—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

NY McDonald’s workers protest unsafe conditions on the job

NEW YORK — “Safety! Respect! More money in my check!” chanted some 50 McDonald’s workers and their supporters, part of the Fight for $15 movement, as they marched and rallied at the restaurant across from the Empire State Building here March 17. The action was called to focus public attention on unsafe working conditions they face and to publicize April 15 actions planned by fast-food workers nationwide.

Marie Yolanda Jean-Louis, 65, who works at McDonald’s in Nanuet, New York, spoke at the rally about hazardous work on the griddle. She was one of several workers who carried posters with photos of burns they sustained at work.

“We’re fighting for $15 an hour and a union and a first-aid kit,” Rosa Rivera told the rally. “The bosses tell you to put ketchup or mustard on a burn.”

Protesters carried placards reading, “Cover it up and get back to work.” McDonald’s workers in 19 cities recently filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about burns and safety problems on the job.

“Just because we work for a fast-food company doesn’t mean we don’t need sufficient income to pay the bills,” Elizabeth Rene, 25, who works at a nearby McDonald’s and is part of Fight for $15, told the Militant. “We believe in it, and we will win.”

—Maggie Trowe

Boston union school bus drivers win fight against boss frame-up

BOSTON — “Not guilty” was the jury’s verdict March 5 after deliberating for only 10 minutes on frame-up charges against Steve Kirschbaum, grievance committee chairperson of United Steelworkers Local 8751. The union represents some 700 Boston school bus drivers. Kirschbaum faced charges of trespassing and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — a table.

The charges stemmed from a rally and union meeting held June 30, 2014, the last day of the contract, between Veolia (now known as Transdev) and the union.

Angela Griffin, Transdev’s assistant branch manager, alleged she was assaulted when union members led by Kirschbaum entered the drivers’ room inside company headquarters that workers have unlimited access to, according to the contract. Charges against Kirschbaum were filed three days later.

Photographs and a video presented by the defense showed Griffin as well as Boston police and union members together on company property with no signs of turmoil.

Nearly 100 drivers and supporters attended the three-day trial in Dorchester District Court.

“The company charged him for nothing!” driver Jean Paulas told the Militant.

Vice President Steve Gillis, Recording Secretary Andre Francois, steward and former Local President Garry Murchison and Kirschbaum were fired for supposedly instigating an “illegal strike” in October 2013. The union is fighting to get them reinstated.

“The four leaders need to come back to work,” said Paulas.

Bus drivers continue to work without a contract. The union rejected the company’s proposal for a negotiating session March 3, the day the trial opened.

— Ted Leonard and Sarah Ullman

Chicago Teamsters win contract after six-month strike

CHICAGO — Workers at Golan’s Moving and Storage in Skokie, Illinois, just north of here, won a six-month fight for a contract in early February.

Workers voted 85 percent for representation by Teamsters Local 705 in December 2013, and went on strike seven months later because of Golan’s refusal to negotiate. Workers won a $1.75 raise for the first year of the contract, driver Paul Rubi told the Militant.

“The biggest gain is that workers will be paid for all work performed,” said driver Alfonso Arizmendi. Before the strike Golan’s required workers to inspect trucks and travel to and from job sites on their own time, he said, often amounting to several unpaid hours a day

There is now a grievance procedure, Arizmendi said, and punitive suspensions and wage deductions ended.

Workers picketed for six months. They had barbecues on the picket line and a solidarity rally in August. They tailed strikebreakers’ trucks and picketed their workplaces, and won the support of unions, churches and synagogues, as well as residents and local businesses.

Nearly 90 workers were on strike, including new hires and veterans. They convinced a number of strikebreakers to quit and join the picket lines.

Rubi started working at Golan’s two weeks before the walkout. The company handed out leaflets saying employees could come to work if there was a strike. “I told them ‘You put me in a very difficult position, because I can’t cross the picket line. I’m a union guy,’” he told the Militant. “I joined the picket line.”

—Ilona Gersh

Teaching assistants strike at two Toronto universities

TORONTO — Some 7,000 teaching graduates, research assistants and contract faculty at the University of Toronto went on strike Feb. 28, and 3,700 walked out at York University three days later. The workers at these universities, the two largest in Canada, are organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

An increasing amount of university teaching is done by teaching assistants, about 60 percent at the University of Toronto, according to the union.

At each campus about 1,000 contract faculty — nontenured instructors who work on a course-by-course contract renewed each semester — recently approved agreements, but teaching and research assistants voted them down and remain on strike.

The graduate student teaching assistants are fighting for a wage increase. The university guarantees them only $15,000 per year (US$11,735), well below official poverty levels.

Some 250 strikers and supporters attended a solidarity rally at York’s main entrance March 12 where Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan and others spoke.

Some departments at York are restarting classes, canceled at the start of the strike. The University of Toronto administration is encouraging teaching assistants to resume teaching, graduate student Matt Hamilton told the Militant.

At the University of Toronto picket line, graduate student Colin Rose criticized a “university system that relies heavily on underpaid teachers.”

“This is a systemic problem at universities across the country and it is not going to stop here,” he said.

—Tony Di Felice and Susan Berman