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LaborFest 2012 Booklet PDF
Total 44 pages 5.7 MB
LaborFest 2011 Booklet PDF
Total 44 pages 7.5 MB
LaborFest 2011 Poster PDF
428 KB
LaborFest 2010 Poster PDF
(204KB)
LaborFest 2010 Booklet PDF
( Total 42 pgs - 12.2MB)2008 Booklet -PDF
36 pg (5 MB)
2008 poster
(588KB)
To order poster, send $15 to LaborFest, POB 40983, SF, CA 94140
LaborFest 2012 Schedule
July 1 (Sunday) 11:00 AM (Free) Meet at 18th Street & Tennessee, SF
Dogpatch & Portrero Point Walk
With SF City Guides & Labor Photographer Joe Blum
Designated as a San Francisco Historic District, this colorful neighborhood has important ties to many of the city’s past commercial industries. From its historic working class cottages and industrial age relics to the current proliferation of ultra-modern lofts, we’ll explore the past and present of this surprising, eclectic neighborhood in transition.July 1 (Sunday) 11:30 AM (Free) Angel Island Immigration Post - North East side of the island
The Trial of Harry Bridges and Chinese Immigration at Angel Island
Talks by Harvey Schwartz and Mike Daly, spoken word by Nellie Wong.
Harry Bridges, the Australian-born ILWU leader, was hounded by government investigations and trials from 1934 to 1955. In 1939, the U.S. government conducted a hearing on Angel Island to see if it could deport him. ILWU historian Harvey Schwartz will explore and deliver the truth about these events. Angel Island was also the primary immigration station on the West Coast. Mike Daly, Ironworker and Nellie Wong, UPTE-CWA member will tell stories from the experiences of the people who passed through or were interned on Angel Island, including the stories from famous California historian Iris Chang. Nellie will also deliver her well known poem Where Is My Country.
Meet in front yard of the Immigration Post building.
(Presentation at Mess Hall)
Shuttle is available from ferry to the immigration post. The fare is $5.00 for both ways.
You can also walk, and it may takes 30 min. or more, so please wear comfortable shoes.
FERRY INFORMATION
Ferry from San Francisco by Blue & Gold $17.00 (round trip)
Tiburon Ferry $13.50 (round trip)
Departure Schedule to Angel Island
From Pier 41 - 9:45 AM
From Tiburon - 10:00 AM
Departure Schedule from Angel Island
To San Francisco - 4:10 PM
To Tiburon - 3:30 PM
www.blueandgoldfleet.com
www.angelislandferry.com/
www.angelisland.com
Info on Angel Island - call: 415-328-4403July 1 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Marine Firemen’s Hall - 240 2nd St. San Francisco
Irish Labor History Walk
With IBEW electrician Peter O’Driscoll and labor writer and UAW NWU member Larry Shoup.
This tour will focus on the history of San Francisco’s famed waterfront and the role of its Irish and Irish-American workers, leaders, and martyrs. It will also include the cases of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings who faced a labor frame-up in the Preparedness Day Bombing in San Francisco in July 1916 and the successful struggle for their release. The tour will also include the sculpture dedicated to the waterfront strikers of 1934 and other historic markers along the way. The tour will end inside Rincon Center discussing the historic murals dedicated to the labor movement in San Francisco.
San Francisco Retiree Talks — and Walks — Labor HistoryJuly 3 (Tuesday) 9:30 AM (Free) San Francisco Labor Council Office - 1188 Franklin St., Suite 203, SF
Share BREAD AND ROSES with Retired Union Members
Come to an open regular meeting of FORUM (Federation of Retired Union Members) an organization of retirees sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council. Retirees come from a spectrum of unions with members and workers in San Francisco. FORUM supports alliances between working people and retired people to preserve and improve social security, pension and health benefits. The July program will highlight members’ current activities as well as personal childhood memories of the 1934 General Strike! Other strike survivors are especially invited and encouraged to share their stories. Refreshments will be served.July 3 (Tuesday) 10:30 AM (Free) Meet at Potrero Hill Neighborhood House - Southern Heights & DeHaro, SF
Potrero Hill Walk
(With SF City Guides)
Potrero Hill is a diverse neighborhood on one of our many hills that has an interesting history, fascinating characters, vistas to the four winds and great weather. This hill even has a unique brewery and a one-of-a kind church across the street from each other. This neighborhood has amazing architecture. Potrero Hill was and is home to many working class families who made vital contributions to San Francisco’s industrial and maritime heritage.July 3 (Tuesday) 4:15PM (Free) Union Square Plaza - Corner of Geary & Powell, SF
Unite Here SF March For Small Hotels
For more than two years, workers in the small hotels have been without a union contract. Now that most of the Class A hotel contracts have been settled, it is time for small hotel workers to get their contracts.July 4 (Wednesday) 2:00 PM (Free) Dolores Park - 18th St. & Dolores, SF
THE LAST ELECTION - SF Mime Troupe
Pity the poor 1 per cent. Abused in that sliver of press they don’t own, condemned in the streets by a rabble who don’t appreciate the benefits of being trickled down upon, and raked over the coals by the few politicians who aren’t lined up to kiss their wealth and power. Talk about an oppressed minority! Finally, someone is stepping up to tell the story of these steaming sacks of benevolence as the San Francisco Mime Troupe presents THE LAST ELECTION, a tale that will warm the heart of every billionaire. Based on the classic 19th century melodrama The Poor of New York, the Troupe turns the story on its head, telling it from the point of view of the misunderstood Godzillionaires who have made this country what it is today: broke.
Please check Mime Troupe’s web site for the rest of their schedule: www.sfmt.orgJuly 5 (Thursday) 7:30 PM ($25) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., SF
Ry and Joachim Cooder - LaborFest Concert
Tickets are all sold out
LaborFest is proud to open this year’s LaborFest commemoration of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike with musician Ry Cooder on guitars and his son Joachim Cooder on percussion.
Ry has played a seminal role in artistic expression and his contributions are not only in his music but also in his support of musicians around the world. His work in bringing together the album The Buena Vista Social Club, later made into a film, brought the tremendous musicians of Cuba to the world and helped break the information blockade that the US puts on Cuba every day.
We expect the tickets to be sold out quickly, so please purchase your tickets early.
For more information, please click here.July 6 (Friday) 6:00 PM(Donation) Marine Fireman's Hall - 240 2nd St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Dust: The Great Asbestos Trial 85 min. 2011 Italy, SF Premiere
Written and Directed by: Niccolo Bruna & Andrea Prandstralle. Producer: Enrica Capra
We Are Wisconsin
90 min. 2012 SF Premiere By Amie Williams
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 7 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free ) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza - Embarcadero at Market St., SF
SF General Strike Walk
Join a walk with retired ILWU longshoreman Jack Heyman and others. We will look at the causes of the 1934 General Strike and why it was successful. How was the strike organized and why are the issues in that strike still relevant to working people today? We will also view some of the key historical sites in this important US labor struggle. Be prepared for a long walk, slow pace and no hills.
Bring your lunch with you.
July 7 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon Meet at 518 Valencia St. near 16th St., SF
Labor Bike Tour by Chris Carlsson
($15-50 sliding scale donation requested to benefit Shaping San Francisco)
From the pre-urban history of Indian Slavery to the earliest 8-hour day movement in the U.S., the ebb and flow of class war is traced. SF’s radical working class organizations are shaped in part by racist complicity in genocide and slavery, but from the 1870s to the 1940s there are dozens of epic battles between owners and workers, culminating in the 1934 General Strike and its aftermath. This is an entirely different look, during a four-hour bike tour, at San Francisco labor history.
