One Big Union

Please Tell Congress to Say 'NO' to Colombia Trade Deal!

2008-02-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Colombia's unionists operate in a climate of fear in their country. In 2007 alone, 40 Colombian trade unionists were murdered.
And the Colombian government continues to systematically undermine union members' rights--their freedom to form unions, bargain collectively, go on strike and criticize the government.
Tell your representative to oppose a trade deal with Colombia until their government makes real progress in protecting the lives and rights of union members.

Online Petition: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/no_colombia_trade_deal

Tell the Senate: Get a Jolt to the Jobless

2008-02-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Senate will vote soon on whether to include unemployment benefits in the final economic stimulus package.
Not only would this help the jobless who are struggling in the Bush economy, it is one of the most efficient ways to stimulate the economy.
Tell your senators to support including unemployment benefit extensions in the final stimulus package.

Online petition:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/econ_stimulus_senate

This is urgent - please act and pass this message on to friends, co-workers and colleagues.

2008-02-02T11:26:00.001-08:00

Labour rights groups around the world are calling for the immediate release of Mehedi Hasan, a Bangladeshi field investigator for the US-based Workers Rights Consortium. Mr Hasan was arrested on Thursday 24th January by the Bangladesh security forces as part of a crackdown on labour rights activists in Bangladesh. He is being held in detention at a police station in Dhaka and we have serious concerns for his safety. Please send an urgent messages to the Bangladesh authorities calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Online Petition:http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=335

Nov 27th Strike Deadline Set at Ruby Weston Manor

2007-11-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

Ruby Weston Manor, a 240-bed nursing home the heart of East New York, Brooklyn, reaps a considerable amount of profit due to the hard work of its loyal and dedicated 1199SEIU caregivers. The workers of Ruby Weston voted to join 1199SEIU in 1998 but have never obtained their “first contract.”
The owner, Ms. Ruby Weston, has refused to negotiate with the union in good faith and workers have been fighting for a contract for nine years. Yet the home’s 200 workers continue to provide quality care to nursing home residents although they work under short-staffed and unsafe conditions. Without a signed contract, the workers receive inferior wages and benefits and are subject to harassment and intimidation by management without proper recourse.

Ruby Weston workers earn $3-4 an hour less than their 1199SEIU sisters and brothers in the nursing home industry. Now they are seeking parity, including family healthcare coverage under the Union’s benefit fund. Currently, they are covered only for themselves and one child. They must pay a premium of over $100 every two weeks for each spouse and additional children every two weeks.
On November 14, over 200 members held an informational picket to inform the nursing home residents, residents’ families and the community of these abuses. A strike deadline has been set for Tuesday, November 27.
1199SEIU represents CNAs, LPNs, dietary, maintenance, housekeeping and rehabilitation workers at Ruby Weston.

Urgent medical treatment needed for jailed Iranian trade union leader

2007-10-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Mansour Osanloo, the jailed leader of the bus workers' union in Tehran, faces the possible loss of his eyesight unless he receives urgent medical attention -- which the Iranian authorities are denying him.

Amnesty International has just now launched an online campaign calling on the Iranian government to allow Osanloo to receive medical attention. I urge all of you to sent off your messages today. The Iranian government must be made aware that the world is watching.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), which has spearheaded the international campaign in defense of Osanloo, has now produced a short film entitled "Freedom Will Come" which tells his story. It can be viewed online on YouTube, and will shortly be available as a DVD as well.

If every reader of this message passes it on to a few friends and colleagues, we can flood the Iranian government with email messages -- but we must do this quickly, before Osanloo loses his vision.

Thanks -- I know that I can count on you.

Eric Lee

Auto workers get shafted

2007-10-09T08:45:00.001-07:00

After a two-day strike, the 73,000 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) at General Motors (GM) will vote by Oct 10 to ratify a contract that radically changes the future of the auto industry. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and GM executives call the contract a landmark agreement and say that it protects union jobs in America and will help GM compete with Japanese carmaker Toyota.

Full Story:http://www.indypendent.org/2007/10/08/1307/

Killings of trade unionists up by 25%

2007-09-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers' rights in 2006, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The report details nearly 5,000 arrests and more than 8,000 dismissals of workers due to their trade union activities. 484 new cases of trade unionists held in detention by governments are also documented in the report.You can read the full report online, country by country, in English, Spanish, French and German, here.

This report is required reading for all trade unionists - please spread the word.

Fosters Must Respect Yatala Worker's Right to a Union Agreement

2007-09-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Since July, management of the Australian brewer Foster's has refused to recognize or engage in negotiations with the unions representing workers at its Yatala brewery near Brisbane. Local Human Resource manager John Saliba told workers Even if there was 200 percent support for a union collective agreement there would never be a union collective agreement on the Yatala site. Foster's called for a vote on its proposed non-union contract, and on September 3 workers voted overwhelmingly to reject it. The Yatala workers want union representation and a union agreement! Tell Foster's to respect the Yatala workers' vote for a union agreement! Send a message to Foster's corporate and plant management urging them to recognize the unions and enter into good faith collective bargaining negotiations at the Yatala brewery!
English / Deutsch / Skandinaviska / Français / Français / To participate in other IUF campaigns, please click here.

Police destroys trade union offices in Albania

2007-08-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

On 1st of August 2007, BWI affiliate in Albania, the Trade Union Federation of Building, Wood Wood and Public Services (FSNDSH) as well as the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Albania (BSPSH) and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania (KSSH) were expelled from their headquarters. All trade union property and documents were destroyed. The BWI is calling for international support to ensure that the prime minister enables trade unions to resume their daily activities. Sign up BWI letter to the Prime Minister to help trade union members.

http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=976&Language=EN

Worker shot dead and two seriously wounded in the conflict involving Norberto Odebrecht. TAKE ACTION!!!

2007-08-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

On 14 August 2007, the confrontations between representatives of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Construcción Perforaciones de Panamá (SINDICOPP, company union) and members of SUNTRACS in Panama led to the murder of SUNTRACS' activist Osvaldo Lorenzo in Chilibre. Two other workers, Carlos Colindres and José Castillo, were seriously wounded. The company involved is Norberto Odebrecht which is building the highway Panama-Colón. According to the latest information, Panama's Fourth Superior Prosecutor has charged two workers of the Odebrecht construction company. For some time now, the company union has been preventing workers from becoming members of SUNTRACS. The BWI has extended its solidarity to the union and has launched an online campaign. In a protest message to the Labour Minister of Panama, BWI General Secretary requests a thorough investigation into the facts put forward by SUNTRACS. For several years now, the BWI and its affiliates have been accusing the company of violating workers' rights in various countries. Take two minutes to help SUNTRACS in its struggle.

Take Action Here: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=998&Language=EN

Police Brutally Attack Picket Line

2007-08-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 11, 2007, the Providence wobblies organized a march on Jackie's Galaxy, which is a restaurant chain that is being supplied by HWH in New York City, a supplier who is notorious for its slave labor conditions of up to 110 hours per week without basic labor rights (minimum wage and overtime).
Roughly 30-40 wobblies and supporters (including Providence and Boston SDSers) were marching towards Jackie's Galaxy in North Providence when the police began following them en mass. They told the marches to move to the sidewalk, while this was initially ignored, the marchers listened to the police and began slowly moving to the sidewalk.
The police then surrounded the marchers in their squad cars and began getting out. With the police in full force, they began attacking the marchers, one fellow worker, Alex Svoboda, was pinned down by the police during her arrest and suffered a broken and dislocated leg and ruptured blood vessel in the knee. These injuries will require at least two surgeries and extensive rehab and even then may not completely repair the damage. Jason, another wob, was arrested during the police' attack. Ashley, a supporter from Boston, was also severely maced during the attack, suffered chemical burns and required medical treatment.

Let those responsible know that this is unacceptable!!

