People Before Profit blog

Budget cuts hampered response to giant fire, firefighters charge

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:48:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES - In the latest indication of how local budget cuts, due to the Great Recession, endanger public services and safety, the president of the United Fire Fighters of Los Angeles (UFLAC) said the mayor's slashes hampered the department's response to the huge Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest in September.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, had to hastily reopen 28 fire companies, ambulances, paramedic supervisory units and battalion command teams he unilaterally shut on Aug. 6, after the large fire broke out several weeks later. Until then, the department was short-staffed in battling the blaze, UFLAC President Pat McOsker adds.

The Station Fire burned for weeks in early September, destroying 161 square miles of woodlands and watershed and thousands of homes before it was finally brought under control by L.A. County (Fire Fighters Local 1014), L.A. City (IAFF Local 112) and other fire fighters. One pointed picture shows smoke billowing down a mountain in back of city Fire Station 74, one of those stations closed for budget cuts.

Two Los Angeles County firefighters, Capt. Ted Hall and Fire Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, died during the blaze, while trying to lead evacuation of 70 people from the hills. Thick smoke engulfed their vehicle, and they couldn't see. It ran off the road and plunged 800 feet down a ravine. The two were memorialized in a mass service at Dodger Stadium, led by Vice President Joseph Biden, who said Hall and Quinones "went above and beyond the call of duty" in rescuing others.

McOsker said the response of his firefighters was hampered because Villaraigosa closed the stations and other units in an attempt to get Local 112 members to yield to his demands for sharp pay cuts - cuts the mayor did not seek elsewhere.

Villaraigosa also told the City Council he wanted to save $10 million - the city budget shortfall is several hundred million dollars - "by eliminating the 10th member at selected fire stations" as well. Local 112 is resisting, saying it is willing to "share sacrifices" if other city workers also do so, McOsker says. For his local, those sacrifices to deal with the recession should be in deferred pay raises and savings in LAFD overhead, not in services, the union president adds. That's not what Villaraigosa wants.

The local "has a simple strategy ... that has not changed since the very beginning" of bargaining, McOsker said in the Los Angeles Firefighter. "The safety of human lives is non-negotiable. We will not agree to staffing cuts as part of any contract deal. No amount of money is worth risking firefighter lives or the lives of the people we protect. If city leaders continue to insist on balancing the budget by reducing LAFD emergency responders, we will push back as hard as we can. It's that simple. If nothing else, at least our consciences will be clear when the inevitable happens."

Photo: Smoke billows in last fall's giant Station Fire. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/whappen/ / CC BY 2.0)

Transit workers’ rally highlights safety, budget woes

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:23:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - Transit workers and supporters from the North Shore AFL-CIO and Cleveland Jobs With Justice demonstrated downtown here this week to protest the Regional Transit Authority's refusal to address the safety of employees and the riding public in contract negotiations.

The action dramatized the challenge facing public transit systems in the current economic crisis.

William Nix, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268, charged the RTA management had created hazardous conditions, failed to maintain heating, communications and handicapped mechanisms in its buses and was attempting to bust the union by eliminating bargaining unit jobs.

Over the course of 23 bargaining sessions since June, Nix said the RTA has stonewalled attempts to address questions of working conditions and sought to move instead to its economic program of cutting wages and health care benefits.

RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese denied safety standards had been neglected and said the real problem was that the system was broke.

"I can't spend money I don't have," he said. The transit system gets most of its revenues from county sales taxes which plummeted this year with the deepening recession. Ridership, accounting for 20 percent of RTA income, also fell sharply as unemployed workers no longer use the system to get to their jobs. Ohio's state government, which he charged has a poor record of supporting transit, has slashed funding, and even federal funds from the national transportation bill have been held up.

Calabrese has appealed to Sen. Sherrod Brown and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, both Ohio Democrats, to help get those funds released and, if that happens, the system will barely break even this year, he said.

But, for the coming year, Calabrese said his only hope of avoiding hundreds of layoffs and major cuts in service is to reduce labor costs. He pointed to a study released in June by the American Public Transportation Association showing that 89 percent of public transit systems in the country have been forced to raise fares or reduce service because of recession-caused revenue reductions.

These realities complicate the contract talks and, in fact, no solution seems possible within that framework. The union has to fight to improve working conditions and maintain the economic security of its members, but both sides and the riding public need a solution to the funding problem.

Calabrese wants to reassure the public about safety, but the issue is real and undoubtedly tied up with the funding crisis.

Last week an RTA driver was sentenced to six months in jail on a charge of vehicular homicide for killing a man in a downtown crosswalk. The driver, a single mother, was accused of negligence and using a cell phone at the time of the accident, but Nix said RTA had major responsibility since it had rejected repeated demands by the union to lower mirrors and eliminate a blind spot that had caused accidents in the past. Immediately after the accident the mirrors were lowered and audible systems installed to alert pedestrians when buses were making turns.

The RTA also made possession of cell phones grounds for immediate dismissal. But on the picket line John Bronoff, a bus driver with 13 years service, said that especially on weekends radios on the buses and trains do not work and cell phones are a necessity in case of medical emergencies, accidents or confrontations with irate passengers. Not only has the RTA failed to fix the radios, it insists drivers read text messages on the devices despite the hazard involved, he said.

"We work under extremely high stress," he said, "and it's not reported but every week drivers are assaulted."

Nix charged that the RTA had recklessly merged departments to eliminate jobs with the result that untrained workers are forced to deal with high voltages in substations and bus drivers were made to work on trains as supervisors without experience to handle coupling problems. This almost caused a head-on collision, he said.

He charged that the RTA failed to buy parts for wheelchair lifts, many of which don't work, forcing drivers to lift passengers manually. In 40 percent of the buses heating systems do not work, he said.

The RTA has given union jobs in parts depots to NAPA, a private company, eliminated maintenance and clerical workers in its downtown offices and sought to violate overtime protections. The union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the refusal of the RTA to negotiate safety issues.

The RTA says it wants to bypass the safety issues and move to economic issues where it is demanding a 5 percent cut in hourly pay with no increases over three years, a 26 percent increase in health premiums and a 4 percent increase in the amount workers pay into the health plan.

"Labor is 70 percent of our budget," Calabrese said, "and the ATU is 90 percent of our labor. We have reduced fuel and utility costs and cut jobs and pay of salaried employees. Our workers deserve every penny they make, but we face a $9 million to $12 million deficit next year and unless the ATU agrees to reduce our costs we will have to eliminate their jobs, eliminate weekend service and make other serious service cuts by April."

The contract for the 1,900 members of the ATU expired July 31 and negotiations have broken off pending appointment of a state fact-finder to study the issues and make recommendations.

Photo: ATU Local 268 President William Nix, left, with bus driver Wayne Bender. (Photo by Debbie Kline)

Restaurant workers stand up to robbery on the job

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

DEARBORN, Mich. - It happened again this past Monday. People were robbed and cheated. If justice ruled, the perpetrator, who is known, would find the police quickly knocking on his door.

But when the victims are workers, the results are different. That's because, while they are on the job, workers have few rights a boss must respect.

For the past six years, Bertha Piña has worked hard on her job doing food preparation at Andiamo's restaurant here. On Monday, three days before Thanksgiving, this mother of five and sole provider for her family was fired.

Was she caught stealing or accused of poor work performance? No, not at all. Her "crime" was joining with other workers in a Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-MI) campaign to protest the theft of $125,000 in unpaid wages. The theft was carried out through minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, forcing workers to work "off the clock," and improper wage deductions, along with racial, nationality and gender discrimination.

ROC-MI is an affiliate of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a national restaurant worker's organization dedicated to improving working conditions for these workers.

Piña participated in a demonstration outside the restaurant last Friday, and her firing on Monday was clearly retaliatory.

ROC-MI organized a spirited demonstration here Tuesday to protest her illegal firing.

"I think it was all for the money," Piña said about the restaurant's shortchanging of the workers.

"It will be hard for me and my children because Christmas is coming and there is no money for the presents," she said. Her children range in age from 6 to 16. "It's hard because I am the only one to support them. I have to pay the bills, house payments, insurance for my car, everything."

Judging by the impressive turnout at the demonstration, Pina and the other workers will not be alone in their fight. Support came from labor and the religious community, but most impressive was the large turnout of young people.

"I think it's something that young people really understand - workers' issues - because we're just entering the workforce - well trying to enter the workforce - and not being able to," said Anna Springer of Detroit. "Having people that do have steady jobs being abused, just because they are immigrants or because they are afraid of losing their jobs - the workforce is so stretched right now - that is something we can relate to."

She added, "In Detroit there are so many different issues that are going on but all of them are so close and interrelated. You have issues of economic justice, workers' justice, immigrant justice, labor justice, a lot of people are coming to support and to cry out that this is not okay, not acceptable. Especially in such a labor focused town, this is not acceptable."

