Voter Initiative Against Stadium Now Live On FaceBook

As reported last week by Bob Plain at RIFuture.com, Sam Bell, head of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, has begun spearheading a petition to get an initiative put on the ballot that would prevent “the stadium from being built on the part of the I-195 land designated a public park, and it forbids Providence from providing any special financial treatment for the stadium, including tax breaks”, as Bell told Plain last week.
Now the campaign has taken its next step, having become a FaceBook group called Providence Campaign Against the Stadium Deal.  This writer would be remiss to not admit that I was involved in forming the group, but the onus now sits on the shoulders of others in the community who can get involved in collecting signatures.  Parties interested are invited to click the link above or contact Sam Bell at swbell11@gmail.com.

Protest March For Tipped Workers On June 2

On Tuesday, June 2, 2015, Restaurant Opportunity Center of Rhode Island, in collaboration with Rhode Island Jobs With Justice, will hold a protest march to the State House called '20 Years Is Long Enough!'  Beginning at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, located at 15 Hayes Street in Providence, the protest is intended to bring attention to the plight of tipped workers in Rhode Island.  As of this writing, it has been two decades since the minimum wage for laborers on such income has been adjusted, with the current wage at $2.89 per hour.  In a statement issued via email today, one such worker said

The industry teaches servers that we are worth less. We are not paid as professionals with a skill but are instead made to curry favor with whoever we can in order to scrape together a living...  How am I supposed to stand up for myself when the customer who sexually harasses me pays 68% of my hourly wage?  

Parties interested in further details or registration can do so here.

Pasha Hookah Bar Remains Closed Over One Death, Others Remain Open Despite Cancer Risks

Photo by Steve Klamkin, WPRO News

The big news story today was the continued closure of Pasha Hookah Bar on Allens Avenue in South Providence after a recent shooting outside the establishment.  However, there was no discussion of the deaths associated with the sixteen other hookah lounges or bars in Rhode Island that allow smoking inside.
Since March 1, 2005, there has been an indoor smoking ban in effect.  However, exceptions exist for the following:

• Cigar bars (income over 50% tobacco products) 
• Outdoor areas 
• Private and semiprivate rooms in nursing homes 
• Retail tobacco stores 
• Stage performances involving smoking 
• Private residences, except used as a licensed child care, adult daycare, or healthcare facility 
• The two state-licensed gambling facilities, Newport Grand and Twin River Casino

In the wake of the general indoor smoking ban taking effect, a niche market of specialized venues to host smokers has become a thriving industry.  Rhode Island has sixteen other hookah bars in operation throughout the state.  And despite efforts to mediate issues caused by smoking by means such as ventilation, tobacco consumption remains a deadly habit that affects not just the individual smoker.  Data from CDC.gov says that there are 42,000 deaths each year among adults from secondhand smoke in America, with 7,333 annual deaths from lung cancer and 33,951 annual deaths from heart disease caused exclusively by secondhand smoke.  Further risks from hookah include the consumption of carbon monoxide by both the smoker and those in the surrounding area.
This can spell certain dire consequences for the staff and servers of such establishments.  Furthermore, pay in these venues is far from ideal.  Many of the servers earn $2.89 per hour plus tips, which can often come at the expense of respect or dignity.  Sexual harassment of female wait staff is a real phenomenon, with patrons making lewd remarks or even physically violating boundaries that would otherwise be deemed poor table manners, especially since these venues also have liquor licenses, Pasha being case and point.

Photo taken from Pasha FaceBook page.

There is now an effort at hand to increase the minimum wage for tipped staff in Rhode Island, a movement bitterly opposed by industry lobbyists and barely acknowledged by Democrats in the General Assembly.  Parties interested in these efforts are encouraged to contact the Providence IWW here for further information.

Union Organization Meeting For Food and Retail Workers Monday Evening

On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 6 PM, the Providence branch of the Industrial Workers of the World will host a town hall-style organizational meeting for food and retail workers interested in unionizing their workplaces at 319 Broadway in Providence.  Called PRECARIOUS AND PISSED OFF! A FORUM FOR FOOD AND RETAIL WORKERS, the event is described by the hosts as the following:

This is a town hall meeting for and by food and retail workers in the Providence Metro Area to come together and learn about the future of the industry and why we need to organize together as food and retail workers today.

The IWW is one of America's oldest still-extant labor unions.  Founded on July 27, 1905 in Chicago, it is based around the syndicalist model of organization, where members of multiple trades are united in One Big Union instead of divided into different trade unions.  Famous members include Mother Jones, Lucy Parsons, Helen Keller, linguist Noam Chomsky, musician Tom Morello, anthropologist David Graeber, and Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the ACLU.
For more information or to register for attendance, click here.  Childcare will be available for free.