People Before Profit blog

Remembering "Hy Climber" Fred Gaboury

Fri, 30 May 2014 12:17:00 +0000

This is a chapter from Tim Wheeler's forthcoming memoirs. Eds.

PORT ANGELES, Wa. ---- One day in 1953 Fred Gaboury invited me to come to work with him so I could witness first hand his skill in rigging a spar tree high in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains.

I eagerly accepted. I was only 13 at the time but Fred may have seen in me a future choker-setter, faller, or even a topper like him. Fred had rugged good looks. He had broad shoulders and snapping blue eyes and wavy golden hair. Movie star handsome, he should have been a heartthrob. Yet his speech was a steady stream of unprintable four-letter words. Somehow, Fred didn't remind me of Gary Cooper after I had heard him utter a stream of profanity.

I had joined in the struggle to defend Karly Larsen, vice president of the Western Washington division of the International Woodworkers of America. A bunch of left-wingers, including my parents and me, met one morning at Fred and Betty Gaboury's house in Port Angeles where we divided up piles of leaflets calling for justice for Larsen and repeal of the union-busting Taft Hartley Act. That Cold War statute outlawed members of the Communist Party, like Karly Larsen, from serving as leaders of unions even if duly elected by the membership.

I was teamed up with Fred's younger brother, David, in the door-to-door distribution of that leaflet. Fred was elated by the success of the distribution in a mill town, center of logging and other forest-product industries.

The night before the long trip out to the West End of Clallam County, I spent the night at Fred and Betty Gaboury's house. Fred woke me up at 4:30 a.m. and fed me a breakfast of flapjacks soaked in butter and syrup. In his hast, he burned the pancakes badly. Fred was always in a hurry.

In the pitch dark, we boarded the Weyerhaeuser crew bus in Port Angeles along with 15 or 20 other loggers. They came on to the bus quietly, still groggy in the morning chill. They were dressed in their tin hats, flannel shirts and jeans chopped off just below the knees. The jeans were held up by wide, brightly colored galluses. They wore high caulk boots bristling with spikes from the soles and heels to give them extra footing in the slippery underbrush on the deadly mountainsides.

The crew bus roared at breakneck speed out twisting Highway 101 around Lake Crescent. About twenty miles west of the lake, we made a left turn onto a gravel road that soon turned into a dirt track that wound its way up the mountainside, higher and higher. The crew bus pitched wildly as it toiled its way up the muddy track. The crew snored peacefully.

Soon we pulled into a staging area that had been cleared in the deep forest. We were so high on the mountain we could look out to the east. Dawn was breaking over the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Mount Baker gleamed like a pink strawberry sundae in the morning sun. The San Juan Islands lay darkly in the glittering waters of the Salish Sea.

Sitting in the staging area was an old "donkey" engine with a heavy steel cable for pulling the logs off the mountainside.

Standing alone beside the donkey was a Douglas fir nearly 200 feet high. It would serve as the spar tree once Fred had climbed and rigged it. He strapped the spikes onto the inside ankles of his boots, whipped the steel-core lifeline around the tree and secured it to the belt around his middle. He also secured a rope to his belt.

Then he pushed his tin hat back from his brow and began to walk his way up the tree, stopping every few steps to whip the lifeline higher on the tree trunk. When he reached the first branch, he pulled up a chain saw. Hanging in midair, he pulled on the starter cord until the saw sputtered into life. He cut off the branch above him, swinging around out of the way as the thick branch broke away and plunged to the ground.

Higher and higher he climbed, cutting off the limbs as he worked his way up to the treetop. When he was one hundred seventy feet up, he cut off the top of the tree. He worked the chain saw around the trunk so it would break cleanly and not split the top of the tree. That was a mishap that could ruin the spar tree and also kill the rigger.

Fred dropped his rope again and the crew below tied on a pulley. He pulled the pulley up and attached it to the top of the spar tree. He threaded the rigger's line through the block and dropped the line back to the ground where the crew loaded the giant mainline block, an enormous pulley, and hoisted it back up to Fred. He attached that pulley and threaded the mainline through it. He also attached the four guy lines to keep the spar tree from swaying.

While he toiled high in the air, the ground crew was also hard at work. The tree fallers were out on the slopes with chain saws cutting down the trees. The catskinner, a cigarette dangling casually from his lips, was roaring back and forth with his D-9 crawler tractor smoothing out the staging area that the loggers called a "yard."

By now, Fred had completed his task and descended with breathtaking speed to the yard. The donkey belched and roared, the mainline cable snaking the logs off the steep slopes and dragging them into the yard. A loader was picking up the logs one by one and loading them on the back of the first of several log trucks idling in the yard.

Years later, I watched Fred Gaboury win first prize in the high climbing contest during the logging show at the Sequim Irrigation Festival. He left the other contestants in the dust, racing up the 100-foot tree, his spurs flashing, the steel-core lifeline slapping as he raced up the spar tree and then slid back down.

Fred joined the staff of the People's World in New York City when I was editor in the 1990s. He often wrote under the name "Hy Climber" as his byline and he served as our most able labor editor. I will always remember him with his Paul Bunyan hands pounding away on his desktop computer with fingers so thick he struggled to hit the right keys.

All of us loved Fred for his hard driving, if too profane, approach to the class struggle. He was out of the office interviewing workers on their picket lines. He got to know top leaders like previous AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and AFSCME leaders Gerald McEntee and Bill Lucy. He was on a first name basis with all these leaders. They respected Fred, knowing he had "paid his dues."

Fred's display of courage and skill that day gave me a special appreciation of workers in basic industry. They need a fighting union---and a political party---of their own to defend their interests toiling in the nation's most dangerous industries.

When Fred Gaboury died in 2004, we ran this heartfelt obituary, and this from his memorial: What it means to be a Communist. Eds.

Fred Gaboury was a member of the Editorial Board of the People's Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo and wrote frequently on economic, labor and political issues. Here is a small selection of Fred's significant writings:

Eight days in May Birmingham and the struggle for civil rights

Remembering the Rev. James Orange

Memphis 1968: We remember

June 19, 1953: The murder of the Rosenbergs

World Bank and International Monetary Fund strangle economies of Third World countries

Photo: Fred Gaboury on a picket line interviewing workers. PW

Today in labor history: Police open fire on striking steelworkers

Fri, 30 May 2014 11:20:00 +0000

On this day in 1937, striking Steelworkers, along with family, friends, and supporters, were the victims of a vicious act of police brutality. In what would become known as the Memorial Day Massacre, police opened fire on the workers, who were marching to the Republic Steel plant in south Chicago to set up a picket line. The plant had refused to sign a union contract even after its larger counterpart, U.S. Steel, agreed to do so, which was what prompted the strike.

The police killed ten people in total and wounded 30 more, including those who were fleeing the attack. Meanwhile, 28 people were injured from police clubbing. Nine people were rendered permanently disabled from the injuries they suffered. No one was ever prosecuted.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

Walmart moms announce new strikes in 20 cities starting Friday

Thu, 29 May 2014 15:14:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, DC - Walmart moms-who experience constant financial insecurity because of Walmart's poverty pay-announced today that many will walk off the job in protest of the illegal firings of co-workers who have been calling for more hours and better pay. The group, members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) will take their concerns and calls for change directly to the company at its annual shareholders meeting and to board chairman Rob Walton.

Workers plan to walk off the job in over 20 cities nationwide as early as Friday. Citing the company's retaliation against workers, striking Walmart moms will join fellow workers, families, and community supporters nationwide who are calling on new Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to take the company in a new direction, one that will respect workers' rights and help strengthen families and the economy.

The annual shareholders meeting will begin as Walmart workers-part of the three-year old national organization OUR Walmart-make significant strides in changing policies of the country's largest employer, particularly in its treatment of women. Recently, Walmart improved its pregnancy policy after OUR Walmart members, who are also shareholders, submitted a resolution to the company about its pregnancy policy. And, responding to OUR Walmart members' growing calls on the retailer to improve access to hours, Walmart rolled out a new system nationwide that allows workers to sign up for open shifts in their stores online.

