Last week, a new bill was introduced in the Georgia Senate titled SB 469. This bill is an attempt to bankrupt unions in our state, and make it even more difficult for workers to organize and gain collective bargaining rights. The bill also intends to impose strict penalties and fines on those who are willing to take on the 1% and their corporate greed. Non-violent direct action has been a force for change throughout our history, from the women’s suffrage movement, to the civil rights movement and beyond. This new bill attempts to strip that power away from the people, criminalizing dissent.
Not coincidentally, this bill comes on the heels of effective actions Occupy Atlanta recently organized, such as a peaceful sit-in at Chase Bank to demand that they keep a family in their home of 57 years, or the sit-in and encampment set up at AT&T’s headquarters here in Atlanta to try to save 740 jobs. It seems as if the heads of these corporations find it easier to buy off our legislators and change our laws, rather than fix these problems that can help save our communities from further despair.
Please help us put an end to SB 469. Join us on February 29 at the Georgia State Capitol building at 9:30 AM to protest this bill and retain our right to do so.
You can also contact the sponsors of this new bill at the information below.
Bill Hamrick (R)
Senator, District 30
301 Bradley Street
Carrollton, Georgia 30117
Bill.Hamrick@senate.ga.gov
Don Balfour, (R)
2312 Waterscape Trail
Snellville, GA 30078
Phone: (770) 729-5764
don.balfour@senate.ga.gov
Bill Cowsert (R)
Senator, District 46
P.O. Box 512
Athens, GA 30603
Phone: (706) 543-7700
Ross Tolleson (R)
Senator, District 20
P.O. Box 1356
Perry, GA 31069
Phone: (478) 998-1206 (O)
(478) 987-0325 (H)
