October 12th was a cloudy and rainy day, but spirits remained high as hundreds gathered at Farragut Square for a rally that included local janitors, community members and labor leaders. Speaker after speaker gave passionate speeches about why they need not just jobs, but good jobs in the current economy. As jobs become harder to find, quality jobs seem to be more scarce than ever. At the end of the rally, the crowd, which included DC Jobs with Justice staff and members, DC Student Labor Action Project and United States Student Association, responded by marching a mile and a half to join Occupy K Street in DC, as janitors embraced the 99% struggling to make ends meet.
Less than 24 hours before their contract expired, area office cleaners won a tentative agreement with wage increases on Sunday night. “This is not just a win for working families and our communities, but it ensures tenants will receive professional service and gives our economy a much-needed boost,” said Jaime Contreras, SEIU Local 32BJ Capital Area Director.
Here’s what this new contract means to hard working local families in the area:
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this morning released proposed changes in the way union representation elections are conducted that the NLRB says will “reduce unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the proposed changes are a “modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce unnecessary and costly litigation—and that’s good news for employers as well as employees. But he adds:
The proposed rule does not address many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws, but it will help bring critically needed fairness and balance to this part of the process.
Trumka says the rules “appear to be a common sense approach to clean up an outdated system and help ensure that working women and men can make their own choice about whether to form a union.”
When workers want to vote on a union, they should get a fair chance to vote. That’s a basic right. But our current system has become a broken, bureaucratic maze that stalls and stymies workers’ choices. And that diminishes the voice of working people, creates imbalance in our economy and shrinks the middle
In Bangladesh, the minimum wage for a garment worker is a mere $43 per month. This equals 20 cents an hour– the lowest wage, by far, of any major garment producing country. Walmart is the leading exporter of these garments.
When Bangladeshi workers staged protests demanding a livable wage, factory owners responded with fabricated criminal charges against three labor leaders from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity: Kalpona Akter, Babul Akhter, and Aminul Islam. These three organizers spent 30 days in jail, where they were threatened and tortured. They are now free on bail; however, the falsified charges against them remain. If convicted, they face possible life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
As the largest buyer of Bangladeshi-made clothing, Walmart has the power to ensure that Bangladeshi garment workers who face poverty wages and abusive conditions can stand up for their rights without risking harassment, imprisonment and torture.
Ask Walmart to tell its suppliers that have instigated false charges against labor leaders that those charges must be dropped; that the officers responsible for torturing these individuals must be held accountable; and that
On Monday, April 4th, over 200 students from University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver, and Metropolitan State College of Denver participated in a walkout and rally in support of labor and education. The action was in conjunction with the April 4th “We Are One” National Day of Action that SLAP, Jobs with Justice, and United States Student Association all actively participated in as a response to the recent attack on workers and students across the country.
In Colorado, two anti-worker bills earlier this February:
Senate Bill 12, by Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, would have prohibited public entities from collectively bargaining with a labor union, or an employee association from acting as a bargaining agent for public employees.
Senate Bill 38, by Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, would have prohibited an employee organization from being officially recognized as the exclusive representative of state employees, barred the state from negotiating with an employee organization to create an employee partnership agreement, and terminated any existing partnership agreements.
At a time when workers’ rights are under attack around the country, many students
March 19th through the 22nd, students from around the country gathered in D.C. for the United States Students Association’s 42nd annual Grassroots Legislative Conference. Over 400 students were able to attend workshops, hear speakers and march on the capital for National Student Lobby Day. This conference was more important than ever as campuses across the country are being forced to confront budget cuts that threaten our educational system and the very stability of America’s working class.
The Student Labor Action Project (a joint project between USSA and Jobs with Justice) gave workshops on media techniques, fundraising tactics and the importance of building ties between students and labor.
Labor was well represented throughout the four day event. The first woman Secretary-Treasurer for the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale, ignited the crowd on the conference’s opening night, speaking of the importance of students partnering with labor to take on the corporate-political power structure. Stephanie dismantled the “ideology” behind Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on labor unions, identifying him as nothing more than a corporate sponsored puppet. Stephanie’s speech was great in articulating the integral role of labor unions in our democracy, as she said: “Collective bargaining is not only a
Thursday’s We Are Indiana rally in Indianapolis capped off nearly three weeks of historic protests at the Indiana statehouse by Indiana’s labor movement. The protests are the longest sustained protests in Indiana’s history, and they rivaled labor’s famous 1995 march on the Indiana Statehouse.
