People Before Profit blog

Oklahoma City Laborfest a stunner!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:09:00 +0000

OKLAHOMA CITY - At 10 AM on Saturday, August 27, Unionists and friends affiliated with the Central Oklahoma Labor Council (AFL-CIO) gathered at the Catholics Charities office and marched up NW 16^th street to the Plaza District. African American, Native American, and white residents of the working class neighborhood came out on their porches to watch the block-long procession.

"Everywhere we go," went the call and response chant, "People want to know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the union, mighty mighty union. Union! Union! Union!" JD Thompson led the marchers in a lusty "Solidarity Forever." At their destination, a canopy over a parking lot awaited to shield them from the 105-degree heat.

Thompson grabbed his waiting guitar and, in a mellow voice, sang "Praise Boss," a very short rip-off of religion's "Doxology." Then he launched a country blues version of "The Banks are Made of Marble" that was as good as any ever heard. The third and final day of the second annual Oklahoma Laborfest was underway!

It may be difficult to measure, but it certainly seemed that unionism was tremendously strengthened during those three days of history, poetry, paintings, cultural presentations, movies, music, especially music, workshops, and political messages imparted.

The labor fed's president, Tim O'Connor, introduced each phase of presentations with modest, simple, and direct language, but the presentations themselves were stunning in their power. They ranged from down-home twangy original music to highbrow poetry readings presented while Oklahoma's outstanding artist, Carlos Tello, created a big-canvas masterpiece onstage! Decades of labor's forced retreats melted away as we reminded ourselves, together, of the beautiful and brave sacrifices and accomplishments of Oklahoma working people.

Unlike a lot of labor historians, cultural director Rachel C. Jackson did not hide the contributions of Communists in the workers' story. One of the highlights was a complete reading of the late red organizer Eli Jaffe's play, "Nor Iron Bars," about his time in the Oklahoma City jail on trumped up sedition charges during labor's 1930s upsurge. Oklahoman Woody Guthrie was sung and praised.

The best was last. "Oklahoma Speaks," the previous year had focused on union history, but for 2011, Jackson selected readings from the outstanding civil rights history of the state.

One of the readings was the original civil rights motion presented and passed at the state's constitutional convention in 1906.

Another was from the memoirs of the state's leading civil rights activist from 1950s and 1960s. It was read by one of the young students who participated in the 1958 lunch counter sit-in described.

Between each reading, a women's musical ensemble harmonized on beautiful new and traditional civil rights songs.

The high point of this all-high experience was at the end of one reading, when the silence was pierced by a single Native American flute. Tom Mauchahty-Ware, in full ceremonial regalia, emerged from stage left and slowly made his way around the back of the stage to one of the microphones. He played only a moment, then sang a short Kiowa love chant and turned and fluted his way back as he had come, as silently, as mysteriously, and as omnipresent as Native Americans remain forever in Oklahoma.

A few minutes later, as the moody readings and music ended, Mauchahty-Ware emerged again, without changing outfits but strapped to a modern electric guitar. He joined JD Thompson and the other musicians in a solid blues jam to top off the evening and the Oklahoma Laborfest for this year.

Photo: The band MAW singing at the Oklahoma Laborfest Aug. 27. Jim Lane/PW

Companies continue attack on national labor board

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:55:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Unions, led by the Teamsters, the Laborers, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and the AFL-CIO, strongly backed the National Labor Relations Board's recent proposal to change union recognition election procedures.

In their comments to the board before the Aug. 22 deadline, the unions said the changes would improve the fairness of the elections process and remove some of the delays businesses now use to frustrate workers' rights and union organizing drives.

Meanwhile, business, led by the Chamber of Commerce, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the National Retail Federation, organized mass letter-writing campaigns; each drafted identical language for letters opposing the changes.

As a result, the agency set another deadline, of Sept. 6, for replies to the prior comments - and it had to field almost 23,000 comments overall, not counting the 21,000 workers' statements the AFL-CIO said it included in its formal comment.

The NLRB wants to give its regional directors discretion to deny review of post-election rulings. It also would postpone deciding election challenges until after the vote if the challenges involve less than a fifth of the workforce. And it would set deadlines for employers to meet to file objections, while removing some of the chances they now have to delay elections beforehand. More communications would be electronic, as well.

Among other things, the changes would take the uncertainty of scheduling a date for a representation election.

The net effect, the NLRB says, would make election campaigns more predictable and fair to both sides. Firms routinely use the delays now in the recognition election process to fire, harass, and intimidate workers, as well as for labor law-breaking. So-called "union avoidance" consultants and law firms often coach and run anti-union drives.

"The proposed rule provides a path to help ensure that workers who want to vote to have a union have a fair choice. The rule, which experts agree is a modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce costly litigation, has fallen under a torrent of politically motivated attacks. In stark contrast, the voices of working people nationwide expressed through the comments demonstrate the critical need for fairness and balance in labor laws," the AFL-CIO said.

Teamsters President James Hoffa said the NLRB's proposals would not only help workers but - counter to the screams of the Right - preserve the secret ballot in union recognition elections. He noted the Teamsters participate in more recognition elections, year in and year out, than any other union.

"In many cases, workers overwhelmingly want to join a union," his formal letter said. "But employers are skilled at taking advantage of antiquated rules and preventing workers from benefiting from a collective bargaining agreement. They are able to waste the government's resources with frivolous appeals.

"Our affiliates' experience with the current election procedures is they are unfair, confusing, outdated, and susceptible to abuse by unscrupulous employers seeking to prevent their workers from exercising their right to organize by obstructing and delaying the process," Hoffa wrote. "The proposed changes will streamline the election process, reduce uncertainty, promote fairness," and "strengthen the secret ballot process."

Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan said much the same thing when he commented on the NLRB's proposals before hearings began earlier this year.

"These modest changes will help level the playing field for working men and women. The common-sense reforms NLRB proposed will begin to bring union elections into the 21st century and are a step toward reducing the possibility of unscrupulous employers interfering with the right of workers to make an informed decision on whether to unionize," he said.

"When workers choose to vote to form a union on the job, the vote shouldn't be plagued by delays, bureaucracy or obstacles," UFCW said. "Working people are already struggling. And, they're waiting and wondering when the economy will recover to a point that there'll be enough stable, middle class jobs in their communities. They shouldn't have to struggle to get a union voice on the job. They shouldn't have to wait and wonder when they'll get justice on the job."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., sent a three-paragraph letter supporting the NLRB's changes. "Votes for unionization are often bogged down by litigation, manipulation and delays," he said. He too praised "common sense rules" that let workers and firms "avoid uncertain timelines and costs."

A commenter whom the AFL-CIO cited in its statement, identified only as "Philip from Colorado," wrote to the NLRB: "I fully support and applaud your actions in cleaning up the rights of American workers to collectively bargain for compensatory pay and benefits. Corporations consciously ignore the very foundation of their success, which is the workers. I only wish that laws could be in place to protect every worker - whether they are union, or not."

