On the picket line

Workers to picket Howard U. Hospital

The 1,000 workers at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2094, voted to strike last fall while continuing to negotiate. But management recently declared an end to negotiations and announced it was moving to implement their final contract offer. “It’s not even about money,” Local 2094 President Lauretta Stevenson told the e-zine, Union City. “What they want is control; they’ve stripped all union rights out of the contract. Anything requiring them to bargain with the union is gone. Period.” Besides circulating a petition to bring the administration back to the table, the workers have organized a rally on Feb. 15 outside the hospital to press their demands for a fair contract. Stop Wisconsin-style union busting in D.C., say the workers. (Washington Metro Council AFL-CIO, Feb. 8)

NYC street vendors to protest fines

New York City’s 2,000 street vendors are fed up with $1,000 fines for minor offenses that have nothing to do with health or safety. It’s hard enough to try to scratch out a living in all kinds of weather without constantly being hassled by cops for petty violations — like not having a license in your pocket, having boxes beside your table during set-up, or being one foot too close to the crosswalk. At the cops’ whim, fines can escalate to $1,000, which is totally outrageous punishment for the smallest of small businesses — the very immigrants, veterans and entrepreneurs whose wares poor and working people need. To end this economic injustice, the Street Vendor Project, ¡Vamos Unidos! and the 12th Merchants’ Association have called a press conference on Feb. 16 at City Hall. Afterward, the vendors plan to march in support of two laws before the City Council: Intro 434, which will lower the fines, and Intro 435, which will change the way the fines escalate. (Street Vendor Project email, Feb. 2)

D.C. unionists confront Conservative PAC

More than 1,200 union, Occupy and community activists held two demonstrations on Feb. 10 to protest the politics of corporate greed and union busting at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington, D.C. At noon, more than 700 protesters came to “Occupy CPAC,” shutting down Woodley Road outside the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel where CPAC was meeting. The impromptu sit-in then turned into a brief takeover of the hotel’s driveway. Confronting Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who spoke at 1 p.m., the protesters set up Occupy-style tents populated with “tax dodgers” in three-piece suits and a giant inflated figure of “Mitt.” At 5 p.m., about 500 activists, organized by Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994, met Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, scheduled to speak at 7 p.m., with a “golden throne” (a toilet bowl painted gold) to personify his greed and arrogance. They made sure he could hear their chants of “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” and “We are the 99%!” (Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Feb. 13)

Locked-out workers launch Journey for Justice

In response to the rash of lockouts forcing workers off the job, two groups of locked-out workers are joining forces to rally support in their Journey for Justice. Beginning Feb. 22, workers at the American Crystal Sugar Co. in Minnesota and North Dakota and those from the Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in Findlay, Ohio, will start a 1,000-mile trip from Fargo, N.D., to Findlay to stop “the war on workers” with rallies, fundraisers and other activities organized by unions and allies. More than 1,300 sugar beet workers at Crystal, represented by Bakery Workers (BCTGM) Local 167G, have been walking picket lines since Aug. 1, while the more than 1,000 Steelworkers unionists in Local 2071 at Cooper have been out since Nov. 18. Both unions point to the gargantuan greed driving both companies to try to bust the unions. The caravan will visit six states, from Minnesota to Ohio, in six days. Defend union jobs! (AFL-CIO Now Blog, Feb. 9)

SAG and AFTRA to merge

The merger of the Screen Actors Guild, with more than 200,000 members, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, with more than 70,000 members, was approved on Jan. 29 by the boards of the two unions. Members of the two unions will vote on the merger in February and March. By forming a united front against the very powerful movie and television moguls, the new union, to be known as SAG-AFTRA, will be able to “secure more union work and better benefits for our members and for the generations of entertainment and media professionals who follow us,” said AFTRA President Roberta Reardon. (AFL-CIO Now Blog, Jan. 30)