Hundreds of unionists, members of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, took to the streets June 26 in New York to rally against a new landlord’s action against building workers. The landlord, Fifth City Realty, an affiliate of Empire Capital, had recently purchased the building at 529 5th Avenue at 44th Street in Manhattan.
The new management has proceeded to cut wages of the buildings cleaners nearly in half to the city’s minimum wage of $16 an hour. cancelling worker benefits like family medical insurance and terminating long term employees, including full-time and part-time security officers and a fire safety director.
The rally was joined by building workers throughout the neighborhood in support. “This company is bad on many levels,” said Denis Johnston, executive vice-president of 32BJ. “They’ve been referred to as billionaire bottom feeders. They don’t care about workers’ rights, they don’t care about tenant services, and they have a reputation of not investing in their properties.”
“My wages have been cut almost in half to $16 an hour. They have cut our benefits. How will we survive? They want to take away everything we have fought for. But we are fighting back,” said an 18-year 32BJ member who works at the Fifth Avenue building. Another worker at the building, a security officer, defiantly declared, “We can’t let greed win.”
https://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/icon.png500500Paul Beckerhttps://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/spotlight_logo_.pngPaul Becker2024-07-04 17:38:222024-07-04 18:37:34HUNDREDS OF BUILDING WORKERS IN MANHATTAN RALLY AFTER WAGE CUTS AND FIRINGS
“Donald Trump’s legacy is chaos and division—and his greatest accomplishment in office was a bloated tax giveaway for the wealthy at the expense of working people who make our country run. He oversaw the largest increase in outsourcing in a decade, put a union-busting lawyer in charge of the Department of Labor and blocked workers from receiving the pay we earned. Trump… would escalate his anti-worker crusade with the radical far-right’s Project 2025 agenda by eviscerating unions and hard-won contracts; slashing millions of union jobs; blocking workers from organizing; and drastically cutting wages, health care and retirement benefits.…
“Unions in our country are on the line in this election—and so are union members’ hard-won contracts. It’s simple: A second Trump term is a corporate CEO’s dream and a worker’s nightmare.”
https://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/icon.png500500Paul Beckerhttps://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/spotlight_logo_.pngPaul Becker2024-07-02 10:09:342024-07-03 16:51:57AFL-CIO PRESIDENT LIZ SHULER: 2nd TRUMP TERM – A CORPORATE CEO’s DREAM AND A WORKER’S NIGHTMARE
UAW STEPS UP DRIVE TO UNIONIZE NON-UNION AUTO PLANTS
After gaining the best contract in decades for auto workers from the US Big Three a few months ago, UAW President Sean Fain announced that the union would be begin an organizing drive among the non-union auto plants in the country.
A second early result this month came in the form of an announcement by the union that more than 30% of the workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed UAW authorization cards to be represented by the union in collective bargaining. The Tuscaloosa workers join workers at the Volkswagen facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in reaching the 30% goal, the first step in their union organizing efforts. If 50% sign up, the union will publicly rally and at 70% the UAW will demand recognition or call on the National Labor Relations Board to organize a vote.
Most national unions elect their presidents at their conventions held every few years. They are chosen by the delegates the locals send to the conventions. This indirect election of its top leaders has produced an undemocratic structure in most unions in which the leadership has only a remote connection to he rank-and-file members.
But developments in two unions may serve to be a harbinger of things to come. In both the Teamsters and Auto Workers unions, the government intervened after a lengthy legal process and compelled an election by direct mail ballot of the entire membership. In the case of the UAW, the old guard leadership was sent to jail for corruption.
The result was leadership closer to workers directly on the production line. UAW President Sean Fain went around the country, holding meetings and sounding out workers on what they wanted in their new contracts. The process produced the best contracts for workers in decades. The Teamsters contract with UPS, signed this past summer, made great gains for UPS drivers without a strike. UAW workers in factories of the Big Three US automakers are enjoying a contract not seen since the early organizing days of the union.
A valuable lesson that greater union democracy often brings greater gains for workers.
Almost 5,500 workers in the U.S. died from on-the-job injuries in 2022, the highest number in the past 10 years, according to a report released Dec. 19 by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than 70% of the victims worked in blue-collar jobs such as construction, driving trucks, and maintenance, and more than 90% were men.”These deaths could be prevented,” said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health “if employers listen to workers and adopt preventive and comprehensive safety measures.”
“Transportation incidents” accounted for more than 2,000 fatalities, about two-thirds of them in vehicle crashes. Falls, most commonly to a lower level of a structure, accounted for 865 deaths, and 839 came from exposure to poisons, electricity, or extreme heat. Older workers were most vulnerable, with 35% of those killed 55 or older.
