July 2014 S M T W T F S 6 21 27
Submit your films
(Info & form)
LaborFest 2014 Booklet PDF
Total 44 pages 6.9 MB
LaborFest 2013 Booklet PDF
Total 44 pages 7.5 MB
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 2014 Schedule
July 1 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM (Free) First Unitarian UniversaliChurchst - 1187 Franklin Street, Kincaid Rm., 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 affiliated with the San Francisco Labor Council. Retirees come from a spectrum of unions from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. FORUM supports alliances between working people and retired people to preserve and improve health care, Social Security and pension & retirement benefits. The July program will briefly highlight the members’ current activities, focusing on personal recollections of the 1934 General Strike and other significant labor actions. Anyone with stories to share is especially welcomed to come and share their memories. Refreshments will be served.
July 1 - 12 (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., SF next to AT&T ball park
Extraction - LaborFest Art show
Viewing dates: July 1 through July 12
Viewing time: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM on weekdays and 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday
(For more information)
July 2 - 31 (Free) SF First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin Street
Union Artists and Labor Art - Joint Collaboration by FUU Church and LaborFest
At:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thomas Starr King Rooms
Call Front Desk, (415) 776-4580, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., for information on viewing times
The artists reception will be on July 20 (Sun), 12:00 - 2:00 PM
The FUU Church presents art by artists who are union members. The show highlights the fact that some union members are also accomplished artists. Two-dimensional art in various media will be presented.
Several artworks chosen for Extraction will be shown at this venue. This is an opportunity to see the exceptional talents of labor artists and artists dedicated to environmental issues and labor.
In both cases, the artist speaks eloquently to us through their aesthetic pursuit. Artists include Attila Cziglenyi, Marcia Poole, Diego Marcial Rios, Peter Baczek, Brent Bushnell, Sofia Carmi, Cliff Colver, Carol Denney, Ken Downing, Jamie Erfurdt, Ed Handleman, Paul Kensinger and Ziya Okay.July 4, 5 (Free) 2:00 PM Dolores Park, SF
SF Mime Troupe 2014 present:
Ripple Effect
Research is underway to fish from the sea of issues and formats ...the summer show that'll strike fear in the hearts of those who would deny progress of humanity into a just and sustainable future and spark the fire of activism in the hearts of all those who are needed to achieve that future.
July 5 (Saturday) 11:00 - 5:00 PM (Free) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St. at Capp St., SF
100th Anniversary of the San Francisco Labor Temple – Street Fair
The Redstone Labor Temple Association, dedicated to preserving labor history, is holding a street fair on Saturday, July 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Capp Street, between 15th and 16th Streets, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Labor Temple at 2940-16th Street. Built by the San Francisco Labor Council in 1914, it housed the City’s main labor unions and was the site of meetings and planning for the 1934 General Strike. It was later renamed the Redstone Building when it was sold in 1969.
The street fair will have a stage with local musicians, artists, dancers, performers, poets, and puppeteers on themes that relate to the history of the San Francisco labor movement. While celebrating the history of the labor movement, the street fair will heighten public visibility of the current struggles of the Fight for the $15 minimum wage, the Fight for a Community Jobs Program, and the Fight against Displacement in our Neighborhoods.
http://www.rlta.org/history_more_history.htm
July 5 (Saturday) 12:00 noon Meet at 518 Valencia St., SF
Labor Bike Tour with 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 were shaped in part by racist complicity in genocide and slavery. From the 1870s to the 1940s, there were dozens of epic battles between owners and workers, culminating in the 1934 General Strike and its aftermath. See an entirely different view, during four-hour bike tour, of San Francisco labor history. Tour ends at Spear and Market.
July 5 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza Tower - Embarcadero at Market St., SF
SF General Strike Walk
Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza - Front of Ferry Building, at the south side tower, San Francisco.
Join a walk with retired ILWU longshoreman Jack Heyman and others.
80 years ago at this location, a great battle took place between the workers and the residents of San Francisco against the police and national guard. 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.July 5 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Miners Shot Down (85 min) 2014 by Rehad Desai (South Africa)
Miners Shot Down is a powerful new film that tells the story of the organized massacre of 34 unarmed miners by the government of South Africa and the owners of the Lonmin platinum mine, the largest platinum mine in the world.
The president of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), Andrew Chirwa, was going to attend this event, however, due to the national strike of 230,000 metak workers started on July 1, he will not be able to attend.
(For more information)
July 6 (Sunday) 9:30 AM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin Street
Working Class Housing, Ethnic Housing, Hunters Point & Bay View
- Panel Discussion
Hunters Point/ Bayview has been a working class Black community since the 2nd World War. It has the highest rate of asthma for children of any district in the city. Now many working class Black and Latino residents are being pushed out by gentrification.
Speakers will discuss what is happening to this community.
Yolanda Lewis, activist whose family has lived in Hunters Point for decades
Francico Da Costa, environmental activist
Kevin Williams, CCSF Contract Enforcement Officer and community activist
Dr. Ray Tomkins, SF State striker and health and safety advocate
July 6 (Sunday) 9:45 AM (Free) Meet at Coit Tower entrance - 1 Telegraph Hill Blvd, SF
Coit Tower Mural Walk
With Peter O’Driscoll, Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith.
In the past few years there has been a growing community effort to defend the Coit tower murals from leaking water and to stop the plans for privatization of the site. This led to the critical renovation of the murals on their 80th anniversary. They were being painted during the time of the 1934 general strike in San Francisco. LaborFest will hold its annual guide tour of the murals with Peter O’Driscoll, Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith. At the time of their installation, an organized effort was made to destroy them for their leftist themes and the artists and their supporters had to physically defend the site. They were successfully defended and we have them today as our heritage. The artists were working under the Civil Works Administration and Public Works Of Art program which was later extended to many buildings and sites throughout the US.
