Labor Notes - solidarity network feed

Garment Workers Lead Fight in Bangladesh

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:44:24 -0400

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In Bangladesh, workers are engaged in a protracted battle for the restoration of union rights, which were suspended more than a year ago when the government declared emergency rule. Interim authorities used that power earlier this year to file criminal cases against dozens of union members, including leaders of the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers’ Union Federation.

In a Dhaka shop operated by garment-maker RM Sweater, workers mourn the loss of a fellow worker, a 25-year-old man they called Russell. Though he complained of severe chest pains, management refused to let Russell leave work, where he collapsed and died April 1.

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Sat, 05/31/2008 - 9:59pm

Iranian Union Members Face Continuing Attacks

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:38:55 -0400

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An Iranian bakery worker and co-founder of the Bakery Workers Trade Union, Mahmoud Salehi, was released from prison in early April after a year of incarceration. Imprisoned for breaches of “national security,” he had organized a rally on International Workers’ Day (May 1) in 2004.

During his prison stay, protesters rallied outside the high-security facility in the Kurdish capital of Sanandaj. Their voices were soon joined by activists with LabourStart, the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Transport Federation, and Amnesty International, which all launched solidarity campaigns in the last year. Salehi was released to crowds celebrating his freedom, and promised to continue his decades-long struggle for labor rights in Iran.

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Sat, 05/31/2008 - 8:59pm

Palestinian Trade Union Headquarters Targeted

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:52:08 -0400

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The Gaza Strip is a difficult place to hold down a job, and recent violence against the main Palestinian union federation only worsened the lot of workers there. One and a half million Palestinians live in Gaza under an Israeli economic siege that has closed borders and ports, and restricted access to water, electricity, and basic goods. The resulting conditions have been dire. According to the UN Relief Works Association, unemployment and poverty rates have soared to 80 percent since the economic blockade ramped up three years ago.

Conditions deteriorated even further when Israel initiated military raids in late February, killing more than 100 civilians, a third of them children.

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Wed, 04/30/2008 - 10:59pm

Support New Jersey ‘Supervisors’ Union

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:43:32 -0400

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Workers at the Hishi Plastics factory in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, have waged a five-year organizing and bargaining battle with the company. Ninety percent of the plant’s 50 workers voted to join the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) in 2003, but their campaign was tied up by legal challenges from the employer, who claimed that some of the employees were supervisors.

The vote was suspended for four years while the NLRB decided the Kentucky River case, which established an expanded definition of supervisory work and denied many workers bargaining rights. Nevertheless, the National Labor Relations Board counted the ballots last January and granted collective bargaining with the UE to Hishi workers.

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Wed, 04/30/2008 - 9:59pm

Polish Coal Miners Looking for Solidarity

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:57:16 -0500

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Coal miners have launched the largest underground strike in Polish history. Since early January 500 workers have occupied the Budryk mine, 3,000 feet underground. The original strike action began in mid-December but was escalated further when workers took over their workplace.

They seek equal pay with the employees of the Jastrzebska Coal Company, who have recently begun a similar mine occupation. Jastrzebska is looking to buy up the state-owned Budryk mine this year. Budryk workers say they labor under the lowest wages in all of Polish industry.

The two unions leading the action, August 80 and Kadr, are coming under attack from right-wing politicians and business — but also from the trade unions Solidarnosc and ZZG, which have joined bosses in calling for state intervention to break up the strike. Motivated by last year’s methane explosion in the Halemba mine, workers are demanding better safety standards and wages, along with control over their workplaces to prevent more privatization of mining sites.

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Fri, 02/29/2008 - 10:59pm

Support Locked-Out Sears Technicians

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:00:36 -0500

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Seventy-seven appliance repair technicians in metro Vancouver, British Columbia, have been locked out of work since October 1. Their employer, Sears Canada, has 3,800 retail stores and more than $50 billion in annual revenue in its North American operations.

More than three months after the initial lockout, the company refuses to allow the technicians to return to work without adhering to certain conditions. Their terms rule out wage increases for the next four years and eliminate some overtime premiums and paid holidays. The new terms, which technicians are challenging, would also let Sears schedule workweeks without two consecutive days off.

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Fri, 02/29/2008 - 10:59pm

Guest Workers In Jordan Face Persecution

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:04:27 -0500

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Workers at a Jordanian textile plant where Victoria's Secret products are manufactured struck mid-November to protest management’s poor treatment. The recent U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement has resulted in an influx of guest workers there, and several American corporations have set up shop. Guest workers go to great lengths to secure work in Jordan, often taking noxious loans to obtain the required $1,500 to $3,000 for a permit.

Those who arrive at the D.K Garments factory in Jordan face extreme work conditions, according to a recent report by the National Labor Committee (NLC). The 150 guest workers at the plant, most of whom come from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, are subjected to 15-hour days with mandatory, underpaid overtime, and an average of only one vacation day every three months.

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Thu, 01/31/2008 - 10:59pm

Chinese Labor Activist Brutally Assaulted in Shenzhen

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:10:20 -0500

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Workers’ rights advocates are calling on the Chinese government to investigate a ruthless November 21 knife attack on a prominent labor activist in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing center in southern China.

Shenzhen labor activist Huang Qingnan was stabbed November 21. This is not the first attack on Huang. In 1999, then a rank-and-file activist in a food factory, Huang was permanently disfigured when acid was thrown on his face while he slept in the factory dormitory.

Huang Qingnan works for the Dagongzhe Migrant Workers Center, a small group that counsels workers on their legal rights. The center has helped low-paid factory workers file hundreds of claims for injuries and unfair dismissals. Employers have been held liable for large amounts of severance pay, and it is assumed that an employer is behind the attack.

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Wed, 01/30/2008 - 1:00pm

Help Mexico Teach North Carolina About Unions

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:13:35 -0500

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North Carolina is under new scrutiny for its poor labor standards, this time from a foreign government. Under a side accord in NAFTA called the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, the Mexican government is challenging the state to implement collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. It has also requested a progress report on a recent inquiry by the International Labor Organization (ILO) into the state’s prohibition against bargaining.

Earlier this year, the ILO ruled that North Carolina’s failure to comply with “freedom of association principles...has resulted in grievous working conditions for many public sector workers.” It called on the U.S. to ratify and adhere to the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which includes collective bargaining.

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Mon, 12/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Pakistan’s Union Activists Face Death Penalty

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:10:54 -0500

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Thousands of Pakistani citizens have been arrested for joining widespread protests against the declaration of emergency rule in Pakistan. When President Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution, fired supreme court judges, and enacted martial law in early November, crackdowns on labor ensued as well.

Two days after the decree, outspoken union leader Rana Ayub Aki was arrested and jailed. Aki is the leader of the 130,000-strong union inside the Pakistani Water and Development Authority. In the wake of these crackdowns, many labor leaders are being forced into hiding.

