On the Picket Line

[Communist]

.
On the picket line (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/picket_line_0225/)
By Sue Davis
Feb 2010


Borax workers fight lockout

After 500 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30 who work the Borax mine in Boron, Calif., owned by Rio Tinto unanimously rejected a contract offer that would have changed seniority rules, the company brought in replacement workers on Feb. 1. The mine is the largest open-pit mine in California and the second-largest borax mine in the world. Rio Tinto, a London-based mining giant with operations on five continents, wants to hire nonunion workers and change the seniority system so it can promote people based on skill and performance rather than just years of service. The union says the proposed changes will lead to nepotism. “I think the company had the impression we were going to roll over and let them feed us the poison,” Jim Freeman, who has worked at the mine for 31 years, told the Feb. 1 Los Angeles Times.

Continental ground workers join Teamsters

Continental fleet service employees — baggage handlers, ramp workers and cargo agents — voted to join the Teamsters union on Feb. 12. Teamster officials say that their winning strategy included holding major rallies at Continental hubs in Cleveland, Houston and Newark, N.J., as well as organizing activities at other airports around the country. The Teamsters built upon a 2008 unsuccessful attempt to organize these 7,600 workers, who remained one of the largest groups of nonunion workers in the airline industry. No wonder the Teamsters called this win “a big victory.” (New York Times, Feb. 13)

Migrant workers win $2.75 million settlement

More than 2,200 migrant workers from Mexico and Central America, who planted pine seedlings throughout the Southeast, won a class-action settlement worth $2.75 million on Feb. 12. Superior Forestry Services, which hired them under the federal guest worker program, was charged with paying the workers less than the minimum wage and not paying them for all the hours they worked. The Southern Poverty Law Center led the team which filed the lawsuit in 2006 to win justice for the workers. (Associated Press, Feb. 13)

Reuters reporters make news

On Jan. 29 Reuters reporters and supporters were making the news instead of covering it as they demonstrated outside Reuters offices in Washington, D.C. Responding to Reuters’ declaration on Jan. 19 of an “impasse” over contract negotiations, the protesters chanted, “Impasse, my ass!” reported Union City, the online daily newsletter of the Metro Washington AFL-CIO. (Feb. 1) Reuters announced the day before that it was going to start imposing new working conditions that will mean more work and effective pay cuts of at least 10 percent. The union noted that Reuters’ actions are “especially hypocritical” in light of the company’s profitability and the CEO’s $36 million pay package in 2008. The Newspaper Guild of New York represents 110 Reuters workers in D.C. and over 400 across the country; the rally was supported by the Washington-Baltimore Guild.

S.F. Labor Council supports organizing in the South

The San Francisco Labor Council unanimously passed a resolution on Feb. 8 that both commemorates the 10th anniversary of the historic victory of the Charleston 5 and extends solidarity to the Jobs with Rights Now campaign, which seeks to organize and defend workers in the South. Initiated by Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the resolution recounts the successful struggle to free five members of International Longshoremen Association Local 1422 — four Black, one white — who had been charged with inciting-to-riot felonies after 600 cops charged their lawful picket line and brutalized the workers on Jan. 19, 2000. As the resolution notes, “[T]his historic victory serves as a model for all who seek economic and social justice in our nation.”

______ (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/)


Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World. (http://www.workers.org/wwp/)
Verbatim copying and distribution of ntire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

.
On the picket line (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/picket_line_0311/)

By Sue Davis
Mar 5, 2010

UC researchers, technicians win contract

It took two years of tough bargaining and community mobilizing, but the University Professional and Technical Employees, Communications Workers of America Local 9119, won a tentative contract the week of Feb. 22 covering 9,000 researchers and technicians at the University of California.

Union members gained public and community support through a media campaign and lobbied the state Legislature. The five-year agreement provides pay increases of 14.5 percent over the contract, plus an initial $1,000 payment. Other improvements include a $1.7 million equity pool to address pay inequities in some job categories, and the university agreed to contribute 4 percent to the workers’ pensions this year and to limit cost increases in workers’ health benefits. “This is a great agreement, especially considering the terrible state of California’s economy. We won good raises ... and will continue to fight for workers at U.C., especially in the area of job security,” said UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Jelger Kalmijn.

