On the picket line

‘No contract, no school’

A Wayne County Circuit Court judge ordered that more than 800 Wayne-Westland teachers should return to their classrooms on Oct. 10 because their four-day work stoppage defied a Michigan law forbidding strikes by public workers. In a tremendous show of solidarity, hundreds of high school students came to their teachers’ defense.

Chanting “No contract, no school,” the students protested outside John Glenn High School in Westland on Oct. 10. They knew firsthand why the teachers were demanding a reduction in class size. Student Katie Burns told detnews.com there were 47 students in her biggest class and no supplies in her art class. Parent Kim Powers suggested that the students “should go on strike. The classes are too big.”

On Oct. 9, more than 500 teachers and allies had picketed outside the Board of Education demanding the school district resume collective bargaining. This happened two days after a Michigan Employment Relations Commission administrative law judge ruled that the district had not bargained in good faith with the Wayne-Westland Education Association. The commission will rule Oct. 16 on whether the district engaged in illegal bargaining.

The Wayne County judge ordered the district not to penalize the teachers and to resume bargaining on Oct. 13. Meanwhile, detnews.com reports that teachers in a dozen other “cash-starved districts” are equally worried about holding onto their salaries and benefits “amid a school funding crisis.”

Case in point: the Grand Rapids Press reported Oct. 6 that 225 teachers and their supporters had held a picket line at a Board of Education meeting there demanding a new contract. The teachers have been working without one for over a year.

Talks resume in Boeing strike

The 27,000 members of the International Association of Machinists on strike at Boeing in Washington, Oregon and Kansas agreed to resume collective bargaining on Oct. 14. On strike since Sept. 6, the workers are demanding a 13 percent pay raise over three years and a fully staffed union shop. Management is offering an 11 percent raise and wants to use nonunion contractors both inside and outside the plants. With losses of $100 million a day, it’s estimated that Boeing has already lost $3 billion in revenue. (New York Times, Oct. 9) The company can’t make a dime without the workers’ labor.

Foxwoods Casino workers talk contract

Although workers at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut voted to join the Auto Workers nearly a year ago, they’ve been thwarted in their efforts to negotiate their first contract. But on Oct. 10 an agreement was reached between the UAW and the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise to begin discussions for 30 days. They will consider how to bargain under tribal law without either party waiving any of their rights or legal positions under the National Labor Relations Act. (UAW press release, Oct. 10)

Writers demand better contract

The Writers Guild has instructed its members not to work without a decent contract on the new Fox TV variety show about Ozzy Osborne and family that’s being produced by FremantleMedia, North America. The proposed contract would pay reduced fees to writers of skits, interview material and scene outlines. The Guild has tangled with Fremantle before. This summer the Guild protested about poor and illegal working conditions at many sites of regional auditions for the new season of “American Idol.” Eight former FremantleMedia employees have filed claims totaling more than $250,000 for unpaid overtime and other violations of labor law. (New York Times, Oct. 10)

Brooklyn supermarket ‘cheated workers’

Two executives at the Associated supermarket in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn were arrested Oct. 8 on charges of cheating workers out of more than $300,000 and falsifying business records given to New York State officials. Baggers were paid no wages; they only received tips that ranged from $12 to $30 a day for up to 11-hour days. Other staff received $300 for 70-hour weeks, which comes to $4.29 an hour. That’s way below the state’s minimum wage of $7.15. On top of the criminal charges, a civil suit is demanding that the supermarket pay $600,000 in back wages and penalties to more than 30 workers who were cheated out of pay from 2004 to 2008. (New York Times, Oct. 9)