CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL SESSION ON HEALTHY WORKFORCE ORDINANCE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Maria Jose Ramos (505)246.1627; mramos_elcentro@yahoo.com 

City Council to Have Special Session on Healthy
Workforce Ordinance
Council to Discuss New Election Resolution for Earned Sick Days

Albuquerque, NM — On Monday, July 10, the Albuquerque City Council will hold a special meeting to address Mayor Berry’s illegal demand that the City Council remove the summary of the Healthy Workforce Ordinance question from the 2017 municipal election ballot. Ally organizations and supporters of the Healthy Workforce Ordinance will attend the meeting to advocate for a fair election.

This will be the City Council’s second attempt to pass an election resolution for October’s municipal election. On June 29, 2017, in a transparent effort to prevent Albuquerque voters from voting on the Healthy Workforce Ordinance, Mayor Berry vetoed the City Council’s majority decision last month to place a summary of the earned sick days question on the ballot. Instead, Mayor Berry decided that voters should not be permitted to read a summary of the law, but instead should cast a vote on the law printed over two sides of the ballot in 6-point font, which many voters will be unable to read or understand. The Mayor’s June 29 veto statement instructed the City Council to pass a new election resolution that removes the summary from the ballot – an unprecedented and illegal instruction that violates the City Charter’s requirements for direct voter legislation and the City’s own past practice.

WHAT: City Council Special Session on Healthy Workforce Ordinance
WHO: Community members and supporters of the Healthy Workforce ABQ Ordinance
WHEN: Monday, June 10th at 5:00 pm
WHERE: Vincent E. Griego Council Chambers, basement level of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

Healthy Workforce ABQ is supported by Organizers in the Land of Enchantment (OLÉ), Strong Families New Mexico, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, New Mexico Working Families Party, the NM Center on Law & Poverty, the Center for Civic Policy, and SWOP.

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PDA CNM DIGEST July 7, 2017

THE PEOPLE’S SUMMIT, JUNE 2017

More than 4,000 progressive activists gathered at the second People’s Summit in Chicago, June 9-11. The vast halls and large meeting rooms of the mammoth McCormick Place on Lake Michigan provided ample space for this enthusiastic and mostly under 50 crowd to gather and eat and discuss in breakout sessions or in casual meetups.  National Nurses United funded the Summit for the second time and they really showed what nurses can do when it comes to organizing. Paul and I went last year as well as this year and found 2017 just as inspiring as 2016. Of course, last year’s summit took place before the November election so this year’s had a bit of a different flavor. Even though last year’s event brought together people of all colors, religions and places of origin, this year seemed to emphasize even more the importance of common values that people of good will hold dear. There was little said about Trump but a lot said about Neoliberalism and building a progressive movement with leaders who possess “belief systems” and who represent the oppressed.  READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE IN THE CURRENT NEWSLETTER. Click on the Newsletter link below.

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PDA CNM DIGEST June 19, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE MAYORAL FORUM
SPONSORED BY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF BERNALILLO COUNTY

The forum, attended by six of the 9 candidates, took place at Plumbers’ and Pipefitters’ Hall. It was a packed audience to hear views on many subjects, moderated by Joe Monahan.

The Forum was live streamed on the county web page, and a video of the Forum HERE.

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PDA CNM DIGEST June 16, 2017

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PDA CNM DIGEST June 9, 2017

MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE

This Memorial Day message is to all you dedicated, compassionate and, yes, frightened activists who are beginning to feel physical and mental fatigue as you attend one more meeting, write one more letter, make one more phone call, or carry protest signs at one more rally at the cost of spending time with your family and friends, reading a good book, taking a long walk or just practicing a brief meditation, I would like to remind us all of some who have gone before us whose sacrifices most of us will never begin to match. I hope they give us all some hope and confidence that our efforts are not in vain.

I recently read a Bill Moyers interview with Peter Dreier, author of the 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame. I haven’t read the book so I can’t recommend it, but I list here the names of some of those “progressive leaders who ‘have fought to make the US a more humane and inclusive country'”. In addition to the better-known heroes in the history of our progressive movement like Martin Luther King, Rachel Carson, Justice Louis Brandeis, Walter Reuther, Cesar Chavez and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, he lists several lesser-known people of note. “Tom Johnson, the progressive mayor of Cleveland; Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin, behind-the-scenes organizers in the Civil Rights movement; Alice Hamilton and Florence Kelley, two of the leading settlement worker activists in the early 1900s who led movements to improve workplaces and who fight against child labor; Myles Horton, who founded the Highlander School as a training center for labor and civil rights organizers; community organizer Saul Alinsky, who’s become famous in the last couple years because of attacks on Obama and his alleged ties to Alinsky.” Others are John Muir, early advocate for the preservation of wilderness; Robert Wagner, a state legislator and later a US Senator, who fought to enact the first reform laws; Frances Perkins, first woman Secretary of Labor who was responsible more than anyone else for bringing us Social Security and the minimum wage. The story of her life and the challenges she faced should give us all inspiration to face another fight for a better world.

The interview doesn’t mention the women who struggled for voting rights for women; but the book must include early heroines like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who didn’t live to realize the results of their efforts. However, they never gave up in spite of overwhelming opposition.

One hopes that the book talks about early leaders of the gay rights movement like Harvey Milk, who made the ultimate sacrifice in his fight for gay rights.

Of course there are many more. None of these notables was perfect and their contributions varied in courage and sacrifice. But hopefully their memory will help us get through the next 3 1/2 years and way beyond.

Laura Stokes

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PDA CNM DIGEST May 29, 2017

SPECIAL SESSION RALLY AT THE ROUNDHOUSE
WEAR YELLOW – NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER

Date: May 24
Time: 11am-1pm
(10-11am Set-up)
Arrival, hand out signs 11-11:15
Speakers from 11:15-11:11:45/12pm
March around the Roundhouse 12:00 – 12:30
Open Mic 12:30 – 1

Wear Yellow – No retreat, No Surrender
(Note: this is not the Dem. Party Message)

PASS THE BUDGET

The Democratic Party Message is “We’re marching to restore higher education funding and give our state a bright future”.

PDA feels this is a very weak and limited message. We believe the message is not inclusive and doesn’t have an appeal for all New Mexicans. If the newly-elected party chair is serious about getting reluctant voters excited about voting, this is not the way to do it. There is much more in the budget that we want and must fight for. PDA believes the party and our legislative leadership must become bolder in their fight for all New Mexicans in this legislative session.

WHAT DO WE WANT?

We want our elected legislators to hand the current budget back to the governor and leave the building. If they can’t do that, they must insist that this budget be a budget that protects the well-being of all the people in this state.
We would ask that you make your own signs that express these sentiments.

Laura Stokes – PDA State Co-Coordinator

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PDA CNM DIGEST May 18, 2017