Photo: Creative Commons 2.0

New Haven candidates' fight for jobs is "what we need"

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:35:00 +0000

Many years of struggle for good jobs at the site of the former Winchester sporting arms factory, now Science Park at Yale, came together this week when Delphine Clyburn, candidate for Board of Aldermen in Ward 20, led a community delegation to the main building 25 Science Park and demanded 200 jobs for neighborhood residents.

"Winchester was a flowing river of life," she said to her neighbors before the march, referring to the fact that for decades, jobs at Winchester were the economic foundation of the Dixwell - Newhallville neighborhood. Many African American families migrated to New Haven from the south to work at that factory, and just about every family in the neighborhood had someone working there.

Six years ago, the company moved from New Haven leaving the community high and dry. With the future of the neighborhood hanging in the balance, Clyburn and her husband, who raised their children just down the street from the factory, knew that if the residents were not organized, corporate interests would push them out.

Searching for ways to stabilize and improve her neighborhood, Clyburn reached out to former Winchester workers, unemployed construction workers, neighbors and community organizers, and Dixwell Newhall Concern Residents was formed.

At 25 Science Park, surrounded by the community delegation, Clyburn presented petitions with over 300 signatures to a representative of Higher One, the largest company in the complex. Emphasizing the public funds and tax abatements they have received, she stressed they must hire from the neighborhood where they are located. The group was promised that a meeting with the owners would be set this week.

Word spread fast that evening, as campaigners knocked on doors and carried the message of the march and petition to voters. "That is great," said one 45-year resident. "This is what we need."

Clyburn was joined in the action by Aldermanic candidates from nearby Ward 21 Brenda Foskey Cyrus, and Ward 22, Jeanette Morrison. Their Dixwell-Newhallville neighborhood is not the only part of town with candidates running on a pro-worker, pro-community values agenda. Candidates with similar stories are running in 18 of 30 wards across the city. Most never imagined they would run for public office.

Delphine Clyburn got much of her leadership training in her union. A group home worker, she is a steward in Local 1199. Many of the other candidates across the city also became community leaders out of their union experience in Locals 34 and 35 at Yale and in AFSCME.

These candidates are passionate. High unemployment and rising tuition costs have shut out hope for many young people. This year 22 youths have been killed in homicides. The wealth of Yale University stands in stark contrast to the struggling neighborhoods in this poor city.

The large number of challengers in this year's Aldermanic primaries represents an unprecedented effort to save working-class neighborhoods from gentrification, and prioritize jobs and the needs of youth.

In this overwhelmingly Democratic town, the September 13 primary will decide many of the elections for alderman and for mayor. While having worked with the unions in the city in the past, Mayor John DeStefano angered many this year by attempting to privatize the unionized school custodians. He is campaigning hard to maintain a Board of Aldermen that will back his policies.

A banner headline in the New Haven Register this week accused unions of trying to take over the Board of Aldermen. The article charges that union members would impose a union agenda on the city, and would not represent the interests of their neighborhood. Delphine Clyburn's story exposes this argument as false. As a union leader Clyburn understood immediately what was happening in her neighborhood when Winchester moved out. She was able to give leadership because of her organizing skills and her caring for people.

The march on Science Park is a great example of the kind of mobilizing for jobs and youth that is needed in communities across the country to win federal job creation that will benefit New Haven and the nation.

This primary election in New Haven is making history on the side of working people and unemployed of all ages, races, nationality backgrounds and neighborhoods. Already six incumbents have stepped aside.

The new leadership that is emerging in the city is far beyond the candidates themselves. It extends to the hundreds of volunteers who have been knocking on the doors of their neighbors all summer to discuss the issues and build lasting ties. This is the hope for the future.

Photo: Lisa Bergman
Delphine Clyburn leads march for jobs at Science Park along with Brenda Foskey Cyrus and Jeanette Morrison. All three are candidates for Board of Aldermen in New Haven.

West coast grocery talks down to the wire

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:12:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES - Bargaining went down to the wire, with the latest session scheduled for today between the United Food and Commercial Workers locals that represent 62,000 Southern California grocery workers and their three grocery chain employers: Ralph's, Albertson's and Vons.

"Continuous negotiations" will start that day between the seven locals and the three chains, the union said in a statement which followed a strike authorization vote that drew more than 90 percent approval the prior weekend. The old contract between the chains and the locals expired six months ago.

Unlike a prior contentious struggle - which led to a months-long strike - the top issue this time between the two sides is health care costs. The prior strike revolved around the three chains' efforts to cut pay, pensions, health care, and virtually everything else in the face of what they called the threat from always low-paying Wal-Mart.

Local 770 President Rick Icaza told his members the three firms' health care proposals would cost an average worker with a family around $11,000 yearly. The average wage for the grocery workers is $20,000, he added. Local 770 is one of the seven locals bargaining with the chains.

He also said the three companies could easily afford to pay for workers' health insurance, as their health care costs have declined over the last 10 years. The parent firms of the three local grocery chains - Safeway, Kroger, and SuperValu - netted a combined $3 billion last year, he noted.

Kroger was responsible for three-fourths of that and paid out $500 million to Wall Street and other investors, far more than paying for the workers' health benefits would cost, Icaza pointed out.

The unions gained support from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, clergy groups, civil rights groups, and community groups. The Rev. Jesse Jackson met with chain management on the workers' behalf just before the strike authorization vote.

"Our members overwhelmingly authorized a strike because they want a fair contract, not a walkout," Icaza said. "The offer from the employers is not complete or fair."

He also noted that the three chains have not even put a wage offer on the table yet.

"The supermarket corporations' health care offer would significantly increase out-of-pocket costs for struggling families and bankrupt our health care benefits before the end of next year.

"Their offer just begins with premiums. The corporations don't offer enough money to fund the benefits themselves - and the plan will run out of money within 16 months, eliminating all benefits and health care coverage for 62,000 grocery workers.

"We don't want to strike. We just want a fair deal that lets us take care of our families," Icaza concluded. "We are sending a message to these corporations that if you work hard, you should get fair pay that allows you to take care of your family. Grocery workers hope the corporations will return to the table to negotiate a compromise fair to their workers."

Michigan labor ready to march on Labor Day, win in 2012

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:33:00 +0000

WARREN, Mich. - With a Republican governor and Republican-controlled legislature passing bills that jeopardize labor's right to exist, Michigan's annual Labor Day Mobilization Luncheon this past Wednesday took on special significance. The luncheon is an annual pre-march event sponsored by the Michigan Labor History Society. This one was one of the largest ever.

Luncheon speakers and those attending expressed a determination to defend their unions and all working people from the tea party/Republican attack. They identified re-electing President Obama in 2012 as a critical task. Charles Hall, director of United Auto Workers Region 1 which hosted the event, placed it this way: "Over the next 14 months we have a lot to do, we have to fight, we have to do everything we can to win."

