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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Headlines 12-22-01 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
22 Dec 2001
Modified: 09 Mar 2002 |
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Tyson Foods Managers and Execs Indicted for Immigration Violations, Bush Blocks United Strike, Union Leaders & State Discuss Quasi-Voluntary Furlough Plan, LTV Steel Retiree Benefits Extended, UAW Local Campaigns Sucessfully to Keep Union Jobs in Granite City, Argentine workers respond to crisis |
Tyson Foods Managers and Execs Indicted for Immigration Violations
On Wednesday last week the US Department of Justice indicted six employees, including two executives, at the nation's largest meat processor for conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States to work in its meat processing plants. The thirty-six count indictment against Tyson Foods states that Tyson smuggled humans and broke immigration laws for the sake of profit. The indictment describes a scheme by which the defendants requested delivery of illegal aliens to work at Tyson plants in the United States and aided and abetted them in obtaining false documents so they could work at Tyson poultry processing plants "under the false pretense of being legally employable. The department of justice said it is the largest case ever brought against a major American company for such crimes. The company could face sanctions and large fines if found guilty, and the workers could face prison terms. In addition to charging the corporation with crimes, the indictment names a Tyson vice president, a human resources manager, and four managers from Tyson Foods factories in Tennessee and Missouri. The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which at one time represented many workers in the poultry processing industry and is once again trying to organize there, issued a statement calling for rapid settlement of the charges. UFCW President Doug Dority noted that employment of undocumented workers is widespread in the poultry industry and that immigrant labor has long been used there. Immigrants have used those jobs to achieve the American dream, he said. Dority argues that the government should focus on ensuring that both workers and employers understand US labor laws, and that legislation is needed to provide orderly legalization processes.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2001/December/01_crm_654.htm
Bush Blocks United Strike
For the second time in his ten-month presidency, George Bush used his executive authority to block an airline strike last week. On Thursday, the president signed an executive order blocking a strike by thirteen thousand mechanics at United Airlines and creating a three-member emergency board that will recommend a contract settlement. If the president hadn't acted, the mechanics would have been free to strike on Friday, potentially closing down the airline just prior to the winter holidays. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Bush took the action to avoid disrupting airline travel, and because of the impact a strike might have on the economy. The International Association of Machinists, which represents the United workers, issued its own statement following Bush's action, declaring that Bush was again waging war against workers. IAM President Tom Buffenbarger said, quote "The right to win better wages and working conditions came at great cost to workers in this country and will not be given up or taken away without a fight." But any fight will not only be against the company, it will also be against the federal government, which now regularly bars airline unions from striking. The New York Times observed that Bush has used his authority to block strikes more than any other president since Lyndon Johnson. The main issue in the mechanics' contract, which has not been settled during two years of negotiations, is wages. When employees bought the company in 1994, they took significant wage cuts. Only by July 2000 did United mechanics restore their wages to 1994 levels, and they trail industry-leading wages at American Airlines by an estimated seven dollars per hour. United says it has suffered losses of two billion dollars this year, and they received a one point two billion dollar bailout from the federal government after September 11. United also fired twenty thousand employees after September 11.
http://www.goiam.org/news.asp?c=2496
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011220-14.html (Press briefing)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011220-6.html (Executive order text)
Union Leaders, State Discuss Quasi-Voluntary Furlough Plan
The state budget crisis may not result in state employees taking involuntary days off, thanks to discussions between the union and the governor's office. As part of his cost-cutting measures, Gov. Ryan ordered a one-day unpaid furlough for state workers reporting to departments in his control. State officials and representatives from AFSCME Council 31 met for 4 hours last Tuesday to try to work out a compromise that will achieve the savings goal without mandating a furlough for every worker. AFSCME wants a voluntary furlough plan, similar to one worked out in the 1980s, that would provide for 45,000 days of unpaid leave by having some workers voluntarily take several days off without pay so that others would not have to take any unpaid days off. State officials appear receptive to considering a union plan if it would achieve the savings goal. The Governor has already directed heads of state agencies to develop furlough plans for nonunion workers while maintaining state services. Cabinet officials and senior agency managers will be asked to write a personal check to the state in the amount of one day's pay.
LTV Retiree Benefits Extended
LTV Corp. and the United Steelworkers reached an agreement on Dec. 19 that would extend payments for health insurance for laid-off workers and pension benefits for retired workers to February 28, 2002. The money will come from a $85 million trust fund. Benefits for nonunion workers will not be continued. LTV is currently in bankruptcy proceedings and is expected to cease operations and shut down its mills in Illinois and Indiana. Union members rallied outside the courtroom of the bankruptcy judge, and the Steelworkers' union has been trying to obtain a federal loan to keep LTV in business. A bill to have the federal government take over health insurance payments for retired steelworkers is also pending. Union members, including some from Steelworkers Local 7367 in Hennepin, Illinois have been camped out in tents on the grounds of the AFL-CIO National Labor College near Washington while lobbying members of Congress for relief for the company.
http://www.uswa.org
UAW Local Campaigns Successfully to Keep Union Jobs in Granite City
Union intervention kept an automotive assembly factory from moving to Mexico. The Southern Illinois Labor Tribune reported that UAW Local 3206 was able to prevent Tower Automotive in Granite City from moving its "full-frame" operations to Mexico through a combination of political action at the local and national level, picketing at the Granite City plant and at company headquarters in Michigan, publicity in the local media, and help from the international union. Tower had notified the union on Nov. 16 that it would outsource production to Mexico, endangering the jobs of about 100 union members. On Nov. 28, Tower reversed its decision.
St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, vol. 65, no. 18, December 13, 2001, p 2
Argentine Workers Respond to Crisis
See www.indymedia.org. Argentine workers have been suffering the worst under the IMF-imposed austerity plans. IMC has coverage.
December 3:
In the face of a worsening economic crisis, Argentina's working and poor people are mobilizing for action. The newly-unemployed are joining road blockades around a "Workers' Area" in La Matanza and the southern area of Buenos Aires. Teachers and government workers are resisting plans for privitization, delayed salary, and payments in bonds. And mine workers in Río Turbio have occupied their mine in solidarity with their fired co-workers.
In Neuquén, striking workers from the Zanón ceramics factory are meeting with the area's landless and unemployed in order to reopen their plant under worker control. The Zanón workers and their supporters were violently attacked by police forces on Friday. Workers were shot in the face with rubber pellets, chased into a nearby hospital and hunted down over a 15-block radius. The workers had been demonstrating in front of the Government House, demanding the reinstatement of 380 workers of the Zanón Ceramics plant and Cerámica del Valle fired the previous day. The two-month old strike began when the company tried to roll back benefits won by the workers in a bitter struggle just one year ago.
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See also:
www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
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Kroger's = Enron? |
by M. Titus
mmmmm (nospam) 1000.netscape.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
09 Mar 2002
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URGENT:
Kroger's about to do mass firing!!!!! (skip to part with bullets)
see -
http://www.kroger.com/press_tmp.asp?fileId=12112001&Category=speeches&SubCat=newsspeech
" As part of its plan to reduce administrative costs, Kroger will eliminate approximately 1,500
positions, primarily management and clerical, over the next 12 months. The Company will apply its
best practices across the Company to create the most effective operating structure, from store level
to corporate office. The Company also plans to merge one existing Kroger division into two adjacent
marketing areas. "
I was doing research for Kroger's Indy racing story
for www. sportsfem.com and came across this! It's really scary they would think
of doing this AFTER the Enron investigation. CEOs want to steal loyal worker's
money and fire them. Shameful.
Mary Titus, ed. sportsfem.com |
