People Before Profit blog

We Are One Illinois fights back

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:35:00 +0000

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Thousands of union members overflowed the Illinois Statehouse here, October 26, to defend their pensions and collective bargaining rights. Although Democrats are in the majority, many Illinois legislators are pushing Senate Bill 512. They are using "Illinois is broke" as an excuse to cut pensions and destroy state pension systems.

The worker-lobbyists were teachers, firefighters, police officers, clerks and other public workers as part of a coalition called "We Are One Illinois." The roar of their slogans filled the Capitol dome and reached the ears of state legislators who were in session.

Taking inspiration from Wisconsin's fightback, the Illinois public workers chanted, "What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like!" Another popular slogan was "We are the 99 percent!" Under this chant, the activists allied themselves with occupiers of Wall Street and Chicago, and thousands of protestors in other cites.

Several unions participated in the action including AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees) IFT (Illinois Federation of Teachers), IEA (Illinois Education Association), SEIU (Service Employees International Union), FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters).

The bill, SB 512, was strongly opposed at the rally. The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group of millionaire CEOs, developed it. The bill creates a three-tier pension system. Tier 1 is for current employees. Their pension contributions would go up from 9 percent to 12 percent of each paycheck. For newly hired, Tier 2 would pay 7 percent for a reduced pension and they would have to work until 67. Or they could choose tier 3 and opt out of the pension system entirely for a 403b stock-market based plan.

Many newly hired workers are short of cash. They would choose tier 3, leaving few to pay the pension fund for those already retired.

Jackson Potter, staff coordinator with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), explained that teachers are not eligible for Social Security. They depend entirely on their pension when they retire. CTU is also opposing other anti-labor bills. For example, HB 3827 would take away teachers' right to elect the majority of Pension Board Trustees. Instead, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel would gain control by appointing the majority of the Trustees.

Chicago Firefighter Union Local 2 expressed the strong unity among the unions present. Even though SB 512 does not include firefighters and police in the proposed pension cuts, their newsletter recently stated, "We stood in solidarity with our own. Our presence was definitely noticed and very, very much appreciated by other 'WE ARE ONE' Illinois Union Brothers and Sisters."

Photo: Union members enter the Illinois state Capitol to lobby lawmakers on pensions. (Howard Heath/Chicago Teachers Union)

Right-to-work scheme rears its head in Indiana again

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:30:00 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS - A GOP scheme to make Indiana into a so-called "Right to Work" state, crippling unions by allowing thousands of workers to be freeloaders, has reared its head in the Hoosier State - again.

A joint legislative Interim Committee on Employment Issues, after the last of four public hearings on Oct. 26, recommended the legislature enact right to work in 2012.

State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott wasn't surprised. She called the panel's decision pre-ordained, despite evidence amassed against right to work, because a committee majority had introduced or supported it "prior to the first hearing."

"Clearly, their minds were made up before this process began and nothing, not even the facts or testimony from workers, small business owners or community leaders, would sway them from it," Guyott said.

The panel took no position on another GOP anti-worker idea, outlawing project labor agreements on state-funded construction. Both right-to-work and the PLA ban are part of the nationwide Big Business-GOP war on workers.

After the GOP took over the Indiana legislature in the 2010 election, the right-wingers tried to push "right to work" through this year. Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., no friend of unions, stopped them temporarily. He said controversy over right to work would imperil the rest of the GOP program, such as handing out taxpayer-paid vouchers for private school tuition to every Indiana student. Lawmakers then set up the panel.

"Based on the principles of freedom of speech and association, individuals should be able to choose whether or not to associate with unions," the legislators said. "RTW would guarantee the rights of freedom of speech and association.

"The committee finds RTW would be an important competitive tool for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and local economic development organizations to attract new jobs and to retain existing jobs. During site selection, businesses often show a preference for RTW states, and exclude Indiana and other non-RTW states from consideration because of a perceived lack of flexibility and higher costs in their potential dealings with organized labor," the panel contended.

Guyott called that balderdash, putting it politely. She also promised the state fed would again fight the right-to-work scheme, noting that out-of-state interests push it.

"Those advocating 'right to work,' most of whom were not from Indiana, never presented a single concrete piece of evidence that would support their claims of economic salvation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Hoosiers, including workers, businesses owners, members of the clergy, community group members, and locally elected officials came to the Statehouse to testify against this measure," she noted.

The hearings were so jammed and witness lists so long that many workers who wanted to testify against the GOP scheme never got the chance, Guyott pointed out.

"Ample evidence was presented that proves these" right to work "laws have actually lowered wages in states that have them and have brought zero economic benefit. Independent researchers and academics from around Indiana and the nation agree that passing this law is a bad idea.

"'Right to work' laws strip workers of their right to determine their own fate by voting and are designed to impair workers' ability to join together to collectively bargain for wages and working conditions. As a result, not only do wages fall, but working conditions, safety, and overall quality of life suffer as workers lose their workplace rights."

The state lawmakers' committee ignored that evidence, choosing to believe "unsubstantiated rhetoric and not facts" and "hearsay above reason. And it has chosen to put corporate greed over economic opportunity for all," Guyott concluded.

Ohio ramps up fight to repeal SB 5

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:50:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite polls showing the public is strongly on their side, opponents of SB 5, the union-busting law on the Nov. 8 ballot as Issue 2, give no signs of overconfidence as mobilizations to reach voters have grown throughout the state.

Boosted by the latest Quinnipiac poll showing voters favor repeal by a 57 to 32 point margin, they have scheduled phone banks, precinct walks, marches and rallies every day until the election.

"We cannot sit on our laurels," said Jeanette Mauk of We Are Ohio, the labor-community coalition leading the fight. "We've done a great job so far bringing the message to Ohio families on how Issue 2 will hurt our communities if it passes. We aren't going to let up now!"

In anticipation of a massive last minute TV blitz by the corporate right-wing backers of the law, We Are Ohio is strongly encouraging early and mail ballot voting.

Last week thousands participated in marches to local Boards of Election in a number of cities where they voted against the Issue.

The annual Hilltop Parade in this working class section of Columbus took on a pronounced political flavor Oct. 23 as marchers carried "Vote No on Issue 2" signs, handed out flyers and shouted to the crowds lining the streets. They were greeted with cheers, thumbs up and spontaneous chants of "No on 2!"

An astonishing 25,000 participants took part in a conference call held by the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) last week to organize opposition to Issue 2. The spirited discussion was led by Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga, with Ohio ARA Director Norm Wernet moderating.

Burga is scheduled to lead a Get Out the Vote mobilization starting at the Firefighter's Union Hall in Columbus on the Saturday before election.

"The fight against Issue 2 is a tough struggle," he said, "but it's given us an unprecedented opportunity to discuss with folks the importance of collective bargaining to our state and how organized labor has positively impacted the lives of regular people."

Photo: Labor activists in Cleveland rally Oct. 29 before heading out in a get out the vote door knocking campaign urging voters to vote No on Issue 2 in order to repeal SB 5. Tim Wheeler/PW.

Workers hit streets to repeal union-buster SB 5

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:46:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - The jam-packed AFL-CIO meeting hall here resounded with chants of "Vote No on Issue 2," Oct. 29. Speakers urged the crowd to mobilize a huge vote in the Nov. 8 election to defeat Issue 2 and thereby repeal SB 5, the law that strips public employees of collective bargaining rights.

