On the picket line

Support grows for Mott’s workers

Members of Local 400 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union (part of the Food and Commercial Workers union) in Washington, D.C., are distributing flyers in Washington-area grocery stores urging consumers not to buy products made by Mott’s or Mott’s owner Dr. Pepper/Snapple. That’s their way of supporting the May 23 strike of 300 Mott’s applesauce workers in RWDSU-UFCW Local 220 in Williamson, N.Y. The workers called an unfair labor practices strike when the company proposed slashing wages by as much as $2.50 per hour and eliminating the workers’ pension plan. While DPS claims the workers are “overpriced” the three highest paid DPS executives doubled their pay between 2007 and 2009, and company stock has rocketed 28 percent since the most recent earnings announcement in February. For a list of DPS products to boycott, visit nobadapples.org. Call Mott’s office at 800-426-4891 and tell them you support Local 220 workers! (Union City, online daily newsletter of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, July 1)

Co-op City workers win decent contract

After RiverBay Corp. locked them out of their jobs for nearly a month after their contract expired, more than 500 Co-Op City workers in the Bronx, N.Y., ratified a hard-fought four-year contract. Not only will the Co-Op City porters, handypeople, maintenance workers, garbage attendants and groundskeepers, represented by Service Employees Local 32BJ, receive yearly raises amounting to 5.6 percent over four years, but RiverBay will continue to pay for family health care and pension benefits. The New York City Board of Health put pressure on RiverBay to settle when it declared a health emergency for the 60,000 residents forced to live amidst mountains of uncollected garbage.

Hotel workers confront Hyatt shareholders

Hundreds of UNITE HERE hotel workers and community allies protested in front of Hyatt’s first annual shareholder meeting in Chicago the week of June 7. Simultaneous demonstrations were held in Honolulu, Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The reason: Hyatt’s revenue and share prices have soared — its principal shareholders, the Pritzker family, cashed out more than $900 million last November — while the chain is cutting staff and forcing workers to do more work for less pay. A few days before that, hundreds of Hyatt workers in Chicago staged a walkout to protest worsening working conditions. More than 400 Hyatt workers in San Francisco have been out on strike for months. More than 9,000 UH members have been working without a contract in San Francisco since August 2009. (aflcio blog, June 14) On June 11 more than 200 youth, participating in the AFL-CIO’s Young Worker Summit, rallied at D.C.’s Westin City Center, a nonunion hotel where new owner Columbia-Sussex slashed pay and benefits. (Union City, June 15)

Stand up for grocery workers

Contract negotiations for 25,000 grocery store workers in Washington’s Puget Sound area are gaining momentum, with raises, paid sick leave, more predictable scheduling, and health care and pension benefits at the top of the list of demands. After being briefed on how bargaining was going on June 14, members of Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 who work at Quality Food Center, Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer and other stores distributed the Grocery Store Workers Bill of Rights to local store managers. More than 10,000 workers have already signed it, including a majority of workers in almost every store in the region. A contract extension is in effect, and four bargaining dates have been set between July 7 and 29. (ufcw21.org, July 2)

Three S.F. Labor Council resolutions

The San Francisco Labor Council passed three resolutions on June 14 on very different but equally important topics. The SFLC joined scores of labor federations around the world in condemning the May 31 Israeli attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla in international waters. It called for an independent international investigation of the deadly assault and asked Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza. It also addressed two domestic issues: supporting students at San Francisco State University who protested budget cuts and demanding an equitable community service jobs program.