The Americas

[Sabocat]

Post any worker actions for the Americas here.

[Sabocat]

Latin America

March for truth and justice in Uruguay

The Uruguayan labor federation (PIT-CNT) led a march in downtown Montevideo on September 30 demanding full accountability for the crimes of 11 years of military dictatorship (1973-1984). During that period the Uruguayan military viewed itself as an occupying force over the entire civilian population (every citizen in Uruguay was classified as an A, B, or C category, indicating that person’s political stance.) Hundreds were kidnapped, with many dying under torture.

PIT-CNT leader Juan Castillo said the purpose of Friday’s mobilization was to pressure President Tabaré Vázquez to uncover the truth of the repression: “We demand that, once and for all, Uruguayans know the truth and that justice be done, with no further delays.”

Participating in the demonstration, in addition to the PIT-CNT, were Amnesty International, the Commission of Family Members of the Disappeared (FEDECAM-URUGUAY) and the Service for Peace and Justice (SERPAD).

Mexican sugar workers protest against production law

On September 28, thousands of Mexican sugar workers declared themselves on strike to protest a new federal sugar production law. Major job actions took place in the states of Veracruz, San Luis de Potosi and Jalisco. Veracruz is the center of Mexico’s sugar industry, responsible for 35 percent of sugar output. Twenty-two mills operate there. Most of the nation’s 58 mills were affected by the strike, including the 27 owned by the government.

The strike was sparked by an appeal by the administration of President Vicente Fox to the Supreme Court against a recently approved law on sugar production protecting cane prices. The walkout is part of a series of job actions designed to pressure Fox into withdrawing the complaint and to press for an end to a budget freeze that blocks expanding the labor force and improving the machinery at the state-owned mills.

Public health strike in the Dominican Republic

Waldo Ariel Suero, president of the union that represents public health doctors, the Dominican Doctors College (CMD), declared last Thursday that all 173 public hospitals would be affected by a strike this week. Ariel Suero declared that direct negotiations between CMD leaders, public health officials and president Leonel Fernandez continue to be at an impasse. “Nobody can stop this strike,” said Ariel Suero, “the biggest obstacle is Fernandez himself. He refuses to address our grievances.” For his part, Fernandez asked his compatriots to pray to God for a solution to the crisis that has enveloped this Caribbean nation as a consequence of skyrocketing fuel prices.

Volkswagen workers strike in Brazil

Workers at the Volkswagen plant in the Sao Bernardo do Campo in Sao Paulo state walked out last Thursday following an afternoon assembly. The strike of indefinite duration is over wages and profit sharing. At the assembly workers rejected a 4,700 reales (US$2,500) profit-sharing bonus from management.

The Sao Bernardo facility is Volkswagen’s largest assembly plant and employs 12,000 workers.

Argentina’s Garrahan hospital workers walk out again

Nurses at the Garrahan pediatric hospital in Buenos Aires carried out a 24-hour strike last Friday after turning down a government offer of a 20 percent raise. Three of four unions at the hospital accepted the government offer; the new wage scale will go into effect on October 1.

The fourth union, the Association of Government Employees (ATE), rejected the wage offer. Since the beginning of the year, ATE members have been on strike for combined total of 32 days. ATE is demanding a basic monthly wage of 1,800 pesos (about US$600) and professional recognition for the nurses at the hospital.

The day before the strike, the Garrahan workers rallied at the Labor Ministry. ATE leaders point out that a 20 percent wage increase favors highly paid management employees, who would get a 1,200 peso increase. At the other end of the ladder, orderlies would only receive 140 pesos, increasing the wage gap between the highest and lowest paid workers.

Instead the union is demanding that everyone receive the same wage increase, 550 pesos. Health Ministry officials reject the ATE demand and consider the matter closed, charging that the ATE bureaucracy is politically motivated.

United States

Steelworkers end strike after company announces hiring of replacements

The United Steelworkers Union ended a five-week walkout at Giant Cement Holding, Inc. in Harelyville, South Carolina after the company announced it would begin hiring replacement workers. The 138 strikers began returning to their jobs September 26. However, Giant Cement is not admitting all workers back to their original jobs, claiming some have already been replaced.

The return to work means union members will suffer the loss of retirement and insurance benefits. The Steelworkers union had no comment on the ending of the strike. A Giant Cement company spokesperson said the union had agreed to an unconditional return to work. Giant’s parent company, Cementos Portland Valderrivas of Spain, is currently renovating the Harleyville cement plant at a cost of nearly $120 million.

Health-care workers arrested in protest at California hospital

Hundreds of health-care workers at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) in San Francisco held a protest on hospital property September 28 to pressure management to accept a mediator’s proposal to end the two-week-old strike by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After a police order was issued to disperse, 20 union members remained behind to be arrested.

The SEIU, which represents 800 health-care workers at CPMC, struck the facility on September 13. Originally, the union had targeted an additional seven hospitals—all operated by Sutter Health—for joint strike action, but later reduced the target to CPMC alone. Among the concessions by the union in the mediator’s proposal is dropping of the demand for a master agreement covering all of Sutter’s facilities.

Striking California bus drivers refuse city’s appeal for return to work

Striking bus drivers refused an appeal by the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to return to work while the agency considers the most recent proposal by the United Transportation Union (UTU) Local 23. The latest job action by transit drivers resulted from the transit board’s refusal on September 23 to ratify a tentative agreement. Workers responded by walking out on September 27.

Meanwhile, the Transit District has requested other “essential” employees come to work. The Service Employees International Union, which represents mechanics, supervisors and administrators, have been honoring the UTU’s picket lines. Transit management faces a $1.4 million deficit and is seeking wide benefit cuts to balance their budget. There are rumors that the transit authority is looking to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to intervene and order drivers back to work for 60 days.

Canada

Toronto hotel workers vote to strike

Workers employed by Fairmount Royal York hotel voted 79 percent in favor of strike action on September 27. The nearly 600 workers are members of UNITE HERE Local 75. Voting came after 15-day-long negotiations that broke off over the issues of wages, benefits, working conditions and workload. The Fairmount Royal York is owned by Legacy Hotel Corporation, the largest luxury hotel chain in Canada.

The strike vote comes in advance of negotiations for 4,000 other workers at 23 Toronto hotels whose contract expires in January of next year.

Regina civic workers end strike

Civic workers in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, ratified an agreement on September 26 with city authorities ending a 26-day strike. The first full-scale civic strike in Regina’s history started on August 31 after the city made its final offer of a 5 percent wage increase over three years and a lump-sum payment of $500. Sixteen hundred workers represented by three union locals, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Locals 21 and 7 and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 588, had offered to settle for 6 percent.

The new deal, retroactive to 2004, was reached after eight hours of negotiations. It includes a compromise wage increase of 5.5 percent and was approved by a narrow margin of 68 percent of the 1,600 city workers. According to the CUPE Local 21 president, many workers were disappointed by the new contract and a breakdown in relations with the city is expected in the next negotiations planned for 2007 or during the civic election in 2006.


Link (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/wkrs-o04.shtml)

[Severian]

1,000 workers on strike against Sprint Nextel phone company in 4 states (http://cwa-union.org/news/PressReleaseDisplay.asp?ID=534)

The Northwest Airlines mechanics' strike is continuing. Recent developments:
Northwest asks bankruptcy judge to rip up contracts with other unions (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1129194311427)

Strikers continue on picket lines despite denial of unemployment benefits (http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6941/694104.html)

FAA finds safety problems in work of scab mechanics (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-10-02-northwest-inspection_x.htm)

[Sabocat]

Ohio Delphi workers denounce company plan to halve wages and slash jobs

By a WSWS reporting team
15 October 2005


The bankruptcy filing of Delphi Automotive has set the stage for a historic rollback in the wages of American auto workers to levels, in real terms, not seen since the explosive struggles of the 1930s that gave birth to the industrial unions in auto and other basic industries. Delphi, the world’s largest auto parts company, which was spun off from General Motors in 1999, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a week ago, after demanding that the United Auto Workers union accept wage cuts of up to 60 percent, along with massive job cuts and brutal rollbacks in health and pension benefits.

Since then, Delphi Chairman and CEO Steve Miller has issued one provocative pronouncement after another on the theme that decent wages and benefits for auto workers—and manufacturing workers in general—are a thing of the past. One example: “Paying $65 an hour for somebody mowing the lawn at one of our plants is just not going to survive anywhere in Industrial America for very long. That’s just a hard fact of life.”

The Wall Street Journal hailed Miller’s stand and took up the same theme in a column published Thursday under the headline “Showdown.” The major organ of US finance wrote: “It marks a true reckoning for the traditional auto industry and the end of a 75-year-old way of life in America: that of the highly paid but unskilled worker.”

Earlier in the week Miller announced that he would ask the bankruptcy court to void Delphi’s contracts with its 33,000 unionized workers if the unions did not accept his demands, and predicted his wage cuts would be implemented by next spring.

