CISPES cyclists approach the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on day one of the 2009 Solidarity Cycle.

Click here to sign up TODAY! Or, call 206.325.5494 or email seattle@cispes.org for details!

The U.S. is pushing economic policies such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Public Private Partnership across the globe, and these trade and privatization deals are no more than partnerships between U.S. power moguls and transnational corporations! Let’s stop the cycle of oppression that leads to massive unemployment, poor environmental and working conditions, and general poverty that leads to massive forced migrations in the first place! Let’s ride together for an alternative tomorrow, with livable wages, fair trade, and fair treatment!

Sign up for the Solidarity Cycle!

• A two day bike trip through east King County. Participants are protected by a county ordinance limiting law enforcement collaboration with immigration officials.
• Raise money to support grassroots organizing in El Salvador
• Enjoy the camaraderie of a fun, low-key group bike ride!
• $40 registration + $125-$300 fundraising goal per person. No one turned away for lack of funds.

SeaTac airport worker Socrates Bravo, Seattle U student and Casa Latina volunteer KC Bridges, and Seattle CISPES Coordinator Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm will be reporting about their meaningful labor solidarity trip to El Salvador at the Washington State Labor Council building on Thursday, May 16th from 7-9pm. Email seattle@cispes.org for details.

May 3, 2013

SAN SALVADOR – An estimated 80,000 Salvadorans representing a wide array of labor organizations, university students, women’s organizations and anti-mining activists, among others, as well as the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) political party, took to the streets Wednesday for the largest May 1st march since the election of President Funes in 2009.

“We’re really happy to have had such a diverse and strong showing of the working class on May 1st,” said Vilma Vásquez, one of the leaders of the Salvadoran Union Front (Frente Sindical Salvadoreño, FSS). “It takes a lot of work to mobilize that many people but the working class and the popular movement in El Salvador have always carried out our struggle with love.”

A main theme of the march was opposition to a bill before the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly that could lead to the privatization of a broad array of economic sectors, including ports and airports, healthcare, education, and other government services. The Public-Private Partnership Law (Ley de Asocio Público Privado) was written with the assistance of the US Treasury Department under the framework of the US State Department’s Partnership for Growth initiative in El Salvador. The proposal, which creates lucrative incentives for large corporations to exploit the country’s resources, is widely recognized among Salvadoran social movements as a threat to wages and working conditions, as well as to the government’s ability to provide essential public services.

Fourteen  members of a recent labor delegation led by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) marched with fellow workers from the Salvadoran Union Front. “Privatization and subcontracting are damaging to people’s rights wherever they’re imposed,” said Socrates Bravo, who works at Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle. “I have seen hundreds of fellow workers work in horrible conditions and have pay that barely covers the cost of living, while the airlines and companies are making billions of dollars in profit. Meanwhile, the state earns nothing.”

Members of the delegation recognized striking similarities between the attacks on Salvadoran and US workers and their right to organize, especially in the private sector. “What we see is that we’re dealing with multinational corporations so we have to in turn fight internationally. This is not about one country to the next, it’s about an international working class struggle,” said Jamie Thompson, from the Northern California airport division of SEIU United Service Workers West.

Representatives of the labor delegation met with John Barrett, economic counselor at the US Embassy in San Salvador to deliver letters from the AFL-CIO, the Utility Workers Union of America, United Electrical Workers and other US labor organizations denouncing US pressure on the Salvadoran government to adopt the law. US Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte has made multiple statements to the Salvadoran press indicating that privatization is a prerequisite for further US investment through the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

During the group’s press conference outside the Embassy, Julia Kann from the Washington DC Metro Labor Council said, “Our government has tried to argue that so-called ‘public-private partnerships’ will be beneficial for the Salvadoran people. But the people we have met with have been clear that this is a law that clearly favors transnational corporations and foreign companies at the expense of the Salvadoran people.”

May Day Solidarity Delegates will report-back on May 16th from 7-9pm at the Washington State Labor Council offices.

