Monday Morning Briefings...

1)  The Labor Council is sponsoring a “We Are One” Day of Solidarity Candlelight Vigil, as part of a nationwide day of action, scheduled for today, Monday, April 4.  This date marks the 43-year anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, where he was standing with sanitation workers during their strike.  We are asking people to gather at 6:30 p.m. at Civic Center Plaza (1200 3rd Ave) where we will hear from labor and faith leaders and watch portions of Dr. King’s “Mountaintop speech,” which he gave the night before his murder.  A flyer for the event is here.

2)  A National Teach-in On Austerity, Debt, Corporate Greed (and what YOU can do about it) will be streamed live tomorrow, April 5th, from 11:00-12:30 (PDT).  Frances Fox Piven (professor, CUNY Graduate Center) and Cornel West (professor, Princeton University) will host a national webcast teach-in addressing the roots of the current economic crisis and what people are doing to fight back.  Also featured will be AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.  Visit here for more information:  http://www.fightbackteachin.org/

3)  Faculty at Another Wisconsin Campus Vote for AFT
In another overwhelming Wisconsin organizing victory, faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point have voted 283-15 in favor of union representation by the AFT and AFT-Wisconsin.  The March 31 vote took place as state courts continue to review the constitutionality of legislation that would strip academic staff and faculty of their right to collectively bargain.  Stevens Point becomes the fourth University of Wisconsin campus to organize since Walker introduced his anti-union legislation in February.  Andy Felt, an associate professor in the UW-Stevens Point department of mathematical sciences, says the faculty there is part of a larger movement for a voice in the workplace.  "Since Feb. 11, Wisconsin's public employees have shown the world that we won't back down and we won't be silenced.  Too much is at stake—not just for us, but for Wisconsin and all its working families."