UFCW Weekender 1-23-09

[Omaha Steve]

Following is a brief roundup of important articles and information for your weekend reading:

* UFCW marches in inaugural parade

For the first time in living memory, members of America's labor movement marched in the official Inaugural Parade. Representing America's workers were 265 union members from the UFCW and other labor unions, along with a 17-by-24 foot float built entirely by union workers. The float featured the "faces of labor" - a tribute to every hard-working man and woman who gets up every day and goes to work. You can see photos from the inauguration at the UFCW Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28492187@N07/sets/72157612871246074/
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UFCW members answer the call to service

As the country celebrated the Dr. Martin Luther King’s 80th birthday on Monday, UFCW members around the United States gathered with others in their communities to answer President-elect Obama’s call for a National Day of Service. The inaugural team suggested in a recent email that January 19th is just the start of a series of calls to service that Obama will ask of the nation in the years ahead.
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Immigration reform advocates call for an end to worksite raids

Several hundred immigration reform advocates marched on the headquarters of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Wednesday, according to a recent article in the Washington Post. Advocates are calling for an end to worksite raids. For more information about the impact of ICE raids on communities, go to www.icemisconduct.org.
* Does your elected representative know what you want?

Change doesn't happen on it's own. When was the last time you wrote to your elected representative? Electing Obama was a big first step to the change we need in this country, but if we want to pass Employee Free Choice or get health care that covers all Americans, we need to let our representatives know. You can find out if your representatives support health care for all at: http://www.healthcareforamericanow.com/. Send letters directly from the UFCW website at: http://ufcwaction.org/ufcwvoiceactivated/leg-lookup/search.tcl
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Set the record straight on Employee Free Choice

A new sham website, "Save Our Secret Ballot," is spreading lies about Employee Free Choice, saying it is a threat to "workplace democracy" and will end secret ballot. But the poll on their website reveals that real workers know Employee Free Choice is about protecting workers from being bullied by their employers. As of 4:20pm EST, 1476 people voted in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, over twice as many as had voted against. That's unsurprising since more than 60% of workers say they would join a union if they could. Let the anti-worker special interests know you aren't buying their lies. Visit the site and vote "no."

This Week's Video

If you missed President Obama's inaugural speech earlier in the week, you can view it online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4.

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." -from President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address