Labor activists, union members, and workers across the U.S. are preparing to go to El Salvador for the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador’s (CISPES) May Day delegation from April 27 to May 4th. Labor organizers and workers who are organizing for their rights in the Pacific Northwest will be joining forces with union members in El Salvador to speak out against corporate shortcuts across the globe and the U.S.-backed Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Four delegates from the Seattle area, including a Sea Tac airport worker who is organizing for a union, will be joining 13 other U.S. delegates and taking off for the Central American country’s capital city, San Salvador. The delegates will be reporting about their time in El Salvador on Thursday, May 16th from 7-9pm at the Washington State Labor Council building, 314 1st Ave W  Seattle, WA 98119.

The delegates will be presenting to the U.S. Embassy and labor groups in El Salvador on the impact of privatization on workers’ rights. The delegation is designed to highlight the kinds of wage cuts, union busting, and rising costs to consumers that people in the U.S. have seen because of privatization of basic human rights such as education and water and to bring that to El Salvador as a trade of solidarity. Earlier in February, Salvadoran union leader Alex Gomez toured the U.S. and spoke out with Seattle workers at the Sea Tac airport. At the date of the airport workers’ union campaign launch, Sea Tac airport worker and May Day delegate Socrates Bravo turned to Gomez and said, “We are struggling here and you are struggling there…hopefully we can help each other.”

United States Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte has threatened to withhold U.S. aid if El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly does not pass the PPP, which would privatize the country’s airports, water, electricity, and higher education, among other public sectors. According to Seattle CISPES, the United States is pushing this law because it would open El Salvador up for exploitation by transnational companies who could disregard human and environmental rights easily under the PPP.

In the past, El Salvador has been able to defeat privatization of healthcare in 2002 and water in 2007, for example, and CISPES hopes to replicate the labor solidarity model that has worked in the past alongside the strong social movement in El Salvador. Several labor groups throughout the U.S., including Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will be including their own statement against the PPP in the Salvadoran media on May Day, while the delegates will be marching with over 75,000 people for international worker’s day.

For more information please contact Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm, Seattle CISPES coordinator, at (206) 325-5494 or seattle@cispes.org.

Join us for a send-off party for May Day delegation delegates who are traveling to El Salvador April 27th- May 4th! Come for lots of live music and help us reach our goal of $600. If we don’t reach it, amazing workers who are organizing for their rights will not be able to join forces with union members in El Salvador to speak out against corporate shortcuts and the horrible Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in El Salvador! For example, if we don’t raise $400 more before April 25th, an airport worker from Sea Tac who is organizing for a union, will not be able to go present to the U.S. Embassy and labor groups in El Salvador on the impact of privatization on workers’ rights When workers unite worldwide, corporate shortcuts don’t fly!
Labor activists, union members, and workers across the U.S. are preparing to go to El Salvador for the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador’s May Day delegation. We will speak out at press conferences at the U.S. embassy, meeting with anti water privatization groups, and join the May Day demonstrations with tens of thousands of people marching for the rights of the working and poor majority. Please pass this on! Email seattle@cispes.org for more information.

We will have a series of presentations from different social justice and labor organizations in the Pacific Northwest to discuss the main issues to focus on in terms of fighting corporate domination such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and examples of both the negative effects of globalization as well as the hopeful success stories of how to combat it will be addressed. Topics will include the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in El Salvador, immigration as a product of trade deals such as the PPP and the TPP, and how students with USAS accompanied factory workers in El Salvador and won many campaigns pressuring universities to cut ties with transnational corporations using sweatshops.

This is meant to be an opportunity to invigorate campus/community solidarity and collectively strengthen our movement. Potential outcomes could be collaboration on upcoming actions, a decision to have more regular dialogues such as these, or just a better understanding of our focuses in 2013. We will have a series of presentations from different social justice and labor organizations in the Pacific Northwest to discuss the main issues to focus on in terms of fighting corporate domination such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and examples of both the negative effects of globalization as well as the hopeful success stories of how to combat it will be addressed. Topics will include the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in El Salvador, immigration as a product of trade deals such as the PPP and the TPP, and how students with USAS accompanied factory workers in El Salvador and won many campaigns pressuring universities to cut ties with transnational corporations using sweatshops.

