Wish you had been at Saturday’s “letter drop”? Well, here’s the next best thing. Check-out this amazing video from our internal media team! Stay tuned for updates on upcoming “letter drops”.
The Baltimore Brew was present for yesterday’s “letter drop” at the Gallery Mall across from the harbor. Here’s an excerpt from the article.
The “letter drop” was not a merchandising gimmick, but instead marked the start of a renewed campaign by Baltimore-based United Workers to draw attention to what they call human rights violations tolerated by mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).
To read the full article, go to www.baltimorebrew.com
Today’s “letter drop” marked a major ramp-up in the Human Rights Zone Campaign. Saturday, December 10, 2009, two years ago to this day, we mailed harbor developers a letter notifying them of the intolerable working conditions at their malls and calling on them to meet workers demands. For two years, GGP has deliberately ignored our repeated attempts at dialogue. Enough is enough, we demand action now!
To bring our message home, we staged a dramatic “letter drop” on GGP’s Gallery Mall across from the Inner Harbor. While consumers were busy doing their holiday shopping, we captured attention by releasing 10, 000 copies of the letter from third and fourth floor balconies. An explosion of color flooded the space, yellow and black balloons ascended and descended amidst a flurry of yellow paper. While shoppers gazed with curiosity, we chanted, “What do we want!? Human Rights! When do want it!? Now!” Consumers picked up the letters and began reading them. Some pulled out their phones and cameras to document the action. Others even joined in on the chanting.
But today’s “letter drop” was just the beginning. We plan on staging “letter drops” at GGP malls across the country until GGP meets our demands to the right to work with dignity, healthcare and education for all low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
What better time than the holidays to educate consumers about GGP’s human rights record. Stay tuned for videos from today’s action and more to come!
GGP, two years is too long. Today’s “letter drop” at your harbor mall is just the beginning. We have tried for two years to notify you of the human rights abuses of workers at your development in the hope that you would come to the table with workers to ensure basic human rights standards at the Inner Harbor. You have ignored us, turned us away and avoided us for two years. Enough is enough. Today marked a major ramp-up in the fight for Fair Development and we will continue “letter drops” at GGP malls across the country until you meet harbor workers demands to a right to work with dignity, healthcare and education.
Repeated Attempts
Stop the hypocrisy, meet workers demands
The abuses at the Inner Harbor are an affront to human dignity and go against everything that you claim to represent. You say, “We know that how we treat our employees and how our vendors provide for their employees touches the lives of hardworking families and impacts the communities where we do business.” You talk about sustaining “a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees.” You claim to, “support the communities where our properties are located” and “consider the human toll when making business decisions.” But your words and your deeds do not match. There is a word for it. It’s called “hypocrisy.” The time is now for you to “consider the human toll” of poverty wages, wage-theft, lack of healthcare, and barriers to education on workers and the community.
While shoppers flood your malls this holiday season, it will be the workers working late hours, overtime, who keep your malls running. We deserve to be treated as human beings, not robots. We demand action now!
On Saturday, December 10th, International Human Rights Day, harbor workers will make a major announcement in the Human Rights Zone Campaign. Two years ago on this very same day while on the Fair Food Solidarity Tour with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, we mailed an important letter to Inner Harbor developers, General Growth Properties (GGP) and the Cordish Co, from a small post office in Immokalee, Florida. This letter notified the developers of serious human rights violations of workers taking place at their malls and called on GGP and Cordish to come to the table with workers to resolve these abuses.
Download PDF of the Letter Sent to Developers with Our Demands
Two years have passed since this day and no major efforts have been made by harbor developers to improve human rights standards at their malls. GGP has not once acknowledged workers demands, despite repeated attempts for dialogue. GGP’s silence and inaction have been an attempt at putting up moral blinders to the intolerable working conditions at Harborplace: poverty wages, rampant wage theft, sexual harrasment, and lack of healthcare to name a few. In their view, if they don’t acknowledge a problem exists, then they don’t have to deal with it. But by ignoring workers for two years, they are also suggesting that workers are beneath their most basic consideration.
