Sessions will cover:
• Diversity Outreach
• Our Community Issues
• Running for Office
• Working with Labor
• Using the Internet/Social Media for Advocating and Organizing
• Fundraising

Guest speakers & participants (to date) include:

Hilary Crosby, California Democratic Party Controller
Marcie Bayne, North Valley Labor Federation
Hon. John Harris, Manteca City Council
Hon. George Neely, LUSD
Hon. Sara Casarez, SUSD
AJ Carrillo, Revolution Political Media
Tom Aja, North Valley Labor Federation
Doug Greven, McNerney for Congress
Pete Mitracos, City of Tracy Planning Commission

RSVP by emailing info@sjcdems.org or by calling Nicholas Hatten at (209) 406-6133.

Please consider sponsoring this day’s training at a $100, $250 or $500 level. Contact Nicholas for more details.

He learned about injustice early in his life. Cesar grew up in Arizona; the small adobe home, where Cesar was born was swindled from them by dishonest Anglos. Cesar’s father agreed to clear eighty acres of land and in exchange he would receive the deed to forty acres of land that adjoined the home. The agreement was broken and the land sold to a man named Justus Jackson.

In 1938 he and his family moved to California. He lived in La Colonia Barrio in Oxnard for a short period in June 1939. Then he moved his family and settled in San Jose. They lived in the barrio called Sal Si Puedes -”Get Out If You Can.” Cesar thought the only way to get out of the circle of poverty was to work his way up and send the kids to college. He and his family worked in the fields of California from Brawley to Oxnard, Atascadero, Gonzales, King City, Salinas, McFarland, Delano, Wasco, Selma, Kingsburg, and Mendota.

He did not like school as a child, probably because he spoke only Spanish at home. The teachers were mostly Anglo and only spoke English. Spanish was forbidden in school. He remembered being punished with a ruler to his knuckles for violating the rule. He also remembered that some schools were segregated and he felt that in the integrated schools he was like a monkey in a cage; having to listen to a lot of racist remarks, seeing signs that read whites only. He and his brother, Richard, attended thirty-seven schools; he felt that education had nothing to do with his farm worker/migrant way of life. However, later in life education was his passion, the walls of his office in La Paz (United Farm Worker Headquarters ) are lined with hundreds of books ranging from philosophy, economics, cooperatives, and unions, to biographies on Gandhi and the Kennedys’. He believed that, “The end of all education should surely be service to others,” a belief that he practiced until his untimely death.

In 1944 he joined the Navy at the age of seventeen and in 1948 Cesar married Helen Fabela. They honeymooned in California by visiting all the California Missions from Sonoma to San Diego (again the influence of education). They settled in Delano and started their family. First Fernando, then Sylvia, then Linda, and five more children were to follow.

Cesar returned to San Jose where he met and was influenced by Father Donald McDonnell. They talked about farm workers and strikes. Cesar began reading about St. Francis and Gandhi and nonviolence. After Father McDonnell came another very influential person, Fred Ross.

Cesar became an organizer for Ross’ organization, the Community Service Organization – CSO. His first task was voter registration.
In 1962 Cesar founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to become the United Farm Workers – the UFW.

He was joined by Dolores Huerta and the union was born. That same year Richard Chavez designed the UFW Eagle and Cesar chose the black and red colors. Cesar told the story of the birth of the eagle. He asked Richard to design the flag, but Richard could not make an eagle that he liked. Finally he sketched one on a piece of brown wrapping paper. He then squared off the wing edges so that the eagle would be easier for union members to draw on the handmade red flags that would give courage to the farm workers with their own powerful symbol. Cesar made reference to the flag by stating, “A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride . . . When people see it they know it means dignity.”
Cesar Chavez’s demonstrated tireless leadership and nonviolent tactics that included the Delano grape strike, his fasts that focused national attention on farm workers problems, and the 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento in 1966. The farm workers and supporters carried banners with the black eagle with HUELGA (strike) and VIVA LA CAUSA (Long live our cause). The marchers wanted the state government to pass laws which would permit farm workers to organize into a union and allow collective bargaining agreements. Cesar made people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. He succeeded through nonviolent tactics (boycotts, pickets, and strikes). Cesar Chavez and the union sought recognition of the importance and dignity of all farm workers.

