Hello, everybody, and welcome to Labor Diary Rescue. Diaries are below the fold.
You all know the drill by now. The LDR is done every Monday and Thursday evenings barring a bad internet connection, my insane work schedule, or Acts of God. If you want your pro-labor diary to be rescued it must have less than 100 comments, have the words "union" or "labor" in the tag line, and not be rescued on the front page or put on the rec list.
And since my tiny union got some love on the front page today, here’s the logo for the SPFPA:
Seth D gives us two diaries. The first, Tony Award Winner, Employee Free Choice Supporter, tells about actors working to get EFCA passed.
Jbara strikes a chord of solidarity with working people in his role in the musical. He plays a British coal miner who walks out during the 1984-1985 coal miners' strike along with his eldest son. Although the musical centers on the youngest son, Billy, the subplot of the ongoing strike constantly reminds the audience of the daily struggles of working people to make ends meet.
The second, Rabbis Send Specter a Message: Support Employee Free Choice shows the religious left’s contributions towards EFCA.
Dozens of Pennsylvania rabbis and rabbinical students signed an open letter in support of Employee Free Choice, organized by the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee (JLC), and will deliver it today to Specter. Specter is a key vote in the fight for workers'; freedom to form unions and bargain—a fight that these rabbis know is critical to our economy and to basic fairness.
The meeting and letter are part of a larger outreach effort by the JLC to promote workers' freedom to form unions and bargain. These values, say a growing coalition of rabbis, are a key part of the Jewish tradition of supporting the dignity of workers and the strength of communities.
Providence, RI mayor David Cicilline doesn’t want other mayors to know that he doesn’t want to pay fair wages to the firefighters in his city. Which is why he’s putting up "free speech zones" for when they decide to picket during the US Conference of Mayors. Patrick Crowley gives us the details in Lock Down: Providence Readies for US Conference of Mayors.
The guidelines were issued on Tuesday in conjunction with a "Protestor Registration Form" the city is asking potential picketers to fill out. The new rules were instituted Tuesday according to Providence Emergency Management Director Peter Gaynor. The move comes only days after Vice President Joe Biden and other members of President Obama’s cabinet said they would not come to the conference out of respect for the Fire Fighters picket line.
Local 799 of the IAFF have been without a contract for 7 years. In 2002, when Cicilline, a Democrat, was running for office, he promised to settle the contract with the Fire Fighters within 30 days of taking office. It didn’t happen. Since then, high profile Providence events, including a fundraiser for 2004 VP nominee John Edwards and a 2008 fundraising appearance by then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had to be canceled by threatened pickets. The threatened Clinton pickets forced Cicilline to resign from the Clinton for President campaign in Rhode Island.
Employee Free Choice Act is at it again, this time showing a pro-union Congressman’s statement on EFCA in Representative Andre Carson: Standing Up for Working Hoosiers.
For fourteen years, Bill Selm was the doorman at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. As the well-known face of the Westin to guests and the downtown community, he was much more than just a doorman. Bill was the Westin Employee of the Year (1998) and honored by the city with the Indianapolis ROSE Award (2003) for customer service excellence. In 2005, Bill even spoke on behalf of the Westin at a Statehouse rally to bring funding to our Convention Center expansion.
What changed? Bill dared to speak up about the outsourcing of his co-workers' jobs.
In November of 2007, a majority of workers from the Westin, including Bill, signed and delivered a petition to Westin management requesting a fair process for workers to choose whether to form a union in an environment free from intimidation. To this day, Westin management has ignored the workers’ request. Instead, the Westin began subcontracting the bell/valet departments to another company, giving workers less than two weeks notice. Westin employees, including Mr. Selm, were rehired by the subcontractor with no seniority, pay cuts, and fewer benefits. When the Westin continued to outsource more jobs, Bill spoke up for his fellow workers. Within hours, he was banned from the Westin property and now works at another area hotel, where his pay has dropped from $8.40 to $3.50 an hour.
Thisisnotanexit shows the SEIU getting more involved in getting EFCA passed in Targeting Democrats on Employee Free Choice.
Sam Stein has the goods on SEIU's new online campaign targeting Senators Lincoln, Pryor, Specter, and Webb:
The Service Employees International Union is, according to an aide, putting "well more than $100,000" behind online ads and similar promotional activities designed to turn up the heat on members of Congress whose support for EFCA is tepid or non-existent.
Targeting Democratic Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Jim Webb of Virginia, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, as well as Republican David Vitter of Louisiana, the message is at once effective and sharp: To oppose the labor-backed legislation would be to side with the institutions that create the current economic malaise.
Wal-Mart is still run by assholes, and as they expand, we’re going to be seeing GM employees go from their good-paying jobs to next to nothing. ChangeToWin fills us in on the details in What Turns a Job Into a Good Job? You Do.
But you can’t really say that the one balances out the other. Why? Because the jobs being lost at GM are good jobs — jobs that pay a middle-class wage, offer affordable health care and retirement security, and give the people who hold them a shot at the American Dream.
Jobs at Walmart, on the other hand? They’re a bit... different:
Enjoy the diaries and treat the comments as an open thread.