Board member Cash Nigro and fiancee Jesse Freitas are hosting a fundraiser for ENGAGE on August 6 near San Diego. Check out the event on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123382721086682. Thanks Cash and Jesse!!
ENGAGE University has kicked off their trip and the group of seven students is in Wisconsin for their rural agriculture unit. Keep up with their travels and experience on their blog at http://engageuniversity.webs.com/apps/blog/
We wish them the best of luck on their journey and are excited to learn from their adventures in experiential, contemplative education at ENGAGE bases.
Dear Engage Member, Supporter, and Friend,
For many years ENGAGErs have dreamed about creating an educational program here in the US based on the CIEE Thailand Education for Social Change model. We know there is so much great local organizing work to learn from and exchange and collaborate with, and we have wanted to bring the model to students and communities where we live.
This summer, nine students from colleges and universities around the country will get to test run this idea through ENGAGE University’s Mississippi River Social Justice Tour. They will travel from Barron, Wisconsin to New Orleans, learning from Engage members and the community organizations they work with in those places.
In Barron, the students will learn from ENGAGE Steering Committee members Arianne Peterson and Tracey Mofle and the organizations they are affiliated with about organic agriculture in the context of large agribusiness and the effects of immigration on this small town. The students will travel down the Mississippi River (approximately) to New Orleans, stopping along the way to tour, exchange with, and learn from local community activists and organizers.
They will get to New Orleans in time for the Convergence (see you there!) and will stay afterward working with ENGAGEr David Ferris to engage with issues of urban agriculture, disaster relief politics, and racial politics.
The students will simultaneously participate in and create the program as they go. They will be testing and evaluating curriculum and laying the foundation for future student groups. It is an exciting opportunity for them to get to develop their educational model as they implement it. They will be documenting their experience closely by both blog and video to share with all of you as they go!
There are two principal ways you can support the trip right now:
1. Donate to help cover the costs. The students are all working hard to raise money for the trip, and could really use your support. Make a donation through ENGAGE’s Network for Good site, and make sure you designate you are donating for ENGAGE University.
https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=13-4236388
You can also send checks to:
ENGAGE
Engage University
PO Box 23
Barron, WI 54812
2. If you live, work, or know of great organizations that would be willing to host the student group on their trip south (we’re talking about you, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana), please email engageuniversity@gmail.com to get in touch.
We would like you to get involved with this project any way you can. If you want to share ideas or information or want to know more about our plans for the summer trip, please contact us. This project is only possible as a result of the years of hard work and collaboration of ENGAGE members.
Sincerely,
ENGAGE University planning team
Hi ENGAGE!
We are seeking applicants for the Board of Peers! We will continue our search through the annual Convergence and will be accepting applicatons through July 10th, 2011.
Serving on the ENGAGE Board of Peers is an opportunity for members and activists to build the network and build your organizational skills! Please take a moment to read below for more about the Board and the open positions and consider applying or nominating someone today!
We will be accepting nominations until July 5th, 2011. If you would like to nominate someone for the BoP, please fill out the nomination form and submit the completed form to Cash Nigro (angoleralua@gmail.com) by July 5th, 2011. If you would like to nominate yourself for the BoP, please fill out the application form and submit it by July 10th, 2011.
Nomination Form (click to download)
Application (click to download)
About the Board of Peers
Board of Peers Purpose and Responsibilities
The Board of Peers (BoP) is a representative body of ENGAGE members responsible for advising larger-scale ENGAGE campaigns and funding projects, as well as for helping to steer other major organizational decisions. Board members serve a three year term.
What We Are Looking for in New BoP Members
* A strong commitment to the mission, vision, and principles of ENGAGE
* Commitment to developing ENGAGE and helping devise creative ways to make the work of the ENGAGE BoP, Steering Committee, staff, members and allies more effective
* Ability to contribute the time required for monthly phone meetings and additional campaign/committee work (Approximately 5-10 hours)
* Commitment to supporting the fundraising initiatives of the Network
Responsibilities of BoP Members
* Participation in monthly conference calls
* General advisory role and support to ENGAGE office staff
* Serve for three years from time of election
* Available to participate in three month transition period after term of service or play advisory role if necessary in transition to new board teams
* Occasionally facilitate monthly conference calls (rotated among members)
* Participate in additional campaigns and/or committees as needed, including but not limited to membership, outreach, ally development, and operations. (app. 5-10hrs/mth)
* Help with fundraising via personal donation and/or BOP fundraising activities
Election Process and Timeline
Nominations and Application Open: Now!
