http://www.litci.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1709:while-ups-makes-multimillionaire-profit-they-fire-workers-from-ups-vallecas&catid=22:spain
While UPS makes multimillionaire profit, they fire workers from UPS-Vallecas
Written by Worker’s Committee of UPS Vallecas
Tuesday, 31 August 2010 23:14
To UPS workers all over the world

Dear colleagues,

First of all, we want to inform you that on the 30th of july UPS started to fire the employees of Vallecas (Madrid), up to now, they have dismissed up to 18 colleagues.

During the last two years, the company has presented three Layoff Plans (said “ERE” in Spain, official procedure to request to the Administration the workers contract termination), in order to fire most of the employees of UPS Vallecas and to modify the working and financial conditions of the remaining ones, including to put an end to our signed up collective agreement.

After much struggle, the first two Layoff Plans and their respective legal appeals were defeated by the Administrations (Ministry of Labour and Madrid Regional Authority), that denied in a categorical way the existence of any reason for the dismissals. Finally the management of UPS resolved to withdraw the third one before the Administration would deny it again.

With this record, and instead of accepting and assuming the different resolutions of the Administration and going back to normalize the working relationships in Vallecas, the company has got the insolence to apply, immediately after withdrawing the third Layoff Plan, the so-called “objective dismissal” (individual dismissals, with a severance pay of 20 days per working year) to 18 employees.

And they do it using the same arguments that they have been using for over two years: “the reasons of the dismissals are economic, organizational and of production”, the same reasons that have been said five times they don’t exist!, proving us right in any case to the workers that are struggling to defend our job and our working conditions.

Now, leaning on the Labour reform passed by the Spanish Government that came into force on the 18th of June, they are trying what they couldn’t get with the Layoff Plans. With this new Reform, a lot of the causes of “nullity” for the dismissals disappear (which means that if the judge finds the dismissal null and void they will have to reemploy the worker), UPS pretends that the dismissals prosper, even if they are found “unfair”, which would mean that the company would have to pay more money to the worker (up to 45 days per working year) but nothing would force them to reemploy them. In that case, UPS would have the way free to carry out the same measure to the rest of the workers that today are still in the centre of Vallecas (right now about 70 workers, versus the 200 people that worked there about two years ago).

¡Reemploy the people you have fired!

We have been fighting for over two years now defending our jobs and labour rights. The company’s management had preferred to take away our job, to have us doing almost nothing during all this time, without minding a bit about wasting money, while they burst our colleagues from other working centres working too much. Anything they need, instead of giving up and sitting down with the workers representatives (the Worker’s Committee) to settle at once this situation, taking back to Vallecas the work that they have taken away, or negotiating the transfer of all the workers to the centre of Coslada (Madrid), if what they really want is to close Vallecas.

This proves what we have said many times, that here there is no lack of money or work, here the problem is that they want to end up with a model union that is uncomfortable for them to put in practice their plans, that are to replace permanent workers with rights by more and more precarious workers, that work more for less money and less rights. And they need also them to be submissive workers. This is their policy to keep on getting more and more profit!

They want free hands to keep on outsourcing the work, using subcontractors instead of workers hired directly by UPS, generalizing the part time contracts, the use of Temporary Recruitment Agencies, or to be able to freeze or directly to cut down the salaries. That is to say, they need free hands to keep on cutting out the rights of the workers.

We, the employees of UPS Vallecas, are addressing to all of you to denounce this situation and to ask for YOUR SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT.

We ask you to send communiqués from all the work centres of UPS, Unions and workers representatives, to the management of UPS demanding them the immediate reemployment of the dismissed colleagues and that they should respect the job and working rights of the workers of UPS Vallecas, as well as from the rest of UPS.

We are carrying through a plan of action that includes, among other things, meetings with workers from other UPS centres, and our active participation in the preparation of the general strike called in the whole country for the next 29th of September.

We hope to receive your supportive help, we thank you and we enclose our addresses for you to have all the needed information.

For the reemployment of the dismissed colleagues!
For the defence of our jobs!
Out with the labour reform!

Vallecas (Madrid) 20th of august 2010

Worker’s Committee of UPS Vallecas

______________________________________
Communiqués to the company’s management

To send communiqués demanding the reemployment of the dismissed persons:

Arancha Fernández Igoa
Human Resources Director
afernandezigoa@ups.com

Luis Arriaga
General Director of UPS Spain
larriaga@ups.com

(Please, send a copy of the written documents to the Worker’s Committee of UPS Vallecas to the following mail:comiteupsvallekas@yahoo.es )

thericksmithshow | August 31, 2010
Rick talks to MEC Chairman Chuck Martinak about the state of the airline industry since deregulation, working conditions, and the union's contract negotiations. The Rick Smith Show Where Working People Come to Talk
Category:

World action day tomorrow backs Turkish UPS workers
Trade unions in over 40 cities worldwide will demonstrate their solidarity with sacked Turkish UPS workers tomorrow, September 1, in an action day coordinated by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation).

The international protest is being held in response to reported intimidation and sackings of workers who opted to join Turkey’s TÜMTIS trade union. Since April 2010, 157 employees of UPS Turkey have been dismissed without any application of the procedures specified by Turkish law. All of the dismissed workers are union members or were interested in union representation. On 2 July 2010, the conflict escalated even further when the manager of a sub-contractor fired shots at the office of a notary public in Izmir where, union representatives reported, he had been trying to force workers to resign their union membership (see www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/4662/region/1/section/0/order/1)

TÜMTIS President Kenan Ozturk explained: “UPS workers in Turkey face aggression. International support will send a clear message to UPS that anti-union activity is not acceptable. Global workers' solidarity can help to defeat an attack by employers.”

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “Trade unionists - especially those working for UPS in other countries - are taking action to show that this type of intimidatory behaviour is not acceptable in the company they work for.”

He continued: “We welcome recent mediation efforts from the UPS headquarters in Atlanta and Brussels to address this ongoing and unpleasant situation, and hope that the managers in Turkey will pay attention to their colleagues’ concerns. If those Turkish managers choose not to do so, then we will prepare for further worldwide action in a second global day on September 15th.”

For further information about the global campaign see www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/ups-justice.cfm

The following is a provisional roundup of the proposed lawful actions being taken by trade unions in support of their Turkish colleagues:

In Turkey, TÜMTİS will lead the mass demonstration in Istanbul to the UPS's headquarters in Zeytinburnu. Public declarations will be made in Gaziantep, Ankara, Balıkesir, Bursa, Mersin and Adana. They will be joined by the wider trade union and civil society movements, including the national labour centre, TÜRK-İŞ and its affiliates. Local NGOs such as TAREM are supporting the campaign.

In the USA the Teamsters union will be part of the global day of protest by organising actions at the company's headquarters in Atlanta and five other cities. The TWU union will lead the event in New York City and the UAW union in Detroit, Chicago and Louisville, Kentucky.

In Australia, a top-level delegation from the RTBU, MUA and TWU will meet with UPS representatives at its facility in Sydney. Further plans are currently under discussion in Melbourne.

In Thailand, leaders of transport unions have already visited the UPS office in Bangkok to deliver the ITF's message that the company must (1) reinstate all dismissed workers; (2) stop further harassment and victimisation at workplaces and (3) enter into a formal dialogue with TÜMTİS to establish a sound industrial relationship. The ITF’s Thai affiliated trade unions warned that if no resolution is achieved by tomorrow, they will join the worldwide actions.

Likewise, led by the railway workers in Chennai and Delhi and by the DHL Employees’ Union in Mumbai, ITF affiliates in India are approaching UPS management. Demonstrations are planned in these cities and other locations on 1 September.

