ORGANIZING NOTES
June 11, 2025
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Happening Now: Securing a Democratic Platform that Benefits and Fights for Working People
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Every four years the Massachusetts Democratic Party engages in a process of review, revision, and recommitment to the values articulated by the party’s Platform – That process is now underway and we need your help to ensure that the Massachusetts Democratic Party embraces a sincere, and activist-oriented, commitment to a Democratic Party committed to a pro-labor vision.
Hundreds of Massachusetts Democrats, including many ORMA members and supporters participated in a series of online sessions discussing the November 2024 election results. One of several themes that emerged was an acknowledgement that the defection of working-class voters from the Democratic Party – not their embrace of Trump – explains the disappointing results. To paraphrase Bernie Sanders, ‘…when the Democratic Party abandons the working class, the working class abandons the Democrats, either by abstention or by voting for the opposition. ’ We strengthen the Democratic Party when we clearly and unambiguously embrace values and policies that benefit the overwhelming majority of people, not the wealthy.
We urge those of you who are registered Democrats to take part in the one of the platform hearings that will take place in June, and bring this message to the party. The AFL-CIO is pushing for a commitment by party leadership to support local campaigns and organizing to stop Wage Theft, end offshore tax dodging, raise the minimum wage, force billionaire corporations to pay their fair share, and support a strong pro-labor legislative agenda.
The only requirement is being a registered Democrat! You can check your registration status or update it by clicking here
Current Platform Hearing Schedule HERE
Unions are stepping up. So are the organizations of the Massachusetts Progressive Action Organizing Coalition; Our Revolution MA, Progressive Mass, and Progressive Democrats of America. Now it’s your turn.
Take action:
Platform Hearing Schedule (Click on any date to register):
Show up. Testify. And join with ORMA at the convention
When we fight, we win!
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The ORMA Election in Congressional District 2,
(CD2) is Complete
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ORMA is delighted to announce that Jeff Jones was elected with a clear majority and will be the Representative of Unaffiliated ORMA members in CD2. Kate O’Connor came in second and will be the alternate, voting when Jeff Jones is absent. Both will attend meetings as often as possible to provide the perspective of their constituents.
Jeff Jones is President of UFCW Local 1459 and the Western Mass Area Labor Federation. His political work includes leading the 2019 Stop & Shop strike and organizing a 300-person legislative breakfast in Springfield.
He was previously engaged with FCCPR, Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution
His priorities for his work with ORMA include housing rights (he serves on the Northampton Housing Authority board) and labor organizing.
Kate O’Connor is a longtime political organizer, musician, and Western Mass resident with ties to East Hampton and FCCPR;. She grew up in Vermont; her family personally knows Bernie Sanders.
She is active in conservation, land use, and progressive electoral organizing. She organized a Bernie benefit in 2016, supports Trees as a Public Good (Trees PG), and contributes to campaigns around health care and conservation. Her priorities are conservation, universal health care, prevention of Hanscom Field expansion for private jets and educating progressive groups on natural solutions to the climate crisis.
The ORMA Representative Council now includes representatives of the affiliates in Cambridge, Medford, Franklin County, Arlington, and Greater e Fall River, each of which has one vote. There are three Unaffiliated Representatives, counting Jeff and Kate as one vote and two state-wide Unaffiliated Representatives with one vote each, whose terms will be up in a year as we shift to bring on more CD based representation.Elections for unaffiliated Reps in CD1, and 3-9 are pending.
Many thanks to Alex Crowley and Michael Gilbreath for conducting the Ranked Choice Voting election.
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Bearing Witness @ ICE every Wednesday
We invite you to stand in solidarity outside the ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations Office in Burlington every Wednesday from 11am-1pm. Together, we can show love & support for immigrants, express our shame at ICE, and bear witness to the cruel and unconstitutional actions of our government. Regardless of your views on any other political issues, if you support immigrants and their constitutional rights and are committed to nonviolence you are welcome to join.
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The public is invited to participate in the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing hearing on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. You MUST register with the JCHCF before you can testify. Please register to testify here, in-person or remotely, please complete the following registration form by 4:00PM on Friday, June 13, 2025.
Oral testimony is limited to 3 minutes per speaker. Individuals registered for remote testimony will receive an email with a link to join the hearing on Microsoft Teams. Same-day registration will only be available to those testifying in person. For individuals participating on a panel, each member of the panel must sign up separately and complete the registration form. The Chairs will permit hybrid panels in which some individuals on the panel will testify in person and others will testify remotely.
For individuals who are not participating in the hearing but wish to submit written testimony, please do not fill out the registration form. Written testimony may be submitted via email to Chair Friedman at cindy.friedman@masenate.gov, Chair Lawn at john.lawn@mahouse.gov, Adelina Huo at adelina.huo@masenate.gov, and Tim O’Neill at timothy.oneill@mahouse.gov. At the discretion of the Chairs and per committee rules, written testimony received by the committee will be made publicly available. The committee may limit availability or redact testimony that includes sensitive personal information, information about minors, or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of the testifier or others.
Conference Update!
Right on the heals of the Hearing is our Medicare for All Conference in Worcester. If you have not signed up yet, please sign up for the conference here.
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Testify at a People’s Hearing on Legislative Reform
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The two bills the MA legislature has refused to consider:
1) independent research and fiscal analysis;
2) reform of the stipend system that gives legislative leaders coercive control over legislators’ pay. June 17,th 1:30-3:00 pm, 140 Bowdoin St., Boston.
Our legislature is highly dysfunctional – opaque, unaccountable, and undemocratic. These are the only 2 bills that would seriously and significantly reform the underlying causes of its dysfunction. More info and register at: https://www.malegreform.org/peoples-hearing/
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Climate Justice Lobby Day 2025
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Your state legislators need to hear from YOU that climate justice can’t wait! Join a meeting in district or online (not the state house) in and around June 11 to educate your legislators on timely action they can take by passing the Mass Power Forward coalition’s democratically chosen legislative priorities. Once you RSVP, you’ll receive instructions on how to connect with others in your district.
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Medicaid and Defenders Phone Banking Campaign – calling constituents of Republican senators who are in purple districts
Phone banks will continue to be held on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 5pm, with a training at the start. Please sign up for shifts using this link.
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IN AMERICA, WE DON’T DO KINGS
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They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights,and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too far. No thrones! No Kings! Find an event near you HERE
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Progress in the Amazon:
Brazil See Record Drop in Deforestation
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In a major win for the planet, Brazil recorded a 32.4% drop in deforestation in 2024, its largest annual decrease in six years. The decline, documented by monitoring agency MapBiomas, spanned every major biome in the country, signaling a sweeping reversal in environmental destruction.
This marks the second consecutive year of progress, following an 11% reduction in 2023. The report comes just months before Brazil hosts a pivotal U.N. climate conference, bolstering its position as a leader in global climate action.
Under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, Brazil has renewed its commitment to ending illegal deforestation by 2030. While challenges remain (the country still lost the equivalent of 8,000 football fields of forest per day in 2024) the dramatic slowdown is cause for hope.
This is good news for climate justice, biodiversity, and the future of the Amazon. Progress is possible, and it’s happening now.
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If you would like to work with ORMA Members on
- Climate Change
- Community-Based Alternative Emergency Response Teams
- Ranked-Choice Voting
- Housing For All
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ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
If you value Organizing Notes and its twice a month distribution schedule, please make a donation to ensure its continued existence.
Invest in Change Now!
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Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com by Saturday, June 21st
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
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Campaigns End, Movements Endure
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