Faculty file for union election in Michigan

A majority of the nontenure-track faculty at Central Michigan University filed for a union representation election on Feb. 23. The Union of Teaching Faculty, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and represents more than 6,500 higher education faculty in the state, will negotiate job security, salary increases, health insurance and professional development issues. Full- and part-time nontenure-track faculty teach close to half of all undergraduate credit hours, mostly in introductory courses. Not only do these highly qualified, experienced teachers earn much lower pay than tenure-track colleagues, they receive reduced benefits, have little job security, and often aren’t consulted about important departmental decisions.

Univ. of Tenn. employees fight cuts

Hundreds of university employees, members of United Campus Workers, Communication Workers of America Local 3865, rallied Feb. 25 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to fight proposed state higher education budget cuts of $61 million. Protesters marched to the president’s office to deliver a letter calling on the administration to look at other strategies before laying off hundreds of support staff and nontenured faculty members. Over the past 10 years, top administrative salaries have nearly doubled to $76.1 million, while salaries of operational support workers, including programmers, secretaries and library staff, have actually decreased. The average salary of workers slated to be laid off is $23,500 a year. UCW represents 1,000 university workers at seven University of Tennessee campuses.

Pittsburgh passes prevailing wage law

The Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passed a citywide policy on Feb. 19 that will require developers receiving government subsidies or other tax incentives to pay the private sector going rate to building service, food service, hotel and grocery workers. The law also requires city contractors to pay prevailing wages to their workers. That has inspired workers in New York’s Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ to demand the same law in New York City, reports the Feb. 24 American City and County periodical. “Cities around the country should follow Pittsburgh’s lead and get out of the business of creating poverty jobs,” said 32BJ President Mike Fishman.

Mass. and R.I. workers vs. Stop & Shop

Nearly 40,000 members of five locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers union were set to strike 240 Stop and Shop stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island if a new three-year agreement was not reached by midnight on Feb. 27. But UFCW announced Feb. 28 that negotiations will resume March 2 over wages, pensions and health insurance contributions. (Patriot Ledger, Feb. 28)

S.F. Labor Council supports Mexican workers

The San Francisco Central Labor Council passed a resolution on Feb. 8 denouncing the takeover of Mexico’s national energy utility last October. All 44,000 electrical workers were fired and their union crushed so that President Felipe Calderón could sell the nationalized industry to private transnational buyers. The resolution calls for the workers and their union to be reinstated and a settlement negotiated to maintain the nationalized utility. The resolution states that “the attempt to unilaterally destroy the Mexican Electricians Union, disregarding their legally binding labor contract and labor laws, is an extreme human rights violation and a threat to all organized labor in Mexico and internationally."
__



Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.workers.org/wwp/). Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

.
On the picket line (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/picket_line_0325/)

By Sue Davis
Mar 18, 2010

Hotel workers continue fight for contract

A steady downpour on March 12 failed to deter UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel workers and supporters from holding a spirited picket line outside the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The workers, who have been fighting since August for a contract with no cuts in health care benefits, called a boycott of the hotel months ago. A union press release noted: “The Starwood Corporation, which manages this hotel, makes huge profits every year. This hotel alone generated $17 million in earnings for its ownership in 2009, through the hard work we do.” It continued: “But Starwood is trying to use the current economic crisis to roll back our health care. ... It’s not that Starwood can’t afford to cover our health care; it’s just that they don’t want to.” The picket was called March 12 to shame the World Affairs Council for holding its convention at the Westin. The union declared: “You can’t lead globally if you won’t lead locally.”

Health insurance lobbyists in D.C.

Thousands of union members and health care activists, organized by a joint committee of the two leading labor organizations, surrounded the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., on March 9 while health insurance lobbyists convened to plot ways to stop the modest health care bill. “Blocking health care reform is a crime!” chanted the activists as a delegation, armed with a warrant to arrest the lobbyists, attempted to enter the hotel. After they were rebuffed, demonstrators covered building entrances with bright yellow tape that read: “It’s a crime to deny our care.” (Union City, online newsletter of the Metro Washington AFL-CIO, March 10)

First labor contract signed under Indigenous law

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation signed the first labor contract negotiated under Native law with United Auto Workers Local 2121, which represents 2,500 dealers at two casinos in Foxwoods, Conn. An article in the Feb. 10 Indian Country Today noted that this “sets a model for improved labor relations between tribal nations and employees throughout Indian country,”

Defend union staff at NY Historical Society

Workers who run the day-to-day operation of the New York Historical Society, who have been members of United Auto Workers Local 2110 for over 30 years, demonstrated March 3 against unprecedented cutbacks proposed during contract negotiations. Not only does the NYHS want to freeze wages and drastically reduce health and retirement benefits, but it plans to reduce hours for many positions so workers in the library, print room, visitor services, store and mailroom will not be entitled to any benefits. “We do not believe the Society’s position is economically justified,” read the union flyer. “ ... Thanks to the hard work of all the Society’s employees, its prospects for the future are excellent.” To support the workers, urge NYHS President Louise Mirrer ([email protected]; 212-873-3400) to bargain “for a fair contract that recognizes [the workers’] long-term contribution to the Society.”

