Author name: imc-editor

WORKERS’ VOICES / WORKERS’ STORIES

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Injured Workers Tell Their Stories

When workers get hurt or sick at work, they are thrust into series of challenges that include not only coping with their immediate symptoms, but they must also endure financial hardships, threats to mental health, family issues and sometimes even additional health complications especially when Workers’ Compensation bureaucracy is slow or present complex challenges. The publication is the result of over two years’ collaboration between injured workers and clinic staff.

Workers involved in developing the publication shared their individual stories including details about how they have had to carry on with degrading fights with the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board in order to address both physical and mental health challenges. These injured workers emphasize their commitment to sharing their experiences as an ongoing project.

“We want to raise awareness about and, ultimately, to improve how Workers’ Compensation functions in New York State. We do not want people to have to continue to go through what we have experienced just to obtain the right kind of medical care and appropriate benefits.”

Local workers, union leaders, elected officials, faith leaders, and university representatives will gather at the Occupational Health Clinical Center to celebrate the workers who have courageously shared their experiences as injured workers in an effort to fight for safer working conditions and prevent occupational injury and illness.

CONTACT:
Rick Sprout                         
Occupational Health Clinical Center
Binghamton
(607) 238-6892
sproutr@upstate.edu

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Tax Bill Will Hurt Working Families in Central New York

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Albany, NY — In response to the House passage of the tax reform bill, Citizen Action of New York Executive Director Karen Scharff and Central New York Citizen Action President John Furman issued the following statements:

"The passage of the House tax reform bill is a kick in the teeth to working families in New York State. This bill is nothing more than a giant bonus check for billionaires and large corporations. At a time of rising inequality, we can't afford to shift more wealth from poor and working class families to the excessively wealthy. Rep. Tenney should be ashamed at supporting a bill that hurts so many of her constituents. The bill not only makes taxes more unfair to working people, but it also will lead to deeper cuts to education, health care, and other vital programs we depend on,” said Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York

“We are very disappointed that Rep. Tenney voted to pass a giant tax cut for corporations and the wealthy. We know from experience that instead of generating economic growth and jobs, tax cuts and the resulting lost revenue leads to unacceptable cuts in education, health care, and vital public services. Currently, corporations already pay far less than their top statutory tax rate of 35%. The tax bill will not bring jobs back but instead will encourage corporations to send work offshore, replace labor with machines, and give higher compensation packages to their CEOs. This tax bill is a disaster for Central New York families. Corporations and the wealthiest among us will receive trillions of dollars in tax breaks. At the same time, needed revenue for investments in education, infrastructure, housing, and health care will be taken away from Central New York communities. Low- and moderate-income families in our congressional district will pay twice–by seeing their taxes go up, and by losing services such as Medicaid, SNAP, housing vouchers, education, and child care,” said John Furman, President of Central New York Citizen Action.

 

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Holiday Show at Cooperative: All Members’ Show

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Give the gift of Art!

Cooperative Gallery 213, 213 State St. in Binghamton, presents its annual Holiday Show; Find unique, original, and affordable artworks from more than 50 artists and fine crafters, as the Cooperative Gallery is transformed into a magical showplace for wonderful works from all Gallery members.
 
Featured works include paintings by Mark Green, Suzanne Lachman, Angela Cook, Eileen Schlag, and others; sculpture and photography by Duke Holdsworth, painted furniture by Narani O’Shaughnessy, jewelry both whimsical and elegant by Vivian Nguyen, Ellen Romano, and others; painted silks by Andrea Eastman and intricate tie-dye by Kirk Madsen; woodworks by Richard Nolan, artisan holiday ornaments, miniature paintings, and myriad other visual delights by members of the local arts community.
 
Opening Artists Reception Gala is Thursday, November 30, 6-8:30 PM, with live music and delectable catered munchies, some from the new Cooperative Gallery 213 cookbook, “Artists in the Kitchen.”
 
The show and sale continues through December 23 — extended gallery hours for December: Fridays 3 – 7 PM, Saturdays 11 AM – 4 PM
 
For more information, contact the gallery at cooperativegallery213@gmail.com, or 607 724-3462. Cooperative Gallery 213 is a popular stop on Binghamton’s First Friday Art Walk. Find us on Facebook at Cooperative Gallery 213. Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter on our website at www. cooperativegallery.com, or on our Facebook page.

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#GoAllOutBroome!

