Atlanta, GA – Members, stewards and executive board members from Teamsters Local 728 have been collecting contract unity pledges at UPS barns across the state of Georgia. The statewide effort has been a part of the national campaign started by the International in February. The contract unity pledges are being used as a bargaining tool by the Teamsters in the lead-up to contract negotiations with UPS and as a way to talk to members about a potential strike at UPS later this year.

Teamsters Local 728’s jurisdiction covers the entire state of Georgia. Local 728 has been hitting the gates at UPS barns across the state for a month, talking to members and asking them to stand united against the company if contract negotiations break down and result in a strike.

Teamsters Local 728 covers almost 15,000 members, with a sizable portion of those being members at UPS. Local 728 also represents UPS employees at the SMART (Southeast Metro Area Routing Terminal) hub, the second largest UPS ground hub in the country. The 1.2 million square-foot facility processes 100,000 packages per hour, sorting and routing them to their future destination. In the event of a strike, SMART’s shutting down would effectively stop UPS’s ground operations in the southeast United States.

#AtlantaGA #Teamsters #Georgia #UPS

Gainesville, GA – COVID-19 virus is spreading quickly among poultry workers and their families in Georgia. In Hall County, northeast of Atlanta, there is a hotspot with over 2000 cases and 29 deaths as of May 12. With roughly 16,500 workers employed by 14 chicken plants across Georgia, and most immigrant families living with two or three generations in one house, the situation is code red. There needs to be an emergency response from the government and the corporations.

Chicken processing is dirty, demanding and dangerous work done mainly by immigrants from Mexico, many of whom are women. The big corporations, Pilgrim’s Pride, Fieldale, Wayne Farms, Perdue, Koch Foods, and Gold Creek are making the profits, all the while facilitating the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Workers are shoved into cramped workspaces, side by side rubbing elbows, breathing heavily, touching the same birds, and sharing equipment and restrooms. Much like in the meatpacking industry, offering masks, staggering breaks and implementing barriers is not stopping the spread of the deadly disease.

On May 12, a press conference was held outside the offices of the Fieldale Farms Corporation in Gainesville to introduce the “Essential Workforce Protection Act” into the Georgia House of Representatives. The politicians and community activists are responding to Tyson Foods Chairman John Tyson warning that the national food supply chain is “breaking.”

Georgia 9th Congressional District candidate Devin Pandy, Representative El-Mahdi Holly, Stockbridge, and Georgia 7th Congressional District candidate Representative Brenda Lopez Romero came together with community activists in support of the workers.

Lopez Romero said, “The pandemic has shown us that the real essential workers are stockers, medical professionals, janitors, factory workers and meat and poultry workers – many of whom work here in Hall County. She continued, “Yet these essential workers have been left to be the most vulnerable to the effects of this public health crisis.”

Community activist Arturo Ademe read out demands to help the workers including hazard pay, increased hourly pay, full pay sick leave and onsite testing for COVID-19. The big food corporations can meet these demands immediately. Here is a list of their net worth: Fieldale $1 billion, Wayne Farms $1.5 billion, Koch foods $2.3 billion, Perdue Farms $7.3 billion and Pilgrims $10.7 billion.

“The poultry industry in Hall County has always been a difficult and exploitive work environment. The working conditions are foul, the pay is meager and the hours are plenty. The working conditions have only gotten worse during this pandemic,” Adame said.

Adame continued, “I decided it was no longer acceptable to stand on the sidelines and watch the death toll in Hall County rise any further. Knowing the racial and immigrant demographics of the working class of this county, I felt it was necessary for a member of the community to speak out on their behalf. The poultry corporations must be held accountable for their refusal for fair and equitable treatment for all their employees.”

#GainesvilleGA #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #Georgia #COVID19 #PoultryWorkers

On April 23rd Students for a Democratic Society will be joining hundreds of anti-racist activists at Stone Mountain, GA to counter a planned white power march of the KKK and other white nationalist organizations.

The anti-KKK protest was called by All Out Atlanta, and is now endorsed by a variety of progressive, anti-fascist, and anti-racist groups throughout the south. This protest will be a powerful showing of anti-racist unity in the face of growing white supremacist organizing in the United States.

Stone Mountain is an important symbol to the white supremacist movement, serving as a rallying point for hate groups over the last century. Last year white supremacists rallied in Stone Mountain following the massacre at a historically black church in Charleston by white supremacist Dylann Roof.

