UPDATE- you can watch this event live on Ustream. If this link doesn't work just search for Southern Maine Labor Council on Ustream. http://www.ustream.tv/...
Tonight at 7pm I am participating in a Hostess educational event about the hedge funds and how the closing of the bakery will affect the people of Biddeford, Maine. The event is hosted by the Southern Maine Labor Council and will take place in Portland at the University of Southern Maine. There will be several state politicians and perhaps a few congress critters there. Get the details at the link.
https://www.facebook.com/...
City Councilor Richard Rhames will be there to discuss the tax breaks and incentives the city offered to Hostess to build the new plant in 1999. We will also have the local elected leadership of both the Teamsters and the Bakers on hand to tell their sides of the story. I will be there to talk of the national storyline as compared to the actual facts.
I have done a few interviews with newspapers and a TV station since getting to Maine. The SMLC that is hosting the event has done an amazing job of putting this together and it seems to have a lot of local interest. Here is a writeup about the event from a local paper. http://www.portlanddailysun.me/...
If you can make it we would love to have you there. It is open to the public, no Union card necessary. If we figure out the live streaming I will post it here.
I had the good fortune of staying at Labor icon Peter Kellman's house when I first got here. If you are unfamiliar with him then you should take a look at his book if you can find a copy. You see there were only 8000 copies printed and they are collectors items, Amazon lists a new copy as $200, used at $17. The artist won a Pulitzer prize for another project that came later. It is a must read for Union organizers. http://www.amazon.com/... PS Peter doesn't care if you buy it used because that inflated price will never make it to him anyway. Just read it!