The United Work­ers, a human rights orga­ni­za­tion of low-wage work­ers founded by home­less day labor­ers in 2002 (see: “Tem­po­rary Injus­tice: Union Tries to Orga­nize Temp Labor­ers at Cam­den Yards”), takes its fight to the streets this week for its “Our Har­bor Day,” series of street plays, neigh­bor­hood parades, and protests at the Inner Har­bor. From the UW press release:

After more than a year of plan­ning and prepa­ra­tion, hun­dreds of Baltimore’s low-wage work­ers and com­mu­nity allies will tell the “people’s his­tory of the Inner Har­bor” on May 1, 2010 through a series of elab­o­rate sto­ry­telling per­for­mances to draw atten­tion to poverty-wages and poor work­ing con­di­tions at Baltimore’s pre­miere tourist and enter­tain­ment dis­trict. The day, dubbed “Our Har­bor Day,” will include street plays, giant pup­pets, neigh­bour­hood parades, musi­cal per­for­mances and a con­clud­ing rally and march from City Hall to the Inner Harbor.

To par­tic­i­pate, peo­ple can gather at 2640 Space at 11 a.m. to take part in the parade, while the neigh­bor­hood plays start around 3 p.m. and will con­vene at City Hall (100 N. Hol­l­i­day St.) at 4:15 p.m. The per­for­mances are an effort to:

draw atten­tion to work­ers’ demands that Inner Har­bor devel­op­ers, Cordish Co. and Gen­eral Growth Prop­er­ties (GGP), enter into legally bind­ing agree­ments with the United Work­ers that will ensure that the eco­nomic human rights of work­ers are respected by the employ­ers at the devel­op­ment. The “fair devel­op­ment” agree­ments would require all ven­dors (such as national chains Cheese­cake Fac­tory and ESPN Zone and locally owned Phillip’s Seafood), [to] pay work­ers a liv­ing wage, which would be enforced through leases between the devel­op­ers and their ven­dors. Work­ers are also demand­ing fund­ing for edu­ca­tion and health care.

Our Har­bor Day isn’t UW’s first foray into the com­mu­nity art. It was one of the many local social jus­tice grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions entan­gled into the Con­tem­po­rary Museum’s 2006 exhi­bi­tion Head­quar­ters: Inves­ti­gat­ing the Cre­ation of the Ghetto and the Prison Indus­trial Com­plex, and its mul­ti­fac­eted cam­paign efforts have been cov­ered by the Indypen­dent Reader. For more infor­ma­tion visit the “get involved” sec­tion at the United Work­ers’ web site.

Tags: social justice, street theater, united workers