Trabajadores Unidos

In front of Baltimore’s shuttered ESPN Zone, former ESPN Zone workers, harbor workers, and allies gathered to call on ESPN Zone to meet face to face with workers to resolve human rights abuses, including violation of the WARN Act, failing to give workers 60 days notice prior to closing.

One of those allies who came to stand in solidarity with ESPN Zone workers was Rev. Roger Scott Powers, Pastor of Light St. Presbyterian Church. As Rev. Powers opened us in reflection and prayer, a guard for the Cordish property ran up and attempted to grab the mic from him. But he continued praying for justice and dignity as the guard continued to disrupt the press conference by standing directly in front of him and telling him repeatedly that he was not allowed to be there, “We pray too for the executives that made this decision to close this ESPN Zone without giving fair notice to their employees. Stir their consciousness oh God. Instill in them a sense of justice and fairness. Help them to see the error of their ways. Bring them to the table to meet with these workers face to face. Open their hearts and minds…”

Watch the video of the guard attempting to shut-down the prayer.

As we know all too well, poverty-zone development can only be made tolerable by making workers and their conditions invisible. With cameras and reporters present, the attempts on the part of those who control the Inner Harbor to silence the calls for justice was exposed in plain view. ESPN workers, Debra Harris, Winston Gupton, and Leonard Gray, who had been told not to talk to the media by ESPN Zone management, spoke on behalf of the Human Rights Committee that has formed to demand justice in this shut-down. Leonard Gray announced, “Until the day that developers are held accountable for poverty-zone development and ensure basic human rights for all harbor workers, we are calling on ESPN Zone to right their wrong by responding within 7 days and meeting face to face with us to resolve these abuses.”

Check out the video of workers’ testimony.

Also there to speak in solidarity with the ESPN Human Rights Committee was Peter Sabonis of the Legal Aid Bureau, legal counsel to the United Workers. Sabonis spoke to the WARN Act and how ESPN Zone has clearly violated this worker protection.

After the press conference, workers and allies took their message directly to harbor consumers. With stacks of fliers in hand, we told consumers about the human rights zone campaign and this most recent and blatant example of worker disrespect.

More coverage of today’s press conference at the ESPN Zone:

“Recently let go ESPN Zone workers are protesting the decision to close the Inner Harbor restaurant,” ABC 2, June 30, 2009

“Former ESPN Zone workers protest sudden layoffs,” Baltimore Sun, June 30, 2009

MMP reports on Our Harbor Day and other May 1 actions across the northeast:

Big problems necessitate big solutions. Media Mobilizing Project’s work has focused on connecting the struggles of poor and working people in Greater Philadelphia in order to build a more powerful force for change than any single organization or sector could create on its own. We also recognize that the problems we face are not limited to this region. And we know that if we are to be successful, the solutions we are building cannot be smaller than the problems we face. The problems we face are not just about jobs, just about land, or just about health care – so our solution cannot be either. The problems we face do not just affect some racial groups, some genders, some religions or some age ranges – so our solution cannot either. The problems we face do not just exist in Philadelphia and other urban centers – so our solution cannot either.

On May 1, MMP joined our allies across the Northeast to celebrate International Workers Day and continue building our solution: a movement to end poverty led by poor and working people. Here are some photos and reports from United Workers Association’s Our Harbor Day in Baltimore, Maryland; Vermont Workers’ Center’s Health Care Is a Human Right rally in Montpelier, Vermont; CATA’s celebration in Kennett Square; and the May Day Rally and Family Unity BBQ here in Philadelphia. read more

Our Harbor Day as Leadership Development and Reflection of a Strategic Power Analysis:

The Harbor Day is significant for a number of reasons.  First, this was the latest step in a long term campaign for human rights in the workplace, a campaign that has already seen significant victories for the workers of Baltimore.  This campaign is built on the development of powerful leaders from the ranks of Baltimore’s workers.   Another important aspect of this Day was the fact that workers from the United Workers and other workers’ groups came together with artists, musicians and theatrical workers to make the day happen.  This collaboration strengthened the power of the narrative being created, and will likely be the basis of further and deeper relationships between the United Workers and cultural workers throughout the city and beyond. read more

This video was produced and posted by William Hughes, an ally of the united workers.

From Baltimore Brew:

Tomorrow, low-wage workers from Baltimore human rights organization United Workers will stage “Our Harbor Day,” an afternoon of parades, protests, plays, and “elaborate story-telling performances” protesting low wages and unjust working conditions for Inner Harbor employees.

United Workers documented some of these issues in graphic terms in a 2009 survey of 147 Inner Harbor employees.

“Managers touched women’s behinds and when women workers bent over, the managers would pretend to hump the women as they walked by,” said one prep cook quoted in the survey.

Another worker in the same survey complains that servers at one Harbor restaurant had to perform “sexual favors” for a certain manager in order to get “good days and good shifts.” A former dishwasher said he was fired without notice after requesting a day off to attend a family member’s funeral. Another employee reports that he was punched out of the time clock four times without his knowledge (while still working). “If I try and leave when they clock me out, they tell me I can’t,” he said. “They say, ‘don’t bother coming back’ or ‘we are going to write you up’.”

Read more

On Our Harbor Day, the community joined with Inner Harbor Workers and United Workers’ allies to perform in three Participation Plays. Our Harbor Day took more than one year of planning and meetings and the final result was an amazing event, where everyone enjoyed being a part of this important action. If you missed Our Harbor Day, or if you were at one of the plays and didn’t get a chance to see the others, now you can enjoy all three plays:

Education Play:

Work Play:

Earth Play:

From the Baltimore City Paper:

The United Workers, a human rights organization of low-wage workers founded by homeless day laborers in 2002 takes its fight to the streets this week for its “Our Harbor Day,” series of street plays, neighborhood parades, and protests at the Inner Harbor.

Today Inner Harbor workers spoke out on the Marc Steiner Show to expose the poverty conditions at the Inner Harbor.  Workers from Five Guys, Cheesecake Factory and the Hard Rock Cafe spoke out against poverty wages, sexual harassment, stolen wages and other unfair practices at the Inner Harbor.

Workers also discussed the upcoming May 1 Our Harbor Day and talked about the Campaign for Fair Food. Kate Caldwell, Director of the Human Right to Work with Dignity Program at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, shared information on sustainability and brought a national perspective to the Human Rights Zone campaign and the fight for fair development.

Marc Steiner has covered the United Workers with integrity and genuine interest in the reality faced by Baltimore’s low-wage workers, as told in their own voices.  He covered the working and living conditions faced by the poor in his series Just Words, and also covered the Living Wages Campaign at Camden Yards. Steiner is a model journalist, bringing all voices to the table so that our community can work together to create a better Baltimore.

For a podcast of the show, go to http://www.steinershow.org/

Listen in to the Marc Steiner Show on Wednesday April 28 at 5 PM on WEAA 88.9, as we talk about the upcoming Our Harbor Day Participation Play and the launch of the Campaign for Fair Development.

Workers from the Inner Harbor will tell stories of the human cost of poverty zone development on their lives and the city of Baltimore and our demands of the developers to ensure basic human rights standards by entering into a legally binding economic human rights agreement with the United Workers. We’ll also be joined by Kate Caldwell with the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative who will share her knowledge of human rights law and development.

So, tune into to 88.9 or for a podcast of the show, go to http://www.steinershow.org/