Threatened workers, the majority of whom are Latino, are striking CMC Rebar of Fresno for unfair labor practices. CMC workers in Fresno voted in their Union more than eight months ago. Despite certification by the NLRB, the Union has not been recognized by CMC Rebar.
On various occasions, workers have been threatened by supervisors who have told them that if they formed a Union or began a strike they would be fired.
The workers, many of whom have worked for the company for more than 10 years, voted to join a Union on the 14th of July, 2006 and since then the company has refused to recognize their rights.
In spite of certification by the National Labor Relations Board of the workers' affiliation with the Ironworkers Union Local 509, the company is continuing to obstruct the workers' rights, refusing to recognize the Union and threatening to fire workers.

There was a press conference on Tuesday, March 27th at 12:00 p.m. at 2914 Argyle Ave. (Between Clinton and Shields, east of Clovis Ave.) in Fresno.

Read More | Photos and Video from the Press Conference

On Wednesday March 21st, the California Faculty Association announced that members had authorized a strike. Faculty at San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, and five other California State University (CSU) campuses could walk out of classrooms as soon as the beginning of April. 80 percent of the 11,000 faculty eligible to vote on a strike did so.

Student fees have increased 94 percent since 2002 while CSU execs have gotten in 23 percent pay hikes. In the past four years, the faculty has only received a 3.5 percent pay raise.

On March 28, the Senate Education Committee will vote on legislation to require action on executive compensation at the CSU and the University of California to take place in public meetings. The UC and CSU have been holding closed committee meetings to act upon top executives' salaries, benefits and perks. SB 190 would clarify that both subcommittees and the full Board of Regents or Trustees must meet openly when taking action on top executives' compensation, requiring actions on compensation proposals involving top officials to occur in public session. blic. Some of these advisory groups develop policies affecting millions of dollars at the state’s higher education systems.

CFU Authorizes First-Ever Strike | Students Struggle to Support CSU Strike | CSU Faculty Strike Looming | It's Time for Sunshine on Executive Compensation | California Faculty Association

In January 2007, the official (Regent-endorsed) student government of UC Santa Cruz, the Student Union Assembly, unanimously approved a resolution demanding that low-paid workers receive wages in accordance with other nearby institutions. The UC promised thousands of dollars to the lowest paid workers, many of which are members of AFSCME 3299, yet, up to this date, have not released this money.

36 people, including workers and students from Berkeley, Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco, were arrested outside the UC Office of the President on February 15th, while hundreds rallied in support both on-site in Oakland, as well as at a rally at UC Santa Cruz.

Read the Resolution and Letter to President Dynes

Monster Cable, a wealthy Bay Area company producing high-end audio cables and accessories, laid off over 120 immigrant workers in Oct. 2006 and outsourced their jobs to low-wage workers overseas. After spending their youth building the company and generating wealth for its executives, the laid-off workers were kicked out in their 40s and 50s, with drastically reduced severances and no help in finding re-employment. The workers have been demanding a fair severance and community fund, and on Feb. 5, 2007 they launched a boycott calling on consumers to stop buying Monster Cable products until the company resolves their demands.

It would only cost the company an estimated $500,000 to pay the workers a fair severance. Meanwhile, "Head Monster" Noel Lee has annual sales of $1 billion, spent $6 million to name "Monster Park" in San Francisco, and is famous for his love of expensive toys, including a luxury company car fleet valued at $5.5 million. The laid-off workers along with the Chinese Progressive Association and other supporters will hold a boycott action at noon on Wednesday Feb. 14th at Powell and Market Streets. Details

Carmel, CA. Union workers at the Quail Lodge voted Wednesday, January 17, to ratify a new union labor contract with the hotel. 89 percent of the voting members of UNITEHERE! Local 483 approved the 3-year deal, which calls for up to $3.65 per hour in additional wages and benefits over the life of the contract. The raises are retroactive to August 1, 2006.

