EVENT: The Alzando la Voz/ Raising Our Voices Speaker Series continues with a presentation by Workers Defense Project representatives Hector Hernandez, Martin Ruiz, Patricia Zavala and Emily Timm
WHEN: Thursday, April 22, 6 p.m.
WHERE: The University of Texas at Austin Community Engagement Center, 1009 E. 11th St.
BACKGROUND: The session is the third in a series of four presentations and discussions around human rights issues, sponsored by the Community Engagement Center, part of the university’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
The Workers Defense Project is a membership-based organization that empowers low-wage workers in Austin to improve their working conditions. Members and organizers from the Workers Defense Project will discuss the pervasive human rights violations they say are taking place in Austin’s construction industry, where a construction worker dies every 2.5 days and one in every five workers has been denied their wages. Presenters will explain how the project’s organizing model goes beyond demanding the legal minimum guaranteed by often inadequate labor laws and uses a human rights framework to seek dignified working conditions by empowering immigrant workers to be leaders in seeking change for their own community.