Steelworker Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, welcomed the crowd, calling out the names of private sector and public sector unions, as well as industrial and building trades unions that have joined in the statewide grassroots drive to restore union rights for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public workers by repealing SB 5. The crowd of 700 also included members of Cleveland Jobs with Justice and a delegation from the Occupy Cleveland movement that has occupied the city's Public Square since October 5.

Private sector workers "understand that an attack on public sector workers is an attack on all workers. We have solidarity in the house," Burga thundered.

At a time when workers are suffering massive layoffs and are looking to the state and federal government to create jobs, "the governor chose a different path," said Burga. He charged that Republican Gov. John Kasich unleashed an anti-labor offensive "that lowers the bar for workers, that continues the race to the bottom."

Jabbing his finger in the air Burga demanded, "Are we going to turn back Issue 2 and make history?" The crowd roared, "Yes!" and took up the chant, "NO on 2!"

Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke hailed the fired-up teachers, hundreds of them in the crowd, for telephoning 310,000 people statewide to get voters out to repeal SB 5.

"We need to turn this moment into a movement," he said. "We are going to beat Issue 2. This is not the end, it is the start of solidarity in this movement. It's about our families, our communities."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said she has traversed the country, going to lower Manhattan to join the Wall Street occupiers, to Madison, Wis., to meet with teachers fighting Gov. Scott Walker's drive to bust the unions and slash education funding to the bone. Yet the highpoint, she said, was walking into Cleveland's labor temple to be greeted by this crowd.

She praised the heroic effort to collect 1.3 million signatures to put Issue 2 on the ballot. "The tenacity, the perseverance, the solidarity, in this hall is what is transforming it into a movement. It's not just Ohio ... it is what we are fighting for, it is whether this country will be what it is supposed to be ... What we want is dignity and respect. But to get it we need a voice: A democratic labor movement."

Weingarten cited polls showing strong majority support for repeal of SB 5. Yet she warned against the lulling effect of those polls. "Will you be lulled?"

Again the crowd roared, "Hell NO!"

Standing in the crowd wearing his firefighter helmet was Pat Kinyon, a 15-year veteran firefighter in a Cleveland suburb. He commented on "Grannygate," a scandal that involves right-wing misuse of a TV ad featuring Marlene Quinn of Cincinnati thanking firefighters for saving the life of her great granddaughter in a house fire a year ago. She ends with an appeal that voters "Vote No on Issue 2."

The pro-SB-5 campaign, bankrolled by the Republican Governors Association and the billionaire Koch brothers, stole the ad, deleted Quinn's call for repeal of SB 5 and spliced in the voice of another woman saying, "Vote YES on Issue 2."

Said Kinyon, "It's despicable that they would twist a grandmother's words that meant so much to her. It shows how low they will stoop to try to show grassroots support they don't have."

Stripping firefighters of their collective bargaining rights is a safety issue for the community, he said. "When we lose collective bargaining, we lose the ability to stop their reductions in manning."

Standing beside him was Mike Norman, secretary of the 800-member Cleveland Fire Fighters Local 93. Asked to comment about firefighters emerging as heroes of the labor movement in recent months, Norman replied, "The challenge for us is to convert the goodwill that people feel toward firefighters into political capital, into votes."

"A lot of other unions have a longer history of political culture than we do," Norman said. "We have a lot of Republican members and this has been an awakening for them. They are seeing the importance of unions, of workers standing together. We need a bigger, broader conversation of how workers will be treated, how will we earn a livable wage, what rights we have."

The meeting adjourned and the crowd union fanned out across Cleveland and its suburbs to knock on doors urging voters to get out to the polls Nov. 8 and "Vote NO on Issue 2."

Photo: Labor activists gather behind a sign saying, "Stop the War on Workers," during an AFL-CIO Oct. 29th rally in Cleveland as they prepare to knock doors asking voters to vote No on Issue 2. Tim Wheeler/PW.

Miners demand prosecution of Massey execs

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:41:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The United Mine Workers are now demanding criminal prosecution of 18 Massey Coal Company executives - including retired CEO Don Blankenship - for "industrial homicide" that led to the deaths of 29 miners in the April 2010 explosion at the firm's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.

In a scathing 90-page report on the blast, drawing on its own investigations and expertise, the union said last week that Massey executives established a culture that put safety last and miners' lives in danger.

Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts called the mine "a bomb waiting to go off" due to Massey's policies. He added yhat the Mine Safety and Health Administration failed to use all enforcement powers to go after "a rogue corporation."

Massey has since been sold. This year, a federal grand jury in West Virginia indicted Upper Big Branch Security Director Elbert Stover on charges of lying to federal agents and destroying documents relevant to the investigation. Stover was found guilty on Oct. 26. Roberts has said he hopes Stover, facing 25 years in jail, will start to "sing."

MSHA's current director, former Mine Workers safety and health officer Joe Main, agreed with the union's main conclusion that Massey put safety last. "These findings underline the fact that MSHA can't be in every mine every shift, and some operators take advantage of that," he said.

Besides the prosecutions, the Mine Workers recommended other changes, including tougher penalties for mine safety violations, stronger whistleblower protections, and greater use of MSHA's powers to shut mines that exhibit a "pattern of violations."

Last year, the Mine Workers and House Labor Committee Democrats, citing the Upper Big Branch explosion, pushed legislation strengthening mine safety laws. But it failed on the House floor due to GOP opposition when Democrats tried to rush it through under a special procedure allowing no changes and requiring a two-thirds vote.

"The third investigation has concluded the deaths of 29 coal miners" at Upper Big Branch "were completely preventable," said former House Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., sponsor of the failed mine safety bill. He called the union's findings "consistent with other reports on the blast," and "the devastating consequences of allowing some coal companies to operate beyond the margins of safety.

"The question for Congress is whether we will merely make pronouncements about the regrettable loss of life or [whether we] will we finally act to fix the loopholes in the law exposed since this tragedy. We owe it to the memory of families of Upper Big Branch and all other miners to act before another tragedy hits."

Ohio unionists ramp up push against anti-worker law

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:50:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite favorable public opinion polls, Ohio unionists are taking nothing for granted and ramping up their campaign to repeal right-wing Gov. John Kasich's anti-worker anti-union law, as a Nov. 8 referendum on it nears.

Workers are pounding the pavements showing the everyday impact of Kasich's measure, SB5, which he pushed through the GOP-run Ohio legislature earlier this year.

They're also advertising. In one spot, a woman says Fire Fighters saved her 2-year-old daughter's life, yet Kasich's law would take away the Fire Fighters' right to collectively bargain for equipment and staffing to make such rescues possible. But the unionists are not really relying on an air war to win. Their troops are on the ground.

"Last weekend we had over 2,000 volunteers" on the streets, says Ohio AFL-CIO spokesman Jason Perlman. Unions expected to field even more on Halloween weekend and 10,000 in get-out-the-vote drives in the final weekend before the election.

"What's really been great is that every union has come aboard - AFL-CIO, Change To Win, you name it," even though Kasich's law would end collective bargaining rights only for Ohio's 400,000 state and local government workers, Perlman adds.

The other unionists understand, and have communicated to Ohio voters, that Kasich and his right-wing backers in their nationwide war on workers and the middle class don't stop with trashing public workers. Private sector workers are targets, too.

Opinion polls show the unionists' effort appears to be working: An early-October tally gave the foes of SB5 a 51 percent to 38 percent lead, while a mid-October survey expanded that to 57 percent to 32 percent. Kasich's popularity, the latter survey said, is also in the 30s.

