April Newsletter
General Membership Branch (GMB) meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month at 7 PM.
Email [email protected] for location details.
Fellow Workers,
Welcome to the May edition of our e-newsletter! Feedback and collaboration are always encouraged. Simply reply to this email to learn how to get more involved in its production.
In addition to the events listed here, 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.Friday, April 27 at 5 p.m.: The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) is hosting a "Welcome Home" event for two inside IWOC organizers at The Bronx Social Center (970 Prospect Ave., Bronx). The event will serve as both a fundraiser and an IWOC newsletter launch party. Register here. IWOC is seeking donated raffle prizes and volunteers for this event. Email [email protected] if you can help. The next planning meeting will be Sunday, April 15.
Saturday, April 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Join the NYC GDC for a self-defense workshop led by Pop Gym during the Mayday Festival of Resistance at Maria Hernandez Park (Knickerbocker Ave. and Starr St., Brooklyn). Register here.
Sunday, May 6 from 5 to 8 p.m.: The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), along with the Stop the Raids Coalition, is hosting their monthly Family Gathering Against the Raids. Come to The Bronx Social Center for letter-writing and hat-passing for desperately needed commissary money. Register here.
Tuesday, May 1 is May Day! Join your Fellow Workers on strike, and join the IWW contingent at festivities around the city. Our plans are not solid yet, but a May Day committee has been formed to plan our participation. Watch the list for more details.
Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m.: Attend the monthly meeting of the IWW NYC GMB. Watch this list for location details or email [email protected].
PROTESTS, PICKETS & MORE AROUND THE CITY
Every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Join striking Spectrum workers at these locations around the city.Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Join Central NJ GDC for a street-medic training in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Email [email protected] for more details.
Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m.: The People's Human Rights Observatory is holding a talk on cross-border solidarity and the militarization of the border at the War Resisters League (168 Canal St #600, Manhattan).
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Our allies at Brandworkers are launching their annual May Day Fundraising Campaign! A group of GMB members have founded a team to help Brandworkers reach their goal of $50,000. Support the team and help build worker power within New York's food manufacturing industry by donating here.Stardust Family United has been one of the most successful organizing campaigns taken on by the IWW in years. The have had great success, but they need our help: they have racked up thousands of dollars in legal fees while fighting their organizing campaign. The branch has made a generous donation, but we now need individual members to donate and spread the word about the SFU crowd-fundraiser.
The Central New Jersey IWW Branch is holding an OT 101 in New Brunswick, and the NYC GMB has voted to help subsidize the travel costs of FWs who plan to attend. It is at the George Street Co-op (89 Morris St., New Brunswick), Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Email [email protected] for more details. Please get in touch with one of the branch officers if you are interested in the reimbursement.
IWOC is running a crowd-funding campaign for a Fellow Worker inside who has incurred legal fees while fighting abuses by correction officers. Please donate here.
ORGANIZING RESOURCES
In order to better organize our industrial union building efforts, the branch voted to organize a series of teams: member orientation, mobilizing, tech, communications, legal, research, and fundraising. Their descriptions can be found here. Please reach out to one of the branch officers to sign up!Online dues collection has launched! You can still pay in person, but if you cannot make our monthly meetings, head over to the website and sign up.
The IWW one-pager and branch trifold are officially complete—and they look great! You can find the one-pager here and the trifold here. Make copies at home, surreptitiously at work, or at a unionized print shop, and distribute to help explain what the IWW is and what we do.
WHAT WOBBLIES READ & LISTEN TO
The Burgerville Workers Union is Poised to be the First Officially Recognized Fast Food Union," Eater, Portland"The Pinkertons Still Never Sleep," New Republic
"'The Gig Economy' is the New Term for Serfdom," Common Dreams
"The Federal Attack on Sex Workers’ Rights is a Threat to Everyone’s Free Speech," In These Times
"This Anarchist Browser Plug-in Wants You to Fight Fascism on the Internet," Motherboard