Submitted on Wed, 03/19/2008 - 3:44pm
Bay Area IWW members are involved in the following struggle:
Originally posted to indybay.org
Our first day on strike was extremely successful, despite the owner’s
attempts at intimidation by video taping us. Only two out of nine
day-time teachers went to work. The school succeeded in hiring one
replacement worker, but after we talked with him, he decided not to
return! This shows the tremendous potential for support that exists
throughout the ESL community.
Dozens of students stayed
out also, many of them joining us on our picket line and several of
them spoke at our rally. We should note that while they were speaking,
the school's six-figure Executive Director was snickering and laughing
– showing his contempt not only for his employees, but also for his
“customers” – the students who pay the freight at SFIE.
Other workers – union and non-union alike came out to our first picket, and we have the commitment of others to continue.
PLEASE SUPPORT US
Spread the word!
Join our picket line!
Donate to our strike fund!
SFIEteachers [at] yahoo.com
Submitted on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 12:38am
Bay Area IWW members are involved in the following struggle:
On Monday, March 17, at 8:30 a.m. a strike will begin at San Francisco
Institute of English (3301 Balboa, corner of 34th Avenue in SF's Outer
Richmond District) and will continue until the following demands are
met:
- Return of fully-paid health care that was removed in
2004 with the promise of its return when financial conditions improve,
which they have -- in addition, this past week SFIE sold another school
property that had been on the market for $1,395,000.
- An
across-the-board 30% increase in wages, with automatic future
cost-of-living-adjustments because there have been none for over 12
years.
Please join our picket line in front of the school
building, as well as contribute to our strike fund (e-mail back for
details).
Submitted on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 3:56pm
By M.K. and other members of the Bay Area Utility Service Workers iu670 industrial organizing committee.
The
contract negotiations between the Bay Area IU 670 Recycling Workers
Union and the two Berkeley Recycling Companies has been a challenging
struggle, but workers have stepped up to fight for tremendous
improvements. The Bay Area IWW represents drivers at The Ecology
Center who do residential curbside pickup, and workers at The
Community Conversation Center yard who sort and process recycling
materials. Both workers have been waging shopfloor struggles to
resolve grievances and improve their working conditions. With both
contracts coming up for negotiations, workers stepped up the fight.
The
drivers met several times both at work and outside of work to draft
an ambitious list of roughly 15 demands including an across the board
wage hike, increase in pension payments by the company, and a change
to the current accident penalties. The existing agreement resulted
in termination of any driver who was involved in three accidents
incurring more than $1400 worth of damage. With the narrow winding
streets of Berkeley and the increasing costs of small accidents like
broken rear-view mirrors, we have seen several workers purposefully
dropping down to a loader after two incidents. This has resulted in
wage decreases of up to $10 per hour!
Submitted on Fri, 12/28/2007 - 10:36pm
The following is posted in solidarity; at least one member of the Bay Area IWW has been targetted by this dragnet.
Don't believe everything you read, free speech is once again an issue
in Berkeley.
Though it might not have started as such, the struggle to save the
Oak grove at Memorial Stadium has become a fight for free speech, tapping
into our activist legacy: the Free Speech Movement.
The Oaks Protest became a fight for free speech when the fence was
built around a peaceful protest and those participating were given the
options of either coming down, and being arrested, or starving.
Submitted on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 2:14pm
By Gabe Wilson and Matt K., Bay Area IWW
This commentary is a response to Christine Staples' "Truth to Power: what Truth? What Power?" of November 16th, 2007, in which the author attempts to portray the striking workers at Metro Lighting and their union as thugs attempting to "take over Metro Lighting, or to drive them out of business trying." These accusations are too ridiculous to deserve a response, and they only serve to divert attention from the real issues at the store. Her editorial makes no attempt to deal seriously with the concerns of Metro Lighting's employees, so we would like to make these real issues known.
Workers have the right, protected by law, to take concerted activity to improve their conditions at work and to bargain with their employer over these conditions. The workers at Metro Lighting were brave enough to assert this right, and have faced unwillingness to negotiate and illegal retaliation from the owners. What led up to this?