July 6 (Sunday) 11:00 AM (Free) Meet at 18th Street & Tennessee, SF
Dogpatch and Potrero Point walk
With Natalie Wisniewski - SF City Guides
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. (Muni 22 or 3rd St. train)
http://www.sfcityguides.org
July 6 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Meet in front of One Market Street, SF
Labor History and Market Street Walk
With Chuck Schwartz - SF City Guides
The guide will start with the streetcar strike of 1907, talk about the events that led up to Bloody Thursday, 1934; then, Bloody Thursday and the General Strike and funerals on Market Street; Thomas J Mooney and the So Called Bomb Trials; then walk up Market Street to the Mechanics Monument where the tour ends with stories about the monument.
This Mechanics Monument by sculptor Douglas Tilden became a favorite gathering place for labor because of the unusual way it depicts the nobility of labor rather than captains of industry or military heroes.
http://www.sfcityguides.orgJuly 6 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Free) Bird and Beckett Bookstore - 653 Chenery St., SF
Remember Ludlow with Zeese Papanikolas
A century ago while trying to organize a union, miners, their wives and children died in an event that set off the Colorado Coalfields War. Zeese Papanikolas, author of Buried Unsung - Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre will give a presentation, followed by a video and a remembrance in verse. The conditions of the miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado are replicated today around the world with mining disasters in Turkey, China and Bolivia. The immigrants who built America and are the focus of Zeese’s book speak out about their lives and struggles for justice. http://zeesepapanikolas.com/?page_id=24
July 6 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 10 Henry Schmidt room - 400 N. Point St. at Mason, SF
Andrew Chirwa, President of SA Metal Workers Union Speaks
In 2012, at the Marikana mine in South Africa, 34 striking miners were massacred by police. ILWU Local 10 sent a letter of protest to the ANC-led government. Andrew Chirwa, president of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the largest union the that country will address workers about the massacre and miners strike, the longest in South African history and the ompending metalworkers' strike.
On July 1, both the South African metalworkers union and the ILWU longshore contracts expire. NUMSA is preparing for a "full-blown strike" much like the maritime workers did in 1934. Now is the time for international labor solidarity.
July 6 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia St., near 16th St.
Labor, Privatization and How to Defend Public Education
Billionaires from the Walton Walmart family to the Gates Foundation, the Fisher GAP KIPP operation and the Broad Foundation are spending fortunes pushing charters to loot public education. The “Common Core” and testing schemes profiting Pearson Inc. are part of the drive to totally privatize public education. UC Regent Richard Blum and others with ties to politicians are also benefiting financially from this transformation. Politicians in California and nationally are actively supporting privatization, the “Common Core” and charters to eliminate and re-segregate our public schools.
At the same time in San Francisco privatizers are seeking to revoke accreditation of the City College of San Francisco in order to destroy the unions and privatize the largest community college in California.
This forum will look at how this privatization agenda is being implemented and what our unions and the labor movement need to do to fight it.
Speakers:
Kathleen Carroll, fired Commission On Teacher Credentialing, attorney & whistleblower; Rick Baum, member of CCSF AFT Local 2121; George Wright, retired Professor AFT 1493; Gray Brechin, UCB Geography Department, Author of “Imperial San Francisco”; Sharon Higgins, researcher on privatization and Gulen charter chain
Sponsored by United Public Workers For Action
www.upwa.infoJuly 7 (Monday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Portsmouth Square -Washington Street side near the elevator
Chinatown Walk
By Mae Schoeing - City Guides
Learn about Chinese Labor History in California, discrimination by both governments and unions, sweat shops, 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 garment and building trades. Meet inside Portsmouth Square Park in front of Parking Garage Elevators adjacent corner of Walter P. Lum Pl. & Washington St. Public transportation: Muni lines 1, 30, and 45.
http://www.sfcityguides.orgJuly 7 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Bird and Beckett Bookstore -653 Chenery St., SF
Poetry Reading by Nellie Wong and Alice Rogoff
Nellie Wong has four books of poetry. Her latest Breakfast Lunch Dinner was launched at Bird and Beckett Bookstore in 2012. She’s co-featured in the documentary film Mitsuye and Nellie, Asian American Poets. She has published widely with two pieces inscribed at public sites in San Francisco. She will read new poems about labor and read poems from her books.
Alice E. Rogoff is the author of the poetry books Mural and Barge Wood. She will read from her recent poetry project The Labor Union Women on Our Stairways about women labor union organizers in San Francisco. This project is supported by a Cultural Equity Individual Literary grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Explore the city’s history of women in retail, restaurants, and garment work as well as Alice’s experiences as a Delegate for the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the San Francisco Labor Council.
Open mic to follow.
https://sites.google.com/site/laborfestwriters/alicerogoff
http://socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/2067July 8 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at the corner of Stockton & Maiden Lane -East of Union Square
Rising Steel: Two Centuries Of San Francisco Architecture
By SF City Guides
Explore downtown architecture from as early as 1891 up to today. We’ll see famous buildings and little-known treasures while discussing the architects and design trends that changed the face of America. It will also look at the skills and creativity of the skilled union workers who built these artifacts. ‘Make no small plans!’ 30 buildings in two hours.
http://www.sfcityguides.orgJuly 8 (Tuesday) 6:00 - 9:00 PM (Free) Mexican Museum, Fort Mason Center -2 Marina Blvd., SF
(Please note, the address has been changed)
Méndez Rising: Spotlight on the revolutionary works of an artist for social justice
A Special Tribute to the Art of Leopoldo Méndez
Leopoldo Méndez (1902-1969) was a Mexican artist known for his political and social-justice images, and was part of a revolutionary arts movement that flourished in Mexico City from the 1930s through the ‘50s. Méndez, a printmaker and engraver, devoted his career to political activism, refusing fame or fortune. A San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild member bought a set of original signed Méndez prints in a Sixth Street secondhand store for the price of a sandwich and donated them to the local. Now the Guild has had the prints professionally restored for permanent display in the union’s Natoma Street headquarters, and commissioned research honoring the Méndez legacy in visual arts, cinema and labor history.