"We know that change is possible at Walmart. That's why I'm joining other moms at Walmart and going on strike. We have the right to speak out for better futures, and when we do it together-we make progress," said Lashanda Myrick who is a mother of two and works at Walmart's Denver store 2752. "But when Walmart continues to fire my co-workers for standing up for good jobs and hundreds of thousands of us are paid less than $25,000 a year, there's more work to do."

Recent policy changes come as same-store sales at Walmart have been negative for five consecutive quarters - in large part because many families do not have money in their pockets to shop at the company. Meanwhile, executives are moving the goal post to give themselves millions in bonuses despite missing performance targets.

Workers and economic experts say the country's largest private employer of women has created a financial crisis for women in America with low wage jobs that put the entire economy out of balance. The majority of Walmart workers are paid less than $25,000 a year - forcing many to rely on food stamps and other taxpayer-supported programs to survive. Working women-increasingly the breadwinners and decision makers in households-make up the majority of Walmart's workforce and are often hit hardest by the employer's poverty wages.

The most common job in the country is a retail salesperson, and women disproportionately hold the retail industry's lowest paid jobs. Elected officials, women's groups and economic experts point to Walmart, the standard-setter for the industry and employer of 825,000 women, as urgently needing to raise wages to boost the economy.

"Walmart moms-not the company's political designation, the real moms who work and shop at the mega-retailer-are facing constant economic insecurity because of the low-wage economy created by Walmart," said Ellen Bravo, director of Family Values @ Work and lifelong activist fighting for working women. "Working moms are the heartbeat of our workforce, and there is simply no way to get the economic recovery out of first gear without the largest employer of women creating family-sustaining jobs."

Leading women's groups-including the National Women's Law Center, the National Organization for Women, a Better Balance, Family Values @ Work and the National Partnership for Women and Families-have been mobilizing through a petition, member activism and events on Capitol Hill, calling on Walmart to fully upgrade its pregnancy policy so it protects all pregnant workers.

As concerns grow about wages, understaffing and alleged violations of labor law and the Foreign Corrupt Practices act, a number of shareholders and advisors are voicing their dissent for the company's leadership and voting against board chairman Rob Walton. Others have divested, including Portland, Oregon.

"When consumers and investors stand together, we can hold Walmart accountable and build an economy that works for everyone," said Paul Ferris, campaign director at SumOfUs.org. Over 50,000 people-including 16,000 mutual fund investors-have signed the organization's petition urging investors in Vanguard and Fidelity to send letters asking the funds to vote against board chairman Rob Walton at the shareholders meeting.

A new report from Americans for Tax Fairness shows that Walmart and the Waltons received tax breaks and subsidies to the tune of an estimated $7.8 billion in 2013. Marketplace recently revealed that Walmart is the biggest beneficiary of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps. Walmart takes 18 percent of all food stamp dollars-or $13 billion in revenue. A study from Demos shows that a minimum $25,000 salary at Walmart would not only help families, it would boost job creation, consumer spending and the company's bottom-line.

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

GOP Anchorage mayor calls union dues slavery

Thu, 29 May 2014 11:07:00 +0000

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Proving that stupid political statements are not confined to the "Lower 48" of the nation's 50 states, the Republican mayor of Anchorage, Dan Sullivan, has called union dues "slavery." And then he compounded the error.

Sullivan's characterization came at a candidates' forum for lieutenant governor hopefuls. He's seeking the Republican nomination for the state's number two political post. And he managed to get both the local NAACP and the Alaska AFL-CIO angry.

The brouhaha started when Sullivan was asked about so-called right-to-work laws, which bar clauses in union contracts letting unions collect dues from workers the contracts cover. Alaska is one of the nation's most union-heavy states.

The right-to-work laws are a favorite right-wing cause, because they deprive unions of money to even bargain, negotiate, and administer contracts. The lack of funds lessens workers' power to raise living standards through collective bargaining.

Sullivan likened mandatory collection of union dues to slavery. When the Associated Press questioned him about the statement, he changed his characterization to "economic slavery." The director of the state NAACP was, to put it mildly, upset. So was state fed President Vince Beltrami.

Realizing he had put his foot in his mouth, Sullivan then issued a statement, from his mayoral office, apologizing "if the use of the word offended anyone."

Whoops, Blunder Number Two: Sullivan used municipal staffers to issue the sort-of-apology. That breaks Alaska law barring use of civil service workers for political purposes, Beltrami said. The state fed filed a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and a ruling is expected by early June.

Photo: Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan. Bill Roth/AP & Anchorage Daily News

Today in labor history: Rochester general strike

Wed, 28 May 2014 14:55:00 +0000

On May 28, 1946, more than 30,000 workers in Rochester, N.Y., staged a successful one-day general strike. The strike was precipitated when city workers were summarily fired after attempting to form a union.

The anti-union action was taken by the Republican dominated city leadership and City Council. The workers had formed Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, Local 871 [now AFSCME].

The strike compelled Rochester's City administration to deal with local labor. That evening, state mediators, the Deputy State Industrial Commissioner and prominent Rochester religious leaders shuttled between the City Manager's office and Carpenters Hall and, by 2 a.m. May 29, a settlement was reached.

The May 30 issue of the "Democrat & Chronicle" newspaper ran a photo of the men who settled the city-wide strike, showing key labor leaders and city officials meeting at City Hall. "Labor News" heralded the outcome: "1-Day General Strike ends as City unions win recognition." The joint labor strategy committee issued a statement summarizing the agreement:

Reinstatement of all discharged workers
Dropping of illegal charges against arrested pickets
Recognition of city workers' right to organize a union and choose representatives to bargain with the city administration

For an interesting detailed description of the events leading to the strike, the strike and results, and a strike photo gallery, go to Rochesterlabor.org, sponsored by the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO and the Ronald G. Pettengill Labor Education Fund.

Photo: Education Committee Rochesterlabor.org

Today in labor history: Tule Lake internment camp opens

Tue, 27 May 2014 15:44:00 +0000

The infamous Tule Lake internment camp, where thousands of Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned during World War II, officially opened today in 1942 in northern California. Tule Lake was the largest and most conflict-ridden of the ten War Relocation Authority camps used to carry out the government's system of exclusion and detention of persons of Japanese descent. Mandated by Executive Order 9066, issued on February 19, 1942, some 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, were incarcerated in American concentration camps after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Tule Lake became the crucible for Japanese American resistance to incarceration during World War II.

With a peak population of 18,700, Tule Lake was the only camp converted into a maximum-security segregation center, ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army. Tule Lake was the last to close on March 28, 1946.

Among the people interned was a young George Takei, the actor who played Sulu on Star Trek. In 2004, Takei joined with others on a 4^th of July pilgrimage to Camp Tule Lake (his second as he also visited in 1996), writing: "It was there in a barbed wire camp built on a wind-swept dry lake bed that I spent two and a half years of my boyhood after a year and a half in another internment camp in Arkansas."

Just the name Tule Lake evokes many different emotions. The site, located just outside of Newell, Calif. in Modoc County, was the only camp that had a prison. Those who answered "no-no" to the government's loyalty questionnaire were sent to Tule Lake.

"Of all the wartime incarceration sites, Tule Lake tells the most extreme story of the government's abuse of power against people who dared to speak out against the injustice of their incarceration," said Barbara Takei, whose mother was incarcerated at Tule Lake. Barbara Takei (no relation to George) also co-authored "Tule Lake Revisited: A Brief History and Guide to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp Site."

In 2012, Modoc County officials wanted to build an eight-foot high, three-mile long fence around the Tule Lake internment site, which opponents said would detract visitors and ruin the memory of the camp. Roger Daniels, a professor emeritus of history from the University of Cincinnati, compared Tule Lake to Gettysburg calling the Civil War battle site a "shrine" and Tule Lake a "site of shame."

