LaborFest

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July 2016
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LaborFest 2016 Schedule

July 2 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) National Japanese American Historical Society - 1684 Post St., SF
The ILWU and Japanese Americans (Presentation)
By Harvey Schwartz
On February 23, 1942, just weeks after Imperial Japan’s raid on Pearl Harbor, CIO officer and later long-serving ILWU Secretary-Treasurer Louis Goldblatt testified before a Congressional committee established to review President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order calling for the internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans in “relocation” camps for the duration of World War II. That day Goldblatt 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 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 1940s organization of 25,000 Japanese and other Asian agricultural workers in Hawaii and still practices it. We will trace all of this history in our program, which will feature Peter Yamamoto of the NJAHS, chair; Harvey Schwartz, curator of the ILWU Oral History Collection, presenter; and Larry Yamamoto, Bay Area artist and retired ILWU longshore worker and commentator.
When America Was Overcome with Anti-Japanese Xenophobia during WWII, One Union Fought Back - by Peter Cole

July 3 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza Tower - Embarcadero at Market St., SF
SF General Strike Walk
Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza - in front of the Ferry Building, at the south side tower, San Francisco.
Join the walk with Gifford Hartman and others.
Eighty-two years ago at this location, a great battle took place by workers and 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 from 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 4 (Monday) 2:00 PM (Free) Dolores Park - 18th & Dolores, SF
SF Mime Troupe - Schooled
Education. It’s like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That’s how Livina Jones feels about her son Tom’s new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. With it’s old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and racist treatment of kids just like hers Livina believes Roosevelt is exactly the sort of school that can benefit from a little free-market common sense. The nanny-state government has failed to see students as individuals, and failed to give them the real-world skills they’ll need to get ahead. So who says it isn’t time for some big money, for-profit schooling?
Edith Orocuru, for one. She’s the long serving history/civics/American government/basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt, and she’s willing to fight for her version of education as long as her reconstructed hips will allow. But is she fighting for a system that can be fixed, or is she just too blind by her past to see how times have left her and her school behind? And when an efficiency expert, Ms. Babbit, is assigned to improve her class is it a sign that Edith is behind the times, or a sign of something more sinister? And with privatization on the line, and a Wall Street heavy hitter lined up to fold the entire district into his conglomerate, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum.
July 2, 3 - at Cedar Rose Park - 1300 Rose St., Berkeley
Check other schedule at www.sfmt.org

July 5 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM (Free) San Francisco Labor Council Office - 1188 Franklin St., Suite 203, SF
Bread & 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 with members and workers in San Francisco. FORUM supports alliances between working people and retired people to preserve and improve healthcare, social security and pension benefits. The July program will briefly highlight members’ current activities and primarily focus on personal recollections of the 1934 General Strike and other significant labor actions. Anyone with stories to tell about labor history is especially invited to come and share memories. Refreshments will be served.

July 5 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Factory (132 min.) (2015) (India) Directed by: Rahul Roy
The struggle of the Maruti Suzuki workers in India is the focus of this important documentary about autoworkers. Suzuki, a Japanese based multi-national, decided to expand into India with a car assembly plant. The factory was located about 30 miles from New Delhi.
The film shows that Suzuki was intent on exploiting workers to the max and colluded with the government to set up a company union. The autos come off the assembly line every 50 seconds and workers face a brutal pace. Breaks are limited to only a 7-minute break in the morning and afternoon and 30 minutes for lunch. This excludes the time it takes to go to the canteen. Additionally half the workers are contract workers who are not entitled to healthcare or uniforms. A single absence means a 25% reduction in pay and a two-day absence a 50% cut.
After organizing an independent union called Maruti Suzuki Employees Union, the company created an incident on July 18, 2012 in which a pro-union manager was killed in the factory and the factory ended up on fire. They then changed 148 workers with murder and arson. They also, with the support of the courts and the government, fire 2500 workers who were supporters of the union.
The brutality that these auto workers faced is not unique. In Bogotá, Colombia, injured workers have been encamped outside the US consulate for more than 4 years to get justice and compensation for their injuries. These multi-national companies, like Suzuki, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and GM, have one goal and that is the increased exploitation of their workforce for greater profits. The struggle of the Maruti Suzuki workers to free their jailed comrades and also get justice in their fight with this company still continues.
This film gives an up close view of what workers face in India and around the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPK1W2D9hho
https://justiceprojectsouthasiablog.wordpress.com/rahul-roy-india-project-coordinator/

July 6 (Wednesday) 6:30 PM (Free) Berkeley City Collage Auditorium - 2050 Center St., Berkeley
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Hand That Feeds (88 min.) (2014) Directed by: Rachel Lears & Robin Blotnick
At a popular bakery café, residents of New York’s Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back.
Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. Discussion to follow. Sponsored by Global Studies Program.
Contact info: jberezin@peralta.edu

July 6 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia- near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
We Don’t Like Samba (40 min.) (2014) (Brazil) Directed by: Cis Berlin
This film exposes the growing class divisions in Brazil and how the movement against fare increases led to a mass revolt. It also looks at the corruption of the government.
Sanitation workers, teachers and transportation workers discuss the fight with the community against the wealthy and also how the World Soccer Tournament and the Olympics are used to benefit big contractors while ignoring the need of the working class and poor. This documentary exposes the growing divide and the massive confrontation that is now taking place in Brazil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vk-_Cq9cQE
https://wedontlikesamba.wordpress.com
Limpiadores (39 min.) (2015) (UK) Directed by: Fernando González Mitjáns
The life and struggles of the invisible migrant workers that make sure offices and classrooms are clean and tidy before professors and students arrive for their morning classes at some of London’s most prestigious universities. It shows the Unison union and how their struggle for justice, human and labor rights gets wide support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upb3OK-jclM

 

July 7 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) SF General Hospital - Carr Auditorium - 22nd & San Bruno Ave., SF
Black Lives Matter, Labor & Minority Workers on the Job
The attack on African Americans is not only by the police on the street. There has been a national epidemic of racist hanging noose incidents at work locations. These have also taken place in San Francisco, Oakland and other cities in Northern California.
At the same time there is the question of whether police should be part of the labor movement.
This forum will look at these issues and what working people and unions can do about these issues.
Initial Speakers:
Daryle Washington, Formerly IBT 350 Member
Brenda Barros, SEIU 1021 SF General Hospital Chair
Brandon Buchanon, UAW 2850 UCD Chief Steward
Phelicia Jones, Justice for Mario Woods Coalition, SEIU 1021

July 8 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Mine Wars (120 min.) (2016) Directed by: Randall MacLowry
The largest labor rebellion since the US civil war is the focus of this powerful documentary.
This documentary examines the lives and conditions of miners in West Virginia and their effort to organize. It also included Mother Jones who supported their early organizing efforts. Following the First World War the miners who had supported the war thought they would get rewarded with better conditions, pay, and benefits. Instead, the mine owners mobilized to crush their union and struggle for good labor conditions.
The miners decided to organize after the assassination on August 1, 1921 of Sid Hatfield, the pro-union chief of police, by mine guards in broad daylight. Over 10,000 miners decided to arm and free their fellow union members who had been jailed in mass repression of miner organizers and workers. This followed the 1920 Matewan massacre in Mingo County where Hatfield had resisted the mine owner thugs and 7 were killed along with the mayor.
This important film shows that far from supporting the miners, the US government mobilized the army to attack the miners, even dropping bombs on them from US bi-planes. This battle on Blair Mountain is one of the most important labor battles in US history.

