Workers Resistance

Author: laborradio

  • Nationwide Protests at Hobby Lobby Following Supreme Court Decision

    By JoAnne Pow!ers

    Advocates for workers’ rights joined with a wide coalition of activists last week, including supporters of women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare for all, to protest at Hobby Lobby stores across the nation.  The protests come on the heels of last Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court Decision, in which the court ruled that the religious convictions of the company’s owners meant that it did not have to follow provisions of the Federal Affordable Care Act requiring employee health care plans to provide contraception coverage.

  • SEIU Workers Press Demand For $15 As Johns Hopkins Refuses To End Poverty Wages

    By Doug Cunningham

    Johns Hopkins hospital is still refusing to meet 1199 SEIU’s demand that wages for 2,000 workers at the hospital be raised to $15 an hour for workers with at least 15 years experience. The union averted a planned strike by agreeing to a cooling off period and another bargaining session after the intervention of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. The union says the latest Johns Hopkins hospital offer would still leave many workers relying on food stamps, Medicaid and other public assistance because of their low wages. No new bargaining sessions are scheduled for now.

     

  • LIUNA Protests Child Labor In Minnesota

    By Doug Cunningham

    The Laborers International Union of North America is calling for an investigation into possible use of child labor on a St. Paul Minnesota construction site. A formal complaint was made Tuesday to both the U.S. and Minnesota Departments of Labor. Tim Mackey, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local 563, says a youth who appeared 13 or 14 years old was seen doing work on the Cornelia Elementary School in St. Paul on multiple occasions. Mackey says kids should be sitting in classrooms, not building them. The youth was spotted moving and placing concrete blocks and cutting blocks with a concrete saw – without safety equipment or apparent supervision.

     

  • 2,000 SEIU Johns Hopkins Hospital Workers To Strike Friday

    2,000 SEIU Johns Hopkins Hospital Workers To Strike Friday

    By Doug Cunningham

    A four-day strike at Johns Hopkins Hospital is set to start Friday now that labor contract negotiations have broken down. 1199 SEIU represents 2,000 Johns Hopkins service workers. The union wants at least $15 an hour for workers with at least 15 years experience. Right now the workers start at wages from $10.71 to $27.88 an hour depending on the job. SEIU says hospital management, which paid the Johns Hopkins CEO $15.4 million in 2013 and the top ten executives a combined $26 million can easily afford to pay workers at least $15 an hour. The union says wages are so low for the service workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital that some rely on food stamps and other assistance to get by.

  • AT&T Merger With DirecTV Could Bring 16,000 More Workers Into Unions

    By Doug Cunningham

    AT&T’s merger with DirecTV could bring 16,000 more workers into union ranks. AT&T, which already has 41,000 union employees, is buying DirecTV for $49 billion. The Communications Workers of America saysit believes the merger can provide real benefits to workers and to consumers. AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson says the company has a long history of working with its union members and the DirecTV workers will be free to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union. CWA says AT&T respects the rights of its workers to decide for themselves ion union representation. Federal regulators must still approve of the merger.

     

  • Working Moms Strike, Urge Obama To Require Collective Bargaining For Contractors

    By Doug Cunningham

    As the White House Summit on Working families got underway Tuesday at the Omni Hotel in Washington, hundreds of working moms and grandmothers rallied and held a strike at the National Zoo. They work for contractors paid by the federal government – over 50 profitable companies that operate at landmark buildings like the Pentagon, the Smithsonian Museums, the Ronald Reagan Building and the National Zoo. The workers are  urging President Obama to go beyond his executive order raising pay four the contracted workers to at least $10.10 an hour. In a letter to Obama and Labor Secretary Tom Perez the working motherland grandmothers called on them to require contractors to bargain with the workers collectively over wages and all terms of employment. Yesenia Vega was one of the striking moms.

    [Yesenia Vega]: “I went to the strike because I want to ask for me because $10.10 is not enough for me to support my family here, and because  I would like to have the benefits because we don’t have vacation paid or day off pay.”

    If Obama required federal contractors to collectively bargain with their workers, the workers say it would let the whole country know that the President of the United States truly believes in collective bargaining, that workers deserve a seat at the bargaining table in order to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions.

     

  • 600 Casino Workers Vote On UNITE-HERE Representation

    By Doug Cunningham

    Roughly six hundred casino workers at northern California’s Graton Resort and Casino could have a union soon. They are voting this week on whether or not to join UNITE-HERE. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria tribal Chair Greg Sarris is pro-union and put language into the casino’s gaming contract with the state. Sarris says he wants unions at the casino to ensure his dream of a more equitable society. Voting will continue among the 600 workers into the weekend.

     

  • Johns Hopkins Hospital Workers Take Strike Vote As Talks Resume

    Johns Hopkins Hospital Workers Take Strike Vote As Talks Resume

    By Doug Cunningham

    At Johns Hopkins Hospital two thousand members of SEIU 1199 took a strike authorization vote Tuesday as they try to resolve labor contract negotiations that started March 4th. The workers went on strike for three days in April. SEIU wants at least $15 an hour for workers who have been with Johns Hopkins for 15 years as well as raises for other workers. The union says it’s hoping for a positive resolution but to get there Johns Hopkins would have to make a lot of movement. The union was expected to resume contract talks with Johns Hopkins Tuesday.

     

  • Unpaid Leave Prevents 2.9 Million In U.S. From Caring For Sick Loved Ones

    By Doug Cunningham

    The Center For Economic and Policy Research is out with a new report documenting the need for a paid family medical leave program. The U.S. is the only wealthy nation that doesn’t mandate paid family and medical leave. The Center for Economic and Policy Research says each year more than two and a half million Americans are unable to take needed time off to care for a family member with a serious health condition because they can’t get paid time off. California, New Jersey and Rhode Island have all enacted paid family medial leave of their own.

     

  • Obama’s Intervention Ends Philly Rail Strike

    By Doug Cunningham

    President Obama’s intervention in the Philadelphia rail strike put striking workers back to work Sunday, creating a presidential emergency board to resolve the labor dispute. Obama’s action came at the request of Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett.

    The strike started Saturday as 430 workers, including engineers and electrical workers, hit the picket lines. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 744 President Terry Gallagher says after five years without a labor agreement, Obama’s intervention is what his union was waiting for. Arthur Davidson is General Chairman of the IBEW.

    [Arthur Davidson]: “We agreed to binding arbitration, which would have resolved it in no strike whatsoever but SEPTA refused too accept that.”

    The Philadelphia SEPTA strike was the first in 31 years. Pensions and wages are the main issues. The striking workers are covered under the Railway Labor Act, which sets up special requirements for handling labor disputes. The workers are ordered back to work and barred from striking saga in for 240 days while a mediation process plays out. Stephen Bruno, Vice-President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, says his members will return to work upon receipt of the Obama’s executive order. Bruno wants to see an additional raise of three percent for his members to make up for pension enhancements given to other SEPTA workers back in 2009.