For more info: (415) 608-9035, carlsson.chris@gmail.comJuly 8 (Sunday) 10:00, 1:00, 3:30 PM(Free) SFFD Division of Training -2310 Folsom St., SF
Join Firefighters Local 798 for the "Get Really Ready"
Join NERT (The San Francisco Fire Department Neighborhood Emergency Response Team) and the San Francisco Fire Department for a day to celebrate and learn about actions to get really ready for any emergency. Local 798, LaborFest and NERT are hosting a fun day, filled with activities, food, and, oh yeah, some training.
Workshops will cover what everyone should know to prepare individually, as a business and as a community for an emergency, large or small.
*Kids Readiness Activities Ongoing
*Bouncey House & Light Refreshments
RSVP: sffdnert@sfgov.org with GET REALLY READY in the subject line.
For more information: Contact Lt. Erica Arteseros, NERT Program Coordinator 415-970-2022.July 8 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at 75 Folsom St. - Entrance of Hills Brothers Coffee Building, SF
San Francisco Waterfront Labor History Walk
With Lawrence Shoup and Peter O’Driscoll
There are many stories to be told about labor struggles in San Francisco. This story is about the maritime industry from 1835 until the burning of the blue book in 1934.
Also labor historian Larry Shoup will talk about the history of the 1901 transportation workers strike, which included the Teamsters and was smashed by the San Francisco police. This strike in part led to the formation of the San Francisco Union Labor Party, which in 1905 swept the election and took control of the city.July 8 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library Latino Room Lower Level - 100 Larkin St. SF
Forum: The Commons, Public Spaces & Privatization
The economic collapse in 2008 has been used as justification for the sell-off of public spaces, buildings and the privatization of public services and parks. San Francisco is turning into a billionaire’s dream, as every city property from City Hall to the waterfront becomes a source for profit.
The growing lack of regulation and transparency is part and parcel of this development and this forum will also look at how environmental protection and right to information also are in jeopardy.
This panel will look at how our commons and public spaces are being threatened, who is doing it, who is helping them do it and how we can defend our public spaces and stop the privatization of public spaces and resources.
Speakers:
Gray Brechin, UCB Geographer and author of Imperial San Francisco
James Chaffee, Keep Civic Center Public
Aysha Massell, Environmental Worker
Don Santina, Cultural Historian and writer
Peter Warfield, Library Users Association/Executive Director
Sponsord by United Public Workers for Action
www.upwa.infoJuly 8 (Sunday) 5:00 PM (Free) City Lights Bookstore - 261 Columbus at Broadway, SF
City Lights Reading
Special Appearance by writer, organizer and activist Stewart Acuff, opening statements by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, hosted with poetry by Alice Rogoff.
Stewart Acuff is the Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President of the Utility Workers Union of America and has been a labor organizer for more than 30 years. He has written articles for the Atlanta Constitution, Labor Research Review, In These Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy and Focus Magazine, New Labor Forum, and several Georgia newspapers. He has also written essays for Which Direction for Organized Labor (edited by Bruce Nissen) and Organizing for Justice in Our Communities (edited by Immanuel Ness and Stuart Eimer.) He is the co-author with Dr. Richard Levins of Getting America Back to Work.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an educator, feminist activist, writer, and life-long activist. She has produced many scholarly books and articles and has published 3 memoirs, Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (1997), Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years 1960-1975, and Blood on the Border, about what she saw during the Nicaraguan Contra War against the Sandinistas.
Alice Rogoff is a local poet, activist, and organizer. She is a member of the Pacific Media Workers (CWA) Freelance unit.
http://www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=event&event_id=1509July 9 (Monday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Portsmouth Square -Washington Street side near the elevator at Kearny, SF
Chinatown Walk
(With SF City Guides)
Learn about Chinese Labor History in California, discrimination by both governments and unions, sweatshops, housing issues, but throughout, a determination to persist. Walk through the unique hidden alleyways to hear the history of America’s oldest and largest Chinese community. Learn how immigrant labor struggled for fair treatment while mining gold, building railroads, and working in the building trades.July 9 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San José Peace and Justice Center - 48 South 7th St., SJ
Film: Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (1924-2006) (77 min.) 2012
By Anne Lewis & Mimi Pickering
“Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (1924-2006)” is a first person feature documentary completed May 1, 2012. Braden rejected her segregationist, privileged past to become one of the civil rights movement’s staunchest white allies. In 1954 she was charged with sedition by McCarthy-style politicians who played on fears of communism to preserve southern segregation. In 1963 she became one of only five white southerners whose contributions to the movement were commended by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A relentless labor and political organizer, she fought for transformation and liberation throughout her life.
The film was directed and produced by Anne Lewis and Mimi Pickering. Anne Lewis will lead discussion after the film. For info: 408-297-2299July 10 (Tuesday) 11:00 AM (Free) Meet in East end of Rincon Center lobby - Mission at Steuart, SF
Controversial Murals of Rincon Center
(With SF City Guides)
Scandalous! Shocking! Revolting! Partisan hysteria echoed from San Francisco to Washington D.C. when these murals were unveiled. Powerful voices called for their destruction, yet 30 years later, they saved the building from demolition. The murals tell many stories, from SF history to Cold War politics. Discover the artistic and political drama behind these treasures.
July 10 (Tuesday) 6:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore - 2919 24th St. at Florida, SF
Book reading: Carlo Tresca: Anarcho-Syndicalist and…Bohemian?
With F.S. Rosa and Dr. Susan Greene
Italian immigrant Carlo Tresca was involved in some of the foremost labor struggles and fights for immigrant rights and against fascism and Stalinism of the early 20th century. Tresca was dedicated to anarcho-syndicalism--the principle that all workers, regardless of gender or ethnic group, should work together in solidarity and direct action to improve their working conditions and, ideally, to create worker-run collectives. The textile strikes in Lawrence, Massachusetts and Paterson, New Jersey were run along these principles; Tresca was involved in both of them.
F.S. Rosa, who is a member of SEIU 1021, will read from her novel, The Divine Comedy of Carlo Tresca, and discuss Tresca’s relationship to both anarcho-syndicalism and the arts.
Susan Greene will discuss plans to incorporate Carlo Tresca’s image into her mural “Re/Membering American Anarchism.”July 11 (Wednesday) 6:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library Koret Auditorium - 100 Larkin St., SF
Which Side Are You On? Harry Hay and Labor Organizing
Panel Discussion with Chris Carlsson, Bettina Aptheker and others, moderated by Joey Cain.
Gay labor activist Harry Hay helped lay the foundation for the modern lesbian and gay rights movement.
In 1934, Harry Hay attended the legendary Longshoreman’s Strike in San Francisco, known as the San Francisco General Strike, to perform agit-prop theatre with his lover Will Geer. During one of their performances, bullets rang out as the National Guard opened fire on the workers. Several workers were killed in that melee, but more would be killed before the government’s crack down on the strike ended. The strike culminated with a funeral march on Market Street, San Francisco’s main street, which was the largest public demonstration to take place in its day.
Radically Gay: The Life Of Harry Hay: An Exhibition on the Founder of the Gay Rights Movement, Main Library.
