Union called action; contract end date key
by Glen Martin
Most Bay Area residents may have celebrated Labor Day with prodigious quantities of beer and barbecue, but some marked it the old-fashioned way — by getting arrested.
Sixty-one union members and sympathizers staged a sit-down at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Union Square in San Francisco to call attention to a yearlong dispute with 14 hotels over new labor contracts.
They were arrested, charged with misdemeanors for interfering (…)
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SAN FRANCISCO : 61 arrests at protest over hotel labor talks
9 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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USA: LABOR DAY IN THE SHADOW OF KATRINA
3 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
Trade unionists in the United States are this weekend celebrating Labor Day in the wake of the greatest natural disaster ever to befall the country. According to reports in the mass media, thousands of lives have been lost in New Orleans and other areas.
Unions have already begun to do their bit — see for example this page on the website of the AFL-CIO, advising trade union members on how to help:
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns08312005.cfm
As the people of the areas affected by (…) -
NYU students gain big-labor support in protest
3 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
by Catherine Tymkiw
New York University graduate students got help from national organized labor at a protest today over their working conditions.
The graduate students, who are members of the United Auto Workers union, say they want a new contract to replace the one that expires today. They made the point with a protest that attracted more than 1,100 people, including students, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, actress Morgan Fairchild and politicians. The university says the union lost (…) -
Sweatshop on wheels. Health risks and low wages push bike couriers to join nation-wide union drive
3 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By JOE HENDRY
For bike couriers, navigating the smog-filled concrete corridors of downtown T.O. is no easy ride. The hours are long, the pay is low, and the sweaty working conditions can literally be hazardous to your health.
Tired of riding on the beaten path and after what they describe as years of government neglect of their health and safety concerns, smog chief among them, Toronto’s 500-plus bike messengers are talking about joining thousands of others across the country in a (…) -
Breakaway Union Leaders Outline Strategy
29 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO hope to rebuild the tattered labor movement by targeting workers in growing industries such as health care, waste management and security.
’’We want to identify jobs that can’t be shipped overseas,’’ Teamsters President James Hoffa said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.
The targeted industries, which also include food service and businesses that cater to retirees, account for 30 million (…) -
Terms of the Divorce : California unions try to maintain cohesion even as their movement comes unstuck
23 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
by HAROLD MEYERSON
Breaking up is hard to do. And for an American labor movement currently splitting in two, nowhere more so than in California.
The impact of the secession of three of the AFL-CIO’s four largest unions is particularly acute in California because the departed three - the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Teamsters - constitute a far greater share of the labor movement out here than they do elsewhere, and (…) -
Labor’s Foreign Policy Heads in a New Direction
18 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
by Tim Shorrock
Lost amidst the publicity about the breakup of the AFL-CIO at its convention last month were two events that, in their own ways, could point to a radically new foreign policy for American unions and workers. The first was the convention’s passage of a resolution placing organized labor squarely behind a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq-the first time that the AFL-CIO has ever taken a public stance against an ongoing U.S. war. The significance of the resolution was (…) -
New Homeland Security Work Rules Blocked
17 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
Employee, Union Rights Not Protected, Judge Says
By Stephen Barr
The Department of Homeland Security, after more than two years of work on new workplace rules, may have to scrap the plan after a federal judge questioned whether it protects union and employee rights.
The rules were scheduled to begin today but were blocked by U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in a ruling released Friday night. A spokesman for the department, Larry Orluskie, said officials are to meet today and (…) -
AFL-CIO draws plan to let breakaway unions’ locals stay involved
17 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Business Reporter
The AFL-CIO, which following the disaffiliations of several big unions last month sharply limited the work they could do with its local labor councils, changed its stance Thursday —a move welcomed by key groups here, but blasted by dissidents.
The national body said locals of the disaffiliated national unions can apply to be part of AFL-CIO central labor councils or state federations under proposed new solidarity charters. But it will cost them more. (…) -
Urgent appeal for solidarity with Gate Gourmet workers at Heathrow Airport
17 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
1 commentby Eric Lee
Last week, in an extraordinary display of corporate bullying, the company which provides British Airways with its in-flight meals at Heathrow Airport sacked some 800 workers — using a megaphone.
In response, baggage handlers at Heathrow — members of the same union as the Gate Gourmet workers who had just lost their jobs — walked off the job in solidarity. Within hours, the entire airport was essentially shut down, stranding thousands of passengers and costing millions of (…)