Bruce Embrey, co-chair of the Manzanar Committee said, "This is precisely why ... it's so crucial that we make all of the camps National Parks and really ensure that they are preserved." A part of the camp pilgrimage experience is the ability to see and feel what former internees did during WWII. "You just look at it and you think, 'Oh my God, this thing was massive.' And it's because you don't have any obstructions," Embrey said. "I think that's essential to understanding the character of the camps. If they do this [build the fence], this will be a tragedy." An active change.org petition can be found at http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-proposed-fence-at-the-tulelake-municipal-airport-site-of-the-former-tule-lake-segregation-center-california

Teresa Albano compiled this note using Tule Lake Committee's history, Pacific Citizen, George Takei's blog, Oregon History Project and Wikipedia.

Photo: A view of the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, circa 1942 or 1943.

Today in labor history: Steel Workers Organizing Committee dissolved

Thu, 22 May 2014 14:07:00 +0000

On this day in 1942, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was disbanded and replaced by the United Steel Workers of America (USWA).

The SWOC was founded by the CIO in 1936. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 helped open the door for organizing industrial unions. John L Lewis then heading the United Mine Workers actively pushed for organizing workers in the steel industry. In 1937 the SWOC successfully organized US. Steel.

The Little Steel Strike involving Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, National Steel, Inland Steel and American Rolling Mills. met stiff resistance resulting in 10 worker murders in Chicago's Memorial Day Massacre. Little Steel caved in a few years later in 1941. Communists, socialists and other left activists played a big role in activities of the SWOC.

Photo: Strikers of Republic Steel leaving Cleveland City Hall. Cuyahoga County, after being addressed by Al Balant, leader of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), 1937. Ohio History Central.

AFGE: Veterans Affairs Dept. problems include retaliating vs. whistleblowers

Thu, 22 May 2014 12:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI)--Problems at the Veterans Affairs Department, which have led to lawmakers probing the VA for lying about how it treats ailing vets and how long they actually wait for appointments and treatment, include past department retaliation against whistleblowers, the VA workers' union says.

And that means there must be strong protections for workers who speak out about abuses on the job, adds American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox, himself a retired VA nurse from North Carolina.

The uproar over the VA arose when other retired and former doctors and workers at the department revealed that injured and ailing troops waited weeks for appointments, but VA managers falsified the records to show they were treated quickly. Some of the wounded waited so long that they died before VA treated them.

The uproar has led veterans groups to call for housecleaning at the department, including firing Obama administration Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. Cox and local AFGE leaders who represent VA workers don't go that far but they do say the managers aided and abetted their lying by retaliating against rank-and-file VA workers who spoke the truth.

""These headlines aren't revealing anything that the VA didn't already know," Cox said in mid-May. "Our members have paid a heavy price for voicing concerns, submitting letters, raising issues in labor management meetings, and testifying before Congress on wait time issues and veterans' access to care.

"When they have sounded the alarm our members faced retaliation and intimidation. No one should have to choose between keeping their job and speaking out about threats to patient care. It is time for the VA to take swift action to end this culture of fear and cover-ups."

Retaliatory incidents Cox and his colleagues cited included:

AFGE Pittsburgh Local President Kathi Dahl was asked by the House Veterans Affairs Oversight Subcommittee in February 2013 to testify about an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease at the VA hospital there. Five veterans died and dozens more had been infected. The hospital had high Legionnaires' readings for at least a year before they were disclosed to Dahl. A VA manager told her to "call in sick" so she would not have to testify. She refused.

Dr. Michelle Washington, a union activist with AFGE VA Local 342, testified in a 2011 Senate committee hearing about inadequate staffing, lack of patient access to specialized care and prolonged waits for appointments. She also testified appointment data were manipulated. After her testimony, VA managers yanked some of her duties as a psychologist and gave her a negative evaluation.

The agency investigated Dr. Maryann Hooker, another AFGE activist, after she testified about the harm from proposed budget cuts and deskilling of the workforce in 2011. The VA's Office of Inspector General eventually had to intervene to clear her of unspecified charges, the union said.

Richard Griffin, the agency's acting Inspector General, testified on May 15 that VA's problems are system-wide because the agency has gotten away from making health care for veterans its top priority. He did not touch on the retaliation against the whistleblowers.

"The unexpected deaths the Office of Inspector General continues to report could be avoided if VA would focus first on its core mission to deliver quality health care," Griffin said.

"Its efforts would also be aided by discussion of the best organizational structure to consistently provide quality care. The network system of organization and the accompanying motto, 'all health care is local,' served the VA well over the last several decades but does not standardize the organization of medical centers. It is difficult to implement national directives when there are no standard position descriptions or areas of responsibility across the system.

"No two (VA) hospitals are alike. We believe it is time to review the organizational structure and business rules of VHA to determine if there are changes that would make the delivery of care the priority mission," Griffin concluded.

"We hope the agency will take a serious look at how facility directors and managers are carrying out the mission of the VA," added AFGE National VA Council President Alma Lee. "As the agency carries out its probe, we caution it not to target front line workers carrying out their duties as assigned, but the managers trying to change the rules and cheat veterans out of the care they deserve. VA should not be investigating itself under these circumstances."

"The employees caring for our nation's heroes work hard each day to carry out the mission of the agency, to provide our vets with world-class care," said Cox. "They shouldn't feel afraid to speak up against managers who are more concerned with securing bonuses than providing their patients with timely access to care for critical medical conditions.

Photo: Certified restorative nursing assistants trained in lift technology help a Korean War Veteran into his bed with a ceiling lift. (AP Photo/The Register-Herald, Brian Ferguson)

Today in labor history: Hawaiian workers win collective bargaining

Wed, 21 May 2014 13:18:00 +0000

On May 21, 1945, the Hawaii Employee Relations Act, often referred to as the Little Wagner Act, was signed in Hawaii, guaranteeing the predominantly Native Hawaiian and Asian immigrant pineapple and sugar workers the right to bargain collectively. Union activity, which was gaining momentum in the late 1930s, was suspended during WWII. After negotiations failed, a successful 79-day strike shut down 33 of the territory's 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week.

Oral History

"So, in a way, what I was thinking, our salvation in the plantation was that we could have a union. Because it was not a matter of wages and working conditions, but pride. . . . Because when you say you working for the plantation, you were pitied. That it was synonymous with one dollar a day and that you were living in one old plantation shack. So, union, to me, union is pride." - Robert Kunimura (sugar plantation worker, county worker, union worker), University of Hawaii at Manoa, Center for Oral History.

The Big Five

In the Territory of Hawaii, Union membership only totaled about 500 in 1935 as a result of the economic control wielded by the Big Five, an oligarchy of sugarcane processing corporations. Attorney General of Hawaii Dole in 1903 said, "There is a government in this Territory which is centralized to an extent unknown in the United States, and probably almost as centralized as it was in France under Louis XIV." (Hawaii was a U.S. territory for 60 years and was made a state August 21, 1959.)

The ILWU

But the International Longshoreman's and Warehouseman's Union (ILWU) had a long history in Hawaii:

By 1937, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) promoted collective bargaining and one year later these early unions affiliated with the West Coast ILWU as separate locals. Eventually workers formed four territory-wide locals: Local 136-Longshore and Allied Workers of Hawai'i, Local 142-United Sugar Workers, Local 150-Warehouse, Manufacturing & Allied Workers, and Local 152-Pineapple and Cannery Workers.

Eventually union membership grew to 10,000 but the establishment of martial law during World War II froze jobs and pay and union activity was curtailed by labor restrictions. Subsequently union membership declined to only 4,000 or less during the first years of the war although an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 temporary workers on O'ahu were members of mainland unions.