These attacks will devastate industrial cities across the United States which have already seen tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappear over the last two decades. One of these cities is Dayton, Ohio, where Delphi employs 5,700 hourly and salaried workers. Four of Delphi’s five plants in Dayton are on the company’s list of “underperforming” facilities that face sale or closure.

Dayton has long been a center of auto parts manufacturing. In the early 1970s General Motors employed some 30,000 workers in the city making brakes, air conditioners, struts and other automotive parts. By 1995 that number had fallen to just 15,000. Following GM’s spin-off of Delphi there was a further huge reduction in jobs.

Delphi workers currently contribute wages of $260 million annually to the local economy. In addition, dozens of Dayton-area companies employing thousands of workers are in the auto parts maker’s supplier network. They could face bankruptcy if Delphi shuts down operations.

A WSWS reporting team visited the Delphi Chassis Needmore Road plant in Dayton and spoke to workers about the bankruptcy filing. Only some 1,200 workers remain at Delphi Chassis out of a workforce that once numbered 4,300. Because of years of downsizing, two thirds of Delphi workers have more than 20 years seniority. One of the central purposes of Delphi’s bankruptcy filing is to obtain a court ruling terminating its pension obligations to unionized employees.

A Delphi worker, Robert, told the WSWS, “People are so stressed and sick of the situation that they can’t get out of bed and come to work.”

One Delphi worker explained how the bankruptcy filing is being used to intimidate workers with the specter of layoffs or closure of the facility. “An example of how bad things are—today management sent Department 509 workers home because the company that supplies raw steel to 509 wouldn’t deliver unless they were paid cash. So 509 had no steel to make parts.”

The hefty bonuses awarded top Delphi executives prior to the bankruptcy evoked disgust from virtually every worker interviewed. Overall, there was a mood of anger and militancy, and a sense that the problem began with top management.

The following remarks were fairly typical: “What they are doing here at Delphi is crazy. This bunch is no good. There is too much money at the top. Those people are paid millions and don’t work. Delphi has taken the profits we made them and invested in China, which made them more money and put us out of work.”

Patricia said, “The place to start is at the top, the ones that have it and want more, while we workers at the bottom don’t have anything. I have worked in three auto plants and for all the blood and sweat we have given the company, our reward has been pain.”

In this situation, the leadership of the United Autoworkers has done everything it can to demoralize workers and convince them that resistance is hopeless. In a flier recently distributed at the plant, the union said it would limit its opposition to the courts. UAW officials insisted that the company was within its legal rights to seek the cancellation of the union contract due to its bankruptcy filing.

As a result of multi-tier wage agreements previously accepted by the UAW, the standard wage at Delphi for younger workers is just $17 an hour. At the same time there have been substantial reductions in overtime. Now, faced with surviving on an hourly wage not supplemented by overtime, many workers are finding it hard to make ends meet.

In recent years Delphi has repeatedly issued ultimatums demanding that Dayton-area plants become more profitable. Each time the UAW has agreed to new changes in work rules leading to a further deterioration in wages and working conditions. This has taken place on an almost yearly basis.

Round after round of concessions and mass layoffs have had a dramatic impact on the overall standard of living in the area, since Delphi and General Motors set the pattern for other employers. Now, a job paying as little as $12 an hour is considered a good job by many young workers.

Given the prostration of the UAW, few workers look to the union for a solution. At the same time, there is a sense that the attack on Delphi workers is part of a broader social problem.

Paul, a worker in his late 40s with 28 years seniority, said, “It’s a real bad situation. Everything workers fought for in the last 70 years is being taken away. In 1996, GM decided they would crush the UAW and send everyone to the bottom. The government has done nothing to help working people. Now it looks like I will have to work until I am 65.”

Mike told the WSWS, “I have 28 years service and will be cheated out of my pension. There seems to be a global scheme to put all the wealth in the hands of a few people, and in order to get the money and power they are taking everything workers have.”

He connected the latest attack on Delphi workers with the war in Iraq and the policies of the Bush administration. “I am against wars. If every worker took the position, ‘I will not kill another worker,’ we could do away with war.

“They have spent $350 million on war in Iraq. That money could have been spent on jobs. The war is about oil and control of the world by the US government and European governments will help the US. The assault on democratic rights is almost a done deal now with the Patriot Act and other antidemocratic laws.

“The only thing Bush has said that I agree with is discrimination breeds poverty, but Bush doesn’t mean it or he wouldn’t cancel the Davis-Bacon act for those working to rebuild New Orleans.”

Link (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/delp-o15.shtml)

[Commie Girl]

Brooks, Alberta

Strike begins at Lakeside Packers
Last updated Oct 12 2005 01:08 PM MDT
CBC News

Hundreds of Lakeside Packers employees walked off the job early Wednesday morning, kicking off a strike that many fear could turn violent.


The windshield on a bus carrying replacement workers was smashed.
Workers were blocking traffic from entering the Brooks plant, including a bus carrying management employees.

Picketing workers surrounded the bus about 5:30 a.m., with people inside and outside the vehicle shouting and trading insults. Windows on the bus were broken and three striking workers suffered minor injuries, police said.

United Food and Commercial Workers president Doug O'Halloran said the bus tried to push its way through the workers.

Tires on the bus were flattened, and the grill was pulled off.

But the RCMP were calling the strike peaceful and lawful.

The bus eventually turned around. Lakeside management says there are other people willing to work at the plant – including staff prepared to cross the picket line – but spokesman Gary Mickelson said they wouldn't try to send another bus through until Thursday.

Mickelson says 1,000 workers want to go to work were waiting at a staging area near the plant.

Lakeside is also asking the provincial labour relations board to limit the number of workers that can picket outside the plant, so that people can enter and leave safely.

Striking workers also blocked other vehicles from entering the plant Wednesday, including a feed truck for the cattle, Mickelson said.

The members of the United Food and Commercial Workers, who are trying to get a first contract, say their strike mandate would have expired Friday.


Workers block a bus carrying replacement workers from entering the Lakeside plant.
They were prepared to walk off the job in July, but the day before they were set to hit the picket line, the province stepped in and imposed a disputes inquiry board to talk to both sides, halting any job action for 60 days.

The union says it will put the latest offer from the company to a vote, but from the picket line. It also wants the labour relations board to change some of the conditions of the Lakeside offer, which it argues are illegal.

Lakeside wants the provincial labour board to force the union to put their offer to a vote.

In July, labour relations experts had predicted that a strike at the Tyson Foods-owned plant would be lengthy, similar to the last job action at the facility in the 1980s, which killed the union.

The UFCW was certified again last year, and received a 70-per-cent strike mandate in its efforts to reach a first contract with Lakeside, the major employer in Brooks, southeast of Calgary.

Many people in the community are concerned that the racially charged atmosphere at the plant could turn any labour dispute violent.

About 60 per cent of the employees at the town's biggest employer are immigrants, many from Sudan. Some believe local workers would report for work in the event of a strike, while the new Canadians remain on the picket line.

The RCMP will use a pamphlet in English, Arabic, Spanish and French to help workers understand acceptable behaviour during labour disputes.

[Commie Girl]

Plant managers charged in crash that injured strike leader

Last Updated Sun, 16 Oct 2005 00:31:57 EDT
CBC News

Two senior managers of a southern Alberta slaughterhouse locked in a bitter strike have been charged in a highway collision that injured a union leader.

The RCMP said late Saturday that dangerous driving charges had been laid against Garnet Altwasser, 65 – who has been both president and CEO at Lakeside Packers in Brooks – and Patrick Gummeson, 52, the manager of farm operations at the plant.

An RCMP news release said two other people face the same charge over the Friday night collision that injured Doug O'Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Local 401.

O'Halloran, 53, has also been charged in a separate incident that took place on the first day of the strike, Wednesday, when violence broke out as the company tried to send buses through the picket line.

O'Halloran faces two counts of willful damage and one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, the RCMP said.

Pickets allege union leader was run off the road

Many pickets outside the slaughterhouse on Saturday alleged that plant managers boxed in O'Halloran's car while he was travelling nearby and deliberately forced him off the road. Some of them called on police to lay charges of attempted murder.

But there were conflicting accounts of the crash. The RCMP confirmed that three vehicles were involved in an accident on a highway where speeds can reach up to 110 km/h.

RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes said an RCMP collision analyst had been called in from Lethbridge.

Oakes wouldn't say whether the crash was connected with the strike, which was called after nearly a year of failed negotiations as union members try to get their first collective agreement.

O'Halloran was treated in hospital Friday evening and later released. He's reported to be feeling stiff and sore.


Police said no one else was injured during the collision near the entrance to the plant, which lies about 160 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

The accident was reported only hours after O'Halloran appealed for calm as tempers flared on the picket line. He urged the province to force Lakeside's parent company, the Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, into binding arbitration. Premier Ralph Klein had responded that he didn't have the power to do so.