July 8 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San Jose Peace & Justice Center - 48 S. 7th St., San Jose
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Blue Elephants (14 min.) (2010) Directed by: Moritz Siebert
This film documents the every day lives of Indonesian and Nepali migrant workers who work for Malaysian contract manufacturers that produce goods for some of the world’s best-known brands. One-third of migrant workers in the Malaysian electronics industry are trapped in forced labor, a form of modern-day slavery, according to new research by Verité, an NGO working on supply chain accountability. Verité found that forced labor is present in the supply chains of a wide cross-section of household electronics brands, which use Malaysian factories to produce billions of pounds worth of goods every year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpcJlw4CpPc

Driving for Hire (1h. 25 min.) (2015) Directed by: John Han
This documentary made by SF cab driver John Han is a deep dive into the multiplicity of issues that have surrounded the contentious battle in California (and much of the rest of the world) between the cab industry and ride-service firms Uber and Lyft over the past several years: insurance, wages, wheelchair access and something that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention — the environmental cost of putting all those extra vehicles on the road.
The producer John Han will speak during Q and A.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpcJlw4CpPc

July 9 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at 75 Folsom St. - Entrance of Hills Brothers Coffee Building
San Francisco Waterfront Labor History Walk 1835 - 1934
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, 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 9 (Saturday) 9:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) City College of SF Mission Campus - 1125 Valencia, R107 - 109, SF
Labor Education Share
Labor Educators — teachers who work with labor unions, union members, other activists and workers of all kinds - will share methods and curriculum in a full day of demonstrations and discussions.
Options include joining us for dinner the night before at Delancey Street, staying in a nearby hotel where we have a block reserved, ordering lunch for the 9th in advance for $20 (union caterer), and offering to demo one of your own good teaching approaches. Program and details are still being worked on.
Contact helenaworthen@gmail.com or 510-828-2745 for more information. www.uale.org

July 9 (Saturday) 6:30 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
100th Year of Easter Uprising & Celebration of Renee Gibbons’s Life
6:30 PM - Film showing: James Connolly, Ireland’s Greatest (50 min.) (2013) by: Raidio Teilifis Eireann (RTE)
This film recounts the life of James Connolly and his role as a trade unionist, theoretician and international socialist. He and his family were economically forced to immigrate to the United States. When he returned to Ireland, he became one of the key leaders of the Easter Rising in the struggle for independence and worker rights, which cost him his life.

7:30 PM - Concert
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising Irish struggle for independence from England. The Irish labor movement played a key role in the fight for independence and John Connolly along with other trade unionists helped organize the struggle. When their struggle was crushed by British troops, Connolly was shot along with other supporters of the Easter Rising. Many Irish workers and their families immigrated to San Francisco after the uprising.
At this concert, we will commemorate this important event as well as the life of LaborFest supporter and singer musician Renee Gibbons.
Renee, who passed away this year, used her beautiful voice and talents to get the story of working people out from Ireland to the US and all countries.
Performing at the commemoration concert will be: Margaret Cooley, Pat Wynne, Bernie Gilbert, Carol Denney, Jack Hirschman, Elisabeth Creely, Jimmy Kelly and others.

July 10 (Sunday) 10:00 AM ($25) Meet in front of Bill Graham Auditorium - 99 Grove, SF Civic Center
WPA Bus Tour
With Harvey Smith & Susan Ives
Join Harvey Smith and Susan Ives 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 New Deal programs. Harvey and Susan will discuss the art, architecture, and social programs that effectively dealt with the period’s economic meltdown in contrast with today’s response.
Some of the locations they will take you to are: Rincon Annex Post Office Murals, Sunshine School, The New Mint and the Old UC Extension, Golden Gate Park Stables and Fly Casting Pools, Beach Chalet Murals.
Please be aware that the tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions.
Meet in front of Bill Graham Auditorium, between City Hall and the Main Library.
Reservation required:
Send e-mail to: 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 contact you in case of any changes.)
Make reservation, then send check ($25/person) to: LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
Please bring your own lunch. Water will be provided.

July 10 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Meet at 240 2nd St. - Front of the Marine Firemen’s Hall near Howard
Irish Labor History Walk
This walk was canceled due to the leader's family emergency.
With IBEW electrician Peter O’Driscoll
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 10 (Sunday) 5:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough, SF
Book reading Frisco by Daniel Bacon
Frisco is the most important dramatic novel centered around the San Francisco General Strike in 1934. Bacon has integrated the characters, including Harry Bridges and other leaders of the ILWU, into the novel and gives a gripping portrayal of the class struggle.
In the summer of 1934, a strange silence descended on San Francisco. Streetcars disappeared. Gas stations closed. Theater marquees turned off. Stores and restaurants locked their doors. Butcher shops ran out of meat. The wealthy fled to their country estates. It was as if the city had died. In his debut novel, Bacon describes the forces that led to this extraordinary state of affairs. We see it through the eyes of Nick Benson and Clarisa McMahon, a young couple whose relationship is torn apart when financial hardship forces them to take separate paths. The former lovers must then learn to survive in a city that is struggling with a broken economy and a widening gap between rich and poor.
Based on historic events, Frisco introduces us to Harry Bridges, a charismatic union organizer who leads longshoremen into a strike that spreads to the entire West Coast. On opposites sides of this bloody conflict between capital and labor, Nick and Clarisa find their loyalties wavering, their relationship uncertain. In telling this tale, Bacon delivers a passionate story of betrayal and redemption, amid a tumultuous period when the City by the Bay was affectionately known as Frisco.
http://www.daniel-bacon.com/frisco/

July 11 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Donation $10, No one turned away for lack of funds) Aurora Theatre - 2081 Addison St., Berkeley
Staged Reading of GOLD MOUNTAIN
By Jason Ma, Directed by Alan Muraoka
SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local presents a staged reading of the new musical, Gold Mountain, by critically acclaimed SAG-AFTRA actor, composer and playwright Jason Ma. Gold Mountain is directed by nationally renowned director (and SAG-AFTRA member) Alan Muraoka. The reading features a cast of local SAG-AFTRA actors. Proceeds from the reading will benefit the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
Gold Mountain is a love story set against the backdrop of a pivotal event in America’s history, the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, and celebrates the striving immigrant spirit, the redemptive power of love and the ultimate nobility of self-sacrifice. The 2016 ASCAP/DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop selected Gold Mountain for a performance at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills last February. The play was recently named a finalist by the East West Players (EWP) and New Musicals Inc. (NMI) for their joint initiative to develop a new musical. A reception will follow the reading.
The evening also features the traveling exhibit, The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental, on loan from the Chinese Historical Society of America.
For reservation, call David Conover 415-391-7510-X4966
or e-mail: david.conover@sagaftra.org
http://www.sagaftra.org
Review: Gold Mountain’ reading leaves audience hungry for more - By Bonnie Britt 7/19/2016