"This is the best effort we've ever put forward," Perlman says. He adds unionists hope it's a preview of similar enthusiasm for the 2012 election. Unionists campaigning this year "are all saying 'We've got to do this for the middle class of Ohio.'"

The state fed may coordinate the campaign, but everyone else is pitching in, finding new ways to counteract the right wing's TV ad blitz and Kasich's stumping.

"We must defend and support workers' rights wherever they are challenged," Utility Workers President Mike Langford said Oct. 27, urging his members to work the state. And Teamsters President James Hoffa, in a Columbus Day campaign visit to Cincinnati, called SB5 "a war on workers." He says it would lead to layoffs, cut workers wages and let the GOP outsource some state jobs overseas.

"They're coming after us," said Hoffa. "This is about getting rid of the middle class. This is about lowering the wages of average people who have fought and worked hard to make Ohio what it is," Hoffa told a crowd in front of UFCW Local 75's hall.

"Good jobs grow our communities. Good jobs allow parents to put dinner on the table, make a home, and to send their kids to college," Local 75 President Lennie Wyatt told that same rally, which drew 1,000 people. "Politicians shouldn't tell us that good jobs are destroying our neighborhoods. Good jobs are what make safe, vibrant communities for all of us." Local 75 urged its members to vote early, by absentee ballot, then get out and work the neighborhoods.

Unionists are also enlisting non-union allies. And they're discovering - and exposing - new negative impacts of Kasich's law, such as its provision forcing them to pay at least 15 percent of their health care premiums and contribute at least 10 percent of pay to pensions. Kasich says unions refused to bargain on those points. Firefighter Dave Stern, at the Cincinnati rally, told local reporters that's a lie. "We didn't come to the table and say we didn't want to pay our pensions," he added.

"Senate Bill 5 is a direct assault on the rights and protections the labor movement worked for and fought to gain over the last century. It is part of an extreme agenda to boost the profits of corporate CEOs and millionaires at the expense of Ohio's working families," Bakery Workers President Frank Hurt said. "SB 5 is a law that is part of the larger plan to destroy working families, the middle class and the labor movement."

The Steelworkers found another impact of Kasich's law: It would strip returning veterans - including reservists who left state and local jobs to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq - of their right to return to their jobs. That would not only leave them jobless, but also leave their families without health care, writes USW blogger Tonya Somander.

"Before SB5, unions could ensure soldiers could return to the exact position that they left. Under SB5, that may disappear too. Ohio is home to nearly 1 million veterans. That is why Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Paul Worley decided to campaign against the law," Somander reported.

The Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police opposed SB5 even before it cleared the legislature, and still doesn't like the measure. "Collective bargaining has played an important role in modern police employee/management relations. It is extremely important to maintain balance between employee rights and management rights, and in most cases this becomes an issue of local concern," was one of their points.

Tobacco workers exposed to human rights abuse

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:43:00 +0000

North Carolina's tobacco industry is riddled with human rights abuses, reports the AFL-CIO. According to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and global relief group Oxfam, tobacco farm workers' rights - and their rights as human beings - are being crushed.

Firstly, tobacco farm workers don't have the proper protective gear (like things as basic as gloves), because employers won't issue them. Unprotected workers frequently fall victim to nicotine-related illnesses. Meanwhile, they are often paid less than minimum wage, regularly suffer working in scorching-hot fields, and do not have access to clean water. They are also forced to live in overcrowded areas overrun with rats.

So what about forming unions? According to the report, the tobacco workers are often afraid to do so.

This is because nine out of 10 of these North Carolina workers are undocumented immigrants, and the state is no friend to them. North Carolina lawmakers by and large favor anti-immigration policies.

A worrying example lies in the opinion of state Rep. Frank Iler, whose legislative committee is researching further anti-immigration methods. "My personal opinion," said Iler, "is that we need to make North Carolina as unwelcome for any illegal alien from wherever they come."

Iler wasn't merely making some kind of sick joke. According to Star News Online, he supported and co-sponsored several anti-immigrant bills this past legislative session, including House Bill 11, which aimed to prevent undocumented immigrants from attending North Carolina colleges and universities. Moreover, he was an advocate of House Bill 33 - this one sought to ban the matricula consular cards issued by the Mexican Consulate as acceptable identification in North Carolina.

In response, FLOC is working with these tobacco workers to try and make a change, even under the most challenging conditions. FLOC reported that one of the committee's leaders was deported after a routine traffic stop just a week ago.

Despite this, FLOC is putting pressure on Reynolds American, Inc. (42 percent of which is owned by British American Tobacco), and targeting JP Morgan Chase. which, said FLOC president Baldemar Velasquez, "made a killing from government bailouts" and have now "turned their backs on the suffering of the taxpayers who came to their rescue."

In what was a big victory for tobacco workers, BAT agreed to meet with FLOC, marking the first time a corporation with close ties to Reynolds American has ever agreed to meet with workers, the AFL-CIO report said.

Joining FLOC in this effort is the UAW, which, in solidarity with farm workers, announced last year that it withdrew millions of its dollars from Chase, according to UAW president Bob King.

King said, "With my own eyes, I witnessed the squalid conditions farm workers are forced to live and work in. Chase Bank has an opportunity and a social responsibility to bring Reynolds Tobacco to the table to stop this human exploitation."

And Velasquez stated that organized labor hopes Chase would begin encouraging more socially responsible behavior throughout the tobacco industry.

"Farm workers face job-related hazards, including heat stroke, pesticide, and acute nicotine poisoning," he remarked. "If Chase wants to continue lending money to cigarette manufacturers, it should facilitate talks that could lead to improved conditions and saved lives."

Photo: FLOC members support justice for tobacco farm workers. Alexandria Jones/FLOC (Farm Labor Organizing Committee website)

California car wash workers win union contract

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:20:00 +0000

On Tuesday, workers at Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, Calif. reached a contract, becoming the first-ever Southern California car wash to unionize, reported the AFL-CIO.

Oliverio Gomez, a Bonus Car Wash employee of nine years, said that the new contract "includes a wage increase, health and safety protections, grievance and arbitration procedures, and protections for workers if the car wash is sold. The agreement also establishes rights that protect workers from being unfairly punished or dismissed, among other things."

Prior to this, the working conditions of these car wash employees were less than ideal, said the LA Times. They were required to show up when their boss told them to, but wouldn't actually get paid for that extra time, because customers had not yet arrived.

Last year, said the report, the California attorney general filed a suit against Bonus Car Wash, demanding $6 million in back wages for works, plus fines and penalties.

Gomez said he hopes this union contract is the first of better things to come. He said that his bosses "didn't treat us like people. What I hope is that future generations who come to work here aren't treated as badly as we were; that they're no longer humiliated, but respected."

Fighting for their rights, the workers united in the CLEAN Carwash Campaign, a coalition of nonprofit organizations centered on the rights of car wash workers. CLEAN is supported by the United Steel Workers, the AFL-CIO, and many community and labor organizations in Los Angeles. The workers voted to join United Steel Workers Local 675 this summer.

Workers are looking forward to joining up with USW, said Mike Watson, general manager of Bonus Car Wash. The "partnership with the United Steelworkers will make our business stronger and improve the opportunities and job satisfaction for all our employees," he said.

What has resulted from this act of solidarity among workers, said Chloe Osmer, acting director of CLEAN, is "An absolutely historic tide change for the car wash industry. After years of efforts by courageous car wash workers and our community partners, we've secured an agreement that marks the beginning of a cleaner car wash industry."