On Wednesday, the first day of the strike, several pickets reported minor injuries incurred while blocking a bus from entering the plant. On Thursday, three strikers were treated in hospital after a confrontation between union members and replacement workers who had been bussed into the plant.

The company stopped production at the plant for the weekend, saying it wanted to give time for tempers to cool.
Meanwhile, it successfully appealed to the Court of Queen's Bench on Saturday, for an injunction that bans pickets from blocking vehicles as they enter or leave the slaughterhouse. It also limits the number of pickets around the entrance to 50.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board had already ordered the same restrictions, but the court ruling means pickets could face criminal charges if they violate the directive.

The union says it has support from about 1,500 workers of the more than 2,400 people who work at Lakeside, the largest employer in the city of about 12,500 people.

The company has said that 1,000 employees are willing to cross the picket line and go to work.

A Lakeside computer technician presented a petition with more than 800 signatures to the provincial labour board, asking that the union be decertified. The board rejected the plea.

[Severian]

Philadelphia transit strike enters third day. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/02/philadelphia.transit.ap/)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- With a strike halting most of Philadelphia's public transportation for a third day, negotiations between the region's largest transit agency and its workers' union broke off early Wednesday with no sign of progress.
.....
Resolute, angry transit workers vowed Tuesday to remain on strike for months if necessary, a grim prospect for hundreds of thousands of riders forced to find other ways to get around.
....
Contract talks between the transportation authority and the Transport Workers Union broke off Sunday night, and about 5,300 union members walked off the job for the first time since 1998.
....
The transportation authority said union leaders rejected a contract offer that would have required employees to pay 5 percent of their health insurance premiums. Veteran workers currently pay nothing. The offer also included a 9 percent pay increase over three years.
....
"I gotta do what I gotta do to keep my benefits. You can't give back one cent," said Gene Hetrick, a 32-year-old bus mechanic and father of four. "It's a covenant we made and now they want us to pay. I know how the public might perceive it, but it's unfair."

Bus driver Bob Horn said he and other longtime employees began saving money months ago in anticipation of a strike. He said he has enough cash to get through Christmas.

"After 31 years of service, they're going to pull the rug out? That's not going to happen," said Horn, 53.

The walkout inconveniences about 400,000 daily riders, including 27,000 public school students who receive free or subsidized transit tokens.

***

Philly's unusual among U.S. cities in that much of it's population - maybe a third? - doesn't have cars and relies on the subway system. -- S.

[Severian]

Philly transit strike ends. (http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/08/43704f5b709a0)

After a week-long strike.


Under the new four-year contract, which still awaits final approval from union members, workers will receive 3 percent annual pay raises.

All 5,000 Local 234 members will also pay for part of SEPTA's health-care costs on a sliding scale based on salary.

Unlike SEPTA's original proposal that workers pay 5 percent of health-care premium costs, union members will instead contribute 1 percent of their pay, based on 40-hour workweeks.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The transit workers on the other side of the state in Pittsburgh may be going out next.. keep an eye on that.

[Severian]

Originally posted by Commie [email protected] 16 2005, 11:04 AM
Plant managers charged in crash that injured strike leader

Last Updated Sun, 16 Oct 2005 00:31:57 EDT
CBC News

Two senior managers of a southern Alberta slaughterhouse locked in a bitter strike have been charged in a highway collision that injured a union leader.
Update on this:
After 23-day strike, Canada meatpackers win union contract (http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6945/694503.html)

BY JOHN STEELE
TORONTO, November 6—After 23 days on strike meat packers at the Tyson-owned Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alberta, are returning to work with a union contract. Fifty-six percent of the workers voted yes for the agreement United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 reached November 1 with the Tyson bosses.

When the result was announced workers present in the Brooks voting center chanted, “We won, the union’s in!”

About 1,600 of the 2,100 workers participated in the November 4 vote. These included workers who crossed the picket lines during the strike. “The company bused many of the scabs to the vote,” Aamir Shahzad, a meat packer and union representative of UFCW Local 1118 at the Cargill slaughterhouse in High River, told the Militant by phone from Brooks. “They were told to vote no to keep the union out.” Shahzad was assigned by the union to help Local 401 during the walkout.

Under the contract, the first since the union was decertified in the 1980s, all workers will pay union dues. Those hired after November 5 will be union members as a condition of employment. Those who were not members at the time of ratification are not required to join. The 51-month contract includes an immediate wage increase of Can$1 (US$.84), bringing the starting hourly pay to $13, and raises of 30 cents each the next three years, and a 40-cent increase in 2009.

“Come Monday [November 7] we’ll reach out to those who crossed the picket line because we’re all on the same side,” UFCW Local 401 president Doug O’Halloran told the Calgary Sun. “We must make it clear that what we did was not for us, but for all employees,” said meat trimmer and striker Peter Jany, who is a member of the bargaining committee.

Emphasis added. Sounds like a victory to me, the success of a fight to reestablish the union in the plant.

[Sabocat]

Latin America

Betrayal in the works as Chilean miners’ strike escalates

Employees of subcontractors to Chile’s national copper company CODELCO escalated last week. There are now 10,000 workers on strike, up from 2,000 the week before. However, a deal has been worked out between the unions and the government of Ricardo Lagos that is a flagrant betrayal of the workers’ original demands.

The strikers represent 28,000 employees of subcontractors at several copper mines in northern Chile.

Originally, the workers were demanding bonuses of about US$1,000, approximately two and a half months’ wages, due to high copper prices. In an attempt to press the administration of President Lagos, the union bureaucracy offered to drop the bonus demand for a demand that workers be compensated for unspecified past contract violations by the contractors and CODELCO.

This so-called compromise demand seems to be more palatable to the Lagos government. Draft legislation is being rushed through Congress to work out a deal that would avoid further confrontations before the January 15 presidential elections. Throughout the week, mass mobilizations of miners and their supporters have taken place in northern Chile. The police were mobilized against the protests, and scores of miners were arrested.

Most of the workers perform supporting tasks in the mines and are paid a paltry US$400 a month, one fifth the wages of miners directly employed by CODELCO. They also work long hours and have no job security.

The strike has affected the world price of copper, which reached a record level of US$2.11 per pound, as global investors rushed to buy copper. CODELCO management claims that production has not been affected by the strike because the strikers work in engineering, maintenance, cleanup and food provision.

Protest over sacking of banana workers in Honduras

Banana workers employed by the transnational Chiquita Bananas International went on strike last week to protest the firing of three of their comrades at a plantation in Honduras and the suspension for 16 days of Gustavo Castro, president of the Union of America.

A spokesman for the Federation of Banana Unions reported that management has not responded to the workers’ demands.

This strike takes place in the midst of a campaign by the unions for the elimination of plastic bags to wrap the banana bunches. The bags are coated with fungicides, a practice that has environmental consequences and is affecting the health of the workers that transport bunches on their backs and load the trucks that transport the bananas.

General strike call in Haiti to protest UN troops

On January 7, the National Council of Political Parties (CNPP) issued a call for a countrywide mobilization and general strike for Monday, January 9. The CNPP is demanding that so-called UN peacekeeping troops leave the country.

The CNPP is also demanding the resignation of the Provisional State Council (CEP) and of all the administrators imposed by the US invasion that overthrew President Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

According to a report by Prensa Latina, a Cuban news agency, CNPP leaders accuse the CEP, the UN and the Organization of American States (OEA) of being impotent when it comes to tackling Haiti’s economic and political crisis. Last week the CEP postponed the holding of presidential elections, which would have been held on January 8. It was the fourth postponement by the CEP, from the original date of November 13.

The call for a general strike parallels a call for businesses to close on January 9 issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to protest a wave of kidnappings for ransom that is taking place in Port-Au-Prince. Reginald Boulos, president of the Chamber and a multimillionaire, was a supporter of Aristide’s removal.

Seven thousand troops, including soldiers from Brazil and other Latin American countries, have occupied Haiti since 2004.

United States

Hospital management retaliates against worker for whistle blowing

Management at a California hospital fired a worker who videotaped the improper disposal of biohazard waste and presented it to management. David Vega, a housekeeper at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California, caught on videotape repeated episodes of the disposal that violated OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety) standards and endangered workers and patients alike.

Two other hospital workers were suspended for five days when they attempted to intervene with management on Vega’s behalf. “All I did was ask for fairness for my co-worker, and Enloe responded in the most unfair way,” said Bev Erickson, who received a suspension. “Losing five days of pay is really hard for me and my family, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time because of the holidays.”

One-day walkout at Connecticut nursing home

Workers at Brittany Farms Health Center in New Britain, Connecticut, conducted a 24-hour strike January 5 to protest the high cost of health care, low pay and a lack of job security. Management last proposed wage increases of 20 cents in the first year, followed by a 30-cent increase in years two and three. Workers currently make between $9.00 and $14.99 an hour, which is lower than other health care facilities in the region.

