People Before Profit blog

Unions hit GOP on Sandy aid

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:32:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The bill President Obama has signed into law ($9.7 billion to pay flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy) will help ease delays in the processing of 100,000 of the flood claims by making sure the Federal Emergency Mgt. Agency doesn't run out of money it uses to shore up insurance companies.

It does nothing, however, to aid townships and thousands of others in dire need, with action on the comprehensive $51 billion aid package put off by GOP House Speaker John Boehner until at least Jan. 15.

The hurricane ravaged the East Coast three months ago. At least 80 houses burned down in Queens alone, hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless, dozens died, and damage was at least $60 billion, the amount Democratic President Barack Obama requested. The Senate passed his aid bill, but Boehner pulled it.

Officials from the New York-New Jersey region - one of the most heavily unionized areas of the U.S. - blew up. So did union leaders.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka termed Boehner's decision "a slap in the face." Others were more caustic.

New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento called failure to vote for aid for Sandy victims "politics at its worst. The people impacted by Superstorm Sandy are not Democrats or Republicans. They are Americans, and need the government's help. We will not let up in our fight until all those impacted by Sandy receive the aid they need."

"Families who saw their livelihoods devastated by a natural disaster cannot afford to weather yet another storm in the form of gridlock politics," added New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech. He said Boehner's actions are "shameful," adding they "do not put the interests of the American people first, that much is clear. In fact their actions undermine our core American value that we will be there for one another in times of need."

AFT President Randi Weingarten, a New Yorker, linked the GOP's backing of tax cuts for the rich with its leaders' decision to ignore the needs of storm-ravaged residents - the non-rich. She called Boehner's decision "unconscionable."

"Two-thirds of House Republicans voted against raising taxes on the wealthy," she added. Now, "their leadership is postponing the vote to provide much-needed relief funds that would help ordinary citizens rebuild their lives. There is something wrong with this picture.

"It says something about who we are as a country and as a people that we move without hesitation to provide this needed assistance. And yet the people and communities still suffering the effects of Superstorm Sandy are left to wonder why the House Republican leadership has walked away."

While the GOP-run House ignored Sandy's devastation, Weingarten's union didn't. The New York City Teachers Retirement System pledged $1 billion in new investments for infrastructure projects in the city and state to help rebuild after the hurricane's devastation. The reconstruction will create thousands of jobs, added United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. UFT is New York's AFT affiliate.

Sandy "brought New York's pressing needs for repairing and updating our roads and bridges, our water and power systems and middle-income housing into keener focus," he added. "The teachers of New York City are taking a leadership role in helping to rebuild our city and state."

Politicians of both parties were upset, too.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who represents a ravaged Long Island district, warned GOP colleagues not to seek campaign cash in New York. And anyone in New York who gives funds to the House GOP's campaign committee is crazy, King said.

Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., tried to reach Boehner four times to hear why the Speaker deep-sixed the Sandy aid. Boehner didn't answer the phone. When Christie finally did reach Boehner, after the House adjourned without voting on aid, Christie wasn't satisfied. "There is no reason for me to believe anything they tell me," he said.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who had several counties in his district hit by Sandy as it headed up the East Coast from North Carolina to New York, said no one who saw Sandy's devastation would refuse the aid.

"The 1,000-mile diameter of this storm" was "the largest geographically in the history of the Atlantic hurricanes," Hoyer said. "Now, at best, the Speaker said Sandy's victims will need to wait until the next Congress to receive assistance. 'Wait,' they say to millions who are in pain and in distress. We should not be waiting. We should be voting this very morning" for the funds on the last day of the 112^th Congress, Hoyer said.

"I went with Congressman Greg Meeks to Breezy Point and the Rockaways in New York. What I saw there in Sandy's aftermath defied description and demanded action." Congress "deeply underestimates the damage in these areas and the wide range of assistance required to alleviate the pain and suffering."

Photo: PW/Tumblr

Today in labor history: Starving farmers demand food

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:02:00 +0000

On Jan. 3, 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression, some 500 farmers, black and white, their crops ruined by a long drought, marched into the town of England, Ark., to demand food for their starving families. A severe drought the year before had destroyed crops across the region. Most people around England were destitute.

The only aid available was from the Red Cross, and it was slim, amounting to about $1 a month per person. In December 1930, the local Red Cross ran out of aid application forms.

On Jan. 3, H. C. Coney, a tenant farmer, was visited by a neighbor upset because she was unable to feed her children. Coney loaded his truck with several other neighbors and headed to England to demand food from the Red Cross. The original group consisted of approximately 50 farmers, some armed, but reports state that anywhere from 300 to 500 came together in the town.

The action became known as the England Food Riot of 1931, but eyewitnesses said there was no violence. Store owners, either out of fear or out of kindness, offered food to the people.

Newspapers from New York to California picked up the story. Until then, Arkansas Gov. Harvey Parnell, along with the Red Cross, had tried to downplay the severity of the situation, claiming they had everything under control and no one was in desperate need. But
the nationwide media reporting suddenly gave names and faces to the huge numbers of starving people. Parnell had to retract his earlier statements that "conditions, although not so good because of the drought adversities, are not alarming and indications are that a normal condition is being resumed." And the mayor of England took pains to deny claims that there were "Communist influences" involved.

Famous humorist Will Rogers, after reading about the situation, appealed to President Herbert Hoover for federal aid. Hoover refused, citing fear of establishing a precedent for public dependency on the federal government (sounding much like present-day Republicans). Rogers then went on a multi-state tour to raise funds drought relief. The tour, along with money sent in from people across the country after reading the stories in their local papers, helped feed and clothe the people of the England area and carry them through the tough times.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture notes: "Although there were many other regions under stress due to economic failings or environmental problems, it was this tiny town and the events of that day that got a nation to sit up and take notice and got the government to start passing legislation to assist in times of hardship."

Photo: African American tenant farmer's home in Little Rock, Ark., photographed in 1935 by Ben Shahn. Library of Congress via pingnews

Courts remain key to advancing workers’ rights

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:11:00 +0000

MADISON, Wis. - If you think courts aren't important to workers, then unions in Wisconsin, Alaska and Texas have a blunt message for you: Wrong.