Emily Knowles, a freshman at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who carpooled to the protest with 20 to 25 others from her campus, said, "It's an important issue we are all passionate about. A lot of the people here from U of M are really involved in community service, human rights and social justice. We support ROC so we just came out to help support them on an issue we all feel passionate about."

Commenting on the diversity of the crowd, the chairman of Metropolitan Detroit Interfaith Workers for Justice, the Rev. John Pitts Jr., said he hoped the restaurant owners would "see this coalition that is gathered here tonight and sit back and rethink some of these things where they put profits over people."

"We are our brother's keeper," said Pitts, who is pastor of the Temple of Praise International Church in Taylor, Mich. "We have a religious responsibility to be there one for another. And the battle we ignore in our brother's yard today will be the same battle we will fight tomorrow."

The plight of the workers at Andiamo's "absolutely" points out the need for passing the Employee Free Choice Act, said Saundra Williams, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "This should not be happening. It is just unconsciousable that employers are so greedy that they are violating the law and not paying their workers what they should be paying."

"The Metro Detroit AFL-CIO will stand with ROC as long as it takes to do something about this situation," she said.

Photo: PW/John Rummel

U.S. & German unions unite to battle T-Mobile

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:07:00 +0000

The Communications Workers of America and its German counterpart have teamed up to battle wireless carrier T-Mobile's union-busting efforts in the U.S.

CWA President Larry Cohen announced the "global union" partnership last week at a Washington news conference. He charged T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, with being two-faced in how it deals with workers here and in Germany.

Since T-Mobile entered the U.S. market nine years ago, it has created an atmosphere of fear and repression for workers, CWA and T-Mobile workers say. A study by John Logan director of labor studies at San Francisco State University, has documented T-Mobile USA's record of harassment and intimidation of workers who want a union.

In Germany, which has strong labor laws, Deutsche Telekom "respects the right of its workers to union representation and collective bargaining," the unions say. "When Deutsche Telekom took over T-Mobile USA (then VoiceStream) in 2000, it was expected that the company would bring with it the same enlightened labor practices that it currently practices in Germany and other parts of Europe. However, in the U.S., T-Mobile has fiercely opposed any union activity among their 36,000 workers."

Logan's study concludes that T-Mobile's U.S. behavior violates the company's own code of conduct and policies in ways that would be completely unacceptable in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

"We're saying to multinational companies, in this case, Deutsche Telekom, that we're tired of the face of cooperation in Germany and the club of intolerance in the United States," Cohen said.

The new alliance between CWA and the German telecommunications union, ver.di, is called TU - a union for T-Mobile workers. Workers who join TU will be affiliated with both CWA and ver.di. It will provide workers the opportunity to discuss workplace issues, share grievances, and interact with both U.S. and German union members as the first step in bringing a union to the U.S workplaces, the TU web site says. Cohen said CWA would work with union members and telecom workers in the U.S., while ver.di would be responsible for relations with T-Mobile officials in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom workers in Germany won a pay increase of 5.5 percent through collective bargaining, retroactive to June 1, 2008, the TU web site points out. But T-Mobile workers in the U.S., with no union representation, cannot bargain collectively with the company. In January this year, TU says, T-Mobile USA's CEO sent an e-mail to employees informing them that there would be no annual pay increase. He urged them to "stay scrappy" and to be "lean and mean while growing the business" during the economic crisis.

Jenn Roberts, a CWA member and former T-Mobile employee, says on the web site, "The workers at T-Mobile need to be fairly educated on all their options. We heard all negative stuff when we used to be called into ‘focus group' meetings with the call center director. I didn't realize what benefits you could have with a union until I actually got them and saw them and realized I was no longer going to be taken advantage of and was instead being treated with respect."

At the news conference announcing the partnership, Cohen was joined by Ado Wilhelm, a ver.di officer who is an employee representative on the supervisory board of T-Mobile in Germany. Wilhelm said his union would use its relationship with the company to help support workers' unionizing efforts in the U.S.

Also joining them was "X," a T-Mobile USA employee disguised with a fake beard and mustache, sunglasses and a baseball cap. He said he wore the disguise because he was afraid of retribution from T-Mobile for speaking publicly in support of unionizing.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ksiniy/ / CC BY 2.0

Used and abused: guest workers and U.S. immigration reform

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:31:00 +0000

PITTSBURGH - The room grew quiet as she told her story. Leila Concepcion paid $15,000 to come to the United States and teach. It was a painful decision to leave her country, The Philippines, and place her family in debt.

The first time she set foot in the U.S. the labor agency told her she had to pay a new round of fees or she wouldn't get work. And it wasn't just Concepcion on this H1-B visa. There were others.

"We were forced to sign a contract. We were left with no choice but to sign," Concepcion told the Workers' Rights Board convened at the recent AFL-CIO convention here. The rights board was investigating the impact of the U.S. immigration system on workers' rights.

"All the stress I went through." I shake when I remember it all, Concepcion said "I was sued by the agency," she said as tears started welling up and her voice started to shake.

"I received harassing phone from the agency recruiters. They said I cannot join any organization, especially AFT (American Federation of Teachers). On behalf of all victims, I appeal for collaborative efforts to end the exploitative agencies that are circumventing U.S. law."

Indentured workers

Concepcion was one of four "temporary" workers that testified about paying huge fees to get a temporary work visa and once these workers arrive they become indentured slaves to unregulated agencies and unscrupulous employers.

Temporary visas for professionals, skilled workers and agricultural workers are often called "guest worker" programs. Former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall says these programs have a "superficial appeal as a way to reduce temporary labor shortages."

However, abuses of these workers are well documented.

Plus, more and more evidence is coming to light that some of the largest corporations use these programs to drive down labor costs, drive up their profits and undermine hard-won labor rights for all workers in the U.S.

The labor movement supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to legalization and citizenship, family reunification, workplace and civil rights for all. Some sections of business support legalization as well.

But where the labor and business part company on immigration is on "guest workers."

In "Immigration For Shared Prosperity," published by the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank, Marshall advocates for the "improvement, but not expansion" of the "temporary indentured worker programs."

He also advocates for a commission to get a more comprehensive assessment of the real labor needs filled by temporary and permanent immigrant workers and make the recommendations on the number of visas annually to Congress.

Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win labor federations agreed earlier this year to a joint approach on immigration reform, including on guest workers.

Employer associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Associated General Contractors of America, International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, National Association of Realtors, Truckload Carriers Association, American Hotel & Lodging Association and the National Tooling & Machining Association have joined together to form lobby groups like The H-2B Workforce Coalition and Essential Worker Immigration Coalition to press for an expansion of guest worker programs and other immigration reforms that further their corporate interests.

Because of the high profit margins these visa programs afford, they are extremely popular among employers. The Wall Street Journal recently editorialized in favor of increasing the number of H1-B visa quotas, now at 65,000, even after the Journal ran a front page story that said thousands of H1-B visa applications were still available.

Labor shortages?

Saket Soni, the executive director of New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, testified at the AFL-CIO's rights board about an employer who chose to exploit foreign workers and try to pit them against American workers.

In Tennessee, a labor broker, Gary Lang, swore to the U.S. government that he couldn't find any U.S. workers to work for his company, Cumberland Environmental Resources, Inc. So, Lang imported workers on H-2B visas. The workers from Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador and Costa Rica paid thousands of dollars in recruitment fees to Cumberland's agents for the jobs.

Upon arrival workers had to wait for weeks and even months for work they were promised. Lang finally contracted out to employers across the South. The Cumberland guestworkers worked on Maxwell Airforce Base in Alabama, Camp LeJuene in North Carolina, Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., University of Kentucky and other hospitals and universities across the region.

When the workers decided to organize and confront Cumberland, they retaliated with threats of firing and deportation.

Soni said that the workers and their supporters went door-to-door and talked to local unemployed workers. "Every one of them wanted a job with Cumberland. All the U.S. workers asked 'what can I do to help. They are not stealing our jobs.'"

The temporary workers even met a local African American man who testified he was denied employment by Cumberland.

Soni said he believes the Bush administration made it "public policy" to pit foreign-born workers against American-born workers and the current guest worker system pits people in a never-ending "race to the bottom."

Gulf Coast recruiting

After the devastating Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, leaving thousands of Americans homeless and jobless, labor recruiters went into high gear advertising throughout Latin America and Asia for workers to come rebuild the coastal areas.

Employers seemed to salivate at the chance to hire these workers and possibly get a cut of the extravagant fees. One of the companies was Signal International, a marine oil rig construction company based in Pascagoula, Miss.

Aby Raju was one of the Signal workers. He also testified in Pittsburgh, and in Congress. He spoke through a translator.

"I'm a metal worker that came from India, and I have over a decade of experience as a welder. I'm here representing migrant metal workers who arrived on H-2B visas and were shipped to labor camps in Mississippi. We were recruited through the newspapers with promises of good jobs and permanent stay. We paid up to $20,000 each of us. That's a big amount in India. We sold our homes and inheritance. My father had to sell his pension fund for me to come here.