July 12 (Tuesday) 2:00 PM (Free) Meet at South West Corner of Geary and Laguna intersection
Union Sponsored Affordable Housing in San Francisco:
St. Francis Square Cooperative - Tour
(Meet near #38 Geary in-bound bus stop)
Join our walking tour and institutional and development history discussion of the now fifty-one-year-old 299 affordable multi-family garden apartments sponsored by the Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). This complex created a new community that mitigated some of the destructive displacement effects of 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 it has now evolved to a market-rate coop. Residents and coop leaders Norman Young and others will be tour guides.
St. Francis Square: Union-Built, Integrated, Affordable Housing in San Francisco - by Peter Cole

July 12 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin St., SF
Reclaiming Working Class Communities - Revolutionary Poets Brigade
Poets for nature, for homes, healthcare, living wages, veterans’ and workers’ rights, and an end to war, with Adrian Arias, Jorge Argueta, Mahnaz Badihian, Judith Ayn Bernhard, Kristina Brown, John Curl, Francisco Herrera, Martin Hickel, Gary Hicks, Jack Hirschman, Rosemary Manno, Karen Melander-Magoon, Sarah Menefee, Jorge Molina, Dorothy Payne, Gregory Pond
Co-sponsored by Social Justice Council, LaborFest
http://revolutionarypoetsbrigade.org

July 13 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Ball Park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Sorry! Because of power outage, this film showing was canceled.
We will try to reschedule in the near future.
Press (100 min.) (2011) (Turkey) Directed by: Sedat Yilmaz
This is a drama about the struggle of Kurdish journalists to produce their newspaper Özgür Gündem. Under severe repression and intimidation, getting out a newspaper is a deadly danger. The story centers around the Kurdish journalists in Diyarbak?r, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey.
Özgür Gündem is under siege. After exposing human rights abuses in the city of Diyarbak?r, the journalists of Özgür Gündem become the target of increasingly ruthless government-sanctioned intimidation. Press tells the story of the Özgür Gündem offices and Kurdish journalists in Diyarbak?r.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxjVpLNqna0

The Lost Signal of Democracy (65 min.) (2014) (Greece) Directed by: Yorgos Avgeropoulos
This film recounts the autocratic shutdown on June 11, 2013 of the Greek ERT public broadcast system by the rightwing government of former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. The government said it cost too much to operate and they needed to trim expenses. The workers and their union resisted and organized the first occupation of a national public broadcasting system.
This blatant mass censorship brought a tremendous backlash from the people of Greece as well as outrage around the world.
This film shows the occupation from the inside by the media workers themselves. These workers and the Greek working class refused to accept the closure of their public broadcasting system. The struggle still continues in Greece as workers continue to fight massive austerity and privatization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jx7HtCb7AY

July 14 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San Jose Peace & Justice Center - 48 S. 7th St., San Jose
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Factory (132 min.) (2015) (India) Directed by: Rahul Roy
The Factory revisits one of the most contentious cases of industrial unrest in recent history: the face-off between workers and the management of the Maruti Suzuki automobile factory in Manesar, India.
Please check more detail of this film on July 5.

July 14 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Ball Park
Puerto Rico, Colonization, Privatization, and Human Rights
Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States since 1898. The first free trade zone was set up in Puerto Rico during the 1950’s and it was called “Bootstrap”. It set up tax free zones for US multi-nationals and the US has also pushed privatization of the Puerto Rican economy in energy, healthcare, and other services.
The result has been deprivation and forced exile of the majority of the people in Puerto Rico. Today the US government has taken direct control of Puerto Rico like the bankrupt cities in Detroit and Flint, and this is being used to attack the working class. This forum will look at the present situation and also what US workers can do about this.
The following list is some of the speakers:
Katherine Adames Rodriques is ?a pro-independent socialist from Puerto Rico who moved to the Bay Area last year. She has been a member of the Organización Socialista Internacional, the Puerto Rico Network of Solidarity with Palestine, and the Committe Against Homophobia and Discrimination. As a militant teacher, she was very active in the Puerto Rico Federation of Teachers, whose organizing efforts she supported and with which she mobilized against the government's attack on public education and its neoliberal policies.
Roberto Pastrana Pagés is a nonprofit worker and a member of SEIU Local 1021. In 2014, he moved from Puerto Rico, where he had been a member of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations on the islands, such as Puerto Rico para Tod@s, and the Committee against Homophobia and Discrimination at the University of Puerto Rico. A militant pro-independence socialist, Roberto was part of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) and the Federación Universitaria Pro Independencia (FUPI). He was part of the push for LGBT rights and worked for visibility and solidarity within the working class.
Sponsered by United Public Workers for Action
www.upwa.info

July 15 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin St., SF
The Cost of NAFTA, CAFTA &TPP
How “Free Trade” Agreements Affect Emigration, Worker and Human Rights
"Harvest of Loneliness - The Bracero Program" (58 min.) 2010 by Gilbert Gonzalez
Film Harvest of Loneliness - The bracero Program will be shown at the beginning of the program.
Corporate trade agreements in the post-war period have had radical effect on working people in the United States and around the world. This forum will look at how these agreements destroy labor rights, forcing millions into exile while destroying democratic rights.
From Puerto Rico, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Turkey, and Africa, the role of these trade agreements has driven down wages and living conditions, and destroyed healthcare.
Partial list of speakers: Electrical Workers Union leader Humberto Montes de Oca of the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas/Electrician's Union-Secretario del Interior; Guadalupe Ibeth Luquin Montaño, the National "CNTE" Executive Member Teachers Union; Bob Carnegie, Australia MUA Branch Secretary.
This Small Town Shows Why The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Be A Disaster For American Workers - by Peter Cole

July 15 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Check the price) SEIU 1021 Hall - Entrance on Kansas St., between 16th & 17th, SF
SF Living Wage Coalition Sixth Annual Awards Dinner
The Living Wage Coalition is a grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies fighting for economic justice since 1998. We are active in the Fight for $15, while we also are engaged in a transformative rethinking of the economy that makes the goal - living wage jobs for all working people.
Labor Woman of the Year Award to Roxeanne Sanchez, President, SEIU Local 1021.
Labor Man of the Year Award to Tim Killikelly, President, AFT Local 2121.
For information or to purchase tickets: San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, (415) 863-1225,
sflivingwage@riseup.net
www. livingwage-sf.org

