Just Harvest Tribute to Jane Becker

USW International Vice President Fred Redmond and George and Jane Becker Memorial award recipient Sister Simone Campbell.

USW International Vice President Fred Redmond and George and Jane Becker Memorial award recipient Sister Simone Campbell.

Members of 3657’s Women of Steel attended Just Harvest’s Annual Harvest Celebration Dinner in honor of the late Jane Becker, a Lifetime United Steelworkers (USW) activist, on Tuesday, October 22 in Pittsburgh, PA.

At Tuesday’s event, the keynote speaker award was renamed the George and Jane Becker Memorial Award for the Becker’s service to Just Harvest over the last 25 years.  The recipient of this year’s award was Sister Simone Campbell, a religious leader who has dedicated her life to social justice and helping those in need.

Jane Becker served on Just Harvest’s board of directors in the early 1990s and was on the planning committee for the Harvest Celebration Dinner in the first few years of the event.  In 2006, she was honored, along with her husband, the late USW International President George Becker, with Just Harvest’s Seeds of Justice award – an award presented to individuals or organizations that make an extraordinary contribution in advancing Just Harvest’s mission to eliminate hunger and poverty.

In addition to her work with Just Harvest, Jane Becker was a founding member of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) with a strong commitment to mentoring the Next Generation of labor activists.

“She was a leader in her own right, a great activist for working and retired men and women who was always willing to volunteer and always willing to advance the cause of workers,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

Jane Becker passed away in July and is survived by three sons, George F. III, Gregory and Matthew William; 10 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

3657 New Member Alert!

Luis Mendoza

Luis Mendoza recently relocated to Pittsburgh from the State of Virginia.  He was a Staff Rep in District 8, but will now be working as a Technician in the Collective Bargaining Department.  Luis says, “I look forward to meeting everyone and am glad to be a new member of Local 3657!”

Be sure to say hello and welcome Luis to our union if you see him out and about in the Pittsburgh office!

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Join the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) for food, music and other fun activities

This Saturday: Join your Local 3657 brothers and sisters this Saturday, October 12, as the Pittsburgh labor movement celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.

This weekend’s event, which will include tables for our local union and other local labor groups, will raise funds for the Latino Family Center. The event will run from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the USW headquarters and will include great Dominican, Mexican, and Peruvian food, salsa music from La Guaracha Latin Dance Band, and other activities for the whole family.

For more information please contact Guillermo Perez at 518-253-9120 or gperez@usw.org.

3657 New Member Alert!

Laurel Flaherty

Laurel Flaherty joins Local 3657 as an administrative assistant in the Legal department at the international headquarters in Pittsburgh. Before joining the USW, Laurel worked for 15 years with private-practice law firms as a legal secretary, paralegal and legal office administrator.

Be sure to say hello and welcome her to our union if you see her out and about in the Pittsburgh office!

UPMC: Stop Bullying Pittsburgh

 Pittsburghers are standing up to the city’s biggest bully: UPMC. Join us September 7th for a rally and march in Oakland to demand that UPMC act like a real charity.

 

Pittsburghers are demanding that UPMC executives STOP:

  • Firing and harassing workers organizing to build Pittsburgh’s middle class
  • Threatening to cut off access to patients who have the “wrong” insurance
  • Suing the taxpayers of Pittsburgh to avoid paying their fair share like the rest of us

 

In recent weeks, UPMC has taken its attack on labor and our community to a new level – inviting the National Right to Work Committee into Pittsburgh to run expensive TV ads attacking unions! This has become a fight not just of UPMC workers, but of all of labor in our region.

 

Enough is enough. It’s time for our region’s largest “charity” to start acting like one!

 

RALLY AND MARCH

Saturday, September 7th at 11 am

Bigelow Blvd and Forbes Ave in Oakland

 

Click here to RSVP.

New ‘Safe Markets’ Website

Please check out this website launched today by the Workgroup for Safe Markets. It is a collection of groups united by common concern about hazardous chemicals in our homes, our bodies and our environment; and a common vision of a cleaner, healthier economy.

Visit www.safemarkets.org or the links below to find out more.

Why Chemicals Matter: http://www.safemarkets.org/why-chemicals-matter

Toxic Chemicals in Products: http://www.safemarkets.org/toxic-chemicals-in-products/overview

Finding Safer Products: http://www.safemarkets.org/finding-safer-products-simple-steps-to-protect-your-health-and-family

RESOLUTION REGARDING TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING

Adopted:  July 25, 2013

WHEREAS, USW Local 3657 is committed to promoting and advancing the cause of social and economic justice, and equality for everyone, and;

WHEREAS, USW Local Union 3657 is committed to the principles of non-violence as advocated for and demonstrated through the work of civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph, and;

WHEREAS, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager was racially profiled while walking down the street and unjustifiably killed, and;

WHEREAS, in 1955 Mamie Bradley Till, with the assistance of USW activist Rayfield Mooty and other labor leaders throughout the country, organized rallies and demonstrations to bring attention to the horrific murder of  her son Emmett Till, demanding justice and igniting the spark to the American Civil Rights Movement, and;

WHEREAS, the protection of our most basic civil and human rights are sacred and when those rights are violated, the federal government must uphold them when state and local government will not;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we demand that Attorney General Eric Holder and the United States Justice Department conduct a thorough investigation into the violation of Trayvon Martin’s civil rights, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we send this resolution to Attorney General Eric Holder and to the congressional representatives in the jurisdiction of the members of our local union, to our senators, to our members, community allies and partners asking for their immediate concurrence and action.

Bug Bites vs. Bug Repellents

Summer is the season of bug bites, and bug repellents. Many Local 3657 members will be spending a lot of time outdoors with their families and might be surprised to learn that both the bugs and the repellants you use can pose risks for you and your children. The Environmental Working Group, the nation’s leading environmental health research and advocacy organization, recently released a report that can help you decide what repellant is right for you. Click here to read more.