USW Local 3657

Civil Rights COMMITTEE

Committee Report for January 2015

The Committee met this month and reports the following:

1. On January 8th and 9th Doug Ward and Guillermo Perez attended the AFL-CIO Mass Incarceration train-the-trainer in Washington, D.C., which is part of their Common Sense Economics Workshops. The goal of the training is to organize labor and community presentations of these materials throughout the U.S. which deal with the role that organized labor must play in addressing the new Jim Crow that our current system of mass imprisonment of people of color represents. Their goal from this training is to bring what was learned back to our local, district and community. There are 2 trainings already scheduled for February, one for the district and the other for the community, which we will be asking for the Local’s support. It was a great opportunity and we would like to sincerely thank Local 3657 for allowing them to attend.
2. On January 11th the Pittsburgh Chapter of LCLAA (Labor Council for Latin American Advancement) had a successful Three Kings event. Close to a hundred families attended and enjoyed traditional Three Kings cake and tamales. The LCLAA chapter recruited seven new members and we were able to announce that for the first time undocumented children in the Pittsburgh area can now qualify for the Pittsburgh Promise. The event was organized by a coalition of groups with support from ATU Local 85, UFCW Local 23, USW District 10, One Pittsburgh, Casa San Jose, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, and the Latino Family Center. We want to extend our gratitude to LU 3657 your continued support. We had an amazing time with a great effort from all.
3. Doug Ward attended the AFL-CIO 2015 MLK Civil and Human Rights Conference Jan. 15-19 in Atlanta, GA on behalf of Local 3657. Please see report.
4. EEOC Report – We briefly discussed the Local’s making an information request for the most recent EEOC report from the international within the near future.
5. CLUW – In an effort to help revive our local CLUW and WOS chapters the CRC committee is requesting the Local send 2 members to The Crossroads Conference. The Crossroads Conference will provide an opportunity for USW local 3657 to work with the Women and Girls Foundation to promote union membership as a key support for women navigating the crossroads of life. The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is 2

listed as a “career” resource on the conference materials, and this conference is a chance for our Civil and human Rights committee to begin the steps to revive CLUW and WOS in Pittsburgh.

6. PAW (Pride at Work) – In December Pittsburgh PAW chapter was approved. Michael Kessler, AJ, Joshua Rafsky and Matt Yarnell are the elected officers. They are planning a coming out/announcement. And attempting to get their information to all the CLCs, ALFs, LGBT groups/newspapers, etc. The PA AFLCIO will be assisting in this effort. Next month at the PA AFL-CIO Executive Board meeting in Harrisburg, AJ and Michael will be sworn in, which will give them a voice at the statewide meetings. Their Facebook page went live January 20th, “Pride at Work-Pennsylvania” please LIKE and invite and share!!
7. CBTU – In our next meeting we will be solidifying our direction for the year and will keep the Local posted.
8. We are in the process of planning our next training on Institutional Racism and we believe we may have found our presenter to provide diversity training. We are also putting together our calendar of events for the month of February. We understand that every month is Black History Month, but want to contribute to the month recognized by our nation as Black History Month.
9. CRC was thrilled to welcome Yesenia Yannet Alfaro from District 13, Brittani Murray and Janene Hogan from the Accounting Dept. of our Int’l HQ as the newest members of the committee.