The KKK and other racist terrorist organizations can not be allowed to organize freely. They must be confronted with militant action and their organizing efforts must be stopped and disrupted wherever they go. SDS has been committed to the struggle against white supremacy, leading the fight against neo-nazis in Tennessee and struggle against the KKK in Tallahassee. This protest in Stone Mountain is an important step in building the country-wide struggle against white supremacists.

Over the past year the KKK and white supremacist groups have become emboldened by the racist and hateful rhetoric spread by Donald Trump's campaign for president. Students have been at the front lines of the struggle against Trump and his racist supporters. SDS calls on students to continue the struggle against Trump and all racist politicians that are facilitating the resurgence of this far-right racist movement.

SDS calls on students to join us in Stone Mountain, as well as in the streets and on the campuses across the country as we confront the KKK and white supremacy!

#Georgia #GA #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #PeoplesStruggles #AntiRacism #Antifascism #KKK

On Sept. 21 at 7:00 p.m., the State of Georgia Department of Corrections is planning to execute Troy Davis by lethal injection. A broad movement has stepped into high gear to stop this injustice from happening, with a global day of solidarity protests planned for Sept. 16. Protests will take place across the U.S. and around the world to demand that the Georgia State Board of Pardon and Parole stop the execution by granting Davis clemency. Davis’s family is also asking people to sign the online petition to the Board of Pardons and Parole. Over 200,000 people have signed the petition in a matter of days.

Troy Davis was given the death penalty in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty police officer. He has always maintained he is innocent and that he was the victim of false identification. Since his conviction, the evidence his conviction was based on has largely fallen apart. Seven of nine eyewitnesses have recanted or contradicted their trial testimony, the ballistic evidence was later withdrawn and new witnesses have identified a different shooter.

Despite this, at every step in the legal process Davis’ appeals have been turned down. The legal process is sharply tilted against reversing a conviction, even if the evidence the conviction was based on has later been discredited. Usually courts only allow procedural issues to be raised to challenge a conviction, not new evidence.

Due to the strong pressure organized by the movement to defend Troy Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court took the highly unusual move in August 2009 of ordering an evidentiary hearing, which allowed Davis to present new evidence of his innocence. At the June 2010 hearing, four witnesses recanted their original testimony, saying their testimony implicating Davis was coerced by the police. Three other witnesses said another man, Sylvester Coles, was the actual shooter.

But this evidence wasn’t enough because of the way the U.S. legal system works. Normally in a trial, the prosecution has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But in this evidentiary hearing about an already existing conviction, the burden was the opposite – Davis’s defense had to not just raise reasonable doubt of guilt, but to prove innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge in the hearing admitted that the evidence presented did cast some “additional, minimal doubt” but did not consider this enough to reverse the conviction and death sentence.

In March of this year the Supreme Court refused to consider Davis’s final appeal. Davis has had four execution dates set in the past, but the previous ones were postponed by appeals. Now there are no more chances for Davis to appeal.

The last option is for Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Parole to grant Troy Davis clemency. They are set to meet on Monday, Sept. 19, just two days before his scheduled execution. They would have to vote by majority to grant Davis clemency. The Board has more leeway to stop the execution than the courts have, since they can consider things other than procedural questions. They can take into account that witnesses have recanted and new witnesses have come forward. Davis has been denied clemency before, but there are new members on the Board now, and new witness testimony since the last time the Board considered Davis’s case.

The movement is demanding that the Board of Pardons and Parole grant clemency to Troy Davis. This would stop his execution, which would be a huge victory. But clemency would not reverse his conviction for a crime he continues to maintain he is innocent of, it would most likely convert his sentence to life in prison. But averting his unjust execution will allow the struggle to reverse his conviction to continue.

There is a day of global solidarity on Friday, Sept. 16, just three days before the Georgia Board of Parole and Pardons meets to consider clemency. Check here for the protest nearest you and click here to sign the online petition.

#Georgia #GA #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #DeathPenalty #TroyDavis

An important blow against racism and reaction was struck in Georgia, July 20. Cynthia McKinney's victory in Georgia’s 4th congressional district in the Democratic primaries means it is almost certain that her courageous voice will be heard again inside the halls of Congress.

McKinney, a progressive African American, represented the 4th district until 2002. While serving in Congress, she earned the wrath of the Bush administration by asking what the Bush administration knew about the events of September 11. She also slammed the war profiteering by Bush cronies, opposed moves to attack Iraq and often criticized Israel. She constantly opposed moves to curtail civil liberties.

