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Stella D’Oro
strikers return to work
Marty
Goodman reports from New York: Strikers at the Stella D’Oro bakery in the Bronx received a favorable ruling
from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on June 30. The NLRB
ordered the company to “bargain in good faith” and to allow strikers to
return to work under the old contract. Accordingly, on July 7, the
workers resumed work.
However,
the 10-month-old strike by 136 workers is not over. The Stella D’Oro strikers are encouraged by developments but
remain determined to win a new contract. And they are resolved to fight
company threats to sell the plant. The Stella D’Oro
Strike Support Committee is organizing more pickets and boycott
activities.
The
Stella D’Oro workers are members of Local 50
of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
International Union. For more information, see www.Stelladorostrike2008.org
Casting workers challenge
Wells Fargo
Dave
Bernt reports from Chicago: Over 80 members of UE Local
1174 in Moline, Il.,
are taking on banking giant Wells Fargo in an effort to save their
jobs. The UE members work for Quad City Die Casting. The company
recently lost its normal line of credit from Wells Fargo, which it
needs for daily operations. Wells Fargo was the recipient of a $25
billion bailout from the federal government.
On
June 23 workers in 20 cities took part in a national day of action in
solidarity with the Quad City Die Casting workers. Trade unionists,
Jobs with Justice, and community organizations throughout the country
held rallies outside of Wells Fargo branches, chanting, “You got bailed
out, we got sold out!” In Chicago, UE Local 1110 members who
participated in the successful Republic Windows and Doors occupation
rallied with their Local 1174 sisters and brothers.
NUHW homecare workers vs. SEIU
Fresno, Calif., homecare providers have
filed a formal complaint with the California Public Employees Relations
Board exposing extensive violations committed by SEIU in a recent
representation election. The homecare workers are supporters of the
National Union of Health Care Workers (NUHW), which was formed when the
SEIU international undemocratically put into trusteeship the California
statewide health-care local United Healthcare Workers West (UHW). The
local’s leadership was expelled and formed NUHW with the goal of
building a militant, democratic union. NUHW has sought representation
at several UHW shops.
The
June 19 representation election for the Fresno homecare providers resulted
in an official victory for SEIU of 2938-2705. However, the
complaint by NUHW supporters details how SEIU used organizers to
physically intimidate homecare providers and NUHW organizers,
erroneously claiming that if workers voted for NUHW they would lose
health-care coverage, wages and even their jobs. They also state that
SEIU used a county manager with supervisory powers over homecare
workers to visit workers homes to urge them to vote for SEIU, among
other charges.
Regardless
of these charges, the actual result of the election is still in doubt;
as many as 400 ballots have still not been counted. NUHW
supporters have vowed to continue their fight for the right to choose
their own union representation.
Financial & transit
crisis turns deadly
Bill
Onasch reports: It wasn’t supposed to be
possible. Nine dead, 80 injured when one Metro train rear-ended another
in Washington. The DC Metro is fully
equipped with computerized Automatic Train Control designed to prevent
such catastrophe. One thing I learned driving a bus for 14 years is
that the reflex response in transit management to any accident is to
blame the operator. The operator of the moving train could not defend
herself–she was fatality one. Fully prepared to speak ill of the dead
an anonymous management source told the Washington Post the
night of the tragedy:
“It
doesn’t look like she hit the brakes,’ said a train safety expert, who
asked not to be identified because the crash is under investigation.
‘That’s why you have an operator in the cab. She should have been able
to take action. That’s what they’re there for.’”
But
by the next day it had to be acknowledged that as soon as “novice”
operator Jeanice McMillan realized to her
horror that the Automatic mode was taking her at 59 miles-per-hour
toward a train stopped around a curve she desperately hit the emergency
brakes. She didn’t try to jump to save herself; paid the princely wage
of 18.20 per hour she stayed on duty to the end. ...
Failed
computer circuits, inadequate brakes, and poorly designed rolling stock
appear to be the primary factors that came together to cause the worst
accident in Metro history. The first two factors may well be connected
to “deferred maintenance” so common in cash-strapped transit agencies.
...
The
New York Times reported, “...federal safety officials had [three years ago]
warned that the Washington train cars could be unsafe in crashes, and
called for them to be replaced, or at least strengthened. Transit
officials there said they could not afford to replace the cars, which
make up more than a quarter of their rolling stock, and added that they
were obliged to keep them in service until 2014 because of the terms of
a complicated tax shelter.”
We
wrote last fall about these scams that became quite common among
transit, and other public sector bodies. The authorities sell their
trains and buses to banks and then lease them back. The banks get to
deduct depreciation and other charges for the equipment–something
public agencies that don’t pay taxes can’t do.
Most
of these schemes were insured by AIG. When that giant, now
“nationalized,” collapsed, the banks demanded many transit
agencies–including the Washington Metro–pay the total owed for the
balance of the deal immediately or else find another AAA-rated insurer.
With some nudging from the courts, deals were negotiated by most to
dodge the bullet. The Metro had to pay 14 million in penalties. Under
the present rules they are obligated to maintain the bank tax shelters
for another five years.
The
same Times article says, “More than a third of the equipment in
the nation’s seven largest rail transit agencies was rated in marginal
or poor condition by the Federal Transit Administration this spring.
Replacing all the equipment that has exceeded its useful life and
finishing all outstanding station rehabilitations for just those seven
large systems would cost roughly $50 billion, the agency estimated, and
keeping the systems in a state of good repair after that would cost an
estimated $5.9 billion a year. By contrast, the $787 billion stimulus
law contains only $8.4 billion for transit capital improvements across
the nation.”
Capital
equipment expansion or replacement is not the only challenge. Gridlock
and soaring fuel prices led to an explosion of transit ridership in recent years. But operating funds to
keep workers on the job and buses and trains running and maintained
have declined because of the crisis.
Only
10 percent of the meager transit stimulus package can be used for
operating expenses. Most agencies have sharply curtailed service and
some have laid off workers. ...
All
this comes at a time when we sorely need to greatly expand transit if
we are serious about tackling global warming. But as transit crumbles
dangerously, Congress offers Cash for Clunkers—to buy new cars. Last
month, the White House urged Congress to stop considering a $500
billion transportation bill in committee and instead continue present
funding levels until after the 2010 Congressional election.
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