ckaihatsu
6th February 2012, 22:45
Costa Deliziosa Cruise Ship Workers Stage Wildcat Strike, Win Their Demands with ITF & S.F. Trade Union Support -- Interview with Robert Irminger (IBU/ILWU)
U&I
Costa Deliziosa Cruise Ship Workers Stage Wildcat Strike,
Win Their Demands with ITF & S.F. Trade Union Support
Interview with Robert Irminger, delegate from the Inland Boatmen's Union (IBU/ILWU) to San Francisco Labor Council
[Interview conducted by Alan Benjamin, OPEIU Local 3 delegate to San Francisco Labor Council]
Presentation
At 9 p.m. on Friday, January 27, 2012, as I was sitting down to watch "Moneyball" at home with my wife, I received a phone call from a buddy who was drinking a cup of coffee on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. He told me he'd just overheard a police officer say that about 100 workers from the cruise ship Costa Deliziosa had walked off their jobs at Pier 35 in a wildcat strike. Knowing that I am a labor activist, he said he thought I would be interested in getting down to the Pier to talk to these workers and lend a hand.
I immediately called Robert Irminger, a member of IBU/ILWU who works on the waterfront, to ask for his help. Robert then contacted a badge checker with ILWU Local 75 who he knows at Pier 35 and who confirmed that about 100 restaurant workers, mostly Filipino, had staged a walkout and had assembled on the sidewalk in front of Pier 35. Robert also proceeded to contact Jeff Engels, West Coast coordinator of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), for his assistance. Meanwhile, I contacted Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, to ask him to come down to the pier, which he did.
Also, before heading down to Pier 35, I contacted the media to let them know about the developing story. A "hook" for the media was the fact that the Costa Deliziosa is the sister ship of the Costa Concordia, which earlier this year sank off the coast of Italy. The Costa Deliziosa is owned by Costa Cruises, an Italian subsidiary of Carnival Cruises. It had left Italy on December 28 for a 100-day trip around the world. By the time I got to the pier, TV Channels 2 and 7 and several radio stations were already there interviewing the workers.
Following is an interview that I conducted with Robert Irminger on the role that he, Jeff Engels from the ITF, and Tim Paulson were able to play that evening to help these embattled workers win their demands. -- Alan Benjamin
* * * * * *
INTERVIEW
Q - When you arrived at Pier 35, how were you able to connect with the captain of the Costa Deliziosa and get the captain to agree to meet with a delegation that included the workers?
A - I was able to get a message to the captain through the port agent for Metro Cruises. I asked her to deliver a message to the captain, saying there was a representative of the ITF on the dock who would like to talk with the captain about the dispute. I gave her my cell phone number. She delivered it to the captain and within about 10 minutes, which surprised me, the captain called and said, "Well, what do you want to do?"
By that time, Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, arrived and was talking to the media as well as to the 40 or 50 restaurant workers, all decked out in their red jackets, who were standing right on the Embarcadero in front of Pier 35 where the ship was moored. The others had gone back inside the building, where it was not as cold. I explained to the captain that I was there with the head of the San Francisco Labor Council.
Q - How did you identify yourself?
A - I said that I was acting on behalf of the West Coast coordinator for the International Transport Workers Federation, Jeff Engels, who is based in Seattle. As soon as I got the information about the crew members walking off, I had called Jeff in Seattle to tell him about the wildcat strike.
Jeff had told me talk to talk to either the captain or the staff captain (the person responsible for the crew). A company representative was on the dock when I arrived, and as soon as I said to the workers out there on the Embarcadero that I was from the ITF, he scurried off. I'm sure he called his employer in Italy. I assume he also talked to the captain because the captain got back to me. I asked Tim Paulson to talk with the captain. The captain -- Francesco Serra is his name -- agreed that Tim, me and a delegation of five crew members could go meet with him in his state room to negotiate.
Q - How do you explain the decision of the captain to accept this? You and I were together, and you were very doubtful that the captain would agree to meet.
A - My guess is that he agreed to meet with us because this is the sister vessel of the Costa Concordia, which had sunk off the coast of Italy, meaning that the employers wanted to resolve any problem and not have any more bad publicity. I think they were aware the media was already there interviewing the crew members.
