Testimony week for Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance

Monday February 18 - 7 PM Pittsburgh Public School Board Hearing
CALL BEFORE NOON on Monday for a space on the agenda
412-622-3600

Tuesday February 19 - 5 PM Allegheny County Council
CALL BEFORE NOON on Tuesday for a space on the agenda
(412) 350-6490

Wednesday February 20 at 6:00 PM, at the Igloo Club at the Mellon Arena. Informational meeting that will provide a comprehensive overview of the arena project and Penguin Sweatshops.

Thursday February 21 - 1:30 PM Sports and Exhibition Authority
Come support the One Hill Community Benefits Coalition who is not committed to STOPPING construction of the Pens Arena until their demands are met!!! Check the SEA website on Thursday morning, meeting changes are frequent.
http://www.pgh-sea.com/pghsea/schedule.htm

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT KENNETH 412-241-1339

MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW. Minority Labor Participation and monitoring, accountability between the teams and our communities, SWEATSHOPS... oh yea, IT'S CONNECTED BUCCO!

Monday March 3, 2008: 6:00p.m. Homewood YMCA (7140 Bennett Street)Free off street parking available. Discussion with District 9 Councilman Rev. Ricky V. Burgess
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February 12, 2008

Superintendent Mark Roosevelt

Pittsburgh Board of Education

341 South Bellefield Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Dear Superintendent Roosevelt:

Members of the Racial Equity Empowerment Project, a project of the Black Political Empowerment Project, attended the School Board meeting on Monday, February 4, 2008 and clearly understand the discussions/opportunities involved with the new MBWE policy. Particularly, B-PEP wants to empower the insights delivered by Board Members Mark Brentley, Thom Sumpter, Heather Arnet and Randall Taylor.

We are grateful that this has moved ahead on the Board’s agenda and is being given adequate consideration. Now is a very important time for a “breakthrough” for minority contracting. This policy should also undertaken with due respect for the related goal of minority labor participation.

First and foremost is the monitoring component. Regular public reports on the implementation of this new policy need to be scheduled from the very beginning. We recommend that you consider contracting with Dr. Ralph Bangs and the Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh. Please don’t delay an investigation of this possibility.

Some members of the School Board and the School Board’s Solicitor mentioned that some of the ACLU’s recommendations to the Board were illegal. B-PEP has a high regard for the ACLU’s legal opinions and those of Professor Ralph Bangs. Please respond to their recommendations in writing and copy the Black Political Empowerment Project.

Everyone in our community needs to understand the connection between the need for a “Disparities Study” and a “Sheltered Contracting” study. Please include documentation about who is conducting each of these studies on behalf of the district and the timeline for completion.

Please ask your Solicitor and the Joint Council of the Building Trades to elaborate clearly and specifically on the potential impact of a Project Labor Agreement both upon minority contractors and minority labor participation. It would be a travesty for a policy to pass and then for any of the positive impacts for minority labor participation

to be mitigated by another agreement. Finally, as I have addressed you previously, Black Political Empowerment Projects is interested in the School District’s role in the implementation of the Federal Department of Labor grant aimed at increasing minority participation in the Building Trades. We have held two workshops on this issue in recent months, one at the Racial Equity and Empowerment Summit, and the other at the Tenth Annual Summit Against Racism (1/26/08). A “breakthrough” for minority participation in the Building Trades is long overdue. Initiative after initiative has come and gone over the years without the adequate reporting of their success or failures. We ask that B-PEP representatives be invited to participate in future meetings related to this grant and collaboration with the Joint Council of Building Trades.

It should be the role of the Pittsburgh Public Schools to be leaders in the area of minority contracting and minority labor participation. Together, great strides can be made in the context of the current MBWE policy discussions. The Black Political Empowerment Project is all about moving from complaint to possibility, planning to implementation!

Thanks for your attention to these very important matters.

Sincerely,

Tim Stevens

CC: B-PEP Coordinating Council

Racial Equity Monitoring Project

School Board

Sports and Exhibition Authority

Tim Bidlin, US Department of Labor

Dr. Ralph Bangs, University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Chapter of the ACLU

Pittsburgh City Council

Julia Stewart, Pittsburgh Public Schools

One Hill CBA Coalition