HUNDREDS OF BUILDING WORKERS IN MANHATTAN RALLY AFTER WAGE CUTS AND FIRINGS
Labor BriefsPhoto: 32BJ SEIU
Hundreds of unionists, members of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, took to the streets June 26 in New York to rally against a new landlord’s action against building workers. The landlord, Fifth City Realty, an affiliate of Empire Capital, had recently purchased the building at 529 5th Avenue at 44th Street in Manhattan.
The new management has proceeded to cut wages of the buildings cleaners nearly in half to the city’s minimum wage of $16 an hour. cancelling worker benefits like family medical insurance and terminating long term employees, including full-time and part-time security officers and a fire safety director.
The rally was joined by building workers throughout the neighborhood in support. “This company is bad on many levels,” said Denis Johnston, executive vice-president of 32BJ. “They’ve been referred to as billionaire bottom feeders. They don’t care about workers’ rights, they don’t care about tenant services, and they have a reputation of not investing in their properties.”
“My wages have been cut almost in half to $16 an hour. They have cut our benefits. How will we survive? They want to take away everything we have fought for. But we are fighting back,” said an 18-year 32BJ member who works at the Fifth Avenue building. Another worker at the building, a security officer, defiantly declared, “We can’t let greed win.”
amNY, 6/27
AFL-CIO PRESIDENT LIZ SHULER: 2nd TRUMP TERM – A CORPORATE CEO’s DREAM AND A WORKER’S NIGHTMARE
Labor Briefs“Donald Trump’s legacy is chaos and division—and his greatest accomplishment in office was a bloated tax giveaway for the wealthy at the expense of working people who make our country run. He oversaw the largest increase in outsourcing in a decade, put a union-busting lawyer in charge of the Department of Labor and blocked workers from receiving the pay we earned. Trump… would escalate his anti-worker crusade with the radical far-right’s Project 2025 agenda by eviscerating unions and hard-won contracts; slashing millions of union jobs; blocking workers from organizing; and drastically cutting wages, health care and retirement benefits.…
“Unions in our country are on the line in this election—and so are union members’ hard-won contracts. It’s simple: A second Trump term is a corporate CEO’s dream and a worker’s nightmare.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, as quoted by Labor Start, 6/29
JANUARY BITS AND PIECES
Labor Briefs, miscUAW STEPS UP DRIVE TO UNIONIZE NON-UNION AUTO PLANTS
After gaining the best contract in decades for auto workers from the US Big Three a few months ago, UAW President Sean Fain announced that the union would be begin an organizing drive among the non-union auto plants in the country.
A second early result this month came in the form of an announcement by the union that more than 30% of the workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed UAW authorization cards to be represented by the union in collective bargaining. The Tuscaloosa workers join workers at the Volkswagen facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in reaching the 30% goal, the first step in their union organizing efforts. If 50% sign up, the union will publicly rally and at 70% the UAW will demand recognition or call on the National Labor Relations Board to organize a vote.
Guadian,1/10
IS THERE A LESSON HERE?
Most national unions elect their presidents at their conventions held every few years. They are chosen by the delegates the locals send to the conventions. This indirect election of its top leaders has produced an undemocratic structure in most unions in which the leadership has only a remote connection to he rank-and-file members.
But developments in two unions may serve to be a harbinger of things to come. In both the Teamsters and Auto Workers unions, the government intervened after a lengthy legal process and compelled an election by direct mail ballot of the entire membership. In the case of the UAW, the old guard leadership was sent to jail for corruption.
The result was leadership closer to workers directly on the production line. UAW President Sean Fain went around the country, holding meetings and sounding out workers on what they wanted in their new contracts. The process produced the best contracts for workers in decades. The Teamsters contract with UPS, signed this past summer, made great gains for UPS drivers without a strike. UAW workers in factories of the Big Three US automakers are enjoying a contract not seen since the early organizing days of the union.
A valuable lesson that greater union democracy often brings greater gains for workers.
Labor Notes, 1/5
ON-THE-JOB INJURIES NOW HIT 10-YEAR HIGH
Almost 5,500 workers in the U.S. died from on-the-job injuries in 2022, the highest number in the past 10 years, according to a report released Dec. 19 by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than 70% of the victims worked in blue-collar jobs such as construction, driving trucks, and maintenance, and more than 90% were men.”These deaths could be prevented,” said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health “if employers listen to workers and adopt preventive and comprehensive safety measures.”
“Transportation incidents” accounted for more than 2,000 fatalities, about two-thirds of them in vehicle crashes. Falls, most commonly to a lower level of a structure, accounted for 865 deaths, and 839 came from exposure to poisons, electricity, or extreme heat. Older workers were most vulnerable, with 35% of those killed 55 or older.
Work Bites, 12/20