CALL TO ACTION AGAINST ELDER ABUSER - LAST CHANCE FOR RG&E RATE HIKE COMMENT - SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED - HUNGER STRIKE FOR GAZA AT U OF ROCHESTER - CLIFF NOTES ON USMCA - OUR MEMBERS MAKE US STRONG

Here are Metro Justice news and events for the week of 10/24/25

CALL TO ACTION AGAINST ELDER ABUSER

Fresh from a successful meeting yesterday educating people about the rights of nursing home residents, the Elder Justice Committee is calling on community members to join them at 1:30 this Monday afternoon for a rally and press conference at Waterview Heights, 135 Meriden Street, where, during the past year alone, patients have suffered treatment errors, neglect, rape, and needless death due to insufficient staffing at this for-profit nursing home. The rally will be held outside the nursing home grounds, at the intersection of Henley and Meridian Streets, at the top of Lake Avenue about 20 minutes from downtown. Waterview Heights has been on the list of Rochester's most egregious facilities for nearly two years, and it is time they are held accountable for the misery they cause to patients and their families. Take a long lunch this Monday and join the Elder Justice Committee of Metro Justice in shining a light on one of the facilities that have made nursing home care notorious across New York. Our parents and grandparents deserve it.

TODAY ONLY!

Today is your last chance to comment against RG&E rate hikes! Click here for a sample testimony you can copy and paste or adapt, and click here to post the comment.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

It is all too easy lately to feel overwhelmed by the combination of inflation, high gas and electricity prices, the coming spike in healthcare costs, the knowledge that hard-working people across the country are being kidnapped and deported, and the general sense that the rich are getting richer while the rest of us are getting stressed and exhausted. Gathering to organize has two great benefits: the way we build each other up when we get together and see there are others who feel as we do, and the power we can build by organized action to make the changes that are needed to make our lives and our communities better. Check out the calendar below and give yourself a gift as we head toward the holidays. Pick one of the actions - maybe the 11/8 Coalition Assembly to oppose RG&E's punishing rate hikes, or Monday's rally at Waterview Heights - and come out to meet new friends and raise some good trouble! You'll feel better for it!

HUNGER STRIKE FOR GAZA AT U OF R

Members of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Rochester are in their ninth day of a hunger strike in sympathy with the hundreds of thousands of people now starving in Gaza, and to push the administration to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and divest from its investments in Israel until the war in Gaza is fully concluded. The students invite us to read, sign and send a message of support. 

CLIFF NOTES ON USMCA

Maria Jacqueline Evans, a member who attended September's potluck, took the time to make notes on the USMCA (formerly NAFTA) trade deal, how its call for free trade has been corrupted by mega-corporations, and where it could be helpful to push for change. Here is what she was able to boil it down to:

Fundamental issues with USMCA: It helps corporations send jobs out of the US to take advantage of labor rights violations, lax pollution controls, and low wages, destroying livelihoods in the US and increasing exploitation in Mexico.

Recommended changes to ask for (one ask per comment, so pick your favorite and comment here):

• Making fair wages a condition for goods and services receiving USMCA benefits would increase wages across the region.
• A North American minimum wage for manufacturing in key sectors where workers get equal pay for equal work will decrease the incentive to move jobs from the US and will give Mexican workers more purchasing power.
• The creation of a facility-specific environmental Rapid Response Mechanism (currently there is only one for labor violations) to allow enforcement of emissions reduction and pollution data transparency obligations
• Protect governments’ rights to manage their agricultural supplies at prices that cover farmers’ costs of production and discourage dumping.
• Agricultural dumping incentivized by NAFTA drove millions of small farmers in Mexico off their land, forcing many to migrate northwards. USMCA must address roots of migration by strengthening opportunities for workers to earn livelihoods at home and strengthening labor protections for migrants who do come to the US.
• Remove “giveaway” provisions that allow pharmaceutical companies to maintain monopolies; affirm governments’ rights to use compulsory licensing to address public health needs and to negotiate for lower prescription medication prices.

