Organizing

The taxi industry internationally is basically the same.  It is setup to avoid  labor laws and avoid unionism using  the big lie of being independent, free, with the ability to make as much as you want.  So I love those whom expose this industry for what it is.  Here is a special report from Austin Texas hot off the press.
http://www.texascbar.org/content/legal_library/pubs/downloads/TaxiDrivingAustinDriving2010.pdf

An Open Letter to Columbia University...
 
Dear Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation,
 
I had the wonderful experience of meeting some of your students this
weekend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with some professors while
staying at my bed and breakfast.  They were a young and eager group
ready to fulfill whatever you set out for them to do and with full
confidence in your institution.  Every day they went out to measure,
excavate, and research on how to preserve three old buildings you plan
to restore for an art space in the Port of Rio, one of the poorest
neighborhoods in the city.  Well, in one of those homes on the second
floor, guess what… lives a family.

 
Nurses and techs from Temple University Hospital joined fellow members of the National Nurses United Union in Washington DC last week to rally and advocate for nurse to patient ratios.
 
PASNAP, the nurse's local here in Philadelphia, won a contract fight against Temple University Health Systems after a month long strike in April. 
 

 
The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) is winning an ongoing battle against Temple University Hospital. PASNAP wants reimbursement for tuition benefits that Temple abruptly stopped providing last March despite the fact that the benefits are part of their current contract. Jerry Silberman, staff representative, spoke with me about this legal fight and also discussed PASNAP's negotiations for a new contract.

In January of 2010, the Poverty Initiatve, a group based in New York that aims to reignite Dr. Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign, visited Philadelphia for an immersion tour. The tour highlighted the history of the struggles of poor people in this city. Willie Baptist and Liz Theoharis, of the Poverty Initiative,  shared stories about the struggle of the homeless in 1995 and 1996.

In the fight against displacement and gentrification the Harlem Anti-Displacement Task Force held it's 3rd Annual March.

Katrina Pain Index 2009 is a solidarity message from Bill Quigley to Hurricane Katrina survivors in NYC at the Katrina Remembrance Aug. 29, 2009. Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer on leave from Loyola University to serve as legal directior for the Center for Constitutional Rights. For a pirinted version of the article "Katrina Pain Index 2009" contact Bill Quigley at quigley77@gmail.com. This video was shot by Johnnie Stevens and Dalia Grinan. mayibue2@yahoo.com

These past three days of collective study and conversation have been really beneficial to my understanding and assessment of the state of poverty in the nation.

Low power FM radio stations have saved lives during Hurricane Katrina, put indigenous languages on the air, and developed youth, women, and elders into leaders in their communities.  Big broadcasters kept low power FM from most American cities – but communities struggled to bring these stations to everyone.