Cars, buses and vans of labor and community activists will form a Caravan to Washington, DC, in the early hours of Thursday, June 28, to join a mushrooming national hunger strike to save postal services and jobs.
The nationally organized hunger strike was initiated by Community and Postal Workers United, spearheaded by postal workers in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Jersey and New York. (See CPWUnited.com.)
The caravan will start at 4 am in Newburgh, NY, where hunger striker and Mid-Hudson APWU President Debbie Szeredy will lead a delegation of postal workers and community leaders heading to DC. Debbie will explain the hunger strike and the fight to save the post office.
Next stop will be the James A. Farley General Post Office in New York City, at 8th Avenue & 33rd Street. A 6 am support rally and send-off is planned by Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services (CLUPJS.com), with support from the National Conference of Black Trade Unionists, a coalition of public sector unionists from APWU, NALC, AFSCME District Council 37, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, United Federation of Teachers, and SEIU District 1199. Other participants include the South Bronx Community Congress, Parents to Improve School Transportation, and the Chelsea Tenants Council. Some of these groups will have delegations joining the caravan to DC.
A Newark, NJ rally will take place at 7:30 am, hosted by the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), with members of the APWU, Mail Handlers and Letter Carriers.
The caravan will roll into Philadelphia at 9:30, for a rally organized by postal workers, longshore workers, Occupy Philadelphia, and other groups.
The caravan’s last stop before entering Washington will be in Baltimore, at 10:30 am. The Baltimore All-People’s Congress will hold a press conference and send-off rally, together with community and labor leaders and organizers.
On arrival in Washington, the caravanistas will join a national press conference of Hunger Strikers and their supporters, and help launch two days of protest and civil disobedience aimed at US Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, and his rightwing supporters in Congress.
SUPPORT THE JUNE 25-28 HUNGER STRIKE: CONFRONT CONGRESS, USPS AND THE 1%
Hunger Strike Endorsers (Partial List in Formation)
*Organizations listed for identification only
Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services
Parents to Improve School Transportation (PIST)
Communication Workers of America Local 1180
South Bronx Community Congress
National Action Network Youth
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Donald Afflick, President, NYC Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Chelsea Coalition on Housing
PostKatrinaAwareness.com
International Action Center
Bikeforthegulf.org
Sharon Eolis, International Action Center
Johnnie Stevens, Occupation Zip Code, PIST
Maximino Rivera, Founder, South Bronx Community Congress
Rosa Maria de la Torre, Organizer, Chelsea Coalition on Housing
Rev. Lydia Lebrón-Rivera, Grace United Methodist Church, Harlem
*Kendall Jackman, Picture the Homeless
Rev. Luís Barrios
*Charles Twist, New York Letter Carriers Branch 36, NALC
*Ed Figueroa, Shop Steward, Schools Division, SEIU-32BJ
*Frank Couget, Shop Steward, New York Letter Carriers Branch 36, NALC
*Angelo Vega, Freedom Party
Shahid Comrade, Pakistan Freedom Forum
Larry Lippman, Chelsea Coalition on Housing
Julio Muñoz, South Bronx Community Congress
Ray Figueroa, South Bronx Community Congress
Enrique Colon, South Bronx Community Congress
John Dennie, NPMHU 300, New York City, retired
Harry Beresford McNeary, Urban Rebuilding Initiative
*Jackie DiSalvo, Occupy Wall Street, Labor Working Group
Dave Welsh, NALC 214, San Francisco, past Executive VP
Joe Hirsch, National Postal Mail Handlers Local 300, New Jersey
Joe Piette, Retired Philadelphia Postal Worker, Local 157, NALC
Ethel Tobach, American Museum of Natural History, curator emeritus
John Curtis, Retired Letter Carrier, NALC Branch 391, Bangor, Maine,
Eddie Oquendo, National Mail Handlers Union Local 343, Charleston, SC
Walter Smith, Vice President, National Mail Handlers Union Local 343, Charleston, SC
*Mike Eilenfeldt, Delegate to NYC-Central Labor Council, Union@Cooper Union, NYSUT
Sam Stark, UAW, Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice
Mack I. Julion, NALC Branch 11, Chicago IL, President
Clint Burelson, APWU 2354, Olympia WA, President
Ken Lerch, NALC Branch 3825, Rockville MD, President
Jim Cook, NALC 82, Portland OR, President
Tom Dodge, APWU 181, Baltimore MD
David Yao, APWU 28, Seattle WA, Vice President
Bill Schorsch, NALC 825, Oakbrook IL, Vice President
Renato Quintero, SEIU 49, Portland OR, Vice President
Stephen Lysaght, APWU 47, Walnut Creek CA, President
Richard Koritz, NALC 630, Greensboro NC, past President
Jamie Partridge, NALC 82, Portland OR, Organizing Committee
Greg Margolis, Jobs with Justice, Portland OR, Global Justice Chair
Dee Knight, Labor-Community Forum, South Bronx Community Congress
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