The 220 workers are also required to pay as much as $166.40 every two weeks for health insurance. Workers originally voted 121-67 in August 2005 to join the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, and are seeking their first contract.

Kentucky governor calls for right-to-work legislation

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher issued a call for right-to-work legislation at a news conference at the state capital January 6. “We must get Kentucky off the economic development no-call list,” he declared. Fletcher was joined by several business executives who have agreed to push the measure, dubbed “employee choice.”

Currently, Kentucky workers covered by collective bargaining agreements are not required to join unions, but they must pay dues to cover the cost of bargaining and representation. Fletcher’s proposal would end the mandatory payment of representation fees.

Canada

Strike ends at Quebec ski resort

On January 3, the strike at Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec ended after 18 days when 71.5 percent of workers voted in favor of a recommendation by a provincial government conciliator. The main issue in the strike was wages. The new contract gives workers a 16 percent increase over five years. According to a spokesman for the union that represents the workers, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the deal also includes the creation of a pension fund in the third year of the contract and more generous vacation entitlements.

The 1,500 striking employees, whose previous contract had expired on October 31, include hill-groomers, lift operators, cafeteria staff and housekeepers. They earn on average C$13.90 an hour.

Newfoundland nursing home staff stage wildcat strike

About 100 nurses working at Hoyles-Escasoni seniors’ complex in St John’s, Newfoundland, went on a one-day wildcat strike on January 3 over the issue of overwork caused by low staffing levels. The nursing home has about 375 residents, some of whom require constant care. Due to the insufficient number of nurses, when someone is absent there is often no replacement brought in. The situation became more serious over the holidays.

The picket lines came down after only four hours, when management promised to negotiate with the union over improving staffing levels. Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) President Carol Furlong said that the regional health authority is in the process of hiring more employees to add to its casual pool.


Link (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/wkrs-j10.shtml)

[Severian]

Northwest asks court
to void union contracts
With the strike by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association against Northwest Airlines now in its fifth month, the company is asking a bankruptcy court judge on January 17 to approve breaking its contracts with unions representing pilots, flight attendants, and ground workers. Northwest, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, is demanding $750 million in concessions from these unions. The Professional Flight Attendants Association, which has 9,600 members at Northwest, has threatened to strike if its contract is voided.

from the Militant (http://www.themilitant.com/2006/7004/700432.html)

[Janus]

Pensacola, Florida

Source: IWW

The ATU 1395 are drivers working for little above minimum wage. Maybe you've seen them. They drive the "Community Transportation" vehicles that take the elderly and disabled where they need to go around town. Since unionizing in 1998, the Community Transportation drivers have made many gains, going from $6 hour top pay w/ no benefits to $8 hourly wage with some paid vacation and holiday time and health insurance. Now their boss, Pensacola Bay, which is owned by Marjorie Wilcox of Mobile, is trying to take away their health insurance and as rejected further negotiation on the possibility of future pay increases. It was with great difficulty that the senior members of ATU 1395 have voted to go on strike and take their grievences to the streets. A Pensacola News Journal article recently quoted ATU 1395 President Michael Lowery as saying that the dispute is about wages, increased health insurance costs, and a harsher point system on their driving record. The formal complaints include: Failure to bargain in good faith, coercion and intimidation of employees in the union and unilateral policy changes without negotiations.

The union's last negotiations with the company were on the 15th of November and were fruitless. Since then, the strikers, women and men, most of them parents and grandparents, have continued their strike. They are also continuously hurt by scabbing, both from employees of Pensacola Bay who have remained on the job and by Taxi companies (Yellow Cab and Williams Cab) who pick up their rides while the strike is going on.


This is the first local union strike in Pensacola since the 1970's, so it's easy to imagine how important it is that these workers recieve solidarity from other unions in Pensacola and around the country, as well as sympathetic individuals.

The Pensacola ATU has been on strike for almost half a year now.

[Janus]

Denver Coping With Transit Strike


Originally posted by AP Press
Roads were more congested Tuesday but few other problems were reported in the second day of a mass-transit strike.

With no new contract negotiations scheduled, striking workers rallied outside closed Regional Transportation District strations. The RTD operated about 45 percent of its normal bus service schedule Tuesday, but light rail operations were shut down.

A union spokesman said Tuesday that bus drivers, train operators and mechanics planned to ask Gov. Bill Owens to intervene in their strike.

However, spokesman Dan Hopkins said the governor has no plans to step into the negotiations. The state Labor Department previously said a strike would not jeopardize public safety.

With more people than usual driving, parking was at a premium. Some spots in private lots went for $50 Monday when thousands flocked downtown to watch the Colorado Rockies play the Arizona Diamondbacks on opening day and later the Colorado Avalanche take on the Chicago Blackhawks.

The transit system averages about 275,000 rides per weekday.

Public school officials allowed high schoolers to hitch rides on school buses that transport physically handicapped students or on RTD buses that deliver elementary or middle schoolers near their high school.

The strike meant more money for Ross Alexander, president of Denver-Boulder Yellow Cab.

"The phones are ringing. There's no doubt about it," said Alexander. "The drivers are having a feeding frenzy now."

While traffic on Denver's highways moved normally with some reported backups on off-ramps, Aurora resident Lauren Barela complained that her commute took an hour and 20 minutes, instead of her usual 45 minute bus ride.

"I won't be able to do this for too long, maybe a week. It's just taking me way too long," said Barela, 24, who rides the bus to save on gas and parking.

Union leaders had recommended approval of the transportation authority's contract, which included a wage hike of $1.80 an hour over three years in 15-cent raises every quarter, plus increases in health benefits. However, 55 percent of workers rejected the offer in a Sunday vote, triggering the strike.

"We have talked to both sides and urged them to find common ground as quickly as possible. We are hopeful that the situation will be resolved soon," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

[Janus]

The Denver transit strike has ended.


Originally posted by AP
Trains and buses started rolling again Monday to the delight of thousands of Denver-area commuters who had to find another way to get to work during a weeklong transit strike.

"I'm incredibly happy," said Rebecca Popowitz, 22, who does not own a car and had to walk or used the slower, pared-down bus service that still ran during the strike. "Grocery shopping was a bit of a pain because I had to lug it all back home."

The Regional Transportation District's 1,750 union mechanics, bus drivers and train operators walked off the job April 3 after rejecting a contract offer that their union leaders had recommended. The strike shut down all train service and more than half the bus routes in a seven-county area.

On Friday, the workers overwhelming approved a new contract with the same overall wage increase but a larger initial raise.

The morning commute started smoothly, state transportation officials said.

Bus driver Len Robinson said he believed passengers would not hold the strike against him or other union members.

"I didn't hire on to strike, but I believe in standing up for ourselves," he said. "I'm thinking they'll be glad we're back."

Ahmad Lucas of Denver, who hitched rides with co-workers to get to his hospital job during the strike, said: "People shouldn't be upset at the drivers because they've got to make a living, too."

Under the new contract, workers will get a raise of $1.80 an hour over three years, starting with 50 cents an hour retroactive to March 1. The transit agency will also increase its contribution for workers' health insurance.

The agency serves Denver and seven surrounding counties, an area with about 2.5 million residents. It averages about 275,000 rides per weekday.

[violencia.Proletariat]

Walmart workers take action.


The Nation -- Yesterday, more than 200 Wal-Mart workers held a demonstration in front of a Wal-Mart store in Hialeah Gardens, Florida. In the first significant protest ever organized by Wal-Mart employees in the United States, workers objected to managers cutting their hours, and to the company's insistence on employees' "open availability," as well as to a new, more stringent attendance policy.

It's courageous of these workers, who are part of a Florida group called "Associates at Wal-Mart," to speak out publicly and demand better treatment. Let's hope their protest is a turning point in the fight for workers' rights at Wal-Mart, and that more workers will be emboldened by the Florida workers' example and begin to organize. Too much of the debate over Wal-Mart takes place without the perspective of the true experts -- the workers themselves.

http://www.iww.org/en/node/2951

[coda]

Steelworkers Strike Goodyear Tire To Stop Plant Closings and Givebacks
— William Johnson


Goodyear strikers in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The company wants a 50 percent pay cut for new hires and the creation of a four-tier wage system.

More than 15,000 members of the Steelworkers (USW) at 16 Goodyear Tire and Rubber plants in the United States and Canada went on strike October 5, rejecting a proposed contract that would have closed two plants and imposed steep concessions. Goodyear’s proposal reportedly included a 50-percent wage cut for new hires, the creation of a four-tier wage system, and health care and pension cuts.

“We’ve drawn a line in the sand,” said Dave Prentice, benefits representative and political coordinator for USW Local 2 in Akron, Ohio. “When the top officers [at Goodyear] share $38 million in bonuses at the expense of the people who generated the profit, that may be legal, but it’s immoral.”

