ISC Monthly Bulletin -- July 2008
Submitted on Sat, 06/28/2008 - 6:34pm
Greetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the third digest of our monthly international news letter. The purpose of this newsletter is to keep our allies around the world informed of our activities, solidarity campaigns, and relevant international labor struggles. It is our hope that this newsletter will contribute to building worker-to-worker solidarity through strengthened communications and exchanges of information.If you would like to contribute story ideas or news for the bulletin, or wish to contact the ISC, you can email [email protected].
Saludos de la Comisión de Solidaridad Internacional (ISC) de los Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo (IWW) y bienvenidos a nuestro boletín internacional mensual.
El propósito de este boletín es mantener a nuestros aliados alrededor del mundo informados de nuestras actividades, campañas de solidaridad, y luchas obreras relevantes. Esperamos que este boletín contribuya a construir solidaridad entre trabajadores reforzando las comunicaciones e intercambios de información.
Para contribuir con ideas o noticias al boletín, o para contactar a la ISC por favor escribir a [email protected]. Para la versión en español, hacer clic aquí
In this digest:1. IWW News
- Grand Rapids Starbucks Union and Spanish CNT Announce a Global Day of Action!
- 20 Fired at Flaum Appetizing
- E-Z supply ordered to pay $1 Million
- Reactivating the IWW in Chile
- Solidarity with ZSP against Lionbridge
- Solidarity with Indian Guest Workers on Hunger Strike
- Defending SVA Ruba Electronics Employees Union
- Justice for laid-off garment workers in Haiti
- Solidarity with fired Haitian workers
Grand Rapids Starbucks Union and Spanish CNT Announce a Global Day of Action! (iww.org)
The Union of Commercial and Hotel workers CNT-AIT in Sevilla, Spain along with the Grand Rapids Starbucks Workers Union (IWW) have announced a Global Day of Action scheduled for July 5th. The two groups are asking social organizations, unions, and individuals from around the world to promote and participate in this day of action.On April 24th, 2008 a barista named Monica was fired for her union activity from a Starbucks in Sevilla, Spain. She was a member of the Union of Commercial and Hotel Workers of the Confederacion Nacional de Trabajadores (CNT). Now with the support of all CNT affiliates, the International Workers Association, and the Starbucks Workers Union (IWW) they are demanding justice for Monica.
The treatment of Monica in Spain by Starbucks is similar to the charges of anti-union discrimination being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This new Grand Rapids investigation comes less than a year since Starbucks signed a settlement agreement with the NLRB claiming they would end intimidation against baristas interested in joining the Starbucks Union.
The Grand Rapids Starbucks Workers Union (IWW) calls on everyone interested in social justice and worker's rights to confront global coffee giant Starbucks on July 5th with international solidarity. For Monica in Spain, for baristas in Grand Rapids, and for coffee farmers around the globe.
Grand Rapids Protest:
4 pm July 5th
Starbucks at 28th St. and East Beltline
The CNT of Sevilla have produced a weblog for the Day of Action (in spanish): http://seccionstarbuckscnt.wordpress.com
To get involved locally contact:
Grand Rapids Starbucks Workers Union
[email protected]
616-881-5263
PO Box 6629
Grand Rapids, MI 49516
http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/2017
20 Fired from Flaum in NYC (adapted from iww.org statement)
Flaum Appetizing, a kosher food distributor, terminated 20 IWW members last week. The IWW had a strong presence at Flaum, with about two-thirds of the warehouse being union members. Workers had been struggling for respect from the boss for almost a year before the firings occurred.
The chain of events began last Thursday when the boss fired a woman known for being a strong union member. When her fellow workers decided to confront the boss about her termination, they were all fired on the spot.
The IWW is putting up daily picket lines this week and will fight the terminations through direct action, media pressure, and legal action.
The Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) or Central Organization of the Workers of Sweden sent a letter to the management of Flaum Appetizing pledging solidarity with and demanding the reinstatement of fired workers.
Supporters can write letters to management at:
Flaum Appetizing
288 Sholes Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206
E-Z supply ordered to pay $1 Million (iww.org)
Since the IWW Industrial Union 460 began organizing in foodstuffs warehouses 3 years ago, we’ve organized in ten workplaces with varying degrees of success. One issue at every shop has been the employer’s failure to comply with wage and hour laws.
