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On the picket line

Published Dec 18, 2008 9:08 PM

SAG to vote on strike

The Screen Actors Guild announced Dec. 10 that it will mail out strike authorization ballots on Jan. 2. SAG’s board of directors is recommending a yes vote. “A yes vote sends a strong message that we are serious about fending off rollbacks and getting what is fair for actors in new media,” said Alan Rosenberg, SAG president. (SAG press release) Rosenberg stressed that SAG’s aim is to negotiate a contract that remunerates actors fairly for their work, especially in electronic media. The threat of a strike before the Academy Awards on Feb. 22 gives the actors a big stick. But is it enough to force the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to budge from its miserly final offer? Stay tuned.

Boycott Stella D’oro cookies!

The 140 workers who bake cookies at New York City’s Stella D’oro factory in the Bronx celebrated four months on strike with a demonstration on Dec. 10, picketer Sara Catalinotto told Workers World. A biting rain did not dampen the spirits of the workers, their supporters from several Dominican organizations and union workers at two nearby community colleges. The workers, many of whom are immigrants, have been on strike since Aug. 13 after Brynwood Partners, which bought the factory in 2006, offered Bakers’ Local 50 a contract that cuts wages, paid holidays and paid sick days. The workers have called for a boycott of Stella D’oro products. For other strike information, visit www.stelladorostrike2008.com

Wal-Mart to pay $54 million in back wages

Originally scheduled to pay $2 billion in fines for two million violations of wage and employee laws in Minnesota, Wal-Mart got off easy on Dec. 9 when it agreed to a $54.25 million settlement that covers about 100,000 current and former workers at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores from September 1998 through November 2008. This settlement is one of more than 70 suits won by employees accusing Wal-Mart, the biggest, wealthiest, anti-union retailer in the world, of cheating workers out of rest breaks and wages. (New York Times, Dec. 10) Would Wal-Mart owners and executives change their ways if they were forced to go to jail instead of paying fines?

No way to treat ‘guest’ workers!

The Bush Labor Department introduced new rules Dec. 11 that make it easier for agribusiness to hire temporary foreign farm workers on H-2A visas. Although farmer and worker groups want changes in “guest” worker regulations, they do not support these measures, which, according to Bruce Goldstein, director of Farmworker Justice, institute low wages and poor working conditions. (New York Times, Dec. 12) In his final month in office Bush is rushing to turn back the clock on workers’ rights as well as on environmental protections and reproductive health care.

Ron Carey, ¡Presente!

Ron Carey, the Teamster president who led a successful 15-day strike against the United Parcel Service in the summer of 1997, died of lung cancer at 72 in Queens, N.Y., on Dec. 11. The victory, which gave 185,000 workers substantial raises, better pension benefits and the promise of 10,000 new full-time positions, was the labor movement’s biggest victory in 30 years. (Washington Post, Dec. 13) But that victory so enraged the ruling class that the government charged him in November 1997 with using union funds to finance his reelection campaign. Though this once rank-and-file UPS driver whose courage, integrity and leadership invigorated the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO was vindicated in a jury trial in 2001, Carey was nevertheless banned from resuming union work. Many testimonials to Carey are posted on the Teamsters for a Democratic Union Web site (www.tdu.org).