July 16 (Saturday) 10:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Ball Park
International Conference Against Privatization
The effort to destroy unions and working conditions is directly connected to privatization and deregulation. In nearly every country of the world, public workers are under attack through outsourcing and deregulation. This educational conference will look at privatization in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
Another key part of international policy that is being pushed through the US-controlled IMF and World Bank are trade agreements such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and the TPP. This conference will look at the history of so-called “Free Trade” agreements and how this has lowered working conditions and also brought about the destruction of health and safety conditions and the privatization of healthcare, housing, education, and all public services.
Another focus of this conference will be the relationship of privatization to corruption on a global level. The crisis in Brazil and other countries are examples of how privatization has led to a growing corruption crisis.
Speakers from around the world will connect the dots and explain how unions have organized locally, nationally and internationally to defend working people.
Partial list of speakers: Humberto Montes de Oca,Electrical Workers Union leader of the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas/Electrician's Union-Secretario del Interior; Guadalupe Ibeth Luquin Montaño, the National "CNTE" Executive Member Teachers Union; Bob Carnegie, Australia MUA Branch Secretary; David Welsh, NALC 214; Frank M. Adamson PhD. Senior Policy and Research Analyst at the Sanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE), expert on New Orleans Charter Take-over.
Endorsed by Transport Workers Solidarity committee, United Public Workers For Action (UPWA.info)

July 16 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Ball Park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Still The Enemy Within (112 min.) (2015) (UK) Directed by: Owen Gower
The struggle of the 1984-85 British Miners’ Strike against the union busting Thatcher government was a watershed in the British labor movement. This film through the voices of the miners and their families brings this struggle to life and shows how the capitalist government mobilized tens of thousands of police to physically break the strike. It also shows how Thatcher used the media to whip up hysteria against the National Union of Miners president Arthur Scargill who was vilified in a massive media propaganda campaign. The defeat of the strike not only destroyed the nationalized mine industry but also allowed and encouraged the privatization of all public services and education in the UK. It has lessons today in the struggle against privatization.

July 17 (Sunday) 9:45 AM (Free) Meet at Coit Tower entrance - 1 Telegraph Hill Blvd., SF
Coit Tower Mural Walk
With Peter O’Driscoll 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 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 guided tour of the murals with Peter O’Driscoll and Harvey Smith. At the time of their installation, an organized effort was made to destroy them because of the leftist themes. The artists and their supporters had to physically defend the site. The murals 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 U.S.

 

July 17 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) San Bruno Mountain Watch Office - 44 Visitation Ave., Brisbane
San Bruno Mountain Wilderness Walk
Walk with David Schooley
Labor unionists and environmentalists both confront the same commercial interests. In 1968, David Schooley chained himself to a bulldozer at the foot of the San Bruno Mountain. As a result, houses have never been constructed in Guadeloupe Canyon. You’re invited to walk with David in the Mountain habitat of the Mission Blue Butterfly, which he’s defended for 50 years. The fight on this Mountain helped to inspire the Endangered Species Act. This is now a space in the local area where working people can enjoy the beauty of the canyon.
To sign up call: 415-467-6631.
Meet at 10:00 AM at the San Bruno Mountain Watch Office, Room 206, 44 Visitation Avenue in Brisbane.
To get there by car, follow Bayshore Boulevard to Brisbane; or take the #249 SamTrans bus.

July 17 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library, Koret Auditorium -100 Larkin St., SF
Survival in San Francisco-Music and Words of Struggle
Defending the lives of San Franciscans and Defending artists and cultural spaces from gentrification
Join San Francisco poets, musicians, rappers and other cultural artists who speak and sing out about the struggle to survive in San Francisco for working people and cultural artists. They stand up against gentrification and privatization of public spaces in every part of our city.
With:
Juana Birones Cultural Committee, Revolutionary Poets Brigade, SF Poet Laureate Alejandro Amuguio, Francisco Herrera, Agie Faulk, Jack Hirschman, Manhaz Badihlan, MC Pauze, Dorothy Payne
For information dorpayne@hotmail.com
http://revolutionarypoetsbrigade.org

July 17 (Sunday) 5:45 PM ($45) Pier 41, left of Pier 39 near outside ticket booth - Fisherman’s Wharf, SF
Building Bridges & Labor Maritime History Boat Tour
 Seats still available! Join us for this great experience.
5:45 PM Boarding, 6:00 PM Departure
Boat leaves promptly at 6:00 PM
Please arrive 30 minutes before the boarding 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.)
The Bay Area is one of the most beautiful places in the world and LaborFest celebrates this beauty with a labor maritime boat trip on the bay with an ILWU-IBU/MMP crew. We will enjoy labor music and dinner as we learn about the real lives of working people.
We will hear about the San Francisco General Strike, Maritime Strike, and how unions built the city. We will hear labor process photographer Joseph Blum talk about the building of the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge, and historian Harvey Smith talk about the history of the WPA and how it shaped the Bay Area. There will be speakers about ongoing union struggles for worker rights and what we can do to support these workers. We will also have labor music from the US and around the world. You can’t afford to miss this great time on the bay.

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 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 out 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 to the left of Pier 39, toward Pier 41 (Blue & Gold Fleet).
Please be there at least 30 minutes before departure time in order to go through paper work.
We expect the tickets to be sold out quickly, so please make your reservation early.
Who Built the Golden Gate? New Book Tells Bridge Workers’ Stories - by Peter Cole
Building Bridges and Maritime History Boat Tour - LaborFest 2014 slides - by Mike Melnyk

July 18 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Red Vienna to SF: How Working Class of Vienna Solved Their Housing Crisis and Made the Rich Pay For It
By Professor Irmi Voglmayr, University of Vienna
In 1919, there was a massive housing crisis in Vienna with homelessness. The working class had won political power and implemented a plan of massive housing construction for the working class. Over 220,000 units were built and this well built housing still exists in Vienna and provides good homes for working people of the city.
This forum will look at how the housing crisis was solved in Vienna and the lessons for San Francisco and the United States.

 

July 18 (Monday) through July 30 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Photo Exhibit - Expulsion: Stories of Displacement form Colombia, India, Mexico and the United States
This exhibition is an attempt to foreground perspectives about migration that are rooted in the everyday lives of migrants in and from the Global South. Political discussions and media narratives about migration often criminalize poverty and scapegoat whole communities even as they fail to account for the broader dynamics of economic neo-liberalism and political and social exclusion that result in the forced migration of peoples both within and across national boundaries. Similarly, we feel that narratives about gentrification within our own communities in the Bay Area often overlook the economic realities of living in a neo-liberal economy. These photos with stories from Colombia, India, Mexico, The Philippines, and the United States are an attempt to demonstrate the transnational connections between what’s happening “over there” and “here”. We aim to raise questions regarding commonly deployed tropes about migration and hope to place a more materialist analysis about global Capitalism and neo-liberalism at the center of that discussion.

