People Before Profit blog

Today in labor history: Workers perform "Pins and Needles" on Broadway

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Today in labor history, Nov. 27, 1937, the pro-labor musical revue, "Pins & Needles," opens on Broadway with a cast of International Ladies Garment Workers Union members.

The International Ladies Garment Workers Union used the Princess Theatre in New York City as a meeting hall. The union sponsored an inexpensive revue with ILGWU workers as the cast and two pianos. Because of their factory jobs, participants could rehearse only at night and on weekends, and initial performances were presented only on Friday and Saturday nights. The original cast was made up of cutters, basters, and sewing machine operators.

According to theater critic John Kenrick, "Pins and Needles" is "the only hit ever produced by a labor union, and the only time when a group of unknown non-professionals brought a successful musical to Broadway." The Cradle Will Rock composer Marc Blitzstein was among the contributors for the book, "Pins and Needles."

Photo: Wikipedia/CC

AFGE: GOP senators want to “Walmartize” workforce

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:20:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) - A wide range of federal budget-cutting options, listed but not advocated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), would if adopted badly hit federal workers who already suffer from past budget-cutting, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) says.

Not only that, but three GOP senators want to "Walmartize" federal workers by eliminating regular pensions for all new hires, the union adds.

The union's critique comes as congressional negotiators, facing a mid-December deadline, try to come up with an agreement on the shape of the federal budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and beyond. If they don't find a solution, a second round of automatic budget cuts, called "sequestration," starts in mid-January.

The budget bargainers are considering some of the ideas CBO discussed. The most notable is reducing the yearly increase in Social Security benefits by linking it to the "chained CPI" rather than the prior year's hike in the regular Consumer Price Index. The new linkage would reduce benefits by thousands of dollars for each Social Security recipient, but CBO contends there would be no change in this fiscal year.

Except for the chained CPI, which would also affect federal and military pensions, AFGE did not discuss CBO's cuts affecting the nation overall, other than pointing out that its tables include them. CBO made no specific recommendations, other than presenting the list and the detailed rationale for each cut. It also calculated and discussed eliminating tax loopholes and deductions.

AFGE took strong exception to CBO's proposals for federal workers:

CBO's "1.2 percent increase in federal employee contributions to their pensions ...would affect every employee hired before 2013," the union said. It noted that as part of the current sequester, new hires must contribute 2.3 percent more of their paychecks to retirement funds.

"The CBO used the race to the bottom - the fact that a large number of private-sector employers no longer provide health insurance or defined benefit retirement for their retirees - as a rationale for proposing this option, which would cost federal employees $19 billion," the union said.

Pension cuts for workers who retire starting this January. A federal retiree's pension is now calculated based on the highest average basic pay the worker earned during any three consecutive years of service. CBO would change the base to five years, thus reducing the average pay. Pensions would be 3 percent lower than otherwise under the calculation. "Their rationale again is the race to the bottom," costing workers $6 billion, the union said.
Smaller annual raises. Right now, when federal workers' pay isn't frozen - as it was for three years - workers get raises based on yearly percentage increases in employment costs, minus 0.5 percent. CBO would double the reduction, to 1 percent, starting in 2015, AFGE says. CBO says that move would save $800 million next year, and $53 billion through 2023 - the cost to workers that AFGE cited.
Cut the federal workforce by 10 percent by filling only one of every three vacancies. "Doing more with less would cost federal employees $43 billion between 2015 and 2023. CBO acknowledged the federal workforce 'may already be under strain from cost-cutting measures and that further reductions could impede the government's ability to fulfill parts of its mission,'" AFGE noted.

Ironically, a separate CBO option says the Defense Department could save money by retiring 70,000 soldiers working in "civilian support" positions, and replacing them with 47,000 civilian workers. Civilians are cheaper, CBO says: Zero difference in 2014, $300 million savings in 2015 and $20 billion cumulative savings from 2014-2023.

While CBO's options and estimates are all just a compilation, the pension reduction scheme from Sens. Thomas Coburn, R-Okla., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., is real. Their bill would eliminate regular pensions for any new workers the feds hire.

That measure is "a renewed attempt to Walmartize the federal government, which could well send its employees to the welfare lines," the union warned. Current workers would keep their current pension plan. New workers couldn't get in.

"In introducing the bill, the senators cited the for-profit private sector's practice of providing meager benefits for their workers," AFGE noted.

It singled out Burr for contending that "'Right now, federal government workers receive far more generous retirement benefits than private sector employees. The cost to taxpayers of these benefits is unsustainable and we simply cannot afford it. We cannot ask taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for public employee benefits that are far more generous than their own.'"

"Burr's 'we just don't have the money' premise is fundamentally wrong," AFGE retorted. "The Federal Employee Retirement System is fully funded. It was designed to make it impossible to ever be underfunded. The average FERS pension hovers right around $12,000-$13,000 - not anybody's idea of a Cadillac retirement."

Photo: AFGE activists hold demonstration in Beaumont, Texas. Facebook page.

Labor Dept. releases list of “books that shaped work in America”

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 11:46:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - To commemorate its centennial, but also just in time for the holiday shopping season, the U.S. Labor Department has released a fascinating list of "books that shaped work in America." And it wants its readers and viewers to jump in with their own choices, too.

That's because, as chief department spokesman Carl Fillichio notes, "The list is a work in progress, just like our nation.

"We welcome book suggestions from union members, labor educators, union leaders, retirees and advocates. The goal of the effort is to spark discussion and engage people from all walks of life in the history, mission and important resources of their Labor Department," he adds. Post suggestions at www.dol.gov/books/form.

The written works are a varied and, some would say, eclectic, lot. Books on DOL's list range from right-wing favorite Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged to Upton Sinclair's muckraking The Jungle, which led to regulation of the horrific meatpacking industry. Some touch on the lives of workers in various ways - such as McGuffey's Eclectic Primer from the 1800s, August Wilson's collected plays and Walt Whitman's poetry. And you can look for the work connection in children's books like Ian Falconer's Olivia and Mo Willems' I'm a Frog.

The book with the most obvious union connection is William Serrin's 20-year-old Homestead: The Glory And Tragedy Of An American Steel Town. Serrin began with the 1892 strike and the steelworkers' confrontation with company-hired Pinkertons.

"Much of what makes up America can be examined in Homestead," Serrin writes. "The rise of industrialization and the breaking apart of industrialization, the role that immigrants played, the migration of black people to the North, authoritarianism and the acceptance of it, contention between workers and employers, the role of unions in American life, the heroism of ordinary people in the face of the strongest adversaries, how America uses things - people, resources, cities - then discards them."

