LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport29-2008aug29,0,2064940.story

LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
Union officials for baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors say the walkout will continue through the holiday weekend.
By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:16 PM PDT, August 28, 2008
Threatening to inconvenience air travelers throughout the Labor Day weekend, several hundred airline service workers -- including baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors -- walked off the job today at Los Angeles International Airport after months of inconclusive contract talks with their employers.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 went on strike at about noon at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and other terminals serving American, United, Southwest and Northwest airlines -- some of the busiest at the airport. Union officials say they will continue the action through the weekend, when LAX typically sees 850,000 passengers pass through the airport.

The workers are employed by private companies that contract with the airlines at LAX for a variety of services. Those firms provide about 5,000 janitors, skycaps, baggage handlers, aircraft cabin cleaners, security personnel and attendants for travelers with disabilities. About 2,500 of the workers are represented by the SEIU's airport division.

LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport29-2008aug29,0,2064940.story

LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
Union officials for baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors say the walkout will continue through the holiday weekend.
By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:16 PM PDT, August 28, 2008
Threatening to inconvenience air travelers throughout the Labor Day weekend, several hundred airline service workers -- including baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors -- walked off the job today at Los Angeles International Airport after months of inconclusive contract talks with their employers.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 went on strike at about noon at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and other terminals serving American, United, Southwest and Northwest airlines -- some of the busiest at the airport. Union officials say they will continue the action through the weekend, when LAX typically sees 850,000 passengers pass through the airport.

The workers are employed by private companies that contract with the airlines at LAX for a variety of services. Those firms provide about 5,000 janitors, skycaps, baggage handlers, aircraft cabin cleaners, security personnel and attendants for travelers with disabilities. About 2,500 of the workers are represented by the SEIU's airport division.

Chicago Pace Bus Drivers Come Down With "Blue Flu"
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/pace.bus.drivers.2.797666.html

Aug 18, 2008 8:39 am US/Central
Pace Bus Drivers Come Down With "Blue Flu"
MARKHAM, Ill. (STNG) ― About 36 Pace bus drivers working in the south suburbs have the "blue flu" Monday morning, causing a service slowdown according to Pace officials.

About 2 a.m. Pace officials began to be notified that about 10 percent of its 155 full-time drivers operating out of the South Division in Markham had called in sick, according to Pace spokesman Patrick Waldron.

But at 8 a.m. there were 36 drivers who've called off and there were 63 missed trips on nearly a dozen routes.

"It appears to be part of a labor dispute,'' according to Waldron, who said, "It's a blue flu."

Routes that are "completely out'' as of 8 a.m. are the 348, 753 and 452. "Each of these are short routes that connect with neighborhood Metra stations.'' he said.

The 348 does operate every half hour throughout the day, but the 753 and the 452 only operate during rush hour. Pace routes 353 and 352 could be considered alternates to the 348.

The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1028, rejected a tentative agreement with the drivers on Aug. 12, when it went to a vote and that "appears to have led to [the situation] today,'' Waldron said.

http://www.bostonschoolbusunion.org/
Tentative Agreement Reached in Contract Negotiations

Drivers and supporters rally and prepare to strike outside 11th hour negotiations at the Painters Union hall, August 20, 2008. photo: Maureen Skehan
All Out to
Ratification Meeting

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd
Boston Teachers Union Hall 6:00 PM

Read and Download First Student's Final Offer

Read and Download
Memorandum of Agreement regarding GPS

Alert! No Concessions! No Cutbacks!

Discussions for a new labor agreement between the Union and First Student are continuing. The Union is determined to fight for the hardworking women and men who for over 3 decades have provided safe, on-time, professional transportation to the students of Boston.
Today, June 30, 2008, the Union presented a proposal to the company which states in part:

"In the interest of concluding a fair and just Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and allowing ample time and opportunity for serious joint efforts to resolve all remaining areas of dispute, the Union proposes a limited extension. The intent is to allow time to reach an agreement well prior to the “start up” of the 2008-2009 school year and spare the tremendous hardship to the students and parents of Boston, as well as the significant costs to the parties, financial and otherwise, associated with a strike. This Extension Agreement would include an agreement for retroactivity to July 1, 2008 for the new CBA, including but not limited to wages, benefits, terms and conditions, as well as other issues of interest to the parties.

Vote “No” on the Tentative Contract! Send It Back!
Mobilize for Membership Action!
This should have been contract negotiations that showed our union’s strength. Instead it showed weakness — a six-year contract below the rate of inflation and no COLA (cost of living adjustment). To make matters worse, even before the ink is dry another brother, Delmont Blakeney, gets killed on the job. Why? Because of the employers’ drive for profits and production first! They get billions in blood money at our expense.

When they reached agreement at the Big Table on the tentative contract, PMA stopped negotiating at the Safety Committee table, packed their bags and left with half of ILWU’s safety concerns not even addressed. (What’ll happen in local negotiations?) This is an insult to working longshoremen and especially to our members who have been injured and died on the waterfront in one of the most dangerous jobs, more dangerous than firefighters. Three have died on the Oakland waterfront this year, two at SSA alone.