Immediately after the strike was announced, hundreds of workers began picketing outside of Goodyear’s Akron, Ohio headquarters and at plants around the country. Eight of the 12 struck plants in the U.S. make tires, while the other four make hoses, belts, and other rubber products.

THE LONG HAUL

According to USW spokesperson Wayne Ranick, the strikers are in it for the long haul. “We’re ready to be out there for a while,” said Ranick. “In Akron, strikers are building shanties. In Sun Prairie, Wisconsin they’re building fishing huts. We’re getting ready to be out there through the winter.”

Goodyear is also preparing for a war of attrition, having borrowed nearly $1 billion in cash to get it through the strike. According to Ranick, “they got that money now because if this strike lasts for a while their creditors are less likely to give them a loan. They know we’re ready to stay out for a while.”

Although the company has claimed it’s maintained operations with minimal disruption since the strike began, Ranick said, “The fact is there’s not enough people in the plants. They’re trying to run things with supervisors. They’re getting no real production.”

Business analysts estimate that the strike is costing Goodyear anywhere from $14 million to $43 million a week in lost production.

In Akron, Local 2 members make tires for NASCAR cars. According to Prentice, a third-generation Goodyear worker, “these are very labor intensive tires. It’s a one-year learning period.

“If I were [Dale Earnhardt] Junior, I wouldn’t want to be driving 200 miles per hour on a straightaway not feeling confident about my tires.”

UNION SUPPORT

Beyond the Steelworkers, Goodyear strikers have gotten support from members of other unions. Nichele Fulmore, a member of Teamster Local 391 in North Carolina, said she’s been on the picket lines with Goodyear strikers from the Fayetteville, North Carolina plant.

“They’re hanging tough,” Fulmore said of the strikers, “they know they’re in it for the long haul. They were real glad to see us out there with them.”

Dee Rucker-Ash, a Goodyear worker and benefits representative for Steelworkers Local 959 in Fayetteville, said that spirits remain high for the 2,000 union workers from her plant. On October 21 the local union hosted a prayer vigil. “A lot of people showed up,” said Rucker-Ash. “There was a real feeling of fellowship.”

Pete George, a founding member of USW Local 831 in Danville, Virginia and now a retired Teamster, has been joining Danville strikers on the line. George said that of 2,200 Goodyear workers in Danville, only one had crossed the picket line.

“They’re not going to give in,” he said of the strikers. “Goodyear’s trying to say they need these cuts because of foreign competition. Everybody knows that’s baloney.”


Fulmore, who’s been bringing her two-year-old daughter to the pickets, said that the mood around Fayetteville is supportive of the strikers. “The pickets are right by the highway,” she explained. “People driving by are giving us the thumbs up, honking their horns—especially the truckers.”

Ranick said the public is behind the strike because the Goodyear conflict “goes beyond union versus management. People see the constant loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs. People in communities see the negative impact when a plant closes.”

Prentice agreed, noting that in Akron, “any of these closures not only hurt our members, they cause great harm to the local community.”

In Danville, said Pete George, strikers know how high the stakes are. “These are some huge cuts Goodyear’s asking for. A fifty percent pay cut? Management just wants to see how far they can push, and now they’re finding out.”

http://labornotes.org/node/351

[Leo]

Miners’ strike in Peru

http://en.internationalism.org/wr/305/miners-strike-peru

The miner’s strike in Peru is a fact. The miners that work for the Chinese company Shougang began their strike three weeks ago. The struggle has spread to all the mining centres in the country. Inevitably, for the moment, the unions have carried out their reactionary role, especially the union at the countries largest mine: Yanacocha (a gold mine in Cajaqmarca in the North of Peru, which generates $800 to $1000 million a year). This union held isolated discussions with the company and did not call a strike. Similarly, at Oroya the unions were denounced by the press for working. It clearly wanted to break the minimum unity since the Mining Federation had said that 33 union sites were on strike.

At Chimbote, where the peasant and unemployed struggle had been going for some weeks, the Sider Peru company was totally paralysed. Wives marched with the miners, along with much of the city’s population. In the city of Ilo streets were blockaded, in Cerro de Pasco 15 miners were arrested for stoning the local headquarters of the regional government.

The press carried out its reactionary role by saying that the strike was a failure. Acting as the mouthpiece of the state, the means of disinformation, along with the Minister of Mines (Pinilla) said that only 5,700 miners out of a total of 120,000 were on strike. The Mining Federation said that 22,000 were on strike.

At the Casapalca mine, on the Sierra de Lima, the miners detained the mining engineers who had threatened to sack them if they abandoned their posts. The Minister Pinilla declared the strike illegal because it had been called four days before it began, rather than the 5 that the law called for. There are a lot of temporary workers in the mines and the minister warned that those miners who did not return to work on the Thursday would be made unemployed.

Another aspect of this struggle was the involvement of the miners employed by sub-contracting companies. A miner employed directly by a company earns $23 a day, whilst a miner subcontracted to the mines, by one of these companies, earns $9 a day. An advertisement by a miner’s wife pointed out that President Alan García had promised in his election speeches to get rid of the sub-contractors.

On the other hand, a news programme showed a demoralised Shougang miner saying that three weeks had passed and he was not able to eat. The tears of the miner telling of his misery and that of his family which had to stay in the provinces could demoralise other miners on strike. Some students of the University of San Marcos in Lima showed solidarity with the miners and took some food for the ‘communal kitchens’, the latter is a common practice in all strikes (teachers, nurses, workers etc). Food is shared amongst families there, whilst exchanging experiences and evaluating the day’s struggle.

On the other hand, the government presented the privatisation of the Michiquillay mine in Cajamarca, whose initial price was $47 million but ended up being sold off for more than $400 million, as another demoralising blow.

This indefinite national strike, the first in 20 years, has not paralysed this sector.

[Leo]

Brazil: air traffic controllers in struggle

http://en.internationalism.org/wr/305/braz...raffic-struggle (http://en.internationalism.org/wr/305/brazil-air-traffic-struggle)

"We have reached the limits of human endurance, we are in no fit condition to maintain this service, which is of great importance to this country, given the way we are managed and treated. WE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN OUR EQUIPMENT, OR IN THOSE WHO MANAGE US! We are working with rifles pointed at us.." This is how the air traffic controllers([1]) of Brasilia, Curitiba, Manaos and Salvador, dramatically expressed themselves in a Manifesto([2]), before paralysing the services from midday Friday 30 March, by calling a hunger strike and shutting themselves into their workplaces, in order to put pressure on the Aeronautical Command, the military organ responsible for air traffic control in Brazil. At 14.00, at the end of the morning shift at CINDACTA-1 (Centro Integrado de Defense Aérea y Control de Tráfico Aéreo) in Brasilia, which controls 80% of air traffic in the country and employs 120 controllers, the controllers decided to occupy their workplaces in order to continue their movement. Faced with the repressive measures of Aeronautical Command, which ordered the arrest of 16 controllers and threatened "to apply regulations" and imprison the "mutineers", at 18.50 the controllers decided to spread the movement to other control centres. This paralysed 49 of the 67 airports in the country. At 0.30 on Saturday 31st the strike was suspended, after the government revoked the orders to imprison the strikers and agreed to meet their demands; principally taking the air traffic control service out of military control.
Solidarity is the foundation of the struggle

Following the collision of two planes at Mato Grosso, in western central Brazil on 29 September, which left 154 dead, the controllers have carried out various "folded arms" actions against the accusations of the government and military authorities which tried to make them take the blame.

In their Manifesto, the workers defend themselves against these lies: "Six months after the collision there have been no positive signs about the difficulties faced by the air traffic controllers. On the contrary, they have got worse. As if these technical-work difficulties are not bad enough, we are also accused of being saboteurs, in order to try to cover up the faults in the management of the system...".

The strike expressed the air traffic controllers' indignation faced with the response of the government and the High Command; "the repression of the military high command against the Sergeant air traffic controllers has generated such a dissatisfaction that we are not going to remain silent faced with such injustice and the impunity of those truly responsible for this chaos".

This strike has exposed the hypocrisy of the whole of the Brazilian bourgeoisie and its involvement in the crisis of air transport: this applies to today's left 2government as well as to those of the right. They denounce the incapacity of the Lula government and its efforts to hide the long-term deterioration of the air traffic control system - which began before it came to power - and the uncontrollable growth of competition between the airlines, the policy of cutting costs, the over selling of tickets and the increase in the number of flights, leading to the air traffic control system working in extreme conditions. As for Lula he is also responsible, since he has not put in place the necessary operational measures that would benefit the whole of the system. Instead he has given priority to investing in the Grupo Transportes Especiales (GTE), which deals with the Presidential Airbus and flights for the highest reaches of the government, civil and military hierarchy.

