query: tenants union resources

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed:  please feel welcomed to copy COMM-ORG with responses to Windy's 
query.  A bit from me below.]

From: Windy Cooler-Stith <windy_coolerstith at yahoo.com>


Hi Co-list,
 
My family and I live in a very low income, mainly immigrant, apartment 
building in the Maryland suburbs of DC. For the past year I've been 
organizing in the building, primarily through relationship building, to 
positively affect the management of the property. We've had some big 
wins recently, including a forced change in management personnel, huge 
structural repairs, and the recension of some very punitive policies. At 
first, we thought a lot of the hardest work might be over, but there are 
still issues, some of which are new, that agitate us and our fellow 
tenants. The building is surrounded by other low-income apartments, 
though these are mainly filled with students, and in which our 
relationships are more limited. I'm thinking of trying to build a formal 
renters union at this point.
 
I'd like to know what resources people on the list might recommend to us 
as we think this over.
 
Thanks,
Windy

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862):"It is not enough to tell me that you 
worked hard to get your gold. So does the devil work hard."

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[ed:  my first stop for info like this is http://www.tenant.net/]