People Before Profit blog

Unions challenge Bush on war, civil liberties, economy

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 06:51:00 +0000

DEARBORN, Mich. – Almost 200 union activists filled United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600’s hall to hear union leaders speak out against Bush’s war on Iraq. The panel included many leaders of union locals, leaders of the Michigan labor movement and leaders of international unions. It was moderated by Julie Hurwitz of the National Lawyers’ Guild.

Four themes emerged from the talks given by the panel members: organizing and educating union members to understand what Bush’s war is really all about, defending civil liberties and rights, the war is a smokescreen for Bush’s right-wing attack on working people, and understanding that opposition to war is not unpatriotic.

Noel Beasley, international vice president of Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, linked organizing opposition to Bush’s war to building a more powerful union movement. Beasley urged members to remind co-workers that “this is a war that will put working men and women on the front lines to get killed” – and to kill Iraqi men and women. “The real issue is the economy. It’s Bush’s fault and we’ve got to put the focus where it belongs,” he said.

Al Benchich, president of UAW Local 909, stated bluntly “We won’t be able to stop [this war] unless labor raises its mighty voice to stop it.” Benchich also emphasized the significance of being able to dialogue with those who may differ, especially with veterans. He indicated the tremendous support he felt personally from veterans in his local and around the city for his opposition to Bush’s war drive.

“We firmly stand in opposition to Bush’s smokescreen,” concurred Millie Hall, president of the Detroit Chapter of Coalition of Labor Union Women, “that will end up in our sons and daughters being brought home in body bags.”

Hurwitz outlined some significant consequences of the USA PATRIOT Act and its proposed sequel, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. This law will broaden power of the authorities, reduce the ability of the public to oversea or challenge their power, redefine terrorism to include some action of union organizing, provide authorities with unprecedented power of domestic spying and wiretapping without judicial oversight, and define as terrorism any attempt to mobilize opposition to influence the government’s policies.

Following this chilling account, Mich. State AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney added the Homeland Security Act stripped the collective bargaining rights of over 140,000 workers. “The drumbeat for war is a drumbeat for war on unions,” he said.

“If we go to war we won’t be able to fund Social Security adequately in the near future,” or health care or public schools, he added. “War will mortgage our future and our children’s future.”

Gaffney told members not to be fooled about the affect war will have on the economy. “it will not benefit workers here – only multinational corporations.”

“Michigan labor,” he stated, “is in a majority way against this war. We are against unilateral action.”

Elena Herrada, a cafeteria worker’s union leader, emphasized the drastic effects the Bush policies have had on Detroit’s public services. Schools are too much underfunded, clinics have been closed, water has been turned off for thousands of residents, and childcare services have been eliminated. War won’t end these problems, she argued, because “local issues are the direct effects of the policies coming out of Washington D.C.”

“We have a moral obligation to speak out against this war,” UAW International Vice President Bob King stated. To succeed in building an effective movement, he said, “We have to engage others in dialogue and really try to understand where they are coming from.” Education is key. Disarmament “should be done through UN inspections,” he said. “It’s not a single war [the Bush administration] wants to lead,” King said, but a whole series of wars and actions to gain control of the Middle East’s resources.

The author can be reached at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net

Yale workers set to strike

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:06:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Over 5,000 Yale workers are set to strike March 3. That day, they will be joined by a community march and rally led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The one-week strike may be the first time that graduate student teachers and researchers will join service, maintenance, clerical, technical and health care workers in a simultaneous job action. The different groups of workers share an understanding that they can achieve their goals only if all work together.

The 2,200 graduate students at Yale teach 40 percent of the undergraduate classes and do a substantial part of the research. In an organizing drive lasting more than a decade, they have made gains in pay and health care. But Yale refuses to recognize their union, and has threatened to tie up any National Labor Relations Board union election in legal appeals. The members of GESO, the graduate teachers union, have authorized strike action over the demand that Yale agree to a neutral, binding election process.

A union victory for graduate teachers at Yale would be a national breakthrough. the casualization of university work, relegating PhD’s to temporary appointments, low pay and no job security has given rise to an upsurge in unionizing on many campuses.

If graduate teachers are the newest unionized workers at Yale, the service and maintenance workers of Hotel Employees and Restaruant Employees (HERE) Local 35 have the longest history. A series of hard-fought strikes in the 1960s and 1970s established the nation’s best union contracts for these workers. In the 1980s, they helped to organize HERE Local 34, the first Ivy League union of clerical and technical workers. The Local 34 and 35 members have been without a pay raise for two years, and little progress has been made on many key issues in over a year of negotiations and contract extensions.

For Locals 34 and 35, pay and pensions are important issues, as is increasing opportunities for hiring and promotion of African-American and Latino workers. But perhaps the biggest issue is the increasing use of casuals and subcontractors. This has affected all categories of workers, most visibly the use of outside contractors for custodial work in major new buildings. Yale offered a no-layoff provision for current Local 35 workers. But 25 percent of the union workers are likely to retire during the next contract. Their replacement with contractors would tend to marginalize the remaining union workers, undermining their future bargaining power.