Union members and other activists organized a protest in early November at the Karachi Press Club, where police violently disrupted the gathering and arrested journalists, lawyers, and two labor leaders. One, Liaqat Ali Sahi, a leader at the State Bank of Pakistan and in the Hotel Workers Solidarity Committee, has been charged with treason for calling for the return of democracy at the November 5 rally. Musharraf’s emergency rule has given military courts the power to try civilians, and Sahi and three others face the death penalty.

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Mon, 12/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Second Guatemalan Unionist Murdered

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:21:24 -0400

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Despite labor protection in the Central American Free Trade Agreement, violence against Guatemalan unionists continues to escalate. Guatemalan union leader Marco Tulio Ramirez Portela was murdered September 23 outside his home. Ramirez was the secretary of sport and culture for SITRABI, a banana workers union that is organizing workers at Del Monte.

Ramirez’s slaying is the latest in a flurry of violence against unionists in Guatemala that includes the murder in January of port workers’ union leader Pedro Zamora.

SITRABI met with the Ministry of Defense in mid-September to complain about intimidation from the Guatemalan army, which forcibly entered the union’s headquarters in July in a search for information on union members. After the army intervened against a planned SITRABI strike in 1999, the relationship between the union and army has been fractious.

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Fri, 11/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Colombian Unions Face More Violence

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:16:48 -0400

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Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to organize a union. In a country that witnessed nearly 1,200 murders of trade unionists between 1994 and 2006, only 14 of the crimes have led to convictions. The intensity of anti-union violence has flared up again in recent weeks.

Leaders of the National Union of Food Industry Workers (SINALTRAINAL) have been actively organizing against the labor practices of multinational companies in the country, and face death threats, abductions and torture.

A death threat was found on September 20 at the home of regional union leader Jose Domingo Flores in the city of Bucaramanga. The message was signed by the Aguilas Negras, a government-funded paramilitary group notorious for repressing union movements labeled “subversive” by President Alvaro Uribe’s administration.

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Fri, 11/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Independent Russian Auto Union

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:36:04 -0400

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Auto workers at the Avto VAZ plant in Togliatti, Russia continue to demand living wages despite their company’s refusal to negotiate and meet the workers’ demands. The independent trade union, Yedinstvo, is calling for all workers in the Avto VAZ plant to pressure top managers of Avto VAZ to raise the minimum monthly pay from 8,000 rubles ($325) to 25,000 rubles ($980) a month to meet monthly wage standards for the region set by the Samara provincial legislature during local elections.

The Avto VAZ plant is the largest auto manufacturing plant in Russia, employing over 112,000 workers in three workshops in the plant. On August 1, workers at Avto VAZ called a strike in response to having received no reply from the company regarding their demands. The union called an end to the strike on August 1 after four hours of striking at several Avto VAZ shops.

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Wed, 10/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Help Free Jailed Salvadorean Nurses

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:33:07 -0400

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Eight excutive board members of the Union of Nursing Workers of El Salvador (SIEGEESAL), were arrested on September 4 after helping organize protests in the San Vicente area of El Salvador. The actions were called to protest health services privitization, medicine shortages in public clinics, and the alleged embezzlement and misuse of funds by the regional public health director.

Union leaders have secured the nurses release on bail, but they still face charges for public disorder and damages to private property.

The protests, which took place in early July, involved a call for strikes at Santa Gertrudis national hospital. The work stoppages led to a meeting with the Director General of Hospital Services who agreed to discuss the unions’ demands, launch an inquiry into the charges of embezzlement and not seek reprisals against those who participated in the protest.

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Wed, 10/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Turn Up the Volume on Hearing Aid Maker

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:05:06 -0400

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More than 260 workers in hearing aid manufacturer Cochlear’s plant in Sydney, Australia have launched an international campaign to defend their contract.

Cochlear, which manufactures hearing aids for 80,000 people across the world, recently tried to terminate its collective bargaining agreement and impose “individual common law contracts.” When workers voted down the company’s proposed system, Cochlear demanded a second vote, in which the overwhelming majority of the workers again voted “no” on June 29.

Meanwhile, the workers voted twice by secret ballot to be represented by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), but the company claimed that under recently passed federal industrial relations laws it does not have to respect the workers’ decision. “Work Choice Laws,” which were implemented last year by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, allow employers coerce workers into signing “Australian Work Agreements” (AWA’s). AWA’s are individual contracts between employers and workers that override any pre-existing collective bargaining agreement. This allows employers to essentially gut union compensation and working conditions at their whim.

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Sun, 09/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Independent Garment Unionists

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:37:06 -0400

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Garment workers at the Vaqueros Navarra factory in Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico have faced firings, verbal harassment, and pressures to quit as a response to organizing efforts. The workers are active in a grassroots movement to organize an independent union.

Vaqueros Navarra, which manufactures blue jeans, is one of the largest garment factories owned by Grupo Navarro in the state of Puebla. The factory produces more than 30 brands that are exported to the U.S. market. In response to the company’s imposition of an “official union,” workers at Vaqueros Navarra formed the September 19 Union, which is affiliated with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT.) Supporters of the September 19 Union filed a petition on July 10 with the Local Conciliation and Arbitration Board (JCLA) to replace the company-run union.

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Sun, 09/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Demand Release of Jailed Indonesian Union Leader

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:08:26 -0400

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On the evening of May 1, Sarta bin Sarim, a packing worker and chairman of the local union at a furniture plant in Indonesia, was arrested. Police charged him with organizing the May Day rally that was held earlier that day in Jakarta.

The rally was organized by a coalition of local unions that did not include Sarta’s local. Sarta participated in the demonstration, which was conducted peacefully, returned to his workplace, and then went home where police was waiting for him.

At the police station he was beaten, forced to sign a false confession, and detained. The police arrested nine other workers on the same night and intimidated them into signing reports stating that Sarta organized the rally. After they complied, these other workers were released.

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Fri, 08/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Argentinean Garment Workers

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:05:46 -0400

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Since they began organizing for better wages and union recognition, workers at two factories in Rosario, Argentina owned by Lavadero Virasoro S.A. are confronting abuse and unjustified firings from the company. Lavadero Virasoro is a garment manufacturing factory where the workers, a majority between 20-30 years old launder jeans for large name brands such as Levi’s and Lee.

The workers at Lavadero Virasoro have joined the Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores Quimicos y Petroquimicos de Fray Luis Beltran, a union for workers in the chemical industry. The workers democratically elected and voted on an internal commission of delegates to present the workers’ demands to the company. Their demands include an end to the persecution and firings of unionists, immediate re-hiring of the fired workers, a basic monthly salary of 1,800 pesos ($580 U.S.), a five-day workweek, and recognition of the internal commission. Company owner Jorge Guidetti refuses, however, to negotiate.

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Fri, 08/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Justice Will Be Served at Saigon Grill

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:10:30 -0400

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Restaurant workers in New York City are organizing a boycott against local restaurant chain Saigon Grill. The boycott comes in response to firings and a March lockout of workers by the chain’s owners. Fired Saigon Grill workers, with support from other service workers from uptown and midtown Manhattan restaurants, have joined the “Justice Will Be Served!” campaign. Justice Will Be Served! is a coalition composed of the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association (CSWA), National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, and 318 Restaurant Workers Union (an independent union for workers in New York’s Chinatown). Uniting restaurant, hotel, and other service workers in New York, “Justice Will Be Served! fights common service industry abuses such as long hours, sub-minimum wages, and stolen tips.