Q - Before you talk about the meeting, you had a chance to meet with the workers. What was your sense of their demands? What was it that provoked the wildcat and the walkout?
A - It seemed like it was an accumulation of complaints. The primary one was that they weren't being paid what they were told they were going to be paid. Also, they were told they'd be paid in euros, but they were being paid in dollars. There had also been quite a bit of disrespect of the crew, and the bar manager was basically stealing their tips. They weren't getting the amount of tips that were supposed to be split among them. And there was one incident that came up several times in the discussions, where one of the waiters was verbally abused and shoved by his immediate superior because he didn't serve wine to a guest in the proper manner and was verbally abused in front of the passengers.
Q - I heard the workers complain that they weren't getting any help from the union delegate on board the ship. ...
A - This is correct. They told us they'd written up some of the demands they had wanted to present to the captain, but the union delegate didn't want them to do that. They were so frustrated at the time, so angry, they felt they just had to walk off the job. They knew they might lose their jobs, but they were at their rope's end. Tim also reports that some of the workers felt they had a chance to get their demands met because this was the United States and San Francisco was a union town.
Walking off the job was a very risky thing to do. These were workers from India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and several other countries. They risked not only losing their jobs. They could have been arrested, detained by ICE and deported.
Q - Tell me now about how the negotiations with the captain. What went on and what was the result?
A - Basically, we had four parties. Captain Serra, the company, the workers and the ITF -- in the person of Jeff Engels, who was on the line from Seattle. When we got up there, Tim had the workers explain what their grievances were to the captain. The captain replied that if he had heard about this before he could have resolved this. While we were having this discussion, the captain was making an effort to get a hold of his employer in Italy. Simultaneously, Jeff Engels with the ITF in Seattle, was contacting the Italian union: the FIT-CISL. The ITF has relations with this union.
At a certain point, the captain asked me for Jeff's phone number so the company representative in Italy could call him and talk about the situation -- which occurred. For a period of about an hour and a half we sat there waiting to get word back from either Jeff or the employer. (Jeff reported to me later that while we were waiting, the FIT-CISL in Italy played a key role negotiating with the company.)
After a number of back-and-forth calls between Jeff and Tim, on the one hand, and then between the captain and the company in Italy, it was basically agreed -- the company agreed -- that, yes, the workers should get what they said they should get, and they also agreed that there would be no retaliation, no disciplinary measures, taken against the workers who walked off the ship. And once we came to that agreement in principle, it took some time to write up the document. ...
Q - That was written up by the company in Italy?
A - Yes. It was sent to us on the ship. We looked at it. We sent it to Jeff. He looked at it and okayed it. Jeff signed on behalf of the ITF and Tim signed as a witness on behalf of the San Francisco Labor Council. The captain signed for the company. It had to be faxed back and forth to get all the signatures. The document agreed that the pay dispute would be resolved and that there would be no discipline taken against the workers.
Q - Tim Paulson posted a report on this action on the website of the San Francisco Labor Council. After describing the signed agreement, he ended his posting as follows:
"The Costa Deliziosa's security staff led Irminger, the worker representatives and me down to a dining room where the strikers were waiting. I read the agreement which included the security language protecting those who stood up for their rights and thanked the workers for their courage and diligence. The room went crazy with clapping and shouting. We ended with the 'unity clap.'
"Workers in a foreign port and a foreign land who felt disrespected had stood up for their rights. It wasn't easy, but when workers have a union they have a voice at work. This was not a mutiny. This was a piece of our labor movement."
Do you concur with this assessment? Do you have anything to add?
A - Tim is absolutely right: the workers were ecstatic. When Tim said that this is what we do as a labor movement in San Francisco, we got a huge round of applause.
When I spoke, I also mentioned -- and I did this as much for the company officers, the ship's officers and the company representatives who were with us the entire time, as well as the crew -- that we knew that the ship was going on to Honolulu and Australia and that we have ITF representation there. I said we are going to make sure that the ITF keeps an eye out for them and that the agreement is respected.
