Vol. 75/No. 34 September 26, 2011
Teachers strike Catholic high
schools in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA—Striking members and supporters of Association of Catholic Teachers Local 1776 rallied at the main offices of the Archdiocese here September 8.
Two days earlier 711 teachers at 17 Catholic high schools voted 589 to 60 to strike. They have been picketing schools where students have begun semester orientation.
“I teach social justice in a morality class, but it needs to be practiced as workers’ rights,” Mike Sabatino, a teacher for 10 years at Roman Catholic High, told the Militant. “The vote shows how vehemently we believe this. The new contract says that any article can be repealed—that’s not a contract.”
Issues in the dispute include wages, health premiums, and seniority.
“The archdiocese wants to do away with seniority,” said Theresa Lazorko, a senior union delegate (shop steward) who has taught at Roman Catholic High for 14 years. She said that a performance-based point system is being proposed to replace seniority.
“If someone’s outspoken, how do you think that would effect his or her evaluation?” asked Sabatino.
—Janet Post and Osborne Hart
Country club ‘underestimated us,’
say locked-out California workers
PLEASANTON, Calif.—“We’ll be back! We’ll be back!” chanted dozens of locked-out workers and their supporters here as they wrapped up a Labor Day picket at the Castlewood Country Club.
Food service and janitorial workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 2850, were locked out in February 2010, after rejecting management’s demand that they start paying for health insurance. The company’s plan would cost some $740 a month for family coverage.
“The company underestimated us,” Sergio Gonzalez, a food service worker, told the Militant. “They thought we’d go away crying, asking for forgiveness. But we’re still here!”
“What they did was unfair,” banquet server Peggy Duffie said. “I showed up on time in uniform for 25 years, and then without warning they put us out!”
“The company wants to get rid of seniority,” emphasized Teresa Wu. “We can’t accept that. Because then they’ll play favorites and get rid of any worker they want to.”
On August 16, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the club is maintaining “an unlawful lockout.” A hearing on the case is scheduled for November 7.
—Betsey Stone
Texas: Strike by flour mill workers
is firm after four months
SAN ANTONIO, Texas—“We have been on this picket line every day the mill has been running since we went on strike four months ago,” Ernest Herrera said while walking the line September 2. Herrera has been a forklift driver for 18 years at C.H. Guenther & Son’s Pioneer flour mill. “We are here to stand up for what is right.”
Some 90 members of Teamsters Local 657 walked off the job April 25 after the company reopened a three-year contract and announced they were raising health care costs. The union contract covers 140 workers at the mill.
The company has tried to maintain production with replacement workers, managers, office personnel, and other nonunion workers in the plant.
“Even with the 50 cent raise already agreed upon over a year ago, with the higher insurance costs we would be taking a cut of at least $4 a week,” explained Encarnacion Rodriguez, a mixer operator with 12 years in the mill.
“The cost of living keeps going up—everything from gasoline to food, but our wages don’t,” added Victor Sandoval, an operator for more than six years.
Retired workers Eladio Alvarado and Alex Garcia are among those reporting for picket duty. “As you know these days have been very hot!” Alvarado said. “But we have been here every day because we have to. This is about human dignity.”
Socialist Workers candidates Amanda Ulman and Jacquie Henderson, who are running for Houston mayor and city council at-large, position 1 respectively, drove from Houston to join the picket line September 2. The strikers appreciated their solidarity and the Militant’s coverage of their strike and workers’ struggles around the world.
“You are the first candidates who have come here in four months,” Garcia said.
—Jacquie Henderson
Central Park restaurant workers
fight for union and dignity
NEW YORK—Since early August, a boisterous and determined group of workers has picketed outside the picturesque Boathouse restaurant—on the lake in the middle of Central Park—encouraging diners to eat someplace else.
Fighting for better conditions and to win a union, some 60 cooks, waiters, and other staff walked off the job August 9. They were joined by 37 others who, according to strikers, were fired for supporting the effort to join Hotel Trades Council Local 6. Altogether, about two-thirds of the workers are now on strike.
Pickets are handing out a “Boycott the Boathouse” brochure in 19 languages, with a map of the Central Park area listing 100 other places to eat. During the hour this reporter was on the picket line, about half those coming to the restaurant were dissuaded from eating there.
“The issues are wages and job security,” Diego Manjarrez told the Militant. He says he worked as a line cook for nine months until he was fired for supporting the union. Some workers make as little as $7.60 per hour, the Daily News reports.
After an organizing drive in which 70 percent of workers signed cards, the union petitioned the National Labor Relations Board in January to conduct an election. According to the union, restaurant operator Dean Poll retaliated with threats, intimidation, and firings. Union supporters faced denial of vacations, cancelled benefits, and work schedules either too demanding or insufficient to make a living. The NLRB says it will seek a court order requiring it to negotiate with the union.
According to Local 6, the biggest levy of firings took place the week the union filed for the election. Manjarrez says that in announcing the dismissals, Executive Chef Anthony Walton told 14 banquet servers they “were being replaced like you replace old chairs.”
“That’s why there’s an old chair over there,” Manjarrez said, pointing to a second picket line across the street.
Even the owner’s cousin Chrissy Makris, a cocktail waitress, was fired a day before the union voted to strike. She told the Daily News she was let go for supporting the union. “He refuses to pay us overtime. He refused to give us health insurance,” Makris said. Workers rarely had any breaks, she said.
“In January we asked for health benefits,” said Manjarrez. “They offered us a plan that cost $400 per month for one person and $1,000 to cover two children and a wife.
“We’re also fighting for respect and dignity,” he said. “There’s only one bathroom for all the workers. He has the money, but he won’t provide another bathroom. Now he’s hired private security just to intimidate and provoke us.”
Most of the workers are immigrants. In March, Poll enrolled in the government’s E-Verify program, used to identify workers for termination whom immigration official say don’t have work permits. The union says Poll used it selectively to get rid of certain employees.
Management has hired replacement workers from an outside contractor. Many are parolees recently released from a halfway house. According to the union, managers falsely told them they would violate their parole if they went on strike. But a number have joined the union fight anyway.
—Doug Nelson