July 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 July 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 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.Thursday, July 19 at 5 p.m.: Join the NYC GMB contingent at the Coalition of Immokalee Worker's #BoycottWendys March. Email [email protected] to coordinate our meetup during the march.
Monday, July 30 at 7 p.m.: The NYC GMB is cosponsoring a panel being held by Strike Corps and DSA's Service Industry Organizing Group at Verso Books (20 Jay St., Brooklyn). The panel will focus on organizing in the service industry and feature workers from House of Kava in Brooklyn, Gimme Coffee in Upstate New York, and a Wobbly from Burgerville in Portland.
Saturday and Sunday, August 4 & 5: The New Haven General Membership Branch is holding an organizer training 101. The NYC GMB has voted to subsidize some of the travel costs for branch members who would like to attend. Please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested.
Sunday, August 5 from 5 to 8 p.m.: The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, along with the Stop the Raids Coalition, is hosting their monthly Family Gathering Against the Raids. Come to the Bronx Social Center (970 Prospect Ave., Bronx) for letter-writing and hat-passing for desperately needed commissary money. E-mail [email protected] to RSVP.
Tuesday, August 14 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. Watch this list for location details or email [email protected].
Tuesday, August 14 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
Tuesday, July 17 at 12 p.m.: On the four-year anniversary of Eric Garner's murder, join Garner's family and community at Occupy Bay Street in Tompkinsville Park (45 Victory Blvd., Staten Island). RSVP here.Mondays at 8 p.m., Wednesdays at 7 p.m., and Fridays at 7 p.m.: Workers at the House of Kava need our help! The workers have organized and, after facing several firings, are running pickets in front of the shop (238 Central Ave., Brooklyn). Contribute to their strike fund here.
Thursday mornings at 6 a.m. and Tuesday afternoons at 3 p.m. Join union workers on the northwest corner of 34 Street and 10 Avenue to protest greedy developers at the Hudson Yards.
Every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Join striking Spectrum workers at these locations around the city.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The branch has voted to use Loomio as our online voting system. The by-laws have been approved, and the platform is almost ready for rollout. Please check out introduction to Loomio videos here and 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 need our help: SFU racked up thousands of dollars in legal fees while fighting their organizing campaign. The NYC GMB has made a generous donation, but we now need individual members to donate and spread the word about SFU's crowd-fundraiser.
The IWW is holding its national convention in Kansas City, Missouri, this September. The motions being discussed at the convention have been sent out to the list, and you should also receive them by mail in the coming weeks. We voted on FW Jay and FW Liss to be our delegates and represent the NYC GMB at the convention. After the convention, Fellow Workers will vote on motions and national officers. The voting is done online, and you must sign up for Red Card in order to vote.
ORGANIZING RESOURCES
The NYC GMB now has an Instagram account!The branch has launched a member orientation program. If you are new to the branch, considering becoming a member, or want to figure how to get more involved, please arrive 30 minutes before the next general membership meeting and get oriented. To learn more, please email [email protected].
Online dues collection has launched! You can still pay in person, but if you cannot make the NYC GMB monthly meetings, head over to our website to pay your dues.
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
"Huge Increase in Large Work Stoppages Seen in 2018," Medium (by the NYC GMB's own Eric Dirnbach!)"The Invisible Class: Workers in America," CounterPunch
"For 60 Years, This Powerful Conservative Group Has Worked to Crush Labor," The Nation