Indeed, we will have to monitor things closely in the future to make sure that none of these workers is fired for this action or blacklisted from this or any other cruise ship.
U&I
Costa Deliziosa Cruise Ship Workers Stage Wildcat Strike,
Win Their Demands with ITF & S.F. Trade Union Support
Interview with Robert Irminger, delegate from the Inland Boatmen's Union (IBU/ILWU) to San Francisco Labor Council
[Interview conducted by Alan Benjamin, OPEIU Local 3 delegate to San Francisco Labor Council]
Presentation
At 9 p.m. on Friday, January 27, 2012, as I was sitting down to watch "Moneyball" at home with my wife, I received a phone call from a buddy who was drinking a cup of coffee on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. He told me he'd just overheard a police officer say that about 100 workers from the cruise ship Costa Deliziosa had walked off their jobs at Pier 35 in a wildcat strike. Knowing that I am a labor activist, he said he thought I would be interested in getting down to the Pier to talk to these workers and lend a hand.
I immediately called Robert Irminger, a member of IBU/ILWU who works on the waterfront, to ask for his help. Robert then contacted a badge checker with ILWU Local 75 who he knows at Pier 35 and who confirmed that about 100 restaurant workers, mostly Filipino, had staged a walkout and had assembled on the sidewalk in front of Pier 35. Robert also proceeded to contact Jeff Engels, West Coast coordinator of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), for his assistance. Meanwhile, I contacted Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, to ask him to come down to the pier, which he did.
Also, before heading down to Pier 35, I contacted the media to let them know about the developing story. A "hook" for the media was the fact that the Costa Deliziosa is the sister ship of the Costa Concordia, which earlier this year sank off the coast of Italy. The Costa Deliziosa is owned by Costa Cruises, an Italian subsidiary of Carnival Cruises. It had left Italy on December 28 for a 100-day trip around the world. By the time I got to the pier, TV Channels 2 and 7 and several radio stations were already there interviewing the workers.
Following is an interview that I conducted with Robert Irminger on the role that he, Jeff Engels from the ITF, and Tim Paulson were able to play that evening to help these embattled workers win their demands. -- Alan Benjamin
* * * * * *
INTERVIEW
Q - When you arrived at Pier 35, how were you able to connect with the captain of the Costa Deliziosa and get the captain to agree to meet with a delegation that included the workers?
A - I was able to get a message to the captain through the port agent for Metro Cruises. I asked her to deliver a message to the captain, saying there was a representative of the ITF on the dock who would like to talk with the captain about the dispute. I gave her my cell phone number. She delivered it to the captain and within about 10 minutes, which surprised me, the captain called and said, "Well, what do you want to do?"
By that time, Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, arrived and was talking to the media as well as to the 40 or 50 restaurant workers, all decked out in their red jackets, who were standing right on the Embarcadero in front of Pier 35 where the ship was moored. The others had gone back inside the building, where it was not as cold. I explained to the captain that I was there with the head of the San Francisco Labor Council.
Q - How did you identify yourself?
A - I said that I was acting on behalf of the West Coast coordinator for the International Transport Workers Federation, Jeff Engels, who is based in Seattle. As soon as I got the information about the crew members walking off, I had called Jeff in Seattle to tell him about the wildcat strike.
Jeff had told me talk to talk to either the captain or the staff captain (the person responsible for the crew). A company representative was on the dock when I arrived, and as soon as I said to the workers out there on the Embarcadero that I was from the ITF, he scurried off. I'm sure he called his employer in Italy. I assume he also talked to the captain because the captain got back to me. I asked Tim Paulson to talk with the captain. The captain -- Francesco Serra is his name -- agreed that Tim, me and a delegation of five crew members could go meet with him in his state room to negotiate.
Q - How do you explain the decision of the captain to accept this? You and I were together, and you were very doubtful that the captain would agree to meet.
A - My guess is that he agreed to meet with us because this is the sister vessel of the Costa Concordia, which had sunk off the coast of Italy, meaning that the employers wanted to resolve any problem and not have any more bad publicity. I think they were aware the media was already there interviewing the crew members.
