May Day Marcha at Plaza del Zacate

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2009 INTERNATIONAL WORKER'S DAY:
Rally, March & Music

People's Demands:
NO to anti-immigrant legislation and the criminalization of immigrant communities.
NO to militarization of the border.
NO to immigrant detention & deportation.
NO to the guest worker program.
NO to employer sanction and "no match" letters.
YES to a path to legalization without condition for undocumented immigrants NOW.
YES to speedy family reunification.
YES to civil rights & humane immigration law.
YES to labor rights & living wages for all workers.
YES to education & LGBTQ immigrant legislation.

4:30 - 6:30pm DJ/Rally at Milam Park (Plaza del Zacate)

6:30pm March to Main Plaza

7:30-9pm Live music/Rally

live music from Karma :: Arma Musical :: Itzli :: records from DJ Victima :: testimony from migrant workers, families, students and their allies

The May 1st Coalition is Fuerza Unida, Brown Berets, Zapatista Council, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, LULAC, Tejas Indigenous Organization, Iglesia Guadalupe, Southwest Workers Union, Mexican American Community College, Migrantes Unidos Sin Fronteras, Border Ambassadors and Local 782 (SA Music Coalition).

Express-News article

Port Isabel Detention Center Update

Hola Compañer@s,

This is an informal update.

Southwest Workers' Union wants to thank Proyecto Azteca, the International of Workers' of the World, and South Texas Immigration Council as well as other community members who showed up to the ralley and others who support these efforts who may not have been able to participate today.

At todays ralley we were about 20 people and 15 people are fasting. We marched in past the gate towards the guards. Were were stopped by an ICE officer and told to turn around because we were on their property. We were not allowed to see Asst. Feild Officer Michael Watkins or speak to any other official. We turned in the letter. And told him to tell the hunger strikers that we are supporting them and are fasting. I do not expect them to do this.

However, Rama Carty left me a message. He said he is happy to know we were out there this morning and getting some attention. Press has also been calling and this has caused more pressure.

Now, Rama tells us that PIDC and Michael Watkins are trying to deport as many of the hunger strikers out as soon as possible to break the strike. Michel Watkins is directly responsable for any harm that comes to any of the detainees, he is the Asst. Field Director for the PIDC. He is the one who has been in direct contact with the hunger strikers and planning on how to break the strike, talking to them, isolating detainees and pressuring them to eat. We heard that this pressure is invcreasing after todays action and they got calls from press. We must make this public and continue to pressure them with community participation. We told the ICE officer who confronted us that we wanted Michael Watkins to know that we aware of that they are doing in our community and we do not want this in our community. We are holding him directly responsible if there is any harm to the health and safety of any of the detainees, especially Colin Roach who we know he has isolated and we fear for his safety. Michael Watkins will be accountable for any abuse.

While we were out side the detention center family members of a detainee who had just come out of the facility asked what was happening, they were unaware of the strike. They asked us for information on the strike and conditions, they say they will tell their family member to pass the word that the strike is still on and that there is community support. They told me that they support the strike and will try to get the word to spread in the facility through their family member.

We must continue to escalate the pressure. We do not want "Gitmo" in our community! Stop the abuse!

¡Que Viva la Huelga!

-Anayanse Garza
Southwest Workers' Union
956.207.9459

Please see SWU's action alert and sample letter, here

Declaracion Primero del Mayo

Support Human Rights for Migrants

Please read and sign-on to the national declaration, Primero de Mayo

Austin cafeteria workers reach deal on uniform money

District agrees to provide allowance for this spring, 2009-10 year.

By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, April 16, 2009

Austin school district administrators have reached a tentative agreement with food service workers who said it was unfair to ask the district's approximately 750 cafeteria employees — among the district's lowest-paid workers — to pay for their own uniforms and hairnets.

The district agreed Tuesday to pay food service workers an annual uniform and equipment allowance of $100 this spring and in the 2009-10 school year, Southwest Workers Union representative Chavel Lopez said. The union represents about 200 school district employees.

The district's decision is in response to a grievance filed in November 2007 by six food service workers. The workers intend to sign the settlement agreement this week, Lopez said.

