Trabajadores Unidos

Rev. Roger Scott Powers introducing Fair Development Overture to Maryland Presbytery

The pressure on Inner Harbor developers is mounting. As we saw with our Fair Development Conference and recent spate of “Letter Drops” at GGP malls, the community support from every sector – students, unions, neighborhoods and faith is growing tremendously.

On Feb. 11, 2012, more voices joined this growing chorus demanding Fair Development. The Presbytery of Baltimore held their annual governing meeting. Over 100 representatives from Presbyterian churches from Baltimore City to Maryland’s western most Garrett County came together and voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Light Street Presbytery’s Fair Development Overture, with over 94% voting for passage. This brave act for social justice sends a powerful message of unity with United Workers’ Campaign for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Overture now goes before that national Presbytery at their Gathering in Pittsburgh this Summer.

Rev. Roger Powers of Light St. Presbyterian and a long time leader in the struggle for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, introduced the Overture with these words:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a long history of supporting economic justice.  Our church has stood in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, called for reform of corporate misdeeds, proposed living wages, supported economic boycotts, demanded safe working conditions, and supported collective bargaining.

Our own Confession of 1967 says “a church that is indifferent to poverty, or evades responsibility in economic affairs . . . makes a mockery of reconciliation and offers no acceptable worship to God.

Ten years ago, the 214^th General Assembly endorsed a consumer boycott of Taco Bell started by the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers.  The community group sought better wages and working conditions for Florida farm workers who pick tomatoes that go into Taco Bell products.  With the support of the PCUSA and that of other denominations, the farm workers won.

In recent years, the United Workers Association of Baltimore has been organizing low-wage workers in the Inner Harbor to demand living wages, better working conditions, and respect for human rights.  They have received our financial support in the form of Self-Development of People grants.  They are now asking for our moral support.

Developers such as General Growth Properties and the Cordish Company, which control the Inner Harbor, receive large amounts of public money for what are billed as “revitalization” projects for depressed areas.  Yet the jobs created by these projects are unregulated, minimum wage, seasonal, and rife with human rights abuses.

Overture 2012-2 asks the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to call for an end to this kind of Poverty Zone Development and to advocate for Fair Development that respects human rights, maximizes public benefits, and fosters sustainability.

The Session of Light Street Presbyterian Church recommends that you send this overture on to the 220^th General Assembly for action.

The Fair Development Overture included this instruction to national General Assembly:

The Presbytery of Baltimore respectfully overtures the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to:

(1) commend the United Workers Association of Baltimore for its efforts at organizing low-wage workers to demand living wages, better working conditions, and respect for human rights.

(2) support the call of the United Workers Association of Baltimore for Fair Development Standards that will improve working conditions and alleviate poverty conditions for millions of workers across the United States.

(3) direct the Stated Clerk to write a letter to the prominent national developers General Growth Properties and the Cordish Company, the Mayor of Baltimore City, and the Governor of Maryland, calling for an end to Poverty Zone Development and urging the adoption of Fair Development that respects human rights (Work with Dignity, the Right to Health Care and Education), maximizes public benefits, and fosters sustainability.

(4) urge Presbyterians to:

a)    support the organizing of low-wage workers at malls to improve working conditions;

b)    join together with low-wage service workers to pressure developers to respect human rights and pay living wages in cities and towns across the country; and

c)    hold developers to account through worker-driven corporate accountability campaigns, changing the relationship between developers, the community, and workers, to secure human rights standards and Fair Development Agreements.

(5) request that the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, and/or other appropriate entities of the church, help build a national public policy dialogue about how to ensure that public resources are used to benefit the public good rather than private interests.

Thank you to the Presbytery of Baltimore for standing strong with low-wage workers in the struggle for Fair Development!

Last Thursday, 40  students from Union Theological Seminary and leaders from the Poverty Initiative kick started “Occupy the Malls” with a creative flash mob at GGP’s Gallery Mall. Inspired by the biblical story of Jesus cleansing the temple of thieving money changers, this group of faith leaders “cleansed” this temple of consumerism through song and prayer. Disrupting business as usual, they burst into the spiritual, “Get on Board,” calling on workers, shoppers, and GGP to get on board with human rights. The flash mob ended with a prayer circle and reflection at the entrance to GGP’s mall.

In her blog entry entitled the “Cathedrals of Inequality,” Union Theological Seminary student, Valerie Freseman, reflects on the power of this action.

For six minutes today, however, we started to chip at the facade of this false cathedral. Those who are consumers at that mall and those who are workers became a bit more visible to one another- and to me, our action was almost the same as throwing the money changers out of the temple.”

