On the picket line
By
Sue Davis
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).
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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