On the picket line

Shuttle drivers vote union

On Feb. 8, Emory shuttle drivers with First Transit in the metro-Atlanta area voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 728. The Teamsters already represent more than 10,000 First Transit workers around the U.S. Drivers in other Atlanta-area locations are voting by mail; their ballots will be counted on Feb. 22.

Although lower management threatened and harassed union supporters in the days leading up to the vote, the workers filed unfair labor charges and were not intimidated. Driver Angela Holloway said the drivers are planning to negotiate a contract with “positive changes in salary, health benefits, pension options and overall treatment.” (emorywheel.com, Feb. 11)

Workers protest foundry closing

Outside a meeting of the Berkeley City Council on Feb. 12, foundry workers at the Pacific Steel Plant protested a measure that could lead to closing their factory. The workers, mostly Mexican and Asian immigrants and African Americans, are represented by Glass Molders Local 164, which spearheaded the struggle for and won the Industrial Retention Ordinance in the 1980s to stop plant closures. Despite the ordinance, Pacific Steel is now the only working foundry and one of a handful of manufacturing plants left in Berkeley. (David Bacon, Feb. 12)

Adjuncts seek contract at Wayne State

Ever since negotiations started on Nov. 16, representatives of the 900 part-time adjunct faculty at Detroit’s Wayne State University have been fighting for their first collective bargaining contract. They are represented by the Union of Part-Time Faculty, which is part of the Federation of Teachers.

UPTF spokesperson Amanda Hiber said the biggest issue was low pay; adjuncts earn a fraction of what full-time faculty make. “We also receive no benefits, no insurance, no participation in the retirement program, no sick pay. And we pretty much have no job security from semester to semester.” She noted that the union’s overall goal is to win respect for adjuncts, many of whom have taught at WSU for 20 or 30 years without recognition or support. The adjuncts are the last group of university employees to fight for a union contract. (www.laborradio.org, Feb. 8)

Unprotected laundry workers die

On Jan. 14, the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee held a hearing in Linden, N.J., to investigate how Victor Diaz and Carlos Diaz were suffocated on Dec. 1 while cleaning a 20,000-gallon tank containing dry-cleaning chemicals at the industrial laundry North East Linen.

Their bodies were found with no protective equipment other than plastic wrapped around their feet. The hearing showed, among other things, that Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations protecting workers in confined spaces were not followed. (UNITE HERE press release, Jan. 29)

Demand safety in mines

Did you know that Richard Stickler, the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, used to be a coal-mining executive whose mines had injury rates twice the national average?

That goes a long way to explain why a new study shows the MSHA has failed to fine coal companies for more than 4,000 safety and health violations over the last six years. That also explains the recent rash of deadly mine disasters like the one at Crandall Canyon, Utah, last summer and others at Sago, Darby and Aracoma mines. (Point of information: Bush bypassed the Senate to appoint Stickler after the Senate twice refused his nomination.)

Go to americanrightsatwork.org to sign a petition demanding improved mine safety. While you’re at it, check out the United Mine Workers website (umwa.org) to find out more about this issue.

Delta flight attendants want union

On Feb. 14, Delta flight attendants filed for union representation with the National Mediation Board. The union campaign began in late 2006—management scare tactics had thwarted an earlier drive after 9/11. More than 12,000 workers, who will be able to vote for the union within 60 to 90 days, are “eager for an election” before a widely anticipated merger with Northwest Airlines. NWA attendants are already represented by AFA-CWA. (union press release, Feb. 14)

Labor against privatizing Iraqi oil

U.S. Labor Against the War has joined with several international groups to protest privatization of Iraq’s publicly owned oil resources. On Feb. 22 in front of the Exxon Mobil lobby office in Washington, D.C., USLAW will release an open letter to President Bush and Iraq Prime Minister Maliki with that demand and also call for organizing and bargaining rights for all Iraqi workers. To sign the letter, go to www.uslaboragainstwar.org.