Bella Robinson- Fighting for Our Sisters in the Erotic Community

Bella Robinson - a sex worker rights activist -  has worked in the sex industry for over thirty years. She is the director of Rhode Island chapter of COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) since 2009, and a board member of ESPU (Erotic Service Providers Union) and the ESPLER Project, or ESPLERP (The Erotic Service Providers Union Legal, Education and Research Project).

In 1976 the Rhode Island chapter of COYOTE sued the Rhode Island Attorney General, in the landmark case COYOTE vs. Roberts, regarding the constitutionality of the state’s prostitution laws, resulting in the decriminalization of indoor sex work between consenting adults.

Founded in 2004, ESPU is a California based non-profit supporting the decriminalization of prostitution. ESPU envisions sex workers gaining agency through the model of  industrial organizing for legal, occupational, social and economic rights.

Bella is also a board member of ESPU affiliate, the ESPLER Project.  ESPLERP  is a diverse community-based - erotic service provider led  - group seeking to empower the erotic community,  and advance sexual privacy rights through legal advocacy, education and research.  In our legal advocacy, we seek to create change through a combination of impact litigation, policy statements, and by voicing our concerns for our community in political arenas.  Through educational trainings and outreach, we will empower and build capacity to address discrimination of erotic service providers and the greater erotic community.  Lastly, ESPLERP strive to archive and rate much of the research which has been done by the sex worker community, and build on this history with research which seeks to be increasingly inclusive, respectful, and ultimately, relevant to the erotic service providers, the larger erotic community, and those who need factual information on our community.

We will have the privilege of meeting Bella at our 2015 UALE Summer School. Thanks to Bella for an intriguing submission!  

Some Things to Expect at your First UALE Summer School Experience- From Gail Rodgers

For new sisters attending the UALE Summer School for the first time: here are some helpful hints from alumna Gail Rogers. She was the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 1-S, RWDSU-UFCW, which represents the employees of Macy's in Herald Square, Parkchester, Queens and White Plains. She was involved in her union for 35 years as a shop steward, Executive Board Member, Business Agent, and an Officer. She first attended Summer School in 2002 at the invite of Ida Torres, a teacher at summer school and the President of Local 3, a sister union, and has attended several other UALE Summer schools with other members of her union.
"[The UALE Summer School] was a wonderful experience. I met some wonderful women and made some lifelong friends. What I discovered over those years was that when I first attended most of the women were staff or business agents in their union, There were very few officers. In the last year I attended the amount of women officers had increased quite a bit. That was great progress. I believe that summer school gave the women the confidence and knowledge to realize that they had a lot to offer their unions and that they could hold officer positions. Summer School gave these women the opportunity to meet other women who shared their problems and concerns and the ability to discuss possible solutions. For most, the nervousness of meeting new people and of the unknown only lasts a short time. Everyone there is there to learn and obtain new skills to do their jobs better. There is a bonding that takes place. The teachers make everyone feel comfortable, It is an experience that I wish more women had the opportunity to take part in. I am quite pleased at the amount of communication and promotion that has gone into this year’s Summer School. Hope it is well attended and successful. How can it not, It is run by Women." Gail sends the 130+ sisters attending the school this year her best regards.

Building Excitement for the 2015 UALE Northeast Summer School (The 40th One!)

Fellow bloggers and sisters,

Many of you have heard from me via email and or Facebook, but once again I'd like to throw this message out onto the world wide web in the hopes of reaching our summer school alumna and our new sisters, too! As the date of our 40th Summer School approaches, (July 26th) we're really hoping to build excitement for the event and maybe even get some new recruits by sharing stories of past schools that sisters have attended or bios of new students who are passionate about labor. As you all know, it is so imperative to share our enthusiasm for labor with others if we want to expand as a force. Please, if you feel that you can contribute by answering any or a few of these questions and allowing your answers to be featured here and on our Facebook page, contact me, Jodi Rafalko, Intern of the Penn State School of Labor and Employment Relations at jlr5979@psu.edu. Your input would be incredibly valuable to other sisters who might not know what's in store for them at our the UALE Summer School this July.

Thank you in advance for your help! See you soon!!

In Solidarity.......
Jodi Rafalko

Reflections on 2014 Summer School: 1 Day passed

          It is the second day after the end of summer school that now, seems like a distant past.  Despite the gloomy weather, as the rain hits my bedroom window, I wake to a visual of masses of people holding hands, doing the wave, swaying and singing:  "Solidarity Forever.  Our Unions Make Us Strong."

"I am a Human. 

I am a Female.

I am a Worker. 

I Have Rights."