"When we got to the U.S., we found out everything the recruiter told us was completely false. We had only a 10 month visa. We were treated like animals when got here. We couldn't pay off the entire debt in 10 months. The recruiter threatened to burn up our passports if anyone argued with them.

"They forced 24 people to live in shipping container and pay $1,000 each for rent. The camp was within a company compound and they used security guards so we couldn't go anywhere and they isolated us from the community."

Organizing in Mississippi

But the isolation didn't last for long. The workers found Soni's organization and others willing to help. But when the company found out about the workers organizing efforts they retaliated.

"The company used armed guards to lock up members and force deportation," Aby said. Then the workers did something extraordinary. They struck en masse, marched out of the labor camp and reported themselves and the company to the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department dismissed the case. But the Indian workers decided to march, like Gandhi, across the South to Washington D.C. to press their case to Congress.

"We traveled through the areas of this country where slavery was most rampant like Alabama. We received help from civil rights organizations. ICE was doing surveillance and even though we were so scared we had to go to Washington DC. And when we got there and our concerns were not taken seriously, we went on hunger strike."

These workers received help from the AFL-CIO and other worker rights groups. The case is still pending and Aby appealed for help from the workers' rights board and audience.

Outraged by Aby's story rights board panelist Becky Moeller, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, quipped, "I hope when the Signal guy gets caught he serves in a cell with 24 other people."

Alliance of Guest Workers

Temporary workers in 11 states in the South are organzing and have founded a one of a kind organization, Alliance of Guest Workers.

Founding alliance member Daniel Castlellanos from Peru testified with others on the H1-B program in Congress. Castellanos was also recruited after Katrina. An industrial engineer, Castellanos paid $4,000 to get a job and visa in the U.S. and left the economic and political problems confronting his home country.

Castellanos said he was hired to do construction but when he got to New Orleans he was placed as a hotel worker.

"We were being used to displace African American workers. Before Katrina, New Orleans hotel workers made $13 an hour and were mainly African American women. After Katrina, immigrant workers were hired for $9 an hour and then they hired us guest workers with $6 an hour. Our boss said he could not find any American workers. At the same time workers were living in hotels because they were displaced from their homes by the flood. But they forced us to evict poor, African Americans living there.

"It's for that reason 200 workers from three countries organized and filed a class action suit. But more important than that we joined with guest workers throughout the South - and set up our own organization so we could raise our own voices and fight for the rights of guest workers. In short, it's our own union."

Castellanos concluded his testimony to the rights board and thanked the AFL-CIO for the opportunity to speak.

"We don't want a guest worker program that enslaves us or pits us against U.S. workers. What we want when we have to come and work here is that we can come with dignity, be part of labor unions and have rights. To defeat this guest worker program we have to sit down together so we can set a common strategy so we don't fall into the trap that the employers have set for us. Employers want to divide us by race, gender, color of skin, status as guest workers.

"Now in this globalized world it's a great moment for us workers to join together to make sure we are not cheated and exploited. We can join together to not be divided and be used by bosses because in that situation we all loose."

The Workers' Rights Board is a Jobs with Justice format. The moderators at the AFL-CIO's Workers' Rights Board were JwJ Executive Director Sarita Gupta and formers Labor Secretary Ray Marshall. The panelists were Moeller, Jerry Lee, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO, Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, Dr. Steven Pitts of UC Berkeley Labor Center, Ron Ault, president of the Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

Photo: Leila Concepcion testifies at the AFL-CIO's Workers Rights Board in Pittsburgh, Sept. 14, along with other guest workers. Teresa Albano/PW

Workers fight back vs. wage theft

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:24:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO - "Wage theft" may not yet be a household word, but it's a constant, dismal reality for millions across the U.S. And Interfaith Worker Justice is determined to do something about it.

On Nov. 19, IWJ, which unites clergy and lay people from many faiths to fight for social justice, initiated the first-ever National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft. Actions brought together low-wage workers, union and community supporters and people from many faiths, in some 40 cities around the country.

The depth of the problem was revealed in a survey of 4,387 low-wage workers in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, released just before Labor Day. Researchers found the workers were often paid less than minimum wage, were denied proper overtime pay and suffered meal break and other violations. These losses were not trivial: the study found the average low-wage worker lost over $2,600, or over one-sixth of his or her annual earnings.

In San Francisco a crowd assembled on the steps of City Hall to hear speakers from Young Workers United, the Chinese Progressive Association, Pride at Work, La Raza Centro Legal and others describe an "epidemic" of wage theft affecting workers in restaurants, on farms, in health care and other service jobs.

The case of NBC Contractors got special attention. NBC's owner, Monica Ung, faces 48 felony counts involving wage theft, insurance fraud and perjury for cheating largely immigrant construction workers out of an estimated $10 million, forcing them to work 60 to 72 hours a week but paying them only for 10 to 40 hours.

In Chicago, three Polish construction workers campaigning with help from the Arise Chicago Worker Center to recover over $70,000 in stolen wages rallied outside a location where their former employer holds a contract. They were joined by seminarians from McCormick Theological Seminary, members of the roofers and pipefitters unions, representatives of the University of Illinois Center for Urban Economic development and the Restaurant Opportunities Center Chicago, as well as members of the Polish community and IWJ staff.

In Memphis, the Workers Interfaith Network released a survey of 141 local low-wage workers, nearly two-thirds of whom reported being cheated out of wages, including not receiving a final paycheck, being paid less than minimum wage or having tips stolen. The Commercial Appeal reported a community meeting earlier this month, where workers in the construction and restaurant industries told their wage theft stories.

In a telephone interview, IWJ's director of public policy, Ted Smukler, said the organization is in the midst of a national anti-wage-theft campaign, one goal of which is "to make ‘wage theft' a household word, to stigmatize it, like ‘weapons of mass destruction,' or ‘global warming.'"

People hearing the term for the first time may not realize what wage theft is, he said, "but when it's explained to them, they say, ‘Oh, yeah, that happened to me,' or ‘I know someone that happened to.'"

Another facet of the campaign, at the national level, is to reform the Department of Labor and to pass legislation to strengthen enforcement and support community-based efforts against wage theft. "We are very happy that Hilda Solis is now Secretary of Labor and there are some good appointments at the top," Smukler said, but it will take time to restore to full function a department in decline since the 1970s and virtually stripped of investigative capacity during the Bush years.

A key plank in IWJ's campaign is passage of HR 3303, the Wage Theft Prevention Act, by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. The bill would fix the present statute of limitation which gives the department two years to resolve a case. IWJ is also working to generate congressional pressure for more studies by the General Accounting Office, like the 2008 study in which, Smukler said, the department "completely botched" 14 out of a series of 15 fictitious complaints.

The department urgently needs more investigators. Smukler said. At the end of 2008, one investigator was available for every 173,000 workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, and even with the recent addition of 250 new investigators nationwide, "it's impossible for them to be proactive."

"We want to make clear that it's not just affecting low-wage workers, immigrant workers, though they are particularly vulnerable," Smukler said. "It affects Black workers, white workers, native-born workers, immigrants with status - it's affecting everybody."

Individuals can also take steps to make sure they aren't participating in wage theft, he said, including leaving tips in cash, checking how home repair and landscaping workers are being paid, and becoming involved with IWJ's network of 25 workers' centers around the country.

Web sites about wage theft and IWJ's campaign include www.iwj.org, www.wagetheft.org, and www.canmybossdothat.com.

Photo: PW/Marilyn Bechtel

San Francisco hotel workers on strike

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:27:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO - About 650 workers at the St. Francis Hotel, one of the city's oldest and most luxurious, walked out on strike on November 18. This was the third of what may be many strikes at San Francisco's Class A hotels. The contract with the workers' union, UNITE HERE Local 2, expired on August 14. Since then, Local 2 has been trying to bargain a new agreement in the middle of an economic depression.

San Francisco's largest hotels are demanding cuts in health and retirement benefits, and increased workloads, saying that the economic crisis has reduced tourism in the city. The luxury hotel chains want workers to begin paying for their healthcare premiums - $35/month this year, $115 per month next year, and $200 per month the year after. A typical San Francisco hotel worker earns $30,000 per year, and many can't work a full 40-hour week.

Over the first nine months of 2009, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which manages the Westin St. Francis, earned $180 million in profits. Starwood also manages three other San Francisco Class A hotels. The owner of the St. Francis, Strategic Hotels and Resorts, saw $11 million in earnings during the same period. The company bought the hotel for $439 million in 2006.

Local 2 has offered a one-year agreement that would increase costs by only 1.5% (or about $500,000 at the St. Francis), but the hotels have responded that they want that low-cost structure to continue for several years more, in which their revenues and profits would rise as the depression ends. The union has called a boycott of the St. Francis, along with the two other hotels struck earlier in November - the Grand Hyatt and the Palace (also managed by Starwood).

Justice bus rolls to stop wage theft

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:23:00 +0000

HOUSTON — The Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center assembled a group of 30 labor activists to ride the Justice Bus here to bring attention to wage theft. The Houston action was one of 30 taking place around the country as part of Nov. 19 national day of action to stop wage theft. Wage theft is a national crime wave that takes billions of dollars out of the pockets of millions of workers every year.

