Labor Outreach Committee Meeting - Friday 16 December 2011
Labor Outreach Committee Meeting
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- Date: Friday, December 16th, 2011
- Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
- Location: Local 328, Oregon AFSCME Council 75 Union Hall, East Burnside Street at SE 60th Avenue[1]
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Purpose
- Proposed Agenda
- Debrief on D12.
- Report back on People's Assembly.
- Organizing as a spoke (proposal).
- Relating to national Occupy Labor committees.
- Upcoming struggles? May Day 2012, education rally 2/20, other labor struggles locally.
Other details
- Occupy and Organized Labor
- GOAL/PURPOSE
To bolster solidarity between those who identify with Occupy Portland and those who identify with organized labor, and to identify bottom-up options for personally exhibiting that solidarity in our communities.
- ISSUES TO RAISE
- The ongoing media vilification of Occupy and unions; attempts to divide the two; and how to combat it from the grassroots
- The fear of co-optation among some Occupy activists who distrust electoral politics and reformist agendas
- The fear among some organizational leaders of becoming too tied to a movement that may or may not prove strategic and long-lasting
- Differences between movements and organizations; the benefits that come from mutual respect; and thoughts on how that respect can be demonstrated
- SUGGESTED FORMAT
A moderator/host introduces the event and agenda. If needed, the event then has brief presentations providing a basic overview of Occupy Portland and how it operates and organized labor in Portland and how it operates. Depending on the audience, this may not be necessary — but if there are lots of people in the audience who don't have much experience with one or the other, this could be useful. Then the moderator calls up a group of four-ish thoughtful individuals with different connections to Occupy Portland and/or organized labor for a "fishbowl discussion." They're given a few minutes each to share some prepared thoughts -- and then the moderator poses some pre-arranged questions to the fishbowl for them to answer and debate together. Ideally, there is more back-and-forth than on a panel. Also, there is no Q&A from the audience. About 45 minutes into the event, people break out into small group discussions -- and are given a list of several pre-written questions that help explore the "issues to raise" above -- and helps identify some things people can do in their own lives to help exhibit solidarity between Occupy and labor. After maybe 20 minutes, the moderator reconvenes everyone and asks each group to share their one or two best ideas. We list them up on a whiteboard and then email them around afterwards. The moderator makes some brief closing remarks and we depart.
- POSSIBLE SPEAKERS
- Moderator --
- Dee Brown?
- Megan Hise?
- Occupy 101 & Labor 101 (is this needed?)
- Labor in Portland Overview
- Margaret Butler?
- Occupy Portland Overview
- Eliana Machuca?
- Fishbowl
- Kari Koch (said she would)
- Chris Ferlazzo?
- Heather Conroy?
- Jamie Partridge?
- Jennifer Sargent?
- Barbara Byrd?
- Tom Chamberlain?
- Meredith Reese?
- David Osborn?
- Madelyn Elder?
- SUGGESTED DATE AND VENUE
- Monday January 30 * 6:30pm
- JwJ/AFSCME Building
- 6025 E. Burnside
- TURNOUT
- Promoted through normal JwJ, ORFTC and Occupy channels throughout January.
- If appropriate, cross-promoted with the Assembly/People's Budget events.
- See Also
- Occupy Portland Labor Outreach Committee
- Occupy Portland Labor Outreach Peoples’ Assembly Organizing Committee
- Occupy Portland Stands In Solidarity with Labor
- Trade Unions
- Portland Union Wiki
- Jobs with Justice
- Organized Power
- Portland General Strike
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