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Tue, 07/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Billboard Strikers in Massachusetts

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:05:31 -0400

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Twenty-five members of Painters Local 391 have been striking since March 19 in Stoneham, Massachusetts. They had worked on posting for Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising, which unilaterally implemented a piece-work pay system and a seven-day work week. The company also eliminated pension funds and cut health insurance benefits.

Two weeks after the billboard workers walked out, two members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103, who also worked for the company, joined the strike. Unions across the state and in New York joined pickets at the company’s offices. Over 1,000 union members participated in the strike’s one-month anniversary rally on April 19.

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Tue, 07/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Fired Mexican Delphi Workers

Mon, 28 May 2007 13:30:20 -0400

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Last summer, Delphi’s Reynosa, Mexico plant fired 250 workers for failing to purchase expensive safety shoes. Workers say that the shoes were a pretext, that Delphi was cutting production and wanted an excuse to cut its workforce. Auto parts maker Delphi, famous for slashing workers’ wages in the United States, is among the largest private employers in Mexico.

Since last summer’s Reynosa firings, Delphi has refused to pay the workers the severance pay they are entitled to by law. Many of them are single mothers. To add insult to injury, on April 27 the local labor board informed workers that their paperwork had “disappeared.”

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Sat, 06/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Protest Arrests of Iranian Union Activists

Mon, 28 May 2007 13:14:05 -0400

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Iranian labor activist Mahmoud Salehi was arrested April 9 by government security forces in the city of Saqez, in the province of Kurdistan. Salehi, a former president of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the City of Saqez, had been summoned by police to the office of the provincial prosecutor, under the pretense that the governor and prosecutor wanted to discuss with Salehi his role in organizing upcoming May Day festivities. Yet upon arrival Salehi was apprehended and informed that he had been sentenced to one year in prison, along with a three-year suspended sentence, for his involvement in May Day celebrations in Saqez in 2004.

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Sat, 06/30/2007 - 9:59pm

Stop Zimbabwe’s Crackdown on Labor

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:41:20 -0400

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State police in Zimbabwe brutally suppressed a mass strike planned for April 3-4 by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). In late March and early April, riot police armed with batons, attack dogs, and semi-automatic rifles stormed nightclubs, restaurants, and bars, indiscriminately attacking patrons. Police reportedly targeted these sites as possible gathering places for strikers. They also raided and ransacked ZCTU offices, beating and arresting union members and officials.

Annual inflation in Zimbabwe stands at 1,700 percent, while 80 percent of the workforce is unemployed. Average income is less than $1 a day. Unions protesting government mismanagement of the economy and the lack of access to food and medical supplies are routinely met with violent attacks.

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Thu, 05/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Students Arrested in Living Wage Sit-In

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:38:32 -0400

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Twelve University of Michigan (UM) students were arrested on April 3 for occupying the office of UM President Mary Sue Coleman. The students, members of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality (SOLE), were demanding that the university sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). Universities that are part of the DSP have agreed to use university-licensed apparel from suppliers that pay a living wage to their employees and respect their employees’ right to organize and bargain collectively. So far, more than 30 universities nationwide have adopted the DSP.

Following a sit-in in 2000, UM adopted a “Code of Conduct” that promised to protect workers producing university-licensed apparel from harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Students contend that the school has failed to adequately monitor the actual working conditions at supplier factories, and that a more comprehensive commitment to workers’ rights is needed.

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Thu, 05/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Protest Persecution of Korean Teachers

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:44:43 -0400

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Two members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) were arrested and detained January 18 for allegedly violating the South Korean National Security Law. Middle school teachers Choi Hwa-seop and Kim Maeng-gyu were arrested after posting information about North Korean politics on the internet for educational purposes.

The two teachers, both of whom have won awards for their contributions to peace education, await trial on charges that potentially carry the penalty of death.

On January 26, a judge rejected the union’s appeal to review the legality of the teachers’ detention, and three days later the two teachers were sent to Seoul Prison, where they remain today.

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Mon, 04/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Iraqi Union Members

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:29:48 -0400

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American and Iraqi armed forces raided the Baghdad office of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) on February 23 and 25. In the first raid, soldiers destroyed furniture, confiscated computers, and arrested a GFIW employee, who has since been released. The second unprovoked raid caused further damage to GFIW headquarters.

These attacks are part of a larger pattern. Over the past several months, GFIW offices and leadership have been subject to multiple raids and attacks by the Iraqi government, the American occupation forces, and other militant groups.

In response, the GFIW has asserted its belief that a free and independent trade union movement is of vital importance to the struggle for a more democratic Iraq. As the GFIW Executive Committee expressed in a February 3statement: “The annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement’s assets, and the putting of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement.”

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Mon, 04/30/2007 - 10:59pm

Campaign for U.S. Labor Law Reform

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:15:28 -0500

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On the evening of February 5, 231 members of the House of Representatives reintroduced to Congress the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA or H.R. 800). If passed, the act could significantly boost the organizing efforts of U.S. unions (see page 8)

Employers have become adept at disrupting the NLRB election process, threatening and harassing potential union members while ensuring the process drags on and on. The bill would ensure that workers who vote to form a union through card-check recognition do not have to then go through an employerinitiated NLRB election.

To see if your representative is one of the bill’s co-sponsors, go to www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork and click on the “Employee Free Choice Act” icon in the center of the page; when the next page appears, click on the “233 House Members” link, located toward the top of the page.

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Sat, 03/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Give Solidarity Credit Due

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:05:08 -0500

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Seventy women credit union workers in Hamilton, Ontario have been on strike for the past four months. Though it was started by union workers for union workers, FirstOntario Credit Union is now asking its employees to give back sick days, and accept a decrease in both retirement benefits and job security. Credit union managers are calling for these concessions despite recently reporting record profits.

The striking workers, members of Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) Local 343, are out on the picket line protesting the cutbacks and demanding that FirstOntario management respect their right to a fair bargaining process.

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Sat, 03/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Ethiopian Teachers Union

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 15:39:22 -0500

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Two members of the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) were beaten and detained in December and are being held incommunicado. Tilahun Ayalew, arrested December 29, and Anteneh Getnet, arrested December 14, do not have access to lawyers. The charges against them are unknown.

A third ETA member, Meqcha Mengistu, has been missing since December 15. He had been under constant surveillance since attending an ETA conference December 8 and 9, according to the global union federation Education International (EI).

Amnesty International has put out several action alerts on behalf of previously detained and tortured ETA members. Attacks ETA members have increased since the union and EI filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO). EI cited government suppression of union activities, including numerous arrests since 2005.

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Wed, 02/28/2007 - 10:59pm

Maquila Squid Company Workers Dumped

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:38:29 -0500

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Ninety-two workers were fired from their squid processing jobs in Santa Rosalía in Baja California Sur, Mexico by Korean multinational seafood corporation Hanjin.