Meanwhile, the fight for car wash workers' rights is spreading. Marina Car Wash in Venice, owned by the same company as Bonus, is closed, but workers there have also won union recognition and a contract, and are committing to working toward re-opening the place. Moreover, said the AFL-CIO, three other car wash facilities have won union support as well.

The AFL-CIO Now Blog also reports quotes Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, callingLos Angeles the "epicenter of organizing, particularly among immigrant workers." She concluded by saying that LA labor congratulates car wash workers for organizing and demanding fair conditions. "We will make sure that hundreds of thousands of families in LA County know where to get their cars washed."

Photo: A sign calling for justice for workers at the Marina Car Wash. Justice for Car Wash Workers.

Firefighters rally Browns fans against Issue 2

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:25:00 +0000

Firefighters rallied tens of thousands of fans at last Sunday's football game between the Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks. They gave a powerful boost to the growing movement to repeal Senate Bill 5, the union-busting bill that ends collective bargaining for public employees but faces a referendum as Issue 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Starting early in the morning, the firefighters wearing helmets and IAFF Local 93 shirts, fanned out through tailgate parties that filled municipal parking lots near Cleveland Stadium. They gave out campaign literature and football-shaped stickers with orange letters reading Vote No on Issue 2.

Groups of bagpipers from the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums worked their way through the parties drawing large crowds who cheered the music and joined in chanting: "No on 2, No on 2!"

The firefighters' action galvanized the carnival-like atmosphere with thousands wearing Browns shirts, outlandish headgear, dancing, playing cornhole, guzzling brew and munching hotdogs, the air heavy with mouthwatering smells of outdoor grills.

At noon, the firefighters gathered in front of the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial located directly across from one of the main entrances to the stadium to hold a press conference. The memorial, portraying firefighters confronting arching red and yellow tongues of flame, was bedecked with a banner reading Vote No On Two.

Children of firefighters held "Vote NO On Issue 2" yard signs atop a fire truck parked next to the memorial and carrying a banner with the same message.

Greeting the fans streaming into the stadium was Johnny "Big Dawg" Thompson, the beloved unofficial team mascot wearing his bright orange cap, bejowled Dawg mask and Browns shirt and holding an oversized bone. For 26 years Big Dawg has rallied fans in the low price section of the stadium, leading mass barks to support the team.

But now he held a bullhorn and led the fans in chanting "No On 2!"

"I proud to help out," he said. "Today's a great day. This is a tribute to the people," he added, referring to the overwhelming opposition to Issue 2, by fans many covered with the "No on Two" stickers.

"This is so important to Ohio families, to our children's education and medical care and, most important of all, to our safety," Thompson said. "We need to have the right to bargain. There is no reason to take it away. People see how wrong that is."

Thompson, a dispatcher in the Cleveland Justice Center and a member of SEIU Local 1199, said the fight in Ohio has national importance.

"If they do it here, they will do it everywhere. It's sick."

"The issue is safety," Tom Lally, President of Local 93, said. "It's about our ability to negotiate staffing and safety equipment."

Steve Loomis, President of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, agreed. "With this law, we won't be able to negotiate manning levels. That will be determined by politicians. It's important for the whole state to vote No. It's unfair and unsafe."

Growing numbers of voters seem to agree. A Quinnipiac poll released Oct. 25, exactly two weeks before the election, showed voters rejecting Issue 2 by a margin of 57-32, the largest since the campaign began. Buoyed by their enthusiastic fans, the Browns by the same margin coincidentally defeated the Seahawks, 6-3, in a tough defensive battle.

Despite massive TV propaganda for Issue 2 funded by the Koch Brothers and other right-wing groups, momentum for repeal has grown as thousands of volunteers canvas voters door-to-door and from phone banks. Since the beginning of October over one million calls have been made and over half a million doors knocked, according to We Are Ohio, the labor-community coalition leading the effort.

This weekend, rallies and mobilizations by labor and its allies are planned throughout the state. Randi Weingarten, national president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Ohio AFL-CIO president Tim Burga are scheduled to join the door-to-door canvas in Cleveland after speaking to a mass rally at the Laborers' Local 310 hall.

Photo: Salandra Benton/PW

SEIU leader: Americans, South Africans face similar challenges

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:46:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS - As people mobilized in the streets of Minneapolis to demand that Wall Street be held accountable for creating the economic crisis, SEIU Local 26 President Javier Morillo-Alicea was thousands of miles away - hearing a similar message in Sun City, South Africa.

Morillo-Alicea represented the 2.1 million members of the Service Employees International Union at the Third National Congress of the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union, composed of 165,000 workers in several industries there, including security and cleaning.

He found workers in both the U.S. and South Africa discussing the same issues, such as rising income inequality, and grappling with similar challenges, particularly concerning their role in advancing a progressive agenda.

"The labor movement" in South Africa "is at a very interesting moment," he said in an interview upon his return. While the decades-old system of race-based oppression known as apartheid has ended, the country still faces deep poverty and high unemployment, especially for young people, he said.

SEIU and SATAWU have an ongoing relationship because they deal with the same employers. "Our major employers in both cleaning and security are global companies" like Securitas and G4S Secure Solutions, formerly known as Wackenhut, Morillo-Alicea explained. The unions regularly compare notes and support each other, as they did when South African security officers were forced to strike in 2006.

The two unions also face similar issues when it comes to political activity, Morillo-Alicea noted. SATAWU is a strong supporter of the African National Congress, the political party that controls government in South Africa. SEIU has longstanding ties to the Democratic Party and played a significant role in electing Barack Obama president.

Yet the ANC has alienated SATAWU members with some of its policies - and the same problems have arisen with Obama and other elected officials in the U.S., Morillo-Alicea said. In both countries, "We're questioning whether the closeness of the labor movement to the party really makes sense," he said. "Do we get out of the political process what we put into it?"

The Occupy Wall Street movement and other initiatives to challenge transnational corporations and the wealthy are growing. South Africans were excited and curious about the actions taking place in the United States, Morillo-Alicea said.

Members of SATAWU, which openly advocates socialism, have a sophisticated critique of capitalism and its effect on workers in the global economy, he noted. SEIU Local 26 is part of Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, which coordinated actions focused on Wall Street, banks and the need to create jobs and stop home foreclosures.

"The super-wealthy and corporations are taking over our democracy," Morillo-Alicea said. "In the end, we can ask whatever we want of politicians, but if we don't do something about the inequality of wealth, there are limits to what they can do."

While the SATAWU convention was marked by intense debate on serious issues, the Local 26 leader was struck by the festive atmosphere, which included singing before and after each speaker, who also were sometimes interrupted by song. U.S. unions would benefit from such energy in their proceedings, he said.

"I've never heard so many union songs in my life," Morillo-Alicea said, smiling.

NY labor and Occupy Wall Street unity grows

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:48:00 +0000

From one end of Zuccotti Park to another announcements were made about a march in solidarity with Verizon workers. Then over 200 marched to Verizon headquarters at 140 West Street where Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1101 is continuing its rallies for a fair contract.

DC37's Wendel Reid was there to support Local 1101 and said, "We're trying to show today this is an injustice by Verizon. This is what is going on throughout the world. People are fed up with the way they are being treated and asking for their fair share of the economy".

After much public and union support for Verizon workers, Verizon went back to the bargaining table but according to Local 1101 very little progress has been made concerning original take backs by the company.