A Panel Discussion on Mendez’s art will begin at 7:00 (panelists to be announced)
RSVP to (415) 298-1335; check LaborFest website in case of location changes: www.laborfest.net
http://mediaworkers.org/mendez-rising-art-show-at-the-guild/
July 9 (Wednesday) 3:00 - 4:30 PM (Free) Meet at SW Corner of Geary and Laguna intersection
Union Sponsored Affordable Housing in San Francisco:
St. Francis Square Cooperative - Tour
Walking tour and history discussion of St. Francis Square Cooperative, 299 affordable 1,2,3 bedroom units with patio or balcony, sponsored by the Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union (ILWU) in 1963. This complex created a new community that mitigated some of the destructive displacement effects of the Western Addition Redevelopment. The buildings and landscaping were designed by renowned architects Robert Marquis, Claude Stoller and Lawrence Halprin. The Square is still home to a number of union leaders, although now evolved to a market rate co-op. Residents and board members Norm Young and Nan Park, will be tour guides. Carol Cuenod, historian of the Square will share vintage photos.
Note: You can learn more about the St. Francis Square Co-op by visiting the San Francisco Main Library, which is hosting the photo exhibit: “St. Francis Square: Fifty Years of Cooperative Living” in the San Francisco History Room, located on the 6th Floor. Photos and memorabilia showing the history and development of the Square; interviews with many original, long-time residents and recent residents.
July 10 (Thursday) 10:00 AM (Free) La Peña Cultural Center - 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
Response to Vergara: Action not just Appeals
Bay Area educators, union members and activists!
There has been interest expressed in our call for action in response to the union-busting, teacher-bashing Vergara decision in California. A decision that is already spreading nationally and promises to attack educators and other public sector unions in the coming months and years.
Join us for an organizing meeting to determine next steps in response to Vergara and the attack on our schools and unions.
If you have questions or can’t make the meeting but wish to stay informed/involved please contact either:
Andy Libson - andrewlibson@yahoo.com
Jack Gerson - jackrgerson@gmail.com
July 10 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Black & White And Dead All Over
Director - Chris Foster (84 min.) 2013
The collapse of the newspaper industry in the United States has not only led to the destruction of tens of thousands of professional journalist jobs but has threatened the public’s right to know what is going on in their community, country and world. This documentary provides a concrete overview of how the newspaper industry’s liquidation has affected the journalist and the fight to keep papers alive.
(Click here for more information)
July 10 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) Berkeley City College Auditorium - 2050 Center St. Berkeley
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
On Vient Pour La Visite” (Coming For A Visit)
By Lucie Tourette (53 min.) French with English Subtitles
Sponsored by the Global Studies Program
In October 2008, an unprecedented strike of 6,000 workers took place in the restaurants, cleaning companies, and construction sights of Paris. This strike was unprecedented as these workers were sans papiers - workers without legal papers.
(Click here for more information)
July 11 (Friday)7:00 PM (Donation) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin Street, SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
ASOTRECOL, The Struggle Against Transnationals in Colombia
Producer - , (55 min.) 2013, Colombia
With tactics ranging from hunger strikes with lips stitched shut to a nearly 1,000-day sit-in at the U.S. Embassy, Colombian workers are putting the world’s attention on General Motors’ treatment of its workers.
(Click here for more information)
July 12 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at 75 Folsom St. - Entrance of Hills Brothers Coffee Building
San Francisco Waterfront Labor History Walk
With Lawrence Shoup and Peter O’Driscoll
There are many stories about labor struggles in San Francisco. The walk will focus on the maritime industry from 1835 until the burning of the blue book in 1934. Also, labor historian Larry Shoup will discuss the history of the 1901 transportation workers strike led by the Teamsters which the San Francisco police attempted to, but failed to smash. After an over two month long struggle, the workers emerged victorious, and the Union Labor Party won the election of 1901, taking control of the city. This was the first large city in the United States to have a union labor party in office.July 12 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at the United Nations Plaza fountain on Market Street - SF Civic Center
Civic Center Tour
With David Giesen - When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?
A 1 hour walking tour of Civic Center followed by an hour of storytelling at a beautiful park/community garden across Grove Street from City Hall.
Telling tales illuminating the travails and successes of labor in San Francisco . . . tales inspired by the huge labor movement of 1377-1381 which took as its anthem John Ball's clever refrain "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?"
A one hour art walking tour of Civic Center with David Giesen, San Francisco storyteller, will use fact, historic anecdote, and tall tales to reveal the history and labor significance of United Nations Plaza, Hiram Johnson State Office Building, Earl Warren Federal Office Building, the I.O.O.F. building, Herbst Auditorium, War Memorial Opera House, City Hall, and an almost unknown community park and garden opposite the south side of City Hall. The last hour of this histrionic program will transpire in that snug, green garden so Eden-like beside the brick and granite monuments of intentions to create cooperative communities.
Meet at the United Nations Plaza fountain on Market Street. Free.
For more information visit: http://www.TheCommonsSF.orgJuly 12 (Saturday) 10:00 AM ($20) Meet at front of Bill Graham Auditorium - 99 Grove, SF Civic Center
WPA Bus Tour
With Gray Brechin & Harvey Smith
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of sites built by the New Deal’s “alphabet soup” agencies. You will learn about the major contribution government-paid workers made during the depression era’s New Deal programs. Gray and Harvey will discuss the art, architecture and social programs that effectively dealt with the period’s economic meltdown in contrast with today’s response. 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, number of reservations and phone number (this is to let you know that we have space for your reservation, and also we can 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 can’t bring one, we will have some sandwiches and drink on the bus for a small cost. Bus will return to Civic Center.
