U.S. Labor Tour 2011 - March 15 - 31

U.S. LABOR TOUR 2011

Workers Struggle Beyond Borders: 

Uniting the Peoples of Nuestra America

With a growing economic crisis, the U.S. empire is waging an even larger scale offensive on the world’s working poor to keep capitalism afloat, while eliminating many essential services making it more expensive and practically unaffordable to obtain healthcare, increasing cuts to education, and foreclosing on homes at an unprecedented rate. This offensive has even made it a crime to work in the U.S. if you’re an “undocumented” worker; while state legislatures, such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana, are currently seeking to eliminate or weaken collective bargaining rights.

As a response to this offensive, workers from throughout the continent have decided to propose a collaborative project towards integration and solidarity beyond national borders, in search of worker’s unity that will ensure their class interest. This tour seeks to introduce the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) to workers in the United States, with the objective of seeking dialogue and presenting common areas of interest, this tour will invite workers and their organizations to the Encuentro Sindical de Nuestra América (ESNA) which will take place this year in Nicaragua. Similarly, this tour will inform worker’s how countries that today form part of the Bolivarian Alliance of Nuestra América (ALBA) have made investments in healthcare, education, food security, sports, cultural programs, while the United States cuts programs in these areas, while increasing its military spending. This tour invites workers in the US to become familiar with this continental process which seeks to build coordinated actions in our common defense of as a working class, throughout the continent and the world.

Join us in welcoming the following international guests:
- Gilda Chacon Bravo, World Federation of Trade Unions- Americas Region- Cuba
- Humberto Montes de Oca, Interior Secretary of the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME)- México
- Jorge Cázares Torres, Section VIII of the National Steering Committee of Education Workers (CNTE)- México

Dates & Cities:
March 16 & 17- Washington D.C.
March 18- Cleveland, Ohio
March 19- Toledo, Ohio
March 20- Detroit, Michigan
March 21- Chicago, Illinois
March 22- San Francisco, California
March 23- Oakland, California
March 24 & 25- San Diego, California
March 26 & 27- Los Angeles, California
March 28, 29, 30 & 31- New York, New York

Organized by:
US-Cuba Labor Exchange
laborexchange@aol.com

International Action Center
iacenter@iacenter.org

Unión del Barrio
info@uniondelbarrio.org

Endorsed by:
World Federation of Trade Unions

For more information or to endorse, please contact us at any of the e-mails listed.

VII Labor Conference concludes in Tijuana

The VI U.S./Cuba/Mexico Labor Conference ended on Sunday, Dec. 5. Stay tuned for video, articles, interviews and upcoming activities.

Directions:

How to Get from the San Diego International Airport to Tijuana:

Welcome to the San Diego International Airport. 

Just outside the airport terminal you will find signs where the MTS #992 bus will stop and pick you up and take you downtown. These buses have luggage racks for your convenience. They run every 15 minutes from 5 a.m. to midnight. The cost is $2.25 or $1.10 for seniors 60 and over. You must have exact change.

Get off the bus downtown at the corner of Broadway and Kettner Blvd. Cross the street to the American Plaza Transit Center. Buy a trolley ticket at the ticket machine. The cost is $2.50 or $1.25 for seniors 60 and over. The trolleys run on an honor system, but hold on to your ticket for the length of the trip in case you are asked to prove that you paid. You need to board a Blue Line trolley in the direction of San Ysidro. If the front of the trolley says El Cajon, that is not the one you want. It should say San Ysidro. San Ysidro is the last trolley stop on the Blue Line south. It’s about a 45-minute ride.

When you get off the trolley, you will be at the border on the U.S. side. You can walk across the border although it’s a bit of a hike, especially if you have a significant amount of luggage (travel light!). When you have crossed the pedestrian bridge over I-5, gone through the noisy turnstiles, passed by the small Mexican customs office, where no one will stop you, you’ll come out onto a street with many stalls selling touristy type items and you will see many yellow taxis. Ignore the many solicitations you will receive.

Walk a block or two further on to find a red and white or orange and white taxi. “Necesito un taxi libre” or “Necesito un taxi colectivo” is what you will reply to anyone offering assistance. It’s always a good idea to have an agreement with the taxi driver on the price before you get in the taxi. Dollars are accepted pretty much anywhere in Tijuana.

Alternatively, when you exit the trolley at the San Ysidro station you can take a Mexicoach shuttle bus, which you should be able to locate nearby, to the Tijuana Tourist Terminal in downtown Tijuana (between 6th and 7th on Avenida Revolución). The cost for this bus is $5.00. They depart every 30 minutes. The Hotel Palacio Azteca is still a good distance from this terminal (about a 25-minute walk) so you’ll probably want to take a taxi. Again, look for the red and white or orange and white “colectivo” or “libre” taxis.

OH YES ... the hotel is

the Palacio Azteca.

Address: Blvd. Cuauhtemoc Sur #213

Here is a map...the Palacio Azteca is #5

click on map for larger view

SOLIDARITY wth the CUBAN FIVE! Free them NOW! Dec 3 in Tijuana REGISTER NOW!

Interview with Mexican union leader coming to the Tijuana Conference in Dec.

Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico/North America Labor Conference - VII

Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico/NorthAmerica Labor Conference - VII
December, 3, 4 and 5, Diciembre 3, 4 y 5, 2010
Hotel Palacio Azteca - Tijuana, Mexico

¡La lucha obrera no tiene fronteras! The workers’struggle has no borders!

Uniting America's Working Class and Increasing its Influence

U.S.-Cuba – Latin America- International Relations •
FTAA/NAFTA: the ALBA Alternative • Crises-Integration and Solidarity
Immigration between US/Latin America– Inmigración entre Estados y Latinoamérica •
Free the Cuban Five from U.S.prisons – Family visits now!

