United Workers

After months of gearing up for the March to Occupy GGP, it is almost upon us. Before you now it, we’ll be marching 4 miles connecting the Baltimore where workers live, take their kids to school, and worship to the Poverty-Zone where they work. Once we arrive at the Inner Harbor, low-wage workers will lead the march through the downtown mall.

The March to Occupy GGP is going to be an exciting demonstration of the escalating pressure against General Growth Properties with hundreds from Baltimore and beyond participating. That said, with only several days left, there are still many ways you can be a part of making it happen.

Ways to Take Part:

• Be a part of a street team and flier march route Wednesday-Friday
• Help make sandwiches on Friday for marchers
• Give rides the day of, removing barriers to members
• General volunteering on the day of

Let us know if you can volunteer for any of these efforts by emailing occupyggp@unitedworkers.org or calling 410-230-1998.

Also, if you haven’t already told us you’re coming, shoot us an email or give us a call, we’d love to hear from you!

As we prepare for the March to Occupy GGP, we thought we’d take a stroll down memory lane to remind ourselves (and General Growth Properties) of the steps along the Human Rights Zone Campaign that have led us up to this point.

October 25, 2008—Low-wage workers march from Camden Yards to the Inner Harbor, declaring it a "Human Rights Zone."

November 2009— Harbor workers move human rights demands to the "top of the profit" chain to the developers who control the Inner Harbor.

December 10, 2009— Juan Paredes, Cheesecake Factory worker, signs demand letter to harbor developers, General Growth Properties and the Cordish Co.

December 10, 2009— On our Fair Food Solidarity Tour with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the United Workers mails off demand letters from a post office in Immokalee, Florida.

May 1, 2010— Over five hundred low-wage workers and allies come together for a city-wide participation play involving four neighborhood street performances and a march through the Inner Harbor.

September 2010— While on our first Poverty-Zone Reality Tour, a delegation of harbor workers and allies attempt to deliver the demand letter to top GGP executives in person.

November 18, 2010— United Workers attempt to reach out to Harborplace General Manager, Chris Schardt, about rampant human rights abuses at mall.

December 10, 2011— After two years of being ignored by GGP, harbor workers and allies stage a mass letter drop to demand immediate action. This action kicks off a national ramp-up against GGP.

Two years of silence from GGP on systemic human rights abuses at their mall is unacceptable. Harbor workers and allies from across the country demand action now and hundreds will be joining us next Saturday for the March to Occupy GGP. Harbor workers are calling on all our allies to stand with workers in calling on GGP to meet workers demands and restore the promise of the Inner Harbor.

For more details on the March to Occupy GGP, go here

To let us know you’ll be joining us, email occupyggp@unitedworkers.org or call 410-230-1998.

March to Occupy GGP

Saturday, May 19th
11 AM

Gather at Gwynns Falls Elementary
2700 Gwynns Falls Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21216

On May 19th, hundreds of low-wage workers and community allies will take the fight for Fair Development one step further with the March to Occupy GGP, a 4-mile non-violent march and occupation. We’ll be taking back our harbor and demanding a change to business as usual. We’re bringing the march directly to the steps of General Growth Properties and once we arrive at their steps, we will not stop there. We will march right on in and march through Harborplace mall. For a moment, we will occupy this temple of consumerism and fill the space with the possibilities of our shared dreams and demands for human rights and Fair Development. This simple act will send a resounding call to General Growth Properties that they need to put their house in order and ensure human rights for workers at their malls.

Now, is the time to stand with harbor workers and the vision of a “Human Rights Zone” at the Inner Harbor and malls across the country. Nation-wide GGP malls are part of problem of growing inequality and poverty in our communities, but we know they can be a part of the solution, if we demand it.

Email occupyggp@unitedworkers.org to let us know that you’ll be there on May 19th for the March to Occupy GGP!

United Workers Annual Human Rights Dinner is our way of honoring the tremendous leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to social justice and human rights in Baltimore. This event marks our Poverty Scholars graduation. This year we are thrilled to be able to share with you the tremendous work of Armando Tema and Raquel Rojas. Armando is graduating from the program, completing his three years of study and Raquel is advancing to her final year in the program.

Join us April 22^nd at 5pm Presbytery of Baltimore

5400 Loch Raven Blvd. Baltimore

RSVP Now!

Buy your tickets online by going to our eventbrite page

or

Let us know you’ll be coming and paying at the door, 410-230-1998 or info@unitedworkers.org

The Value of an Education

We believe that movements for transformative change are built, not born, by many many leaders united around human rights values. Our goal for 2012 is to recruit 50 new monthly Sustainers, these are people in the community who want to contribute monthly to sustaining this growing movement.  Becoming a Sustainer ensures that the United Workers can continue to carry out the type of long-term leadership development, like the Poverty Scholars and New Organizers Program. If you can’t attend the Human Rights Dinner, the next best thing is to become a Sustainer or make a one time contribution. You can do so by going here!

