Solidarity wherever: Learn about workers’ shared struggles

The program will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the SEIU Local 26 union hall at 701 N 1st Street #110, Minneapolis, which is accessible via the #7 bus line.

Minnesota is among the world leaders in quality of life, while Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to stand up for one’s rights as a worker, and many countries in the Global South continue to employ sweatshop labor and myriad human rights abuses. However, with recent attacks on unions in the US and a growing income inequality between the rich and everyone else, Minnesotans have much to share and learn about the struggle for rights at work.

Under the shadow of failed trade policies, such as CAFTA and the recent Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the fate of workers in Minnesota is even more closely intertwined with our counterparts in those countries.

Panelists include Yessica Hoyos, a labor lawyer from Colombia, whose father was murdered for trade union activity; Mary Bellman of the Labor Education Service at the University of Minnesota, who has done extensive work with workers in Guatemala, and Mike Goldman, who works with workers dislocated by off-shoring in Minnesota.

The panel will be conducted in Spanish and English, and translation equipment will be available. Food and beverages from local Latin American restaurants will also be provided. A $10 donation to help offset the cost of the event is requested.

For more information
See the Fair Trade Coalition website and Facebook page.