S.F. Labor Council affirms Haitian sovereignty

The San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution March 1 urging that the Obama administration make giving vital aid to the Haitian people a priority over military deployment; that aid be distributed by civilian authorities; that the Haitian people coordinate and lead relief efforts and long-term rebuilding of their country; and that the U.S. support the Haitian people’s demand for sovereignty and self-determination. The resolution also called upon the top international financial groups “to secure the immediate cancellation of all of Haiti’s external debt” and requested grants, not debt-incurring loans, to help the country rebuild. In addition, it called for an end to the U.S. banishment of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide “so that he can freely and safely return ... and participate in the rebuilding of his country.” The resolution also asked the AFL-CIO to find ways for union members to be involved in reconstructing Haiti.


-------------



Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/). Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

.

[Communist]

.
On the picket line (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/picket_line_0422/)

Apr 17, 2010


NYC building workers set to strike

More than 30,000 doorpeople, janitors, porters, handypeople and superintendents who keep thousands of New York City’s elite residential buildings humming are set to strike at 12:01 a.m. on April 21 if the Realty Advisory Board doesn’t stop demanding what Service Employees Local 32BJ called “unfair and unacceptable cuts to health care, overtime and sick days” in a March 17 statement. When negotiations stalled in early April, Local 32BJ members voted unanimously to strike. The union has scheduled a rally for April 13 to tell New York’s $584 billion real-estate industry, which has been flush with cash during this recession, that they will not bow down to unreasonable demands to further line the already-stuffed pockets of greedy landlords.

Hotel workers’ actions across U.S.

The 850 workers at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel walked out April 7-10 as part of UNITE HERE Local 2’s ongoing struggle for a decent contract. The billion-dollar hotel industry wants the workers to pay more for health care, but the low-paid workers say they can’t afford what the bosses propose. The union has held rolling strikes since the contract expired in August 2009. With negotiations stalled since December and none scheduled, Local 2 plans other strikes targeting the top 60 high-priced hotels. In the meantime it’s called a boycott of six hotels: the Hilton Union Square and Hilton Fisherman’s Wharf, Westin St. Francis, W Hotel, Grand Hyatt and Le Meridien Hotel.

Employees of Columbia Sussex Corp., the fourth-biggest hotel owner in the U.S. with 67 hotels, called a boycott of seven hotels the week of March 22.

Members of UNITE HERE say the layoffs, pay freezes, benefit reductions and health-care cuts have got to stop. The company is trying to bleed the workers as it scrambles to pay off more than $1 billion it borrowed to buy 14 hotels in 2005. The union calls for a boycott of seven hotels, three unionized and four unorganized, to support a union organizing drive. The union hotels are the Baltimore Sheraton City Center, Hilton Crystal City outside D.C. and the Anchorage Hilton. The non-union hotels are the Westin Washington, D.C., City Center, Westin Emerald Plaza San Diego, Wyndham Chicago and Westin Chicago Northwest.

DOL workers ‘ready to march’

During a March 31 union town hall meeting, workers at the Department of Labor, represented by Government Employees Local 12, accused Labor Secretary Hilda Solis of acting like her Bush predecessor. Contract negotiations, including such issues as paid family leave, flexible work schedules, teleworking and ending management nepotism, have dragged on for more than a year. Workers intend to picket the DOL with an inflatable rat. (Union City!, online newsletter of Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, April 1)

S.F. Labor demands jobs for all

As part of a four-year review by the United Nations Human Rights Council designed to ensure that the U.S. complies with a number of U.N. treaties mandating full employment, the right to a job and union rights, the San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution March 15 requesting that it collaborate with other labor organizations in writing a report to be delivered to the UNHRC. Among other provisions the report will call on the U.S. to enforce the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, “remove all obstacles to organizing workers and encourage Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” and post all U.N. treaties that mandate workers’ rights in every workplace in the U.S.

_________________



Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/). Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

.