The exhibition includes his early years through his labor activism, and strong involvement with the Communist Party, to his founding of the Mattachine Society, the first gay activist group in America, and co-founding of the gay men’s spirit group, the Radical Faeries. An actor, Communist labor organizer, musicologist, gay theoretician and political activist, Hay left a lasting mark that continues well into the 21st century.July 12 (Thursday) 6:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Remembrance of Time Past
(12 min.) 2011 Iran By Sara Davani
Milk, Honey and Tomatoes
(25 min.) 2011 Palestine By Andre Kloer and Maaike Broos
Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (1924-2006)
(77 min.) 2012 By Anne Lewis & Mimi Pickering
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 12 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) Berkeley City College Auditorium - 2050 Center St., Berkeley
The Paris Commune of 1871 - The Original Government of the 99%
Come hear a presentation on the Paris Commune, by Anne Hansen, French postal worker and union militant. With the slogan, “We are the 99%”, the Occupy movement asked – “What gives the top 1% of society the right to run everything in their interest? Why should the rest of us, the 99%, have to suffer the consequences of their decisions”? All over the U.S., thousands of people participated in demonstrations, meetings and occupations of public space. And in the process, people could begin to imagine a different world where the 99% decided our own fate. In 1871, the people of Paris engaged in their own version of “occupy” – the Paris Commune. But they didn’t just protest. They created a new form of government - from the bottom up, where the 99% decided and acted in the interest of the majority. We can learn from these lessons of the past to create a new future. Anne will also talk about the current situation in France.
Sponsored by the Berkeley City College Global Studies Program and Speak Out Now!July 13 (Friday) 6:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Mt. Fuji in Red (From Dreams)
(1990) 8 min. Japan By Akira Kurosawa
Fukushima Never Again
(2012) 57 min. By Labor Video Project
ANPO: Art x War
(2011) 89 min. By Linda Hoaglund
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 14 (Saturday) 9:45 AM (Free) Meet at Coit Tower entrance, SF
Coit Tower Mural Walk
With Gray Brechin, Harvey Smith, Peter O’Driscoll
Seventy-eight years ago this month, artists who were working under Civil Works Administration and the Public Works of Art Project program were painting the Coit Tower murals. These political artists were very much influenced by the General Strike, and this is reflected in these historic murals.
A media hysteria was also whipped up against the art and the artists in an effort to censor them. Fortunately this failed and the murals remain a testament to the people of San Francisco and the labor movement.
(City Guides tour starts 11:00 AM)
July 14 (Saturday) 1:00 PM (Free) Meet on Presidio Avenue between Bush and Pine, SF
SF Fire Department Museum Tour
(With SF City Guides & members of SF Firefighters union)
View antique engines and fire fighter artifacts mixed together with the history of fire fighting. This is an indoor, self guided tour. A trained City Guide is available for questions and explanation. A member of the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 will also attend and present the role of labor in protecting the people of San Francisco from fires.July 14 (Saturday) 1:00 PM (Free) Canessa Gallery - 708 Montgomery St., SF
Coit Tower, Anton Refregier and Sargent Johnson: Past and Current Efforts to Protect New Deal Art
With Jon Golinger, Grey Brechin and Harvey Smith
This gathering at the historic Canessa Gallery will describe the post-election efforts of the Protect Coit Tower campagin, tell the remarkable story of Anton Refregier and how the Rincon Annex murals were saved, and provide an update on the saga of the lost Sargent Johnson relief.
For more information: harveysmithberkeley@yahoo.com
July 14 (Saturday) 1:00 PM ($15, 30) Dorothy Day Community Center -54 McAllister St. at 7th St., SF
This Land Was Made for You and Me!
SF Gray Panthers Benefit Sing OutCelebrating Woody Guthrie’s 100th Birthday
Join Hali Hammer, Bonnie Lockhart, Faith Petric, Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus, and Occupella
Join us in a Sing Out in celebration of Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday and a fund-raiser for the SF Gray Panthers. Join Hali Hammer, Bonnie Lockhart, Faith Petric, Occupella, and the Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus. There will also be videos on the importance of Woody Guthrie now and clips about his life and times. We’ll be serving light refreshments. Suggested donation: $15 or $30 for admission plus a year’s membership in SF Gray Panthers. Nobody turned away for lack of funds.July 14 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Donation) San José Peace and Justice Center - 48 South 7th St., San Jose
Film: Many Straws Make a Nest
In the last 20 years, the Delhi region has turned into one of the world’s major industrial hubs. The required workforce is recruited from India’s poorer regions, where survival is becoming more and more difficult. This is why 4.5 million industrial workers in southern Delhi are willing to ruin their health for wages on which their families can hardly survive. People are almost powerless in this situation, but still they try to find effective ways to collectively resist.
Discussion after the film will be led by Raj Sahai, who interviewed contract workers working for Suzuki in Manesar, about 30 km southwest of New Delhi. Sahai is a political activist, writer, and a co-founder of South Asians for Collective Action. For information: 408-297-2299July 14 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) SEIU 1021 Oakland -155 Myrtle Street, Oakland
Good Union Jobs Under Attack In The Black Community
This meeting was canceled.July 14 (Saturday) 4:00 PM (Free) Events Sports Basement Store -1590 Bryant Street, S.F.
Labor, Mumia, Hoshino And The Lessons For Today
The growing repression of labor and political activists continues as the “war on terror” is used to silence political dissidents. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist, and Fumiaki Hoshino, an anti-war activist, have been jailed for decades in a political frame-up because of their political views and opposition to militarization and repression.
This forum will look at both of these cases, the labor movement and the historical role of the International Labor Defense, which was a united front defense committee for working class prisoners in the US. The ILD was set up as a non-partisan body that would defend any member of the working class movement, without regard to personal political views. Any working class activist who came under the thumb of persecution by the capitalist legal system would be supported legally, morally, and financially. It lasted from 1925 to 1946.
Today as legislation is passed that allows the government to arrest even US citizens and to hold them indefinitely without charges and without any constitutional rights the need for a broad working class defense organization is growing.
Video of West Coast Strike To Free Mumia
Speakers include: Jack Heyman and Jerrold Sanders, Labor Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal; Representative from Hoshino Defense Committee and US Committee To Free Hoshino. Kevin Cooper from San Quentin prison will call into the meeting and report on his struggle. Mike Daly ( for David Gilbert ) Haiku for Mumia
July 14 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Donation) Manilatown Center -868 Kearny St., SF (Please note that the time on the booklet was wrong)
Tribute to Filipino American Trade Unionists
Join us in saluting two outstanding trade union leaders, and native sons of working class San Francisco, Fred Basconcillo and Bill Sorro.
Fred Basconcillo, Ironworkers 790, fiercely met every challenge, using his intelligence, creative skills, sincerity and amazing effort to become President of Ironworkers Local 790, something unthinkable for any non-white building trades unionist in the United States at that time. Here in the Bay Area, Fred is directly responsible for the fair contracts between the Western Steel Council and Shop Ironworkers, which delivered world renown labor productivity and peace to California.
Bill Sorro, Ironworkers 378, became a founding member of Ironworkers for Union Democracy. Bill was a driving force in the determined effort to save the International Hotel, and to establish a permanent home for Manilatown.July 15 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery - 2133 University Avenue, Berkeley
Saving The Art and Fighting Post Office Closings
With Gray Brechin; Dave Welsh, NALC; and Jose Carlos Riquelme, APWU.
Gray Brechin will provide the context of the closings within the push for privatization of the public sector and will describe how the New Deal not only built post offices, but also beautified them with public art. Representatives from the postal worker unions will describe efforts to protect services to the public and to resist the cutbacks to workers.July 15 (Sunday) 11:00 AM (Free) Departs from the cable-car turnaround, Powell at Market Streets, SF
San Francisco Hotel strike history walking tour
Frankly, My Dears, I Give a Damn: Let's Strike!
