On the picket line

Students build ties with unions

Students at opposite ends of the country have organized support for labor on their campuses.

Students at the University of Colorado in Boulder voted last year to spend $280 million in student fees to help pay for needed construction after the state cut funds for higher education. But they attached provisions requiring construction workers to receive family health care coverage, be trained and be paid the local prevailing wage.

When they discovered this fall that the university hadn't complied, they formed a coalition with area labor groups and held meetings with the university. Now the workers have those protections. (Feb./March 2005 America@Work)

At Georgetown in Washington, D.C., students held a spirited noon-time rally for a living wage for university workers on Feb. 9. Then they marched to the campus administration building where they presented a list of 10 demands. On March 2 they held another rally, this time with AFL-CIO Metro Council President Jos Williams and several night-shift campus workers. The students vow to push the Georgetown Living Wage campaign to a new, more militant stage. (Feb. 9 and March 4, Union City)

Wal-Mart,
U.S. & Canada

There are four new developments in the struggle to stop the anti-labor practices of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, which is wallowing in $10.3-billion profits stolen from workers' wages.

The effort to install a Wal-Mart in the New York City borough of Queens was soundly defeated in mid-February by a hefty coalition of labor, community and legislative representatives.

There's been an uproar over the Labor Department's recent settlement of child-labor complaints against 24 stores in three states. Wal-Mart had agreed to pay $135,540 to settle complaints involving 85 youths without having to admit any wrongdoing. And the Labor Department agreed to give the chain 15 days' notice before investigating any future complaints. The upshot: The Labor Depart ment's inspector general agreed on Feb. 20 that the department "was wrong to give Wal-Mart advance notice before investigating complaints." Wal-Mart executives had contributed heavily to President Bush's re-election. (New York Times, Feb. 21)

Meanwhile, in Canada on Feb. 25, Quebec's labor relations board ordered Wal-Mart to stop intimidating workers in the midst of an organizing drive by Food and Commercial Workers' Local 503. Three cashiers at the St. Foy store reported various types of intimidation, including threat of a negative job evaluation. This is the second unfair labor practice ruling against Wal-Mart in Quebec since Sept ember 2004. (New York Times, Feb. 26) When Wal-Mart announced in mid-February that it would close its store in Jonquiere, Quebec--the only one where workers have successfully unionized and were trying to negotiate their first contract--the AFL-CIO initiated a petition drive in protest. You can sign it at www.unionvoice.org/campaign/
walmart_accountable.

Defend Social Security

The Working Families division of the AFL-CIO has initiated a petition to stop President Bush's anti-worker scheme to privatize Social Security. Statistics recently computed by The Center for Economic and Policy Research show that the plan will actually cost the average worker $152,000 in retirement benefits. Sign the petition at www.unionvoice.org/ campaign/ProtectSocialSecurity.