More News About Factory Workers in Chicago Trying to Buy Factory

More About Trying to Buy the Factory in Chicago

I am contributing a bit and hoping the workers win this one.  Also, hope my few dollars Go where I intend them to.  Think I will ask them to be mindful of hiring people with disabilities along with my contribution.  I live on Disability.

A kind reader suggested, Google the organization,  

SumOfUs.org then look for this particular petition.  The reader said links flipped over to Blogger from an E-mail will not work.  I tried putting it in a Word document first, no good.  Copy and Paste, no good.  So hope someones will care enough to find this organization.

As readers know, I tend to think multi-national corporations with loyalty to no country have a bigger influence on the government than voters.  That is why I like this organization.  They focus on money and "money talks, BS walks".  Shows you how old I am.  Wonder if Blogger will let more than BS pass, they won't let me write things like "disgusting" in the "labels".

To be honest, we weren't sure how our campaign about the New Era Windows cooperative would go over. We knew we loved what the workers were trying to accomplish and wanted their story to be heard by as many people as possible,

but we were overwhelmed by your response

. Our inbox has been deluged by SumOfUs.org members asking how they could help the

workers and sharing how much this campaign has resonated with them.

And our pressure is working!

 This week, Serious Energy and Mesirow Financial are allowing the New Era Windows

worker cooperative to tour the factory and inspect the machinery they want to purchase,

something Serious had previously only offered other companies and private equity

groups looking to sell the machinery off for scrap.

And later this week, Serious will sit down with the workers -- who will arrive armed

with your petition -- to see if they can come to an agreement on a fair price for

both parties.

In preparation for their meeting, the New Era workers are working overtime to raise

the money they need to compete with the other investors Serious has been courting

for months. Meanwhile, New Era only learned a week and a half ago that Serious wanted

hundreds of thousands more than it had been offered. If you would like to donate

directly to the workers,

click here to give to the workers' factory fund.

 Forward this email to your friends and send them to

our original petition

, and share this campaign on Facebook to ensure that the New Era cooperative gets

all the support they can.

Click to share this campaign on Facebook

Thank you for being one of us.

Claiborne, Kaytee and the rest of us

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

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Trying Again for Black Doll Enthusiast

Tomorrow Congress is going to vote to repeal health care, again.
Can you sign this petition telling them that it's time to accept that health care
reform is here to stay?
 Congress has to move on to urgent business--like creating jobs and ending pay discrimination
against women and families.
click here
Click Here

Tomorrow, Republicans in Congress are going to vote, again, to repeal the Affordable
Care Act--the most pro-woman piece of legislation in decades, and a law that is going
to help tens of millions of people get health care who wouldn't otherwise be able
to afford it.
They tried to defeat the bill in 2010 and they failed. They tried to get the Supreme
Court to overturn it and they failed. They tried to gut birth control coverage in
the bill and they failed.
In fact, this will be the fourth time they have voted to completely repeal the whole
law in the last few years.
Far-right conservatives have succeeded at one thing though, distracting Congress
from dealing with serious issues facing our country, like the economy.
It's time for all of us to rise up and send a strong message to these politicians:
Enough is enough.
Can you sign this petition telling Congress that health care is here to stay and
it's well past time to move on to urgent business--like creating jobs and ending
pay discrimination against women and families?
Add your name to the petition.
The fact is that when health care reform passed and the Supreme Court upheld the
law, millions of working Americans won and billionaire insurance companies lost.
These members of Congress just can't accept that--and they want their giant corporate
donors to know it.
In the last few years, the right-wing Congress has tried to:
Take away health care from women and families, votes they have taken repeatedly.
Cut funding for Planned Parenthood--the only source of health care for millions of
low-income women.
Restrict access to reproductive health care.
Take away birth control coverage from millions of women.
Jobs? This Congress has failed to create a single job in these last two years. But
they did manage to:
Reject equal pay protections for women.
Refuse to allow women and families paid sick leave so that they can care for their
ailing parents or kids--or themselves--without fear of losing their jobs.
Roll back protections for survivors of domestic abuse--leaving millions of women
at greater risk of violence.
This is crazy. And it's time to let them know that we, women and men voters all over
the country, are paying attention and aren't going to let them get away with distraction
politics.
Please sign today.
Add your name to the petition.
Thanks for speaking out,
--Nita, Shaunna and Kat, the UltraViolet team
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.