The workers' action has put the cat amongst the pigeons. It has made public a situation that has been either hidden or distorted in order that workers in this sector, passengers and the general population did not know what was happening. In this way this strike, short but with a wide impact, is an expression of the air traffic controllers' solidarity with other workers of the sector and with the population which could be affected by air accidents. It shows that the proletariat, through its conscious, political and organised combats, has the capacity to carry out struggles against capital in favour of labour and the whole of society, that it has the means to overcome the impotence and frustration that the bourgeoisie condemns us to.
Government and unions surprised by workers' action

The government and unions were surprised and overwhelmed by these events. The aeronautics authorities believed that the controllers would back down faced with the threat of imprisonment and the application of military discipline. However, these measures only served to radicalise the movement. Faced with the radicalisation of a movement that could have had unpredictable consequences, Lula himself had to intervene (he was on his comfortable Airbus going to meet his colleague Bush), making full use of his past experience as the ‘social fireman' of the workers' struggles, an expertise eagerly gained as a union leader in the ABC of Sao Paulo. It was not because of his democratic credentials or being a ‘worker president' that Lula was able to force the High Command of the Brazilian Air force to negotiate with the strikers, but because of his profound experience as a trade unionist, that is as an agent of the capitalist state amongst the workers. He understood that the workers were determined to take the struggle to its ultimate consequences; that this expression of workers' anger could spread like wildfire. Thus it was vital to undermine this movement.

The unions and associations did nothing to sustain the struggling workers. The Sindicato Nacional dos Tabalhadores de Proteção ao Vôo (SNTPV) which organised the civilian controllers, was forced to publish the Manifesto on its website. It's President Jorge Botelho tried to divide the controllers by declaring that "the Manifesto has only been signed by the military controllers", therefore the civilian controllers joined the strike despite the opposition of the union. As for the other unions in this sector, controlled by the PT (Workers' Party), they were careful not to make any statements that could have made things difficult for their supreme leader on his trip to Washington.

The movement however did come up against illusions and traps. The Manifesto expressed certain illusions that the workers had about the government's ‘democratic opening' and ‘transparency': "Brazil is living through hitherto unknown moments of democracy and transparency with the recovery of ethical values and respect in public life". The workers are still dazzled by the Left's beautiful words. This is the Left of capital, and as such makes use of the hypocrisy of the capitalist class; as well as sustaining the political and ideological machinery of bourgeois democracy though which the bourgeoisie maintains the dictatorship of capital against labour.
Lost illusions

A few days after the strike, the government denied the validity of the agreement signed by its representatives and the strikers, which accepted their demands. In a furious press and public announcement President Lula accused the controllers of being "irresponsible" and "traitors" for not having shown respect for institutions and the military hierarchy: "People have to know that in a democratic regimen, it is fundamental to respect institutions and the hierarchy" (Folha Online, 5/4/07). This announcement opened the way to open repression, reinforcing the bourgeoisie's military's intentions to punish and incarcerate the most combative elements (those who at the beginning of the movement had reacted to the imprisoning of 18 controllers). The negotiations that Lula had demanded were only a ruse to exhaust the movement and win time.

We should not be in the least surprised because governments, whether of the right or left, along with the unions, are nothing but tools used by the bourgeoisie to serve the interests of the ruling class. The proletariat, in Brazil as well as elsewhere, have learnt to their cost that having trust in so-called civil liberties, the promises of the bosses and governments, allows the bourgeoisie not only to combat their struggles, and leaves them disarmed faced with the state's offensives and the whole panoply of repression, reprisals, lay-offs and violence.
Perspectives

The explosion of the controllers struggle has shown that neither bayonets nor the unions (whether controlled by the right or the left) can prevent proletarian struggle. This struggle demonstrated that if the left, under orders from Lula, has been able to contain the workers struggles, they have not disappeared. Despite the anti-working class actions of the PT and the CUT, the Brazilian proletariat is still alive and kicking. In this situation the labour ‘reforms' put forwards by the Lula government cannot fail to provoke reactions from the Brazilian proletariat[3].

In order to gain its real aims, the proletariat has to draw the lessons of its struggles, of the struggles of the whole class. It must criticise its illusions about the capacity of class society to offer a way out of the degradation of its living conditions The air traffic controllers strike has demonstrated that the strength of the proletariat is not only quantitative but also qualitative. The controllers, despite numbering no more than 3,000, have been able to confront the largest state in Latin America thanks to their high level of solidarity, to their organisation and their politicisation, and because they had the implicit support of important sectors of the working class. ICC 04/04/07

[1] The great majority of Brazilian air traffic are military personal with the rank of sergeant. Of 2289 controllers, only 154 are civilians.

[2] The complete text of the controllers manifesto can be read on the website of the "Sincicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Proteção ao Vôo " (SNTPV), which organises only the civilian air traffic controllers. The union, despite not offering support for the struggle, was forced to publish the manifesto due to the movement's strength.

[3] The government has ‘reformed' legislation in relation to labour and the unions, under the pretext of ‘jobs creation'. These ‘reforms' do nothing but make work more flexible, and increase the casualisation of the Brazilian proletariat in order to greatly benefit national capital.

[blackstone]

Metro Lighting Workers Fight Against Anti-Union Retaliation
http://www.iww.org/en/node/3681

Union workers at Metro Lighting are resuming picketing today as they strike over the company's unfair labor practices. One union worker was fired last week for both union organizing and raising concerns over workplace exposure to toxic chemicals. The other workers are striking over the company's repeated violations of federal and state labor law and are demanding that all union workers be allowed to return to work.

Fired worker Gabe W. describes the behavior of Metro Lighting owners Lawrence and Christa Grown: "In the process of organizing, the boss made the environment very hostile. He would not negotiate on any terms and started retaliating from that point on. He hired union-busting attorneys, started harassing us at work and started surveillance of us. Our working conditions changed and the employee manual was re-written 3 or 4 times since we started organizing. New rules were made up, our hours were changed, our health care was cut."

Metro Lighting workers have been organizing with the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, and are fighting for a sustainable wage for all workers, safe working conditions and an end to the age discrimination that has resulted in thousands of dollars in lost wages to one worker in his 60s.

Metro Lighting owners have shown no willingness to negotiate with the union employees. In an attempt to crush the morale of the union workers, they locked them out for over three weeks and claimed to have closed the business due to a "family emergency". The business was clearly open, however, as they were taking appointments through their website or over the phone and have had scabs working in both the retail store and workshop the whole time.

Metro Lighting union workers are asking the community to come out and picket with them in solidarity this week and to let Metro Lighting know that Berkeley won't tolerate a business that is unfair to labor!

[Zurdito]

email I recieved, support Buenos Aires tube workers


Campaign in defence of the Buenos Aires underground railway union delegates


Dear friends,

There have been a number of serious attacks intended to destroy the militant shop stewards’ committee of Metrovías (the Buenos Aires underground railway company).

Over the last weeks the following events have taken place:

1) The company refuses to recognise the delegates and has halted all negotiations.
2) The bureaucratic leadership of the union (UTA) is also attacking the shop stewards’ committee, and has sent in loyal officials to initiate a process of sanctions against the delegates with the aim of removing their credentials.
3) The company has unleashed a campaign of defamatory graffiti, leaflets and newspaper announcements that has the open support of some government functionaries.
4) Delegates have been intimidated, physically attacked, and are facing legal proceedings. There has been a heavy presence of security forces in some areas of the underground system.
5) The company has sent a telegram announcing the start of a legal process to withdraw trade union facilities from, and eventually sack, one of the shop stewards, Néstor Segovia. They have similar plans for other members of the shop stewards’ committee.