Federal and state courts in those jurisdictions had major says in the future of workers' rights in the last six months. And workers came out of those three headline struggles with two wins and a loss.

The loss got the national publicity: A U.S. District Judge in Wisconsin upheld the key section of the anti-collective bargaining law imposed by Radical Right GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-run legislature.

That left 200,000 state and local government workers in the Badger State without the right to bargain for themselves. Union membership in Wisconsin suffered, and other Right Wingers nationwide are emboldened by Walker's law. Ironically, the judge kept the collective bargaining ban - and threw out almost all of the rest of Walker's statute.

The win in Texas was actually in the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The Communications Workers have been campaigning for years to get an election among almost 10,000 ground personnel at American Airlines.

The National Mediation Board, which runs union-management relations at airlines and railroads, finally - after a lot of hemming and hawing - gave the election a green light, but then a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas stepped in.

American, headquartered in Fort Worth, had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. That type of thing that usually stops organizing drives in their tracks. However, it only made the workers at American ever more determined to unionize with CWA. The judge, a Republican appointee, bought American's argument that the very fact of a recognition election would damage the airline - regardless of the outcome. It was the first-ever ruling of its kind.

The appellate court threw out that decision, calling it, in so many words, ridiculous. The election went ahead, with results to be announced in mid-January.

In Alaska, the state Supreme Court ruled in November that communications between unions and their members about such things as grievances are confidential. The only other state with confidentiality is Illinois, said Jake Metcalfe, executive director of AFSCME Local 803, which brought the case.

"We were concerned that unless the court ruled the way they did, we would have had to tell our members - when we were interviewing them in grievances and related matters - that anything you tell me is not confidential. That would have really made it hard for us to help people," said Metcalfe.

The Alaska justices ruled "the right of the union and its members to function free of harassment and undue interference from the state is implicit in state law. If unions are to function, leaders must be free to communicate with their members about the problems and complaints of union members without undue interference."

"The court's ruling is especially welcome at a time when union membership is vilified by Right-Wing politicians who want to wrongly place blame for economic troubles on the backs of public service workers and our union," Local 803 said. Other states could cite Alaska's ruling as a precedent, Metcalfe added.

These rulings highlight the importance of state supreme courts and federal appeals courts for workers, since few workers' cases ever get to the U.S. Supreme Court. One that might - once the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issues its own decision - questions the very power of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) itself.

Arguments heard

That appellate court heard arguments in 2012 in a case the National Association of Manufacturers brought against the NLRB. NAM, a leading business lobby, is not only challenging the specific rule the NLRB proposes - ordering employers to post signs in workplaces advising workers of their rights to join, or not join, unions - but also NLRB's power to write any new rules at all. Depriving NLRB of the power to write rules even interpreting labor law would further hamstring an already weak agency. Other recent court rulings that will have an impact on workers include:

Two federal appeals courts, one on each coast, reaffirmed that public workers who turn whistleblower do so at some peril. In August, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that when Burbank police detective Angelo Dahlia complained to his superiors about "abusive interrogation tactics" by his colleagues, the city was within its rights to put him on administrative leave. He was not complaining as a private citizen and thus did not have 1^st amendment rights protecting his allegations, the court - citing prior federal court rulings - said.

The other case involved Risa Ross, a former payroll clerk at the Katonah, N.Y., school district. She blew the whistle on several workers who forged their boss' signatures on pay stubs and other documents to get extra money. But an outside consultant, brought in to overhaul the entire district, found Ross had lied on her job application. After a hearing, the school board fired her. She sued, saying the firing was in retaliation for exercising her constitutional rights. But the federal appellate court judges in New York City disagreed, saying the constitution did not cover her case.

Both those rulings reinforce a recent comment about workplaces and law by Service Employees General Counsel Judy Scott. For the most part, she said, constitutional rights stop at the workplace door.

If a multi-employer pension plan, jointly run by unions and management, gets into financial trouble, an employer can jump over the side. In a case involving Honerkamp, Inc., a wood chip distributor with plants in the Bronx and on Long Island, the multi-employer plan's trustees found it was in "critical" status and drafted payment schedules for the participating employers to extend its life to 2024. Honerkamp, in bargaining with Bakery Drivers Local 802, announced it couldn't afford the payments and proposed a new contract that took Honerkamp out of the pension plan and let it set up a 401(k) plan for its workers.

In 2009, the Bronx workers agreed, but the Long Island workers didn't. So Honerkamp declared impasse in bargaining there and unilaterally imposed its new contract - including the 401(k) plan and withdrawal from the traditional multi-employer pension plan. The following February, the multi-employer plan's trustees sued. The 2^nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan sided with Honerkamp.

"To our knowledge, no other court besides the district court in this action has considered whether the Pension Protection Act (PPA) prohibits employers from withdrawing from multi-employer pension plans in critical status," the judges wrote. "On this issue, the PPA itself is silent. But, as is always the case in statutory interpretation, the ultimate question here is one of congressional intent...In enacting the PPA, Congress did not intend to prevent employers from withdrawing from multi-employer pension plans in critical status."

The California constitution lets charter cities override state law on prevailing wages for construction workers. The 5-2 California Supreme Court ruling is important even though it applies only to one state, because California has one-eighth of the U.S. population and - despite the Great Recession - a proportional share of its construction, including municipal construction.

"Under the state Constitution, the ordinances of charter cities supersede state law with respect to 'municipal affairs,' but state law is supreme with respect to matters of 'statewide concern,'" the court majority wrote. The city of Vista, in San Diego County, after approving a new sales tax to rehab several public buildings, argued that doing so "is a municipal affair and therefore governed by its local ordinances," and not a statewide concern.

Those local ordinances banned paying prevailing wages unless the projects use state or federal dollars. The California Building and Construction Trades Council sued the city, saying the state constitution and its prevailing wage law took precedence. The council lost in lower courts and in the state Supreme Court, too.

The construction unions told the justices "prevailing wage law addresses important statewide concerns and therefore it applies to charter cities just as it applies to other cities." Vista argued charter cities "have fiscal control over local 'municipal affairs' and these cities can determine whether to include 'prevailing wage' requirements in local public works contracts."

California's Supreme Court majority cited an 80-year-old ruling involving building a fence around a municipal reservoir: "The money to be expended for the cost of the improvement belongs to the city and the control of its expenditure is a municipal affair... Construction of a city-operated facility for the benefit of a city's inhabitants is quintessentially a municipal affair, as is the control over the expenditure of a city's own funds."