The firings followed attempts to organize an independent union, the Independent Workers Union of the Maquiladora Industry in Baja California Sur (or SINTTIM). The union has filed a lawsuit against Hanjin for violating the Mexico’s federal labor laws.

Speaking of conditions in the squid-processing, one worker said: “Many of us are single mothers and we depend on the salary from our job, and the fishing industry is the only source of employment and the companies take advantage of that. They pay us two cents [U.S] to clean each pound of squid, we work 12-hour shifts, we don’t have clean water to drink, and we are victims of sexual harassment by the supervisors.”

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Wed, 02/28/2007 - 10:59pm

Keep Your Holiday Party ‘Smithfield-Free’

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:51:23 -0500

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United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) activists at the world’s largest hog slaughterhouse are asking supporters to host a “Smithfield-Free Holiday Party.” At these parties, both the host and guests should refuse to purchase pork from the Smithfield Foods plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, where workers have been struggling for the last decade to organize a union.

In November, over 1,000 Smithfield employees at the Tar Heel plant staged a two-day walk out following the firing of 50 immigrant workers. This walkout was the latest in a series of actions led by Smithfield workers dissatisfied with unsafe working conditions, low pay, and abusive management.

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Wed, 01/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Save Montreal’s Oldest Delicatessen

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:49:31 -0500

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Strikers from Ben’s Delicatessen in Montreal held a demonstration December 5, complete with free, smoked meat sandwiches. 22 waiters, bus boys, and short-order cooks at Ben’s have been without a contract since February 2006 and on strike since July 20, shutting down the deli for more than five months.

They are demanding that Ben’s bargain fairly with their union, Syndicat des Travailleuses et Travailleurs de la Charcuterie Ben’s (CSN).

CSN is seeking a $.40 Cdn/per hour pay increase, retiree benefits, and severance pay. Strikers are also demanding air-conditioning and heating system repairs, as well as other workplace improvements. Ben’s management has refused to bargain with the union.

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Wed, 01/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Support Purdue Students Supporting Workers

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:47:56 -0500

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Students at Purdue University began a hunger strike at the end of November, demanding that the university administration take steps toward becoming a “Sweat-Free Campus.” Currently, as is the case at many universities, Purdue apparel is made in nonunion shops that offer low wages and poor working conditions.

Purdue’s is one of many student campaigns across the U.S. encouraging university administrations to sign on to the Designated Supplier’s Program. The DSP is designed to monitor and enforce codes of conduct for companies that manufacture university apparel.

To pressure the Purdue administration to sign on to the DSP, 15 students at Purdue have been on a hunger strike for over 20 days. Tell Purdue President Martin Jischke to sign Purdue on to the Designated Suppliers Program and begin supporting unionized workers in sweat-free factories. Call 765-494-9708 or write to Jischke at Perdue Hunger Strikers. You can also sign an online petition supporting the strikers at Sweat-free Purdue Petition.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 01/31/2007 - 9:59pm

Targeting of Iranian Bus Drivers Union Continues

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:20:07 -0500

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Two Iranian labor activists, Seyed Davoud Razavi and Abdolreza Tarazi, were arrested while handing out union flyers at a bus station December 3 in the city of Khavaran. Mansour Osanloo, the president of their union, has been in prison since November 19. Osanloo was re-arrested after having recently spent seven months in the Evin Prison, which is notorious for torture. No public charges have been made against Osanloo, Razavi, or Tarazi, whose Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (UWTSBC) is not recognized by the Iranian government.

Ravayi and Tarazi are two of the fifty workers suspended from their company without pay since last year’s UWTSBC strike.

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Wed, 01/31/2007 - 10:59pm

Cintas Threatens Security of Immigrant Employees

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:47:41 -0500

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Thousands of immigrant workers at Cintas, one of the world’s largest laundry and uniform companies, face firings if the company follows a discriminatory government proposal.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has encouraged employers to fire workers who fail to correct mismatched social security numbers or re-verify their authorization to work in the United States. The proposal is not yet law.

Cintas, headquartered in Cincinnati, designs and manufactures products such as uniforms, entrance mats, bathroom supplies, and fire safety equipment. Cintas runs 350 work sites in the U.S. and Canada. Most Cintas employees are immigrants. Workers in California, Illinois, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Wisconsin may lose jobs under the DHS proposal.

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Sun, 12/31/2006 - 11:00pm

Victoria’s Secrets Exposed

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:43:59 -0500

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Victoria’s Secrets Exposed

Clover Group International, a Hong Kong based lingerie company, shut down its Gina Form Bra factory in Thailand on October 20. Workers were locked in the factory while police and military personnel stood by. They were pressured to sign “voluntary” resignation letters accepting lower severance pay than legally mandated. Sixteen hundred Gina workers formed the Gina Relations Workers Union (GRWU) in 2003; now they could be out of a job.

Clover Group produces for brands such as Limited, which owns Victoria’s Secret and Express; Gap; and Calvin Klein. Just before the factory closure, the GRWU won wage increases, production bonuses, paid union leave, lunch benefits, and ongoing monitoring of the factory’s health and safety conditions.

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Sun, 12/31/2006 - 11:00pm

University of Vermont Evades Living Wage

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:35:29 -0500

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The University of Vermont (UVM) Board of Trustees refuses to pay its workers a livable wage.

The board had ignored a recommendation from its own Basic Needs and Equitable Compensation Task Force to support lowwage workers with a livable wage policy, even if they are not part of the UVM service workers’ union, UE Local 267.

UVM created the Basic Needs and Equitable Compensation Task Force following a series of protests by Student Labor Action Project.

A livable wage is hourly pay or annual income that provides for the basic needs of a family, plus taxes. Basic needs include food, housing, childcare, transportation, health care, clothing, household and personal expenses, insurance, and a small amount of savings. A single person living in Burlington with no children would receive $12.43 an hour if livable wages were implemented, according to a 2005 study by the Vermont Joint Fiscal Office.

Expiration Date:
Sun, 12/31/2006 - 11:00pm

No Finale For Musicians

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:03:49 -0500

Body:

A Chilean musicians union in Santiago was destroyed at the end of September.

The Mayor of Santiago, who fired everyone pertaining to the union, heads administration of the theater.

Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago stars in almost every performance at Teatro Municipal. Every one of the symphony’s musicians was fired.

Call for the musicians of the Santiago philharmonic orchestra to be rehired with a restored contract.

Send emails addressed to President Raul Alcaino, Corporación Cultural de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Santiago: alcalde at munistgo.cl, educam at congreso.cl. You can also write to Ambassador Andres Bianchi at the Chilean Embassy, 1732 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 11/30/2006 - 11:00pm

Riot Police Raid Korean Union Offices

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:48:04 -0500

Body:

One hundred nineteen Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU) offices have been forcefully closed by the South Korean government. Daily crackdowns began nationwide on September 22.