Under provisions of the 1945 Hawaii Employee Relations Act, representatives of the sugar industry and the ILWU signed the first agricultural labor contract ever negotiated in Hawai'i by free collective bargaining. The first ILWU agreement for sugar workers was signed by flashlight at night on top of a garbage can in the alley in back of the Waikiki Tropics.

It gave a seven-cents-an-hour increase in pay to 20,000 sugar workers who included Japanese laborers, provided for collective bargaining, and specified hours and working conditions.

By 1947, union leaders estimated that the majority of their 40,000 members belonged to the ILWU with other individuals belonging to the National Union of Maritime Cooks and Stewards, the American Communications Association, and the American Federal of Labor. While only twelve labor contracts existed in 1943, by 1947 there were 156 in existence in 116 separate business enterprises.

For a detailed account of workers' struggles in Hawaii, read "Fighting Paradise: Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawaii," by Gerald Horne (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press: 2011) 459 pp, reviewed here.

Photo: Sugar can cutters cutting sugar cane by hand at Makaweli Plantation, Kaua'i, ca. 1910. Kaua'I Historical Society archive photo by Ray Jerome Baker.

Today in labor history: First U.S. public school established

Tue, 20 May 2014 14:54:00 +0000

On May 20, 1639, the first American public elementary school was established in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The original Mather School was a single one-room schoolhouse building located on what was called "Settlers' Street." In 1645 the town declared that the Mather building's schoolmaster "shall equally and impartially receive, and instruct such as shall be sent and committed to him for that end whither their parents be poor or rich, not refusing any who have right or interest in the school." This was arguably the beginning of the idea of free public education for all.

The Mather School relocated to another, larger building, in 1798 after the town voted to sell the old schoolhouse. It remains active today, located on Parish Street several yards away from the original location. It is noted for its diversity amongst student and staff body, and is operating for students of the Dorchester district spanning grades K through 5.

Photo: The Mather School in its second iteration - 1905. Wikipedia (CC)

Unity was their cry: Fast food workers go global

Tue, 20 May 2014 13:24:00 +0000

CHICAGO - With fists in the air, tattooed teenagers joined with their sign-carrying elders in front of the Rock and Roll McDonald's here near the city's Gold Coast May 15 as part of the global fast food workers' strike. Hundreds jammed the narrow public sidewalk, sandwiched between the busy street and police car on one side and McDonald's "private property" on the other. A lone private security guard patrolled the billion-dollar fast food chain's perimeter. But when the disciplined crowd - in a show of brief and peaceful civil disobedience - surged onto McDonald's territory, there was nothing he could do. A policeman on his bicycle stood against the plate glass window of the restaurant also watching the protesters chanting in English and Spanish their demands: "What do we want? $15. When do we want it? Now." There was nothing he could do either. Like an idea whose time has come, there was no holding back this group of fast food workers and their supporters.

The movement of low wage workers demanding livable wages, dignity and respect on the job has gone global. From Sapporo, Japan, to Sao Paolo, Brazil, fast food workers walked off their jobs and joined unions and their allies in rallies and marches at McDonald's. Like Walmart in the low wage retail workers movement, McDonald's has become the global symbol of corporate greed in the fast food industry. Going up against the corporate giant, workers say their strength comes from their unity and solidarity.

LaRhonda Young, a cashier and crew leader at a South Michigan Ave. McDonald's, said the strike was a "great thing."

"As long as we stick together as a union, we'll get some justice. I believe that we can win."

Young's co-worker, Matthew Herring, has been working alongside Young at the same McDonald's for the last year and a half. Herring said he does a variety of jobs at the restaurant from maintenance to grilling to security. "If someone is unruly," he said, the male employees are expected to escort the person out.

"When I come in I have to go around the whole [parking] lot to clean up, do the windows and bathroom," he said. When he works the grill, it can get really hot, especially if the air conditioning is not working. "You be sweating," he said.

Herring is single but he helps out his sister and mother - sometimes - financially and his rent for a studio apartment is $550 a month. That means, if Herring works 40 hours per week, his monthly rent would be almost 50 percent of his gross pay.

But Herring doesn't see the Fight For $15 through his single lens, but through a much wider angle. With $15 an hour, " poverty would go down," he said, "people could buy stuff that they need, not want, NEED."

A truck rolled by and honked in solidarity. A loud "yeah" rose from the crowd. Wendy's and McDonald's workers spoke to the media. Coming all the way from Rockford, Ill., Jamie Branch, wearing her McDonald's uniform, told the media that she started at McDonald's at age 16 and made $3.35 an hour. Two and a half decades later she said she is a crew trainer and works hard at teaching new employees how to "do a good quality job according to McDonald's standards." Branch said her job is demanding and she takes it seriously, just as seriously as she takes the movement for higher wages and dignity. "We're making demands just like McDonald's makes demands. We want more money! We are fighting together and just like today it's a global movement now."

The Rev. John Thomas, a leader of the faith-labor group ARISE, joined the press conference and thanked the workers for "fighting for justice and dignity" for all. "It's a great day! You made news all over the world!" he said and the crowd went wild hearing that last part.

Thomas said he heard the owners of Chipotle make $25 million a year. "If the owners can earn that kind of money, you can earn $15 an hour."

Photo: Protesters in front of Chicago's Rock and Roll McDonald's demand a higher minimum wage and livable wages for fast food workers, May 15. (PW/Teresa Albano)

SEIU Attorney: Supreme Court case bigger threat than progressives realize

Mon, 19 May 2014 15:33:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - A recently argued U.S. Supreme Court case, pushed on the justices by the anti-worker National Right to Work Committee, is an even bigger threat to unions - and to progressives in general - than everybody realizes, a top Service Employees attorney who worked on the union's friend-of-the-court brief says.

And, anticipating that the majority of the justices may rule against her union and against unions in general in the case, Harris vs. Quinn, SEIU is already considering new ways of approaching and organizing workers, adds union counsel Nicole Berner.

Berner's warning came at a May 13 panel discussion at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. Panelists were scheduled to talk about the 1st Amendment - which guarantees freedom of speech - and campaign finance. And they covered several recent High Court rulings, including one earlier this year, that open the floodgates for unlimited flows of campaign dollars from corporations and the 1 percent.

The court uses the 1st Amendment's free speech guarantee to declare that "money is speech" and let the cash flow. But Berner said the justices may use the amendment's right of free association to grant the Right to Work crowd's demand: To bar unions from collecting money - even just money for contract bargaining and administration - from any worker.

"The Right to Work Committee and" dissident "home care attendants in Illinois said that by charging a fee for administering the contract, the union was violating their 1st Amendment right of free association," she explained. Lower courts tossed out the case, saying the Right to Work committee had no right to sue, because the payments didn't hurt that group. But the justices took the case. Illinois - the "Quinn" in the case is Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn - and the feds want the justices to dismiss it. The court will issue a decision by the end of June.

If the justices rule in the Right to Work committee's favor, they would, in one stroke "turn all 50 states into Right to Work states" where unions cannot insert provisions in contracts calling for dues deductions, she added. "By judicial fiat, Right to Work then becomes the law of the land." The justices would be saying "our whole collective bargaining system violates the 1st Amendment."

As a result of such a ruling, unions would have to rely on voluntary contributions instead, and the track record of that road shows revenues fall drastically. Though Berner did not say so, public sector unions in Wisconsin saw their revenues fall by half after Right Wing GOP Gov. Scott Walker rammed legislation through cutting off dues collections.

By yanking away the source of unions' money, "This decision would weaken the entire labor movement and the whole progressive community, because of the strength labor provides to it," Berner warns.

Her union, preparing for that worst case, says it leaves unions an alternative: Becoming a membership organization like the NAACP "where it could build power and people in the broad sense."

"This case is pushing us faster in that direction," she adds. SEIU is also changing to respond to the fact that "people don't work in set workplaces any more and in one job for 35 years. So we have to figure out a different way to be strong," she concludes.