This year's Labor Day march will take place in Detroit on Sept. 5. The turnout is expected to be huge. Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams said she anticipated a crowd of over 100,000. The recent announcement that President Obama will be addressing the Labor Day crowd here is adding further excitement to this year's march.

UAW President Bob King, the luncheon keynote speaker, noted labor's concerns with the Obama administration. "Do we agree with everything the president has done? Certainly not," said King. "But there are mountains of things this president has done that benefit everyone in this room," he said.

King said there is a need for a movement that can make the president, and other elected officials, do the right thing, and he criticized those who sat on their hands after the great electoral victory in 2008. "Workers never get anything in America without a fight," King warned. "We can sit back and criticize but if we don't activate ourselves and others, we are going to see a disaster in 2012."

Congressman Sander Levin, D-Mich., also took note of those who feel Obama doesn't fight hard enough. "Take the spirit in this hall and bring it to the Labor Day march. Say to the president, you fight and we'll fight with you," advised Levin.

The effects of Republican policies on the general population came in for sharp criticism. State AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney said one-third of Michigan's children now live in a house where no one is employed. "Banks won't lend, corporations won't invest. Our rallying cry on Labor Day should be: America needs jobs," said Gaffney.

King blasted the Republican-driven focus on the federal debt and said too many Democrats buy into their calls for austerity. The deficit is created by a "totally immoral tax structure," King said. "The deficit is not because we spend too much money on children and seniors, it's because the rich and wealthy don't pay their share," he said to loud applause.

Williams said this year's Labor Day march will have unions and community marching together. In a call to build the march beyond labor's ranks, she said, "This isn't just labor's fight, it's everybody's fight."

Photo: Bob King speaking. John Rummel/PW

Farm workers march for justice

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:34:00 +0000

On Tuesday, farm workers launched a 13-day, 200-mile march, through California's rich agricultural Central Valley to the State Capitol in Sacramento.

Their mission? Enactment of the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act and the right to be paid overtime after 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week "just like any other worker," the United Farm Workers (UFW) union announced.

The UFW is encouraging their supporters to join the marchers in person or virtually from anywhere in the country by signing their petition.

They are demanding Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown sign the bills, which are expected to be introduced soon and then approved by the majority Democrat legislature.

Two months ago, the governor vetoed an earlier version of the Fair Treatment act, which would have given farm workers the option to gain union recognition from an employer by signing a majority of cards showing preference for the union.

The union said the new revised "majority sign up bill would give the workers an alternative to the current system - which grower fear tactics has turned into a mockery."

The union charged that the present system for organizing farm workers into the union, by way of elections, is rife with "intimidation and threats" by employers.

In addition, the UFW said that hundreds of farm workers have waited more than a year for the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the elections in which the workers voted for union representation.

Two months ago, the union reported more than 1,000 farm workers held vigils, fasted and rallied - in many cases risking their jobs - in an effort to lobby the governor and expose the conditions under which they're being forced to work.

Without these bills, the union said farm workers would continue to be exposed to "unbearable conditions and pressure."

The violations cited by the union include:

No access to shade, water, heat training and breaks during the hot summer months.
Wage and hour violations.
Overexposure to pesticides.
Sexual harassment.
Lack of sanitation and lax safety standards.

"I'm very upset," said Maria Escutia, who has labored in the table grapes sector for more than a decade. "We work in dangerous conditions. In the heat, in the cold and we deserve to be treated better without being intimidated. We deserve the right to benefits. We deserve this and more?"

Escutia is one of approximately 50 full-time marchers who will be joined by farm workers and community supporters as they make their way to the state capital, where they will be met by thousands of farm workers on September 4, during Labor Day weekend, the union said.

Photo: Creative Commons 2.0

Unions reject Verizon bravado regarding end of strike

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:27:00 +0000

Unions representing the 45,000 Verizon workers who ended their two-week strike by returning to work yesterday have rejected claims by the company that their return to work marks a victory for the company.

Harry Mitchell, a spokesman for Verizon, said Aug. 21 that ending the strike was the company's decision. "It was our choice to let the strikers back to work." Marc Reed, another spokesman for the company, followed that up with a statement that Verizon hopes "to convince the unions to begin bargaining with us in good faith."

The Communications Workers of America has called the comments "inaccurate and insulting.

"We agreed with management not to claim victory in changing the process, reinstituting the contract or shaping our goals," the CWA statement reads. "We will live by that commitment. But Reed's comment, if not retracted, means that we will be prepared to fight hard whenever necessary if Verizon believes it can resume negotiations on that basis."

The decision to end the strike came after the unions and the company agreed on a structure and focus for bargaining on key issues such a jobs, employment security and financial issues such as healthcare contributions and pensions, according to CWA President Larry Cohen.

Workers say that the company was anxious to bring them back on the job, even if it meant reinstating an expired contract the company said was too expensive, because of the difficulty managers had in keeping operations going during the strike.

Reports from people who were potential Verizon customers seem to validate that contention.

In New Jersey many ordering television and Internet service during the two-week strike were given installation dates in late December.

In New York, people were routinely told, after completing the entire sign-up process for services, that they could not be given an installation date at all and that they would be contacted when the company was able to give them such a date.

"You can't pull out of any system 45,000 people who are the hands and minds of a company and expect to provide the same level of customer service as before," said George Kohl, an aide to Cohen.

A manager who worked in New York to cover for striking workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said weather forecasts were actually involved in the company's decision to bring back the striking workers.

"Verizon called the strikers back because they knew that supervisors and managers would never be able to survive the mess or be able to deal with the aftermath of something like Hurricane Irene later this week."

Weather forecasters have been saying since late last week that Irene could be the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in three years and that, if it does, it could impact 60 million living on the East Coast.

Photo: Elizabeth Washburn // CC 2.0

L.A. labor event backs justice for Cuban 5

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:16:00 +0000

On August 13 more than 200 workers, labor leaders and community activists came together at the United Service Workers West (SEIU) Hall to participate in an event in solidarity with the Cuban 5. Coincidently that same day Rene Gonzalez one of the five spent another birthday in prison far away from his love ones.

As part of the event those attending were able see the travelling exhibit of Gerardo Hernandez's political cartoons entitled Humor from my Pen. During the event the participants watched a short video of Danny Glover and another video of the campaign of the British unions in support of the Cuban 5.

The significance of this meeting was that it marked the first that a union from the US organized an event solely to inform their rank and file and the leadership about the colossal and ongoing injustice being committed against the Cuban 5. The purpose of the event was to expand the exposure of the case that is boycotted by the media, to the US labor movement and to ask them to join the struggle. Tony Woodley, former president of UNITE, the largest union in England, who travelled all the way to Los Angeles to participate in the event spoke about the importance of solidarity. "Make no mistake about it this is an historical event," Woodley told the crowd. "The Cuban 5 enjoy a great deal of support on the international level but that is not the case inside the United States. The solidarity is absolutely crucial in this case and the political struggle will be decisive for the return of the Five to Cuba." Woodley shared with the audience an emotional meeting he had with the families of the Five on his last visit to Cuba. "The Five and their families are all people with great pride and nothing will break their spirit."