Armando reflects on his personal transformation and experience in United Workers Poverty Scholars program:

After coming to the U.S, I experienced many things that were worse than what I experienced in Guatemala. Back in Guatemala I only worked for 8 to 9 hours a day, but here I was working 12 to 14 hours per day under unfair conditions for what I thought was a “good salary.”  But I thought that was just how things work here.  I worked with the same boss for a year until he began paying us with bad checks.  As we pressured him to pay us, he decided to fire us.  I became unemployed, and let me tell you, that was very hard. I thought I’d never find a job; I was sad and worried about all of my expenses. I had to find another job quickly, which led me to work at removing dirt in a basement for 15 days.   I received nothing, not even a penny, because the contractor claimed he himself had not been paid for the job but we never knew if it was true or not. 

I met others with similar experiences and they said there is nothing you can do and that I just had to accept it. I spent a year working just 2 to 3 days per week and when I worked one full week I wasn’t sure if I would get paid for everything.  This was how I lived, day to day. Until one morning I met two people who told me about justice and some ways to solve these problems.   I was unsure if I could actually contribute to change the situation and I did not understand how.  But I thought, “Well, what can I lose if I decide to learn a little bit more about what these people do?” That day I learned, 1st of all what was happening to all workers was not legal, 2^nd, that it was all too common and 3rd that there was something to do to eliminate these situations. I thought to myself, “this is interesting and I want to learn more about what to do.”  I don’t want to work hard for free. 

My difficult and bitter experiences led me to be part of United Workers and strive for the possibility of change; this was the hope that I was looking for. Now I say we must prepare to fight for justice. For over 4 years United Workers has led me where I could not reach by myself. 

You might ask me what place I’m in now.  My answer to that is a place where I better understand the meaning of unity, organizing, justice, solidarity and cooperation. I met other people in different places with the same struggles, but specifically connected with families within our community. I’ve also spent three years studying and reflecting on politics, poverty economy, culture, history, morality and justice, etc. All of these things have impacted and changed my life. They have allowed me to see things from another point of view and see the reality that another society is possible and that united we can achieve the change.  I understand that we have common problems and we can find common solutions if we work together as brothers and sisters. We must leave behind all those obstacles that prevent unity and organization; and that through the unity of the community will build strength and power.

Join us for our 7th Annual Human Rights Dinner (co-hosted by Generations for Peace and Democracy) and another evening of great food, soulful music, inspiring presentations, and good conversation on Sunday, April 22nd at 5 PM at the Presbytery of Baltimore.

Buy your tickets Now Online!

What: Human Rights Dinner
When: Sunday, April 22nd at 5pm
Where: Presbytery of Baltimore (5400 Loch Raven BLVD, Baltimore, MD 21239)

The Human Rights Dinner is an opportunity to step back from the day to day organizing and mounting campaign actions to reflect on the resource that truly sustains the United Workers. Leaders. It is leaders that carry out the vision of the United Workers to help build a movement to end poverty by uniting, organizing, developing other leaders and contributing what they can financially to this work. Making a donation to the United Workers is not an act of charity, but an act of leadership. It will take the collective effort of leaders from all backgrounds to meet the United Workers long-term goal of becoming free from dependency on foundations.

As a step towards this long-term goal, we have set a goal of getting 50 new monthly Sustainers in 2012. Just at our last Strategic Dialogue, six people led this effort by becoming Sustainers. We hope to do even better at the Human Rights Dinner! But there’s no need to wait for the Human Rights Dinner, you can sign up online today to become a Sustainer.

We look forward to celebrating with you at the Human Rights Dinner!

For more information, email todd@unitedworkers.org

The Occupy the Mall movement is picking up speed. Last week, we announced the March to Occupy GGP, a major non-violent march and occupation at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on May 19th, allies in Florida, Minnesota, and Vermont participated in the National Day of Action, we recorded a radio appearance for the Michael Eric Dyson Show and we hit GGP’s South St. Seaport Mall this Saturday with a spectacular letter drop as a part of the Left Forum Conference in New York. What a week!

For a recap of the National Day of Action and announcement of the “March to Occupy GGP,” check-out this powerful video produced by our very own internal media team. Thanks to the Vermont Workers Center, the Center for Workers United in Struggle, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for bringing the fight for Fair Development home!

Also, tune in to the Michael Eric Dyson Show on Monday, March 26th at 9am (EST) in Baltimore on WEAA 88.9 or stream live via the web to hear Inner Harbor worker, Jared Gary, and Leadership Organizer, Luis Larin talk about the poverty producing conditions at the Inner Harbor and the struggle to hold General Growth Properties accountable.

Be on the look-out for more videos and updates to come!

Join us for another exciting Strategic Dialogue on Saturday, March 10th. This time we’ve collaborated with the Poverty Initiative in putting together an incredible series of discussions. With a rich Abolitionist history in Maryland, we’ll be traveling back to examine this transformative moment in our country’s past.

