Thu, Jun 15
|Oakmont Central Rec Center Patio
A Special Joint Meeting of the Oakmont Democrats and Progressives
What goes into the bottle of wine you drink with your dinner? The hidden side of the multi billion dollar wine industry. Join us on the Central Rec patio for food and a special presentation by Standing for Justice.
Time & Location
Jun 15, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Oakmont Central Rec Center Patio, Oakmont, Santa Rosa, CA 95409, USA
About the event
We will meet in the patio of the Central Activity Center. 6:30 socializing; 7:00 program. No zoom available for this meeting. This meeting will replace the regular monthly meeting of the Oakmont Democratic Club in June.
Max Bell Alper from North Bay Organizing Project/ Jobs with Justice will put a human face on the vineyard workers’ struggles for fair wages and safe working conditions. Some vineyard workers will be here to share their own stories. We sip our favorite wines with a greater understanding of the “overtones” and “undercurrents” or the “fruit forward” taste of the wines than with an appreciation of what it takes for the wine to get onto our tables and into our glasses. Before the wine makers do their magic… whose hands tend the vines? Whether it's wildfires, floods, or extreme heat, farmworkers are the first impacted by climate-change fueled disasters. Our Sonoma County farmworkers are organizing to win the basic right to disaster pay– compensation for lost hours and hazard pay when working conditions are dangerous--while the multi-billion dollar wine industry continues making profits year after year. When we evacuate, the vineyard workers stay in the fields picking grapes. Where is the justice in this practice? Our vineyard workers are the invisible but essential side of the wine industry. We would not enjoy Sonoma County wines without them. They deserve our support. Come hear their stories. We will also hear what wineries support the vineyard workers and which do not. Where should we be buying our wine?
Max Bell Alper's Bio:
MAX BELL ALPER (he/they) Executive Director, North Bay Jobs with Justice. For over 20 years, Max has organized for economic, racial, and climate justice with low-wage immigrant workers throughout California. With a particular emphasis on leadership development of workers and the most impacted communities, they have successfully developed and implemented strategic comprehensive campaigns where workers win real tangible victories on their immediate needs while building long term power. Max lives in west Sonoma County with their partner, where they try to spend as much time as possible tending to the Land, fruit trees, roses, and native plants.