By David Giesen
Come along on a fast-paced history of a good bit of San Francisco hotel workers strike history. Historian David Giesen leads this two-hour survey of a hundred years of put-upon cooks, servers, pillow plumpers and entertainment staff that will first make you simply kvetch, but end with you joining the strikers’ refrain, “Land & Liberty!”
From the Palace Hotel in 1937 to the Hyatt and Frank in 2011, this walk/talk digs under the headlines and behind the rhetoric to reveal the truly sordid story of hospitality industry labor itself without a place to lay its head. Not recommended for the limp of heart! Unite HERE Local 2 members will participate.
For more information: http://www.TheCommonsSF.orgJuly 15 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) Bird and Beckett Bookstore - 653 Chenery St
A Reading with LaborFest Writing Group Workshop
Members of the LaborFest Writing Group will read their work, followed by a writing exercise on the theme From Sit-down Strikes to the Occupy Movement - Inventing new ways to fight back.
LaborFest writers believe everyone has a story to tell. An afternoon of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and memoir. The sit-down strikes were new at the time. How do the past sit-down strikes inform and inspire us today? What are new ways to fight back for the 99%? Members of the group are Phyllis Holliday, Margaret Cooley, Keith Cooley, Susan Ford, Nellie Wong, Richard Tan, Jerry Path and Alice Rogoff.July 15 (Sunday) 3:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore -1680 Market Street at Gough, SF
Hillbillies, Hicks, Rednecks, Crackers, White Trash,
The Achilles Heel of a Unified Workers’ Movement and Culture in the US
This panel will explore the question nobody is asking: can “white trash” be revolutionary? Through personal stories and political projects, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Hilary Moore will discuss popular representation, hidden organizing legacies, combatting white supremacy, homophobia and sexism, and the poor white potential within the workers’ movement. James Tracy, author of “Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times,” will comment and chair.
Hilary Moore was born and raised in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Currently living in Oakland, California, Hilary earns money as a nanny and works as a non-violent direct action trainer with The Ruckus Society. She is a founding member of the Mobilization for Climate Justice West. She also sits on the board and teaches with the Institute for Social Ecology. She recently co-authored “Organizing Cools the Planet: Tools and Reflections to Navigate the Climate Crisis,” out now on PM Press.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, child of landless farmers. Veteran of the Sixties revolution, she has been involved in movements against the Vietnam War and imperialism, union organizing, and Women’s Liberation Movement. Among her published books is the memoir, “Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie.”July 15 (Sunday) 6:00 PM ($45) Pier 41 left of Pier 39 near outside ticket booth - Fisherman’s Wharf, SF
Gate 4, boat name "Oskie"
Space still available
Building Bridges and Labor Maritime History Boat Tour
5:45 PM Boarding, 6:00 PM Departure
Boat leaves promptly at 6:00 PM
Please arrive 30 minutes before the departure time
Tour lasts 3 hours
A complimentary meal will be provided, however, if you are on a special diet please bring your own food.Join us for this evening cruise on labor history and a close up look at the massive construction project of the eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The skills of the ironworkers, operators, carpenters, laborers, electricians and maritime workers who are building this monument are creating a vital link and beautiful artifact of the Bay Area.
Labor historians, photographers and building trades workers will talk about labor history and the construction of the new East Bay Span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Gray Brechin, Betty Reid Soskin, Joseph Blum and others will present along with labor musicians and others.
To make your reservation:
By E-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net or call: (415) 642-8066, and leave your name, phone number and number of people in your party. (We prefer e-mail.)
Space is still available, but, since it's getting closer to the date, you could pay at the gate once your ticket is confirmed.
Please be there at least 30 minutes before the departure time in order to go through paper work.July 16 (Monday) 10:00 AM (Free)Meet at Market Street Plaza benches - bet. 525 and 555 Market St., SF
1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Walk
With San Francisco City Guides
Imagine awakening before dawn on April 18, 1906 to the unthinkable--a massive earthquake has toppled chimneys and buildings, and ripped apart city water pipes. With the fire on your heels, escape from the alleyways south of Market to what should be the safety of Union Square. Learn about the experiences of the people that morning, and the emergency response they received. Hear also about controversial actions by the military in dealing with the fire and the evacuations.July 16 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 -801 2nd St. next to the AT&T Ball Park, SF
Fukushima, Nuclear Power and Labor
The meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear reactors continues and the contamination of people in Fukushima, Japan and the world has not stopped. The Japanese government refuses to evacuate children, and the communities continue to be contaminated. The Japanese railway workers union, Doro-Mita this year, has launched a strike against further contamination of their members. At the same time there are two nuclear plants in Diablo Canyon and San Onofre that have serious health and safety problems while nuclear safety whistleblowers are being retaliated against.
What is going on at Fukushima, what is the meaning of this for US workers, including transportation workers and communities, and what can working people do about these conditions, will be some of the issues addressed at this forum.
Speakers:
•Shin’ichi Ishii, the President of Doro-Mito, a Japanese railroad workers union
•Chieko Shiina, an anti-nuke activist from Fukushima, Japan
•Ron Kaminkow, Secretary Railroad Workers United RWU (invited)
•Nuclear power plant whistleblower
Sponsored by Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org
No Nukes Action Committee http://nonukesaction.wordpress.com
Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) Executive Director http://www.trivalleycares.org/July 17 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 -801 2nd St. next to the AT&T Ball Park, SF
Journalists, Journalism, Labor and New Media
Thousands of professional journalists have faced layoffs throughout the United States. At the same time there are only a handful of labor journalists left at major daily papers in the United Sates.
Journalists are being pressured to work for free as bloggers and the campaign against Ariana Huffington and Huff Post was an example of a political campaign to highlight the plight of journalists in the new media.
At the same time, labor does not even have a labor radio or TV channel that could broadcast 24 hours a day from the picket line, and the life and death struggles that working people are facing.
This panel will also look at the attacks on journalists by corporate America, the censoring of labor stories and the transformation of the newspaper and news industry by the Internet. What does this mean for the future of professional journalists and the relationship of organized labor to the defense of journalists and journalism?
Speakers:
Bill Snyder, Vice Chair, Pacific Media Workers Guild Freelancers Unit,CWA 39521
Steve Early, Labor Journalist
Dick Meister, Labor journalist formerly with SF Chronicle & KQED Newsroom
Larry Goldbetter, President, National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981
Sponsored by Labor Video Project, CWA-TNG Local 39521/Pacific Media Workers
www. laborvideo.org
www.labortech.netJuly 17 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St., SF
Film: Laila’s Birthday from Palestine (2008) 71 min., Palestine
By Rashid Masharawi
Join the United Taxicab Workers Union-CWA who will be screening “Laila’s Birthday.” The film by director Rashid Masharawi is about the day in the life of a former judge, now a taxi cab driver in Ramallah. What is life like for taxi drivers in Palestine? This says it all about their jobs and and the lives of their passengers. The absurdity of two states and two laws in one land and the battle for survival are combined in a film that shows the contradictions. It has been called “A dark urban comedy.”
The UTW fights for the rights of San Francisco cab drivers who are fighting for healthcare, a living wage and union rights with decent working conditions.