Photo: Wisconsin courts upheld Gov. Walker's attacks on the collective bargaining rights of public workers. Flickr

East and Gulf Coast dockworkers postpone strike

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:08:00 +0000

An agreement by the union and shipping companies postpones for 30 days a strike by dock workers that could have frozen business at every port from Boston to Houston Sunday with more than 14,000 workers going on strike.

The contract between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, a conglomerate representing the shipping companies and terminal operators, expired in September.

A person close to the union's leadership said, "We wanted to say Happy New Year with a contract extension to February but the bosses answered with a 'Bah Humbug.' We even hinted that we would become more flexible in talks involving other sticky issues but they said 'no.'"

Federal mediators have been at work, however, and the extension was announced today.

ILA locals had already begun strike preparations."

A local union leader on the Gulf Coast said earlier this morning that strike committees had already been set up and assignments made for picket duty and that workers had already been told that all company orders to handle containerized cargo were not to be honored.

The work stoppage would not have been total with longshore workers under orders from the ILA to continue handling military cargo, mail, passenger ships and non-containerized items like automobiles and perishable food.

Nevertheless, the 15 ports still facing a possible strike in 30 days move more than 100 million tons of goods each year, or 40 percent of the nation's containerized cargo. Even in a few days a strike could cost the economy billions of dollars.

Retail stores could feel a dramatic effect as everything from flat screen TV's and winter clothing and shoes to vacuum cleaners and snow removal equipment piles up on the docks. The parts and raw materials that keep domestic manufacturing operations going would also not be available.

Due to the potential impact on the economy, the Obama administration said today it is monitoring the situation closely.

Thousands of other jobs around the country would be affected with truck drivers not having cargo to ship, tug boat captains having no ships to guide and freight train operators left with nothing to transport.

Meanwhile, longshore workers at Pacific Northwest grain terminals worked yesterday under contract terms they rejected last week. The owners implemented the terms, which involve stricter workplace rules and benefit cuts, after declaring talks at an impasse.

As of Friday morning the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast workers, had not yet announced its next move. A strike on the West Coast would make the strike nationwide.

The dispute with Pacific Northwest is at terminals in Portland, Ore., Vancouver, Wash., and Seattle, where workers have been working without a contract since the last one expired Sept. 30

Photo: Containers in Boston. James Saunders // CC 2.0

Today in Labor History: Miners' union formed

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:46:00 +0000

On this date in 1861, the American Miners Association was formed. It was the first attempt to found a national miner's union. Mainly composed of miners from Illinois and Missouri, workers from Ohio and others states participated. It founded a publication, the Weekly Miner. The organization had a fitful start and met its demise in 1868, but its existence helped spark the United Mineworkers Union, which was founded in 1890. One of its songs, republished by Ohio History Central, is below:

Step by step, the longest march
Can be won, can be won;
Single stones will form an arch
One by one, one by one
And, by Union what we will
Can be accomplished still
Drops of water turn a mill,
Singly none, singly none

Photo via Wikipedia.

NLRB overturns union-busting policy

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:10:00 +0000

In a landmark decision Dec. 18 the National Labor Relations Board threw out a 50-year precedent and took away a powerful weapon employers have had to force unions to accept drastic cuts in wages and working conditions.

The board, all recess appointments by President Barack Obama, overturned its 1962 Bethlehem Steel decision that had allowed employers to unilaterally impose contract terms when an agreement expires and then stop collecting union dues to pressure a union to accept the "final offer."

That decision, the board stated, was a mistake and inconsistent with labor law.

"Unlike a good wine, a mistake does not get better with age," the new ruling states.

While the ruling impacts all future contract negotiations, the NLRB dismissed the actual complaint brought by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) Local 42, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. The union's complaint was dismissed on the grounds that the employer, WKYC-TV, a Gannett subsidiary in Cleveland, had acted in accordance with the then prevailing NLRB policy when it stopped collecting union dues in October 2010.

"The ruling does nothing for Local 42," said Chuck DeGross, the union's attorney. "It removes a major economic weapon employers have used against organized labor. In effect, we sacrificed for the greater good."

"It's one more hurdle in the continuous battle we've been in," he said. "We're not going to stop fighting. We want a contract."

"Unfortunately, it won't affect us," said Cathy Watkins, chief steward for the local at WKYC, "but we're thrilled with the board decision. It certainly reveals Gannett and WKYC for the anti-labor company they are. We hope it will impact them in a way that will restart negotiations."

Because the NLRB dismissed the local's complaint there are no grounds for the station to appeal the ruling. The case was basically the occasion for the board to issue a new interpretation of labor law, DeGross said.

"It's what's called 'judicial activism,'" he said wryly.

The battle between the station and the union has been going on for over three years when WKYC used a wage reopener provision to terminate the existing contract in June 2009, and negotiations began over a new agreement. During this time dues check off continued, but in January 2010, the station unilaterally implemented terms of its final offer, including slashing wages as much as 18%, cutting vacations, sick days and work rules. While negotiations stalled, the station continued to check off dues until early October when, without notice, it stopped and the union was forced to collect dues from members one by one.

Many of the 55 members of the unit continued to pay dues but some, feeling defeated, stopped or only paid a portion.

"This is what the 'right to work' movement is all about." DeGross said. "The companies have decided the best way to destroy unions is to take away their funding."

Obama sharply criticized the recently successful effort by Michigan Republicans to impose a "right to work" law in that state and the NLRB ruling by his appointees is consistent with that view.

"At a time when states are trying to take away the unions' rights to receive dues in return for services and representation, this decision by the federal government to prevent employers from ending dues check off at the end of contract expiration is timely and greatly welcome," said Dan Kovalik, associate general counsel for the United Steelworkers.

Photo: (PW/Rick Nagin)

Postal workers' hunger strike over, victory declared

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:40:00 +0000

Completing the sixth day of their hunger strike to save six-day delivery, five postal workers broke their fast and declared a "people's victory." "Along with hundreds of thousands of postal workers and our community allies who have been battling for years to save America's postal service, we were able raise awareness and increase pressure on the decision-makers as they attempted to wrangle back-room deals," said hunger striker Jamie Partridge, a retired letter carrier from Portland, Oregon. The strikers established an "emergency" encampment on the National Mall Monday, demanding that Congress and the President halt closures and cuts to the U.S. Postal Service.