Other books with pro-worker viewpoints include Working by Studs Terkel and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickeled And Dimed In America.

Several books deal with the struggles of women and African Americans to get ahead, including at work. Besides Wilson's plays, that group includes Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's recent memoir, My Beloved World, and many more.

The Labor Department believes all of them had some influence or something to say about work. Business gets mixed reviews in the department's book list. Titles range from the "free market" Capitalism and Freedom by economist Milton Friedman to gripping exposes such as Gerald Thompson's Working in the Shadows.

Check out the list, and submit your own suggestions.

Photo: Department of Labor

Lorain, Ohio unions elect independent slate

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 17:10:00 +0000

The election report to delegates at the Central Labor Council (CLC), in this union-dense Ohio home of the state's largest steel and auto manufacturing facilities, was one of a different type this November. That's because it was mainly a report on the victories of a newly formed independent labor slate of candidates, two dozen strong, that the labor federation recruited, ran and elected.

Riding a progressive national wave of electoral victories, all of the labor candidates had strong showings and all but two were elected.

"This was a step we took reluctantly, when the leaders of the (Democratic) Party just took us for granted and tried to roll over the rights of working people here, we had to stand up." stated Lorain County AFL-CIO President Harry Williamson.

A series of disputes between organized labor and the Democratic leadership led to the CLC's decision to work with allies, and run their own, independent slate of candidates for office.

After years of working to build a labor-community partnership, a Lorain Project Labor Agreement (PLA) was passed under former Mayor Tony Krasienko, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers union. But this May, under current Mayor Chase Ritenaur, just two months after its passge the City Council repealed it.

The PLA required that city contracts be manned by a unionized workforce that was at least 75% local and 9% minority during the period of the project.

"It took us three years to negotiate this historic agreement," said Joe Thayer, marketing director of the Sheet Metal Workers, "and it took them three days to kill it!"

Ritenauer backed repeal of the PLA and the Lorain City Council voted 8-2 in favor of the repeal.

It was reported that an estimated $29.6 million in city road and water projects were soon to be awarded.

"Before we had the PLA, Lorain regularly hired contractors from outside the city and county," stated Rick Lucente, councilman and Steelworkers union member, who voted no on the repeal motion. "It's about having work for people who live here and pay taxes here. Repealing the PLA is taking work away from people here and revenue away from our city."

The next big fight developed over a contract dispute involving the Teamsters union and the city. Mayor Ritenauer with some of the councilmen borrowed city trucks from nearby Elyria, also a Democratic stronghold, and returned, actually working on the trucks to try to break the Teamsters strike.

"That was the final straw," according to Williamson. "You just plain do not cross a picket line and scab! There has to be a line in the sand!"

Then, when the mayor scheduled the PLA repeal vote after petitions for partisan primary challenges against incumbents were due, the CLC decided to run its own slate of candidates.

A slate of two dozen labor-supported candidates, mostly union members, was set up to run against the incumbents.

"We intend to stand with you and with all of Lorain County's working people," said union teacher and newly elected 8thWard council member Josh Thornesberry, who'd just triumphed over incumbent Frank DeTillio, who is president of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce. "This is just a first step, but we'll be taking many together in the future."

Thornesberry, along with fellow victors Greg Argenti and Mark Craig and IBEW member and candidate Dave Schaffer, was attending the CLC meeting to thank the federation for its support. Schaffer, in his first run for office, had fallen just 26 votes short in his race for a council seat in nearby Amherst.

The union crowd, some in "Independent Labor Party" shirts that the CLC had ordered for the campaign, greeted the candidates with loud cheers. Rather than bravado, the floor represented a sense of strength and optimism.

"We need to use this victory to build wider unity," said Thayer. "We didn't pick this fight, but we had to finish it. We need to build stronger alliances, work with more friends, even if we put our issues on a back burner to help and fight for our friends in the communities. We need to keep reaching out and show that our interests are the same as others. If we do that, then we'll grow."

The Lorain CLC is a very wide labor federation, with teachers, police and the United Food and Commercial Workers represented. The United Auto Workers CAP Council also attends all CLC meetings and the CLC leaders attend CAP meetings, as well. A local immigrant rights organization is also slated to affiliate this month.

In answer to an angry letter from Lorain County Democratic Party Chair Tony Giardini that called for Democratic union leaders to resign from party posts, the floor decided not to publicly reply, but to offer to buy a table to the upcoming party dinner and give all proceeds to Matt Lundy, a progressive Democratic state representative who is now running for the only GOP-held county commissioner position.

"It wasn't our first choice, but hopefully this can help bring the Democratic leaders to their senses. If not," said Machinist Art Thomas, "we've shown them that we can work with our friends and elect our own!"

Corrected 12/5/13 by the author, to more accurately state some of the chronology behind the labor decision to run an independent slate.

Today in labor history: FDR establishes Thanksgiving holiday

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Today in 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

The tradition of celebrating the holiday on Thursday dates back to the early history of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, when post-harvest holidays were celebrated on the weekday regularly set aside as "Lecture Day," a midweek church meeting where topical sermons were presented. A famous Thanksgiving observance occurred in the autumn of 1621, when Plymouth governor William Bradford invited local Indians to join the Pilgrims in a three-day festival held in gratitude for the bounty of the season.

But what most people don't know about that first Thanksgiving was Miles Standish, who was the Pilgrims' brutal military leader, had gone into Pequot territory in October of 1621 and "cut the head off a Pequot man named Wituwamat and murdered his family. Standish then brought back the head to Plymouth where it was displayed at the settlement wall on a wooden spike. That same week the Puritans held their first Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the harvest and the victory of Miles Standish against that Pequot community," writes Andrea Perkins in "View from Indian country: Turkey with a side of death."

Yet, Thanksgiving became an annual custom throughout New England in the 17^th century, and in 1777 the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the Patriot victory at Saratoga. In 1789, President George Washington became the first president to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday, when, at the request of Congress, he proclaimed November 26, a Tuesday, as a day of national thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution. However, it was not until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to fall on the last Thursday of November that the modern holiday was celebrated nationally.

