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 Last week we introduced you to a brave advocate for his community and the Amazon – Servio Curipoma. For Servio and the other 30,000 inhabitants of Chevron’s toxic wasteland, the struggle for basic necessities like clean water is a daily one.You may remember when in 2011 Servio first left his rainforest home to come to the US to share his story with members of Congress and influencers in Washington; the media and human rights groups in New York; and directly with Chevron shareholders, board members, and CEO John Watson right at Chevron’s headquarters in San Ramon, CA. Servio appealed to every person he met – including the cold Chevron CEO himself – to put aside the decades-long legal battle and help those who had suffered for too long. He asked that Chevron finally do the right thing and clean up what it had admitted to – leaving billions of gallons of toxic foundation waters polluting his Amazonian backyard.The truth about the daily reality faced by so many in Ecuador resonated with the American people, with socially-responsible investors and with the media. Support continued to grow and the pressure on Chevron increased. But with no sign of a clean-up coming, Servio returned last May with the help of Amazon Watch to confront Chevron at its Annual General Meeting. This time he brought a different message delivered on a massive pink slip – FIRE CEO John Watson! Watson, who was a key player in the Texaco merger, has led Chevron down a dark and dirty path of corporate crimes and environmental destruction around the globe. Servio and his supporters made it clear in front of Watson’s peers that Chevron’s attacks against victims in Ecuador, sympathetic shareholders, human rights and environmental groups and concerned citizens must end.
And what has Chevron done? Turned the finger on Servio and affected communities in Ecuador in a malicious and cowardly move to call them criminals after all that they have suffered. A week after Servio’s second visit, a perturbed Watson found himself being deposed as a witness due to legal attacks on Servio and his community. Chevron has made it clear that it will continue to fight dirty. For Servio, for the 30,000 victims of Chevron’s atrocities, for corporate accountability around the globe – we cannot let up. Your support ensures that Amazon Watch can continue to help Servio and other Amazon heroes to confront CEOs like Watson in person and to hold corporations accountable. For the Amazon,
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Tag Archives: Bolton
mimimum wages V cost of living
I’m Matt Perry, a MoveOn member in Seattle, Washington, and I started a petition to Seattle City Council, which says:
Those who work full-time in our great city should be able to afford a basic life in the city of Seattle. If you work here, you should be able to live here. Sign Matt’s petition
As a resident of Seattle, I do business with and speak to folks making minimum wage in this city every day. These are the workers who prepare food, serve in retail sales, clean offices and homes, take care of the elderly and disabled, and perform many additional jobs that make our city work. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ national numbers, 25% of these folks are parents, three-quarters are over 20 years old, and over half are the primary wage earners in their households.
Currently there is no such guarantee. Even though Washington State’s minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum, the state minimum is still below the very basic minimal costs of living in Seattle, for even a single person. For those with a child to take care of, the situation is worse: a single parent with one child would need to work over 80 state-minimum-wage hours every week to support the basic needs of their family.
Let’s establish a city-wide minimum wage that begins to correct this injustice. If you work here, you should be able to live here!
Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.
Thanks!
–Matt Perry
This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Matt Perry didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.
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Shutdown is over: now what?
Unemployment benefits related to federal shutdown
Updated October 17, 2013
Now that the federal shutdown is ending, how do I close my unemployment claim?
The easiest thing is to stop filing your weekly claims.
Should I file a weekly claim next week for the time I was unemployed this week?
That’s up to you. Federal employees and federally funded state employees will receive back-pay for the time they were furloughed, and any unemployment benefits they received must be repaid.
However, it may take some time before the next payroll is processed. If you were furloughed long enough this week to qualify for unemployment benefits, you may want to file a weekly claim for this week (beginning 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 20). You would need to report the number of hours you worked this week and the amount of money you earned, and then repay the unemployment benefits later.
(Employment Security employees, watch your office email for more details about back-pay, timesheets and payroll.)
What’s the process for repaying unemployment benefits?
After the shutdown is over, Employment Security will attempt to arrange with federal agencies to withhold the appropriate amount of funds from the future paycheck/s of furloughed employees and to reimburse us on their behalf. If we cannot make those arrangements, we will send each worker a notice with the amount they must repay.
(Employment Security employees will receive instructions by email.)
What if I didn’t get a benefit check yet?
There could be a few reasons why you didn’t get a check. You can contact the claims center for more information:
- Through our website.
- By phone, 800-318-6022.
Here are a couple things to keep in mind:
- If you’re eligible for benefits, we will pay you retroactively, even after you’ve returned to work.
- If you know you’re going to receive backpay and don’t want the hassle of repaying unemployment benefits, contact the claim center right away to put a hold on your claim.