In the 2002 Democratic primaries, McKinney was targeted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The Washington-based Zionist lobby backed McKinney’s opponent, Denise Majette. The 40,000 white Republicans crossing over to the Democratic primary assured Majette’s victory. Much to the surprise of her supporters, this year Majette decided to make a bid for the Senate – leaving her House seat open for the 2004 election.

McKinney’s July 20 victory came as a surprise to many political observers, and has sparked consternation among conservatives and supporters of Israel. McKinney garnered 51% of the votes in the primary, thus avoiding a runoff election. She beat challengers who had more money by a two-to-one margin. The strong turnout by Blacks in DeKalb County and a powerful grassroots campaign were important factors in her success. While she still faces Republican Catherine Davis in the November elections, McKinney is expected to win in a district that traditionally votes democrat.

Some of the most racist and reactionary forces in the country worked to drive Congresswomen McKinney from office in 2002. They used an unfair electoral system – the crossover of white Republican voters to the Democratic primaries was a device to deny Black voters political power. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is one of Washington’s most powerful lobbies, and there are relatively few politicians willing to opposes its reactionary positions.

McKinney’s recent victory is a success for the African American freedom movement and its allies. It is a rejection by the voters of Georgia’s 4th district of the entire direction that Bush is taking this county. Another victory for McKinney this November will bring a powerful advocate for equality and peace, and a fighter who articulates the demands of the oppressed and exploited, back to the Congress.

#Georgia #Commentary #AfricanAmerican #GeorgiaJuly20 #CynthiaMcKinneysVictoryInGeorgias4thCongressionalDistrict #aProgressiveAfricanAmerican #2002DemocraticPrimaries #AmericanIsraelPublicAffairsCommittee #AIPAC

In response to the bombardment of South Ossetia, Russia intervened to defend a population from ethnic cleansing. The Russian forces easily repulsed the Georgian governments forces, giving them a beating. Despite the destruction and devastation brought upon the South Ossetians by the Georgian regime and their U.S. backers, the U.S. news media rushes to defend Georgia and condemn Russia. Nearly all U.S. press headlines claim “Russia attacked Georgia.” Likewise, U.S. corporate media repeatedly claims the Georgian leader was “democratically elected,” even though the recent elections, orchestrated by the U.S., were condemned as a farce with widespread voting irregularities. When it comes to U.S. aggression overseas, the facts are turned upside down.

The timing of the attack by the Georgian President is cynical and calculated. While the world was assembled in the spirit of unity for the Olympic Games, Georgian President Saakashvili attempted to annex an autonomous region by force. Shortly before Saakashvili had promised an “Olympic truce.” He violated a peace agreement to not use force to resolve South Ossetia’s status. With U.S. support, Georgia rapidly multiplied its military over the past few years, increasing its defense budget 30 times over. The U.S. government is attempting to further weaken and isolate Russia, but found out it is dangerous to poke the bear.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, in the face of these war crimes, chants, “We are all Georgians.” The liberals in the media condemn President Bush for not doing enough to aid Georgia in its quest to slaughter the South Ossetian people, unbelievably equating his so-called lack of response with the criminal indifference displayed during Hurricane Katrina. President Bush meanwhile, airlifts 2000 Georgian soldiers, the third largest foreign fighting force in Iraq, to the battleground in South Ossetia.

The Georgian attack on South Ossetia could not go forward without the connivance of the Bush administration. Every rich oil magnate knows that Georgia is a vital transit route for energy, avoiding both Russia and Iran. Georgia is also part of Washington’s campaign to ‘contain Russia.’ Bush wants Georgia to become a NATO member. This recent conflict will be used to demonstrate the urgency of pushing Georgia into NATO.

However, the Bush White House miscalculated Russia’s tolerance for U.S. meddling in neighboring countries. Russia delivered the Bush government a setback.

The people of South Ossetia have been brutally attacked. They are a proud people with their own language, culture and history. The fact they are a small a national minority made them an target for those like Bush with plans for domination and empire. Progressive people around the world should unite in condemning the U.S.-backed Georgian attack and express their heartfelt solidarity with the people of South Ossetia The U.S. should stop provoking crisis and war on the borders of Russia. U.S. out now!

#Commentary #USIntervention #Georgia #Russia #Asia