Workers and union leaders present at the meeting represented a number of unions from Southern California including service workers, transportation workers, teachers, musicians, healthcare workers, electricians and others. Mike Garcia president SEIU-USWW welcomed the audience and reminded them that the struggle is the only tool that the workers have in their fight for justice. "The struggle for the freedom of the Cuban 5 should be part of the struggle of US workers because it is part of the same fight."

Cristina Vazquez from Workers United briefly explained who the Cuban 5 were and went on to say, "Many of you are learning about the Cuban 5 for the first time at this meeting because this story has been kept out of the news media. Every day we fight against injustice and one of our biggest struggles has been the reunification of families and immigration reform. This fight is no different than that; here we have wives, children and parents who have been separated for 13 years. We need to be the voice of the families of the Cuban 5, we need to be the voice here for the people of Cuba who want their 5 heroes back home." Vazquez encouraged the audience to pick up postcards designed by the union she represents to be sent to President Obama asking for the release of the Five.

Alicia Jrapko from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 spoke about the different campaigns in the US to spread the word about the case. Jrapko explained to the audience that this is a case of human rights and basic justice. "These men came to the US unarmed simply to defend their country from terrorist attacks coming from US soil. With a stroke of a pen Obama can free them. Join us in demanding that."

In recognition of the support from labor, members of the International Committee presented wooden plaques with the symbolic logo on behalf of the Cuban 5 to Tony Woodley, Mike Garcia and Cristina Vazquez. Another plaque was awarded to Natasha Hickman editor of Cuba Si!, a publication in solidarity with Cuba produced by unions in the UK.

An informational table with a display explaining the case of the Cuban 5 received a lot of attention with most people signing up to receive updates of the case and took with them hundreds of post cards to send to Obama. Many copies of the new documentary Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up were also purchased at the table.

Mike Garcia, referring to the case of the Cuban 5, loudly closed the meeting by asking the audience several times Se Puede? And they responded each time louder, Si Se Puede!

Photo: Mike Gracia, Cristina Vazquez, Ernesto Medrano (Teamsters Political Coordinator) and Tony Woodley. Bill Hackwell/International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

Verizon bargaining resumes, workers end strike

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:27:00 +0000

NEW YORK (PAI) - Some 45,000 unionized Verizon workers, members of the Communications Workers (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) returned to work at a minute past midnight on Aug. 23, ending their 2-week strike. The old contract was reinstated, pending the outcome of re-started bargaining between the telecom firm and the two unions.

"We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed," the two unions said in a statement three days before.

"We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward," they added.

The unions did not say what big issues are still on the table, but Verizon demanded huge changes in health care coverage and pensions, among others. It also did not want to retrain landline workers in newer technologies.

But CWA, just two days before the return to work - and after the two sides agreed to do so - demanded Verizon renounce a statement by the company's VP for Human Resources, Marc Reed, that claimed the unions "agreed to bargain in good faith." As records previously provided by CWA and IBEW show, the situation before talks broke off was exactly the other way around. The unions were willing to bargain, but Verizon had not budged from demands that would have cost each worker $20,000 a year - or $1 billion in givebacks overall.

The 2-week strike was marked by mass outpouring of union and community support for the workers nationwide. Though Verizon's main coverage area runs from Maine through Virginia, informational picket lines sprang up at more than 400 Verizon facilities nationwide, including one in Hawaii.

Community groups, realizing the Verizon workers are fighting for middle-class jobs, joined the protests. Some politicians, including Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., joined the picket lines.

Details of the return-to-work agreement include "indefinite extension" of the current contracts between Verizon and the two unions. But either side, on seven days notice, may end the old contracts, starting a month after the return to work.

The two sides also set up a process to resolve company claims of picketers' alleged law breaking - and CWA had previously issued a strong statement to its own members criticizing those scattered incidents.

Both sides agreed to dump National Labor Relations Board complaints, court suits and other legal actions against each other, except that the unions can still file unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB against Verizon for incidents of company "retaliation for protected activity" that occurred before unions and Verizon signed the back-to-work pact.

Photo: Verizon workers and their families hold a candle light vigil at the home of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in Mendham, N.J., Aug. 18. (Rich Schultz/AP)

Steelworkers honor Danny Glover and Ed Schultz (with video)

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Las Vegas -- On the final day of their International Convention 2011, the United Steel Workers (USW) introduced the union's new Paul Wellstone award. The first recipients are: actor and chair of TransAfrica, Danny Glover; and Ed Shultz, host of the Ed Shultz Show on MSNBC. The award will be given to "recognizes the dedication and accomplishments of public servants who exemplify the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota for his commitment to public service and the well being of USW members and their families."

It is clear from the presentations and the responses that these awards are a way of recognizing leaders and activists in allied organizations who work closely with the USW and labor on a common progressive agenda.

USW International Vice-president Fred Redmond and President Leo Gerard presented the awards to Glover and Shultz respectively. Both recipients responded with remarks that hailed the direction and the content of the convention and helped fire up the delegates for the struggles ahead. (article continues after video below)

Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and his wife, daughter and three campaign aides were tragically killed in a plane crash prior to the election in 2002 . Wellstone was a close and steadfast ally of the labor movement and worked closely with the steelworkers union.

Photo: Scott Marshall/PW

Labor to campaign for Obama in 2012

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Despite a decision by twelve building trades unions and the Machinists that they will not send delegates to the Democratic National Convention, next year in Charlotte, N.C., indications are that the labor movement has no intention of abandoning President Obama's reelection effort.

Organized labor will not allow a Republican to win the presidency, Michael Podherzer, the AFL-CIO's political director said in an interview with Politico last week.

Podherzer made it clear that despite disappointment over deals the president has made with Congress, Obama is a far better alternative to any potential Republican candidate. "I don't think that the labor movement will be on the sidelines with President Obama facing reelection," he said.

The Machinists say that they are staying away from the Charlotte convention because their convention will be held at the same time in Toronto.

In a letter to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Building and Trades Construction Department President Mark Ayers said he objected to the selection of North Carolina because of the state's anti-union laws. Ayers also noted there were no union hotels in Charlotte.

Tom Owens, a spokesperson for the Building Trades department added, "We haven't seen any action on jobs, so we didn't want to be funding skyboxes and suites in Charlotte."

AFL-CIO leaders in North Carolina disagree. They lobbied for the selection of Charlotte and, after the building trades announcement of its decision to stay away, issued a statement that "avoiding the convention would be counterproductive to efforts to build the labor movement in the Tar Heel State."

Regardless of the controversy about the convention site, large unions that are part of the AFL-CIO have already come out for President Obama's reelection effort.

The National Education Association was the first to endorse the reelection campaign earlier this year and a political resolution passed Aug. 16 at the Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas pledges that union to work for the president's reelection.

Almost everyone you talk to in the labor movement, including top leadership in unions like the USW, however, is worried about being able to bring the membership along for Obama.

