and decent conditions for thousands of workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Harborplace mall, a tourist magnet across the street.

Early in the new year the group plans to again travel to GGP’s headquarters in Chicago, where the company owns the famous Water Tower Place mall. Along the way, they’ll be visiting GGP-owned malls for flier drops and actions in many locations.

To read past coverage, go here

The United Workers attempted a “letter drop” at the Towson Town Center mall on Thursday, December 15th. After harbor workers were blocked from carrying out the action, we returned the very next day! “Drops” will continue at GGP malls from Baltimore to Chicago, home to GGP’s headquarters, until GGP meets all demands.

On Thursday, December 15^th, the United Workers planned a “letter drop” at the Towson Town Center Mall, a GGP mall in the suburbs of Baltimore. When low-wage workers and allies arrived, we were greeted by the General Manager of the mall and swarms of security, police, and even a police helicopter circling above.

Flanked by police, General Manager, Charles Crenard, stood by the entrance of the mall and told us that we had to follow the code of conduct and if we didn’t that they would have to “take measures to make sure we complied with it”. Fearing that the their crystal palaces of consumerism might be shattered by the reality of human rights abuses at their malls, we were told no banners, no dropping fliers, no handing out fliers, no announcements. Essentially no action that might cause consumers to consider anything other than the façade GGP has carefully constructed. If only GGP would put as much effort and resources towards improving the working conditions at the Inner Harbor as they have towards protecting their image.

Blocked from carrying out the “drop”, we re-grouped, prayed and discussed next steps. We decided we would not be silenced, we would return the very next night unannounced and do the “drop.” And so we did and we will continue these drops from Baltimore to their headquarters in Chicago until GGP meets all demands to work with dignity, healthcare, and education for all low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Read the Towson Patch’s article announcing Thursday’s letter drop at the Towson Town Center mall.

The tents may not be coming, but a workers group wants to bring the spirit of the Occupy movement to Towson, with a side of the Christmas spirit.

The Baltimore group United Workers plans to drop letters at a to-be-decided location in Towson Town Center on Thursday.

The group will meet at 4:30 p.m. at the mall entrance at Fairmount Avenue and Towson Gate Drive, where protestors will sing Christmas carols before heading inside to unfurl a banner and release their flyers and letters.

The letter, dated Dec. 10, 2009, calls out the leadership of Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the mall’s owner, for not doing enough to encourage better working conditions at The Gallery at Harborplace, which the company also owns.

To read the full article, go to http://towson.patch.com

This holiday season, low-wage workers are bringing the spirit of Occupy to GGP malls! Next up: Towson Town Center. Tomorrow, Thursday, December 15th at 4:30 PM at the Towson Town Center Mall, we’ll be staging another “letter drop”. Join us in lifting up the message of dignity, respect, and human rights, by singing Christmas Carols and hearing from harbor workers about why we’re ramping up the effort to bring GGP to the table.

What: Towson Town Center “letter drop”
When: Thursday, December 15th at 4:30 PM
Where: Gathering at mall entrance at Fairmount Ave. and Towson Gate Dr.

Wish you had been at Saturday’s “letter drop”? Well, here’s the next best thing. Check-out this amazing video from our internal media team! Stay tuned for updates on upcoming “letter drops”.

The Baltimore Brew was present for yesterday’s “letter drop” at the Gallery Mall across from the harbor. Here’s an excerpt from the article.

The “letter drop” was not a merchandising gimmick, but instead marked the start of a renewed campaign by Baltimore-based United Workers to draw attention to what they call human rights violations tolerated by mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).

To read the full article, go to www.baltimorebrew.com

Today’s “letter drop” marked a major ramp-up in the Human Rights Zone Campaign. Saturday, December 10, 2009, two years ago to this day, we mailed harbor developers a letter notifying them of the intolerable working conditions at their malls and calling on them to meet workers demands. For two years, GGP has deliberately ignored our repeated attempts at dialogue. Enough is enough, we demand action now!

To bring our message home, we staged a dramatic “letter drop” on GGP’s Gallery Mall across from the Inner Harbor. While consumers were busy doing their holiday shopping, we captured attention by releasing 10, 000 copies of the letter from third and fourth floor balconies. An explosion of color flooded the space, yellow and black balloons ascended and descended amidst a flurry of yellow paper. While shoppers gazed with curiosity, we chanted, “What do we want!? Human Rights! When do want it!? Now!” Consumers picked up the letters and began reading them. Some pulled out their phones and cameras to document the action. Others even joined in on the chanting.

