Members

July 29, 2016

“Everywhere we go/people want to know/ who we are/ so we tell them…”

“Everywhere we go/people want to know/ who we are/ so we tell them…” Ronald Flannery, HCHR Organizer, Southern Maine Workers’ Center  July 23, 2016 “Everywhere we go/people want to know/ who we are/ so we tell them…” Ronald Flannery, HCHR Organizer, Southern Maine  Workers’  Center   July 23, 2016 While travelling from the RNC to the DNC…

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Members

February 4, 2016

Answering This Moment: Poor White Folks & Organizing in Maine

The below is a reflection from a Health Care is a Human Right member who was prompted by a fellow organizer with Put People First! Pennsylvania to write this piece. We hope it will spark conversation & critical thinking across our membership, and among white people in Maine more broadly. My father grew up in…

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MembersWorkers

January 5, 2016

Guest Blog: Catholic Teachings and Workplace Justice

What Catholics Believe: The Seventh Commandment, Part 2 Do Not Steal; Treat Workers Justly By Father Michael J Seavey Reprinted from The Harvest: The Magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Portland January/February 2016, p.10 If we were to see a story on workplace theft, we might imagine an armed robbery with masked intruders emptying the…

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Members

December 10, 2015

From Portland to Paris: It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm

From Portland to Paris: It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm A report from SMWC’s Meaghan LaSala from the COP 21 in Paris, France At the Southern Maine Workers’ Center, we use a framework of human rights to help us envision the world we are building toward. We are organizing a broad based movement for…

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MembersWorkers

July 31, 2015

Why we need a universal wage: Heather shares her story about tipped work

On July 20th, members of SMWC’s Work With Dignity Committee attended the Portland City Council’s workshop session on tipped credit and the new minimum wage ordinance. The ordinance needs to meaningfully include tipped workers by raising their base wage (the amount the employer actually pays hourly), as well as the minimum wage they have to earn up to once…

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MembersHealthcare

June 15, 2015

Joining Our Voices For Justice: One Member’s Story

On Sunday, May 31st Health Care is a Human Right organizers were invited by a new member-organizer and congregate of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sanford to participate in a special service and discussion focused on health care justice. Reverend Sue Gabrielson focused her powerful sermon on a 1992 resolution by the UU General Assembly…

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MembersHealthcare

April 22, 2014

Health Care is a Human Right Committee Member Sarah Lazare’s letter to the editor

Health Care is a Human Right Committee Member Sarah Lazare’s letter to the editor was published by the Bangor Daily News on April 18, 2014.  Dignity and rights Health care is a human right, and every person in the state of Maine deserves full coverage that is humane, equitable and meets all of their needs….

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MembersHealthcare

March 14, 2014

Health Care is a Human Right: Beyond MaineCare Expansion

Health Care is a Human Right: Beyond MaineCare Expansion: A response to the Portland Press Herald Article “Medicaid Expansion vote has real-life impact for low-income Mainers”.  Yesterday I was interviewed by the Portland Press Herald about the issue of MaineCare expansion— the critical health care legislation that the Maine Senate voted in favor of yesterday, the House…

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