What We’re Looking Forward to in the Coming Weeks!

With so many events coming up in the next few weeks, there’s a lot to be excited about at the Guild! Here at our Braintree offices, we’re gearing up for the beginning of our Fall 2016 Guild School, and as part of our preparations we’ve revamped this website. Check out the rest of http://laborguild.com/ to find course titles and descriptions and to register. This term will begin on September 26th and will conclude with graduation on November 14th. We have course offerings ranging from the role of stewards, to women in the labor movement, to labor and the presidential election, as well as much more. Don’t miss out!

In addition to preparing for Guild School, we’re looking forward to a number of events in Greater Boston coming up this week. We’ll be rallying and learning with a number of our union sisters and brothers in the coming days, and we hope you’ll join us!

On Saturday, we’ll be attending SEIU 32BJ’s Raise America With Good Jobs Rally, supporting janitors fighting for good jobs for their families and communities. The gathering begins at 1 pm at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common. We’ll continue that energy on Monday, with the Massachusetts Moral Monday, happening in conjunction with the Moral Revival’s National Day of Action. The gathering begins at 10:30 am at the Boston State House near Park Street station. The purpose of this event, inspired by Reverend Dr. William Barber’s organizing in North Carolina, is to deliver a Higher Ground Moral Declaration to our public officials. We’ll let them know that we are dedicated to building up economic democracy, equality in education, healthcare for all, fairness in the criminal justice system, and voting rights, and we’ll call for an end to discriminatory policies and practices against people of all marginalized identities. As a Catholic organization dedicated to the intersection of religious values and justice work, we are very excited about this movement and where it will lead. Whether you attended Reverend Barber’s interfaith revival on August 1st, or whether you’re just hearing about this movement for the first time, join us on Monday as we demand a revolution of values in America!

On Tuesday, we’ll be attending “Forked Boston: An Evening with Saru Jayaraman,” hosted by United for a Fair Economy and ROC-United. Jayaraman, the co-founder and co-director of ROC, will discuss her new book and share an insider’s perspective of the restaurant industry.

Wednesday is another big day, as past CGA award-winners will gather at RCAB to choose the recipients of this year’s Cushing-Gavin Awards! We received a number of excellent nominations this year, and are excited to see who we will be honoring at CGA on December 2nd. Stay tuned for the big announcement.

Later Wednesday, we’ll be attending the LERA Boston Chapter Fall Dinner Meeting, which will focus on lessons learned from the Verizon Wireless strike.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on at the Guild! We’re looking forward to the learning and action and we hope you’ll join us for these important events.

-Rachel Leiken, Community Outreach Coordinator and Father Ed Boyle Fellow

Photo: Reverend Barber speaks at Moral Mondays in New York (taken from http://www.uft.org/news-stories/moral-mondays-come-new-york-state)