The workers estimate that the uniforms — a pair of black pants, a black or white collared shirt, rubber-soled shoes and a hairnet — cost about $215. Petronila Suyapa Torrez, a five-year veteran of the Bowie High School cafeteria who signed the original grievance, said that if the $100 allowance agreement is finalized, she will buy a good pair of work shoes.

"I know that some colleagues spent at least $115 for good work shoes, but I'll look for something similar that doesn't cost as much," she said. "As for the other people I work with, I'm not sure what part of the uniform they'll spend their money on. I can tell you, a lot of them haven't been able to buy simple shirts."

This year's $100 allowance will not require board approval, but the allowance for next year would be included as part of the district's annual budget and would require board approval, district officials said. The allowances would cost about $75,000 this year.

Several local school districts, including Hays and Eanes, provide food service workers with some elements of their uniforms. But Austin food service workers receive higher starting wages, $10 an hour, compared with $9.10 in Hays and $9.24 in Eanes, and receive more paid holidays.

Currently, Austin supplies uniforms only to district police officers and campus security guards. Lopez said that the Southwest Workers Union now plans to help district custodians and bus drivers file grievances seeking uniform allowances.

School district general counsel Mel Waxler said administrators will consider those requests as they come forward.

mbloom@statesman.com; 445-3620

Immigration activists plan march and rally on May 1

By Elaine Ayala - Express-News

While thousands gathered to see San Fernando Cathedral's annual Passion Play, on the steps of City Hall, not far away, the May 1 Coalition had a hard time drawing a crowd to hear its call for immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform.

Made up of dozens of social justice and civil rights groups, the San Antonio coalition also announced plans for its fourth annual May 1 International Workers Day March & Rally at 6 p.m. May 1 at Milam Park.

About 30 people gathered to hear coalition members speak, a large image of the late union leader César Chávez held above them.

Their signs declared that “No human being is illegal,” and leaflets called for an end to workplace raids and the Iraq war and demanded a living wage and “no bailout for the rich people.”

Coalition members shouted slogans, in English and Spanish, such as “Hey Obama! What do you say? We don't want a wall on the border. No way!”

Che Lopez of the Southwest Workers Union, a coalition member, said cities and towns throughout the United States are planning marches May 1 to bring attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes the estimated 11 million to 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the country.

Lopez stressed ending deportations.

“It's a faith-based message not to divide families,” he said.

“They don't have constitutional rights, but they have human rights,” activist Gabriel Quintero Velasquez said in an emotional prayer ending the news conference. “They are children of God.”

The coalition includes representatives from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the Mexican American Catholic College, Fuerza Unida, the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center and the Texas Indigenous Council.

For more on the march, call (210) 299-2666.

Silenced voices from the toxic triangle

Greg M. Schwartz gschwartz@sacurrent.com San Antonio Current

San Antonio Metro Health says it’s trying to “cover all the bases” when it comes to analyzing the health issues that plague the city’s “toxic triangle” by the former Kelly Air Force Base. But that only seems to apply to reasons other than the toxic contaminants in the underground plume emanating from the base being responsible for the health problems. When there’s evidence to indicate that the plume may be indeed be responsible for some of the cancers and birth defects, it seems like it is swept aside.

Case in point — last month’s report from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science and Technology titled “ATSDR: Problems in the Past, Potential for the Future?” The report ripped the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for its shoddy analytical work.

“The Subcommittee has heard from many sources examples of jackleg science by ATSDR and their keenness to please industries and government agencies that prefer to minimize public health consequence,” said Chairman Brad Miller (D-NC) upon the report’s release.

The report cited ten examples of such jackleg science, with the former Kelly AFB being among them. Yet Metro Health Director Fernando Guerra admitted today that he hadn’t even read the 33-page report (released a month ago), despite the fact that much of Metro Health’s own analysis of the situation at Kelly uses ATSDR’s work as a foundation.

“Dr. Guerra has consistently downplayed the health problems in the Kelly community and any link to the contamination [from the base],” said Southwest Workers Union Environmental Justice Coordinator Lara Cushing in a prescient comment last week. “I doubt that EPA, TCEQ or Metro Health will give much attention to the new Congressional report. They've made up their mind on this community long ago.”