Faced with these events, as well as asking for your support for any measures decided democratically by the railway workers, as a matter of urgency we are launching an international campaign, requesting statements demanding an end to these attacks on trade union and labour rights. Please send your messages to the following addresses:

Metrovías
[email protected]

Minister of Labour Dr Carlos Tomada
[email protected]
Fax: + 54 (11) 4310 6092
Telefax: + 54 (11) 4310 6319

Labour Secretary: Dr. Noemí Rial
[email protected]

CGT - Trade Union Confederation
Hugo Moyano + 54 (11) 4334 0596 / 99
[email protected]


With copies to the Metrovías Shop Stewards’ Committee:
[email protected]
[email protected]

[hekmatista]

I'm posting this on behalf of a syndicalist friend. Labor in the US is so backward that this modest step of uniting railroad workers industry-wide is radical.
Rail Labor Activists Build Solidarity Caucus
By Ron Kaminkow
Rail Labor activists from across North America are coming together tof orm a new cross-craft inter-union caucus that includes all rail workers in North America. Membership is open to union members from all the various unions (once known as the "brotherhoods") in this new organization. In addition, special efforts will be made to include Canadian and Mexican workers as well.To build this broad based unity and solidarity, the activists have launched Railroad Workers United (RWU). We want everyone to understand that we are not creating another rail union to compete with those already in existence, explains Jon Flanders, member of Machinists #1145 in Selkirk, NY. Instead, we are creating an industry-wide caucus where we can all come together to help each other build the solidarity,support, democracy and strength that is missing in our individual craft unions. Who knows what the potentials and possibilities could be for such an organization of all rail labor. Designed to be a dues-paying membership-based organization, RWU will include among its ranks, members of the following unions:
United Transportation Union (UTU), the largest rail union, which represents most trainmen and yardmasters and some engineers, now scheduled to merge on January 1, 2008, with the Sheet Metal Workers.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, (BLET), an affiliate of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED), also a member union of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
Transportation Communication Union (TCU), itself an amalgamation of seven previous rail unions. (TCU is an affiliate of the Machinistsunion).
Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC), the largest TCU affiliate.
Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS).
American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA).
International Association of Machinists (IAM).
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Sheet MetalWorkers International Association (SMWIA).
International Association of Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, Iron Ship Builders, Forgers & Helpers.
National Conference of Firemen & Oilers (NCFO), an affiliate of SEIU.
Transportation Workers Union (TWU).
We have been divided craft against craft, union against union,terminal against terminal for too long, claims Joe Wyman, UTU trainman in Tucson, AZ. And now, with the dramatic increase in trans-border freight movements between all three nations of our continent, and the gobbling up of major Mexican rail lines by U.S. based rail carriers, organizers suspect it is only a question of time before the carriers effectively play one country's railroaders off against another. Wyman goes on to say, We know we will truly be stronger by including all railroaders in North America from Canada and Mexico as well as the U.S. The impetus and energy for the building of such an organization largely comes from Railroad Operating Crafts United (ROCU). Organized itself in the spring of 2005, ROCU's goal was to end the warfare between the two unions that represent the operating crafts -- the BLET and the UTU and to unite them into a single powerful and democratic union. While the organization was extremely popular with the rank-and-file of both unions and had some successes, it ultimately floundered due to the failure of UTU and BLET union officials to reach accommodation. Earlier this year,the BLET settled on a contract in master freight bargaining with the national carriers, while the UTU has been left out in the cold. In addition, some on-property agreements re-fueled the UTU-BLET conflict. Feeling betrayed by what it perceives as a hostile BLET, the UTU ran for cover into the arms of the Sheet Metal Workers, and has now merged with the SMWIA to become SMART ( Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & TransportationWorkers), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. With the BLET firmly affiliated with the Teamsters (IBT), an affiliate of the Change-to-Win Coalition, ROCU realized that hope for a merger between the operating craft unions was all but lost in the convoluted quagmire of business unionism of the 21st century. Rather than continue to beat our heads against the wall in face of the determination of the officials of the BLET and the UTU to remain separate and at war with each other, states Union Pacific engineer Ed Michael of Salem, IL., we decided to put our energy into building something that most of us already believe in, or have come to believe in, as a result of our experience in ROCU. We believe that an organization of all rail labor is the key to building real rank-and-file power in our industry. And while RWU continues, in principle, to support the concept of a united single union of the operating crafts (and all of rail labor), this will not be the focus of its work. Rather, RWU aims to build a solidarity movement of all rail labor in the struggle with the carriers. It doesn't take a genius to see that the fractured nature of rail labor presents a stumbling block to achieving any real union power in the faceof hostile rail carriers, notes Jen Wallis, BNSF conductor in Seattle, WA. Since the first rail workers began to organize in the 1860's rail labor has been divided into these archaic and cumbersome craft unions which are more often prone to compete, rather than cooperate, with each other. The divisive nature of craft unionism was not lost on Eugene Victor Debs and other forward thinking rail union leaders of their day. In the 1890's these leaders organized a gallant attempt to build a single union of rail workers to unite all under the banner of the American Railway Union. The organization was wildly popular with the rank-and-file of all crafts and within months the ARU had 250,000 members! The new organization was so successful that the carriers feared its awesome power to bring the railroads to their knees. Together with the federal courts and US government, the ARU was violently crushed, its records confiscated, its leaders jailed. But it had proven its strength and effectiveness, and the desire for such an organization lives on in the hearts of railroaders across North America. The name of Eugene V. Debs is revered among rail unionists to this day. While RWU is not an attempt to build a new union like the ARU, there are similarities. RWU includes members of all the various craft unions on all properties. Membership is open to all railroaders who share RWU's goal of building a solidarity and unity caucus among railroaders and to act as a support group for workers in their struggles. We are building a network of railroaders across North America, to help educate one another about the issues, inform each other about our individual struggles, and to actively lend support and solidarity when one or another group of us is locked in battle with any carrier. states KevinThompson, UTU conductor with Amtrak in Reno, NV. To these ends, RWU will specifically engage in the following activities:
Support candidates, who actively support RWU goals and principles, for leadership positions in the various unions.
Support movements for democracy and accountability within the various rail unions
Build unity between unions at the next round of bargaining.
Act as a solidarity organization locally, regionally and nationally by building awareness and support for each others job actions, strikes,etc.
Develop a newsletter to be distributed continent wide with news and views about the rail labor unity movement and various struggles across North America.
Develop and maintain an up-to-the-minute website to augment the newsletter, providing railroaders with timely information about rank-and-file issues.
Support mergers between rail unions where they make sense and empower the rank-and-file.
Build local chapters in terminals to more effectively recruit newmembers, build solidarity at the base, and support the general organization.
Get behind national legislative campaigns that would benefit railworkers, facilitate union organizing, and benefit the working class in general.
But RWU is not just about building solidarity. Organizers claim that the problem of rail labor is not just its divided and fractured nature, but one of moribund bureaucracy and the lack of internal democracy. Union leaders are all too often out-of-touch with the needs and wishes of their membership, claims Hugh Sawyer, NS engineer in Atlanta, GA. and Local Chairman of BLET #316. Through tightly controlled conventions, no direct elections for top officers, and an entrenched good old boy network, rank-and-file members are excluded and alienated from day-to-day union affairs. Sawyer continues, Add to this the pay, special perks and privileges enjoyed by the union hierarchy, and you have a union more concerned with the preservation and enhancement of the lifestyle of its officers than that of its members. RWU has drawn up a Statement of Principles to act as a guide to its work. Those railroaders wishing to join the organization are expected to agree with and support RWU's principles and goals which include support for the following:
Unity of all Railroad Crafts
An End to Inter-Union Conflict
Rank-and-file Democracy
Union Membership Education, Participation and Action
Solidarity: An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Coordinated Bargaining -- No to Concessions
An Interim Steering Committee drawing from the ranks of all crafts and all unions has been set up to guide the group until its founding convention. The convention is scheduled to take place Friday, April 11th, 2008, and is planned to coincide with the Labor Notes Conference in Detroit that weekend. There, the delegates present expect to formally adopt a name, a Statement of Principles, a constitution and bylaws, and will debate and discuss various resolutions. Organizers are inviting workers from all carriers, all crafts and all unions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. All rail unionists who support the interim Statement of Principles and are willing to join and pay dues are welcome to attend and participate in the founding convention.
For more information, including a copy of the RWU Statement of Principles, please contact the RWU at 206-984-3051: or seethe website www.railroadworkersunited.org (http://www.railroadworkersunited.org) |

[Bilan]