A tentative agreement reached late Friday avoided a Quail Lodge management-threatened lockout of the 150 hotel union employees on Monday, January 15. The contract vote ends a confrontational 5-month negotiation process, including an employee strike authorization vote, several public demonstrations at the hotel with over 100 participants, and the union's sixteen legal filings with the federal National Labor Relations Board against the hotel.

“It took us a while, but we ended up with a good total package to help our families. We kept our health plan. We got good raises, some more in our pension fund, and another paid holiday,” said Quail Lodge maintenance worker and Local 483 negotiating committee member, Sergio Vasquez.

The Union contract at Quail Lodge follows similar agreements dating back to September at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, Park Hyatt Carmel Highlands, Monterey Beach Resort, Bay Park Hotel, La Playa Hotel, Asilomar Conference Center, and Pine Inn. While the 3-year term of the Quail Lodge agreement is one year shorter than the other contracts, the wages in the second and third year are higher. The eight union contracts cover more than 1,000 hospitality workers on the Monterey Peninsula. The Hilton Garden Inn, Lodge at Pebble Beach, Carmel Mission Inn, and Monterey Bay Travelodge are the remaining area hotels where new union contracts are yet to be negotiated. Read more

Waterfront union workers marked Martin Luther King's birthday Sunday, January 14th, with a special demonstration starting at Harry Bridges Plaza - then moving on to Hornblower headquarters at Pier 3 and ending at the Alcatraz Ferry, Pier 33. The ten year "exclusive and lucrative Alcatraz ferry contract" was awarded Hornblower Cruises by the Bush Administration last fall and workers have been protesting ever since as Terry MacRae, Hornblower boss, "refuses to hire qualified, trained, professional Inland Boatmen's Union (IBU) and Masters, Mates, and Pilots association (MM&P;) workers who have performed this work safely since 1973." Video & Photos

Mumia asks: "Is San Francisco Still a Union Town?"

The December 31st picket: Video & Photos
Sister Christiana led the December 17th picket: Video & Photos

Some 600 supporters marched and demonstrated December 9th. In a show of solidarity, ILWU Local 10 held a port-wide shutdown in support of the Hornblower workers. San Francisco Chronicle report from December 9th. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Audio | Video

Marc Norton has covered this maritime union battle from the beginning on his web site: http://www.marcnorton.us/81480/index.html

The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee is at http://www.transportworkers.org/

You may subscribe to the Alcatraz Union Solidarity email list at http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/alcatrazunionsolidarity/2006-12/

Previous coverage

IWW Curbside Recyclers at the Berkeley Ecology Center won a small, but important victory Friday, January 5 by refusing to let management violate their IWW union contract.

Currently, all Saturday work must be paid at time-and-one-half standard wages, except work performed before 8:00 AM and after 5:00 PM, which must be paid at double-time. The same rules apply for Sunday work. Weekend work is rare, and is usually scheduled the same week as non-working holidays. Prior to 2001, the workday began at 8 AM and ended at 5 PM. In 2001, the start time was moved up to 6:30 AM by mutual consent by Management and the Union, but the Saturday and Sunday work rules remained unchanged as an incentive to schedule weekend work as little as possible.

On Saturday, December 30, 2006, work began at 6:45 AM, but Management refused to pay double-time for the 1:15 worked. A newer employee noticed the the contract violation and informed Shop Steward, Mike Hudgins. Fellow Worker Hudgins brought notice of the violation to Management. Martin Borques, Chairman of the Ecology Center Board of Directors, tried to argue that the language in the contract is "a misunderstanding", left over from the time when the start time was changed, and that the double time pay should only apply if work begins prior to 6:45 AM or continues past 3:45 PM. The IWW refused to give in, saying that if management succeeded in arguing that weekend overtime language was "a misunderstanding", they could declare any part of the contract they found inconvenient, "a misunderstanding".

Read More | Industrial Workers Of The World

Just 10 days before Christmas, the Woodfin Suites hotel in Emeryville fired 21 immigrant workers who have been involved in a campaign to enforce the city's living wage law. On Friday, December 15th, Woodfin management placed the workers on two weeks suspension with pay and terminated them effective December 29th due to Social Security "no-matches".