North Providence Mayor:
Charles A. Lombardi
North Providence Town Hall
2000 Smith Street
North Providence, RI 02911
Telephone: (401) 232-0900, ext. 226
Fax: (401) 232-3434

Police Chief:
Ernest C. Spaziano
North Providence Police Department
1967 Mineral Spring Ave.
North Providence, R.I. 02904
Business line: 401-233-1433
Fax number: 401-233-1438

Osanloo Alive but Jailed

2007-07-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Osanloo alive but jailed – campaign continues
12 July 2007
After two days of denying all knowledge of his whereabouts, the authorities in Iran this afternoon (Thursday 12 July) admitted that Mansour Osanloo is being held in Evin Prison, Tehran.
Osanloo was snatched from a bus two days ago by unidentified assailants. Since then his family, colleagues, lawyers and friends have met a wall of denials when questioning the authorities about who was holding him.
The order to arrest Osanloo is believed to have come from Revolutionary Court Judge Saeed Mortazavi, who had denied any knowledge of Osanloo’s whereabouts.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “At least we now know where Mansour is being held. We will campaign with renewed vigour for his release, and for the Iranian Government to rein in the loose cannons responsible for this latest shameful attack.”

Mansour Osanlou is head of the executive committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTBC), the transport workers' trade union in Tehran in Iran.

Please sign this petition to the Iranian President:

http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/osanloo2sign.cfm/formbuilder/43/p/1

Will the Workers and the Poor Benefit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?

2007-07-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

South Africa’s success in winning the 2010 bid for the Soccer World Cup has been announced with great fanfare. The World Soccer Cup is the second biggest international sports events in the world, second only to the Olympics.
As part of the 2010 project, the State will be upgrading, or building, stadiums in the host cities and, linked to this, will be spending money upgrading public transport - trains, airports, buses - and in making the areas around the main events attractive to foreign tourists.
But, we need to ask an important question: why has the South African State been so keen to host the 2010 World Cup? Why has it chosen to spend money on an event like this, when there are so many other serious problems in South Africa?
Unfortunately, the State reasons raise a lot of concerns about the whole project, and raise questions about who is really going to benefit from this process.

Full Story:http://www.anarkismo.net/index.php

Liz Claiborne Cuts Jobs

2007-07-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

The jean giant Liz Claiborne announced they plan to cut 600-800 jobs because of a need for higher profit. It is hard now to think of an industry where corporate has not profited at the expense of workers.

Iraqi workers tour US, reach out to workers in the US to build solidarity against the US occupation

2007-06-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Submitted by Sparrow on Sat, 06/23/2007 - 3:10am.
Hashmeya (pictured, right, with a written message of thanks to the IWW for its solidarity with workers in Iraq) is a native of Basra and a 25-year veteran in the Iraqi Department of Electricity. While she is the first woman to rise democratically from the ranks to represent a national Iraqi labor union, she emphasizes that she is not alone - that there are many dedicated and committed union women in the forefront of the Iraqi labor movement.
Ten days ago, two top leaders of Iraq's labor movement, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein , President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers (EUWU-GFIW))and Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Federation of Oil Unions (FOU) spoke throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as part of an Iraqi labor tour of the US. They spoke urgently of Iraqi labor's unified demand for the end of the brutal US occupation and sought for the support of US labor in rejecting the imposition of the Oil Law which the US is using to force the surrender of Iraqi oil resources to foreign corporations as the price of their withdrawal.

Full Story:http://www.iww.org/en/node/3499

Event

2007-06-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

NYC: March on HWH
Submitted by Steph on Tue, 06/19/2007 - 10:23pm.
Start: Jul 1 2007 - 9:30pm
End: Jul 1 2007 - 10:30pm
Timezone: EST
Event Details:Workers at HWH Trading Corp are the latest to join the IWW Food and Allied Workers Union. Join us as we march in solidarity!
Location
HWH Trading Corp.
1250 Metropolitan Ave
meet at the corner of Metropolitan and Gardner (L to Grand St)
Brooklyn, NY, NY, 11237
United States

Russia; Dockers Union Member Stabbed and Beaten

2007-06-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

On Thursday June 7, Mikhail Chesalin, the chairman of the local Dockers Union of Russia in Kaliningrad, was savagely stabbed and beaten outside the union office. An unknown number of assailants attacked Chesalin when he got out of his car at 10:30am local time, stabbing him numerous times in the spine, and beating him severely about the head. He was left lying face-down, unconscious, in a pool of blood.Chesalin's colleagues believe that the attack was orchestrated by Vladimir Kalinichenko, the General Director of the Sea Commercial Port where the dockworkers' union is currently running an organizing campaign. The union has been in a bitter fight with Kalinichenko for ten years, after Kalinichenko made it his personal goal to destroy the union following their 1997 strike – their battle, and the workers determination has become a symbol of Russia’s young, struggling independent trade union movement. Since April, the union has been conducting an unprecedented organizing drive among the workers in the Kaliningrad port to change a miserly and arbitrary wage system, and win respect and a voice on the job. Kalinichenko has tried to break up every union event by sending his personal "security" forces, together with local thugs, to spy on and intimidate workers.Mikhail Chesalin is known throughout the region, country, and world, as one of Russia's foremost defenders of workers' rights – the dockworkers' case has received the attention of the ILO, the European Court for Human Rights, and most of all the attention of Kaliningrad residents, who voted for Chesalin when he ran directly against Kalinichenko in 2006 – with 13 times less money, Chesalin received four times the votes of Kalinichenko to be elected as a deputy to the regional parliament. In that sense this attack is not only on free trade unionism, but on an independent governmental representative.For 12 years, the Dockers Union of Russia, with a vigorous and committed membership, and under Chesalin's dedicated and principled leadership, has stood for fairness and dignity for Sea Commercial Port workers. For that, union members have lost their jobs, their livelihoods, and their families, but they are free men. For the first time in this battle, the Port has crossed the line to violence, and attempted to silence a great leader of workers. We, Chesalin’s union members and colleagues, call on our brothers and sisters around the world to raise their voices, and their considerable strength and solidarity, to communicate to Russian employers and the Russian government that an injury to one is an injury to all, that this threat to justice here is a threat to justice everywhere, and that workers around the world will not stand by as their brothers and sisters are denied basic rights.You can help!
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=265

Fired Mal-Mart Pharnacist awarded $2M

2007-06-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Fired Wal-Mart pharmacist awarded $2M
Wed Jun 20, 9:17 AM ET
A pharmacist who claimed she was fired by Wal-Mart after asking to be paid the same as her male colleagues has won a nearly $2 million award against the retail giant.
A Berkshire Superior Court jury concluded Wal-Mart discriminated against Cynthia Haddad and awarded her nearly $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages Tuesday.
"It sends a message that you can't treat people poorly because of who they are," said David Belfort, Haddad's attorney.
Wal-Mart's attorneys didn't comment after the verdict.
Haddad was fired in April 2004 after more than 10 years at a Wal-Mart store in Pittsfield. She claimed in court that she was fired because she asked to be paid the same as her male counterparts, including a bonus given to pharmacy managers. The company paid the bonus, then fired her two weeks later.

Full storyhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070620/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_sued&printer=1;_ylt=Ap8JIZ40Pk9MacDrcW.26wNH2ocA

General Strike in Israel

2007-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Story from labourstart.org:

In two weeks, expect your garbage to start piling up and forget about renewing your passport. The committee leaders at the trade unions department of the Histadrut labor confederation have declared a labor dispute throughout the public sector, following the Finance Ministry's refusal to negotiate sector-wide raises.
Under Israeli law, a general strike can be called two weeks after an official labor dispute is declared.
The dispute encompasses all workers at local authorities, the ministries, the Bank of Israel, the Knesset, the Civil Service Commission, the government hospitals and healthcare facilities, and all government companies.
The government companies affected by the strike include port and train services, the Israel Aerospace Industries and Israel Military Industries, the Mekorot water utility, the Israel Electric Corporation, the Israel Post, Bezeq, El Al and Oil Refineries. (In the case of the privatized companies in the above list, the workers still belong to the Histadrut.)
The National Insurance Institute, universities, Magen David Adom, Employment Service, Israel Broadcasting Authority and national religious services authority will all shut down too if the Histadrut makes good its threat.
At the committee meeting today, Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini called on Prime Minister-acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert to commence intensive negotiations during the mandatory two-week hiatus before a strike can commence.
He pointed out that since 2005, when its enforced quietude under agreements with the government expired - the Histadrut has been extremely judicious in its use of strikes as a weapon.
"When the government demanded wage cuts to save the economy in 2003, we stood to attention and agreed, in an unprecedented step, to accept the cuts. Now the government has to make a gesture in our direction, given the robust performance of the economy," Eini stated.
In his view, a strike is the last resort, he clarified. Immediately upon his election this year he notified the Finance Ministry that he meant negotiations to be far more intensive. But five minutes into the first meeting he had a nasty surprise, Eini relates: "The wages director announced that he meant to pay zero shekels. That meant he didn't want to negotiate in good faith."
He added that he had absolutely no desire to start a strike.
The trade union leaders claim that the workers are clamoring for news. Yitzhak Pery, leader of the social workers' union, said that 40% of the workers were receiving income supplements because their pay was below the minimum wage. "These are workers with masters' degrees who are caring for the needy. They are needy themselves," he said.
While about it, the Histadrut committee also approved a labor dispute for sanitation workers in Haifa, whose complaint is poor working conditions, and another dispute in the city of Bnei Brak, whose municipality is failing to make timely provisions for workers in provident and mutual funds.
A dispute was also declared at the Geha hospital, based on poor relations between management and workers, and at the laboratories of the Meuhedet healthcare service, because the employer refused to negotiate a collective employment agreement, and over moving the facility from Jerusalem to Lod.

Big Brother Wal-Mart Spies on Workers with Cameras

2007-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hostile interrogation. Secret surveillance. And if all else fails? Firing.
Tell Wal-Mart:Stop spying on workers! Why does a typical day at Wal-Mart sound like a spy movie?
We all know that when Wal-Mart employees try to form a union, they face threats, intimidation, and even firing. And a shocking new report reveals they’re being followed, too – by the store’s own security cameras!These revelations come just as Wal-Mart appoints Pat Curran as its new “Executive Vice President of People” (that’s Wal-Mart whitewash-speak for Human Resources). Let’s congratulate Curran on her promotion – and demand that she put an end to these tactics.
A new report from our friends at Human Rights Watch details just how far Wal-Mart will go to stop its employees from forming unions. The report features incredible stories from employees like Terry Daly, whose job at a Wal-Mart in Arizona was to supposedly prevent shoplifting. Instead, he was asked to turn security cameras on workers like Brad Jones, an employee with a spotless record whose only ‘crime’ was trying to form a union:
“We were to monitor any activity that we thought might be organized... and place cameras in certain areas... and report back what we saw. We needed to find a reason to fire Brad.”
Apparently, Wal-Mart is more interested in busting unions than preventing shoplifting. Imagine the fear of trying to form a union under these conditions. According to a South Carolina Wal-Mart employee interviewed in the report:
“I think the union failed because a lot of [workers] were scared to come forward, scared for their jobs. That’s exactly the reason I didn’t sign up... other associates would say that if Wal-Mart would get wind of [my involvement with] the union, I’d be fired.”
That quote comes from one of the stores Pat Curran used to oversee. Which means Wal-Mart’s new “Executive VP of People” knows all about unionbusting.
Tell Pat Curran congrats on her new corner office. Then tell her to earn her new title – and stop treating her own people like the enemy.

Pleas Sign petition:http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/wm_curran?rk=ZdS2aqF1gTs%5fE
Thanks for all that you do to support workers’ rights!

Nurses Rally Pushes For Safe Staffing Bills In Albany

2007-06-01T10:24:00.001-07:00

A coalition of nurse unions, including 1199SEIU RNs and LPNs, gathered on the steps of the New York State legislature building on May 22, to lobby for safe nurse-patient staffing ratios. They were galvanized by the news the day before that a bill they have been working to pass for years has finally moved out of a Senate committee to a floor vote this week.
The proposed bill would restrict the hospital practice of mandating forced overtime for nurses. Innumerable studies show that mandatory overtime causes worker fatigue that can lead to nursing errors. Moreover, it impacts family lives and is one of the top reasons why nurses leave the profession. Ten states have already passed laws prohibiting mandatory overtime of nurses.
The nurses were also lobbying for the passage of a bill to set safe staffing ratios between patients and nursing staff. Understaffing is a major concern of nurses overwhelmed by too many patients under their care.
The nurses gave NYS Senate leader Joseph Bruno a rousing cheer when he announced that the overtime bill has moved out of the Labor Committee for consideration by the full Senate. A companion bill in the Assembly languishes in the Codes Committee, headed by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol. His office was swamped by a delegation of the 500 nurses who came to Albany for a full day of lobbying.
In addition to the 1199 nurses belonging to the SEIU Nurse Alliance of New York State, participating nurse unions included the New York State United Teachers, Public Employees Federation, Communications Workers of America and the New York State Nurses Association.
This is the fourth year that 1199SEIU nurses have organized legislative lobbies in support of restricting mandatory overtime and setting safe nursing ratios in hospitals and nursing homes. “We will keep coming back until our legislators do the right thing,” said Norma Amsterdam, executive vice president of the 1199 Registered Nurses Division.

Costa Rica: Chiquita Fires Workers for Reporting Poisoning

2007-05-30T13:51:00.001-07:00

Multinational fruit company Chiquita likes to boast of its high social and environmental standards, but its Costa Rican subsidiary COBAL has sacked two union members for complaining about being exposed to a toxic chemical. Alexander Reyes Zuniga, Jaime Blanco Juarez and Marco Gonzalez Borge reported to their supervisors that spraying of a toxic nematicide (used for killing worms in banana tree roots) was going on in the same area as they were harvesting bananas. They became nauseous and dizzy and Jaime Blanco had to go straight to the doctor, where he was retained for tests for several hours. Alexander Reyes suffered symptoms of poisoning the following day, but was told to resume work regardless. The team complained to supervisors only to be accused of entering the area to be sprayed despite orders not to do so. Alexander Reyes and Marcos Borge were sacked for misconduct. Chiquita management did not conduct any medical examination, did not give the statutory three warnings for misconduct and continue to deny the workers' version. The union SITAGAH has tried to negotiate the two workers' reinstatement, but the company has so far refused. Other recent violations of rights in COBAL plantations have been denounced by Costa Rican banana workers' union coordinating body COSIBA-CR.

Watch Democracy Now May 9th

2007-05-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 5:04am.
As the May 17th Day of Action to commemorate the third anniversary of the Starbucks Workers Union approaches, IWW barista Sarah Bender will appear on Pacifica's Democracy Now!. On Wednesday May 9, Sarah will discuss the IWW's organizing drive at Starbucks and our Justice from Bean to Cup! initiative in the wake of the victory against Starbucks for Ethiopian coffee farmers.
Sarah was fired by Starbucks in retaliation for union activity in 2005. Far from backing down, Sarah coordinated a grassroots support effort which culminated in a legal victory against Starbucks that won Sarah her job back. In addition to organizing on the job, Sarah participated in a barista delegation to Ethiopia to build relationships with the coffee farmers growing beans for Starbucks.
The delegation's findings in addition to information on the plight of cafe employees at Starbucks is detailed in the Starbucks 2006 Corporate Irresponsibility Report.
A video from the delegation is also online:
Part Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xTk_LLjxUkPart IIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9petRD_Zss8%20
Find Democracy Now! in your community or listen online at http://www.democracynow.org/
For more information about this campaign, please visit http://www.starbucksunion.org/
printer friendly page login or register to post comments

