Where: Traditions Cafe
When: Dec. 1st, 7:00pm

If you are a Special Ed student, or you have a child in Special Ed at Capitol High or Olympia High, please come to this event--

End Special Ed Forced Labor Now!

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing all forms of slavery, was ratified in 1865. The Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing basic rights for workers, was passed in 1936. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, guaranteeing all children a Free, Accessible Public Education, was passed in 1975. The nation’s first state-level special education law was passed in Washington in 1978. The Americans with Disabilities Act, protecting people with disabilities from discrimination in state programs and services, was passed in 1990.

Why then, in 2008, in Washington’s public schools, are special ed students forced to work as janitors and groundskeepers, for no pay, with no training and no protective gear, under conditions only considered acceptable for general ed students who are being punished, while their parents are told lies, if they are told anything at all?

Join us at Traditions Café, Monday 1 Dec at 7 pm, to learn the answer to this question, share your story of special ed slavery, and join the fight for the rights and the dignity of our young sisters and brothers, as students, as workers, as human beings.

Sponsored by the Cascadia Center for 5th World Studies and the Olympia General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World

As of approximately 15 minutes ago, a flatbed carrying a Stryker has been arrested by PMR. The truck was blocked, at which point the driver committed vehicular assault, using the truck to push people (number unnkown) out of the way. The driver was placed under citizen's arrest, but did not comply. A Securitas guard was also arrested and did not comply. 911 was called, and the police do not appear to be honoring these valid, legal citizen's arrests. As of 3.24, the flatbed truck is surrounded at the Franklin Street entrance to the Port of Olympia by approximately 100-150 people and is not moving. WE NEED YOU NOW AT THE FRANKLIN STREET ENTRANCE TO THE PORT!

In November of 1999, Initiative 695 was passed by the voters of WA.  The purpose of I-695 was to eliminate the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax, and to replace the sliding scale for license tab fees (which tied the amount paid to the value of the vehicle) with a flat fee of $30.  Before 695, license tab fees had ranged from about $10 to about $200.  You do the math.  People in the top bracket saved big bucks.  People in the bottom bracket got screwed.  30 bucks may not sound like much, but I know at least a couple of people who had to get rid of their cars because they could no longer afford to keep them legal.  The irony of this is that the MVET had been the primary source of funding for public transit in WA.  For IT, the passage of 695 meant the immediate loss of 42% of their total budget.  Other transit systems were hit even harder.  Some of the smaller systems in rural areas were forced to shut down completely.

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