Cesar was willing to sacrifice his own life so that the union would continue and that violence was not used and he fasted many times. In 1968 Cesar went on a water only, 25 day fast. He repeated the fast in 1972 for 24 days, and again in 1988, this time for 36 days. What motivated him to do this? He said, “Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work, faith and willingness to sacrifice. We can win and keep our own self-respect and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a rededication and recommitment to the struggle for justice through nonviolence”

Cesar said about the fast, “A fast is first and foremost personal. It is a fast for the purification of my own body, mind, and soul. The fast is also a heartfelt prayer for purification and strengthening for all those who work beside me in the farm worker movement. The fast is also an act of penance for those in positions of moral authority and for all men and women activists who know what is right and just, who know that they could and should do more. The fast is finally a declaration of non-cooperation with supermarkets that promote and sell and profit from California table grapes. During the past few years I have been studying the plague of pesticides on our land and our food,” Cesar continued “The evil is far greater than even I had thought it to be, it threatens to choke out the life of our people and also the life system that supports us all. This solution to this deadly crisis will not be found in the arrogance of the powerful, but in solidarity with the weak and helpless. I pray to God that this fast will be a preparation for a multitude of simple deeds for justice. Carried out by men and women whose hearts are focused on the suffering of the poor and who yearn, with us, for a better world. Together, all things are possible.”

Cesar Chavez completed his 36-day Fast for Life on August 21, 1988. The Reverend Jesse Jackson took up where Cesar left off, fasting on water for three days before passing on the fast to celebrities and leaders. The fast was passed to Martin Sheen, actor; the Reverend J. Lowery, President SCLC; Edward Olmos, actor; Emilio Estevez, actor; Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, Peter Chacon, legislator, Julie Carmen, actress; Danny Glover, actor; Carly Simon, singer; and Whoopi Goldberg, actress.

In April of 1993 Cesar Chavez, the founder and president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO was in Yuma helping UFW attorneys defend the union against a lawsuit brought by Bruce Church Inc., a giant Salinas, Calif.-based lettuce and vegetable producer. Church demanded that the farm workers pay millions of dollars in damages resulting from a UFW boycott of its lettuce during the 1980′s. Rather than bring the legal action in a state where the boycott actually took place, such as California or New York, Church “shopped around” for a friendly court in conservative, agribusiness-dominated Arizona-where there had been no boycott activity.

“Cesar gave his last ounce of strength defending the farm workers in this case,” stated his successor, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez On August 8, 1994, at a White House ceremony, Helen Chavez, Cesar’s widow, accepted the Medal of Freedom for her late husband from President Clinton. In the citation accompanying America’s highest civilian honor which was awarded posthumously, the President lauded Chavez for having “faced formidable, often violent opposition with dignity and nonviolence.

The citation accompanying the award noted how Chavez was a farm worker from childhood who “possessed a deep personal understanding of the plight of migrant workers, and he labored all his years to lift their lives.” During his lifetime, Chavez never earned more than $5,000 a year. The late Senator Robert Kennedy called him “one of the heroic figures of our time.”

Mercedes Silveira-Gouveia

Some historical perspective:

Mary Kenny O’Sullivan was from a working class Irish background who became a dressmaker and then worked in a printing and binding factory in Missouri and several binderies in Chicago. She helped organize the Chicago Women’s Bindery Workers’ Union. What year was that? It was before 1892 – yep that’s right 1892. Because of her work in the union, in 1892 she was appointed the first woman general organizer for the American Federation of Labor. That same year she helped form the Union for Industrial Progress to help study factory working conditions. She went on to organize rubber makers, shoe workers, laundry workers and garment workers.

