When auto workers in 1937 needed a tactical advantage to advance their fight for a more fair, just, and equitable workplace, they occupied the GM Fisher Body Plant #1 in Flint, Michigan. They called their occupation a sit-down strike. Seventy-five years later when Occupy Oakland activists needed permanent space where they could meet, plan, and coordinate their […]
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Archive | January, 2012
Brooklyn Cablevision workers vote “yes” for union
January 30, 2012 
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In what could turn out to be a ground breaking event, Brooklyn Cablevision workers last week voted to join CWA Local 1109. The cable industry is largely unorganized, and Cablevision conducted an aggressive anti-union campaign to keep it that way, but when all the votes were counted, 67 percent of those voting voted “yes” for […]
Read moreAs hospitals cut back on staffing patient care/safety put at risk
January 28, 2012 3 Comments
Submitted by Pancho Valdez “Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.” – Dag Hammarskjold, Second Secretary-General of the U.N., 7/29/05- 9/18/61 A major concern for both patients and health care professionals is the safety and quality of care provided in our nation’s hospitals. An […]
Read moreRefinery workers demand safety improvements in new contract
January 26, 2012 0 Comments
United Steelworkers Union Local 5 members rallied last week at the Chevron headquarters in San Ramon, California demanding that Chevron and other oil companies address workers’ health and safety concerns as the USW and oil companies continue to bargain over a new national pattern setting contract. The 30,000 oil refinery workers represented by USW made […]
Read moreTentative settlement reached in ILWU, EGT dispute
January 25, 2012 0 Comments
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and EGT, a multi-national grain exporter, on Monday reached a tentative settlement of a dispute over the union’s member’s right to work at the company’s new, state-of-the-art grain terminal in Longview, Washington. Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, who brought the two sides together to negotiate the dispute, announced the tentative […]
Read moreSecond group of IKEA workers vote union
January 24, 2012 0 Comments
Workers at an IKEA distribution center in Perryville, Maryland last week voted to join and be represented by the International Association of Machinist (IAM). Better than 60 percent of those participating in the union representation election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board voted for the IAM. The Perryville workers became the second group of IKEA […]
Read moreWalmart subcontractor fires workers who filed wage theft suit
January 23, 2012 3 Comments
At a rally last week at a Walmart distribution center in Southern California, workers charged a Walmart subcontractor with firing them for trying to recover stolen wages and for cooperating with a state investigation of wage theft and unsafe working conditions at the distribution center. “We’ve been fighting to keep our jobs,” said Eric Reyes, […]
Read moreGrowth of low-paying manufacturing jobs is a dark cloud over a silver lining
January 20, 2012 1 Comment
The US job’s picture brightened a bit earlier this month when the Labor Department reported that the economy added 200,000 new jobs in December. According to Doug Henwood, publisher of the Left Business Observer, the report even contained good news about the manufacturing sector. During 2011, it added 200,000 jobs, “the best gain in percentage terms (using yearly averages) […]
Read moreOccupy Longview calls for action to support longshore workers
January 18, 2012 1 Comment
A showdown in the Northwest United States between longshore workers and a multinational corporation that operates grain elevators appears to be drawing near. Last year EGT, a grain elevator operator owned by a consortium of North American and Asian corporations, broke off negotiations with International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 over a contract that […]
Read moreHostess files bankruptcy to cut worker benefits
January 17, 2012 2 Comments
Another major US company has filed for bankruptcy in order to restructure its labor contracts. Last week Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies and other bakery goods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court. Hostess CEO Brian J. Driscoll said that he was hopeful that the bankruptcy court would allow Hostess “to amend our […]
Read moreNLRB expands workers’ right to collective action
January 16, 2012 0 Comments
The National Labor Relations Board earlier this month ruled that mutual arbitration agreements signed as a condition of employment cannot bar employees who sign these agreements from taking collective action such as class action lawsuits to address job grievances. The NLRB’s ruling came in response to an unfair labor practice charge filed against DR Horton, […]
Read moreGathering mourns San Antonio hotel worker’s death; demands better worker safety measures at hotels
January 14, 2012 0 Comments
The folowoing was submitted by Pancho Valdez “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!” – Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, UMW & IWW organizer 1837-1930 On January 10 more than 20 San Antonio community and labor activists gathered in front of the Crockett Hotel in downtown San Antonio to mourn the tragic death of Ms. Gloria […]
Read moreAustin rally supports recall Walker effort
January 12, 2012 2 Comments
They carried “Recall Walker” signs, but they weren’t in Wisconsin. They were standing across the street from the Hilton Hotel in downtown Austin, Texas, where Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had come to address a gathering of conservative Texas lawmakers hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. They were numerous and they were loud. They chanted […]
Read moreRich People Things: A review
January 12, 2012 0 Comments
We may share the same planet with rich people, but we live in two different worlds. The world of the rich is one of seven-figure bonuses, private jets and gated residences, boardrooms filled with other rich people, and too-big-to-fail privilege. Our world is measured paycheck to paycheck. For us, burdensome debt, stagnant wages, insecurity on the […]
Read moreDemonstration supports Wisconsin state worker sent home for wearing union shirt
January 11, 2012 0 Comments
Union members and their supporters carrying signs that read “Recall Walker” on Monday demonstrated in front of a youth facility in Irma, Wisconsin to support a local union president who last week was sent home by a facility supervisor without pay for wearing a shirt with his union’s logo on it. Tony Bauch, an AFSCME representative, […]
Read moreTexas AFL-CIO plans to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s visit to Austin
January 10, 2012 0 Comments
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be visiting Texas to address the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual policy orientation for Texas legislators. The Texas AFL-CIO is urging union members in the Austin-area to protest Gov. Walker’s anti-worker policies by joining a demonstration at the hotel where he will be speaking. “We plan to greet him and […]
Read moreDutch public pension fund divests itself of Walmart stock
January 9, 2012 0 Comments
Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds (ABP) of the Netherlands announced last week that it would divest itself of Walmart stock and not buy anymore until the giant international retailer improves its poor labor practices and changes its anti-union position. ABP is the world’s third largest public pension fund with more than $300 billion worth of assets. “This […]
Read moreSupport builds for locked out Caterpillar workers in Canada
January 6, 2012 0 Comments
Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario, Canada Federation of Labor said last Monday that the Ontario labor movement will mobilize to support members of Canadian Auto Worker Local 27 who have been locked out of their jobs at Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) after they rejected a 50 percent pay cut. Ryan said that union members across the […]
Read moreIndiana union members mobilize to fight so-called right-to-work legislation
January 5, 2012 0 Comments
As a new session of the Indiana General Assembly convened on January 4, about 1,000 union members and supporters chanted “Kill the bill” and “Whose house? Our house” as they rallied in front of the Indiana statehouse in Indianapolis to protest proposed legislation that would make Indiana a right-to-work state. At the end of the […]
Read moreCooper Tire workers fight for fair contract after being locked out
January 3, 2012 2 Comments
As the new year began, members of the United Steelworkers Local 207L in Findlay, Ohio remained locked out by their employer Cooper Tire and Rubber Company. US Senator Sherrod Brown on January 2 traveled to Findlay to tell Local 207L members who stood shoulder to shoulder in a packed union hall that he supported their fight for […]
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