UNIONS are the best!

[Denny]

EVERYBODY who is working should belong to a UNION.

[Nickdfresh]

Shut the fuck up.

[Denny]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Shut the fuck up.

http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature5.cfm?REF=15

Wobblies are 100!

Industrial Workers of the World celebrate centennial.

Dateline: Monday, January 03, 2005

by Nathaniel Miller – IWW Centenary Coordinator

The Industrial Workers of the World will be celebrating its first complete century in 2005.

The IWW, or the Wobblies, is a nominally international, but effectively American, union movement headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having much in common with anarcho-syndicalist unions, but also many differences. It believes that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the profit system abolished. In the early twentieth century it was large and thriving.

"There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life."



The IWW was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States (mainly the Western Federation of Miners) who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labour.

Its first leaders included Big Bill Haywood, Daniel De Leon, Eugene V. Debs, Thomas J Haggerty, Lucy Parsons, Mary Harris Jones commonly known as "Mother Jones", William Trautmann, Vincent Saint John, Ralph Chaplin, and many others. The IWW was differentiated by its promotion of industrial unionism (often confused with syndicalism), the acceptance of all skilled and unskilled workers and of immigrant workers. Many of its early members were first- and second-generation immigrants, some rising to prominence in the leadership like Carlo Tresca, Joe Hill and Mary Jones.

Its goal was to promote worker solidarity against the employing classes. From the current Preamble to the IWW Constitution:

"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. … Instead of the conservative motto, 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work', we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wage system'."

The Wobblies differed from other union movements of the time by emphasizing rank-and-file organization as opposed to empowering leaders who would bargain with employers on behalf of workers. They were one of the few unions to welcome all workers including women, foreigners and black workers. Wobblies were condemned by politicians and the Press who saw them as a threat to the status quo. Factory owners would employ both non-violent (sending in Salvation Army bands to drown out speakers) and violent means to disrupt Wobbly meetings. Wobblies were often arrested and sometimes killed for making public speeches, and this persecution only inspired a further militancy among its members. Wobbly organizing was considered to be one of the largest examples of anarcho-syndicalism in action in the United States.

The origin of the nickname "Wobbly" is unclear. Some believe it refers to a tool known as a "wobble saw", while others believe it is derived from an immigrant's mispronunciation of "IWW" as "eye-wobble-you-wobble-you". In any case, the nickname has existed since the union's early days and is still used today.

In recent years, the IWW has been involved in many labor struggles and free speech fights, including Redwood Summer, and the picket of the Neptune Jade in the port of Oakland in late 1997. IWW members built their own Internet server from spare parts and ran it out of a member's bedroom for two years before moving it to its current home in a San Francisco office. The IWW now has an entire network of Internet servers located around the world, maintains its own internet domain, and uses its online presence to organize new members as well as educate people about the IWW's colorful past.

IWW organizing drives in the 1990s included a major campaign against Borders Books in 1996, a strike at the Lincoln Park Mini Mall in Seattle that same year, organized drives at Wherehouse Music, Keystone Job Corps, the community organization ACORN, various homeless and youth centers in Portland, Oregon, and recycling shops in Berkeley, California. IWW members have been active in the building trades, marine transport, ship yards, high tech industry, hotels and restaurants, public interest organizations, schools and universities, recycling centers, railroads, bike messengers, and lumber yards.

The IWW has stepped in several times to help workers fight against mainstream unions, including saw mill workers in Fort Bragg in California in 1989, concession stand workers in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s, and most recently at shipyards along the Mississippi River.

In 2004, an IWW union was organized in a New York City Starbucks, a company notorious for its refusal to allow workers to form unions. In September of 2004, IWW organized truck drivers in Stockton walked off their jobs and went on a strike. Nearly all demands were met.

Current membership is believed to be about 1,000 with most members in the United States, but many also located in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Sierra Leone, and Sweden. – from Wikipedia


Please add your comments on this or any other story in this week's edition of Straight Goods in the Straight Goods Cyber Forum

[Denny]

Independent Truckers Unite!
Independent truckers in the intermodal rail yards of Stockton, California won the majority of their demands in a two-day strike September 13 and 14, 2004 against the Patriot Trucking Company.

The majority of the drivers at Patriot Trucking Company in Stockton have joined the Industrial Workers of the World and won:

Reduced wait time
End discount rates
Extra pay for hazmat loads
Extra pay for switching containers
Extra pay for sweeping containers
Extra pay for delays at the scales
Extra pay for carrying overweight loads
End punishment for refusing a load
Respect from management
The IWW members in Stockton also got two drivers their jobs back after they were blacklisted.