Business Agent Marty Shannon explained the stalemate, "The company wants to do away with job security. They want us to pay the max for our health care, pensions and benefits. They want to do away with defined pensions for new workers and instead do 401ks."

Negotiations will continue some time next week.

Josh Langon, also a member of the local explained: "The negotiations are at a stalemate. We want to keep what we have. They are trying to stick it to us. They want us to pay thousands of dollars into our benefits, freeze our pensions take away our job security. They just want us to work for nothing. Verizon is making billions of dollars and they don't want to let us live".

Tim Sylvester president of Teamsters Local 804 put the struggle in a broader context. "There is a war on workers. We all have to get involved. They are trying to bring these people to their knees. It's not right, not with the money they are making. It's our time; workers have got to get themselves back together".

Barbara Lynch from the Office of Professional Employees International Union remarked, "We are all united here as members of unions and people in support of OWS. Verizon has made $22 billion since 2010 and they are not willing to talk to the workers and settle this contract dispute".

As the Verizon and Occupy Wall Street participants made their way back to Zoccutti Park there was an air of solidarity among the hundreds of marchers. This spirit permeated the atmosphere as horns honked in support and tourists gave thumbs up.

It is obvious that if this occupation and the message and meaning behind it are to be sustained, unions, grass roots organizations and OWS must work together.

A 42-year veteran Verizon worker John Gentile put it this way "Verizon is the poster child for corporate greed. They just turned a profit of $3.7 point billion in the third quarter. I've been on many, many strikes but I've never seen our members more energized against this corporate monster that wants to take all our bargaining rights away from us. We appreciate the OWS movement. We support them. We are with them and we want them to understand that we are part of the 99%".

Film and television artists move closer to merging

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:09:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES - The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists moved closer to writing a merger agreement to submit to their members in January, the unions' presidents reported.

The unions' joint merger committee met for five days in mid-October, as did subgroups working on governance, dues, collective bargaining, pensions, union structure, and education and outreach. SAG President Ken Howard and AFTRA President Roberta Reardon said the "remarkably productive" sessions "made solid progress across the full spectrum of issues we have to consider."

If the two reach agreement, it would mark the second time they tried to merge. Members of one of the two rejected a prior attempt. SAG represents 70,000 workers in the performing arts, while AFTRA represents 125,000. The AFL-CIO, saying that both member unions have common interests, promotes the merger.

Howard and Reardon agree. "Our shared interests are far greater than any differences we have," they said in a joint statement. "The entertainment and media industries are evolving more quickly than ever, and the chance to bring our unions together is a golden opportunity-one we plan to take full advantage of. We're committed to preserving the best aspects of SAG and AFTRA while we build a powerful new union that will be even better equipped to take on the emerging realities we're facing. One thing is certain: We're much stronger together than we are apart."

Verizon workers say "We are the 99% too," join with Occupy Wall Street (with video)

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:18:00 +0000

NEW YORK CITY - After several service problems with Verizon, customer Julia Gruberg gladly joined the picket line in front of the corporate giant's headquarters here Oct. 15. Gruberg had gone to Occupy Wall Street and heard about the protest there.

Carrying a sign saying, "We Are the 99%," Gruberg joined with hundreds of others marching from Zuccotti Park to tie issues of corporate greed with workers' rights.

"I just had a problem with Verizon. My charger broke," she said and described the run around that led to the pitch for a new more expensive phone.

"I said forget it. So I'm here. Plus they are taking away the workers' health care," she said.

The union that represents many of the Verizon workers, the Communications of America, also found common cause with the Occupy movement. Verizon workers, along with other union members, marched from the picket line to Zuccotti Park, chanting "All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street!" (Story continues after video.)

This is the most recent example of the labor movement finding ways to work with the fast growing, mass and youthful Occupy movement. "We are the 99%," a cornerstone concept of the movement, encompasses workers and their unions alongside small business people, students, the unemployed, professionals and a host of other, some unexpected, allies.

Wearing a "Ban Fracking" sticker, Martin Michaels, of Shandaken, N.Y., showed up at Zuccotti Park and then the picket line said for a lot of reasons he identifies with the new movement.

"I'm a recent college graduate, unemployed, and feeling a lot of angst like my cohorts," he said.

But there are other issues that motivate Michaels, who majored in international relations. "We Americans need to be accountable: bring the troops home and tackle environmental issues. We can't sit idly by. It will take the American people to bring an end to the wars abroad."

For a number of years, the labor movement has been looking to work with others who are not union members, building alliances with civil and immigrant rights groups, environmental and community organizations on issues, legislation and elections.

At the same time unions reach out to allies on a host of labor issues, like the most recent attacks on collective bargaining in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states.

CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the other union at Verizon, were forced out on strike in early August when their contract expired and the company's proposal was all takeaways and rollbacks of hard-won financial and other benefits.

After the corporation promised to bargain in good faith, the workers returned to work, and the negotiating table, Aug. 22. That was just days before Hurricane Irene was due to hit the East Coast, and the corporation would never have been able to deal with its aftermath without its full staff of highly trained union workers.

However, after the crisis passed, Verizon returned to its previous mega-giveback positions.

"The community support during the strike was great. People brought food and water to the picket line," said Tony Martinez, union steward for CWA 1101 and 31-year Verizon technician.

Martinez is not a stranger to union-community work. He has advocated on behalf of the disabled, working on a company committee. Martinez is in a wheelchair.

When it comes to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Martinez and other Verizon workers interviewed all expressed enthusiasm and support.

"I love it. We love that we are meeting a lot of young people," Martinez said.

Debra Williams, whose been at Verizon for 32 years, said she thought the Occupy Wall Street movement is "great."

"I'm so delighted that the young people are finally getting involved. They are doing something for their country and for themselves," she said.

Michael Neggie, a Verizon field technician in Westchester County for 15 years, said the picket line and march were all about supporting Occupy Wall Street along with bringing attention to a specific example of corporate greed.

"They want everything back that we gained in the last 50 years," he said.

Photo: CWA's Tony Martinez joins the Verizon picket line and march to Occupy Wall Street. (Teresa Albano/PeoplesWorld.org)

Farmworkers take plea to government

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:11:00 +0000

RALEIGH, N.C. - Fed up with years of terrible conditions in North Carolina fields, and a decade of neglect by that state's pro-business labor department, a group of farmworkers there took their case to the federal government.

And the U.S. Labor Department, which in August cited tobacco growers who broke minimum wage laws in three western North Carolina counties, is preparing to look into the wider issue.

The problem, according to the farmworkers and their lawyers - the state's legal aid society - is twofold: Carolina farmers perpetrate lousy working conditions in the state's fields, and the state Labor Department looks the other way.

Workers and their lawyers told the federal DOL that farmworkers are routinely put up in substandard temporary camps, that cooking and bathroom conditions are unsanitary, and that the state, under 10-year GOP labor commissioner Cherie Berry, has done nothing about it. Fines? Jail sentences? Forget it.

Conditions in the fields are so bad that the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, an AFL-CIO member union, and the international non-profit food organization Oxfam teamed up in Aug. 2010 to expose working conditions on Tar Heel state farms, though this year's complaint to the feds didn't cite that paper.

Berry's response, in an emailed reply when the complaint was filed in mid-October 2011: "Employers in North Carolina do not need to be shamed but rather assisted in their efforts to provide a safe and healthful place of employment."