Latin America
Guatemalans protest food prices
Tens of thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets on June 27 to protest the high cost of living. The demonstrations, held in several cities, were organized by the National Front for Struggle (FNL), a coalition of public employee trade unions, citizens groups and the main opposition party, the URNG. This was the first mass protest against the government of President Álvaro Colom since he came to power last January.
In Guatemala City, the protesters rallied at the National Legislature and delivered petitions demanding legislation that stops price increases that “only favor the rich and increase poverty.” Similar marches and rallies took place across the country.
The increase in commodity prices has devastated living standards in Guatemala, a country in which 73 percent of the population is classified as either poor or extremely poor. Government measures to reduce the impact of price increases by lowering taxes have provided little or no relief.
Chilean teachers announce more protests against new education law
Public school teachers in Chile announced on June 28 they plan to mobilize against the new General Education Law being discussed in the legislature, which opponents say opens the door to state subsidies of for profit schools at the expense of public education. The law was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on June 19th and will be discussed in the Senate this Tuesday.
On June 18, more than 10,000 teachers and students marched through the streets of Santiago. The president of the 90,000-strong Teachers’ Union, Jaime Gajardo, indicated that, beginning this Tuesday, the teachers will march and rally across the country and would set the date for a “social and political strike” to protest the law. Teachers are demanding measures to strengthen education for all students, no matter their economic circumstances.
On June 26, more than 60 students were arrested in Santiago and in the northern city of Copiapó. The arrests in Santiago took place when police blocked the demonstrators from marching on Chile’s Government House, the Moneda Palace, to petition Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The police used water cannon and tear gas against the protesting students.
The government has refused to postpone national university entrance exams in deference to protesting students, many of whom have missed days in school. In response, student leaders have declared they are willing to lose the school year rather than accept the new law.
United States
Worker hit by car on Las Vegas casino picket line
A union worker picketing at the Gold Coast hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, was struck by vehicle June 27 in an event that fellow protesters described as deliberate. A Ford Bronco entered the casino’s parking lot and halted a short distant inside the property. When Lenny Butterfield, a 41-year-old member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 88, resumed his pacing by crossing the parking lot’s entrance, the Bronco then shifted into reverse and lurched back across the picket line. Butterfield was hit and thrown into the street.
Fellow picketers provided police with a detailed description, including the license plate number, but no arrest has been made. Butterfield was taken to University Medical center and treated for cuts and bruises.
Washington State worker injured in 40-foot fall
A construction worker in King County, Washington, fell off a scaffold June 27 and plunged 40 feet into a wet well of a wastewater pump station. The unidentified man, who worked for Cascade Painting, was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to be treated for severe head and chest injuries.
The Washington Department of Labor has initiated an investigation into the accident. The Juanita Bay Pump station construction project began in 2005 and was scheduled to finish this year.
Supreme Court overturns California law barring companies from using taxpayer funds in anti-union campaigns
The United States Supreme Court voted by a 7-2 margin June 19 to strike down a California law that barred companies from using state-derived funds in propaganda campaigns to discourage workers from joining a union. The bill, passed by the California Assembly in 2000, was aimed at companies such as nursing homes that receive state finances for their operations from using those in anti-union campaigns.
Ten other states have since followed California in enacting such legislation. In 2002, the US Chamber of Commerce filled a lawsuit and won its case in federal court. But in 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, arguing that the use of taxpayers’ money violated the “neutrality” of labor law.
The court majority declared that the California law infringed upon companies’ freedom of speech.
Canada
Vancouver inside workers set to strike
The union representing more than 400 inside workers for Metro Vancouver issued a strike notice last week, but no strike has yet been called and a tentative agreement has been reached between the city and outside workers. Workers affected include translators, engineering and administrative staff, as well as some sewage workers.
Details of negotiations have not been made public. The city is reportedly offering wage increases of 17.5 percent over three years. While the union has said it is seeking a number of other improvements in a new contract, they have indicated that they are in no hurry to call a strike. An as-yet-undetermined number of union members are expected to be deemed in essential services in the event of a strike, and the union has indicated it will wait for a ruling on who is included in that category before it calls workers off the job. Such rulings typically take several days, if not weeks.



From WSWS (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/wkrs-j01.shtml)

[Bilan]

Latin America


General strike call in Peru

The CGTP, Peru’s largest labor federation, has called for a general strike July 9 to protest the economic polices of the government of President Alan Garcia, including the recent trade treaty signed with the United States.


“The government’s economic policy just benefits small, privileged groups,” said Mario Huaman, secretary general of the CGTP. He said the one-day walkout will include workers from a broad range of industries.


Garcia predicted the strike would fail and would serve to “scare away investors” that have poured billions of dollars into the country’s mining, oil and construction industries in the recent period. The approval rating of Garcia stands at just 30 percent.


Peruvian miners end walkout

The largest federation of mineworkers in Peru called off its nationwide walkout Sunday after one week. The union called the strike to protest rising consumer prices and demand that Congress pass legislation raising the cap on profit sharing so that workers can benefit from record-high copper prices.


Last week huge protests by miners and university students in Lima led to at least three injuries. Police fired tear gas at a crowd of about 1,000 miners as they tried to approach the parliament building.


Union leaders agreed to end the strike after receiving verbal assurances from government officials of a lower minimum age for retirement. Workers had also wanted an eight-hour workday and the right to enroll in state-supported pension funds.
Copper prices hit a two-month high last week due to the walkout. Peru is the world’s second largest producer of the metal. The strike had only a limited impact on production because employers used strikebreakers. In addition, workers at several mines returned to work Friday.


United States


New York City cement truck drivers strike

Over 400 New York cement truck drivers walked off the job July 1 after union representatives for Teamsters Local 282 pulled out of talks with negotiators for contractors. The result has been a rapid slowdown of work on major construction projects throughout the city, including the Freedom Tower, the Second Avenue subway, the new Yankee Stadium, and the new ballpark that will replace Shea Stadium for the New York Mets.


The New York Times quoted the president of a carpenters local as saying, “A lot of our carpenters have been laid off until the strike is settled. I would say it’s in the range of 2,000 members. Without concrete deliveries, we can’t proceed.”


Negotiations between the Quadrozzi Concrete Corporation, which owns 50 trucks, and the union ended when the contract expired last Monday at midnight. The walkout began shortly thereafter and negotiations are not expected to resume until some time this week. A spokesman for the union, Local 283 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the main issues were wages and working conditions. City officials have spoken to both sides in an attempt to end the dispute. The two sides were scheduled to resume talks July 7.


Seattle sprinkler fitters strike construction sites

Seattle sprinkler fitters walked off the job July 1 to protest the current contract offer by construction contractors. Some 500 members of Sprinkler Fitters Local 699 rejected contract terms by an 85 percent margin.


The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), the industry group representing contractors, is seeking a four-year contract, as opposed to the traditional three-year agreement. The NFSA also wants to increase the number of apprentices who are paid half the $24 to $30 an hour that the other workers receive. In addition, the contractors want to impose mandatory drug testing.


Other building trades workers are honoring Local 699 picket lines at more than 25 construction sites in the city.


Minnesota judge finds Wal-Mart violated state labor laws

A Dakota County judge ruled that Wal-Mart Stores forced its Minnesota employees to work off the clock by skipping rest and meal breaks and not paying workers for the time they spent in training. Judge Robert King found that the giant retailer had committed more than two million statutory violations and awarded workers $6.5 million in compensation.


The case originated when four workers brought a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 56,000 Minnesota Wal-Mart workers employed between 1998-2004. A jury trial scheduled for October will ultimately decide the final amount to be paid by Wal-Mart. The company issued a statement disassociating itself from the widespread abuse and attempted to blame store managers. Wal-Mart also indicated it would consider appealing the decision.


ILWU, employers continue negotiations past contract expiration date

Contract talks between negotiators for the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the 25,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have continued past the old contract’s expiration date of July 1. After a break for the 4th of July holiday weekend, which also includes the union’s July 5th celebration of “Bloody Thursday”—commemorating the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike which resulted in the recognition of the ILWU—bargaining was set to resume July 7.


The preliminary discussions, which began in mid-March, marked the earliest start for negotiations in the union’s history. Undoubtedly, the union bureaucrats are hoping to avoid a repeat of 2002 when the PMA used a lockout, the invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act, legal attacks and provocations to push through job cuts and concessions. The Bush administration, citing the “war on terror” and national security, threatened to use troops to keep the docks working should the union resort to a slowdown or strike. Faced with these concerted attacks, union officials resorted to nationalistic appeals and appeals to the Democratic Party, a strategy that proved useless.


Canada


Grain workers to strike

As many as 1,000 grain workers in Saskatchewan and British Columbia employed by Viterra Inc. are poised to go on strike this week following the company’s announcement of its intention to implement the contract offer rejected by unionized workers last month.


For its part the company warns that it plans to institute what it calls a “modified lockout” this week. The two sides dispute what is actually on offer, with the company claiming it is proposing wage increases totaling 27 percent over five years and the union saying that much of the money the company says is on offer was already committed in previous agreements. Also at issue are matters of job classification and benefits. The majority of the company’s 4,000 employees are not unionized. Union leaders view the lockout as an attempt to provoke a strike.


Snap strikes at Quebec hotels

In the first of what promises to be a series of similar actions, last Friday 1,500 workers at four major hotels in Montreal staged a “snap” strike—an unannounced brief withdrawal of service—in an effort to pressure hotels across the province to speed negotiations for a new contract. The workers are represented by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which has promised to step up its pressure tactics if hotel owners do not begin to bargain in earnest.


Although wages and pensions are central issues in their dispute, the union is also seeking reductions in workloads, particularly for chambermaids who have seen their responsibilities climb as hotels compete to augment services for guests. The number of hotel workers giving strike mandates grows daily across the province, showing the determination of this group of highly exploited, mostly immigrant, workers to improve working conditions and job security.


While hotels are trying to use management staff to fill in for the strikers, they have been forced to curtail some services as a result of the job actions.

[Zurdito]

email I recieved, support Buenos Aires tube workers

this story continues, the other day there was a major wildcat strike , which managed to close down every single one of the lines (A-H and the other one) and paralyse the whole city. it was chaos. congratulations to the workers who showed great solidarity. the sturggle here continues, it will surely be a protracted one. if any of you speak spanish, this link is useful:

http://www.periodismo.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6782