Nomination Deadline: July 5th, 2011
Application Deadline: July 10th, 2011
The Board of Peers will schedule phone interviews with all applicants upon submission of application.
Selection date: June 29th, 2011
* Please send all forms to Cash Nigro (angoleralua@gmail.com). You may also contact Cash with other inquiries regarding the application process and Board position.
Nominees and applicants are strongly encouraged to attend the 2011 Convergence. However the inability to attend will not prohibit applicants from being accepted into the Board position.
For More Information
For more information about the Board of Peers, please visit: http://globalgrassroots.wordpress.com/about/board-of-peers/
Please feel free to contact Cash with questions or suggestions.
Thank you for supporting the development and success of ENGAGE!
The ENGAGE Board of Peers,
Stephanie Teatro
Chris Westcott
Cash Nigro
Philip Mangis
Bree O’Keane
Shayne Thomas
The ENGAGE Steering Committee (SC) formed in the fall of 2009 to allow for active ENGAGE members to shape network-wide strategy together and support each other’s work. The SC is made up of representatives from active working groups, bases and individuals within our network. Collectively they are working on organizing internships, exchanges, and trainings.
Bases: ENGAGE bases are hubs of place-based and community-based education for action. Bases are inherently multi-issue and committed to a collective learning process involving diverse community members. Though bases are geographically rooted in a place, participation on the ENGAGE Steering Committee facilitates linking the local to the national and international.
Working Groups: ENGAGE working groups are issue or project-based and decentralized. They may focus on a particular project or may organize research, campaigns, or trainings on a specific theme.
Joining the Steering Committee
New or existing network members can join the Steering Committee by applying as a base, working group or simply as an active individual who would like to strategically connect their work with ENGAGE.
Why apply to be a member of the SC?
* Connect your local work with other ENGAGE bases and working groups
* Develop collaborative projects and initiatives with organizations and individuals across the country
* Start a project within the ENGAGE network
* Help develop network-wide strategy – including internships, trainings, and exchanges
If you are interested in applying to be a member of the SC, please complete this application and submit it to the SC at info@engagetheworld.org. Applications will be reviewed by the SC, Board of Peers, and Network Coordinator(s). Applicants will receive notification of approval within six weeks of submission.
Minimum Requirements
Photo by Brett Jelinek, from protest in the Wisconsin state capitol. See more photos of the uprising at his flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_olaf/
Over the last several weeks, the American people have kept a close eye on Wisconsin as the people’s movement there has emerged at the forefront of a struggle for all working people. What began as an outrage and uprising over a devastating anti-union bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker, has flourished into an awakened and revitalized movement for economic justice for all people.
In Wisconsin and across the country, people have been saying NO! to this egregious attack on workers rights. Despite this amazing show of solidarity and people power, last night, the GOP in Wisconsin successfully pushed through this anti-union legislation. The struggle continues in Wisconsin, and across the country where similar legislation threatens the rights of working people.
ENGAGE emerged over a decade ago as a network of students, educators, activists and organizers committed to the idea of building movements through connecting communities towards a more just and sustainable world. In its journey and development over the years ENGAGE has made powerful connections and relationships with the labor movement, workers’ rights, and the struggle for economic justice. As the world watches Wisconsin and other states fight back against attacks on unions and working people, as communities stand together in solidarity, and as we face a critical moment in labor history, we want to celebrate and honor ENGAGE’s history and presence in the labor movement. Furthermore, as allies in the movement for economic justice, ENGAGErs must analyze and reflect upon these events and how they impact our work and our role in the movement. And we must act.
Please check out the rest of the posts on the blog and email additional contributions to mariela@engagetheworld.org
SPOTLIGHT ON LABOR: BlogPosts Collection includes:
-Latest Updates: keep updated on the developments in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere. Hear some news? Post it in the comments.
