Weekly Member Update - August 4, 2025

This summer week’s update is dedicated to our jam-packed events calendar. Our online events calendar is intended to serve as the central clearinghouse for activism events throughout the Capital Region, and one look at August shows that vision coming into reality. There are events on the calendar on virtually every day this coming week, and on the majority of days throughout the month. If you feel the need to vent your spleen and gather with like-minded patriots looking to do the same, there are small-scale protests and rallies all over the calendar, from Bethlehem Indivisible’s every-Tuesday Honk & Wave at the Four Corners in Delmar, to the growing Thursday evening affair in Altamont with our new friends at Helderberg Indivisible. If overpass messaging is your jam, there’s plenty of that as well, from the regular Wednesday Rush Hour Resistance on the Western Avenue/Route 85 overpass to a new Track-centric rally over Route 7 on Old Loudon Road Saturdays at noon. This Tuesday morning also features the Albany appearance of the Rural Economy Caravan at the State Capitol and Siena, as the Rural & Migrant Ministry continues its statewide tour to highlight the crucial role that immigrants play in New York’s rural agricultural economy.

But two particular events on our calendar deserve a special emphasis this coming week. First, this coming Wednesday at noon, we’re back on our bullshit with Avelo Airlines. This time, however, we are taking the fight against Avelo to our local elected Albany County officials. You’ve heard from us time and again about the craven corporate complicity of Avelo, and you all have been steadfast in your determination to rid our community of Avelo’s presence. For three months running now, we’ve been in the streets to raise awareness of the fact that Avelo conducts deportation flights on behalf of ICE, tearing families and communities apart and shipping chained humans off to foreign lands in violation of their civil and human rights. But the fact remains that Albany International is essentially an Albany County entity and, unfortunately, our elected members of the Albany County Legislature, our County Executive and the appointed members of the Albany County Airport Authority have thus far been completely silent on the Avelo issue. So this morning, we wrote a letter to the County Executive and the Chairs of both the County Legislature and the Airport Authority demanding that our officials let us know where they stand and why they continue to tolerate Avelo’s presence in our community. The goal here is to get electeds (and appointeds) – the majority of whom are Democrats, after all – to go on the record and explain why Avelo is permitted to continue operations out of Albany International despite Avelo’s collusion in the unconstitutional acts of ICE. To make sure that our County leadership really gets our message, we’ll then be following our letter up with a rally outside the County Office Building at 112 State Street in Downtown Albany on Wednesday at noon. 

We will also be standing beside our Union sisters and brothers this week. On Tuesday, August 5, beginning at 5:30 outside of Albany Med, we invite you to show up for the New York State Nurses Association as they picket for safe staffing and fair contract in their longrunning dispute with Albany Med. And then, later this week, we call on our members to Stand in Solidarity with 1199SEIU Workers as they strike for a fair contract for the workers at Hudson Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Northern Boulevard. The workers at Hudson Park have been without a contract for more than a year and will be going on strike for 72 hours straight on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. We encourage all of you to come out in support of this crucial healthcare workforce and you can sign up to support the picket line at a time that works for you. We don’t need to remind you how crucial organized labor has always been to the progressive movement.  As King Trump and his minions supercharge a new Gilded Age kleptocracy full of rampant and unparalleled corruption, be reminded that it was organized labor that rose up against the 19th century robber barons depicted above. So, while Trump cosplays as William McKinley and wrecks the economy for the working class with his unconstitutional tariff regime, it should not be surprising that unions have been a steadfast and dependable bulwark of opposition to the Orange King, responding effectively to everything from the chaos of DOGE to ICE kidnappings. The labor movement and immigration are truly what Makes America Great, and, in order to keep fighting for the working class, the unions need our support in turn. So we hope you take some time over this coming week to stand by NYSNA or 1199SEIU as they fight for the rights and well being of their members.