We are holding another benefit garage sale this weekend. We hope to raise a lot more money, but we need help! Please check out the garage sale wiki: http://maquila.wikispaces.com/
to sign up and PLEASE POST FLYERS TODAY AND TOMORROW AND FRIDAY!!!
You may also:
1) Donate stuff
2) Help staff the sale
Drop off things at 5325 27th Ave. NE (the corner of 27th and 54th, by McDonald's in U-Village) or Call lauren (206) 718-6898.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
More Pictures
Here are some pictures, taken by Kiri, of the protest.
Rod rallies the students before the mock trial.
Marching to Talbots for the mock trial.
Marching to Macy's for the sleep-in and the outside protest.
Rod being pulled up by Macy's security guards.
Back to Westlake Park.
We rallied for a few minutes and after receiving text messages from the detained students, decided to return to Macy's until our compañer@s Rod and April, and our legal observer Larry Hildes, were released.
Aimee stayed on the megaphone, with support from members of UW SLAP, SU, UWGP, and Amnesty Intnernational, to keep the pressure on Macy's to release our compañer@s.
They were eventually released.
After the protest, the group retired and held a small cook out and garage sale, and, raised $400. We will send the money directly to the union to support the women as they face uncertain challenges in the wake of a deal rife with uncertainty and distrust. We will continue fundraising this coming weekend.
Rod rallies the students before the mock trial.
Marching to Talbots for the mock trial.
Marching to Macy's for the sleep-in and the outside protest.
Rod being pulled up by Macy's security guards.
Back to Westlake Park.
We rallied for a few minutes and after receiving text messages from the detained students, decided to return to Macy's until our compañer@s Rod and April, and our legal observer Larry Hildes, were released.
Aimee stayed on the megaphone, with support from members of UW SLAP, SU, UWGP, and Amnesty Intnernational, to keep the pressure on Macy's to release our compañer@s.
They were eventually released.
After the protest, the group retired and held a small cook out and garage sale, and, raised $400. We will send the money directly to the union to support the women as they face uncertain challenges in the wake of a deal rife with uncertainty and distrust. We will continue fundraising this coming weekend.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Phone update
Angelina talked with our primary contact at SitraCima. Here are some updates she wrote up and emailed out.
---
Here are the details of what's up with them:
1. The union has committed to staying in the factory at all times, including these overnight sleeping shifts, until every last worker receives her severance pay as promised. They have been sleeping in the factory every night since May 14.
2. Aside from all the prior history, there are reasons to suspect bad faith on the part of management. As everyone who's met with the women in Guate will remember them explaining, one of the ways management has opposed the union in the past is by buying off some workers to be loyal to them and criticize the union, so as a result of this at various times there have been groups of workers who opposed the union within the factory. These groups were reactivated this past week. The union leaders and management were in negotiations midweek, but then the union leaders said they could not definitively agree to everything in the agreement until they'd presented the plan to the General Assembly of their membership today (Saturday) for a vote. Between the time the deal was struck and today, the Chief of Personnel went and told the workers in their anti-union groups that he himself had achieved all these things in one day, and that the union was going to claim it had been in some "negotiations" but that was all a lie, this was his proposal. These rumors spread quickly in the factory, and (this part I don't quite understand) workers in these anti-union groups filed a complaint against the union in the Labor Inspectorate. So now four Labor Inspectors are coming out on Monday to inspect the union to find out about its alleged misdeeds. (?)
3. Some of these ani-union workers have been threatening our contact, the SitraCima leader. Everyone knows they work closely with management, but management has been careful not to themselves threaten her. At least this week. More commonly, she is insulted, sometimes really grossly, but sometimes the comments are threatening.
4. The union had approx 150 members prior to this crisis and now has 60.
5. Our contact emphasized that it was very important to the women in the union that they were not only fighting for their wages, jobs, etc. but also for their dignity. It offends them very deeply that management would attempt to justify their dismissal by saying they do poor quality work. They are proud of the work they do and want to be treated with respect. It's about that as much as it is about economics.
6. There is still supposedly no work to be done in Cimatextiles, but according to the workers all that work has now just shifted over to Choishin, where they've added on a night shift (and brought in workers from other factories) to handle all the additional work. The night shift works from 7 pm to 5 am.
---
The above was written by Dr. Angelina Godoy, from a phone conversation with our contact at SitraCima, and posted by Travis.
---
Here are the details of what's up with them:
1. The union has committed to staying in the factory at all times, including these overnight sleeping shifts, until every last worker receives her severance pay as promised. They have been sleeping in the factory every night since May 14.