July 19 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Refugees, War, Immigrants in Europe and the Rise of Neo-Fascism
By Karl Fischbacher, LabourNet Austria, Retired Teacher Union Leader
The wars in the Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya have driven millions of people from their homes. The direct result has been the largest migration in Europe since the 2nd WW. It has helped give rise to a growing neo-fascist movement including parties that may take power in Austria and other countries.
Karl Fischbacher, who is a leader of LabourNet Austria, will report on migration in Austria and Europe and how that has been used by those governments and neo-fascists to encourage racism and xenophobia. The rise of Trump in the United States is also connected to this growing racism, nationalism, and dictatorship.

July 19 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough, SF
Unheard Voices Rising Up: Workers’ Survival, Resistance and Power! - LaborFest Writers
The Housing Crisis, Homelessness, and How Capitalism Thwarts Self-Help and Organizing Efforts
LaborFest Writers’ Group will explore how unheard voices are rising up, resisting, and discovering their power. This movement is happening at work and wherever San Franciscans call home, whether it is brick and mortar or tent city. People are speaking out and demanding to be heard as they struggle to earn a living wage, to protect their rights, and to be able to stay in the city they call home. Join us for an evening of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, and music by LaborFest writers Phyllis Holliday, Keith Cooley, Susan Ford, Margaret Cooley, Nellie Wong, Jerry Path, Richard Chen and Alice Rogoff.
Contact: info@laborfestwriters.org

July 20 (Wednesday) 5:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
Forum On Adjuncts, Temps, Privatization And Education
The attack on professors by colleges and universities has made many temporary and part time workers with very little benefits and conditions. This has placed many of these workers in poverty who cannot even pay their healthcare and bills. This has not only included private colleges but the California community college and state university system.
This forum will look at these conditions for the "Freeway Flyers" and what is being done to organize and defend the rights of adjunct faculty.
With Brad Rettele, Director of "Freeway Flyers"; Robert Ovetz, Organizer and Adjunct Professor; Joe Berry, Writer and Organizer of Adjuncts; Rick Baum, AFT 2121.

July 20 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Freeway Flyer (45 min.) (2014) (USA) Directed by: Brad Rettele
More and more professors in the United States have been forced to become temporary workers going from job to job, in many cases without seniority or healthcare. This documentary focuses on the lives of these adjunct professors who are known as “Freeway Flyers”.
The privatization and deregulation of education has made it profitable for even public colleges and universities to make the majority of faculty temporary. This shows the lives of these workers.
http://www.freewayfliers.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiUWSHtQ1TQ (Trailer)

UDITA (Arise) (75 min.) (2015) (Bangladesh) Directed by: Rainbow Collective
Bangladesh workers are rising up and this film shows the growing strength of workers and the trade union National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) . The documentary follows a turbulent half decade in the lives of women on the front line in the garment workers struggle: from 2010, when organising in the workplace would lead to beatings, sacking and arrests, through the tragedies of Tazreen and Rana Plaza, and to the present day, when the long fight has begun to pay dividends. We see this vital period through the eyes of the union’s female members, workers and leaders.

July 21 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
Freelancers, Journalism, Worker Rights, and Technology
Tens of thousands of journalists have lost their jobs in the US and most have ended up as freelancers. The use of technology has transformed our communication and media tools and this has drastically affected journalists, news and information. At the same time, there are growing threats to freelancers and journalists with repression and police attacks in San Francisco around the Mario Woods case, nationally and around the world.
This forum will hear from freelancers about the issues that they face in not only surviving but also the increasing dangers in their work.
We will look at not only what is happening to journalists but also how we can protect our livelihoods and health and safety. We will be screening Corruption and the Media in Turkey by Kibrit Film (2016). This 15 minute powerful documentary looks at how journalists, newspapers and independent media have come under attack and repression. The CWA Pacific Media Workers has called for the defense of journalist rights in Turkey and this has also been endorsed by the San Francisco Labor Council.
With: Sana Saleem writes for 48 Hill and she works on minority rights and internet freedom; Anabel Hernández is a Mexican journalist who won the Golden Pen of Freedom Award 2012; Josh Wolf, a freelance journalist and video blogger who spent 225 days in prison in 2007 to protect his sources (This was the longest jailing of a journalist in US history); Steve Zeltzer, CWA Pacifica Media Workers Guild Human Rights Chair; Joseph Thomas, an independent videographer who is covering activism in San Francisco.
Sponsored by KPFA WorkWeek Radio
Click here to see more detail of each presenter.
http://sflaborcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/02-08-16TurkeyJournalistsResolution-Ltrhd.doc.pdf

July 21 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) First Unitarian Church - 1187 Franklin St. at Geary
July 22 (Friday) 6:00 PM (Free) ATU Local 1555 Hall - 132 9th St. at Lake Merritt BART
HOW SOLIDARITY CAN WIN
Come hear four of the victorious Boston School Bus Drivers talk about their fighting strategies, as part of their West Coast tour!
For more info: https://solidarityworks.wordpress.com/
Local contact: call 510 847 8657
https://www.facebook.com/events/1573335282960281

July 22 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San Jose Peace & Justice Center - 48 S. 7th St., San Jose
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Limpiadores (39 min.) (2015) (UK) Directed by: Fernando González Mitjáns
Please check July 6 for more detail on this film.

Claiming Our Voice (21 min.) (2013) (USA) Directed by: Jennifer Pritheeva
This film shares the stories of Andolan, an organization founded and led by immigrant women low-wage workers as a means to support each other and collectively organize against exploitative work conditions. The film follows the women as they create, rehearse and refine acts for their first popular multi-lingual theater performance. Claiming Our Voice seeks to break community silence by allowing women to (literally) set the stage for how their stories will be told.