FLOC, which recently organized cucumber pickers in North Carolina -- those whose cucumbers become Mt. Olive pickles -- knows about the complaint but says bottom-up organizing is their preferred method of fighting for farmworker rights. FLOC represents 6,000 Carolina farmworkers. Legal action, says FLOC's Briana Connors, runs up against the entrenched pro-grower attitudes in the state.

But bottom-up doesn't always succeed. The National Labor Relations Board reported maintenance and production workers at two RJ Reynolds tobacco plants voted 556-686 against joint representation by the Machinists and the Bakery Workers.

"Even if North Carolina DOL could be more effective in its enforcement, it will not solve the widespread violations that we see in the fields and labor camps," she said. "These violations continue to exist because of the structured economic inequities imposed on the players at the bottom of the supply chain by large agricultural corporations like Reynolds America," the big tobacco producer.

"The real issue is how corporations like Reynolds can restructure their record profits every year so that growers are able to provide better conditions, fair pay, and avoid the violations," Connors added.

The FLOC-Oxfam report last year, State of Fear, exposed "unjust and inhumane" working conditions in Carolina tobacco fields, including:

* Workers reported employer-provided housing lacked heat, roofs leaked, toilets and showers didn't work, there was no ventilation, the mattresses -- if there were any - were worn out, cooking facilities were inadequate, and there were rodents everywhere.

* Workers spend hours in the sun exposed to toxic chemicals and nicotine. Many absorb nicotine through their skin and suffer from nicotine poisoning. One-third of the workers interviewed at 100 work camps reported pesticide related illnesses, which could have been prevented through protective clothing; growers didn't provide it.

* Workers are denied basic rights, including the right to organize.

* The workers, many of them migrant laborers, undocumented, or both, are nonetheless "desperate to provide for their families," and work despite the conditions.

They also have "a strong sense of fear of arrest and deportation." Undocumented workers can't repay the "coyotes" who smuggled them into the U.S., and fear "crew leaders" who could retaliate against workers who get sick, don't work fast enough, or even take time to go to the bathroom.

* Growers and other middlemen in the tobacco supply chain comply in exploiting workers. The big companies on top, such as Reynolds -- who pay the growers and others - do nothing about the situation.

* One in four farm workers reported earning less than federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The minimum wage violations brought the federal DOL's Wage and Hour Division into farms in Buncombe, Henderson, and Haywood Counties on Aug. 18. It found that during last year's tomato harvest, every farm and labor contractor broke the minimum wage law and other laws.

"Violations found included failures to pay the minimum wage for all hours worked, failure to disclose written employment conditions and wage statements to workers, failure to ensure that workers had safe housing, failure to obtain proper vehicle insurance, and failure to ensure that drivers possessed valid licenses."

Taxi workers win full AFL-CIO charter

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:29:00 +0000

The National Taxi Workers Alliance made history Oct. 20, when it officially became a full member of the nation's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO.

Bhairavi Desai, the taxi workers' leader, accepted the organization's charter as a member of the AFL-CIO at an event in Washington titled "The Future of Work." The gathering, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, focused on the rights of workers who are either traditionally excluded from coverage by labor law, or for whom the changing economy has effectively eliminated any protection they may have had., under the law.

After she accepted the charter from the AFL-CIO, Desai participated in a panel discussion that included representatives of workers in these categories.

With Desai on the panel were Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance; Justin Molito, director of organizing for the Writers Guilds of America, East; and Bill Cruice, founding executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, NNU. Also on the panel was economist David Weil, a Boston University professor who specializes in how changing business models affect employee rights.

As Desai accepted the charter she was cheered by dozens of exuberant taxi workers in the crowd, wearing T-shirts that said "Justice, Rights, Respect, Dignity."

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, called the taxi drivers "an inspiring example of how working people are organizing even in the face of employment relations that have eroded all of our rights."

Companies that own fleets of taxicabs often claim the drivers are independent contractors, "owners," "associates," or any one of a variety of other titles, all in an attempt to avoid honoring their rights as workers.

The everyday life of a New York cabbie, however, gives the lie to the idea that they are not exploited workers. Drivers often must work six days a week and 12 hours a day just to eke out a subsistence living for themselves and their families.

The National Taxi Workers Alliance actually has its origins in New York where the rights of taxi drivers were wiped out during the years of the Reagan presidency.

Desai explained that in New York, under the new system, drivers no longer received a standard commission based on a split with the taxi owners of the day's fares, and drivers were forced to pay the cost of fuel.

Trumka said that what happened to taxi drivers in New York was part of the nationwide push by companies to do anything they could to free themselves from any obligations to their workers. They especially wanted, he said, to rid their companies of unions and collective bargaining.

During the panel discussion Poo talked about how her group organized in parks and playgrounds where they collected the stories of caregivers for children and for the elderly. She said domestic workers would otherwise have, because of the nature of their work, remained isolated and alone.

Molito, whose union represents, among others, TV writers, spoke about how the explosion of non-fiction television, popularly known as reality TV shows, has been used as a vehicle for the exploitation of writers and other creative talent. Because they're not writing teleplays, they're not covered by the agreements that other TV workers enjoy. "They're working 12-14-16 hour days," Molito said, "with no benefits. The non-fiction television workers look to the taxi workers alliance for inspiration."

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who also attended, applauded the taxi workers for setting an example for workers in other sectors.

Solis said that to protect the unrepresented, her department is investigating employers who misclassify workers. She said the aim is to ensure that workers are properly classified when their work amounts to full-time employment, and that employers pay the appropriate taxes for those employees.

Unions lobby for teachers and first responders

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:57:00 +0000

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Carmen Morales, RN, a nurse practitioner from Bakersfield, Calif., brought a message to Washington for her congressman, Kevin McCarthy - who happens to be the GOP majority whip, a powerful lawmaker in the Republican-run House.

If you cut Medicare and Medicaid, says Morales, a nurse at Kern County Medical Center, "we'll lose people left and right - not just nurses, but patients who didn't have to die." As funding drops, nurses say, nurse-patient ratios rise. So do avoidable deaths.

Morales, a Service Employees member, and hundreds of other nurses --members of SEIU and AFSCME -- Fire Fighters, AFGE members and other unionists came to Capitol Hill on Sept. 19 with a blunt message for lawmakers: That it's time to stop the politics and provide the cash to save or create people's jobs.

And two ways to do so, they said during a packed-to-the-gills rally in the huge Senate Caucus Room, are to defeat planned cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and to pass legislation giving federal aid to state and local governments, part of Democratic President Barack Obama's jobs bill. Before and after the rally, they lobbied for both.

The week before, the Democratic-run Senate succumbed to a GOP filibuster against Obama's $447 billion plan, which independent economists calculate would save or create more than a million jobs. Vice President Joseph Biden told the crowd that he and Obama, in one-on-one sessions constructing the bill, deliberately chose pieces that attracted Democratic and Republican support in the past - and that Congress could break up and pass one by one.

The first piece channels aid to state and local governments, to help them save the jobs of an estimated 300,000 teachers, 15,000 Fire Fighters and thousands of public safety officers, said Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger, who hosted the rally.

But passing the bill is more than just saving jobs, nurses, Fire Fighters and other workers said. It's saving families, communities, and lives.

Cathy Stoddart, a nurse at Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) Hospital and an SEIU local president, sees the impact of the Great Recession, and the need for jobs for the public safety workers, both ways. She commutes an hour from her home in Ohio to her job in Pittsburgh - and her hometown is devastated.

