Ahoy, fellow workers & filthy bourgeoisie! Welcome to the sixteenth edition of GNN’s exclusive Labor News Roundup. Though labor-related news is neglected in both the mainstream and “alternative” news services, important labor stories are breaking all over the world every day. This roundup is but a small sampling. For more international labor news, check out Labor Notes, LibCom and LabourStart.
ILWU to Shut Down West Coast Ports May 1 Demanding End to War in Iraq, Afghanistan: Fred Bergen writes for the Internationalist Group: “In a major step for the U.S. labor movement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports on May 1, to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East. In a February 22 letter to AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, ILWU International president Robert McEllrath reported that at a recent coast-wide union meeting, “One of the resolutions adopted by caucus delegates called on longshore workers to stop work during the day shift on May 1, 2008 to express their opposition to the war in Iraq.” This is the first time in decades that an American union has decided to undertake industrial action against a U.S. war. It is doubly important that this mobilization of labor’s power is to take place on May Day, the international workers day, which is not honored in the U.S. Moreover, the resolution voted by the ILWU delegates opposes not only the hugely unpopular war in Iraq, but also the war and occupation of Afghanistan (which Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican John McCain all want to expand). The motion to shut down the ports also demands the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the entire region, including the oil sheikdoms of the strategically important Persian/Arab Gulf.” (Colorado Indymedia, 03/01/08)
Coalition of Immokalee Workers launches National Petition Campaign to end modern-day slavery, sweatshops in the fields! Student/Farmworker Alliance Announces March 31 Day of Action! Be a part of this exciting new phase in the Campaign for Fair Food – And be a part of making history! The CIW is launching a national petition drive calling on Burger King and other food industry leaders to work with the CIW to improve the wages and working conditions of the men and women who harvest their tomatoes, and support an industry-wide effort to end human rights violations and modern-day slavery in all of Florida’s fields. The petition will also serve notice that those who sign are “prepared to stop patronizing Burger King now, and other food industry leaders in the future, should they fail to do so.” Much more than an e-campaign, this petition is a living, tangible organizing movement that we encourage our allies to bring to life in their own communities – in schools, on campuses, and at community gatherings from Miami to Minneapolis, from New York to Los Angeles. We will turn in the petitions in a creative mass procession at Burger King headquarters in Miami later this spring. Petition campaigns and consumer actions by British citizens helped hasten the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. The CIW petition campaign honors the 200th anniversary of the US ban against the importation of slaves (1808), and echoes key strategies of the early abolitionist movement. Let us together – workers and consumers – launch a modern petition campaign to end modern-day slavery and the everyday sweatshop conditions that enable slavery to flourish in the 21st century. (Student/Farmworker Alliance, sfalliance.org, ciw-online.org, allianceforfairfood.org)
Korean Massage Parlors Thrive on Women’s Struggle to Survive: In an Infoshop News exclusive, Kari Lydersen writes: “Korean massage parlors are a common presence in most major U.S. cities – so much that those in the know refer to them with the acronym of KMPs. It is also widely known that these venues offer more than a massage – they function essentially as brothels, where South Korean women work as prostitutes controlled by a wide-reaching, shadowy and highly profitable network of traffickers and pimps. Anti-trafficking, women’s rights and immigrants rights advocates are increasingly focusing on this segment of trafficking and sexual exploitation in the United States. The Polaris Project has focused extensively on Korean massage parlors and trafficking of Korean women in California. In Chicago, a coalition of immigrants’ rights, anti-domestic violence and ethnic groups are in the early stages of developing an outreach and advocacy structure for Korean women caught up in these situations. Trafficking for sex work, domestic work and other types of labor is a poisonous manifestation of the increasingly global economy, where people in impoverished countries – especially women – fall prey to traffickers’ false promises of a better life in another country or are even literally sold into slavery by family members or kidnappers. The U.S. government estimates that about 17,500 foreigners are trafficked into the U.S. annually, though some NGOs put the number much higher. Sex trafficking is considered to make up about 80 percent of cases, with trafficking for domestic, agricultural, food service and other types of labor making up the rest.” (Infoshop News, 02/29/08)
