On the picket line

NYC-area Macy’s workers win decent contract

The silk suits at Macy’s flagship store in New York City and stores in the Bronx, Queens and Westchester County had the audacity to offer a ruthless cutback contract to 4,000 members of Local 1-S of the Department Store union. But RWDSU fought back by exposing Macy’s corporate greed. At the same time that workers are earning on average $11 per hour, which is $421.50 for a 37.5-hour week, or $21,450 a year, Macy’s CEO pocketed $15 million last year, and the national retailer banked $847 million in profits.

When Macy’s proposed a contract that would raise the workers’ health care costs; arbitrarily shift full-time workers to part-time, making it impossible to support families; and lower the hourly starting salary from $8.50 to $7.50, RWDSU members voted unanimously to strike when the contract expired on June 15. And they appealed to the public for support at a militant rally in Herald Square on June 8.

The strategy worked. Not only will RWDSU workers see an increase of 65 cents an hour in the first year, for a total of $3.05 over the five-year contract, but the cost of some health care plans will be lower than before and full-time employees will be guaranteed 37.5 hours a week, with part-time employees guaranteed 28 hours.

RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum called the terms “symbolic” in a union-busting climate. “All we hear is that working people have to give concessions ... and just feel lucky to have any job at all. These negotiations serve as an important symbol for working people in New York that you can make gains for yourself and your family” if you fight back! (New York Times, June 17)

Nurses march on D.C., demand national agenda

Chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Wall Street greed has got to go,” several thousand nurses, union members and community allies marched from the White House to the Chamber of Commerce to the Capitol on June 7 demanding a “Main Street Contract for the American People.” Organized by National Nurses United, which represents thousands of nurses from coast to coast, the protest linked continuing economic hardship to broad declines in health and living standards for working families. The NNU proposal calls for good jobs at living wages, guaranteed health care for all, equal access to quality education, good housing, protection from hunger, a secure retirement for everyone, a clean and safe environment, and a fair and just tax system in which “Wall Street and those with the most wealth pay their fair share.” (Union City, online newsletter of D.C. Metro Council AFL-CIO, June 8) The NNU plans to bring its demands to Wall Street on June 22.

NYC hotel room attendants rally

When former head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arraigned for sexually attacking a hotel room attendant on May 14, he had to walk a gauntlet of 200 angry women hotel workers, all of whom were women of color and many immigrants. The June 6 rally was organized by the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, UNITE-HERE Local 6, which has 30,000 members in New York City. Local 6, which represents workers in about 75 percent of all hotels in the city’s five boroughs, has contracts that provide extensive due-process rights. An article entitled “Union Maid” in the June 6 American Prospect pointed out: “The fact that a Guinean immigrant housekeeper could report an assault by the hotel’s most powerful guest at the time without fearing reprisals is testament to the importance of the union.” The article described harassment and sexual abuse of about 250,000 housekeepers as “epidemic” in the U.S. hotel industry. There’s only one solution: Organize and fight back!

Support nuclear workers locked out for a year

A year ago the 230 workers who process uranium for use in nuclear fuel at a Honeywell plant in Metropolis, Ill., rejected a contract that would eliminate 45 jobs, seniority, overtime pay, pensions, retiree medical benefits and weaken work rules. Honeywell retaliated on June 28, 2010, by locking out the members of Steelworkers Local 7-669. Now, after standing tall and garnering widespread support from U.S. and European unions, the workers will mark the one-year anniversary of their struggle for a decent contract with a march and rally on June 25.

Though Honeywell claims it needed the drastic cutbacks to stay profitable, the corporation continues to rake in huge profits, while recently awarding its CEO a multi-million-dollar raise. No surprise, Honeywell’s goal is to break the union. Meanwhile it’s spending millions on untrained scabs who continue to have contamination accidents that endanger the entire community. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigated the most recent accident on May 23. (www.usw7-669.com) Members of Local 7-669 have also gone to Madison, Wis., to defend collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. Clearly, these workers understand the meaning of solidarity. All out to support Local 7-669 on June 25!