"Free Lunch" Billionaire A's Owner Fisher Offering Free Food For New Stadium

"Free Lunch" and "Play Ball" On 5/13
Billionaire GAP A's Owner John Fisher Offering Free Food To Support The Proposed A's Stadium On Port Of Oakland Howard Terminal

On 5/13 Billionaire A's Owner John Fisher Offering Free Food To Support The Proposed A's Stadium On Port Of Oakland Howard Terminal

Get your free lunch from the A’s on Monday May 13, 2019 at 12:00 Noon. The A’s want Port of Oakland land to build a new stadium and 4,000 million dollar condos for further gentrification and the ethnic cleansing of African Americans in West Oakland. They have bought the support of the Alameda Labor Council and Building Trades Council who have sold out maritime workers and the West Oakland community who will have jobs destroyed and also be pushed out of their community for more wealthy white residents. It is part of the gentrification plan for the port and the developers who really run Oakland.

STOP THE Rip-OFF
United Public Workers For Action
http://www.upwa.info

Free food and activities at Jack London Square
athletics.com
Athletics News
May 3, 2019 View as web page
We invite you to join us for this important day. On May 13 at noon, we will host a community rally in Jack London Square ahead of the vote
Dear A's Fan,

Today the Port of Oakland Commissioners announced that they will meet on Monday, May 13 to vote on a preliminary term sheet that would be the first step toward us building our new privately financed ballpark at Jack London Square.

We invite you to join us for this important day. On May 13 at noon, we will host a community rally in Jack London Square ahead of the vote. We'll have free food and activities as we celebrate and show support for this project.

Our waterfront ballpark project will create $3 billion in economic impact, 5,000 jobs, much-needed housing including affordable housing, drive business to Jack London Square, and more. This project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Oakland. To learn more about our waterfront ballpark at Jack London Square and the progress we’ve made so far, visit WeAreRooted.com.

We hope to see you at our community rally proudly wearing your green and gold.

Play ball,

Dave Kaval
Oakland A's President

Oakland needs port jobs, funding for schools and housing, not a new ballpark
By Jack Heyman April 29, 2019 Updated: April 29, 2019 5:33 p.m.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Oakland-needs-port-jobs-funding-for-13805385.php?psid=1z1MT
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Shipping containers line the the Charles P. Howard Terminal, a possible location for a new Oakland Athletics baseball stadium, on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Oakland, Calif.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle 2018

Perhaps the hottest clash in the Bay Area baseball world since the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s was interrupted by an earthquake is peaking now — the $600 million-and-counting, privately financed proposal by Oakland A’s owner John Fisher to build a stadium at Howard Terminal in Jack London Square.

This proposal is backed by politicians and real estate developers. It is opposed by environmental groups and many trade unions led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers and boatmen. Ostensibly, maritime and railroad companies also oppose building an A’s stadium in the port.

The ILWU plans to shut down the port in protest with a rally and march in the port on May Day, the traditional celebration of labor that is promoted by the international labor movement.

Fisher’s proposal promises affordable housing and jobs. His opponents view those promises as a ploy. A recent event in West Oakland billed as a “community meeting” turned out to be a PowerPoint presentation by professionals pushing the stadium. Promoting project benefits to the predominantly African American audience, one presenter explained that the stadium would provide part-time jobs, such as peanut sellers and parking lot attendants. Affordable housing was also gratuitously promised.


Sports arenas are being built all over the country, often amid controversy. Hardly ever are these grandiose promises of jobs and housing kept.

For instance, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., home of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders (and formerly known as the Atlantic Yards), the community is still waiting for the “affordable housing units.” After 16 years of planning, more than half are not built. Now the owners are asking for a 10-year extension because they didn’t meet their obligation within the agreed upon time frame. And the jobs ...“fugetaboutit!”