-Uprising in Wisconsin: ENGAGEr Stephanie Teatro provides a quick overview of what’s at stake and what’s happened in Wisconsin and across the country.
-Labor Uprising: Context and Analysis: Check out this list of helpful articles to better understand and analyze what’s going on. Have an article to add? Post it in the comments!
-Defending Workers’ Rights: Check out these powerful videos covering the protests!
-Social Justice Unionism: Labor and Community Organizing: Learn more about the growing partnership between the labor movement and community organizations and the organizations who are on the front lines of these partnerships.
-Student Activism and the Labor Movement: Calling all college students! Check out all these rad organizations that link student/campus organizing with the movement for workers’ rights.
-Students in the Labor Movement: An Interview with Mandy Skinner: Former Network Coordinator and Board of Peers member, Mandy Skinner, recounts her experience organizing with different student groups for workers’ rights during her college years at Indiana University.
-Labor in ENGAGE History: Read more about ENGAGE’s history in the movement for economic justice and workers’ rights. Your work with ENGAGE not included? Email mariela@engagetheworld.org or share your story in the comments section!
-Organized Labor: A Necessary Check on Corporate Power: Read this letter from SEIU organizer and Board of Peers member, Shayne Thomas’, to all ENGAGErs on why you should support unions.
-A Call to All Working People: Read Stephanie Teatro’s reflections on organizing public sector unions across the country with AFSCME.
-A Labor Movement For All Workers: Labor and Immigrant Rights: Learn more about how and why the US labor movement needs to partner with the movement for immigrant rights.
-We Are All Workers: Undocumented Labor in the US Economy: ENGAGE Board of Peers member Cash Nigro analyzes the partnership between organized labor and undocumented workers.
-Green Jobs: Labor and the Environment: Learn more about the growing link between the environmental movement, labor unions, and developing green jobs that benefit all workers.
-LGBTQ Rights are Workers’ Rights: Check out these articles on the role of LGBTQ workers in the labor movement and the role of unions in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
WE ARE ONE: NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION: APRIL 4th
“On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME.
Beginning with worship services over the April 1 weekend, and continuing through the week of April 4, unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, students and other progressive allies will host a range of community- and workplace-focused actions.
Join us in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers, immigrant and native-born. It’s a day to show movement. Teach-ins. Vigils. Faith events. A day to be creative, but clear: We are one.
Is your April 4 event located at a house, a coffee shop or a local community venue? Is your event private or public? There is strength in numbers and whether you invite five people or 100, we want to know about your local event. This site provides event resources and support to help get you started. Private events will not show up on the searchable map. Please register your local event today and be counted!“
VISIT: WE ARE WISCONSIN to learn about and support the continued fight in Wisconsin.
Keep checking this post for the latest updates on events in Wisconsin, and across the country.
EARLIER ARTICLES, CONTEXT, ANALYSIS, click here
BRIEF OVERVIEW, ANALYSIS, click here
SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST UPDATES
”Conservatives: We Are Being Outworked And Out-Organized In Wisconsin Recall Campaigns” by Sam Stein, for the Huffington Post
“WASHINGTON — Both national and Wisconsin-based Republican operatives tell the Huffington Post the party is being dramatically outworked and out-organized by Democrats in the recall…”
From Huffington Post 3/10/2011
AP/The Huffington Post First Posted: 03/10/11 05:31 PM Updated: 03/10/11 10:01 PM
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin lawmakers voted Thursday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state’s public workers, ending a heated standoff over labor rights and delivering a key victory to Republicans who have targeted unions in efforts to slash government spending nationwide.
The state’s Assembly passed Gov. Scott Walker’s explosive proposal 53-42 without any Democratic support and four no votes from the GOP. Protesters in the gallery erupted into screams of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as Republican lawmakers filed out of the chamber and into the speaker’s office.
The state’s Senate used a procedural move to bypass missing Democrats and move the measure forward Wednesday night, meaning the plan that delivers one of the strongest blows to union power in years now requires only Walker’s signature to take effect.
He says he’ll sign the measure, which he introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall, as quickly as possible – which could be as early as Thursday.
“We were willing to talk, we were willing to work, but in the end at some point the public wants us to move forward,” Walker said before the Assembly’s vote.
