On May 19th our workgroup put on the General Meeting for the El Dorado Progressives. The meeting was focused on labor issues.
There were some very inspiring speakers! Ruth Ibarra, president of the Sacramento Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and John Reimann, labor activist and editor of Oakland Socialist. EDP members from the Worker Solidarity Network spoke also and shared their stories on why unions were so important to them.
A big focus of the meeting was the ongoing struggle of farm workers in San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico, who grow strawberries for Driscoll's and the ongoing boycott of Driscoll Berries. People attending the meeting were provided with letters about the Driscoll boycott they could send to the major grocery corporations asking them to honor the boycott and remove Driscoll berries from their shelves.
The meeting was thought provoking and well taken; attendees stayed long after the meeting engaged in conversation.
Two days after the meeting, members of the Worker Solidarity Network teamed with other members of El Dorado Progressives to organize and attend an urgent protest at the downtown courthouse about the continuing rightwing attack on the right of women to control their own bodies.
Protesters stood in the rain making their voices heard loud and clear! While we received negative comments from a few, overall the citizens of Placerville were very supportive of the protest, especially young people and older women. We received many honks of support and thumbs up from people driving by.
It was a very active few days for our Worker Solidarity Network group.