But today’s “letter drop” was just the beginning. We plan on staging “letter drops” at GGP malls across the country until GGP meets our demands to the right to work with dignity, healthcare and education for all low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

What better time than the holidays to educate consumers about GGP’s human rights record. Stay tuned for videos from today’s action and more to come!

GGP, two years is too long. Today’s “letter drop” at your harbor mall is just the beginning. We have tried for two years to notify you of the human rights abuses of workers at your development in the hope that you would come to the table with workers to ensure basic human rights standards at the Inner Harbor. You have ignored us, turned us away and avoided us for two years. Enough is enough. Today marked a major ramp-up in the fight for Fair Development and we will continue “letter drops” at GGP malls across the country until you meet harbor workers demands to a right to work with dignity, healthcare and education.

Repeated Attempts

• First attempt— Letter mailed on December 10, 2009 notifying you of human rights abuses and workers human rights demands.
• 2nd attempt— Traveled from Baltimore to Chicago to your headquarters to ensure you received the letter and to attempt to talk to executives.
• 3rd attempt— Reached out to Harborplace GM, Chris Schardt, by going to office and requesting a meeting to resolve rampant issues of wage theft and other serious abuses at Harborplace.
• Repeated follow-up calls.

Stop the hypocrisy, meet workers demands

The abuses at the Inner Harbor are an affront to human dignity and go against everything that you claim to represent. You say, “We know that how we treat our employees and how our vendors provide for their employees touches the lives of hardworking families and impacts the communities where we do business.” You talk about sustaining “a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees.” You claim to, “support the communities where our properties are located” and “consider the human toll when making business decisions.” But your words and your deeds do not match. There is a word for it. It’s called “hypocrisy.” The time is now for you to “consider the human toll” of poverty wages, wage-theft, lack of healthcare, and barriers to education on workers and the community.

While shoppers flood your malls this holiday season, it will be the workers working late hours, overtime, who keep your malls running. We deserve to be treated as human beings, not robots. We demand action now!

On Saturday, December 10th, International Human Rights Day, harbor workers will make a major announcement in the Human Rights Zone Campaign.  Two years ago on this very same day while on the Fair Food Solidarity Tour with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, we mailed an important letter to Inner Harbor developers, General Growth Properties (GGP) and the Cordish Co, from a small post office in Immokalee, Florida. This letter notified the developers of serious human rights violations of workers taking place at their malls and called on GGP and Cordish to come to the table with workers to resolve these abuses.

Download PDF of the Letter Sent to Developers with Our Demands

Two years have passed since this day and no major efforts have been made by harbor developers to improve human rights standards at their malls. GGP has not once acknowledged workers demands, despite repeated attempts for dialogue. GGP’s silence and inaction have been an attempt at putting up moral blinders to the intolerable working conditions at Harborplace: poverty wages, rampant wage theft, sexual harrasment, and lack of healthcare to name a few. In their view, if they don’t acknowledge a problem exists, then they don’t have to deal with it. But by ignoring workers for two years, they are also suggesting that workers are beneath their most basic consideration.

How long must workers wait for their voices to be heard? Not long. That’s because harbor workers are making a major announcement that will be a dramatic step in the Human Rights Zone Campaign. Stay posted for this upcoming announcement!

We kicked off the Fair Development Conference with an evening of music, food, and keynote speeches. The three guest keynotes included: Janaina Stronzake with the MST in Brazil, Marian Kramer with Michigan Welfare Rights Union, and Jan Rehmann, professor at Union Theological Seminary and co-author of Pedagogy of the Poor. In addition to our guest keynotes, three leaders with the United Workers spoke about our work: Michael Coleman, Armando Tema, and Janice Watson. Here are some of the videos of these inspiring and rousing speeches. More to come!

On Monday, November 17, Occupy Movement activists held a public meeting on the steps of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) to discuss the lack of human rights standards and public participation in the allocation of public money towards economic development in Baltimore. Organizers of this event invited Rev. Heber Brown of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, Benn Ray with Bmore Local, and Juan Paredes with the United Workers to speak about the human cost of decades of poverty-zone development on residents, small businesses, and workers. We stand in solidarity with the aims of the Occupy Movement and appreciated the opportunity to talk about the fight for Fair Development at the Inner Harbor. President of the BDC, “Jay” Brodie attended this public meeting, listened to testimony from community members, and responded to the crowd. He promised the crowd continued dialogue. Check out the video from this powerful action.

Check out the Real News Network’s coverage of last week’s Fair Development Conference.

Below is audio for most of the Fair Development Conference Workshops. To read descriptions about the different workshops click here. To download any of the audio files in MP3 format click here.

