combating racism

By Darryl Washington - United Public Workers for Action, September 18, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Greetings Mayor Ed Lee, Sheriff Mirkarimi, and San Francisco Supervisors. I pray this email finds you and your families in good health.

My name is Daryle Washington and I'm sending this email due to frustration at the lack of concern from City Government after I and other employees suffered a noose being placed on a Black workers belongings, and the events that followed from a corporation that San Francisco contracts to pick up garbage, compost, and recycling to name a few of the services offered by Recology.

I brought these issues to many in City Government through email over a year ago and only two supervisors responded. I am thankful that one responded and that was Malia Cohen. I find it troubling that an investigation into the allegations of a noose being placed at a business in San Francisco, which has a major contract with San Francisco didn't happen. I also find it troubling that as I have spoken to some that hold elected offices in San Francisco that they have heard about the incidents but have no full knowledge of what happened. I further find it troubling that I was not contacted or a reply sent based on my email over a year ago. 

What I am asking for is that San Francisco Government launch an investigation into racism, harassment, retaliation, terrorist threats, bullying, and corruption by Recology. Have them open up the books and let's see if they have been hiding mistreatment of Black workers. I'm am optimistic that Black Lives Matter enough to City Government to look into what I and other employees went through in 2013. Anything less than publicly condemning all noose incidents in this wonderful city is an injustice to all Black workers and residents of this great city. A zero tolerance policy of any and all companies and or corporations that are contracted or subcontracted by San Francisco.

There may be action taken in the near future at Recology after the scheduled September 21st rally at Recology, which may include a press conference on the steps of City Hall demanding justice from San Francisco City Government and officials for Black and Brown workers at Recology and all City businesses, especially the ones contracted and or subcontracted by the city of San Francisco, funded by tax payers.

Lastly let us never forget that "A injustice to one is an injustice to us all" and I would like to add that standing by doing nothing makes us all just as guilty as the person or persons acting unjust.

Below I have a few links that will help paint a clear picture of what I have been through, but I am not alone, I'm the one who decided to stand up and no longer take the injustices from Recology.

By Steve Zeltser - Labor Video Project, July 27, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

San Francisco Recology company has retaliated against IBT 350 member Daryl Washington who reported on a "San Francisco Recology company has retaliated against IBT 350 member Daryl Washington who reported on a "hanging noose" incident at the company in 2013.

The company discriminated against him and sought to buy his silence with a bribe. Speakers pointed out that workplace bullying is a growing issue in the workplace including many other locations.

This rally/press conference which took place on July 27, 2015 was endorsed by United Public Workers For Action, Stop Workplace Bullying Group, and Transport Workers Solidarity Committee.

Additional video - http://youtu.be/g5PBHHR2m38
Production of Labor Video Project

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Enough Is Enough! - Stop Racist Noose Incidents & Workplace Bullying At SF Recology

Monday July 27, 2015 12:00 Noon
Recology Company 501 Tunnel Avenue, SF

Daryle Washington, an IBT 350 member and worker at the Recology Company in San Francisco  has faced a hanging noose and other racist attacks at the Recology Company. For speaking up against these assaults Washington faced retaliation and workplace  bullying  when he blew the whistle on these racist incidents against him and other workers at the facility.
We call for Recology to immediately take action to stop these incidents and end the retaliation against Daryle Washington.

Other workers and trade unionists will be speaking out against the continuing hanging noose incidents and also the epidemic of workplace bullying.

Sponsored by

• Stop Workplace Bulling Group
• United Public Workers For Action
• Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

For information contact info [at] upwa.info | (415)282-1908

Background Information

• http://youtu.be/g5PBHHR2m38
• Recology noose update: Daryle Washington rejects settlement without policy change - By Al Osorio, San Francisco Bay View - June 27, 2015
• Nooses found at sewage plants / Hate-crime investigation in S.F. - By Rachel Gordon - San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2001

Endorsed by Michelle Smith, Bully Free Workplace, Derrick Boutte, James Charas, Harold Fong, Brenda Barros, Daz Lamparas, Carrie Clark