United Taxi Workers
http://www.utw.us/
http://electronicintifada.net/content/film-review-absurd-humor-succeeds-lailas-birthday/3543July 18 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Lucy Parsons: Anarchist - A reading of a play, written and directed by Howard Pflanzer
Labor Troubadour Anne Feeney Sings Out on Woody Guthrie’s Birthday
Hear a reading of Howard Pflanzer’s “Lucy Parsons”. Lucy Parsons was a radical Black labor activist and anarchist. She was born a slave near Waco, Texas and married Albert R. Parsons who had become a radical white Republican after serving first as a Confederate soldier. They moved to Chicago in 1873 and became labor organizers. In a labor rally for the 8-hour day, a bomb exploded and her husband along with eight other men were framed and charged with being responsible for the bomb. This became known as the Haymarket Square bombing and is now commemorated all over the world as May Day. She began a national speaking tour to raise money and support for her husband and the other defendants. Her struggle and life is a very important part of American history. The playwright Howard Pflanzer shows the struggles and realities of her life.
This year is the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie, and Anne Feeney, former president of the Pittsburgh Musicians Union and a labor troubadour singing and standing up for working people in the US and around the world, will perform Guthrie’s songs.
http://www.annefeeney.com
July 19 (Thursday) 5:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Please note: The time has changed
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Get On The Bus
(2012) By Kim Jung-kun, Busan, Korea
Verita$, Everybody Loves Harvard
80 min. (2011) By Shin Eun-Jung
Director Shin Eun-jung will attend
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 19 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) South Bay Labor Temple -2102 Almaden Road, Hall A, San Jose
South Bay Shipbuilders: How Wartime Production Changed the Bay Area’s Labor
Learn about the Sunnyvale firm, which produced the power trains for the major shipyards launching the Liberty and Victory class ships. Meet the Peninsula Shipyards, which fabricated both steel and concrete vessels at South San Francisco.
Find out about the large migrations to the Bay Area to meet the labor needs of these massive shipyards, which operated 24 hours. See the breakthroughs made during this period by African American and women workers, and how these breakthroughs were handled by the craft unions. Witness the relative labor peace that prevailed between AFL and CIO and the employers.
Most of all meet the workers themselves, whose productivity and skills generated incredible production. Then hear the challenges, which occurred when production ceased.
For info: 408-297-2299July 20 (Friday) 6:30 PM SEIU 1021 -350 Rhode Island, Entrance on Kansas St., between 16th and 17th St, SF
Second Annual SF Living Wage Coalition’s Awards Dinner
7 p.m. a dinner and program of cultural and musical performances.
We will be presenting the Labor Woman of the Year Award and the Labor Man of the Year Award.
Ticket prices are $35 per seat or $300 for a table of nine. We also have special sponsorship levels and congratulations in the printed program.
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition at: 415-863-1225
sflivingwage@riseup.net www.livingwage-sf.orgJuly 20 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 - 801 2nd St., next to the AT&T Ball Park, SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
James Connolly, A Working Class Hero
(102 min.) By Brian O’Flaherty
Irish Film and Music Night: The life and struggle of James Connolly with the music and words of Renee Gibbons and Margaret Cooley
James Connolly is one of the most important working class figures in the history of Ireland and world working class movement. Connolly was a trade unionist, Irish Republican and socialist internationalist who helped build the working class movement both in the United States and in Ireland. He founded the Irish Republican Socialist Party and he supported the Easter Rising as commander of the Dublin Brigade. He fought to set up a working class Republic in Ireland. In the course of the fighting he was wounded and then executed by the British military. We will premiere the documentary film “James Connolly, A Working Class Hero” about his life.
Irish American writer, Margaret Cooley and Dublin-born writer and singer, Renee Gibbons will begin the evening performing songs from the James Connelly Songs of Freedom Songbook.
www.renee-gibbons.comJuly 21 (Saturday) 10:00 AM ($20.00) Meet at front of Bill Graham Auditorium - 99 Grove St. Civic Center, SF
WPA Bus Tour
With Gray Brechin & Harvey Smith
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of historic sites built by unionized labor. You will learn about the major contribution workers made during the depression era of the New Deal program. They will discuss the history of WPA. Please be aware that the tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions.
Meet at front of Bill Graham Auditorium, between City Hall and the Main Library.
Reservation required:
Send e-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net or call: (415) 642-8066, and leave your name, # of reservations and phone number (this is to get back to you in case of any changes. )
Make reservation, then send check to: LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
Please bring your own lunch. For those who couldn’t bring one, we will have some sandwiches and drink on the bus for small cost. Bus will return to Civic Center. Tour lasts about 5 hours.July 21 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (free) Port Chicago - for more information on the location, e-mail: Thaddeus_Shay@nps.gov
68th Annual Commemoration of the Port Chicago Explosion
Reservations are required
Call 925-228-8860 (press #1 for Port Chicago, then press #1 for reservation)
Because the event is on an active military base, the following information is required by July 7, 2012
*First, Middle and Last name
*Date of Birth
*Identification number of a government issued ID (e.f. driver's license, state issued id.)
*Phone number
*E-mail address
Visitors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult but do not need to submit the above information.
For more information, e-mail: Thaddeus_Shay@nps.govJuly 21 (Saturday) 11:00 AM (Free) Meet outside Bridge Café at South side of Bridge - San Francisco side
Golden Gate Bridge Walk
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the bridge
Tour led by Mike Daly (Ironworkers Local 377)
Few bridges are as well known as this iconic structure, and today’s retrofit and maintenance crews are constantly preserving and updating its operational performance. Hear about the challenges of the original construction and learn about the current projects. Meet the trade members who maintain the bridge today. Walk out onto the Bridge with some of its own ironworkers and painters, and hear from them the creative ways they meet every challenge. Learn also how the new Doyle Drive rebuild will impact the way the Bridge is operating. Hear how the ongoing seismic upgrades will protect the Bridge into the future.July 21 (Saturday) 1:00 PM (Free) Richmond Main Public Library - 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond
The Richmond UC Synthetic Biology Laboratory, Labor Safety And The Environment
- A Speakout and Discussion
What are the potential dangers of the new proposed lab in Richmond? These will be one of the issues discussed at a meeting on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) & U. C. Berkeley Synthetic Biology Institute (SBI) laboratory being brought to Richmond.
Speakers include:
*Richard Brenneman, Research Journalist
*Dr. Henry Clark, West Bay Toxic Coalition
*Dr. Larry Rose M.D. Retired Ca OSHA Senior Public Health Medical Officer M.P.H. Occupational Environmental Medicine Assistant Professor at UCSF
*Dr. Joany Chou, Injured Workers National Network IWNN and California BioSafety Alliance (for information only)
*Jack Dwayne Thrasher, Ph.D., Toxicologist, Immunotoxicologist, Fetaltoxicologist
*A speaker From California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day
Hosted by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day
Endorsed by United Public Workers For Action
www.workersmemorialday.org
www.upwa.infoJuly 21 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) South Bay Labor Temple - 2102 Almaden Road, Hall A, San Jose
Organized Labor, Immigrants, and the Rights of All Workers
From the origins of May Day in the 1880s to the unprecedented immigrant rights marches of 2006, immigrants have been an integral part of organized labor, and their struggles have underlined the rights of all workers. Any attempt to separate “workers” from “immigrants” is patently ahistorical. This panel will explore the history of immigrant workers in labor organizing up to the present-day convergence of labor, immigrant rights, and social justice movements in the U.S.
Speakers:
David Bacon, Adriana Garcia, Fred Hirsch, Fritz Conle.
For info: 408-821-1394July 21 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Oakland Main Library Auditorium Bradley Walters Community Room - 125 14th St., Oakland
This program was moved from July 28, due to the library's scheduling
PIECES OF WORK - 100th Anniversary of Bread and Roses
Songs and Poems of Labor with Judith Offer, Adam Cornford and members of the San Francisco Labor Chorus.