With a few deviations, Lincoln's precedent was followed annually by every subsequent president-until 1939. In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt departed from tradition by declaring November 23, the next to last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving Day. Considerable controversy surrounded this deviation, and some Americans refused to honor Roosevelt's declaration. For the next two years, Roosevelt repeated the unpopular proclamation, but on November 26, 1941, he admitted his mistake and signed a bill into law officially making the fourth Thursday in November the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving today is celebrated in multiple ways and has multiple meanings from "its overdose of the four Fs: food, family, friends, football," writes Elena Mora in "Thankful for Thanksgiving," to "[t]he paired images of collective suffering and human solidarity; the celebration of fall, the harvest, nature's bounty; expressing appreciation for comfort and company." Thanksgiving 2013 also has an additional side: struggling for higher wages and dignity on the job as the Walmart Black Friday protests get underway.

Photo: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt watches as President Franklin D. Roosevelt operates on the big turkey, setting in motion the annual Thanksgiving feast at Warm Springs, Ga., November 29, 1935. Roosevelt signed the bill making the fourth Thursday in November the official Thanksgiving on Nov. 26, 1941. (FDR Presidential Library and Museum/CC)

Unions organizing aid for Philippines, Midwest disasters

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:31:00 +0000

The nation's unions responded to the twin disasters of the last two weeks - the enormous typhoon that struck the Philippines and the late-season tornadoes that devastated towns in the Midwest. Union members sent aid to both, and to the Philippines, nurses.

The Fire Fighters coordinated disaster relief with their locals, and offered grants to any IAFF family that lost its home to any of the 81 tornadoes sighted in the Midwest. Local members from Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio also responded to storm-related calls for help. The hardest-hit area was in the middle of Illinois, from Grundy County south of Chicago south to Champaign and southwest to the Peoria area.

In Michigan, the Utility Workers reported their crews toiling for Consumers Energy there were working round the clock to restore power to 172,000 people. Utility crews from eight other states came to help out.

The disaster that Typhoon Haiyan created in the Philippines: whole cities and villages are smashed, at least 10,000 people are dead, power is out - possibly for a year - and bodies must be hastily buried in mass graves to prevent epidemics. Food and water are short.

So is medical care, and National Nurses United dispatched teams of volunteer nurses to the hardest-hit areas to run makeshift clinics to tend to health needs of homeless Filipinos. The first team of 370 volunteer NNU nurses landed in the Philippines the Friday after Haiyan hit. Another 2,500 are planning to go, too.

The typhoon destroyed several hospitals, along with homes, schools, power lines, bridges and virtually everything else, NNU Vice President Zenei Cortez later told a press conference upon returning to San Francisco after leading the first NNU group.

"As U.S. nurses, we have seen the effects of deadly storms and disasters and the pain it causes for our families and communities. We know the difference it makes to provide support and assistance in an hour of need. We will do whatever we can to aid our sisters and brothers in the Philippines," the union said.

The Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance, the AFL-CIO constituency group that includes Filipino-Americans, called the Nov. 9 typhoon one of the worst such storms ever to make a landfall. APALA asked for financial donations from members to fund "food, water, blankets, medicine and other relief materials" via private organizations.

The aid is not going through the Philippine central government, which is overwhelmed, or local governments, whose officials may be viewed there as corrupt, inept or both, and whose facilities were also smashed.

"Entire cities have been flattened, tens of thousands of people have been left homeless, children have been made orphans, the livelihoods of countless households have been destroyed. Streets clogged with debris and bodies have made it difficult for aid and relief services to reach many areas, especially those inhabited by indigenous communities," APALA said.

The Teachers immediately donated money for Philippine relief and opened its disaster relief fund to U.S. relatives of Philippine victims to send further aid.

"We have many Filipino members in Baltimore, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey California and throughout the U.S. who are desperately seeking information about family and friends. AFT set up a toll-free hotline and an emergency e-mail address to assist in any way we possibly can," the union added.

"The Philippines now faces the daunting task of rebuilding communities left without essentials such as food, shelter, clean water, schools, healthcare, power and transportation. Many of our affiliates asked us to provide any help we can in the recovery effort."

Photo: RNRN nurses providing care at rural health clinics in Northern Panay island, Philippines. Click here to see more photos on Flickr >>

Ohio voters make progressive shift

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:17:00 +0000

Voters in Cincinnati, Ohio, by huge margin, turned down a tea party initiative that would've wiped out public worker's pensions in that city. As part of a larger, progressive wave that swept across the state and nation, Cincinnati became the first city in the nation to turn back one of these ALEC-inspired, anti-worker so-called "pension reform" initiatives.

Heavily funded by the extremist right-wing Liberty Initiative and National Taxpayer's Union, the Cincinnati ballot issue would've shut down that city's public worker's pension system, replacing it with 401 k funds. While other ballot measures, supporting the city and schools, passed easily, the tea party backed issue went down in flames, 79-21 percent.

The Cincinnati ballot issue showed a lineup of political forces that completely isolated the extreme right-wing tea party, a lineup that some national commenters have seen developing across the nation. Cincinnati's labor movement organized a massive campaign against the issue, mobilizing their members and friends, organizing phone banks, mailings and a huge door-to-door campaign. The faith community, represented by the Faith Alliance, campaigned against the issue, as did both major political parties and their mayoral candidates. The City Council voted unanimously to oppose the issue, as did all retiree organizations.

"I just want to thank all the AFL-CIO unions that mobilized people and especially the faith groups," said Cincinnati AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Doug Sizemore. "I just can't tell you how proud I am of all the people here. When they saw all that outside money, all those extremist outside tea party folks coming in here, people knew they weren't coming here to help us out. It was just like SB 5, the same huge coalition. We beat them last year, now we've beat them in this fight and we'll beat them again if they try to push right to work on us!"

"It was the unity of labor, with retirees and the community that won this fight," according to Bentley Davis, of the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA). "If they'd been able to convince Cincinnatians to vote to wipe out worker's pensions, every other Ohio city would be next in line. Our unity and the grassroots mobilization of real people stopped them in their tracks!"

Returns from major races across Ohio followed this pro-labor, progressive, trend. In Toledo, Mayor Michael Bell, a first-term African American Democrat and former unionist who'd switched sides to support SB 5, even making TV commercials to push the Republican legislature's attack on Ohio's public worker's bargaining rights was soundly thrashed, 58-42 percent, by labor-supported Independent Michael Collins. Collins is also a unionist, the former president of Patrolmen's Association, which is affiliated with the local AFL-CIO. Collins opposed SB 5 and has stated that he will stand against any attempt to pass so-called right-to-work legislation in the state and has pledged to treat workers fairly.