Here is a video of Alex Gomez’s statement of solidarity with Sea Tac workers, along with Socrates of Sea Tac Airport!

During the first week of February, Seattle CISPES had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Alex Gomez, Treasurer of the Federation of Public Service workers in El Salvador during the labor tour. His first stop in Washington was SeaTac Airport, where he spoke with workers about the unfair conditions parallel to those that workers struggle with here by giving a solidarity statement.  Alex highlighted that there is international solidarity lacking in El Salvador as well as here in Seattle. Socrates, a SeaTac Airport worker, gave his own statement about the struggles as airport workers as well as hope for forming a union which has been a year in the making.

For months, SeaTac airport workers have been fighting for better wages and fair treatment. According to Puget Sound Sage, there are likely thousands of poverty wage workers employed at SeaTac.  In December, we all heard about SeaTac workers being exposed to toxic chemicals, human waste and even a lack of training which put these workers in dangerous conditions. It has been at least three years that we have been hearing about Alaska Airlines cutting costs and having poverty wage workers.

Dreading the Public-Private Partnership law, workers would suffer lay-offs and even lower wages. In El Salvador, the law is currently under debate. Unions in El Salvador are uniting in order to stop the passing of this law, and are relying on the help and support of international solidarity. El Salvador is trying its best to avoid the passing of this law which would turn state resources into private hands.

CISPES Brings Labor Leader to Discuss Strategies for Cross-Border Collaboration

Contact: Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm – seattle@cispes.org, (509) 680-4212

See a video summary of the tour here!

From February 2nd-5th, Alex Gomez, Treasurer of the Federation of Public Service Workers of El Salvador (FESTRASPES), was in Seattle for a series of events involving Pacific Northwest labor groups, sponsored by the Seattle chapter of CISPES (the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador).

Members of the public, union, labor, and trade justice organizations gathered and spoke out with Alex in solidarity with workers worldwide fighting corporate shortcuts like the Public-Private Partnership.

Salvadoran unions have put out a call for cross-border solidarity in their struggle against a  US-backed Public-Private Partnership (P3) Law proposal that threatens to give corporations more power through the privatization of public sectors such as higher education, sea and air ports, water, and electricity in El Salvador.  During his visit, Gómez spent time highlighting issues Salvadoran workers face as well as provide support to parallel struggles in the Pacific Northwest. On Saturday night, Gomez arrived at Sea Tac airport and held a speak-out at Baggage claim 16, making a statement of solidarity with airport workers organizing for their rights at Sea Tac. A Sea Tac worker and a crowd of supporters welcomed him with a statement of worker-to-worker solidarity, as airports would be the first on the chopping block if the PPP law was passed. On Sunday, he met with the Salvadoran Committee, and on Monday Feb 4th, he met with over 15 representatives of labor organizations ranging from the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO to SPEEA to the International Longshore Warehouse Union Local 19 (ILWU 19) at the Labor Temple and discussed how unions can pressure the United States and the Salvadoran Legislative assembly to not push the P3 law through. SPEEA and others committed to sending letters to key members of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, and hundreds of signatures were collected for a petition to the U.S. Ambassador urging her to stop threatening to withhold aid if El Salvador doesn’t pass the privatization measure.

Later that day, representatives of the labor organizations and a crowd gathered in front of the World Trade Center by the port and held a public speak-out condemning US support for the P3 Law. and Alex concluded his Seattle portion of the tour with a presentation to the public at Seattle University. This tour has shown that workers in the Pacific Northwest have seen the common thread of corporate greed cutting corners at the expense of the working and poor majority across the globe and have committed to supporting El Salvador. “We’re not against trade,” said Stan Sorscher, of SPEEA, “We can still have trade but it can be fair and just.”

“This law is being pushed by the United States government in El Salvador because it sees that in El Salvador there are natural resources that their corporations could make a profit off of, and that there are state services that are provided to people that could be a lucrative private business,” said Alex on Monday. “That’s why the solidarity of Seattle and US workers is so important, because we know that it’s the US government that is pressuring Central American governments, and particularly El Salvador, to pass this law that would turn the few state resources we have over to private hands.”