They believe that the way to make this happen is for Obama to come out swinging for jobs. They want the president's plan to be the type of bold plan laid out recently by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.They support her bill because through fair taxation of the wealthy it has the government directly creating millions of jobs in infrastructure and public services.

The labor movement is trying to make clear to the administration that more fight is needed on the jobs front.

Another important point is that the discussions about labor's role in the 2012 elections come amidst a major shift in the AFL-CIO's entire approach to its election work.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talked about the shift publically in May when he said the days when unions just handed money to endorsed candidates were over.

He outlined a strategy that emphasizes building a grassroots infrastructure for labor's political activity and mobilization of voters, particularly on the state level. A state-of-the-art phone bank built, owned and operated by a local union, for example, can help unions continue their political activity in between and after elections.

The recall campaigns in Wisconsin and the campaign to repeal the anti-union SB 5 law in Ohio are examples of this new approach by the labor movement, union activists say.

Podhorzer is careful to point out, however, that the new direction does not mean unions will abstain from the presidential race, campaigns that have national significance or from campaigns that involve the labor movement's proven friends.

"I think our approach will be more toward investing our resources where there is a really pro-worker candidate and where there is a good opportunity to win," Podhorzer said. He says that someone like Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown or someone like Elizabeth Warren, were she to challenge Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., are the types of candidates that the AFL-CIO would support.

He says Blue Dog Democrats that don't support labor's agenda will not be getting active union backing.

Unions are also planning to change how they finance their electoral activity.

The AFL-CIO's executive committee approved creation last month of a "super-PAC" that will be allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. Thus far the AFL-CIO has been limited by election law to contacting only its members, but with the super-PAC, it can bring its message to non-union voters as well.

Podhorzer says the new approach is part of a strategy to put more emphasis on issues of importance to labor and help the labor movement expand outreach. "It is not meant to compete with Karl Rove and raise hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.

Some believe the decision by the buildings trades unions will send a message to Democrats that they should not take labor support for granted. They don't think sending the message will hurt the chances of the president's campaign and almost everyone expects a big push by the AFL-CIO next year to reelect the president.

Photo: Bernard Pollock - AFL-CIO // CC 2.0

Chocolate shakeup: Student guest workers walk out at Hershey’s plant

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Hundreds of student guest workers from countries worldwide walked out of a Hershey's chocolate company packing plant in Palmyra, Pa., August 17, demanding the company stop exploiting them.

The students say the summer program they're participating in was supposed to be a cultural exchange. But the program ended up with them being overworked and underpaid, they charged.

Four hundred university students from China, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Mongolia, Romania, Ghana, Nigeria and Thailand were recruited from their home countries to participate in the U.S. State Department's J-1 visa program.

The students hoped to enhance their English skills, make American friends, work for three months, make some money and learn about American culture.

They found themselves packing chocolates and loading boxes at wages from $7.85 to $8.35 per hour. After automatic weekly deductions for rent and other expenses, most were only netting between $40 and $140 per week after 40 hours of work. They have also been forced to live in company housing, for which they are being charged twice the market rates paid by American tenants living in the same housing complexes. They say the situation leaves them with little to no chance to even earn back the thousands of dollars they paid to be here.

So they decided to demand justice and staged a walkout with broad support from unemployed workers in the Palmyra area along with local labor leaders. A large rally was held Wednesday after the students walked off the job.

Statements from many of the speakers at that rally were reported on the website of the National Guestworker Alliance, the labor group representing the students.

Godwin Efobi, a Nigerian student leader, said the students got organized and gathered hundreds of signatures in support of their demands in spite of threats of deportation by their supervisors.

"We were tired of being exploitable labor for the Hershey's Company," said Efobi. "Every one of us paid $3,000 - $6,000 to come to America for what was supposed to be a cultural exchange. Instead we became captive workers at the Hershey's plant."

Harika Duygu Ozer, a medical student from Turkey, said it's not right that unemployed people in Pennsylvania are desperate for jobs. "Why did [Hershey's] bring us here? Because they want to make profits from us instead of giving good jobs to local workers," she said.

The students tell their heroic story in a powerful video on the Guestworker Alliance website.

They say they will remain on strike until Hershey's agrees to meet their key demands: end the exploitation of student guest workers at the plant and give living wage local jobs to Pennsylvania's workers.

After staging a civil disobedience action in front of the plant's main entrance, several local labor leaders supporting the students at the protest were arrested.

Moments before, they each addressed the crowd.

"The workers of Pennsylvania are with you," said Rick Bloomingdale, AFL-CIO Pennsylvania state president. "The fight for good jobs isn't just your fight, it's our fight."

Neal Bisno, president of Pennsylvania's SEIU health care branch, added, "We'll stand with you and demand that Hershey's be held accountable."

Kathy Jellison, SEIU Local 668 president, also expressed support for the students. "It takes courage, what you did today," she said. "You stood up for working families of Pennsylvania, and we're proud to join you."

Saket Soni, executive director of the National Guestworker Alliance, noted "If these jobs had been living wage jobs under a union contract, 400 workers in central Pennsylvania could have made at least $18 an hour." He added, "That's $15 million over the past year that did not come to Pennsylvania's working families because Hershey's subcontracted to have its chocolates packed by exploitable student guest workers instead."

Members of Chocolate Workers Local 464, SEIU, AFL-CIO, and Jobs with Justice also joined the protest.

The students are demanding that Hershey's return the $3,000 - $6,000 that they paid for the supposed cultural exchange. They, along with the National Guestworker Alliance, also filed an official complaint with the U.S. State Department alleging serious violations of the rules in the J-1 visa program. The program was created to give university students from distant countries a chance to be immersed in everyday American life. However in recent years, the program has drawn complaints from students about low wages and unexpectedly poor working conditions.

The State Department announced it is looking into the Hershey's complaints.

According to the students and their supporters much of the blame falls on the organization that manages the J-1 visa program for the State Department - the Council for Education Travel, U.S.A., based in California.

Rick Anaya, chief executive of the council, told the New York Times his group has brought about 6,000 J-1 students to the U.S. this summer. He claims he's tried working with the students on their complaints at the Hershey's plant.

"We are trying to work with these kids," said Anaya. "We would go out of our way to help them, but it seems like someone is stirring them up out there."

Meanwhile an independent commission of experts in labor and international law from several universities is conducting its own investigation into the labor practices of Hershey's and its subcontractors at the Palmyra packing plant. The group expects to release its findings next week.

Photo: Hundreds of foreign student guest workers leave work to join a protest outside the Hershey's Co. warehouse, August 17, in Palmyra, Pa. (AP/The Patriot-News, John C. Whitehead)

Pressure grows on sugar company to end lockout

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:49:00 +0000

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. - The City Council here voted unanimously Wednesday to send a letter urging American Crystal Sugar to return to negotiations with its locked-out workers.