For the W. Va. and Turkish Miners: Journal of Catherine Terry, 30 Nov. 1920

Mon, 19 May 2014 14:39:00 +0000

Diane Gilliam Fisher is a true poet of miners, their communities, their culture and families. Her poetic vision in "Kettle Bottom," her most recent collection from Perugia Press, stands out for its stark images of mining life, as well as the tender mercies bestowed on its working people, the unique beauties, terrors and tragedies that shadow and light their lives and their communities. You feel, like weight of the Earth beneath you, the unique contribution miners have made, and continue to make, to both national and international culture. The poem below, "Journal of Catherine Terry, 30 November 1920," copyright © 2004 by Diane Gilliam Fisher, is reprinted from "Kettle Bottom" with the permission of Perugia Press, Florence, Mass.

As a memorial for the two West Virginia miners and hundreds of Turkish miners who lost their lives this past week, it says more than 100 articles. We originally posted this in 2010 as a tribute to 25 miners who were killed at the Massey Energy mine in Montcoal, W.Va. It's a sad, ongoing story of corporate negligence and greed.
- John Case

Journal of Catherine Terry, 30 November 1920

The trump of the Last Day

could scarce cast such terror
as the siren. It blew
and the world froze. Children
making their way up the hill to the schoolhouse
suddenly stopped, staring at each other
in some nightmare version of their game
of statues. A woman sweeping her porch,
paralyzed, broom mid-thrash.
Another, arms half-lifted in her reach
to a clothesline, face whipped back
toward the siren's wail.
It lasted only a second, this Pompeii,
the terrible tableau vivant,
then everything fell to the ground, clattered
terrible - lunch pails, washtubs, buckets,
brooms - and the world began to pour,
as in a vortex, toward the drift mouth.
It breathed not smoke, but dust - a roof fall,
the mouth of the mountain clamped shut,
eating its children. The siren, merciless.
Merciless the men who got out
fighting rock to get back in.
The eyes of the women, merciless, watching
that mouth for what it would give back
or keep. Don't look, I thought,
for I had never seen a man die -
and wasn't Eurydice lost
on account of just such looking
down toward the underworld? But
their gaze was the only spell they had
to conjure faces out of that dark; it was a net
flung out between a black sky and a black sea
drawn back empty and flung again.
There was nothing else to do:
like Orpheus, I looked.

Photo: A 1912 postcard showing miners' wives and children heading home after picking coal out of refuse heaps for use at home. Original photo is by William J. Harris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/j3net/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Hartford and New Haven join fast-food workers strike in 150 cities

Mon, 19 May 2014 13:28:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. - Calling for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation, fast-food workers in Hartford and New Haven walked off their jobs Thursday as part of a wave of strikes in more than 150 cities across the U.S. and protests in 33 additional countries on six continents. In all, strikes and protests reached more than 230 cities worldwide.

"I can barely afford to get by on the wages I'm paid," said Kevin Burgos, who has worked at Dunkin' Donuts in Hartford for over eight years and has three children. "Dunkin Donuts makes tens of millions of dollars in profits every year. The CEO makes nearly $2 million a year. Yet they are not paying me enough to survive, even after years of service."

Workers went on strike at Hartford and New Haven major fast-food restaurants, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Dunkin' Donuts. Clergy, elected officials, and community supporters joined the strike lines.

"These are our family, friends, and neighbors, and I am proud to stand with them in this fight to earn a living wage," said Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden. "This is about putting a little extra in the pockets of struggling hardworking families, who will then spend that money in our communities, which in turn helps our economy."

Members of Congress, including Rosa DeLauro, joined strike lines around the country and released a video declaring their support for the workers.

"Where Congress is failing to take action to address inequality, these workers are leading the way," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-FL-MN. "Their fight for $15 and a union is a shining light that will ultimately benefit all workers in the country and help lift up our economy. It's clear this movement isn't going to stop until fast-food companies listen to the voices of these workers, who are struggling to support families on as little as $7.25 an hour."

In the U.S., fast-food workers went on strike in more than 150 cities from Oakland to Raleigh. Around the world, workers protested in 80 cities spanning nearly three-dozen countries, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Malawi, Morocco, New Zealand, Panama, and the United Kingdom.

Last week, workers and union leaders from dozens of countries met in New York City for the first-ever global conference of fast-food workers, organized by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), a federation composed of 396 trade unions in 126 countries representing a combined 12 million workers.

"After coming together in New York, the commitment of fast-food workers to fight for higher pay and better rights on the job has grown stronger," said Ron Oswald, general secretary of the IUF. "These unprecedented international protests are just the start of a worldwide campaign to change the highly-profitable, global fast-food industry. We're putting the companies on notice: make real changes now, or this global fight is only going to continue to spread."

A campaign that started in New York City in November 2012, with 200 fast-food workers walking off their jobs demanding $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation, has since spread to more than 150 cities in every region of the country, including the South-and now around the world. The growing fight for $15 has been credited with elevating the debate around inequality in the U.S. When Seattle's mayor proposed a $15 minimum wage earlier this month, Businessweek said he was "adopting the rallying cry of fast-food workers."

As it spreads, the movement is challenging fast-food companies' outdated notion that their workers are teenagers looking for pocket change. Today's workers are mothers and fathers struggling to raise children on wages that are too low. And they're showing the industry that if it doesn't raise pay, it will continue to be at the center of the national debate on what's wrong with our economy. A study released last month by the National Employment Law Project showed that the recovery has created far more lower-paying jobs than higher-paying ones.

"Fast food is driving much of the job growth at the low end and the gains there are absolutely phenomenal," said Michael Evangelist, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. "If this is the reality, if these jobs are here to stay and are going to be the core of our economy, we need to make them better by raising pay. "

Not only do fast-food jobs pay so little that a majority of industry workers are forced to rely on public assistance, but many workers don't even see all of the money they earn. Earlier this year, workers in three states filed class-action suits against McDonald's alleging widespread and systematic wage theft, and a poll by Hart research showed 89% of fast-food workers have had money stolen from their checks.

Companies like McDonald's are starting to realize they need to act. In response to the suits, the company said it was conducting a comprehensive investigation; while in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, McDonald's said a growing focus on inequality might force it to raise wages this year. And the spread of the movement across the world should cause further alarm. International fast-food restaurants are expected to expand at four times the rate of U.S. businesses, according to a recent Merrill Lynch report. And while US sales slump, companies like McDonald's are relying on growth overseas to boost their bottom lines more than ever.

With shareholder meeting season upon us, and a recent report showing the industry has by far the largest disparity between worker and CEO pay, scrutiny on fast-food companies is bound to intensify. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said, "Excessive pay disparities pose a risk to share owner value," and that conversations around inequality should move into the boardrooms of profitable fast-food companies. Meanwhile, USA Today called the growing worker movement, "the issue that just won't go away" for the fast-food industry.

Photo: Jake May/AP

Today in labor history: Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends

Fri, 16 May 2014 16:49:00 +0000

Today in labor history, on May 16, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising comes to an end as Nazi soldiers gain control of Warsaw, Poland's Jewish ghetto, blowing up the last remaining synagogue and beginning the mass deportation of the ghetto's remaining dwellers to the Treblinka extermination camp, according to history.com.

Shortly after the German occupation of Poland began, the Nazis forced the city's Jewish citizens into a "ghetto" surrounded by barbed wire and armed SS guards. The Warsaw Ghetto had an area of only 840 acres but soon held almost 500,000 Jews in deplorable conditions. Disease and starvation killed thousands every month, and beginning in July 1942, 6,000 Jews a day were transferred to the Treblinka concentration camp. Although the Nazis assured the remaining Jews that their relatives and friends were being sent to work camps, word soon reached the ghetto that deportation to the camp meant extermination. An underground resistance group was established in the ghetto--the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB)--and limited arms were acquired at great cost.