The group was ethnically diverse, included men and women representing a number of organizations to include HIWJ, SEIU, Justice for Janitors, United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Houston Mennonite Church, CRECEN, and AFL-CIO of Harris County.

The first stop was at Sugar Branch Condominiums in Southwest Houston. HIWJ has been trying since September to recover $2,500 in unpaid wages owed three landscaping workers. They have not been paid since April. The workers were pressured to return to work after they stopped working when they were not paid. They returned to work, but still were not paid and were given repeated promises that they would be paid "tomorrow." Today a delegation met with the president of the Homeowners' Association and requested that the workers be paid. She denied responsibility and was very upset and shut the door on the delegation. She told the delegation to contact the association's attorneys.

It seemed ironic that the people in management at these condominiums would rather pay an attorney than the workers that had provided a needed service, the Justice Bus riders commented. "It would probably be cheaper to pay the workers than the attorneys," said one activist.

Some people said that when workers are not paid, there is cascading effect on the worker, their family and the community. Unpaid workers go hungry, their self esteem is devastated and their families can become hungry and desperate. When they are unpaid, they are left with limited choices to help their families. Some may resort to crime and their family members may also engage in criminal activity so they do not starve. When businesses do not compensate their employees, they are contributing to the deterioration of the community.

All of the stops had a spirited rally outside the business. Participants had plastic water bottles with some popcorn kernels inside, which became loud noisemakers when shaken. Chants accompanied the percussive sounds of the bottles and included, "No more wage theft. Pay the workers. The workers united will never be defeated," in English and Spanish.

The second stop was at the Honduras Restaurant in Northwest Houston. Here a female employee was paid $4.55 an hour which was two dollars under the minimum wage. Previous efforts by HIWJ to talk with the owner met with physical intimidation, yelling and threats to call the police and INS. Today HIWJ returned with 30 people, but the owner was not available. However, the owner of the strip center came out and when told the situation said he could not tolerate the bad publicity that this action generated.
The third scheduled stop was canceled because the owner, a minister himself, paid the workers on the previous evening in an effort to stop bad publicity and damage to his reputation among his peers in the faith community.

Over lunch, a male worker, Johnny, cried as he told his story to the group of activists. His boss at Supernova Furniture store allegedly owes him $16,000 in back pay. He talked about how he felt isolated and was glad to have the support of other people. As a result of the action, he said he did not feel he was the only one. Olga, a janitor, also cried as she told how her employer, Pritchard Southwest, made her work an extra hour without pay and when she refused to do this, they threatened to fire her. She is owed $697.50 in unpaid labor.

The fourth stop was at the Supernova Furniture store in South Houston. Johnny and a delegation of supporters met with the owners and they agreed to set a meeting with him and HIWJ to try to negotiate an acceptable agreement.

The fifth stop was at Prichard Southwest in the Heritage Plaza in downtown Houston. There the justice bus was met by about 300 janitors, community leaders and their supporters. Pritchard is the only company in Houston that refuses to negotiate a contract with SEIU Local 1 Justice for Janitors. The group loudly demanded that the company sit down with SEIU and bargain in good faith.
Some participants made cell phone calls to companies across the country that contract with Pritchard asking them to tell Pritchard to negotiate with their workers.

A report on wage theft by the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center concludes that worker abuse is widespread in the greater Houston metropolitan area and nationally. One thousand nineteen workers have reported to the Workers Center here and appealed for help in resolving their grievances. The report also notes that wage theft is encouraged by the lack of government enforcement by agencies whose mandate is to protect and defend workers. The report calls for more enforcement of the laws against wage theft by government agencies and the formation of special task forces to address these wrongs.

Photo: James Thompson/PW

‘Health care or food?’

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:51:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - "The company wants to make us pay $350 a month for our family health care; for me that would mean a 10 percent wage cut. I would have to choose between paying for health care and putting food on my family's table."

That was the dilemma posed by Fidel Arroyo, for 16 years a cook at the luxurious Claremont Hotel and Spa in the Oakland hills. Arroyo and hundreds of his fellow workers were preparing to march with union and community supporters from the Marriott Hotel, whose management also proposes hiking workers' health care costs, to City Hall and to the headquarters of Morgan Stanley, the Claremont's majority owner. Marchers were also greeted by elected officials from Oakland and nearby Emeryville and Berkeley.

"Most of my co-workers are here today," Arroyo said. "Everyone is very upset at the company's demands. The Claremont's contract with the workers' union, Unite Here! Local 2850, expired Aug. 1. While no strike vote has been taken and the workers fervently hope one will not be necessary, they have been voluntarily putting money into a strike fund each month for three years.

The union had to talk tough with the previous owners, Arroyo said, but at least talks could take place inside the hotel. Since Morgan Stanley's hotel management arm, the Pyramid Corp., took over the Claremont a couple of years ago, he said, it has been a struggle just to agree on a place to meet, with a corner of the tennis courts the latest venue.

"I would like the company to understand that people are ready to fight," Arroyo declared. "We are serious, not joking. We will win!"

The union points out that Morgan Stanley got $10 billion in public TARP funds and reported in October that it had set aside nearly $5 billion "for its compensation pool for the three months to September." But it has not only proposed slashing health coverage, it also wants to end overtime pay for workers as the holidays approach.

The Downtown Marriott and Courtyard's management company, Interstate, also wants workers to pay far more for medical coverage while doing without wage increases for the first two years of their contract. Aramark, which operates concessions at the Oakland Coliseum, is calling for a three-year wage freeze and a cap on health care payments.

Meanwhile, San Francisco hotel workers embarked on their third three-day strike in three weeks, as they walked out of the Westin-St. Francis, in the posh Union Square district, Nov. 18. Their union, Unite Here! Local 2, says talks for a new citywide contract covering some 9,000 workers at 31 prime hotels are at a standstill over the hotel corporations' demands for health care and retirement cutbacks and increased workloads.

The workers voted last month by more than 92 percent to authorize work stoppages if necessary, in support of their campaign for a new contract. Earlier three-day walkouts affected the Grand Hyatt and Palace Hotels.

In Chicago, Unite Here! Local 1 leaders say hotel workers' contract talks have stalled and are far from settlement.

Hotel workers in all three cities see the giant corporations as seeking to use the economic crisis as an excuse to force cutbacks, though in fact the hospitality industry has continued to be profitable and can afford fair contracts.

U.S. students win ‘new day’ for Honduran workers

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:14:00 +0000

In a landmark victory after student protests at U.S. universities, Russell Athletics, the largest supplier of team uniforms and apparel to campuses, has agreed to reopen a Honduran factory that it shut down in January after its workers formed a union.

A two-year campaign, largely led by United Students Against Sweatshops, had prompted nearly 100 colleges and universities to drop licensing deals with the Atlanta-based clothing maker due to unfair labor standards abroad.

The students charged that the company used intimidation and harassment in response to the workers' efforts to unionize at the plant in Choloma, Honduras, finally closing the factory in January.

The U.S. students conducted what they say is one of the largest boycotts in the history of modern student activism.

"Now, as a direct result of our efforts, we have won an unprecedented victory - the company has agreed to meet worker demands to reopen the factory and re-hire all 1,200 workers, who have been without jobs for 10 months or more," USAS says on its web site.

The statement continues, "This is one of the most significant youth-led campaign victories in recent times and one of the most significant campaign victories of the global justice movement. No one has ever forced a multinational corporation to reopen a facility it shut down in the global race to the bottom."

The student group said the victory "has also proven that together, we can successfully fight back when those in power take advantage of the economic crisis to attack workers. ... We can fight back - and win - against policies that benefit a privileged few and hurt our communities."

Jack Mahoney, a Georgetown University graduate and USAS organizer, told the Associated Press, "This is huge. We've had a number of smaller victories, but this is the first time we know of that somebody has reversed a company's decision."

The student coalition's nationwide campaign persuaded the administrations of Boston College, Columbia, Harvard, New York University, Stanford, Michigan, North Carolina and 89 other colleges and universities to sever or suspend their licensing agreements with Russell. The agreements - some yielding more than $1 million in sales - allowed Russell to put university logos on T-shirts, sweatshirts and fleeces.

According to the Worker Rights Consortium, "Russell managers carried out a campaign of retaliation and intimidation in order to stop workers at two of the company's Honduran factories from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively, a right explicitly protected by the codes of conduct of Russell's university business partners."

The consortium said, "This campaign began with 145 illegal firing of union supporters in 2007 - which Russell ultimately admitted and was forced to reverse - and continued during 2008 with harassment of unionists and constant threats to close the Jerzees de Honduras factory in order to punish the union. The campaign culminated when Russell made good on these threats by closing the factory."

The company had said it closed the factory due to falling demand for the fleece sewn there. The company said it picked the union plant in Choloma because it had a month-to-month lease and costs $2 million less to close than the non-union alternative.

