http://socialistaction.org/labor-briefing-republic-workers-win-back-pay/
Labor Briefing: UE workers win back pay
Published February 4, 2016. | By Socialist Action.
Feb. 2016 UE
By BILL ONASCH
Two Wins For UE—The United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers
registered two important victories from the National Labor Relations
Board over the past month. The first was an award of two weeks’ back pay
to 270 workers at bankrupt Republic Windows in Chicago. This caps a
seven-year struggle that began with a sit-down strike that drew
international attention in December 2008.
After Bank of America cut off the line of credit of the owner—who later
went to jail for fraud—he gave the workers only three days notice of a
permanent plant closing and filed for bankruptcy. This violated the
60-day notification requirements of the WARN Act. Demanding the bank
accept responsibility for the shut down the workers occupied their plant
to prevent the equipment going elsewhere. The Cook County Sheriff
refused to evict the strikers and the UE organized protests at Bank of
America branches around the country.
Soon BoA agreed to pay $1.75 million to cover the notification
violations but refused to pay already earned vacation, or negotiate a
broader severance agreement, as specified in the UE contract. Although
workers seldom are able to salvage anything during bankruptcy UE filed
charges with the NLRB over this refusal to bargain. They also helped get
Federal stimulus money for a new owner to take over the plant. The
second owner also failed but the workers then took it over as a
worker-owned co-op—New Era Windows—in 2013 and it appears to be viable.
As expected, the wheels of justice moved slowly through the NLRB and
bankruptcy court. But in the end the Labor Board succeeded in getting
another $290,000. The Republic Windows workers were not made whole—but
the combination of a courageous stand by the ranks, and tenacious
pursuit by an adversarial union, did win more than two $2 million and a
worker-run plant that has kept some of them working.
The second victory came in a NLRB case in which charges had been filed
against the union. As previously reported in “Labor Briefing,” an
unofficial arm of the Israeli government masquerading as a “human
rights” organization retained American shysters to claim UE was
conducting an illegal boycott of Israel because of a resolution adopted
at the most recent UE convention. They not only filed a complaint with
the NLRB; they also publicly called on General Electric to disassociate
themselves from this “attack on Jews” by abrogating their national
contract with UE. A similar attack succeeded in getting the
International Executive Board of the UAW to nullify a pro-Palestinian
stand by a faculty union in California.
Like the UAW teachers, UE national convention delegates voted to endorse
the international campaign in solidarity with persecuted Palestinians
that includes calls for boycott, divestment, and sanctions aimed at
institutions of the oppressive Zionist regime. It is similar to the long
BDS campaign that contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
This movement around Palestine has won wide support from organized labor
throughout Europe, South Africa, and Canada, but UE was the first
national union in the USA to formally endorse.
The UE’s answer to the Labor Board charge was that the resolution was
not part of a collective-bargaining tactic of secondary boycott but
First Amendment-protected expression of opinion and call for action. The
board agreed.
UE General President Peter Knowlton said, “The NLRB’s decision is a
victory for the growing BDS movement across the U.S., which faces
increasing political attempts to silence and intimidate critics of the
Israeli government. As Americans who have a constitutional right to
criticize our own government, we certainly have a right to criticize
and, if we choose, boycott a foreign government that is heavily
subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.”
More details of both victories can be found on the UE website at:
ueunion.org/ue-news-updates
Thanks to the Boss—A story entitled “Why More Nurses Are Unionizing in
Phila.” in the Philadelphia Inquirer corroborates an article of faith
for veteran union organizers: it’s not the unions that convince workers
they need to be organized—the bosses do that. While wages and benefits
are, of course, always important, fair treatment and working conditions
are usually paramount. That seems particularly true for nurses who are
dedicated to care for patients in a commodity health-care industry often
run with less compassion than factories.
The Inquirer article was sparked by two big recent organizing
victories—and a likely third in early February—by the Pennsylvania
Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. My attention was
first drawn to the PASNAP during an exemplary 28-day strike victory they
won in 2010 at Temple University Hospital. One of many take-back demands
by the employer was a “gag rule” that would have prevented members from
publicly complaining about patient care conditions. Temple spent
millions on bringing in professional strikebreakers, but the union
mobilized impressive solidarity from Temple University students, other
unions, and community groups. Instead of take-backs, at the end of the
day the union won solid gains across the board.
One of the recent union-organizing wins was at Hahnemann, where the
union had suffered a bitter election defeat in 2009. A nurse there told
the Inquirer she had opposed that earlier union effort, believing that
professionals had no need for collective bargaining. But deteriorating
conditions on her job, and palpable union achievements at other
hospitals, turned her around. She’s now a union activist.
This trend is not unique to Philadelphia. Unions of health care
professionals are not only growing around the country—they have become
among the most militant and effective forces in the labor movement.
Sick Teachers In Detroit—They’re not getting sick from the water like
their colleagues in Flint may be. They are sick and tired of literally
crumbling schools, often rat-infested, that are the venue for
overcrowded classrooms. Conditions have got worse under “emergency
management” appointed by the same governor who replaced elected
officials in Flint. Teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, so many
took the sick-out tactic of protest. On some poor health days, 85 of
Detroit’s 100 schools had to be closed.
In late January a judge was appointed to hold hearings about teacher job
actions and the state legislature started rumbling about more punitive
anti-worker legislation. Al Jazeera America reported, “The governor and
the school district’s emergency manager should be put on trial, not
teachers, according to Detroit teacher Steve Conn. Teachers are upset
over pay, class sizes, building conditions, and Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan
to overhaul the district.”
And In the Land of Sky Blue Waters—As usual, a lot has been happening in
the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Nurses Association negotiated an early
wage reopener for 6000 hospital members that preserved current health
and pension benefits. Tenured, tenure-track, and adjunct faculty at the
Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota have filed for an
election to authorize SEIU Local 284 to represent them. And 4000 SEIU
janitors whose contract expired December 31 have authorized a strike.
If you have a story appropriate for Labor Briefing, please contact
billonasch@xxxxxxxxxxx and mention Labor Briefing in the subject.
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Related
Chicago workers occupy factory, win temporary reprieve
March 7, 2012
In "Economy"
Support UE Occupation Against Republic Windows
December 8, 2008
In "Labor"
Chicago Factory Occupation Leads To Inspiring Victory
December 15, 2008
In "Labor"
Posted in Labor, Minneapolis, Palestine, Philadelphia. | Tagged BDS,
Detroit, Israel, nurses, PASNAP, Republic, SEIU, UE, Zionism.
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