Lourdes Ashley Hunter

      
 
      

    With the elections nearing, it is up to me to intelligently cast all my votes; to Question and Hold All Transparent and Accountable, "How Will You Affect Hard Working Human Life?"  For if I don't, We may lose all our existing rights.

          I miss my summer school sisters, but as I hear the rain trickle on my bedroom window, I get excited and look forward to hearing how my sisters will creatively reign.  

Bev on the guitar, as we sing, 

"Solidarity Forever. HIStory shows Our Unions make us strong."

Frances Perkins In Pictures!

This week we built bonds of sisterhood that we will never lose. The women of Frances Perkins were honored to be under her mantle, the woman who brought us modern fire safety rules after the Triangle Shortwaist Fire in 1911. She was a phenomenal woman and throughout this week we discovered that we are, too.

We mapped our unions, learned about ourselves and leaders and shared stories and marbles. The bond we have built here with us and with our new sisters in the labor movement. 

We are all necessary ingredients in the stew of our work! Without the pepper, where's the spice?!?!

Working with the many, we are just PERFECT!: Quotes from the Rose Schneiderman Leadership Class

Rose Schneiderman Leadership Class

Quotes:
"Only you can be the change you want to see in our union."

"My address is like my echoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong."-Mother Jones

I always wondered why SOMEBODY didn't do something about that then I realized I AM SOMEBODY!!!

If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.

Every thunderstorm begins with a single raindrop.

"Nothing about us, without us!"

"...and then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."-Martin Miemoller

In the environment of your union, your responsibility is to recognize members in your family of workers who are powerless and powerful and to act accordingly.-Shelley Martin

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."-John Quincy Adams

"We must speak up and speak out. Silence is not acceptable in today's Labor Movement."-Shellye Davis

"Our movement is of the working people, for the working people, by the working people. There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too long to endure that we are not determined to abolish."-Samuel Gompers (Rosario Cabrera)

"Big dogs don't have to bark. I am not a get along for the go along girl."-Jackie Elliot

"Concluding from a distance is dangerous."-Gmasnoh J. Williams-Gerring 

"There is no tomorrow."-Barbara Hafner

"I may have problems, but my problems don't have me."-Michelle Kellering 

"Working-by myself I know, I am good. Working with the many, I know we are just perfect!"-Michelle Kellering

Bhairavi Desai: Visionary Organizer and Progressive Leader of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance

"When you realize how many enemies you have, you realize your potential for power" - Bhairavi Desai

Every day in NYC one million people are served by taxi drivers. Bhairavi Desai, the opening plenary speaker for the 39th Summer School for Union Women held at Queen's College in NY has been organizing taxi drivers since 1996. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the 17,000 member New York Taxi Workers Alliance since 1998. Taxi drivers are one of the most vulnerable workforces in the city of NY. High risk, drivers are 60 times more likely to be assaulted or killed on the job. In 2012, NYTWA won a liveable income raise, first-time regulations of taxi companies, and a Health and Disability Fund for drivers. The first for taxi drivers nationwide and one of the first for independent contractors. In 2011, NYTWA was chartered to build the National Taxi Workers Alliance, the 57th union of the AFL-CIO.  The NTWA is the first charter for non-traditional workers since the farm workers in the 1960's, and the first one ever of independent contractors.  NYTWA has increased drivers' incomes by 35%-45%, secured over $15 million in emergency aid to drivers, and provided pro bono or discounted legal, financial management and health services to over 10,000 drivers and families.

Ms. Desai was drawn to this industry when she saw how hard drivers worked to survive under such difficult conditions.  99% male, this workforce of mostly immigrant, independent contractors start each day at a negative balance, often working 60 hours or more per week. Because drivers work all shifts, Ms. Desai would organize until 3am or 4am in the morning sharing with them how a union is an anti-poverty vehicle, and building a culture of mutual respect and solidarity.  In 1998, drivers went on strike and management fought back hard, spreading malicious gossip about her character, objectifying and sexualizing her actions. Ms. Desai reflected on these challenging moments by stating, "Feminism taught us that we do not need to internalize these attacks, but analyse the lack of value of the people who perpetuate these things."  As she gave examples of some of the tricks that management used (such as distribute publications that encouraged looking for fares near stripper places) she went on to say, “These publications dehumanize and objectify women. If you cannot recognize the humanity of women, you cannot recognize the humanity of anyone."

Recently, a driver was hit in the back by a drunk driver and killed.  He had two sons and a wife in India.  The union brought the family to the United States for the funeral, fighting hard to make it possible as the man was an undocumented worker.  For the first time in thirteen years, the wife and sons saw their father, in his casket.  Through tears, the son said in pride, "This is my father's union! They made it possible to see him."