Many of the participants were staff members from the seven unions that form the federation—UNITE HERE, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Laborers International Union, the United Farm Workers (UFW), and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Change to Win was founded September 27 at a one-day convention after the executive boards of these unions left the AFL-CIO.

A central theme of the convention was organizing the 50 million workers whose jobs “cannot be outsourced,” as literature promoting the event put it.

Key campaigns promoted at the convention included organizing workers at the Smithfield plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, into the UFCW. Two unionists in this fight, Lorena Ramos and Edward Morrison, addressed the convention. Morrison explained that he and his co-workers process 4,000 hogs in a seven-hour day. The plant as a whole kills 30,000 hogs a day. Joseph Hansen, international president of the UFCW, said the campaign includes signing up workers, community outreach, corporate and financial pressure, and reaching out to other unions, including internationally.

Chuck Mack, vice president, western region, of the Teamsters, described conditions faced by port truck drivers: long hours, unsafe jobs, low pay, and no benefits. He pointed out that port truck drivers are classed as “independent contractors” and are legally barred from union organization.

Sandro Lerro, a driver at the port of Miami, explained that loads are frequently unbalanced and that the low pay makes maintenance of his truck impossible. “I can pay my rent or buy tires for my truck,” he said. “Safety is not just my problem. It’s your problem.”

A video produced by the Teamsters celebrated the cancellation of the sale of several port operations to Dubai Ports World. The video quoted one woman at a Teamsters rally who denounced “the sale of our ports to an Arab company.” The video used American nationalism and anti-Arab chauvinism to celebrate a “victory over George Bush.”

John Wilhelm, president of Hospitality Industry of UNITE HERE, outlined the Hotel Workers Rising campaign. He introduced Angela Bird, a bartender at the Glendale Hilton. Bird explained that when she and other union activists “went public,” the company began a campaign of harassment against them. Workers there and at a number of Los Angeles hotels near the airport organized groups to go to management to demand an end to harassment on the job, which included searching personal bags of employees and using hired security guards to follow them around at work.

Wilhelm said the Hotel Workers Rising campaign will organize a series of rallies in 20 cities in June. The Change to Win Federation plans a week of actions April 24-28 to advance its major campaigns—organizing Smithfield workers in North Carolina, Cintas industrial laundries, port truck drivers, and school bus drivers. They also opposed the expansion of Wal-Mart, without mentioning any attempts to unionize workers there.
 
 
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
General Motors announces sweeping job cuts  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home