Free Salehi

2007-05-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Iran: Free Mahmoud Salehi nowOn April 9, 2007, a commanding officer of the Saqez security forces appeared at Mahmoud Salehi's work and asked him to attend at the office of the prosecutor to negotiate with the governor and the prosecutor about this year's celebration of the international workers' day, which was being organized by Salehi and his colleagues. However, in the prosecutor's office, Salehi, the former President of the Bakery Workers' Association of the City of Saqez and a well-known labour activist in Iran, was told that the Kurdistan Appeal Court has reached the final verdict on his May Day 2004 case and that he has been sentenced to one year imprisonment and a three year suspended prison sentence. They immediately put Salehi under arrest. Salehi objected to the deceitful and illegal way in which his arrest took place and refused to sign the order. After that Salehi was taken immediately to the Sanandaj Central Prison. This way, the government authorities did not allow Salehi to contact his family, lawyer and colleagues, and he was not even allowed to take his medications with him. Salehi has major kidney problems, as one of his kidneys has stopped working and the other one is almost failing and without medications and continuous treatment his life would be endangered. Thus far, the verdict of the appeal court has not been handed down to Salehi's lawyers. Mahmoud Salehi along with Jalal Hosseini, Mohsen Hakimi, Borhan Divargar, Mohammad Abdipoor, Esmail Khodkam and Hadi Tanomand and about 40 other workers were arrested on May 1st 2004 at the beginning of a rally in commemoration of the International Workers' Day in the City of Saqez, Kurdistan Province. The above labour activists, internationally known as the Saqez Seven, went on hunger strike while in custody until they were released on heavy bail on May 12, 2004. While three of the above seven have since been acquitted, the remaining four continued to face numerous trials. The Saqez Revolutionary Court had previously sentenced Salehi to 4 years imprisonment, while Hosseini, Hakimi and Divargar were each sentenced to two years jail. The Kurdistan Court of Appeal's final verdict changed Salehi's to one year immediate imprisonment and three years suspended sentence. The appeal court also confirmed the two years imprisonment of Hosseini, Hakimi and Divargar, but those sentences were suspended for three years, which means that they are free now but if they commit any 'illegal' acts during the next three years they would then have to face trials for that particular 'illegal' act and will also have to serve their two years suspended jail sentence.
You can help!

petition:http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=231

Cal Student Workers Fight for equal Pay

2007-05-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

By Tristan Bunner, Bay Area IWW
(Tristan is an IWW member, a Cal student and a worker at Foothill Dining Commons. He is a founding member of Student Worker Action Group.)

At the University of California, Berkeley, student workers are fighting for equal pay. Cal students who work for the school's dining facilities, run by Cal Dining, get paid over $2/hr less than their coworkers who do the same work. The starting wage for Cal students under the classification "Student Food Service Worker" is $9.11/ hr, while the starting wage for "Food Service Workers", including high school and community college students working part time, is $11.25/hr, and another raise may be coming soon.
The difference began in August 2006, when a new union contract raised the wage of full time workers from $9.11/hr to the new rate. This raise was then applied to unrepresented part-time workers, but not to Cal students. When Cal student workers found out about the pay difference they got together and began to organize. In December 2006 they formed the Student Worker Action Group (SWAG), and began their fight for equal pay.
The University claims that the raise is not applicable to Cal students, because their main priority at the University is to learn, not to earn a living. The student workers point out that, generally, high school students' main priority is not to earn a living either, yet they still receive the higher wage. Other reasons that the University gives for the continued pay inequity is that students have less responsibilities than other workers and that they receive benefits that other workers do not in hiring priority and scheduling flexibility. SWAG disputes all of these points, saying that students have the same responsibilities as other workers, and sometimes hold supervisory positions. SWAG also claims that what the University calls benefits are not actually benefits at all: priority in hiring was originally meant to give Cal students a financial boost, but now it is in fact harmful because of the unequal pay. While there may be some flexibility to student workers' scheduling, SWAG says, they have to balance work with other important parts of their life, just like any other worker, and the needs of their workplace determines their work schedule in the end. Above all, SWAG questions how these excuses could be legitimate if less than a year ago all of the workers were paid the same rate. "We work just as hard as they do; we deserve the same wages," says SWAG member and worker at Foothill Dining Commons, Rachel Padnick.
Through March and April, students and supporters collected over 500+ comment cards of support during an event titled "Comment Card Flood" and gathered 97 signatures from non-student coworkers. After a fruitless meeting with University of California, Berkeley's Department of Labor Relations on April 17, 2007, SWAG decided that more needed to be done to win their demands.
All this week, they have been out on the University's campus, trying to spread the word of their struggle to their fellow students and community members. Actions have included informational pickets outside of Cal Dining facilities, a "20% strike" to make up for the 20% difference in pay, and a "sampling" of "UC Labor Relations' BS" (chocolate pudding standing in) on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza. The week's events will culminate in a support rally this Friday at 2pm, also on Sproul Plaza.
The demands that SWAG makes and is fighting to win are:
Acknowledgement of student workers' equal responsibilities!! This includes:
1.Equal pay to Food Service Workers.
2.Retroactive from August 2006 (the time the wage difference began).
3.Bimonthly paychecks.
4.All of the above reflected by May 8th 2007.

Marcus Garvey Nursing Home Workers Win Their Contract

2007-04-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

After two years without a contract, 1199SEIU members at Marcus Garvey Nursing Home in Brooklyn finally got what they deserve--an eight percent wage increase and healthcare along with other much needed benefits.
Negotiating the contract did not come easily: after threats of the nursing home closing, the workers were asked to give back vacation and sick time. In late February, Marcus Garvey management stopped making payments to the benefit fund, causing the workers to loose their medical benefits for more than a month. These tactics only helped to unify the workers against management.
Martha Coleman a CNA at the nursing home for over 30 years, told her co-workers, "We have nothing to loose, we are the union." She walked the floors on both day and evening shifts encouraging everyone to keep on fighting. "I'm never afraid to fight for what I want," she said.
In response to management's attempt to stall negotiations, the workers organized a temporary work stoppage, and gathered petitions of support from the community and the residents' family members. They also held an informational picket to help mobilize members as well as educate the community about their contract fight. When these efforts were received little response from management, the workers unanimously voted for a three-day strike.
"I was very proud of the workers for standing up to management," Martha Coleman said.
The union was literally hours away from the strike deadline when management called and asked the union to come back to the bargaining table. After hours of negotiations, management signed the contract with all of the existing terms and conditions, and agreed to contribute to the benefit fund, pension fund, job security fund, child care fund and worker participation fund.

TOYOTA GIVES WORKERS THE SHAFT

2007-04-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

"Moving Forward." That's how Toyota describes itself to customers. But on the treatment of its workers, the company is stuck in reverse.
Toyota has received $371 million in state and local tax subsidies since 1986, according to publicly available records. In return, the company promised to bring quality manufacturing jobs to states like Kentucky.
But Toyota isn't keeping its promise. At a town hall forum March 31, workers at the plant in Georgetown, Ky., told about co-workers who were injured on the job and then never came back to work. Employees told about full-time workers being replaced with temporary workers--who get paid half what regular team members earn and cannot afford health insurance.Tim Unger, an 18-year veteran Toyota worker, said:
"Shoulders would wear out, wrists would require surgery and back and hands started to fail. It seemed as if the good people who contributed to the success of Toyota were being used up and disposed of like garbage."
Added Noel Christian Riddell, a 10-year veteran skilled-trades worker:
"We executed model-change activities faster than any other manufacturer. I truly felt my contributions played a role in the company’s success. But something happened. After only a few years, training ceased. Suddenly, I had no sick days. My raises became smaller. My benefits were cut. My group’s manpower was slashed. And the number of temporary employees steadily grew. "

source: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/toyota_respect_workers

Protest Murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz

2007-04-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning, April 9, 2007, 29-year-old migrant farmworker organizer Santiago Rafael Cruz was tortured and brutally murdered in the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) office in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Santiago had worked for FLOC as a member-organizer for four years in Toledo, Ohio, and for one-and-a-half months in Mexico as a full-time office manager / grievance handler. Witnesses on the scene have confirmed that Santiago was tortured by more than one individual, and that the union's office showed no sign of forced entry or robbery. Santiago is survived by his father, mother, brothers and sisters in Mexico.In 2004 FLOC won a historic collective agreement with the North Carolina Growers Association to represent nearly 10,000 farmworkers who travel each year from Mexico to North Carolina on H2-A guest worker visas to harvest tobacco, cucumbers and Christmas trees. FLOC's agreement cleaned up and systematized the recruitment of these workers in Mexico, jeopardizing the business interests of fly-by-night recruiters in rural areas of Mexico who previously overcharged workers by several hundred dollars to find them jobs in the U.S. Since FLOC established its office in Monterrey in 2005, it has been the victim of attacks in the media, deportation threats, several robberies and violent intimidation.It's typical in Mexico for state attorneys general and police investigators to presume relatively simple solutions to potentially complicated cases, especially those involving human and labor rights defenders. For this reason, we ask supporters to contact the Nuevo Leon Governor and its Attorney General's office to demand the following:A formal, timely, honest and thorough criminal investigation;Just prosecution and punishment for the perpetrators of this crime;Non-repetition measures to ensure FLOC and human and labor rights defenders are not subject to political and economically-motivated intimidation;And restitution for Santiago's family.Santiago's murder will not intimidate FLOC into abandoning its operations in Mexico. To the contrary, FLOC will reinforce the security of its office in Monterrey and continue struggling for justice and human rights protections for all farmworkers. Santiago spent years defending the rights of fellow Mexicans working the fields in the U.S. and Mexico, and his life and service will be missed but not forgotten. People wishing to donate money to help with funeral costs and securing FLOC's Monterrey staff against further attacks can make checks payable to: FLOC, C/o Santiago Tragedy Fund, 1221 Broadway Street, Toledo, OH, USA, 43609.