"Public workers are not the cause of the crisis we're in," stated George Tucker, Executive Secretary, Greater Northwest Ohio AFL-CIO. "Attacking working families, supporting SB 5 and right to work, like Bell was doing, harms us and hurts the whole economy. We're glad that all the unions, the community of faith here and our friends agreed that we've got to go in a better, more progressive, direction!"

"It was just like the SB 5 campaign," said Toledo SOAR President Dave Bilski. "All the AFL-CIO unions helped out, and the UAW mobilized their folks also. People are finally waking up. These tea baggers want their own paychecks but want to cut Social Security and steal what we've all worked our whole lives to earn!"

Dayton followed the same trend, electing progressive Democrat Nan Whaley and a labor-supported slate of candidates to replace the outgoing conservative Republican administration in what has previously been a GOP leaning area. Whaley won the general election after winning a primary that featured two Democrats, when voters eliminated all Republicans from the run-off.

"Nan has been there with us, on the ground, in all our fights" said Charlie Morton, Executive Secretary of the Miami Valley labor federation. "She fought alongside us against SB 5 last year and she's stood up against right to work this year. People here sent a message."

Another tea party backed ballot initiative, which would've gerrymandered voting districts and effectively eliminated county governance, was solidly shot down in Ashtabula, 68-32 percent.

"We got letters to editors published here that exposed ALEC and the tea party for what they really are," stated Wally Kaufman, with the AFL-CIO retiree council. "We ran a campaign to expose the outside corporate money behind this scheme. When people saw all the outside corporate money coming in and when labor set up phone banks, the door-to- door walks, we just buried them!"

In Cuyahoga Falls, the Republican mayor, Don Robart, who'd held that office for three decades, also fell victim to his support for SB 5 and GOP extremist policies and was beaten by labor-supported Democrat, Don Walters.

Middletown, home to AK Steel, saw its city council overturned, sweeping out incumbents who'd championed laying off city workers as the "fix" to local problems. Organized labor ran a major campaign to turn them out.

On the day after elections, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown held a well-attended news conference in the steel city of Warren to announce his support for S 567, the 'Strengthen Social Security Act,' which would raise the artificial cap on FICA taxes and require the wealthy to begin paying their fair share. Brown also pledged to support legislation to change the cost of living formula for Social Security to reflect the actual costs to retirees, as opposed to the reactionary CPI cuts being touted by corporate spokesmen, and to oppose any attempts to cut Social Security in any form. He is also co-sponsoring, with Senator Dick Durban, D-Ill., the "Protecting Employees in Corporate Bankruptcy Act," which would take worker's issues from last, as they are now, to first in any corporate bankruptcy proceedings.

"We've gone from a nation that protects our senior citizens, who've built this nation, to one that throws retirees to the wolves, due to policies pushed by the Republicans and corporate extremists. We must fight to rebuild the retirement security that we'd fought for and won. That," according to Senator Brown, "is in the interest of our entire nation!"

"This is a great day for Ohio," said Norm Wernet, President of Ohio ARA. "The tea party, right-wing extremists were soundly defeated and this lays the basis for beginning to pass legislation to regain retiree security which the right wingers and corporations have stolen from retired Americans."

Photo: Seth Perlman/AP

Today in labor history: First-ever U.S. teacher walkout

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:10:00 +0000

On this day in 1946, a teachers' strike in St. Paul, Minnesota became the first-ever organized walkout of teachers in the United States. It was organized by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, Local 28, and was a month-long action involving over 1,165 teachers and principals.

The "strike for better schools" was intended to reform the way the schools were administered and operated, and also how workers there were treated. The strike lasted until December 27, both drawing national attention and being perceived as a success.

The teachers won a number of victories including salary increases for teachers, the distribution of free textbooks for students, and better treatment of teachers in general.

Photo: Today in labor history Tumblr

Texas strikers picket Walmart in Black Friday warm-up

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 11:24:00 +0000

DALLAS - Activists and Walmart employees joined together to stage a protest at the Walmart Supercenter in Lancaster, a suburb of Dallas, Nov. 20. Approximately 80 people from a diverse array of groups, including the AFL-CIO, Worker Defense Project, United Food and Commercial Workers, and OUR Walmart, joined with 18 Walmart employees and sympathizers in an action that lasted nearly two hours.

The assembled group sought to raise awareness of Walmart's unfair and discriminatory employment practices, which include poverty wages, lack of benefits, and retaliation for the expression of basic workplace rights. The group sang and chanted slogans such as "Whose Walmart? Our Walmart!" while displaying signs giving disturbing statistics about Walmart's profit strategies. The action, held on the edge of Walmart's property along a busy frontage road, attracted a visible and positive response from passing motorists.

After a brief confrontation with police and store management, Walmart strikers entered the property and picketed the store's entrance. In response to this, an additional Walmart employee walked off the job and joined the strikers on the spot.

Those present included Mark York, principal officer of the Dallas AFL-CIO, and Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller, along with national representatives from the UFCW. Many of the Walmart strikers addressed the crowd to share their reasons for the action, along with tales of Walmart's reprehensible employee practices. These included the company's willful blind eye toward employee complaints and requests; the threat of retaliation, including termination, for taking action' and a general atmosphere of gross disrespect from management.

The strikers' primary aim is to call attention to their need for higher wages to attain a basic level of economic security. Walmart employs approximately 1 percent of the U.S. population and offers an average annual salary of $15,576, well below the federal poverty level set at $22,050. In recent months, a nationwide movement has gained momentum to pressure Walmart into changing the practices that condemn a large number of Americans to poverty.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if Walmart raised the average yearly pay to $25,000, 700,000 Americans would immediately rise out of poverty. This additional income, once injected into the national economy, would account for the creation of 100,000 new jobs. Demos published a 2013 report that concluded Walmart could accomplish this without even raising in-store prices. Walmart's current agenda is seen as reflecting endemic, inexcusable greed among the company's upper echelon, a fact that many rank-and-file employees will no longer tolerate.

North Texas, along with Southern California, has emerged as a national center for widespread anti-Walmart sentiment, spearheaded by a broad coalition of current and former employees, along with pro-labor organizations and liberal sympathizers. The federal government has even weighed in with a recently announced decision from the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute Walmart for violation of workers' rights. Organizers called the Nov. 20 action in Lancaster a broad success for its increased attendance and vibrant enthusiasm. They plan a follow-up event on Nov. 29, "Black Friday," at the Walmart Supercenter in Balch Springs, Texas.

