On the picket line

CWA locals go after AT&T

Over 110,000 AT&T employees, represented by the Communication Workers union, are exposing the world’s seventh largest corporation all over the country because it won’t agree to an equitable contract. On May 27 CWA members clogged the entrance to the Four Seasons Hotel in Carlsbad, Calif., chanting, “You can run, but you can’t hide” while AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson attended a high-tech conference there. Those trying to enter the hotel were confronted by a gigantic, inflated “Randall the Rat&t.” On May 28 public rallies were held in Oakland, Calif., and Arlington, Va. CWA locals held a rally in Kansas City on May 29, while members handed out flyers about the contract stalemate during AT&T night at the Kansas City Royals’ baseball game. (CWA e-mail)

Mich. State nontenured faculty vote union

The 650 full- and part-time faculty who are given semester-by-semester contracts at Michigan State University voted at the end of May to be represented by the American Federation of Teachers. Job security, health insurance and wages top the demands of the newly formed Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty. Part-time teachers at Western Michigan University joined AFT Michigan in February.

Immokalee Workers win in Fla. tomato fields

Two of the largest organic growers in Florida signed agreements to implement the principles of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ “penny-per-pound program,” reported the June 5 AFL-CIO blog. That means the workers, mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants and African Americans, will get 72 to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 to 45 cents. Since CIW started this campaign in 2005, it has won support from such chains as Taco Bell, MacDonalds, Burger King and Subway. While upscale Whole Foods Market, which buys from the two growers, was the first supermarket chain to support the campaign, WW notes that WFM workers are still unrepresented.

Workers win card check victory in Calif.

Local 5 of the Food and Commercial Workers union just won card check recognition at Berkeley Bowl, an independent supermarket in California. Though management has been fighting unionization since 2003, the bosses finally decided, under public pressure for the Employee Free Choice Act, it was “the right thing to do.” Just shows that persistence and good timing do pay off!