There are roughly 250 intermodal truckers in Stockton, most are immigrants and most have joined the IWW. Organizers and drivers are working on plans for further actions and greater gains.

Although they are currently considered independent contractors and many labor laws did not protect these truckers, that didn't stop them from standing up to win better pay and conditions. The IWW invites all truckers to join, regardless of nationality, legal status, or contractor status.

Join the IWW, stand together with your fellow drivers, and win respect, better pay and better conditions.

http://www.iww.org/unions/iu530/truckers/

[Nickdfresh]

We already covered this Den. No need to start 80 threads on the same topic, so:

[Denny]

Fired San Francisco Realfood Workers Get Boost
By David Lazarus - San Francisco Chronicle November 24, 2004.

Federal labor authorities say they expect to issue a complaint today against a Utah vitamin company that closed a San Francisco health-food store more than a year ago, allegedly to prevent its 30 workers from joining a union.

"We found that there is sufficient evidence that the National Labor Relations Act was violated," said Olivia Garcia, a deputy regional attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.

Barring a last-minute settlement -- which the Utah company, Nutraceutical International, insists won't happen because it did nothing wrong -- the federal complaint will lead to a trial within the next few months.

The case pitting an out-of-state corporation against San Francisco's feisty Noe Valley neighborhood has escalated far beyond the scope of typical community squabbles. Even House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, has taken an interest.

"This decision has implications that extend far beyond Noe Valley," she told me by e-mail. "It sends a clear and strong message that workers' rights must and will be protected."

Steve Young, the former 49ers quarterback, has served on Nutraceutical's board since 1998. He couldn't be reached for comment.

Nutraceutical bought three of the five Bay Area Real Food Co. outlets in 2002 for $2.7 million. The Noe Valley branch was by far the most profitable, former employees say, and staffers believed joining a union would give them better benefits and working conditions.

Former employees say they told company officials about their plans to organize in early August 2003 and presented a list of demands. They said they were told that a meeting would be held in September to discuss the matter.

However, Nutraceutical closed the Noe Valley store with no warning to customers on Aug. 29, 2003. The company, which had informed workers only hours earlier that they were being let go, said the closure was part of long- standing renovation plans.

But Garcia at the National Labor Relations Board said federal investigators determined that the store was deliberately closed to prevent the Real Food workers from unionizing.

She said the board found evidence that Nutraceutical threatened employees in May 2003 that they could lose their jobs if they pursued plans to join a union.

Garcia also said investigators concluded that an awards program introduced by Nutraceutical a month later was intended solely to induce workers not to organize.

Moreover, she said evidence exists that the company told workers shortly before the Real Food closure that Nutraceutical would rather shutter the outlet than permit employees to join a union.

"They then took the extreme measure of closing the store under the guise of needing to remodel," Garcia said. "These actions were taken to interfere with the employees' right to organize."

The store remains closed.

Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act says it's an unfair labor practice for employers "to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees" who seek union protection.

Stephen Hirschfeld, a San Francisco labor lawyer representing Nutraceutical, said the company is "very disappointed by what the NLRB is doing."

But he said Nutraceutical has no intention of backing down.

"We are absolutely confident that my client did nothing wrong and will be vindicated when this comes to trial," Hirschfeld said.

"There will absolutely not be a settlement in the case," he added. "We shouldn't be settling a case like this. It sends a wrong message to the community."

In response to the Real Food closure, the Noe Valley community has started its own farmers market and has submitted petitions calling for Nutraceutical to either rehire all fired workers or walk away from the outlet.

Peter Gabel, a Noe Valley resident who has spearheaded efforts to oppose Nutraceutical's actions, said he is dismayed that the company won't consider a settlement.

"That's the problem with this company," he said. "They've damaged the community for 15 months and don't think they've done anything wrong."

Gabel added: "This is our community. When an out-of-state corporation refuses to acknowledge the community's ethical values, it's wrong."

Bevan Dufty, who represents Noe Valley on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said that since Real Food was closed, at least a half-dozen other nearby shops have gone belly-up or moved away.

He said this entire episode has been "bad across the board. It's been bad for the workers, and it's been bad for the community."

Still, Dufty is hopeful that a detente can be reached with Nutraceutical if it is determined to remain in the neighborhood despite all the bad blood that now exists.

"It will be tough," he said. "It's a challenge we have to work on."

Hirschfeld, the Nutraceutical lawyer, said the company believes that once the case is resolved in Nutraceutical's favor, bygones will be bygones.

"My client is absolutely convinced that when this whole process is behind us, we'll be able to mend fences with the community," he said.