Mexico: Violence at University Workers Strike in Mexico City: “A tense strike and occupation at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in the southeast of Mexico City today enters its 31st day despite the picket line being attacked by hostile students. Students have also interrupted negotiations between union leaders and the university authorities. The strike by the Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la UAM (SITUAM) began on 1st February, with workers listing 11 demands, the most important of which being a 35% payrise. SITUAM leaders and the UAM rectorship have periodically conducted negotiations during the strike, however an agreement between the two seems like a distant possibility, with the university especially reluctant to accept the demanded payrise.” (LibCom.org, 03/02/08)
Migrants demand labour rights in Gulf: BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy writes: “For decades, migrant workers in the oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf worked hard, sent home millions of dollars’ worth of remittances – and seemed immune to labour unrest. Now there are signs that is beginning to change. On Sunday, a court in Dubai sentenced 45 Indian construction workers to six months in prison for their involvement in protests demanding pay increases. On their release from jail, they face deportation. The sentences follow a series of demonstrations late last year, when construction workers demanding better pay and conditions took to the streets, attacking police and overturning vehicles. (BBC News, 02/27/08)
Union Rallies for Fired Panera Worker: Stephanie Basile writes for Wobbly City: “On Wednesday, the IWW will be picketing Panera Bread for its termination of Joseph Agins Jr. Agins was fired in December after working for the company for ten months. He was not given any explanation for his termination. The union will be standing in solidarity with Agins and sending a message to Panera Bread that unjustified terminations will not be tolerated. Agains has also filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. Panera Bread, a fast food bakery chain, began intimidating Agins and other employees when the company learned of his previous involvement as a barista with the Starbucks Workers Union. Agins recalls that one of the company’s first union-busting tactics was showing an instructional video to managers on how to discourage workers from unionizing.” (Wobbly City, 03/02/08)
Butte: Wobblies launch new chapter: John Grant Emeigh of the Montana Standard writes: “With an old, worn broom, Dennis Georg swept off nearly a foot of February snow that had accumulated on the grave of Frank Little. It was just a small favor from one Wobbly to another Wobbly: Solidarity to the end. Georg, as was Little, is a card-carrying member of a small but controversial union known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It was started in Chicago by a group of socialists and anarchists who wanted to unite all the workers of the world. They were reviled by many as subversives and Communists. ‘It was once very dangerous to carry an IWW card,’ Georg said recently while in Butte.” (Billings Gazette, 02/03/08)
Starbucks: Listen, acknowledge, take action: Andrew Clark reports from New York: “Almost all baristas are on part-time contracts with no certainty on how many hours they will work – one week, it can be 35 hours, then 21 the following week and 12 hours the week after. The Industrial Workers of the World a hard-left union based in Ohio, says baristas typically get a modest $6 to $8 an hour – a figure on which Starbucks declines to comment. Daniel Gross, an IWW activist, says understaffing and overwork is the real cause of the company’s woes. ‘They’re very keen to shove rhetoric down workers’ throats but at the end of the day, you’re standing behind an understaffed counter,’ says Gross. ‘Exhaustion is not uncommon after a day of making hundreds and hundreds of drinks. We’re seeing cases of repetitive strain injury, of carpal tunnel syndrome.’” (The Guardian UK, 02/29/08)
Starbucks Baristas Question Substance of National Shutdown for “Training”: The IWW Starbucks Workers Union writes: “New York, NY- As Starbucks stores around the United States reopen after a three hour shutdown to train employees, baristas of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union are calling into question the efficacy of the event. Union baristas left the “training” feeling like it was a public relations event directed at consumers rather than a bona fide attempt to improve drink quality or customer service. “The whole thing seemed a little silly to me,” said Starbucks barista Peter Montalbano on his way out of the training. “We supposedly learned how to build a latte ‘from the espresso up,’- but we’re still pulling shots from a push-button espresso machine and pouring them into paper cups for not much above the minimum wage. It’s difficult to imagine people really caring about crafting the ‘perfect cappuccino’ if they can’t even afford to pay their bills.” The union argues that the decline of customer service at Starbucks stems from understaffed and underpaid baristas, not a lack of training. To save on labor costs, Starbucks degraded all the barista jobs to part-time, low-wage positions and doesn’t schedule enough workers to promptly meet customer demand. And while the world’s largest coffee chain would like to differentiate itself from McDonald’s, it shares the burger giant’s enormous animosity to labor unions. (Starbucks Union / IWW.org, 02/26/08)