Flogging a Dead Horse in Congress Again?

Whether or not you agree with all of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, I respectfully ask you to please consider signing the petition below.

Whether you like President Obama or not he was elected with a promise to hel reform healthcare for our uninsured fellow citizens.  He kept that promise, the Supreme Court upheld the law and our country needs a Lot of help in Many areas.  Those who are currently covered by this act mostly love it.  So WHY are they flogging a dead horse in Congress again?  I think it is to try and scre political capital in an election year.

You may not agree with all points made below, but please consider signing the petition.  I think we need our Congress to Work, not just campaign!

Tomorrow Congress is going to vote to repeal health care, again.

Can you sign this petition telling them that it's time to accept that health care

reform is here to stay?

 Congress has to move on to urgent business--like creating jobs and ending pay discrimination

against women and families.

click here

Click Here

Tomorrow, Republicans in Congress are going to vote, again, to repeal the Affordable

Care Act--the most pro-woman piece of legislation in decades, and a law that is going

to help tens of millions of people get health care who wouldn't otherwise be able

to afford it.

They tried to defeat the bill in 2010 and they failed. They tried to get the Supreme

Court to overturn it and they failed. They tried to gut birth control coverage in

the bill and they failed.

In fact, this will be the fourth time they have voted to completely repeal the whole

law in the last few years.

Far-right conservatives have succeeded at one thing though, distracting Congress

from dealing with serious issues facing our country, like the economy.

It's time for all of us to rise up and send a strong message to these politicians:

Enough is enough.

Can you sign this petition telling Congress that health care is here to stay and

it's well past time to move on to urgent business--like creating jobs and ending

pay discrimination against women and families?

Add your name to the petition.

The fact is that when health care reform passed and the Supreme Court upheld the

law, millions of working Americans won and billionaire insurance companies lost.

These members of Congress just can't accept that--and they want their giant corporate

donors to know it.

In the last few years, the right-wing Congress has tried to:

Take away health care from women and families, votes they have taken repeatedly.

Cut funding for Planned Parenthood--the only source of health care for millions of

low-income women.

Restrict access to reproductive health care.

Take away birth control coverage from millions of women.

Jobs? This Congress has failed to create a single job in these last two years. But

they did manage to:

Reject equal pay protections for women.

Refuse to allow women and families paid sick leave so that they can care for their

ailing parents or kids--or themselves--without fear of losing their jobs.

Roll back protections for survivors of domestic abuse--leaving millions of women

at greater risk of violence.

This is crazy. And it's time to let them know that we, women and men voters all over

the country, are paying attention and aren't going to let them get away with distraction

politics.

Please sign today.

Add your name to the petition.

Thanks for speaking out,

--Nita, Shaunna and Kat, the UltraViolet team

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.

What Does it Mean to Change a Healthcare Aide

A Healthcare aide is a person who allows us to keep our dignity, living in our own homes, tending to our gardens of food, friends, small money making hobbies, and social relationships within the community.  For some of us this person Is the primary social relationship we have.

The alternative?  An institution which is dehumanizing as all residents must be treated the same and expected to behave in particular ways at particular times, like machines.  Some institutions abuse disabled people and none of them can afford to provide enough room for gardens, of any kind inside the institution.



Healthcare aides are often underpaid, hard working people and if they can find better jobs it only makes sense for them to leave.

What Does it Mean to Change a Healthcare Aide?

I want to talk about one particular change which most of you have never had to make.  First, let me state clearly that I am Not complaining, either about the healthcare aide who made my life more fun and enriched it by her presence, Or the intelligent sensitive person who will be replacing her.

A friend once told me that change gets harder as you get older.  I wasn't sure I agreed with him at the time.  As a Buddhist, I know that the only thing I can count on is the impermanence, the changing, of everything.

But today I am thinking maybe he's right.  When you lose the help of someone who has made a huge difference for the better in your life it's hard.  I feel sad.

