Submitted on Tue, 12/26/2006 - 4:57pm
Who:
Current and former employees of Giant Big Apple Beer, Ltd., all Latino immigrants.
Where:
Giant Big Apple Beer Ltd.
32-31 57th St.
Woodside, New York, 11377
Phone: (718) 545-9400
CEO Sunny Paek
What:
Protest and press conference; service of lawsuit papers
When:
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
8:00 a.m. - Protest and service of lawsuit papers
8:30 a.m. - Press conference
Why:
Workers at Giant Big Apple work long hours for less than the legal minimum wage, without overtime pay. Fed up with this exploitation, they approached the Industrial Workers of the World and Make the Road By Walking, a Latino community organization based in Bushwick, Brooklyn. With the help of the IWW and Make the Road, they filed a wage & hour complaint with the U. S. Department of Labor in fall of 2005. As far as the workers know, this complaint has not resulted in any action by the DOL and they allege that their boss continues to violate State and federal wage laws. As a result, the workers consulted labor attorney Stuart Lichten of Schwartz, Lichten & Bright, P.C., with whose help they have filed a class action against Giant Big Apple on behalf of all present and former employees of the company.
The Industrial Workers of the World, a democratic, member-run labor union, is supporting the Giant Big Apple workers, and will stage a protest rally in front of Giant Big Apple when the suit papers are served. A number of Giant Big Apple's workers have joined the union and organizing efforts at the beer distributorship are continuing.
Giant Big Apple employs approximately 19 workers. Seven current employees and nine former employees have joined the class-action lawsuit.
Submitted on Wed, 11/15/2006 - 11:06pm
On September 25th of 2006 Alcatraz Cruises, part of the notoriously anti-union Hornblower Yachts, took over the contract to run the Alcatraz ferry service using non union crews for the first time since the service began in the early 70's.
The unions representing the captains, deckhands, mechanics, ticket sellers and collectors, the Inlandboatmens Union-ILWU(IBU) and the-Masters Mates and Pilots (MMP) have attempted to negotiate with Hornblower Yachts in good faith, but thus far, Hornblower has refused to rehire the union workers and honor the workers' contracts with the previous employer, Blue & Gold Fleet.
Union members and supporters have been and continue to picket Alcatraz Cruises every day of the week (except Saturdays) in front of Alcatraz Cruises landing facility at Pier 31-1/2 in San Francisco. As pickets continue, more and more potential customers have been turned away from Hornblower Yachts.
Submitted on Sat, 11/11/2006 - 2:05pm
The Shattuck Cinema Workers are releasing the following statements to Landmark Cinema Workers and Patrons:
Dear Cinema Workers:
Greetings from the Shattuck Cinema Workers in Berkeley.
Today with the help of local IWW members we are contacting Landmark Cinema customers at your theater.
At this time it is important that we inform Landmark customers of our efforts to unionize and ask for support.
Why we Unionize:
- Better pay
- More control over job conditions
- Respect
- Solidarity with our co-workers
- Bargaining power
Starting wage has already been raised and hourly wage increases with union approval. This is no coincidence.
Submitted on Sat, 11/11/2006 - 12:54pm
Last month, one dozen recyling drivers and loaders at the Ecology Center (in Berkeley California), approved their latest IWW Union contract. The recyclers are part of Municipal and Utility Service Workers Industrial Union 670, and the shop has been part of the IWW since 1989. Next door, the Berkeley Community Conservation Center's Buyback Recycling Shop has been with the union since 2000.
The new contract includes several modest gains, including:
- a 3% Across the Board increase in hourly wages, retroactive to January 1, 2006 and an additional 3% ATB wage increase effective January 1, 2007.
- All recyclers, including loaders, receive a guaranteed 8-hours pay for each shift worked. Previously only drivers received that benefit.
- All recyclers, including loaders, shall receive reassignment bonuses. Previously only drivers received that benefit.
- Confusing language regarding employee status with numerous conflicting categories, such as "probationary", "temporary", "full time", "part time", and "short hour" has been replaced with clear, solid language with three well defined categories of "regular", "on call", and "probationary".
- New, probationary employees recieve "peer review" from their fellow workers, removing some of the hiring power from management.
- Recyclers receive a modest increase in periodic work boot allowances.
- All regular employees who work a minimum number of shifts receive full health care & dental coverage.
- Now teams can receive weight bonuses whereas previously only solo drivers received bonuses.
The contract also has no significant concessions. The biggest concession demanded by management was an increase in individual Health Care co-payments from $5 to $35 per visit and/or prescription. The Union managed to fight that demand.
Submitted on Tue, 10/17/2006 - 10:11pm
Published On Tuesday, October 17, 2006 2:26 AM - By VIRGINIA A. FISHER and NICHOLAS K. TABOR, Harvard Crimson Staff Writers.
Disclaimer - Contrary to the authors' remarks, the IWW is not an "anarcho-syndicalist" organization. It is in fact, a revolutionary industrial union.
You may soon be able to get a shot of “anarcho-syndicalism” with your mocha Frappuccino, if the Cambridge City Council has its way.
In its meeting last night, the council passed a resolution supporting the right of Starbucks employees to organize under the aegis of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or "Wobblies," a union made famous in the early 20th century for a brand of radical socialism known as “anarcho-syndicalism.” The IWW advocates “aboliton of the wage system” on its website.
