MIKE GARCIA A WARRIOR OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Mike Garcia served as the President of SEIU United Service Workers West between 1988 and 2014. He was a warrior in the labor movement, organizing janitors to stand up for better wages, working conditions, and just immigration policy.

 

Garcia was one of the key leaders in the Justice for Janitors movement. He was the Padrino of the Labor movement and a fierce champion for education and education reform.

 

Reflections on the Life of Mike Garcia

By: SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry

Mike was a driving force in the Justice for Janitors movement, longtime president of SEIU 1877 and USWW, fellow Board member and strong national leader in our Union. 

I've known Mike Garcia since the 80s. His drive and passion were ever present—holding a megaphone, in Hardy Hall at the 7th Street office in Los Angeles, but most especially when he was in the street leading a strike, march, civil disobedience—the times when I often saw a smile on his face and a glint in his eye. He led from an unshakeable belief of the power of people to prevail.

Mike led a historic strike in Los Angeles in 2000—with workers at 500 worksites walking off the job for three weeks—that restored the lost power to the janitors, and later used that power to win organizing rights for the janitors in Orange County.

I was working across the street at the Healthcare Action Campaign at that time and Mike and I would most often catch each other between 9-10pm in the parking lot to figure out how to support each other's organizing efforts.

Mike Garcia was a union warrior and a fierce advocate for immigrant workers—linking the fights for economic and immigrant justice. He was an early leader in our Union who understood the need to speak against anti-black racism and link the fights for racial justice, economic justice, immigrant justice and environmental justice.

I am blessed to have walked with and learned from Mike Garcia. The Union is better, bolder and stronger thanks to his tireless efforts and Sí Se Puede Leadership.

When I spoke to his wife Gloria last week about Mike's transition to hospice, I thanked her on behalf of our 2 million members for the sacrifices she and his children made for his leadership in our Union. We laughed about how Mike would tell us to "fasten our seat belts" because we were in for a wild ride. My heart goes out to Mike’s beloved family—his wife Gloria, daughters Suzanna and Estrella and son Henry and his grandchildren—and his brothers and sisters at USWW. The SEIU family grieves his loss with you. 

Mike’s leadership, passion and dedication made SEIU a better, bolder and stronger union. His legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of SEIU members everywhere.

 

SAINT MARTIN OF PORRES HUMILIATED

A  statue of St. Martin de Porres was covered up after complaints that it was too suggestive.  The statue is at Blackfriars Priory School in suburban Adelaide, Australia,

The statue shows the saint giving a loaf of bread to a boy.  The bread is being held at crotch level as the smiling boy gazes up with a hand reaching for the loaf. 

“The two-dimensional concept plans for the statue were viewed and approved by the Executive Team in May but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the Executive to be potentially suggestive,” Principal Simon Cobiac said in an apology posted on Facebook. 

7 News informo que una estatua de San Martín de Porres en el Colegio Blackfriars Priory School en los suburbios de Adelaide, Australia, fue cubierta después de las quejas de que era demasiado sugerente.

La estatua muestra al santo dando un pan a un niño. El pan es sotenida a la altura de la entrepierna mientras el niño sonriendo mira hacia arriba con su mano alcanzando el pan.

"Los planes conceptuales bidimensionales para la estatua fueron vistos y aprobados por el Equipo Ejecutivo en mayo, pero al llegar la estatua tridimensional fue considerada por el Ejecutivo como potencialmente sugestiva", dijo el director Simon Cobiac en una disculpa publicada en Facebook.

 

 

 

SEIU 721 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The winning color for the official EJAT shirt was selected by the majority of the EJAT members.

Purple, dark green and black were the choices of most members

Purple was the first choice of the majority of voters

 

 

 

The Green won 2nd place by only one vote over the dark blue.

 

The Environmental Justice Action Team meetings take place on the second Thursdays of every month, at 5:30 pm.
Location: SEIU Local 721, 1545 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017

The EJAT goal is to educate union members on the principles of environmental justice, the science of climate change, and the impact of air, water and soil pollution on the health of our members, our communities and the general public; and to organize as many members and community residents as possible to engage in effective mass action and to build political strength in order to create a safe and pollution-free sustainable energy future.