"The lame duck is still threatening to cripple the postal eagle," declared Partridge, acknowledging that Congress will reconvene after the Christmas holiday. Six-day mail delivery is on the chopping block, according to Representative Darrell Issa, Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Tom Carper who are engaged in secret postal reform negotiations. One of the hunger strikers, John Dennie, a retired mail handler from New York, was arrested in Issa's office Thursday for refusing to leave until the Congressman pledged to save six-day mail delivery.

Friday afternoon, the postal hunger strikers paraded with a horse and carriage from the Postal Museum, up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House to celebrate the 237-year history of the postal service and 150 years of Saturday delivery (city free delivery was established 1863). They attempted to deliver a giant postcard calling on Obama to use his veto power to save six-day mail delivery. President Obama has twice allowed for cutting to five-day delivery in budget proposals. "We helped elect Obama and he owes us," said Ken Lerch, a local letter carriers union president.

Cutting mail delivery to five days will eliminate 80,000 postal jobs, according to postal unions. The hunger strikers claim the cuts would gut service and send the postal service into a death spiral. "We will not stand by as our beloved postal service is destroyed," said Tom Dodge, hunger striker, postal worker from Baltimore, and a coordinator of Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU).

Last June, 10 CPWU activists staged a hunger strike declaring that Congress was starving the postal service. The activists claim that a 2006 Congressional mandate, which forces the USPS to prefund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance, is bankrupting the service. Not only would the postal service have been profitable without the mandate, say the strikers, the USPS has also overpaid tens of billions into two pension funds.

"Not the internet, not private competition, not labor costs, not the recession - Congress is responsible for the postal mess" said Kevin Cole, a return hunger striker and postal maintenance worker from California. "Corporate interests, working through their friends in Congress and the Presidency, want to undermine the USPS, bust the unions then privatize it."

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced in mid-May that he would close half the mail sorting plants in the country and cut hours from 25% to 75% in half the nation's post offices, over a two-year period. Thirteen thousand jobs have already been eliminated and delivery standards relaxed. "Extensive disruption has resulted from these plant closures," said Dennie. The hunger strikers delivered evidence Friday morning to the Postal Board of Governors documenting the PMG's criminal delay and obstruction of the mail and calling for his prosecution. The strikers are calling on postal management to suspend cuts and closures and allow Congress to fix the finances by repealing the prefunding mandate and refunding the pension surplus.

www.cpwunited.com

Photo: Letter carrier walks through fresh snow delivering mail in Berea, Ohio. Mark Duncan/AP

Despite "right to work," union organizing not letting up in Michigan

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:09:00 +0000

DETROIT - If the Lansing Tea Party Republicans who passed Right-to-Work (for less) legislation last week thought working families were going to be intimidated, they should have witnessed what took place last night at the Cesar Chavez Academy, a large for-profit, K-12 charter school in Southwest Detroit.

Despite a cool rain verging on snow, and the decision by the Leona group to close the school early to discourage parents from attending, a huge outpouring of parents, students and the community rallied to support teachers in their decision to be represented by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The school is operated by the Leona group, one of the nation's largest for-profit school corporations.

Rob Timberlake, a third year English teacher, said teachers were sending a very positive message that "workers do have the right to choose a union and teachers should have a voice in how the schools are structured."

What is it like for teachers at the school? Third grade teachers Katie Kippdohm and Christina Rivera said they are not on a pay scale (each teacher negotiates their individual pay), they are required to get Masters degrees but see no increase in pay, and they all struggle to pay off their student loans.

At a rally in front of the school, Florademaria Garay, a social worker with 12 years of experience in the school, said the issue of pay affects the quality of teaching. "I have seen too many of my colleagues who are great educators leave for other districts."

She also wanted teachers free from "intimidation" and "repercussions" to advocate for a higher quality of education for their students including individual instruction and bilingual education. "Most important to all of us, is our students," she said.

Those remarks were seconded by Brenda, a parent, who said to the teachers, "We are in this together; we look forward to better conditions for our kids. You are not alone."

AFT President David Hecker welcomed the teachers at the 2100 student complex into the AFT family saying, "We hope the Leona group agrees to a vote as soon as possible. And we hope the kind of voter suppression that we see in all too many communities of color does not go on here. After all this is the Cesar Chavez Academy," he said referring to the late civil rights and trade union leader the school is named after.

Special Education Teacher Toni Carlbom added, "The overwhelming majority want a union. Last week I heard our governor say he respects workers choices, well, we made our choice and it was a resounding yes, now they need to respect it."

United Autoworkers Vice President Cindy Estrada said it is "meaningless to honor a school in name; we need to honor it in action."

She said this is about what Cesar Chavez would have wanted. "He wanted workers to have a voice. He wanted them to have dignity. Especially in schools."

She then read greetings addressed to the community from Arturo Rodriguez, the current president of the United Farm Workers Union and son-in-law of Cesar Chavez. The statement read in part, "Cesar Chavez was a champion not only for the Latino community but for the working class in our country. I am very pleased to hear you have decided to honor his legacy by forming a union at your school."

Photo: (PW/John Rummel)

Today in Labor History: Picketing declared unconstitutional

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:01:00 +0000

On this day in 1921 the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice William Howard Taft, declared that picketing was unconstitutional, claiming it was "an unlawful annoyance and hurtful nuisance."

Taft was the 27th president. Taft served in the Supreme Court after his one-term presidency. Taft founded the Chamber of Commerce to counter the growing labor movement. Taft was an avid supporter of Booker T. Washington's accommodationist policy.

Photo: Kheel Center, Cornell University // CC 2.0

Interfaith group urges vigils for Walmart supply chain workers

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:28:00 +0000

The same weekend as U.S. Walmart workers went on a Black Friday strike 112 garment workers - almost all were young women - were killed in a fire in Bangladesh, while sewing garments for Walmart and other U.S. retailers. Like the 146 killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 in New York City, they died because fire exits and stairwells were chained shut and they couldn't get out of the burning building.

