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Jobs with Justice held our monthly Second Wednesday meeting, 7 PM March 14 at Oak Cliff Methodist Church, 547 E Jefferson in Dallas. We worked out the details for celebrating the birthday of America's great organizer, Cesar Chavez:
One good reason to call attention to the great Farmworker is that America needs to show the same kind of commitment to organizing everybody in every workplace that Chavez showed during his lifetime. The Employee Free Choice Act passed the House of Representatives but is expected to have a harder time in the Senate and when facing the President's veto powers. Mobilizing all Americans for this important right to organize is critical.
Jobs with Justice continue working paper petitions taken from the wording on the AFL-CIO website. We continue to speak out about the Employee Free Choice Act at every opportunity, and we will feature it at the Cesar Chavez breakfast. The breakfast is now co-sponsored by Dallas AFL-CIO, Texas Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Dallas UNITE-HERE, and Voices for Immigrants.
It was a good thing that Gerardo Contreras of LCLAA attended, because two of the younger participants did not know who Cesar Chavez was. He explained, then several others put in their own versions of this important American labor leader. Contreras has organized a contingent in the Cesar Chavez march that begins at 11 AM at the Cesar Chavez school at 3700 Dean Rd in Ft Worth. Marchers will circle back to the school and hold their rally inside. Call 817-378-5000 for info. That evening, Contreras said, there will be another Chavez event at Rose Marine Theater 7-9 PM in Ft Worth.. Ft Worth city employees get a day off with pay for the Chavez holiday. It was substituted for Columbus Day.
Elaine Lantz reported that most of the work on formal structure for North Texas JwJ is completed. We now have the 5 unions required, and we only need to get the paperwork from the five "other" organizations as required by national.
Participants also reported on other progressive events in our area: 
March 17: Peace March in Austin. Car caravan leaves from Mockingbird Station (Mockingbird & I75) at 7 AM. It's the 4th anniversary of Iraq invasion
March 18: 4 PM. Tarrant County Peace Action Committee rallies at Lincoln Square, I30 and Cooper in Arlington
March 19: 4:30 PM, gather at Mockingbird Station for a short peace march, then a rally near SMU.
March 24: 4:30 PM, Archibishop Romero commemoration in front of Cathedral Guadalupe
on Ross Street in Dallas
March 30: 6:30 PM, Northaven Methodist church on Preston Road will show a film on immigrants
Above: Gerardo Contreras has UFW flags and posters for sale
Right: Joe L Tave explained his own remembrances of the great organizer and civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez