The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 10           March 13, 2006  
 
 
On the Picket Line
 
UNITE HERE organizes rallies
to unionize hotel workers
CHICAGO and SAN FRANCISCO—Some 1,000 hotel workers and supporters rallied in Chicago February 15 as part of a national campaign called Hotel Workers Rising. Organized by the UNITE HERE union, the campaign aims to pressure the bosses to raise wages and improve working conditions for hotel workers. The union is seeking to sign up many of the estimated 1 million nonunion hotel workers nationwide. Currently, about 90,000 hotel workers are union members. “I have to make 16 rooms in eight hours,” Elena Ortega told the Chicago rally. “I get home without energy and I don’t have time for my children.”

In San Francisco, another 1,000 workers joined a similar rally. UNITE HERE Local 2 members in this city have been without a contract at area hotels for nearly 18 months. There is currently a union boycott of 13 San Francisco hotels after owners locked out workers in late 2004 after they went on strike.

—Angelica Contreras
and Laura Anderson  
 
California: Foster Farms
poultry workers fight for union
LIVINGSTON, California—More poultry workers at Foster Farms are signing up for the fight for union recognition and a decent contract. More than 1,400 of the more than 2,000 workers in the plant have signed up to be represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM), League of Independent Workers president Ralph Meraz told the media. Last fall unionists carried out three brief strikes to win their demands. The union continues to sign up more workers, including many recently hired by the company. Foster Farms refuses to recognize the affiliation of the League with the IAM, calling it illegal. The union has filed for a court injunction to compel the company to recognize its decision and begin negotiations. Supporters are also preparing for a March 26 hearing by the National Labor Relations Board to rule on their affiliation with the IAM.

—Lea Sherman  
 
Teamsters strike Sikorsky
Aircraft in Connecticut, Florida
Some 3,600 workers struck Sikorsky Aircraft in Connecticut and Florida February 20. The unionists, members of Teamsters Local 1150, voted by a 2 to 1 margin to reject the company’s proposed three-year contract that would sharply increase workers’ health-care co-payments. The company wants employees to pay 20 percent of premium costs. The union represents 3,500 workers in Connecticut and 90 in Florida. The company, which is a division of United Technologies, produces civilian and military helicopters. This is the workers’ first strike against the company since 1963.

—Brian Williams  
 
New York building workers
strike to protest layoffs
BRONX, New York—Members of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ at the Fordham Hill Cooperative Apartments went on strike here February 12 to protest the layoff of 10 co-workers—one-third of the workforce. The unionists have been working without a contract for 11 months, said shop steward Ivan Latorre. Some scabs have been hired to work in the evenings. “They are trying to break the union here,” said striker Luis Arroyo. “The layoffs went too deep and the company expects us to do the same work with 10 fewer workers.”

—Dan Fein  
 
Firefighters in Iceland
rally for wage increase
REYKJAVIK, Iceland—One hundred firefighters in full gear gathered outside the state mediators offices here February 9 where representatives of their union, the National Association of Firefighters and Ambulance Drivers, and government officials were meeting. They came to give support to their negotiating committee and protest the way the municipalities have been dragging out the talks. The union is demanding a starting monthly wage of 165-175,000 kronur (US$2,600), an increase from the current minimum of 104,833 kronur.

—ólöf Andra Proppé  
 
Sweden: butchers strike for
four hours to protest firings
KRISTIANSTAD, Sweden—Some 150 butchers employed by Swedish Meats here struck for four hours January 25 in response to the firing of 10 co-workers. The conflict started last year when the bosses lowered the piece rate, claiming their calculations were based on a new way of cutting. “This would have lowered the wage at least 50 Swedish krona ($6) an hour,” said Ola Kjell, one of those who had been fired. The butchers responded with a work slowdown, cutting only the minimum required of them. The company then told 10 of the workers that they had to transfer to another job at a lower wage rate the following day. When they rejected this shift they were sent home without pay. The butchers are continuing their slow-down action.

—Dag Tirsén
 
 
Related articles:
Greece: Seamen end 8-day strike
Tyson shuts down two Nebraska plants
‘Union thugs’? Transit workers in N.Y. stand up to bosses, gov’t  
 
 
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