Submitted on Tue, 06/14/2005 - 5:38pm
BERKELEY, CA - At 1:45 PM on Tuesday June 14, the recycling yard at Community Conservation Centers, Inc., better known as Buyback, grew suddenly silent. The paper line stopped, followed by glass and plastic. The forklifts and trucks pulled into parking spaces, and the roar of their engines died.
The workers gathered in the parking lot in front of the office, donning IWW pins and hats. They chanted ¡Sí se puede! and filed into General Manager Jeff Belchamber’s office. FW Jose Alvarez stepped to the front of the group.
“Yo Jeff, we’ve got some things we want to say to you,” Jose said.
Shop steward Randy Addison read the workers’ list of demands: a pay raise, an end to the job classification system that keeps some workers making far less then their fellow workers, more paid holidays (an issue that had resulted in a wildcat strike on MLK Day of this year), an end to the co-payment workers pay to see a doctor, more vacation time, and more opportunity for training and advancement.