Photo: Protest at the Walmart Supercenter in Lancaster, Texas, Nov. 20. Douglas Matus/PW

Workers plan nationwide strikes against "bully" Walmart

Fri, 22 Nov 2013 16:23:00 +0000

Instead of crazed shoppers, Walmart can expect massive protests outside its doors the day after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday." In a Nov. 22 press conference, members of OURWalmart announced that workers throughout the U.S. are planning strikes, walkouts, and demonstrations at 1,500 Walmart locations - up from 1,200 in 2012.

The actions will be "one of the largest mobilizations of working families in American history," organizers said. Protesters will call for Walmart to raise its labor standards, including increasing wages and ceasing to threaten its employees with disciplinary measures when they attempt to organize.

Conference moderator Barbara Gertz, a five-year Walmart worker from Colorado, noted that more than half of the big-box giant's hourly employees make less than $25,000 per year. She remarked, "Why do we, workers at the world's largest company, have to band together just to afford Thanksgiving dinner? Yes, Walmart 'associates' stick together and look out for each other. We have to, because Walmart and the Waltons seem to be fine with the financial struggles we're all facing."

As noted in a follow-up press release, "Walmart makes more than $17 billion in profits, with the wealth of the Walton family totaling over $144.7 billion - equal to that of 42 percent of Americans."

Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst and OURWalmart member, pointed out that there's simply no excuse for that sharp inequality. There are clearly measures the corporation could take to treat its workers more fairly. For example, she said, "We looked at the billions that Walmart spends annually on unproductive investments on Wall Street. If it diverted these funds, it could raise workers' wages. Walmart also spends money on share buybacks, which don't always even benefit investors in the long term. This, too, could be going to workers."

She noted, however, "Walmart's current business model is certainly benefiting the heirs to the Walton fortune. But unfortunately, that's not the case for workers, or for taxpayers who end up subsidizing Walmart's payroll."

Dorian Warren, an associate professor at Columbia University who spoke at the news conference, added, "We think of Walmart as the embodiment of what's wrong with the American economy. For the typical worker, it represents the death of the American dream and the decline of social mobility. But OURWalmart members are trying to revive the dream. Working families are fighting back like never before, and they have the support of America behind them."

The demonstrations will be another step in the battle against Walmart's anti-worker practices, coming right behind a recent victory for workers, when the National Labor Relations Board decided to charge and fine Walmart for illegal retaliations against its employees who spoke out for better jobs.

Warren continued, "Black Friday 2013 will mark a turning point in American history. 1,500 protests against Walmart is unprecedented."

Gertz emphasized that Walmart workers are simply looking for justice and fairness. "We're all in the same situation, one that Walmart creates by paying us poverty wages that aren't enough to cover holiday meals," she said. "We don't want handouts, we want an employer that pays us enough to afford Thanksgiving dinner - and dinner every night of the year."

"Walmart is just a bully," declared Dallas worker Qulima Knacp. "And the only way to fight back against a bully is to speak up. People across the country are starting to see the real Walmart, and that's why I continue to stand up, because the time for change is now."

Photo: Demonstrators protest in front of a Walmart in Chinatown in Los Angeles. ChangeWalmart Tumblr page, courtesy of BlackFridayProtests.org

Today in labor history: Jack London, writer, socialist, dies at 40

Fri, 22 Nov 2013 13:51:00 +0000

Jack London, novelist and passionate advocate of labor unions, socialism, and the rights of workers, died at age 40 from kidney failure on Nov. 22, 1916. Best known to U.S. readers as the author of Call of the Wild, London also wrote several powerful works dealing with workers, capitalism and socialism - these include his famous dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction critique of capitalism and poverty The People of the Abyss, and an essay collection titled The War of the Classes.

Born in San Francisco in 1876, John Griffith London was the child of an unmarried mother who had come from a once wealthy family that had fallen on hard times. He took the name of John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran his mother married in 1876, the year Jack was born.

Growing up in poverty, London had a youth filled with hard work and adventure. Before he reached the age of 19, he worked in a cannery, a jute mill, and a streetcar power plant, sailed as a seaman on a sealing boat, hoboed around the country, and joined Kelly's Army of unemployed protesters against economic inequality in the U.S. At 19, he crammed a four-year high school course into one year and then enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, but quit after a year because of financial hardship. Instead he joined the Klondike gold rush.

London only spent a brief time in the Klondike in the winter of 1897. Like most gold seekers, he suffered extreme physical hardship and his prospecting efforts failed. But he returned to California with a trove of stories that eventually made him wealthy. He published his first stories of the Alaskan frontier in 1899, and eventually produced over 50 volumes of short stories, novels, and political essays. His 1903 novel about a domestic dog who joins an Alaskan wolf pack, The Call of the Wild, brought him lasting fame.

Despite his early identification with rugged individualism and fierce competition, London, through his life experiences, became an outspoken socialist and supporter of the American labor movement. He colorfully described his transformation in a 1903 essay titled How I Became a Socialist.

A commentator describes London's novel The Iron Heel as "London's attempt to consolidate his ideas about the struggle between the working class and the looming spectre of capitalism, as epitomised by the shadowy The Oligarchy. It was Marxism for fans of ripping yarns."

"One message of the novel stands true today: those on the poverty line can only achieve some sort of economic level playing field against the ruthless elite - identified today as that 1% of the planet who own 50% of the wealth - by joining together for common causes."

Photo: Portrait of young Jack London. UC Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Truckers support Walmart workers ahead of Black Friday

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Hundreds of workers' actions against Walmart nationwide this year will occur on Black Friday, Nov. 29 -- the day after Thanksgiving. All the actions are important indicators of the rising discontent nationwide against low wages, bad benefits, income inequality and the corporate-engineered "race to the bottom" - with Walmart leading the way.

An early action against the megamonster, known for its always-low wages, always-bad benefits and rampant labor law-breaking, came Nov. 18.

On the ground, more than one third of non-union "independent contractor" truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles walked out against Green Fleet Systems, Pac9 and American Logistics International. These three firms' fleets truck imported goods from the port inland to Walmart's warehouses, and to warehouses for other retailers.

The walkout "put a serious crimp in their operations," Teamsters Local 848 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Tate, who coordinated the action, said in a phone interview. The firms couldn't move their goods to warehouses of Walmart and other retailers. "We put a line up" and drivers refused to cross it, he explained. "We had the streets backed up a mile long." And unmanned trucks were stuck inside the warehouse lots.

