APRIL 4TH “DAY OF ACTION”

Labor unions, progressive organizations, community leaders and higher education students will join together Monday, April 4th in several Colorado cities at rallies, marches, teach-ins and walk-outs to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to demand political and economic justice for all people.

A Justice for Janitors (SEIU) march will begin at 17th and California streets and will conclude at Tivoli Square (SW corner of Tivoli between the King Center and the Plaza Building) in Denver for a “Teach-in”. From 12:15 – 2:00pm, a panel of community leaders representing labor, immigration, education, civil rights, the inter-faith community, and other areas will speak about worker’s rights and social justice. AM760 Progressive Talk Radio’s Mario Solis-Marich will emcee the event and introduce speakers, including DeFENSE Denver’s Andrea Merida (also a Denver Public Schools Board Member), Benedictine Monk Brother David Garner, and keynote speaker KGNU radio talk show host and Civil Rights leader, Shareef Aleem.

The Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) have coordinated a student “walk-out” to attend the events on campus, and to send a message of solidarity with workers.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) will also hold a rally from 1:00-3:00 pm at 17th and Esplanade in City Park, near the MLK statue, to protest the Dex Corporation outsourcing American jobs. An evening Rally and Candlelight Vigil to honor workers, organized by Colorado AFL-CIO, will begin at 5:30pm at City Park Band Shell, on the east side of Ferrell Lake (near E. 17th and Steele Street entrance). Meanwhile, similar events will be held in Colorado Springs and other cities.

Labor unions around the United States are organizing politically in response to recent events in Wisconsin and Michigan, where Republican governors are attempting to take away collective bargaining rights of workers and to drastically cut public education.

The march, rallies, teach-in and walk-out have been organized by a grassroots coalition of labor unions and community groups including the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Colorado Immigrant Rights Association (CIRC), Colorado Jobs With Justice, New Era Colorado, and Progressive Outreach Colorado, MoveOn.org and others. Teach-In speakers will include representatives from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), Colorado Young Workers (CYW), Democrats for Excellent Neighborhood School Education (DeFENSE Denver), Politically Active Ztudents (PAZ), Escuela tlatelolco, and others.

The events have been promoted on radio, on the Auraria campus, and through on-line social media including facebook, twitter and email.

For more information, please contact Russell Bannan at 864-978-9374 or rpbannan@gmail.com.