 

July 22 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
The Lessons of the Preparedness Day Bombing for Today: Repression, Frame-up, Labor and Political Prisoners
By Steven C. Levi
One hundred years ago on this date, a terror bombing took place in San Francisco on Market St. that led to the loss of 10 people with many injured. It was called Preparedness Day and was a march to get ready for world war. At the same time there was a growing and militant labor and anti-war movement in San Francisco and the entire country.
This bombing led to a massive attack on unions, labor and radical activists against the growing war campaign. Two labor activists and radicals Tom Mooney and Warren Billing were arrested and charged with planning the bombing. They were convicted and nearly went to their deaths. The labor movement took up their case and declared that this was a political frame-up. After decades of defense work they were finally released.
Writer Steven C. Levi who has written about San Francisco’s tumultuous history in COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE: The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Law and Order Committee, 1916-1919, will present the story of what happened on July 22, 1916 and how it affected the lives and people of San Francisco and the country.
This forum is also co-sponsored by Institute For Historical Study.
An exhibition of the Labor Archives and Research Center "Worshiping the God of Dynamite"
5/5 - 12/1/2016 at San Francisco State University Library - 1630 Holloway Ave., SF
"Local issues shape national politics." The Relevance Of The San Francisco July 22, 1906 Preparedness Day Bombing - by Steven C. Levi
http://www.instituteforhistoricalstudy.org
http://www.parsnackle.com/Publications.htm

July 23 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at One Market St., SF
1916 Preparedness Day Bombing Walk
By David Duckworth, Gifford Hartman
During this walking tour we visit several sites which were integral to the unfolding of events following a bomb explosion on Steuart Street at Market Street on July 22, 1916. With fervor building to engage the United States in the war in Europe, businessmen in San Francisco embraced the cause, while labor leaders and the left denounced it. With the bomb killing ten people and wounding forty, no clear culprit was identified. But, two figures from the left, labor organizers and anarchists Tom Mooney and Warren K. Billings, were framed for the murder of the victims and spent many years in prison before being released. On this tour, we learn not only about the war between business and labor and open and closed union shops, but also the divisive issues of American aggression in the Pacific region and against Mexico, crusading and yellow journalism in the city of San Francisco, and the mood of the country regarding World War I.
The tour lasts approximately two hours.
David Duckworth is an art and cultural historian, having lectured widely, including California Institute of Integral Studies, Free University, LaborFest, New York University, Popular Culture/American Culture Association, and Treasure Island Museum.
Gifford Hartman is an adult educator, labor trainer, working class historian, and has been a rank-and-file militant in various industries (some organized by the SEIU and ILWU, and others non-union shops) and presently works in the unorganized precarious education sector.

July 23 (Saturday) 9:00 - 1:30 PM ($15) Meet at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum
New Almaden Quicksilver Mine - Labor History Tour
Meet at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum, Casa Grande, 21350 Almaden Road, San Jose, CA 95120
Where did the San Jose Mercury News get its name? From the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine south of San Jose which during its heyday was the richest and most productive mercury mine in the United States.
By special arrangement with Santa Clara County Parks, the tour will emphasize economic and labor history, and will cover the considerable distances between sites by van.
Tickets: $15, must be purchased in advance
Please bring your own lunch
Total tickets limited to 16
To make your reservation:
E-mail to laborfest@sanjosepeace.org
We will contact you back to confirm your reservation.
Then mail or deliver a check ($15/person) to the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 South 7th St., San Jose, CA 95112
For more info: call SJ Peace & Justice Center 408-297-2299 or call LaborFest 415-642-8066
For info on the museum, call Quicksilver Mining Museum: (408) 323-1107
Direction:
From Highway 85 take the Almaden Expressway exit south 4.5 miles to Almaden Road. Turn right and proceed 2.5 miles west to the town of New Almaden. Casa Grande (and the museum) will be on your left.
From Highway 880 take 101 south to 280 north (toward San Francisco). Exit 280 at Hwy. 87 (Guadalupe Parkway) south. Exit Hwy. 87 at Almaden Expressway south (to the right). Proceed about 8 miles to Almaden Road. Turn right and proceed 2.5 miles to the town of New Almaden.

July 23 (Saturday) 1:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library, Mary Louis Strong Room - 100 Larkin St., SF
Global Depression, the New Cold War and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
 by George Wright
When the IOC awarded the Olympic Games to Rio in 2009 Brazil was considered a Third World economic powerhouse. Over the past decade, owing to geo-political and economic conditions, Brazil is facing perhaps the worse political-economic crisis in its history. This presentation will discuss that crisis and its impact on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. The presentation will also provide a preview of what to watch for at the Rio Olympic Games.
George Wright is a professor, who is an expert on the history of sports and class.

July 23 (Saturday) 3:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library, Mary Louis Strong Room - 100 Larkin St., SF
Labor System and Unrest in Saudi Arabia
by Sharat G. Lin
The system of expatriate labor contracting in Saudi Arabia pays workers from different countries entirely different wage scales for the same work, enslaves workers by seizing their passports, bans unions, and establishes elaborate systems of segregation and hierarchy. The labor system, employing as many as 9 million foreign workers, was pioneered by U.S. oil companies and management contractors. Deep-seated unrest lies just beneath the surface.
Sharat G. Lin writes on global political economy, labor migration, the Middle East, and South Asia. He lived in Saudi Arabia, and travels frequently to the region. He is a research fellow at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center.

July 24 (Sunday) 10:00 - 1:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
The Lessons of the Preparedness Day Bombing for Today
Repression, Frame-up, Labor and Political Prisoners
One hundred years ago, the trade unionist and labor activists Tom Mooney and Warren Billings were framed for a bombing that they did not do. After the bombing in San Francisco, unions were raided and the anti-labor business lobby went on a witch-hunt against organized labor, using this incident as a pretext.
Labor did mobilize to free Mooney and Billings. Hundreds of mass meetings were held and protests were organized. Major unions including the Machinists’ Lodge, the Iron Molders’ Association and United Steelworkers chose to strike, halting a large sector of the economy to demand their freedom. Two hundred and twenty big unions outside of industrial centers also joined in Mooney’s cause.
This forum will look at the use of so-called “terror” incidents to create a new anti-labor political environment. The use of “terrorism” as a political vehicle is a growing pretext for attack on our democratic and union rights.
This forum will look at some of the history of such incidents and political frame-ups of trade unionists and political activists.
It will also look at how labor has helped build a working class political movement to defend political prisoners in the US and around the world. Sponsored by KPFA WorkWeek.
Endorsed by Labor Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

July 24 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at The Main Berkeley Post Office - at 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, 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 24 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Free) Meet at Bayview Plaza - 3801 3rd St. at Evans, SF
Hunters Point/Bayview History Walk
The 50th Anniversary of the Death of Matthew Johnson in Bayview/Hunters Point
Join Bayview/Hunters Point social/labor historian Oscar James on the 50th anniversary of the murder of 16 year old youth Matthew Johnson who was killed by San Francico police on September 27, 1966. This murder brought a strong community response and the governor called in the National Guard to put down the protest. Today, 50 years later, the murders of African American and Latino youth continues alongside the massive gentrification of the district that is driving out many long-time residents.
Oscar James will also look at the history of unions and labor in the shipyard and how it brought tens of thousands of workers to San Francisco during the 2nd World War. The city and the Obama administration have now privatized public housing using so-called public/private partnerships and in San Francisco this has meant that the tenants of public housing have been kicked off the San Francisco housing authority.
This walk will look at this history of Bayview/Hunters Point and how this history is connected to the present struggles facing the community and labor.
For more information oscarjames22@live.com
http://sfbayview.com/2011/09/1966-hunters-point-rebellion-recollections-of-harold-brooks-and-thomas-fleming/
http://www.moadsf.org/volume-5/oscar-james/