And when someone new comes to take their place, if they stay a while, it changes your life.  It changes what time you get up in the morning to be ready to begin working with the new person, and it changes what time you try to go to bed, whether or not you sleep.  I don't know how to arrange my schedule around these new, earlier hours.  I have been a night owl since childhood, but most business seems to be conducted during daylight hours.  Will I become more sleep deprived or figure out a good new schedule for myself.

If you respect a healthcare aide as a fellow human being with the same rights as you have, then switching to someone new is an investment.  It means learning what makes them laugh, laughter makes life easier for both of you.   It means listening to their troubles as you work together.  Since most of my troubles are rather obvious, I can't read flat shit, (print) and I can't drive, and sometimes I need a person to talk on the phone for me to someone who won't or can't raise their voice, I try not to afflict the person who works with me with any inner pain or turmoil I may be having.  But their problems are more likely to be financial and emotional and someone to listen can be helpful.

If a former aide has chosen to stick with you through a traumatic life change, (for me it was Ann's death) then loosing them is even more frightening. I do not know what I would do if I hadn't had the Great fortune to meet the lady who will be my new healthcare aide when she was working with another blind person I knew.  

In the past, when a new aide came to our home, Ann and I Both made it a point to be around, paying a lot of attention to what the person was doing.  I no longer have a back up. I was considering refusing any more healthcare aide hours and trying to cobble together a system of sporadic volunteer help, with me buying gas, treats the volunteer liked, etc.  But a regular schedule is usually much easier to work with, once you get used to it.

Also it means finding out what may offend the new person and working out a style of communication which is honest but doesn't hurt either of your feelings.  It means finding out jobs they enjoy and those they do not and trying, if possible, to take on some of those they do not.  Most of the time I can wash dishes.  But occasionally the tendonitis in my right hand and arm is so bad that this is an extremely painful activity.  Working with someone new means teaching them what you need, (help with ASL practice) and which things are usually but not always possible for you to do, (washing dishes, for example).  In other words, it means ending one relationship and beginning another overnight, or over the space of a couple of days.  It is painful and difficult.

But those who work as really good health care aides in one's life are Wonderful Gifts, they are not machines.  So it is only fair to treat them like the valuable people they are, whether their employers do or not.

This is a difficult change.

Help American Workers in Chicago

These workers aren't just fighting for their jobs. They want to buy the factory.

But the factory owners won't take them seriously.

Stand with these workers

Stand with workers in their fight to save the factory from being sold for scrap.

Click to Add Your Name

When the workers at a window and door factory in Chicago were told their factory

was closing and they would lose their jobs, they decided that instead of letting

the company's global investors determine their fate,

they would raise the money to buy the factory and save their jobs.

But they can’t do it, even though they’ve put in a competitive bid on the factory.

Why? Because the owner,

Serious Energy, and its global investors Mesirow Financial, are in a rush to sell

the factory

 to people who will sell it off for scrap instead.

We can help the workers save their jobs.

 Serious and Mesirow know pressure is mounting, which is why they are rushing to

sell the factory off. If we weigh in today, the workers believe Serious and Mesirow

will have to give them a fair shot at buying the factory and saving their jobs.

Stand with the factory workers in calling for Serious and Mesirow to discuss a fair deal that saves the factory and the workers’ jobs.

At the end of the day, this is about much more than saving one factory. This is a

chance to showcase an innovative model of American manufacturing -- worker-owned

cooperatives -- and deal another blow to the financial sector that relies on the

failure of these companies to line their pockets.

By saving this factory, we are helping to build a more just economy for all of us.

Thanks for joining us in fighting for good jobs,

Claiborne, Kaytee and the rest of us

Background story:

In February,

workers at an energy efficient-window and door factory in Chicago were told that

their plant -- owned by Serious Energy -- was about to be shut down

, sliced up and sold off for parts.

The workers staged a factory occupation and got an agreement from Serious to delay

the factory’s liquidation and

give workers the opportunity to buy the plant themselves, with their newly-formed

cooperative, New Era Windows

. With no overhead for executive salaries, and the potential for contracts with the

city of Chicago, which is gearing up for a big energy-efficiency campaign, New Era

Windows was looking at a bright future as a worker-run factory.

