Statement of Solidarity with Sex Workers for December 17th
In recognition of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, the NYC General Membership Branch of the IWW would like to express solidarity with all people who sell or trade sexual services and to denounce the persistent stigma they face. Sex workers have historically dealt with violence from individuals, employers, and the state. This violence is not only literal and physical, but also economic: sex workers’ quality of life is routinely threatened by policies limiting their access to secure housing, stigma-free medical care, and other critical resources. We also recognize that for BIPOC, trans, and migrant workers, as well as those engaging in survival work, the violence stemming from stigma and criminalization is especially pernicious.
In response, we seek to affirm that sex work is work, and those practicing it deserve our support. The IWW recognizes sex workers across all corners of the industry as members of the working class, and welcomes them into the One Big Union. We offer them our solidarity on this day, and every day. To demonstrate our support, we have compiled a list of resources available to sex workers in the NYC/North Jersey area, which can be accessed via this link: IU690 Resources.
In Solidarity,
The NYC GMB
This statement was drafted by the IU 690 Committee of the NYC GMB. All members of the committee are sex workers themselves, and are available to answer questions about the union and its approach to sex worker organizing. To contact the committee, please send inquiries to [email protected].
IWW NYC in Solidarity with the Working Class of Chile
Fellow people of Chile! The IWW NYC extends its solidarity and support to your cause! The years-long injustice around education, health-care, pensions, water rights, privatization, and policing have long been felt. Your anger is just and your actions are righteous! Your fellow workers in NYC recognize your fight and condemn the actions of Presidente Piñera, his military, and government.
¡Viva Chile, viva el pueblo! ¡Amor y solidaridad!
Statement Against Borough-Based Jail System Plan
The New York City General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World is unequivocally opposed to the city’s plan to spend $10.6 billion to build four new jails.
We furthermore dispute all claims that new jails must be built in order to close Rikers Island.
An abundance of research confirms that arrests and incarceration increase when police and judges know that there are empty beds in city jails. It is an inarguable fact that if these jails are built they will be filled.
There are myriad methods at hand to reduce jail populations, which will allow Rikers to close without the construction of new places of incarceration.
The city itself acknowledged this in its Borough-Based Jail System Draft Scope of Work: “Among other system dynamics, interventions aimed at reducing the number of low- and medium-risk people entering jail contributed to about 60 percent of the total reduction of people in jail to date.”
5,200 people daily, on average, are detained in New York City jails pretrial. These individuals do not need to be held at all, as shown by the efficacy of alternatives to cash bail and pretrial detention. Cessation of broken windows policing—a thoroughly debunked and racist approach to law enforcement—would significantly reduce jail populations. Policies that criminalize poverty through the policing of space should be ended: fare evasion, open container, and public urination violations. Residents are surveilled, practically from birth, and youth as young as grade schoolers are labeled “gang members” due to their familial, neighborhood and social media associations within New York City Housing Authority. An end to this spurious facade of justice would keep thousands of people out of jail each year.
Instead of funding the city’s pretense of concern for criminality, the proposed $10.6 billion dollars should be spent to meet the collective needs of communities most impacted by the racist history of criminalization and incarceration.
It is clear to us that the carceral system is invested more in the upheaval and overturning of space or real estate—and the reproduction and accumulation of capital—than it is in the containment of criminality or the proximity of family to those incarcerated. This is blatantly clear in the words of Queens Council Member Karen Koslowitz: “Closing Rikers Island and opening community-based facilities is not only beneficial for New York City’s corrections officers…but also beneficial for the Kew Gardens community; the new facility in Kew Gardens will bring significant economic development, and provide hundreds of new parking spaces for the community.”
In detailing its plan, the de Blasio administration wrote of the proposed jails that their “community space is intended to provide useful community amenities, such as community facility programming or street-level retail space.”
Jails should not be constructed with the goal to clear out residents in order to build the economy. We must divest from jails, take power away from real estate, and give to those who have been affected by the shameful history of incarceration the power to take collective ownership of their communities.
Close Rikers. Build no new jails. An injury to one is an injury to all! All power to all people!
January Newsletter
Fellow Workers,
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019! Feedback and collaboration are always encouraged. Simply reply to this email with comments or questions.
