In light of Cesar Chavez Day today (March 31st), we honor and uplift the work of labor organizers. You can view a recording of last week’s powerful panel on Labor Organizing and Rights in the Age of COVID (see below). 

We heard from Dr. Chela Delgado, an Oakland teacher, on the organizing teachers are doing to support the needs and rights of all those working on campus (such as janitors as well as teacher aids and teachers), the students, the parents and the community in the face of COVID pressures. Then from Jane Sandoval, RN, a nurse with California Nurses Association, on the struggle throughout COVID to secure PPE and the powerful organizing for health and safety of healthcare workers and the community, including Medicare For All.

Then, Mariana Viturro from National Domestic Workers Alliance offered us inspiration from the organizing of caregivers during COVID towards ongoing rights for domestic workers, including a shared health fund that multiple households hiring domestic workers can pay into towards full health care coverage, a hotline to provide prevention and worker rights information during COVID, and ongoing organizing for living wage, and anti-harassment and exploitation of domestic workers. From Davida Sotelo Escobado with Jobs with Justice, we heard about the larger struggle for rights during and in the aftermath of COVID. 

The panel announced the release of the Labor & Employment Know Your Rights during COVID Manual and social media slide deck, as well as the relaunch of the NLG-SFBA Labor & Employment Committee. (Please contact econner@nlgsf.org to get involved with the Labor & Employment Committee.)

This week we also honor Palestinian Land Day and the steadfastness of the Palestinian struggle. The NLG-SFBA is joining with thousands of other anti-racist organizations and networks to defend Ethic & Arab American studies in California against attacks from pro-Israel groups. We have submitted public record act requests in support of the Save Arab American Studies Coalition and against the attempt to gut Ethnic Studies of its roots in Third World Liberation. 

Please also join us at our March Membership meeting tonight from 6-8pm as we follow up on our two Aorta trainings from February on interrupting harmful dynamics (see below). 

—The NLG-SF Bay Area Team

Date: Wednesday, March 31
Time: 6:00-8:00PM

Our March Membership meeting TONIGHT will be a follow up to our two Aorta trainings from February, diving deeper into internal dynamics and interrupting dynamics in live time. Board members and staff will support small-group discussions.

As an organization, we ask ourselves: What gets in the way of us interrupting harmful dynamics, and what support do we need to do so? What can we do as an organization to make this a collective practice and expectation?

This event is open to our members in good standing with NLG-SFBA. If you are unsure about your current membership standing, please email our Membership Coordinator at membership@nlgsf.org.

NLG-SFBA's new publication Know Your Rights: Employment & Labor During COVID-19
You can read the whole guide here: bit.ly/KYRLaborC19

You can check out our slide deck Organizing for Workplace Safety here: bit.ly/WorkplaceSafetyKYR

Thank you to the speakers:

• Sonya Mehta, Employment Rights Lawyer
• Mariana Viturro, National Domestic Workers Alliance
• Davida Sotelo Escobado, Jobs with Justice
• Chela Delgado, Oakland Education Association
• Jane Sandoval, RN, California Nurses Association

And thank you to our wonderful Labor and Employment Committee Members Bobby and Jody for hosting. 

View the recording at the link below.

Date: Wednesday, April 7
Time: 6:00-8:00PM

The NLG-SFBA is holding a new Basic Legal Observer Training which will be held on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 from 6-8pm. This training aims to expand our capacity to support demonstrations in the Bay Area, particularly those organized by communities on the front line of state repression during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Legal Observers play a critical role by monitoring and documenting law enforcement activity and serve as the first point of contact by which arrestees can access the legal support offered by the National Lawyers Guild. Legal Observers are also increasingly needed during the ongoing eviction crisis in the Bay Area.

This training has been updated to reflect what NLG-SFBA Legal Observers have learned since the uprisings this summer. We invite Legal Observers to renew their training, especially if you have not participated in a demonstration in several months.