Alex finished his first leg of the tour with a lively 50-person discussion at Seattle University, and on February 5th he made his way to Los Angeles, stopping in Olympia, Portland, the Bay area, and other areas for the tour events.

Labor allies in El Salvador have also requested that U.S. union members visit El Salvador for a week this May to be in solidarity with and learn from their struggle, as well as to share lessons from the work of U.S. unions fighting against similar issues. To learn more information on the speaking tour or the May Day delegation, contact Kaeley at (509) 680-4212 or email seattle@cispes.org.

Sign the online petition to denounce the US strong-arm tactics to force the P3 or Public-Private Partnership Law in El Salvador. CISPES’ goal is to collect 500 signatures by Feb 11, when Salvadoran labor leader Jaime Rivera and CISPES will deliver the petition to the State Department at the close of the tour.

See a video from the speak-out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pn52eLGG0hc

See David Ayala, Salvadoran CISPES member, and Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm, Seattle CISPES coordinator speak on KEXP radio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRW2xlN5Ogc&noredirect=1

Seattle CISPES is honored to host Alexander Gómez, Treasurer of El Salvador’s Federation of Public Service Workers (FESTRASPES), for the following events: (En español abajo)

Saturday, Feb. 2 @ approx. 6pm — Gómez arrives at SeaTac Airport and brings messages of solidarity to SeaTac airport workers from their counterparts in El Salvador who are facing similar issues. This is not a demonstration.

Sunday, Feb. 3 @ 7 p.m. — Salvadoran Committee Party @ Tropicos Breeze (Spanish-speaking event)

Monday, February 4th

• 11:30-12:30: Labor Leaders’ Lunch: Seattle Labor Temple, Hall 8 – 2800 1st Ave. Union members, labor organization members, and trade activists are invited to discuss strategies for cross-border solidarity in the struggle against privatization while public sectors and unions are attacked in the U.S. and El Salvador.

• 1:30-3:00: Speak-Out Against the Public-Private Partnership: Seattle World Trade Center, 2200 Alaska Way. Union members and members of the public are invited to speak out in solidarity with Salvadoran workers.

• 6:00-8:00: Public Presentation at Seattle University: Seattle U. Student Center, Fr. LeRoux Conference Center (Rm. 160). Alexander Gómez speaks about the Public-Private Partnership and other attacks on unions in El Salvador. Open to the public. For more information, e-mail seattle@cispes.org, or call 206-325-5494.

Salvadoran unions have put out a call for cross-border solidarity in their struggle against a Public Private Partnership (PPP) law that threatens to give corporations even more free reign through the privatization of public sectors such as higher education, sea and air ports, water, and electricity in El Salvador. Seattle CISPES (the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) is hosting a speaker, Salvadoran union member and treasurer of the Federation of Public Service Workers Alex Gomez Rodriguez, to highlight issues Salvadoran workers face as well as provide support to parallel struggles in the Pacific Northwest. Gomez will be in the Seattle area from February 2nd through the 4th and will continue on his tour down the west coast to Los Angeles.

Salvadorans have a history of successes in defeating privatization (in 2002, a 9-month strike fended off privatization of healthcare in El Salvador), but when privatization laws have won, it has been devastating. In 2001, privatization at the Acajutla port saw nearly 1,000 workers laid off, the union dissolved, and longshoremen’s daily wages were cut by more than 90%. Workers in the Pacific Northwest have seen the common thread of corporate greed cutting corners at the expense of the working and poor majority across the globe; the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers’ Union Local 19 decided that “an injury to one is an injury to all” when it voted to sponsor a Labor Leader’s Lunch on February 4th at the Labor Temple. Sea Tac airport workers will be acknowledged in a meeting by Gomez, who will bring messages of solidarity from airport workers facing similar issues in El Salvador. Labor allies in El Salvador have also requested that U.S. union members visit El Salvador for a week to be in solidarity with and learn from their struggle as well as to share lessons from the work of U.S. unions fighting against similar issues. To learn more about how to be involved in the speaking tour or the May Day delegation, call Kaeley at (509) 680-4212 or email seattle@cispes.org.