Both traditional and new work will be presented, including songs of Woodie Guthrie and music from A SHIRTWAIST TALE.
www.ashirtwaisttale.comJuly 21 (Saturday) 7:30 PM Berkeley Art Festival Space - 2133 University near Shattuck, Berkeley
Woody Sing-Out in Berkeley (Join Folk This!)
Admission $10, students/seniors/low income $5, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Join Folk This! and friends for a community sing-a-long celebrating the words and music of Woody Guthrie. Lyrics provided, just bring your singing voice!
For more information e-mail: folk_this@yahoo.com
or call (415) 431-8485July 21 (Saturday) 8:00 PM (Free) 885 Clayton St. - at Carl St., SF
Song and Poetry Swap
For 30 years, the Freedom Song Network has been helping keep alive the spirit of labor and political song in the Bay Area, on picket lines, at rallies, on concert stages and at song swaps. Bring songs or poems to share. Everyone is welcome, regardless of musical ability or training. For info: (415) 648-3457July 21 (Saturday) 5:30 PM (Donation) Marine Firemen's Hall - 240 2nd St. near Howard St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The 1913 Massacre 65 min. (2012) By Ken Ross & Louis V. Galdieri/Dreamland Pictures
The Tool and Die Strike
26 min. (1939)
Brothers On The Line
80 min. (2012) By Sasha Reuther
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 22 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - 2868 Mission St., SF
LaborFest BookFair
LaborFest BookFair - 5th Annual LaborFest BookFair & Poetry Reading
(Click here for more information)July 22 (Sunday) 3 - 9:00 PM ($30) Meet at the surface parking lot at SJCC at the corner of Moorpark and Leigh Avenues
Farmworkers Reallity Tour
This tour will challenge participants to better understand the conditions of Mexican farmworkers in Northern California. We will drive to the Crystal Bay Farms Strawberry Field where Ramiro Lazcano will talk about his life and jobs as strawberry picker and supervisor. He will demonstrate how to harvest strawberries after which participants will have the opportunity to pick and purchase strawberries.
For more info: Contact Elizabeth Sarmiento at 650-704-3462 or HumanAgendaUSA@gmail.comJuly 22 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - 2868 Mission St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Blue Elephants (14 min.) Malaysia By PC Global films
Maximum Yield 29 min. (2011) By Kazmi Torii
That’s Our Power - Greek Working Class Rank and File Organizing For Power & Survival 25 min. (2012) By Reel News
When The Dust Settles - Uranium Miners In Australia 37 min. (2010)
By David Bradbury
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)July 23 (Monday) 7:30 PM (Donation) The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre - 450 Post St., SF (Please note, this is a new location)
Mixed Relief
Promoting Actors’ Equity Association and Benefiting The Actor’s Fund
Members of The Bay Area Advisory Committee of Actors Equity Association will stage a benefit performance of MIXED RELIEF, a play about women writers of the Works Progress administration (WPA) as part of LaborFest 2012. Presented as a benefit for The Actor’s Fund, a nationwide human services organization for professionals in the performing arts, MIXED RELIEF is directed by Equity Member Phoebe Moyer and contrasts the stories of three women writers of the WPA with those of contemporary theatre artists.
MIXED RELIEF gives an insightful look at the writers lives of the WPA (Work Progress Administration) during the Depression. Life stories of writers Anzia Yezierska, Dorothy West and Eudora Welty are juxtaposed with interviews from contemporary women theatre artists, playwrights Kara Lee Corthon, Cassandra Medley and actor-director Mabou Mimes luminary Ruth Maleczech. Hallie Flanagan and Eleanor Roosevelt, key arts advocates in the 1930’s, make telling appearances.
Celebrating the women of the WPA and featuring members of Actors’ Equity Association in LaborFest, this play is a way not only to remind the public that there was amazing artistic development when the Federal Government made a commitment and investment in arts jobs in the 1930’s, but also that our Labor Unions are critical in the USA.
Contact for Actors’ Equity Association: Maria Somma, Spokesperson; 212-869-8530, ext 425 or 917-560-3488; msomma@actorsequity.org
www.actorsequity.orgJuly 23 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San José Peace and Justice Center - 48 South 7th St., San Jose
Migrant labor in the Arabian Gulf & the Struggle for Democracy
An illustrated talk by Sharat G. Lin
The system of labor contracts in Saudi Arabia and other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries was established by multinational oil companies during the early period of oil exploration, and well before the oil boom of the 1970s. This draconian system of migrant labor control remains in force to this day and is unparalleled in its systematic denial of freedom, neocolonial hierarchy, racism, and official sanction by the state. A brief opening in the mid-1980s provided a documentary glimpse into the horrors of this system, and the thirst for democratic rights and freedoms.
Sharat G. Lin provides a first-hand account. He writes on global political economy, labor migration and the Middle East, and is a contributing author to the book Studies in Inequality and Social Justice. For more information: 408-297-2299July 23 - 27 7:00 PM (Donation) Sonoma State University - 1801 East Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
31st Annual Western Regional Summer Institute on Union Women 2012
For info : http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/siuw/
July 24 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 10 Henry Schmidt Room - 400 Northpoint at Mason, SF
Hooks Down! How Longshore Workers in San Francisco Battled Apartheid in South Africa - A Panel Discussion
With Professor Peter Cole; Howard Keylor, ILWU Local 10 retiree and others.
From its founding in the 1930s until recent times, members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) have seen their struggles as part of larger ones for social justice. Strategically positioned workers in marine transport occasionally have expressed solidarity and support for social movements in the Bay Area, the United States, and even other nations by stopping work. As early as 1962, members of the SF Bay Area branch of the ILWU, Local 10, have been at the forefront of anti-apartheid activism locally and nationally, by refusing to unload cargo from South Africa. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, activists in Local 10 continued to use their power on behalf of the global struggle against apartheid and imperialism across southern Africa. In 1984, days after Ronald Reagan’s re-election, rank-and-file activists in Local 10 pulled off the longest “strike” of its kind by refusing to unload South Africa cargo for ten days. In 1990, when Nelson Mandela visited the Bay area, he expressly thanked the ILWU for its commitment to the cause of freedom. While activists in the ILWU continue to take such principled stands on occasion, so do militant dock workers in Durban, South Africa use their labor power on behalf of fellow workers. This impressive, if largely unknown, tradition of longshore activism and commitment to social justice continues.
Sponsored by ILWU Local 10 Education Committee, Shaping SF and LaborFest.
July 24 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Berkeley City College Auditorium - 2050 Center St.., Berkeley
The Struggle for Free Speech at the City College of New York 1931-42
By Carol Smith
This slide/lecture of press and police surveillance photographs, political cartoons, graphics, and flyers highlights student and faculty activism at CCNY spawned by the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe. Students played a major role in creating a national student movement against militarism and fascism and for free speech on campus. Faculty organized into a powerful union, and won major victories for its members. This activism brought repeated crackdowns by the CCNY college administration.
In 1940 New York State established the Rapp-Coudert Committee to investigate “subversion” in New York City’s public schools and colleges, This investigation resulted in the dismissal of 50 CCNY faculty and staff, the largest academic purge in US history. The techniques of interrogation developed by this committee become the model for the anti-communist investigations of the 1950s.
