Last month Fight Back Pittsburgh was hard at work organizing in Pittsburgh and on the road. On October 11th we sent a delegation to Metropolis to stand on the picket line with the members of Local 7-669 at Honeywell. The delegation continued on to Ferguson on October  12 and 13 to join people from across the nation for a day of action in solidarity with Mike Brown and other victims of police brutality. We also sent a delegation to New York City on September 21 and 22 to take part in the the largest climate march in history. 300,000 people marched together in the streets of New York City to fight against climate injustice. 2,646 solidarity actions in 162 countries participated in this international day of action. On October 23rd Fight Back Pittsburgh members participated in a 3,000 person sit in for Flood Wall Street in New York City as well.

In Pittsburgh, we co-sponsored a solidarity action with Ferguson on Columbus day and worked with the Alliance for Police Accountability and other organizations for the National Day of Action To End Police Brutality on October 22nd where at least 100 people came out to hear organizers and community members from BPEP, HRC Fed Up!, New Voices Pittsburgh and others.

We have also been busy helping workers fight back right here in the city. Organizing efforts at the Childrens Museum are proceeding on pace. Workers got together on October 5th for their first big organizing meeting and are planning to move forward on November 2 with a silk-screening event. The Fight Back at Work Committee sent a delegation to a Shadyside salon where an employee who was experiencing harassment in the workplace was being retaliated against by their bosses for making a complaint. Our New Community Committee is developing a plan to help the Pittsburgh community fight back against greedy landlords as well!

Perhaps the most exciting news for Fight Back Pittsburgh is that we have hired our first employee! Fight Back Pittsburgh member Rachel Nunes applied for a $15,400 grant with the Berger’s Marks Foundation to fund a project focusing on building a diverse corps of Fight Back Pittsburgh members. She will be developing a bi-monthly woman’s story and skill sharing hour, developing a know your rights at work, civil rights/sexual harassment workshop, a train the trainer workshop, and will be working on organizing a city-wide women’s labor solidarity event.

It’s been a busy and exciting month for the organization and we are excited to continue these organizing efforts into November!

Convention is Over, the Election Season is Almost Over…Now the International needs to respond to our concerns.

The issues that we have been waiting on the International to respond to have been piling up dramatically over the past several months. We’re waiting on responses on grievances, information requests, issues brought up during our human relations committee meetings, scheduling of anti-harassment training, expanding our anti-discrimination language, printing our contracts and dozens of other issues. Over the summer we were told that things would need to wait until after Convention. After convention we were told that things would need to wait until after the Elections. Now with the election season almost over there are no more excuses. We need answers and we need to move some of this important work forward.

Local 3657 is compiling a list of items we are waiting on responses to and starting right after the election we are going to publish it on our website and e-mail it out to our membership and to the International Union each month until all open items are resolved. We will also likely be organizing activities to put some additional pressure on the International Union to encourage them to respect our Local Union and respond to our concerns in an timely and appropriate manner.

If any committees have concerns that have been raised with the International but have not yet been addressed, please get them to Patrick Young or Dianne Babin as quickly as possible.

Building Deeper Relationships in the Field

Over the next two months we plan on taking some steps to help deepen our relationships with our sisters in the field. Districts 1 and 9 are planning their fellowship events in November and December and we are going to make sure that we have a representative from the executive board travel out to those events to meet with those members, hear their concerns and begin to identify some additional activists who would be interested in stepping up to be more involved in our local union.

Taking Action Around Pittsburgh

Over the past month, Local 3657 activists have been very active around Pittsburgh and around the country. On October 6^th, Fight Back Pittsburgh hosted youth activists from around the city for a Next Gen night at its monthly membership meeting. On October 11, Local 3657 activists traveled to Metropolis, Illinois to take to the streets with Local 7-669 who has been locked out at that site for almost three months. Then the team of 3657 and Fight Back Pittsburgh road warriors traveled on to Ferguson, Missouri to participate in the “Ferguson October” protests demanding justice for Michael Brown and an end to police violence. On October 22, Local 3657 activists participated in the National Day of Action against Police Brutality. Guillermo Perez spoke at that protest representing our local and LCLAA. Later that night, about a dozen members of Local 3657 attended the annual Just Harvest dinner to support an important local charity.

First ‘Solidarity Happy Hour’

This Thursday, October 30^th, Local 3657 is hosting our first ‘Solidarity Happy Hour’ at Genoa’s Pizzeria at 111 Market St. We’ve invited activists from Fight Back Pittsburgh and local union leaders from USW oil sector locals around the country to join us. This is the first of a series of ‘Solidarity Happy Hours’ and we are hoping that these events will allow us to build deeper and stronger relationships with each other as well as our key allies in the community and around our union. If you’re available please join us on Thursday, October 30^th at 5pm at Genoa’s on Market Street.