Solidarity School 2008

The Campaign piece was very helpful and I began to use what I learned at my workplace the next week.

On March 29, the second annual Vermont Workers' Center Solidarity School concluded. 20 union members, students and community activists participated in three days of popular education, spread over six weeks. Participants sharpened their organizing skills, discussed how to put together tactics and strategies into successful campaigns to win concrete improvements for working people, explored people's history and the impact of racism on movements for progressive change, and — most importantly, in the views of many participants — had the opportunity to "connect with other workers, hear personal stories and struggles that others have, realize our similarities."

I appreciated the diversity of the facilitators and their experiences

The 2008 Solidarity School builds on the highly successful 2007 Solidarity School, and four graduates from the 2007 school returned to help facilitate the school this year, joining veterans of the VWC Education Committee, Kate Kanelstein from UVM SLAP and Doyle Canning from smartMeme.

Extra thanks and shout-outs to the organizations whose education materials we learned from/used/borrowed/stole: Project South, National Network For Immigrant and Refugee Rights, UE Education Department, Beyond the Choir, smartMeme, POWER, and others we may have missed ...

More photos of Solidarity School 2008

Freightliner 5 Solidarity Meeting

6pm, Sunday, March 30th
Vermont Workers' Center
294 North Winooski Ave, Burlington

Two fired United Auto Workers (UAW) members from Freightliner trucks in Cleveland, N.C. will be in Burlington on March 30. Allen Bradley and Robert Whiteside will speak about their campaign to regain their jobs and protect their union at the Vermont Workers Center this Sunday. Allen and Robert are part of the "Freightliner 5", five members of UAW Local 3520 who were terminated April 3, 2007 by truck maker Freightliner after they led a legal strike of 1500 workers the day before. They are traveling around the country to build support for their campaign to regain their jobs, and to protect and extend union victories in the South.

Their solidarity campaign meetings elsewhere have been tremendously inspiring for local activists. Both Allen and Robert were leading members of the Organizing Committee that successfully won their union at Freightliner in 2003 in one of the most anti-union state's in the country, "right-to-work" North Carolina. Their fight to win justice also will have long-term consequences for organizing the South, which continues to be the achilles' heel of the U.S. Labor movement. The rank-and-file activism and solidarity campaign they are engaged in go to the core of the challenges and best traditions of the U.S. labor movement, lessons that we can all learn from.

More info: http://www.justice4five.com/

Sponsored by the Freightliner 5 Solidarity Committee. Endorsers include: Vermont Workers' Center, UVM United Academics, Champlain Valley & Washington/Orange Counties Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, Vermont Livable Wage Campaign, International Socialist Organization.

Contact: info [at] workerscenter.org

Vermont Labor Against the War shows Winter Soldier Hearings

In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” In 1971, a courageous group of veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in an event called Winter Soldier. Once again, we will demand that the voices of veterans are heard. (from Iraq Vets Against the War website)

VTLAW and the Workers' Center will host a videostream from the Winter Soldier Hearings taking place in Washington DC this week. We'll have our doors open Fri., March 14th from 4 to 8:30 pm and Saturday, March 15th from 9am to 5pm - at 294 N. Winooski Ave in Burlington. For people who want to see more, Channel 17, upstairs from us, will be showing the hearings from noon to 4 pm on Fri.

Schedule of topics:

Friday, March 14th
4:00PM - 6:00PM Rules of Engagement: Part Two
7:00PM - 8:30PM Aims of the Global War on Terror: the Political, Legal, and Economic Context of Iraq and Afghanistan

Saturday, March 15
9:00AM – 10:30AM Divide To Conquer: Gender and Sexuality in the Military
11:00AM - 1:00PM Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy: Part One
2:00PM - 3:30PM Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy: Part Two
4:00PM - 6PM Civilian Testimony: The Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan
7:00PM - 8:30PM The Cost of the War at Home

We'd love to have you join us!