The membership of the ILWU has always been proud of our union’s history of rank-and-file democracy and action, our coastwide contract and the hiring hall. This tentative agreement, if passed, will continue to undermine all of the above. Like with the last ’02 Contract Caucus “gag rule”, the members received no information until the last minute. Now we’ll have a couple of days to get a copy, read it, digest it, discuss it with fellow workers and decide before the union meeting. If it passes, this will be the first time we’ve been shackled with two back-to-back six-year contracts and the first time the Caucus voted unanimously to ratify a tentative contract—both point us in the wrong direction.

Proposed ILWU 2008 Contract Posted On Website
http://www.electpdl.com/2008_Contract_files/MOU 2008.pdf

ILWU-IBU Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/08/21/oil-spill-response-workers-on-strike-for-first-contract/

Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices

by Mike Hall, Aug 21, 2008

Oil spill response workers, members of the Inlandboatmen's Union
(IBU), are on the picket line this week in Tacoma, Wash., striking
over what they say is illegal discrimination and intimidation by their
employer, the Marine Spill Response Corp. (MSRC).

In 2006, the workers voted to join the IBU, an affiliate of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). But the company
has dragged its feet in negotiations and failed to reach a fair
contract with the boatmen. The workers also say they have been
threatened with violence.

The oil spill workers are among the many employees across the country
who face employer harassment, threats and intimidation even after they
form unions. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act would allow for
mediation and arbitration for such first-contract disputes because
one-third of the time, private-sector employers do not negotiate a
first contract.

In June, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) office in Seattle

ILWU Local 10 Longshoremen Dies at SSA As A Result Of No Ladder To Pull Him Out Of Water

http://www.ktvu.com/news/17281603/detail.html

OAKLAND -- The U.S. Coast Guard said a 77-year-old man died Saturday after falling into the water from a cargo ship in the Port of Oakland.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Ijan Petrie says Oakland resident Delmont Blakeney was helping offload shipping containers from the ship NYK Starlight late Saturday night when he fell.

Petrie says a locking device came loose and caused a container to spin out of control. The container hit Blakeney and briefly pinned him against the rail of the ship before he tumbled into the water.

A co-worker told KTVU that Blakeley was able to swim to the opposite side of the dock but was not able to climb out of the water because there were no ladders.Pier workers pulled him out and performed CPR until paramedics took Blakeley to Highland Hospital where he was pronounced dead, likely from drowning.

Officials from the dock workers' union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), blame inadequate safety equipment for Blakeley's death.

“We need to have ladders that can reach folks who go in the water,” said ILWU Union Spokesman Craig Merrilees.”They went all over trying to piece together something to save him, to pull him out of the water. By the time they were able to get to him, he had been in that frigid water for 30 minutes.

Retired ILWU Local 10 Widow Challenges New Contract Proposal
phyllis.mandel@yahoo.com
CONTRACT & PENSIONSERS/WIDOWS/SURVIVORS

Brothers & Sisters,

I have a widow's pension from ILWU Local #10. In fact, it is
what is called a QDRO, which is a Qualified Domestic Order, and is
recognized by the ILWU/PMA Pension fund as a legal document that
permits the ex-wife of a deceased longshoremen to get his pension
barring his having had a wife at the time of his death. If one was
not on the deceased medical coverage at the time of his/her death,
under the QDRO, one can only get the pension itself, not any of the
medical/dental/vision/hearing aids/ etc. benefits. As a result of
being the recipient of a QDRO pension, the amount of increase in any
new contract is extremely important, as we have to pay all
medical/dental, etc. benefits out of our own pockets.

I attended the Longshore Caucus this past Monday, where the delegates
ere giving their report of contract negotiations, specifically as to
Pensions, Widow's Pensions, Survivor Pensions and QDRO's.

did not read or stay for the rest of the Delegates reports back,
which ended yesterday, so I do not know what the contract is for

Saturday, 23 August 2008
GATE GOURMET TACTICS! – GMB accuses Airfield Services
The GMB trade union yesterday accused Stansted security contractor Airfield Services of Gate Gourmet tactics.

It said that Airfield Services was showing gross irresponsibility in refusing to accept an invitation to ACAS to avoid disruption to the travelling public and warned a Gate Gourmet-style lock-out situation is brewing.

Airfield Services on Thursday night refused an invitation from GMB and airports owner BAA to go to ACAS to seek a resolution to the pay dispute that has given rise to a strike on Monday 25th August 2008 at Stansted Airport.

33 GMB members who operate sophisticated security scanning equipment to check luggage going in to the holds of planes gave notice a week ago of strike action in protest at a pay offer of 1.5%.

Since then there have been no direct talks between the company and the union.

Airfield Services refusal to go to ACAS means strike action on Monday is now inevitable, the GMB added.

The union said: ‘The consequence is likely to be disruption to the travelling public using Stansted Airport and an increased security risk to everybody in the airport and on planes leaving the airport due to the lack of qualified and trained luggage scanners.’