"One out of six homes in town has been foreclosed. 1,400 families don't have jobs. Wheeling-Pitt Steel has been closed for two years," she says. Many of the jobless are Fire Fighters who now volunteer their services, or unemployed teachers who keep teaching for no pay, because they care for their kids, at after-school programs.

Both groups also lost health insurance. They depend on Medicaid, the federal program for low-income people, or go without care at all - until they must show up in an emergency room. Yet the GOP-run House wants to cut Medicaid, and won't help re-store the Fire Fighters' and teachers' jobs. "Our safety net will fall apart," Stoddart says.

The nurses and other workers got strong support from officials, all Democrats led by Biden, who spoke at the rally. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised senators would vote on the "Teachers and First Responders Act," by Oct. 21. He did not promise it would pass. He did not discuss Medicare and Medicaid.

Schaitberger said the $13 billion teachers-first responders bill should pass. "This will put people back to work at a time when 14 million are out of work," he declared. "It will increase public safety at a time when cuts to resources have made our communities less safe," and it "will ensure our schools remain strong," he added.

But while the Democrats pledged support for the bill, which would be paid for by a half percent surtax on all individual income over $1 million, the GOP is another matter.

Morales said an aide to McCarthy listened to her politely - and that's all -- when she discussed the impact of Medicaid cuts on Kern County Medical Center, which is at the southern end of California's "food basket," the Central Valley. She noted 60% of the hospital's income comes from Medicare and Medicaid patients. Even a 2 percent cut in those programs would cost the hospital millions, and further curb quality of care.

Stoddart got enthusiastic support for Medicare and Medicaid, and opposition to the cuts, from Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., who represents Pittsburgh. The legislative aide to her hometown lawmaker, Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, "was cool," she added.

Stoddart was being polite. That same Johnson aide had another comment to her and to Patrick Diguilio, a bedside nurse at Allegheny County. Diguilio told of elderly couples who receive prescriptions for illnesses both share, such as hypertension. But the prescriptions are for different medications, and the couples couldn't afford them.

So the couples bought one medication, cut the pills in half, and shared them. That landed them in the hospital, Diguilio said. Medicaid and Medicare could help those couples, if it isn't cut, he told Johnson's staffer. The response: "Well, that's a problem - they're drug addicts." "That's appalling," Diguilio told PAI. And he shook his head over the prospect of that aide giving the GOP congressman that type of misinformation.

Armored vehicle operators form union, demand respect

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

BROADVIEW, Ill. - "We're tired of being crapped on for years," said a worker at the Garda World Security Company branch here last week. He and his coworkers voted for a new union, the Chicago-based United Armored Transporters of America Oct. 12^th with 65 percent of the vote.

The union is the largest organization in the world representing workers at armored vehicle companies.

"I need my job and we depend on the minimal benefits, but I'm not going to crawl around on my belly," said an 11-year veteran worker who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The union's slogan is "United we bargain, divided we beg."

UATA's 300 members, including crew leaders and drivers entrusted with millions of dollars, operate two-ton armored vehicles between locations throughout the Midwest. They operate along an average of 150 routes a day.

The Broadview branch is the largest in the country.

"There are trucks that should not be on the streets," said the worker. "Some are leaking fluids and have bad breaks." He said at one point he was making up to $70,000 and now he's only making $38,000. "We understand the economy is tight right now, but our families depend on the income," he said.

The Montreal-based company is ranked among the top security operations internationally and is respected as the leader in armored-vehicle services throughout the Chicago-land area.

Workers say the company and its supervisors have taken aggressive steps to thwart their efforts with union busting tactics including the recent firing of two leaders of the organizing drive.

They say they want to be respected on the job and that they need better job security and protections. Better working conditions, safer equipment and trucks, realistic route standards, more training, higher wages and better benefits are some of their demands.

Drivers are expected to operate heavy, tank-like vehicles through rough areas, maintain and carry deadly weapons and remain sequestered in their vehicles for extended periods. Workers say the vehicles and garages are under-maintained.

The trucks are large metal boxes with no open windows or ventilation. Cab temperatures reach 115 degrees in the summer, and can fall below zero during the winter, due to broken heating and cooling systems. The Garda garage suffers from inadequate ventilation from the outside and blue plumes of diesel-truck exhaust can be seen wafting from the doorways.

Another problem is how the company uses a computer timing system and cameras to continually compress the allotted time to complete daily routes. Taking less time causes a shorter schedule to set the system as the standard. Taking longer than that estimated standard time gives supervisors reason to question the workers and write them up.

Some workers are punished for speaking up and are deliberately placed on "standby" for up to three weeks. Others are made to do in-house jobs while on standby like cleaning the walls or taking out the trash, which the workers say are duties not in their job description and just punishment.

Arthur Mangialardi, the new union's interim president said he worked at the Broadview plant for three and a half years before being fired due to his organizing efforts.

"Our prospects are great moving forward with the union's resounding victory," he said. "We have to really do our homework and the hard part starts now going into negotiations but we're building a team and consulting with our lawyer and allies."

He added, "Our biggest and first concern is improving the working conditions."

A team is putting together several potential dates on which it hopes the company will come to the table and talk.

"We fully expect they will try and use delay tactics," he said, adding the company has seven days from the union election to try and overturn the vote. "There may be a dirty trick or two left in the bag that they're going to try and pull," said Mangialardi.

"We are prepared to file a charge with the NLRB right away," said Mangialardi.

Filing of a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board is the recourse workers have, under U.S. labor law, when there is a refusal by a unionized company to bargain in good faith.

The workers note unarmed mall security guards in Chicago enjoy starting salaries at $15.50 per hour, yet Garda employees start at $12.85 and work under conditions that organizers say are far below industry standards.

The armored vehicle operators make stops to banks, ATM's, retail and commercial outlets, federal and county buildings, schools and hospitals, delivering sums of cash and valuables.

In 2011, Garda enjoyed second-quarter growth of 9.9 percent, with increased revenues to $296 million from the previous year, though net profits have been slipping in recent years. Stephan Cretier, Garda's founder and president, earned $849,231 in salary and benefits in 2010.

In a statement Garda said the company "has an excellent record of labor relations with its unions and is happy to sit down and negotiate with the union in compliance with the National Labor Relations Act. We believe the allegations cited are without merit and will not lend credence to them with public discussion. It is important to note that a significant number of our employees did not side with the union at our Broadview location. Garda is always prepared to listen and discuss the concerns of our employees."

Photo: Workers with the newly formed Chicago-based United Armored Transporters of America union hold signs in front of the Garda World Security Company, where they work, in Broadview, Illinois Oct. 13. Pepe Lozano/PW

Arbitrator to two metal workers' unions: merge

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:20:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - A neutral arbitrator ordered the presidents of the Sheet Metal Workers and the United Transportation Union to resume talks on implementing the planned merger of the two unions, by Oct. 25.

Arbitrator Michael Gottesman, a law professor, also told the two union presidents "or their designees" to keep meeting "on an expedited basis for as long as necessary" to work out all details, as the unions' merger agreement specifies.

The SMWIA welcomed the decision; UTU published it without comment. But in August, its convention unanimously opposed the merger and re-elected Mike Futhey, a merger foe, as president.

"While there are a couple of legal hurdles left to overcome, the decision clearly affirms that the merger agreement was executed properly," wrote Richard McClees, chief of staff for SMWIA President Joseph Nigro. "We hope by this decision we are now in the final stretch of bringing our two unions together and look forward to completing the merger process."