Unions join forces in action day for imprisoned Iranian trade unionist on March 6th: The International Transport Workers’ Federation writes: “Hundreds of thousands of trade unionists across the world will unite in a day of action next week to call for the release of Iranian bus workers’ union leader Mansour Osanloo. Events on 6 March will take place worldwide, including London, UK, where trade unionists and human rights activists will participate in a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy. The ITF campaign day, supported by the UK trade union movement as well as Amnesty International, will also see a red double decker bus visit London protest sites during the day. Solidarity actions, including demonstrations, will also be held at Iranian embassies, in cities, railway stations and at border crossings in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mali, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey. Other countries are planning activities. The “free Osanloo day” is receiving particular backing from railway workers and their unions who have voted to dedicate a planned rail action day – which traditionally promotes rail safety – to campaigning on Osanloo’s behalf.” (International Transport Workers’ Federation, 02/27/08)
Iran: Urgent appeal to trade unions and human rights organizations around the world: The National Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers of Iran writes: “A summons for the administration of a flogging and fine sentence has now been issued for Mr Tayyeb Chatani, another of the workers arrested for participating in the May 1st event last year. Mr Chatani is an employee of Par Rees factory, where he is an active shop steward. Eleven of the workers arrested for taking part in the May 1st event last year in Sanandaj, Iran, were sentenced to 91 days in prison and 10 strikes of the lash. Following widespread protests against these sentences by the workers concerned and the National Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers, the Appeal Court changed the prison sentences to monetary fines, but upheld the sentence of 10 lashes. So far, the lashing and fine sentences have been carried out in the case of three workers by the names of Seddigh Amjadi, Habibollah Kalekaani and Faares Gaviliaan. The only crime of these workers is having participated in the May Day ceremony in Sanandaj.” (Infoshop News, 02/28/08)
Iran: Labour activists face lashes and fines: The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) writes: “The Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi and the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers report that the appeal court in the city of Sanandaj has sentenced 11 workers who had participated in a May Day 2007 event to 10 lashes and 200,000 toman each as a financial penalty. These 11 workers, who were arrested on May Day 2007 celebration in Sanandaj city, were originally sentenced to 91 days in prison and 10 lashes each. They were accused of disturbing public order and participating in an illegal gathering by both civil and revolutionary courts of Sanandaj. Their names, who are mostly members of the Unemployed Union, are as follows: Khaled Savari, Eghbal Latifi, Yadullah Moradi, Tayeb Mollaee, Fars Goilian, Sadiq Amjadi, Habibollah Kalkani, Mohiuddin Rajabi, Tayeb Chatani, Sadiq Sobhani and Abbas Anadyari. Also Sheys Amani and Sediq Karimi, both members of the executive board of the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers, have been sentenced to two and half years jail time but these charges have been appealed and no final decision has yet been made. The Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers will launch a complaint with the ILO and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) about all these cases, especially the whipping sentences. On February 16, 2008, Sediq Amjadi was whipped and forced to pay 65,000 toman. He was supposed to pay 200,000 toman, but this amount was reduced because he had previously spent 9 days in jail. On Monday, February 18, 2008, two other workers, Fars Goilian and Habibollah Kalkani, received 10 lashes and also paid financial penalties. The court’s verdict is so appalling that many workers and organizations have strongly denounced and condemned it; legal experts and even some of the pro-government officials have expressed concerns with it. This is the first time that labour activists have been whipped following a court order, although some women’s right activists have received such sentences before. Labour, women and student activists have been beaten and brutally attacked, tortured and even executed by security forces in countless occasions in the past 30 years in Iran but this is the first time a court has passed and carried out whipping sentences against labour activists.” LabourStart: Act NOW! Iran: Release jailed workers, respect rights! (Workers-Iran.org, 02/20/08)
Iraqi workers stage sit-in