Walker’s plan has touched off a national debate over labor rights for public employees and its implementation would be a key victory for Republicans, many of whom have targeted unions amid efforts to slash government spending. Similar bargaining restrictions are making their way through Ohio’s Legislature and several other states are debating measures to curb union rights in smaller doses.
In Wisconsin, the proposal has drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the state Capitol for weeks of demonstrations and led 14 Senate Democrats to flee to Illinois to prevent that chamber from having enough members present to pass a plan containing spending provisions.
But a special committee of lawmakers from the Senate and Assembly voted Wednesday to take all spending measures out of the legislation and the full Senate approved it minutes later, setting up Thursday’s vote in the Assembly.
Walker has repeatedly argued that collective bargaining is a budget issue, because his proposed changes would give local governments the flexibility to confront the budget cuts needed to close the state’s $3.6 billion deficit. He has said without the changes, he may have needed to lay off 1,500 state workers and make other cuts to balance the budget.
The measure forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation unless approved by referendum. It also requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contribution, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker.
Police and firefighters are exempt.
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For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Wisconsin Public Employees: Ramming Through Anti-Freedom Bill “An Affront to Democracy”“Governor Walker’s power grab is an affront to democracy. The voters will not stand for denying the rights of Wisconsin’s public employees – and they will be held accountable for their actions at the ballot box,” said Bob McLinn, President of AFSCME Council 24, and a correctional officer at Waupun Correctional Institution.
“Governor Walker and eighteen Republican senators handed us a setback, but we will win this war. This attack on the working and middle class will not stand – and we will take back our democracy in recall elections,” said Brian Stafford, President of AFSCME District Council 48, and chief repair person for water distribution, City of Milwaukee.
“This is a sad day for democracy and for Wisconsin. But our state’s nurses, teachers and EMTs will overcome. We will take back our government from the big moneyed interests and reverse this attack on workers’ rights,” said Jim Garity, President of AFSCME Council 40, and a Jefferson County Highway Department equipment operator.
AFSCME’s 1.6 million members provide the vital services that make America happen. With members in hundreds of different occupations – from nurses to corrections officers, child care providers to sanitation workers – AFSCME advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services and prosperity and opportunity for all working families.
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MARCH 10th, 2011
I can only imagine that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is feeling very proud tonight. He’s proud that his state republican senators voted 18-1 to strip public sector workers of their most basic collective bargaining rights. He’s proud that teachers, child care workers, ambulance drivers, and many more will be pauperized to pay for the tax cuts he handed out to his corporate masters. He’s proud that the thousands upon thousands of people who have demonstrated peacefully at the Madison, Capitol for three solid weeks will taste bitter defeat. He’s proud that the confederate confines of right wing radio will be singing his praises tomorrow for taking down the “union thugs” that teach our children, care for our elderly, and treat our indigent. He’s proud because Gov. Scott Walker is an ignorant man, in the truest, most literal sense of the word.
How else to describe someone who “applauds” his own party’s state senators for destroying fifty years of civil and labor rights in a 30 minute closed-door session with nary an advance word to the public? How else to describe someone who sent his state into deficit by passing massive corporate tax cuts while preaching “fiscal responsibility”? How else to describe someone who expects people to applaud his desire to sell the state’s power supply using private, no-bid contracts? How else to describe someone who wants to defund planned parenthood, eliminate protections for same-sex couples, and then has the gall to preach “family values”?
How else to describe someone who carries the blank faced, cruelty most common to Czars and second-generation Presidents?
This is a man, who I would venture has never read a history book in his life that didn’t have the word “Reagan” somewhere in the title. Even the most modest reading of history would tell you that people can really only take so much damage and disrespect before they fiercely fight back. As Naomi Klein wrote, “Scott Walker may think this is his PATCO moment. But it’s actually his Waterloo.”
I was in Madison, Wisconsin during the first week of protests, and amidst the amusing signs and colorful costumes was an undercurrent of rage. The source of the rage really wasn’t the wage cuts or spikes in health care costs, although that certainly didn’t help. It was the fact that Walker said on February 11th, before the protests even began, that the National Guard would be mobilized if anyone raised a fuss over his plans to destroy the unions. It was the fact that Walker never gave the impression that such a move was coming during the election cycle. And it was the fact that voter turnout, especially among the young, was so low, he had a massive crisis of legitimacy from day one. People felt like they had moved from “government by the people for the people” to “government by this Walker guy, for the Koch brothers.”
