Tag Archives: Strike action

SEATTLE – Thousands of Puget Sound-area janitors could go on strike next month if negotiations on a new labor contract break down, says a spokesperson for the union that represents them.
The janitors, who are represented by Service Employees International Union Local 6, voted Saturday to authorize a strike if janitorial companies fail to reach a contract with the union. Labor negotiations have been under way since May 8.
Union spokesperson Tania María Rosario said the contract with Seattle-area janitorial companies expires June 30. Under terms of the strike authorization vote, janitors could strike 10 days after that if a new contract is not reached.
About 3,000 janitors are covered by the labor contract. A strike would affect offices, restaurants and retail outlets all over downtown Seattle and beyond. The Puget Sound-area contract negotiations also affect Spokane and Tacoma janitors, whose contracts expire at the same time.
Rosario said the janitors perform backbreaking labor often until the early morning hours, earning an average of about $12 an hour.
“We clean buildings owned by the wealthiest companies in the world,” said Jocelyn Eleccion, a janitor and member of the bargaining team. “People who work hard should make a decent living instead of treading water or falling behind. We need to ensure that all workers benefit from the economic progress they helped create.”
She said janitors fear cuts to their wages and medical benefits.

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No Justice , No Pizza

08/07/2012 Nativegrl77

TELL COSTCO: SUPPORT PALERMO’S PIZZA WORKERS

Laura Torres, a single mother of six, has worked at the Palermo’s Pizza plant in Milwaukee for 10 years. After safety issues led to thousands of dollars in fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she and her co-workers began organizing to form a union to secure safe working conditions.^[1]

Palermo’s executives could have taken the high road and sat down with Laura and other workers to hear their concerns. Instead, they chose to start an intimidation campaign that has forced the National Labor Relations Board to investigate claims of unlawful threats and firings.^[2]

Laura and her co-workers have been on strike for two months now, but with every passing day management is digging in its heels. Workers, though, are not giving up and are joining together with working families across the country to take the next step in the campaign for justice at Palermo’s. And you can help.

As the largest purchaser of Palermo’s products, Costco can put pressure on Palermo’s to stand with workers. Thousands already have sent letters to Costco and held events outside Costco stores in multiple cities asking the company to support Palermo’s workers.

Click here to stand with pizza workers and let Costco know they should, too.

Costco has built a reputation on its commitment to a strong Supplier Code of Conduct. A major part of this code sets forth a “continuing commitment to the protection and improvement of employees’ rights” and allows Costco to audit its suppliers, like Palermo’s, to make sure they are in compliance with the code.

By asking Costco to take a stand and letting Palermo’s know Costco won’t tolerate the company’s lack of workplace safety and unfair treatment of workers, we can put pressure on Palermo’s to finally do the right thing for their workers and customers.

Tell Costco to put pressure on Palermo’s to end its intimidation campaign, improve conditions and let workers have a voice on the job.

Thank you for your support of Palermo’s Pizza workers in their struggle for dignity and justice on the job.

In Solidarity,

Andy Richards
Digital Strategies, AFL-CIO

P.S. Workers have been on strike for two months and have relied on the generous support of donations to the strike fund to keep them going. But the strike fund is dangerously low. Can you make a donation of $5 to support the workers’ strike fund?

^[1] www.theuptake.org/2012/06/10/records-show-palermos-strikers-safety-concerns-are-real/
^[2] www.milwaukeelabor.org/in_the_news/article.cfm?n_id=00276

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Verizon strike … Jess Kutch, Change.org

08/16/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Verizon made billions in profits in just the last four years — but right now, the telecom giant is demanding $1 billion from its own workers in pay and benefit cuts.

Worse, rather than negotiate fairly with their employees, Verizon representatives cut off all negotiations and are refusing to talk.

So more than 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike demanding that Verizon stop its attack on the middle class. If Verizon sees the public and its customers behind the striking workers, the company can be forced back into good faith negotiations.

Sign the Change.org petition by the Communications Workers of America asking Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam to restart negotiations and stop Verizon’s attack on the middle class.>> http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-verizon-stop-attacking-the-middle-class?

If $1 billion in cuts is hard to grasp, consider this: Verizon is demanding each of its employees forfeit $20,000 in wages and benefits every year.

Verizon’s executives aren’t forced into outrageous cuts with their workers. In the last four years, Verizon’s top five executives were paid more than a quarter-billion dollars.

While Verizon makes record profits, its workers shouldn’t be made to suffer. Let Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam know you stand with workers against the company’s refusal to bargain. Click here to add your name to the workers’ petition on Change.org:

www.change.org

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jess and the Change.org team

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100 Days Fighting the Low-Waging of America

08/30/2010 Nativegrl77

Sample Message to Dr Pepper Snapple

It’s best to write your own personal message, but here’s a sample to give you some ideas:

Dear Dr Pepper Snapple,

With record-breaking profits, your company has no justification to cut the pay and benefits of the more than 300 Mott’s workers in Williamson, N.Y. In saying you want to bring their wages down to “local industry standards,” you are trying to take advantage of the recession and high unemployment rates to lift your profits even higher.

Your workers deserve better. And so do workers at other profitable companies that might try to follow your shameful example.

Mott’s is a 142-year-old company with a product that’s as American as you can get—a company we all thought we knew and could trust. I hope you realize you are jeopardizing a well-known, well-established and respected brand. That’s a lot to throw away.

I urge you to back off your attack on the Mott’s workers’ wages and benefits and do the right thing.

For 100 days, more than 300 Mott’s workers in Williamson, N.Y., have been on strike, fighting the low-waging of America. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the corporate conglomerate that owns Mott’s (of apple juice and apple sauce fame) has been trying to cut their pay and benefits—even though the company reported a net income of $555 million in 2009.

Tell Dr Pepper Snapple to back off its corporate greed and treat the Mott’s workers fairly.

Dr Pepper Snapple is taking advantage of the recession and high unemployment rates in the area to beat down the workers, members of RWDSU/UFCW Local 220. A spokesman told The New York Times recently the company’s just trying to take wages down to meet “local industry standards”—in other words, to make recession-era wages the norm.

Dr Pepper Snapple is demanding wage cuts that would amount to $3,000 a year per worker, ending pensions for new hires, cutting the company’s 401(k) retirement contributions and increasing employee health care costs.

This is a 142-year-old company with a product that’s as American as you can get—a company you thought you knew and could trust. It’s a company that symbolizes everything we’re fighting for—and everything we’re fighting against: the low-waging of America.

This strike isn’t just about Williamson, N.Y. As The Times put it, “if the Mott’s workers lose this showdown, it could prompt other profitable companies to push for major labor concessions.”

If America’s economy is going to recover, we need paychecks that can fuel consumption. And if profitable companies are allowed to use the recession to drive America’s middle class out of existence, it’s unconscionable.

Don’t be silent about the low-waging of America. Support the Mott’s workers who have been walking the picket line for 100 days. Act now.

Tell Dr Pepper Snapple to back off its corporate greed and treat the Mott’s workers fairly.

Thank you for taking action for the Mott’s workers and all working families. Please forward this e-mail to at least five friends and urge them to take action, too.

In solidarity,

AFL-CIO Working Families e-Activist Network

P.S. The RWDSU Mott’s Hardship Fund has been established to help aid Mott’s workers affected by the strike. Donations to this fund will be used to help offset hardships being faced by Local 220 members as a result of their strike against the corporate greed of Mott’s/Dr. Pepper Snapple. Please consider making a contribution to the strike fund by clicking here.