—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

Airport contract workers in Florida win wage hike

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Airport workers, members of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, and supporters rallied outside the Broward County Commissioners meeting here Oct. 13 to celebrate the extension of the Broward Living Wage Ordinance to employees of contractors at major airlines.

The wheelchair pushers, cabin cleaners, baggage handlers and other employees of contractors G2 Secure Staff and Eulen America held a one-day strike Sept. 1.

The commission voted unanimously to end the exclusion of contract workers from the county minimum wage. Starting Jan. 1, workers will make at least $11.68 an hour if they’re getting health benefits and $13.20 if not.

Before the vote more than 1,200 contractor employees at the airport earned an average of $8.14 an hour with minimal benefits.

“The treatment we’ve been receiving is completely unjust,” said Esperanza Ariza, a leader of the G2 workers. “We make just $8.50 per hour and they pay us only for the flights we work on. Most of us have to work two jobs or more just to make ends meet. It took us four years of organizing and struggle to reach this point and it’s a big victory.”

— Steve Warshell

Brooklyn warehouse workers demand union recognition

NEW YORK — Workers at two B&H Photo Video warehouses in Brooklyn made their yearlong fight for union recognition public at a rally here Oct. 11. According to union organizer Arturo Archila, 85 percent of the 240 workers have signed cards saying they want to join the Steelworkers.

Some 75 of the mostly Mexican- and Guatemalan-born workers along with more than 150 supporters marched from a nearby subway station to B&H’s superstore in midtown Manhattan. A delegation of workers went inside and delivered a letter to the company demanding the union be recognized.

The workers want higher pay and an end to forced overtime and abusive treatment by supervisors. “There is no regular work schedule or quitting time,” Raúl Pedraza told the Militant. “Sometimes we start at 7 a.m. and then at the end of the day they say you have to stay until 11 p.m.”

“There is no medical insurance,” he said.

“Sometimes they tell you to climb way up the storage bins,” said Juan Sosa. “But they don’t provide a safety harness.”

— Seth Galinsky

California county hospital nurses strike for better staffing, pay

MARTINEZ, Calif. — Registered nurses at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and health clinics here organized a two-day strike for better staffing and pay. The California Nurses Association members have been working without a contract since July.

“When I visited your hospital I saw that every single nurse had a strike button on,” Katy Roemer, a leader of the California Nurses Association, said at an Oct. 7 rally.

“We had a six-week strike at the Tesoro oil refinery earlier this year. I want to thank you for the energy you brought to our picket line. We are fighting for adequate staffing in the refineries, too,” Mike Smith, a member of United Steelworkers Local 5 told the strikers. He was one of more than a dozen oil refinery unionists who came to the nurses’ picket line.

“Stand up, look around, there’s a health care crisis in this town,” chanted hundreds of nurses marching from the hospital picket line to a meeting of the County Board of Supervisors Oct. 6.

“I come here to advocate for the patients, not for dollar signs,” emergency room nurse Judy Gonzalez said, adding she was appalled that the county spent $3.7 million to hire strikebreakers.

“Short staffing means nurses can’t provide safe care,” nurse Norma Irazo told the Militant. “We’ve been pushed to the point where enough is enough.”

According to the union, wages at the county hospital are 30 percent lower than at nearby private hospitals, leading to a high turnover rate.

About one-third of the nurses are employed on a “per-diem” contingent and on-call basis, without health coverage. The union demands a single contract for all nurses.

— Eric Simpson