Cintas workers protest poverty wages
DETROIT – “We want a living wage!” shouted 100 people conducting an informational picket line and rally at the Cintas industrial laundry plant here July 31. The line included workers from the plant, members of United Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) Local 129. The Detroit facility is one of the few organized Cintas facilities in the country.
Total Recall
Sitting at breakfast with a couple of union buddies, talking about the California recall, we recalled defeating the 1998 effort to gag labor’s voice in our state known as Prop. 226.
Auto workers say open the books
DETROIT – As the U.S. economy lurches toward the end of its third year of recession, workers everywhere are struggling to keep ends together, autoworkers no less than anyone else.
Wal-Mart campaign tops UFCW agenda
Organizing Wal-Mart, dealing with the crisis in U.S. health care, and defeating George Bush in 2004 were recurring themes in the international convention of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) held in San Francisco July 31 to Aug. 3.
Labor revs-up to show Bush the door in 2004
CHICAGO – The one candidate who wasn’t there and wasn’t expected was the focus of the AFL-CIO’s National Candidates Forum Aug. 5. “Show him the door in 2004!” was the message for George W. Bush, the missing candidate, chanted by a group of retirees to the delight of the 2,500 union members and leaders waiting for the program to begin in Navy Pier Auditorium here.
Rally at Cintas supports workers rights
BRANFORD, Conn. – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro often speaks about growing up when her mother worked in a sweatshop, bent over her sewing machine. But on July 29, standing on the platform of the Teamsters’ truck outside the Cintas Corp. plant here, the story brought the crowd to a hush.
Texas unionists join Season of Struggle
AUSTIN, Texas – About 50 Texas trade unionists, fed up with pay cuts, give backs, and concessions, came to a Jobs with Justice workshop at the recently concluded state AFL-CIO convention to make plans for the upcoming “Season of Struggle.”
Auto talks and the Medicare drug bill
DETROIT – Union leaders, rank-and-file members and retirees have pledged to hold the line on the health care issue during this summer’s contract talks with the Big Three auto companies and related parts suppliers. A recently released UAW report, titled “Bargaining for America,” highlights the challenges confronting the auto union’s bargaining teams.