Also voting to authorize a strike are the 150 dietary workers at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH). Although Yale University and YNHH are technically separate, Yale’s president serves on the hospital’s board, and appoints 20 percent of its members. The 150 YNHH union members are part of District 1199/Service Employees International Union, which has joined with Locals 34, 35 and GESO in the Federation of Hospital and University Employees (FHUE). In turn, the FHUE is conducting a joint drive to organize the 1,800 additional service, maintenance and patient care workers at the hospital. Sixty-five percent have signed a petition calling for a neutral union representation election, but YNHH has refused, responding with a campaign of intimidation against union activists and arrests of workers distributing leaflets to their fellow workers.

The long campaign of Locals 34, 35 and 1199 for new contracts, and of GESO and the remaining hospital workers for union recognition, have generated widespread community support and participation. Yale and YNHH now account for 25 percent of the jobs in New Haven, so the outcome is important to almost every family and institution. And the democratic right of workers – be they graduate teachers or hospital workers – to choose or reject union representation without interference has struck a deep chord.

A broad coalition of congregations and community organizations has been organized in support of the workers. They have been joined by an array of state and local political figures. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), along with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and other state elected officials met with Yale President Richard Levin. They presented a letter signed by 44 members of the Connecticut General Assembly, calling on Yale to recognize “the right of graduate teaching assistants and hospital workers to have a union. ... We especially urge you to discuss a voluntary agreement that will bring about a fair process for Yale workers who are organizing.”

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano has issued a similar call, and Sens. Chris Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, in a separate letter, encouraged the workers “to continue their valiant efforts to organize and negotiate a fair labor contract.” Daily rallies during the strike will feature national speakers, including AFL-CIO president John Sweeney.

The author can be reached at arthur.perlo@pobox.com

AFL-CIO gears up to dump Bush in 2004

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 04:55:00 +0000

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – In their first meeting since the 2002 elections gave Republicans control of both Houses of Congress, members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council announced a two-year campaign to “put political power back in the hands of working people” by defeating George W. Bush in the 2004 elections.

“The giant corporations have captured the hearts and minds of the White House and leaders of Congress,” John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president, told reporters. “So we must redouble our efforts to engage the hearts and minds of America’s workers and voters and put them into action.”

Sweeney said the federation would develop a three-point strategy in pursuit of that goal: political mobilization, a legislative fight back and beefed up organizing. He said that while building on past success, the campaign would search for ways of directly engaging the millions of people who do not enjoy the benefits of union representation.

In a resolution endorsing the campaign, the council said, “We need to embrace real opportunities to involve these workers who share common concerns, interests and needs. The labor movement intends through both proven means and new initiatives, to restore government that reflects the aspirations of working people and respects their contributions. We commence this effort now with all our vigor, might and creativity.”

The resolution called for establishing the “Partnership for America’s Families” that would conduct an intensive campaign to mobilize large numbers of non-union voters against the policies of the Bush administration. “The partnership will apply the lessons we have learned in activating union households,” the resolution continued, adding: “It will register, inform, involve and then turn out these voters through grassroots organizing.” It added that a special effort would be directed toward African American, Latino and working women voters.

In a brief press conference House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi offered a bill of particulars to her charge that the long-time effort by conservatives to under mine the labor movement had “exploded” into an all-out assault since George W. Bush assumed the presidency.

“We’ve lost 2.3 million private sector jobs since January 2001, manufacturing jobs have declined for the 29th consecutive month, the official count of the unemployed stands at 8.6 percent.” Pelosi said during a press conference, adding: “The issue of concern to the American people is jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who accompanied Pelosi, said a “perfect storm” has come into being sine January 2001. “The Bush administration has put together the most complete assault on the rights of working people … the eight-hour day, overtime pay, pension benefits, collective bargaining, their right to run their own unions.”

During the first day of its Feb. 25-27 meeting here, the council adopted statements out lining a program to restore economic growth and renewing the drive for comprehensive health care reform.

Pointing to the fact that a deepening healthcare crisis “occupies center stage in the lives of millions,” the council said the situation requires the labor movement to show “unstinting determination” in leading a renewed campaign for comprehensive health care reform.

“We need to hold the line against employer attempts to push health care costs onto working family budgets,” the statement said. In its call for grass roots action the council demanded action from both state and federal legislators to constrain costs, expand access to coverage, level the playing field among employers and improve the quality of care.

“As much as anything else, we need to turn the 2004 elections into a referendum on whether Americans should finally be able to get affordable, high quality health care with the right to choose their own doctor.”

Although a resolution dealing with Iraq was pending in the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department, no action had been taken at the time this article was written.

The authors can be reached at fgab708@aol.com and rwood@pww.org

Uniform justice campaign targets Cintas

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:34:00 +0000

BRANFORD, Conn. – When workers at the Cintas uniform plant here began organizing several weeks ago, the company responded with illegal surveillance and pink slips for union supporters. The workers, many new immigrants, are among 17,000 being organized at 300 Cintas plants in the U.S. and Canada.

Maria Colon, who works in the company’s ticketing department, told the World she is “ashamed” of the way Cintas is responding to the situation. “Cintas has rules and regulations that the workers have to follow,” Colon said. “But Cintas thinks they are above the law.”

The “Uniform Justice” campaign launched this month by UNITE! (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees), is one of the largest national organizing campaigns in recent labor history. Cintas, a notorious anti-union company, is the largest uniform rental provider and industrial launderer in North America. The Fortune 500 company, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, reported $234 million in profits last year.

A spirited rally outside the plant on Feb. 5 sent a strong message of solidarity from the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council. “We are in a major fight for workers’ rights at Yale University,” said Council Vice President Andrea Cole. “And we are going to bring that fight right here to Cintas. It is no longer acceptable to deny workers the right to unionize.”

Pam Curtis, UNITE! organizing director, said the union has filed charges for violations of federal labor laws in Branford and 15 other cities. “Cintas bullies, harasses, intimidates and terminates workers who want to join unions and we will not stop until we bring those workers the improvements and protections that come only with a union contract,” Curtis said.

At the rally the union released a national report, “The Dirty Truth Behind the Uniforms,” exposing “deplorable” working conditions at the plants. The report says that the company recently agreed to pay a $10 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by workers denied overtime pay.

Over 40 additional lawsuits are pending against the company for racial, sexual, age and disability discrimination. Women comprise most of the production workforce. The workers are largely Latino, African American, Indonesian, Indian, Vietnamese and Korean.

While Cintas CEO Robert Kohlhepp receives $490,000 a year, production workers make as little as $6.50 an hour. The report charges that company drivers, a large part of the workforce, are “incredibly overworked and abused,” and often denied overtime.

Health and safety on the job and medical insurance are also major issues. Despite a 22 percent increase in revenue the company “turned around and increased the cost of its pathetic health insurance coverage for its underpaid, overworked and abused workforce,” charged Curtis.

According to the report, the National Labor Relations Board has cited Cintas 25 times for violations of federal labor law. To back up his anti-union stance, Cintas founder and chairman Richard T. Farmer is a top contributor to the Republican Party.

The author can be reached at joelle.fishman@pobox.com

British MP speaks to labor

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:11:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO – The featured speaker at a labor breakfast at San Francisco’s longshore union hall was British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, Feb. 17. A former public workers union leader, Corbyn is now a steering committee member of the Stop the War Coalition and a leader among Labor Party MPs opposing a war on Iraq. He spoke at the two million-strong demonstration in London as well as at Sunday’s San Francisco action.

Corbyn told participants that 80 percent of Britons oppose a war without United Nations approval, and most oppose war on Iraq under any circumstances. “I’ve never seen a public movement take off like this,” he said of the Stop the War Coalition of traditional peace organizations, unions, left and progressive organizations and individuals.

“We’re being dragged by the nose into a war with a country that is already destroyed by the 1991 war,” Corbyn said, pointing out that the real motives are assertion of western – especially U.S. and British – power in the region as well as control of oil resources.

Corbyn also warned of the terrible loss of civil liberties, and the growth of racism and Islamophobia, which he has observed in the very diverse parliamentary district he represents. Historically it has been a very tolerant area, he said, but the rise in racist attacks and slurs is alarming.

The author can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Federal mediation demanded in Azteca strike

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 06:00:00 +0000

CHICAGO – Elected officials, trade union and community leaders joined striking workers here Feb. 3 to demand Azteca Foods accept federal mediation to end a four-month strike.

“These workers want a fair and decent contract,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) “We join the workers in demanding that [Azteca owner] Art Velasquez come back to the bargaining table.”

Sixty-three workers have been on strike against Azteca Foods, a leading maker of tortillas, tortilla shells and chips, since Sept. 30. In May 2002, the workers, mainly Mexican Americans and immigrants, got rid of a company union and voted in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE). When they entered into contract negotiations, Azteca demanded give-backs including raising insurance premiums by 700 percent, stripping seniority rights, protections for union activity and the right to fire immigrant workers for incorrect info on their job application, despite having legal status.

Those present also vowed to step up a consumer boycott of Azteca Foods, whose products are distributed nationally.

Gutierrez, along with other Illinois Democrats, Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis, Bobby Rush and William Lipinsky, charged that Azteca was violating labor law.

“The NLRB has already filed a complaint against Azteca,” said Schakowsky. “The company has engaged in acts of surveillance, threatened to permanently replace the workers, ignores OSHA regulations and refuses bilingual translations. These practices deny workers their legal rights and should be ended at once.”

Velasquez is known widely in Chicago for his philanthropy. Jesus Garcia, former state legislator and president of the Little Village Development Corporation, pointed out the hypocrisy. “For three months these workers have tried to convey that they want to meet and discuss the issues of the strike. I had confidence that a dialogue would result. But now my patience has run out.”

Jeff Clinger, representing Seminarians for Worker Justice, said the workers toil under extremely stressful conditions and are subject to many injuries. But when they complain the company takes no action.

“Mr. Velasquez may be a generous man, and although he claims to be a man of faith he needs to live the life of a Christian,” said Clinger. The workers, many of whom have been at Azteca for 20 years, make only $9 per hour.

John Donahue, executive director for the Coalition for the Homeless, pointed out that to maintain a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago and put food on the table requires at least $14 per hour.

Not one striker has crossed the picket line at 51st and Nagle, which has remained solid 24 hours a day, seven days a week, despite the severe cold.

The company is attempting to operate using scabs. “We are disappointed the company won’t sit down and give us a fair contract,” said striker Maria Montes. “But we are staying strong. We will fight until we win.”

For more info on the Azteca boycott or to contribute to the strike fund, write: UE Local 1159,

37 S Ashland Ave. Chicago IL 60607, call (312) 829-8300 or visit their website at http://ranknfile-ue.org/1159azteca_home.html

The author can be reached at jbachtell@cpusa.org

Airline employees face extortion

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:47:00 +0000

Talking with airline employees in America can be an unsettling experience right now. They are being pushed for salary and work-rule concessions under threat of losing their jobs.

At least one major company, American Airlines, is going a lot further. While they use words like “teamwork” and “equality of sacrifice” to get their employees to take concessions, they are also lobbying Congress to weaken time-honored union laws under the Railway Labor Act, which has been in effect since May 20, 1926!

One American pilot said, “Why are they spending $16 million in Washington to lobby against the Railway Act, and still telling us ‘you have to help the company stay afloat’?”

On Feb. 4, the company asked their employees for “permanent cost savings” of $1.8 billion dollars. Their press releases did not mention their simultaneous efforts to weaken the Railway Act and dilute airline employees’ right to strike. Work rules, wages and benefits would be cut by management’s proposals. Top management has made it clear in the press that they will go bankrupt if they do not get full cooperation from their employees.

Not all of American’s workforce belongs to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) or the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA). Both the Teamsters and the Communications Workers have recently attempted to organize more employees, but were unable to overcome management’s hard resistance. Both the pilots and the flight attendants broke away long ago from larger, national unions that were affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

They may stand virtually alone against management today, but both groups have gone through militant job actions in their recent contract negotiations. The TWU ground crew members are also used to militant struggles for union contracts. Additionally, they have been among the first to extend help to their fellow unionists of the AFL-CIO at the local, state and national levels.

Airline employees are fairly new to the demands for concessions that managers in other industries, such as steel and auto, have been making for decades. Before the current downturn, they worked in an industry that grew tremendously and competed mostly on the basis of who could offer the most amenities to air passengers. Nevertheless, union leaders are demanding full disclosure of the company’s resources and management’s plans for handling the crisis before they agree to concessions.

The Flight Attendants President John Ward said, “APFA has asked American to substantiate the need for the $340 million in cost savings they are seeking from flight attendants. At our request, management has agreed to meet with the unions on Friday, Feb. 7, 2003, in order to explain how management has arrived at the $1.8 billion figure and to further outline their plans to return the company to profitability. The APFA Board of Directors and members of the APFA Negotiating Committee will meet with our analyst and advisors in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11-12 to review an analysis of the company’s finances and discuss the company’s request.”

Workers at United, USAir, and most other airlines are undergoing the same duress being suffered by American Airline employees.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Protecting workers from chemicals

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:52:00 +0000

A whole new area of occupational health is getting more attention from workers and their unions. The scientific term is Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis (HP).

Simply stated, HP is an inflammation of the air sacs within the human lung that caused by an allergic reaction to organic dusts or chemicals inhaled at work. Even more simply said, the symptoms are difficulty in breathing and other allergic reactions.

Fluid mists from metal working and fumes from industrial solvents can cause this reaction. This kind of exposure is hard to document in terms of work-relatedness because many workers bring allergies to the workplace. But that precondition does not mean that these respiratory conditions cannot become aggravated by further exposure to workplace aerosols and solvents. Employers will do anything to make sure that workers don’t qualify for workers’ compensation payments.

It is very difficult to use federal and/or state regulations to protect workers from oil mists, aerosol sprays and other fumes that cause significant asthma reactions. In most work situations, industrial hygiene tests will show results below regulatory standards. That doesn’t mean workers should be left defenseless.

As with regulations, it is very difficult – but not impossible – to win workers’ compensation awards for workers who suffer from these symptoms and who lose time from work. But that doesn’t mean it is impossible.

Protecting workers from these kind of respiratory hazards requires resolute action on the part of unions. Since many workers face these problems, the union should have wide support to take action. A little research on the part of the union leadership and activists can convince all workers to support corrective action. Too often the cause of respiratory problems of individual workers are not seen as affecting all workers. Affected workers become isolated.

A broad approach is needed; one aimed at getting all workers to support those workers who are most affected, can give a strong hand to the union leaders in forcing the employers to listen to the union.

Workers without union protection may have to utilize outside medical and scientific professionals to prove their case. Groups of workers will have to seek publicity for their plight from local print and television media. This can be achieved by contacting the local tuberculosis, heart and other organizations concerned with respiratory health and often very sympathic to the plight of disabled workers.

Of course contacting a labor union for help is the best idea. This could be the catalyst for union organization.

If the irritation comes from an industrial solvent, the problem can be solved rather easily by switching solvents. Often, one solvent can be changed for another and that can solve the problem. There are many safe, nontoxic industrial solvents.

For industrial oil mists the employer must provide a worker with a fume-free environment. This can be done by fully closing the area, and exhausting the fumes to the outside environment. If the problem is acute a way can be found to provide an adequate supply of fresh air or to immediately close that part of the workplace that is causing the problem. And, of course, there is that possibility self-contained breathing respirators might be necessary.

Finally, the system may need some special cleansing attention. That would require dumping the existing coolant and steam cleaning all floors, machines, tanks, and coolant reprocessing equipment and removing all chips, biological growths and other debris. All leaks in hydraulic systems should also be repaired.

Ventilation is key to all workplaces. Exposure measurements and medical surveillance of workers is necessary on a continuing basis. The union must make sure that employers conduct these activities and that qualified industrial hygienists do the work.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Rural union leader under threat in Colombia

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:33:00 +0000

Trade unionists in Colombia continue to face threats to their very lives as they fight an uphill battle to protect the rights of both urban and rural workers. Last week the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF) reported that Guillermo Rivera Zapata, vice president of the Colombian rural workers union SINTRAINAGRO, was suddenly deprived of the security measures, including bodyguards, previously provided by the government.

“Guillermo Rivera is now traveling in connection with his union duties in the banana zone of Cienaga-Magdalena and in the rural areas of Cordoba and Uraba, areas where the threat of violence is extremely high,” the IUF said. “According to the interior ministry, the state no longer has the resources to provide security to threatened union leaders and the unions themselves must assume this responsibility.”

The IUF said well over 400 members and leaders of the rural workers union have been assassinated since 1989. The international union is asking that messages calling for Zapata’s protection be sent to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, fax +571 334 1323 or e-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co.

Canada’s National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) noted in a recent statement that on average, a trade union leader is assassinated every three days in Colombia, accounting for the vast majority of all trade unionists killed worldwide. More than 80 percent of the casualties are civilians, NUPGE said, with the extreme right-wing paramilitaries responsible for 85 percent of the deaths and the army for another 10 percent.

NUPGE pointed out that much of the billions of dollars the U.S. government has sent to Colombia under Plan Colombia and the Andean Initiative has gone to finance the paramilitary groups closely associated with the army, as well as large landowners and transnational corporations.

The author can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Report takes aim at sweatships

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:31:00 +0000

Two British organizations recently released a report that paints a grim picture of working conditions on cruise ships, tarnishing the fun, romantic image that the cruise ship industry has cultivated.

“Cruise ship employees ... are often excited by the thought of working for such world-famous names as Disney or Carnival or Princess, in luxury conditions with the chance to see the world and earn money at the same time ... But what many … too often discover is, by contrast a nightmare,” writes the reports author Celia Mather, in “Sweatships: What It’s Really Like to Work On Board Cruise Ships,” published by the UK-based War On Want (WOW) and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).

The cruise ship industry’s 150,000 employees are confined to cramped, confined spaces on six- to 10-month non-stop contracts. Workers from poor countries of Latin America, Asia and Central/Eastern Europe are largely consigned menial work in ships restaurants, bars, cabins and loading bays. Women are concentrated in non-technical services such as hotel work and catering. These workers are segregated from everyone else and are not permitted to go on the upper decks where passengers reside, except for those who must work with passengers directly.

In contrast, managers, officers, technical staff, entertainers, medical staff and engineers come from industrialized countries such as the UK, U.S. and Italy. They have more spacious living conditions, have their own private restaurants, and have access to upper decks and some facilities enjoyed by passengers. Noting that workers from poor nations are servicing passengers who largely come from the white population of the rich industrialized nations, Mather writes that, “It is very reminiscent of colonial days. But perhaps more accurately it can be seen as a microcosm of today’s global economy.”

Mather says that fierce competition among cruise lines has led to greater efforts, “to squeeze greater value out of their workforce,” by paying low wages for long hours of work. For example, Carnival Cruise Lines monthly pay ranges from $1,000 per month, for a laundry worker for a 10-12 hour day, $700 per month for a cook for a 10-12 hour day, to a bar waiter who earns $50 (the rest of their income comes from tips) per month for a 12-14 hour day. In addition, an ITF study of 400 cruise ship workers found that the average work week was seven days a week, 12-14 hours per day. Only unionized vessels pay overtime but this is not the case on non-unionized ships where there is no system to record overtime. Lines such as Carnival provide no sick pay.

To add insult to injury, Mather says that many workers from poor countries must pay crewing agents to obtain jobs, “which means that many cruise ship workers end up working the first few months just to pay back their costs.” In addition, workers receive no pay – except a small allocation when they work – between contracts and may have to attend courses, for which they must bear the cost.

The report also points out that cruise ship workers complain of “systematic abuse” at the hands of managers. Mather writes that “in interviews, over and again, those working on cruise ships report authoritarian and even aggressive behavior by managers and supervisors, and rampant favoritism.” Enforcing discipline may entail a fine, and punishment can mean instant dismissal without appeal. Some crew members offer money or sex to obtain better jobs, or to keep supervisors happy. In addition, some men use their authority to gain sexual favours.

Sexual harassment is a persistent problem and while a number of large cruise ship companies have sexual harassment policies, many crew members are unaware of these policies. A 1999 lawsuit compelled Carnival Cruises to reveal that between 1993-98 there were 100 accusations of rape and sexual assault against women as well as men. Others are hesitant to report sexual harassment because they fear dismissal, “a very real possibility,” adds Mather.

Given horrendous working conditions, many cruise lines deduct a portion of their workers wages, which are withheld until they complete their contracts to ensure that workers do not break their contracts and leave early. These same companies also hold onto the passports of their workers.

According to Mather, the International Council of Cruise Ship Lines (ICCL) – an industry association consisting of cruise ship lines and their suppliers – drafted a “shipboard Workplace Code of Conduct” at the end of 1999. This code guarantees workers better working and living conditions, but it is voluntary and devoid of monitoring or verification procedures. The ITF calls the code, “little more that a PR sop to public opinion, given the well-documented and widespread abuses.”

Mather asserts that while international law, as set down by the UN’s International Labour Organization and International Maritime Organization, compel employers to provide seafarers with decent living and working conditions as well as collective bargaining rights, enforcement depends on the will of national governments subscribing to these agreements. However, as Mather notes, most cruise lines have registered and fly under the flags of Panama, Bahamas and Liberia, “deliberately placing their ships under countries which have weak laws and even weaker enforcement, and are notorious for not enforcing international standards. This allows the companies to benefit from poor legal protection for the crew members, and little or no union movement in the country to defend them.”

Furthermore, the report states that in order to forestall unionization, “companies employ many different nationalities apparently in a deliberate attempt to prevent solidarity between workers building up. The threat of instant dismissal hangs over most seafarers on board who try to organize together with their fellow workers to take up workplace issues,” writes Mather.

To this end, cruise lines have also resorted to offering shorter contracts to workers. Even on unionized ships, the ITF has difficulty enforcing union agreements, especially when these ships are sailing in distant waters. Other cruise lines have blocked ITF inspectors from coming on board vessels.

Asked if WOW/ITF’s report of poor living and working conditions on cruise ships was true and if cruise lines were denying their workforce collective bargaining rights, ICCL spokeswoman Molly McPherson told the World, “no, it’s not true.”

“Sweatships: What It Really Like to Work on Board Cruise Ships” is part of WOW and ITF’s campaign to improve cruise ship workers living and working conditions. WOW and ITF launched the campaign because of mounting complaints from mistreated cruise ship workers.

More information about the ITF’s cruise ship campaign and how you can support it can be obtained at: www.itf.org.uk

Tim Pelzer is a longshoreman and writer from Canada and can be reached at pww@pww.org

3,700 unionists lobby for jobs, health care

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:27:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) – Energized by rousing speeches and armed with reams of data about the impact of U.S. factories’ decline, 3,700 industrial union delegates lobbied lawmakers on Feb. 4 on several key goals: universal health care, revitalizing factories and labor law reform.

The delegates were from the first-ever conference of the federation’s Industrial Union Council. Member unions included the giant United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers, the electrical/electronic/communications union, (IUE/CWA), the needletrades union (UNITE) and the United Mine Workers.

Though no one said so, the council succeeds the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department, abolished seven years ago. Lobbying won’t stop with the D.C. confab, union leaders said as delegates boarded buses to head for Congress.

“Take these goals back home to the radio call-in shows,” urged Jeff Faux, co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute. “I hear all these right-wing drunks on them as I drive around the country: ‘Tax cuts for the rich. Cut Social Security.’ Where are our drunks?” he asked, to laughter.

Chanting an old union song, Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts challenged the delegates to keep asking lawmakers “Which side are you on?” on issues ranging from trade treaties that export U.S. jobs to a GOP tax plan that encourages U.S. industries to migrate overseas.

“And we ought to say that no country can compete with a 14-year-old workers earning 14 cents a day in an unsafe factory spewing pollution into the air,” Roberts said. Plant closings and. industrial decline, have cost 5 million factory jobs since 1979, half of them in the last four years. It also had other impacts:

• “Manufacturing created the middle class” after World War II, Faux said, and rising factory employment pushed up real wages not just in factories but nationwide.

• AFL-CIO staffer Gerald Shea argued delegates should push for comprehensive universal national health care. Without it, he said, U.S. unionists must compete against workers in developing nations with no health benefits or workers in other industrial nations where the government pays health care.

Recalling IUE’s two-day strike in mid-January against GE on health care, Shea added: “They struck for everybody ... who faces this health care threat,” and that’s not just the 42 million uninsured, but an equal number who could lose insurance due to high costs.

“In autos, rubber, transportation and the service sector, contracts are up this year for 1.25 million workers, and health care will be front and center of those talks,” he said.

But collective bargaining won’t solve the problem of companies with health care competing unsuccessfully against those without. That calls for national legislation, Shea added.

“How do you overcome drug company lobbying?” against national health care, Shea asked. “Tell them the truth. Tell them what’s happening in bargaining. Talk about the problems your retirees have with prescription drug costs.’”

• Federation trade specialist Thea Lee told delegates to campaign against trade treaties that, like NAFTA, will cost more U.S. jobs in another race to the bottom. The Bush administration wants to extend NAFTA to the entire Western Hemisphere, even though it has cost hundreds of thousands of factory jobs since its enactment, she noted.

“Tell them: ‘No more trade agreements that weaken our workers here at home,’“ Lee said.