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 7, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• The impenetrable world of Mark Flores: Yvette Flores unknowingly worked around lead and other harmful substances while she was pregnant; a severely disabled son was the result - By Jim Morris, Center for Public Integrity, July 1, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Farmworkers at Sakuma Berry Farms Demand Negotiations with Management - Press Release, Boycott Sakuma Berries, July 6, 2015
• ‘Anarchism could help to save the world’ - By David Priestland, The Guardian, July 3, 2015
• The Drought's Scapegoat - By Alastair Bland, East Bay Express, July 1, 2015
• Sakuma Bros. farmworkers walk off the job - By Shelby Rowe, Skagit Valley Herald, July 1, 2015
• Coca-Cola: Damaging the World - Press Release, KillerCoke.Org, June 30, 2015
• Costco Members, Fishermen, Environmental and Labor Groups Demand Costco Say No to GMO Salmon - Press Release, Park Forest ENews, June 26, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion Leaves 4 Hurt in Texas Town  - By "Admin", Natural Gas Watch, July 3, 2015
• Systems Change, Rainforests, and Racism - By Brad Schenck, Rainforest Action Network, July 3, 2015
• A robot killed a factory worker in Germany; So who should go on trial? - By Rick Noack, The Washington Post, July 2, 2015
• Thousands Of Children Risked Their Lives In Tanzania’s Gold Mines For $2 A Day - By Beenish Ahmed, Think Progress, July 2, 2015
• Derailed train near Knoxville burning; 5,000 evacuated in area - By News Sentinel staff, The Commercial Appeal, July 2, 2015
• Bureaucracy Threatens More Than Just Your Sanity - By Taylor Smith-Hams, Greenpeace Blogs, June 30, 2015
• Rail yard pollution in Kansas City, Kansas, requires a closer look by the EPA and BNSF - Editorial, Kansas City Star, June 30, 2015
• Recology noose update: Daryle Washington rejects settlement without policy change - By Al Osorio, San Francisco Bay View, June 27, 2015; [related] The Hanging Noose And Fighting Racist Terrorism On The Job At SF Recology - By Steve Zeltser, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, July 2, 2015
• Unions protest in Darwin against closure of Aboriginal communities - By Nadia Daly, A(ustralian)BC News, June 26, 2015

Just Transition:

• Labour speaks out about jobs, justice and the climate - By Ella Bedard, Rabble.Ca, July 6, 2015; [related]: Calgary wants jobs, justice, and climate action now - By Aiyana Lauridsen, Rabble.Ca, July 6, 2015
• Canada Mobilizes Coast to Coast for Jobs, Justice, and Climate - By Staff, teleSUR, July 4, 2015
• Greece’s anti-solar, coal-based energy policies underlie its economic collapse - By Takis Grigoriou, The Ecologist, July 3, 2015
• March for jobs, justice and the climate--as part of the Pan Am Games - By Krystalline Kraus, Rabble.Ca, June 30, 2015

Other News:

• South Africa’s main union rejects gold firms wage offer - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, July 6, 2015
• Transit Strikers Defend Full-Time Jobs and Bathroom Breaks - By Samantha Winslow, Labor Notes, July 2, 2015; [related]
• Milwaukee transit workers shut down bus lines, demanding a fair contract - By Tracey Pollock, Fight Back News, July 1, 2015
• Railroad whistle-blower awarded $1.25M - By Mike Carter, Seattle Times, July 1, 2015
• My friend Brandon Bostian, the Amtrak 188 engineer - By Ryan Smith, Chicago Reader, June 20, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW

By Brenton Mock - Grist, November 3, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

I recently heard a story told by the actor/activist Harry Belafonte about meeting with Martin Luther King back in the ’60s, shortly after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were signed. King was not in a celebratory mood, said Belafonte, and seemed to be rethinking his stance on racial integration. They were both contemplating the question asked by James Baldwin from The Fire Next Time: What if we just helped integrate black people into a burning house? Belafonte said King thought long on this before responding, “I guess we’ll just have to be firefighters.”

Demetrius Barr, the central character of Amanda Chicago Lewis’s incredible new BuzzFeed article, “The Prisoners Fighting California’s Wildfires,” is an accidental firefighter. He’s an African-American man from Los Angeles serving time in California for selling crack, and he has enlisted in a “fire camp,” a program created to train inmates to fight the state’s growing wildfire problem. The fire crisis is almost certainly a consequence of climate change, and faced with quickly dwindling funds for handling it, the state has turned to prison labor as a cheap way to meet the need. Here’s the math from Lewis’ story:

About half of the people fighting wildland fires on the ground for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) are incarcerated: over 4,400 prisoners, housed at 42 inmate fire camps, including three for women. Together, says Capt. Jorge Santana, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) liaison who supervises the camps, they save the state over $1 billion a year. This year, California has had over 5,300 wildfires, which is about 700 more than had occurred by this time in 2013, and a thousand more than the five-year average. Now, as the West is coming to the end of one of the driest, hottest years in recorded history, the work of inmate firefighters has become essential to California’s financial and environmental health.

Problems abound in this Prison Environmental Complex, but one I want to pick at is the idea expressed throughout the story that programs like this help “rehabilitate” men who are presumably otherwise unsalvageable.

Article by Dennis Trainor Jr; Image By John Minchillo - Acronym TV, October 1, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Speaking at the opening plenary of the New York City Global Climate Convergence in the days before the People’s Climate March, Nastaran Mohit told the assembled crowd that the revolution “and this (Climate Convergence) movement is not going to be spawned from the activist white community. It is going to be led front and center by marginalized and the most directly affected communities.”

Mohit, a New York City based labor organizer who was instrumental in the success of Occupy Sandy, went on:

“For these communities, Climate Change is not a far off thing, it is right at their backyard. For these communities it is an issue of survival. Climate organizing is not a privilege for them, it is a life and death matter.”

While Mohit characterized the People’s Climate March as an “epic event” that she was “proud to participate in” she was quick to balance that excitement with skepticism over the funding behind the march and “the lack of demands, the parade route” (the parade went no where near the U.N.).

“We also need to be very real when we talk about how scary it is for the big green groups (and) the big corporations for this movement to challenge Capitalism.”