Fw: We Are One, We Are Workers: Unity Rally - San Diego

[Nidya Ramirez]

Interested in going as a group? :)

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Nidya Ramirez <nyra...@rocketmail.com>
To: nidy...@yahoo.com
Sent: Wed, April 27, 2011 12:45:11 PM
Subject: Fw: We Are One, We Are Workers: Unity Rally - San Diego

 

Nidya Ramirez
Community Organizer:
San Diego Day Laborers Association-Household Workers Organizer
Justice Overcoming Boundaries-Youth Organizer
760.658.1985

“When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid”
Audre Lorde

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Unión del Barrio- San Diego <inf...@uniondelbarrio.org>
To: Unión Barrio- <inf...@uniondelbarrio.org>
Sent: Wed, April 27, 2011 12:33:43 PM
Subject: We Are One, We Are Workers: Unity Rally - San Diego

For immediate release
April 27, 2011

Unions, migrant rights and faith leaders join efforts on May Day
Respect for workers is the rallying cry

Contact:            Sandra Díaz 619/534-2927-Service Employees International Union
                        Adriana Jasso 619/808-7277-Unión del Barrio
                        
We Are One, We Are Workers: Unity Rally
Sunday, May 1st 2011 at 3 PM
Downtown San Diego’s Civic Center Plaza (3rd Avenue and B Street)

SAN DIEGO-- Hundreds of people will rally on May 1st in San Diego’s Civic Center at 3 PM to commemorate International Workers Day.
 
The festivities will begin at 11 AM on Sunday May 1st at Chicano Park, the historic Barrio Logan square that has been the stage for past May Day commemorations and migrant rights rallies. From Chicano Park a march led by Aztec dancers will depart towards the Civic Center in Downtown San Diego.
 
A coalition of labor unions, students and educators will gather at noon in front of Balboa Park’s Centro Cultural de la Raza. Those rallied there will also march in downtown stopping at the Federal Building first, and then march to San Diego’s Civic Center, joining the marchers from Chicano Park for the 3 PM unity rally.
 
The San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council and the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice will welcome the May Day marchers as they come together at 3 PM at the Civic Center to demonstrate unity among San Diego’s workers and to ask city leaders to stand up for San Diego’s working families by approving a resolution that upholds the rights of workers.
 
Those rallying will also urge city officials to change the current policy of impounding vehicles, a city policy that community, faith and labor leaders say unfairly targets undocumented workers.
 
“City leaders need to stand up with those that protect our communities, teach our children, clean our offices and build our buildings; the time for action is now,” said Sandra Díaz from the SEIU-USWW, a union the represents 3,000 janitors, security officers and airport workers in the county.
 
After several weeks of urging city officials, the San Diego City Council has failed to approve a resolution in support of workers’ rights. The City of Chula Vista recently approved a similar resolution and the San Diego School Board is expected to do same.
 
Community members are joining the efforts of the San Diego and Imperial Labor Council in asking city leaders to act in support of workers and to amend the current impound policy that targets undocumented workers.
“Today we stand with organized labor, our voice is one, we are one,” said Adriana Jasso, a long-time community organizer.
 
San Diego is the only major city in the state that has not reformed its car impound policy and that ends up costing up to $1,800 per vehicle. Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, allow unlicensed drivers to contact a licensed driver to drive their vehicle instead of impounding their cars.
 
“We need a car to go to work, the state will not allow us to apply for a drivers’ license, and the city is making a bundle by confiscating our vehicles. It’s just not fair for working people to be bailing out the city and giving towing companies huge profits,” Jasso explained.
 

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