Not unlike our times, profound political and economic inequalities preceding the Civil War set the stage for a battle, on the field, but more importantly in the hearts and minds of Americans. We’ll discuss the important role of religion and faith in arguments both for and against slavery. Finally, we’ll look to leaders like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown to guide us along our own journey on the Underground Railroad to freedom from poverty.

While the United Workers has for a long time looked to Harriet Tubman for inspiration as a Marylander and movement leader, coincidentally Frederick Douglass also has a connection to the Human Rights Zone Campaign as a former harbor worker himself! So, don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, share, and grow together as leaders in the fight for human rights for all.

What: Strategic Dialogue
When: Saturday, March 10th, 10:30 AM-2:30 PM
Where: “2640″ St. Paul St. (aka St. John’s Church)
*Lite breakfast and lunch provided. Please RSVP to help us plan.

To RSVP, call 410-230-1998 or email ashley@unitedworkers.org

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.

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.

The many pieces of fabric that made up the quilt of a collective vision of Fair Development were constructed throughout the day in the many workshops, conversations, meals shared and stories swapped. The intricacies of Fair Development became more defined as people elaborated on the three concepts of maximizing public benefits, respect for human rights and sustainability.

The Fair Development Photo Booth was one of the many places host to dozens of participants to express their vision for Fair Development. It quickly turned into a space for breaking down barriers of age and language where all could communicate a desire for a hopeful future. Check the photos out here:

While some expressed their sentiments on cardboard, still others conducted a series of short interviews. Check them out!

Finally, be sure to take a peruse through the many photos that captured the over twenty-five different workshops:

Over 150 people gathered at St. Johns Church (2640) for the first night of the Fair Development Conference. The night began with people slowly trickling in, but soon filled the church space by the time the keynote speakers hit the stage. A musical trio opened up the conference with serenading sounds of justice and peace. Soon to follow was the main event of six, that’s right six keynote speakers, weaving a collective quilt illuminating not only the plight of the poor, but the fight of the poor in fighting for Fair Development and building a movement capable of ending poverty in the face of the growing economic crisis and deprivation for the many. Although stories ranged from the struggle here at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor to the struggle for land in Brazil, privatization of public resources in Detroit and beyond, strip-mining in Guatemala, and the growing gap between the expanding poor and rich, they told a collective story of workers coming together to globalize the struggle for human rights, hope and dignity.

See photos from the first day here:

In preparation for participants to arrive to St. Johns Church to hear the Keynote speakers, the United Workers takes a moment to come together in a Unity Circle to express love, gratitude and leadership for each other and all those that will join them today.

After months of organizing, listening and planning with communities across Baltimore, the country and Brazil, the moment has arrived: Day 1 of the Fair Development Conference!

This weekend is sure to be historic for all of us as we come together to strategize and reflect on the current economic crisis, the state of social movements and collectively create a vision for a more just world that respects the human and ecological rights of everyone, everywhere.

Be sure to check the website regularly as we will be posting content constantly throughout the weekend. You can also follow us on facebook along with following AND (your) tweeting about the conference on twitter and by using the search hashtag #fairdev.

Pick up this week’s Baltimore City Paper or go online to read their article on the United Workers upcoming Fair Development Conference. In other news, the United Workers appeared on the Marc Steiner show with the Marian Kramer of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Sarah Weintraub of the Vermont Worker Center. The two media pieces draw connections between Fair Development, the Occupy Movements and the nature of a system built on poverty and poverty-zone development. If you missed the Steiner show you can have a listen here.

Here’s an excerpt from the City Paper article:

From February’s labor protests in Wisconsin to the 99 percenters currently camping out in New York’s Zuccotti Park, populist protest is suddenly all the rage. But movements for social change are nothing new. Take, for example, the United Workers, a Baltimore-based coalition of low-wage workers formed in 2002. In 2007, the United Workers lobbied for “living wages” at Camden Yards—and got them. Since then, the group has been campaigning on behalf of workers at the Inner Harbor, trying to institutionalize rights to health care and education.

To raise awareness of these efforts, the group has a history of putting on political events that go beyond the strictly political. In the past, that has resulted in street-side theatrical performances, a community fair, and, in true activist tradition, plenty of marches. This weekend, Oct. 28-30, UW hosts the Fair Development Conference, a gathering of grassroots organizations, political activists, community organizers, and other interested parties from as far as Brazil and as near as Baltimore . . .

The workshops, lectures, and presentations planned for the conference will take on much more than just the struggle for the soul of the harbor. And although fair development is the organizing principle behind the conference, the topic is interpreted broadly enough to include discussions on universal health care, permaculture design, and lessons drawn from the 19th-century movement to abolish slavery. One workshop will explore Johns Hopkins Hospital’s fraught relationship with the Middle East neighborhood, where it displaced hundreds of residents to build a controversial—and moribund—biotech park; another will spotlight worker-led organizations that have successfully lobbied for Taco Bell, Whole Foods, and other food-industry giants to raise wages for the people who pick their tomatoes.

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