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE
First Posted: 03/10/11 10:35 AM Updated: 03/10/11 10:35 AM
Hours after Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) and his Republican allies in the state Senate took nearly everyone by surprise and pushed through a stand-alone bill stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights, labor officials pledged to ramp up efforts to recall Republicans and challenge the legislation in court.
Only shortly before the vote took place, local news outlets reported that Republicans were splitting Walker’s budget repair bill into two. While the Senate requires a quorum of 3/5 of its members to vote on fiscal statutes, just a majority is needed for other matters. Therefore, Senate Republicans broke off the most controversial portions — including a proposal to strip away the collective bargaining rights of public employees — into a separate piece of legislation that could be passed without Senate Democrats, who were still out of state.
Labor officials quickly lambasted Republicans, calling what they did the “nuclear option.” Last month, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) had said he would not pass any portions of the budget repair bill without Democrats’ participation.
“Senate Republicans have exercised the nuclear option to ram through their bill attacking Wisconsin’s working families in the dark of night,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt in a statement. “Walker and the Republicans acted in violation of state open meetings laws, and tonight’s events have demonstrated they will do or say anything to pass their extreme agenda that attacks Wisconsin’s working families.”
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE
Idaho passes Republican bill to curb union rights
By Mary Wisniewski
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Idaho state legislature approved a bill on Tuesday to strip public school teachers of many of their collective bargaining rights while protesters in five states rallied against Republican efforts to curb union power.
The Idaho bill, which excludes issues like class size and workloads from negotiations for the state’s 12,000 unionized teachers, was given final approval by the Republican-led House and is expected to be signed by Republican Governor Butch Otter.
The bill also eliminates teacher tenure, limits the duration of teacher labor contracts to one year and removes seniority as a factor in determining the order of layoffs.
Idaho is one of several U.S. states to take up Republican plans for sweeping restrictions on public sector unions in what has become a growing national debate over labor union power.
Wisconsin Assembly Vote Is Delayed as Protests Jam Capitol
By MONICA DAVEY
MADISON, Wis. — As thousands of demonstrators converged on the Capitol, the police cut off access to the building on Thursday, creating a taut atmosphere in which Republican State Assembly members were seeking to maintain order long enough to vote on a bill that sharply curtails bargaining rights for government workers.
The State Assembly had been scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday morning, but the presence of the protesters forced a delay of a few hours. Debate on the measure, which is virtually certain to pass, began Thursday afternoon.
The State Senate approved similar legislation Wednesday with only Republican members casting votes; the chamber’s Democratic minority, who fiercely oppose the measure, remain out of the state.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE
Check out footage from Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC where she covers the latest in the labor struggle. She includes full footage of the Wisconsin senators puhing through their anti0union legislationon Wednesday evening.
“Local leaders rally in Ann Arbor, call governor’s budget an attack on Michigan families” by Ryan J. Stanton for AnnArbor.com
“Iowa House approves union bill; it is likely dead on arrival in Senate [video]“ by Jason Clayworth, for DesMoinesRegister.com
From The New York Times:
Ohio Town Sees Public Job as Only Route to Middle Class
“Public sector jobs in southeast Ohio, with benefits and good wages, are considered plum by the workers who hold them, but ripe for cutting by state lawmakers.”
From the Huffington Post:
“America’s Choices” by Richard Trumka
“What kind of country are we? A country with scant resources, fading glory and no choices? America’s working people already know the answer. We are a nation that still has choices, and we don’t need to settle for stagnation.”
“Defending the Middle-Class: Why We Need Unions, Pensions, and Public Employees“
By Bob Samuels, on the Huffington Post
“Losing the Narrative on Public Employee Unions” By Joseph Palermo, on the Huffington Post
VIDEO: Ohio workers give ‘State of the Workers Address”
“Pro union forces holding “We Are Indiana” rally”
FLORIDA NEWS: “Efforts to curb unions lose steam“