Author: Team BerniePDX

Come out for a safe, socially distanced event. Now more than ever, in a pandemic, we need Medicare for All!

Over five million people have lost employment related health coverage due to the pandemic, and including family members affected by this loss, about 27 million people have lost access to care. Health care coverage should not be dependent on employment or economic status.

We will be part of a national Medicare for All Day of Action organized by National Nurses United. Bring signs, wear your masks, and stay 6 feet apart at all times! Health Care is a Human Right!

• 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm on Saturday, Aug. 22
• We will spread out around the periphery of the Square
• Stay safe: wear a mask, bring signs, and stay 6 feet apart from anyone not in your household.

Location: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW 6th between Yamhill & Morrison

Join BerniePDX on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 7:30pm, to learn about IP 44: The Drug Addiction Treatment & Recovery Act, which will be on the ballot in November! Bring your questions to this virtual event!

–> RSVP here to get the Zoom link: http://tiny.cc/r3hmsz

M110 would remove criminal penalties for small amounts of personal possession of drugs and connect people with drug treatment and recovery services. Using funds from Oregon’s existing marijuana tax, M110 will greatly expand access to drug treatment and recovery services throughout the state.

There’s a lot more to unpack with this measure – we look forward to seeing you at this virtual event!

Afterward, we’ll email out an endorsement poll so you can vote on whether or not BerniePDX should endorse M110. If you’re not on our email list yet and want to vote, just send your email to info@berniepdx.us.

****
Tuesday, Aug. 18
7:30pm
RSVP for the Zoom link: http://tiny.cc/r3hmsz

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/731860510933774/

Universal Preschool Now Update:

Last time we wrote about the potential issue of two preschool measures on the Nov. ballot. Here’s a campaign update: “This week, the Universal Preschool NOW coalition of over 30 community groups and unions voted to merge with Preschool for All, a parallel campaign led by County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson. With this merger, we will be able to bring a single measure for universal preschool and fair wages for preschool workers to the November 2020 ballot.” Thanks to everyone who sent a message to the Multnomah County Commissioners in support of UP NOW!

Please sign (and share) this letter to the Multnomah County Commissioners telling them that you support the UP NOW ballot measure because ALL children and families in Multnomah County deserve free, quality preschool – and all preschool teachers deserve a living wage!

BACKGROUND:

Medicare, Social Security, and public education are so popular and lasting because they are UNIVERSAL programs! That’s why Universal Preschool Now has so much support and such a broad coalition.

But now, another group is trying to get the Multnomah County Commissioners to put a watered-down, non-universal preschool measure on the ballot. According to UP NOW, “Nobody wants to risk having two plans on a single ballot, which is why we are urging the commissioners to affirm the one that has already been approved by voters (that’s you!) to go to the ballot.”

Click here to sign!

Workers at the Center for Sustainable Economy are trying to form a union, and they need our support! 

CSE managers have brought in the same union-busting law firm that Little Big Burger used, and they have already begun to retaliate against their employees for organizing. Please sign and share the petition to support the workers’ unionization effort!

The demands outlined in the petition are:

1. Voluntarily recognize USE, on acceptable terms, as the unanimous voice of CSE staff, and a bargaining unit of CWA Local 7901.
2. Reverse the retaliatory suspension of a Union member.
3. Immediately terminate the relationship with pernicious union-busting firm, Bullard Law, and commit to bargaining in good faith.

“Hiring a union-busting firm is a direct contradiction of our core values as members of Oregon’s environmental justice and labor movements. We are disturbed to our core that you would engage in union-busting against environmental workers who are on the front-line of efforts to secure a Green New Deal and a sustainable economy that works for all.”

Opponents of the Universal Preschool Now ballot measure held it up in court for weeks, so now we only have one month to gather 22,000 signatures to ensure UP NOW is on the ballot this November! Please click here to add your name. 

Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor! Here are ten things you can do right now from home.

Sign Unite Oregon’s petition to Defund Portland Police Special Units! 

BerniePDX joins the call to demand justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were murdered by police, and Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed by white supremacists. All of the people involved in perpetrating these horrific murders must be charged and sentenced. 

We stand with the hundreds of thousands of people who are rising up in an incredible wave of outrage and resistance all over the U.S. The public is not only speaking out against the killing of George, Ahmaud, and Breonna, but also responding to 400 years of the brutal, deadly oppression of black people and people of color. 

BerniePDX opposes the systemic white supremacy and inequality that allow racially motivated violence and policing to occur. We support dismantling and replacing this country’s corrupt system of law enforcement. Racial profiling, the hiring of racist cops, police brutality and senseless killings, and militarized police responses to protesters must end. 

Until those in power address the racial and economic violence being done to working people, we should remain suspicious of politicians who choose to focus on protests and riots over injustice. 

Don’t Shoot Portland has compiled a list of organizations doing important work around these issues, which can be found here: tinyurl.com/yakjtu4g. We encourage our members to donate to and support these groups. 

#BlackLivesMatter

In Solidarity, 

The BerniePDX Leadership Team

Friday, May 29, 5-6:30pm: The Revolutionist: A Film on the Life & Times of Eugene V. Debs

The Revolutionist: A Film on the Life & Times of Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Candidate for President fo the United States is a 30-minute documentary directed by Bernie Sanders in 1979.

Join Bernie for a virtual watch party and discussion this Friday along with special guests John Nichols, national affairs correspondent at The Nation, and actor Danny Glover.

Where: Streaming live on facebook.com/berniesanders

Wednesday, June 3, 4-5pm: 2020 Commencement: A People’s Graduation

We need young people everywhere to speak up, get involved and transform the country.

Tune in on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7 p.m. ET for our 2020 Commencement: A People’s Graduation.

Graduates: please submit a short video to be featured in the show at berniesanders.com/graduation or email graduation@berniesanders.com.

Where: Streaming live on facebook.com/berniesanders

Although Bernie ended his campaign, he is still asking us to vote for him in the primary to get as many delegates as possible. Having a large number of delegates will give our movement greater influence over the party’s decision-making at the convention.

Learn why BerniePDX members voted to endorse these great candidates in the May 19 primary at www.BerniePDX.us/2020endorsements!

RESCHEDULED —> ONLINE! The Candidates Forum for Position 2 will be held as an online event on THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 6-8 PM. Our community needs and organizing tactics have shifted in response to the coronavirus crisis. It is a time of great fear and loss, but also one of opportunity. It is more important than ever to join together to build the world we want to live in together. Let’s see how these candidates support our shared vision of a just, egalitarian and liberatory home for all. Please sign up to join us at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pmpc-unite-oregon-candidates-forum-tickets-102912672574, and we will send you the link to join the call.

Unite Oregon is defending the rights of immigrants and refugees.
The PMPC’s 2020 Platform protects renters, supports our houseless neighbors, demands police accountability, criminal justice reform, environmental justice and ending money in politics, taxes the rich for quality public services and expands what public services do. These are big ideas, and they will only be achieved by building power from below. We are committed to working together to build that strong, coordinated, unified and strategic grassroots power. But we also need government leaders who will support and stay accountable to our grassroots movements.

JOIN US for this discussion and PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!

BerniePDX is a proud member of the Portland People’s Coalition. 

RSVP: Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pmpc-unite-oregon-candidates-forum-tickets-102912672574 to receive your Zoom link for the event.