100 years ago:

“On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, located on the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building in Manhattan. Fueled by combustible garments, cloth, and dust, the fire quickly spread.Most of the more than 500 workers there that day were immigrant women, some as young as 12 years old, mostly from Russia, Italy, Germany, or Hungary. Of those present when the fire started, some escaped down elevators, which then stopped working; some escaped to the roof of the next building; some escaped down stairs which then became engulfed in flames. Those who didn’t escape the building sought to escape the fire by moving towards the doors and windows or hiding in small rooms within the factory. More than 60 chose to jump from the windows rather than die in the fire and smoke. Some 24 died falling from a fire escape that collapsed under the weight of the escaping workers.

The fire started about 4:30 p.m. and firefighters had the fire mostly under control by 5:15. In all, 146 people died as a result of the fire — immediately or soon after as a result of their injuries. Thousands watched from the park and surrounding streets and buildings.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was the most deadly industrial safety incident in New York City, and resulted in public outcry to establish safety and labor reforms”.

The results of this fire brought about changes to municipal, state and federal regulations to ensure better working conditions and worker safety. In addition, it brought about stronger unions in the garment industry to allow for bargaining on safety and working conditions and to lobby for legislative reforms. One of those to lobby and work on the reforms was rose Schneiderman.  Rose Schneiderman an immigrant to America from Russian-Poland, was a labor activist who served as President of the Women’s Trade Union League. Her speech after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire helped mobilize the public to establish better industrial protections for workers. “It is the spirit of trade unionism that is most important, the service of fellowship, the feeling that the hurt of one is the concern of all and that the work of the individual benefits all” (Rose Schneiderman 1905).

Helen Marot, a librarian from a wealth family in Philadelphia, became active in investigating working conditions, particularly among children and women. She joined Women’s Trade Union League, organized the Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants Union in New York and organized and led the 1909 Shirtwaist Strike in New York.
These women were so significant to the labor movement and protecting the rights of workers. If we forget these valiant women, we are apt to take for granted their achievements and assume employers of today are more enlightened in the treatment of their workers. Are they really more enlightened or do they just follow the law? If we allow the laws to be repealed, do we really believe the employers will continue to do the right thing? Some may but with nothing compelling them, who is to say they will do the right thing.

Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the women of the suffrage movement. They fought and suffered so that women today would have the right to vote. So when I hear women say “oh it doesn’t matter if I voter or not,” I try to remind them – it does mater. It mattered to these women that they were willing to give their lives for the right to be equal citizens.

The women who were organizers in the labor movement were also women of the suffrage movement. Advocating for women to be treated well in the workplace, to change working conditions through the legislative process, meant women had to vote. “What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with.” (Rose Schneiderman – 1912, Cleveland)

Now let’s fast forward those 100 years – reproductive rights, working conditions, working families issues, jobs, equal pay are again at the forefront of our fight. But do we stop to think there are women workers today who do not have even the basics. I want you to know and remember 17 year Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. In 2008 while working in the fields near Stockton she died from heat related illness because the employer failed to provide even the basic necessities of water and shade on a day over 95 degrees. No water in the first part of her shift. When water was provided it was about a 20 minute walk away. When she got sick, they put her in the van and there she stayed until the end of the workers’ shift. In a hot van, no air conditioning, no emergency care. In 2005 then Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill providing the basic needs for workers in the fields. Even with those laws in place, the employer chose to ignore them. Apparently the employers have no fear of the laws being enforced.  Women in the labor movement – men in the labor movement – decent humans in the human race – should not tolerate this happening anywhere. Stockton is not a third world country and workers here should not have to die to provide for their families. It just shows me that our work is never done. To allow one more death in our county because employers do not follow the laws is unconscionable.

To our sisters before us who fought so valiantly so that we can vote and join unions, we cannot let their work go in vain. We are each busy fighting for our own cause – but please take a moment to thank the Women Labor Warriors and Suffragettes who allow us the opportunity to fight and vote for our causes.