How long must workers wait for their voices to be heard? Not long. That’s because harbor workers are making a major announcement that will be a dramatic step in the Human Rights Zone Campaign. Stay posted for this upcoming announcement!
We kicked off the Fair Development Conference with an evening of music, food, and keynote speeches. The three guest keynotes included: Janaina Stronzake with the MST in Brazil, Marian Kramer with Michigan Welfare Rights Union, and Jan Rehmann, professor at Union Theological Seminary and co-author of Pedagogy of the Poor. In addition to our guest keynotes, three leaders with the United Workers spoke about our work: Michael Coleman, Armando Tema, and Janice Watson. Here are some of the videos of these inspiring and rousing speeches. More to come!
On Monday, November 17, Occupy Movement activists held a public meeting on the steps of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) to discuss the lack of human rights standards and public participation in the allocation of public money towards economic development in Baltimore. Organizers of this event invited Rev. Heber Brown of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, Benn Ray with Bmore Local, and Juan Paredes with the United Workers to speak about the human cost of decades of poverty-zone development on residents, small businesses, and workers. We stand in solidarity with the aims of the Occupy Movement and appreciated the opportunity to talk about the fight for Fair Development at the Inner Harbor. President of the BDC, “Jay” Brodie attended this public meeting, listened to testimony from community members, and responded to the crowd. He promised the crowd continued dialogue. Check out the video from this powerful action.
Check out the Real News Network’s coverage of last week’s Fair Development Conference.
Throughout the Fair Development Conference, participants, panelists and United Workers’ members were asked what Fair Development means to them. A few of those interviews can be seen below, building, expanding and collectively envisioning how Fair Development both stands in opposition to poverty zone development like that of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and extends to struggles across the country for land, healthcare, housing, love and dignity; or in short, people’s basic human rights.
Wow! What a powerful weekend. From Brazil to Detroit, more than 400 social movement activists and grassroots organizers participated in the Fair Development Conference to connect local struggles to a growing global movement for economic human rights and justice. Participants converged in Baltimore to take part in discussions, workshops and actions to build solidarity across issues of social, economic and environmental justice ranging from universal healthcare to anti-war organizing, all under the banner of “fair development for everyone.”
Check out the website for videos and photos posted over the course of the weekend
It was truly an inspiring event, from beginning to end. From the first night where we started by sharing a meal together to build community and listen to six commanding and clear keynote speakers set the tone and call to action for the collective task of building a global movement to end poverty for all.
Videos of the speeches are forthcoming.
On Saturday, over 40 grassroots, cultural, community, and labor leaders and groups presented in 24 workshops to exchange strategies and solutions for building power to put forward alternative visions of economic development based on fair development principles of respecting human rights, maximizing public benefits, and sustainability. The Fair Development Conference created a space for in-depth dialogue on how to stop private corporations and banks from reaping unprecedented profits as the economic crisis continues to ravage communities across the globe.
In a workshop entitled, “Resource Grabs,” we heard from Adam Hall of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation discuss the devastating effects that mountain top removal has had on the level of poverty and health of communities in West Virginia, including his family farm that had extended back generations and generations. The Vermont Workers Center shared insights into what led to their successful Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign. Marisela Gomez, former director of the Save Middle East Action Committee (SMEAC), gave a thorough presentation on the history of Johns Hopkins controversial redevelopment of East Baltimore that led to unprecedented displacement of residents.
If you came to the Fair Development Conference and just couldn’t go to every workshop you were interested in or if you just missed the conference, have no fear. Our amazing internal media team audio recorded just about every session. We will be posting all these soon, so be on the lookout.