Tour lasts about 5 hours.July 12 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists - 1924 Cedar & Bonita, Berkeley
“Class Struggle ” CD Release Party with Redd Welsh
Labor troubadour, SFLC Council Delegate and retired NALC 214 letter carrier Dave Welsh, who now performs as Redd Welsh, will release his new music CD titled Class Struggle. The CD includes new original songs by Redd, including Class War Goin’ On (in America), Somebody’s Daughter and Young People Rising. The event on July 12th will feature Redd on vocals and organ, as well as Bay Area favorites Alex and Harriet Bagwell, and the ReSisters. Redd is also involved in fighting the privatization of the US post office where he has sung at rallies to stop the sell-off of the Berkeley Post office by CB Ellis owned by Richard Blum, US Senator Diane Feinstein’s husband. Welsh also works with Community and Postal Workers United which is working nationally against privatization of the post offices.
http://northbaymds.blogspot.com/2013/08/save-peoples-post-office-campaign-in.html
July 12 (Saturday) 7:00-8:30 PM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin St, SF
People’s Voices For A World of Harmony, Peace And Justice
The Revolutionary Poets Brigade and Unitarian Universalist Forum Poetry Reading
Revolutionary Poets will speak out on the struggle of working people for housing, healthcare, living wages, veterans and workers’ rights.
These poets, musicians and satirists are giving voice to the struggle of working people and their struggle for survival in San Francico and the world. With the tech barons driving working people and retirees out of their homes in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area, this battle is getting sharper by the day.
Poets and artists include folk musician and satirist, Carol Denney, poets Dorothy Payne, John Curl, Gary Hicks, Bobby Coleman, Mahnaz Badihian, Yolanda Catzalco, Nina Serrano, Karen Melander-Magoon and others.
http://revolutionarypoetsbrigade.com/
July 13 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T ball park
Staples, Our Public Post Office, Privatization And Theft
There is a concerted organized drive to totally sell off the profitable parts of the public post office. Diane Feinstein’s husband and UC Regent Richard Blum is involved with his company CB Ellis in selling off the buildings and the postal management has a contract to turn the postal system over to union busting Staples. This outsourcing threatens an institution which has been vital for the American people.
Join with David Welsh, retired NALC postal worker with Community and Postal Workers United; Gray Brechin, geographer with the Living New Deal and representatives from other postal unions; Susan Harmon, Bank Act, Researcher on Public Postal Bank. http://www.stopstaples.com
Sponsored by United Public Workers For Action www.upwa.infoJuly 13 (Sunday) 4:00 - 7:00 PM (Donation) Manilatown Center - 868 Kearny St., SF
Revisiting The History of California Agricultural Workers And Filipino Labor
The history of California agricultural workers is one of struggle and the battle to organize for labor and human rights.
The significant role of Filipino labor leaders, including Larry Itliong, Pete Velasco and others have been all but erased from history. In the recent Hollywood film, their role is virtually wiped out of history, yet, the role of Filipino workers were in fact critical in the early development of the formation of the UFW. This panel will look at this hidden history of the agricultural workers in California, and will discuss and debate the myths, half-truths and omissions. Included in this history will be the purges that took place in the farmworkers, why they happened and the result of these actions in the struggle to organize one of the most oppressed worker sectors in our society.
Speakers include Johnny Itliong and others with personal experience and direct knowledge of Filipinos in the U.S. labor movement.July 13 (Sunday) 7:30 PM (Donation) Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists - 1924 Cedar & Bonita, Berkeley
Community Forum- The Role of Unions in Minimum wage and Social Justice
Representatives from the SEIU and the Minimum Wage Campaign will discuss these issues including the Berkeley city action along with Oakland and beyond.July 14 (Monday) 4:00 - 6:00 PM (Free) Mojo Theater at the Redstone Labor Temple - 2940 16th Street, SF
Smash The Two-Gate!
Learn the history of anti-labor law Taft-Hartley, the two-gate system and historical and current resistance to it from a rank and file perspective.
Presented by United Rank and File
San Francisco is a union town? As the beacon of union power in the region, San Francisco is at a crossroads. There are many non-union contractors making inroads into traditionally unionized construction job sites. These contractors are using the “two-gate” system, derived from the 1947 anti-labor law Taft-Hartley to break unions by destroying solidarity between the trades.
Join United Rank and File in learning the history of this anti-labor law, how it is applied and how it creates unfair labor conditions for all workers, both union and non-union. We will also discuss the history of resistance to the two-gate system and current resistance to it focusing on the city of San Francisco. There will be a presentation followed by a discussion.
United Rank and File is a group of rank and file building trades members joining in solidarity in order to take direct action opposing anti-worker systems, starting with the two-gate system.
www.unitedrankandfile.comJuly 15 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM (Free) Potrero Hill Neighborhood House - Southern Heights & DeHaro, SF
Potrero Hill walk
By Paul Cooney – 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.
http://www.sfcityguides.org
July 15 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore - 2919 24th St. at Florida, SF
LaborFest Writers
Members of the LaborFest Writers will read their work on the theme Fighting for Survival - From Rockefeller to the Tech Titans. LaborFest writers believes everyone has a story to tell. An evening of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and memoir to help awaken the hidden stories within. We will be exploring past histories, our uncertain future, and new changing landscapes and paradigms reflected in both anti-labor and pro-labor uprisings.
Members of the group are Phyllis Holliday, Keith Cooley, Susan Ford, Margaret Cooley, Nellie Wong, Jerry Path, Richard Chen, and Alice Rogoff.
http://www.laborfestwriters.orgJuly 15 (Tuesday) 8:00 PM San Jose Improv - 62 S. 2nd St. in San Jose
1st Annual LaborFest Comedy Night
WILL DURST - LIVE at the SAN JOSE IMPROV
Will Durst is the best political comedian working in the country today. He is the author of The All American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing and Elect to Laugh. Will has over 800 television appearances including HBO, The Today Show, David Letterman, Inside Politics, Showtime, Comedy Central and his own PBS show Livelyhood.
