Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

July 3, 2009 Education Conference On '34 General Strike & July 6, 2009 International Labor Confernence

'34 General Strike Educational Conference July 3, 2009

Marine Fireman's Union

240 Second St.

San Francisco

San Francisco

9:00 AM

5 minutes-Introductions:

Greetings

Greetings from Maritime unions

9:05 AM

10 minutes-Introduction of Delegations and Guests

9:15 AM

20 minutes with Harvey Schwartz July 3, 1934 What Happened

9:35

10 minutes-Clarence Thomas introduces Cleophus Williams And the How This Shaped The ILWU

9:45

20 minutes Cleophus Williams on The Fight To Defend Harry Bridges From Being Expelled

10:05

10 minutes-Award To Cleophus Williams and All Those Who Fought To Defend Harry Bridges

10:15

10 minutes video of Pete Seeger and the 1940 performance and witch hunts

10:25

20 minutes Jack Heyman on How The General Strike Was Won And The Lessons

10:45

20 minutes Brad Weidmeier Role of Albion Group by

11:05 15 minutes Howard Keylor on the 1948 Strike and the Role of the Strike Committee

11:15

45 minutes Discussion

12:00 Lunch &

Screening Of Harry Bridges, A Man And His Union

1:00 PM

Pissed Off French Dockers Furious About Union Busting Privatization Drive "Masked Mob Ransacks Marseilles Port Office"
http://www.joc.com/node/412123

Masked Mob Ransacks Marseilles Port Office
Bruce Barnard | Jun 29, 2009 4:09PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

Hooded attackers raid port chief’s office with axes, iron bars
Up to 40 hooded people swinging axes and iron bars attacked the offices of the Port of Marseilles Authority June 29 in what appeared to be a major escalation of a long running dispute over container handling.
The attackers ransacked the offices of the port director Jean-Claude Terrier, the port authority said in a statement.
The authority said the attackers, who were wearing port clothing, invaded its offices an hour after it had delivered a letter to union officials detailing plans to transfer dock workers from its payroll to a private stevedore.
Dock workers have been staging strikes at the container terminal at Marseilles’ eastern docks to protest plans to transfer them onto the books of private stevedore Intramar to comply with the French government’s port reform program.
Intramar is a joint venture between CMA-CGM, the Marseilles-based ocean carrier, and Dubai’s DP World, a global ports company.

BA BART Workers Set Up Website In Negotiation Fight

http://www.runbartrun.org/

We want to keep BART running safely, cleanly, efficiently and on time!

Welcome

With days to go before BART’s union contracts expire, BART employees have launched this website to keep riders and the media up to date about public events and negotiations updates related to a possible strike action.

BART Workers’ Legislative Briefing
at Noon
Posted: Monday, 29 June 2009 6AM

BART Workers are holding a legislative briefing with elected officials at the CA State Building in Oakland.
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Breaking News Update
BART TRAINS KEEP RUNNING THROUGH JULY 9 MIDNIGHT
BART Workers and Management Agree to Extend Labor Contract
Posted: Sunday, 28 June 2009 6AM

With three days before BART’s union contracts expire, BART Management has agreed to extend labor contracts with employees of SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555.

Read full press release: BART TRAINS KEEP RUNNING THROUGH JULY 9 MIDNIGHT
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BART Workers DO Not Want To Strike
Posted: Thursday, 25 June 2009 6AM

NYC TWU 100 Transit union leader Roger Toussaint & Co. suffer a series of defeats
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/06/25/2009-06-25_toussaint__co_facing_a_rail_big_challenge_at_twu.html

Transit union leader Roger Toussaint & Co. suffer a series of defeats
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, June 25th 2009, 4:00 AM

Transit union leader Roger Toussaint, who led the 2005 Christmastime strike that crippled the bus and subway system, has lost his ironclad grip on Transport Workers Union Local 100.
A faction of Toussaint loyalists suffered a series of stunning defeats Monday when ballots for delegates to the international's convention were counted.
The loyalist "United Invincible" faction won dozens of uncontested races - but lost about 40 of 67 of the head-to-head contests against the anti-Toussaint "Take Back Our Union" camp, sources said Tuesday.
That doesn't bode well for Toussaint and his handpicked successor, acting Local 100 President Curtis Tate, who heads the United Invincible slate.
Toussaint stepped down after taking a promotion to the international organization.
Ballots for president, secretary-treasurer and other Local 100 leadership posts were mailed out this month but haven't been counted.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/19840006/detail.html

BART Management And Labor Leaders Trade More Barbs
Posted: 7:08 pm PDT June 23, 2009
Updated: 10:00 pm PDT June 24, 2009

OAKLAND, Calif. -- BART management and union leaders sent out competing negative press releases Wednesday, indicating that tensions are high with only a few days left before BART's contract with its 2,800 union employees expires.

BART management alleged that two of the transit agency's largest unions have abandoned an offer to freeze employee wages and are now seeking a 3 percent raise over two years.

KTVU learned Wednesday that union leaders have asked state mediators to join labor negotiations starting Friday.

One of those unions, Local 1555 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, then issued a press release accusing BART executives of leaking details of sensitive negotiations to news media, which the union said is consistent with management's pattern of "bad faith bargaining" throughout contract talks, which began on April 1.

