Local

Today an anti-worker majority of justices on the United States Supreme Court struck down 40 years of precedent permitting public sector unions to collect a fair share fee from workers who receive the benefits of collective bargaining and representation in the workplace. The ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, like similar legislation in Congress and so-called right to work initiatives in Ohio, is the result of a multi-year campaign by corporate interests and wealthy individuals who oppose the very idea that workers should have freedom of association, economic power and a voice in our system of government.

Under the high court’s decision, unions must still negotiate for and represent all workers in a bargaining unit, including those who refuse to pay a fee for the benefits and services they receive from the union. The Court’s decision also forces loyal union members who voluntarily pay dues to subsidize anti-union co-workers who refuse to pay while receiving the same wages, benefits and working conditions as union members. But the Janus decision is about more than the “free-rider” problem.

Wednesday, June 27, 2-3pm
First Congregational Church, 444 E. Broad St,
Join women of faith crying out for justice for families experiencing immoral and inhumane treatment at the border. The atrocities committed by our government are growing more barbaric by the day, and we must resist!

President Trump recently signed an executive order to lock up entire families at the border. The order does not change his mass deportation and “zero tolerance” policy, which wrongly labels people fleeing violence and poverty as criminals, or their mass deportation agenda, which has unleashed deportation agents to target our communities everywhere.

CoreLife Eatery, an active lifestyle restaurant offering a variety of greens, grains and broth-based dishes, will continue bolstering its Ohio presence by opening a new location in Columbus! CoreLife Eatery brings together scratch cooking with flavorful source ingredients and a fast, casual service line for a healthy and affordable eating alternative. The highly anticipated new eatery will open its doors for the first time at 11am on Friday, June 29 at 1791 Olentangy River Road.

I am honored to be here this week, every day I am here in the Lakota Nation North Dakota, I feel my inner strength and my spirit set loose and free. Everyone is nice and respectful here despite all the genocide the white man and woman have thrown down at the Lakota. To hear these Lakota people tell me the horror stories of genocide and government lies stowed upon them for generations. I fight my tears from coming out. I get angry.

The Lakota set the blueprint for this country and everyone had a home and food to eat. People traded and respected each other back then. Then the pilgrims showed up and got greedy with all they were taught from tribes. This USA we live in is a crooked evil machine that neglects and takes advantage of the Lakota. When will this end? That’s the real question. When will the USA government realize the Hate crimes being done daily to the indigenous? Never, because our crooked government had been stealing and killing them for hundreds of years and covering it up.

Monday, June 25, 7-9pm
Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St., room 100
AGENDA - Tentative
1. Discuss the national agenda: https://peoplesclimate.org/
2. Identify groups in central Ohio to invite to address the three themes: Climate, Jobs, and Justice
3. Discuss our event in Columbus - location? March? Rally? Speakers? Demands? 
4. Action Network Platform - see my initial posting here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/out-with-the-fossils-win-with-renewables
5. How can we use this platform effectively to mobilize for the Sept 8 event?

Sunday, June 24 - Comfest
5:50 PM - Live Arts stage
Spoken Word with African Dance and Drumming

Sunday, June 24, 2:50-3:40pm
Solar Stage, Comfest
Music and lively political discussion with the Free Press Editor and others.

The Ohio Student Association expresses its disgust and outrage at the heinous actions of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Sandusky and Salem, Ohio, this month. We as students, workers, activists, and Ohioans have made it our goal to fight against the racist system of mass incarceration in our communities. Therefore, we demand the defunding and abolition of ICE, which has become an unaccountable paramilitary force whose main goal seems to be executing violent attacks upon the most vulnerable members of our society. We demand the immediate release of the nearly 250 people arrested by ICE in raids at Corso’s and Fresh Mark, and the payment of restitution to those families for the trauma experienced.

The Supreme Court decision blessing the purge of half a million voters in Ohio is NOT the last word.

On Monday, the renowned law firm of Mirer Mazzocchi Julien of New York will serve a 90-day notice on Jon Husted, the Secretary of State of Ohio, of our intent to file suit in federal court unless we receive complete information on each of the hundreds of thousands of voters removed from the voter rolls.

We have already filed a demand for information on Kris Kobach, the éminence grise behind Ohio and other mass purges nationwide, to open his purge program files to us. We are joined in this demand by the ACLU of Kansas.

What we can do