Philadelphia will be the first stop on a U.S./Canadian speaking tour by factory workers and labor organizers from the "free trade" zone of Valle Hermoso, Mexico. Seeking to expose the brutal truth about the deteriorating state of workers rights on the Mexican border, the speakers will give a free presentation to the public on Thursday, March 6th, 7:00 PM at Studio 34 (located at 4522 Baltimore Ave in West Philadelphia/University City). The event will be preceded by an 11:00 AM protest at a Hyundai dealership on 754 Baltimore Pike, Springfield. (Hyundai orders auto equipment from Key Safety Systems.)

The tour, organized by the Mexico-based Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, and hosted by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW--an independent labor union), will take place from March 4th-18th. Other planned stops include Detroit, Toronto, and Los Angeles, with the focal point being a protest at Key Safety Systems headquarters in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Key Safety Systems is a leading global producer of airbags and other auto safety systems, which has sent its production to maquiladoras (factories) such as Valle Hermoso, Mexico, just south of Texas, in search of cheap workers and the unfettered right to exploit. Two Mexican workers organizing at KSS's Valle Hermoso plant, Perla Cruz and Israel Monroy, will speak on the human costs of NAFTA-style free trade. CJM coordinator Martha Ojeda will also be present.
Cruz and Monroy will speak of the low wages, environmental pollution, discrimination and labor and human rights abuses that now characterize Mexico's northern border. Cruz was fired Feb. 14 as part of KSS's efforts to crush workers' efforts to build an independent union to redress these conditions. According to Ojeda, "Key Safety System has concealed unsafe conditions, detained, harassed and intimidated workers, and fired workers for organizing, while announcing 1,200 job openings".
Background information is available at:
http://www.coalitionforjustice.info/CJM_Website/New_Sites/CJM_WebPage/Home_Page.html

Followed by Panel Discussion and Question and Answer Session

Saturday, February 9, 2PM
Widener University
Kapelski Learning Center
Corner of 14th & Walnut Streets, Chester

Parking: Corner of 14th and Walnut or 17th and Walnut, Chester
Public Transportation: Bus #109

Over 700 Tons of Toxicants Released Yearly Through Air/Water by Delaware County Industries
Are We Willing to Continue to Take Risks with Our Health?

This film asks whether it's fair that so many industries of a type that no one wants to live next to should be located in one city. Are these industries why Chester residents have higher than normal rates of respiratory illness and cancer? A question we raise now is what are the health risks to all Delaware County residents constantly exposed to chemicals such as benzene, naphthalene, lead, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, ethylene, propylene, methanol and many others?

Sierra Club
The Southeastern PA Group
Presents
Environmental Justice in Southeast PA
6:45 - 8:45 p.m., Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Main Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia
19th and Vine Streets, 4th Floor Skyline Room

Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The City of Chester in Delaware County is home to one of the biggest trash incinerators in the country and a sewage treatment plant that burns sludge from all over Delaware County. I it air to the residents and businesses in Chester that two major sources of air pollution are located in their community?

Mike Ewall, environmental justice advocate, will discuss the pollution threats facing Chester residents today and in the 1990s, when two additional sources of air pollution were proposed for the city, one to sterilize medical waste by heating, another to burn
oil-contaminated soil.

Delores Shelton, Chester resident, will describe some of the environmental problems she and her family face every day.

Jerry Balter, Esq., Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, will discuss environmental justice and global warming and the important role he played in protecting Chester residents in the 1990s.

For Additional Information Contact:
Bill Brainerd, (610) 325-3127, billbrainerd@gmail.com

Let's move from health insurance to health assurance!

A forum on Universal, Single-Payer Health Care will be held on Saturday, September 29, from 6-8:30PM at the Peace Center of Delaware County located at 1001 Old Sproul Road in Springfield. One of the featured speakers will be Walter Tsou, a physician specializing in public health who has worked persistently to obtain adequate health benefits for everyone. Recently Dr. Tsou presented his program to Congress. Another featured speaker, Chuck Pennacchio, will present comparisons of the Pennsylvania plans. Other community members on the panel will talk about advocacy efforts already in place and what citizens can do.

Refreshments will be served.

Public Words, an organization dedicated to preserving the literary heritage of our culture, is proud to present our first reading and recording in Philadelphia. In collaboration with Bindlestiff Books (4530 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia Pa 19143) Public Words will be holding a free reading of works in the public domain at 8:00pm on July 3rd. By holding free readings of works in the public domain, Public Words hopes to share the work that is owned by the public as a part of our literary heritage. Our readings will be recorded and released via podcast, where they will be free to download. Readers include George Hrab of the Philadelphia Funk Authority and Richard Kalwaic of The Philadelphia Singers.

E-mail: publicwords@gmail.com
Web Address: http://www.publicwords.org/
Bindlestiff Books: http://www.bindlestiffbooks.com/
George Hrab: http://www.geologicrecords.net/
The Philadelphia Funk Authority: http://www.phillyfunk.com/
The Philadelphia Singers: http://www.philadelphiasingers.org/

Thursday, July 6 at 7pm
At the Rotunda: 4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA

Sports can express the worst -- and at times the most creative, exciting, and political -- features of our society.

Join us for a discussion with two insightful authors:

Dave Zirin, Press Action's 2005 Sportswriter of the Year, has been called "an icon in the world of progressive sports." He is the author of the book "What's My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States" and the weekly sports column Edge of Sports. Dave is also a columnist for SLAM magazine and a regular contributor to The Nation.

Neil deMause is a co-author of the Baseball Prospectus book "Baseball Between the Numbers" and co-author of "Field of Schemes: How The Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit." He is also a writer for The Village Voice and runs the stadium funding-watch website fieldofschemes.com.

Books will be available for purchase.

Sponsored by Bindlestiff Books
events -at- bindlestiffbooks -dot- com
215-222-2432