The merger, to create the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, was first stalled by a UTU lawsuit. In response, federal judge John Bates ordered binding arbitration. Gottesman ruled the merger agreement is enforceable.

"The merger agreement and SMART constitution were adopted by both parties in accordance with the procedures specified in Article II of the merger agreement," Gottesman added. "UTU has been in continuous breach of the merger agreement from Jan. 1, 2008 to date," but "the parties shall implement the merger pursuant to the terms that were specified" in it, except that most dates were pushed back three years.

SMWIA represents 150,000 workers. UTU says it has 125,000 "active and retired" members. AFL-CIO data show 153,000-plus combined, 61 percent of them from the SMWIA.

Eugene Debs: March together, vote together, fight together

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Working people could find no greater inspiration in their current struggle against powerful anti-labor forces than the extraordinary life of labor leader Eugene V. Debs, who died 85 years ago this month.

Few American leaders have been more loved and influential, yet more hated than Gene Debs, whose proposed cures for the economic ills that infect American society remain as valid, vital and essential as ever.

Union organizer and strike leader, spellbinding orator, founder of the Socialist Party of America, five times a candidate for president Debs was all that and more.

He realized, back in the late 1800s, that ordinary people were at the mercy of the corporate entities that had come to control the economic and political life of the country. They retain control, of course, but the struggle waged by Debs and his allies can provide valuable guidance as well as inspiration to those who are continuing the long struggle to weaken corporate dominance.

In Debs' time, as now, politicians were elected, workers hired and fired, working conditions determined, factories opened and closed and many other societal decisions made primarily if not solely with an eye to maximizing corporate profit. Then, as now, profits, executive compensation and stockholder returns soared as workers' pay declined and unemployment rose.

"March together, vote together, fight together," Debs urged working people faced with the formidable economic and political forces that were profiting at their expense.

Debs, a locomotive fireman, tried first to bring all of the country's railroad workers into a single industrial union. That would arm them with the key weapon of solidarity that was denied other unionized workers, who were organized according to trade rather than industry.

The year was 1893. Debs in his late thirties, tall, thin, striking traveled the country to deliver as many as seven two-hour speeches a week to railroad workers. After just a year, his American Railway Union (ARU) had 150,000 members, half the strength of the entire American Federation of Labor at that time.

The ARU quickly set out to battle the enormously powerful railroad barons who subjected their employees to lives of poverty or near poverty. The union's major effort was a massive strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, which manufactured and leased the sleeping cars used by most railroads.

The ARU called the walkout after Pullman refused to rescind drastic pay cuts it had unilaterally imposed on its workers, soon drawing support from more than a quarter-million other railroad employees. Their sympathy strikes shut down most of what was then the country's largest and most important industry.

For more than two weeks, it was a standoff. But then employers persuaded the federal government to get a court injunction ordering strikers back to work, on grounds that they had conspired to illegally restrain trade. When the injunction was ignored, more than 14,000 heavily armed federal troops, marshals and police were called to duty in 27 states to get the trains moving again.

Thirty-four people were shot dead, dozens seriously wounded, and hundreds jailed for contempt, Debs himself for six months. The strike and the American Railway Union were broken.

Yet the strike was not in the end a failure. The strikers' extraordinary efforts kept alive the idea of mass unionization, inspiring and providing important lessons for those who finally brought the idea to realization in the 1930s.

Debs spent much of his jail time reading radical literature that convinced him working people would never prevail unless they acted together in politics as well as on the job to combat a capitalist system "in which workers, however organized, can be shattered and splintered at a single stroke."

Their vehicle would be their own party, a socialist party and Debs set out to organize with the same intense energy he had devoted to organizing the American Railway Union.

The party's goal was "the collective ownership and control of industry and its democratic management in the interest of all the people. The elimination of rent, interest and profit, the end of class struggles and class rule, the end of master and slave, of poverty and shame."

Relatively few people joined Debs' party. But he remained extremely popular among working people because of his unyielding defense of their rights, his genuine warmth and generosity, friendliness, courage, modesty and unquestionable integrity, sincerity and dedication.

Debs' great popularity, however, earned him a place high on the public enemies list of the wealthy and privileged and their government allies. Eventually, it led to a ten-year prison sentence imposed on him for speaking out against U.S. involvement in World War I. A class war, Debs called it, fought on behalf of the upper classes by working-class men.

In 1920, while in the third year of his sentence, Debs waged from behind bars the last and most successful of his presidential campaigns. He got nearly one million votes, the most for a socialist in U.S. history. The winner, Republican Warren G. Harding, acceded to heavy public pressure and pardoned Debs shortly afterward.

He died five years later at age 71, arguing to the end for what he fervently believed was needed to eradicate poverty and inequality.

The lifelong struggle of Gene Debs, his eloquent and persuasive arguments, had helped establish the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek, helped create the Social Security system and job safety laws and regulations, helped workers win the right to pensions, unemployment benefits, compensation for on-the-job injuries and much, much more.

His was a record of helping Americans that few people in or out of public office have ever come close to matching. And though he's been gone for eight decades, the memories of what he did during his life continue to provide vital lessons for working people who seek true economic and political justice.

Dick Meister, a freelance columnist in San Francisco, has covered labor and politics for more than a half-century as a reporter, editor, author and commentator. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.

Photo: Eugene Debs speaks to members of the worker's union on Aug. 17, 1912, at an unknown location in the USA. (AP Photo)

Jobs, not cuts! Unions join Occupy Chicago

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:44:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Unions and community groups organized a rousing finish to a week of actions on jobs and corporate greed here Oct. 14. Hundreds marched and picketed Bank of America and then Chicago's Board of Trade and Federal Reserve Bank, the site of Occupy Chicago.

"Jobs, not cuts," chanted Bob Reiter, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor to the starting rally at Federal Plaza. He then added, "We are one," the labor movement's unity chant.

"The labor movement stands in solidarity with the people occupying Wall Street, Boston and Chicago. One percent control the wealth and the political agenda of this country," he told the rally.

Reiter told PeoplesWorld.org that in order to pass a jobs bill it's less about the strategy in D.C., and "more about the people, the 99%, in the country."

"The labor movement never took its eye off the ball" in terms of the economy and jobs, he said. The occupy movements, he said, and the labor movement "joined together" on these issues.

"We stand with them," Reiter said.

This week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a city budget that cuts vital programs, for example, shortening public library hours.

Pamela Phillips was already laid off by the city on Aug. 15. She worked as a traffic controller. Chicago is rated #2 for the worst traffic nationwide.

"We need jobs, not cuts," she told PeoplesWorld.org. "I am a taxpayer. I want corporate greed to stop, and to stop misusing TIF funds. Phillips was referring to the Tax Increment Financing, a special program for economic development that has been full of giveaways to corporations with no transparency.

"We need those funds to give back to Chicago for jobs, schools, libraries and parks," she said. Phillips is a member of Service Employees Union Local 73.

Take Back Chicago, a coalition of 150 labor and community organizations, MoveOn and Occupy Chicago sponsored Friday's rally. It capped a week of direct actions and marches, including squads of unemployed people shutting down the Bank of America branch in Chicago's downtown Loop, and a march of more than 7,000 on Columbus Day.

Chicago's actions were part of a nationwide America Wants to Work Week of Action for Jobs.

Photo: Protestors picket Bank of America in Chicago's downtown Loop, Oct. 14. (Pepe Lozano/PW)