The workers, their union and their supporters did not buy Russell's claim. They say Russell decided to move production to cheaper nonunion plants.

Russell's reversal of its decision, many say is a big breakthrough for labor rights in the region, which could have a ripple effect in Honduras and other countries where American companies locate manufacturing plants.

A joint statement by Russell and the Worker Rights Consortium said Russell has agreed to "foster workers' rights in Honduras and establish a harmonious and cooperative labor-management relationship."

The consortium is an independent monitoring group that inspects labor conditions in factories abroad for colleges to ensure they comply with the colleges' codes. The consortium has more than 170 universities as members.

Russell is expected to immediately recognize the workers' union at Jerzees de Honduras, and has committed to collectively bargaining in good faith. The company also agreed to a policy of non-interference and union neutrality in all Russell (and its parent company Fruit of the Loom) facilities in Honduras. Russell said it plans to work with the Honduran union federation, Centro General de Trabajadores, to provide access to organizers and educate employees on their right to freedom of association.

John Shivel, a spokesman for Russell and Fruit of the Loom told the New York Times, "We are very pleased with the agreement between Russell Athletic and the Worker Rights Consortium, and look forward to its implementation."

The factory will reopen in Choloma and be called Jerzees Nuevo Dia, which means "new day." Union leaders in Honduras said the agreement would put hundreds of laid-off employees back to work in a country whose economy has been hit hard by a political crisis over who will lead it.

Moises Alvarado, president of the union at the Choloma plant, told The New York Times, "For us, it was very important to receive the support of the universities. We are impressed by the social conscience of the students in the U.S."

Feeling heat, U.S.-China firms say they’ll build turbines here

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:39:00 +0000

After a storm of protest from the nation's biggest manufacturing union, a U.S.-China energy partnership that is building a Texas wind farm said this week it would also build a turbine factory in the U.S. that would create 1,000 manufacturing jobs.

It is seen as a small start in harnessing clean energy initiatives to rebuild manufacturing in this country and bring back good union jobs. But, labor leaders say, it also "shows how far we have to go."

The consortium of U.S. and Chinese companies last month asked for $450 million in economic stimulus money to build the $1.5 billion wind farm in West Texas. But it turned out the consortium plans to import 240 turbines from China for the project. The wind farm would create only 30 permanent U.S. jobs, but would create about 2,000 manufacturing jobs in China.

That got Steelworkers President Leo Gerard riled up. The Steelworkers union represents 1.2 million members in a range of manufacturing and other industries Their jobs have taken a big hit in recent years as companies have moved production out of the country seeking ever bigger profits.

"It's bad enough that we've off-shored our factories and technology and jobs over the past 20 years," Gerard wrote on the USW blog earlier this month. "We're not off-shoring our stimulus cash too. In fact, we're tired of serving as the schoolyard wimp of the world. We need our own industrial policy so we can stand up and compete in the world market manufacturing the likes of wind turbines. And we need it now."

After word got out about the Texas windmill plan, Gerard wrote to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democratic leader who sits on several powerful committees, and asked him for "bold action to support U.S. clean energy manufacturing." Gerard copied the letter to all members of Congress.

The Campaign for America's Future launched an online petition to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, urging him to "reject any request for stimulus money unless the high‐value components, including the wind turbines, are manufactured in the United States."

Schumer evidently got the message. He announced that he had asked the Obama administration to block any stimulus money from financing the Texas wind farm because it would rely entirely on turbines built in China.

"I'm all for investing in clean energy, but we should be investing in the United States, not China," Schumer said. "The goal of the stimulus was to spur job creation here, not overseas. This project should not receive a dime of stimulus funds unless it relies on U.S.-manufactured products."

This week's announcement by the U.S.-China consortium that it will build a turbine manufacturing plant in the U.S. is obviously a response to the political heat. It shows, one steelworker activist said, that a new green manufacturing base can be won with a fight, and jobs created.

Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, called it "a start," but, he added, "it just shows how far we have to go."

In fact, the director of the Chinese firm, A-Power, said the proposed U.S. turbine plant would not make the turbines for the Texas wind farm. Those turbines will still be manufactured in China and shipped here (probably burning plenty of fossil fuel in the shipping process).

And that's the project for which the partnership is seeking $450 million in stimulus funds.

"So, in the end, it still means nearly half a billion in U.S. tax dollars would create 2,000 turbine-building jobs in China," Gerard commented today on his union's blog.

"There's no reason except a desire to shoot itself in the foot for the U.S. not to protect and promote its own renewable energy industries," the Steelworker leader said.

In a report titled "Building the Clean Energy Assembly Line," the labor-environmental Blue Green Alliance gives several steps Congress should take to cultivate American renewable energy industries and thereby create thousands of jobs. These include long-term investment tax credits, adopting a national standard requiring a minimum percentage of electricity be generated through renewable energy, passing cap and trade legislation, and providing low-interest financing.

The "Clean Energy Assembly Line" report estimates that U.S. manufacturers could create 850,000 jobs if Congress required 25 percent of electricity to be generated with renewable sources by 2025.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/green4all/ / CC BY 2.0

AFL-CIO head denounces Honduras elections

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:54:00 +0000

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has weighed in on the planned November 29 elections in Honduras, with an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The United States had originally hinted that it would join with most other countries in the hemisphere, plus the United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States in refusing to recognize the results of the elections for president, the unicameral Congress and local offices unless President Manuel Zelaya and constitutional normality were restored. Zelaya was overthrown in a June 28 coup and is currently living in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

On October 30, Clinton announced a supposed breakthrough agreement that would restore Zelaya, form a "government of national unity" and then allow the elections to proceed with international recognition. But the anti-Zelaya leadership of the Congress has refused to vote approval of Zelaya's return, and coup installed president Roberto Micheletti has unilaterally declared himself head of the "national unity" government, undoing the deal. The State Department now says it will recognize the elections anyway.

In the letter to Clinton, Trumka questions whether any kind of a fair election is possible in the conditions which Hondurans are undergoing.

"We are troubled that the agreement to reinstate President Zelaya by November 5 (the Tegucigalpa/San Jose accords), in preparation for the November 29 elections, has now unraveled. The failure of the Honduran Congress, in consultation with the Supreme Court and with other institutions, to approve President Zelaya's reinstatement, has created an unstable and untenable situation. Roberto Micheletti's announcement of an interim unity government without the representation of President Zelaya invalidates the elections planned for November 29th.

"The current environment in Honduras, including an illegitimate government in power, makes free, fair and open elections impossible. The violent and coercive repression of political opposition to the de-facto coup regime, including trade unionists, has continued. At least twelve trade unionists have died in the violence since June 28th. National and international human rights organizations report ongoing human rights violations committed by state security forces, including killings, severe beatings, sexual violence, the imprisonment and torture of activists, as well as the arrest and detention of President Zelaya's supporters.

"For these reasons the AFL-CIO asks our government to make clear its opposition to the conduct of national elections in Honduras November 29 unless President Zelaya is reinstated and free and fair electoral conditions are guaranteed. We also ask the United States Government to implement the recommendations contained in the resolution passed at our convention in Septembe.r"

Earlier this year, the AFL-CIO and a number of other labor bodies in the United States had expressed their solidarity with Honduran workers and demanded that the U.S. government work for the restoration of Zelaya and constitutional normality.

Housekeepers march in support of ‘Hyatt 100’

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:38:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Hundreds of women ending their shift as housekeepers at hotels along this city's "Magic Mile" didn't board trains and buses to go directly home to their families last night. Instead, they braved a raw, cold wind coming off Lake Michigan and marched on the Hyatt hotel here, demanding that the Chicago-based mega-chain rehire housekeepers it fired recently in Boston.

The women, members of Unite Here Local 1, rallied and marched in front of the Park Hyatt, stretching a 150-foot "hope quilt." They called on Hyatt to "bring back the Hyatt 100," housekeepers the chain replaced with cheaper labor in Boston, and demanding that Hyatt end what they called its "abuse" of housekeepers throughout North America.

The action followed one last month in which some 300 workers were arrested sitting in the streets outside the hotel, also protesting the Boston firings. Yesterday's protest was part of a second wave of coordinated demonstrations by thousands of workers in at least 12 cities across the United States and Canada in support of the Boston housekeepers.

Hyatt fired the 100 housekeepers from its three Boston hotels after ordering the workers to train "vacation backups" from an outsourcing agency.

The firings have triggered outrage across the country, forcing the chain to go on a defensive public relations campaign just as it tries to sell stock in the financial markets. The company became a publicly traded corporation on Nov. 5.

Among those condemning the hotel chain for its actions last night was Illinois state Senate Assistant Majority Leader Iris Martinez, who told the workers, "These people do the hardest work. It is dignified work. Your struggle is hard but we are with you all the way. We will prevail. Hyatt will not get away with this."

Local union leaders, a Catholic priest, Protestant ministers and Jewish community and labor leaders also spoke at the rally.