Join us for a night of great laughter as Will takes on tech and corporate titans with his brand of humor. Look out Walmart with your low wages, Will is Fighting for the working class with his comedy. Enjoy the night with Will Durst, host Danny Cruzz and other labor friendly comedians.
Get your LaborFest special online free reservations now at:
www.sanjose.improv.com Enter coupon code “LABOR”, or call Jimmy Kelly at 408-597-7649 for ticket.
Requested donation.
Must be 18 or older. 2 items minimum required (21 or older for drink order). No Fee, No Charge.
Box office opens at 7:00 PM, Doors open at 7:30 PM.
Donations welcomed for San Jose City College Labor Studies Program.
Will Durst audio announcement of this event.
July 17 (Thursday) 2:00 - 3:30 PM Meet at M Street Car stop at 19th Avenue and Holloway
Park Merced Housing Walk
The Park Merced Housing development in the southwest corner of San Francisco was built in the 1940s by Metropolitan Life Insurance as an investment in housing affordable to working people. It was a visionary mix of high-rise towers and two-story garden apartments within a historic landscape. MetLife sold the complex in the early 1970’s, and now, the current ownership group has decided they want to keep the seismically unsafe high-rise towers but demolish the two story garden apartments. Learn the issues and get an update on legal actions in a walking tour with members of the Park Merced Action Committee, which is fighting to save this vital and vibrant community.July 17 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St. SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Plundering
By Oliver Ressler (40 min.) 2013 Austria
Extreme levels of privatization can only be carried out under conditions where people are under severe pressure, as in the transformation of former Soviet republics towards independence and capitalism. Since the Rose Revolution in 2003, the former Soviet republic Georgia under went such a radical transformation.
(Click here for more information)Made In The USA, Tom Hudak’s Plan to Cut Your Wages
By Bill Gillespie, Director, Writer (19 min ) 2013 Canada
This film is the first film to expose the real role and ideology of “open shop” states that prevent unionization. Canadians capitalists are now pushing to model Canadian labor laws on open shop anti-labor U.S. states like Georgia. Canadian Ontario Public Service Employees Union decided they wanted to tell the real story about these states in the US and made a documentary. http://www.madeinusamovie.ca
Judith Portrait of a Street Vendor By Zahidi Pirana (22 min) 2013
Thousands of immigrant workers in major cities in the United States make their living as street vendors. This is the story of Judith and her life in the streets of New York as she struggles to survive the obstacles she and other immigrant workers make in order to survive as an immigrant workers, activists and community organizers.
http://www.streetvendormovie.com/?q=node/3High Power (27 min) by Pradeep Indulkar, India
This powerful film is about the lives of workers and the community at the Tarapur nuclear power plant, which was built fifty years ago in a poor rural community. Like other nuclear power plants around the world, people in the community were displaced and provided no real compensation but they were promised good jobs.
(Click here for more information)July 18 (Friday) 6:30 PM SEIU Local 1021 hall - Entrance on Kansas St., between 16th and 17th Streets
SF Living Wage Coalition Fourth Annual Awards Dinner
The Living Wage Coalition is a grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies fighting for economic justice since 1998 to change political priorities so that government does not subsidize poverty wage employers. We are engaged in a transformative rethinking of the economy that makes the goals of economic development a more prosperous, healthier and livable community for all working people.
This year’s Labor Woman of the Year Award will be presented to Maria Guillen, activist in SEIU Local 1021, and executive board member of the San Francisco Labor Council.
The Labor Man of the Year Award will be presented to Allan Fisher, activist and past president of AFT Local 2121, and delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council.
For information or to purchase tickets: San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, (415) 863-1225,
www. livingwage-sf.org, sflivingwage@riseup.netJuly 18 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin Street, SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Empire of Shame Director - Hong Li-gyeong (92 min) 2013, Korea
Empire of Shame is about the struggle of Samsung workers to defend their health and safety and get compensation from the company. The corporation refused to admit that workers were getting cancer from the chemicals and toxins that were used in the plants.
A total of 193 employees have applied for workers compensation for industrial diseases and 73 of these workers have already lost their lives to disease.
Workers are required to give direct proof of a casual link between their duties and their sickness. This makes it extremely difficult for worker who are very sick to get the treatment they need.
This film shows the struggle to get to the truth and to defend the health and safety of the workers.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/624867.htmlJuly 19 (Saturday) 10:00 - 1:00 PM ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T ball park
Life And Death! The Attack On OSHA, Workers Health
And Safety And Injured Workers - Public Forum
Millions of workers are facing dangerous health and safety conditions. There are only 1200 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors in the United States, and 170 in California for 18.5 million workers. While the Federal government cuts the budget on OSHA and the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety, California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) refuses to use the money already appropriated for OSHA staff. At the same time, technologies and industries like biotech and nano-tech are unregulated and threaten not just workers, but also the public.
This forum will look at the deregulation and attacks on injured workers and their families who are stalled on getting proper healthcare by a obstacle course with anonymous outsourced doctors who are not even licensed in California.
They also have lost compensation for mental health issues such as depression and insomnia as the rules have been manipulated to force injured workers to go on State disability and Federal disability in a massive cost shifting scam. Many of the injured workers have lost most of their vocational rehabilitation as insurance companies profits skyrocket.
At the same time workers who speak out about financial malfeasance and violations of the law are bullied and retaliated against. We will hear from health and safety advocates, whistleblowers, WC experts and injured workers.
Sponsored by Injured Workers National Network
www.iwnn.orgJuly 19 (Saturday) 2:00 PM National Japanese American Historical Society - 1684 Post St., SF
ILWU and Japanese Americans - Presentation
Chair, Peter Yamamoto; presenter, Harvey Schwartz; comment, Larry Yamamoto.
