All workers in blast furnaces, steel mills, aluminum plants, etc. All workers engaged in the production and repair of agricultural machinery, cars, locomotives, engines, automobiles, bicycles, air craft, and various instruments. Tool makers, jewelry and watchmakers.
Submitted on Tue, 09/25/2007 - 10:58pm
Union workers at Metro Lighting are resuming picketing today as they strike over the company's unfair labor practices. One union worker was fired last week for both union organizing and raising concerns over workplace exposure to toxic chemicals. The other workers are striking over the company's repeated violations of federal and state labor law and are demanding that all union workers be allowed to return to work.
Fired worker Gabe W. describes the behavior of Metro Lighting owners Lawrence and Christa Grown: "In the process of organizing, the boss made the environment very hostile. He would not negotiate on any terms and started retaliating from that point on. He hired union-busting attorneys, started harassing us at work and started surveillance of us. Our working conditions changed and the employee manual was re-written 3 or 4 times since we started organizing. New rules were made up, our hours were changed, our health care was cut."
Metro Lighting workers have been organizing with the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, and are fighting for a sustainable wage for all workers, safe working conditions and an end to the age discrimination that has resulted in thousands of dollars in lost wages to one worker in his 60s.
Metro Lighting owners have shown no willingness to negotiate with the union employees. In an attempt to crush the morale of the union workers, they locked them out for over three weeks and claimed to have closed the business due to a "family emergency". The business was clearly open, however, as they were taking appointments through their website or over the phone and have had scabs working in both the retail store and workshop the whole time.
Metro Lighting union workers are asking the community to come out and picket with them in solidarity this week and to let Metro Lighting know that Berkeley won't tolerate a business that is unfair to labor!
For more information, contact Gabe at 510-395-1324.
Submitted on Fri, 08/17/2007 - 4:43am
What can you do to help?
(1) Join our daily pickets from 12-5:00pm in front of Metro Lighting at 2121 San Pablo in Berkeley;
(2) Donate to our strike fund, make checks payable to the IWW with "metro lock-out fund" in the memo (send them to IWW PO Box 11412 Berkeley, CA 94712 or bring them to the picket line);
(3) Forward this message to your friends, family and fellow workers;
(4) Contact the owners (Lawrence and Christa) of Metro Lighting and let them know that you support the workers and will be taking your business elsewhere. (phone: 1-888-METRO20 )
Employees at Metro Lighting believe that a caustic alkaline chemical was released into their work area as a result of unsafe disposal on Thursday, August 9, 2007. These caustic alkaline chemicals can cause pneumonia and blindness.
Submitted on Wed, 08/15/2007 - 2:33pm
Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. The image pictured to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.
A group of employees from a Berkeley light fixture and home accessories store gathered yesterday to protest what they said were unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions at the company’s San Pablo Avenue showroom and workshop.
Approximately 30 protesters, including employees from the Metro Lighting and Crafts, showroom and workshop and members of the Industrial Workers of the World union have been actively picketing the company since Friday, said Gabe Wilson, who has worked in the store’s workshop for three years.
Submitted on Tue, 08/14/2007 - 2:27pm
Metro lighting in Berkeley claims to be a "socially and environmentally correct 'green business'," but on Thursday, August 9, 2007, workers feared caustic alkaline may have been releasesd into the air as a result of unsafe disposal.
IWW members and pro-union workers were locked out that morning after complaining about a potentially serious chemical exposure in their workplace.
The lock-out is yet another union-busting move on the part of Christa and Lawrence Grown, co-owners of Metro Lighting. Workers have been taking collective action to improve their working conditions over the past five months and are demanding the following before they return to work:
Submitted on Tue, 08/14/2007 - 2:19pm
Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. The image pictured to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.
By Judith Scherr - Berkeley Daily Planet, August 14, 2007
Charges and countercharges are flying between workers locked out by the owners of West Berkeley’s Metro Lighting.
The immediate question for the seven workers of the retail store and manufacturing plant at 2121 San Pablo Ave. was the cleaning of a drum containing allegedly hazardous materials.