CHICAGO’S UNIONS STAND WITH LOCKED-OUT WORKERS ACROSS THE MIDWEST
While strikes have been on the decline for two decades, lockouts are on the rise as employers are “increasingly on the offensive and trying to call the shots in bargaining,” according to the New York Times.
Workers at Cooper Tire in Ohio and at American Crystal Sugar refineries in North Dakota are now facing employer attempts to starve them out in this fashion – despite having made major concessions in the past to “save the company.” Now they are joining forces to fight back.
You can join with locked-out unionists from Cooper Tire and American Crystal Sugar this Saturday in Chicago at two rallies:
- At 10 am in front of the NTB tire store in Crestwood, 13230 S. Cicero Avenue; and
- At 1:30 pm at the Wal-Mart at 570 W. Monroe St. in Chicago’s Loop.
For more information, call the Chicago Federation of Labor: (312) 222-1000, or United Steelworkers Subdistrict 1 in Bridgeview: (708) 233-0800.
Two more ways to support justice for restaurant workers
On Valentine’s day we let you know about ROC United’s campaign for “Dignity at Darden” – the massive restaurant chain that owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden and the upscale Capital Grille.
You can show your support for their campaign by signing this online petition against race discrimination at Capital Grille, cosponsored by Colorofchange.org:
http://colorofchange.org/campaign/restaurants/original_email/
ROC is also asking for calls and letters to Darden management in Orlando, Florida:
$25 Billion to Homeowners…$1B in Illinois…Not Bad.
On February 9, the Obama administration and the state attorneys general announced the mortgage settlement agreement that will help the victims of foreclosure abuse. The country’s top mortgaging lenders (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally) agreed to provide $ 25 billion dollars to the homeowners who qualify.
One million American homeowners could have their mortgage debts reduced or refinanced at a lower interest rate.
However, iff your loan is held by the Federal Housing Administration, or a private investor you are not covered.
You can call a free hotline number or go to the state attorneys general website should you have any questions.
Illinois will receive $1 billion of the $25 B total payout. It is expected to take approxiamtely 3 years to identify homeowners who qualify and pay them out.
Eligible homeowners fall into 3 categories:
1) Those who lost their homes to foreclosure between January 2008 and this year, and can prove that they are victims of robo-signing and lost paperwork, will get $1,500-2,000 per person.
2) Borrowers who are behind on their payments may be eligible for reduction of principal.
3) Borrowers who owe more than their home is worth may be eligible for refinancing.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that in Illinois they won’t stop investigating illegal actions of banks and other lenders, until majority of homeowners who were misled and affected by foreclosure abuse get their money back.
While all the political rhetoric and press releases sound nice, we shall see how all this plays out for families. Until then,
Show a little love this Valentine’s Day and donate to help those who serve us everyday…
ROC United, otherwise known as the Restaurant Opportunities Center, a fighting organization of restaurant workers and their supporters, offers you a chance to show those servers, bussers and cooks some love. ROC United chose yesterday, 2/13, to remind us that the federal minimum wage for tipped workers is still a miserable $2.13 an hour – it’s a fabulous $4.95 in Illinois – and that only 13% of restaurant workers get any paid sick days. They are leading campaigns in nine cities for decent wages, safe workplaces and basic dignity for restaurant workers.
So how can you help?
Pick up a copy of the ROC Diners Guide here, to learn how national chains and local fine dining spots rank on basic worker justice. It comes with handy calling cards you can leave at your favorite eatery, letting them know that consumers are watching.
And give them a hand with their campaign for Dignity at Darden! Darden Restaurant Group, with 1,900 restauarants and 168,000 employees, is the highly profitable chain that operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse. And, for the high-end customer, there’s their Capital Grill steakhouses. With ROC support, workers at the Capital Grill in New York, Chicago and D.C. recently filed suit for wage theft and rampant racial discrimination.
The Super Bowl and the war on Indiana workers
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the union-busting “right-to-work” bill into law on Wednesday. This despite polls showing only a third of Indiana voters supported the anti-labor bill – while 71% favored letting the people decide in a statewide referendum.
Tens of thousands of working people poured into the streets to protest Wednesday, marching to the Super Bowl Village set up for Sunday’s big game.
It’s not often that the eyes of the nation are on Indianapolis – but they were on Sunday afternoon. The AFL-CIO announced that it would not stage any protests, focusing instead on voting out pro-RTW legislators in November. The NFL player’s union has taken a strong stand against “right-to-work.” So have a broad spectrum of Occupy activists who joined unions at the Capitol.
Let’s hope that alongside all the corporate hoopla, someone alerts the massive TV audience to the war against working people that could hit their state next. Meanwhile, sportswriter Robert Lipsyte advises that you enjoy the game. After all:
Where else will be you be able to watch more than 100 young men, working for high wages in a totally unionized shop?
That will be a rare sight in any state, if corporate America has its way.
American Airlines to cut 13,000 jobs nationwide
American Airlines, after recently filing for bankruptcy protection, is about to cut 15% of its workforce.
AMR’s new CEO (the last CEO stepped down because he was disgusted that AMR would not honor its obligations – and did not have a golden parachute — odd, in these times…) claims they need to cut 20% of AMR’s labor costs. That leaves one to wonder, where will the other 5% reduction come from? More lay-offs? New wage agreement? Certainly not reductions in executive salaries! Perish the thought.
We’ll all have to wait and see…our guess is it will be the hard working transport workers who will be footing American’s bill.
IL Employers could save 15-35% on workers’ compensation costs…here’s how
34 states in these United States have implemented an “injury and illness prevention program.”