Many companies have retaliated by firing workers for their union activity. Workers have fought back through strikes, pickets, demonstrations, and selective legal action, among other tactics. We find legal action to be most effective when combined with these other methods, and when viewed as a means and not an end. This is a report on our legal status, but readers should understand that legal action is one of many tools workers are using to win their demands.
About a year and a half after we began utilizing legal action, several favorable rulings have recently come down and several settlements have been reached. Since the rulings have just came down, companies have not yet begun making payments.
Handyfat Trading (now called HDF Trading) Six workers were awarded a total of $360,000. The union recently made a motion to require Handyfat to pay interest and legal fees which could raise the total amount.
E-Z Supply (now called Sunrise Plus) Thirteen workers were awarded a total of $1.068 million. The owners have tried to escape liability by forming a new corporation called Sunrise Plus. The union has made a motion to define Sunrise Plus as an alter ego for E-Z Supply, which would hold Sunrise Plus liable for the judgment against E-Z Supply.
Giant Big Apple Fifteen of seventeen workers have settled. The fifteen will receive a total of $325,000. The remaining two have yet to settle.
Amersino Fifteen of sixteen workers have settled. Due to a confidentiality agreement, the union is unable to disclose the amount of money.
Top City Produce The company was investigated by the New York Attorney General’s office. Negotiations are currently under way.
Wild Edibles In September 2007, sixteen workers filed a lawsuit over illegally withheld overtime pay and retaliation. An additional eight workers have since joined the case. The plaintiffs are set to request class certification, which would expand coverage in the case to all current and former workers going back six years.
A few months after the suit was filed, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the company not to retaliate against any worker who is part of the suit. The company has since allegedly violated this injunction several times, and the workers’ lawyers recently filed a motion to hold the company in contempt of court. To date, eleven of the twenty four workers involved in the case have been fired or constructively discharged.
Flaum Appetizing A back wage case is proceeding against the company. In late May, 20 workers were terminated for union activity. The union will be filing a complaint with the NLRB.
Penang Restaurant Penang, a Malaysian restaurant in the Upper East Side, closed down in summer 2007. Workers at the restaurant had been working 12-hour days for under minimum wage when they chose to join the IWW in early 2006. The IWW issued a heavy flyering campaign outside the restaurant after the boss refused to honor an agreement with the union.
HWH HWH changed its name twice before closing down in fall 2007. One of the most slave-like warehouses in the industry, HWH required workers to put in as many as 116 hours per week, with drivers often working multiple days in a row with no time off. The union reached an agreement with the company in July 2007. Shortly after, HWH locked out the workers and changed its name to Dragonland, and then to US Garden, before closing for good.
2. ISC Action and Events
Reactivating the IWW in Chile
On June 6th, 2008, Alex Van Schaick, the current ISC delegate in Bolivia, and Peter Montalbano, a union member from New York visited Arica, Chile. The ISC in conjunction with the Colectivo de Agitación Libertaria (CAL) and the Federación de Estudiantes Libertarios (FEL) coordinated a forum to debate current union organizing strategies for industrialized work (see flyer). About 40 people attended the event which took place at the Sindicato Sutrapeva, the social center from the stevedores union. A short video from the New Jersey truckers started the night and then the IWW speakers focused on the Wild Edibles campaign from New York, highlighting challenges in the legislation, strategic lessons, supply chain organizing and community support. Ricardo Olivero from the CAL facilitated the event and there were tow other speakers, Daniel Riquelme from the FEL, who referred to the history of the IWW in Chile and the changes in the current situation of Chile that bring up the need to reorganize industrially. Finally, Herval Correa shared his experience as an organizer from the recently formed food workers union at one of the biggest supermarket chains in Chile, LIDER, also addressing that they want to have a federation of supermarkets in northern Chile (see picture). Questions spanned from the history of the IWW in the States to the role of the student movement in class struggle and direct action, making this event a unique exchange of organizing strategies that hopes to reactivate the IWW in Chile.
Solidarity with ZSP against Lionbridge
The ISC has been involved in coordinating solidarity pickets and actions on behalf of Jakub G., a Warsaw-based member of the ZSP (Polish Syndicalist Union) fired for union organizing by the multinational IT corporation Lionbridge. An international day of action in July (date to be announced) at Lionbridge locations worldwide is being coordinated between several radical unions, including International Workers’ Association (IWA) sections and IWW branches. For more details about the case please see the article “One Corporation’s Public Secrets: Lionbridge Case to be Closely Observed” below. Click here for a listing of Lionbridge locations around the globe.