Taken directly from the ESD website
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Ben Margetts – Avaaz.org
Dear friends,
 Tibetans risk being beaten or shot if they refuse to fly the Chinese flag. But now China needs international support to get elected to the UN Human Rights Council. Let’s build a massive outcry showing the world hasn’t forgotten Tibet. Sign now:  |
Tibetans who refuse to fly the Chinese flag above their homes risk being beaten or shot in the latest attempt to break their spirits. But now is the best moment in ages to bring hope to Tibet’s proud, but desperate people.
China’s leaders are mounting an intense campaign to draw a veil over their rights abuses and persuade governments to vote them onto the UN Human Rights Council. So if enough of us shine a light on what’s going on in Tibet — squashing an ancient religion, banning journalists, dawn arrests —we can get China to back away from its hard-line policy to be sure of getting the 97 votes it needs.
Let’s show the Tibetan people that the world hasn’t forgotten them. China is feeling the heat as 13 governments just called them out on human rights in Tibet. Sign to stand with Tibet, then share this with everyone. When one million have signed we’ll deliver it to crucial UN delegations, and make it massive in the media:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_tibet_loc/?biEWLbb&v=30816
Pressure on China is mounting. In an unprecedentedly strong show of support, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, US, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland and Austria just calledon China to protect freedom of assembly, religion and association in Tibet. This request arrives just days after aSpanish court indicted China’s former President for genocide in Tibet!
The situation is really dire. More than 120 people have taken their own lives by setting themselves on fire to protest the suffocation of the Chinese occupation and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been wiped out. China’s ongoing policies systematically suppress the Tibetan language, force people from their homes, and strictly control the Tibetans’ movement and religion.
China’s failed policies hurt China too, but having dug themselves in this deep, they need pressure to change course. This is the week that change can start. If enough of us speak up while China is under the global microscope, we can make sure our governments know we haven’t forgotten Tibet. Sign now and tell everyone — let’s build the biggest petition ever for Tibet and demand they hold China to account:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_tibet_loc/?biEWLbb&v=30816
Proud Tibetans are struggling against China’s brutal rule and long for change, but they can’t do it alone. No one can create changes that big alone.
That’s why we’ve come together for Tibet before. Let’s make this the moment where the whole world commits to the survival of the Tibetan people.
Our community was made for this moment.
With hope,
Ben, Alice, Patricia, Alex, Ricken, Emily, Sayeeda and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
UN criticises China’s rights record at Geneva meeting (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24611657
Dalai Lama Says China Has Turned Tibet Into a ‘Hell on Earth’ (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/asia/11tibet.html
Spain probes Hu Jintao ‘genocide’ in Tibet court case (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24490004
Four Tibetans Shot Dead as Protests Spread in Driru County (Radio Free Asia) http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/shoot-10112013200735.html
China denounces Spanish court’s Tibet case against ex-president (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-china-spain-tibet-idUSBRE99D09120131014 
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End ENDA
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| “Kimya has a master’s degree in social work and nearly two decades of experience in the field. She was the manager of a unit of a long-term care facility for sufferers of Alzheimer’s and dementia. She enjoyed her job, and was good at it, but suffered through nearly a year of threatening messages, vandalism to her car and slurs uttered in the halls. In 2003, she was fired, her supervisors telling her, “This would not be happening if you were not a lesbian.” Kimya sought out legal help, but quickly learned that nothing in Michigan law protected her from being fired because of her sexual orientation.”1
Michigan isn’t the only state where Kimya wouldn’t be protected from blatant discrimination – in 29 states total, there is no law which explicitly protects a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person from being fired just because of who they are, and the same is true in 33 states for transgender people. But on Monday, the Senate will vote to change that. On Monday evening, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would provide explicit nationwide employment protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. We need this law. People in every state deserve equal protection under the law regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Take action today: Urge your senators to vote for ENDA! Current federal law already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin, age, and disability – that’s why it’s illegal for an employer to fire a woman solely because of her gender or refuse to hire someone solely because of her age or religion, for example. However, there is no clear federal law barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. AAUW’s member-adopted Public Policy Program is clear: “AAUW opposes all forms of discrimination and supports constitutional protection for the civil rights of all individuals.” No one should be discriminated against in the workplace, and ENDA will protect that right to be free from discrimination at work. ENDA is a bipartisan bill that would provide clarification that LGBT Americans have the same protections that have covered other classes of persons for decades. ENDA does not create, or imply, any rights for LGBT employees that every other employee doesn’t already have. Additionally, religious employers are completely exempted from the requirements of the bill, and other employers or employees who have religious objections are not forced to change their views or beliefs. Hardworking Americans should not be kept from supporting their families and making a positive contribution to the economic life of our nation because of characteristics that have no bearing whatsoever on their ability to do a job. The time has long since come to end this injustice for LGBT Americans and pass ENDA. This is our chance to make sure our senators stand up for civil rights. Take action before Monday’s vote: Urge your senators to pass ENDA! 1 Story provided by the Human Rights Campaign |
Be a Seed for Change 
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