On the picket line

Tomato pickers to march on Tallahassee

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is planning to march on the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee on March 9 to protest the “modern-day slavery” that tomato pickers are forced to endure in the state’s tomato fields. To show your support for these workers, predominantly Latina and Latino immigrants, and to demand an end to their brutal working and living conditions, sign the petition on www.ciw-online.org, which will be delivered to Gov. Charlie Crist during the protest. Before that on March 4, CIW is hosting a delegation of top food authors who have written in gourmet magazines about the workers’ despicable slave-like conditions. The delegation was organized by Just Harvest USA, a national organization that aims to build a more just and sustainable food system, with a focus on establishing fair wages, humane working conditions and fundamental rights for all farm workers.

Grocery workers get their $1.5 million

In 2008 grocery workers at Amish Markets and related stores met with Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 because they wanted to form a union. One of their reasons: they were being cheated out of overtime. After the New York State Department of Labor surveyed nine locations and confirmed widespread wage and hour and other labor violations, Amish Markets agreed to pay $1.5 million in unpaid wages to 550 workers.

SAG rejects ‘last, best, final offer’

After three days of intense negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild voted 73 percent to reject the AMPTP’s “last, best, final offer” dated Feb. 19. Even though SAG was “ready to make a deal,” the AMPTP threw a curve ball, issuing a new demand that wasn’t part of its June 30, 2008, final offer or federally mediated talks last November. The AMPTP wants to extend SAG’s contract a year longer than those with other industry unions so it can try to leverage SAG against the other unions. The primary issue in the negotiations involves money: the AMPTP does not want to pay actors additional fees for work posted on the Web that was originally created for TV. (SAG press release, Feb. 21)

Hotel workers demand pay

For three full weeks starting on Jan. 30, workers at the Detroit Riverside Hotel were not given paychecks. The hotel is owned by the Boca Raton-based Shubh Hotels which operates luxury hotels throughout the U.S. On Feb. 18 the workers—clerks, maids, janitors and laundry workers represented by UNITE HERE—held a press conference to expose and protest this situation. Several of the workers are in danger of being evicted, and many cannot afford groceries. The next day the hotel fired the head shop steward Shirley Mealy for speaking to the press. The union called another demonstration that day to expose this blatant attack on workers’ rights.

Calif. caregivers sign first contract

After 10 months of negotiations with Kindred Healthcare, more than 900 caregivers at 10 nursing homes in Northern California signed a contract Dec. 22 with substantial raises, organizing rights and a voice to improve care. Certified nursing assistants represented by United Healthcare Workers will earn $2.33 an hour more by the end of the three-year contract. Kindred agreed that UHW may try to organize workers at its 10 non-union nursing homes and that it will set up quality of care committees where workers can advocate for residents. Altogether over the last six months of 2008, UHW won decent contracts at 32 nursing homes in California.