Save the date and REGISTER NOW!
online registration available at: laborexchange.blogspot.com
Hotel Registration information below
Promotional literature will be available by Labor Day!

 
Cuban leaders of the Confederation of Cuban Worker s (CTC) will visit Tijuana, Mexico, a city 15 minutes from the San Diego, U.S./Mexico border. This conference will give people from North America (the United States, Canada and Mexico) the opportunity to hear first hand from the Latinoamerican and Caribbean workers. Also, you will hear from Union leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Philippines, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and the U.S. discussing the social and labor movements in the Americas.

Lideres sindicales Cubanos de la Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), visitaran Tijuana, Mexico, una ciudad a 15 minutos de San Diego, CA. USA. de la frontera Mexico/EE.UU.. Esta conferencia le brindará la oportunidad a los trabajadores de Norte America de obtener informacion de pr imera mano sobre la situación de los trabajadores en Latinoamerica y el Caribea. Tambien estaran presentes lideres sindicalistas de: Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Filipinas, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador y los EEUU.
 
Invited International Panelist /Invitados (in formation):
CUBA: Raymundo Navarro Feranadez International Relations of C.T.C.; Carmen Godinez, CTC of Cuba; VENEZUELA: Jacobo Torres de Leon Fuerza Socialista Bolivariana de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras; Roberto Caraspe y Rolando Semprum Sindicato Metro Caracas; ECUADOR: Confederacion de Trabajadores del Ecuador; BOLIVIA: Representante de C.O.B.; NICARAGUA: Frente Nacional de Trabajadores, FNT; COLOMBIA; HONDURAS; PUERTO RICO; BRAZIL: Joao Batista Lemos Secretario Adjunto de Relaciones Internacionales CTB; MEXICO; ESTADOS UNIDOS: Cristina Vasquez; Rosie Martinez SEIU Local 721

AGENDA (Follow updates as more program details become available)
Friday, December 3, 2010 - REGISTRATION afternoon
Friday, December 3, 2010 - 6 pm -11 pm
Dinner reception to welcome family of the Cuban Five. Current developments in the international movement to Free the Five Cuban Heroes unjustly held in U.S. prisons for twelve years.

Saturday December 4, 2010 - 9 am - 1 pm
Impacto de la crisis en los trabajadores. Posiciones del movimiento sindical
latinoamericano y caribeno frente a la crisis. Alternativas

International union guests will discuss the relation s between the United States, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico,and the rest of Latin America, including the economic, financial crises, U.S. blockade against Cuba, the threats to the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, Bolivia and the imposition of Neoliberal policies on Mexico.

Saturday, December 4, 2010 - 3 pm - 7 pm

ALBA as a growing alternative to the FTAA. Here we will debate the defeat of the FTAA - Neoliberal Policies and the continued pursuit of the U.S. transnationals to implement free trade agreements - one by one - in Latin America. Hear and discuss how nine member countries of ALBA are responding in collective solidarity to the urgent problems of energy and food crises, education, communication, sports, and the necessities of life for those marginalized by colonialism and imperialist globalization. Find out about the newest development, how Latin America labor federations are organizing themselves for Workers Unite for a New America.

Sunday, December 5, 2010 - 9 am - 3 pm

Latin American immigration to the U.S. Here we will discuss the disastrous effects of the FTAA-politicas Neoliberales imposed by the U.S. government and U.S. transnationals on Latin America that destroys the Latin American economy and forces millions of workers to emigrate to the U.S. where they become modern day slaves, have their human rights violated and are humiliated.

SPONSORS (partial):
U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange
Federacion Sindical Mundial
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five;
International Action Center ( IAC)
Union del Barrio

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Conference Registration/ Datos para su inscripción a la Conferencia:


Name/Nombre:___________________________________________________________________

Address/Direccion: ________________________________________________________________

Phone/Telefono:_________________________________________________ Fax:______________
 
Email/Correo Electronico: ___________________________________________________________
 
Union/Organization /Sindicato: Organizacion______________________________________________

[  ] Enclosed is my registration fee of $ 80 U.S.dollars (Friday - Saturday - Sunday) including Friday "Free the Five" program and dinner.
or [  ] $55 for Saturday and Sunday only.
[  ] I would like to give a donation of $________ for a low-income participant.

[  ] Envio mi registro y mi donacion de 80 dolares US (incluye una cena especial – viernes – por Los Cincos)
        y quisiera aportar la cantidad de $_______para aquellos participantes de bajo ingreso.
o [  ] Envio mi registro y mi donacion de 55 dolares, sabado y domingo solamente.


Make checks payable to: Labor Exchange//Haga los chekes pagables a: Labor Exchange

US/Cuba Labor Exchange
P.O. BOX 39188
Redford MI 48239
Phone: (313) 575 4933
Email: laborexchange @ aol.com

Reservations can be made at: Reservaciones de Hotel:

Hotel Palacio Azteca
Blvd Cuauhtemoc Sur #213 Colonia Davila 22400 Tijuana, Mexico
*Toll Free from USA 1 888 901 3720 Toll Free From Mexico 01 8000266660

Please mention the/Favor de mencionar para un descuento al:
Cuba Labor Conference to get the special price:

Single/Sencilla Room $81 U.S.Dollars *
Double/Doble Room $116 U.S. Dollars*
*(Room rates include two breakfasts and one Saturday dinner per person)
Saturday: Coffee and sweets all day
*(Este precio incluye dos desayunos y una cena por persona)
Sabado: Cafe y bocadillos todo el dia

Reservations should be made as soon as possible/Realice su reservacion lo antes possible.
*If you have a problem please call 313 575 4933 or laborexchange@aol.com