6-26-02

UC-Berkeley Labor Coalition seeks your pledge of support
UC has failed to address even some of the most modest union proposals for improved salaries, benefits, working conditions and treatment. It is possible that one or more unions' members may be compelled to conduct a job action or strike when the fall term begins to induce the administration to address the needs and concerns of its employees. The UC-Berkeley Labor Coalition has called upon all employees, students, faculty and other members of the campus community to join in their respective efforts to defend and improve the conditions or work and treatment of all UC employees. Find out more at the CUE (clerical workers' union) website.

6-19-02

Livermore Labs May Take on New Role in National Defense
President Bush is asking Congress to create a national research center at the UC-managed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to help protect Americans against biological and radiological attacks -- almost two weeks after the White House proposed transferring nearly all of the lab's budget to the newly proposed Department of Homeland Security. Read more of the SF Chronicle article.

KALX Says "Save Streaming Radio!"
College and Community radio stations that stream their broadcast signal over the internet are in serious JEOPARDY! The Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") imposes significants fees, PLUS it imposes rules as to what can and CANNOT be played by KALX DJ's. Help out by going to Save Our Streams and Save Internet Radio.

6-14-02

Poetry for the People's June Jordan Dies
Poet, activist, and UCB professor June Jordan has died after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Jordan started the celebrated Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley in 1990. The class introduces students to poetry as culture, history, criticism, politics, and practice and focuses comparatively on poetry from three American racial/ethnic groups. Read More at Free Speech TV, a UCB press release, and the Daily Cal website.

City Council Backs Union’s Boycott of Claremont Resort
In a symbolic gesture, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night supporting a boycott of the Claremont Resort and Spa. The resolution calls for potential Claremont customers to take their business elsewhere. The City Council unanimously passed a similar resolution earlier in the year in support of the spa workers' efforts to form a union. UCB's Farm Worker Support Committee has supported the workers struggle from day one. Read more at the Daily Cal website.

6-11-02

150+ UC Professors Call for Divestment from Israel
Over 150 faculty from across the University of California campuses, from Berkeley to Los Angeles, have stepped forward in support of a UC system--wide campaign to divest from Israel; a campaign announced officially at a press conference on June 4th. The petition, which can be found at www.ucdivest.org, calls for the UC “to use its influence - political and financial - to encourage the United States government and the government of Israel to respect the human rights of the Palestinian people” and for divestment until Israel ceases its ongoing violations of international laws.

6-7-02

Get UC out of the nuclear weapons business
UC Nuclear Free is working to end the relationship between the University and the Department of Energy, which manages the labs active in developing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Joseph Rotblat, a distinguished scientist that worked on the Manhattan project, has written an open letter to the University calling for an end to this relationship. Reshma Bishnoi, who is working with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation this summer on the UC Nuclear Free program, will be starting a student group this fall to lobby the University. Please sign the petition that is on the website www.ucnuclearfree.org and contact Reshma at Reshma@uclink4.berkeley.edu if you are interested in joining or have any questions.

5-22-02

Signatures Needed for Cutting-Edge Environmental Law
Signatures are needed to qualify an initiative that would restrict sales of all brewed coffee in Berkeley to fair-trade, shade-grown, or organic certified coffee. Win or lose, this law will be sure to attract lots of media attention and will get people thinking about the consequences of their purchases. To qualify for the Nov. 2002 ballot, 2,500 signatures must be collected by mid-June. Petition circulators must be Berkeley voters or qualified to register as a Berkeley voter. The signer must be a registered Berkeley voter. If you are interested in circulating a petition to friends, housemates, family, co-workers, etc., please contact Rick at rickisyoung@yahoo.com or at 510.666.8464. Even just a few signatures would be appreciated.

5-16-02

Regents approve new domestic-partners benefits
The UC Board of Regents have voted to extend to eligible UC employees with domestic partners a set of retirement benefits mirroring those now offered to married UC employees. Employees who are members of the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) and their qualified domestic partners and/or family members will now be able to receive two types of death-related retirement benefits. Read more at the Berkeleyan.

DOE apandons plans to ship plutonium to Livermore Lab
Tri-Valley Cummunities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs) efforts have been successful in preventing the Department of Energy from trucking plutonium in uncertified, unsafe 45-gallon containers to the UC-managed Livermore Labs. Energy Department officals announced abandoning the plans in response to a lawsuit filed by Tri-Valley CAREs in February. Read more at the Tri-Valley CAREs website.

4-23-02

Students for Justice in Palestine Suspended
As a consequence of organizing the demonstration and sit-in on April 9th, the University of California at Berkeley has decided to suspend Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as an organization on campus pending an investigation. This means, that as long as the investigation continues, SJP is functionally barred from holding events on campus, tabling, distributing literature, and organizing. It could also potentially mean that SJP may be banned as a student organization at Berkeley. They are asking you to take a few moments and write to the Chancellor and the Student Judicial Affairs Office and tell them that you believe that these penalties are unwarranted and unjust. Read the hardboiled article or for details, go to http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/04/124524.php

Global AIDS Action Committee
A group of UC-Berkeley students are organizing a grassroots organization called the Global AIDS Action Committee that is devoted to raising awareness and funds, as well as to lobbying policy-makers in Washington DC, in the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in underdeveloped states. We will be holding our first meeting on campus on Wednesday, April 24th and will be having a rally/fundraiser on May 11th in San Francisco. For more information, contact Mike Batell - mike@globalAIDSaction.org (510)658-5053

4-5-02

NATIONWIDE CALL-IN CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND AN END TO U.S.-FUNDED ISRAELI VIOLENCE
Join the nationwide call-in campaign to the white house to demand an end to the U.S. financed Israeli attacks on Palestinians & international peace activists. Remember that the White House will take a tally of all calls and e-mails it receives, so every single call you make or email you send counts. Details: http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/04/2482.php

Is Bear Wear Unfair?
On Tuesday, April 4th over 50 students and community members gathered to learn more about sweatshops at a teach-in entitled “Is Bear Wear Unfair?” Sponsored by Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas (SOJA) and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research & Education, the primary focus was looking at the issue of sweatshops in the context of UC Berkeley connecting specifically how retail merchandise made in unfair conditions are sold in our very own ASUC bookstore. It also gave exposure to sweatshops that exist in our own backyard. Peter Tadao Gee reports in the latest hardboiled.