On Feb. 23, 1942, four days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans in World War II “relocation” camps, ILWU stalwart Louis Goldblatt was secretary-treasurer of the California State CIO Industrial Union Council. Soon he would begin his fabled 44 year career as ILWU secretary-treasurer. But on that February 1942 day, just weeks after Imperial Japan’s Pearl Harbor raid, Goldblatt testified before a Congressional committee set up to review the internment program. There, he condemned the government’s resort to concentration camps and charged “this entire episode of hysteria and mob chant against the native-born Japanese will form a dark page of American history.”
Goldblatt’s prediction, of course, came true. In this forum, we will explore Goldblatt’s courageous 1942 stand and many other phases of the multi-racial ILWU’s historical experience with Japanese-Americans. During its early days in the mid-1930s under Harry Bridges, the legendary union’s founding president, the ILWU stood against discrimination and for civil rights and social justice. It maintained this policy through its mid-1940s organization of 25,000 Japanese and other Asian agricultural workers in Hawaii and still practices it. We will trace these aspects of ILWU history in our forum, which will be chaired by Peter Yamamoto of the NJAHS. Harvey Schwartz, Curator of the ILWU Oral History Collection, will be our main presenter. Larry Yamamoto, Bay Area artist and retired ILWU longshore worker, will be our commentator.
July 19 (Saturday) 7:30 PM ILWU Local 34 hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T ball park
Movement Energy: A History of May Day and the Eight Hour Day
The Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus
The Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus presents Movement Energy: A History of May Day and the Eight-Hour Day. An account in song and story of the struggle for the eight-hour day, the Haymarket incident, and the fight to save Albert Parsons and the anarchists scapegoated by the state of Illinois. ILWU Local 34 Hall, 801 2nd St (next to the AT&T Ball Park), SF. 7:30pm. Info: wynnegilbert@igc.org, (415) 648-3457.July 20 (Sunday) 12:00 - 2:00 PM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin Street, SF
Reception for
Union Artists and Labor Art - Joint Collaboration by FUU Church and LaborFest
(At:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thomas Starr King Rooms
Call Front Desk, (415) 776-4580, for information on regular viewing times.)
This show started from July 2nd and ends on July 31.
Artists include Marcia Poole, Carol Denney and Diego Marcial Rios. Other artists to be announced.
July 20 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon Meet at 240 2nd St - front of the Marine Firemen’s hall near Howard
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 view 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.
July 20 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Train Fares) Meet at Niles Station - 37001 Mission Blvd, Fremont
All Aboard the Niles Canyon Train and Films
Please note: the time has been changed from 2:00 to 1:00 PM
(Click here for more information)
July 20 (Sunday) 5:45 PM ($45) Pier 41 left of Pier 39 near outside ticket booth - Fisherman’s Wharf, SF
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.
(Sorry, we do not take any special orders for food.)This year, LaborFest’s maritime boat cruise will look at the completed Eastern Span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the disassembling of the old Eastern span. Labor photographer Joe Blum and others will talk about how the old bridge is being taken down. We will hear about the labor and maritime history of the San Francisco Bay Area from historians including Harvey Smith, Gray Brechin and others. We will also have trade unionists talking about labor struggles in the Bay Area and the struggle to protect the environment.
We will also have music with labor guests from around the world and a dinner.
To make your reservation:
By E-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net
Or call: (415) 642-8066
and leave (1) your name, (2) phone number and (3)number of people in your party. (We prefer e-mail.)
We will contact you back to confirm your reservation. Then, you should mail a check ($45/person, children under 6 - free, 6 to 12 $25) to LaborFest, P.O.Box 40983, San Francisco, CA 94140.We don’t send you tickets, but we will either e-mail or call you back to let you know that we received your check, and as soon as we receive your check, your reservation will be confirmed.
You will get your ticket at the pier before you get on the boat.
We will be gathering west side of Pier 39 (when you face the Pier 39, go toward Pier 41, toward left.)
Please be there at least 30 minutes before the departure time in order to go through paper work.
We expect the tickets to be sold out quickly, so please make your reservation early.
Photos from 2012 boaat tour by Mike Meinyk.
July 21 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St.
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Nuclear Power, Repression And Education Workers Under Attack
Forum and the Film Decontamination
The Japanese Abe government is pushing ahead with restarting Japan’s 50 nuclear plants and telling the people that they can “overcome” radiation and that Fukushima has been “decontaminated”.
(Click here for more information)
July 22 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St.
The Refugee-Movement in Austria and Germany
A film will be screened by Labournet Austria on the struggle of refugees in Austria and Germany. The economic crisis and growing unemployment has been used by nationalist and racist politicians to blame the crisis on immigrants. Many of these immigrants are the direct result of the US and European run wars in the Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. These refugees from war torn countries are escaping for their survival and then face discrimination and brutal exploitive conditions. The first documentary focuses on the struggle for human rights in Austria with a demonstration from Lager Traiskirchen to Vienna and a protesters comp in front of the Votiv-Church in Sigmund Freund Park in the center of Vienna where a desperate hunger strike is taking place. Another hunger strike takes place in Servitenkloster (rooms in a monastery under the control of Caritas and the Catholic Church). These refugees are fighting for survival and are organizing to speak out for their human rights.
Karl Fischbacker and Dr. Irmi Voglmayr will discuss the struggle of refugees in Austria and Germany. They have been involved in working with refugees to defend their rights.
A film of Labournet-Austria
http://www.labournetaustria.atJuly 23 (Wednesday) 10:00 AM (Free) Plaza on the south side of the CalTrain Station - 4th & King, SF
Mission Bay Hidden Water Walk
By Penny Bradshaw - 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. http://www.sfcityguides.orgJuly 23 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St. at Capp, SF
Taxi Tech And Rideshare A Forum And Video Screening
This forum with a video will look at how tech applications used by Uber and other companies and how this is affecting taxi drivers and the industry. The panel will include taxi drivers and other experts on the taxi industry and this technology.
There is a massive transformation of labor and technology with apps and other developments that confront all workers in this industry and the public.