July 24 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
Working Women
The Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus presents Working Women: A History in Story and Song, a survey that touches on, among much else, the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts: the sweatshop protests in New York before and after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire; and, the experiences of women, black and white, in defense work during World War II. The show includes first-person testimony from teachers, an engineer, and women in the trades, four-part harmony, laughter, and sturdy old labor anthems.
https://laborchorus.com

July 25 (Monday) 6:30 PM (Free) Plumbers Hall - 1621 Market St. 2nd floor at Franklin St., SF
Take It From the Workers Who Built Everything
Book readings by Bob Mattacola and Harvey Schwartz
The catastrophic San Francisco 1906 earthquake brought tens of thousands of unionized building trades workers to San Francisco to rebuild the city. These critically needed workers rebuilt the city in an amazing three years.
The most important and historically significant documentary account of the rebuilding of San Francisco was by union carpenter George W. Farris. This is the only daily diary of life in San Francisco after the traumatic and historic earthquake event. United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 22, with member Bob Mattacola, who learned about the diary, have now turned this story into a book called George W. Farris Diaries: A Daily Diary of a Union Carpenter in San Francisco January 1902-1910.
Bob Mattacola will read from this diary and take questions.
Also joining the book reading will be labor historian and writer Harvey Schwartz, who will read from his book on the workers who built the Golden Gate Bridge. The book, Building the Golden Gate Bridge: A Workers’ Oral History, is the story of workers who built one of the most famous icons in the world. Their stories, brought together by Schwartz, allow ironworkers, electricians, elevator constructors, laborers and others to describe their sometimes harrowing and even tragic experiences in their own words. Both books were produced by union printers and will be available at the event, which is co-sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council and Carpenters Local 22.
http://www.laborfest.net/2006/story%20board%20pdf/Carpenter’s%20diary.pdf

July 26 (Tuesday) 8:00 PM (Free/"promo"Labor") San Jose Improv - 62 S. 2nd St., San Jose
LaborFest Comedy Night
LaborFest 2016 brings a night of comedy to all working class people to laugh and enjoy a night of relaxation. As labor is forefront for us all, we need to unwind and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Alycia Cooper is a member of Screen Actors Guild (SAG), whom you have seen on television shows “Raising Hope” and “The Parkers”. Alycia Cooper is also a hilarious stand-up comic whom you may have seen on last season’s “Last Comic Standing,” is also winner of “The Ladies of Laughter”. All comics are labor friendly-performers, including Danny Cruzz, Phill Medina, DJ Sandhu, Terry Dorsey.
Must be 18 or older. 2 items minimum order required - 21 or older for drink order. Door open at 7:15 at SJ Improv.
Donation welcome.
Call for reservation, and tell them you are for “labor.”
San Jose Improv: (408) 280-7475

July 26 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Uptown Body and Fender - 401 26th St., Oakland
Forum - Palestinian Workers, Human Rights, Labor and Zionism
Palestinian workers are under attack and they and their families face apartheid conditions. At the same time, legal efforts are being made to prevent an international boycott of Israel and labor action. Bay Area ILWU longshore workers played an important role in supporting Palestinian workers by boycotting the Israeli controlled Zim shipping line. This forum will look at the history of Zionism including the collaboration with the Nazis, and the present attack on UK Labor Party members critical of Israel who are being attacked as anti-Semites.
We will also look at the struggle of UAW 2865 to support the international boycott, and how their national leadership nullified their efforts.
Video from ILWU Zim Action On Port of Oakland will be screened.
Speakers:
Fadi Saba, President Luther Burbank Education Association CTA*, VP of The Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation www.defendingdissent.org, www.bordc.org
Jeff Blankfort, Editor Of Labor Bulletin On The Middle East and Radio Host of KZYX&Z Takes on The World
Lenni Brenner, Historian and author of Zionism In The Age Of The Dictators
Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 retired and Chair Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
* for identification only
Sponsored by United Public Workers For Action.
www.upwa.info

July 27 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St., SF
Uber, Worker Rights, Tech and the Public - A Panel & Discussion
The growth of UBER and other technology software companies has had a drastic affect on the regulated taxi industry and taxi workers not just in San Francisco but throughout the world. This panel will look at the worker and public issues created by UBER and other tech companies. It will also look at how workers both in the regulated taxi industry and at UBER and other companies are seeking to defend their wages and working conditions.
Sponsored by San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance
http://www.sftwa.org

 

July 28 (Thursday) 1:00 PM (Free) Meet in front of the Ferry Building - Embaarcadero & Market St., SF
Walk - Produce, Production, Pasta, and Piers: When SF's Little Italy Thrived
With LisaRuth Elliott (Shaping San Francisco),& Professor Mary Anne A. Trasciatti
Walk starts in front of the Ferry Building and the walk will end at North Point and Embarcadero. Walk will last 2 hours.
This walk will cover:
+ Labor in Produce District, North Beach, and along the Waterfront until about the 1950s
+ Ecology of North Beach, Yerba Buena Cove, and Telegraph Hill
+ Radical movements including Italians and Italian-Americans in the late 1800s to early 1900s
LisaRuth Elliott is the co-director of Shaping San Francisco—a project on community history which administers the digital archive Foundsf.org. She recently produced the 2016 San Francisco History Days at the Old Mint. She leads walking tours of, has co-edited 4 books on, and has taught local history at UC Berkeley, Stanford, SFAI, and USF. She has lived in San Francisco for over 20 years, and worked, studied, and done disaster relief internationally. She helps manage the volunteer workdays at Alemany Farm, an urban farm on the south side of Bernal Hill. She is also a visual and textile artist, everyday bicyclist, breadmaker, and freelance writer.
Professor Mary Anne A. Trasciatti will co-lead the walk and contribute. She is the chair of the NYC Triangle Commemoration Committee and a expert in Italian Americans in the United States. She is also a contributor to the PBS series Italian Americans and is  an Associate Professor in the Department of Rhetoric at Hofstra University.
shaping@foundsf.org shapingsf.org
http://rememberthetrianglefire.org

July 28 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) SF North Beach Library - 850 Columbus Ave., SF
The Fight for Our History, the New York City Triangle Fire and Health and Safety Today
With Professor Mary Anne Traciatti, President of Remember The Triangle Coalition
The New York City Triangle fire was the one of the worst industrial disasters in the history of the United States. Unions and workers in response to this built a mass movement for health and safety protection for all workers. Professor Mary Anne Traciatti will talk about the Triangle Fire and bringing home the lessons for today. There are less than 200 Cal-OSHA inspectors in California and only 2,000 in the United States for 130 million workers.
http://rememberthetrianglefire.org

July 29 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) San Jose Peace & Justice Center - 48 S. 7th St., San Jose
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Operation Bootstrap (60 min.) (1983) (Puerto Rico) Directed by: Pedro Angel Rivera & Susan Zeig
Operation Bootstrap by Pedro Angel Rivera and Susan Zeig exposes the first “free trade” zone set up by the US in Puerto Rico. It was advertised as helping the people of Puerto Rico, but in fact, it has ended up putting them in further poverty and deprivation. This FTZ was replicated around the world. Today the US government and Congress are imposing draconian attacks on the working class to pay off vulture capitalists who have speculated on Puerto Rican bonds. The US has also forced the privatization of their health system and utilities, and is now pushing for the privatization of their education system.