Please sign the petition: http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=232

Verizon Union Busting!!

2007-04-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Verizon Business workers want a union! A clear majority of technicians at Verizon Business in New York and New England have signed authorization cards showing they want to be represented by CWA and IBEW.
But Verizon management refuses to recognize the majority's choice. Instead, they have launched an anti-union campaign, spreading misinformation about unions and holding "captive-audience" meetings.

Verizon Business technicians deserve the same pay, benefits, job security, and seniority protection as union members at Verizon Communications who do similar work. Instead, the company has built a wall between the company’s unionized workforce and employees of the new Verizon Business.

Please take time to sign this petition:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/verizon_business?rk=N1AgTWd11EOAE

Movie Event

2007-04-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

On April 20th at 7 PM you're all invited to attend a free vegan potluck and screening of Gigante Despierta, a new compilation DVD about May Day '06 in Jersey! This event will be at the the Barracks Jukehouse, 107 Magnolia Avenue in Jersey City, NJ - about 1 1/2 blocks from the Journal Square PATH station. If you need more specific directions or have any other questions, feel free to email... And don't forget, bring a dish and something to drink!

Fair Trade at SUNY ORANGE

2007-04-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

To quote the great poet Ice Cube "today was a good day." Back around Thanksgiving I attended a picket on behalf of a fired worker from the starbucks workers union. I handed out many leaflets in front of starbucks headquarters. I also took time to read one and first learned about Fair Trade coffee. When I first met with the Student Political Awareness Club (SPAC) it was obvious that they were very much in favor of activism on campus. So I turned them onto this Fair Trade movement. Our club President Mike Zentz immediately took up the Fair Trade Torch and we began to educate ourselves, our professors and other students on the benifits of Fair Trade. SPAC and club ally Professor Gutierrez met with food service today and they agreed to acquire a Fair Trade brand. I am overwhelmed by this victory and hope it is only the first of many. I am lucky to have found SPAC and if I could recruit just one of these wonderful young people to the OBU that would be a "good day."

New Labor Board Complaint Exposes Deep, Lengthy Anti-Union Effort by Starbucks

2007-04-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

New York, NY- Just over a year after settling extensive labor charges against it, the Starbucks Coffee Co. is the target of a new National Labor Relations Board complaint over the termination of IWW Starbucks Workers Union (SWU) organizers Daniel Gross and Joe Agins, Jr., and a host of other unlawful anti-union tactics. The government complaint is the result of an independent Labor Board investigation triggered by charges from the SWU [StarbucksUnion.org].

Story:http://www.iww.org/en/node/3347

Coca-Crime

2007-04-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola's abuses as a corporate polluter and violater of human rights are reaching critical mass. Student, worker, and environmental groups have increasing concerns about Coke's destruction of natural resources as well as their worker and human rights abuses in the U.S and abroad. Coke is accused of contaminating water and farmland in India . Coke is facing a lawsuit for allegedly allowing death squads in Colombia to murder eight pro-union employees. In the U.S. , Coke paid $192 million to settle an employee lawsuit over its widespread racial discrimination. And now Coke’s latest restructuring could destroy good jobs, retirement security, and health care coverage for many Americans.
Today, join the thousands around the world who are calling on Coca-Cola to end these abuses.

Petition: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/cocacola_jwj/w7376uxrzttk787?

Info: http://killercoke.org/

ZIMBABWE: CRISIS DEEPEND

2007-03-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we wrote to ask for your support for an online campaign to protest the repression against Zimbabwe's unions. We're very pleased that 2,976 of you have done so. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe the repression has intensified and unions have called for a mass "stay-away" on 3-4 April.Our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe are putting their lives on the line. The very least that we can do is mobilize our union memberships in solidarity with them.There is full coverage of the crisis in Zimbabwe on LabourStart, here:http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=ZimbabweBritain's Trades Union Congress is organizing a demonstration next week:http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-13126-f0.cfmIs your union doing anything? Let us know and we'll publicize it.Finally, it's important to get thousands more of you to send off messages today. Three thousand messages is not nearly enough -- we need to make it clear to the Mugabe government that the international trade union movement is united and backs the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Spread the word -- and send off your own message today:http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=212

WAL_MART SUPPORTS WORKERS" RIGHTS (SORT OF)

2007-03-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is known to be one of the world's most anti-union corporations. But that doesn't mean it's immune to pressure. (You might want to sit down now -- the next paragraph may come as kind of a shock.)Campaigners supporting strikers at a Wal-Mart supply factory in the Philippines managed to get the Arkansas-based giant to call for the immediate reinstatement of 117 unjustly-fired union members. That's right -- Wal-Mart has actually backed a union call for justice.It's a great step forward, but it's not enough. Unions are now calling on Wal-Mart to use its influence with its supplier to pressure it to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the union representing its workers. Meanwhile, the workers at Chong Won Fashion remain on strike, still walking the picket line they set up back in September 2006. The workers are on strike because management will not negotiate with their union.Frankly, I'm amazed that we've gotten this far. You may remember that we already campaigned in support of these workers back in December.If our pressure has gotten Wal-Mart to push for the re-hiring of sacked union members, more pressure might compell the company to push a bit harder. If we can get the employer to talk to the union, the strike can end.Please send off your message to Mr. Rajan Kamalanathan, the Director of Compliance, Global Procurement at Wal-Mart, today:http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=222Union Congress is organizing a demonstration next week:http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-13126-f0.cfm

US Senate Kills Minimum Wage Bill

2007-03-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Giving in to a filibuster by the Republican minority, the U.S. Senate has abandoned the "clean" minimum wage bill that was approved by the House of Representatives on January 10th.

In place of it, the Senate on Feburary 1rst voted 94-3 to to pass a compromise bill that provides for a $2.10 raise in the minimum wage but, but also includes $8.3 billion in tax cuts to buisness. Later. 28 Senate Republicans even voted to repeal the minimum wage altogether.

Now congress must reconcile the two bills in a joint session, but as of press time, no date is set. Meanwhile, minimum wage workers continue to struggle to get by on $5.15 per hour.