On April 22, representatives of the Oakland A’s went to Sacramento to try to enlist the support of politicians. Already some Democratic state lawmakers are working behind closed doors to pass fast-track legislation to permit the stadium. That’s right from the Democratic Party’s 1993 fast-track playbook to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement: Tell workers you’re a “friend of labor” to get their vote and oppose NAFTA, then, when you’re elected, put the legislation on the fast track claiming it’ll bring more jobs. Clearly, workers need their own party to fight for jobs.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says she’s “encouraged” by the Howard Terminal proposal. Oakland A’s President Dave Kaval said, “We’re building a new neighborhood in this part of the city.”

In other words: Promoting gentrification, which will displace West Oakland residents.

Fisher, the billionaire owner of the A’s who also owns the Gap clothing retailer, uses his wealth to privatize public education with the KIPP and Rocketship charter school chains, which he controls. Oakland teachers, who went on strike this spring to win wage and working condition improvements, questioned why the port, which boasted a record-breaking year in 2018 of 2.5 million containers and collected millions of dollars in tariffs, didn’t pay a penny to fund Oakland public education. The Port of Long Beach helps fund city social services and schools. Why not the Port of Oakland? Mayor Schaaf was formerly director of public affairs for the Port of Oakland — she should know.


Hundreds of activists march from the Port of Oakland as part of May Day protests in Oakland, California on May 1, 2015. In 2015, protests focused on stopping tech worker buses and widening inequality in the Bay Area. This year, the May Day protest focuses on stopping a proposed new baseball stadium at Howard Terminal.
Photo: Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images 2015
The longshore union has a proud history of making the Bay Area a progressive place to live and work:

• Leading the Bay Area labor movement in the 1934 San Francisco General Strike;

• Initiating a racial integration campaign of union ranks 30 years before the Civil Rights Act;

• Striking against a ship from South Africa to help topple the apartheid regime;

• Financing affordable housing in San Francisco in St. Francis Square;

• Shutting down Bay Area ports to protest racist police violence.

Now the ILWU, the longshore union, is calling on the Bay Area’s working people to continue the struggle to keep and expand good-paying union jobs with benefits, to build real affordable housing, to fund public education and defend immigrant rights. And to reject a new ballpark at Howard Terminal.

Jack Heyman, a retired ILWU member, worked in the San Francisco Bay Area as a longshoreman and boatman for over 30 years.

ILWU May Day rally to protest A’s stadium at the port

Where: Intersection of Market and Embarcadero West, Oakland (Howard Terminal)

When: 11 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, May 1, march to Port of Oakland headquarters, 530 Water St.

2 p.m., march to Oscar Grant Plaza (in front of Oakland City Hall).

4 p.m., march with Sin Fronteras to Lake Merritt.

What: Protest demands are:

Stop the proposed Oakland A’s stadium in the port.

Support good-paying union jobs.

Build affordable housing.

Fund public education — oppose Oakland school closings and charter schools.

Defend immigrant rights, support sanctuary for all, support “No Ban, No Wall” campaign (No federal ban on immigration from seven Muslim nations, no U.S.-Mexico border wall).

Bay Area May Day Rallies Draw Hundreds Of Union Workers, Supporters
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/05/01/bay-area-may-day-protests-underway-as-workers-rally-for-higher-wages/
By Jackie WardMay 1, 2019 at 1:45 pmFiled Under:Bay Area May Day Protests, Construction, Development, Housing, May Day, May Day Protests, Oakland, Oakland news, Protest, Wages

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Hundreds of union workers, social justice advocates and their supporters were rallying and marching through the streets of many Bay Area cities on Wednesday to observe International Workers’ Day.

The annual May Day events are intended to draw attention to the need for union jobs, equity in hiring, support for public education and protection for “immigrants, refugees, workers and all people impacted by state violence,” according to organizers.

“It’s a historical day around the struggle against economic and social inequity,” said Tova Fry, a member of the Anti Police-Terror Project and Oakland Sin Fronteras, social justice groups helping organize Wednesday’s events.