Marcie Bayne
Executive Director, North Valley Labor Federation
Secretary Treasurer, San Joaquin Calaveras Counties Central Labor Council
Central CA CLUW(Coalition of Labor Union Women)Charter Member

Since this election season ended, I have been thinking a lot about the role San Joaquin County plays in our state and national politics. With David Harmer having conceded his race to Rep. Jerry McNerney over the weekend, all of our federal and state Democratic incumbents won re-election (Cardoza, McNerney, Galgiani, Huber, and Buchanan). Not bad for a county and region that is considered a conservative stronghold by some political pundits and media players. Yet, the recent “blue” streak in San Joaquin County is causing growing pains and an increased level of concern from progressives who feel that San Joaquin legislators vote too conservatively for them to continue to support.  (Example: Rep. McNerney’s recent vote opposing ending Bush-era tax cuts.) 

Recent ROV data show Dems enjoying an estimated 10K registration advantage in San Joaquin County (115,082 registered Democrats, 105,115 Republicans and 39,167 who decline to state). Obviously these stats are taken into consideration when our legislators decide their votes. After all, they are elected to represent their entire districts and not a particular political movement. So the question I pose today is: as a Dem activist in San Joaquin County, what expectations do you have for our local legislators when it comes to voting?

As an aside, how does the recent defeat of progressive champions Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson factor into the progressive movement’s future?  If vocal leaders such as Feingold and Grayson cannot hold onto their seats, does that make it harder for Democratic legislators, such as those who represent San Joaquin County, to vote progressive?

Nicholas Hatten

Chair, San Joaquin County Democratic Central Committee

–

Saturday Oct. 30th

*Please join Attorney General Jerry Brown, Congressman Dennis Cardoza, Supervisor Carlos Villapudua and SUSD Trustee Candidate Sara Casares for a GOTV rally at VICTORY PARK at 10am. Following the rally; stick around and help with our local GOTV efforts by delivering door hangers to show support for our local Democratic Candidates.

Sunday Oct. 31st

*Please join Councilmember Susan Eggman and come out to 1308 West Robinhood Drive Suite 16 in Stockton on Sunday, October 31 from 9:30am-4pm to help with GOTV by delivering door hangers to show support for our local Democratic Candidates.

Monday, Nov. 1st

*Please come out to 2044 Fair Street in Stockton on Monday, November 1 at 10am for a GOTV Rally with Speaker John Perez and Assemblymember Galgiani, once the Rally is over we will be delivering door hangers to show support for our local Democratic Candidates.

