Corey Uhl

Corey Uhl

Corey Uhl is a Florida activist. Works at UPS. Lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

SDS

On Sept. 22, 2011 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) announced the beginning of their campaign against a 15% tuition hike at the University of South Florida (USF). The students gathered outside the Marshall Student Center to kick off their campaign. Over the summer and then again in the fall, USF administrators hiked up tuition, increasing it from 8% up to 15%. Students are upset. As SDS member Dustin Ponder says, “This story is all too familiar across the nation. We in USF's SDS will not stand by and let such an injustice go unchallenged. In the past few weeks, SDS and other local activist organizations have been reaching out to the students of USF and are building support for an upcoming protest against attacks on our education.”

Corey Uhl

Corey Uhl, a member of SDS and a history major says, "The rising cost of tuition and diminishing financial aid is driving some students into debt and others out of school.” Michael Marchand another USF senior notes, "One unnecessary expenditure is the $35 million used to renovate the arena. Renovations include the addition of sky-boxes for the rich. SDS is demanding to know why these investments are not being used on the education of students during hard economic times."

With the kick off of the new SDS education rights campaign, students are confronting the USF administration. Dani Leppos, a USF junior is calling on all students and their organizations who oppose the attacks on education to, “Join the Oct. 4 rally for education rights organized by SDS. The student rally is taking place outside Cooper Hall. Participants will be marching to the administration building and demanding a meeting with USF president, Judy Genshaft.

People’s Agenda march

August 27, 2012, well over 1,000 people rallied and marched in the streets of Tampa to demand good jobs, affordable education, healthcare, equality, and peace. Although the Republicans cancelled the first day of their convention due to Hurricane Isaac, organizers with the Coalition to March on the RNC went through with their promise to march on the first day of the convention to show their opposition to the agenda of the 1% and their support for a People’s Agenda.

Notable speakers included Carlos Montes, a leading immigrants’ rights leader; Joe Iosbaker; a spokesperson for the anti-war movement; Skye Schmelzer, representative of the National Students for a Democratic Society; Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of Code Pink and major peace activist; Ciara Taylor, a representative of Dream Defenders and a Black community organizer; Nelini Stamp, one of the original organizers of Occupy Wall Street; and Oscar Otzoy, a Florida farm worker organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Organizations present included Students for a Democratic Society, Veterans for Peace, Southern California Immigrant Coalition, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, five Florida Occupy chapters, six Fight Back Florida chapters, Dream Defenders, United National Anti-war Coalition, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, International Action Center, Code Pink, four Florida AFL-CIO labor councils, and Region 3 of AFSCME Council 79.

Organizer Fern Figueroa stated: “Today we took a stand with more than 1,000 people against the Republicans and their agenda of hatred, poverty, and war. Today we stand up for all the good things people need and strike a blow against those who deprive us that.”

Jared Hamil, Corey Uhl were also organizers.

RSCC Fundraiser and Open Mic - Three Years in the Struggle

Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee organized an event "RSCC Fundraiser and Open Mic - Three Years in the Struggle" at Picture the Homeless, 104-106 East 126 Street, Saturday 28 February 2015.

For three years now, the Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee(RSCC) has been serving the needs of oppressed nationality people of NYC by working toward the liberation of CUNY. We want CUNY, an institution which puts the interests of the state before the needs of the majority of NYC's population, working class people, to become bases for revolutionary struggles inside and outside the university.

Those indicating support or attendance on Wherevent included Lisa Gagliardo, Nicole Bugarin, Suzanne Bjorndal, Sankofa Taylor, Percy Lujan, Khalil Vasquez, Rajib Lovesramen Miah, Omar Rashid, Tafadar Sourov, Dan Cione, R-naby Shuma , Juan David Lopez Velez, Corey Uhl, Carlos A. Taveras, Jr., Jim Byrne, Marisa Dos Santos, Archer Sackey, Jon Laks, Angie De LaGhetto, Rockey Meitei Saphaba, Katrina Cortes, Rani Ghosson, Nizum Khan, Richard Finkelstein, Kenneth Fuglemsmo.

Tampa Bay SDS

Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society public Facebook group funtioned from circa 2010 to 2015. Members included Corey Uhl.

In 2012 Corey Uhl was an organizer in Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society.

"Freedom Road Panel: International Women's Day"

Union Ballrooms - Florida Room, Thursday 5 March 2015, 18:00, organized by Tallahassee FRSO.

Members of The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), the Dream Defenders, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the Center for Participant Education (CPE) and The F-Word will be hosting a panel in commem]]oration of International Women's Day to cover the most pressing issues faced by women, LGBTQ, and Trans folks in the United States and around the world. In addition the presentation will cover how the Freedom Road Socialist Organization continues to fight for Trans Proletarian Feminism and promotes Women's leadership against Patriarchy and Capitalism within the movement.

We will also celebrate women revolutionaries that have contributed to the struggle. Radical Communist revolutionaries like Claudia Jones, Leila Khaled, Assata Shakur, Yuri Kochiyama, Anuradha Ghandy, and many more.

