ACORN Needs YOU! : Pittsburgh Indymedia

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ACORN Needs YOU!
by Maryellen Hayden Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 at 1:39 PM
paacornpiho@acorn.org (email address validated) 412 441-6551 5231 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224

ACORN is expanding to seven neighborhood groups, and planning to register 5000 people before the end of the year! We are sending out a Job Announcement for Organizers and Voter registration contractors. Help us to build an organization of low and moderate income people. Let's organize the unorganized in our community!

This message is from Maryellen Hayden at Allegheny County ACORN, who takes full responsibility for its content. Indymedia is not affiliated with ACORN, which is a community union working to build power for low and moderate income people.

Message: Activists who want to organize at the grassroots level and actually get paid for it should call today!

Allegheny County ACORN is looking for full-time organizers for several working class communities. Must be willing to attend a six week training
course. We pay a minimum wage stipend to trainees. After you graduate from training, the salary is $22,100.00 per year, plus health care and pension.

We are also looking for part time voter registration contractors. ACORN has registered 1826 voters in the first part of the drive; we are looking to
register 2000 voters a month, and we need help. We have $7.00 per hour for anyone who can register 5-7 voters per hour.

Please call Maryellen Hayden at 412 441-6551
http://www.acorn.org

www.acorn.org

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be weary.
by ... Thursday, Oct. 16, 2003 at 9:41 AM

A lot of folks I've spoken to say ACORN isn't exactly a nice place to work. I know nationally there have been issues related to workplace problems with ACORN. I don't have direct experience with ACORN, but given that other folks have said they are pretty predatory towards the folks they are trying to "organize" I hope others will comment.

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Most Recent ACORN Anti-Worker News
by Rovin' Workman Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 at 3:40 PM

According to sources in Houston, Texas, ACORN HOUSING CORP. recently attacked more employees affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). ACORN never obtained a Certificate of Occupancy for its ACORN HOUSING operation, and city inspectors were threatining any workers present in the building with $2000 tickets. Management had been warned by the workers that something must be done, yet they sat on their hands. Maybe they figured the workers would have to pay the tickets out of their own pockets, just like they must provide themselves with transportation money during training, and are not compensated for travel by car (which may be a violation of law).

The workers in Houston, refusing to be given tickets, staged a walk-out, and when they returned, were harassed by ACORN management. One worker was fired, and his unemployment case was appealed by ACORN HOUSING CORP (AHC). AHC lost the appeal, and also agreed to settle the case before the National Labor Relations Board for unfair labor practices. (ACORN recently lost a case for their harassment of workers in Dallas). Other workers were fired, and ACORN will, no doubt, attempt to continue their unfair labor practices until the IWW and other organizations call them on their shit yet again. The struggle continues...

For more information, check-out the latest issue of the Industrial Worker.

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Question
by R. Workman Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 at 3:45 PM

Can the Indymedia editorial collective please clarify its position on advertisements?

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clarification on advertisements
by Mary Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 at 6:59 PM
mary@indypgh.org

With respect to what are essentially job classifieds, people can post them. We did have some discussion about ACORN since we anticipated controversy, but in the interest of maintaining open publishing and minimizing censorship, we did not think that we should be trying to determine whether we approved if a group or not and make decisions based on that.

The bottom of this page contains a disclaimer- something being posted doesn't mean we endorse it.

Since there hasn't been much explicit discussion involving the disclaimer, we asked that an explicit disclaimer be included with the post.

So, basically, you can post job advertisements; their being posted does not mean that we endorse the organization.

You can read the full discussion in the editorial archives. We're also happy to hear your thoughts on the issue.

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Ads
by Salesman Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003 at 3:04 PM

Could you please link to the conversations about ads? I check the archives from time to time and do not remember anything about ads. I cannot recall seeing ads on other IMC's.

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responding
by Mary Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003 at 5:55 PM
mary@indypgh.org

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ads
by matt Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003 at 10:56 PM
matt@indypgh.org

the pittsburgh IMC policies (http://indypgh.org/process/openpub.php) state that a newswire articles may be hidden if they:
"lack content other than advertisement for a business or website."

since this post does contain political content relevant to the local area, we leave it up to the reader to evaluate its merit, the merit of ACORN and their labor practices, and the merit of such a posting on pgh indymedia.

different IMCs have different policies -- if you're like to get involved in your local Pittsburgh IMC, come to some meetings and get involved in a subgroup (like the editorial collective).

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Rovin' Workman is a fraud
by Joe Hill's Spinning Blogging Corpse Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 at 3:42 PM

Your blogging campaign has reached new proportions of insanity. Why don't you return to your dimly lit hovel somewhere in Pittsburgh and stop polluting the internet with your disingenuous filth? An ACORN Housing Employee (a completely separate organization from the ACORN that you hate) gets fired because he didn't show up to work and you feel the need to defend him. Even the IWW website doesn't do that. Just because somebody is a member of the IWW (basically an anarchist political club for Trustafarians like you) doesn't mean they have collective bargaining rights. They need to win an election first. Why don't you take a little Labor 101 before you self-apply the title, Rovin' Workman? Uncompensated gas costs...oooh! the offenses are rank! I read that Dean employees are working 80-100 hours per week at organizer's salaries. Maybe you should go after Dean's campaign and help Bush stay in office. People like you are warts on the left and should go to Wyoming and get shot by cattle ranchers.

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Calm Down and Smell Reality
by Rovin' Workman Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003 at 6:18 AM

You are getting all worked-up with personal attacks. I could respond in kind, but instead, I will focus on setting the record straight.

1) I do not have a blog. I post occasional articles and comments. This is not "my" site.

2) I also, for the record, do not have a trust fund, and have made a lot of sacrifices over the years to organize and stand-up to bosses. If I did have a trust fund, why would I be living in a "dimly lit hovel"? At least try to get my characterization straight.

3) ACORN and ACORN Housing Corp. may be legally separate entities, but in many places, they share facilities and other resources. There is a big overlap.

4) Yes, one could get collective bargaining rights under the NLRA from winning an election. Also, one can force the boss into "voluntary" card-check recognition, or even practice variants of "Solidarity," "Open-Source," or "Minority Unionism." These do not necessarily require employer recognition. Also, two workers can engage in "concerted activity" and be protected under the law. I expect that part of the NLRA could be changed in the future if more and more folks start having success with those other models of organizing. How's that for Labor 101? How do you think unions started? With recognition? Pssst...if you get a lot of workers involved, you might not even need to worry about legal protections.

5) I'd go to Wyoming, but I might run into Wade Rathke and his SUV there. Isn't he one of those cattle ranchers? I thought he supported gun control, though.

6) If I was going to get a $2000 ticket for something which could have been resolved long before, I wouldn't show-up to work either. Would you? If you know more details about this situation, why don't you post them instead of saying, "oh this worker left the job and so they should have been punished."

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