Both tragedies were caused by corporate greed and illegal working conditions. The Triangle tragedy and the protest that followed resulted in important reforms to protect workers from greedy companies in the United States.

Now we need to act and support efforts to hold Walmart responsible for the deaths of the workers in Bangladesh. Walmart played a leading role in blocking efforts to increase safety regulations in Bangladesh.

This Saturday, Dec. 22, Interfaith Worker Justice and the Making Change at Walmart coalition issued a call for a national day of action to support the workers in Bangladesh and call for Walmart to be held accountable.

Go here to find a prayer vigil or solidarity event in your area or host one and sign the petition.

Photo: (CAN Action Center)

"Unfinished Business": Unique exhibit presents domestic workers' stories

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:04:00 +0000

CHICAGO - She needed a notebook more than food. It would save her sanity and soul.

The notebook and the story behind it is just one artifact in a unique exhibit here at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum entitled, "Unfinished Business: 21st Century Home Economics."

The exhibit is about - and by - domestic workers and caregivers. The notebook on display is a simple composition book you can buy at any grocery store. But the writer, Myrla Baldonado, and her experience are anything but simple.

Her multi-layered story of providing crucial, daily and tender care to an aging couple, while living on low wages and in tough conditions, could be repeated by millions. There are 2.5 million domestic workers in the United States.

"Unfinished Business" attempts to tell the complicated and true stories of those who toil so others can toil elsewhere (usually for much better pay) by means of carefully chosen "artifacts" each of which represent a worker's experience, coupled with the story behind it in that same worker's words. A bath sponge, a photo album and a foreclosure notice are some of the artifacts that line the exhibit's wall.

The stories of these women - and yes caregivers/domestic workers are almost always women, usually women of color and/or immigrants - are often complex. That is particularly so on the emotional level, when they are entrusted to care for children or grandmother, are considered in many cases part of the family, yet struggle with their own family issues and most of the time, financial problems.

Other parts of their stories seem straightforward - and simple - like better, liveable wages. But achieving their hopes and dreams is not: "Fair pay for domestic work. Access to safe and healthy food. Childcare for all. Urban gardens. Community kitchens and laundries," are some of those listed in the description of the exhibit.

Caregiving doesn't happen just in homes. One of the women depicted, Julia O'Grady, makes it her business to provide safe and healthy food to the students of the Academy for Global Citizenship, a public charter school here. O'Grady is the school's lunchroom manager. Under her life-size photo is her quote, "I don't like when people call me lunch lady." An audio recording of her caregiving experience at the school shows a more complicated portrait of what her job entails than the reductive "lunch lady" would imply. O'Grady organizes healthy lunches from organic and locally-grown food and serves it to children some of whom are more familiar with eating fast food hamburgers and french fries every day than home-cooked broccoli or sweet potato fries. O'Grady educates the children and their families on why they should eat healthy.

Museum exhibits rarely happen without a larger purpose, especially at a museum that prides itself on keeping alive the history of the most radical reform movements and one of those movement's best known leader, Jane Addams. "Unfinished Business" is part of a nationwide movement of domestic workers, who are demanding that their work be recognized, that they are entitled to rights and that they need livable wages, health care and safe working conditions.

Coming on the heels of the 2010 New York passage of a domestic workers bill of rights, domestic workers groups joined together to create a national survey that would delve into the issues and composition of this often-invisible industry. Some 2,100 nannies, caregivers, housecleaners, etc., in 14 metropolitan areas and in nine languages responded. Those surveys are stacked in piles on the floor of the exhibit.

Peoplesworld.org reporter Marilyn Bechtel summarized the findings published in a groundbreaking report, "Home Economics: The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work," released by the National Domestic Workers Alliance on Nov. 27. Read the article here.

In Illinois, a coalition of groups that includes Latino Union, SEIU and Jobs with Justice is working to get a domestic workers bill of rights introduced into the upcoming state legislative session. Most labor laws exclude domestic workers from their purview.

"Unfinished Business" opened Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, and is ongoing. Immediately after the opening, Latino Union hosted a celebration of women's rights in honor of the day and the exhibit. Speeches, food and traditional Filipino music were among the program highlights. Café Chicago, a fair trade worker cooperative, showed a brief documentary clip about the Nicaraguan women who organized an association that provides the cooperative with the coffee, showing how the work improves their lives in the process.

Photo: Latino Union domestic worker activists pose in front of a portrait of Jane Addams, one of the Hull House's founders. Few know that a domestic worker named Mary Keyser was also a founder along with Ellen Gates Starr. (Latino Union/FB)

Today in labor history: 2005 New York transit workers strike

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:02:00 +0000

On December 20, 2005, thousands of workers began what was to be a three-day strike of the New York City transit system over retirement, pension and wage issues.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint delivered a terse statement, saying the workers would return to their jobs, and thanking the city's commuters for their patience.

"Local 100 had to walk out to stop the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 11th hour pension ambush. We walked out strong, and we walk back stronger," read a statement on the Local 100 website.

New York City Council members and African American clergy denounced attacks on the majority Black and Latino union by Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Pataki and former Mayor Ed Koch as racist and inflammatory. The mayor characterized the strikers as "thugs" and Koch compared them to terrorists.

Support came in to the TWU office from every municipal union, including the police, who were widely reported as friendly to the strikers and whose president walked the picket line. Firefighters, called by MTA managers to put out picket line bonfires, refused to do so.

Strikers interviewed at picket sites in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn all talked about the overwhelmingly positive response of passers-by, of contributions of pizza, donuts and coffee, and of people coming to walk the picket line with them during lunch hours and after work.

Video: TWU Responds to Hurricane Sandy

Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers cover an entrance to the Canal St. A, C, and E station with plywood to help prevent flooding, Oct. 27, in New York. Mary Altaffer/AP

Time to repeal Taft-Hartley

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:53:00 +0000

It is one of those ironies of history that on December 10, 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that December 10th of each year is celebrated as "International Human Rights Day." Article 23 of that document says, among other things that "everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

Sixty-four years and one day later, on December 11, 2012, the Michigan state legislature passed and the governor signed what is called a "right to work (for less)" law.

Much has been written about how the law weakens labor unions because they can no longer collect dues from workers who choose not to join. Unions with fewer dues-paying members have less muscle to stand up to the bosses and defend their members' rights. Employers have been fighting against expanding workers rights since the beginning of time. This is particularly true when workers rise up to right intolerable wrongs.