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Broome County has launched a new website that shows you how to find all kinds of outdoor activities and events. With an interactive map it lists all parks, hiking trails, biking, paddling, fishing, and more. Go All Out Broome is also on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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Public Art and Solar Innovation

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The Southern Tier Solar Works sponsored a Workshop Sat. May 6th, featuring the Land Art Generator Initiative. After being inspired by all kinds of beautiful solar possibilities, we discussed ideas for the Victory Factory in JC which is that massive white building in Johnson City. What a productive discussion on renewable energy and public art as placemaking tools in Broome County with community organizers, JC planner, BU engineering professor, artists, and students! We also brainstormed some ideas to re-purpose the factory building into a mixed use renewable energy and art incubator including providing subsidized housing, trainings for local residents looking to jump into the workforce, workshops for the local youth, agriculture, and transforming the vacant lot into a sustainable, accessible, and inclusive public space. For more information, contact http://southerntiersolarworks.org/

Southern Tier Solar Works is a not-for-profit program dedicated to developing the solar industry through education and outreach to create jobs, energy savings, and a healthier climate in Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga counties. They can help with residential solar projects and refer people to local solar contractors.

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The Biggest Lie

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The biggest lie : we elected Christians.

"When i was hungry, you canceled my food stamps
When i was thirsty, you diverted lead & coal into my water
When i was sick, you tripled my insurance rates
When i was naked, you raped me & blamed me because i was naked.
When i was in prison, you enslaved me to corporations
When i was a stranger with brown skin you deported me
From the lonely you took away social programs
From the elderly, you took away meals & medicine
From the workers, you took away legal protections
From the young, you took away school funding
From the victims, you took away shelter
Instead of diversity, you encourage intolerance
Instead of caring, you encourage isolation
Instead of equity, you encourage military excess
When the 1% has ground us into the dust, taken all of our money, and let us die for lack of insurance – who will they feed upon?
anonymous

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3,000 + at Women’s March on Binghamton

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"This is What Democracy Looks Like" was one of the chants at Binghamton's iteration of the international Women's March and it was 3000 strong with a great diversity of people attending. Donna Lupardo our State Assembly rep and Jason Garner, our new County Exec, both urged women to run for office on every level of government, especially, as Lupardo pointed out, "2017 is the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote in New York State." The March was organized by Citizen Action, BC Democratic Women, and the NAACP, among others.

Popular signs were "Make America Kind Again," "Make America Think Again," "Love Trumps Hate," "Hands Off!" indicating an anti-Trump feeling–and worry about the future. Others: "Black Live Matter More Than White Feelings," "Love is Love," and "Protect Your Sisters not just your Cis-ters." Several people expressed concern about the loss of insurance coverage when the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

CNN, the NY Times and other media outlets have declared that the March was the largest ever demonstration in one day. Jeremy Pressman U of Connecticut and Erica Chenoweth of U of Denver are keeping track of attendance figures worldwide. Although it is a work in progress they estimate 3.3 -4.6 million people attended in 642 locations. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xa0iLqYKz8x9Yc_rfhtmSOJQ2EGgeUVjvV4A8LsIaxY/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0_)

Encouraged by the tremendous numbers of people resisting the Trump agenda, the true test will come in strategically mobilizing people to vote and organize. Locally, Claudia Tenney, newly elected Congress person and arch conservative is likely to be a special target for activists. Nationally, Michael Moore and other have called for "100 Days of Resistance." A publication called Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda is gaining attention among organizers. It deconstructs the success of the Tea Party and sets out a plan to do the same for the progressive movement. It was (and continues to be) written by volunteers who have Congressional experience and have watched the far right hijack the Obama agenda. For a copy and updates to the guide go to www.IndivisibleGuide.com. OR Download below

 

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Free Access to Vote Smart now until election day

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Free unimpeded access to all Vote Smart data now through Election Day.
 Vote Smart  votesmart.org

Vote Smart is a bipartisan database of every federal candidate for office–every position, every speech, every vote. Not only that it has several tools to help you make the best choice that matches up with your concerns. For instance, if the environment or reproductive rights are important to you, choose that filter and see who is worth your vote.

For a short time, Vote Smart had to charge to use the database which was created by hundreds of hours of volunteer time.
Pro Access, the system that limited access to those using Vote Smart data for professional purposes is being suspended. The over 20,000 professional users who had their access limited will no longer be impeded from using this incredible source of facts on thousands of candidates.
 
Thanks to Vote Smart member gifts, the access codes assigned to almost 20,000 users will no longer be needed.
 
Vote Smart everyone!

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