Baltimore is a great example of how development affects ordinary people’s lives and on Sunday, we focused our attention on one of those examples, the Inner Harbor. Over 150 harbor workers, grassroots allies, and community members gathered for the “Haunted Harbor March.” See photos and from this playful and dramatic action.
The whole weekend was a stunning success. So many connections and friendship were made, solidified, and grew. We ate, prayed, reflected, learned, shared, danced, and marched together. Through that process we build lasting bonds of solidarity, shared a vision of a world free from poverty and exploitation, and re-equipped ourselves with new strategies and tools for realizing that vision.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Fair Development Conference!
After two days of amazing conversations, presentations, and workshops with social movement activists and organizers from all over the country and the globe, we closed the Fair Development Conference by taking that energy and spirit to the Inner Harbor.
On the eve of Halloween, harbor workers, grassroots allies, conference goers, and community members gathered to take part in telling the story of, “The Haunted Harbor: A Terrifying Tale of Poverty-Zone Development.” Dressed as zombie developers, ghosts of “poverty wages” and “disrespect,” and the protagonists of this story, the “Poverty Busters,” we took to the harbor making stops along the way to perform our play and hear from harbor workers and grassroots allies from the Baltimore Algebra Project, Occupy Baltimore, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Vermont Workers Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Poverty Initiative.
It was an incredible action, but the most powerful moment came when after three years of being denied access to march through our harbor, we took the promenade along the Inner Harbor in full view of workers and consumers. We stopped in the ampitheater in the center of Harborplace to tell the real story of the harbor, the story that is hidden, made invisible, but that workers know all too well. As Raquel Rojas, former Cheesecake Factory cook, recounted the wage theft and sexual harassment she experienced and witnessed, workers congregated on the balconies and at doorways to hear her story. Emboldened by our actions, we marched to the Cheesecake Factory where we stopped and chanted so all could hear our demands for worker dignity.
As we came to our final stop at the former location of the ESPN Zone and the new location of Phillips Seafood, one of the worst human rights violators in the harbor, it was a bittersweet moment. It was a bittersweet moment, because in the tale we performed, we as “Poverty Busters” had zapped the human rights abuses out of this dimension, freeing the harbor from the ghosts of poverty-zone development. But as we emerged from our playful fantasy, we knew the human rights abuses still existed and the harbor had yet to be transformed into a Human Rights Zone. We know that the road to Fair Development is long and has and will continue to require commitment, leadership and effective grassroots organizing to release the heart of our city from the shackles of poverty-zone development. It was also a bittersweet moment because the Fair Development Conference had officially come to an end and it was time to say good-bye to friends both new and old. We had shared and learned so much over the course of the weekend, we were inspired by the many stories of struggle and victory, reaffirming our collective commitment to building a united movement to create a just and equitable world for all.
The many pieces of fabric that made up the quilt of a collective vision of Fair Development were constructed throughout the day in the many workshops, conversations, meals shared and stories swapped. The intricacies of Fair Development became more defined as people elaborated on the three concepts of maximizing public benefits, respect for human rights and sustainability.
The Fair Development Photo Booth was one of the many places host to dozens of participants to express their vision for Fair Development. It quickly turned into a space for breaking down barriers of age and language where all could communicate a desire for a hopeful future. Check the photos out here:
While some expressed their sentiments on cardboard, still others conducted a series of short interviews. Check them out!
Finally, be sure to take a peruse through the many photos that captured the over twenty-five different workshops:
Over 150 people gathered at St. Johns Church (2640) for the first night of the Fair Development Conference.
The night began with people slowly trickling in, but soon filled the church space by the time the keynote speakers hit the stage. A musical trio opened up the conference with serenading sounds of justice and peace. Soon to follow was the main event of six, that’s right six keynote speakers, weaving a collective quilt illuminating not only the plight of the poor, but the fight of the poor in fighting for Fair Development and building a movement capable of ending poverty in the face of the growing economic crisis and deprivation for the many. Although stories ranged from the struggle here at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor to the struggle for land in Brazil, privatization of public resources in Detroit and beyond, strip-mining in Guatemala, and the growing gap between the expanding poor and rich, they told a collective story of workers coming together to globalize the struggle for human rights, hope and dignity.