On January 18, 1943, when the Nazis entered the ghetto to prepare a group for transfer, a ZOB unit ambushed them. Fighting lasted for several days, and a number of Germans soldiers were killed before they withdrew. On April 19, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler announced that the ghetto was to be cleared out in honor of Hitler's birthday the following day, and more than 1,000 SS soldiers entered the confines with tanks and heavy artillery. Although many of the ghetto's remaining 60,000 Jewish dwellers attempted to hide themselves in secret bunkers, more than 1,000 ZOB members met the Germans with gunfire and homemade bombs. Suffering moderate casualties, the Germans initially withdrew but soon returned, and on April 24 they launched an all-out attack against the Warsaw Jews. Thousands were slaughtered as the Germans systematically moved down the ghetto, blowing up buildings one by one. The ZOB took to the sewers to continue the fight, but on May 8 their command bunker fell to the Germans, and their resistant leaders committed suicide. By May 16, the ghetto was firmly under Nazi control, and mass deportation of the last Warsaw Jews to Treblinka began.

The resistance fighters killed some 300 hundred German soldiers. The Germans expected no resistance, but preparations to resist had been going on since the previous autumn. The ghetto was almost entirely leveled during the uprising, and according to the official report, at least 56,065 people were killed on the spot or deported to German Nazi concentration and death camps. There were Jewish survivors, including resistance leaders. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising stands a symbol of tremendous courage in the face of extraordinary brutality. As the inscription of one of the monuments at the site reads: "[f]or those who fell in an unprecedented heroic struggle for the dignity and freedom of the Jewish nation, for a free Poland, for the liberation of man - Polish Jews."

Photo: Captured Jews are led by German Waffen SS soldiers to the assembly point for deportation to Treblinka. (CC)

America’s top hospital gets failing grade in treatment of its workers

Fri, 16 May 2014 14:16:00 +0000

BALTIMORE -Hospital workers were on the march in the pouring rain earlier this month at John Hopkins Hospital. One homemade sign probably best explained their concerns: "America's Number One Hospital - Keeping Workers in Poverty."

Close to forty busloads of healthcare workers from New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia joined with Johns Hopkins Hospital Local 1199, SEIU Healthcare Workers East in a spirited "Mothers' March for Justice" rally the day before Mothers Day.

Undaunted by a sudden storm the 3,000 union members, retirees and supporters enjoyed music, chants and speeches. Actors Danny Glover and Wendell Pierce of "The Wire" lifted the spirits of the workers by their supportive presentations.

Hopkins, America's #1 ranked hospital for over a decade, was lambasted by union members and medical students who have been up front in solidarity with the workers since before a three-day strike in early April. .

"Hopkins is the top medical institution in the world," declared Fred mason, president of the Maryland-D.C. AFL-CIO. "And they can't figure out how to treat their workers!"

"It is a contradiction for a place with a world-renowned reputation such as Johns Hopkins to pay its employees so little," said George Gresham, president of the SEIU local. The crowd cheered as he announced simultaneous support rallies taking place in Brazil and Panama and that one would be taking place later that day in Washington, DC.

A common theme at the rally was "Hopkins should be ashamed!" Two speakers from the stage exemplified ongoing support from Hopkins medical students. "We can't sit quietly by while you get treated this way," declared a grad student from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (named after the recently replaced mayor of NYC).

Contract negotiations between the union and Hopkins have been focused on maintaining benefits and working conditions won in years past, and elevating the minimum wage rate at Hopkins to $15 per hour. The current minimum is barely higher than the new Maryland minimum wage rate passed by the General Assembly, raising the wages to $10.10 per hour over the next four years. There are many examples of employees losing what they have in this difficult economy because they can't sustain their family on Hopkins pay. Hopkins in the meantime just completed construction of an entire new hospital facility, opened in 2012, at a cost of just over a billion dollars.

With $1.9 billion in operating revenues last year, and $145 billion in profits, 68 percent of Hopkins Hospital workers make less than the wage qualifying a single parent and child for food stamps. This is a remarkable lack of progress for the largest private employer organization in Maryland and harkens back to the 1960's, when even skilled trades at Hopkins such as electricians qualified for food stamps. The union was organized in 1969, 1199's first successful organizing campaign outside of New York City.

1199 SEIU pledged to continue the fight until justice is won for Hopkins caregivers. "By winning better wages at Hopkins, we can win a better Baltimore," the union flier, HardshipAtHopkins .org said.

Photo: Jim Baldridge/PW

Fast food workers strike in 150 U.S. cities and 36 countries

Fri, 16 May 2014 12:43:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - Calling for a living wage and the right to form a union without retaliation, fast-food workers here, across the nation and around the world walked off their jobs in an unprecedented wave of strikes that literally swept a the globe. Strikers in the more than 150 U.S cities involved demand both the union rights and a $15 an hour wage. Around the world more than 230 cities were involved.

"It feels good to be a part of history. It's been exactly a year here in St. Louis that fast-food workers first went on strike for $15 and a union and now our movement has spread all over the world," said Danielle Polk, 25, mother of 2, who works at a McDonald's on W. Florissant. "We will not sit and wait for these billion-dollar companies to pay us enough to feed our families. I've worked in fast-food for nearly a decade, and I know that change will not come unless we fight for it."

Workers went on strike at St. Louis' major fast-food restaurants, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC. Clergy and community supporters joined fast-food workers on the strike lines.

Beginning a little bit before 6am fast-food workers and community supporters filed into the McDonald's on W. Florissant Avenue chanting "Hey, hey, ho, ho, poverty wages have got to go". Over a dozen of the workers at the Ferguson McDonald's went on strike today for $15 an hour and union organizing rights. At noon, protesters arrived at the Wendy's on Gravois, just in time to catch four Wendy's workers walking out of the store. The four tossed their aprons and hats and picked up strike signs.

"Our communities deserve jobs that pay workers enough to live on, $7.50 is just not enough," said Dr. Rev. Martin Rafanan, co-chair of the Missouri Jobs with Justice and Community Director for Show Me 15. "We want good jobs that pay a fair wage, that's what our families deserve, and that's what will get the economy moving forward again."

In the U.S., workers went on strike from Raleigh to Los Angeles at major fast-food restaurants including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC. They held the first-ever fast-food strikes in Miami, Opelika (Ala.), Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento and San Antonio.

In Dorchester, Mass. managers closed down a Burger King where a half-dozen workers were striking. In St. Louis, a corporate McDonald's closed its doors at 3 a.m. because managers knew the entire morning shift was going to walk out, and reopened three hours later with managers at the helm. Nearly 20 workers from that store are on strike. There was no breakfast at a Chicago Burger King when striking workers forced the kitchen to close. Strikes forced a Wendy's in Pittsburgh to close, as well as McDonald's restaurants in Oakland and Sacramento. All non-managerial workers walked off their jobs at a First Hill McDonald's in Seattle, forcing managers to keep the store running.

San Diego fast-food workers led hundreds of religious and community supporters through a Burger King drive-thru Thursday morning, chanting, praying and holding signs that read, "Strike for Better Pay" and "Poverty Jobs Hurt San Diego." State legislators joined striking workers outside a Charleston, South Carolina Burger King and a McDonald's in New York City. And in Los Angeles, the Rev. Al Sharpton was expected to brave 100-degree temperatures to join protesters on a strike line Thursday afternoon.

Picketing in front of the McDonald's on Grand Boulevard in Detroit, 22 year-old Victoria Dunlap has one child she supports by working at the fast food giant. "It's very hard; I can't do it," she said. It's not the first time she's gone out on strike and Dunlap says it won't be her last. "Won't be peace until we win." She said she is overwhelmed that fast food strikes a year ago that involved only a few hundred workers have spread now across the globe.

In New York City fast food workers rallied at 34^th St., the maximum visibility epicenter of the nation's largest metropolis. "Fifteen and a union," the spirited marchers chanted.

