#TalkingUnion & Other #Union Songs

…music to #mobilize4equity by…from Pete Seeger, the Almanac Singers & the Song Swappers…because it's time.

“Like hymns and patriotic songs, union songs are songs with a message."

Released in 1955, this record is an enduring collection of working man’s anthems that have been passed down through generations of laborers. Liner notes include an introduction by Pete Seeger and song explanations.

newsletters still rule

…for campus or regional communication and as community building tools at the grassroots level. We'd like to post more from them for readers to learn more about campuses and workplace conditions in other parts of the country. Not everything changes and many traditional ways are as good as ever. Smart change is keeping what works, using new tools to share and make it better.

Board member Peter D.G. Brown is also President of the SUNY New Paltz UUP Chapter and edits its award winning newsletter, The Bullhorn. Peter shares this link to the September Special Issue noting that much of it is "devoted to contingent issues, as usual. I'd like the p. 4 article on Lavallee to get wide exposure, since he is being showered with money, while the campus administration cries poverty when it comes to increasing pay for adjuncts." Read and compare Peter's articles on Lavallee and New Paltz adjuncts posted below. But don't miss out on the rest of the issue or the Mayday Declaration (formerly Mayday $5K) for a living wage and basic workplace rights for adjuncts. Sign it. Share it.

after Earth Day comes May Day

…both exercises in calling out unsustainable practices and their consequences…Beltane and Maypoles aside, May Day is more about workplace rights than greenery.

snippets of history:

On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike...The UK protest actually took place on a Sunday, and in London alone attracted 300,000 protesters to Hyde Park.

For more than a century, May Day has been a celebration of the international labor movement and is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. For obvious reason, it is a popular date for rallies, marches and protests. Last year, Occupy was the dominant theme: this year, seemingly less so. Observances are still planned for Chicago, New York and major cities around the world…and on campuses too.