Steve Fesenmaier passed alomg this report from
Andrea Grimes:
\”Dear Friends,
This is a report from the frontlines of the ALA
Conference/Marriott
Boycott.
DAY ONE (6/15)
6:00 Local 2\’s Siege V: protest/picket line begins, at SF
Marriott
Hotel.
Local 2 has scheduled two all-day actions at the
Marriott, for
Friday and Saturday, June 15-16, from
6:00am-10:00pm. ALL
LIBRARY WORKERS AND CONFERENCE
ATTENDEES INVITED TO JOIN WITH
LOCAL 2 IN PROTESTING THE MARRIOTT AND ALA.
Below is the text of the message that went out earlier
this week, along with the full chain of events from the
ALA and you can take a look at a Protest Button 1 or Two from
the
conference.
Steve Fesenmaier passed alomg this report from
Andrea Grimes:
\”Dear Friends,
This is a report from the frontlines of the ALA
Conference/Marriott
Boycott.
DAY ONE (6/15)
6:00 Local 2\’s Siege V: protest/picket line begins, at SF
Marriott
Hotel.
Local 2 has scheduled two all-day actions at the
Marriott, for
Friday and Saturday, June 15-16, from
6:00am-10:00pm. ALL
LIBRARY WORKERS AND CONFERENCE
ATTENDEES INVITED TO JOIN WITH
LOCAL 2 IN PROTESTING THE MARRIOTT AND ALA.
Below is the text of the message that went out earlier
this week, along with the full chain of events from the
ALA and you can take a look at a Protest Button 1 or Two from
the
conference.
>ALA/MARRIOTT PROTESTS: SPREAD THE WORD
>All librarians, library workers, conference attendees,
and
>everyone else who supports Local 2 are invited to join
San
>Francisco Bay Area library workers in three days of
protests at the San
>Francisco Marriott. These actions are scheduled for
the following days:
>SIEGE V: TWO ALL-DAY PROTESTS: Friday and
Saturday, June 15 & 16,
>6:00am – 10:00pm
>SPECIAL ACTION: ALA AWARDS
RECEPTION/INAUGURAL BANQUET: Tuesday,
>June 19, 4:30pm – 7:30pm
>THE INAUGURAL BANQUET ACTION IS A VERY
SPECIAL PROTEST AGAINST
>THE ACTIONS OF ALA LEADERSHIP, WHO HAVE
IGNORED THE PLEAS OF
>MEMBERS AND MARRIOTT WORKERS TO MOVE ALA
EVENTS OUT OF THE
>MARRIOTT.
>Don\’t let Marriott and ALA think it\’s just business as
usual.
>Let\’s stand up for the Marriott workers, and all
workers, who
>struggle for a better life. We can do it! Come and join
us on
>these days of protest.
>For more information on the SF Marriott labor troubles,
see Local
>2\’s boycott website at sfmarriottboycott
.org
9:00 Caucus liaison receives forwarded letter from
Mitch
Freedman, ALA President-Elect, in which he gives his
full support of the
boycott against Marriott, and protests directed against
Marriott
and ALA.
Mitch Freedman writes:
\”I am writing this message to those 4,300+ people that
voted for
me, as well as all other ALA members. I will not be
attending the
ALA Inaugural Banquet, at which I was scheduled to
be inaugurated
as President-Elect, 2001-2002. I will not be attending
the 3rd
Executive Board meeting, the one I should attend as
ALA
President-Elect.
\”Although I was going to attend the ALA Awards
presentations so
that I could be there for the presentation of the
Lippincott Award to
one of my dearest friends, Patricia Glass Schuman, I
will not. Ms.
Schuman is honoring the boycott and will not attend
the Awards
ceremony, as are the recipient of the Equality Award,
and its
donor, Scarecrow Press, who also will not attend. I
have been told by
others scheduled to be inaugurated or receive awards
that they
will not attend those events.
\”I chose not to attend all three of these events, plus
other
meetings to which I was invited or would have liked to
attend, because
they are all being held in the Marriott Hotel.
\”I am supporting the Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Employees
(HERE), Local 2, call for a boycott of the Marriott Hotel.
For
the following reasons, I made this decision:
\”1. I chose to support the boycott request made by the
San
Francisco Public Library Commission (the host library
for the
convention), the mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown,
and 9 of
the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors. This
extraordinary
confluence of support by public officials of the labor
side in
this kind of dispute is unprecedented in my memory…\”
The full text of Mitch Freedman\’s letter may be read on
lisnews.com
<\”>http://www.lisnews.com/article
.php3?sid=20010615234214&mode=flat>
9:20-14:30(approximate time) Local 790 Caucus
members begin
leafletting incoming librarians at Moscone
Center(outside Registration).
Stickers, reading \”LIBRARIANS SUPPORT HOTEL
WORKERS! BOYCOTT MARRIOTT\”
are given to librarians. Also during this time, some
caucus
members join the picket line at the Marriott. Overall
reception
from librarians is very supportive.
16:30 Caucus members leaflet at Moscone
Registration area.
17:00 ALA Staff, assisted by Moscone Security, force
Caucus
members off the Moscone Center entrance
way(sidewalk outside
Registration), and onto the \”Free Speech Island,\” the
outer sidewalk
away from Registration(citing Private Property
ordinance).
Protests by Caucus members to ALA staff that this is
city property,
that the Mayor of San Francisco has called this boycott,
fall on deaf
ears.
ALA itself seems to be deaf to the principles of free
speech!!
The second irony of the conference(the first being this
year\’s theme:
LIBRARIES: CORNERSTONE OF DEMOCRACY)
17:00-18:30 Caucus members continue to leaflet and
pass out
boycott stickers to librarians registering for conference,
this
time on \”Free Speech Island.\”
18:35-19:35 Caucus members join the picket line,
along with West
Virginia librarian, Yvonne Farley, this year\’s Intellectual
Freedom Award winner.
DAY TWO (6/16)
6:00 Local 2 SIEGE V continues, at the Marriott.
PLEASE JOIN US IN ANOTHER DAY OF PROTEST.
MANY OF YOUR COLLEAGUES
WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE PICKET LINE AFTER
WORK TONIGHT, SO YOU\’LL
HAVE THE SOLIDARITY OF LIBRARY WORKERS AND
HOTEL WORKERS
PROTESTING TOGHETHER.
For more information on the Marriott struggle see
Library Juice
at
In solidarity,
Andrea
P.S. JOIN LIBRARIANS FROM ALL OVER THE
COUNTRY, ALONG WITH LOCAL
2 HOTEL WORKERS, FOR A VERY SPECIAL ACTION,
JUST FOR ALA
LEADERSHIP, WHEN WE PROTEST ALA\’S
DISREGARD FOR WORKERS\’ RIGHTS,
ON THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING OF TUESDAY,
JUNE 19. THIS IS THE
EVENING OF THE ALA AWARDS RECEPTION AND
INAUGURAL BANQUET.
THE PROTEST IS SCHEDULED FOR 4:30PM -7:30PM,
AT THE MARRIOTT.
THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO TELL ALL THOSE
BIGSHOTS AT ALA THAT THEY
MADE A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN HEADQUARTERING AT
THE MARRIOTT. THEIR
\’LET THEM EAT CAKE\’ ATTITUDE IS ALREADY HAVING
SERIOUS
REPERCUSSIONS! \”
![Protest Button 1](\"./images/marriott.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Two](\"./images/LibraryBoycott.jpg\"){kind=link}
Recent Comments