Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

YouTube - Boron, California ILWU Local 30 Rio Tinto mine workers denounce company lock-out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2azVh6yV1s&feature=

Video-Thousands March To Back ILWU Local 30 Rio Tinto Workers-Borax Lock-Out Sends Families On Foot

http://www.turnto23.com/video/22587217/index.html

Will Orange County IBT Local 952 take on UPS?
http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/17/will-local-952-take-on-ups

Will Local 952 take on UPS?
Edgar Esquivel, a former teacher and a UPS worker for nearly 12 years, explains why Teamsters Local 952 members are organizing against the company's contract violations--and challenging union leaders.
February 17, 2010

Teamsters Local 952 members on strike against the Orange Country Transportation Authority in 2007

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.--Under a weakened and corrupt Teamsters union led by James Hoffa, the officers of Teamsters Local 952 in Orange County, Calif., have become divorced from their constituency. But now, UPSers in the local--concerned over a series of contract violations by the company and concessions--are determined to take their union back.

The key issue is enforcement of the contract. Beginning with one of the most regressive deals in the history of UPS Teamsters in December 2007, the Teamsters at the Laguna hub have suffered the consequences of an apathetic local unwilling to enforce the contract and rightfully represent its members.

Management's breaches of the contract range from the failure of the company to replace vacant positions left after retirements to the elimination of full-time jobs guaranteed under Article 22.3--which was drafted into the 1997-2002 agreement that was won after the historic 1997 strike against UPS. Production harassment--attempts to discipline workers for failure to complete a set amount of work--are also on the rise. Management has also repeatedly violated the contract by forcing drivers to work 9.5 hours several days in a row.

2/24 From the Docks to the Desert, an Emergency Caravan to Aid Locked out Boron Rio Tinto ILWU Local 30 Miners
From the Docks to the Desert, an Emergency Caravan to Aid Locked out Miners
On February 24, please join the LA Labor Movement for the "Docks to the Desert," an emergency caravan to bring food and show solidarity to 574 locked out miners in Boron, CA.

About the Rio Tinto Miners
Since February 1, about 574 miners in Boron, CA have been locked out by the Rio Tinto mining corporation, a London based company. The Rio Tinto miners are members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30.

Located about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the City of Boron is home to a close knit working class community of 2,000. Rio Tinto is the world's third-largest mining company with operations on five continents.

Check out a recent LA Times article about the Lock Out:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boron1-2010feb01,0,362036.story

Two Ways You Can Help
1) Join the Caravan - On Wednesday, February 24, show your support for the Rio Tinto miners by joining the caravan from Los Angeles to Boron. (Stay Tuned for more details.)
2) Donate Money - Donate Money to Help Purchase Food for the locked out miners in Boron.

I.L.W.U. Local 30 Rio Tinto Borax Miners Locked Out In Boron,CA-Solidarity Rally Tuesday Feb 16

http://boraxminers.com/

I.L.W.U. LOCAL 30

2/5/2010

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This website is organized by members of the ILWU Local 30 who work at the US Borax/Rio Tinto mine in Boron, where we operate the largest open-pit mine in California and process borates that are used around the world to make glass, preserve wood, fight fires, fertilize plants, and a host of other products. Our goal is to keep everyone - including our customers - informed about our efforts to secure good jobs and protect the communities where we live.

We arrived at the line, telling the company: "We want to work!"
Rio Tinto officials turned around and slinked back toward the mine.

Sharing the news - We made
the front page of the LA Times!

Rio Tinto is bringing busloads of replacement workers
who don't understand the meaning of "solidarity"

ILWU Locked Out

Rio Tinto locked-out almost 600 from our jobs at the Borax mine and processing plant on Sunday morning, January 31, 2010 at 7am. Hundreds of us showed-up Sunday morning to make a powerful statement by appearing with our families at the gate, wearing our work clothes, carrying lunchboxes in one hand and American flags in the other. We marched up to the gate, proud and determined.

Stand UP For Public Education

Our Children’s Future At Risk

Statement Of The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee TWSC

Using the pretext of not enough money, the governor and legislator are cutting tens of billions from education for our children and our right to public education. K-12 class sizes are being increased and teachers are being cutback in poor and working class districts like Oakland and Richmond. How can our kids learn when classes have 30 to 40 students. This is a racist attack on most poor Black and Latino kids while schools in the richer districts get more money. The ILWU stood up for Oakland students in the past when they stopped work in the Port of Oakland to demand that the port help pay for the education of the children in the district.