Reprinted from Industrial Worker March 2007

University Temps Join OBU

2007-03-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday, March 12th, at 10:00 AM, wobbly temp workers (EWIU620-IWW) at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business confronted management and presented demands calling for health care access, wage improvements, full-time work status, and an electable/recallable manager, among other job-site improvements. This move brings to fruition a months-long, under-the-radar campaign being carried out by University of Michigan employees and the IWW to organize temporary workers and the unrepresented at the University of Michigan; A campaign greatly assisted by the contributions of the university chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, who are conducting a labor solidarity effort organize students on campus (many students being temp workers themselves) in support of the campaign. As part of that campaign, we in the IWW and in UM-SDS are asking other groups around the country for some much needed solidarity. When we presented our demands on management Monday, we starteda nation-wide call-in and email-in to try and add a little more pressure to the pot and bring the boss to the negotiating table.The following scripts have been prepared for the email/phone-in, and can similarly be adapted for email as well. Feel free to make adjustments as needed, but remember to remain cordial, as we are trying to pressure them to the negotiating table, not alienate them. If you can send an email and make a call, you'll contribute twice as much. ;)Please address emails supporting the campaign as follows :TO: edadams@umich.eduCC: rjdolan@umich.edu, cvisel@umich.edu, greendan@umich.edu

Exploiting Teens

2007-03-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

U.S. teens work late, long and in danger: study
Reuters
Mon Mar 5, 9:17 AM ET
U.S. youngsters aged 14 to 18 who work at retail and service jobs during the school year put in an average of 16 hours a week, often at jobs that are dangerous and unsupervised, a study said on Monday.
The report from the University of North Carolina said some of the working conditions found in interviews with a representative sample of 928 teenage workers violated federal law.
"Teens are exposed to multiple hazards, use dangerous equipment despite federal prohibitions and work long hours during the school week," said the report published in the March issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"They also lack consistent training and adult supervision on the job," it added.
The research done during 2003 found the teens worked an average of 16.2 hours per week during the school year, including nearly three times a week after 7 p.m. on school nights. Thirty-seven percent of those under 16 reported working after 7 p.m. on a school night, a probable violation of federal law, it said.
Despite federal regulations prohibiting teens under 18 from using certain types of dangerous equipment such as slicers, dough mixers, box crushers and paper balers, or serving or selling alcohol in places where it is consumed, more than half of the boys and 43 percent of the girls said they had done work that was prohibited, the study found.
Girls were more likely than boys to have jobs that involved handling cash -- exposing them to robbery risks, the authors said.
Boys reported less supervision than girls.
Working late "suggests the potential for interference with school or sleep, as well as potential for exposure to workplace violence that is more prevalent in the retail and service sectors than in other settings," the study said.
"Many teens are performing tasks that are prohibited by current federal child labor laws. Our results also suggest gaps in both safety training and supervision of working teens because approximately one-third of the teens reported not receiving any safety training," it added.
Among those who were trained, it said, some critical areas such as what to do in case of robbery or how to deal with arguments or fights among co-workers were not addressed.

Study of Colleges around the United States show that adjuncts now 2/3 of faculty

2007-03-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

There has been a buzz around campus about classes being cut in order to save money. This article gives another example of how schools are cutting costs.

http://www.iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWJan07.pdf

U.S. Guilty of Union busting in Iraq

2007-03-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

At the same time that Washington is giving Iraq "universal healthcare," it is violently forcing massive privatization and union-bustingon Iraq. This report is very good on exposing privatizationworld-wide, and its effects on workers' health.David Bacon, Bay Area labor photojournalist, accompanied ClarenceThomas, executive board member of ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco, toIraq and chronicled their meetings with Iraqi workers, unionorganizers, and others. Clarence and David are available to speakbefore labor audiences and others about their experience andobservations about the situation for workers in Iraq. David also has aphoto show. Contact David Bacon at dbacon@igc.org and Clarence Thomasat deeclarenc@aol.com.]