That remains to be seen. Kim Rohrbach, one of the fired Real Food workers, said the National Labor Relations Board complaint vindicates the anti- Nutraceutical stance taken by Noe Valley residents.

"After 15 months, it's welcome news," she said.

Rohrbach also said that despite everything that has happened, she's still eager to get her old job back -- but not because Nutraceutical is such a great company to work for.

"I would go back to work for them because people in a position of power need to be stood up against," Rohrbach said.

http://www.iww.org/unions/iu660/realfood/realfood6.shtml

[Denny]

Tuesday 9 November 2004

Unions clinch a better deal for council building workers

Negotiations today between local authorities in England and Wales and unions representing craft workers led by Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, have resulted in some significant improvements in the package first offered to craft workers, which include bricklayers, plasterers, painters, plumbers and electricians.



Said Alan Ritchie: ‘After some tough negotiations we have secured some significant improvements. Whilst we were not able to get improvements on the pay increases we reached (2.75% for 2004, 2.95 per cent for 2005 and 2.95% or the level of the RPI, whichever is the higher for 2006) we have been able to secure extra cash for council craft workers through a 133% increase over two years in the tool allowance which adds something like 1.5% to the pay deal.'



‘We have also managed to secure a promise of a better deal for apprentices and there will be an agreed protocol on the use by councils of agency labour, something we have been concerned with for years.'



‘We are delighted that we have protected the craft workers' ‘Red Book' agreement so that craft workers are treated separately from other town hall staff and there will be movement on the paying of salaries under the umbrella of the craft agreement – something we have wanted for some time.'

‘So we very much welcome these significant improvements and once we have the detail we shall go out to consultation with our stewards.'



The daylong negotiations were led by Alan Ritchie, new General Secretary of UCATT, on behalf of the 43,000 council craft workers.



http://www.ucatt.org.uk/ucatt_news.htm

[Nickdfresh]

Where's the fucking gigantic wallpaper douchebag Den to go with the:hagar3:?

[Denny]

"Trade Union Rights are Human Rights"
ICFTU Online..., 319/971210/DD, 10 December 1997
Brussels, December 10 1997 (ICFTU OnLine): "Trade Union Rights are Human Rights" says a new campaign launched today - Human Rights Day - by the ICFTU, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of ILO Convention 87.

The International Labour Organisation's Convention 87 which grants workers the right to organise themselves into trade unions, provides international recognition of trade union rights, yet almost one third of the world's countries (61 out of a total of 190) have refused to ratify it. This is a staggering number, says the ICFTU, considering that the Convention, which was adopted in 1948 is the one on which all other union rights are based.

Countries which have not ratified include industrial giants such as USA and South Korea, Asian "tigers" such as Indonesia, and Malaysia; countries which are fast industrialising, such as Brazil, India and China, as well as developing countries like Sudan and El Salvador.

"It is no accident", said Bill Jordan, ICFTU General Secretary "that countries which have not ratified are the ones in which the most serious and consistent violations of trade union rights occur."

For example in the USA, one in ten union supporters campaigning to form a union is illegally fired by the employer.

In Malaysia, the government acts rather like a police state in the tight control which it exercises over union matters.

In Brazil, a trade union activist was murdered in front of her children, and workers in textile factories are regularly intimidated, and violently attacked by police when trying to form unions.

In China, any worker who attempts to form a trade union independent of government control is branded a traitor and sentenced to many years in a `re-education camp'.

In Sudan trade union officials are arrested, and held in "ghost houses", detention centres where they are tortured, as they are suspected of opposition activities.

Meanwhile in El Salvador, workers are sacked when they join unions, and Iliberto Dominguez, a union official has been assaulted eight times because of his union activities.

The campaign which will last until December 10 1998, will pinpoint those countries which have not ratified, and will be putting pressure on them to do so. In addition, trade unionists will be watching countries which have ratified to make sure that they allow their workers to exercise their rights.

To celebrate Human Rights Day this year, trade unionists round the world are organising marches, meetings, rallies and debates. In the Asia and Pacific, affiliates and friendly organisations of the ICFTU - Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation are celebrating a Trade Union Rights Week from December 7 - 13, with activities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Fiji, Australia and Japan.

During the rest of the year, booklets, research studies and posters will be produced, and there will be a special section of the ICFTU's website dedicated to getting countries to ratify. There will also be special activities on July 9, the actual anniversary of the adoption.

Next week, the ICFTU will launch "Stand Up For Your Rights", a new booklet giving trade unionists detailed information on how they can ensure that their rights at work are respected.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/088.html

[FORD]

I'm all for unions, but one thread on the subject is enough.

Closing this. Or should I call it a "lockout" ;)