Speakers:
Mark Gruber, United Taxi Workers UTW
John Han, Taxi driver and videographer
Keith Raskin, Uber Driver
Veena Dubal, researcher
and others.
Sponsored by United Taxicab Drivers & The Taxi Driver Institute
For more information: 415-701-8294July 24 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. near AT&T ball park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
155 Sold(65 min) 2012, Greece, Greek in English sub
By George Panteleakis
Greece was selected to be the first European economic experiment with a massive austerity program to privatize and destroy social services. This destruction of jobs and public services led to a massive protest in May 2011 and this full contact documentary shows the struggle shot by the film maker and activists in the struggle.
(Click here for more information)All Points North
Producer: BlueArts Film, Mizgin Müjde Arslan, D: Therese Koppe, Athens/ London (2013), (25 min)
The dream of heading North is the driving motivation for Laurent and Ibrahim, two young men leaving their country of Senegal in search of a better life. As undocumented migrants, they find themselves trapped in Greece, bound to the Greek borders by the lack of immigration papers.
(Click here for more information)July 25 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Jai Bhim Comrade: Blast From The Caste
Director - Anand Patwardhan (180 min) 2012
The recent election in India of a rightwing reactionary government and the collapse of the Congress Party again exposes the basic contradictions within India. The lowest caste, the Dalit or “untouchables,” for thousands of years, was denied education and treated as bonded labour.
(Click here for more information)
July 26 (Saturday) 10:00 - 2:00 PM ($15) Meet at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum
New Almaden Quicksilver Mine - Labor History Tour
By special arrangement with Santa Clara County Parks, the tour will emphasize economic and labor history, and will cover the considerable distances between sights by van.
(Click here for more information)July 26 (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 scab escorted by police.
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.. This 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 26 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
The War on Transit Workers
Lessons of Bay Area Transit Worker Battles
Last year, a major contract battle took place at BART and AC Transit as management and their respective elected boards took back even more worker benefits despite years of wage and benefit freezes. Management ordered these cuts as part of their scheme to make workers pay for upgrades in the transit system including new trains at BART.
Labor and their unions were in a one-sided war launched by management and the boards when the BART management hired Thomas Hock, VP of the international company, Veolia Transportation. They led a poisonous corporate media campaign of disinformation with the aide of the Bay Area Council which represents the billionaires.
SEIU and ATU which have over 100,000 members in the bay area had no mass mobilization of their entire membership in this crucial battle. This lack of preparation also resulted in a failure to successfully counter the anti-labor union busting campaign by mangement, the transit boards and politicians who demanded that transit workers take concessions and be banned from striking.
BART bosses and the board also sought to run the trains to break the strike by hiring scabs. This move directly resulted in the deaths of two strike-breakers. The National Transportation Safety Board, state legislators and Cal-OSHA all pointed to BART management being responsible for these deaths. The deaths finally led management and the board to agree to a contract while still pushing for concessions.
This film screening and forum will discuss the lessons of these critical transit struggles and the role of the international struggle against Veolia Transportation.
Speakers from BART ATU Local 1555, ATU 192 and other unions will be present.
Sponsored by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
www.transportworkers,orgJuly 26 (Saturday) 7:30 PM (Free) 577 Capp St, SF - near 21st Street, SF
Song and Poetry Swap
The Freedom Song Network hosts an informal song and poetry swap. Bring some songs or short poems to share. The Freedom Song Network was founded in 1982 to help keep alive the traditions of labor and political song.
July 27 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at The Main Berkeley Post Office at corner of Milvia and 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, the old UC Press Building (now being repurposed as the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), and the old Farm Credit Building. The tour will also include the incredible mosaic mural on the UC Berkeley campus and photographs of the California Folk Music Project, Western Museum Laboratory, WPA prints at the Berkeley Public Library, and WPA projects on the UC Berkeley campus.
For more info: 510-684-0414
http://www.newdeallegacy.org
July 27 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at ILWU Sculpture at Mission and Steuart, SF
Architecture & Labor Social History of San Francisco - Walk
Walk with Brad Wiedemier, member SEIU UHW & architectural historian.
San Francisco has a rich political and labor history that is also connected to its buildings. In this history-by-the-buildings walk, Brad Wiedemier will outline artifacts and events, and their connections to San Francisco’s past and present.
For more information call (415) 694-3605.July 27 (Sunday) 10:30 AM (Free) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - 2868 Mission St., SF
LaborFest BookFair - 7th Annual LaborFest BookFair
(Click here for more information)July 27 (Sunday) 6:00 PM (Donation)Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - 2868 Mission St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Conditions of the Working Class In England
(82 min.) 2012 British
Directed by Mike Wayne and Deirdre O’Neill
Frederick Engles wrote about the working class in 1844, The Condition of The Working Class in England, and his classic book still resonates today. This film is inspired by this Engels’ book and asks how much has life for working people really changed since then?
(Click here for more information)
Memory of Past Struggles Unions and labor militancy in the 70s
(107min.) Argentina. Made by Violeta Bruck, Gabi Jaime and Javier Gabino
The film shows how workers from 1969 were organizing independently of the Peronist labor movement including in the powerful 1975 General Strike. It also shows the role of not only the bosses but also the government, which helped usher in mass repression eventually leading to a military dictatorship in 1976.
With footage from the period and reminisces of the past struggles, it shows the strengths and weaknesses of the labor movement. Thousands of workers and labor activists were kidnapped and murdered as part of this US supported military coup in 1976.
This year, Argentina has again been rocked by mass general strikes against the economic assault on working people, and this documentary provides an Up-close view of the militant trade unionists who are part of the working class history of Argentina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5mbc36n1DQJuly 27 (Sunday) 3:00 - 9:00 PM (Donation $30) Meet at in front of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose
Farmworker Reality Tour in Watsonville
The First Unitarian church of San Jose located at 160 N 3rd St, San Jose, CA 95112
The firm is at Crystal Bay Farm, 40 Zils Rd., Watsonville, CA 95076
Strawberry Harvesting Demonstration & FW Life Story Followed by Dialogue, Testimonials, & Dinner with Farmworkers at Migrant Labor Camp in Watsonville.
