AFSCME Local 3800 University of Minnesota Clerical Workers Union

AFSCME Local 3800 presents:

Labor on the Frontlines:
Fighting Privatization and the Corporate Takeover of Public Services from El Salvador to Minnesota

Featuring:
* Ricardo Calderon, Leader of the Salvadoran Union Front (FSS)
* Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME 3800, Clerical Workers at the U of MN

Join us for a presentation and discussion about the workers' struggle against privatization of public services from El Salvador to Minnesota. Ricardo Calderon is a leader in the Salvadoran Union Front (FSS) which is organizing public sector workers to fight against privatization in El Salvador.

Phyllis Walker is the President of AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers union at the U of M. Walker was a leader of the strikes at the U of M in 2003 and 2007. She has also been a leader in the struggle against the further corporatization of the U of M and in the struggle to make the U of M accountable and accessible to working class Minnesotans.

Come hear Calderon and Walker discuss their experiences and join us for a discussion about the struggle of public sector workers, and the struggle against the privatization and corporatization of the public sector.

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Public services and public sector unions have come under major attack in the US and around the world. Governments are attempting to privatize and sell off public health, water, and electrical systems – eliminating access for poor and working people. At the same time, state universities, like the University of Minnesota, are being transformed into research wings for private corporations. Unions are at the forefront of the struggle to protect public services.

In El Salvador, the Frente Sindical Salvadoreño (FSS) – Salvadoran Union Front - is leading the national fight against plans to privatize water and the public healthcare system. Union members have been intimidated and arrested for opposing the privatization of health care and water. A leader of the electrical workers union was murdered in July for organizing against the privatization attempts.

In September, four AFSCME locals at the U of M went on strike after the U administration refused to give workers the salary increase that other state workers received and that the legislature had budgeted for them to keep up with inflation. After almost three weeks out, the strike ended on September 21. Strikers went back to work still angry at the U administration, but better organized and determined to carry forward the struggle for economic justice and against the U administration's corporate agenda.

Download and print out the event flyer here: http://www.afscme3800.org/files/2007/20071109event.pdf

Sponsored by AFSCME 3800. Endorsed by AFSCME 3937, SEIU 26, UFCW 789.