+Corporate tax evasion and Pasadena public school funds going in the pockets of oil companies.

+The corruption of the food industry and how it exploits animals, workers and consumers.

+The 10 year invasion of Afghanistan, US militarization and how UH is tied with the armed forces and war profiteering.

+Many other issues!

If you can make it and speak, we welcome any and all students and community members. If you just want to come out and hear what we’re learning and speaking about that’s great too!

Speak out Poster Updated for October

Made in LA English flyer(2)

It will be from 11-2pm right in front of the Satellite.

Speak out Poster

It’s been a long and hot summer, with some amazing stuff going on in the labor movement. From the Verizon strike that ended in a big victory over the weekend, to the NFL lockout that ended in a victory for the workers (players of the NFL) to the recent campaign by student exchange workers in a Hershey’s factory in Pennsylvania, and all of the other actions that didn’t garner as much press.

There’s plenty to to at UH, and we’re gonna be hosting meetings at 3:30 pm in the San Jacinto Room of the UC second floor, and we hope to see you there.

This coming Tuesday, April 5th, from 1-3pm, we will be hosting a video lecture by Cornel West and Francis Fox Piven, followed by a discussion. The lecture and discussion will be about:

Austerity, Debt, Corporate Greed (and what YOU can do about it)

This will be in the Bayou City Room, (at the University Center’s 2nd floor).

Come out and Fight Corporate Greed! And tell your friends how they can get involved too! More info at : http://fightbackteachin.org/

Download the Full and 1/4 page fliers below:

April 5th Flier full

April 5th quarter page

This is their report from the day of the fallen.

On March 2, 2011 138 coffins covered the lawn of the Texas state capitol.

The Day of the Fallen was a great success, bringing together members of the community and beyond for a powerful display of unity at the steps of the State Capitol. With Texans converging in Austin traveling from El Paso to Houston and San Antonio, Dallas to the Valley, it was truly a statewide show of solidarity.

 

With over 100 community members busy educating legislators in the afternoon and asking for better protections for construction workers, 138 coffins were laid onto the lawn of the capitol in memory of the workers that died on the job in 2009 in Texas. With around 500 in attendance, Texans came out in full force for workers yesterday.

Please see below for press coverage links.

Best,
Workers Defense Project

Ask for your legislator’s support!
We have two new bills that have recently been filed and need the support of your local legislator. Please, use this link to find your state senator and representative and ask your legislators to support…

HB 2196 / SB 1024 to prevent wage theft
Authors: Rep. Eddie Rodriguez & Sen. Jose Rodriguez
This bill will clarify the language in Texas Penal Code 31.04 (Theft of Service) which will enable local law enforcement to enforce the law against employers  who do not pay their workers.

HB 1739 / SB 938 to provide workers compensation for all construction employees
Authors: Rep. Armando Walle & Sen. Eddie Lucio
This bill will require that workers compensation be provided for any and all construction employees in Texas; thus, reducing Texas’ uncompensated care costs in hospitals, lowering property taxes, and lifting the burden off of taxpayers.

Thank you!

Here are some of the first stories reported:

Austin American-Statesmen (Website)
Day of the Fallen
La Prensa San Antonio (Newspaper)
March highlights Texas’ problem with construction site deaths
Rio Grande Guardian (Newspaper)
Protests over large number of construction workers killed in Texas
La Voz (Newspaper)
Day of the Fallen
KVUE (Website)
Texas Construction workers march for better wages, safer working conditions
Texas Student TV (Website)
Day of the Fallen rally at the Capitol

Our Die in was successful. We handed out over 200 fliers, and had an audience somewhere between 500 and 1,000 students who came by and saw the action.

Did you know that every 2.5 days a construction worker dies on the job in Texas? Or that construction workers laboring in the Texas heat do not legally have a right to a rest break? 

We all have the right to come home safe at the end of the day. Join us on the bus to Austin to march, rally, and meet with legislators to demand basic protections for construction workers.

Register online by going to www.hiwj.org and clicking on the Day of the Fallen link, or if you can’t join us physically that day, please sign our online petition at www.buildtexas.org.

The conference Kicked off with an amazing action aimed at the University of Ohio’s foodservice provider, Sodexo. They are a multi-billion dollar international company with human rights abuses all around the world, who are currently keeping Ohio foodservice workers in poverty. The Ohio administration has refused to cooperate with workers or student allies, so we took to the library and streets to make our voices heard about the importance of workers’ rights.

Following this, we attended a variety of workshops ranging from basic education about organizing (how to organize a campaign for policy change, how to host a meeting, how to write a press release, etc.) to more in depth workshops about the history of exploited labor and sweatshops, and the current trends in national campaigns.

We got to meet Maritza and Jenny from the Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican republic, who were strong, wonderful, warm human beings (on top of being amazing organizers, let’s see if we can bring them to Houston…), and got to learn from their struggles and work.

The conference wrapped up with a concert by Rebel Diaz (an awesome political hip-hop collective from Chicago) and a local performer. Check out more on the conference at: http://kickoutsodexo.usas.org/2011/02/21/hundreds-march-ohio-state-flash-mob/, and you can see the video from the action below (one of our members was on the boombox team)