Farmworker housing is typically located in remote areas far from cities and towns, thereby rendering farmworkers invisible to the general public. Farmworker Reality Tours correct this disconnect by allowing participants to meet, dialogue with, and hear the testimonials of farmworkers.
The tours challenge participants to better understand the conditions of Mexican farmworkers in Northern California by sharing in their lives, food, and living quarters.
Limited to the first 25 who register. Children with parents welcome. The first 25 persons to register (pay) will be able to attend. Must register by July 20.
Donation: $30 per Person Check Payable to “Human Agenda”.
Send to: Human Agenda Treasurer, 2175 The Alameda, Suite 103, San Jose, CA 95126. Proceeds go to farm worker families hosting the tour.
Meet: At 3:00 PM in front of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, 160 N. Third Street, San Jose, CA 95112. We will carpool to Watsonville.
Further Info: Contact Richard Hobbs at 408-460-2999 or richhobbs@msn.com
http://www.humanagenda.net/events/2014/7/27/farmworker-reality-tourJuly 28 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Plumbers Hall - 1621 Market St. at Franklin St., SF
Korean Railway Workers Strike
Join a member of the Korean Railroad Workers Union (KRWU) who will be coming to San Francisco to report on their union’s struggle to defend their jobs and to stop the privatization of the railroad. Last December, over 8,000 railroad workers struck and won tremendous support of the rest of the labor movement, including a resolution from the San Francisco Labor Council, and the public in their battle to stop privatization.
The response of the Park regeme was to raid the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and arrest union leaders. These actions resulted in a general strike.
The railroad workers temporarily stalled the privatization scheme, but they continue to face trials. Also, their members are being individually sued.
The fired striking railway worker from the Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU) will be coming to the San Francisco Labor Council and two films will be shown from their struggle, Global Solidarity With Korean Railway Workers Union and Korean Railway Workers Union 2013 Struggle Against Privatization.
The recent ferry disaster resulted in the deaths of hundreds of young passengers and crewmembers. This was a direct result of deregulation of their economy that comes with privatization.
Sponsered by San Francisco Labor Council.July 28 (Monday) 8:00 PM (Donation) Tides Theatre - 533 Sutter St., SF
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
(A Staged Reading to Benefit The Actors’ Fund)
The SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local presents the premiere reading of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens as adapted and directed by Michael Gene Sullivan, with musical direction by Joshua Raoul Brody.
This rousing, worker-oriented version of the time-honored Christmas story features classic songs from the labor movement but is re-imagined by Sullivan for the troubled, 21st Century. Dickens’ themes of labor unrest, joblessness and starvation are now set in an abandoned Occupy encampment, and told from the point of view of the worker, Bob Cratchit, whose beleaguered family lives in a chilly tent alongside a band of Occupy activists and artists. They survive by telling anyone who will listen this classic story of oppression and hope, as they all fall further into the abyss between rich and poor. Will anyone listen?
The staged reading will feature professional union actors—all members of SAG-AFTRA—and will benefit the Actors’ Fund, a nationwide human services organization for professionals in the performing arts.
July 28th is Harry Bridges birthday and SAG-AFTRA, with the Bridges family, invites you to join them after the reading for cake, champagne and music to celebrate Harry’s 113th birthday!
For more information, call Lauren Renaud, SAG-AFTRA: 408-337-2705July 29 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Southeast of Ankara -Trailer (Ankaran?n guneydogusu)
Direcotor - Yonetmen, (22 min.) 2013 Turkey
The families of those immigrated for various reasons live in the four edge districts of Ankara which are located in the boundaries of Çankaya. The families who have lived for years in this region are exposed to an enforced immigration for urban transformation. The movie, expresses the urban transformation and immigration subjects through the viewpoint of the children of those families.
Istanbul Rising (18 min.) 2013 By Vice
The effort to protect the privatization of Gezi Park in Istanbul touched off one of the biggest protests and demonstrations in Turkey. This film shows how the people tried to protect the park from developers and property speculators who the AKP Prime Minister Erdogan represents.
Bread, Concrete and Roses (Ekmek beton ve güller)
Direcotor - Yonetmen, (42 min. ) 2013 Turkey
The film is about the dangerous life of construction workers in a foreign land far from their homeland, and their social problems.
July 30 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hdall - next to AT&T ball park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Forgotten Space (112 mins) 2010
By Allan Sekula and Noël Burch
The Forgotten Space investigates global maritime trade. It highlights displaced farmers and villagers in Holland to underpaid truck drivers in Los Angeles to Filipino maids in China. Sekula and Burch offer a sobering portrait of workers’ conditions, the inhuman scale of sea trade and the secret lives of port cities. http://www.theforgottenspace.net/static/home.htmlBlack Deal By Lee Hoon-kyu (87 min) Korea (US Premier)
After a major national debate in Korea over the struggle against the privatization of the national rail system film director LEE Hoon-kyu used crowd funding to produce a film on the role of privatization globally. Lee looks at how privatization has been implemented in Germany, England, France, Chile, Argentina and Japan and what it has meant for working people and the public.
Korean today is facing major battles not only over privatization of the railway system KORAIL but also the affects of deregulation pushed by the US government, which is creating one catastrophe after another including the recent Ferry disaster where hundreds of children, passengers and crew died.
With the growing privatization wave in the United States including education, public services and even the military this issue is of international importance and must be approached from a global perspective.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140623001202
The producer of Descent To Fly (originaly scheduled at this time slot) has been unable to provide the video at this time to LaborFest.July 31 (Thursday) 6:00 PM (Free) 5ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T ball park
Closing Party
Please join us to celebrate the last day of the LaborFest with food, music and poetry.