This presentation is based on a travelling exhibit, The Struggle for Free Speech at CCNY, 1931-42,” and can be viewed online at www.vny.cuny.edu
Co-sponsored by the Berkeley City College Social Science department, Professional Staff Congress (Faculty and Staff Union of the City University of New York)July 25 (Wednesday) 10:00 AM (Free) Plaza on the south side of the CalTrain Station - 4th & King, SF
Mission Bay Walk - Hidden Water
With SF City Guides
From placid waters fished by ancient peoples to the biggest construction project in San Francisco since 1906, the transformation of Mission Bay has been incredible. Gain a unique perspective on the area, and discover a hidden park and a forgotten creek. (If it’s a bay, where’s the water?) See a vibrant housing district featuring a project named for much loved San Francisco Labor and Community Activist, Rich Sorro. Witness the new UCSF campus emerging as well as the city’s new transit infrastructure. Learn the history of working people who once made this place the West Coast’s most important port.July 25 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Farley's - 1315 18th St., bet. Texas & Missouri, SF
Labor Stories for 2012
By LaborFest writing group
Sparking an evening of storytelling, memoir, solo performance, poetry, song and music, LaborFest writers perform and invite folks to participate. Come listen and share workingclass labor stories from the past to the present day from 1930s sit-down strikes, auto plant and union organizing to the greed of banks and corporations imposing foreclosures on our homes to the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Open mike follows. LaborFest Writers are Margaret Cooley, Jerry Path, Phyllis Holliday, Nellie Wong, Susan Ford, Keith Cooley, Richard Tan and Alice Rogoff.July 25 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) IFPTE Local 20 - 835 Howard St., 2nd floor, bet. 4th & 5th, SF
Kaiser’s Labor Management Partnership – Success or Disaster?
Fresh from recent national negotiations between Kaiser and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente unions, a panel consisting of Local 20‘s Kaiser Rep, Michael Aidan; John Spallone, an active Local 20 “Unit Based Team” member from Kaiser Optometry; and thirdly a Coalition staff member will review history and accomplishments of the Partnership, acknowledging past leader Ben Hudnall. Is the Partnership as an innovative way to achieve labor peace still able to function outside Labor’s more traditional conflict model ? Can it achieve some major challenges to lower health care costs and improve the health of Kaisers workforce and the community, grow the unions and Kaiser and not cut employee benefits? (www.LMPartnership.org) Is the partnership approach relevant to other employers?Join a lively discussion while enjoying healthy snacks..July 25 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Rendezvous On The Docks (75 min.) French with English Subtitle
By Paul Carpita
The revulsion against the French military occupation of Indochina led to a dockworkers strike in Marseilles in 1953.
Dockers found that caskets of soldiers were arriving while weapons were being shipped out to supply the French occupations from Vietnam to other countries in Asia.
The film using actual dockers, much like Ken Loach’s style, also uses real footage on the docks of Marseilles and debates in the working class. It depicts the growing anti-imperialist anger against the wars and a strike to stop the war.
Presentation following the film by ILWU Local 10 retired longshoremen Jack Heyman.
Sponsored by Transport Workers Solidaity Committee www.transporworkers.orgJuly 26 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists - 1924 Cedar, Barkeley
The Berkeley You Don’t Know!
Three local Berkeley historians will discuss some of the lesser known aspects of the compelling struggles for a more democratic power structure in Berkeley and the East Bay as well as their populist & socialist traditions. Carole Kennerly (MSW/LCSW) was the first Black woman elected to the Berkeley City Council and a former Vice Mayor of Berkeley. She is also the retired Director of the Coop Federal Credit Union. Richard Schwartz is a Berkeley author and researcher resulting in fascinating books on Berkeley “eccentrics and cutthroats” as well as the environmental history. Richard Brenemann was a journalist for the Sacramento Bee for years and then covered Berkeley for the Daily Planet. Don’t miss these lively and insightful stories that built our past and can contribute to the activism of the 99% for the future generations.
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall: 510-841-4824July 26 (Thursday) 7:30 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 - 801 2nd St. next to the AT&T Ball Park, SF
Beans, Bacon and Gravy
By Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus
An account in song and story of the Great Depression and the New Deal. The show draws musically from the Wobblies’ Little Red Songbook, Woody Guthrie, Duke Ellington, Yip Harburg, and The People’s Songbook. The narrative highlights the contributions of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor, to the New Deal’s innovations, as an inspiration to the 99% today. 7:30pm. ILWU Local 34 Hall, 801 2nd St, San Francisco (near the ballpark). More information: (415) 648-3457.July 27 (Friday) 10:00 - 12:00 Noon (Free) San Bruno Jail - 1 Moreland Drive, San Bruno, CA 94066
Learning From Trainees - Behind The Scenes Farm Tour
Visit the Garden Project Earth Stewards Program, located at the San Francisco County Jail San Bruno Complex. The Garden Project’s Earth Stewards Program is a partnership between the SF Public Utilities Commission, the SF Sheriff’s Department, and the SF Police Department. The visit will include a tour of the Garden Project’s 14 acre farm conducted by Stewards participants, an overview by the Executive Director, and lunch. The program offers young people environmentally based job and life skills training. Earth Stewards participants are not part of the San Bruno jail population.
Reservations are needed.
To make a reservation for the program and get detailed instructions for the location, please contact Cathrinesneed@ yahoo.com or call LaborFest Organizing Committee member Lois Scott at 415-929-7714.
Visitors should dress in layers; wear long pants and sturdy shoes and bring I.D. for gate.July 27 (Friday) 6:00 PM (Donation) Marine Firemen's Hall - 240 2nd St. near Howard St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
We Are The 99 % (26 min.) Australian
By Shabnam Hameed
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(Between the films, there going to be a panel discussion on labor film festivals around the world)
Panel On Labor Film Festival Around The World, Where They Are And Where They Are Going
Labor Film Festivals and LaborFests are popping up throughout the country and the world. This panel will include activists and organizers of these film festivals who will discuss what they have learned and what is happening on the ground floor.
Speakers:
•Geraldine Hecker-Popov, San Pedro Labor Fest
•Chris Garlock, Washington DC Labor Film Festival
•Mehmet Bayran, LaborFest Turkey
•Representative from LaborFest San Francisco
•Jon Garlock, Rochester Labor Film Series
•Representative from ReelWorks
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Kani-Kou-Sen (The Crab Factory Ship) 110 min. (1953) Japan
By Director-Writer Sou Yamamura, based on the novel by Takiji Kobayashi
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)
July 28 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet in front of Berkeley High School - Corner of Milvia & Alston
WPA Berkeley Walk
With Harvey Smith
This walk will explore the “New Deal nexus” in Berkeley that includes Berkeley High School, the Community Theater, Civic Center Park, Post Office art and the old Farm Credit Building.
For more info: 510-684-0414July 28 (Saturday) 11:30 AM (Free) Meet at the corner of 8th St. and Railroad Ave. Mare Island
Tour: Mare Island Naval Shipyard: The Navy in Vallejo
Founded in 1854, Mare Island Naval Shipyard became the Navy’s largest civilian shipyard, employing 40,000 during its peak production in WWII. Enjoy this walking tour guided by longtime Mare Island activist Myrna Hayes, and see the former production facilities and living quarters of this remarkable place. Hear about the women welders, and see the workshops of those who built, maintained and serviced Naval Ships until the base closed in 1996. Bring a lunch to enjoy at the picnic grounds before the afternoon program. Finally, pay respects to those who have passed on at the Mare Island Cemetery. Ferry Service is available from San Francisco Ferry Building, and public transportation is also available from the DelNorte BART station.
