UNITE HERE rally at Baltimore City Center Sheraton on Thursday, July 10th at 4:30 PM right outside the hotel at 101 W. Fayette Street (a short distance both the Light Rail and the Metro).

So far, the boycott campaign has successfully pulled over $2.5 million dollars and business from Columbia Sussex; which encouraged Columbia Sussex to sign their first union contract in Philadelphia after only the second bargaining session. The boycott has also expanded to the Crystal City Hilton (in northern Virginia) and I was just at the energetic kick off rally for that on July 2nd. We can win this one. Sí, se puede! Yes, we can!

For more details about the struggle at the Sheraton and the boycott campaign, read this article.

Following the rally, Red Emmas/2640 has their third P.E.P. (Popular Education Project) talk with Bill Fletcher Jr.speaking on his new book Solidarity Divided on Thursday, July 10, 7PM @ 2640 (2640 St. Paul St.)

Plus updates and responses from the United Workers and UNITE HERE!



About the book

What's the future of the labor movement in the United States? How did the onslaught of neoliberalism catch Amercian unions off guard? What would a new labor movement, one able and willing to fight for the rights of workers on all fronts, look like? "Solidarity Divided", the brand-new book co-authored by Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin, tries to answer exactly these questions. Part overview of American labor history, part analysis of recent developments in American labor, including the split of the Change to Win coalition from the AFL-CIO, and part strategic vision for a new labor movement capable of standing up for the working class and for social justice, "Solidarity Divided" is an excellent starting point for reimagining the politics of labor unions in Baltimore and beyond.

About Bill Fletcher, Jr.



Bill Fletcher, Jr. is currently director of Field Services and Education at AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees), and executive editor of Black Commentator. He is a co-founder of the Black Radical Congress as well as the Center for Labor Renewal, formerly served as President of TransAfrica Forum, and was the Education Director and later Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO. He is the author of "The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Relations, 1934-1941."



ABOUT THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS:

Workers from UNITE HERE! (currently fighting for a contract with Columbia Sussex, owners of the City Center Sheraton in Baltimore) and the United Workers (who carried out a successful multi-year campaign to win a living wage for the day laborers at Camden Yards) will be on hand to offer updates about their current campaigns as well as responses to the vision in Solidarity Divided.