Just a week before the protests in New York and around the world it was clear that even the CEOs of the profitable fast food chains are feeling the pressure. Fred DeLuca of the Subway chain said he has no problem with raising the minimum wage and the wages of his workers.

Members of Congress joined the picket lines around the country and released a video declaring their support for the workers.

"Where Congress is failing to take action to address inequality, these workers are leading the way," said Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn. "Their fight for $15 and a union is a shining light that will ultimately benefit all workers in the country and help lift up our economy. It's clear this movement isn't going to stop until fast-food companies listen to the voices of these workers, who are struggling to support families on as little as $7.25 an hour."

On Twitter, the #fastfoodglobal hashtag trended in nearly 20 U.S. cities from New York to Phoenix, and around the world it trended in 50 cities from London to Lagos. Overseas, workers protested in 80 cities from Paris to Sao Paolo. Banner-waving protesters in New Zealand kicked off the international protests with a demonstration at a McDonald's adjacent to corporate headquarters in Auckland, reading out the names of the 150-plus US cities on strike and calling for higher pay and better rights for McDonald's workers in New Zealand. The police in India tried to shut down protests, but workers were not dissuaded and held a demonstration in front of a McDonald's in Mumbai. On Friday, fast-food workers across Italy will walk off their jobs in a strike that is expected to bring the industry there to a standstill.

In the Philippines, workers held a flash mob inside a Manila McDonald's during the breakfast rush. They sang and danced to "Let it Go," from the movie Frozen, calling on McDonald's to let go of low pay and let workers organize. In Japan, where protests were held in nearly every prefecture, workers protested at a McDonald's in downtown Tokyo, adopting the U.S. workers' fight for 15 by calling for the company to pay Japanese workers 1,500 Yen. Bystanders stopped and applauded protesters in Sapporo, a rare occurrence in Japan. Protesters shut down a McDonald's in Brussels during the lunchtime rush.

A study released last month by the National Employment Law Project showed that the recovery has created far more lower-paying jobs than higher-paying ones. "Fast food is driving much of the job growth at the low end and the gains there are absolutely phenomenal," said Michael Evangelist, a policy analyst at NELP. "If this is the reality, if these jobs are here to stay and are going to be the core of our economy, we need to make them better by raising pay. "

Fast-food workers went on strike in the following U.S. cities:

Alameda, CA; Arvada, CO; Atlanta, GA; Auburn Hills, MI; Aurora, CO; Austin, TX; Ballwin, MO; Belleville, IL; Bellevue, PA; Berkeley, CA; Bloomfield, CT; Bloomington, IN; Boston, MA; Cahokia, IL; Cary, NC; Central Falls, RI; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Chesterfield, MO; Chicago, IL; Commerce City, CO; Concord, NC; Creve Coeur, MO; Dearborn, MI; Decatur, GA; Denver, CO; Dublin, CA; Durham, NC; East St. Louis, IL; Eastpointe, MI; El Cerrito, CA; Fairfield, CA; Farmington Hills, MI; Ferguson, MO; Ferndale, MI; Flint, MI; Flint Township, MI; Florissant, MO; Forsyth, MO; Fremont, CA; Glendale, CA; Glendale, WI; Greendale, WI; Greenfield, WI; Goldsboro, NC; Greensboro, NC; Greenville, NC; Grandview, MO; Gretna, LA; Haines City, FL; Hamden, CT; Hamtramck, MI; Hartford, CT; Harvey, LA; Hayward, CA; Henderson, NV; Henrico, VA; Highland Park, MI; Houston, TX; Huntington Park, CA; Indianapolis, IN; Inglewood, CA; Independence, MO; James Island, SC; Jennings, MO; Kannapolis, NC; Kansas City, KS; Kansas City, MO; Knightdale, NC; Lakewood, CO; Lansing, MI; Las Vegas, NV; Lenexa, KS; Lincoln Park, MI; Livonia, MI; Los Angeles, CA; Madison, WI; Milwaukee, WI; Melvindale, MI; Memphis, TN; Metairie, LA; Miami, FL; Miami Beach, FL; Miami Gardens, FL; Morrisville, NC; Mt. Olive, NC; Nanuet, NY; Nashville, TN; New Haven, CT; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; North Charleston, SC; North Las Vegas, NV; Oak Park, MI; Oakland, CA; Opelika, AL; Orlando, FL; Overland Park, KS; Pawtucket, RI; Peoria, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Pleasant Hills, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Pleasanton, CA; Plymouth, NC; Pontiac, MI; Providence, RI; Pueblo, CO; Raleigh, NC; Raytown, MO; Redford, MI; Redford Township, MI; Richmond, CA; Richmond, VA; River Rouge, MI; Rockford, IL; Roeland Park, KS; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Leandro, CA; San Lorenzo, CA; Seattle, WA; Seekonk, MA; Slidell, LA; Southfield, MI; Southaven, MS; Spencer, NC; Springfield, MO; St. Louis, MO; St. Petersburg, FL; Tampa, FL; Taylor, CA; Taylor, MI; Temple Terrace, FL; Union City, CA; University City, MO; Warren, MI; Warwick, RI; Waterford, MI; Wayne, MI; Wausau, WI; Wauwatosa, WI; West Allis, WI; West Milwaukee, WI; Westin, WI; West Memphis, AR; Westview, PA; Wilkinsburg, PA; Wheat Ridge, CO; West Haven, CT; Wethersfield, CT; Wilmington, DE; Windsor Locks, CT; Wentzville, MO; Williamston, NC; Winston-Salem, NC.

Fast-food workers protested in the following global cities/countries:

Akita, Japan; Aomori, Japan; Antigua; Auckland, New Zealand; Auxerre, France; Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Batangas, Philippines; Belfast, Ireland; Berlin, Germany; Bermuda; Bogota, Colombia; Bologna, Italy; Bordeaux, France; Brasilia, Brazil; Brussels, Belgium; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bussan, South Korea; Cardiff, United Kingdom; Casablanca, Morocco; Cebu, Philippines; Cesenatico, Italy; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Copenhagen, Denmark; Cork, Ireland; Curitiba, Brazil; Davao, Philippines; Djakarta, Indonesia; Dublin, Ireland; Florence, Italy; Fukuoka, Japan; Fukushima, Japan; Geneva, Switzerland; Gifu, Japan; Glasgow, United Kingdom; Goias, Brazil; Hachinohe, Japan; Helsinki, Finland; Hirosaki, Japan; Hong Kong; Kagoshima, Japan; Karachi, Pakistan; Kathmandu, Nepal; Kofu, Japan; Kyoto, Japan; Lahore, Pakistan; Leicester, United Kingdom; Lilongwe, Malawi; London, United Kingdom; Manaus, Brazil; Manila, Philippines; Matsuyama, Japan; Milan, Italy; Mito, Japan; Morioka, Japan; Mumbai, India; Nagano, Japan; Nagasaki, Japan; Nagoya, Japan; Nara, Japan; Newcastle, United Kingdom; Oita, Japan; Okayama, Japan; Osaka, Japan; Oslo, Norway; Panama City, Panama; Paris, France; Porto Seguro, Brazil; Rawalpindi, Pakistan; Rome, Italy; Saga, Japan; San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Salvador, El Salvador; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Sapporo, Japan; Sendai, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Sheffield, United Kingdom; Shizuoka, Japan; Stockholm, Sweden; Swansea, United Kingdom; Taipei, Taiwan; Takasaki, Japan; Tokushima, Japan; Tokyo, Japan; Trinidad; Valletta, Malta; Venice, Italy; Wigan, United Kingdom; Yamagata, Japan; Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Zurich, Switzerland. (Note that the Italian strikes are taking place May 16.)

Tony Pecinovsky, John Rummel and Gabe Falsetta contributed to this article.

Photo: Chicago fast food workers protest. Earchiel Johnson/PW

Fast food workers striking all over the world

Thu, 15 May 2014 14:22:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Today, fast food workers around the world are engaging in a one-day strike calling for higher wages and the right to form a union. The events are taking place on May 15 as a symbol of the $15 wage that is being asked for by workers in the U.S.

