On the picket line

LGBT federal employees gain some rights

On June 17 lesbian, gay, bi and transgender workers employed by the federal government gained a slight recognition of their rights on the job. President Barack Obama signed a presidential memorandum granting LGBT workers sick leave to care for their partners and children. However, the order stopped short of granting health insurance and pension benefits, which are granted by 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies. LGBT groups were united in demanding more.

CWA locals hound AT&T

While Communication Workers union negotiators in five districts from coast to coast have been demanding that AT&T offer its 100,000-plus members a decent contract ever since the old one expired on April 4, rank-and-file AT&T workers have been dogging the company with picket lines, rallies and roasts. In imaginative actions on June 8, Local 4321 held “Quit hogging the profits rallies”—where the workers barbecued ribs and handed out leaflets exposing AT&T’s greed—in three Ohio cities. District 6, which represents locals from Missouri to Texas, reported June 17 that AT&T won’t budge on its demand that workers pay more—much more—for health coverage, even though the company raked in $12.9 billion in profits last year. All 2,500 delegates at CWA’s national convention also plan to lobby Congress on June 24 to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. (cwa-union, June 21)

SAG signs new contract

After a contentious year-long struggle, both internal and external, to win a new contract, members of the Screen Actors Guild ratified a new contract on June 9 that covers actors in film and digital television productions, motion pictures and new media productions. Ratified by 78 percent of the members who voted, the contract, effective this June 10 through June 30, 2011, establishes the first “template” for payment for actors appearing in new media formats. While that was the primary sticking point, SAG members also won $105 million in higher wages and increased pension contributions. Alan Rosenberg, SAG president, who had urged members to strike for better terms, noted that having the SAG contract end at the same time as those of other industry players will enable all the creative unions to fight collectively for their rights in 2011. (sag.org, June 9)

Report slams U.S. over immigration raids

On June 18 the Food and Commercial Workers union issued a report it had commissioned to study a series of immigration raids made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including those at Swift plants organized by the union. The national commission, which conducted five hearings across the country, blasted the federal government for violating workers’ rights and traumatizing communities. “I was totally shocked by the level of abuse,” one commission member said. “ICE showed up with weapons drawn and no warrants. ... We saw deprivation of prescription drugs, separation of newborns from nursing mothers.” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 19) Testimony before the commission, which came from among others the U.S. secretary of agriculture, a California superior court judge and a law professor, described racial profiling and violations like unreasonable search and detention without due process. (ufcw.org, June 18)