Itinerario aproximado:
Sábado 2 de febrero: Gómez llega al aeropuerto de Sea-Tac y dará una declaración en solidaridad con los trabajadores del aeropuerto de SeaTac

Domingo, 3 de febrero: 7:00 Fiesta del comité salvadoreño @ Tropicos Breeze 9710 Aurora Ave N – llame a Kaeley al (509) 680-4212

Lunes, 4 de febrero:
11-1 Un almuerzo con líderes sindicales @ the Labor Temple, Hall 8 – Estamos organizando una discusión con los líderes laborales del Noroeste Pacífico. Los miembros de los sindicatos, consejos de trabajadores, y las organizaciones sindicales están invitados a unirse a esta reunión con nuestro invitado de El Salvador y discutir las lecciones globales para la solidaridad laboral, ¿cómo podemos luchar contra la ley de privatización que amenaza a los trabajadores en El Salvador, y la próxima delegación sindical a El Salvador por el Primero de Mayo. Un evento colaborado, organizado y patrocinado por ILWU Local 19, organizada también por SEIU Local 6.

1:30-3 Una reunión frente de las oficinas del World Trade Center y el Puerto sobre la presión por EE.UU para la Asociación Público-Privada (PPP) – Todo el mundo está invitado a participar en un simbólico evento después del almuerzo; estamos planeando ir andando a las oficinas de World Trade Center acerca del puerto, después de lo cual se llevará a cabo una conferencia de prensa para crear conciencia sobre el PPP con representantes de diferentes organizaciones sindicales que haciendo declaraciones en la solidaridad y la presentación de la resolución firmada al Gomez.

6-8 Universidad de Seattle: presentación al público – STCN Student Center 160 – Fr. LeRoux Conference Center, este evento está abierto al público con una sesión de preguntas y discusión.

Los sindicatos salvadoreños han llamado para una solidaridad transfronteriza en la lucha contra la ley de Asocio Público-Privada (APP) que amenaza a dar a las corporaciones aún más vía libre a través de la privatización de sectores públicos como la educación superior, puertos marítimos y aéreos, el agua, y la electricidad en El Salvador. Seattle CISPES (el Comité en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de El Salvador) está organizando eventos con el sindicalista salvadoreño Alex Gómez, para resaltar los problemas que se enfrentan los trabajadores salvadoreños y también para proporcionar apoyo a las luchas paralelas en el Noroeste Pacífico. Rodríguez estará en el área de Seattle desde el 2 de febrero al 4 y continuará su gira por la costa oeste hasta Los Ángeles.

Los salvadoreños tienen una historia de éxitos en luchar contra la privatización (en 2002, una huelga de nueve meses se defendió de la privatización de la salud en El Salvador), pero cuando las leyes de privatización han ganado, los resultados han sido devastador. En 2001, la privatización del puerto de Acajutla causó el desempleo de 1.000 trabajadores, la disolución de la unión, y los salarios se redujeron más que 90%. Los trabajadores en el Noroeste Pacífico han visto que la avaricia corporativa hace daño a las mayorías pobres la clase trabajador en todo el mundo; la Unión Internacional de Estibadores y Trabajadores de Almacén (International Longshore and Warehouse Workers’ Union) “Local 19” decidió que “un ataque contra uno es un ataque contra todos” cuando ellos votaron para patrocinar un almuerzo de líderes sindicales el 4 de febrero en el Templo del Trabajo. Los trabajadores del aeropuerto de SeaTac serán reconocidos en una reunión con Gómez, que traerá mensajes de solidaridad de los trabajadores del aeropuerto que enfrentan problemas similares en El Salvador. Los aliados sindicales en El Salvador también han solicitado que miembros de los sindicatos en los Estados Unidos visita El Salvador por una semana para estar en solidaridad con y aprender de sus luchas, así como para compartir las lecciones de la labor de los sindicatos estadounidenses que luchan contra problemas similares. Para obtener más información acerca de cómo participar en la gira o la delegación del Primero de Mayo, llame a Kaeley al (509) 680-4212 o envié un email a seattle@cispes.org. Una lista de eventos en Seattle están abajo.