Backed by the area Teamsters Joint Council 42, which sent trucks and logistical support, some drivers continued their walkout through 4 p.m. the next day, Tate adds. Teamsters from Seattle, L.A. and even New Jersey joined the truckers who walked out. And, off truck firm response to a prior walkout in August, Tate doesn't expect retaliation.

"In the end, all three of the trucking firms that employ the drivers are taking them back," Tate said. "They were even calling us, asking when the drivers are going to come back to work. We'll continue this until we're able to organize the port drivers."

All this precedes Black Friday, the busiest and most-chaotic day of the holiday shopping season. Last year, Walmart workers, who are not organized by any union, but who have organized themselves into OurWalmart to campaign for better wages and working conditions and respect on the job, used Black Friday as a high point in their nationwide campaign of 1-day walkouts and picketing.

This year, Walmart workers and their allies plan a similar cascade of 1-day walkouts and picketing of Walmart stores and supercenters coast to coast, with the aid of groups ranging from Jobs With Justice and the AFL-CIO to the Corporate Action Network. And Walmart workers in Chicago and Seattle staged 1-day walkouts earlier this month to protest the firm's labor law-breaking last year, the network reported.

Besides pay and working conditions, the L.A. port truckers also protested their "misclassification" by the firms as "independent contractors." They have no labor law rights and can't be organized. Each trucker must pay for Social Security, Medicare, workers' comp and other taxes as well as their tires, gas and insurance.

But the truckers say they're really under the companies' control and thus should be "employees," protected by labor law and not liable for the other payments.

Unions and their allies strongly support the truckers and the Walmart workers. "The company is illegally trying to silence employees who speak out for better jobs," said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice/American Rights at Work.

Photo: Corporate Action Network

Today in labor history: Zumbi, leader of community of freed slaves, beheaded

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 13:11:00 +0000

On this day in 1695, Zumbi dos Palmares, leader of a Brazilian state of freed slaves was beheaded by the Portuguese.

Zumbi helped lead Quilombo de Palmares, a community that organized at its height some 30,000 inhabitants in a territory the size of Portugal. The maroon community led armed rebellions, encouraged slaves to escape, and withstood an almost century long military assault. They were finally overcome by superior artillery.

McDonald's tells workers to sell their Christmas gifts for cash

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 15:38:00 +0000

McDonald's can't stop, won't stop dolling out bizarre "advice" for their employees, including a set of "tips" ranging from stress management techniques to how to get a quick buck. Low Pay Is Not Okay once again highlights the fast food giant's latest head scratcher, which appears on the employee website McResources Line.

Among the tips the chain offers to employees:

Go on at least two vacations a year. Apparently this cuts your heart attack risk by 50%! You know what else cuts your risk of heart attack? Being paid a living wage so you're not struggling to make ends meet.

Break your food into pieces. If you take smaller bites you'll probably eat less. Ahh yes, totally reasonable to take nutrition advice from someone who really knows.

Eat cheese. But only small bites of cheese. Bonus points if you buy it with your food stamps!

Sing out loud to lower blood pressure. I mean if Justin Timberlake does then by god you should too!

Sell your unopened Christmas presents and other possessions on eBay or Craigslist. Just rip that brand new toy straight from your sobbing child's hand. They'll totally understand.

Quit complaining. "We told you how to make a budget what more do you want?!"

The above article, written by Nell Casey, originally appeared in the Gothamist.

Photo: Courtesy of the Gothamist.

Walmart seeks food donations for its workers

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 15:05:00 +0000

Proof that the retail behemoth is failing to pay its workers a living wage is the launching of food drives by Walmart in at least one of its stores this week. A plastic bin appeared in a Canton, Ohio, Walmart with signs that read: "Please place food items in this container so our associates in need can have a good Thanksgiving!"

Terrie Napolitano, a Lodi, N.J., resident who shops at several Walmarts, said she saw a similar bin at a store in her area. She commented, "How about paying them something substantially more than $7.25 an hour?" Napolitano, 58, is a union worker in the deli department of a large supermarket chain.

"What kind of damned nerve does it take to ask poorly-paid coworkers and low wage workers who come in to shop to donate so Walmart workers can have enough to eat? " Napolitano said she went over to the courtesy desk in the store to complain to the store manager right after she saw one of the collection baskets.

"He tried to tell me there was nothing wrong with Walmart doing that. He said it showed that Walmart people cared about each other and were willing to extend themselves for one another. What a load of baloney.

"In my store we get free turkeys from the company - we have a union, health care and paid sick and vacation days. There is no reason why this can't be done in Walmart." Napolitano, who works for a Shoprite chain, is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

When the courtesy desk at the Walmart store in Chicago's West Loop was contacted, the person answering the phone said the problem did not exist in that store because no one was collecting any food donations there. When asked whether the store manager could comment on why Walmart, during the holiday season, couldn't consider paying a living wage instead of holding food drives the person on the phone said Walmart only answers questions like that when they come from associates.

Walmart workers have been staging strikes and protests all over the country, demanding a living wage and better working conditions.

Workers at Walmart, the largest employer in the nation, labor leaders and community leaders from all across the country held a press conference in Washington DC this week where they announced plans to turn the biggest shopping day of the year - Black Friday - into one of the largest mobilizations of workers in U.S. History.

The action will be in support of Walmart workers who are planning strikes, walkouts and demonstrations at Walmart stores from coast to coast that day.

"Count on the full support of the millions of working people who belong to our unions," said Richard Trumka, president of the 13 million member AFL-CIO.

The bravery of fast food and retail workers who have been willing to risk everything by fighting for their rights has impressed many.

"I want to be able to take care of my family," Los Angeles Walmart worker Anthony Goytia told a press conference called during strikes by Southern California Walmart workers last week. "And that's why I'm risking everything - my livelihood, my ability to provide for my family, my ability to pay rent on time, put food on the table, everything, by challenging a company that penalizes and even fires workers who speak out for better jobs."

Photo: J Pat Carter/AP

(This story was edited on November 22nd.)

Today in labor history: Employee time clock invented

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:21:00 +0000

On this day in 1888, the employee time clock was invented by Willard Bundy, a jeweler in Auburn, N.Y. Bundy's brother Harlow started mass producing them a year later.

This mechanical or electrical timepiece tracked the hours an employee worked and was used by the employer to calculate pay. This flawed method was based on the employer's idea of economic vitality - profits.

Today's workers punching the time clock face such critical issues as wage theft, unpaid overtime and low wages that do not meet the cost of living.