But then, after months of stalling by Serious,

the company suddenly announced on Sunday that all factory bids were due immediately,

and that it wouldn’t accept New Era’s offer

 of $1.2 million -- instead, it asked for more money than it bought the factory for

in 2009, and

rigged the process to ensure that New Era didn’t have a chance.

These workers want a solution. They have been scraping money together to afford the

factory and save their jobs. And they’ve fought like hell before -- back in 2008

they occupied their factory for six days and stood down their previous owner who

attempted to fire 250 workers without severance pay.

Part of the pressure to sell is coming from Serious Energy’s owners, including Chicago-based

Mesirow Financial. For Mesirow, selling the factory off to vultures means padding

its profit by a couple percentage points. For the workers at New Era, the factory’s

sale represents their livelihoods.

Stand with the workers at New Era Windows: Tell Serious Energy and Mesirow Financial to work with New Era Windows to find a reasonable solution.

*******************************

Further Reading:

Workers seek arbitration to save Goose Island window factory

, The Chicago Tribune, 3 July 2012

Workers vs. Investors: Chicago Window Factory in Danger of Liquidation

, The Nation, 5 July 2012

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

Twitter

, and like us on

Facebook

I needed my Braille display to tell me the name of the second company Wasn't Mess Around.  I knew no company would call themselves that, yet somehow it Did seem appropriate, as in "Mess Around with your workers" or Mess Over, etc.

Whenever people complain about foreign aid they always say "No one is helping Our workers here at home."  So please forward this to your complaining friends.  You can also tell them that they may have the inconvenience of having to Unsubscribe from receiving further mail, but that this Pales in comparison to losing your job, maybe your house, and possibly having to go to a homeless shelter!

What Do You Drink, and a Thank You

What Do You Drink and Thank You

We have had unusually hot weather for June and the beginning of July.  The lakes are dropping and cities are warning people that a ban on washing cars and watering lawns may soon be in effect.  After that the car washes may close and burning bans seriously curtailed fireworks use for those smart enough to listen.

I have been praying for rain.  The way I do it, it's hard to pray for rain from indoors.  I go outside and talk to the Earth, the Sun, the Winds and Water Woman, said by one Cherokee elder to be similar to Kwan Yin, bringing rain in her vase of compassion, too.  I can't speak out loud, of course, I have neighbors.  And in some places they lock you up for such things as my kind of prayers.  I talk about the needs of the fish in drying creeks, the thirst of the trees, the plants, the birds, and insects.  I acknowledge that without any of the elements I call we would all be dead.  No Sun, dead.  No Earth, dead, of course. No atmosphere, (sky) dead again.  And no water, dead.  Then I talk about the needs of all for water.  The cattle, the deer, squirrels, they All depend on water, just like we do.

I try to send my mind up into the sky, to touch the winds, Sun, and Sky with it and my request on the behalf of all needing water.

Last Tuesday it rained in a small location, which, thankfully, included me.  It was a hard short rain, about an hour, but the run-off will feed lakes, rivers, and streams.

Since then I've been trying to think of each bit of water I drink as Rain.  When I drink water I'm more apt to be careless with it.  Fill the cup and dump half of it back down the drain,run the water to rinse dishes instead of scrubbing out the sink and filling it with hot rinse water.

But when I drink Rain, I put into the cup only what I want to drink.  If there is a swallow or two extra, I drink it.  I try to remember how much rain I waste running water to rinse dishes, etc.

It makes a mental difference whether I drink water or Rain.

When it rains well I used to go outside and spin in a Happy Dance of Thanks! But now since I have moved after Ann's death, neighbors can see me.   Now I stand on my front stoop edge and stare straight up into the sky, smiling like I just won the lottery, and trying to touch the sky, the thunder and lightning, the clouds, and of course the Rain, with my relief, joy, and Thankfulness.

I thank the Sun for allowing the clouds to hide her so that we can all drink rain!  Since I don't talk or dance no one can call the authorities to take a look.  And if people stare, so what, I don't have to see them.  I don't know that it's logical, but when it is needed, I am Truly Joyful in the Rain.  And I don't know much about happiness. 