On December 18th, dozens of community organizations joined with the workers to announce a boycott of the Woodfin Suites. Boycott endorsers include the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Wellstone Democrats, the East Bay Gray Panthers, and the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. The workers are seeking an injunction to stop the retaliatory firings. A hearing is scheduled on Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court. Photos

"What will we tell our children when they have no presents to open on Christmas?," said Alma Cruz, a Woodfin housekeeper. "We are worried about feeding our families, but we will not give up. The hotel thinks they can intimidate us because we are immigrants, but we will keep fighting for our rights."

This heartless action is the latest in a national wave of mass firings of immigrant workers. On December 12th, over a thousand workers in six Swift and Company meatpacking plants were arrested in a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In November, 400 workers were fired by Cintas, a national laundry chain with plants in the Bay Area. Yet, Social Security "no-match" letters provide no legal basis for taking adverse action against an employee.

Read More | East Bay Alliance For A Sustainable Economy | Past Indybay Coverage: November 13th Rally in Emeryville to Save Woodfin Hotel Workers' Jobs | October 3rd: “Woodfin: Clean Up Your Act”

Half of the recent increase in US service jobs are hotel maintenance workers in hotels owned by large national and international companies. Most hotel workers are women and people of color, and many are immigrants.

In Sacramento, the UNITE HERE Local 49 "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign is working to gain better union contracts for hotel employees. Escalating this fall, it has gained the support of a large coalition of local clergy, community leaders, elected officials and even some small businesspeople.

Read More

On Monday, November 13th hotel workers and their supporters gathered for an evening rally against threatened mass firings at the Woodfin Hotel at 5800 Shellmound St. in Emeryville. Audio Report

These immigrant workers received notices several weeks ago saying that the company believed their social security numbers were incorrect, and giving them a deadline of October 19th to fix the problem. After an outcry from the community, the Woodfin extended its deadline by a month, and no workers have yet been fired. Hotel managers are still insisting that they will terminate any employee who cannot correct a social security “no-match.” The managers claimed that they are acting on an order from the federal government-- however, when there is a problem with a worker's social security number, a letter is sent to the employee, not to the employer, and the letters state that employers should not fire or discriminate against workers who receive them.

Woodfin Hotel workers are still demanding what is owed to them under the new living wage law in Emeryville, 2005's Measure C, which passed by the voters and took effect last December. The measure guarantees workers a living wage, job security when hotels are sold, and reasonable workload limits. The hotel never expressed suspicion about the employees' work authorization until after they had spoken out for Measure C. The timing of this request strongly suggests that the hotel is punishing workers for defending their legal rights – which constitutes illegal retaliation.

Protest organizers say, "The Woodfin has become ground zero in the East Bay to fight to defend immigrant rights and to defend city laws that improve working conditions. Workers are counting on your continued support to protect their jobs ­ and show the Woodfin that our community will not tolerate harassment and intimidation of immigrant workers." Read more

Indybay's past coverage | East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy

At noon on Wednesday, October 18, 2006, members of AFSCME 3299 and their supporters at UC Santa Cruz marched from the Bay Tree Plaza to the base of campus, where a roving picket line was held, followed by a rally. The workers have been engaged in a year-long struggle to receive wages similiar to those of neighboring colleges and universities where people can make up to 30% more for the same (or less) work. Over the summer, the California State Assembly passed legislation funding these wage increases, yet UC President Dynes has been holding the money hostage as a way of forcing union concessions over pension issues.

Wednesday's action, which, due to police blockage of the road, effectively shut down the base of campus for 30-40 minutes, was the first protest of the day at UCSC. Due to a visit from the UC Regents, a high-profile action a few hours later where police assaulted and pepper-sprayed students has taken most of the headlines. It's important to note, however, that these two actions were in solidarity with each other, as students and workers struggle over the same need to democratize the UC and fix the problems at UCSC before any possible expansion. Read More and View Photos || Students and Workers (Re)United for Justice!