Iraqi Union Federation, FWCUI, Stages Electrical Sector Sit-In: The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) writes: “Earlier in February, workplace sit-ins by the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Union in Iraq (FWCUI) occurred in Basra, Hilla, Musayab, and Kut, following the failure of the Electricity Minister to accede to demands by workers. After a few hours of sit-ins by thousands of workers on 4 February, Minister Karim Wahid Hasan called FWCUI leaders with a readiness to hear those demands. FWCUI called the sit-ins successful for that result, saying in a statement that it was “a courageous step for all workers of Iraq.” The sit-ins had been called by the Union of Engineering Technicians of FWCUI, as well as other workers’ groups. Workers’ demands include a halt to the corruption inside the Ministry of Electricity, creation of new electric stations to serve Iraqi provinces, housing for workers in the sector, repayment of danger entitlements to workers, giving day labourers work contracts, and lifting the status of temporary workers to permanent staff.” (ICEM, 02/26/08)
Iraqi workers stage sit-in
Vancouver: Victoria Library Workers Strike Actions: CUPE Local 410 of the Greater Victoria Public Library Workers write: “Library Workers in Lower Vancouver Island, represented by CUPE Local 410, have been without a collective agreement for well over a year (417 days) now, and in a legal strike position since Friday, September 7, 2007. From September to March we took a number of strike actions, including several full day shutdowns, and ongoing continuous withdrawals of a number of Library services. Shamefully, Library Workers, and the people of Victoria and the Capital Area whom we proudly serve, were Locked Out of their Library on Black Monday, February 18, 2008. In the 168 days since we started taking strike actions, the employer’s bargaining agent has made no attempt to restart negotiations. Since early in 2007, they have simply refused to discuss the major outstanding issues. Library workers experience this as a contempt for their needs, and for their contributions to the quality of life in the Capital area.” ( Infoshop News / Cupe 410, 02/22/08)
1,500 Guatemalan farmers seize 30 police: The BBC reports: “Some 1,500 angry farmers in Guatemala have taken about 30 police officers hostage and demanded that an arrested leader be released. The officers were taken hostage on Thursday in the town of Livingston on the Caribbean coast, police said. Police spokesman Faustino Sanchez told AP news agency: ‘They told us they are going to kill them one by one.’ The farm leader, Ramiro Choc, was arrested on 14 February and accused of robbery and illegal detention. The farmers disarmed the officers at the police station in Livingston and took them by boat to the remote jungle village of Maya Creek, police said.” The Associated Press reports: “An angry mob took 30 police officers hostage in Guatemala and threatened to kill them unless authorities release a farm leader who was detained last week, a police official said Friday. The crowd surrounded the police station in the Caribbean coastal town of Livingston on Thursday night, disarmed the agents and took them in small boats to their remote village of Maya Creek, national police spokesman Faustino Sanchez told The Associated Press. Local media estimated there were hundreds of people in the mob.” (Infoshop News, 02/22/08)
United Arab Emirates: Economy soars on back of poor: Eric Ellis writes from Dubai: “It’s almost as if Dubai’s employers have scanned the latest global wealth survey and zeroed in on the poorest 20 nations to staff their projects. Promised riches but paid salaries well below the OECD poverty line, they have been found jobs here by unscrupulous middlemen charitably described as ‘employment agencies’ who wouldn’t have been out of place in 1780s Atlanta. As the working poor of Sonapur lament, democracy and workers’ rights are not high on the national priority list. Not that the untaxed Emiratis seem to much notice, as they count their money and invest in soaring towers of speculation, which seem to defy economic gravity as well as nature.” (The Sydney Morning Herald, 02/10/08)
IWW Marches in Minnesota Immigrant Rights Demonstration: Erik Davis writes: “Approximately one dozen fellow workers from the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World marched in support of immigrant rights and struggles in Minnesota on Saturday. The demonstration was organized by MIRAC, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition. The rights of immigrant workers – both documented and undocumented – is part of a nationwide discussion during this election year, and an international discussion. The terms of the discussion are often the same in today’s neoliberal environment. The reactionary right demonizes all those who are forced or choose to travel in search of security, opportunity, and a life; the reactionary left pretends that this is merely a moral issue and ignores the economics of immigration, and the ‘muddled middle’ hold a variety of contradictory opinions.” (IWW.org, 02/16/08)