Guess who hasn’t? ILLINOIS.
Why? Ask your legislators, because there is absolutely no good reason not to have an injury and illness prevention program other than sheer laziness of our legislators or fear that businesses may cry about it.
Illness and Injury Prevention Programs have already been standardized so ILLINOIS need not re-invent the wheel, they only need to implement a program to start saving people’s lives and reducing the cost of doing business here.
In a January 2012 white paper issued by OSHA, the following was reported in regard to the effectiveness of an injury and illness prevention program:
- “…since the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) was signed into law, workplace deaths and reported occupational injuries have dropped by more than 60 percent,” and
- ”OSHA estimates that implementation of injury and illness prevention programs will reduce injuries by 15 percent to 35 percent for employers who do not now have safety and health programs. At the 15 percent program effectiveness level, this saves $9 billion per year in workers’ compensation costs; at the 35 percent effectiveness level the savings are $23 billion per year.”
- …”this tool helps employers find hazards and fix them before injuries, illnesses or deaths occur. It helps employers meet their obligation under the OSH Act to “furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.” It also helps employers avoid the significant costs associated with injuries and illnesses in the workplace.”
- Three “basic elements – management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement – are common to almost all existing health and safety management programs. Each element is important in ensuring the success of the overall program, and the elements are interrelated and interdependent.”
- “…research demonstrates that such programs are effective in transforming workplace culture; leading to reductions in injuries, illnesses and fatalities; lowering workers’ compensation and other costs; improving morale and communication; enhancing image and reputation; and improving processes, products and services.”
- “Worker participation, a fundamental element of injury and illness prevention programs, makes an important contribution to an employer’s bottom line. When workers are encouraged to offer their ideas and they see their contributions being taken seriously, they tend to be more satisfied and more productive (Huang et al., 2006). Engaging employees in dialogue with management and each other about safety and health can lead to improved relationships and better overall communication, along with reduced injury rates. Improved employee morale and satisfaction translates to greater loyalty, lower absenteeism and higher productivity.”
- “Injury and illness prevention programs lend themselves to such low-cost approaches because they are highly flexible – the core elements can be implemented at a basic level suitable for the smallest business, as well as at a more advanced, structured level that may be needed in a larger, more complex organization.”
So, call your legislator today and ask him or her why this has not been done and ask them to show their commitment to the people of Illinois and the companies that do business here by requiring a illness and injury prevention program.
Will Indiana Labor “Occupy the Super Bowl”?
If that’s what it takes to derail the anti-union “right to work” bill being pushed by Gov. Mitch Daniels and Republican legislators … thousands of Indiana workers are ready to demonstrate in Indianapolis on February 5:
Jeff Harris, spokesman for the Indiana AFL-CIO, said the union organization’s “focus is on defeating ‘right to work’ on the (House) floor.”
“However, we do know the national spotlight will be turning to Indianapolis. It’s an opportunity to highlight how inhospitable Indiana is becoming for working men and women,” he said
The NFL Players Association has also taken a stand against “right-to-work”. Director DeMaurice Smith had this sound advice for his members:
First and foremost, it’s important that our young men understand that they are just like every man and woman in America who works for a living … Our guys get their fingers broken, their backs broken, their heads concussed and their knees torn up because they actually put their hands into the ground and work for a living, and I would much rather have them understand and appreciate and frankly embrace the beauty of what it is to work and provide for their family.
We’ll keep you posted on the fight against this anti-union law in Indiana, and what you can do to help.
Uninsured Employer/Dead Employee: The Tragic (perhaps criminal) End of Quelino Ojeda Jimenez
Quelino Ojeda Jimenez died in a rural Mexican hospital on New Year’s Day. He was twenty-one years old. In August 2010, Quelino fell from a roof while working for a nonunion contractor near Midway Airport, and was rendered a quadriplegic.
You may remember the controversy a year ago when Advocate Christ Hospital, unwilling to absorb the costs of his further care, put him on a plane back to Mexico. Family and friends charge that if he’d stayed at Advocate, he would still be alive.
There’s been precious little attention, however, to Quelino’s employer, Imperial Roofing Company. The owner, Anthony Ritter, claimed no knowledge of his catastrophic accident, claiming the young man had been employed by an unnamed subcontractor. Neither Imperial Roofing nor the unnamed subcontractor had workers’ compensation insurance. As a result, Quelino Ojeda was used and discarded, and left to die.
There’s been a lot of clamor by politicians in this state about “workers comp fraud” – virtually all directed at blue-collar workers. Yet when employers like Imperial Roofing break the law, most get off scot-free. Under the law, Quelino’s employer should be charged with felony workers’ compensation fraud. Some would call it murder.
Let’s remember Quelino as we continue the fight to hold bosses accountable for the safety and basic dignity of their workers. Otherwise, this will become the new face of the construction industry in Chicago.
Next door in Indiana: A threat to union rights … and a small victory for free speech
The Indianapolis Star reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels has withdrawn controversial new rules limiting the number of Hoosiers allowed to enter their own state capital building to speak their minds.
The new rules were announced, not-so-coincidentally, as Republican lawmakers introduced a proposed “right-to-work” law. The bill, which was shelved last year in the face of overwhelming opposition from working people, would critically weaken unions by outlawing union contracts that contain mandatory union membership or dues payment.
Hundreds of union members, Occupy Indy activists and other ordinary citizens stood in lines in the freezing weather outside the state house this morning, waiting for a chance to speak their minds about the anti-union law and the attacks on free speech. The fight against “right-to-work-for-less” continues. Check with the Indiana AFL-CIO for details.