Workers are walking out and striking today in more than 150 cities around the United States and in 30 other countries, according to Josh Eidelson. Thousands of workers are expected to participate and many cities will be seeing their first fast food strikes.

The strikes are part of a growing trend where workers are refusing to sit by while their increasing productivity leads to greater corporate profits but that has little effect on stagnant or declining wages and benefits:

"We've gone global," said Ashley Cathey, a McDonald's worker from Memphis, Tenn., who makes $7.75 an hour after six years on the job. "Our fight has inspired workers around the world to come together."

Many of the international actions are focused on McDonald's, a worldwide leader in low-wage jobs: "Activists plan to hold a teach-in outside McDonald's head office in Auckland, New Zealand; to stage flash mobs at five McDonald's locations in the Philippines; and to shut down a major McDonald's during lunchtime in Belgium." The events around the world are being led by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations.:

"Working families everywhere are inspired by the spirit and the courage of fast food workers who are striking today in over 150 cities," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "Every worker deserves fair wages and the right to form a union without retaliation because no one who works full time should struggle to support their family. That's why the 'Fight for Fifteen' movement is growing bigger and protests are happening across America and six different continents. The message is clear: corporations should pay their employees fair wages and Congress should act so no one gets left behind. Only then will we have an economy that works for all working people."

You can follow the updates on the strikes on Facebook and Twitter and by following the hashtag #FastFoodGlobal.

The above story is reposted from the AFL-CIO Now blog.

Photo: Fight for 15 demonstration. Steve Rhodes/Flickr (CC)

Mine disasters in W.Va., Turkey tied to corporate negligence

Thu, 15 May 2014 13:02:00 +0000

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Two mineworkers were killed late Monday after being trapped in a collapse in a coal mine in Wharton, W.Va., operated by the Patriot Coal Company. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, Amy Louviere, said in an email to the New York Times that the Brody No. 1 mine had a "ground failure." That is a term that federal safety experts say indicates that a mine roof lacked the support needed to prevent it from caving in. Eric D. Legg, 48, of Twilight, W.Va., and Gary P. Hensley, 46, of Chapmanville, W.Va., died in the incident, which occurred at approximately 8:47 p.m.

The West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training confirmed that a fatal incident had occurred Monday night at the Patriot Coal Brody No. 1 Mine in Boone County, south of Charleston, the state capital.

No additional injuries have been reported, and no miners were reported trapped. The killed miners' bodies have been recovered. Federal and state mine safety inspectors are conducting an investigation at the site. Preliminary indications are that the incident resulted from a coal outburst. An outburst is the sudden and violent ejection of coal, gas and rock from a coal face and surrounding strata in an underground coal mine. Preliminary reports from emergency medical technicians at the site indicate the mine's two side walls caved in.

The company said in an email that the two miners who died "were conducting retreat mining operations, in which pillars of coal supporting the roof are removed." Retreat operations are usually performed in mines whose coal deposits are largely played out.

United Mine Workers of America Communications Director Phil Smith expressed heartfelt condolences and sympathy for the miners and their families but withheld further comment on the fatal incident until more is known. The mine is non-union.

St. Louis-based Patriot Coal Corp. has been the subject of a lengthy and bitter conflict over miners' pensions and health care. In a notorious scam, not uncommon in the coal industry, the company, in league with a bankruptcy judge, attempted to spin off all its valuable assets into a new company and escape its obligations to thousands of workers by wrapping a bankruptcy chain around them and, by a legal maneuver, throwing them on the scrap heap. UMWA President Cecil Roberts has personally suffered arrest numerous times in protest against this action by Patriot.

The New York Times reports that the Brody mine has a history of federal citations for safety violations, according to inspection reports on the safety and health administration website dating to January 2011. Federal officials notified Patriot in October that the mine exhibited "repeated violations of mandatory health or safety standards." Forty-six citations, including 16 in 2013 and 2014, were for unwarrantable failure to comply with safety rules, which the agency defines as "aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence." In the 12 months that ended Aug. 31, 2012, the mine was cited for more than 250 significant and substantial violations, meaning that they were reasonably likely to cause a serious injury.

The Charleston Gazette reported on Tuesday that federal audits in 2012 and 2013 uncovered 37 injuries to miners that the company did not report to federal safety officials. In addition, federal records show that the mine, which employs about 300 people, produced a million tons of coal last year, a substantial amount in a region that has been mined intensively for scores of years.

Patriot's executive vice president for operations, Mike Day said, "We express our deepest sympathies to Eric's and Gary's families, friends and co-workers." He promised: "We are fully cooperating with state and federal mine regulatory agencies to investigate this incident."

U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., had a different tone. "Along with West Virginians everywhere, my prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families of the two coal miners we lost last night," the senator said. "We know that mining deaths and injuries are preventable, and last night's tragedy is particularly troubling given the operator's history of safety violations. Every step must be taken to make sure this operator - and all operators for that matter - are held accountable for the safety and health of their miners," .

The fatal incident comes at a moment of increased tension over mine safety worldwide, with the media filled with reports of nearly 300 Turkish miners killed by faulty air ventilation equipment. Turkish unions announced a one-day strike in protest. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, in a statement about the tragedy in Turkey, called it "a stark reminder of the danger workers face every day around the world due to corporate negligence and the failure of governments to protect their citizens." UMWA President Cecil Roberts said, "The magnitude of this tragedy is appalling. I see where the media is calling this an industrial 'accident,' but a disaster on this scale is no accident. This mine was clearly a bomb waiting to go off. There could not have been any regulatory enforcement or company oversight of what went on in that mine."

It is worth noting, for mine safety observers, that U.S. mining operations, while still dangerous, have far lower death rates than other countries for two reasons: first, higher wages incentivizes investments in safer and more productive mining technology; and second, the presence of union contracts and laws that penalize safety violations. Both of these are primarily the result of the century-long struggle of the United Mine Workers union in the nation's coalfields. In many countries, however, labor is so cheap that there is no incentive for corporations to invest in safer but more expensive technology, and companies have every excuse to substitute labor for capital and keep labor costs as close as possible to a subsistence level.

Photo: Union mine workers hold a meeting underground. UMWA Facebook page

Union leader says Supreme Court favors billionaires over workers

Thu, 15 May 2014 12:54:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court's campaign finance rulings "open the gates to billionaires" to capture the U.S. political process while shutting workers out, AFSCME President Lee Saunders says.

Speaking recently at a Center for American Progress forum on campaign finance, Saunders said the court's campaign finance rulings, including one earlier this year, are part of a "business-friendly pattern" the court majority created.

The pattern also includes a court ruling against the Service Employees in a prior term, saying local and international unions could not add extra assessments for politics and lobbying without separate member approvals.

"The court's decisions have given billionaires more and more latitude into turning our democracy into a plutocracy," Saunders said. "And corporations have found a friend in the Supreme Court."

"Meanwhile, our right to represent workers is under question" from the justices, he warned, referring to a case the justices are wrestling with now, Harris vs. Quinn, over whether public sector unions can charge workers fees for basic functions such as contract bargaining and administration (see separate story).

"What does it mean when the court says 'Corporations are people'? It means working families are feeling more and more unstable," Saunders declared. "Our economy is unbalanced and broken."

Unions, he said, will have to fight back with "grassroots power," knocking on doors - union and non-union - and discussing the economic imbalance, how it affects people and how the court affects it. And that also means pointing out that presidents nominate and senators confirm Supreme Court justices, so voters should make that issue a high priority when casting ballots, Saunders added. And they'll enlist non-union progressive allies in doing so, he said.

Unions "are going to be building not just a trade union movement, but a movement, talking about the importance of all of us being engaged in this battle, in this fight for the future of our nation."

Photo: Lee Saunders. Greater Boston Labor Council