Perhaps even more troubling is the silencing of Professor Timothy Aldrich, an expert in cancer clusters from East Tennessee State University, who was brought in by Metro Health contractor HealthCare Resolution Services in 2006 to examine the reports of elevated liver cancers in the areas surrounding Kelly.

The Express-News reported in 2007 that Aldrich’s report was “quietly released” to city council but that a planned meeting to announce the results to those living in the affected neighborhoods was never held.

Could this be because Aldrich’s findings were deemed politically inconvenient? Aldrich’s analysis suggested that even after accounting for all other potential factors — such as lifestyle and genetics — that 11.5 percent of the cancers in the neighborhoods examined “may be attributable to residing over the Kelly ... plume."

Metro Health then put together a “blue ribbon” panel of “experts in cancer” to review Aldrich’s report (a roster of which the Current is awaiting.) That panel ruled that “of particular concern as an outcome of this report was its discussion of attributable risk. The panel felt that this study, as presented, could not accurately conclude anything about attributable risk.”

The panel went on to say Aldrich’s report had “significant flaws,” though little detail was given to specifying those flaws. The panel said that “while an epidemiological study would be potentially feasible, it would be a massive undertaking and extremely expensive.”

They instead suggested that “other ongoing scientific investigations that might shed light on this overall issue” should be pursued. These included estimating the rate of hepatitis in the area, as well as a study of possible aflatoxin exposure (a toxic mold that can grow in corn and other crops.) Documentation of such exposure, however, has most commonly been observed in third world countries.

“[Aldrich’s] info was of concern because it wasn’t jiving with what we already had from the state,” said Guerra regarding how Aldrich came up with conclusions that did not agree with data from the Texas Cancer Registry. Guerra says it wasn’t Metro Health’s desire to withhold anything from the community. “It was clear that he exceeded what he was meant to have done and there was concern about methodology.”

“He didn’t establish a [toxicological] pathway to the community,” added Metro Health Assistant Director Charles Pruski.

“The reason we had it peer reviewed is because there were things that just didn’t add up,” said Metro Health’s Kyle Cunningham, who served as a liaison to Aldrich on the project.

Guerra says Metro Health didn’t want the report released because they didn’t feel that it offered accurate information and that it’s standard contract language for Metro Health to reserve the right not to publish such work.

Tim Aldrich is curiously not allowed to defend his work, however. Upon being contacted for an interview last week, Aldrich informed the QueQue that he has been essentially gagged from speaking about his report. He said in an email that he was required to direct such inquiry to either Dr. Guerra or HealthCare Resolution Services President Brenda Doles, the latter of which he said had threatened him with a breach of contract lawsuit if he published the report on his own or spoke about it to the media.

Dr. Guerra and other Metro Health officials begged innocence when questioned about the gagging of Aldrich.

“I have no knowledge of the threat of a lawsuit,” said Pruskie, who claimed that HCRS is “a contractor, not a partner” of Metro Health. Talk about splitting hairs — Metro Health hired HCRS, which in turn hired Aldrich. But it apparently allows Metro Health to pass the buck to HCRS on the matter of Aldrich’s gagging.

“It sounds like another betrayal of the Kelly community by the agency that is supposed to protect us from toxic health threats, not cover them up,” said SWU’s Cushing upon hearing about the suppression of Aldrich’s voice.

The Maryland-based HCRS has boasted of its “roster of Air Force clientele,” and was chosen as a partner by Metro Health in 2006 after a request for proposals to conduct a study of the liver cancer deaths near Kelly. When Brenda Doles was recognized in 2006 as one of the Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business,” a press release indicated that HCRS’ revenues had “skyrocketed” to $7.4 million in 2004, $12 million in 2005 and a projected $20 million in 2006 “thanks to successfully fulfilling numerous government contracts, including several high-profile ones in the military.”

The Southwest Workers Union believes the gagging of Aldrich by HCRS may well suggest a possible conflict of interest.

"The Air Force wants to walk away from Kelly by the end of next year and leave behind highly contaminated soils and water, clean up procedures expected to take decades, and a contaminated Leon Creek. Failing to connect the cancer epidemic to the contamination essentially lets the Air Force get away with murder, because without this ‘missing link’ the Department of Defense is never held to account for the suffering of workers and the community,” said Cushing.