Official Endorsements

Governor…………………………………………….…..…Jerry Brown

Lieutenant Governor………………………………Gavin Newsom

Secretary of State……………………………..……..Debra Bowen

Controller………………………………………….……….John Chiang

Treasurer……….………………………………………….Bill Lockyer

Attorney General……………………………..…….Kamala Harris

Insurance Commissioner……………………..………Dave Jones

Superintendent of Public Instructions…..Tom Torlakson

Board of Equalization, District #2…..…….….Chris Parker

U.S. Senate………….…………………………….……Barbara Boxer

U.S. Congress, 11^th CD………………….….…Jerry McNerney

U.S. Congress, 18^th CD………………………..Dennis Cardoza

California Assembly, 10^th AD………….….….Alyson Huber

California Assembly, 15^th AD……………….Joan Buchanan

California Assembly, 17^th AD…………..Cathleen Galgiani

Stockton City Council, District #5…….……Susan Eggman

Stockton City Council, District #1………..Xochitl Paderes

Stockton Unified School District, Area #6…Sara Cazares

Tracy City Council…………………………..…Robert Rickman

Tracy City Council………………………….….…..Pete Mitracos

Lathrop City Council…….…………………….Sonny Dhaliwal

Manteca City Council…….…………………………John Harris

Lodi Unified School District, Area 1…..….Bonnie Cassel

Lodi Unified School District, Area 3…..…..George Neely

Lodi Unified School District, Area 4……Khydeeja Javid

Lodi Unified School District, Area 6. Michael Abdallah

Delta College Board of Trustees, #7………..Lisa Turner

Propositions

Prop 19- Neutral

Prop 20- No

Prop 21- Yes

Prop 22- No

Prop 20- No

Prop 23- No

Prop 24- Yes

Prop 25- Yes

Prop 26- No

Prop 27- Yes

Stockton City Council

425 North El Dorado St

Stockton, CA 95202

San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors

44 N. San Joaquin Street

Sixth Floor, Suite 627

Stockton, CA 95202

Subject: In response to the July 22^nd shooting of James Rivera Jr. in Stockton CA.

With an investigation pending, the Democratic Central Committee of San Joaquin County calls for calm and a reasoned response to the growing tension between community and law enforcement within the City of Stockton and the County of San Joaquin. We call for a transparent police investigation process that will shed light on the death that occurred on Kelley Drive so that our communities can start the healing process.

We urge our local, state and federal elected representatives (as well as those candidates running for office) to take seriously the concerns that the Social Justice Coalition has raised. Regardless of the outcome of this investigation, it is apparent that there is a growing divide between community and law enforcement.

We call on the leadership of our local, state and federal elected officials to protect the integrity of the investigation.

~The Democratic Central Committee of San Joaquin County

cc: Senator Diane Feinstein

Senator Barbara Boxer

Rep. Dennis Cardoza

Rep. Jerry McNerney.

U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.

CA Attorney General Edmund G. Brown

CA Senator Lois Wolk

Asm. Cathleen Galgiani

Asm. Alyson Huber

Asm. Joan Buchanan

Asm. Bill Berryhill

Click here for a pdf version of this statement.

On Wednesday, August 4, SB 810, the California Universal Healthcare Act, moved closer to an Assembly floor vote.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee voted to move SB 810 into the suspense file This is a good thing.By Friday, August 13, Assembly leaders must decide to move SB 810 from the suspense file to a floor vote in the Assembly.

We need everyone to contact 3 Assembly Members.

Please contact the Chair of the Appropriations Committee Felipe Fuentes, Assembly Speaker John Perez, and your Assembly Member. You can find your Assembly Member here.

Please encourage legislators to pass SB 810, the California Universal Healthcare Act.

SB 810 would deliver comprehensive healthcare to everyone and it would save Californians tens of billions of dollars. It will do what the national health plan does not – cover everyone and contain health care costs. It will set the standard for the rest of the nation.

You can send a letter to various legislators to
Their name
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Assembly Speaker John Perez can be called at 916-319-2046.
Assembly Member Fuentes can be called at 916-319-2039 or emailed at Assemblymember.Fuentes@assembly.ca.gov
Your Assembly Member can be contacted by going here.

We encourage you to forward this message.

Senator Lois Wolk issued the following statement today followingthe California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decision to move forward with an energy project in Tracy.

“This is wonderful news for San Joaquin County,” Wolk said. “Not only will thecommission’s decision increase the efficiency and greatly reduce the greenhouse gasemissions of the existing power plant in Tracy, it will bring much-needed jobs to the cityand county, which has one of the state’s highest unemployment rates. It will also bring inrevenue at a time when the county is struggling to provide services. This is an economiclifeline for families in Tracy and throughout San Joaquin County.”

Tracy GWF Peaker Plant Project is tentatively scheduled to break ground in early December of 2010. During the construction phase, the project would create 400 construction jobs at its peak. After the completion of the project seventeen new jobs will be created onsite, in addition a year later seventeen new secondary jobs will also be created.

Also, 1.4 million dollars in property taxes will be paid by GWF during the construction phase. After the completion of the construction, GWF will pay 4 million dollars a year for the life of the project, which is 10 years in property taxes.