By Joseph Plummer
Labor and community organizer Ms Cate Poe, Guest Speaker for this UUFSMA Sunday Service, will review the impact of the renewal of the North American trade agreement on Mexican workers. Noting labor’s successful vote in May for an independent union at the GM factory in Silao, Guanajuato, Poe will highlight the beneficial pressure of Canadian and U.S. labor leaders.
As a condition of labor’s support for renewal of the treaty, Canadian and U.S. labor leaders demanded that Mexico reform its labor laws. Thus, a General Motors company union, formerly governed by secret contracts and threats of violence, gained independence and a contract with an 8.5 percent increase in wages and improved benefits for more than 6,000 employees.
Poe brings to this presentation more than three decades of first-hand experience with the turmoil of workers’ struggling to win an independent voice in the workplace. She has fought for representation for almost every type of employee, including industrial workers, janitors, healthcare workers, university employees, construction workers, strawberry pickers, and telephone operators. Familiar with the rough and tumble of workers’ struggles, she was once the Director of the National AFL-CIO’s in New Jersey. A San Miguel resident since 2013, Coe credits Unitarian Universalists for being among the most active supporters of campaigns to organize workers.
Sunday Children’s Program
This month the children will explore the UU 1st Principle: the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Member Stan Allen will talk about his work with migrants at ABBA House. The children will learn why some people are forced to leave their home countries, dangers they face, and the importance of helping and treating them with kindness. A snack and work on a craft related to the topic will follow.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal faith inviting its community to gather around a set of harmonizing values and principles for living. Our UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Belief in a divinity is not the central issue around which we gather for worship and generous action. Rather, we come together with a belief in community, love, compassion, social justice, and reverence for nature, all within the interconnected web of existence.
Enjoy our previous services at https://www.youtube.com/. Enter UUFSMA in the search box. UUFSMA donates generously to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button.
To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST.
In addition to continuing live Zoom services, UUFSMA has returned to in-person Sunday services. Reservations are no longer necessary.
*Joseph Plummer is the UUFSMA Board Secretary
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Sunday Service
“Celebrating a New Day for Workers’ Rights in Mexico”
Speaker: Cate Poe
Sun, Sep 4, 10:30am
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513
