On the picket line

Boycott TV4 in D.C. area

What do you call it if a company announces it’s going to take a union job that workers have been doing for decades and simply change the job title so it’s—abracadabra!—a nonunion job? An illegal dirty trick! That’s exactly why 2,500 broadcast workers at NBC Universal in Burbank, Calif.; Chicago; New York; and Washington, D.C., voted to strike by a large margin on July 14. The company also plans to close some operations in New York City and Burbank and transfer the work to a nonunion facility in New Jersey. The last bargaining session was in May, reports the Broadcast Employees and Technical union (NABET-CWA), and the contract expired March 31. Local 31 in the D.C. area is urging area union members and activists to sign cards pledging to “Turn Off NBC4!” For cards, contact Local 31 negotiator Rick McDermott at [email protected] or 202-841-6392. (Union City, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Aug. 6)

Support Rite Aid workers

It is against the law for a company not to negotiate a contract when the workers vote to be represented by a union. But it often takes a long, hard struggle to get a company to obey the law. Take Rite Aid, for example. Even though the giant drugstore chain thought its warehouse workers in Lancaster, Calif., would buy an intimidation campaign carried out by a high-priced union-busting firm, the workers defied the bosses and voted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in March 2008. Now Rite Aid has hired another anti-union firm to try to decertify the union instead of negotiating a contract. To pressure Rite Aid to obey the law, sign the petition to Rite Aid’s CEO at www.unionvoice.org/campaign/riteaid.

Bloomberg charged in bias suit

New York City’s billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, may no longer run the giant media company he founded, but as its majority shareholder he continues to be briefed on its activities. That’s why he had to give a deposition July 28 in a federal discrimination class-action lawsuit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought the suit in September 2007 on behalf of 80 female employees who charge Bloomberg L.P. with systematic discrimination against pregnant women who took maternity leave. During the deposition the lawyer for two plaintiffs described Mayor Bloomberg “as more dismissive and uninterested than he was during his previous appearance, two months ago.” (New York Times, July 28) Does that mean Bloomberg could care less about the problems of working mothers—even the relatively privileged ones at his company? That would certainly be consistent with the restrictive rules on food stamps Bloomberg insisted on and the city’s policies on homeless families, both of which disproportionately affect poor women of color.

17,000 AT&T workers win contracts

About 9,000 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and about 8,000 workers represented by the Communication Workers union successfully negotiated separate contracts with AT&T on Aug. 16 and Aug. 28, respectively. Both three-year contracts included wage increases. While health care coverage had been a sticking point, with the billion-dollar mega-corporation threatening to cut it altogether for retirees and to hike the percentage the workers pay, the unions were able to win continued retiree coverage and put a lid on the workers’ contribution. Another 65,000 workers represented by CWA districts in the East, Southeast and Southwest, who voted to strike on April 4, are still at the table.

Labor Day: Demand jobs

Organized labor will be marching in many cities to commemorate Labor Day. The top demand must be for jobs, jobs, jobs! That’s why it would be great for unionists and activists to leaflet marches all over the country with the call for the Sept. 20 March for Jobs in Pittsburgh before the G-20 meeting. To download flyers, visit bailoutpeople.org.