Labor Matters
Compiled by Jeff Burman
Janitors Sweep to Victory
Janitors in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York ended a three-week strike, winning a 22% to 26% pay increase and an immediate $500 bonus for every member. While the settlement failed to meet the $1 an
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The janitors’ spirited protests attracted widespread support. Motorists and pedestrians, inconvenienced by the sprawling, rush-hour demonstrations, might have reacted with noisy indignation. But for this campaign it was different – many honked or shouted words of encouragement. Several local unions added their support. United Parcel Service drivers, trash collection agencies and soda delivery firms refused to service picketed buildings. Air conditioning workers and members of the Building Trades Council officially backed the strike, allowing their members to refuse to cross the line. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney opened his arms to the cause. Reverend Jesse Jackson marched with the janitors, reminding them that his father was a janitor. Mayor Richard Riordan and Senator Dianne Feinstein also lent their support.
The 'Los Angeles Times'’ Nancy Cleeland saw a transformation in the local labor scene. This "new militancy, combined with increasing cooperation among labor, environmental groups and others, comes as the city is gearing up for the Democratic National Convention in August," wrote Cleeland.
Mike Garcia, president of the SEIU local 1877 said he was overwhelmed by how well the strikers were received. "Never in our wildest dreams did we think the campaign would take off like this," he said. "People were looking for an underdog to root for."
For more, see www.seiu.org
Democratic Convention Protests
Trade, the global economy and a wide range of local issues will surely figure in the demonstrations planned for the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for August 14 to 17 in Los Angeles, as well as for the Republican counterpart, due to begin on July 29 in Philadelphia.
Margaret Prescod is head of the Every Mother Is A Working Mother Network, a local activist group. "We want to make sure that the issues of all the various people of Los Angeles are visible in the protest," said Prescod. "It really will be connecting the local and the global."
Mike Dolan anticipates massive demonstrations. Dolan is with Global Trade Watch, and was a prominent organizer in Seattle for the World Trade Organization protests last December, and for the World Bank/International Monetary Fund protests in Washington last April. "If there’s going to be a change in trade policy, it’s going to be in the 107th Congress under the new Democratic Speaker, Dick Gephardt. So we have to ‘out’ the Democrats on this issue," said Dolan.
While Gephardt has already announced his opposition to President Clinton’s China Trade Bill, Vice President Al Gore has resolutely supported granting China "Permanent Normal Trading Relations" and admission into the WTO. The AFL-CIO has lobbied mightily to defeat these trading concessions for China, saying that 800,000 American jobs are at stake. They’re joined by the Citizen’s Trade Campaign, representing the Teamsters, the environmental group Friends of the Earth, and Global Trade Watch. Unfortunately, the bill was narrowly passed by the House, and at press time it seemed certain to be passed by the Senate.
Los Angeles Police Department Commander David Kalish said that a security perimeter will be set up around the convention site, but promised that downtown L.A. will not be sealed off like an armed camp.
For more, see www.globalexchange.org and www.d2kla.org
General Electric under Fire
Corporate giant General Electric conceded to 37,000 union employees by agreeing to raise pension benefits for the first time in four years. "I congratulate all the GE workers and retirees who have and continue to speak out on this issue. They have demonstrated that their actions can have an impact on the world’s richest, most profitable company," said Edward Fire, President of the International Union of Electronic and Electrical Workers (IUE). "GE is watching and listening."
According to the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website, GE CEO Jack Welch was paid more than $90 million in 1999, while GE workers in China and India are often paid pennies an hour. The average U.S. CEO made $11.9 million last year, a whopping 476 times the average blue-collar wage. This is up from 85 times in 1990.
For more, see www.iue.org and www.paywatch.org
Teamsters Subpoena Overnite CEO
John Murphy, IBT Vice President and National Director of Organizing, delivered a subpoena to Overnite Transportation CEO Leo Suggs. The subpoena directs Suggs to appear before the National Labor Relations Board to respond to the unlawful firing of 12 union members. The complaint is based on an affidavit by a former Overnite supervisor, Dale Watson, who described management’s efforts to fire workers who supported union elections. The Teamsters have been on strike against Overnite since October 24.
For more, see www.nlrb.gov/weeklysum/w2713.html#3 and www.teamster.org
Nike CEO in a Snit
Nike Corp. founder Phil Knight told his alma mater, the University of Oregon, that he would no longer donate large sums to the college. Knight was "shocked" to learn that U of O had joined the Workers Rights Consortium, a group that monitors sweatshop labor and has been critical of Nike’s manufacturing practices. Knight said "the bonds of trust, which allowed me to give at a high level, have been shredded."
Nike has already given $50 million to the University, and also has contractual relationships with nearly 200 other colleges. Many of these are members of the WRC. The group calls for a living wage, the right to organize and bargain collectively, the protection of workers’ health and safety, prohibitions of child labor, forced labor, and forced overtime.
University of Oregon President David Frohmayer said of Knight, he "still hopes to speak with him in person and looks forward to working with him in the future."
For more, see www.workersrights.org
Sweatshops and Target
At least four factories that manufacture clothing for Target Corp. and Kohl’s Illinois, Inc., have begun a campaign to eliminate union members from their workforce (the labels affected are 'No Fear', 'Sonoma' and 'High Sierra'). The four sites are in the 'Las Mercedes' free trade zone in Nicaragua, reports the Campaign for Labor Rights, an anti-sweatshop advocacy group. At one plant, 'Mil Colores', more than 200 workers were fired and 68 face disputed criminal charges. The fired workers face circumstances that were harsh enough when they still collected paychecks, living at or below subsistence levels.
If you’d like to help these fellow union-members, call the national coordinator for CLR at (541) 344-5410 or e-mail
For more, see www.summersault.com/~agj/clr
IA Cartoonists Picket PBS
A solid column of protesters from IATSE Local 839, the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, picketed Public Television station KCET in Los Angeles. They were joined by members of the Film and Television Action Committee, SAG and the DGA. The total number of demonstrators topped 250.
The cartoonists’ local, representing 2,100 feature and television animators, pointed to significant amounts of work being sent to Canada. To make matters worse, PBS has signed a $40-million multi-year contract with Toronto-based Nelvana Ltd., to produce six weekly children’s series. Nelvana produces such shows as "Rolie Polie Olie" and "Franklin."
"This is a company supported by American cash donations and American tax dollars," said Steve Hulett, a representative for the cartoonists local. PBS Vice President for Communications Tom Epstein said the amount of PBS children’s programming done in Canada is a "drop in the bucket compared to programming produced in Canada for other networks."
For more, see www.primenet.com/~mpsc839
Jeff Burman is a Guild Board member
representing assistant editors.
He can be reached via email
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine
Vol. 21, No. 3 - MayJune 2000
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