During the Great Depression the labor movement, often led by communists and other militants, achieved great breakthroughs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act (often called labor's Magna Carta), which ensured unions the right to organize and bargain collectively. Workers in every state undertook heroic struggles to gain a voice in determining the conditions of their employment. Millions of workers joined unions and won many hard-fought strikes.

The capitalists and their political minions did not sit idly by; they did not want their power and control over the workers diminished. After World War II, at a time when the percentage of workers with union cards reached an all-time high and militancy was on the rise, the right-wing in Congress struck back. Both houses passed the Taft-Hartley Act, and though President Harry S. Truman vetoed the bill, Congress over-rode the veto. The law's provisions struck right at the heart of labor unions.

The main points of the law are as follows:

It outlawed closed shops--where employers as part of a collective bargaining agreement could only hire union members. This is the "right to work" (for less) provision.

It allowed states to outlaw the union shop--enabling states to pass laws that prohibited labor agreements that had required newly-hired workers to join a union. Michigan became the twenty-fourth state to pass such legislation. Indiana passed similar legislation in February. Some states have enshrined "right to work" in their state constitutions.

It prohibited federal employees from striking.

It barred unions from making direct contributions to political candidates (which is why various unions have political action committees to handle such contributions separately.)

It prohibited members of the Communist Party from holding union offices. (This provision was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1965 in United States v. Brown.)

Therefore, we can conclude that the Taft-Hartley Act is an outdated relic of the Cold War. Its provisions restrict the rights of unions and weaken them in their relations with the employers. Congress should repeal the law and replace it with legislation that guarantees organized workers the right to reinstate the closed or union shop through collective bargaining in any state. It would go a long way toward strengthening the labor movement. Such a goal should be a part of any fightback by workers against the ultra-right and its drive for unfettered power.

Photo: Labor leader David Dubinsky gives a speech against the Hartley-Taft bill, with Luigi Antonini in the audience, May 4, 1947. Kheel Center, Cornell University // CC 2.0

Today in Labor History: Greyhound strike ends

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:25:00 +0000

On this day in 1983, a 47-day strike against Greyhound by its workers, members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, ended. The workers voted to accept a new contract with cuts in wages and benefits.
The strike was violent: one of the ATU members, Ray Phillips, died after a scab driver ran him over on a picket line.

Despite the fight by the workers, the labor battle was a loss. Greyhound was pushing for lower wages in a race to the bottom with Trailways, and this was all exacerbated by the deregulation of the interstate bus market.

Relations between ATU and Greyhound, which had been generally good prior to 1983, continued to deteriorate, and, in 1990, an extremely violent battle took place. Another strike was called. There were dozens of shootings, more than 100 bomb threats, and another striker was run over.

While the ATU lost, Greyhound did as well, with its intransigence toward labor costing the company so much that the CEO was replaced. Relations have since improved.

Photo: Greyhound station in Memphis. Memphis CVB // CC 2.0

Today in labor history: Farm workers on trial

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:04:00 +0000

On this day in 1830, the trial of nearly 350 agricultural workers began in England. The trial followed riots by the farmers in the autumn of that year; the laborers, facing land enclosures and increasing emphasis placed on technology over workers, had demanded higher wages and destroyed farm machinery.

Nearly 2,000 workers were tried and convicted. 19 of them were executed, while over 500 were deported to New South Wales and Tasmania.

Photo: A government message to the rioting agricultural laborers. Tumblr

Today in labor history: FDR lifts internment of Japanese Americans

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:53:00 +0000

Today in labor history, December 17, 1944, President Roosevelt lifted the "military-necessary exclusion" of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, marking the beginning of the end of a dangerous and shameful chapter of American history: mass incarceration of U.S. citizens and residents because of their race.

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the West Coast erupted in hysteria of fear against Japanese Americans as "the Fifth Column" and "the enemy within" - a fear created by inflammatory journalism, pressure groups, politicians, and the U.S. Army. A profound suspicion of Japanese Americans had quickly led to cries for their expulsion. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 ten weeks after the bombing, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable." The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area.

In the following months, the Army rounded up some 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast and forced them into internment camps in some of the country's most desolate areas. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.

Relocation after incarceration was difficult, especially since prejudice still ran high in the West Coast. Many Issei (first generation Japanese Americans) never regained their losses, living out their lives in poverty and poor health. Collectively, Japanese Americans lost up to $400,000,000 in property during the war.

During the course of World War II, 10 Americans were convicted of spying for Japan, but not one of them was of Japanese ancestry. In 1988, the U.S. agreed to recompense each surviving internee with a tax-free check for $20,000 and an apology from the federal government.

Photo: Child from Salinas, Calif., is tagged for evacuation with his family (Library of Congress/Wikimedia)

Today in Labor History: 33,000 end 69 day strike

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:02:00 +0000

The weekend beginning December 14 and ending Dec. 16 was an extremely busy one in the history of the labor movement.

On Dec. 14 in 1995 some 33,000 striking members of the Machinists ended a 69-day walkout at Boeing after winning pay and benefit increases and important protections against subcontracting some of their work overseas.

In 1913, on Dec. 15. the AFL Convention passed a one-cent per capita assessment to "aid the organization of women workers."

In 1921, on that same day, the Kansas national guard was called in to crush 6,000 protesting women who were going from mine to mine urging non-strikjng miners to join the strikers. The New York Times described the women as "an army of Amazons."

On Dec. 15, in 1941, eight days after the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, the AFL pledged there would be no strikes in defense-related plants for the duration of World War II.

In 1967, on Dec. 15, meeting in its biennial convention, the AFL-CIO declared "unstinting support" for "measures the administration might deem necessary to halt Communist aggression and secure a just and lasting peace in Viet Nam.

On the same day that year the U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act became law. It bars employment discrimination against anyone aged 40 and older.

On Dev. 15, 2002, California's longest nurses' strike ended after workers at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo and Pinole approved a new contract with Tenet Healthcare3 Corp., ending a 13 month walkout.

On Dec. 16, 1900, the controversial National Civic Federation was formed by business and labor leaders, prominent among whom was Sam Gompers, president of the AFL. The group was described as a "vehicle to resolve conflicts between management and labor." Not all unionists agreed with the alliance, especially as it turned increasingly pro-business. :Labor withdrew after Gomper's death in 1924.

