Unite Here Local 23 Protests Private Prisons

Members of Unite Here Local 23, representing workers at the Convention Center, protest the proposed Omni hotel project because the “project manager” is involved in the private prison industry.

Members of Unite Here Local 23, a union representing 1,700 hospitality workers in New Orleans protest the Omni hotel project which is proposed to be built south of the main hall of the Convention Center. The proposed project would be managed by the Baton Rouge-based Provident Resources Group, a company with a record of ownership in private prisons.

Gabby Bolden-Shaw, vice president of the Unite Here Local 23 explained union members’ opposition to the project: “It feels like a slap in the face to know this board might work with an organization that has a history of acquiring, financing, owning, leasing and contracting for the operation of correctional facilities,” said Bolden-Shaw. “New Orleans has long had one of the highest incarceration rates per capita among U.S. cities (and) this disproportionately impacts communities of color and working class families.”

Workers Voice Socialist Movement

We are workers, employed and unemployed, youth, students, and seniors. We are multi-racial and multi-national and organize for the unity of the working class. We are funded by and for workers, for the liberation of all workers and oppressed people.

We organize for jobs and higher wages, against racism, women’s, and LGBTQ oppression, and for solidarity with immigrants. We organize for community schools, lower rents, and food on our tables. We organize for workers’ power so that everything will one day be removed from the capitalists’ private ownership.

We oppose the Pentagon, which is looting our tax dollars and handing them over to war-profiteering private companies, while social programs are gutted. We oppose war for empire which is pursued only to lower our wages and plunder the world’s resources while destroying the environment. We reject the monopoly media who feed us lie after lie.

The labor of workers produces enormous wealth here in Louisiana, the U.S. and the world– so much wealth that everyone could have housing, meaningful jobs, education, healthcare, and genuine equality. But this wealth is stolen and privately owned by the capitalist class for their greed and profit. We believe that we, the workers of the world, can unite in revolution to overcome capitalism and build a better world.

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