To read the full entry, go here

“Occupy the Malls” calls on allies to stage creative flash mobs and actions at GGP malls in solidarity with low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Last Thursday’s prayerful flash mob was an incredible kick-off to “Occupy the Malls” and demonstrated the imaginative and unique possibilities that allies from all backgrounds can bring to the fight for Fair Development. Great work to the Poverty Initiative and all for an outstanding demonstration of solidarity and vision.

As the second largest mall owner in the country, GGP has properties all over. So no matter where you are, there’s likely a mall near you! Break out your creative cap and stand with harbor workers by staging your own Occupy the Malls flash mob. To learn more how you can take part, email info@unitedworkers.org.

We closed out 2011 by embarking on a major ramp-up of the Human Rights Zone Campaign. This past December 10th marked the two-year anniversary of the day that harbor workers mailed letters GGP and Cordish, the developers that control the Inner Harbor. After two years of silence and inaction despite repeated attempts for dialogue, low-wage workers announced an escalation in the fight for fair development by staging “letter drops” at GGP malls this holiday season.

Here’s a media round-up from this holiday’s actions

Articles:

• Baltimore Brew: “Inner Harbor mall blanketed by blizzard of protest letters”
• Towson Patch: “Workers Group To Protest at Towson Town Center”
• In These Times: “Baltimore’s United Workers Disrupt Christmas Shopping, Demand Stable Jobs, Better Wages”

Videos:

• First letter drop marking ramp-up
• Holiday “drop” at Towson Mall

In our letter to GGP, sent in 2009, we requested face to face talks with them before Christmas of that year, as a first step towards making progress on our demands. And yet another Christmas has passed that GGP has failed to come to the table with workers. But with a new year comes a resurgence of hope and energy towards the possibility for change. Our New Year’s resolution is to continue to escalating our demands for justice and human rights at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. From Baltimore to GGP’s headquarters in Chicago, we will carry out letter drops and actions calling on GGP to act now. We hope that GGP has made a New Year’s resolution as well to be truer to their statements of sustaining “a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees.”

So here’s to a new year of intensifying the fight for Fair Development in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor! Stay tuned for next steps!

Check-out this recent article from Kari Lydersen reporting for Working In These Times.

For full article, go to http://inthesetimes.com/working

On December 10, Christmas shoppers at the Gallery Mall in Baltimore were interrupted by chanting and thousands of fliers fluttering from balconies of higher floors, where a banner was also unfurled.

The fliers called on one of the country’s largest mall-development companies, Gallery Mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP), to provide stable jobs, better wages, benefits and decent conditions for thousands of workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Harborplace mall, a tourist magnet across the street.

Early in the new year the group plans to again travel to GGP’s headquarters in Chicago, where the company owns the famous Water Tower Place mall. Along the way, they’ll be visiting GGP-owned malls for flier drops and actions in many locations.

To read past coverage, go here

The United Workers attempted a “letter drop” at the Towson Town Center mall on Thursday, December 15th. After harbor workers were blocked from carrying out the action, we returned the very next day! “Drops” will continue at GGP malls from Baltimore to Chicago, home to GGP’s headquarters, until GGP meets all demands.

Read the Towson Patch’s article announcing Thursday’s letter drop at the Towson Town Center mall.

The tents may not be coming, but a workers group wants to bring the spirit of the Occupy movement to Towson, with a side of the Christmas spirit.

The Baltimore group United Workers plans to drop letters at a to-be-decided location in Towson Town Center on Thursday.

The group will meet at 4:30 p.m. at the mall entrance at Fairmount Avenue and Towson Gate Drive, where protestors will sing Christmas carols before heading inside to unfurl a banner and release their flyers and letters.

The letter, dated Dec. 10, 2009, calls out the leadership of Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the mall’s owner, for not doing enough to encourage better working conditions at The Gallery at Harborplace, which the company also owns.

To read the full article, go to http://towson.patch.com

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”.

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

• First attempt— Letter mailed on December 10, 2009 notifying you of human rights abuses and workers human rights demands.
• 2nd attempt— Traveled from Baltimore to Chicago to your headquarters to ensure you received the letter and to attempt to talk to executives.
• 3rd attempt— Reached out to Harborplace GM, Chris Schardt, by going to office and requesting a meeting to resolve rampant issues of wage theft and other serious abuses at Harborplace.
• Repeated follow-up calls.

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.

Below is audio for most of the Fair Development Conference Workshops. To read descriptions about the different workshops click here. To download any of the audio files in MP3 format click here.

Fair Development Conference: Block 1

Fair Development Conference: Block 2

Fair Development Conference: Block 3

Fair Development Conference: Block 4

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:

In preparation for participants to arrive to St. Johns Church to hear the Keynote speakers, the United Workers takes a moment to come together in a Unity Circle to express love, gratitude and leadership for each other and all those that will join them today.

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 30^th, 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 30^th 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Gather at Charles St. & Lombard St.