On the picket line

Calif. women workers file new bias case vs. Wal-Mart

It only took four months for women workers at Walmart stores in California to come back swinging after the Supreme Court dismissed their national class-action lawsuit. On Oct. 27, more than 90,000 current and former employees charged the world’s largest, multibillion-dollar retailer with discriminatory practices on pay and job promotion. Their lawyers announced an “armada” of lawsuits in other regions over the next six months. By focusing on specific regions, the lawyers can more easily document specific instances of bias. For instance, the lawsuit was initiated in 1999 when a woman discovered that a male employee with the same job but less experience was making $23,000 a year more than she was. (New York Times, Oct. 28)

Nat’l Taxi Workers joins AFL-CIO

When the AFL-CIO accepted the charter of the National Taxi Workers Alliance on Oct. 20, it was a sign of the changing nature of the union movement. Increasingly the labor federation is recognizing workers who have been traditionally excluded from coverage by labor law, such as domestic workers, or whose bargaining rights have been obliterated by rule changes, which slashed taxi drivers’ rights in the Reagan era. Now the federation has agreed to use its clout to fight for these workers. (AFL-CIO Now Blog, Oct. 20)

Historic contract for carwash workers in L.A.

Carwash workers, who are predominantly Spanish-speaking immigrants, established a precedent in Southern California on Oct. 24 when the carwasheros at Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica reached a first-ever contract. The workers, who joined Steelworkers (USW) Local 675 this summer, won a wage increase, health and safety protections, grievance and arbitration procedures, and job protection if the business is sold. Meanwhile, the workers at Marina Car Wash in Venice will have a contract when the business reopens, and workers at three other carwashes joined Local 675.

The USW set up the Car Wash Workers Organizing Committee and the CLEAN (Community Labor Environmental Action Network) Carwash Campaign in 2008 to organize the 18,000 carwash workers around the country and stop rampant wage theft, unhealthy working conditions, anti-immigrant bias and violations of anti-discrimination laws. The campaign is supported by more than 100 community, religious and other activist groups. The bosses took in $872 million in 2002 by cheating the workers — not paying them the minimum wage ($8 an hour in California) or overtime — and by using pollutants and unsafe cleaning practices that endanger both the workers and the environment. Not only will organizing this industry help some of the most exploited, oppressed workers in this country, but it will swell the workers’ movement at a critical time for organized labor. (usw.org)

Latino labor org. calls for new view of immigration

A new study by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, an AFL-CIO constituency group, calls for a focus on the root causes of immigration while denouncing anti-immigrant policies. LCLAA’s executive director, Hector Sanchez, who authored “Disposable Workers: Immigration after NAFTA and the Nation’s Addiction to Cheap Labor,” points out that “11 million undocumented people in the most powerful country in the world is not a mistake, it is public policy — yet no one is asking who is benefiting from such a broken system. It is hypocritical to keep blaming immigrants for complex problems while we consume produce harvested by immigrants, occupy buildings and homes erected by them, and drive on roads made possible by their labor. It’s time to change the debate and promote fair trade policies that seek sustainable economic development for all partners involved and respect workers’ rights at home and abroad.” (AFL-CIO Now Blog, Oct. 26)

ILWU 21 fined another $65,000

Local 21 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union was fined $65,000 on Nov. 1 for violating a civil restraining order on Sept. 21 that bars members from blocking train tracks leading to the EGT grain terminal in Longview, Wash. A dozen protesters were arrested while fighting for ILWU jobs at the new terminal. Union fines now total $315,000; the ILWU has already appealed the first $250,000. A federal mediator is scheduled to hear the dispute in early December. (tdn.com, Nov. 1) But how can justice prevail when EGT can use the courts and the police against ILWU?