Police used claw hammers, drills, steel pipes, axes and power saws to enter offices by breaking windows, doors, or holes in the walls. Numerous union offices were sealed with iron plates and bars following the raids. Internet, phone lines, and electricity were cut off.

Riot police and private security contractors arrested unionists while storming their offices. Many workers were injured.

KGEU members and solidarity organizations held sit-ins and protest rallies inside and outside offices not yet invaded. Police used fire hoses and water cannons to break up these protests. In Namwon, Jeonbuk, a barricade was created in front of an office by a truck drivers union in solidarity with KGEU.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 11/30/2006 - 11:00pm

Florida University Looking to Fire Unionized Janitors

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:49:56 -0400

Body:

More than 400 South Florida workers fighting to organize a union may lose their jobs. About 70 percent of janitors and groundskeepers employed by the contractor UNICCO at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) voted in favor of unionizing with SEIU.

Less than two hours later, Nova President Ray Ferrero announced the end of UNICCO Service Co.’s cleaning contract. The contract is now up for new bids.

Wanda Rodrigues has been an NSU custodian for 11 years. ‘’Mr. Ferrero doesn’t want the union,’’ she told the Miami Herald. “It’s the best way for him to get rid of the workers in a legal way, a nice way.’’ Rodrigues is a mother of two. She makes $7.69 an hour with no health care coverage.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 11/30/2006 - 11:00pm

Starbucks’ Union Busting Leaves Bad Taste

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:54:43 -0400

Body:

Starbucks has once again fired one of its workers for being a union activist. In early August, Starbucks barista Daniel Gross was fired for his union organizing, making Gross the fourth such firing in less than a year. Starbucks has been engaged in an illegal union busting campaign for over a year.

General Distribution Workers Industrial Union (IU) 660, the retail division of the Industrial Workers of the World, has been organizing baristas across the country. Daniel Gross, one of the founders of the Starbucks union, was allegedly fired, while at the picket line, for telling district manager Allison Marx that his co-worker and union brother should not be fired.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Elderwear: We Don’t Care

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:53:56 -0400

Body:

At Elder Manufacturing, the company slogan is “Elderwear: We Care.” Elder produces uniforms at a factory in El Salvador. Recently, the company chose to shift its production to a new facility nearly two hours away from the current site. The company announced this to its employees on Friday and expected them to spend an extra four hours driving to and from work on the following Monday. In El Salvador the workers are entitled to severance pay, if they didn’t want to work at the new location.

The workers were infuriated. They had been paid 63 cents per hour and were fined an hour’s pay for every minute they were late. They demanded severance pay to which they are legally entitled under Salvadoran law. The company has responded by claiming the workers quit and therefore don’t qualify for severance pay. Management has also said that these workers will not be allowed to work at the new factory.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Frontier Telephone Hangs Up on CWA Workers

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:53:20 -0400

Body:

Frontier Telephone workers in Georgia won union representation with the Communication Workers of America in April 2005. To this date, the workers (now members of CWA Local 3220) still don’t have a contract.

Frontier’s parent company, Citizens Communications, made over $56 million more in the second quarter of this year than last year and the company’s CEO made almost $4 million last year. Yet the company refuses to give its workers a fair contract.

In fact, the company’s latest demands include the right to outsource its entire workforce. Cable splicers, technicians, installers, and dispatchers in Statesboro, Georgia, face being entirely replaced by subcontractors. Already, most of the skilled unionized workers spend much time re-fixing and undoing subcontractor’s mistakes and errors.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Construction Workers in Australia Need Help Now

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:52:46 -0400

Body:

On August 29, 107 construction workers faced their first day of trial in Australian Federal Court. The workers face fines of up to $28,000 each for striking in support of their fired shop steward. Under new Australian labor laws, this strike was declared illegal. The government fines add up to over $ 2 million for these union workers. Many of the workers are now under the threat of losing their homes.

These 107 are among the first to face prosecution under Prime Minister John Howard’s new industrial relations laws. The workers struck last February on the construction site of the Perth Southern Railway.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Save Indiana Labor Studies Program

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:50:56 -0400

Body:

The labor studies department at Indiana University (IU) needs you to speak up and defend labor education. The effort underway to dismantle the department is a violation of academic freedom and university policy.

The Department of Labor Studies (DLS) faced a 20 percent cut in operating funds for 2005. As a result the DLS faculty increased their teaching load, and they radically increased income. In the just-concluded 2005-06 fiscal year DLS netted $2 million in income, doubling the income goal set by the university administration.

Despite that, academic administrators are working on a reorganization plan that would close DLS offices at the university’s Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Kokomo campuses, merge the department with another (to be determined), and possibly eliminate all non-tenured DLS faculty.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Demand Release of Palestinian Labor Minister

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:49:43 -0400

Body:

Public Services International (PSI), a global federation of public service unions, is calling for the release of the democratically elected Palestinian National Authority Minister of Labor, Mohammed Barghouthis. Barghouthis and some of his colleagues have been held in Israeli prison for over 20 days.

According to the Palestine Health Services Union, they are being detained in horrific conditions and subjected to abusive interrogations.

PSI General Secretary Hans Engelberts said their detention is “on political grounds only. The current Palestinian Legislative Council was elected by a democratic process and its members should not be arrested for the mere fact that they are taking part in the government… We call upon the Israeli government to release the Minister of Labor and others immediately.”

Expiration Date:
Sun, 10/08/2006 - 1:00pm

Beautiful Flowers, Ugly Working Conditions

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:48:29 -0400

Body:

Miami-based Dole Fresh Flowers, a subsidiary of Dole Food Company, is stalling negotiations with its workers. The Miami Flower Worker Committee is asking unions and organizations to support its campaign to force Dole to negotiate in good faith with its Colombian flower workers.

There are more than 125,000 Colombian flower workers. The majority of them are single mothers who earn less than $6 per day. Their average work week is about 60 hours. Many women are forced to take pregnancy tests to get hired and if they do get pregnant while employed, they are often fired or don’t have their contracts renewed.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Help End ‘Popcorn Workers Lung’

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:47:34 -0400

Body:

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and Teamsters (IBT) are petitioning the U.S. Department of Labor to stop risking workers’ health by exposing them to diacetyl. Diacetyl is a chemical used in artificial butter flavoring.

UFCW International President Joseph T. Hansen and Teamsters General President James Hoffa have petitioned Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) regarding the chemical’s use. An ETS would provide for immediate regulations for working with diacetyl until further investigations and regulations can be made. Without an ETS, workers would continue to work with the chemical until further investigations are completed and official OSHA standards and regulations are drawn up.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:00pm

Dump Non-Union Verizon Wireless

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:52:07 -0400

Body:

Advocates of workers’ rights, including Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work, are urging mobile phone users to support Cingular and pledge not to support Verizon.

The reason is simple. Cingular supports its workers’ right to join unions by honoring neutrality and card check agreements with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). CWA currently represents about 17,000 Cingular employees.

