‘Fight as a collective’: Berkeley Homeless Union forms

The Communists use “collective” as a term of organizing.  Now the Communists of Berkeley, using the homeless, have formed a HOMELESS UNION.  Does this mean they can go out and strike?  If they do, where, how—would anyone care if the homeless went on strike?  No this is NOT a Babylon Bee joke—it is a Communist joke.

• “Berkeley’s unhoused community has a new means to organize — the Berkeley Homeless Union, first announced in the August edition of Street Spirit.

Union officers Yesica Prado and Gordon Gilmore formed the union in July after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which enables cities to criminalize “many aspects of living in public spaces,” according to the announcement. 

“We’re both working in advocacy groups and trying to advance this issue to actually help out people — it came naturally to be like, ‘Hey, we need a group that represents unhoused people on the ground,’ ” Prado said. “To be the people representing themselves, versus just advocates coming in.”

Will Newsom recognize this union?  Hope a reporter asks.

‘Fight as a collective’: Berkeley Homeless Union forms

Eleanor Jonas | Senior Staff, Daily California,  8/12/24  https://www.dailycal.org/news/city/communities/fight-as-a-collective-berkeley-homeless-union-forms/article_29240f26-561d-11ef-92c7-8fc091f0b752.html

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• Berkeley’s unhoused community has a new means to organize — the Berkeley Homeless Union, first announced in the August edition of Street Spirit.

Union officers Yesica Prado and Gordon Gilmore formed the union in July after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which enables cities to criminalize “many aspects of living in public spaces,” according to the announcement. 

“We’re both working in advocacy groups and trying to advance this issue to actually help out people — it came naturally to be like, ‘Hey, we need a group that represents unhoused people on the ground,’ ” Prado said. “To be the people representing themselves, versus just advocates coming in.”

Gilmore is involved with the Berkeley Outreach Coalition, in which he runs Zoom meetings, while Prado is a journalist and secretary of the board at Where Do We Go, a local nonprofit that has recently aided unhoused in the city with cleaning up encampments.

Gilmore noted that he began working on the idea of a union a year ago. He was motivated by the pending Supreme Court case and an amicus brief California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed to the court in September 2023 regarding the case. 

In the brief, Newsom asked the court to “provide clarity” on how state and local governments may legally address houselessness.

“The goal is really to uplift the voices of unhoused people and their experiences and to bargain for fair treatment,” Prado said. “As a union, there is power in numbers.”

The process of forming the union was “expedited” after the court decision and Newsom’s executive order to remove houseless encampments, Prado said.

Prado noted she and Gilmore were also inspired by other houseless unions in cities across California and members of the community wanting to “fight as a collective.”

“It gives us an opportunity to be involved in litigation because now we are our own membership organization, so we can also file lawsuits on behalf of our members … versus waiting for a nonprofit to help us out,” Prado said.

The union will also be able to file grievances and ADA accommodation requests, Gilmore said. When the city recently conducted a cleanup on Second Street and 88th Street, the union filed accommodation requests for those who had disabilities and needed assistance with cleaning the encampment, according to Yesica. She noted that they are trying to determine what accommodations the city might be willing to accept.

With Berkeley’s mayoral election coming up, Prado noted the union wants to engage with candidates and ask them to represent the unhoused community’s interests, such as having a safe place to live. 

Both Gilmore and Prado have been conducting on-the-ground outreach, “going from (recreational vehicle) to tent,” Prado said, and collecting the information of those interested in the union.

“The vast majority of people I’ve talked to have been really psyched about the prospect of such a thing developing and being able to have that support,” Gilmore said.