"The council recognizes the importance of the facility and the people who work there to our city," city administrator Scott Huizena said. "Obviously, it's a very important part of our economy in East Grand Forks."

The council took the vote after a presentation by AFL-CIO spokesman Mark Froemke who, a night earlier, had asked the City Council in Grand Forks, N.D., to do the same thing. The Grand Forks council did not take an official position but Froemke said several of its members told him they would individually write letters to the company urging it to end the lockout.

Froemke said the union - the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers - is asking all the city councils in the affected region to call for an end to the lockout. American Crystal Sugar has barred more than 1,300 workers from coming to work at the company's seven facilities in East Grand Forks, Moorhead, Crookston and Chaska, Minn., in Hillsboro and Drayton, N.D., and in Mason City, Iowa.

The lockout began when workers voted overwhelmingly on July 30 to reject a contract offer from the company that their union says would gut health care, benefits and job security.

Scabs - company-hired replacement workers - are on the job at all seven facilities. A union shop steward locked out of the Moorhead plant told the People's World that the company had planned the lockout all along.

The union campaign to get support from town councils follows major demonstrations by union members and their supporters.

Hundreds of union members and those backing them turned out for a rally last Thursdsay in Moorhead.

Local newspapers have been flooded with letters of support for the locked out workers. Typical headlines on the letters read, "If the sugar industry is protected, why aren't workers?'" and "What are Crystal executives thinking?"

Workers say they rejected the company's contract offer not because of money but because of job safety and job security concerns and because they are afraid of being saddled with excessive health care costs, especially during tough economic times.

Those fears have already been realized for at least one of the locked out workers who lives in Grand Forks.

John Durkin, who has worked for American Crystal for 34 years, is in the hospital where doctors have diagnosed him with Stage 4 lung cancer.

He told a local TV station that, as a result of the lockout, he has no health insurance but must now pay for 18 rounds of chemotherapy that he cannot afford.

The company says he can apply for COBRA coverage, which would cost him $1,350 per month. "That coverage only lasts a few months and it will eat up my savings. What do I do after that?" Durkin asked from his hospital bed.

He said his son had hoped to come to work at the plant "but after seeing how the company discards people who give their lives to it, he is not so sure any more."

Photo: AFL-CIO spokesperson Froemke distributes leaflets. Bernard Pollock - AFL-CIO // CC 2.0

Ohio governor backtracks on union stripping bill

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Yesterday, just a day after the labor movement came out of the Wisconsin recall campaigns winning in five of nine contested races, Ohio's right-wing GOP Gov. John Kasich backtracked on his union-stripping Senate Bill 5.

At a press conference in his office he called on union leaders to negotiate a "compromise" on the union-killing law he championed and he asked them to end their historic campaign to repeal the law. The governor did not say what provisions of the law he was willing to see changed.

Only minutes after he made his offer, the governor got his response.

"It's too late for talking," said We Are Ohio spokesperson Melissa Fazekas who was outside the governor's office when his press conference ended.

Fazekas said, "Over 1.3 million signatures were collected to get the repeal effort on the Nov. 8 ballot. This is a publicity stunt to save political face over a law that polling suggests will be overturned by a huge margin.

"These politicians who passed Senate Bill 5 have the ability to come back and repeal the law," she said, "and that is what they should do, repeal the entire law. Or they can join the majority of the people and vote no in November."

"The move is hypocritical," declared Cleveland police union president Stephen Loomis. "We asked for them to sit down throughout the time the bill was being discussed and were summarily dismissed. Repeal the bill in its entirety and we'd be happy to sit down with you. There is absolutely no trust. Once bitten, twice shy. Talk is cheap."

Kasich says his change of heart and willingness to compromise was the result of editorials in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Columbus Dispatch.

Unions note that the historic petition drive and a late July Quinnipiac poll showing voters favoring repeal 56-32 percent, a 24-point margin, are the more likely explanations.

SB 5 drew mass protests to the Ohio Statehouse larger than any ever held there. Like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Kasich locked the doors to keep demonstrators out.

The draconian SB 5 ends collective bargaining, binding arbitration and the right to strike for all 350,000 state and local employees.

Photo: Progress Ohio // CC 2.0

Verizon threatens strikers with health care cutoff

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:26:00 +0000

Verizon told its striking workers yesterday that it will halt their health insurance and all medical, vision and dental benefits if they remain out on strike after August 31. Union leaders accused the company of lining up with right-wing extremists out to eliminate workers' rights.

More than 45,000 Verizon workers continue to picket, rally and march at worksites from Maine to Virginia in a strike well into its second week. Striking workers and their families have begun receiving letters from Verizon warning them that it will stop all their health care benefits in less than two weeks.

Workers this week will miss their first paycheck as result of the strike, now in its 11th day. Pension and disability benefits were suspended as soon as the strike began.

"It's getting ugly. This is for real this time, and it keeps blowing me away with what they are doing," said Louie Scinaldi, president of Communications Workers of America Local 2202 in Virginia Beach, Va.

Strikers are winning support from unions throughout the country.

Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municpal Employees, said, "Like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who attacked public workers in Wisconsin, Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam, is doing this to attack the middle class. He is refusing to share his company's success with those who made it possible."

Unions note that in the past four years alone, Verizon made more than $19 billion in profits - and paid its top executives more than a quarter billion dollars.

McEntee, who represents public employees, said the strike should be of concern to everyone in America. By going on strike, he said, "these courageous Verizon workers aren't just standing up for themselves, but for all of us.

"The vast majority of us who are lucky enough to have jobs are being underpaid while corporations rake in obscene profits. If we allow Verizon to lead a race to the bottom our country's middle class may not survive," said McEntee.

The CWA, which represents about 35,000 Verizon workers, has a fund worth more than $400 million to help its members through the strike. The union says it will pay for all necessary medical treatment for its members and their dependents if they lose their health care benefits.

CWA District 9 Vice Presiednt Jim Weitkamp told cheering crowds at the United Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas yesterday that "Verizon has aligned itself with the right wing in this country, which is determined to destroy collective bargaining in the United States. They have their hand in the pocket of every working class family in this country."

Support for the strikers is coming in from non-union sources as well.

Over 1,000 religious leaders have signed a petition to CEO Lowell McAdam, urging him to bargain in good faith with the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Thursday night, members of Interfaith Worker Justice plan a candlelight vigil outside McAdam's Mendham, N.J., home.

"Even profitable companies are getting in on the act and demanding concessions from workers," said IWJ coordinator Jonathan Currie. "They are using the economic downturn as their excuse even thought their profits are in the billions and their executives earn in the millions."

There are signs that Verizon may have bitten off more than it can chew by sending thousands of untrained scabs - as replacement workers are known in the labor movement - and managers in to perform the jobs of striking workers.

IBEW Local 2321 in Massachusetts has been focusing on this issue and has been posting videos onto the Internet.

"We're seeing people without the right safety equipment, people starting jobs without having done the required pre-job safety checks and screwing up things that would get regular workers written up in a heartbeat," said Ed Starr, the local's business manager. "The majority of these replacements have no communications training and someone is going to get hurt bad unless Verizon settles this."