See photos from the first day here:
After months of organizing, listening and planning with communities across Baltimore, the country and Brazil, the moment has arrived: Day 1 of the Fair Development Conference!
This weekend is sure to be historic for all of us as we come together to strategize and reflect on the current economic crisis, the state of social movements and collectively create a vision for a more just world that respects the human and ecological rights of everyone, everywhere.
Be sure to check the website regularly as we will be posting content constantly throughout the weekend. You can also follow us on facebook along with following AND (your) tweeting about the conference on twitter and by using the search hashtag #fairdev.
Pick up this week’s Baltimore City Paper or go online to read their article on the United Workers upcoming Fair Development Conference. In other news, the United Workers appeared on the Marc Steiner show with the Marian Kramer of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Sarah Weintraub of the Vermont Worker Center. The two media pieces draw connections between Fair Development, the Occupy Movements and the nature of a system built on poverty and poverty-zone development. If you missed the Steiner show you can have a listen here.
Here’s an excerpt from the City Paper article:
From February’s labor protests in Wisconsin to the 99 percenters currently camping out in New York’s Zuccotti Park, populist protest is suddenly all the rage. But movements for social change are nothing new. Take, for example, the United Workers, a Baltimore-based coalition of low-wage workers formed in 2002. In 2007, the United Workers lobbied for “living wages” at Camden Yards—and got them. Since then, the group has been campaigning on behalf of workers at the Inner Harbor, trying to institutionalize rights to health care and education.
To raise awareness of these efforts, the group has a history of putting on political events that go beyond the strictly political. In the past, that has resulted in street-side theatrical performances, a community fair, and, in true activist tradition, plenty of marches. This weekend, Oct. 28-30, UW hosts the Fair Development Conference, a gathering of grassroots organizations, political activists, community organizers, and other interested parties from as far as Brazil and as near as Baltimore . . .
The workshops, lectures, and presentations planned for the conference will take on much more than just the struggle for the soul of the harbor. And although fair development is the organizing principle behind the conference, the topic is interpreted broadly enough to include discussions on universal health care, permaculture design, and lessons drawn from the 19th-century movement to abolish slavery. One workshop will explore Johns Hopkins Hospital’s fraught relationship with the Middle East neighborhood, where it displaced hundreds of residents to build a controversial—and moribund—biotech park; another will spotlight worker-led organizations that have successfully lobbied for Taco Bell, Whole Foods, and other food-industry giants to raise wages for the people who pick their tomatoes.
To read the full article, go to http://citypaper.com
If work just ain’t fair
at the Harborplace
Who ya gonna call?
POVERTY BUSTERS!..
That’s right! For decades, the Inner Harbor has been haunted by labor and human rights abuses including: poverty wages, disrespect, sexual harassment, lack of healthcare, denying education opportunities, wage theft, unsafe work environments, and general exploitation for the sake of profit.
That’s why, Harbor workers, members and community artists have been preparing for a battle between between the “Poverty Busters” and the ghouls and goblins of Poverty-zone Development. On final day of the Fair Development Conference, Sunday, October 30th, United Workers will lead a march from the Baltimore Development Corporation down to the Inner Harbor featuring “Poverty Busters” lighting up their proton packs and blasting these abuses out of this dimension, replacing them with our shared fair development principles of Human Rights, Sustainability, and maximizing public benefits. During the march, harbor workers and community leaders from throughout the country will share how our struggles are connected and demonstrate that we have the strength and community power to save our Harbor from these monstrous abuses!
The march will feature participants from the Fair Development Conference, Harbor Workers, and allies from throughout the city and will feature Baltimore’s own Barrage Band Orchestra!
