—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

‘No justice, no pizza!’ say New York Domino’s strikers

NEW YORK — “No justice, no pizza!” 70 people shouted outside a Domino’s restaurant in Washington Heights here Dec. 4. The rally was organized to support some 20 workers, more than half the workforce, who walked out on a busy Friday evening in a one-day strike to protest discriminatory treatment by management of those trying to organize a union.

Some neighborhood residents joined the action as did other fast-food workers who have been part of the fight for $15 an hour, full-time work and a union.

A giant cheer rose each time another worker punched out and joined the rally.

“We are on strike now because it’s been two years since we started this fight and the workers are retaliating,” José Sánchez, one of the leaders of the fight, told the protest. “They cut our hours and show favoritism towards those who are not for the union. When we try to meet with the manager, he tells us everything is fine. We’re here to inform him that the union is a force.”

In December 2013, 25 workers at this Domino’s were fired after complaining about their wages. Several days later, after organizing a picket line outside the store, they won their jobs back.

“Workers come first,” said Kenneth Brister, a Papa John’s worker who, like many at the action, is part of the fight for $15. “We make the business, it doesn’t make us.”

— Sara Lobman

Connecticut State University faculty oppose concessions

HARTFORD, Conn. — Some 150 faculty members and students from the four Connecticut State University campuses rallied outside a meeting of the Board of Regents for Higher Education here Dec. 3. Many members of the American Association of University Professors are incensed by contract proposals that include monitoring faculty email to enforce a rule against using email to discuss union business, denying tenure rights to newly hired librarians and counselors and allowing the transfer of faculty members without their consent from one campus to another.

“They tell us to do more with less,” Rachel Siporin, chair of the Art Department at the Central Connecticut campus, told the crowd. “Well, we have been doing more with less for years. Students and faculty need to stand together to fight the cuts.”

“We can’t let the Board of Regents mess up our education,” said John Cannone, one of many students there to support the faculty. “Faculty and students are in this together.”

“We want a university, not a website,” read the sign of one student, opposing the administration’s move to have more courses taught online.

— Tim Craine, member of AAUP at Central Connecticut State University

Airport workers fighting for $15 and union conduct 24-hour fast

PHILADELPHIA — Airport workers in more than a dozen cities organized a 24-hour fast two days before Thanksgiving to call attention to their fight for $15 an hour and a union. Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ led the protests, which involved cleaners, skycaps, wheelchair attendants, baggage handlers and ramp workers. The protests took place in Atlanta; Chicago; Los Angeles; New York; Denver; Minneapolis; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Boston;, Newark, New Jersey; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Washington, D.C.; Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. This followed a national one-day strike Nov. 18-19.

In Philadelphia, workers ended the fast Nov. 25 at a banquet table in front of the busy airport, sponsored by Local 32BJ and Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower & Rebuild, a social justice coalition of area churches.

“We appreciate all support as we continue our struggle to raise wages and win the right to form a union,” said Onetha McKnight, a wheelchair attendant. “We know that this fight is not over.”

Gregory Holston, pastor at New Vision United Methodist Church, welcomed workers to the lunch. His church held an “Economic Dignity Teach-in” earlier this year that included Fight for $15 speakers, and supports suburban janitors organized by 32BJ who are fighting for a contract.

Debra Kleiss, a wheelchair assistant who came to the action during her lunch break, told the Militant she can’t live on the $8.40 an hour she makes. The bosses have no respect for the workers, she said. “They just treat us any way they want.”

— Janet Post