UPDATE: Victory in Metropolis! USW Members End 13-Month Lockout by Honeywell International

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The United Steelworkers (USW) announced ratification of a new three-year agreement, ending a 13-month lockout by Honeywell International at the uranium processing plant in Metropolis, Ill., that is the largest conversion plant in the world to produce nuclear fuel for commercial reactors.

After a day-long vote on August 2nd at the union hall, USW Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie said the membership approved the agreement, including a separate back to work provision.  He declared: “We fought one-day longer on all the core issues and won them to our satisfaction. All of us who were locked out by Honeywell in June of last year who want to go back to work are doing so with union pride, a union contract and union solidarity.” For our initial report on the struggle and Jobs with Justice’s role within it, check out “Dangerous Honeywell Uranium Plant Still Operating with Untrained Scabs.”

During the lock-out, USW International President Leo W. Gerard led a national and global campaign to support the workers. He flagged the dispute in meetings at the White House, with congressional leaders and federal regulatory agencies on Honeywell operating

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TN Workers Reject CASCO Attempt to Cut Benefits, Move Plant

Since mid-August, Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee has been in solidarity with workers at ARC Automotive and CASCO PRODUCTS CORP who are in contract negotiations with Workers United.

The company’s proposals included freezing employees’ wages for 3 years, eliminating future pension benefits, drastically increasing employee contributions for health insurance while cutting benefits at the same time, using low wage “temporary” workers in place of regular employees, and eliminating basic employee rights on the job.

Most outrageous were their heavy-handed threats to move the plant elsewhere if the workers did not agree to their demands.

CASCO and their president, Ali El-Haj, are another example of corporate America’s “race to the bottom”, where jobs are moved to where workers are paid the least and have the fewest rights.

The hardworking men and women employed by ARC deserve fair pay and benefits for their labor. They have a basic right to fair, even handed treatment.  They are entitled to work free from threats to their jobs for simply standing up for themselves and their families.

After rallying on Saturday, the membership rejected the Company’s proposal by a vote of 69 to 1. They were very resolved to stand up to the Company’s

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Central Indiana JwJ supports Hyatt workers in civil disobedience action as part of nationwide protests

Indianapolis Civil Disobedience for Hotel Workers Rising Campaign at the HyattFor the first time in Indianapolis’s recent history, 43 participants staged a mass civil disobedience in front of the Hyatt Regency downtown.  Hospitality workers and community supporters of the hotel workers were there to stand up for the Hyatt workers who have been asking management to stay neutral since November of 2008.  Among the 43 were two JwJ staff members, seven steering committee members and many other JwJ pledge signers.

On June 16, reports surfaced that the Hyatt had plans to sell the Hyatt  Regency in Indianapolis, adding to the uncertainty that Hyatt workers in Indianapolis already face.  Over the past decade, taxpayers in Indianapolis have invested $1 billion into the development of the local hospitality industry.  The hotel and convention industry in Indianapolis is booming yet at the Hyatt Indianapolis, a non-union hotel, subcontracting of jobs is rampant, hours have been reduced in recent months, and workers earn some of the lowest wages of any Hyatt workers in North America.  Housekeepers at the Hyatt Indianapolis, clean

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JwJ San Francisco Sits Down to Support Hotel Workers Rising

JwJ San Francisco Participates in Civil Disobedience supporting Hyatt WorkersMembers of Jobs with Justice San Francisco turned out in force to support UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel and restaurant workers as they took to the streets to demand a fair contract on July 22.  Prior to the rally at Local 2 Plaza in downtown San Francisco, community activists, clergy, and union members packed a civil disobedience training session at Local 2 headquarters.  There they reviewed plans to close the street in front of the Grand Hyatt in Union Square.

An hour later, as tourists stared in amazement and snapped photos, fifteen hundred people marched through the streets and converged on the Grand Hyatt, cheering and chanting in several languages in support of the hotel and restaurant workers.  The boisterous crowd reflected the diversity of San Francisco as youth from POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), PODER (People Organizing to demand Environmental and Economic Rights), Chinese Progressive Association and Young Workers United joined teachers, nurses, clergy, teamsters, longshoremen, many other union members and elected city officials to

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