Subject: Buses to Seattle

It took me a long time to get this info straight but the following is an
outline of what the 'Common Front' is doing to transport people to
Seattle for November 30.

The Common Front put out a call to organizations to sponsor a bus.  Many
unions and community groups responded and the result (so far) is 27
buses will be made available.  Anyone is welcome to take a seat on any
of these buses.  However, there are certain criteria:

1)  You must not have a criminal record in Canada or the US.  You will
not be allowed across the border.

2)  You must provide a government issued photo ID when you get to the
border.  It would be preferable to have a birth certificate and drivers
license together or a passport on its own.  They may get sticky with
proof of citizenship.

3)  You must provide your name and date of birth well before departure.
By well before I mean now.

There is an organizer in Vancouver from the California branch of the
AFL-CIO,  He is coordinating all the information and sending lists to
the INS at the border.  They will be doing background check on
everyone.  A deal has been reached with the INS to get as many people
across the border in as swift a manner as possible.  Once we get to the
border, we will unload the bus and step into the INS office.  They will
verify that everyone has been background checked and let us all through.

The INS is going to very strict about this.  They are counting on the
organizers to 'keep out the riff-raff' so, unfortunately, there will be
very low tolerance for escalated civil disobedience and/or white lies to
get across the border.

Using these buses to get down to Seattle is not for everyone.  While I
personally support a good cd action, the buses are only open to those
who are going to 'behave' (not my idea).  That said, it's a great option
for those of you looking for a ride, really want to go to Seattle and
can only spend the one day there.

The itinerary:

6:00 to 7:30 am - buses depart.  Most are departing from the Hyatt
Regency hotel but there will be a few departing from other locations
(perhaps the Maritime Labour Center, the CAW hall in New Westminster,
etc.)  Buses are going to be staggered to limit the bottleneck at the
border.

10:00 am - WTO Rally begins

12:00 to 12:25 pm - Rally ends.  Line up for march.

12:30 pm - march begins (Seattle Center)

3:00 pm - march ends (Seattle Center)

3:30 to 4:30 pm - buses loaded and depart

7:30 to 8:00 pm - arrive Vancouver

7:00 to 9:00 - BC Federation of Labour holds an anti-WTO rally at the
Hyatt Regency ballroom - free to all

Rides on the bus are free.  If you want to reserve a seat, call the
Vancouver and District Labour Council at 254-0703 or fax at 254-0701.
Remember to include your name and birth date.  Do it now so they can get
the info to the border soon.

See you there.

In solidarity

Mark Bussanich
CAW Lower Mainland Human Rights Council