For more information call 707-249-9633 or visit http://www.mareislandpreserve.orgJuly 28 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Meet at Shoreline Heritage Presere Visitors Center - Mare Islnd
Mare Island Naval Shipyard: The Stories of Working People
Join us for the afternoon program recalling some of the stories of the people who lived and worked at Mare Island, and made this place such a vibrant part of California’s labor heritage. Hear the story of the courageous Naval detachment who saved downtown San Francisco in the Great Fire of 1906. Listen to our narratives of the women welders and African American ship fitters who achieved incredible productivity during the war years. Study with us the way unions interacted with the US Maritime Commission. Help us learn how best to support those working families dealing with exposures to toxic materials during those periods of high productivity. Hear updates on the Port Chicago incident, and how that became a legal precedent. Understand with us the magnitude of impacts from the Base Closure Act on communities like Vallejo. Brainstorm with us as to the best possible use of this amazing place. But most of all, help us to salute those workers whose skills, creativity and effort made the Bay Area the unprecedented and unquestioned standard for shipbuilding.
July 28 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Meet at the fountain in Latham Square - Telegraph and Broadway
Oakland 1946 General Strike Walk
With Gifford Hartman of the Flying Picket Historical Society. This walk will revisit the sites of Oakland’s “Work Holiday” that began spontaneously with rank-and-file solidarity with the striking - mostly women - retail clerks at Kahn’s and Hastings department stores whose picket line was being broken by police scab herding. Within 24 hours, it involved over 100,000 workers and shut down nearly all commerce in the East Bay for 54 hours. In 1946 there were six general strikes across the U.S.; that year set the all-time record year for strikes and work stoppages. The Oakland “Work Holiday” was the last general strike to ever occur in the U.S., and the walk and history talk will attempt to keep alive the memory of this tradition of community-wide working class solidarity.
Meet at the fountain in Latham Square, in the intersection where Telegraph and Broadway converge across from the Rotunda Building (Oakland City Center/12th St. BART).July 28 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Oakland Main Library Auditorium Bradley Walters Community Room - 125 14th St., Oakland
PIECES OF WORK - 100th Anniversary of Bread and Roses
This program has been moved to July 21, due to the library's scheduling.July 28 (Saturday) 3:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
Why Workers Need Medicare For All
A panel discussion on protecting and expanding Medicare to all working people. Panelists include Dr. Henry Abrons, president of the Physicians for a National Healthcare Program – California and Dr. Jayshree Chander, medical doctor at a community center.
Sponsored by Single Payer Now
For more information, call 415-695-7891 or email: dbechler@value.net
www.singlepayernow.netJuly 28 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St. at Capp, SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Who Bombed Judi Bari 93 min. (2012) By Mary Liz Thomson and Darryl Cherney
(Click here to see the film schedule for more information)
July 29 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
Who is Behind Privatization of Public Education?
Education, Privatization, Bill Gates, Broad, KIPP, Pearson And The Gulen Schools
A massive national and international organized plan to privatize education has been implemented over several decades. Billionaires, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation and the Pearson corporation among others, have infiltrated hundreds of governmental bodies including school boards, city councils and our local, state and regional governments. They seek to turn our education system into a profit center worth tens of billions of dollars. This also includes the Gulen Islamic cult led by Imam Fethullah Gulen, which runs the largest chain of charters in the United States funded by public money. We will also look at the criminal conflicts that have allowed politicians to personally benefit from using their public positions to profit from their votes and actions. This forum will look at how this has come about, who did it, how it is affecting us and who is profiting from it at the cost of public education and finally how to stop this attack on our public education system.
Speakers:
Madeline Mueller, Professor SF City College, AFT2121
Susan Miesenhouse, CFA CSU Longbeach
Kathleen Carroll, Lawyer and Whistleblower At Commission On Teacher Credentialing
Bruce Neuberger, AFT 4681 San Mateo Adult School
Sharon Higgins, Researcher and Blogger On Charters, Parents Across America
Sponsored By United Public Workers For Action
www.upwa.infoJuly 29 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at ILWU Sculpture at Mission & Steuart St.
SF Architecture & Labor Social History of San Francisco - A Walking Tour
Walk With Brad Wiedemier, Executive Board Member SEIU UHW & Architectural Historian
San Francisco has a rich political and labor history that is also connected to it’s buildings. In this history by the buildings walk, Brad Wiedemier will outline these artifacts and their connections to San Francisco’s past.
For more information, call (415) 694-3605July 29 (Sunday) 1:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) Ironworkers Training Center - 3150 Bay Shore Rd., Benicia
Honor The Workers Building Our Bridges
University of Iron & The Ironworkers Who Are Building The Eastern Span of The San Francisco Bay Bridge
Learn about Ironworkers and their work at the Ironworkers Apprentice Training Center “University of Iron”.
The Ironworkers Apprentice Training Center in Benicia trains the workers who are building our bridges and infrastructure. Watch a slide show of the workers building the Eastern Span by labor process photographer Joseph Blum. There will be a screening of “Halfway To Hell, The Workers And Unions That Built The Golden Gate Bridge” narrated by Danny Glover and “Hanging Iron After the Quake Of ‘89”.
There will also be tours of the center to learn about the training and education of the workers who build our country.
http://www.universityofiron.orgJuly 29 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Free) Call 415-939-5148 for location and leave a phone number
Labor Story Reading
A Reading of a fictional story, “The Interview,” written by Alice Rogoff with audience participants. The story chronicles the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition’s struggle to win the San Francisco Living Wage Ordinance, raising the wages of workers on city contracts. Three women organizers from three generations confront city hall, street petitioning, labor neighbor, and almost everyone in the San Francisco labor movement. “The Interview” refers to the young and middle-aged women’s attempts to interview a mysterious woman organizer from the nineteen-thirties.
Read or listen. Refreshments and a get together after the reading. Call 415-939-5148 for location. Please leave a phone number.July 29 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Donation Requested $5 -$10) Unitarian Church - 1187 Franklin St./Geary St.
Lessons From The EGT ILWU Longview Battle, ILWU Boron Rio Tinto and The 2012 ILWU Convention
An ongoing union busting drive is being waged against the ILWU from the ILWU Local 30 Boron-Rio Tinto strike and the ILWU Local 21 Longview EGT strike. Now the upcoming Northwest grain contract is about to expire with the companies wanting the EGT contract.
What are the lessons of these struggles and the results of the recent ILWU convention?
With:
Mike Fuqua, ILWU Local 21 Longview*
Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10*
Howard Keylor, ILWU Local 10 Retired
Jack Mulcahy, ILWU Local 8 Portland* -invited
Jack Heyman, ILWU retired
Sponsored by Transport Workers Solidarity Committee TWSC
www.transportworkers.orgJuly 30 (Monday) 6:00 PM (Free) The Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough St., SF
The Present Is The Past: Occupying The Commons
By David Duckworth
Author, instructor and lecturer David Duckworth explores significant moments in American history when political redress employed the occupation of visible space. Marches of the unemployed, such as the Industrial Armies marching on Washington in 1894, and labor-oriented demands, such as the Ludlow, Colorado miners’ strike of 1914 and Bonus March of 1932, show us that the Occupy Movement of today draws from a long tradition of political protest. Duckworth’s writings on this theme can be found at dpduckworth.wordpress.com. His writings appear in Film and History and The International Review of African American Art. For recommended reading on July 30th, visit http://thegreenarcade.com.
July 31 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
Closing Party
Please join us to celebrate the last day of the LaborFest with food, music and poetry.
