"We Have A Winner!"
At the Dallas Central Labor Council meeting on May 15, Principal Officer Lou Luckhardt recounted the fight against one of the vicious anti-worker bills in the state legislature. He said that he was one of 35 people who testified all night against cutting mass transit, but that one special speaker was by far the most effective: Shyamm Sundar Ganeshram, a very young student from Irving.
Shyamm was our main speaker. He said, “There is no method of transportation better than rail!” He drew applause several times even before he announced that the bill had just died in committee!
Speaking of winners, Dallas AFL-CIO Political Director just sent out good news concerning our fight against the Republican effort to gut Medicaid and give out gigantic tax breaks for the wealthy. He said, “Congressman Marc Veasey just posted that they were unable to move bill GUTTING MEDICAID AND GIVING ELON MUSK A TAX BREAK OUT OF BUDGET COMMITTEE!!
Keep up the political fight by contacting Earnest: etilley2006@yahoo.com
Young Workers Are Winners
The report from the Young Active Labor Leaders is always the most exciting part of our Dallas AFL-CIO monthly meetings. They went over their participation in a number of public actions, including the fight to save public transportation and the three Starbucks stores that had been on strike that week.
Justin Chen, a YALL member who is also president of American Federal Government Employees Local 1003, reported on his trip to Washington, DC and the ongoing effort to save public employees and services. YALL members especially urged everyone to participate in public actions on May 17 and the Steelworkers picnic on May 21. Rose Curts said that the future holds some “spicy stuff” upcoming!
Travis Cantwell, the State President of YALL, announced that their July convention will be held in Dallas. It is an opportunity to inform and mobilize the youth movement for the entire state. Some locals are already taking out sponsorships and paying registration fees for their younger members.
Who Won the Drawing?
In order to encourage physical participation, as opposed to on-line or no participation, Lou Luckhardt initiated a drawing for door prizes some time ago. It makes sense that the person who attends every meeting and is always early to arrive would win, and Shelton Mayfield Jr of the National Association of Letter Carriers proved it on May 15 when he won the gift certificate for his third time!
Mayfield keeps up with all of the developments in the Dallas labor movement, not just the ones that fit into this newsletter.
Need More Information?
- Political Committee Earnest Tilley keeps track of all Dallas labor activities: etilley2006@yahoo.com
- Texas Alliance for Retired Americans: Judy Bryant judy4tara@aol.com
- Young Active Labor Leaders: Stu Becker stubecker89@gmail.com
- Donnie Jolly of ATU: donniejolly@yahoo.com
- Katina Range of APWU: katinarange@dallasapwu.org
- Rena Honea of Alliance/AFT: rena@alliance-aft.org
- Dallas AFL-CIO web site: http://texasaflcio.org/dallas
Join Our Solidarity Brigade
Click here to get updates whenever activists are needed. For text alerts, send the word "action" to the phone number 235246. Paste Bit.ly/DallasCLC?r=qr into your browser and join our Dallas political program. Everyone is encouraged to join the national Department of People Who Work for a Living. Please also subscribe to the Texas AFL-CIO weekly newsletter by writing to labor@texasaflcio.org. We are fighting for working families in every available arena.
MORE ACTIONS COMING UP
May 16, and every day until the election: Phone banking with Dallas AFL-CIO Contact etilley2006@yahoo.com
May 16, 6:30P (and every Friday): Protest Coordinating Committee meets on-line. All are welcome. Register (if you haven’t already)
May 17, Noon: “March for Education Equality” from Dealey Plaza, 400 Commerce in Dallas
May 17, 5P: International Day of Action for peace in the Middle East at Ferris Plaza, 400 S Houston in Dallas
May 19, 7P: Gene Lantz speaks on labor at Metrocrest Democrats, 3822 Beltline Road, Addison, Texas. Contact robinson_kimmy@yahoo.com
May 21, 4pm-7pm: Steelworkers cookout at DeBusk Park - 1625 Gross Rd, Mesquite, TX 75149. They also need volunteers to help with organizing. Contact arashfarasat@protonmail.com
May 24 & 31, 9A: Block walking with Dallas AFL-CIO. etilley2006@yahoo.com
May 25, 10A: Gene Lantz speaks at Kiest Road Unitarian Church. genelantz.dallasaflcio@gmail.com
May 27-June 3: Early voting for the runoff elections June 7
May 28, 6:30P: Special phone bank on behalf of public employees. Register here
Jun 4, 12:30P: Dallas Chapter of Texas Alliance for Retired Americans meets at 334 Centre in Dallas. Contact judy4tara@aol.com
Jun 7, 5P: “The International Situation” discussion at Pan African Connection, 4460 Marsalis
Jun 7: Runoff elections
June 11, 9A: Court hearing for Tarrant County labor leader Angi DeFelippo
Jun 12, 11A: Texas retiree on-line update and discussion. register here
Jun 19: Celebrate civil rights in Texas
Jun 19, 7:30P: Dallas Central Labor Council meeting for all affiliated union members
Jul 25-27: YALL state convention in North Texas