Struggles to raise the minimum wage, the fight for better wages and working conditions and for union representation, as well as legal victories for back pay are some ways that men and women in the work force along with unions, community organizations, campus groups, faith based groups and others punch back today.

In economic terms, workers are compelled to produce far more value for the capitalist than they are paid in wages - they produce more than the cost of maintaining their ability to work, their labor power. This is the source of surplus value for a small class of people who own the means of production such as factories and mines, along with big box stores and fast food places.

Every gain for workers in wages, equal pay, health benefits, etc., comes out of this surplus value, the surplus value that make some few people billionaires while working people punch the clock.

Photo: Time clock in a museum. Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. to prosecute Walmart for violation of workers' rights

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:06:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The National Labor Relations Board General Counsel is issuing a decision today to prosecute Walmart for its widespread violations of its workers' rights. The decision will provide additional protection for Walmart's 1.3 million employees when they are speaking out for better jobs at the country's largest employer.

The Board will prosecute Walmart's illegal firings and disciplinary actions involving more than 117 workers, including those who went on strike last June, according to the decision.

The decision addresses threats by managers and the company's national spokesperson for discouraging workers from striking and for taking illegal disciplinary actions against workers who were on legally protected strikes. Workers could be awarded back pay, reinstatement and the reversal of disciplinary actions through the decision; and Walmart could be required to inform and educate all employees of their legally protected rights.

"The Board's decision confirms what Walmart workers have long known: the company is illegally trying to silence employees who speak out for better jobs," said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice and American Rights at Work. "Americans believe that we have the responsibility - and the right - to speak out against corporate abuses of workers, and this proves we're finally being heard, and making kinks in Walmart's armor. Customers, clergy and community members from across the country are standing with Walmart workers bravely calling for better jobs and a stronger economy for all of us."

Today's decision addresses charges filed one year ago in advance of Black Friday 2012, when Walmart managers escalated their efforts to threaten and discourage workers from going on legally protected strikes. David Tovar, spokesperson for the company, even went so far as to threaten workers on national television, saying "there would be consequences" for workers who did not come in for scheduled shifts on Black Friday.

Additionally, the decisional covers the illegal firings and disciplinary actions that occurred after 100 striking Walmart workers took their concerns to the company's June shareholder meeting in Bentonville. Support from investors, Walmart workers and the general public continued to grow after tens of thousands of shareholders heard from OUR Walmart members at the company's annual shareholder meeting.

When these workers returned to work, Walmart systematically fired and disciplined them despite their legally recognized, protected absences. This included disciplinary action against at least 43 workers and the firing of at least another 23 worker-leaders.

"Working at the largest employer in the country should mean making a decent living. Those days are long gone," said Tiffany Beroid, a Walmart worker from Laurel, MD. "Walmart continues to show that it's afraid to have real conversations about creating better jobs, but would rather scare us into silence. But change at Walmart is too important to our economy and for our families for us to stop speaking out."

Prior to the extended strike in June, American Rights at Work/Jobs with Justice released a white paper documenting Walmart's extensive and systematic efforts to silence associates. At that time, there were more than 150 incidents in stores across the country, with few signs that Walmart would soon stop targeting those who speak out and act collectively.

In other labor charges against Walmart, workers have been winning. In California alone, the National Labor Relations Board recently decided to prosecute Walmart for 11 violations of federal labor law from some threats made around Black Friday last year.

In Kentucky, one settlement was reached between Walmart and Aaron Lawson in which Walmart fired Lawson after he distributed flyers and spoke out against the company's attempts to silence those who called for better wages and consistent hours. As part of the settlement, Walmart agreed to rehire Lawson and provide full back wages for the time that he was out of work.

Photo: Mel Evans/AP

Young workers may pay zero premiums under Obamacare

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:25:00 +0000

According to a report prepared by three independent Wall Street analysts up to seven million people could qualify for federal subsidies that will pay the entire premium cost of some health plans being offered in the online marketplaces set up under Obamacare. The bulk of these policies are so-called "Bronze" plans offered in the Obamacare exchanges, which are divided into platinum, gold, silver and bronze "metal" categories, each of which offer a different mix of premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

The no premium plans were designed to encourage young and healthy people to enter (some) exchanges easily, enroll, and not worry about paying a penalty. Even low premium Bronze plans may be effectively premium-free if income is between 138 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty levels, which entitles millions of workers to subsidies often greater than the premium. (Workers with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty levels (varies with family size) are eligible for expanded Medicaid and do not have to choose any plan from the exchanges.)

However -- just because a plan is "premium-free" does NOT mean its free. It's free UNTIL you get sick! Once you get sick, very high deductibles and co-payments for medical services and drugs will be billed to the "Bronze" patient. We are talking between $6,000 and $12,000 approximate maximum out of pocket expenses per family per year, varying with income. But its worse. Even these generous (to insurance companies) caps have been quietly postponed until 2015. So if you get sick in 2014 on a Bronze plan, there may be NO CAP on what doctors and hospitals may charge you. A $6000 bill on a $14-per hour distribution center worker can easily put him or her in bankruptcy country even with a CAP - never mind if there is NO CAP!

Subsidies for individual, as well as employer, plans are available, on basically the same terms. There has been a lot of phony hoorah from enemies of health care as a human right, and some backboneless Democrats as well, over cancellation of substandard individual plans. These are inferior plans that provide largely fictitious coverage: the deductibles, exceptions and co-pays are so egregious they will bankrupt most any worker who has to use the so-called covered services and medicines. Obamacare subsidies will make many of those with inferior, individual plans able to switch to better, standard and guaranteed plans free of premium charge as well! And those with premiums to pay are finding $50 a month premiums instead of the inferior plan's $250 a month premium.

In West Virginia, the intense struggle over Obamacare implementation is fully engaged. The Attorney General, Patrick Morrissey, is a tea party fanatic in the mold of Virginia's Ken Cuccinelli (just defeated in race for governor). He has waged bureaucratic and legal war against the release of funds to assist and educate people in enrolling in the exchange - part of the ongoing war by the ultra-right that has contributed to the very wobbly national roll out. But, at the same time, the state's health and human Services organization launched a very aggressive drive to enroll eligible workers and families into expanded Medicaid. To date, over 65,000 have already been enrolled - 25 percent of the West Virginia uninsured population! The governor estimates over 100,000 more will be eligible for this life-saving program.