"What the Hyatt did to those housekeepers in Boston is unthinkable, and we're here to say to the Hyatt that enough is enough," said Claudette Evans, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Her mother is also a housekeeper at the hotel. "I'm standing up for those ladies, myself and my mother, because our health and our jobs depend on it," she said.

"Housekeeping is hard work that gets harder every year at the Hyatt," said Francine Jones, who has worked at the Hyatt Regency Chicago for 16 years. "I had carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, which required weeks of physical therapy and surgery. I live with chronic pain in my back and knees from all the heavy lifting and bending I do to change beds, scrub floors and toilets, and push heavy furniture around to vacuum."

As she spoke, many in the crowd held up the "hope quilt" made by housekeepers from across the continent. The quilt, which is being brought to all the demonstrations at Hyatt hotels, stitches together the stories of Hyatt housekeepers and the pain they suffer daily in the struggle to provide for their families. Each of the thousands of patches on the quilt symbolizes a story of pain or injury associated with the job.

Luz Aquino, one of the fired Boston housekeepers, addressed the rally. "We were making $12 to $14 and hour and it was tough to get 19 rooms cleaned in a seven-and-a-half hour shift," she said. "They cut the pay for the replacement workers to $8 an hour and make them clean 28 rooms in a day. If they can't finish on time they have to stay until they finish all their rooms, without overtime pay. Some of them work 14 hours to finish but only get paid for seven-and-a-half."

Anne-Marie Staessel, communications director for Local 1, said Hyatt is using the economy as an excuse to dramatically lower the living standards of hotel workers all over the country. She said the company is eliminating jobs, proposing health care cuts and getting a smaller pool of workers to work harder and faster.

In Chicago, the Hyatt laid off a fifth of its staff between November 2008 and March 2009, while scheduling almost half of its workers to work overtime between December 2008 and April 2009.

The hotel has drawn the anger of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who has called on his state agencies to boycott the Boston hotels if the fired workers are not restored to their jobs.

Hyatt made over $1.3 billion in profits from 2004 to 2008 and, as of late September, had $1.3 billion in cash in the bank.

Photo: www.hotelworkersrising.org

Asian Pacific American worker hearing hailed as labor milestone

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Electrician Ricky Lau and hotel worker Peter Ho were among a dozen workers from around the country who testified at the first-ever National Asian Pacific American Workers' Rights Hearing last week.

Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people, the workers told a panel of union leaders, public officials, community leaders and academics of the exploitation they have faced as immigrant workers and their struggles for the right to join a union. The Nov. 13 hearing, held at the AFL-CIO's Washington headquarters, was co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), the AFL-CIO and more than 18 other organizations.

It was an emotional event for Asian Pacific American trade unionists, said Malcolm Amado Uno, APALA's executive director. They felt "extremely empowered and excited," he said in a phone interview today. For some long-time Asian Pacific labor leaders, this was their first time in the AFL-CIO national headquarters. They saw it as evidence of the commitment of the labor federation's new leadership to embrace and enhance diversity in the union movement, Uno said.

Uno noted that Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, founding APALA national president, and a panelist at the hearing, hailed the event as a "step in the right direction," saying it "has been 150 years in the making."

This is an opportunity to "be very honest about some of the shortcomings of the American labor movement," and to celebrate the commitment of labor's leadership to diversity, Uno said. "We are very optimistic about the future."

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, who was also a panelist, said the hearing "marks a significant milestone for the AFL-CIO, APALA and Asian Pacific American workers around the country."

Compelling testimony was provided by Lau, an immigrant from China who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He told how his former employer, NBC Contractors, forced him and his mostly immigrant co-workers, many of whom did not speak English, to work 60 to 70 hours a week, but paid them for only 16 to 20 hours, and at illegally low rates. They got no health coverage or other benefits.

After learning about their rights from representatives of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Lau and three co-workers quit and joined the union. With the IBEW's help, the four workers are suing the company for back wages in a class-action lawsuit. The company was also recently charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's office with 48 felony counts, including massive wage theft, insurance fraud, forgery and perjury, involving millions of dollars. (See "Immigrant workers demand back wages from NBC Contractors.")

"Our case highlights how immigrant workers, who may not speak English or know their rights, can be victimized by unscrupulous employers who cheat workers by not paying the proper wage," Lau told the hearing. "It also shows how unions, in this case the IBEW, can and must play an instrumental role to assist immigrant workers in asserting our basic rights."

Ho said although he has worked for more than 20 years at the HEI Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco, he will retire with no benefits and very little savings. He said he is fighting to form a union with Unite Here "so the next generation of hotel workers will be able to retire with dignity."

John Delloro, APALA's president, said, "Contrary to misperceptions about Asian Pacific Americans, segments of this workforce still experience a litany of abuses in their jobs and worksites, including wage theft, union suppression and immigrant worker exploitation."

Asian American and Pacific Islander workers are "likely targets of labor violations in the workplace" because they are often isolated immigrants who may be unfamiliar with labor laws, do not speak English and fear the government, said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif.

Other panelists included Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta, University of Maryland Asian American Studies Director Larry Shinagawa and United States Student Association President Greg Cendana.

The fact that the event had more than 20 cosponsors - including groups representing Hmong immigrants, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean American, South Asian Americans and Southeast Asian Americans and others - shows a broad base of community support for workers, said Uno. It shows an awareness that "workers permeate all issues" - such as health care, education, civil rights - and a commitment to developing stronger labor-community partnerships, he said.

APALA will soon be releasing a report on Asian Pacific American workers, in partnership with the University of Maryland's Asian American Studies Department and the UCLA Labor Center. Along with highlighting the benefits of unionization, the report will provide detailed analysis of the nation's Asian Pacific workforce. It will focus on the importance of the right to organize and immigration reform, Uno said.

Asian Pacific Americans and Latinos are the fastest growing segments of the union movement. About 12.5 percent of Asian Pacific American workers are in unions or represented by unions at their workplace, according to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, "Unions and Upward Mobility for APA Workers."

APALA, a constituency organization of the AFL-CIO, was founded in 1992 as the first and only national organization for Asian Pacific American union members to advance worker, immigrant and civil rights.

Photo: APALA members at AFL-CIO headquarters. Ricky Lau is standing in the top row, second from the right. Peter Ho is sitting, third from the left. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Filmmakers launch 16deathsperday.com to strengthen worker safety laws

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

CULVER CITY, Calif. - Brave New Foundation launched a new worker health and safety campaign, highlighting the weak enforcement mechanisms and poor deterrents currently in place in worker safety laws. Under current worker safety laws, civil penalties are weak and rarely lead to criminal prosecutions. (Watch video below).

"It is only a six month misdemeanor if [an employer] willfully commits a violation of worker safety laws. It is only considered a misdemeanor if a worker dies," says David Uhlmann, professor and director of Environmental Law and Policy Programs at Michigan University.

"[The companies] consider OSHA a mosquito. They'd rather pay the fines than bring the plants into compliance [with the laws]. They think the law is so ineffective that it's more profitable for them to take the risk by not having safety programs in place than to comply with the law," says Charles Jeffress, former assistant secretary of Labor, OSHA

The goal of the 16 Deaths Per Day campaign is to strengthen support for the Protecting America's Workers Act, H.R. 2067, which aims at toughening both enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and penalties for violating the law. If H.R. 2067 passes, it will be the first time work and safety laws are strengthened in 20 years.

To sign the petition to protect America's workers go to: www.16deathsperday.com

Brave New Foundation's mission is to champion social justice issues through media and grassroots involvement.

Workers in U.S. most dangerous industry demand protection

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:40:00 +0000

NEW YORK-He's had a gun put up to his head during a robbery. He's been assaulted with a crowbar, and had every window in his car broken. He's had a jagged beer bottle shoved into his neck. He was nearly maced.

All of this on the job.

Of colleagues he knows: One was stabbed in the lower neck with a hunting knife. One was choked by a woman. One was shot in the eye after being robbed. Another remains in a four-year coma after a violent assault. Still another, Ndiaye Serigne (pronounced "Jay Serene"), was beaten violently on Halloween by mask-wearing men.

Police officer? Soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan? What sort of job does he, David, as well as his colleagues, hold?

They work, according to the Department of Labor, the most dangerous job in the United States: New York City taxi driver. While New Yorkers tend to take cab drivers for granted, they perform the most dangerous, and one of the most grueling, jobs in the city.

In Serigne's case, the four masked passengers jumped into his cab, one of them taking the front seat. Since it was Halloween, Ndiaye wasn't surprised by the masks. But after crossing the bridge into Staten Island, the man in the front seat switched off the meter, and told Serigne that "now it's a free ride." Serigne, in a move that may have saved his life, ignored his assailants' orders to pull down a narrow street and instead drove to a nearby gas station. It was there that he was beaten and the passengers-turned-attackers fled. Now when he looks at the security camera video, he can't believe what he sees.

"I'm just thankful that I am alive," he said, noting that a childhood friend from his native Senegal was murdered on the job only three years ago. "We are just workers, but some passengers treat us so badly."