THE OCCUPATION'S WAR ON IRAQI WORKERS

By David Bacon

BAGHDAD, IRAQ ---The disaster that is the occupation ofIraq is much more than the suicide bombings and guerilla ambushes ofU.S. troops which play nightly across U.S. television screens. Theviolence of grinding poverty, exacerbated by economic sanctions afterthe first Gulf War, has been deepened by the the latest invasion.Every day the economic policies of the occupying authorities createmore hunger among Iraq's working people, transforming them into a poolof low-wage, semi-employed labor, desperate for jobs at almost anyprice.While the effects of U.S. policy on daily life go largely unseen inthe U.S. media, anyone walking the streets of Baghdad cannot missthem. Children sleep on the sidewalks. Buildings that once housed manyof the city's four million residents, or the infrastructure that makeslife in a modern city possible, like the telephone exchange, remainburned-out ruins months after the occupation started. Rubble fills thebroad boulevards which were once the pride of a wealthy country, andthe air has become gritty and brown as thousands of vehicles kick theresulting dust into the air.In the meantime U.S. contractors get rich from the billions oftaxpayer dollars supposedly appropriated for reconstruction. Iraq'snational wealth -- factories, refineries, mines, docks, and otherindustrial facilities -- are being readied for sale to foreigncompanies by the occupation's bureaucracy, to whom democracy and theunrestrained free market are the same thing.But Iraqi workers, while facing bleak conditions, are not acceptingtheir fate, at least as defined by corporate planners. They areorganizing and making plans of their own.Iraqi workers need a raise - desperately. For six months, they've beenpaid at an emergency level dictated by the US occupation authority,known as the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA. Most workers get$60/month, a small percentage $120, and a tiny minority (mostlyadministrators and managers) $180. This is the same wage scale thatprevailed under the last few years of the Saddam Hussein regime.One worker at the General State Leather Industry Factory, the largestshoe factory in the Middle East, says she supports six people in herfamily with the emergency payment. With unemployment still atcatastrophic levels, every working Iraqi is supporting many otherpeople at home. As she explains her situation, she's surrounded byfour other seamstresses, each wearing a hejab and worn tan tunic overtheir clothes. They stand protectively around her while she speaks forall of them. "The prices of food and clothing are going up rapidly,and the salary is very low. We work hard, and I've been here 10 years.I have to have a raise," she pleads.Another worker at the Al Daura oil refinery just outside Baghdad,complaining anonymously for fear that he would lose his job, told mehe'd spent 10 years fighting in the Iran-Iraq war, only to return hometo his six children with nothing. "I still have no house or place tolive," he said bitterly, "and the current emergency wage is totallyincapable of supporting us."In September and October, the refinery saw three work stoppages, inwhich workers demanded a regular salary, at a level higher than theemergency payments. Leather factory workers even stormed out of theirplant, and marched to the Labor Ministry, complaining about theirmanager and the wages. Similar protests have been happening atworkplaces throughout the country.Those without jobs, estimated at about 70 percent of the workforce, orabout 7-8 million people, have even less. Twenty years ago, mostpeople living in Baghdad were supported by regular employment. Todaythe informal, or black economy, is the means of survival for anenormous part of the population. Since April, the CPA and the IraqiMinistry of Labor and Social Affairs have rewritten all the country'sjob classifications, and their corresponding salaries, at least threetimes. But the actual pay received by workers has remained exactly thesame. The $87 billion just appropriated by Congress for Iraqi"reconstruction" contains not a dime for workers or the unemployed.Instead, the money will prepare the way for the transformation of theIraqi economy, and the privatization of the state enterprises at itsheart. In the process the Bush administration is not consideringmeasures that would protect and reinforce labor rights. Instead,since April the CPA has essentially banned unions in Iraqi stateenterprises, and even issued a decree prohibiting strikes.In an October 8 phone press conference, Thomas Foley, director forprivate sector development for the CPA, announced a list of the firststate enterprises to be sold off, including cement and fertilizerplants, phosphate and sulfur mines, pharmaceutical factories and thecountry's airline. Foley described his goal as a "fully thrivingcapitalist economy." On September 19 the CPA published Order No. 39,which permits 100% foreign ownership of businesses, except for the oilindustry, and allows repatriation of profits. No. 37 suspends incomeand property taxes for the year, and limits taxes on individuals andcorporations in the future to 15%.Dathar Al-Kashab, manager of the Al Daura refinery, predicted thatprivatization would have an enormous effect. "A worker starting heretoday has a job for life, under the old system, and there's no lawwhich permits me to lay him off. But if I put on the hat ofprivatization, I'll have to fire 1500 [of the refinery's 3000]workers. In America when a company lays people off, there'sunemployment insurance, and they won't die from hunger. If I dismissemployees now, I'm killing them and their families." Al Kashab wasformerly the manager of the maintenence department, and still wearshis machinist's overalls as he sits behind the huge desk of the plantdirector, a position to which he was appointed when the occupationbegan.The state-owned Mamoun Factory of Vegetable Oils, which employs 771workers is another prime candidate for sale to a private owner. "Butthere's no private person in Iraq with enough money to buy thisplace," said manager Amir Faraj Bhajet. "It would have to be a foreignowner. They would like the assets, but would they want the workers?"Production is low and many of the plant's injection molding machines,which make plastic bottles for the oil, are disabled. Replacementparts were unavailable during 12 years of sanctions, and the plant wasinspected 20 times as a possible site for chemical weapons production,since the PVC used in making bottles has a dual possible use. Iraqinewspapers are already carrying stories on possible buyers.Despite fear of privatization, however, the fall of the Saddam regimehas led to an explosion of workplace organizing activity. Low wagesare one motivation, but often working conditions are even moreimportant. At the Al Daura refinery, Detrala Beshab, president of therefinery's new union, noted that while the workday is officially sevenhours, the day shift is actually 11 hours long, and the night shift 13hours. Since workers are paid by the month, there is no overtime pay."When we talked to the manager, he told us he had to talk to the OilMinistry, which had to talk to the Finance Ministry, which had to getpermission from the coalition forces," Beshab said. "The coalitionforces control the finances and our wages." Beshab and the unioncommittee are all older men, at least in their forties. The planthasn't hired new workers in some time. Any job in Baghdad right nowmay be precarious, but it is a means of survival, so workers hang ontothem by any means they can. An eleven hour shift is much better thanno shift at all.The workers' situation is so desperate the refinery gives them motoroil every month to make up for their low income. On the highwayoutside the plant, the sons of refinery workers have set up littleroadside stands selling it to passing cars.In Saddam's time no one could afford to retire - "the pension wasn'tenough to pay a taxi to collect the check," Beshab laughs. But therefinery and every other state enterprise did pay other importantbenefits. There was a system of bonuses and profit-sharing, whichoften was as much as the salary itself, and a food subsidy as well.All those benefits disappeared when the occupation authorities tookover. Workers have suffered a drastic cut in income since April as aresult of CPA decisions. A skyrocketing exchange rate (2000 dinars tothe dollar in mid-October) has made imports more expensive -- ineffect, another cut in salary.No one in the refinery, except the fire department, has boots orgloves. Safety glasses are unknown. "Lots of us have breathingproblems, and there are accidents in which people get burned,"explained another union member, Rajid Hassan. If anyone gets hurt orsick, they have to pay for their own medical care, and lose pay forthe time they're out of work.Two months ago, organizers came out to the plant from one of Iraq'stwo new labor federations, the Workers Democratic Trade UnionFederation, the modern successor to the country's pre-Saddam labormovement. Iraq has a long history of labor and radical activity, bornduring the fight against the British during their 6-year occupation ofthe country at the end of World War One. Starting with oil, railroadand dock workers, unions mounted strikes, which the British suppressedat gunpoint, killing strikers.The monarchy that the British installed, lasting until 1958, continuedto make union organizing illegal. After the 1958 revolution overthrewthe king, unions and radical political parties came aboveground forthe first time. But in 1963, the CIA mounted a coup against the Kassemgovernment, and installed the Baath Party. In 1977, Saddam Hussein,who became the Baath Party ruler, purged the unions and made radicalparties illegal. Many activists were executed, and others fled Iraqinto exile.Following the fall of the Saddam regime in April, organizers of theold unions resurfaced. In Basra, they mounted a strike two days afterthe arrival of British troops, demanding the right to organize andprotesting the appointment of a Baath Party member as the new mayor.Subsequently, 400 union activists met in Baghdad in June, forming theWorkers Democratic Trade Union Federation, and laid plans toreorganize unions in twelve of the country's main industries.After that meeting, organizers fanned out to workplaces, including theAl Daura refinery. There they encouraged workers in each of the ninedepartments to elect union committees, and to choose leaders for theentire installation. While the plant manager seemed very willing totalk with the union, he was not able to sign any kind of contract withthe federation.The refinery and all other state enterprises are still covered by thelaw issued by Saddam on March 11, 1987, which abolished Labour Law No.151 of 1970, which guaranteed such rights as the 8 hour day. Saddam's1987 decree turned workers in the public sector into "civil servants,"thereby denying them the right to form or join unions or to bargain.The pension funds of these workers were handed to the treasury withoutcompensation. At the same time that unions in the public sector werebanned, new "unions" were created for the private sector which,according to Law 52 of 1987, would work with management to "increaseefficiency and work discipline."The 1987 law has a special effect on workers employed in enterprisesset to be privatized-if they have no legal union, no right to bargainand no contracts, the privatization of the plants and the huge joblosses that will come with it will face much less organizedresistance.On June 5 CPA head Paul Bremer issued a decree, called "PublicIncitement to Violence and Disorder." In a paragraph about "prohibitedpronouncements," section b) list those that "incite civil disorder,rioting or damage to property." Those who violate the decree "will besubject to immediate detention by CPA security forces and held as asecurity internee under the Fouth Geneva Convention of 1949 [whichgoverns prisoners of war]." The phrase civil disorder can easily beinterpreted as applying to people advocating or organizing strikes.On an October 13 interview, Dr. Nuri Jafer, assistant to the IraqiMinister of Labor, was asked whether the 1987 law would be repealed,and refused to answer the question. Sitting next to him in his ornateoffice was Leslie Findley, a British advisor assigned by the CPA tooversee the ministry. She was asked the same question, and alsorefused to answer. Then she complained about the number of uniondelegations visiting the ministry, making the same request. "I'm goingto tell the minister that these are taking too much of his time, andrecommend that he concentrate instead on doing his job," she warned.Dr. Jafer spent a half-hour describing in glowing terms his idea for anew system of unemployment benefits, paying, he hoped, a survivalincome "without removing the motivation from people to go out and findjobs." Leaving aside the repetition of the free-marketeers' horrorthat poor people might lose their desire to work, Dr. Nuri'sexplanation had one other major problem. "As yet, unfortunately," heconceded, "we have yet to find any country willing to help us fundit."At the shoe and vegetable oil factories, another new labor group beganorganizing workers this summer, called the Workers Unions andCouncils. With its encouragement, shoe factory workers organized aunion and demanded legal recognition. Like workers at the refinery,they complained about long hours without overtime pay, no vacations,and the disappearance of their extra pay when the occupation started.At the factory this reporter was immediately surrounded by dozens ofangry workers, each interrupting the other in their urgent efforts todescribe their frustration. Dressed in the standard blue overalls ofmost Iraqi factory workers, they looked as if they had just taken abreak from operating their machines. All seemed very willing to speakout within just a few yards of the manager's office, but hesitated atgiving their names. They explained their reluctance by noting thatworkers whose names wound up on lists maintained by Saddam Husseinsecurity police were fired and blacklisted, or even executed."We're demanding the right to form a union which must have fullauthority to represent workers here," explained one worker. "We mustchange this law that says we don't have to right to a union. If thelaw doesn't change, we'll change it anyway, like it or not. We are thepeople." When an assistant manager listening to the interview began toexplain the reason why the factory director couldn't negotiate, thisworker lost his patience and his loud, intense disagreement made themanager retreat back into the office. "Life has gotten much worse,"said another, pointing emphatically into the air. "Everything iscontrolled by the coalition. We don't control anything."Even without legal status, unions are finding a way to operate and winsome demands. The vegetable oil factory's employees tried first to setup a union for the food products industry. The labor ministry thenreminded them that they were civil servants, and therefore prohibitedfrom collective bargaining. The workers and the Workers Councilsresponded by setting up a union for civil servants, defying the ban.The new union's demands include reclassifying the workers so that theycan receive higher salaries, lifting the punishment of banned formeremployees, and the reinstatement of profit-sharing.According to its general secretary Majeed Sahib Kareem, "a majorreason for our existence is to eliminate the laws issued by the Baathregime." Kareem displayed a long list of workers at the plant who hadbeen arrested and executed during the Saddam Hussein regime forbelonging to the Al Daiwa Party, which is now part of the IraqiGoverning Council. The children of these workers were blacklisted andunable to find jobs. Kareem and his union seek to get the governmentand factory management to make restitution for the old crimes, andcorrect the harm done to workers' families.The WDTUF also condemns the 1987 law and calls for its repeal, butdoesn't organize mass demonstrations against it. "We think civildisobedience is a fertile ground for troublemakers to create havoc andendanger the lives of the people who participate," said AbdullahMuhsin, the federation's international representative.Part of the Workers Councils network is the Union of the Unemployed,which for months marched and demonstrated in the streets for survivalpayments for people who often are starving. On July 29 they set up atent encampment in front of the compound of the US occupationauthorities, and the soldiers detained 21 of the union's leaders as aresult. "The money they spent on just ten combat helicopters would beenough to meet the needs of all the unemployed workers in ourcountry," charged Qasim Hadi, the union's general secretary, who hasbeen arrested twice in protests.In the face of extreme levels of unemployment, the occupationauthorities have claimed that the contracts for reconstruction givento US corporations will result in jobs for large numbers of Iraqis. Inan August 13 letter to the Union of the Unemployed, William B.Clatanoff, the then-CPA advisor to the Ministry of Labor, boasted thatneighborhood councils throughout Baghdad would nominate projects"which will not only offer productive jobs, but also quickly impactneighborhoods in need of overdue improvements." Anyone driving throughthe city's streets in the following two months could easily see theabsence of any such public works, however. Enormous piles of rubblefrom the war remain untouched. Clatanoff promised 300,000 jobsthroughout Iraq, none of which have appeared.Nevertheless, US corporations are actively providing some essentialservices to the occupation troops, maintaining prison compounds, andrebuilding those parts of the infrastructure, like ports andpipelines, needed to get oil exports restarted. But here theemployment of Iraqi nationals is much less desired.Highly paid technicians are brought in from outside, and housed incompounds surrounded by walls and razor wire, escorted by soldiers.According to the Financial Times of London, contractors preparingmeals for troops on their bases use foreign nationals because theydon't trust Iraqis. "Iraqis are a security threat," said a manager forthe Tamimi Company, which provides food service for 60,000 soldiers.Instead, the firm brought in 1800 workers from Pakistan, India, Nepaland Bangladesh. Tamimi in turn is a contractor to US constructiongiant Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of the HalliburtonCorporation. Halliburton's no-bid contract in Iraq is worth over $2billion.Those Iraqis who do get hired to work for the Americans on the basesdescribe oppressive working conditions. Muiwafa al Saidy, who worksfor US contractors doing construction at the Baghdad airport,complained that "soldiers aim guns at us wherever we go, even to thetoilet." Workers are paid $5 a day, but have to give $2 of that to a"translator" who threatens to tell the soldiers they're terroristsunless he gets paid off. They have to pass through three differentgates to gain access to the area where they work, and al Saidydescribed instances in which they were held in a no-man's land betweenthe gates all day, to punish them for arriving a few minutes late.Adding to the tension are the presence of prisoners in the compound.Al Saidy said he's seen children brought in from the soccer fields,balls in hand, old men in their 80s, and even hospital patientscarrying their drip bags. He described treatment bordering oncontempt - food thrown on the ground, blows with sticks, and otherforms of disrespect.In August, a representative of the International Labor Organization,Walid Hamdan, visited Iraq. On his return, he made a report to theInternational Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU). Guy Ryder, theICFTU's general secretary, called for an international labordelegation to visit Iraq to investigate conditions for workers."Ensuring respect for workers' rights, including freedom ofassociation, must be central to building a democratic Iraq and toensuring sustainable economic and social development," the ICFTU saidin a May 30 statement. "Democracy must have roots. It requires freeelections, but also mass based, democratic trade unions that helpsecure it and protect it as well as being schools of democracy."Arab trade unionists are also critical of the occupation's effect onworkers. According to Hacene Djemam, General Secretary of theInternational Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, "war makesprivatization easy: first you destroy the society and then you let thecorporations rebuild it." He emphasized that Iraqi workers must beable to form unions of their own choosing.Meanwhile, US Labor Against the War, which brought together unions andlabor councils that opposed the Bush intervention before it tookplace, prepared a research paper after the occupation started,profiling the US corporations that were given reconstructioncontracts. A USLAW delegation to Iraq in October took copies of thereport, and offered to assist unions there if and when they confrontthe kind of union-busting activity for which some of those companieshave become notorious. A British labor delegation also visited Iraq inSeptember.Labor support in the US for Iraqi unions will focus on the repeal ofthe 1987 Saddam law prohibiting collective bargaining for state-sectorworkers, and the removal of other legal barriers on labor activity.The US Labor Assembly for Peace, convened in Chicago on October 24 and25 by USLAW, announced it was launching a national campaign to defendIraqi labor rights under the occupation, and resolved to make this anissue in the 2004 election. It called for Congressional hearings intothe enforcement of the 1987 law, and began circulating resolutionsthrough unions around the country to build up pressure on Bush and theCPA.Clarence Thomas, former secretary-treasurer of San Francisco longshoreLocal 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, was amember of the USLAW October delegation. He explained to a meeting ofWDTUF leaders that his local had opposed the war even before itstarted, a position backed up by the International union at itsconvention in June. Jassim Mashkoul, the new federation's director forinternal communications, thanked him for his opposition to the war andoccupation. "At the beginning, we thought our situation might bebetter afterwards, since we got rid of Saddam Hussein. But it hasn'tbeen." He cited the occupation authority's enforcement of the 1987 lawas a major obstacle. In addition, he noted, the new federation hasasked that the old union structure set up by Saddam Hussein beofficially dissolved, and its buildings and the benefit funds itadministered turned over to the new unions. The occupation authoritieshave turned a deaf ear to these appeals as well.Both the WDTUF and the Workers Councils federations opposed the warand call for an end to the occupation. But according to another leaderof the federation, Muhsen Mull Ali, who spent two long stints inprison for organizing unions in Basra, "they will reimpose capitalismon us, so our responsibility is to oppose privatization as much aspossible, and fight for the welfare of our workers.""We need Congressional hearings into the union-busting actions by USoccupation authorities in Iraq," Thomas declared. "If unions here knewwhat's being done in our name over there, they'd be outraged."For more information, read David Bacon's "War Makes PrivatizationEasy."http://www.counterpunch.org/bacon08252003.html