On Dec. 16, 1902 New York City's Majestic Theater became the first in the U.S. to employ women ushers.

In 1951 the Bagel Bakers of America started a slowdown at 32 of New York's bagel bakeries in a dispute over health and welfare payments and workplace sanitation. Lox sales were down 30 to 50 percent during the slowdown, also.

In 1968 on Dec. 16, the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and Switchmen's Union of North America all merged to form the United Transportation Union.

Finally, on Dec. 16, 1977, eight female bank tellers in Ellmar, Minnesota began the first strike against a bank in U.S. history.. At issue: they were paid little more than half of what male tellers were paid.

Photo: The Willmar 8. Workday Minnesota

AFL-CIO calls for universal voter registration

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:51:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The labor movement has added its voice to the demands for voting reform that are sweeping the nation. Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called for adoption of a universal and automatic voter registration system that will ensure everyone can be part of the democratic process.

Trumka made the call in a speech Dec. 14 to the Funders' Committee for Civic Participation. "A strong and growing grassroots democracy movement needs to come together to push back against the next wave of state-level attacks on the right to vote," Trumka declared.

Concern has mounted as, across the country in the last several years, the GOP has worked to suppress the vote in a variety of ways including restrictions on voter registration; voter photo ID schemes that make it harder to vote for students, minorities and seniors; curtailing early voting and unjustified purges of voter registration lists.

Only two days earlier, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Attorney General Eric Holder declared, "It is important for national leaders, academic experts, and members of the public to engage in a frank, thorough, and inclusive discussion about how our election systems can be made stronger and more accessible."

The attorney general put forward several ideas including automatic registration that moves with the voter, longer operating hours for polling locations, and more days to vote. Holder's proposals have been backed by major voting rights organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice.

The attorney general's move appears to signal that President Obama was serious about election reform when he mentioned it in his victory speech in the early hours of Nov. 7.

The president said he wanted to thank "every American who participated in this election. Whether you voted for the very first time, or waited in line for a very long time - by the way we have to fix that."

Republicans have taken advantage of majorities they gained in state level governments in 2010 to curb democracy in a number of ways that go beyond just restricting who can vote. They have used the opportunity provided by the post Census redistricting to redraw congressional district lines, for example, in ways that corral voters who tend to vote Democratic together in several districts and spread those who vote Republican into a larger number of districts,

The results of this gerrymandering can be seen in numerous states, with Michigan being only one example. In Michigan votes for Democratic candidates for Congress totaled 2,327,985, beating Republicans who got 2, 086, 804. If district lines were fairly drawn Democrats would have won eight of Michigan's 14 seats in Congress. Due to GOP gerrymandering, however, the Democrats got only five seats while the Republicans, who lost the popular vote, ended up with nine.

The GOP has already used what many say is this undemocratic power grab to strip the people of Michigan of their union rights and are moving ahead in this lame-duck session to pass bills ending abortion rights and even a bill banning "sharia law" in the state.

Republicans are using their ill-gotten majorities in some swing states to make the Electoral College be determined by their gerrymandered congressional districts rather than through the popular vote, giving them the same advantage in presidential elections that they have already secured in state and congressional elections.

The labor movement sees the fight for voting reform as a fight that is closely tied to the struggle for economic justice in the country.

"Let's be honest," Trumka said, "the opponents of democracy and working people are not going to give up on these tactics. But we can overcome them together. We can overcome them if we are all in. We need a broad and powerful grassroots movement to renew the promise of the American Dream, make sure that every working person can - by working hard and playing by the rules - earn a decent paycheck and health care, have a family if they want one, and look forward to a dignified retirement."

On the issue of automatic voter registration, Trumka said, "It is the norm for most of the world's democracies and can be a major weapon to counter the attacks and the corporate cash let loose by Citizens United."

"We need to fundamentally change access to the ballot," he said. "Only about two of three black and white voters are registered, but half - half - of eligible Latinos and Asians are not registered to vote today, and that's unacceptable. We're going to do something about it."

He said the AFL-CIO and a variety of groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice, Advancement Project, Demos, NAACP, National Council of La Raza and others are working together to develop a strategy to achieve universal and automatic registration.

Holder, in his talk at the Kennedy Library, a place dedicated to a president who is seen as having helped set in motion some of the important voting rights legislation at stake today, declared, "This nation has come too far, and its people - from all races, religions, creeds, backgrounds, and walks of life - have sacrificed too much not to finish the task of ensuring equal voting rights for all Americans."

Workers target Wawa supermarket for better wages, working conditions

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:53:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - The parking lot of an Orlando-area convenience store resounded Dec. 9 with chants of "Wawa, escucha! / Estamos en la lucha!" (rough translation: "Wawa, listen! / We mean business!") and "Wawa, shame on you / Farmworkers are people, too." About 40 farmworker allies targeted the Wawa store in an action in solidarity with FLOC - the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (AFL-CIO) - and agricultural workers on tobacco farms in North Carolina.

The activists wanted to remind Wawa, a major mid-Atlantic convenience store chain which recently moved into the Florida market, that those farmworkers are part of its supply chain. Wawa's 600 stores sell cigarettes made by North Carolina-based Reynolds American from tobacco grown and harvested by the farmworkers. This, say the activists from YAYA (Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farmworker Ministry), gives Wawa a responsibility to take steps to help improve the farmworkers' living and working conditions.

In a letter dated Oct. 1 to Wawa CEO Howard B. Stoeckel, YAYA asks the company to "inform Reynolds and McLane Co. Inc. [Reynolds' main grocery distributor] that many Florida consumers want Reynolds to work with FLOC to develop a written agreement establishing a process guaranteeing freedom of association and a right to collective bargaining for tobacco farm workers in the Reynolds supply chain."

"Although Reynolds American does not directly employ farm workers, because it contracts with tobacco growers it has the ability to influence grower standards that directly affect the living and working conditions of farm workers, both within its supply chain and even beyond," YAYA explains.

Emily Helm, president of the Orlando-area YAYA branch, which organized the action here, said recognition of farmworkers' rights to organize and to collectively bargain "would ensure that farmworkers have a voice in the tobacco supply chain."