3-31-02

Letter to Vice Chancellor Mitchell from Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas
SOJA has sent a letter to Vice Chancellor Mitchell stating more must be done to remedy the abusive and inhumane conditions still widespread in the garment industry. They would like to meet with him as soon as is possible to discuss the following requests:
1) UC Berkeley continue to license and sell clothing manufactured by the Mex-Mode (formerly Kukdong) factory, as that factory presents an exceptional case in which workers were able to successfully defend their rights with the support of the International Community; and that
2) UC Berkeley immediately disclose to the Worker Rights Consortium the locations of all factories used by UC Berkeley licensees; and that
3) UC Berkeley suspend its contract with New Era Cap company until an equitable settlement has been reached in that dispute. Several major universities have already dropped or suspended their contracts with New Era, including Duke University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Georgetown, George Washington University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison; and finally that
4) The University of California withdraw from the Fair Labor Association. UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Davis student governments all passed resolutions opposing UC membership in the Fair Labor Association last year.

3-21-02

Amend the 3 Strikes Law
Amending the 3 Strikes Law from Proposition 186, and subsequent legislation, will:
-Allow prisoners now serving Three-Strikes sentences to apply for and receive a re-sentencing hearing and as many as 35,000 could qualify for one because their offense would no longer count as a strike.
-Save the state as much as 700 million dollars a year in prison operating costs, and more than a billion dollars for construction of new prisons.
To get involved in gathering signatures for the ballot proposition being backed by too many groups to name: check out http://www.amend3strikes.com for more info. Email Chuck McNally (fwscucb@yahoo.com) about whether you are interested in doing this sometime over spring break, so that we can co-ordinate with each other to have people gather signatures in teams, and so that we could pool resources.

3-15-02

ELIMINATE THE S.A.T.
At the University of California, critical admissions decisions will be made between now and the end of March that will determine the composition of this fall's incoming freshman class. In order to make this fall's entering class a more integrated one, our movement must make the UC Academic Senate and the UC Regents take a stand now, to eliminate the use of the SAT as an admissions requirement to the UC System. A petition campaign is under way to bring your voices to the Academic Senate and the Regents. Every supporter of integration, equality and affirmative action to circulate this petition.

The UC System released a study that showed that the SAT has no real predictive use in determining college performance. In the meantime, its use in admissions to the UC System and other colleges and universities around the country carry great social costs. Every year, the SAT unfairly excludes vastly disproportionate numbers of Latina/o, black, new Asian immigrant, other underrepresented minority students, as well as poor people of all races, from attending the flagship schools of the UC System. Our institutions of higher learning have suffered as a result of the use of the SAT in college and admissions. If you haven't signed the petition already, please do so online and help circulate it:
http://www.bamn.com/sat.htm

2-15-02

Spirit in Action
Spirit in Action is a national organization that initiates discussions across the country to explore the connections between spirituality and activism. Spirit in Action is establishing a new group at UC Berkeley that will meet weekly to discuss issues surrounding inequality, injustice, and oppression, and reflect on the role spirituality plays in bringing about change. We are seeking approximately 10-12 students, staff or faculty members of UC Berkeley to participate in the group. The meetings will be three hours on most Mondays between 7-10 p.m., and two all day Saturday sessions (Mon 3/4, Mon 3/11, Sat 3/16, Mon 3/18, Mon 4/1, Mon 4/8, Mon 4/15, Mon 4/22, Mon 4/29, and Sat 5/9). Commitment to the group is essential. We will be meeting near campus, and the group will be facilitated by Sarah Kurien, Jose Luis Lopez, and Megan Voorhees. If you have any questions or are interested in participating, please contact Megan at voorhees@uclink.berkeley.edu.

Petition for Education Minor
Recently, funding for UC Berkeley's Undergraduate Education Minor program has been cut, resulting in the closing of the Ed Minor Resource Center, fewer Education courses, and lack of administrative staff Requests for a permanent budget have been made in the past, but they have been turned down by the central campus. Concerned students have formed an organization called "S.T.E.M.: Support the Education Minor" in efforts to petition and persuade the university's budget committee to allot a permanent budget for the Ed Minor.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Edminor/petition.html

Fair Wage Petition for Clerical Workers
UC clericals, faculty, managers, students, and patients are petitioning the UC administration to reconsider thier position on funding clerical merit increases for 2001-2002. The annual merit/step increase has been a part of the clerical wage structure for as long as anyone can remember. This year, UC is denying this increase despite clericals reaching the performance levels that made them eligible. Just last year CUE was able to bargain an additional step in all clerical series. Clericals have worked hard to earn this modest pay increase. Many clericals can barely pay their rent and food and medical bills, while UC has authorized 25% pay raises for top administrators earning over $200,000 annually. All we ask is a fair wage for UC's clericals.
http://www.petitiononline.com/cuemer2/petition-sign.html

Green Party Report
The Sattelite's Michael Rochmes visits the statewide Green Party meeting and interviews their candidate for governor of California, Peter Camejo, to find the Green reaction to the terrorist attacks and the war has been the same as most of the left's--alarmist, pacifist, but not productive. Read more at the Sattelite website.