While Chevron and the Refinery for example in Richmond make billions they refuse to pay taxes for the schools in the district. Why is that there are not even enough pencils and books for our children in these school districts in the richest state and the richest country in the world? There will be a student/teacher worker march on Feb 27, 2010 in Richmond to demand that these corporations pay for education if they want to operate in California.

Resolution From TWSC To International Labor Conference

Passed Unanimously By All Participants

October 31, 2009 Tokyo

Justice In America
Support ILWU Local 10 members Aaron Harrision-Stop Terrorizing Transport Workers and Murdering Immigrants Like Luis Gutierrez -Prosecute Yolo County Corporate Criminal Pam Marrone

This conference calls for international labor support for two black San Francisco longshoremen, Jason Ruffin and Aaron Harrison, were working in the port of Sacramento two years ago. They were racially profiled, targeted and viciously attacked by West Sacramento police called in by SSA terminal guards. One was pulled out of his car, beaten, maced, and handcuffed. The other was handcuffed and forced to wait in a police car with windows rolled up and temperatures inside rising over 100 degrees. Finally, this week after two years, Jason was found "not guilty" by jurors. Aaron awaits trial on November 12 at the Woodland courthouse. This attack on them is part and parcel of the use of the anti-labor TWIC program which supposedly protects "security" but has been used against US transportation workers to target mostly Latino and Black workers. The ILWU Local 10 longshore union is mobilizing the Sacramento labor movement to demand justice for Aaron Harrison, that the bogus charge of "resisting arrest" be dropped. All world unions and labor should rally to their defense with statements of solidarity and actions when possible.

UP Runaway Work "Train" The Result Of Single Employee Operations
http://groups.google.com/group/RailroadWorkersUnited/t/f840c9f8ce3fcbba?hl=en
Date: Mon, Jun 8 2009 6:50 pm

From: Ron Kaminkow

Yet another example of what can happen when the railroad insists upon single employee operations....
None injured in Brandt truck runaway on Union Pacific

Published: Thursday, June 04, 2009DUNSMUIR,
Calif. - Union Pacific forces deliberately derailed a runaway Brandt
truck and six gondolas it was towing yesterday on the Cantara Loop.
Nobody was injured and only some diesel fuel spilled; UP is continuing
its investigation, but believes the truck's operator is likely to blame.

Brandt
trucks are like semis with railroad wheels capable of moving a handful
of railcars; they're typically used in maintenance-of-way service. More
information on the trucks is available at http://rail-rail-corp.brandt.ca.
Yesterday's wreck occurred as the truck's operator was throwing a
switch in preparation to shove the truck and its six cars into a
siding, where used ties were to be loaded.

UP spokeswoman Zoe
Richmond told TRAINS News Wire the operator was authorized to operate
the truck and short train with no other employees present. It's likely

Storm at the port-ILWU Workers Want No Scab Labor At Stockton Port
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090425/A_BIZ/904250315

Storm at the port
Pickets want no nonunion labor at facility
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By Reed Fujii
Record Staff Writer
April 25, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - Union warehouse workers, aggrieved that a fertilizer company that pays them in Sacramento may shun them for nonunion labor when it moves its facility to Stockton, mounted a picket line that shut down Port of Stockton dock operations Friday afternoon.

Everett Burdan, business agent for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 17 in Sacramento, said the protest was aimed at Yara North America and its apparent intent to use temporary workers and other nonunion labor at its new dry fertilizer warehouse in Stockton.

"This is a callous decision that these corporate people make every day, even though they're profitable," Burdan said. "It's immoral."

"We have been bagging Yara fertilizer for the better part of 20 years," he said. "They should be good corporate citizens and pay the workers decent wages and benefits."

Friday's picket line was primarily intended to prevent workers from unloading a ship of Yara fertilizer from Norway but also disrupted the loading of rice onto another ship destined for Japan.

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
Warehouse Workers Sit-Down in California’s Inland Empire
with
Isabel Castelan, Warehouse worker (sit-in participant)
Esther Portillo, Community Organizer (sit-in participant)
Greg Denier, Communications Director, Change to Win

A southern California rally calling for improved warehouse jobs turned
into a sit-in action that led to the arrest of 13 people. The workers were
protesting the economic tragedy which is unfolding in the “hub” of the
new global economy— the Inland Empire region of southern California
which houses massive warehouses for the nation’s biggest retailers.
This region is in the middle of a depression with one of the highest
rates of unemployment, however, its low- wage, temporary workers
are speaking out and are at the core of a growing fight back.
*************************************
To Download or listen to this 27 minute program,
which is listed on Pacifica's Audioport - Menu Option “Weekly
Program Section" dated Sunday, April 26, 2009,