Thank you Representative Shelby Maldonado for our $2,000 legislative grant! To more years of building and organizing together:)
Fuerza at the Central Falls Colombian Festival!
Fuerza participated in the Colombian Festival in Central Falls in late July!
We Are All Arizona Coalition community meeting
On July 26, the We are All Arizona Coalition held a community meeting pushing for drivers licenses for undocumented folks in RI!
Fuerza supports RI health care workers and SEIU1199!
Recently, Massachusetts announced it will be phasing in a minimum wage of $15 per hour for home care workers. If Rhode Island does not begin to lift wages for direct care workers, long-term care programs in Rhode Island will not be able to recruit and retain trained and experienced front line care staff.
Fuerza came out to show our support of caregivers and the Good Jobs and Quality Care campaign!
Congratulations to the graduates of Fuerza's Democracy School 2015!
On Saturday August 1st, we held the last workshop of Fuerza Laboral's 2015 Democracy School, learning and thinking about sexual harassment and sexism in the workplace and our own collective leadership development.
Congratulations to all of the graduates of Fuerza's Democracy School 2015! Now to take on more leadership roles in Fuerza!
POWER Network attends conference on worker cooperatives
On July 10-12, Fuerza Laboral and the Brooklyn Center for Family Life attended the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy (ECWP) in Worcester, MA. Both organizations, along with the City of Central Falls and Navigant Credit Union, are members of the POWER Network, a partnership which aims to implement a Cooperative Incubator Project to create jobs in the community in which workers collectively take charge of their economic lives.
Democracy School workshop on sexism and sexual assault
On July 18 in Democracy School, we had workshop on sexism and sexual harassment with the participation of 26 people facilitated by Magalis Trancoso, Founder and Director from Dominican Development Center
Democracy School opening workshop on structural racism
On June 27, Fuerza's Democracy School 2015 held its first workshop, learning about racism and white supremacy in our workplace and globalized economies. The workshop was facilitated by Marco McWilliams, director of the Black Studies Program at DARE, who helped members sharpen our collective analysis of structural racism.
Democracy School 2015 for community leadership
DEMOCRACY SCHOOL 2015! In June and July 2015, Fuerza Laboral is holding its annual intensive leadership course for Fuerza members and the broader community. In collaboration with other community organizations, Fuerza offers a series of workshops on structural racism, sexism and sexual assault, and leadership and empowerment.
All workshops will be bilingual Spanish-English, and food, transportation and childcare are provided. Participants who attend at least 2 of the 3 sessions will receive a graduation diploma.
Supporting URI adjunct professors in fight for living wages
Fuerza Laboral and RI Jobs with Justice show their support for URI adjunct professors in their fight for workplace stability and living wages - June 2015
Press Conference calls for an end to wage abuses by Gourmet Heaven
On Tuesday June 16, the former workers of Gourmet Heaven had their first hearing at the RI federal court to recover the $150,000 in unpaid minimum wage and overtime from owner Chung Cho. Fuerza Laboral, RI Jobs with Justice, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers held a press conference to show Cho and the public that we're here and not going anywhere the restaurant industry stops all wage abuses, including wage theft and a two-tier minimum wage!
Follow the full story in the Providence Journal, Channel 10, Channel 6 and RI future.Org.
Action against Gourmet Heaven at owner's home
On Saturday June 14, Fuerza and RI Jobs with Justice showed up at Gourmet Heaven owner Cho Chung's house, rang his doorbell, and demanded that he pay the $100,000 he owes in stolen wages. We marched through his affluent neighborhood outside of New Haven, CT to tell his neighbors that this house was built on stolen wages!
Read more at RI Future.Org
Workshop on Racialization of Latin@s in the Americas
Fuerza members learned about the history of racialization of Latinos in the United States and how the colonial racial hierarchy has influenced the identity of Latino communities in the Americas. A workshop that keeps you thinking many weeks later...
Giving Testimony In Support of Drivers Licenses for All
Fuerza members and others testifying in favor of Senate and House bills that would give drivers licenses to undocumented members of the community.
June 9, Collaboration with Center for Justice
Fuerza is collaborating with the Center for Justice to provide bi-weekly free law clinics at Fuerza Laboral and help win workers real benefits in real time!
Read more in the Providence Journal
Attorney Marissa Janton worked with Maria Marte to get paid for her vacation time!
May 1, International Workers' Day in Providence
Fuerza Laboral joined other RI community groups to celebrate our victories this past year. Read more at RI Future.org
Fuerza leader Carmela Garcia featured in the Providence Journal
Carmela Garcia, leader of Fuerza's Injured Workers Committee speaks about how Obama's executive order affects her and her family and why it's so important for DACA and DAPA to continue. Read the story in the Providence Journal
Hearing at RI Dept. of Labor for Café Atlantic case
Former workers at Café Atlantic had their hearings at the the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training for stolen wages against their former employers Juan Noboa and José Brens. We should be receiving the final decision in the coming weeks.
Tax Day March for Living Wages
Fuerza and former Gourmet Heaven workers joined the Tax Day March to raise the minimum wage and demand better treatment for workers in our state. Read more at the Providence Journal and RI Future.org
Movements and Radical Political Change at DARE
Thank you to Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) for an inspiring discussion with activists/organizers/revolutionaries Ashanti Alston and Chris Dixon about building transformative movements of people of color. We asked ourselves important questions, like: How do we create spaces of healing from trauma in our movements? How do we treat each other well in our movements? How do we truly treat knowledge as collective?