ITF union representatives in Tokyo, Japan and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, will be visiting their respective UPS offices to deliver the message on 1 September. A demonstration is scheduled in front of a UPS office by transport workers of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). In Korea, representatives of all ITF unions will join the protest in Seoul. In Singapore the SMOU message was delivered to the UPS Asia Pacific Region office in Singapore on 28 August. Transport unions in Indonesia and the Philippines have responded positively to the ITF's call and actions are planned.

In South Africa, SATAWU activists in cities including Johannesburg, Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town are coordinating lunchtime pickets on 1 September. Union members will send faxes and call the UPS offices to protest.

The ITF representative in Jordan will visit the UPS office in Amman and the message will also be delivered to the company’s Dubai office.

In Belgium, BTB and BBTK will lead a protest action in Diegem/Brussels from 07.00 to 09:00. Leaflets will be distributed and a workers' assembly will be held at this UPS facility. The BTB will organise a further solidarity action at noon at a separate location.

In the UK shop stewards in the Unite union will be distributing leaflets at UPS depots and a public presentation is planned at the company's head office in Buckinghamshire. The union convenor will have an official meeting with senior management to raise the Turkish dispute.

In Germany, actions are due to take place in Kassel, Herne and Cologne. Members of the Ver.di, NGG, and IG-Metal unions are to participate. Protests in Austria, The Netherlands, Cyprus and Ukraine are confirmed.

In Switzerland, UNIA will be protesting in Basel and are inviting the postal union to join the event. In Norway a demonstration in front of UPS's office in Oslo at 15:00 will be led by the Norwegian Transport Workers Union. AKT will deliver the message to the management in Helsinki, Finland. A recent ITF seminar in Tartu unanimously agreed to support the campaign and unions from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Russia will be actively engaged in the action day.

Demonstrations are set to take place front of diplomatic missions in Vilnius, Lithuania and Tallinn, Estonia. Unions will be sending protest messages to the company and an awareness raising campaign will begin. In Sweden, the Swedish Transport Workers Union has convened a meeting with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises, of which UPS is a member, where the Turkish dispute will be on the agenda. The Nordic Transport Workers’ Federation (NTF), which represents 50 trade unions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, has already written to the UPS CEO.

On 1 September, the Argentine Camioneros truck drivers’ union will be backing the Turkish workers. The Barbados Workers’ Union has already sent its protest letter to UPS.

Since June, international delegations have visited the picket lines in Istanbul and Izmir, including representatives from the ITF, ETF, UNI-Europa, ABVV-FGTB (Belgium), FNV Bondgenoten (Netherlands), VIDA (Austria), NGG (Germany), Swedish Transport Workers Union, CFDT, France and many more. The ETF has made a financial contribution to the workers at the picket lines. In conjunction with the adoption of an emergency motion supporting the workers and TÜMTIS at the recent ITF Congress in Mexico City, five Norwegian transport unions announced that they will continue their financial support until the dispute is settled. Unions including the Spanish ELA and Belgian SETCA have also made donations.

Contact persons for tomorrow’s actions

Argentina

Mariela Dilema (Camioneros) derechoshumanos@fedcam.org.ar

Dina Feller (AAA) dfeller@aeronavegantes.com

Australia

Richard Priest (TWU) Richard.Priest@twu.com.au

Michelle Myers (MUA) michelle.myers@mua.org.au

Austria

Harald Voitl (VIDA) harald.voitl@vida.at

Barbados

Wilma Clement (BWU) clems@caribsurf.com

Vancouver - Port truck traffic slowed to a crawl along the Deltaport causeway as a group of about 50 protesters approached drivers with leaflets containing information about the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza. They also offered the drivers coffee and muffins in a gesture of solidarity. The protesters were there to draw attention to the fact that the Israeli container ship Zim Djibouti had landed in Vancouver to unload its containers.
Zim is an Israeli shipping company, one of the largest in the world.
"This action was part of the growing international campaign to pressure Israel to comply with international law and stop killing innocent civilians," said Gordon Murray, spokesperson for the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Coalition (BIAC).
"Workers in South Africa, Scandinavia, the United States, Turkey and India have already responded to the Palestinian call for action to end the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza and the suffering it is causing," said Mike Krebs, BIAC's other spokesperson.
"The international solidarity movement has decided that the best way to change Israel's behaviour is to take actions against Israeli companies and institutions in order to put pressure on the government there."
Video Israeli Ships not Welcome in Vancouver
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/israeli-ships-not-welcome-vancouver/4507
Israeli Ships not Welcome in Vancouver

Dozens of activists set up an information picket at Deltaport this morning, designed to slow the transport of containers belonging to the Israeli shipping company Zim. Demonstrators gave truckers and passers-by information about the growing refusal by workers to unload and transport cargo from Israel or shipped by Israeli companies. Vancouver Media Co-op correspondents filed this report.

Photos and stories:

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/anti-israeli-apartheid-protest-delta...

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/zim-ships-not-welcome/4508

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/zim-ships-not-welcome/4508

PHOTOGRAPHY about SOLIDARITYTRANSPORTATION posted on AUGUST 24, 2010 byFLUX
ZIM ship triggers protest
by FLUX - MURRAY BUSH

DELTA - The arrival this morning of the Flagship of the Israeli ZIM line prompted a two-hour information picket outside the Deltaport container port.

http://tdu.org/blet-right-to-vote
BLET Members Save the Right to Vote
August 30, 2010: By an overwhelming vote of 6,305 to 2,452, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in the Teamsters have saved the Right to Vote for their top officers.

BLET members won the Right to Vote in 2006, by a smaller margin and lower turnout.

That was before three of the union’s top officers left in disgrace for misusing tens of thousands of dollars of union funds, double-dipping on expenses, and soliciting a $20,000 bribe from an attorney.

Members Organize

In December, officials from Divisions 13, 98, 155, and 236 started circulating petitions to take away the Right to Vote, and the issue was put to a referendum vote. Behind the scenes, top BLET officers campaigned hard to take away members’ democratic rights.

Right away, rank-and-file members and local officers mobilized to protect their rights.

“The Right to Vote gives us the tools to hold our leaders accountable, punish officers who violate our trust, and root out corruption from our union,” said Hugh Sawyer, President of BLET Division 316 and a member of TDU’s Steering Committee, in a letter that was mailed to all BLET members.

“Why should the members ever give up that right?”

First Direct Election in Full Swing

Now the BLET’s first-ever one-member, one-vote election for top officers is moving ahead in full swing.

Tom Brennan, a local chairman and candidate for BLET President, supported the Right to Vote vocally from the beginning.

The incumbent candidate for president, Dennis Pierce, refused to come out publicly for or against the Right to Vote. Privately he worked to pass the initiative and take away members’ Right to Vote.

Sore Losers Prepare for Round Three?

The members have spoken—they want the Right to Vote.

But the officials of Division 98 have already submitted a resolution to the union convention that would strip members of the Right to Vote. Their resolution could be heading to the convention floor for a vote in October.

Keeping the Right to Vote should be a no-brainer for delegates at the Convention. The members have spoken loud and clear on this issue—twice.

We hope Division 98 officials will do the right thing and withdraw their resolution before the convention even begins.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/31/BAO31F5UPE.DTL
AC Transit pushes severe service cuts

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Michael Macor / The Chronicle
AC Transit will propose, among other things, slashing its weekend service by half and eliminating some overnight lines.

AC Transit could slash its weekend service by half, eliminate all but two of its overnight bus lines and shorten service hours on all routes in a series of budget cuts the transit agency is blaming on its drivers' union.

The East Bay's largest bus transit agency plans to announce the proposed budget cuts at its Wednesday Board of Directors meeting in Oakland.

The transit district, enmeshed in a battle with its largest labor union, had planned to cut service by about 7 percent this month but put off those reductions after a judge prohibited the agency from imposing working conditions, designed to save $15.7 million, on its drivers and mechanics, and ordered them to let an arbitrator settle the contract dispute.

AC Transit officials said that they now need to make much deeper cuts - slashing service to a level not seen in at least 24 years, perhaps ever - in December.

"We are being forced to cut our service to the bone," said Mary King, AC Transit's acting general manager.

Claudia Hudson, chief negotiator for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, said she had not had time to review the proposed cuts but said AC Transit lacks competent or experienced transit managers.

"What they need to do is bring in a transit expert to help them solve their problems," she said. "Because the people here now don't have a clue."

A memorandum presented to the board proposed eliminating 39 of the 56 weekend bus routes to save $12.5 million, cutting four of the six overnight lines to save $1 million, outsourcing paratransit (door-to-door services for seniors and disabled) to save $600,000 to $1.1 million.

Should further cuts be needed, the district will consider curtailing service before 6 a.m. and after 8 p.m., starting service later and ending it earlier on surviving weekend routes, eliminating Transbay and supplemental service to schools and reducing service on all lines in direct proportion to ridership.

The transit agency could also consider imposing more fare increases, contracting out some of its bus operations to the lowest bidder, closing its Richmond bus yard and making a number of administrative changes.

While the service-reduction plan will be presented to the board Wednesday, the AC Transit board is expected to approve the December cuts on Sept. 22. A federally required civil rights review would follow, and the cuts would take effect on Dec. 19. Should deeper cuts be needed, the board will consider them in December to take effect in March.

E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.nytwa.org/
Home
Ahmed Sharif Family Support Fund

Stabbed cabbie out of work, worries about feeding family (CNN)

On behalf of the Sharif family, we would like to express our gratitude for the heart-warming support from our fellow New Yorkers and to our neighbors across the country. Many of you have generously sent in donations to the family through NYTWA. We thank you for this kindness and ask for further support.

Amount: $

Please write in the memo, "Ahmed Sharif Family."

Checks and money orders can be made payable to, "Ahmed Sharif"
Mail to:
Ahmed Sharif
c/o New York Taxi Workers Alliance
250 Fifth Avenue, Suite 310
NY, NY 10001

We will deliver the monies immediately to the family as they come in and send you a receipt signed by Ahmed for acknowledgment. Thank you.

No More Ahmed Sharifs! Support Taxi Workers Struggle for Protection!
Join Ahmed and the countless other driver victims of violence on the job and call for the state to enact the Taxi Driver Protection Act! The bill was passed with overwhelming support in the NYS Assembly and Senate, and is now awaiting the signature of the Governor. Call on Speaker Silver to send the bill to the Governor's desk for signing and call on the Governor to sign NOW!

Contact Governor Paterson to sign NOW!
518-474-8390
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

Contact Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

212-312-1420
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=64&sh=contact

Build Justice & Rights for Taxi Workers! Support the Work of NYTWA!
NYTWA is a membership-based not-for-profit organization. Our funds are derived from membership, private foundation support and individual supporters. To make a donation, please click here.

Amount: $

Please note "For NYTWA" in the memo. Or, send a check made payable to "NYTWA." Thank you.

Taxi Driver Brutally Attacked in Anti-Muslim Hate Crime

New York Daily News coverage of press conference

Associated Press coverage of press conference

Reuters story

For immediate release: August 26, 2010

PRESS CONFERENCE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2010
1:00PM
City Hall Steps

Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, a yellow taxi cab driver slashed across the neck, face and shoulders by a passenger during an anti-Muslim hate crime will stand with fellow New York Taxi Workers Alliance members, and community, immigrant and Muslim organizations to call for an end to the bigotry and anti-Islamic rhetoric in the debate around the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center, referred to as the Ground Zero Mosque. “I feel very sad. I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before,” said Mr. Sharif. “Right now, the public sentiment is very serious (because of the Ground Zero Mosque debate.) All drivers should be more careful.”

On Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 Mr. Sharif picked up the perpetrator at 24th Street and Second Avenue, his first fare for the shift, and headed toward Times Square. The man, 21, started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan. He then first became silent for a few minutes and then suddenly started cursing and screaming. There, at about 6:15pm at Third Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, he yelled, “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint,” and then slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck. As Mr. Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face (from nose to upper lip), arm and hand.

“While a minority of has-been politicians spew ignorance and fear, it’s the working person on the street who has to face the consequences,” said NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “This kind of bigotry only breeds more violence and makes taxi drivers all the more vulnerable on the streets where there are no bully pulpits or podiums to hide behind.” The US Department of Labor reports taxi drivers to be thirty times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers.

The 13,000-member NYTWA called on the District Attorney to be vigilant in its prosecution of the attempted murder and hate crime and urged the Governor to sign the Taxi Driver Protection Act, passed by the state legislature on June 26th, 2010, increasing penalties on crimes against taxi drivers and requiring a sign in all taxis, “WARNING: Assaulting a Taxi Driver is Punishable by Up to Twenty-Five Years in Prison.” “Maybe if the warning sign was there, this kind of stranger who comes to us with hatred would have to think twice,” said Anwar Hossain. “At least we could feel safer and not alone. No matter what political issue is going on, at least we could be treated as equal Americans and feel protected.”

Click here for PDF of press release

MEET & GREET WITH TLC CHAIRMAN DAVID YASSKY
Tuesday, July 20th
10:00am
LaGuardia Airport, Main Lot
We are pleased to announce that TLC Chairperson David Yassky will be joining us at the LaGuardia Airport Main Lot to meet with drivers. Please join us and speak directly with Chairman Yassky about issues that are most important to you. We all know the issues. Let the head industry regulator know your solutions. Park in the lot and use your time fighting for driver power!

Download flyer with more details

or view on our website here

NYTWA ON YOUTUBE
Check out our own videos on our very own Youtube Channel! Click here: www.youtube.com/nytwa

June 25: NYS Legislature Passes Taxi Driver Protection Act
For Immediate Release: June 25, 2010

Assembly: 141 Yes / 1 No ; Senate: 60 Yes / 0 No

On Friday, June 25th at about 4:30pm, in a unanimous vote—60 Yes, 0 no—the NYS Senate passed the Taxi Driver Protection Act sponsored by Senator Eric Adams. The Assembly passed the same bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Rory Lancman, on Tuesday, June 22nd in a vote of 141 to 1. The Taxi Driver Protection Act increases the penalties on assaults against taxicab, black car, and livery drivers and requires a sticker in every taxicab: "WARNING: Assaulting A Taxi Driver Is Punishable By Up To Twenty-Five Years In Prison." On misdemeanor assaults which carry maximum one year prison, the penalty will increase to a mandatory two year prison term if the victim is a driver. On felony assaults, there will be a penalty enhancement of five additional years to the term if the victim is a driver. The bill now goes to the Governor for signing. Within ten days, the bill will become law.

We are overjoyed beyond words.

We raise this victory in prayer to our brother Shajedur Rahman who, four and a half years later, remains in a vegetative state after recovering from a coma following an assault on October 2, 2005. We are indebted to his beautiful wife Shahida and their three beautiful girls whose courage has guided this campaign at every step and juncture.

We are so thankful to our superb Sponsors, Assemblyman Lancman who championed and authored the bill with unbelievable precision and commitment and the incomparable Senator Adams who kept up our spirits and championed a ninth inning rally to bring home the victory!

We want to especially recognize staff Allison Weingarten and Brad Fischer for their unwavering dedication to the protection of taxi workers.

We also thank Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky who endorsed the campaign within just days of taking his new post.

We are humbled by our injured brothers and sisters who have graciously taken some of the most traumatic moments of their lives and used them for a lifetime of protection for their fellow drivers. This campaign was born in the hospital bed of our brother Mamnun Ul Haq, co-founder of NYTWA, who despite shooting pain from the wounds of a 10-inch hunting knife, imagined a political solution where justice lay in the future, not a bitter past. We salute with admiration all the sisters and brothers who have stood with us at press conferences and hearing rooms, retelling their nightmare for a better tomorrow: Mamnun Ul Haq, Neeru Singh, Mohammad Chowdhury, Enois Malbranche, Ousmane Drame, Ndiaye Serigne, Jangbir Singh, Syed Salman, Abubakar Abdallah, Jamil Hussain, Zakir Howlader, Amarjit Singh Soni, Gurmail Singh, Frederick Dsouza, among thousands.

This victory was shouldered by the members of NYTWA who made the trek to Albany, sacrificing income, sleep, rest, paying lease out of pocket and covering the trip costs themselves. You are our heroes.

May this victory—won in an unprecedented six weeks of mobilization—be the shining reminder that unity is power and workers united will never be defeated.

At the end of the day, after all other reflection, may this victory above all serve as a dedication to the brothers and sisters we have lost through the years. May their loved ones know we never forgot. We dedicate to you, Mohammad Elwaleed, Mohammad Butt, Ibrahima Doukare, Humayun Laskar, in our loving memory.

Download press release here

Download Flyer here and outreach to fellow drivers!

May 6 Epoch Times: Taxi Driver Assaults Raise Call for Bill
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/34881/

By Helena Zhu
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—Two more taxi drivers reported Thursday assault on the job, just weeks after a driver was slashed across the neck and barely survived. Now local officials are raising support for a bill that will toughen penalties for assaulting a taxi driver.

The two recently assaulted drivers include Abubakar Abdallah, 46, and Jangbir Singh, 45. Abdallah who was left bleeding from cuts on the face and shoulder and a fractured nose, before five attackers took his taxi and collided into a private car. Singh was spat at, racially slandered, and assaulted in the arm with a metal pipe. Singh's passenger, a tourist returning to Canada, witnessed the scene while screaming in the backseat.

“We need an anti-violence bill to stop yellow cabs from being turned into moving targets,” said 30-year veteran driver Beresford Simmons in a press release. “These assaults leave us drivers and even our riders and others on the street vulnerable and injured.”

Abdallah and Singh joined the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) to call for a “Day of Enough is Enough: Respect our Labor. Protect our Lives” on May 25. All participating taxis will be decorated with symbolic red ribbons and go for a motorcade to Albany to urge the passage of the Taxi Driver Protection Act.

Introduced by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and endorsed by newly appointed Taxi & Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky, the act would make assaults against drivers a felony and require warning signs inside taxis, same as the ones already in buses and subways.

Both Abdallah and Singh said they will join the taxi caravan to the state capital, hoping their suffering will not be in vain.

“I want the blood that I shed to have meaning and not be ignored,” said Abdallah.

News from Taxi Driver Protection Act April 11 Press Conference

Taxi drivers hail law making cabbie attacks a felony

BY Pete Donohue

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, April 11th 2010, 4:00 AM

A taxi drivers group will call for a law making it a felony to attack hacks in the wake of a cabbie getting slashed across the throat by two women going to the Bronx.

Two female thugs - angry that cabbie Mohammed Chowdhury asked one of them to stop urinating in his car - are accused of slicing him with a utility knife in late March.

"I'm lucky to be alive," said Chowdhury, who suffered a 5-inch wound. "It's a miracle."

Chowdhury will relive the March 28 attack Sunday when he appears with Taxi Workers Alliance officials to call for more legal protections for cab drivers.

The drivers group wants a "shield law" mandating that felony charges punishable by a prison sentence be levied against anyone who assaults a cabbie, even if the injury inflicted is minor. Eighty-nine cabbies have been robbed this year, according to the NYPD.

"We want the law to deter crimes against drivers, not have their safety be left solely to luck and miracles," said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance. "We want the public to know drivers are not alone; the law is on their side."

To read the article on the internet, click here

To read the article on our site, click here

More articles, click below:

http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-taxi-protection-laws,0,4548780.story

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/33183/

DRIVERS PACK CITY COUNCIL HEARING DEMANDING APOLOGY
City Council Hearing--GPS-Meter Overcharge Scandal! See NYTWA flyer here

NY1, April 7, 2010

Former TLC Head Defends Taxi Scam Numbers

By: Bobby Cuza

Taxi drivers say the city jumped the gun last month when it announced three-quarters of the city’s cabbies had overcharged passengers at least once.

During a City Council hearing Wednesday, the former head of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission Matthew Daus said the numbers were simply misinterpreted.

"The numbers that the press reported, not necessarily the TLC, at the time, basically indicated and portrayed the drivers as all being guilty," Daus said. "If you look at the first statements that I put out on it, I never said that, the TLC never said that."

In fact, Daus has since acknowledged that many of the overcharges were mistakes or accidents that actually resulted in no added charges. But he stood by his decision to release the numbers, saying it alerted the public to a scam whereby drivers would charge the suburban rate, which shows up as "Rate 4" instead of "Rate 1" on the meter.

Click here to continue and view NY1 story

Op-ed in New York Daily News, March 24th, 2010
TLC statistics are taking honest New York City cabbies for a ride

BY DAN ACKMAN AND BHAIRAVI DESAI
Wednesday, March 24th 2010, 4:00 AM

News that New York City taxi drivers cheated passengers of some $8.3 million was shocking, especially to those familiar with the industry. It was, in fact, too shocking to be believed.

According to a press release hurried out late Friday afternoon by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, the agency had suddenly "discovered" 1,872,078 trips where passengers were illegally charged an excessive rate.

By the following Monday, the TLC was moving in reverse, with its chairman, Matthew Daus, saying new data shows "a very large number" of drivers were mistakenly implicated in the scam. The so-called scam, as we now know, was that passengers were charged a suburban-rate double fare for rides in the city. As it turns out, the drivers did hit the wrong fare button. But they did so accidentally at the end of the rides—which means no passengers were overcharged.

To read full Op-ed in Daily News, click here

Daily New Editorials Wednesday, March 24th 2010
Hacking the Facts: Commish's bogus fare-cheat claim defamed city cabbies

Taxi & Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus leaves office this week the author of what will be an enduring urban legend: that New York taxi drivers stole $8 million from unwitting passengers.

They didn't. Nice work, Mr. Daus.

To read full Daily News editorial, click here

Taxi Drivers Demand Apology After TLC Chair Backs Off Claim of Universal Overcharge
For Immediate Release: March 23rd, 2010

Drivers Say Problems Won’t be Fixed Until the Technology is Replaced;
Call for Independent Investigation of TLC

Press Conference

TUESDAY, March 23, 2010
12:00 noon
40 Rector Street (TLC Headquarters)
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance will hold a press conference outside TLC headquarters, demanding an apology to go along with TLC Chairman Mathew Daus' backtracking on the agency's charges made just ten days of universal overcharging by drivers. The TLC has come under fire after admitting at a City Council hearing that upon further review, a "significant" number of the rides they accused drivers of overcharging were actually charged at the lawful rate. Mr. Daus also acknowledged that the mistake was with the meter design and GPS-data reporting. Just ten days prior, Mr. Daus had issued a press release accusing 35,585 drivers of complicity in overcharging 1.8 million rides at a cost of $8.3 million over 26 months. The fares represented half of one percent of all rides in the time period, but implicated the entire workforce. The agency's backing off from the shocking allegation has the drivers feeling vindicated and all the more enraged over the initial accusation.

Click here to read entire press release

Click here for PDF of press release

Press Links:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/03/17/2010-03-17_hacked_off.html

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/151904

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/taxi-scam-may-be-smaller-than-first-thought/

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/the-meter-runs-out-on-a-taxi-commissioner-tips-not-included/

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/152186

http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/115385/tlc-equips-cabs-with-new-fare-setting-alert

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/opinion/lweb20taxi.html?scp=1&sq=dan%20ackman&st=cse

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/03/the_great_taxi.php

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/03/taxi_scamtake_t.php

TLC Overcharge Indictment
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:50
For Immediate Release: FRIDAY, March 12, 2010
For More Information, please call: Bhairavi Desai

NYTWA Statement on TLC's Overcharge Indictment of Entire Taxi Workforce

Investigate the Investigation!

"The TLC released findings today alleging overcharges on average of $4.45 per fare by a whopping over 35,500 drivers over 26 months. While there are over 49,000 hack license holders, only about 30,000 are full-time, steady drivers who operate 13,237 medallion taxicabs. So at 35,000 alleged violators, we are talking the whole universe of drivers. The TLC's findings are based on technology - there are no actual witnesses to the allegations. The fact that the technology condemns the whole universe of active drivers alone tells us that this was not about individuals; there was a systemic failure here. There is only one common element across the board in all of these alleged incidents: the taxi meter and technology. The drivers varied. The trips varied. The payments varied. Only the meters and technology were the same.

Last night, March 11th, a message appeared in all cabs served by one of the three GPS vendors, stating that the credit card readers would be out for up to four hours last night so drivers could only take cash. How many riders were angry and doubtful of the driver, blaming him or her when they were told the reader wasn't working? Drivers have been scapegoated for the failures of this technology over and again.

There should be a more thorough investigation before judgment is cast on an entire workforce. Taxi drivers are some of the hardest working and honest New Yorkers, laboring back-breaking 12-hour shifts without safety or health care. There are countless stories of drivers returning diamonds and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Yet, according to the technology, the same workforce would cheat the general public over $4? These allegations raise more questions about the technology, the meters, and the investigation - than it does about drivers."

Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director
New York Taxi Workers Alliance

click here for PDF

Are You Being Overcharged by the Garage or Broker?
If you lease from a GARAGE:

Are you a weekly driver paying above the weekly TLC maximum lease cap (more than $666 per driver for non-hybrids or $687 per driver for hybrids)?

__ YES __ NO

Has a garage charged you for “sales tax” above the daily TLC maximum lease cap ($105 for day-time; $115-$129 for nights)?

__ YES __ NO

Are you required to “tip” the dispatcher in order to get a cab?

__ YES __ NO

If you lease from a BROKER:

Is your broker charging you a surcharge called a “vehicle fee” or an “additional driver fee”?

__ YES __ NO

Has your broker removed the medallion off your car and not replaced it?

__ YES __ NO

If you answer is YES to any of these questions, you may have aLAWSUIT and you and other drivers could be entitled to a refund.

If you would like to pursue legal action or learn more about your rights, call:

New York Taxi Workers Alliance

at 212-627-5248

Download flyer here

NYTWA Rallies with Immigrants & Labor on May Day
Immigrant Rights Activists Rally In New York City
New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV
"... here to say there's more of us here in this country that are against the Arizona proposal," added Bhairavi Desai of New York's Taxi Workers Alliance. ...

NYTWA Marches onto Wall Street with Unionized Labor
http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/117792/local-community-groups-rally-in-support-of-financial-reform

NYTWA Attends White House State Dinner
Union Brings Taxi Drivers' Fight to National Leaders

For Immediate Release: November 30, 2009

A New York Taxi Workers Alliance delegation traveled to Washington, D.C. to bring the plight of New York City taxi drivers directly to the President himself. Executive Director Bhairavi Desai and co-founder and Organizing Committee member Javaid Tariq represented the union at President Barack Obama's first and highly anticipated state dinner, held on Tuesday, November 24th in honor of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "When we first met President Obama on the receiving line, he said, '(y)ou know I was an organizer too'," reported Ms. Desai. "This was such an honor for us. I remember the days when the old Mayor wouldn't allow us to enter City Hall. And here we were in the White House.

Click here to read full release

STAND WITH OUR HAITIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS
As the world mourns the unspeakable affects of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, we too express our deep sorrow over this unimaginable tragedy. Three million out of a population of nine million were directly affected by the earthquake. Over forty percent of the Haitian population is children under 14 years of age. The earthquake has paralyzed the capital and devastated the entire nation; the earthquake follows after years of deadly floods and wide-spread poverty. Electricity is out. Communication networks have collapsed. Homes, buildings, hospitals, schools have been toppled. There are massive shortages of clean water, food, medicine and medical personnel. It is feared to be the deadliest earthquake in history over the past forty years.

New York City is home to the largest Haitian community outside of Port-au-Prince, the devastated capital which was the epicenter of the quake. Among the close to 125,000 Haitian New Yorkers, taxi driving is one of the prime professions.

Our Haitian brothers and sisters are the second largest ethnic group in the taxi industry. We cannot imagine the courage, faith, patience, strength this time calls upon you. We stand with you. We are here for your service. May there be light at the end of this tragedy.

American Red Cross Text “HAITI” to 9-0-9-9-9 and make a $10 donation

Doctors Without Borders 1-888-392-0392
Doctors Without Borders USA
PO Box 5030
Hagerstown, MD 21741
UNICEF 1-800-486-4233 (1-800-4UNICEF)

Yele Haiti Text 'Yele' to 5-0-1-5-0-1 and make a $5 donation

Save the Children 1-800-728-3843
Click for link to RESOURCES FOR HAITIAN FAMILIES

Garages Lose Case to Raise Leases!
The garages’ association, the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), lost their state lawsuit to limit the TLC’s powers over them and basically leave drivers defenseless. They wanted to charge taxes above the lease cap, limit TLC’s authority to only raise caps—never lower them, and require owner profits—not driver income and health —to be the chief factor in deciding on caps. Millionaire garages claim if the new TLC rules stay, they will go bankrupt. Thirty years ago, with leasing, they took away drivers’ right to a union. Now they want to take away our right to regulatory protection. Under representation by lawyers from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, NYTWA submitted key affidavits against the garages.

Click here for full list of lease caps by each shift and latest campaign flyer.

Other Campaign Updates
Fair Taxi Tax Collection The meter went up by fifty cents on November 1, 2009 but not one penny goes to the driver. In fact, on fares paid by credit card, and disputed or voided fares or fare beatings, drivers will lose money. Who will profit? First, the MTA – who is expected to rake in over $70 million in revenue. Second, The Garages and Brokers – who will accumulate up to three-months of interest on the money collected from the drivers; for a 250-car fleet, over $37,000 within a year. Click here for details.

Traffic Rights for Taxi Drivers! During a meeting with Department of Transportation officials and transit experts on Tuesday, March 3rd, a New York Taxi Workers Alliance delegation comprised of Osman Chowdhury, Bhairavi Desai, William Lindauer and Javaid Tariq, presented a list of proposals to ensure traffic rights for the city’s busiest and only 24-hour motorists. “Right now, both the driver and the passenger suffer when taxis are stuck in traffic. Sometimes, the rider leaves us mid-way so we lose the fare and are stuck in gridlocks we would have avoided if we were just empty,” said Javaid Tariq. NYTWA proposed the right of occupied taxis to use bus lanes, exemption from turn restrictions, more turning space in smaller lanes and taxi drop-off/pick-up stands, especially near Penn Station. “People take taxis to get to the destination safely and quickly. We are asking for traffic rights for when the taxi is occupied with a passenger so we can serve our customers better and not take an economic beating ourselves,” said William Lindauer. NYTWA also asked for all “taxi stands” which are not near transportation hubs to be converted to relief stands, stop the towing of parked taxis at various gas stations and prevent ticketing of drivers for pick-ups or drop-offs at bus lanes. Click here to download NYTWA traffic demands.

Demand Money for Health Care, not Useless Technology!NYTWA slams ads blitzes, the use of GPS surveillance for tracking and enforcement, and the unjust 5% credit card heist in our response to the TLC’s Request for Information regarding changes to the current technology as well as new technologies. The TLC is reviewing the technology in taxis as its contracts with the GPS vendors come to an end in August 2010. Drivers’ interests are up against the financial interests and political capital of over 150 others, mostly technology companies looking for an exclusive market for their nonsense products. TLC is currently reviewing the responses. Get ready for GPS Fight Part 2. Click here to download NYTWA’s response.

Stop the 5% Credit Card Heist!

Events & Actions
Ahmed Sharif Family Support Fund
Taxi Driver Brutally Attacked in Anti-Muslim Hate Crime
July 19 MEET & GREET WITH TLC CHAIRMAN DAVID YASSKY
Latest Press Releases
June 27 Drivers and State Lawmakers Urge Governor to Sign Taxi Driver Protection Act Into Law
June 25: NYS Legislature Passes Taxi Driver Protection Act
Tuesday May 25 TAXI MOTORCADE TO ALBANY IN SUPPORT OF TAXI DRIVER PROTECTION ACT
Latest Taxi Vibes!
Taxi Vibes!
2310

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/30/BAU61F4LNB.DTL
Time for Muni drivers to pay to park

Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

Monday, August 30, 2010

MATIER & ROSS
Some DMV workers extend their furlough 08.25.10
Montel Williams looks at Oakland's pot business 08.23.10
Alameda Fire Chief David Kapler's car troubles 08.22.10
More Matier & Ross »
Muni drivers, who recently refused to forgo their legally mandated pay raises, are about to be hit with an $80-a-month charge to park their cars at work.

The new fee to park at Muni yards comes to $960 a year, or about a third of drivers' 5.75 percent raise.

Until now, drivers were allowed to park for free at the city's bus yards.

So were most of the transit agency's other 2,000 employees, who will be hit with the same parking charges, according to a memo that Municipal Transportation Agency chiefNathaniel Ford just sent out with everyone's paychecks.

Agency spokesman Paul Rose insists that "this is not about paybacks. This is about finding alternative ways to improve our service for our customers."

Maybe, but Mayor Gavin Newsom warned drivers in June that if they didn't approve $19 million in concessions that the city negotiated with their union, they would face "real consequences."

Besides paying for parking, drivers will have to give up "standby" pay, and nine union reps will be put back behind the wheel of a bus.

"They had two opportunities to help out voluntarily, but chose to take a pay increase instead," mayoral spokesman Tony Winnicker said. "Now they are getting the opportunity to help out involuntarily."

The parking fees alone are expected to generate about $3.5 million a year for the cash-strapped agency.

The drivers union did not return calls seeking comment - but we're told officials they are already talking to lawyers about fighting the fees.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/airline-business/american-mechanics-shoot-down-tentative-agreement-move-closer-to-strike/2206
American Mechanics Shoot Down Tentative Agreement, Move Closer to Strike
By Brett Snyder | August 27, 2010Comments

The apparent labor peace atAmerican Airlines (AMR) is looking more like a temporary blip. In the latest development,American’s mechanics and stores clerks have handily defeated “tentative” contract terms presented by their union leaders, making a strike vote highly likely — even though the feds would most likely put the kibosh on any actual work stoppage.

Airline labor relationships are incredibly messy thanks to the governing Railway Labor Act. This law effectively means that airline (and rail) labor contracts never expire. They just become amendable, so there’s no urgency. Management and labor generally poke along at negotiations for years. In most cases, a tentative agreement will, at some point, be presented to the membership for a vote. If it fails, negotiations continue for a while longer until the sides declare an impasse and workers go on strike. The president can legally bar a strike, and with airlines growing larger and larger, it’s doubtful that the Obama administration would allow one at any of the big guys.

Four union-represented groups at American, all of which had been negotiating for ages, have considered new tentative agreements in recent months. While the ramp agents have decided to “suspend” their tentative agreement, the other three groups have voted, and the results are in. The tiny group of technical specialists overwhelmingly approved their deal, but there were only a total of 83 votes cast.

The slightly larger stock clerks group shot down the agreement. More than 60 percent out of the 1,000 voting stores clerks said no. But the biggest group to vote was the mechanic group. This was extremely lopsided with nearly 65 percent of the nearly 10,000 voting mechanics saying that this was not good enough.

So what happens next? That’s where it gets murky. When union leaders present an agreement to the membership that is so overwhelmingly voted down, there’s clearly trouble in paradise. That generally means one of two things.

If the leaders honestly thought this was a good deal, then they presented it to the membership expecting approval. That means that they’re clearly way out of touch with what the membership wants. That would give the Association of Maintenance Professionals, an independent group trying to boot out the current union, the TWU, some ammunition to step in. There is already some momentum out there for such a change.
The more likely scenario is that the union leadership didn’t really believe in this either but needed to present a tentative agreement to move the process along. Now that a tentative agreement has been turned down and the mechanics have authorized a strike, I have no doubt that the TWU will be pushing for an impasse to be declared by the National Mediation Board (NMB). Once that happens, it will begin a 30-day cooling-off period, after which the mechanics would be allowed to strike.
If the latter is the case, the tentative labor peace would be a sham, as it’s clear it was for the rampers. But that doesn’t mean the NMB will just go ahead and call an impasse. The TWU knows quite well that this process still has a long way to go. I’m sure there will be an effort to encourage further negotiations. Can the two sides come together to agree on a contract that will earn approval? It’s hard to say, but it’s increasingly unlikely.

Still, with a few airlines controlling such a large piece of our vital air transportation network, the chance of a strike being allowed is slim. That means labor and management are going to have to find a way to come to an agreement. In some cases, like with American, that’s going to be incredibly difficult.

Steven Slater

TODAY, WE raise a glass to Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who gave a vicarious thrill to workers across Great Recession America.

Steven, when the light dinged on in your head that you were now free to tell off that rude passenger, pop open the emergency exit and just slip-slide away, you did more than fulfill your own long-held fantasy.

Thanks to you, Steven, flight attendants are walking those narrow aisles today with a swagger, and air travelers are making eye contact with them to let them know "you won't have any trouble from me."

You taught America that our working-class heroes can be gay--badass gay at that. You escaped from the airport, raced home and jumped into bed with your boyfriend, which is how the police found you. That is ridiculously cool.

You've showed us that solidarity via Facebook can force media wiseasses to take their narrative (New York Daily News Day 1: "Planely Nuts") and shove it (New York Daily News Day 2: "Hero to Working Stiffs.")

Finally, Steven Slater, we toast you because before you left that plane, you stopped and grabbed a couple of beers from the beverage cart.

That's what gave your freakout some flair. It transformed what you did from postal to rebel.

With or without the beers, we still would have identified with your rage. But frosty ones made the difference between our saying, "Damn, I wish I could do that," rather than "Lord, I hope that's not me in five years." Taking the tallboys signaled that you weren't a rampaging maniac--just a guy saying, "No job is worth this shit."

Those are six powerful words that bear repeating. No Job Is Worth This Shit. You don't hear them too often right now, when folks haven't been able to find work for two years.

Steven, what you did felt like a throwback to the 1970s--like something Lily Tomlin would have done in Nine to Five, or Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati. Back in the '70s, Ronald Reagan was just a nutty governor and downsizing wasn't a word. Being an American worker didn't mean having your ass handed to you every day--it meant clocking in with your head high and your middle finger ready.

Here's what I mean. In 1972, autoworkers in Lordstown, Ohio, went on a strike that wasn't about money or benefits--they didn't have too many complaints about that. No, what they were pissed about was assembly-line speedups. The local union president told Studs Terkel, author of the oral history Working, that members were striking for the right to be "able to smoke, bullshit a bit, open a book, daydream even."

Can you imagine anybody doing that today? Imagine the picket line chants: "No YouTube? No Peace!"

Steven, you reminded workers in America that the bankers and CEO's haven't always gotten their way in this country without a fight. That's why even talk show hosts like Jimmy Fallon are writing ballads about you.

Of course, not everybody has a sense of humor about what you did. Incredibly, you face up to seven years in jail for reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. Come on. The only thing you endangered was $25,000 of JetBlue's money, which apparently is what it costs to replace the emergency slide.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SPEAKING OF JetBlue, no one seems to be talking about its role in all this, or the industry as a whole.

The combination of profit-seeking and terrorism paranoia has made air travel a delightful experience. We're packed into tiny seats like mindless cattle only minutes after our shoes have been given a search worthy of a world-class criminal. Rude passengers are inevitable in this situation, and yet airlines let their flight attendants be human shields to face the cabin crackpots.

For example, a few years ago, one of your co-workers, Mala Amarsingh hadn't even started work when she was verbally assaulted and spat on by a drunken man who had been denied a seat on previous flights. What did JetBlue do to defend its employee? It fired her, officially because she dared to curse at her assailant. Want to know the unofficial reason? Because Mala Amarsingh thought JetBlue flight attendants should join a union.

With that in mind, I'll end my toast with a question. What now, Steven Slater? The same pundits who initially dismissed you assume that you're a passing fad, whose only shot at lasting significance is landing a spot on a reality TV show. After all, they say, things have changed since autoworkers went on strike over smoke breaks.

Indeed, they have. But, Steven, your popularity shows that people haven't changed that much. As often as we're told differently, we still can't get it into our heads that we're only as good as our production quota or evaluation form.

So here's to you, Steven and here's to you Mala Amarsingh, and here's to all the JetBlue flight attendants still talking union. When you guys finally win, we'll all raise two beers in your honor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27cncdryport.html?_r=2&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

August 26, 2010
A Thriving Industry Built on Low-Compensated Temp Workers
By KARI LYDERSEN
Tory Moore worked at the same packaged-food warehouse in Kankakee for six years, but he was denied a loan and apartment rentals after being told he did not have a real job.

Mr. Moore, 37, was a “perma-temp,” one of thousands of workers in the Chicago area’s massive warehouse complexes who are laid off and rehired every few months by temporary-staffing agencies.

He said he never received paid vacation days, holidays, sick days or affordable insurance. He was fired in December, he said, for rallying other workers to demand better conditions.

“I’m someone who loves to work hard,” he said, “but you want the company to make you feel appreciated.”

The Chicago area is widely described as the country’s largest inland “dry port,” where the nation’s six major railroads converge with packed shipping containers from China and other far-flung locations. The containers are moved from train to truck at sprawling intermodal facilities, then hauled to hundreds of warehouses where they are unloaded by hand so the goods can be distributed to retail stores across the country. In early August, a new $2 billion intermodal facility was opened in Joliet, where Union Pacific trains bring goods from Western seaports and factories.

The area’s dry port industry relies on about 150,000 workers. This is one of the area’s few booming blue-collar industries, since most of Chicago’s famous steel mills, meatpacking plants and factories have moved away in search of cheaper labor or have slashed work forces through automation. But unlike those earlier jobs, which once promised a secure middle-class future and a comfortable retirement, warehousing positions are largely transitory and provide low pay, few benefits and little hope for advancement.

“In the old days, blue-collar workers had unions and contracts protecting them,” said Dr. James Wolfinger, a DePaul University assistant professor of history specializing in labor. “Now they’re essentially independent contractors with no room to move forward, no pay raises, no benefits.”

Wages and working conditions in Wal-Mart and similar stores took center stage in debates over Chicago’s Big Box ordinance in 2006 and again this summer regarding the city’s second Wal-Mart, set for the Pullman neighborhood. There has been little attention paid, however, to the workers at the more numerous warehouse jobs, who are essential to keeping stores like Wal-Mart competitive.

“People don’t think about where their stuff comes from and whose hands touch it along the way,” said Abe Mwaura, an organizer for Warehouse Workers for Justice, a group formed last summer by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union.

A study released Aug. 16 by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Warehouse Workers for Justice found that 81 percent of new hires and 63 percent of all workers in warehouses were temporary employees; they earned a median $9 an hour while direct-hires earned $12. One in five warehouse workers have been hurt on the job, it found, and a third of them did not report their injury for fear of being punished or fired. A third of those who did report an injury said they suffered retaliation.

The study was based on 319 interviews conducted by warehouse workers, an example of the “participatory research” model wherein those affected by a given issue collect information that is then analyzed by academics. Mr. Mwaura said the report was a jumping-off point for more in-depth studies zeroing in on various aspects of the industry.

A 2006 study by the Centers for Economic Development in Will and Grundy Counties found that a majority of warehouses used temporary agencies to hire employees, and that 10 percent were temporary workers on a permanent basis. That study reported an average wage of $11 to $24 an hour depending on the job.

John Greuling, president of the Will County Center for Economic Development, said civic leaders were proud to be a national hub of the logistics industry. When farms were converted to warehouse sites, Mr. Greuling said, the amount of property tax dollars available to schools skyrocketed. The thousands of unskilled jobs in the warehouse business go to workers who might have few other options, he said.

But Mr. Greuling said local officials were also concerned about complaints of truck traffic, air pollution and the preponderance of low-wage temporary positions.

“We know there are probably too many entry-level jobs, there are folks who work in these centers but don’t earn enough to live in Will County,” he said. “Does everyone want to stay at $12 an hour forever? I imagine not. Do temporary agencies take advantage of immigrants here without papers? I imagine they do. These are challenges larger than our local problems.”

The warehouses operate on a complicated system of subcontracting, where companies like Wal-Mart and Home Depot hire firms to run their warehouses. These firms often subcontract additional companies to do the hiring, manage the payroll and handle other functions.

Casey Chroust, executive vice president of retail operations for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group, said it was most efficient for companies like Wal-Mart to hire specialized logistics firms to run their warehouses, relying on both permanent and temporary employees to “flex up and flex down” depending on demand.

Retailers frequently conduct audits to make sure their contractors are complying with all laws, Mr. Chroust said.

Jason Grob, a 37-year-old Iraq war veteran, worked in warehouses in the Chicago area after he was shot in the back and could not continue his military career. In August, Mr. Grob quit his job at the Bissell Homecare Products warehouse in Elwood because, he said, standing on a loading truck all day gave him heel spurs and aggravated his back injury, and because a new payment system would have reduced his wage to $10.50 an hour from $12.

“They push you beyond the breaking point, and then they expect you to come back and take more of it,” Mr. Grob said. “They hire you for three months, then cut you loose. When the 90th day would come, they’d tell me they didn’t need me anymore.”

In November, 70 workers at the Bissell warehouse were laid off after announcing their intention to form a union. They say the layoffs were retaliatory, and they filed complaints with government agencies against the logistics company Maersk and the staffing company RoadLink, which had hired them for one-year contracts ending in January 2010.

Vince Cimino, a chief people officer at RoadLink, said the workers were terminated because the company decided not to renew its contract with Maersk.

In December, workers from Wal-Mart’s Elwood warehouse filed a class-action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against two staffing agencies. They alleged wage-and-hour violations and other infractions at several warehouses in the area. The two staffing agencies did not return calls. Greg Rossiter, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the staffing agencies were contracted by a logistics company that runs Wal-Mart’s warehouse.

“This facility isn’t operated by Wal-Mart, and the people there aren’t employed by our company,” he said, “but we take the way it’s operated very seriously. We set the bar high for ourselves and hold the companies we work with to the same standard throughout the supply chain.”

Raul Chavez, 38, said he was working in the Wal-Mart warehouse last August when a box fell on him and broke his wrist. Mr. Chavez, who is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told a supervisor of his injury, and then, he said, waited almost nine hours before getting in to see a doctor at the clinic to which supervisors had referred him. After that, he was told not to return to work, he said, and he has not received workers compensation or found steady work.

During a February meeting in a Joliet church basement, Alejandro Prieto listened to Mr. Chavez’s story, then rolled up his sleeve to reveal his own reminder of a falling box: a thick, ugly purple scar. Mr. Prieto said he never sought medical attention because he could not afford it, and he never told a supervisor because he feared losing his job.

“If they fire 10 people, 20 more will apply in their place,” said Mr. Prieto, who has three children. “They make millions, and we can’t save any money at these jobs. But if we didn’t do this work, people wouldn’t have all these things.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gQgQjy-u9CoWRHkXw85U8IJ9e0ig
Hosted by Back to Google News
Tube workers' unions to meet over strike action
(UKPA) – 3 days ago
London Underground (LU) union leaders are to meet to draw up a possible timetable for strikes in a row over jobs, threatening disruption as the capital returns to normal working after the summer holidays next month.
Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association voted in favour of a campaign of industrial action over plans to cut 800 jobs among station staff.
The executives of both unions will have to endorse any strike dates, but it is likely that action could start from September 6, when Parliament returns for a few weeks before the autumn political conferences.
Meanwhile, Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, said LU was set to close ticket offices across the underground by almost 7,500 hours every week.
"London Underground and the Mayor are playing with words when they keep peddling the claim that no ticket office will actually close. The harsh reality is that if you can't access a ticket office for most hours of the day, it is effectively closed.
"Ticket office staff carry out many tasks to help customers, with their duties going far beyond just serving tickets. If staff numbers are severely reduced at nine out of 10 stations, it will become far more difficult for staff to help disabled and vulnerable customers and other people who need assistance, including visitors."
Howard Collins, LU's chief operating officer, said: "All our stations will continue to be staffed at all times and all stations with a ticket office will continue to have one. Safety will never be compromised. However, we need to change and make sure we have the most efficient organisation possible and to deliver the best possible value for our customers and taxpayers.
"Thanks to the success of Oyster, just one in 20 Tube journeys now starts with a ticket office transaction. Indeed, new figures show that several ticket offices are selling just a handful of tickets each hour and many go for hours on end without any purchases from a ticket office window. Overall, sales from ticket offices are down 28% over the last four years."
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said of the Lib Dem report: "These shocking figures underline why RMT has told LU that its plan to slash 800 Tube station staff is unacceptable. These cuts would leave stations and platforms unstaffed and would remove the very people who are trained to deal with emergencies.
"Our members have voted for strike action to defend their jobs and the safety of the Tube network, and we hope that Tube users will stand with us to demand that existing safety standards are not ripped to shreds."

by Jean Damu

I salute all the tributes and accolades conferred upon
our first mostly Black union (Phillipinos were also
members, as well as women-so, so much for
"brotherhood.") However, as a former member of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters who worked in the
Colorado Division of the Santa Fe Railroad out of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, I have to admit it gets a
little tiresome reading constant and continual incorrect
references to the Pullman Porters Union and never any
holistic political assessment to the political stances
of A. Philip Randolph and the acolyte who sat at his
right hand, Bayard Rustin.

George Pullman, the founder of the Pullman Car Co. was a
racist who sent his agents throughout the postbellum
South hiring formerly enslaved Blacks to work on his
Pullman cars. Ingeniously he made a specialty of hiring
the darkest skinned Blacks available. He wanted the
class distinctions to be as stark as possible and
thought the darkest Blacks would be the most grateful
for the job and cause the fewest labor problems. His
thinking proved accurate for a time.

Then he leased the cars along with the brainwashed Black
workers, whom he encouraged to kowtow to the white
customers, to the various railroad companies as complete
packages. But there were other Black workers throughout
the trains and these workers completed the membership of
the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Additionally, and almost completely ignored by history
is the role of Ishmael Flory, a University of
California, Berkeley graduate) who almost single
handedly and working out of Oakland organized the cooks
on the railroads. Later his union moved him to Chicago
where for the remainder of his life he led radical
causes.

I particularly mention Ishmael Flory because his skills
and politics as an organizer were at least equal to
those of Rustin, but because Flory never accepted right
wing social democracy, historians have diminished his
role and pumped up the legacy of Randolph and Rustin.

What am I talking about here?

When it came to domestic politics Randolph and Rustin
were on the mark most of the time, fighting for equal
rights, civil rights and most of all jobs-but they only
conducted these struggles within the parameters of being
perceived as good Americans. Beyond the borders and
shores of America Phillips and Randolph were virulent
defenders of colonialism and capitalism. That is why
Randolph and Rustin kept the "Brotherhood" securely
within the confines of the old AFL, the bedrock pillar
of white supremacy within the US labor movement. Someone
once asked C.L Dellums, an executive of the Brotherhood,
"Why does the old man (Randolph) keep us in the AFL. Why
don't we join (the more progressive) CIO?" "I wish I
knew," Dellums said.

Well, today the answer is quite obvious. The CIO
admitted communists to their ranks and encouraged
leftism. Despite being former radicals themselves
Randolph and Rustin had the fear of God injected
into them when they realized the government might
attempt to put them in prison or worse foreclose,
especially in Randolph's case, on their comfortable
lifestyle. Predictably they became devout right wing
social democrats willing, no eager, to throw people like
Ish Flory, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, W.E.B.DuBois
and all their other former comrades under the bus of
"good Americanism." (As long as I'm in the mood to trash
revered Black icons this morning let me add that it was
just these kinds of anti-leftist sentiments that
convinced Thurgood Marshall he should become an
informant for the FBI, that it was his duty to let the
Feds know what the Reds were up to.)

At no point did Randolph or Rustin ever denounce the war
in Viet Nam. In the mid 1970's I was at a breakfast of
labor leaders at the old Jack Tar Hotel in San
Francisco. Even though I was just a worker at the hotel
I hung around to hear what keynote speaker Rustin had to
say. The salient points of his talk that morning were a
spirited defense of Israel and a pooh- poohing of the
liberation movements in Africa and especially of the, in
his mind, quixotic notion of freedom in South Africa.
Oh, apartheid should end, but any possibility of it
happening in our lifetime, forget it, he told his
appreciative audience.

Ishmael Flory, on the other hand, and other of his
generational and political comrades (Claude Lightfoot,
Roscoe Procter) were traveling the country, speaking at
campuses telling Black students it was "their duty" to
help fund and ARM the liberation movements. No wonder
most have never heard of these long forgotten warriors.
[Shamefully the many on the Left were disrespectful as
well. When the 1973 6th Pan Africa conference was
organized in Tanzania, mostly by African Americans,
African American organizers conspired and did their
damndest to prevent Ish and his young protégé, Tony
Monteiro from attending or receiving credentials to the
conference. The woman who headed the credential
committee bragged about her role in the pages of the
Black Scholar magazine not long ago. Pitiful, just
pitiful.]

But despite the darkness surrounding the union
leadership I have to say that pound for pound my job on
the railroads and with the union was one of the best
paying jobs I ever had. The union was forced to accept
segregation where it existed. For instance if we worked
from New Mexico to Dodge City, Kansas the white workers
on the crew spent the night in the Kit Carson Hotel the
bill for which the company paid. No such luck for us
Blacks. Our luck allowed us to enjoy the luxury of the
basement of the train station, with its one electric
light bulb. The Santa Fe allowed us to take sheets and
blankets off the train for the old rusty bunks we slept
on and got upset if we forgot to return them.

But let's not forget the Randolph, Rustin and the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters did much to help
create a Black middle class in the US and for that they
are owed much credit. But I'm never one for sweeping the
dark side under the rug.