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Support Teachers in Newfield Who Are at Budget Impasse with Administration

The Newfield Teachers (Newfield is a rural area of Tompkins County) are picketing the School Board meeting (247 Main Street, Newfield) on Thursday October 20th at 5:30 as they are currently at impasse. They are looking for some support as they are a small school and would like a big turnout. There will be some people going from the Workers’ Center. If you want in, please holler out at us! (Via email, TCWRH@tcworkerscenter.org of 607-269-0409) (This issue also soooooo relates to the Millionaires Tax that our Illustrious Governor Cuomo would like to protect our Millionaires from!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Occupy Cornell Protest and General Assembly: Friday, October 21st, 4:30 to 7 p.m. @ Ho Plaza

On Saturday, Oct 15, the 99% took action in 951 cities–Ithaca included–and 82 countries as we marched on Times Square, the London Stock Exchange, and capitols in Italy, South Korea, Japan, Australia….

At Cornell, we rallied on Ho Plaza and called for the first General Assembly of #OccupyCornell. Now it’s our responsibility to stand with the global movement–to build the forum for where this conversation begins, to give an equal voice to those who have been voiceless, and to grasp and confront the challenges we face as students and Americans.

Ithaca Rally in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

Join the Workers’ Center and Ithaca’s MoveOn Council at the Occupy Wall Street solidarity rally on Wednesday, October 5th at 4:30pm at the Bank Alley Entrance to the Commons. That is the north entrance to the Commons at E. Seneca and N. Tioga Streets, near the downtown post office, parking garage and Hilton Garden Inn.

Get up! Stand up! It’s time for us to make this country work for the 99%, not just the richest bags and individuals.

Labor Day PIcnic Awards Finally Announced!

Mother Jones Award: Jamie Dangler, Professor of Sociology at SUNY/Cortland and United University Professions Organizer (SUNY/Cortland)

Joe Hill Award: Labor Initiative Promoting Solidarity (LIPS), Student labor solidarity group at Ithaca College formed this past school year that played an absolutely instrumental role on campus and in the community about the successful campaign for a Living Wage for all Ithaca College Dining Service workers (employed by the Sodexo Corporation).
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Save the Date! Minigolf Fundraiser!

Buy tickets at the Workers’ Center or at the Tburg Minigolf gates. Come on out to support the Workers’ Center while having fun on Tburg Minigolf’s 18 holes!
Rain date: October 16

Your Workplace Safety & Health: Fair and Panel Discussion

Your Workplace Health & Safety, More Crucial Now Than Ever: Fair and Panel
Discussion, September 27, 2011

Your Workplace Health & Safety Fair will offer information and
problem-solving solutions about occupational illness and injury, and
safety measures for specific workplaces for workers, managers and business
owners. The Discussion Panel, led by regional experts in occupational
safety and health, will include worker protections and the crucial need to
preserve them.

We invite the entire community to a free, two part Workplace Health & Safety
Event at the Tompkins County Public Library at 101 E. Green Street in Ithaca, NY.

From 4 until 7pm, the Health & Safety Fair will feature tablers with
information and problem solving approaches including but not limited to
construction trades, ergonomics (prevention of repetitive motion
injuries), indoor air quality, healthcare workers and bullying and
workplace violence.

From 7 until 9pm, Dr. Michael Lax, director of the Central NY Occupational
Health Clinical Center, and Christopher Adams, area director of the
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), will lead a panel
discussion, ‘Why Workplace health & safety protections are more crucial
than ever.’

Cosponsored by Midstate Education & Service Foundation and the Tompkins
County Workers’ Center.

Country Rock Concert to Benefit TCWC

Saturday, 9/17: Country Rock Fundraising Benefit for TCWC @ The Rongo in Trumansburg, 2-8 p.m.
It’s a Benefit for the Tompkins County Workers Center. The Concert is free, donations go to the TC Workers’ Center.
The Bands are:
* Alana Amram and the Rough Gems
From Brooklyn. Release to for their critically acclaimed album of the songs
of Vince Martin (string arrangements by Van Dyke Parks!) <
* Mary Lorson
with The Subrettes. Releasing their new album “BurnBabyBurn”
* Why the Wires
Ithaca’s alt country punk rockers on Angry Mom Records
* Kites in Space
Trumansburg Indie Country Rock
* Parker West
Park Doing original country rock solo project
* Cosmic Country Outlaws
Outlaw country cover songs from Merle Haggard to Waylon Jennings
* The Mad Goat String Band
Old Time Fiddle Music (Peter Fraissinet, Marianne Marsh, Joe Heywood)

The Lineup is:
2:00 – 2:30 – Mad Goat String Band
2:30 – 3:00 – Cosmic Country Outlaws
3:00 – 4:00 – Kites in Space
4:00 – 5:00 – Mary Lorson
5:00 – 6:00 – Why the Wires
6:00 – 7:00 – Parker West
7:00 – 8:00 – Alana Amram and the Rough Gems

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Posted on September 14, 2011 to events, Uncategorized

Everything You Wanted to Know About Strikes, But Were Afraid to Ask

Labor Lawyer and WC Supporter Rich Furlong Presents — Striking: almost every worker has the right! Learn about the different types of strikes, notice requirements, managing the strike, intermittent and quickie strikes,
reinstatement issues and alternatives to the strike. Concerted action and minority unions, too!

Thursday, September 1st, 2011, 6:30-8:30pm, at the Workers’ Center, 115 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street / The Commons. Second floor above Autumn Leaves Used Books in the Cafe. Free and open to all.

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Posted on August 24, 2011 to events

Foreign Students in J-1 Work Visa Program Stage Walkout at Plant in Hershey, PA: Reminiscent of Story the TC Workers’ Center Uncovered Last Summer

(Editor’s Note: You may’ve noticed a detailed story in the Thursday, 8/18, edition of the New York Times about student workers from other countries coming to the U.S. under a J-1 Visa, and being ‘taken for a ride’. That story can be seen at the Times in detail at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/us/18immig.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=hershey,%20PA&st=cse

It was just last summer 2010 that local Pastor Rich Rose of the First Baptist Church in Ithaca received an email from an organization, Cultural Homestays International, indicating that they were looking for someone to put up 7 women from China and Moldova who would be working over the summer as Housekeepers at the Holiday Inn in Ithaca.

This initial contact mushroomed into much more of a story as we began to explore it more in depth, especially with the help of two TCWC interns (now graduated Ithaca College students, Samantha Wolfe and Pete Blanchard). The story below appeared in an Ithaca College publication, Buzzsaw, in December.

Workers’ Center Works Overtime to Uncover Problematic J-1 Visa Program in Local Economy: An Exchange Program
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Posted on August 19, 2011 to Uncategorized

Saturday/Tomorrow @ 10:30: Living Wage Workshop: Part III: Co-Ops

From TCWC Community Organizer, Diana Ceja:

**Join us at the Tompkins County Workers’ Center (115 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street/The Commons) this Saturday, August 20th, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. for a conversation with Human Resources Manager of GreenStar Michael Hoysic.

Mr. Hoysic will be sharing all the *benefits* of working within a Living Wage Co-operative, and more specifically all the details of how GreenStar functions so successfully while paying its full-time employees Living Wages!
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Posted on August 19, 2011 to events, TCWC Site News

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