Fry’s groups are coordinating the day’s events with the International Longshore Workers Union, which hosted an 11 a.m. rally at the Port of Oakland.

Clarence Thomas, a retired longshore worker and ILWU spokesman, said he was there to help protect union jobs.

“My family has been associated with ILWU since 1944. My mother now is 90 years old,” Thomas said. “She has been the daughter of a longshore worker, the wife of a longshore worker and the mother of a longshore worker.

“My mother still enjoys receiving part of my father’s pension and health care benefits, and I want to make sure that continues,” said Thomas, a West Oakland native.

Thomas said the proposed new Oakland A’s baseball stadium at the port’s Howard Terminal will threaten the kinds of jobs that have supported his family for generations.

The project will disrupt normal port operations, lead to possible job losses and intensify gentrification in the West Oakland neighborhood, Thomas said.

“This really does provide a sterling example of the price of capitalism, when a billionaire wants to build a ballpark and housing at a location that … is the economic engine of the Northern California region,” Thomas said.

Port of Oakland spokesman Mike Zampa said that port commissioners have met extensively with maritime representatives and have heard their concerns about the proposed stadium.

“The Port of Oakland last year adopted a five-year strategic plan that calls for record maritime business growth into the next decade,” Zampa said. “The port will not jeopardize that business.”

The port itself is closed for eight hours Wednesday as part of an annual May Day agreement between union leadership and the port’s terminal operators.

“Labor is not shutting down the port,” Zampa said. “It’s not a strike.”

Oakland’s May Day events kicked off at 6 a.m. when hundreds of construction workers with the Alameda County Building Trades Council and Alameda County Labor Council picketed two non-union building sites near downtown Oakland, then marched to Oakland City Hall for a rally.

The unions are asking the city to require worker protections, including project labor agreements, for projects on publicly owned land, to “enact labor standards and public accountability for building in downtown Oakland” and to prioritize building affordable housing on city land, according to union leadership.

“We really feel Oakland is a union town, was built on the backs of union men and women,” said Andreas Cluver, secretary-treasurer of the Alameda County Building Trades Council. “The Oakland teacher’s strike shows the level of support (unions) have from the residents of this city.”

While not addressing the unions’ requests directly, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Wednesday released a statement of praise for unions generally.

“Oakland celebrates May Day because Oakland values and honors our workers,” Schaaf said. “We work hard and champion social justice. Union strength is woven into Oakland’s DNA.”

After the ILWU port rally, union members planned to join the social justice groups for a City Hall rally at 2 p.m. and for a 3:30 p.m. march to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater.

In Concord, demonstrators held signs reading “The rent is too high” as they focused on tenants’ rights and the , saying that they are workers’ rights.

“Families who have been here a really long time, have roots in Concord, are just getting pushed out to unjust evictions and skyrocketing rents. We are here today demanding that the city of concord, who has the power to actually protect tenants from this type of displacement to do something about it,” said Nicole Zapata, one of the march’s organizers.

With just 28 percent of the Bay Area’s homes affordable to families making $100,000 per year, advocates say working class families are getting pushed out of places like Concord.

“I work a lot with the community and there’s been a lot of unjust evictions–there’s been a lot of reports of skyrocketing rents like $400, $600 all at once,” said Cecilia Perez-Mejia with First 5 California, an advocacy group.

Among the crowd marching from Meadowhome Park to Todos Santos Park were two members of the Concord City Council who say they support the cause.

“We need protections to protect families, individuals, seniors who do rent in our community from landlords who do abuse their power – who only want profit and don’t care much about the community within Concord,” said councilmember Dominic Aliano.

“The most important thing about building a community is having people who are committed to our community. We have to people who live here and the longer they live here–the more committed they are to the community,” said councilmember Edi Birsan.