A YouTube video done by the local's members shows IBEW strikers having to step in on a job to prevent a manager and a scab from hurting themselves. The union local has been documenting unsafe working conditions on its Facebook page since the strike began.

Photo: Verizon workers on strike in Stamford, N.Y. Thomas Slatin // CC 2.0

Trumpet-makers on strike get a brass band boost

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:03:00 +0000

EASTLAKE, Ohio - Facing company demands of massive cuts in wages and health care as well as total elimination of their pensions, workers at the highly profitable Conn-Selmer plant here went on strike July 26.

"We're at a standstill," said Bob Madda, chief steward for United Auto Workers Local 2359. "We're picketing 24/7."

The company, a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc., is the largest U.S. manufacturer of band and orchestral instruments. The plant in Eastlake, 20 miles east of Cleveland, is the main U.S. producer of brass instruments - trumpets, trombones, sousaphones, tubas and French horns. Steinway reported first quarter profits of 11 percent.

"They admit they're making money," Madda, a production worker with 23 years seniority, said. "They said they just want to make more."

The plant's 230 hourly employees worked without a contract starting Feb. 15 and walked out after the company refused to budge from demands slashing wages as much as 65 percent for higher paid workers and nearly doubling health care premiums to $90 a week. Typical production worker wages average $18 an hour, Madda said, with skilled workers making $30.

The union agreed to $1.2 million in wage cuts, but the company insists on $4.5 million.

The strikers got a boost Aug. 2 when members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 4 came from Cleveland as a "Strikeline Band Ensemble" and put on a one-hour concert on the picket line.

"We wanted to bring some good cheer and support them in their struggle to get a reasonable contract," said Local 4 President Leonard DiCosimo.

"The working and economic conditions at Eastlake Conn-Selmer require the same level of commitment from their management that these dedicated workers give to our musicians' instruments. These employees are truly artists and deserve our full support."

The same day the national American Federation of Musicians called a boycott of the company's instruments to support the strike.

"We stand in solidarity with the highly skilled workers at Conn-Selmer, who make some of the finest brass instruments played by the federation's members," said AFM President Ray Hair. "Please support Local 2359's stance against corporate greed by boycotting Conn-Selmer products and instruments."

Madda speculated that the reason for the company's hardline stand may be connected with efforts by several of its top executives to buy the company and spin it off as a separate entity. The Steinway Board of Directors is considering the offer, according to a report in early July in The Elkhart Truth, the local paper in Elkhart, Ind., where Conn-Selmer has a smaller brass instrument plant. The company succeeded in decertifying the union at that plant several years ago.

A brief video on the solidarity concert can be seen on the News Herald website, and you can visit the local's solidarity page on Facebook.

Leonard DiCosimo contributed to this story. Photo by Leonard DiCosimo.

Steelworkers "stand up, fight back" (with video)

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:16:00 +0000

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - "Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed."

The 2011 convention of the United Steelworkers union opened here with an inspiring video which itself opened with the above quote from Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln went on to say in the same address, "Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

The quote captures the fightback spirit and the growing self-awareness of the steelworkers union as it faces down the current economic and political crisis in the United States and Canada.

Over 3,000 delegates from across the country thundered their approval of the themes in USW President Leo Gerard's opening address. (see video below) "Stand Up, Fight Back" is emblazoned on jumbo video screens around the MGM Grand conference center.

Drawing clear class lines in his speech, Gerard hammered bosses, the super rich, the corporations and their "bought and paid for" politicians. He made it clear that only those who support labor and working families will get the support of steelworkers. At the same time, Gerard also stressed the need of the USW and all of labor to lead struggles for the whole working class in the U.S. and Canada.

The Political Action resolution calls for the USW to play a key role in "reelecting Barack Obama president of the United States, replacing the anti-union majorities in state legislatures, and electing a strong pro-labor majority in the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate" in 2012.

President Obama Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., were among those who addressed the convention. Other political figures included Democratic state legislature leaders from Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana, who have led battles against union busting efforts in their states.

A tremendous highlight of the convention was the participation of trade unionists from around the world. International delegations participated from some 23 countries, many of whom risked their lives and jobs to travel to the convention. They received several prolonged standing ovations from the delegates. The excitement reached a fever pitch when Leo Gerard and leaders of Los Mineros, the Mexican miners and metal workers union signed an enhanced strategic alliance agreement. "Enhanced" because it takes even further steps towards merging the two unions into one continent-wide industrial union. There are still legal and technical impediments to completing a full merger to be overcome.

The convention also took steps to build support for the striking Verizon workers. Jim Weitkamp, vice president of CWA District 9, spoke about the more than 100 takeaway demands of Verizon despite record profits. Leo Gerard called on the convention delegates to go all out in support and a sign-up pledge was circulated that committed members to mobilize their locals and turn out for picket lines, demonstrations and other strike support actions. Gerard stressed the need for heightened solidarity in the face of the attacks on workers and their unions. Several delegates described solidarity action their locals had already helped initiate.

Another important highlight was the introduction of a Next Generation Advisory Council. International Vice President Fred Redmond, surrounded by young steelworker members of the council, said, "As our movement and our union come to a critical crossroads, it is with both morality and necessity that we recommit ourselves to preparing the next generation of leadership." A young member from Texas read a resolution that outlined a plan to develop the youth council, including participation in the AFL-CIO's "Next Up" youth organization and its upcoming convention in Minneapolis. The delegates enthusiastically and unanimously adopted the resolution and action plan.

Leo Gerard opens United Steelworkers Convention 2011 from Scott Marshall on Vimeo.

Photo: Scott Marshall/PW

St. Louis labor and community rallies to support Verizon strikers

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:02:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - "We're here today to support workers' rights, to do something about corporate greed that is taking over the country," John Ebeling, first vice president of the St. Louis Central Labor Council, said in an interview as CWA members, union supporters and community activists rallied outside of a local Verizon store here Aug. 15.

Forty-five thousand Communication Workers Union of America members are on strike against Verizon. According to the union, Verizon is demanding $1 billion in concessions from the workers.

"This strike involves pensions. It involves wages. And it involves and health and welfare benefits. It involves all of the sections of the contract that have been bargained for over many, many years," Ebeling said. "Now the company wants to take it all away in one fell swoop."

"And it has to stop," he concluded.

CWA Local 6300 President Mike Mehringer said, "We mean business. We're not going to stand here and let corporate greed ruin our country."

"It never stops. We try to work with these corporations, and then the next one comes in and tries to take more," Mehringer said.

"They're not doing anything to help build this country. They want us to work for less, because they can make more," Mehringer concluded. "This company is making billions of dollars a year."

CWA Local 6300 represents about 6,000 AT&T employees in the greater St. Louis area. If Verizon is allowed to cut employee wages, pensions and benefits, AT&T and other telecommunications companies will do the same, Mehringer added.