According to taxi workers and their representatives, this is a horrible story, but one that is neither an anomaly nor even surprising.

"Drivers are 60 times more likely to be killed on the job and 80 times more likely to be robbed on the job than any other worker in the United States of America," said Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance yesterday.

Taxis move nearly half a million people each day, she added. "The airports, finance, restaurants, Broadway, every single industry in New York City, depend on taxi drivers for their bottom line. Our bottom line is our lives need to be protected."

Now taxi drivers, united into the TWA and well as elected officials are going to do something about it. Standing next to Desai, New York State Assembly member Rory Lancman, D-Queens, announced that he would introduce a bill into the Assembly that would extend protection already won by bus and subway workers to taxi drivers.

"Men and women who drive these taxis are entitled to just as much protection as the people who run our trains, drive our buses," Lancman, who chairs the Assembly Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, said.

Under recently-enacted laws, won after a sustained fight by Transport Workers Union Local 100 and its allies, anyone who assaults a bus driver, or subway or railroad worker, is to be charged with a felony and potentially sentenced to prison time. Lancman, the TWA and some transit workers present, want to see that protection extended to taxi workers. The law would also require a sign in each cab warning would-be assailants that any assault could lead to prison time.

The bill would send a signal, Lancman said, that "we in New York state will not tolerate [violence against drivers], and we will take every measure that we can to make sure that when these men and women get into their cab to start their shift, at the end of it, when they leave that cab to go home to their families, to go home to their children, that they come home safe and sound."

Photo: Libero Della Piana

Strike at Illinois campus demands protection of tuition waivers

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:35:00 +0000

CHAMPAIGN - Update: GEO picketing was suspended at 1:00 CST on the 17th, following a bargaining session with the administration in which tuition waivers were secured. The strike was officially suspended on the evening of the 17th, and TA-directed classes resumed Wednesday morning. An official vote within the GEO membership to ratify the contract will likely be held this week.

Under cold driving rain, hundreds of members of the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) gathered to stand on picket lines on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. On Sunday, November 15th, the GEO announced that its members would initiate a strike, beginning at 8am on the 16th. GEO, local #6300 of the Illinois Federation of Teachers/AFT, represents over 2,600 teaching and graduate assistants at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. With nearly a quarter of the total undergraduate course load at the University and nearly half of the lower-level undergraduate courses being directed by graduate TAs, the strike is having a significant impact on the University.

Sprits were high on the picket lines, with drumbeats and chants echoing across the main quad. One picketer interviewed indicated that she saw most of her colleagues from the sections of the course she TAs on the lines. Another GEO member stated that a large number of lower level foreign language classes were also without their TAs. Peter Campbell, public relations officer for the GEO, indicated that they were hopeful that the administration would meet their demands, but said "If the administration continues to withhold language protecting tuition waivers in the bargaining session tomorrow, they can expect more of this."

The union has been in contract negotiations with the administration since April, and its members have been working without a contract since August 15th. The GEO's decision to strike came after a six hour-long negotiation session with the university administration on the 14th. During that session, the union's negotiating team was able to come to tentative agreements with the administration on a number of issues important to the GEO membership. An increase in employer contributions to graduate employee health insurance premiums was secured, as well as a 3% annual raise in salary for each of three years for the lowest paid workers in the bargaining unit. It should be noted, however, that even with these raises the lowest paid members of the bargaining unit would still be $1260 short of the annual cost of living estimate provided by the University's Office of Student Financial Aid.

GEO has proposed language that would protect the past practice of tuition waivers for graduate employees, however the administration did not include any such language in their proposal. "Tuition waivers" have traditionally been granted to all graduate employees on campus with appointments of 25% FTE (full time equivalent) and up. They are not cash handouts or salary of any form. As the name implies, tuition waivers are an automatic credit that erases tuition from each graduate employee's accounts receivable bill each semester. Tuition waivers are more than simply a benefit to graduate employees. They make advanced education accessible to students who would otherwise lack the means to afford such opportunities. The administration's proposal suggested that, since the Board of Trustees mandates in-state tuition waivers that no language is needed in the contract with the GEO. Since most graduate students at the U of I are from out of state, and regulations make it extremely difficult for current students to change their status to in-state, the GEO has made firm demands that complete tuition waivers be protected under the contract.

Graduate employee tuition waivers are common practice for most research universities. However, the administration had raised the possibility of eliminating tuition waivers for grad employees with appointments under 33% of FTE. This suggestion was met with considerable opposition during "town hall" meetings with the administration, who were later forced to issue a statement indicating that they were not considering revoking tuition waivers. The suggestion that waivers could be lost, however, compelled the GEO to include language protecting tuition waivers in their contract proposals.

During a time of economic crisis, when people are considering returning to school to pursue advanced degrees and potentially improve their chances in the labor market, a move by the administration to make graduate education accessible only to an elite and privileged few can only be interpreted as an attack on the working class.

In an official statement, the GEO made clear its position on the issue of tuition waivers. "The administration's refusal to guarantee the continuation of its current tuition waiver practice not only means that the majority of graduate employees could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in additional tuition charges, but also indicates its plans to implement such a change," reads the GEO's press release. "By making graduate education untenable for all but the most affluent students, the administration is abandoning its responsibility to ensure access to the highest level of public education for all. This is contrary to the University of Illinois' mission as a public land grant institution."

In fact, the implicit willingness of the administration to forego tuition waivers is only one aspect of a growing trend among public universities' administrations to adopt capitalist business models for their operations. Only about one quarter of the U of I's budget comes from state funding. The remainder of the budget comes from private endowments/donations as well as an "overhead" garnishment of all research grants. America's public universities are slowly but surely becoming privatized. The administration's drive to squeeze the payroll budget and restrict tuition waivers, therefore, is in line with a capitalist business model of extracting the maximum surplus value from its labor force.

In their own press release, the administration claims that GEO's demands for contractual protection of tuition waivers is an "11th hour demand." However, the issue of tuition waivers has been a pillar of the GEO's proposal from the beginning.

Americans for Finance Reform takes aim at big finance

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Labor and its allies are making it clear that curbing the power of the nation's finance industry will do much more to lift the country out of the economic sink hole than what they see as misguided efforts by some to focus on federal budget deficits.

The labor-led Americans for Finance Reform said this week that the people cannot accept soaring profits for companies like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase, which reported profits of $3.2 billion and $3.6 billion in the 3rd quarter while jobless numbers go through the roof. They are saying it is a finance industry out of control that is responsible for the record unemployment, home foreclosures, shut down of family farms, disappearing pension funds, evaporated savings, frozen credit lines, shuttering of plants, and ruined cities and towns that now describe life in America.

"They've lost their homes, they've lost their jobs, they've lost their ability to pay for their kids' college education," declared Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., when his Senate Banking Committee released a draft financial regulatory reform bill last week. "They've stood by as some of those who caused this mess got billion-dollar bailouts and million-dollar bonuses. And they're asking ‘What can our government do to protect us?'"

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Americans for Financial Reform have already praised the draft bill released by Dodd but they are warning that there will be moves to weaken it.

The draft parallels the financial re-regulation plan proposed earlier this year by President Obama.

Heather Booth, chair of Americans for Financial Reform, also applauded the draft bill, saying, "It's designed to try to prevent a repeat of the financial finagling and casino gambling-like industry practices that caused the financial crash and Great Recession a year ago."

Trumka described the legislation as "a very significant step forward toward the kind of strong, comprehensive financial regulation our country needs if we are to turn away from the practices that led to the economic crisis that did such harm to working people."
In October the House Financial Services Committee passed a similar package of financial regulatory measures.

The work of both the House committee and Dodd's committee, however, is generating fierce and well-financed opposition from banks and financial service firms, including ones that were bailed out by taxpayers.

"Dodd's bill embodies key recommendations of the Obama administration's White Paper in critical areas like the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency and the regulation of derivatives. Furthermore, the bill addresses the clear need for systematic risk regulation and resolution authority that holds failing institutions accountable, and does so through creation of a fully public body," Trumka said.

Dodd noted, in his press conference last week, that his bill would empower that new consumer board, working together with leaders of the Federal Reserve and other financial regulators, to blow the whistle in advance on dangerous practices in such institutions and dismantle, in orderly fashion, those that are "too big to fail."

"This sets us on a path to rein in Wall Street," said Booth, whose coalition includes more than 200 organizations, in a phone interview. "It puts in protections for Main Street and helps ensure that the big banks cannot bring our economy to the brink of collapse again. We are particularly pleased that it includes a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency. That is a fundamental cornerstone of any real reform and must be included in any final legislation."

Booth said that "the proposal begins to address the problems of the unregulated derivatives markets, playing with the economy like a big banker's personal casino, gambling with our retirement plans, college savings and homes. This draft will move us toward the open trading of derivatives, requiring transparency and accountability. And it begins to address the problems of systemic risk, and wind down failing institutions without future taxpayer bailout."

