On the picket line

S.F. Labor Council: ‘Hands off social safety net’

The San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution unanimously on July 25 that any agreement raising the debt ceiling not touch the social safety net, including Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Pell grants and other socially useful programs. The resolution mandated that members of the SFLC take this urgent message directly to the local office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on July 26. Other points included that “billionaires and corporations pay their fair share of taxes instead of hurting the middle class, working people and folks who are struggling” and that there be “an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a reduction in overall military spending and bringing home war dollars to fund our social programs, put people back to work and revitalize the U.S. economy.”

35,000 Verizon workers set to strike

The Communication Workers announced July 28 that 91 percent of its 35,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states voted to authorize a strike if the contract expires on Aug. 7. Verizon wants major concessions, claiming a drop in revenue and profits in its phone business and intense competition in television and Internet services. But the workers aren’t buying it. They’re only too well aware that Verizon earned $6.9 billion in net income for the first half of this year, with strong growth in the wireless cellphone division and FIOS TV and Internet services. This paragon of corporate greed wants to wipe out more than 60 years of collective bargaining after it made $19.5 billion in profits last year and paid its top five executives $258 million over the last four years. Verizon’s demands include replacing negotiated wage increases with merit pay, freezing pensions for current workers and instituting 401(k) plans for future workers, allowing contracting out and offshoring of more jobs, slashing sick leave and holidays, and completely gutting health care plans for current and retired workers. (New York Times, July 29) No wonder the workers voted to strike! Stay tuned.

Hyatt housekeepers rally in Texas

Hyatt Hotel housekeepers, who are fighting to join UNITE HERE Local 251 in San Antonio, Texas, were joined by unionized workers and community supporters on July 21 at a rally calling attention to the abuses the women workers suffer on the job. Local 251 stated in its call: “Our injury rates are high, our wages are low, and our immigrant sisters are exploited and cheated by Hyatt’s housekeeping subcontractors. Hyatt is hoping we will suffer in silence ... but we are standing up and speaking out. Across North America we are demanding an end to the abuses we suffer on the job. We will no longer suffer in silence. The abuse must end. Hyatt must change.” Unionized Hyatt housekeepers in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco have been protesting the chain’s high injury rate and unsafe working conditions since 2009.

IKEA workers vote union

On July 27 the workers at IKEA’s only North American assembly plant in rural Danville, Va., voted 221 to 69 to be represented by the Machinists union (IAMAW). Besides demanding higher wages, the workers want to end unsafe working conditions, erratic scheduling, and racist harassment and divisiveness. The union will begin negotiating its first contract once the election is certified by the National Labor Relations Board. (Associated Press, July 27)