Jim Kolve, CWA Local 6300 executive vice president, said, "Verizon is worth $100 billion in revenue. They made $7 billion in profits, and they want to cut their pensions, they want to cut their health care, they want to cut sick leave, they want to be able to lay off people and not pay them termination pay."

"So we are out here demonstrating to let them know that when they start trying to bring this stuff here, we're not going to stand for it," Kolve added.

Lew Moye, president of the St. Louis chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said, "This is a corporate agenda. They have an agenda to destroy unions, to destroy the middle class, the working class. So we have to stand together."

Photo: Tony Pecinovsky/PW

Unions say Verizon taking its cue from Wisconsin's governor

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:45:00 +0000

Union leaders say that Verizon management, taking its lead from right-wing Republican governors, is trying to kill public support for its 45,000 striking workers by portraying them as a comfortable and overpaid elite that lives better than most of the population.

Right wing governors first employed this tactic in Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey, when they described unionized firefighters, teachers and nurses in a similar fashion. Unions say that Verizon's efforts to smear its workers, coming right behind the attack on public workers, are proof of a concerted national effort to destroy the working middle class.

According to Bob Master, CWA District 1 legislative and political director, "This is an enormously profitable company, which we believe is trying to take advantage of an anti-union environment, and, replicate at a giant private-sector corporation what the governors of Ohio, New Jersey and Wisconsin have been trying to do to the public sector. Our members feel that we need to draw the line here."

Verizon's landline workers have been out on strike for more than a week now with strong and growing picket lines at worksites from New England to Virginia.

Verizon has issued a torrent of press releases and its officials have put out claims in the media that its unionized workers "average" $70,000 a year.

Union officials note that only a tiny percentage of workers earn that amount, and then only after putting in many hours of overtime.

Doug Anderson, a worker in Poughkeepsie, told the New York Times this weekend: "What we make is just a living wage in the New York area. On what I earn, my family can't afford to live where I work - Westchester County. And on what we earn it is hard to send a child to college."

Candice Johnson, a spokesperson for the Communications Workers of America, said the company has resumed bargaining but is still demanding $1 billion in concessions from the striking workers. "These demands would cost every family $20,000 a year. This is unacceptable from a company that is among the 10 wealthiest in America, that compensates the top five executives at a level of more than a quarter billion dollars over four years, that doesn't pay any federal income tax and still gets a tax rebate of $1.3 billion."

A posting today on the website of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers notes that Verizon, while it rakes in record profits, is pushing for adoption of a contract that would allow it to outsource jobs at will, slash benefits and destroy retirement security. "Verizon is trying to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class families," says the IBEW, in its statement.

The unions hope that such postings will convince the public not just that their workers aren't overpaid but that the unions themselves are a key ingredient in the creation of the middle class itself.

Unions also note that since Verizon cannot convince everyone that its workers are overpaid and greedy it has also tried to win support by claiming it is the victim of union-inspired violence. In the last week Verizon has made numerous allegations regarding sabotage of communications equipment by striking workers.

As a result of what the union calls "exaggerated court filings" judges have handed down injunctions limiting the number of picketers permitted at various locations. In New York the company filings claim a striker fired a BB gun at a non-striking worker and that strikers crowded around a manhole where non-striking workers were splicing a cable. The company alleged that the strikers refused to move when they were ordered to do so by police.

A local news report indicates that it is the striking workers themselves who may have the most to fear regarding strike-related violence.

In Amherst, N.Y. a scab is reported to have driven a car through picket lines, injuring at least two strikers.

The company has used the courts to limit picketing in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Both the CWA and the IBEW have condemned the court restrictions on workers' rights.

"Workers have the right to communicate with the public about Verizon's demands and we maintain that union members should be able to picket about this dispute," Johnson said. She added that there have been more than two dozen reports of union members struck by vehicles on the picket lines. The vehicles, she said, were driven by scabs and managers.

Photo: At the Verizon picket line in Manalapan, N.J., August 9. Paul Striker

Locked-out workers take message to Crystal Sugar’s doorstep

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:26:00 +0000

MOORHEAD, Minn. - More than 600 locked out sugar workers and supporters rallied outside the headquarters of American Crystal Sugar August 11, demanding an end to the lockout that has shaken communities up and down the Red River Valley.

Some 1,300 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco & Grain Millers union were barred from their jobs Aug. 1 after they rejected Crystal Sugar's contract offer by an overwhelming margin. The company has hired out-of-state workers to run some operations at its facilities in East Grand Forks, Crookston, Moorhead and Chaska, Minn.; Drayton and Hillsboro, N.D., and Mason City, Iowa.

"They're trying to gut our contract," said Sie Rawls, who has worked in Drayton for 11 years. The union said the company's proposal threatens job security by allowing massive outsourcing of jobs and makes major shifts of health care costs onto employees.

Thursday's events included a gathering outside Crystal Sugar headquarters, a march and demonstration on a bridge spanning the Red River between Moorhead and Fargo, and a rally at a Moorhead park that featured leaders of several labor organizations.

Dedicated workforce

Worker after worker said they feel betrayed by the farmers who own American Crystal Sugar and the executives who manage the company, which is the largest producer of sugar from beets in the United States.

The workers put in long hours on rotating shifts, working on weekends and holidays, giving up time with their families and missing out on activities with their children.

The lockout "is a slap in the face," said Dorsey Moss, a 36-year veteran of the Drayton plant. He recalled working 40 hours straight during a 1997 snowstorm that prevented the next shift from making it to the plant. Other workers had similar stories of sacrifice.

To add insult to injury, Crystal Sugar has hired replacement workers through a Minnetonka-based consulting firm and is paying them more than the long-term employees - and giving them a daily per diem for expenses. Cars in local hotel parking lots carry license plates from North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Mike Halstad shook his head when he contemplated how the replacement workers are performing.

"It takes years of hands-on to know what you're doing" in the plants, he said.

Halstad and his wife, Echo, both employees at the Hillsboro plant, carried a sign that read, "We are the real sugar workers."

Broad support

Speakers at the rally expressed support from a number of labor organizations and said the sugar workers are taking a stand on behalf of all working people.

"You are not alone in this struggle," said Shar Knutson, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, whose affiliates represent 300,000 workers. "We are with you."

"I want to thank all of you for taking a stand," said Dave Kemnitz, president of the North Dakota AFL-CIO. "It's not just for you - it's for all of us."

And he posed a question for the farmers who own American Crystal Sugar: "Growers, have you forgotten what these workers do for you?" He noted the company is making large profits and expecting a record beet harvest.

Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5, Minnesota's largest union of public employees, questioned how the company's executives could draw multi-million dollar salaries while cutting the pay and benefits of employees.

"When did one rich person become more important than thousands of middle class people?" Seide asked.

This article originally appeared at Workday Minnesota.

Photo: Locked-out sugar workers and other union supporters march across the bridge between Moorhead, Minn., and Fargo, N.D. Courtesy of Barb Kucera/Workday Minnesota.