Fair Development Conference: Block 1

Fair Development Conference: Block 2

Fair Development Conference: Block 3

Fair Development Conference: Block 4

Throughout the Fair Development Conference, participants, panelists and United Workers’ members were asked what Fair Development means to them. A few of those interviews can be seen below, building, expanding and collectively envisioning how Fair Development both stands in opposition to poverty zone development like that of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and extends to struggles across the country for land, healthcare, housing, love and dignity; or in short, people’s basic human rights.

Wow! What a powerful weekend. From Brazil to Detroit, more than 400 social movement activists and grassroots organizers participated in the Fair Development Conference to connect local struggles to a growing global movement for economic human rights and justice. Participants converged in Baltimore to take part in discussions, workshops and actions to build solidarity across issues of social, economic and environmental justice ranging from universal healthcare to anti-war organizing, all under the banner of “fair development for everyone.”

Check out the website for videos and photos posted over the course of the weekend

It was truly an inspiring event, from beginning to end. From the first night where we started by sharing a meal together to build community and listen to six commanding and clear keynote speakers set the tone and call to action for the collective task of building a global movement to end poverty for all.

Videos of the speeches are forthcoming.

On Saturday, over 40 grassroots, cultural, community, and labor leaders and groups presented in 24 workshops to exchange strategies and solutions for building power to put forward alternative visions of economic development based on fair development principles of respecting human rights, maximizing public benefits, and sustainability. The Fair Development Conference created a space for in-depth dialogue on how to stop private corporations and banks from reaping unprecedented profits as the economic crisis continues to ravage communities across the globe.

In a workshop entitled, “Resource Grabs,” we heard from Adam Hall of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation discuss the devastating effects that mountain top removal has had on the level of poverty and health of communities in West Virginia, including his family farm that had extended back generations and generations. The Vermont Workers Center shared insights into what led to their successful Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign. Marisela Gomez, former director of the Save Middle East Action Committee (SMEAC), gave a thorough presentation on the history of Johns Hopkins controversial redevelopment of East Baltimore that led to unprecedented displacement of residents.

If you came to the Fair Development Conference and just couldn’t go to every workshop you were interested in or if you just missed the conference, have no fear. Our amazing internal media team audio recorded just about every session. We will be posting all these soon, so be on the lookout.

Baltimore is a great example of how development affects ordinary people’s lives and on Sunday, we focused our attention on one of those examples, the Inner Harbor. Over 150 harbor workers, grassroots allies, and community members gathered for the “Haunted Harbor March.” See photos and from this playful and dramatic action.

After two days of amazing conversations, presentations, and workshops with social movement activists and organizers from all over the country and the globe, we closed the Fair Development Conference by taking that energy and spirit to the Inner Harbor.

On the eve of Halloween, harbor workers, grassroots allies, conference goers, and community members gathered to take part in telling the story of, “The Haunted Harbor: A Terrifying Tale of Poverty-Zone Development.” Dressed as zombie developers, ghosts of “poverty wages” and “disrespect,” and the protagonists of this story, the “Poverty Busters,” we took to the harbor making stops along the way to perform our play and hear from harbor workers and grassroots allies from the Baltimore Algebra Project, Occupy Baltimore, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Vermont Workers Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Poverty Initiative.

It was an incredible action, but the most powerful moment came when after three years of being denied access to march through our harbor, we took the promenade along the Inner Harbor in full view of workers and consumers. We stopped in the ampitheater in the center of Harborplace to tell the real story of the harbor, the story that is hidden, made invisible, but that workers know all too well. As Raquel Rojas, former Cheesecake Factory cook, recounted the wage theft and sexual harassment she experienced and witnessed, workers congregated on the balconies and at doorways to hear her story. Emboldened by our actions, we marched to the Cheesecake Factory where we stopped and chanted so all could hear our demands for worker dignity.

As we came to our final stop at the former location of the ESPN Zone and the new location of Phillips Seafood, one of the worst human rights violators in the harbor, it was a bittersweet moment. It was a bittersweet moment, because in the tale we performed, we as “Poverty Busters” had zapped the human rights abuses out of this dimension, freeing the harbor from the ghosts of poverty-zone development. But as we emerged from our playful fantasy, we knew the human rights abuses still existed and the harbor had yet to be transformed into a Human Rights Zone. We know that the road to Fair Development is long and has and will continue to require commitment, leadership and effective grassroots organizing to release the heart of our city from the shackles of poverty-zone development. It was also a bittersweet moment because the Fair Development Conference had officially come to an end and it was time to say good-bye to friends both new and old. We had shared and learned so much over the course of the weekend, we were inspired by the many stories of struggle and victory, reaffirming our collective commitment to building a united movement to create a just and equitable world for all.