Well, now it's time for us to stand with them.
The SEIU helped our little roving band of OFA phonebankers find a phonebanking home during the midterm elections, when we were doing our best to upend Wally Herger. A small group of us lived up in the hills and didn't have cell phones, and while we were eager to make phone calls we just didn't have an office and landlines to work with. We were kicked out of the local Boys & Girls Club where we started our phonebanking. We were offered the use of a small Union Hall, a former church in the next town that had several landlines, but whenever we arrived the phones were unplugged and uncharged. A wasted trip to town with nothing to do-- it was frustrating.
Then the SEIU Union Hall in the next town was opened up to us.
They opened their doors to us two nights a week. One of their employees showed up in the evening to unlock the door at 6:00pm. She hung out in her office while we made calls, offered us coffee and whatever was in the fridge, and locked up after us when we quit at 8:30 pm.
She didn't have to do this. She wasn't paid to do this. She volunteered to help us. It was the first time I realized just how much the unions are our natural allies.
Now it's our turn to help the SEIU.
The SEIU is organizing solidarity rallies in major cities - including Sacramento - this Saturday at noon.
Sacramento State Capitol Building
1315 10th
Sacramento, CA 95814
NOON Saturday February 26th
Take action: This is an all-hands-on-deck moment.
The protests in Wisconsin are sparking something we haven't seen for years. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Madison Wisconsin to stop a radical, right-wing attack on workers. Protesters have occupied the Capitol building for the last eight days and nights.
Thousands of us are going to rally at the west steps of the California Capitol Building in Sacramento at Noon Saturday in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin.
The sheer arrogance of Tea Party governor Scott Walker said he could dismantle 50 years of workers' rights without a fight, but boy was he wrong. He has awakened the sleeping giant--us, the people of America.
This isn't just about Wisconsin. In state capitols across the country and in Washington D.C., Republicans are using the putrid economy their Wall Street buddies wrecked as an excuse to slash vital programs and hurt workers, infants, children, and seniors.
If you go, wear your Wisonsin badger colors-- red and white-- to show solidarity. Take pictures and tell us what you heard and saw when you come back.
Demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country.