Community and Labor Economic Summit to be Held in San Diego – Aug. 27th

Today – Saturday – August 27th!

Click on flyer to download.

Updated on August 26, 2011

The local San Diego Labor Council has been energized of late, and under new leadership, has been seeking allies in the San Diego community to improve the area.  And it has found them – from small neighborhood groups to local political parties, organizations and individuals have stepped forward to join the labor council over the past couple months, and have formed a coalition of shared interests.

Focusing on jobs, quality of life, prosperity, equality and fairness, the coalition wants to change the narrative in San Diego, getting away from the right-wing dominance of discussion of issues in the media, moving away from, for example, a monopolization of the pension issue to more everyday issues like ‘where are the jobs?’ and other quality of life concerns.

And now the combined coalition plans to hold an economic summit in San Diego later this month.  Entitled “A Better San Diego”, the coalition will sponsor a day long conference at a local middle school on August 27th.  The summit will include plenary sessions, keynote speakers and a series of break-out sessions to address specific economic issues.

Under the guiding hand of Lorena Gonzalez, the Labor Council began reaching out to community folks and groups several months ago.  The Council has brought those people into its bi-monthly planning meetings, and together they have hammered out a list of issues, a schedule and framework for the summit.

The summit conference will be held at Horace Mann Middle School on 54th Street, from 8am to 2pm on Saturday, August 27th.

Break-out sessions include:

• Create Jobs, Stop the Cuts! — MoveOn
• Privatization: Selling Off Public Resources for Private Greed – CPI/Food and Water Watch
• Foreclosure Crisis: Fighting Back Against Wall Street Thugs – ACCE
• Building a Middle Class: Turning Activism into Advocacy – San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council
• Retirement (In)Security and the War on Social Security – CARA/AFSCME 127
• Local Hire: Reinvesting in San Diegans – SD Building Trades/CPI
• Shared Sacrifice? Taxes: Who Isn’t Paying Their Fair Share – Middle Class Taxpayers Association/AFT 1931
• Immigrant Leadership to Advance the DREAM Act, Immigration Reform, & Increase our Political Power – JOB
• Getting Your Word Out: Media Outside the Mainstream – OB Rag
• Stop Corporate Greed: The Main Street Contract – California Nurses Association
• Education in Crisis: Protecting our Public Education System – Education For All
• Creating a Voice for the Unorganized: United Taxi Workers San Diego – ERC/United Taxi Workers San Diego
• Universal Healthcare After Reforms: Where Do We Go From Here? – SD Physicians for a National Health Program
• Car Impounds: A Poverty Tax on Immigrants – Union del Barrio/SEIU-USWW

Here is a partial list of the summit’s sponsors:

Activist San Diego
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1309
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 127
American Federation of Teachers Guild Local 1931
American Friends Service Committee
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United
Center on Policy Initiatives
Democratic Socialists of America
Education for All
Employee Rights Center
Environmental Health Coalition
Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice of San Diego
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 36
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 29
International Socialist Organization, San Diego Branch
Iron Workers Local 229
Justice Overcoming Boundaries
Middle Class Taxpayers Association
MoveOn, Greater San Diego Area Council
New Leaders Council, San Diego
OB Rag
Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 30
Parent Institute for Quality Education
Physicians for a National Health Program, San Diego Chapter
Progressive Democrats of America, San Diego Chapter
Raza Rights Coalition
San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council
San Diego County Democratic Party
San Diego County Green Party
San Diego Education Association
San Diego Friends Meeting (Quakers)
San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO
San Diego LGBT Pride
San Diego Maquiladora Workers’ Solidarity Network
San Diego Renters Union
San Diego Task Force for Economic Justice
Service Employees International Union – United Service Workers West
Sheet Metal Workers Local 206
Sierra Club, San Diego Chapter
SlutWalk San Diego
Southwestern College Education Association
Union del Barrio
Unite Here Local 30
United African American Ministerial Action Council

For more information, or to RSVP to the Summit, contact the San Diego Labor Council at 619-228-8101 or abettersandiego@gmail.com

Here are some samples from the coalition’s issue and platform list:

Jobs

• Economic opportunity is best created through a good job with benefits.
• Strong public education to equip future generations of workers.
• Opportunities to work towards a better environment through green jobs.

Prosperity

• Equipping consumers to get out of debt.
• Preventing home foreclosures that ruin lives and communities.

Quality of Life

• Strong public services, including open libraries, clean parks, recreation programs and after-school services.
•  Basic tenant rights for renters.
• Access to affordable healthcare and housing.

Equality

• Respect for all San Diegans who want to better their lives.
• Ensuring anyone who works hard, graduates college or serves our country can become a U.S. citizen.

Fairness

• Protecting the retirement safety net by saving Social Security and Medicare for all San Diegans.
• Shifting the tax burden away from working people and the poor.
• Requiring corporations that profit off our communities to pay their fair share in taxes and fees for their impacts on our economy.

Note: If you or your organization would like to endorse this summit, participate, or sponsor a break-out local issue session, contact the San Diego Labor Council at 619-228-8101 or abettersandiego@unionyes.org.