Occupy Oakland, Unions March Together
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More than 7,000 Occupy Oakland protesters, union members and community and faith activists peacefully rallied against Wall Street greed, bank foreclosures and for good jobs yesterday in one of the largest demonstrations since the Occupy Wall Street movement began last month.
The Alameda County Labor Council endorsed the Day of Action and encouraged local unions and union members to take part. Many of the union members who joined in the action took unpaid time off work to make their voices heard. Unions also worked with the city government, the Oakland school system and other employers to make leave arrangements.
Oakland Education Association Secretary Steve Neat told The Associated Press:
All of these different problems—foreclosures, schools closing, attacks on labor unions—they all basically stem from the fact that the top 1 percent and corporations are never satisfied to just make profit. Their profits need to go up and up every year. It’s sort of a realization that a lot of people are having that we’ve all been fighting our own issues, but really, it’s all related, it’s all the same issue.
Steelworkers Ratify New Contract, End 11-Month Lockout—and More Bargaining News
Some 750 United Steelworkers (USW) members ratified a new contract, ending an 11-month lockout, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, U.S. Steel: In Canada, members of USW Local 1005 ratified a new contract, ending an 11-month lockout by U.S. Steel. The pact, covering some 750 workers, will run until Oct. 15, 2014.
Ship Pilots, Machinists, Deputy Sheriffs, Bakers and Communication Techs Join AFL-CIO Unions
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The 250 members of the Panama Canal Pilots Union recently voted to affiliate with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The pilots guide the ships that transit the historic canal. Says ILWU President Robert McEllrath:
Both unions will benefit from this new affiliation that will provide each with more solidarity and support. With more of our employers now operating around the globe this kind of strategic alliance makes a lot of sense.
In Kent, Wash., the 165 workers at Hytek Finishes voted to join the Machinists (IAM) after a four-month battle. The workers specialize in various types of metal finishing and coating for aerospace manufacturers, including the Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter.
SoCal Union Members Show Solidarity with Grocery Workers
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In Southern California, 63,000 United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 members are fighting for a fair contract that doesn’t force the workers to pay as much as 50 percent of their take home pay for health care coverage. But they are not fighting the battle alone against the mega-grocery chains Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons.
Dozens of unions in the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor have “adopted” stores to take the workers’ message to shoppers and store managers. During the July 4 weekend, several International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) locals went to 13 stores.
They delivered letters of support for grocery workers to the store managers and told them in the case of a strike, they and other Los Angeles working families would not cross picket lines. They also talked with store workers and customers.
A recent survey found that 62 percent of Southern California shoppers said they would honor picket lines in case of strike. Says Los Angeles Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo:
Buy a Book, Help a Laid-Off Union Member
This from Alfonso Nevarez in the AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department.
Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore., is in the process of laying off 7 percent of its workers due to declining sales. International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5 units at Powell’s Burnside and Beaverton stores, as well as the Hoyt Street and Northwest industrial warehouses, will be affected by the layoffs. Local 5 President Ryan Van Winkle said that Powell’s was proactive in notifying workers of their bumping and separation rights.
Local 5 has coordinated with Powell’s to establish a shop-in, which will send 7.5 percent of each purchase to a fund to assist displaced workers.
Now’s the time to stock up on books for friends, family and yourself. Each purchase you make will assist a laid-off sister or brother. To make sure the funds are directed appropriately, follow the link at the ILWU Local 5 website.
ILWU Vows to Fight Police Takeover of Costa Rican Longshore Union
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Jennifer Sargent, Coast communications director at the ILWU, sends us the latest on the struggles by longshore workers in Costa Rica.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has asked the Obama administration to investigate illegal ousting of elected union leaders. Declaring that longshore workers are united beyond international borders, the ILWU today denounced Wednesday’s police takeover of SINTRAJAP, the union representing longshore workers in the Caribbean ports of Limón and Moín, Costa Rica, and promised to increase its months-long campaign to help restore union democracy in the Central American country. Limón and Moín are major importers of petroleum and other products and major exporters of bananas, coffee, cocoa and coconuts.
ILWU President Robert McEllrath said:
Longshore workers are united globally, and when police start breaking glass and occupying the union hall in Costa Rica, it’s a call for international solidarity.
Big Crowds Back Rio Tinto Miners in L.A., San Francisco
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More than 1,000 union and community activists, joined by about 200 locked-out miners and their families, marched outside the British consulate in Los Angeles on Friday to protest British-owned Rio Tinto’s two and half-month lock out of 600 miners at its Boron, Calif., borax mine.
The march and rally was one of several in the United States and Canada to support the members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30, who have been locked out since Jan. 31. (Click here for information on the Boston and Seattle demonstrations, and a tip of the hat to ILWU’s Craig Merrilees for the updated info.)
In Los Angeles, Kevin Martz, who operated heavy equipment at the Boron mine, says the group chose the consulate target because
Rio Tinto is a British-based global mining giant that’s hurting entire town of American families who want to work.
It’s a ‘Hard Land’ for Locked-Out Miners
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Several hundred Los Angeles-area union members recently came together to lend support and solidarity to the nearly 600 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 locked out at Rio Tinto’s Borax mine in Boron, Calif. Now, you can get a firsthand look at this union solidarity in action with this slide show set to the word and music of Bruce Springsteen’s “This Hard Land.”
A caravan, organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, delivered more than $30,000 in food and other supplies to support the miners fighting the international mining conglomerate’s move to outsource jobs, convert full-time jobs to part-time temporary work, slash retirement benefits and gut grievance protections and other workplace rules.
3,000 Steelworkers at Vale Inco Vote to Stay on Strike—and More Bargaining News
Some 3,000 United Steelworkers members at Vale Inco vote to stay on the picket line after eight months on strike, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES & LEGAL ACTION
USW, Vale Inco: Striking United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada overwhelmingly rejected an offer from Brazilian mining company Vale Inco on Friday. The 3,000 members of USW Local 6500 have now been on strike eight months and say the contract offer was “insulting.”
L.A. Unions Send Caravan of Food, Hope to Locked-Out Rio Tinto Miners
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Several hundred Southern California union members rallied at a Dodger Stadium parking lot yesterday before sending off a caravan carrying more than $30,000 worth of food and other supplies for locked-out borax miners at Rio Tinto’s Boron, Calif., mine. The mine is about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
The caravan was organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor to support the nearly 600 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 who are fighting the international mining conglomerate’s move to outsource jobs, convert full-time jobs to part-time temporary work, slash retirement benefits and gut grievance protections and other workplace rules.
Last month the workers rejected the contract offer and Rio Tinto locked them out Jan. 31.
Locked-out miner Randy Laursen told the rally:
You know we got big corporations trying to push all the laborers out, make nothing….This is America. We all have a right to make a decent living.