July 29 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough, SF
The Council on Foreign Relations, Our Unions and Foreign Policy
By Larry Shoup
Larry Shoup, author of Rulers & Rebels: A People’s History of Early California, 1769-1901, has now written an important new book Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1976-2014. In this reading, Shoup will look at the history of the AFL-CIO in relationship to the CFI and how this has affected US labor’s foreign policy.
The CFI was set up by the biggest capitalists and ideologues to develop the imperial economic interests of US multi-nationals, and Shoup will examine how the AFL-CIO has been involved in this organization and what it has meant concretely for workers in the US and around the world.
The AFL-CIO has taken tens of millions of dollars from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US government for international labor work around the world. It was also been involved in supporting a military coup in Venezuela and other countries. The government funded AFL-CIO “Solidarity Center,” and its predecessor organizations, African-American Labor Center (AALC), American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), and Asian-American Free Labor Institute (AAFLI), were involved in setting up and supporting pro-corporate trade unions that supported privatization, deregulation and “free trade,” which was being pushed by the US government and US multi-nationals.
While the unions here are fighting NAFTA, CAFTA, and TPP, the Democrats, Republicans and US government are pushing deregulation, privatization and “free trade zones” around the world.
Shoup will look at the ideology of the CFR and how this continues to intersect the agenda of the AFL-CIO’s international perspective.

July 30 (Saturday) 10:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) Richmond High School - 1250 23rd St. Richmond, CA (Room TBA)
Conference - Defend Public Education, Charters: Connecting the Dots and Privatization
This conference will look at th history of the charter movement, how it has taken over the regulation of our education system, and how it is re-segregating education in California and nationally.
Public education in California is facing destruction in every direction. Supporters of charters and privatization over the last 30 years have seized control of the California Board of Education and also the Commission on Teacher Credentials (CTC). The deregulation of education rules in California allows a massive expansion of privately run charter schools in shopping malls and highly toxic industrial sites, even when local communities and school boards oppose their establishment.
Proposition 39, which passed in California, is now diverting hundreds of millions of dollars to building new charter schools with non-union labor and replacing unionized teachers with TFA and non-certified teachers. They are also allowing charters to grab up rooms and spaces at public schools and even setting up charters inside high schools and other public schools, creating chaos. Some charters in California are now run by Christian and Moslem sects who demand that students pray to play and indoctrinate students in their religious ideology with public funds.
Many of these charter schools have been set up with support from the Gates Foundation, the Wal-Mart Family through their Walton Foundation, the Broad Foundation, The Fisher Family KIPP Foundation, and Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Foundation.
They are driven by more testing through companies like Pearson and spend tens of millions on more computers rather than teachers. They are also attacking the teacher pension Cal-STRS by spiking the pension system and preventing new teachers from joining this state public pension system.
FOR REGISTRATION: Please send us 1) name; 2) e-mail address; 3) phone number; 4) which school (if you are teacher)
to laborfest@laborfest.net, or call 510-655-6529.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Diane Ravitch - by skpe https://dianeravitch.net
Julian Vasquez Heilig, Ph.D. - CA NAACP Education Chair, Professor Sacramento State University* www.cloakinginginequality.com
Sharon Higgins - Expert on Charter Corruption & Gulen Charters http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com
Kristyn Jones - UTR Chair of Charter Committee
Dr. Roxana Marachi - Education Professor SJSU* https://eduresearcher.com/author/connectedu/
Mary Flanagan - UTR
Mark Hall - producer of Killing Ed http://www.killinged.com
Adam Bessie - DVC Diablo Valley College Professor Media https://adambessie.com
Pastor Brian Adkins - Open Door Methodist Church
Arto Rinteela - Fairmede Hilltop Neighborhood Council President, UBC Millwrights Local 102*
Diane Maddox - UTR Secretary
Carlos Taboada - Educator, Richmond High retired teacher
*for information only
Sponsored by: United Teachers of Richmond, Fairmede Hilltop Neighborhood Council, United Public Workers For Action, Voices Against Privatizing Public Education, Defend Public Education

July 30 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Meet at the fountain in Latham Square - Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland
Oakland 1946 General Strike Walk - “We Called It a Work Holiday”
With Gifford Hartman of the Flying Picket Historical Society.
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Oakland General Strike. 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 scabs 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).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCKs-lhBgiM

July 30 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Goodwin’s Way (55 min.) (2016) (Canada) Directed by: Neil Vokey
The interconnection between working class history and our struggles today are the focus of this interesting documentary from British Colombia.
Albert ‘Ginger’ Goodwin was a militant unionist and internationalist who emigrated from England to B.C. Canada. He became a union activist fighting to organize and defend the miners of Cumberland, whose union worked massive mines and led the fight for an 8-hour day in the middle of the First World War. He was also an organizer of the bitter 1912-14 Vancouver Island Coal Miners’ Strike and became a leader of the BC’s early labor movement.
Because of his activism and leadership he was murdered by the police under suspicious circumstances. Vancouver workers, in protest of his murder, voted to ‘down tools’ and the result was the first general strike in Canadian history, and out of it, a folk hero was born.
Today the mine owners want to develop another underground mine and the community is rising up against more coalmines. The film connects the struggle of Goodwin with the present efforts to stop the development of a new underground mine, which will further harm the environment and the community.
The history of Goodwin and his struggle for labor and community rights is directly connected to the struggle of workers and the people today.
http://www.goodwinsway.com

They Live(94 min.) (1988) (USA) Directed by: John Carpenter
The madness of capitalism is the focus of this science fiction horror film made in the ‘80s. A pair of sunglasses are discovered by a semi-homeless day laborer named Nada (Spanish for “nothing”) that allow him to identify the extraterrestrials who have infiltrated the Earth’s populace. You can see the culprits and aliens behind this growing madness, and some try to end the nightmare. As working people look at the growing economic crisis, brutality of the system and a dystopian world, some rise up and seek to end the nightmare. With these sunglasses they are able to fightback against this nightmare. This ‘80s cult classic is more relevant to the lives of working people today than when it was made.

July 31 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at ILWU Sculpture at Mission and Steuart, SF
Labor Politics and Architecture of San Francisco - Walk
Walk with Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU 2015 member & 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 Wiedmaier will outline artifacts and events, and their connections to San Francisco’s past and present.
For more information call (415) 694-3605.

 

July 31 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
Closing Party - Open Mic
Please join us to celebrate the last day of the LaborFest 2015 with food, music and poetry.
Closing party is open mic. Bring your instruments.