Verizon, on the other hand, has resisted efforts by its employees to organize with CWA and has refused to honor its neutrality agreement with the union. Workers seeking to unionize have been laid off, harassed, and subjected to “captive audience” meetings. According to American Rights at Work, the company has also closed a call center where union interest was strong.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Unfreeze Iraqi Oil Workers Union’s Assets

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:50:46 -0400

Body:

The Iraqi Freedom Congress and US Labor Against the War (USLAW) are asking for a show of solidarity for Iraqi oil workers. The Iraqi regime has frozen the bank accounts of the General Union of Oil Employees, which represents over 23,000 oil and gas industry workers in Iraq.

The regime’s actions against GUOE are consistent with other recent anti-union measures. According to GUOE and USLAW, the Iraqi government has gone so far as to declare all union activity illegal, saying it will soon put forward a new law regulating trade union activity.

Despite the freezing of its assets the union is planning a strike. The oil workers are demanding that all contracts that have been imposed upon them (as well as other Iraqi workers) be abolished.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 09/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Put Faith in Labor Day

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:50:01 -0400

Body:

The Interfaith Worker Justice Alliance (IWJ) is encouraging congregations to incorporate labor issues into their Labor Day weekend services. One issue that IWJ hopes to highlight is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing problems of poverty and hardship on the Gulf Coast.

IWJ also champions humane immigrants’ rights policies and advocates for increases in the minimum wage. IWJ believes the religious community can play a significant role in these and other efforts to improve the lives of working people.

As part of its efforts to strengthen ties between labor and religious communities, IWJ can provide information on services that are being organized in your area. Additionally, if you would like to organize a service at your place of worship, IWJ has ideas and advice. They can also put you in touch with a special Labor Day speaker in your area. For further information visit IWJ’s website at www.iwj.org or call Will Tanzman at 773-728-8400.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 09/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Add Wrath to Grape Pickers Campaign

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:48:09 -0400

Body:

The United Farm Workers (UFW) and their allies are urging a boycott of Charles Krug and C.K. Mondavi wines. The union hopes that by leaving these labels on the shelf consumers can help workers at Charles Krug Winery win the right to return to work.

The winery, which has been operated by the Peter Mondavi family for three generations, terminated all its workers on July 7 after talks with the UFW did not result in a new contract. The company will now outsource its field operations to an independent management company.

A major factor in the breakdown between the company and the union was the reluctance of the Mondavi workers to be subjected to “physical capacity tests.” The company claims this is a health and safety measure while the workers feel it is a way to oust older workers.
Many of the company’s employees have long service records; some have been toiling in the Mondavi fields for over 25 years.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 09/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Support Drive to Organize Peabody Mine Workers

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:45:55 -0400

Body:

Miners working for Peabody Energy in Kentucky are pushing hard to organize in the face of an anti-union operation. In December of last year they launched the Justice at Peabody Campaign. They have recently won support from local political and religious leaders, as well as fellow miners as far away as Australia.

Over 500 Peabody Miners have signed petitions demanding the right to organize. In addition to concerns over pensions, health care, and time off, the miners feel that a union would help them fight against forced over time. Workers feel that long workdays with little time off could lead to the kind of fatigue that makes accidents more likely.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Costa Rican Unionists Threatened Over CAFTA

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:45:16 -0400

Body:

Costa Rican union leaders voicing opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—which would extend NAFTA throughout Latin America--are being subjected to intimidation and threats. Albino Vargas, General Secretary of Costa Rica’s largest independent union--the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP)--has been warned that if he continues to oppose CAFTA, his life may be in danger.

Union representatives from a general trade union, Confederacion de Trabajodores Rerum Novarum, were also threatened during a recent attack on their offices. The attackers stole paperwork and computers as well as union officer’s personal belongings. The attack was tied to the union’s position on CAFTA.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 08/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Reinstate Fired Local Union President

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:44:09 -0400

Body:

Debra Moore, president of United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 160 in Williamsburg, was recently fired by Virginia’s Eastern State Hospital. After working unpopular weekend shifts for three years, Moore was abruptly given a weekday schedule in January. Moore, a single mother, was unable to balance work and the care of her two sons when the hospital changed her work schedule.

Unlike other employees Moore was told she could not trade shifts. Although she continued to work more than forty hours on the weekends, she missed weekday shifts and was soon fired for accrued unplanned leave.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 08/08/2006 - 12:00pm

Cintas Chairman Drives Track Attack

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:39:17 -0400

Body:

Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and UNITE HERE are racing ahead with a campaign opposing a lawsuit filed by Kentucky Speedway against NASCAR. The suit would force NASCAR to change the way it allocates races.

Kentucky Speedway is partly owned by Richard Farmer, the chairman and founder of Cintas Corporation, the largest uniform supplier in the nation. UNITE HERE and the IBT are trying to organize Cintas. Cintas has fought hard to keep its workers nonunion and was recently ordered to pay $1.4 million in back pay for violating living wage laws.

Farmer became involved with Kentucky Speedway when the fledgling company was looking for corporate sponsorship in the late 1990s. Farmer became a part owner in the track. Kentucky Speedway quickly got in the fast lane and has successfully hosted NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Busch series races.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/01/2006 - 12:00pm

Farm Workers Take on the Golden Arches

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:12:01 -0400

Body:

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker community group from South Florida with 3,000 members, is calling on McDonald's to pay fair wages and improve working conditions for tomato pickers. The Immokalee Workers are hoping to convince McDonald's to follow Yum! Brands' (Taco Bell's parent company) commitment to an increase in wages and enactment of better working conditions.

After a four-year boycott, Taco Bell conceded in 2005 to all CIW's demands; these included paying a penny more per pound of tomatoes, which nearly doubled workers' wages. Taco Bell and the CIW also established the first-ever enforceable Code of Conduct for U.S. agricultural suppliers.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 12/01/2006 - 12:00pm

Reform CEO Pay

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:12:29 -0400

Body:

Compensation for corporate executives is out of control. Top officials from the nation's largest corporations, such as Pfizer and Exxon Mobil, were paid an average $11.75 million in 2005. IBM freezes workers' pensions while its CEO, Samuel J. Palmisano, rests easy knowing he'll be getting $4 million a year after he retires. As workers' job security and pensions diminish more every year, CEO's have seen their pay and retirement packages grow by the millions--regardless of their job performance.

Many major companies are known for using accounting tricks to avoid complying with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules dictating that executive salaries must be reported. The SEC is considering new rules that would force companies to explain their compensation packages in layman's terms and include an estimated dollar value for all forms of compensation, in an attempt to promote transparency.

Expiration Date:
Mon, 11/06/2006 - 4:00pm

Keep El Salvador's Water In the People's Hands

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:55:08 -0400

Body:

El Salvador's water workers union, SETA, is gearing up for a big battle. The government is attempting to privatize the publicly owned and operated water system. If it happens, SETA asserts the move will limit access to safe, clean, affordable water and mean the end of the union. The government has drastically cut funding to ANDA--the nation's water authority--laying the groundwork for private investors to take over.

