Dores Workers Solidarity Network

Newsletter

February 21st 2023

Hello and Welcome to “Dores Workers Solidarity Network!”

We would like to thank you for attending our first meeting and showing your support for worker’s rights. It was inspiring to see so many organizations come together in solidarity to fight for equity and justice. We are proud to have such a strong coalition of organizations that can work together to create visibility campaigns and make a real difference in the lives of workers.

The primary goal of our coalition is to create an environment of mutual support for each other’s campaigns. There are many noble campaigns that all of you are engaging in, and we all have similar ethics and goals. Therefore, if any of you organize an event or activity that needs people to show up and participate, all our people are right here! Just look at everyone who showed up to the event! 

Here is an overview of how we envision our organization to thrive!

If you have not already, please:

If you expressed interest in joining a committee, the head of that committee will be reaching out to you by the end of the week. The emails of the heads of each committee are as follows:

IDEMIA

Something to think about!

Writer’s Column!

From DWSN

Living in Nashville, it is hard to ignore the massive growth occurring throughout the city. Vanderbilt University, in particular, is one of the largest landowners in all of Tennessee, and anyone who has been down West End or 21st Avenue in the last few years can attest to the prevalence of such physical developments. Vanderbilt presents this growth to the community as inevitable progress for a high-ranking research university, and frequently touts their nearly $11 billion endowment as proof of their value and justification for their expansion. This growth is bringing new buildings and facilities (and higher salaries for administration). But, given the university’s professed support for progress, it might surprise many students to hear that the very people constructing those buildings and enabling that growth are the ones being treated the poorest.

Nashville has been recognized as one of the most dangerous cities for construction in the southern United States, due to a combination of unfettered expansion, Tennessee’s abysmal labor laws, unregulated job sites, and a number of other factors. Many construction workers currently working in Nashville are undocumented, largely of Mexican descent, and are easily exploitable because of their legal status. Documented workers don’t fare much better, as many are unhoused and experience various other kinds of discrimination alongside that of the economic variety. Vanderbilt, rather than extending the values it professes to those who make the university’s existence possible, has taken advantage of these horrendous working conditions to enrich itself while it buys up more land across the city. Instead of directly employing construction workers, Vanderbilt hires contractors, who themselves hire sub-contractors, in order to avoid taking responsibility for the dangerous conditions they put these workers in. Individuals doing construction for Vanderbilt can expect to be paid $10–$12 an hour for their grueling labor—and,

in a city whose cost-of-living is only increasing, such a wage is keeping these workers destitute and hopeless.

If you were a Vanderbilt student last year, you will remember the worker that died while the Rothschild residential college was being constructed. He is one of two people that have died while working on construction for the newest Vanderbilt developments; both deaths were ruled heart attacks. In Nashville, these are far from isolated incidents, and they will only continue to occur as the city expands indefinitely. Vanderbilt is profiting off the miseries and deaths of workers, and shows no indication of stopping.

What Have We Been Up To:

For the past few months, members of the undergraduate and graduate student bodies at Vanderbilt have been working with Workers’ Dignity to develop a solidarity network to support construction workers employed at the university. Workers’ Dignity is a Nashville-based workers’ center that organizes for economic injustice and strives to build class consciousness across the city. They used their resources to fight against a severe case of wage theft that occurred when the Vanderbilt Divinity School was being constructed, and have significant experience organizing for working-class struggles. With the help of their resources and knowledge, the Dores Workers Solidarity Network has been establishing connections with construction workers and a variety of Vanderbilt- and Nashville-based organizations in an effort to develop a base of mutual support for struggles we see as interrelated. This includes organizations fighting against carceral injustice, gender inequality, and broader class-based oppression, among others. By developing this base, we hope to increase the efficacy of our praxis and show that no struggle is isolated, but part of a larger system of domination and dehumanization. The hope is that our action will resonate outside of the Vanderbilt echo chamber and empower the people who make our attendance here possible.

  • You can find out more about what Workers’ Dignity has done and is currently engaged in at their website: https://www.workersdignity.org. Those looking to be more connected with Workers’ Dignity as a volunteer/ally can fill out their compa form under the “Get Involved” section of the website.
  • The earthquakes in Syria and Turkey have already resulted in thousands of deaths, and casualties are only expected to increased. Information regarding how you can help can be found at the link and QR code below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cTxlBenUP_FfliegMDe8sgyE35YTj9GcfvwerqYC5Lw/edit#gid=0

Staying Involved in Nashville:

  • There are weekly opportunities for those interested in getting directly involved with workers and their struggle at Workers’ Dignity: For English-speakers, compa nights are held every Monday from 5–8 pm; For Spanish-speakers, workers’ nights are held every Thursday from 7–9 pm. Though the latter are specifically dedicated to centering the voices and struggles of Nashville’s working-class, it is a crucial opportunity to show workers we are in solidarity with them.
  • On Saturday, February 11, Vanderbilt NAACP will be partnering with Project C.U.R.E. to sort and package medical equipment for those in need. Those interested in volunteering can find more information by contacting @vandynaacp on Instagram, and can sign up by scanning the QR code below. This event will take place from 9:30–12 pm, and will be located at 2300 Clifton Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209
  • Open Table Nashville is looking for individuals to help conduct winter canvassing on February 11 and 12. Volunteers will be distributing cold weather supplies, doing wellness checks, and alerting people of shelter options for the night. More information and a sign-up form can be found at Open Table Nashville’s Link Tree, pasted below:

https://linktr.ee/OpenTableNashville?fbclid=PAAaaUcM2z7Xrcf5AexuaAJMwmYqIB7-iHZSPqjdHUlx3_SqpCpgsDROSldvU

  • For months, workers at Twin Peaks in Brentwood have faced sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and other aggressive behavior from their general manager. They will be striking on February 12 (Super Bowl Sunday) from 4:30–7 pm—all who would like to show solidarity are encouraged to attend.
  • The Nuestra Vida Food Project, located behind the Glencliff Presbyterian Church at 416 East Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN 37211, is having a free health fair during the day on Saturday, February 25. Spanish-speaking volunteers are needed to help with traffic flow and translation, and tasks will be assigned based on fluency. Their email is: glencliff@nourishfoodbanks.org
  • On Sunday, February 26, Touch Grass Nash will be holding a healing session regarding transformative justice and community care at Three Brothers Coffee (2813 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN). For more information, visit their Instagram: @touchgrassnash

February 7th 2023