Those indicating attendance on Wherevent included Melissa Miranda, Maressa Simmons, A.v. Ramanathan, Rosie Richeson, Shivaani Ehsaan, Jessica Schwartz, Andreina Granado, Ansley Jones , Rachel Crooks, Dayli Vazquez, Elizabeth Dedge, Gladys Nobriga, Regina Joseph, Chrisley Carpio, Samantha Miker, TatianaMarie Daguillard, Naomi Bradley, Alexandra Gaskin, Briana Fonte, Shannon Conley, Brooke Ashley, Hasan İncedere, Corey Uhl, Miles Menendez, Chance Zombor, Brad Sigal, Caleb Cineas, Zachary Schultz, Fern Figueroa.

Teamsters United

Standing in front of more than 100 Teamsters gathered in a Boston, Massachusetts park, May 29 2018, two Teamster leaders announced plans to run together for the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) in 2021.

Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25 out of Boston, announced he will join the Teamsters United movement as candidate for general president. Fred Zuckerman, president of Teamsters Local 89 out of Louisville, Kentucky, will run with O’Brien for general secretary-treasurer.

“We supported Fred Zuckerman in 2016 because he ran on the Teamsters United platform of fighting for better contracts, opposing concessions, reviving the strike weapon, organizing in core industries and protecting our pensions,” said Dustin Ponder, a UPS shop steward in Teamsters Local 512 out of Jacksonville, Florida. “That platform is key to making a stronger union and winning a better life for our members. I hope O’Brien and Zuckerman take up the same platform in 2021.”

Ponder was part of the Teamsters United campaign in the Southern Region, which defeated the Hoffa-Hall ticket handily in 2016. Teamsters United won the south by a vote of 10,789 to 8227 in 2016, electing John Palmer and Kimberley Schultz as the new Southern Region Vice Presidents – a sharp reversal from the previous election, when Hoffa easily won against a divided opposition slate.

“The main fight right now is the battle for better contracts at UPS and UPS Freight,” said Gabriella Killpack, a UPS package car driver in Teamsters Local 222 out of Salt Lake City, Utah who campaigned heavily for Teamsters United in 2016.

Killpack refers to the ongoing contract negotiations between the Teamsters, UPS and UPS Freight, which began earlier this year. The union raised a set of contract proposals brought forward by members to address the problems they face on the job. These included an end to forced overtime for package car drivers, monetary penalties for harassment, protections from automation and driverless vehicles, and higher wages for part-timers, among many others.

Speaking to the news, Killpack said, “This announcement by two important Teamster leaders comes at a time when our members are mad as hell and ready to fight the company, up to and including a strike if necessary. O’Brien and Zuckerman have a real opportunity to help lead the fight for an end to forced overtime; $15 per hour starting wages and $5 per hour bump raises for part-timers, monetary penalties for harassment, and protecting our job standards at UPS. That’s what Teamsters want to see right now from our leaders.”

The news came as a surprise to Teamsters activists across the country, many of whom are working to turn out a strong ‘yes’ vote in the UPS and UPS Freight strike authorization poll currently underway. Members and activists flocked to social media, like the popular ‘Vote NO on the UPS Contract’ Facebook group, and discussed the announcement – and what it means moving forward.

“We want to support leaders who are willing to fight employers and not take concessions from corporate America,” said Jared Hamil, a UPS cover driver out of Teamsters Local 396 in Los Angeles, who is active in the Teamsters United movement. “That’s the problem with Hoffa’s leadership – there’s a rat line between the corruption at the top of the IBT and the sellout contracts that Teamsters get year after year.”

Corey Uhl, a UPS combo worker out of Teamsters Local 804 in New York, agreed, adding, “Teamsters United is a movement built by members who want to make our union fight – not sell us out to employers, like we’ve seen from Hoffa. We welcome leaders committed to the same platform.”

With the next international election more than three years away, Teamsters United has more immediate fights on its plate, like the UPS and UPS Freight contracts.

But continuing to build the Teamsters United coalition for the 2021 election remains crucial.

Recent Teamster history shows the importance of united action from union fighters and activists. In 2011, the opposition movement to Hoffa divided into two separate slates with different platforms. Hoffa easily defeated both and won re-election, allowing him and Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall to push deep concessions like the UPS contract of 2013.

“The Teamsters United movement succeeded in 2016 because it brought together fighters around a militant platform,” said Bob Kolstad, a shop steward in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office out of Teamsters Local 320 in Minneapolis. “As we campaigned across the country for Fred, we saw how the Teamsters United platform resonated with members who are tired of seeing our jobs and our lives get worse. We stood united, even with Teamsters we disagreed with, to make historic change. We’ll need to do that again to beat Hoffa in 2021, and we need that same militant Teamsters United platform to get it done.”

Author Dave Schneider is a UPS Teamster shop steward out of Jacksonville, FL. Richard Blake provided research for the article.