In addition to new trainee Legal Observers, we ask you to attend this training if:

• 1. You were previously trained as a Legal Observer but never volunteered at a demonstration;
• 2. You haven’t volunteered for at least 8 months, as we’ve revised some guidance based on learning in 2020;
• 3. You are an active Legal Observer in the South Bay, as we’re consolidating Bay Area-wide practices and need South Bay Legal Observers to be current on these.

Contact demonstrations@nlgsf.org with questions.

If you would like to be trained as a Legal Observer or renew your LO training, please register at the link below.

In recent years, international forced migration has dramatically increased due to varying factors caused by global capitalism, militarization, climate crises, and gender-based violence. This crisis will only continue to worsen without action.

This series will cover topics such as:

• Neoliberalism, Imperialism, and Militarization
• Climate Change, Food Production, and Environmental Disaster
• Gender Based Violence and Justice
   

Join the NLG-SFBA as we seek to confront this urgent issue by learning about historical and current root causes of the crises, current organizing efforts, and how we can all take action by bridging our struggles here and internationally! 

Schedule coming soon! Upcoming webinars expected for Spring-early Summer of 2021.

The National Lawyers Guild of San Francisco Bay Area is seeking law student interns and work study placements for the remainder of Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 semester. Internships range from 5-35 hours per week. Contact Program Coordinator E Conner, at econner@nlgsf.org, if you are interested.

In your internship you will have the opportunity to work closely with attorneys and other legal professionals; develop writing samples; be exposed to a diverse range of legal workers, organizations, and law firms; gain hands on experience in the legal field; have access to professional development and political education; and develop an orientation to progressive movement lawyering.

We can offer:

• Pro bono hours (as per State Bar requirements)
• Credit-earning internships and externships
• Federally funded work-study

We have recently included a new internship opportunity, the Immigration Court Watch Data Analysis Internship.

You can find more information about our internship program below.

Root & Rebound is excited to share that we are hiring an In-Prison Programs Coordinator to help develop, facilitate, and enhance R&R’s in-prison reentry legal programs. This termed, full-time, non-exempt position is mostly remote, but does require weekly visits to our Oakland, CA office and, eventually monthly trips to Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, CA, when it is safe to do so. This termed position will run ideally from late-April 2021 through April 30, 2022. We encourage all interested applicants to apply, especially those with direct experience navigating reentry from prison or jail. Please find more details and how to apply below.

A suit was filed earlier this week by CPT Alan Kennedy, a US Army captain and JAG officer in the Colorado Army National Guard regarding the clumsy use of the DODI on dissent to attempt to stop him from writing op-eds and from participating in peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations. 

"This case raises a novel constitutional question: can the government prohibit part-time (weekend a month) military reservists from peacefully participating in Black Lives Matter protests, and writing op-eds about matters of public interest, when they are not on orders, not on duty, and not in uniform? If the First Amendment means anything, the answer is NO. However, no known case has addressed either this question or Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06, Enclosure 3, paragraph 6(d), the sole provision cited by Defendants to restrict Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights to participate in Black Lives Matter protests and write op-eds when not on orders, not on duty, not in uniform, and not in breach of law and order."

NLGSF lawyers and law students interested in learning more about supporting the case can contact sara@nlgsf.org and see the information here and at the link below.

The Environmental Justice (EJ) committee of the NLG-SFBA launched in February 2021. The overarching goals of the EJ committee is to support the organizing of frontline communities in the Bay Area most impacted by poor environmental conditions and to fortify their efforts by providing legal defense and support including impact litigation, activist defense, legislative analysis, submission of public records acts, and consultation based on needs of the EJ movement. We also seek to be a political home for EJ minded lawyers, legal workers, and law students.

Starting next Friday, April 9, the EJ Committee will meet monthly on the second Friday at noon.

If you’re interested in getting involved in the EJ Committee, please contact our EJ Committee Coordinator, Zsea at zsea@nlgsf.org.