On the picket line

Rio Tinto withdraws illegal demands

Attempting to force 600 Borax workers in International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30 to accept a concessionary contract, Rio Tinto locked them out on Jan. 31. The union went on the offensive, filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board that RT had violated a host of labor laws by making unlawful demands and ultimatums. On March 5 Rio Tinto, the second-largest mining company in the world, withdrew some of the illegal demands. But negotiations can only resume after Rio Tinto ends the lockout. To keep the pressure on, the ILWU plans demonstrations at British consulates in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles on April 16, following a demonstration at RT’s annual shareholders’ meeting in London on April 15.

Janitors win in Minneapolis

It took three years of determined organizing — and the threat of a strike on March 1 — for 4,000 janitors in Minneapolis to win a decent contract. The Service Employees Local 26 workers launched an aggressive campaign that included developing leaders and making alliances with community and environmental groups. As they marched through downtown skyways and suburban malls to pressure building owners to raise wages, the workers, mostly immigrants and people of color, gave the bosses a lesson in working-class unity as they chanted, “Yes, we can!” followed by “¡Sí se puede!” in Spanish and “Haa warkanaa!” in Somali. After a marathon bargaining session on Feb. 27-28, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Contract Cleaners Association agreed to a three-year contract. Now custodians will not lose their jobs if building owners change cleaners. Six-hour shifts will become seven hours in a year and eight hours the year after, enabling the workers to earn 38 percent more income. Though management started negotiations demanding a $5-an-hour pay cut, the workers will get immediate 25-cent-an-hour raises, followed by 10-cent-an-hour raises the next two years. Health insurance will be more affordable after it’s reorganized. Management agreed to use green cleaning products and work with the union to make a transition from night to day jobs.

Media workers fight cutbacks

Reuters workers in New York, Washington and Chicago held a series of picket lines in March protesting 10 percent wage and benefits cuts that Thomson Reuters imposed after claiming bargaining was at an impasse. Members of the Newspaper Guild-Communication Workers Local 31001 point out that these cutbacks are outrageous, given the $36 million benefits package showered on the company’s CEO in 2008. TNG-CWA has filed several unfair labor practice charges against the company. Thomson Reuters even attempted to stop workers from wearing red to show solidarity during negotiations!

On March 15 National Public Radio audio engineers and technicians, represented by CWA’s Local 52031, braved wind and rain to expose NPR’s hypocritical negotiating demands. After the workers agreed to concessions last year amounting to $17,000 per worker over 18 months, NPR now wants to cut half of the engineers’ jobs, end workers’ input into benefit plans, and renege on restoring its full contribution to the workers’ retirement fund. The current contract expires March 31. The workers want supporters to e-mail CEO Vivian Schiller at vschiller@npr.org or call 202-513-2000 to demand she treat workers with the respect that NPR listeners expect. Also join and support the workers on the Facebook page, “People Who Like People Who Work @ NPR.”

U. of Wis. faculty, research assistants organizing

Faculty at University of Wisconsin campuses in Eau Claire and Superior could be the first to form unions under a 2009 law giving 20,000 academic workers the right to bargain collectively. Organizers on both campuses say they’ve collected cards signed by 70 percent or more of faculty members requesting to join the American Federation of Teachers. A simple majority vote on each campus will create a union empowered to negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions. (Associated Press, March 10) Meanwhile, research assistants could become the first Wisconsin state employees to unionize without having to hold an election. All they have to do, according to the new law, is have a majority of assistants sign union cards. The Teaching Assistants’ Association at UW-Madison hopes to organize 1,800 research assistants. However, a discriminatory measure, which was protested when it was first proposed, bars 700 international students from joining the union. (AP, March 9)