The bitter exchange between the two sides comes in the wake of votes by two of BART's three biggest unions to authorize a strike if an agreement on a new contract is not reached by the June 30 deadline.

Vahed Union Syndicate Calls For Action On 6/26– Iranian Transportation Workers Call For Solidarity Action
http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org/?p=594

Justice for Iranian Workers26 June 2009 – Global Solidarity Action Day

« US Teamsters back workers’ rights in IranUna guía rápida de las acciones que tienen lugar a nivel local – ¡las pequeñas acciones pueden tener un gran impacto! »
Vahed Syndicate – Any Suppression or threat of civil liberty condemned
18 June Statement
Any Suppression or threat of civil liberty condemned
In line with the recognition of the labour rights, we request that June 26 Action Day – Justice for Iranian workers – to include the human rights of all Iranians who have been deprived of their rights.
In recent days, we continue witnessing the magnificent demonstration of millions of people from all ages, genders, and national and religious minorities in Iran. They request that their basic human rights, particularly the right to freedom and to choose independently and without deception be recognized. These rights are not only constitutional in most of the countries, but also have been protected against all odds.
Amid such turmoil, one witnesses threats, arrests, murders and brutal suppression that one fears only to escalate on all its aspects, resulting in more innocent bloodshed, more protests, and certainly no retreats. The Iranian society is facing a deep political-economical crisis. Million-strong silent protests, ironically loud with un-spoken words, have turned into iconic stature and are expanding from all sides. These protests demand reaction from each and every responsible individual and institution.

BART bosses Working To Provoke Strike Action By ATU, AFSCME and SEIU Workers

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/22/BAKE1886JP.DTL

BART bosses, unions work to meet pact deadline
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, June 22, 2009

(06-21) 20:54 PDT -- Four years ago, BART contract negotiations came down to the wire, as workers prepared to strike. But about an hour before the threatened shutdown, the rail agency's labor unions and management brokered a predawn deal that dodged a commuters' nightmare.

Those hard-fought contracts expire at the end of the month, and BART bosses and its unions are engaged in increasingly acidic negotiations to hammer out new pacts.

Neither side has ruled out the prospect of a strike.

It would be the fourth work stoppage in BART's 37-year history. The last one, in 1997, sent BART regulars scrambling for alternative ways to get to work, gripping the Bay Bridge and Bay Area freeways in gridlock.

Today, the agency, which operates in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and San Francisco counties, carries 355,000 passengers on a typical weekday - about 85,000 more boardings than a dozen years ago.

"A walkout or lockout would do great damage to the region, causing serious disruptions," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who, with other political leaders, intervened in the contract battle eight years ago to help avert a strike. "These are very tough economic times and no one wants to give up anything, but everyone will have to give up something."

Ironeaters To Premier At Laborfest 2009-Film Highlighted On CNN About Bangladesh Ship Recycle Workers

Video -Film "Ironeaters Documents Conditions Of Ship Recycle Workers In Bangladesh
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2009/06/21/chiou.ecosolutions.ship.recycle.cnn

Trouble by the tons 2:26
Disposing of huge ships is no small task. CNN's Pauline Chiou reports on intense debates on industry regulation efforts.

http://www.laborfest.net/2009/Films.htm

7:30 Show
Ironeaters (85 min.) Bangladesh by Shaheen Dill-Riaz
The Ironeaters is a beautiful film about the workers in the ship dismantling industry. This industry, which now employs three million workers has replaced the jute textile industry which was destroyed by the IMF and World Bank in order to eliminate competition to the international chemical companies.
The workers in the Ironeaters face a brutal exploitation at 70 cents a day, and deadly health and safety conditions, which destroy their bodies and their lives. This non-union industry, with contractors pushing the workers to get the job done regardless of the costs, and they are deadly as they disfigure many of the workers. The systemic poverty used by the contractors drives these workers to desperation. This is the first film to show the workers in this industry and the work they do as “the rope carriers go home without a penny of wages.”

6/24 Meeting On Protection Of Historic ILA Strike Central Headquarters & Establishment Of Labor Education/Media/Organizing Center

URGENT CALL TO ACTION

STRATEGY MEETING ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 AT ILWU LOCAL 34 HALL

WHERE: ILWU Local 34 Hall at Berry Street adjacent to AT&T Park (2nd and King)

WHEN: 7:00 p .m to 9:00 p.m.

WHAT: Preparing the fight to preserve the Waterfront, itsr labor legacy and to create a landmark Labor Educational, Media and Organizing Center at 113 Steuart Street that enhances the Waterfront and preserves its historic, environmental and architectural legacy.

PRESERVE 113 STEUART STREET, SITE OF ILA HEADQUARTERS AND GROUND ZERO FOR THE 1934 GREAT MARITIME AND GENERAL STRIKE

On March 17 after five hours of public testimony in which the ILWU, Maritime Unions, Labor Historians, Waterfront Residents and Preservationists exposed the attempt by developers to demolish the nerve center of the 1934 General Strike on this its 75th anniversary, the Board of Supervisors voted overwhelmingly to reject the Planning Commission decision to allow Hines Real Estate to raze 113 Steuart Street and put up a high rise that violates planning criteria for the Waterfront.