For the less than 60 percent of Salvadorans who have plumbing in their houses, access to water remains inconsistent; they will sometimes go three days without. When this happens, ANDA sells bottled water to affected communities for six times the price of the average monthly ANDA bill. Most cannot afford the price gauging, and so they go without water.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 11/30/2006 - 1:00pm

Protect Farm Workers from Pesticides

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:09:25 -0400

Body:

British researchers have recently written a report in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal that suggests "a relatively consistent relationship between pesticide exposure and Parkinson's [disease]."

Parkinson's disease, currently incurable, is a progressively degenerative nerve disease. Individuals with Parkinson's have trouble with many daily routines; their brain still functions properly, but the physical actions carried out aren't what the brain intends. In short, their body can't keep up with their brains.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) is demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) act against the threat.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 11/23/2006 - 8:00pm

Donate to Northwest Air Workers Film

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 13:16:15 -0400

Body:

A group of progressive filmmakers have announced plans to produce 'The Red Tail,' a documentary about the struggles between Northwest Airlines and its workers. The movie will follow Northwest's path from a one-plane operation in 1926 to becoming the fourth largest airline in the world.

'The Red Tail' will feature personal stories from mechanics, pilots, flight attendants, ground workers, and union organizers, focusing on struggles between the company's workers and owners. The directors have noted that the mainstream media rarely presents an accurate depiction of how Northwest is treating its employees. Their film will be an attempt to get the full picture out there.

Expiration Date:
Wed, 11/01/2006 - 12:00pm

Stepan Chemicals Workers Win

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:59:41 -0400

Body:

With your help, the workers at Stepan Chemicals in New Jersey (mentioned in the April 2006 Solidarity Network) have returned to work, ending a 14-week strike after being locked out. Your donations, calls to headquarters, and emails of support made this victory possible.

The workers, new members of the United Electrical Workers (UE), proved that management was spending more on keeping the workers locked out than it would have cost to meet their original demands.

"It shows that even when it looks like unions are taking it on the chin everywhere, you can stand up to the boss and win," said UE General President John Hovis.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 06/30/2006 - 1:00pm

March to Support Stadium Cleaners

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:52:40 -0400

Body:

The Baltimore-based United Workers Association (UWA) kicked off its Summer of Justice Campaign on April 1 to highlight the poor treatment of Camden Yards stadium cleaners by Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Angelos agreed to pay these workers a living wage back in 2004, but has yet to follow through. Instead, he gave opening day profits--about $250,000--to five soup kitchens in the area.

This donation would have been more than enough to pay all the stadium cleaners a living wage for two years. UWA believes the donation was an attempt to shut them up. The Summer of Justice Campaign is gearing up for its June 24 March Against Poverty with an all-night vigil on June 23. It will be followed by a pancake breakfast the next morning at 9:30 am and then the march to Camden Yards at 12:00 noon.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 06/30/2006 - 1:00pm

Protest Anti-Worker Violence in Mexico

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:47:31 -0400

Body:

Police shot and killed two workers when authorities launched an assault to expel striking workers occupying the SICARTSA steel mill in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, Mexico on April 20. More than 40 other workers were wounded, most by gunshots.

Reports from the scene suggest that others may also have been killed or may remain in critical condition. Workers and townspeople quickly retook the plant, but were then besieged by the police. Parts of the plant have been taken over by the Mexican Army and Navy.

Condemning the government's attack on the strikers, a new coalition of Mexican unions called the National Front for Union Unity and Autonomy (FNUAS) has demanded: the resignation of Mexican Secretary of Labor Francisco Xavier Salazar; the impeachment of President Vicente Fox Quezada; punishment of those involved in the murders; and recognition of the elected leader of the mine workers union, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 06/30/2006 - 1:00pm

Throw Out Anti-worker Bill

Mon, 01 May 2006 17:09:28 -0400

Body:

Public sector workers in Quebec may prefer the two years they worked without a contract to conditions they'll face under a bill recently passed by Quebec's National Assembly. Bill 142, in effect until 2010, takes negotiations out of the hands of 500,000 public sector workers in Quebec, barring negotiation of salary, insurance, or retirement plans and imposing a two-year salary freeze.

The anti-union bill also prohibits strikes and slow-downs, punishing those who take part with hefty fines plus the loss of two days' pay for every day of work stoppage. Under Bill 142, the government retains the ability to alter or throw out collective agreements to replace workers with scabs. Affected workers range from teachers to hospital workers and make 20 percent less than similar workers in the unionized private sector.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 06/01/2006 - 4:00pm

Demand Protection for Colombian Unionists

Mon, 01 May 2006 17:06:04 -0400

Body:

Yet another Colombian labor activist has been assassinated. Daniel Cortez was an electrical worker and 16-year veteran activist with his union, Sintraeleco. He was working in Puerto Parra, an area controlled by the allegedly disbanded right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, when he was shot twice in the face and died instantly.

Meanwhile, Colombia's government is threatening two agricultural trade unionists with FENSUAGRO, the country's agricultural workers union. FENSUAGRO Vice President Hubert Ballestros and union member Oscar Salazar have been followed repeatedly in recent months by vehicles similar to those following five other FENSUAGRO activists in the weeks before their assassinations.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 06/01/2006 - 4:00pm

Help Tennessee Workers Get a Raise

Mon, 01 May 2006 17:01:21 -0400

Body:

It's hard enough to organize a union, but gaining recognition from an employer is even harder. All too often, successful organizing campaigns are followed by institutions refusing to recognize these new unions. United Campus Workers (UCW), an affiliate of CWA, was formed at the University of Tennessee around the knowledge that UT employees' wages put 20 percent of them below the national poverty line. The UT administration refuses to recognize UCW.

Workers and students at UT are demanding a $1,200 raise for all staff and faculty in an attempt to get every UT employee out of poverty. The union is backing a flat raise of $1,200 instead of the administration's proposed two percent raise because a percentage raise would benefit those at the higher end of payroll more than those who need a raise the most.

Expiration Date:
Thu, 06/01/2006 - 4:00pm

Open Ballot Access for Labor Candidates

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 13:25:58 -0500

Body:

Pro-labor folks throughout South Carolina are working to get the Labor Party on the ballot in the state's elections. To do this, the party must round up 10,000 signatures from registered voters.

South Carolina currently has no minimum wage and has the seventh slowest wage growth in the United States. Its job growth ranks 48th in the nation, while its unemployment rate is second highest. More than 600,000 South Carolinians lack health insurance.

Instead of dealing with these problems, politicians from both major parties have promoted their state's low wages in attempts to attract big business to the state.

Expiration Date:
Mon, 07/31/2006 - 1:00pm

Make Stepan Step Up

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 13:24:03 -0500

Body:

On January 24, workers at the Stepan chemical company's Fieldsboro, New Jersey plant held a one-day strike to protest the company's refusal to provide basic information regarding grievances. They were locked out. Since then, the 36 employees who organized co-workers at the Fieldsboro plant into United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 155 have not been allowed to return to work.

Their healthcare coverage has been suspended and replacement workers have been brought in from other Stepan plants. Stepan has not put forth any conditions under which the workers would be allowed to return to work, only commenting that they are tired of game-playing.

