(Apologies for cross-posting)
Hi everyone,
My name is Chris Niedt, and I am a geography grad student at Berkeley.
The idea struck me last October that the AAG should not be using non-union hotels (like the
Philadelphia Marriott), and that we lefty geographers should do something to get them out. With
some organizing, I think we could support hotels unions and raise geographer consciousness about
low-road urban redevelopment.
The goal, as I see it, should be a constitutional amendment committing the AAG to contract with
union hotels (not under boycott) for annual meetings; this would be limited to cities with 5 or
more union hotels at the time of contract. As I understand it, if we can collect 100 signatures,
we can make the AAG mail ballot its membership; so the first phase would involve flyering and
gathering signatures during the conference. Then we would need to do a second phase of
post-meeting "return your ballot" organizing (perhaps by sending out reminder e-mails to addresses
collected on the petition). I have already floated the idea to a few people, and received
enthusiastic responses. If you would like to join us in organizing for the amendment, please
e-mail me at [log in to unmask] Also let me know whether you would be interested in any or
all of the following:
*strategizing/planning
*flyer research/design
*flyering and petitioning public spaces and specialty group meetings
*speaking and petitioning at your session or panel
*speaking at the business meeting and/or contacting friends on the board
Many thanks!
-Chris
|