"In this supply chain, Reynolds benefits the most from [the farmworkers'] labor. Wawa, as a business that sells Reynolds products, also benefits from this labor," said Helm. "I think Wawa has a responsibility here, and I think it's very clear that there is something they can do."

YAYA's action was planned to coincide with International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), the 66th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the rights of free association and of workers to join a union.

The Dec. 9 action also was prompted by the repeated refusal of Charlene Marko-Heim, Wawa's Florida regional manager, to meet with YAYA. A delegation from YAYA went into the store to deliver the letter, which included another request for a meeting with Marko-Heim.

On its website and in its corporate literature, Wawa states that two of its "core values" are to "value people" and to "do the right thing."

"That's all we're asking [Wawa] for, is just do the right thing" for farmworkers, said YAYA member Melissa Maguire-Maniau. "We want them to not just put words on paper, but actually show that [commitment]."

FLOC has been meeting with Reynolds since June of this year, but wants the company to hold direct meetings with farmworkers so that its executives can see for themselves what YAYA calls "the squalid living and deplorable working conditions facing many tobacco farm workers."

"The situation for tobacco farmworkers in North Carolina is dire," says YAYA. "A report from Oxfam America and FLOC released last year ... showed that many farm workers often live in labor camps with inadequate or non-functioning toilets, showers, and other substandard conditions. Due to these conditions, tobacco farmworkers suffer from illnesses resulting from nicotine poisoning, exposure to dangerous pesticides, and working long hours from below poverty wages."

The Oxfam America/FLOC report, "A state of fear: Human rights abuses in North Carolina's tobacco industry," found that farmworkers experienced widespread wage and equal pay violations in North Carolina's tobacco fields.

Of 103 farmworkers, some of them undocumented, who were interviewed for the report, 22 (about one in four) reported that they were paid less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Fifty-one reported being paid the minimum wage while only 11 said that they earned more than the minimum wage. Undocumented farmworkers toiling side-by-side with those who had H-2A (agricultural) visas reported that they were paid less the H-2A workers, whose wages were set at $7.25 to around $10 an hour, depending on location.

Other groups with a presence at the Dec. 9 action included SLAP-Student Labor Action Project, from the University of Central Florida; Central Florida Jobs With Justice; and Dream Defenders, a recently-formed Florida-based activist group of progressive students and young people.

Photo: Ben Markeson/PW

Union fights to save Cleveland paper

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:42:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - The Newspaper Guild Local 1 is conducting a spirited campaign to Save The Plain Dealer, the city's only daily newspaper faced with massive layoffs of reporters and threatened by the "digital first strategy" of its owners who have cut print editions of their papers in other cities.

John Mangels, chairman of the union's campaign, asked delegates to the monthly meeting of the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor Dec. 12 to support the effort by contacting Advance Publications, the paper's parent company, signing an online petition and "liking" the campaign's Facebook page.

Since launching its new strategy in Ann Arbor, Michigan Feb. 2, the company has slashed 1,336 jobs of reporters, photographers and support staff at its papers in New Orleans, Syracuse, N.Y. Harrisburg, Pa., and other cities where home delivery and print publication has been reduced to three days or less, according to DashThirtyDash, the New Orleans group formed to help laid-off Times-Picayune employees.

Its actions are driven by loss of advertising revenue as more people get news online, he said, "but 40 percent of Cleveland households have no internet access," a service many cannot afford or do not wish to use.

In the past month over 7,000 have signed the campaign's online petition. In addition, the Guild took out a half page ad in the paper Nov. 11, rented 30 billboards around the city and put signs on the sides of 20 public transit buses. The union also printed t-shirts and cards with information on the campaign.

The AFL-CIO sent an email blast to members urging they sign the petition and the paper's reporters have reached out to their beat contacts including religious leaders, public officials, foundations, social agencies, sports teams, businesses and others relying on the paper for daily news and publicity.

"Saving journalism is a moral and ethical issue," said Mike O'Malley, who covers religion and ethnic news. "How can Cleveland with three major sports teams do without a daily paper? We hope that, if they have to cut home delivery, at the very least daily print editions are available on newsstands and boxes."

Terrance Egger, president and publisher of The Plain Dealer, has been pushing for seven days a week, O'Malley said, but says in the end it is not his decision.

Guild members and hundreds of supporters held a party Dec. 6 at Market Garden, a restaurant and brewery, where owner Sam McNulty provided food and released the first pints of "7-Day Lager," which was said to be "best when enjoyed daily."

The bittersweet event occurred as the union, after three weeks of talks, agreed earlier that day to accept 58 layoffs, a 35 percent reduction in staff, to begin in May. The remaining 110 journalists would have job security through 2019, restoration of most of the pay cuts they took in 2009 and increased company contributions to the union's health and pension funds. In addition, laid off workers would get improved severance and extended health care coverage.

The agreement, ratified Dec. 11, also gives the company greater flexibility to flow work between the paper and Advance's online nonunion publication, cleveland.com.

"We really had no choice," Mangels said. "It was either 58 layoffs or management would cut 80 jobs and take health care and pension fund money out of our wages. They said it was non-negotiable."

Reporters, who reluctantly voted for the agreement, said they believed it was part of a long-term union-busting move. Local 1, the first Guild branch organized by Heywood Broun in 1934, is the only unionized paper in Advance's chain of over 70 publications.

But, said Guild Executive Secretary Rollie Dreussi, "This agreement ensures the Guild perseveres into the future, at least the foreseeable future."

In a statement on its Facebook page, the union said, "The loss of significant numbers of PD journalists - whether one-third or one-half of the staff - is an unnecessary action that will irreparably harm the quality of news coverage Clevelanders count on from their newspaper and its online partner. Until those journalists are forced out the door next year, we believe there is still time to convince Advance and its CEO, Steve Newhouse, that the cutbacks are not in the best interests of The Plain Dealer or the community it serves. We also will continue to fight to preserve the daily publication of The Plain Dealer, and are encouraged by Mr. Newhouse's recent statements that he has not yet decided whether to reduce the newspaper to three days per week, as Advance has done in other markets."

The campaign urges supporters to contact Newhouse at 718-981-1234 or stevejj@aol.com asking him "to keep good journalism in Cleveland."