Expiration Date:
Sun, 04/30/2006 - 1:00pm

Keep 'Just Garments' Open in El Salvador

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 13:19:47 -0500

Body:

One of the only unionized factories in El Salvador, Just Garments, is struggling to get out of debt and start up a new business plan. Just Garments makes clothing with a 100 percent 'sweat-free' and unionized work force. It was started by workers formerly employed at a Taiwanese-owned factory called Tainan.

As is often the case, when Tainan workers decided to join the Textile Industry Workers Union (STIT), management immediately announced the plant's closure. But the workers led an international campaign that resulted in a garment-shop with two directors--one selected by Tainan, the other selected by the workers--and the first union contract in the industry.

Expiration Date:
Sun, 04/30/2006 - 1:00pm

Hundreds of Striking Workers Arrested in Iran

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:10:47 -0500

Body:

Bus workers with the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (UWTSBC) in Tehran, Iran went on strike at the end of January. When they arrived at the picket lines, government security forces used physical abuse and intimidation to get them back to work. Those who refused were arrested, along with their family members, who were taken from their homes in the middle of the night. The physical abuse continued while the bus workers were in jail at Evin prison, which is notorious for torture and other abuses.

The striking bus workers are demanding the right to bargain collectively and protesting the month-long detention of UWTSBC Director Mansour Osanloo. Osanloo is being detained without any formal charges, access to his lawyers, or proper medical attention.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 06/06/2006 - 1:00pm

Tell Nestlé to Take the Sweat Out of Sweets

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:07:46 -0500

Body:

Nestlé, the largest food company and chocolate manufacturer in the world, continues to ignore the social responsibilities that go along with its position. Through a subsidiary in the Ivory Coast, a nation producing over 40 percent of the world's cocoa, Nestlé takes full advantage of the poverty conditions suffered by local farmers and exploits child labor.

In 2001 Nestlé signed on to an industry protocol to eradicate the worst types of child labor on cocoa farms, but the July 2005 deadline set by that agreement has come and gone without noticeable change in the way Nestlé does business in West Africa. The company still refuses to treat workers with respect, which is necessary to certify products as Fair Trade. The Fair Trade Federation guarantees products that are labeled Fair Trade are sold at a fair price, are produced in an environmentally sustainable way, and are not made through abusive child labor.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 03/31/2006 - 1:00pm

Support National Student-Labor Day of Action

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:04:58 -0500

Body:

Students and workers are coming together for the National Student Labor Week of Action March 31-April 4. This annual week of protests will draw attention to working conditions on college campuses, the fight for living wages, and the increasing cost of higher education.

In 2000, the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) celebrated April 4 as the first National Student Labor Day of Action to commemorate the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Since then, it has grown to a full week filled with thousands of people participating in over a hundred actions on university campuses across the country.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 04/04/2006 - 1:00pm

Hold Dole Accountable

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 12:58:43 -0500

Body:

In an effort to improve their working conditions and wages, agricultural workers at Dole's Splendor Flowers plantation in Colombia formed the independent union Sintrasplendor in November 2004. Dole, however, refuses to negotiate with the more than 700 workers because the company has already signed a contract with Sinaltraflor, an industry-friendly union.

As another slap in the face to the Sintrasplendor workers, Dole is ignoring two court orders to reinstate four union workers that were illegally fired.

Dole has a team of lawyers on hand to oppose the legalization of the Sintrasplendor union, despite workers' compliance with every step of the legal process.

Expiration Date:
Fri, 03/31/2006 - 12:00pm

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Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:55:13 -0500

Body:

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Expiration Date:
Thu, 02/23/2006 - 8:00pm

Defend Sugar Workers in Indonesia

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:26:04 -0500

Body:

The government of Indonesia, in cooperation with private and public sugar employers, is thwarting sugar workers' rights in Indonesia. The sugar worker union president, Daud Sukamto, has been fired, and management, through harassment and intimidation,
has pressured locals to resign from the union.

The Federation of Independent Tobacco, Cane and Sugar Workers' Union (FSPM TG) was officially registered in February 2005. FSPM TG is affiliated with the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied
Workers' Associations (IUF). Soon after the establishment of the union, harassment of members and union officials began.

Expiration Date:
Sun, 04/30/2006 - 8:00pm

Support Australian Aircraft Mechanic Strikers

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:20:42 -0500

Body:

Since the beginning of 2005, Boeing workers in Newcastle, New South Wales have been trying to negotiate a contract to cover wages and employment conditions. Although these employees are part of the Australia Workers' Union (AWU), for years Boeing has
given individual, not collective, contracts regarding wages and employment conditions.

Twenty-seven Newcastle aircraft maintenance workers have been on strike since June 2005 demanding a collective contract with the AWU. The federal government has responded, stating "all Australian workers, including these AWU members at Boeing, will
always have the right to negotiate a collective certified agreement."

Expiration Date:
Thu, 02/23/2006 - 8:00pm

Protect Excessive Airline Executive Bonuses

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 12:27:21 -0500

Body:

United Airlines, the world's second largest airline, has proposed a bonus plan to give its top eight executives $45 million in stock after the company emerges from a three-year bankruptcy, in February.

The proposal reserves 13.6 million shares, or 11 percent of the company, for 400 executives. CEO Glenn Tilton would receive $15 million in stock, or 1.1 percent of the company. According to a separate document, Tilton also would receive $605,625 annually in compensation, with the ability to double it with an annual bonus.

United workers find the proposal unfair because of their $4 billion in pay and benefit concessions taken.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 01/31/2006 - 12:00pm

Defend Mexican Textile Workers

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 12:21:23 -0500

Body:

A group of young, mostly female textile workers in Hidalgo, Mexico have been illegally locked out for protesting their working conditions and their employer's refusal to recognize their collective bargaining agreement. The workers produce Halloween costumes with Warner Brothers logos--such as 'Harry Potter,' 'Lord of the Rings,' and 'Star Wars'--for Rubie's Costume Company of New York City, one of the largest costume companies in the world.

Rubie's workers and their union, the Federacion de Trabajadores Vanguardia Obrera (FTVO), accuse the company of exposing workers to safety hazards, forcing them to take pregnancy tests, and violating child labor laws. In response, Rubie's locked the workers out and has refused to reinstate them.

Expiration Date:
Tue, 01/31/2006 - 12:00pm

Support NYU Strikers

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 12:18:35 -0500

Body:

The New York University Graduate Students Organizing Committee (GSOC/UAW Local 2110) has been on strike since November 9. Workers decided to strike after the NYU administration refused to bargain with the union in August 2005 and promptly began cutting employees' health benefits.

Since the lead-up to the strike this summer, GSOC has organized several rallies and actions, including one on August 9 of over 1,000 people. Seventy-six people were arrested in a peaceful act of civil disobedience.

The administration has continued to play hardball. On November 28, NYU President John Sexton told NYU graduate students they would lose their stipends for one year, and be banned from teaching for one year, if they did not return to work. Regardless, the graduate employees voted to stay out.

Expiration Date:
Mon, 03/06/2006 - 12:00pm