If you would like to get involved please contact .
3. Solidarity Campaigns and Statements
Solidarity with Indian Guest Workers on Hunger Strike
(Adapted from a statement by Jobs with Justice)
The ISC is participating in a campaign to support Indian guest workers who were trafficked to the Gulf Coast to work for Signal International and have been on hunger strike since May 14 demanding dignity and justice. The workers were charged $20,000 apiece for false promises of permanent residency but instead were given temporary H2B visas that bound them to their employer, allowing the company to impose deplorable conditions and threaten workers with deportation. When they organized, Signal sent armed guards to detain the organizers and fired the leaders. The intimidation hasn't stopped their organizing, and the hunger strike now enters its fourth week. The workers have already won their first demand - Congress will hold a hearing later this year to investigate Signal International and the use of the guest-worker program.
Help the workers win their second, key demand - that they be granted "continued presence" - so they can end their hunger strike. The workers must be released from the terror of deportation and granted this legal status as authorized by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act so they may safely participate in the federal government's investigation. Click here to take action.
Defending SVA Ruba Electronics Employees Union
The ISC sent a letter to the Government of Pakistan, urging officials to uphold the rights of workers at the SVA Ruba Electronics Factory, which is a joint venture of China in Pakistan. Workers at the factory make less than minimum wages and have to do forced overtime. The management is violating labor laws and using terror tactics and has even resorted to violence--especially against women workers.
On various instances in the month of May the factory management has locked workers either in the factory or out of the factory. Workers demanding their rights have been threatened by goons and thrown out of the factory. When the workers formed a union named “SVA Ruba Electronics Employees Union” and submitted an application to the Registrar of union in National Industrial Relation Commission (NIRC), the Chairman of NIRC gave the workers a “stay order” and instructed the management to not terminate any workers. Despite this order workers have been locked out of the factory and have been protesting in the hot sun for their jobs.
In the letter, the ISC declared its solidarity with SVA Ruba workers and demanded the immediate reinstatement of Waheed Il Hasan and a major salary increase for the workers. The ISC further insisted that the company recognize the SVA Ruba Electronics Employees Union, cease intimidation and begin bargaining in good faith with the union. The letter called on the government of Pakistan to take immediate action against SVA Ruba Electronics for the violation of ILO Conventions 98 and 87 and any other violations of Pakistani or international labor law.
Justice for laid-off garment workers in Haiti
Joseph Lapp II, one of the ISC delegates who represented the IWW in Haiti in late April and early May, recently sent a letter to underwear manufacturer Hanes Brands, Inc. and Global Supply protesting the actions of Hanes subcontractor CD Apparel. In the letter, Joseph describes how during his trip to Haiti he became aware of the ongoing struggle of 500 factory workers who lost their jobs as a direct result of Hanes’ decision to withdraw its contract from CD Apparel and move production to a different factory.
The letter points out that although these workers were in time paid their legally required severance (a very tiny amount), they have not received the same level of compensation as workers employed under contract by Hanes in other parts of the world have been, in similar situations. The letter urged Hanes to fairly compensate the workers, expressing hope that the company will live up to its responsibilities but warning that if it does not the IWW will take further action as appropriate.
Solidarity with fired Haitian workers
The ISC wrote a letter expressing outrage over the recent arrest of two female workers at the Ministry of Social Affairs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. These workers, along with others, were seeking redress over severance pay they have been owed since December of 2007 due to the closing of their place of employment. Since the owner of the factory where they worked, Jean Paul Faubert, has for six months refused to pay them their back wages, the workers were seeking help from the Ministry of Social Affairs. In response to this appeal these two individuals were arrested.
In the letter, the ISC pointed out that it is the duty of the Ministry of Social Affairs to assist workers who are mistreated by their employers and that this recent action only gives credit the often expressed suspicion that the Ministry exists only to serve the interests of factory owners and business people, and not the workers. The IWW urged the Ministry to demand that Jean Paul Faubert pay the fired Sohacosa workers the severance pay that he owes them, as required under Haitian law.
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