An important person in my life who has helped Ann and me, then just me, for two years is leaving regular visits to my house to go to a better job.  Yeah for Her!  I am truly Glad.

But it's a bit scary to lose a healthcare aide who has become a friend.  Wendi, I want to Thank you for your kindness, your laughter, your extremely hard work,your flexibility in helping me with everything from computer problems to showing me where someone's dog had made deposits in my yard so I could clean them up and Not have to find them the Hard way!  Thank you for sticking with me after Ann's unexpected death and for helping me set up a Great Memorial display of the things she did and loved at our rent house.  I haven't forgotten your work, sorting through Mountains of paperwork, (a job I Couldn't do) and pictures, which I couldn't see.  Thank you for delivering donations of Ann's things to people who had nothing.  You were a part of why I'm still as sane as I am.  Thank you for sharing hysterical E-mails, some of which I have kept.  You could have left after Ann died, but you stayed and took on Her work, like helping me pay bills, deal with print junk mail, and you helped me Find and put away things after I moved.  You have done so much more by just being You that it would take many pages to thank you properly for your cheerful taking on of so much hard work.

But since you do me the honor of reading this blog, I want to say the most Public Thank You I can.  It's not enough, but I cannot think of anything to do which Would be.

May you have happiness and the Best of fortunes!

Should we "Invest in Burma?"

It was refusal to invest in South Africa which helped to bring white minority rule to an nd.  The state of the daily stock market may have little or Nothing to do with the lives of most or at least Many ordinary working people.  But it has a Lot to do with the success of multi-national corporations and their large share holders.

Since Secretary of State Hilary Clinton made her much publicized tatement, urging American businesses to "Invest in Burma" the US. Campaign for Burma has reported intimidation by rape, farmers being forced by the military to leave resource rich land and become internally displaced refugees, torture of political prisoners and ordinary people for non-compliance with military orders, etc.

I sent the following mail to the BBC which has waxed optimistic about investing in Burma, only sayin there are "ethnic tensions" between  the Rohinga Muslim people and Buddhists. 

The US. Campaign for Burma wants the People of Burma to have their Own Independence Day.  They are asking everyone to call their Federal Senators and urge renewal of the "Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act" Including Renewing sanctions against the Burmese military junta.

Below is my letter to the BBC.

The BBC and other news organizations are singing the praises of "invest in Burma" and saying the only difficulties are between Muslim and Buddhist people.  Then why do I keep receiving E-mails such as the material copied below Directly from an E-mail from the US. Campaign for Burma?  Could it be that both the US. And Europe hope to boost their flagging economies through "investing in Burma" which has exploitable natural resources, at the expense of More people whose human rights are being violated on a daily basis?  Please have the courage to do a bit of research or put this on your Facebook page so Others can.

Teresa Myeers, from the USA.

"While the international community, according to Aung San Suu Kyi, has expressed reckless

optimism, the situation has not gotten any better outside big cities like Rangoon

and Naypyitaw.  As you are reading this, Burma’s military is violating the basic

human rights of ethnic people, particularly the Kachin. Burma’s regime still refuses

to admit there are hundreds of political prisoners behind bars.  With the lifting

of the US investment ban, interest in development has spiked.

More and more farmers are in danger of being forced off their land to make way for foreign investment

or subjected to forced labor, crop burnings, and extortion.

Some farmers have been arrested for refusing to leave their land

. We must send a strong signal that real reform respects rights for all, not profits

for the few. The import ban in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act is the last

piece of leverage the U.S. has to push Burma's military and government towards real

reform.

Please call your Senators and ask them to cosponsor the renewal of sanctions against

Burma's regime before they expire this summer. Click here for detailed instructions.

Presently five Senators have agreed to cosponsor the renewal! We need to keep the

momentum going, emails will not be enough,

we need you to call your Senators.

The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act denies hundreds of millions of American dollars

from getting into the hands of the Burmese junta and its cronies. Now more than ever,

the Kachin and Burma's marginalized communities need our help to sustain strong U.S.

pressure on the regime . . ."