Hundreds rally for immigrant rights, local union hires on May Day in Oakland
http://www.ktvu.com/news/hundreds-rally-for-immigrant-rights-local-union-hires-on-may-day-in-oakland

May Day: Hundreds rally to march in Oakland for local union hires, immigrants' rights
Hundreds rally for immigrant rights, local union hires on May Day in Oakland
By Elissa Harrington, KTVU, Andre Senior , Kiley Russell
Posted May 01 2019 05:57AM PDT
Video Posted May 01 2019 08:45PM PDT
Updated May 01 2019 10:42PM PDT
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - International Workers Day, also known as May Day, was marked by marches and rallies around the world, but some prominent gatherings were held right here in the Bay Area.

A Wednesday rally at Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza was followed by a march through downtown streets where hundreds of union workers, social justice advocates and their supporters asked for local union hires as well as immigrant's rights.



The evening march compounded a 6 a.m. construction worker rally at 17th and Webster streets, urging Mayor Libby Schaaf to require law changes that would guarantee publicly-funded projects use locally hired union workers for those jobs.

Hundreds of union workers, social justice advocates and their supporters are rallying and marching through the streets of Oakland Wednesday to observe International Workers' Day
Hundreds of union workers, social justice advocates and their supporters are rallying and marching through the streets of Oakland Wednesday to observe International Workers' Day


Hundreds of union workers, social justice advocates and their supporters are rallying and marching through the streets of Oakland Wednesday to observe International Workers' Day

"A lot of developers [are] coming in from out of town but not using good union labor for these sustainable projects," said Andreas Cluver, secretary treasurer for Alameda County Building Trades Council. "A lot of contractors are coming from the valley and getting paid $18 an hour. We should be offering better careers."

Jeff Dixon, a organizer for UA Local 483, said he is strongly against any out-of-town developers coming into Oakland and paying substandard wages. He said, "We don't want people coming up here from LA, San Diego and Washington bringing their own people" and not paying prevailing Bay Area wages.

"A lot of people forget that America is built on union labor," Dixon said.

Specifically, the unions called the Oakland political leadership to mandate that the city's public lands be used to build homes that Oakland residents can afford using a workforce who is paid a fair wage and sign a citywide agreement, mandating labor, material and safety standards.

In addition, International Longshore Workers Union held an 11 a.m. rally at the Port of Oakland. They are calling for attacks against immigrants and refugees to stop. Their slogan: “No ban, no wall, human rights and sanctuary for all.”

Oakland teachers, who recently wrapped up tense negotiations with Oakland Unified School District, stood in solidarity with the ILWU, which is protesting the proposed Oakland A's stadium at Howard Terminal.

Clarence Thomas, a retired longshore worker and ILWU spokesman, said he was there to help protect union jobs.

"My family has been associated with ILWU since 1944. My mother now is 90 years old," Thomas said. "She has been the daughter of a longshore worker, the wife of a longshore worker and the mother of a longshore worker.

"My mother still enjoys receiving part of my father's pension and health care benefits, and I want to make sure that continues," said Thomas, a West Oakland native.

Thomas said the proposed new Oakland A's baseball stadium at the port's Howard Terminal will threaten the kinds of jobs that have supported his family for generations.

The project will disrupt normal port operations, lead to possible job losses and intensify gentrification in the West Oakland neighborhood, Thomas said.

"This really does provide a sterling example of the price of capitalism, when a billionaire wants to build a ballpark and housing at a location that ... is the economic engine of the Northern California region,"
Thomas said.

Port of Oakland spokesman Mike Zampa said that port commissioners have met extensively with maritime representatives and have heard their concerns about the proposed stadium.

"The Port of Oakland last year adopted a five-year strategic plan that calls for record maritime business growth into the next decade," Zampa said. "The port will not jeopardize that business."

The port itself is closed for eight hours Wednesday as part of an annual May Day agreement between union leadership and the port's terminal operators.

Historically, workers and unions have taken to the streets on May Day to demand better conditions for the working class.


Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO Backs Howard Terminal Ballpark for Oakland A's
Labor unions representing 135,000 workers cite economic benefits, job creation and commitment to working people
https://www.mlb.com/press-release/alameda-labor-council-afl-cio-backs-howard-terminal-ballpark-for-oakland-a-s
May 9, 2019

OAKLAND – The Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO, voted to support the Oakland A’s efforts to build a new ballpark at Howard Terminal. The Council, composed of 135 unions representing 135,000 workers in healthcare, transportation, education, construction, manufacturing, and service, expressed strong support for the project given its potential to provide significant economic benefits for working families throughout the East Bay. The Labor Council will continue to advocate that the A’s sign Community Benefits Agreements to ensure the project opens job opportunities for Oakland residents, stems displacement and creates cleaner air.

“Oakland’s working people want to see job creation and community-strengthening projects happen right here at home,” said Alameda Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Liz Ortega. “The Howard Terminal ballpark for the A’s is a win for working people, and our families. With this agreement, we’re standing on third base with no outs. But we’re not home yet. We will continue to work with the A's to reach a community benefits agreement to ensure we all cross-home plate together.”

According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, the privately financed project would create approximately 2,000 construction jobs and even more jobs would be generated by the ongoing operation of the ballpark. Additionally, the surrounding development will spur economic development and job growth in the hospitality, retail, restaurant, and office sectors in Oakland and throughout the East Bay.

The A’s have committed to union labor agreements for both construction and operations of the ballpark that provide living wage jobs. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Oakland,” Ortega said. “Building a ballpark at Howard Terminal will create sustainable development that benefits workers and their families.”

In addition to the A’s ballpark project at Howard Terminal, the Council is also officially endorsing the A’s redevelopment project at Oakland Coliseum, provided it also include community benefits.

Read more: Oakland Athletics
On May Day 2019 OEA Pres Keith Brown On The Stadium, Port, ILWU & Public Education
https://youtu.be/uZB-hG5hw0c
On May Day 2019 at the Howard Terminal in the Port of Oakland, OEA president Keith Brown talked about the role of the proposed A's stadium, the ILWU, port jobs and public education. He discussed the growing gentrification of West Oakland and the need for the port to provide funding for public education. The Oakland Education Association facing school closures and a massive increases of charter schools some of whom are funded by A’s owner John Fisher who with his family owns The GAP and runs the Rocketship and KIPP charter school chain. Dave Kava, manager of the A's is on the board of the Rocketship Charter School Chain. The plan of Fisher is not only to build a stadium on working port property but to build 4,000 condos costing more than $1 million each.
This was part of Pacifica May Day Programming with WorkWeek Radio
https://www.facebook.com/pacificaradiomayday
#KPFAMayDay2019
International Labor Media Network
https://ilmnetwork.org
Additional media:
This Is Our Port-May Day 2019 Speakers At Oakland Howard Terminal
https://youtu.be/Y_WQNoEj1cY
Whose Dock Is This? Our Dock! CWA AFA Pres Sara Nelson At Oakland Howard Terminal May Day 2019
https://youtu.be/rk0t_mTmErI
Sara Nelson AFA CWA President At May Day Oakland Howard Terminal
https://youtu.be/_inof_Hh5Bo
On May Day, Canadian Native American ILWU 500 Unionist Joeen Karen Speaks In Oakland For Solidarity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jkz62YiRiE
"It's Insane!" ILWU Longshore Workers & Truckers Challenge Oakland A's Billionaire Owner John Fisher’s Land Grab Of Howard Terminal
https://youtu.be/5A8uZpqSX_M
ILWU 10, May Day 2019, The A's Port Stadium, Privatization & Gentrification In Oakland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMd_NFNRtjU
A's Billionaire Owner Fisher Loses Laney College Land Grab-Labor Community Speak Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMvg45CFGjU
Laney Land Not For Sale! Community, Students & Faculty Rally Against A's Land Grab Of College Land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx-tVzsl-Ck
Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.laborvideo.org