• Labor law specialist Cecily Counts said labor law reform should be the delegates’ third lobbying goal, both in D.C. and at home. That includes not just creating a level playing field for the right to organize – because organizing and collective bargaining leads to workers’ gains – but also lobbying against anti-labor judges Bush has or plans to nominate.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the GOP-run House Education and the Workforce Committee – Republicans dropped “labor” from its title – said party strayed from being the party of working people. As a result, in the last election, workers stayed home, or voted against their interests, for the GOP, Miller contended.

“We have to speak out for the 90 percent being left out by the Bush administration,” said Miller.. “And your union presidents have made it clear that this is so fundamental that the agenda of this (Democratic) party must be the agenda of working families – that no longer can labor be an ATM” for campaign contributions.

Yale unions & community unite

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:05:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – As snow fell here at noon on Jan. 27, hundreds of Yale workers rallied for a new union contract outside the hotel where negotiations were taking place.

“We retire into a life of poverty,” said Laura Smith, president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union Local 34, representing clerical and technical workers. Better pensions and job security are two of the main issues in negotiations that have dragged on since the contracts expired a year ago. Speaking to the growing impatience and determination, HERE Local 35 President Bob Proto called on the workers to carry the message back. “Everyone here is an organizer in your department,” he said.

John Wilhelm, HERE international president, warned of the threat to job security posed by subcontracting. “Yale is trying to divide us,” he warned. “We all rely on each other for our future and our security.” Wilhelm, who led the successful 1984 strike that established Local 34, has moved back to New Haven to help lead the struggle.

Yale has adopted an increasingly hard line in its communications to faculty and management. On two important issues – pension improvements for those who have already retired, and the right to organize for over 4,000 Yale graduate teachers and service workers at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) – Yale delivers a flat “No,” saying, in effect, they are not required by law to bargain over these issues, and will not discuss them.

Yale’s refusal to discuss “non-mandatory” issues is also important because the unions are supporting community demands that Yale provide aid for New Haven public schools, and improve hiring and promotion of Latino and African-American workers. Yale has responded with a massive public relations campaign – full-page ads in local papers at least every week, often boasting of how much they do for their workers and for the city.

The answer to Yale’s campaign to divide the community from the union came the day after the union rally. Unity was the theme at a remarkable community meeting held in St. Rose Church. Five hundred people filled the church basement. Lillian Daniels, pastor of Church of The Redeemer, welcomed the participants. “We’ve come here the hard way. We’ve tried to do good things alone or in small groups.” Her theme reflected the banner over the stage: “In Unity there is Power.”

New Haven residents who are members of the five unions seeking recognition or new contracts testified to the common issues. Hospital worker Monica Osborne said, “Many of us can’t afford health coverage while working for one of the country’s top 100 hospitals. We need to teach people to stand up and fight.”

Gahodery Rodriguez, a graduate teacher at Yale, brought cheers when she said, “In every part of the United States workers are coming together to fight for a higher standard of living. New Haven is setting an example. I believe in the power we have in this room. We will win.”

The climax of the evening came when representatives of more than 50 congregations and community groups came to the front. Joelle Fishman, representing the New Haven People’s Center, said, “We stand in solidarity forever. We will not rest until equality, dignity and justice are won at Yale, in New Haven and in the world.” Each of the leaders gave a similar message, repeating the need for unity in the common struggle, and each closed by saying, “We’re gonna roll the union on.”

Calling attention to representatives of the Yale administration’s Office of New Haven Affairs who were in the room, Bea Dozier Taylor told them to bring word back to Yale: “The people are standing strong to do what they have to do.”

The author can be reached at arthur.perlo@pobox.com

Bush budget blasted

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:02:00 +0000

President Bush’s $2.23 trillion budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 is loaded with more than a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the rich, increased spending for the military-industrial complex and cuts in funding for many social programs. It drew an angry response from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

“The administration’s dependence on privatization and top-heavy tax cuts will force the nation’s seniors, children and workers onto a starvation diet while flooding the bank accounts of the richest Americans with billions in tax cuts,” Sweeney said. The 2004 budget, he added, “hollows out the most trusted services to pay for tax cuts” that will make it possible for President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to get back more in taxes than the average worker earns in a year.

Sweeney said the budget “skimps” on the states, education, jobs and the economy while failing to offer an aggressive plan to create jobs by investing in public programs such as building roads, schools and hospitals.”

The Bush budget for 2004 limits total “discretionary spending” – money the president and Congress must decide to spend each year – to $782 billion. Of that total, $399.1 billion – 51 percent – goes to the military.

The New York Times said the military budget – up $16.9 billion over 2003 – “is bloated with money for old-style weaponry needed only by defense contractors and military empire builders.”

The Times editorial said the deficit, that shifts taxes from today’s citizens to those of the future, is typical of the administration’s “party-now-pay-later” attitude toward government finances.

Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, was equally outraged. “The Bush administration is waging a budget war against the poor,” she said, charging that Bush “chooses to give an average of $89,000 in tax cuts to each millionaire this year while dismantling Head Start and Medicaid.”

Barbara B. Kennelly, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, was sharply critical of the sleight of hand Bush used in dealing with a prescription drugs program for seniors under which they would have to withdraw from Medicare and enroll in an HMO to be eligible for drugs.