2. Aside from all the prior history, there are reasons to suspect bad faith on the part of management. As everyone who's met with the women in Guate will remember them explaining, one of the ways management has opposed the union in the past is by buying off some workers to be loyal to them and criticize the union, so as a result of this at various times there have been groups of workers who opposed the union within the factory. These groups were reactivated this past week. The union leaders and management were in negotiations midweek, but then the union leaders said they could not definitively agree to everything in the agreement until they'd presented the plan to the General Assembly of their membership today (Saturday) for a vote. Between the time the deal was struck and today, the Chief of Personnel went and told the workers in their anti-union groups that he himself had achieved all these things in one day, and that the union was going to claim it had been in some "negotiations" but that was all a lie, this was his proposal. These rumors spread quickly in the factory, and (this part I don't quite understand) workers in these anti-union groups filed a complaint against the union in the Labor Inspectorate. So now four Labor Inspectors are coming out on Monday to inspect the union to find out about its alleged misdeeds. (?)
3. Some of these ani-union workers have been threatening our contact, the SitraCima leader. Everyone knows they work closely with management, but management has been careful not to themselves threaten her. At least this week. More commonly, she is insulted, sometimes really grossly, but sometimes the comments are threatening.
4. The union had approx 150 members prior to this crisis and now has 60.
5. Our contact emphasized that it was very important to the women in the union that they were not only fighting for their wages, jobs, etc. but also for their dignity. It offends them very deeply that management would attempt to justify their dismissal by saying they do poor quality work. They are proud of the work they do and want to be treated with respect. It's about that as much as it is about economics.
6. There is still supposedly no work to be done in Cimatextiles, but according to the workers all that work has now just shifted over to Choishin, where they've added on a night shift (and brought in workers from other factories) to handle all the additional work. The night shift works from 7 pm to 5 am.
---
The above was written by Dr. Angelina Godoy, from a phone conversation with our contact at SitraCima, and posted by Travis.
Protest!
Yesterday, we demonstrated in front of Macy's and Talbots downtown. We met at Westlake Park around 2:30, across the street from Macy's and Talbots.
We marched to Talbots and held a mock trial with nine foot tall puppets.
The crowd gave a guilty verdict.
Then we headed to Macy's. The group split up into two: the outside protesters, chanting and holding signs, and the inside protesters, who "slept in" with signs, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Rod Palmquist, front, was one of the illegally detained.
Carrie Vincler holds the bullhorn on which Rod Palmquist speaks. April Nishimura, who was also illegally detained, walking away from the security guard who would, moments later, violently twist Rod's arm behind his back. Rod did not resist.
Those of us who were inside filed back out to rejoin the rest of the crowd. As April was following everyone to make sure no one was left behind, a security guard nabbed her and detained her for 90 minutes. She was not harmed. Our legal observer, Larry Hildes, later went into Macy's to challenge the students' illegal detentions. Smalls returned to twist his arm, and illegally detained Hildes, as well.
We chanted for workers' rights and the release of our compañer@s.
We returned to Westlake Park to rally.
Palmquist, Nishimura, and Hildes were released due to sustained protesting and chanting by their compañer@s outside of Macy's. None was booked, charged, or fined.
We are exploring the possibility of legal action against Macy's, for their security guards' overzealous and violent suppression of the protest.
We marched to Talbots and held a mock trial with nine foot tall puppets.
The crowd gave a guilty verdict.
Then we headed to Macy's. The group split up into two: the outside protesters, chanting and holding signs, and the inside protesters, who "slept in" with signs, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Rod Palmquist, front, was one of the illegally detained.
Carrie Vincler holds the bullhorn on which Rod Palmquist speaks. April Nishimura, who was also illegally detained, walking away from the security guard who would, moments later, violently twist Rod's arm behind his back. Rod did not resist.
Those of us who were inside filed back out to rejoin the rest of the crowd. As April was following everyone to make sure no one was left behind, a security guard nabbed her and detained her for 90 minutes. She was not harmed. Our legal observer, Larry Hildes, later went into Macy's to challenge the students' illegal detentions. Smalls returned to twist his arm, and illegally detained Hildes, as well.
We chanted for workers' rights and the release of our compañer@s.
We returned to Westlake Park to rally.
Palmquist, Nishimura, and Hildes were released due to sustained protesting and chanting by their compañer@s outside of Macy's. None was booked, charged, or fined.
We are exploring the possibility of legal action against Macy's, for their security guards' overzealous and violent suppression of the protest.
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