Philippine Forum

Posters created by Jonna Baldres of Philippine Forum

For Immediate Release:
May Day United

Contact: Jen Waller, 646-535-6291

February 22, 2011

Amid Escalating Attacks, Worker Groups to Build National Network
for Powerful May Day Actions

May Day United will promote dynamic grassroots actions on May 1, 2011
for jobs with dignity and true equality

New York, NY- Worker and community-based organizations around the
country announced today that they will build a national network to
promote a dynamic day of action for quality jobs and workers’ rights
on May 1, 2011, International Workers Day. The network, May Day
United, will work with local groups across the country to power a
spirited response to the extreme attacks taking place against working
people and their labor unions in the public and private sectors and to
challenge the increasing exploitation of immigrant workers and their
families.

“Public workers are fighting heroically for the rights of unions in
Wisconsin and other states. Immigrants and students are organizing
against racial profiling and the ban on ethnic studies in Arizona.
While the backs of working families are against the wall, people are
out in the streets and are fighting back,” said David Bacon, the
workers’ rights journalist. “The May Day marches this year will give
us the chance to bring these efforts together, and show that we’re all
fighting for the same thing—jobs, equality, and basic rights.”

Inspired by the historic May Day actions of 2006, the massive protests
in Wisconsin, the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and the original
struggle for the eight-hour work day commemorated by May 1st actions
around the globe, May Day United invites everyday working families
across the country to stand together against increasing corporate and
governmental assaults on the right to join a union and the right to
work free of anti-immigrant discrimination.  Organizations can join
the network at http://www.maydayunited.org.

“I came to this country to work hard for my children and that’s what
I’ve done,” said Maria Corona, an immigrant worker in New York City.
“When my co-workers and I stood up against wage theft, the employer
fired us all. Even though a judge found our firing illegal, we haven’t
seen any justice because the employer is resisting the court order
with arguments about our immigration status. I won’t be going to work
on May 1st, I’ll be on the streets for justice and I hope to see many
with me.”

May Day United will not be directly organizing demonstrations on May
1st – the network will use organizing, compelling digital and print
materials, as well as legal support to increase participation in
existing May Day demonstrations and assist communities in organizing
their own actions.

The organizations that have come together to build the network
expect that many groups around the country will respond to the call
for dynamic and assertive actions on May 1, 2011 in favor of jobs with
dignity and true equality. The convening organizations, listed below,
issued a call to action today which can be viewed and endorsed at
http://maydayunited.org/2011/02/19/ -

* American Dream Community Agency/Centro de Legalizacion
* Applied Research Center
* Bay Area Movement for a Democratic Society (Concord, Richmond,
Oakland, & Vallejo)
* Brandworkers International
* Center for New Community
* Focus on the Food Chain
* Food Chain Workers Alliance
* Fuerza Mundial Secretariat/Communications
* International Labor Rights Forum
* Jornaleros Unidos de Woodside
* Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (San Diego Chapter)
* Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
* National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee
* Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center
* Oyate “The Peoples’ Land” (Indigenous Group/Nation in California)
* Peace & Freedom Party (Contra Costa Co. and Solano Co.)
* Philippine Forum
* Resident Engagement Group of Richmond, Virginia
* San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
* Students for a Democratic Society (Diablo Valley College, Napa Valley College)
* Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
* TIC/Pueblos en Movimiento (International Tribunal of Conscience)

May Day United is an emerging national network of worker and
community-based organizations promoting dynamic actions on May 1st,
2011 for jobs with dignity and true equality. The network is on the
web at http://maydayunited.org, on Facebook at
http://facebook.com/maydayunited, and on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/mdunited.

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