LOCAL
AFT Washington plans human rights event Dec. 10 via Zoom
The following is from AFT Washington:
SEATTLE — Join AFT Washington’s Human Rights Committee on Human Rights Day, Saturday, Dec. 10 for “The Struggle to Protect Reproductive Rights and Organizing in The Current Environment!” This conversation about how to protect reproductive rights, workers’ rights, and the right to education will be held via Zoom from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Register here.
As members of AFT Washington’s Human and Civil Rights Committee watched decisions of the Supreme Court come down, the importance of creating space to both acknowledge and strategize how we fight back to defend and expand our human rights became clear.
International Human Rights Day is Dec. 10 and provides the opportunity to come together in solidarity. Reproductive rights, workers’ rights, and the right to education, enshrined in the International Declaration of Human Rights, are not guaranteed and some interests are actively seeking to take them away from us.
Join AFT Washington for a discussion and inspiration to action around ways to reaffirm and protect our rights, and the importance of continuing the fight even in an unwelcoming legal and political climate. Speakers will include:
Mary Le Nguyen, who is the first Executive Director of color in Washington Community Action Network’s (Washington CAN) 40-year history. Her lineage includes her grandfather who fought under Ho Chi Minh during the French occupation where his resistance resulted in the family home being burned down and his imprisonment. Mary has organized within the labor and reproductive justice movements for over 10 years and waited tables for nearly 20. Mary has a MA of Arts in Policy Studies from the University of Washington.
Rigoberto Valdez, Jr. is currently on loan to MLK Labor, to coordinate the Presidents’ Organizing Initiative (a partnership of National Unions, the AFL-CIO and local labor movements to pilot new external organizing strategies). He is a member of UFCW 3000. For more than 27 years, Rigo has dedicated his life and career to organizing workers. Currently, Rigo is the President of the United Latinos of the UFCW, is a founding member and is on the Executive Board of OUTreach (UFCW LGBTQ+ Caucus), a member of the Executive Board of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA), serves on the National Executive Board of LCLAA (Labor Council for Latin American Advancement), and is a Commissioner on the Los Angeles County, Immigrant Protection and Advancement Taskforce.
Xochilt Lopez, who emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico in 2009, looking for a better life. Xochilt has three children. While working at a packing house in Yakima, Xochilt decided to improve her English and get a degree so that she could have a career helping the community. She received her Associate degree from Yakima Valley Community College, and is currently working on her bachelor’s degree. While at YVCC, Xochilt started a student club, Connection Bridge, to support students navigating the college. She also began working as an organizer with the Alliance for a Just Society and the Communities For Our Colleges coalition. She does outreach to potential students, current students, and parents to enlist them in the fight for free community college and the support it takes for everyone seeking degrees to complete them.
All are invited to visit the AFT Washington site to register for this Dec. 10 event: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/human-rights-day-2022-registration