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.

USW Local 3657

New Member

Committee Report

Our next New Member Orientation will be held on February 10, 2015 from 9 AM – noon.

Participants will receive invitations through their departments.  Please RSVP to Carolyn Kazdin at ckazdin@usw.org Lunch will follow.

MOTION – to authorize the New Member committee to spend up to $375 for lunch at the New Member Orientation on February 10.  Participating new members in the field will be reimbursed up to $15 upon submitting receipts for lunch on February 10^th.

USW Local 3657

Health and Safety

Committee Report

At our last local union meeting we presented Janet and Diane’s long report on the need to make the bathrooms in our building ADA compliant. In order to move that ahead, our committee is going to set a time with Patrick to do a walk through of the building so he can better present the problem to the International.

USW Local 3657

Rapid Response

Committee Report

All members, please go to today’s (1-26-15) USW News Breaks e-mail, scroll down to the AFL-CIO’s Action Alert, Click more and sign the petition to stop Fast Track !!!  If this trade deal is passed, more American jobs will be lost. Support good jobs, not Corporate Greed !!!

USW Local 3657

Women of Steel

Committee Report

Steffi Domike, Julie Stein and Lori Bookwood have offered to get the committee up and running again with me.

February meeting Monday February 12th

We would like to send one person to the Crossroads Conference in conjunction with one person going from CLUW (Notified by the Civil Rights Committee) The early registration is due by Saturday Jan 31st( I can register in my name and change to whomever we decide can attend) Cost of conference will be $125

Chili Cook-off for March

Take your Child to Work Day in April

“Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.” — Martin Luther King

Join us for a march and rally against police brutality and racism on Martin Luther King day and keep his legacy alive by demanding an end to all forms of racist wars: from the domestic war waged against the poor and working Black and Latino communities to the imperialist wars on the poor and working people all over the world.

Related: Read USW Local 3657’s Statement on the Killings of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, John Crawford and Too Many Black Men and Other People of Color.