The Sacramento City Council stood up again April 1 for the Blue Diamond workers' right to organize and join the ILWU. The Council voted 7 – 1 to create an ad hoc committee which would talk with the company, the workers and the union to try to work out a fair election process agreeable to all.

This marked the second time the Council had taken action for the Blue Diamond workers. At a packed and dramatic meeting Dec. 5, 2006, the Council passed a resolution urging the company to sign a neutrality agreement with the ILWU. Company management has not responded to that or any other input from the community it has called home for nearly 100 years--the community that gave it around $21 million in public aid in 1995 to keep it from leaving town.

Even one of the Council members who gave thumbs down on the 2006 resolution approved of this year's call for an ad hoc committee.

"Having the kind of dialogue my colleague is suggesting can only be helpful," Council member Robert King Fong said. "We have a responsibility to the employer and the employees at Blue Diamond to try to help resolve this situation." Read more about the Council meeting and other recent developments in the campaign here.

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Sacramento's eighth annual César Chávez March stopped for a brief rally in front of the Blue Diamond plant March 29. The Aztec dancers opened up, swaying their plumed head-dresses and rattling their leg-bracelets to the beat of their drummer (and the low-rider song playing on the sound system).

Blue Diamond Organizing Committee members Gene Esparza and Maria Arellano addressed the thousands of marchers, who represented dozens of unions and community groups. The workers have seen their conditions improve since they started organizing, Arellano said. "But we know why we made those gains, and we know we will lose them if we do not have a union."

"All we want is a fair vote," Esparza said. "We want a fair vote, not a rigged vote, and we need your help to get it."

Then the crowd marched up to the Blue Diamond gift shop and sat down for a minute in front of it, yelling and chanting support for the workers' right to organize.

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Jaime Soto, the new Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento, sent a message to the Blue Diamond workers on the occasion of the César Chávez March.

"I make myself present through this message to support the righteous cause of the Blue Diamond workers to reach greater solidarity among themselves and struggle together as a whole for a better future for their families," Bishop Soto wrote.

"Coming together in a union can serve as an effective instrument for furthering the common welfare and promoting the dignity of the worker as a brother and companion in the quest for a more righteous world."

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Sacramento's new Bishop, Jaime Soto, wrote to Blue Diamond CEO Doug Youngdahl March 26.

"Historically, the success of Blue Diamond Growers is the result of the growers' own efforts to work together for each others' benefits," the Bishop wrote. "The earnest ambitions of your employees are no different. I sincerely hope and pray that both the Growers and their employees will find an equitable accommodation to resolve this unnecessary labor-management tension."

The Bishop also urged Blue Diamond to agree to fair ground rules for a union vote, and offered any of the parish halls in Sacramento as a location for the election.

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About 500 members of M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) rallied in front of the Blue Diamond Growers plant March 21 during the group's national conference. They also took up chalk and paint to cover the pavement with drawings and messages of support for the Blue Diamond workers' long fight to join ILWU warehouse Local 17. The two blocks leading to the plant's main gate bloomed with solidarity greetings from as far away as Pennsylvania, Colorado and Arizona.

"M.E.Ch.A.'s motto is 'La unión hace la fuerza,' in unity there is strength," said Steven Payan, a member of M.E.Ch. A. at Woodland Community College and an organizer of the support action. "These workers are part of us. They're people of color, people in the struggle. We know some of them are scared and we want to increase their hope and faith by letting them know we're behind them."

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From the San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, February 23, 2008

A Suisun City man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of falsifying documents and neglecting duty in connection with an incident in which a Hornblower ship rammed a San Francisco pier in 2006, court records show.

Shawn Keith Cox, 44, had a U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner license that was issued in 1996 but had been altered to make it look as if it were issued in 2006, said the indictment handed down Thursday by a federal grand jury in San Francisco.

On Dec. 4, 2006, Cox "failed to maintain the proper attention required" to prevent the M/V California Hornblower, a vessel that can accommodate 1,000 guests, from ramming Pier 3 in San Francisco, the indictment said.

Four days after the accident, Cox made a false statement in a report to the Coast Guard about whether he possessed a license, the indictment said.

The author of the previous story, Amy Langfield, writes

Thanks for the link to my story about the new ferry service at Statue of Liberty. Though I'm curious as to why you're advocating a boycott of them. Is it because they're non-union?

Many thanks,

Amy

George S., a longtime bay area IBU member and maritime worker responds:

Yes. They took over the Alcatraz ferry contracts using non union labor. They won the contract making promises they couldn't possible keep.

They promised a Solar/Sail powered ferry by 2008! Not happening.

They were supposed to build a gateway destination--not happening.

They were forced to pay their non-union employees prevailing wages--their health benefits and retirement are lacking.

The previous company that had the Alcatraz contract (Blue and Gold) asked the National Park service if they could raise the rates to take passengers to Alcatraz. They were always turned down by the NPS because they would be gouging the public. As soon as Hornblower was granted the contract they were able to raise their rates substantially (something rotten here).

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