Perhaps more importantly, the 2011 showdown at the state capitol will be remembered for their place amongst popular protests around the world by everyday people standing up to undemocratic government and corporate power. The gathering of nearly 15,000 workers and their progressive allies from around the state and country yesterday marks a new era in American history, in which the unprecedented corporate consolidation of the past four decades is no longer an unchecked political force controlling the future of American workers and working-class communities.
The rally was intended to force Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to abandon the 30 pieces of legislation he’s attempting to push through the legislature that attack Hoosier workers, women, immigrants, students, and gays and lesbians. The governor is a leader in the Republican Governor’s Association which is closely allied with the Koch brothers, the billionaire family funding the tea party and spearheading
So our latest example of Corporate Greed at its finest is Rite Aid, who tries to hide behind the slogan, “with us it’s personal.” BUT, do not be fooled by a silly slogan. HMMMM….. let’s see, Rite Aid CEO, John Stanley, doubles his salary in one year from $2.3 million to $4.5 million while trying to make health insurance unaffordable for his company’s low wage workers. Is that being personal with your employees? Well I guess you could say it is personal, but probably not in the way Rite Aid would want you to think.
While taking a 100% pay increase, John Stanley is trying to raise health care costs even though Ohio workers accepted meager wage increases so they would be able to keep the costs affordable. The employees in stores in Lancaster, CA are facing an astounding 2800% increase in their health care costs. I guess someone has to pay for John Stanley’s increase in salary.
In the 2010 letter to shareholders, Stanley brags about decreasing costs and projecting a growth in
This November 2nd, young people, workers, and communities of color have the power to help define the direction of our nation with their votes. The Hip Hop Caucus and American Rights at Work have teamed up for a video and photo campaign targeted at young voters: Respect My Vote!
The video features women of color in the labor movement talking about why it is so important for young people to vote and get involved in making progressive change. Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice, said, “the face of workers is changing. The notion of work is changing. We need young people to be engaged in helping define what the new standards are out there and what we need to be fighting for.”
Also featured in the video are Jobs with Justice National Board members Esther Lopez of the UFCW and Ana Avendano of the AFL-CIO.
Watch the video below and check out the photos and more from the campaign. And don’t forget to vote on November 2nd!
Congressman Stephen Lynch, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan and community leaders representing the Massachusetts Workers’ Rights Board reviewed a list of employees at Comcast’s Fall River and Fairhaven locations and then checked it against union authorization cards voluntarily signed by employees at the same locations requesting IBEW Local 2322 to represent them.
Based on their card count, an overwhelming majority of Comcast employees in the above named locations desire to unite in IBEW Local 2322.
Rep. Lynch and Mayor Flanagan sent a letter immediately afterwards, “urging Comcast management to respect the employee majority and voluntarily recognize IBEW Local 2322 as their representative and begin collective bargaining for an agreement covering their wages, benefits and working conditions.”
“We requested the certification because we wanted to prove beyond a doubt to management that a genuine majority of our co-workers want to form a union and begin collective bargaining,” said Brian Almeida, a Comcast technician from the Fall River office who stared with the company in 2001.
Almeida was accompanied at the certification event by about 25 other Comcast employees
The past two months have been unprecedented, filled with victories and actions that have proven to be successful in bringing real change to our communities.
The first victory for working class people was the passage of the Student Aid reform. This bill will take away subsidies given to loan companies and invest them into programs such as the Pell grant and community colleges. “Students across the country were able to see their amazing direct-action organizing payoff with comprehensive student aid reform becoming the law of the land,” said USSA President Gregory Cendana. “This is especially critical for working class students and families who have struggled the most in affording their education.”
The second victory was the agreement reached between for the Coalition of Immokalee workers, the Student Farmworker Alliance, and giant food service provider Aramark. Marc Rodriguez of the Student Farmworker Alliance said:
Aramark becomes the 8th major food corporation to agree to work with the CIW to improve wages and root out modern-day slavery in its tomato supply chain. This is a huge step forward for our campaign, because it means that the
speeches about why they need not just jobs, but good jobs in the current economy. As jobs become harder to find, quality jobs seem to be more scarce than ever. At the end of the rally, the crowd, which included DC Jobs with Justice staff and members, DC Student Labor Action Project and United States Student Association, responded by marching a mile and a half to join Occupy K Street in DC, as janitors embraced the 99% struggling to make ends meet.