Q - Before you talk about the meeting, you had a chance to meet with the workers. What was your sense of their demands? What was it that provoked the wildcat and the walkout?
A - It seemed like it was an accumulation of complaints. The primary one was that they weren't being paid what they were told they were going to be paid. Also, they were told they'd be paid in euros, but they were being paid in dollars. There had also been quite a bit of disrespect of the crew, and the bar manager was basically stealing their tips. They weren't getting the amount of tips that were supposed to be split among them. And there was one incident that came up several times in the discussions, where one of the waiters was verbally abused and shoved by his immediate superior because he didn't serve wine to a guest in the proper manner and was verbally abused in front of the passengers.
Q - I heard the workers complain that they weren't getting any help from the union delegate on board the ship. ...
A - This is correct. They told us they'd written up some of the demands they had wanted to present to the captain, but the union delegate didn't want them to do that. They were so frustrated at the time, so angry, they felt they just had to walk off the job. They knew they might lose their jobs, but they were at their rope's end. Tim also reports that some of the workers felt they had a chance to get their demands met because this was the United States and San Francisco was a union town.
Walking off the job was a very risky thing to do. These were workers from India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and several other countries. They risked not only losing their jobs. They could have been arrested, detained by ICE and deported.
Q - Tell me now about how the negotiations with the captain. What went on and what was the result?
A - Basically, we had four parties. Captain Serra, the company, the workers and the ITF -- in the person of Jeff Engels, who was on the line from Seattle. When we got up there, Tim had the workers explain what their grievances were to the captain. The captain replied that if he had heard about this before he could have resolved this. While we were having this discussion, the captain was making an effort to get a hold of his employer in Italy. Simultaneously, Jeff Engels with the ITF in Seattle, was contacting the Italian union: the FIT-CISL. The ITF has relations with this union.
At a certain point, the captain asked me for Jeff's phone number so the company representative in Italy could call him and talk about the situation -- which occurred. For a period of about an hour and a half we sat there waiting to get word back from either Jeff or the employer. (Jeff reported to me later that while we were waiting, the FIT-CISL in Italy played a key role negotiating with the company.)
After a number of back-and-forth calls between Jeff and Tim, on the one hand, and then between the captain and the company in Italy, it was basically agreed -- the company agreed -- that, yes, the workers should get what they said they should get, and they also agreed that there would be no retaliation, no disciplinary measures, taken against the workers who walked off the ship. And once we came to that agreement in principle, it took some time to write up the document. ...
Q - That was written up by the company in Italy?
A - Yes. It was sent to us on the ship. We looked at it. We sent it to Jeff. He looked at it and okayed it. Jeff signed on behalf of the ITF and Tim signed as a witness on behalf of the San Francisco Labor Council. The captain signed for the company. It had to be faxed back and forth to get all the signatures. The document agreed that the pay dispute would be resolved and that there would be no discipline taken against the workers.
Q - Tim Paulson posted a report on this action on the website of the San Francisco Labor Council. After describing the signed agreement, he ended his posting as follows:
"The Costa Deliziosa's security staff led Irminger, the worker representatives and me down to a dining room where the strikers were waiting. I read the agreement which included the security language protecting those who stood up for their rights and thanked the workers for their courage and diligence. The room went crazy with clapping and shouting. We ended with the 'unity clap.'
"Workers in a foreign port and a foreign land who felt disrespected had stood up for their rights. It wasn't easy, but when workers have a union they have a voice at work. This was not a mutiny. This was a piece of our labor movement."
Do you concur with this assessment? Do you have anything to add?
A - Tim is absolutely right: the workers were ecstatic. When Tim said that this is what we do as a labor movement in San Francisco, we got a huge round of applause.
When I spoke, I also mentioned -- and I did this as much for the company officers, the ship's officers and the company representatives who were with us the entire time, as well as the crew -- that we knew that the ship was going on to Honolulu and Australia and that we have ITF representation there. I said we are going to make sure that the ITF keeps an eye out for them and that the agreement is respected.
Indeed, we will have to monitor things closely in the future to make sure that none of these workers is fired for this action or blacklisted from this or any other cruise ship.