The true bonanza in the Affordable Care Act for the millions of uninsured and under-insured workers below about 25,000 in annual income is expanded Medicaid. Compensation for doctors and hospitals under expanded Medicaid have been raised to Medicare levels - long a demand of physicians serving Medicaid patients. That the Supreme Court and arrogant, plutocratic, mostly southern governors and legislatures have denied this fully funded right to their working citizens are acts frankly beyond contempt. African American, Latino, and Asian American workers, youth everywhere, plus the millions of Walmart, fast-food style service workers will be punished disproportionately for no reason other than service to neo-Confederate, the-people-are-entitled-to-nothing", master/servant ideologies.

If recent zig zags and conflict over implementation of the health care law have proven anything it is this: The labor movement - and its allies - should consider a national patients rights organizing drive. Workers not in unions, independent contractors and others will need representation at many levels to resolve conflicts, and contradictions in the emerging health care system.

They are the guarantors of quality care, of establishing beyond challenge health care as a human right. They deserve a seat at the table of every health care institution and delivery system.

Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP

Today in labor history: Popular Socialist Youth formed

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 10:54:00 +0000

On November 18, 1944 in Cuba, the Popular Socialist Youth was founded, as a continuation of the Cuban Revolutionary Youth, and as the youth wing of the Popular Socialist Party. Raúl Castro was a member of the group for a time, having joined in 1953.

The Popular Socialist Youth had some notable campaigns including playing a major role in the opposition to a proposal to send 2,000 Cuban troops to participate on the U.S. side in the Korean War.

In 1962, the Popular Socialist Youth merged with the Rebel Youth Association to become the Young Communist League.

Photo: Raul Castro (left) with Che Guevara in 1958. Wikipedia (CC)

NLRB: Groups’ call center fired worker for union activism

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:43:00 +0000

PORTLAND, Ore. (PAI) - A federal administrative law judge has ruled the Fund for the Public Interest broke federal labor law when it fired pro-union phone fundraiser David Neel last November from the fund's Portland, Ore., call center.

In a 28-page ruling, administrative law judge Margaret Brakebusch ordered the Fund to offer Neel full reinstatement and back pay plus interest, which could total around $26,000.

"I feel it's a genuine vindication for everyone the fund has fired," Neel said. "They've taken every opportunity to fire people, and they've been getting away with it."

Fund for the Public Interest is the fundraising arm of a national network of groups that includes state PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) as well as environmental groups like Environment Oregon, Environment Colorado, and the National Environmental Law Center. The fund signs up members for its affiliated groups using door-to-door and on-street canvassers in 40 states, and then hits them up for additional contributions from call centers in Boston, Sacramento, and Portland.

But draconian pay and discipline practices led workers at the Portland call center to join Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7901 in November 2011. Two years later, they still have not reached agreement on a first union contract, and in that time, the fund has fired at least a dozen union supporters.

In at least eight of those terminations, CWA filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging the fund fired the workers because of their union or related activities. If true, that would be a violation of federal labor law. Board officials dismissed every unlawful termination case except Neel's, saying "evidence was insufficient."

Of course, that's not the same as saying the fund was innocent.

Most of the workers were fired for missing a fundraising quota for two consecutive weeks. But union supporters are convinced managers are purposely assigning them tough call lists, tough enough that top fundraisers who never missed a quota in years can be terminated in two weeks' time.

As yet, the union has been unable to prove that managers are tailoring the call lists to get rid of union activists, despite the fact that every worker who initially led the union drive has been fired. If a manager were to come forward with smoking gun evidence, those cases could be reopened, with the fund on the hook for bigger damages.

Brakebusch's decision is based on a 2-day hearing on Aug. 6-7 in Portland, in which both sides presented sworn testimony. Just before the hearing began, the fund offered Neel full back pay - about $23,000 at the time - if he would agree to drop the case. He refused.

In the hearing, the fund denied it fired Neel for his union activism, but Brakebusch found fund managers' testimony to be contradictory and not credible. Neel was one of the fund's top fundraisers. He had never failed to meet his weekly quota since starting in Spring 2011, and he had earned the fund's top rate of $14.50 an hour since January 2012. But he was also a thorn in management's side.

Though unionizing was a collective decision by the fund's phone call center workers, Neel was, as one co-worker put it, the "flaming tip of the spear for the union." Or, as fund call center manager Referd Raley told Neel: "You're leading this rabble."

After workers voted 19-5 to unionize, Neel was elected steward and a member of the contract bargaining team. At work, he gave out red teddy bears with union buttons attached for co-workers to display at their desks. On Thursdays, he would bring a 5-foot stuffed alligator toy to the call center as part of a silent protest against the policy of firing workers for the second week of missed quota.

When the fund terminated co-worker Ben Woodhouse on June 14, 2012, it was Neel who stood up and announced that co-workers were walking out to protest the "unfair" firing. He led another walkout two weeks later, when 9-year employee Cortina Robinson was fired.

In the hearing, fund managers testified they fired Neel for veering from the official phone script, failing to "triple confirm" pledges, and misreporting the outcome of phone calls. Neel denied the allegations. But it didn't matter; Brakebusch found those stated reasons were pretexts.

Fund manager Kate Fielding testified she listened to Neel's calls for two straight hours, overheard as many as eight policy violations, and wrote them down on a piece of scrap paper, not the monitoring forms managers usually use. Two days later, her boss Raley fired Neel by phone, told him not to come into the office, and overnighted his personal belongings to him.

Normally, when fund call center directors hear a caller make a mistake, they intervene soon afterward to correct it. But Fielding, Brakebusch noted, made no attempt to stop Neel or to intervene in any way. She let him complete his shift, and said nothing to him about the alleged mistakes. Fund managers made no attempt to investigate, or even ask Neel for clarification about the allegedly "egregious" interactions. And Fund records showed that other workers were repeatedly counseled, and not fired, for making the same mistakes Neel was alleged to have made.

During the hearing, the fund's attorney also argued the fund shouldn't have to reinstate Neel even if it was found he was fired unlawfully, because he was quoted in the Portland Mercury newspaper making a statement that harmed the fund's reputation and relationship with partner organizations.

"I don't believe in what they do anymore," Neel told the Mercury reporter. "It's a Ponzi scheme to get money out of progressive people."

Brakebusch rejected that argument, and quoted a 1976 NLRB decision: "It is wholly natural for an employee to react with some vehemence to an unlawful discharge."

The fund has until Nov. 22 to appeal Brakebusch's decision.

Don McIntosh is Associate Editor, The Northwest Labor Press

Photo: Communication Workers of America Local 7901