Union-Busting, the Latest Ugly U.S. Export: Tula Connell of Firedoglake writes: “It’s not enough for greedy corporations to endlessly lobby for their anti-employee agendas in Congress. They now are exporting the most insidious methods of preventing workers from attaining fundamental workplace freedoms: Union-busting. Union-busting is a $4 million industry in the United States. When faced with a group of workers who want to form a union, U.S. employers all too often turn to these firms, packed with corporate lawyers who, for a steep price, provide them with all the dirty tricks they can undertake within a hair of the law. The same hasn’t been true in Europe. Until now.” (AlterNet, 02/28/08)
Verizon Workers Prepare for Contract Fight: Pam Galpern from Labor Notes writes: “Thorny issues are coming to a head in the six-month countdown to the contract expiration at Verizon, the nation’s second-largest telecommunications firm. The contract covering 55,000 Communications Workers (CWA) and more than 10,000 Electrical Workers (IBEW) expires August 2. The unions are determined to hang onto hard-fought gains from previous battles, including a four-month strike in 1989 over health benefits, by maintaining current health care and pension benefits, holding onto strong job-security language, and organizing Verizon’s newer divisions.” (Labor Notes, March 2008 Issue)
Union Numbers Up in Pennsylvania for First Time Since 2001: The Philadelphia Business Journal reports: “Both the number of union members and the percentage of workers represented by unions grew last year in Pennsylvania, something that hasn’t happened since 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.” (Philadelphia Business Journal, 02/27/08)
Labor Panel Says Immigration Raids Violate Workers’ Rights: Deirdre Jurand from Jurist writes, “A panel convened by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) said Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is violating the constitutional rights of U.S. workers by conducting illegal searches and seizures in workplace raids to find illegal immigrants.” (Jurist, 02/26/08)
Auto Workers on Strike Against American Axle: Jewel Gopwani of The Free Press reports on the UAW strike against American Axle: “By this morning, negotiations between American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and the UAW were still stalled. The UAW sent most of its members at American on strike early today, protesting the company’s proposals on wage and benefit concessions.” (The Free Press, 02/26/08)
Factory Jobs Take Center Stage Leading Up to Ohio Primary: Gordon Trowbridge, The Detroit News, reports: “For the last week, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have campaigned across Ohio, talking about questionable trade treaties, the loss of manufacturing jobs and the home foreclosure crisis. They’ll spend much of the next week doing the same, beginning with tonight’s nationally televised debate in Cleveland and leading up to the potentially decisive March 4 Ohio primary.” (The Detroit News, 02/26/08)
Ford Is Pushing Buyouts to Workers: Bill Vlasic, The New York Times: “The Ford Motor Company is applying the hard sell these days – piling on incentives, doling out marketing DVDs and brochures, and making offers it hopes are too good to pass up. But Ford’s big new push is not to sell cars. Instead, it is trying to sign up thousands of workers to take buyouts, partly by convincing them that their brightest future lies outside the company that long offered middle-class wages for blue-collar jobs. So, Ford is pitching a buffet of buyout packages that are easily among the richest ever offered to factory workers, including one-time cash payments of $140,000 or college tuition plans for an entire family.” (The New York Times, 02/26/08)
Divide and Rule: Jon Henley and Ed Pilkington report for The Guardian UK: “British law protects the right of workers to belong to a trade union, but in the U.S., union-busting is a lucrative business. So should we be worried that aggressive ‘union-avoidance’ consultancies are increasingly at work here?” (The Guardian UK, 02/26/08)
New issue of Mormon Worker available: William Van Wagenen writes: “Edition number #2 of the Mormon Worker is now available. It features an article an economic democracy by Warner Woodworth, Professor of Business at Brigham Young University. Article topics include the war in Iraq, immigration, the peasant Tolstoyans, lessons about war from the Book of Mormon, the Cheney 1% doctrine, economic cooperation in Mormonism and Anarchism, and an essay entitled “Why I am an Anarchist.” It is available at Ken Sanders Rare Books, Sam Wellers Rare Books, and Utah Book and Magazine in downtown Salt Lake City and at Pioneer Book in Provo and Greywhale CD in Orem. Those wishing to purchase a subscription (which we highly encourage!) can visit our website for more information. Please support radical politics in Utah by picking up your copy, subscribing, or forwarding this email on to your friends.” (Infoshop News, 02/27/08)
LabourStart: Where trade unionists start their day on the net.
This roundup was compiled by GNN contributor and blogger Nathan Coe. Nathan is a guerrilla journalist and activist residing in the mountains of Southwest Colorado, where he is a senior in college working on his Major in Humanities. He can be contacted at free_world_alliance(at)yahoo.com or via his blog at ShiftShapers.gnn.tv.
For more of GNN’s exclusive roundups of under-reported news from around the world, check out The Rebel Communiqué, East Is East, and If You Knew…