Labor Notes #367, October 2009

  • Housekeepers' Giant “Hope Quilt” Puts Hotel Job Injuries in Spotlight
    Chris Kutalik
    Oct 16 2009 - 5:38pm

    Hotel housekeepers are on a seven-city tour with a gigantic “hope quilt” that memorializes injuries on the job. It's also a symbol of their determination to rally union and non-union hotel housekeepers against harsh working conditions and workplace injuries.

  • Florida Tomato Pickers Score ‘Greatest Victory’ in Decades
    Sean Sellers
    Oct 6 2009 - 5:08pm

    After two years of delay, farmworkers in Florida will finally start getting a penny more per pound for tomatoes they pick.

  • Puerto Rico to Lay Off 17,000; Splintered Labor Movement Scrambles to Respond
    José A. Laguarta Ramírez
    Oct 6 2009 - 4:38pm

    Governor Luis Fortuño announced in late September that nearly 17,000 public employees in Puerto Rico will lose their jobs by November, in addition to the nearly 8,000 laid off over the summer.

  • Miners Strike To Defeat Two-Tier
    Mischa Gaus
    Oct 22 2009 - 10:21pm

    Miners in northern Ontario have been striking since July, standing against demands from a mining colossus to end defined-benefit pensions and to ax profit-sharing. The bottom line for members is ensuring that the company doesn’t cut the workforce into different tiers.

  • Mexican Government Seizes Power Plants, Liquidates Dissident Union
    Dan La Botz
    Oct 13 2009 - 5:24pm

    Over the weekend Federal Police seized the plants of the Central Light and Power Company of Mexico, which provides electricity to Mexico City and several states in central Mexico.

  • Teacher Reformers Prepare for Battle over Public Education
    Paul Abowd
    Oct 13 2009 - 10:39pm

    When President Obama laid out a plan to reshape public education this summer, he wasn’t subtle with his symbolism: he was introduced by an eighth-grader from a charter school. Soon after, teachers nationwide met in Los Angeles.

  • Longshore Reformers Shut Down Secret Contract Deal
    Mischa Gaus
    Sep 26 2009 - 10:24pm

    Rank-and-file reformers in the East Coast Longshoremen’s (ILA) union have had a busy summer. The Longshore Workers Coalition (LWC) exposed secret contract negotiations and channeled member outrage against the deal, deepening a rift among top leaders.

  • Too Late, Non-Union Delphi Retirees Learn the Value of Organizing
    Gregg Shotwell
    Oct 1 2009 - 10:19pm
    ** Print only

    In July non-union retirees from Delphi Corp. lost health insurance, life insurance, and a large portion of their pension as the company's 2005 bankruptcy came to its culmination. They responded by organizing. Trouble is, they responded ten years too late and one contract shy of a legal case.

  • Labor History: September 11, a volunteer's story
    Jo Cagan
    Sep 14 2009 - 10:17pm
    Labor Notes #271, October 2001

    The media reports of New Yorkers coming together are certainly true, and in some ways this has been a really inspirational time. I was lucky enough to volunteer both Wednesday and Thursday nights.

    After a friend and I waited on line for over an hour at the Javitz Center, we arrived at the volunteer registration table just as my declaration of “good communication and people skills” came in handy. (I’d been so regretting that I couldn’t put a check mark next to “welder” or “medic.”)

  • Pensions: The Next Casualty of Wall Street
    Mark Brenner
    Sep 25 2009 - 9:37pm

    Nobody wants to admit it, but the next casualty of the Wall Street meltdown will probably be your golden years. For years corporations have been trying to choke the life out of traditional pensions, working hard to get out from under the risk—and the cost—of providing for their retirees. Between last year’s credit crunch and changes to federal pension laws, they may get their wish.