PROGRAM: The State of Unions – Union Issues in Today’s Environment. A discussion about local union issues.

Panel moderated by: Cherika Carter, the Field Mobilization Director for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.  This program will educate everyone on the issues that affect the lives of millions of union members.  An example is a recent anti-union resolution adopted by Gig Harbor based on the Freedom Foundation (Koch Brothers) anti-union initiatives calling for public negotiations for union workers in Gig Harbor, largely the police represented by the Teamsters.  Panelists include Patty Rose, Pierce County Central Labor Council AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer; Pedro Oguin, Co-Director of Organizing for Teamsters Local 117; Steve Miller, IAM 160; Todd Iverson, member of ILWU Washington Area District Council and Executive Board, ILWU Local #23 at Port of Tacoma; Stacey Opiopio, UFCW Local 21 Membership Action Director.

Date:  Thursday, September 5, 2019
Time:  6 pm – Social/Potluck Dinner
6:30 pm Meeting
Location:  Givens Community Ctr
1026 Sidney Ave, Port Orchard, WA 98366

We have a potluck dinner each month which everyone enjoys. In order to make sure we have a nice variety of substantial dishes we’d like to try something new. Please bring a main course dish, salad or side dish, or dessert – according to the first letter of your last name:
A-H Main Course
I-P Salad or Side Dish
Q-Z Dessert

Program: Join us at our June General Meeting to hear from a panel of subject matter experts as they discuss the very important issue of Social/Criminal Justice Reform

Date: Thursday, June 6, 2019
Meeting Time: 6:30 – 8:30 NEW TIME!!
Social & Light Potluck Time:  6:00-6:30pm
Place: Givens Community Center – Kitsap Room
Address: 1026 Sidney Road Port Orchard 98366
General Meeting Day: Monthly on First Thursdays

PANELISTS:
Tarra Simmons, the Executive Director of Civil Survival and Seattle University Law graduate who won a long fight to simply take the bar exam after being incarcerated.
Drew Hansen, State Representative from the 23rd District.
Tracy Flood, a local civil rights lawyer and President of the Bremerton chapter of the NAACP.
Chad Enright, the Kitsap County Prosecutor, and Danielle Armbruster of the Department of Corrections.
Danielle Armbruster, Assistant Secretary of Corrections,
Adison Richards, moderator

PROGRAM:
Our nation incarcerates people at the highest rate of any nation in the world. Washington State’s prison population has gone from about 3,500 in 1980 to over 18,000 today. Of that population, Washington State incarcerates almost six people of color for every white person, one of the highest rates in the country. Federal, State, and county budgets are eaten up by the costs of incarceration. Recidivism, or the rate that people return to prison, remains stubbornly high. Why? Is our criminal justice system working to reduce crime? How does incarceration impact a person’s life? Are there things we do that increase the likelihood someone will go to jail? How do we balance public safety with personal responsibility, while not punishing everybody for life for the worst thing that they have done? Can the goals of public safety and changing our methods of accountability work in common? What can we do about it?