OUR MEMBERS MAKE US STRONG 

Have you checked your membership status lately? Now is a good time to do so – and we now have a handy link you can use to check for yourself! Nearly everything we do, we do because members make it happen – and that includes not only volunteering to do the work, but also contributing to help pay the staff people we rely on to train leaders and run the office. 

Memberships start at $5/month with our sustainer program, or $60/year annual dues. Now is a good time to make sure you are up to date. If you have any trouble signing in at the link, click here to email for help. And if you’ve got questions about volunteering, click here. Thanks for all that you do to help fight for justice in Rochester!

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Every Friday through October 7:30 at the George Eastman Museum the Rochester Labor Film Series. The final Fridays include tonight's film about what it takes for an undocumented immigrant in Italy to get a bike for a food delivery job; next Friday Halloween meets... telemarketing? Yeah, we know horror when we hear its ringtone.
• Monday, October 27th, 1:30-2:30 pm Demonstration and press conference against the ongoing abuse at the Waterview Heights residential facility at 135 Meridian Street in Charlotte. People living here are dying in misery, and the Department of Health has yet to act. It’s time to bring this situation to light and demand a response. For more information, contact [email protected].  
• Tuesday October 28th at 7:30pm PNHP Student-Led Forum: Socialism in the Fight for Universal Healthcare, RSVP Here
• Wednesday, October 29, 6-8 pm Organizing meeting against RG&E and their rate hikes, at the Metro Justice Office
• Friday, October 31st 4-7 pm Halloween at the Public Market! Come get your picture taken with a Power Ranger, and learn how to take power in Rochester
• Saturday, November 1st, 7:30 at First Unitarian, 220 Winton Road S., Cafe Veritas was lucky to be able to scheduleJohn Flynn. Check out the link and either buy tickets or just show up
• Saturday, November 8th  Movement Assembly to widen the fight against RG&E and it's profiteering rate hikes
• Monday, November 10th 7-8 pm zoom organizing meeting for public outreach about the New York Health Act
• November 15-23, Visual Studies Workshop 14th Witness Palestine Film Festival; https://www.wpff.us/
• Saturday, December 6, noon Coalition action against the rate hikes; more info coming soon
• Ongoing: If you are between jobs, good on the phone, and would like to learn about organizing, contact [email protected] about helping with a service workers organizing project. Speaking a language other than English is a plus!

DESKTOP ACTIONS: 

• Comment online by Oct 24 (today!) against RG&E rate hikes! Click here for a sample testimony you can copy and paste or adapt, and click here to post the comment.
• If you live in Sarah Clark's Assembly District, she is an official "intervenor" in the rate case and wants you to fill out a survey about your experience with RG&E. Sarah wants to support us, and needs your help.
• Metro Justice supports The New York Immigration Coalition's call for the New York For All Act. Please sign the petition at the link!
• Tell Stream Data Centers and Apollo Global Management: NO STAMP DATA CENTER! Protect our waters, our woods, and our way of life. This is quick to do, will show our solidarity with indigenous neighbors - and help us all avoid environmental degradation and increased climate change
• If you represent an organization, sign onto the Organizational Sign on Letter opposing a data center at the STAMP site here, by Oct 28. 
• Check out the info about the USMCA trade deal review and click here to make your comment at TradeJusticeEdFund.org 
• Repost/tweet the New York Health posts at the Campaign for New York Health Facebook page every Tuesday and Thursday noon
• Uphold Tonawanda Seneca Nation sovereignty and the CLCPA! No new NYS funds or permits to WNY STAMP, tell NYSDEC to protect the Oak Orchard Watershed. This is a quick and easy one, so let’s get their numbers going up!
• Get a "Replace RGE" yard sign! Be the envy of your neighbors!  
• Join Metro Justice or renew your membership - in these dark times we need to stick together, and to plan to support ourselves as much as possible.