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Unions: Safety and Discrimination Protection

The tragic fires that killed workers in Bangladesh remind us of labor’s history in the early years of the twentieth century when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 garment workers most of them Jewish and Italian immigrant women. Capitalism actively condones the murder of dispensable commodities like people who provide unskilled or semi-skilled labor. Now even the sweatshops of China are moving to even cheaper, less-regulated Bangladesh. American companies [...]

 

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Is Cruelty to Workers Behind Workplace Shootings?

Another workplace shooting took place in Fresno on November 5th at a chicken processing plant. Three workers were killed and two were injured by a fellow employee with a handgun. According to filmmaker Emil Chiaberi, this pattern of workplace violence has roots in the way employees are treated in this country. Chiaberi’s 2010 film, “Murder by Proxy: How America went Postal,” sheds both light and heat on the phenomena of [...]

 

 
 
 

Westfield Mall Protest 1 May 2012 #OccupySF #M1GS #MayDay

Happy May Day! Inside San Francisco’s Westfield Mall, SEIU Local 87 and Macy’s workers staged a demonstration and banner drop as picketers marched outside. We were there to record the events.

 

 
 
 

Gala for the 99%: Walmart & Hyatt Workers Demand Justice from the Penners

Workers at Walmart and Hyatt Hotels struggle daily with disrespect and injustice from their corporate employers. Walmart Associates nationwide have formed an organization, OUR Walmart, and are seeking better working conditions, pay, and respect. Hyatt workers across the country are struggling to achieve safe working conditions and a voice on the job. On April 19th, 2012, Bay Area Walmart and Hyatt workers as well as community leaders came together to [...]

 

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MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!!

Website: http://mayday2012.blogspot.com/ What: Bay Area Regional March for Dignity and Resistance When: Tuesday May 1st (May Day), 3:00pm Where: Fruitvale Plaza to San Antonio Park to Downtown Oakland REGIONAL MARCH FOR DIGNITY AND RESISTANCE On May 1, 2012, communities from across the Bay Area will unite in Oakland and join together in a regional march for Dignity and Resistance. We will meet at Fruitvale Plaza/BART at 3pm and march to [...]

 

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This Man Does Not Deserve To Die.

This is the story of Jesus Navarro. A man denied a kidney transplant of his own wife’s kidney “of a sudden” when his immigration status was discovered. Now there is a petition to right this wrong. To be sent to: Sen. Barbara Boxer Sen. Dianne Feinstein Chancellor, UCSF (Susan Desmond-Hellmann) Executive Director of Transplantation (Reece Fawley) University of California Board of Regents Chair, UC Board of Regents (Sherry Lansing) UCSF [...]

 

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Occupy Still Going to Longview

Occupy responds to ILWU & EGT tentative agreement for Longview Occupations will continue to mobilize until the agreement is finalized by ILWU membership. Occupy protesters and members of labor are still poised to converge on Longview, despite news of a temporary agreement offered to the longshoremen of ILWU Local 21, who have been mired in a 6-month long battle with multinational grain holding company, EGT. Occupiers say news of the [...]

 

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American Licorice Strike Post-Mortem

A lot of Occupiers who went out to support the strikers of Baker’s Union Local 125 were excited to be in the picket line, working toward an achievable short-term goal with that long-mythologized Occupy-hating community, “working folks”. The excitement was mutual. The striking workers, –many of them Latinos–were happy, if not curious, about their new allies and there was a general atmosphere of camaraderie. For several hours, beginning at 4 [...]

 

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Bakery Workers Union Local 125 votes 81-61 to Settle With American Licorice

That was quick. I just saw on Twitter via Zoniel Mharajs (@UnionCityPatch) that Bakery Workers Union Local 125 at the American Licorice factory in Union City, CA voted 81 to 61 in favor of accepting the management’s offer and are calling off the strike. Zoniel’s article contained this quote from the vice president of Local 125 Rene Casillo: “I think if we stayed out a little longer, we could have [...]

 

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Occupy Oakland Walks Picket Line Supporting American Licorice Strikers

UNION CITY, CALIFORNIA Where else but Union City do events like today’s take place? I heard about American Licorice workers being on strike through the Occupy grapevine: Twitter, late night text messages, phone calls and word-of-mouth at Occupy Oakland events but knew little of the specifics before I got on BART this morning. Union City, near the end of the Fremont line in the South Bay. All I knew was [...]