“Choice is not worth much if none of the options are good,” she said, expressing concern that traditional fee-for-service Medicare could be phased out and future beneficiaries required to choose among private plans only. “The president wants it all – the tax plan, the war and the privatization of Medicare. Seniors just want to see progress on a prescription drug plan.”

Congressional criticism came from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, called the budget “pure P.R. with color pictures of little children and brave soldiers designed to distract the American public from the truth.”

Among the most closely watched members of Congress on budgetary issues are a group of moderate Senate Republicans who may determine the future of the tax proposals, and one of them – Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine – made it clear that she was uncomfortable by the large number of minuses in the budget books. Other moderate Senate Republicans include Susan Collins of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John Chaffee of Rhode Island. They, together with 49 Democrats, may be able to create a firewall against the worst features of the budget.

Stephanie Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Center for Community Change, said, “Bush’s plans for economic growth provide no relief for working families, hurt the states already facing serious budget crises, and put vulnerable children and families at greater risk. Not only does the president’s proposed tax cut ignore an entire segment of the population, it starves much needed social programs.”

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said the budget “falls far short of the commitment needed to fulfill his promise of ‘quality, affordable health care for all.’ Its proposals will force seniors to lose their doctors and cause many of the most vulnerable people to join the ranks of the uninsured.”

The Bush budget is filled with “now you see it, now you don’t” accounting practices where increase in one program are offset by cuts elsewhere: A $200 million increase to boost low-income home ownership is paid for by eliminating $574 million program to refurbish aging public-housing units. The cost of the much-ballyhooed program for helping deal with the African AIDS pandemic will be offset by cutting funds for development aid for poor countries.

The budget takes a shot at poor and low-income families with new eligibility requirements that make it more difficult to obtain a range of government benefits from programs ranging from tax credits to school lunches. It also slashes several programs aimed at easing health-care shortages in under-served communities. One, costing $300 million annually to fund training and scholarships for would-be doctors, takes an $81 million hit while a program that helps some hospitals pay for large, one-time, purchases will be eliminated.

The author can be reached at fgab708@aol.com

World labor: Let the inspectors work

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 05:59:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO added its voice to the growing opposition to war with Iraq last week when federation President John Sweeney joined with John Monks, general secretary of the British Trades Union Congress, to urge President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to give UN weapons inspectors in Iraq “adequate time” to complete their work.

In a Jan. 30 letter Sweeney and Monks said they were writing on behalf of “working people in both our countries” to remind Bush and Blair that the “goal of our policy now should be to take every possible step to achieve [disarmament] of Iraq ... before the path of war is chosen as a last resort.

“As we write to you today, we do not believe that this first point has come to an end and urge you to ... find a resolution to this situation that preserves peace and security for our countries,” the letter concluded.

The Sweeney-Monks letter is the latest in a growing chorus of trade union opposition to unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq. On Jan. 24 the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions warned of a “slide to war in Iraq,” adding that the military build-up in the Persian Gulf “runs the risk of short-circuiting the processes” that saw UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq last year.

In a press release announcing its stance, the Brussels-based federation, representing 158 million workers in 150 countries, said military action is “unnecessary and unacceptable” and is not justified by “present evidence.”

On Jan. 30, LO-Norway, the Norwegian counterpart to the AFL-CIO, said the United States is “carrying on its threats of war” despite the fact that UN weapons inspectors have not found any evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. LO-Norway said U.S. behavior “contributes to increased international tension.”

Asserting that only the UN Security Council can make “legitimate decisions with regard to Iraq,” LO-Norway said, “The USA has no right to act as world policeman in [the Iraq] situation.”

In a pointed reminder to the Norwegian government, the LO statement said, “A new and unambiguous mandate from the Security Council is an absolute precondition for the use of force in relation to Iraq.”

LO-Norway pledged to continue its peace work and urged its members to participate in the February 15 demonstration being organized by the nation’s Peace Initiative.

Emilio Gabaglio, general secretary of the European Trade Union Committee, added his voice to the issue of war or peace with a statement on Jan. 20. While saying “no leniency” toward the Iraq regime is “acceptable,” Gabaglio added: “Europe cannot allow itself to be dragged into a conflict [in] which it would be the first to undergo the destabilizing consequences at both the political and economic level.”

Earlier the Committee issued a formal statement in which it said, “A unilateral decision by the U.S. or a bi-lateral one with the UK (Great Britain) to go to war and to act by a preventive strike would be a violation of international law.” The statement called upon the European Union to “speak with one voice in favor of peaceful solutions.”

In a Jan. 13 statement the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) said that organization views the deployment of US troops to the Gulf region with “great concern,” adding that an attack on Iraq “seems evident.”

The DGB said the attempt to overcome terrorism is “ a matter for the community of nations and not for a single country, even if that country is currently the only superpower.” The statement added that any resort to the use of force has to be approved by the United Nations, which holds a “global monopoly on the use of force and the rules of international law.”

The German union organization said although an international alliance against terrorism is essential, the DGB believes success in that effort lies in “combating the evil at its source. As long as poverty and misery, political repression and social exclusion are part of people’s everyday experience in many parts of the world, the scourge of terrorism will not be eradicated. It is new economic, social and development policy initiatives that are needed, not recourse to military force.”

The author can be reached at fgab708@aol.com