The Dodd plan, which had the backing of all the committee's Democrats but was backed by no Republicans, also requires advisory shareholder votes on pay and perks given to corporate executives.

The author of that provision, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was asked at the press conference why the shareholder votes on pay and perks were only "advisory."
"Any CEO and management who rejects what the shareholders say does it at their own risk," he replied.

Dodd said the problems with financial regulation in the country go back to well before the recent period of rampant deregulation and speculation.

"The financial crisis exposed problems in the regulatory structure created over many years," he said. "The structure of the agencies erected to supervise the financial system was put up piecemeal. It needs to be pulled together."

Many progressives are happier with the Dodd bill than with the version that exists in the House because, they say, the House bill gives too much power to the Federal Reserve to fix problems that the senators say were actually created by the Federal Reserve.
Many of the senators on the Dodd committee said that the Fed was responsible for lax oversight of financial institutions and Dodd, himself, said the Fed is so overstretched after buying bad corporate assets that it is not in the best position to pull the country out of a recession.

"In the future, the Fed should stick to its core function of regulating the money supply," Dodd said.

Workers say: Stop Bissell’s dirty work

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:45:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Cindy Marble, 40, is a single mother of four who lives in Crest Hill, just southwest of here. For seven months Marble worked at the Elwood, Ill.-based Bissell Homecare warehouse in Will County. On Nov. 5, Marble and several of her co-workers were fired without any warning, after some of them had trained their replacements.

"I was fired because of my decision to go along with the union," Marble said in a phone interview Nov. 12.

On Nov. 11, Marble, her co-workers and supporters picketed in front of the warehouse to protest the firings. They carried signs that read, "Stop Bissell's dirty work."

The Bissell warehouse, managed by Maersk Logistics, opened in January this year and is part of the expanding distribution industry in Chicago's suburbs. It supplies Bissell vacuum cleaners to big box retailers including Kohl's, Wal-Mart and Target.

Marble said she and her co-workers were fired en masse after they filed legal complaints over many violations of state and federal law at the warehouse. In addition the workers notified management last month that they had decided to form a union with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE).

There were a lot of unfair conditions, said Marble. The workers had no paid sick days and many of their wages were arbitrarily slashed. And none of them had any say in the matter, she said.

Marble said one of her co-workers was eight months pregnant and no provisions were made for her well-being. She was expected to lift boxes of vacuum cleaners over her head, said Marble.

"So I spoke up for her and the supervisor said she needed to bring in a doctor's note saying she couldn't lift the heavy boxes," Marble said. "It was too much for her." The pregnant woman too was eventually fired.

According to UE the warehouse has been using an unlicensed temporary employment agency, Roadlink Workforce Solutions, that has repeatedly violated many state and federal laws, including paying some workers less than minimum wage. Workers also cite racial discrimination, unpaid wages and threats of retaliation for bringing these issues to management's attention.

The workers have complained that Bissell Homecare, via their management company and temporary employment provider, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs minimum wage; the Day Labor And Temporary Services Act, a state law that regulates temporary employment agencies; the National Labor Relations Act, which governs workers' right to association and organization; and the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race.

The workers and the union say Bissell is to blame because it hired the two firms in the first place.

Bissell says none of its employees work in the warehouse. In a press release Bissell claimed it "is concerned about any allegations of improper labor practices and we have advised Maersk that Bissell expects full compliance with all appropriate legal and safety standards in the workplace." Bissell said the company is going to end its contract with Roadlink, "which is apparently at the root of the dispute that has arisen here."

Abe Mwaura, project coordinator for a workers rights group called Warehouse Workers for Justice, said the workers came to his group for help.

After the workers decided to form a union many of them received threats, he said. The day after the workers told management to recognize their union, two of the leaders were immediately fired, said Mwaura. About half of the others were later let go, he said.

Mwaura said that by the end of the month a total of 65 workers will be left without a job, after they train their replacements. As of Nov. 12, 20 of them had been let go, he said.

"It's very clear to us and the workers this was an act of retaliation for blowing the whistle on the many violations of the law," said Mwaura. "We feel very strongly all sorts of discrimination issues were going on here," he said.

Mwaura said the workers were in the process of filing for a union election and that 80 percent of the expected and fired workers were in support of forming one with UE.

"We feel that Bissell needs to beheld accountable because it's their vacuum cleaners that these workers are producing," he said. "They are joint employers and they along with the other two agencies are jointly at fault."

Bissell hired these firms, it owns the warehouse and it is jointly at fault for allowing these abuses to go on in its supply chain, said Mwaura.

"We want them to follow the law and put these people back to work. These are workers who built the wealth of this multinational company," he said. For them to take no responsibility is unacceptable, said Mwaura. Labor laws were violated, workers were fired with no warning and none of this is legal, he said.

As the holiday season approaches, Marble said she worries about her children at home.

She said she could understand that Bissell thought things were fine at the warehouse. But now that they know what's really going on, they need to be held responsible and take positive steps to correct the problem.

"Their families are not better than ours. We just want to be able to work, make decent wages and provide for our families," she said. "We want the same things they want. We're not beneath them."

Marble hopes Bissell will pressure Maersk to abide by the law and reinstate her and her co-workers.

"We just want to go back to work and be treated with respect without being harassed," said Marble. "That's all we're looking for - some justice."

Photo: Cindy Marble stands in front of the warehouse as a truck arrives to pick up vacuum cleaners. (www.warehouseworker.org)

Unemployment crisis continues to grow

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:59:00 +0000

CHICAGO - "The stock market rebound is great news, I suppose, but it means nothing for us at home.

"My boyfriend and I don't have stock in anything and we're both looking for full time jobs. I've been hunting for seven months, he's been looking for a full time job for two years - since we've been together.

"I shouldn't be having all this trouble. I graduated from DePaul three years ago and had a decent computer programming job for a full year before I was laid off. I speak three languages fluently - English, Spanish and Italian. I'm good with computers.

"I have applied for at least 90 jobs including after-school tutor, secretary, administrative assistant, supermarket cashier here at Treasure Island and Starbuck's clerk and haven't gotten a bite yet."

Alice DeLeo, 27, considers herself fortunate, however, because she is collecting unemployment benefits, which didn't run out at the end of 26 weeks because of federal extensions.

Her boyfriend from Guatemala can't collect unemployment benefits when he is out of work because he gets jobs for small contractors who don't pay into the unemployment benefits system. Despite his status as a fully documented worker, he has been able to land only temporary jobs doing painting, carpentry or home repairs.

DeLeo said the economic stimulus measures initiated thus far are not enough. Pointing to a 50-square-foot mural at the entrance to the Hyde Park Metra station behind her, she said, "There are big art and beautification projects, teaching needs, updating and modernizing of libraries, building new parks and fixing old ones, improving of public transportation - all kinds of things young people could do."

The labor movement, progressive economists and many others, of course, agree with her.
The AFL-CIO, for example, passed a resolution at its September convention in Pittsburgh calling for a national jobs initiative that includes creation of a Works Progress Administration-style jobs program to rebuild the nation's manufacturing base and put 7 million Americans back to work immediately.

Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute says the situation actually calls for programs that would create substantially more than 7 million jobs.

"Since the start of the recession in Dec., 2007, 8.1 million jobs have been lost but this number understates the size of the hole in the labor market by failing to take into account the fact that the population is growing. To keep up with growth, the economy needs to add 127,000 jobs every month, which translates into 2.8 million jobs over the 22 months since the start of the recession.

"This means that the labor marker is currently 10.9 million jobs below what is needed to return to the pre-recession unemployment rate," Shierholz emphasized, adding, "In order to fully fill the gap in the labor market by October 2011, employment would have to increase by an average of 582,000 jobs every month between now and then."

Shierholz noted that a sustained job growth rate of that magnitude has not been seen since the early 1950's.

Shierholz and her fellow economists at the Economic Policy Institute continue to point out that all of the official unemployment figures fail to show the seriousness of the jobs problem the nation faces.

The EPI economists point out, for example, that the labor force now has 903,000 fewer workers than it did a year ago, which is particularly significant since the working-age population grew by 0.8 percent over the same period. If those "missing" workers were counted as part of the labor force, the unemployment rate would have been 10.7 percent in October, rather than the 10.3 percent announced by the government.

Over the last year, EPI says, the labor force participation rate of people aged 16-24 has dropped by 2.9 percentage points, from 58.4 percent to 55.5 percent, while the labor force participation rate of people aged 25-54 has dropped by 0.5 percentage points, from 83.1 percent to 82.6 percent.

People aged 55 and over, however, says EPI, have increased their labor force participation, from 39.8 percent to 39.9 percent. This increased labor force participation among older workers (especially women) is likely due, EPI says, to a decline in retirement security, the collapse of the housing bubble and the plunge in stock prices, all of which hit this age group the hardest.

Photo: In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, job seekers line up in front of a Dollar General booth at a Little Rock, Ark., job fair. New jobless claims drop less than expected to 530,000 Thursday, Oct. 29, as labor market remains weak. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)