In addition to the events listed below, you can always check the Google Calendar of the NYC General Defense Committee (GDC) for more happenings. If you would like to submit radical events in and around New York City to the calendar, email details to [email protected].
UPCOMING BRANCH EVENTS
Every Day at Various Times: We need Fellow Workers to participate in consumer education. Please email [email protected] if you would like to sign up for a shift. We have also started a Slack to coordinate our consumer education shifts. Please email [email protected] if you would like to be added.
Tuesday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m.: Attend an orientation for new members of the NYC General Membership Branch (GMB). The orientation will take place prior to our monthly branch meeting and acquaint you with the history of the IWW, current NYC GMB campaigns, rules for how the monthly meeting proceeds, and more. For location details, email [email protected].
Tuesday, February 12 at 7 p.m.: Attend the monthly meeting of the IWW NYC GMB. For location details, email [email protected].
PROTESTS, PICKETS & MORE AROUND THE CITY
Thursday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m.: Act in solidarity with garment workers from Los Angeles by pressuring Barbara Rentler, CEO of Ross clothing company, to pay out $800,000 in stolen wages. Register for the event on Facebook.
Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m.: Join United Against Racism and Fascism NYC for their March Against Racism and Fascism. Register for the event on Facebook.
ORGANIZING RESOURCES
Don’t forget: The NYC GMB has put together a variety of resources that can aid you in your organizing, including the one-pager (Spanish version) and the trifold. If you need access to any of those documents, email [email protected]. If you would like to distribute them, but lack funds for printing, consider making a motion to that end at the next GMB meeting or over Loomio.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
We have a new branch secretary! FW Jay has stepped in to become the secretary of the NYC IWW GMB for 2019. A big congratulations, and thanks, to FW Jay!
WHAT WOBBLIES READ
“Movie Review: Norma Rae,” Organizing Work _(by FW Eric of the NYC GMB)
“General Strikes Explained,” _Teen Vogue
“How Rush City Inmates Organized a Successful Prison Strike,” Pacific Standard (by FW Arvind of the NYC GMB)
December Newsletter
Fellow Workers,
Welcome to the December edition of our e-newsletter! Feedback and collaboration are always encouraged. Simply reply to this email with comments or questions.
In addition to the events listed below, you can always check the Google Calendar of the NYC General Defense Committee (GDC) for more happenings. If you would like to submit radical events in and around New York City to the calendar, email details to [email protected].
UPCOMING BRANCH EVENTS
Every day at various times: We need Fellow Workers to participate in consumer education. Please email FW Frank if you would like to sign up for a shift. We have also started a Slack to coordinate our consumer education shifts - please email Frank if you would like to get added to our channel.
Tuesday, January 8 at 6:30 p.m.: Attend an orientation for new members of the NYC GMB. The orientation will take place prior to our monthly branch meeting and acquaint you with the history of the IWW, current NYC GMB campaigns, rules for how the monthly meeting proceeds, and more. For location details, email [email protected].
Tuesday, January 8 at 7 p.m.: Attend the monthly meeting of the IWW NYC GMB. For location details, email [email protected].
Saturday and Sunday, January 19 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m: The IWW NYC GMB is holding an organizer training. Capacity is currently full, but things may change as the date gets closer. Please email [email protected] to get more details and to find out if space becomes available.
Sunday, January 20 from 10 a.m to 8p.m.: The IWW NYC GMB is cosponsoring Yiddish Anarchism: New Scholarship on a Forgotten Tradition - a conference discussing the, mostly forgotten, history of Yiddish anarchism at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (15 West 16th St). RSVP here.
Saturday, January 26: IWOC is hosting a welcome home party for those who have been affected by raids. Please reach out to [email protected] if you can help out with outreach or logistics before the event (time and location TBD).
WHAT WOBBLIES READ AND LISTEN TO
“Somali Workers in Minnesota Force Amazon to Negotiate” NY Times
“When ICE Comes to Town” Rolling Stone
“You Don’t Hate Mondays, You Hate Not Being Yourself” Medium
“You Don’t Hate Mondays, You Hate Not Being Yourself” Medium