Tag Archives: strike

Texas Strike Day 1 Update.

 SUMMARY:According to (probably dishonest) reports from Texas DCJ seven institutions were locked down at least part of the day yesterday, three remained on lockdown last night. These lockdowns were likely used to control or retaliate against the striking workers, so it gives some evidence of the size of the action.

We need to wait to hear from the prisoners to get a more complete picture.

Details, from IWOC

Strike Roundup Day 1: Texas Prisons Shook by IWOC Initiated Strikes

CONTACT: Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), a committee of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), 816-866-3808, iwoc [at] riseup.net.

April 5, 2016

Houston, TX — Today, in a historic action, members of the Industrial Workers of the World’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) shook Texas prisons with strikes in seven prisons.

According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials as of 7:45pm on Monday (4/4), three prisons remain locked down (Wynne, Mountain View, Lynaugh)–on strike–while 3 others were but are no longer on lockdown (Torres, Polunsky, Roach). Robertson Unit officials refused to report in the evening and is therefore almost certainly still on strike/lockdown as they were when they confirmed earlier in the day.

Any information from TDCJ officials must of course be taken with a grain of salt, as the main office has been denying strikes and lockdowns all day. Concealing the strike as lockdowns is a strategy known by both prisoners and wardens.

A March 23rd letter from an IWOC Texas in-prison organizer notes that prisoners were given “reliable information” that authorities would use lockdowns “to create the public perception that we are locked down for administrative purposes and not because of the Texas Work Stoppage.”

At stake is the future of slavery in America, and the human rights of the more than two million prison slaves, including more than 143,000 in Texas. Prisoners in Texas are paid a minimum wage of $0.00/hr. Their labor is making Texas billions of dollars and “outsourcing” jobs to US companies.

“Slavery is a horrifying institution,” said Nicholas Onwuke, IWOC Co-Chair and former prisoner. “Violence is the last gasp of an evil system against people standing up, demanding their dignity. It took mass struggle to end historical slavery and Jim Crow, so will it to end prison slavery today.”

Demands specifically mentioned by the prisoners include objective timelines for release on good/work time, an end to a $100 medical co-pays that prevent access to health care, an independent grievance committee, and an end to a vast array of human rights abuses. Texas prisons lead the nation in sexaul assault of inmates and have seen a spree of overheating deaths due to lack of air conditioning.

From the March 23rd letter–“We need as many freeworld people as possible to contact the media and inform them that that [‘administrative lockdown’] is not the case and that we are in fact locked down as a direct result of our workstoppage.”

You in the free world. This is your time for action. Spread the mass movement in prisons to the free world. Stand with Texas prisoners: call, act, donate, or get involved.

Support Striking Texas Prisoners #EyesOnTexas

Today Prisoners in Texas Went on Strike Against Slavery Conditions.

 

texas strike

In early March we received word that prisoners in Texas were planning a work stoppage to occur April 4th. You can read this announcement and their demands here. Here is a flyer put out by Texas prisoners and circulating through multiple facilities. Here is the announcement and demands laid out in easy to print and mail formats. 1 sheet 2 sides. 5 pages.

Prisoners can face severe repercussions from the authorities when they stand up for themselves. Outside support and solidarity are essential to let the guards and admins know they cannot attack, starve, provoke, torture or otherwise retaliate against these striking prisoners without consequence. Here are three things you can do to show solidarity and support: Continue reading →

Texas Prison Work Stoppage

REVOLUTIONARY SOLIDARITY

“We Are At a Tipping Point”

More information: https://www.facebook.com/Fts-inmateworkercommitteecounsel-1525053261122183/ closed group, request access.

The Top Five DEMANDS for Texas:

Meaningful Work Time – Applied retroactively, when our Flat Time and accrued Good/Work Time equals 100% we should be ENTITLED to Mandatory Supervision I Parole.

We want a “Presumptive Parole System” which requires the release of a Prisoner at their earliest release date, unless there are valid objective reasons not to do so. Those reasons might include poor institutional behavior or refusing to participate in programming. The nature of the crime or any other “Static Reason” (things prisoners can NOT change) would NOT be a valid reason to deny parole. Continue reading →