Check out the flickr photoset to see a preview of the Haunted Harbor in the making.
ACTION DETAILS
What: The Haunted Harbor March! A Terrifying Tale of Poverty Zone Development
When: Sun October 30th 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Gather at Charles St. & Lombard St.
The Media Mobilizing Project recently followed Tavis Smiley and Cornel West on a national Poverty Tour to make visible the plight and fight of the poor in the U.S. Last week, the Tavis Smiley show aired a five part series created by the Media Mobilizing Project encapsulating the stories, lessons, and struggles shared along this eye-opening journey. Ending on a truly inspiring note, the last segment focuses on groups and communities organizing to build a movement to end poverty. It includes interviews and discussion with The Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, Domestic Workers United in New York, Direct Action Welfare Group in West Virginia and Iraq Veterans Against the War, The Vermont Workers Center, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and yours truly, the United Workers. Need a dose of inspiration? Check it out.
Watch The Poverty Tour Part 5 on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.
To learn more about the Media Mobilizing Project go here or come to their Saturday workshop at the Fair Development Conference.
To watch the rest of the videos in this series, go to http://www.pbs.org
The Sun has invited participants at the Occupy Baltimore protest in the Inner Harbor to contribute articles about their experience, views and goals. This entry is written by Clayton Conn, a photo/multimedia freelance journalist from Baltimore.
Members of the United Workers, a Baltimore based human rights organization leading the fight for fair development — which respects human rights, maximizes public benefits and is sustainable — gave a workshop on Tuesday at the site of Occupy Baltimore.
The organization which is in the midst of a campaign for Fair Development in the Inner Harbor, spoke on the themes of jobs, privatization and economic human rights.
As critics continue to ask questions on the specific demands and goals of the Occupy Protests, the United Workers are among many groups locally and nationally providing concrete answers and strategies for solutions. In developing these answers, they will be hosting a Fair Development Conference at the end of this month (Fri. Oct 28-Sun. Oct. 30), with participants attending from around the world. The goals of this conference are to increase greater understanding of these challenging times, connect various fronts of struggle, share movement-building strategies and develop a collective vision for “fair development.”
Audio of the United Workers event is available here.
Did you know that the UN led a human rights investigation into the state of housing in America? Learn all about it at the Fair Development Conference, at the dinner, panel, and film screening presented by the The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. The documentary More Than A Roof follows the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing on her journey through the areas of the US hit hardest by the housing crisis. More than a Roof is ending a month-long national film tour in Baltimore at the Fair Development Conference! So, don’t miss this exciting opportunity.
Watch the trailer to get a sneak peek of some of the voices and stories that you will hear at Saturday evening’s special event.
After the screening, we’ll hear from some of the very same grassroots groups featured in the film. Max Rameau, Co-founder of the Take Back the Land Movement, Kendall Jackman from Picture the Homeless, Frank Sindaco from Northeast Pennsylvania Organizing Center and others will discuss the U.S. housing crisis and how communities are demanding their human right to housing.
Dinner starts at 5pm on Saturday, October 29th!
Then after the panel, don’t miss the costume dance party from 7 – 10PM!
The United Workers is a human rights organization led by low-wage workers. We are leading the fight for fair development, which respects human rights, maximizes public benefits and is sustainable.
Thanks 2 every1 who came 2 make MarchtoOccupy GGP a historic & FUN day! Our mediateam is hard @ work w/ photo & video. stay tuned #occupyggp RT @Andalalucha: @unitedworkers & allies & @Ciw demanding dignity for workers in Baltimore's inner Harbor http://t.co/tOfcz4TL
RT @Andalalucha: @unitedworkers & allies & @Ciw demanding dignity for workers in Baltimore's inner Harbor http://t.co/tOfcz4TL
RT @ryanharveysongs: Cops prevented us from marching on Inner Harbor. #occupyggp #occupybaltimore #ows
