Majority sign-up ("card check") would have sped the UFCW's 15-year organizing drive at Smithfield. But they won without it--in an election run under even better rules than EFCA would provide. . . .
Nobody wants to say it on the record, but the buzz is we won’t get the Employee Free Choice Act in its current form. It’s possible to admire labor’s efforts for two million petition signatures for EFCA and still ask, if this is the fight of a lifetime, why aren’t we acting like it? Could the energy unions channeled for Obama last fall be reawakened for creative actions in 2009? . . .
UNITE HERE had a lot to resolve at the three-day meeting of its General Executive Board in February—namely, the fate of the union. Two presidents, UNITE’s Bruce Raynor and HERE’s John Wilhelm, forged an alliance in 2004, but as the union’s first convention approaches, the relationship has dissolved into out-and-out civil war. . . .
As Big 3 automakers rolled out plans that would “save” the industry by destroying jobs, it’s easy to forget that union members must vote on changes to their contract. . . .
The civil war in the upper reaches of UNITE HERE took a nasty turn January 22, when UNITE veteran and International President Bruce Raynor filed suit against fellow officers in U.S. District Court in New York...
As Wisconsin faces a nearly $6 billion budget deficit, state employee unions are determined to make sure the crisis isn’t “solved” on our backs. All union contracts with the state will expire June 30. As we strategize, we’re remembering our successful campaign—“A Deal’s a Deal”—from 2003. . . .
As Wisconsin faces a nearly $6 billion budget deficit, state employee unions are determined to make sure the crisis isn’t “solved” on our backs. All union contracts with the state will expire June 30. As we strategize, we’re remembering our successful campaign—“A Deal’s a Deal”—from 2003.
In February 2003 a joint committee of the Wisconsin legislature refused to approve 16 agreements that had been ratified by the members of six state employees’ unions. Over the years, state employees had consistently been used as punching bags by many of the legislators holding the contracts hostage.
More than 300 workers at the Kherson Engineering plant in the Ukraine occupied the plant’s administrative building in early February, protesting unpaid wages.
Workers occupied the building and then established a patrol to maintain a constant workers’ presence there. The workers have refused to leave until the company pays the back wages owed to them and the government nationalizes the plant, without compensation for the plant owners and investors.
The workforce, which numbers about 1,500, has not been paid since September. The total amount of back wages owed to workers totals between $550,000 and $630,000.
Sportswear maker Russell Corp. fired workers in an apparel plant in Choloma, Honduras in October because of their unionization efforts. Russell is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm of Warren Buffett. One of the wealthiest men in the world, Buffett has stressed throughout his career the importance of ethical business practices.
After pressure from many universities and colleges, organized by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), Russell offered to rehire the workers.
Reinstatement talks broke down, however, after Russell offered only a 4-cents-per-day pay increase. Days after negotiations stalled, Russell said it was closing the plant.