Congress has repeatedly failed to bump up the minimum wage and since 1997, it has remained at $5.15 an hour. Since then, 19 states and three cities have raised base pay rates higher than the federal minimum, while scores more of other cities have enacted living wage laws for government contractors. This November, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio will decide whether or not to raise their own hourly base pay. In Santa Cruz, CA, the year's hottest election issue is Measure G, a city-wide proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.25 an hour. FSRN's Vinny Lombardo examines the potential impacts on the Santa Cruz economy. Audio

see also: Santa Cruz Businesses That Don't Care About Workers' Lives || Measure G, Political Nastiness, & the lies of liberal democrats - EDITORIAL || Raise The Minimum Wage, Yes On Measure G!

On Sunday, October 8th at 9:00am, maritime workers and other trade unionists picketed the Hornblower Yachts operation at Pier 33 in San Francisco. Photos | Video They planned to return at 4am on Monday to picket the boats that ferried people to Alcatraz for the Indigenous People's Day commemoration. With the support of the Bush administration, the US Parks Service is seeking to bust unionized maritime workers in San Francisco.

On September 25th, Alcatraz Cruises, part of the anti-union Hornblower Yachts, took over the contract to run the Alcatraz ferry service using non-union crews for the first time since the service began in the early 70's. The unions representing the captains, deckhands, mechanics, ticket sellers and collectors, the Inlandboatmens Union-ILWU (IBU) and the Masters Mates and Pilots (MMP), have been negotiating in good faith with Hornblower owner Terry Macrae for several weeks following months of mostly unsuccessful legal actions. At issue is whether the captains or "senior" deckhands, who comprise half the workers, can be union members. Hornblower insists there will be no union hiring hall or organizing of other Hornblower workers. The company wants all health and welfare and pension contributions go into its substandard plans rather that the union's solid defined benefits plan.

Hornblower was reportedly awarded this contract by Bush-appointed bureaucrats in the National Park Service in part of the heightened assault being waged against workers in industries that have been privatized. Labor organizers are concerned that with the growth of the "Hornblower empire," non-union operations will spread throughout the maritime industry. They say, "The only way to fight this onslaught is through united actions of maritime workers in defense of the Alcatraz workers and against this viciously anti-union employer." The Alcatraz workers are calling for pickets and direct action to demand union recognition and the hiring of all displaced ferry workers. They say, "San Francisco became a union town during the militant 1934 maritime workers strike right here on the Embarcadero. Let¹s keep it union."

Past coverage | Transport Workers Solidarity Committee | MM&P; website | MM&P; in California | Inland Boatmen's Union

Emergency Action: Thurs. Oct. 5th, 7–9 a.m. at Woodfin Suites Hotel, 5800 Shellmound, Emeryville.

EMERYVILLE, CA-
On Friday morning, September 29, community members including faith-based leaders, local union members and residents demonstrated their support for immigrant workers at the Woodfin Suites in Emeryville. Carrying mops, brooms, drums, and noise makers demonstrators demanded "Woodfin Clean-Up your Act" and "Worker Rights Now!"

In November 2005, EBASE ( East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy) passed Measure C -- a living wage and workload protection ordinance for hotel housekeepers.
Although measure C has been in effect since December, the hotels have still refused to comply and workers have faced retaliation for organzing themselves to stand up for their rights. In an attempt to silence and intimidate immigrant workers, which is most of the hotel workers, Woodfin Suites gave the workers 24 hours on Wednesday, September 27, to re-submit their work authorization papers. Employers are only required to check these documents at the time of hire and it is not standard practice to ask for a re-submission of these documents.EBASE has stated "This is an obvious and illegal attempt to use immigration status to punish workers for speaking out. Woodfin workers need your support to defend their jobs and resist this attack on their rights."

After a delegation of over 50 workers, residents, clergy, lawyers, labor leaders, and immigrant rights advocates attempted to deliver a petition to the manager requesting more information in writing on Thursday, the delegation was met with silence and a call to the police.

Read More With Photos