Submitted on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 1:30pm
The Industrial Workers of the World chalked up another victory in an NLRB election on Thursday, the ninth of February, at E-Z Supply Corp., a wholesale distributor of restaurant supplies and foodstuffs, located in Queens, New York.
The nominal vote was close, with sixteen votes for the union and fifteen against, but the "no" votes included six office workers whom management inappropriately tried to include in the bargaining unit. Among the warehouse workers, fork-lift operators, truck drivers, and helpers who make up the unit petitioned for by the union, the vote was sixteen to nine. The votes of the office workers were challenged by the union, but given its clear victory, the union will most likely forgo those challenges and welcome the office employees into the organization as Fellow Workers.
Union members in the shop demonstrated admirable self-discipline and solidarity, and were jubilant at the success of their organizing efforts. The New York City General Membership Branch is grateful to all the members of the I. W. W. at large, Se Hace Camino al Andar/Make the Road By Walking, and of the New York community, who have donated money, time, and talent to this campaign. This is the second shop in New York's foodstuffs industry to line up with the I. W. W., and there are many more to come.
Submitted on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 4:40am
Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.
Most of the talk about organizing drives at retail stores focuses on the big box mega stores like Wal-Mart and BJ's. Nonetheless, most retail workers in New York City work at smaller stores. Whether it's at a shoe store on Fordam Road in the Bronx, at a discount clothing store on Steinway in Queens, or at an electronics store on Fulton Street in Brooklyn, these workers are usually struggling to make ends meet. Many workers don't even earn the minimum wage. In Bushwick, Make the Road by Walking teamed up with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to do something about it.
In an innovative collaboration aimed at drastically improving wages, benefits and working conditions for retail workers along Bushwick's Knickerbocker Avenue, Make the Road by Walking launched a community organizing campaign that reached out to thousands of neighborhood consumers and got them to commit to stop buying from stores that exploit or mistreat their workers. Make the Road also reached out to the workers and encouraged them to organize a union that would give them lasting power in the workplace. The RWDSU was eager to experiment with community-labor partnerships, and eager to organize the workers in these retail shops. They engaged and developed strong leaders among the workers.
This Wednesday, the workers that lead the organizing drive, Make the Road by Walking and the RWDSU will announce that this partnership has won big pay raises, paid health care benefits, paid vacation and sick days and a union contract for close to 100 workers at 10 stores. (See Sunday's New York Times, In Modern Rarity, Workers Form Union at Small Chain)
This victory demonstrates that workers who are willing to stand up, and stand together, can win real improvements in their lives. It is a promising model of how community-labor collaboration can help to organize low-wage, immigrant workers around New York City.
Posted by Andrew Friedman at February 6, 2006 08:18 AM to DMI Blog
Submitted on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 4:36am
By John Davisson - Columbia Spectator Staff Writer, February 08, 2006 As if ordering a cup of coffee wasn’t complicated enough these days, things could get even muckier if federal labor law weighs in.
Since 2004, a group of baristas known as the Starbucks Workers Union has sought collective bargaining rights for the chain’s employees citywide, citing a need for improved pay and healthier working conditions.
While SWU has been unable to gain recognition from Starbucks or the National Labor Relations Board, the federal body that mediates labor disputes in the private sector, members are hoping that a recent wave of unfair labor allegations against the company might reverse its fortunes.
Submitted on Fri, 02/03/2006 - 2:55am
Industrial Worker - February 2006
Deep in the gritty, industrial district of North Brooklyn/Queens, 15 workers of EZ Supply started the new year right by marching to their workplace and demanding that their highly abusive boss sign a petition recognizing the IWW as their union.
Little over a month earlier they had come to the workers’ night at Make The Road by Walking, and told of working long hours without being paid overtime, which ultimately amounted to being paid less than minimum wage. Sometimes the trucks would finally be loaded to the top at 3 p.m., and the workers would be told that all 25 stops in Manhattan had to be made. And they did something rarely heard of: they collectively forced their boss to rehire a fired worker, who had been fired because he hadn’t made all the stops that day.
Submitted on Fri, 02/03/2006 - 2:54am
By Tomer Malchi - Industrial Worker, February 2006
On Friday Nov. 18, Starbucks workers at Union Square publicly declared their membership in the Starbucks Workers Union. Throughout the weekend workers showed their strength by refusing to take off union pins in the face of management attempting to enforce a no-pin policy. Our key demands were for guaranteed hours, a group meeting with management, and an end to anti-union discrimination.
District manager Kim Vetrano informed us three days after we went public that we could not wear our pins; although pins have been worn in the past, the policy was suddenly being enforced. Vetrano also insisted there would be no group meeting. We could have one-on-one meetings with managers, but not as a group.