Victory in Brooklyn

2007-03-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

IWW WINS LABOR BOARD RULING - Workers reinstated at Amersino after being fired for joining union.
Submitted by Diane on Thu, 03/08/2007 - 4:20pm.
NY, NY, March 6, 2007 – In a big win for workers in Brooklyn and Queens, the National Labor Relations Board ordered that warehouse owner Henry Wang of Amersino Marketing Group, LLC reinstate Manuel Lopez and Juan Antonio Rodriguez, pay thousands of dollars in back wages, and cease and desist any and all illegal anti-union measures. On February 27, 2007, the Board found that Wang violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act by firing Lopez and Rodriguez, after they joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, and by intimidating others who engaged in protected union activity.
“It’s clear that it was discrimination for trying to form a union,” said Rodriguez.
The IWW filed a grievance with the NLRB after five Amersino workers were fired for union activity in April 2006. In addition, seventeen workers at four other restaurant supply warehouses in Brooklyn and Queens were fired for joining the union. Further complaints allege that employers regularly violated minimum wage and overtime laws. Organizers with the IWW’s Food and Allied Workers Union, 460/640, described the Amersino ruling as a clear signal to employers that union busting efforts are a direct assault on the rights of workers, and vowed to keep up the fight.
The organizing drive at E-Z Supply/Sunrise Plus, Amersino, Top City, Giant Big Apple Beer and Handyfat Trading, Inc. has heated up in recent months. More than 200 union members and community activists from Make the Road By Walking marched through Brooklyn and Queens on February 19, 2007 and picketed three warehouses and a supermarket to protest unfair labor practices.
On March 10, 2007, the IWW plans to picket the E-Z Supply/Sunrise Plus warehouse at 48-01 Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens from 8:30 am to 10:30 am (near Grand Street stop on the L train). The U.S. Justice Department will hold a deposition of Sunrise Plus owner Dennis Ho on March 13, 2007 over charges that he illegally applied the Immigration Reform and Control Act to crush IWW union organizing at that workplace.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a rank and file union founded in 1905. The IWW Food and Allied Workers Union, 460/640, is organizing in the food industry to improve working conditions and win respect on the job. Members of the union include workers from Starbucks, restaurants, and warehouses.