Wal-Mart's Anti-Worker Tactics Continue

The Wall Street Journal today reported that anti-worker mega-company Wal-Mart is holding mandatory meetings where they strongly encourage their employees to vote against Democrats in November.

According to the WSJ:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

The article claims that Wal-Mart's reasoning behind the move is to stop passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Wal-Mart has stooped to a new low in trying to force their employees to vote Republican.

I wonder if these mandatory meetings where they "informed" their employees of how they would like them to vote were any different than the intimidation and other practices that are used to prevent employees from forming a union.

I shouldn't be surprised since it is just another example of Wal-Mart doing everything it can to prevent the fair treatment of their employees.

First Teachers, Now State Employees...Governor Likes Playing Budget Games with Other People's Pay Checks

While we have always known that Governor Schwarzenegger does not think too highly of worker's rights, he recently announced a plan that would make the state's 200,000 employees the lowest paid workers in all of California.

Under the Governor's proposed executive order, which could be signed at any minute, state workers' pay would be slashed to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a state budget is passed.

Luckily, State Controller John Chiang has stood up for all of the state's workers by openly defying the Governor's plan. While the Governor states he must do this to bridge the gap until a budget is approved, the Controller contends that the state has enough money on hand to cover bills through September.

In the meantime, state workers are asking for help from all Californians. Members of SEIU Local 1000 will be holding informational picket lines at DMV offices tomorrow starting at 7:30 a.m. If you have time, stop by to support all state workers. The offices are located at:

Chula Vista
30 N. Glover St., Chula Vista
(near N. 4th Ave. & Hwy. 54)

El Cajon
1450 Graves Ave., El Cajon
(near Hwy 67 & Bradley Ave.)

San Diego -- Clairemont
4375 Derrick Dr.
(off Genesee Ave. N. of Balboa Ave.)

San Diego -- Otay Mesa
6111 Business Center Ct.,
(off Hwy. 905 & Corporate Center Dr., 2 ½ miles E. of I-805)

Labor Votes to Oppose Developer’s Initiative of 10th Avenue

The membership of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, last night unanimously voted to oppose a ballot initiative that would destroy maritime industry at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal.

The campaign to defeat the measure will be one of the Labor Council’s top priorities in this fall’s elections, according to Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez.

“These are some of the last good, blue-collar, middle-class jobs left in our region,” said Gonzalez. “The 120,000 working families of the Labor Council are outraged that a private developer is pushing a misleading plan that is destructive to the region’s working waterfront.”

San Diego Bay’s working waterfront provides the region with 42,000 jobs and adds an economic impact of $7.6 billion annually to the region.

The initiative, which will be placed on the Nov. 4 ballots of residents in San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach and Coronado, would change the Port’s master plan to allow for the redevelopment of the 10th Avenue Terminal for private use.

The plan would allow for private building on a deck constructed on top of the terminal, and would reduce the region’s ability ensure both business growth and port security.

“This isn’t under-utilized land in desperate need of redevelopment,” said Gonzalez. “It is a valuable part of our economy. From the banana you eat for breakfast to the cement used to make the sidewalk below you, there is a good chance that every day you use a product that came through the 10th Avenue Terminal.”

Anti-Union Measure’s Defeat in Chula Vista is Final

The Chula Vista city clerk has officially notified supporters of an anti-union ballot measure that they have failed to submit enough signatures to qualify their initiative for the November ballot. The action makes the failure of the measure final.

The measure was aimed at stopping Project Labor Agreements on publicly funded projects. Interim City Clerk Donna Norris reported that 7,092 signatures were submitted in the permitted time window, well short of the 9,062 needed to qualify. Had election officials performed signature verification, the actual number of valid signatures submitted would have been far lower.

Earlier, proponents had lost a legal appeal to allow additional signatures to be submitted, because they had violated a state Elections Code provision requiring notice of a petition drive to be published in a local paper, and an affidavit of publication filed with elections officials within 10 days. The proponents of this measure filed their affidavit more than two months late, in violation of the law. The city clerk then properly rejected the petitions.

San Diegans Asked to Boycott Coca-Cola Products Starting this Fourth of July Weekend

As Fourth of July fireworks, barbeques and pool parties heat up, employees of San Diego County’s two Coca-Cola bottling facilities have asked San Diegans to forego Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and other Coca-Cola beverages because of the company’s anti-union conduct.

Earlier this week, more than 600 drivers and warehouse employees at Coca-Cola Enterprises’ San Diego and Oceanside bottling plants went on strike to protest the company’s unfair practices. Last year, employees at the Oceanside facility voted to become members of Teamsters Local 683, yet the company has been unwilling to negotiate a contract that is comparable to those in other parts of Southern California.

“Coca Cola Enterprises wants to treat its Oceanside workers as second-class citizens,” Teamsters Local 683 Secretary-Treasurer Shannon R. Silva said. “They want to drag down the standard of living for Oceanside workers. These workers deserve parity with other Coke employees in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles County.”

The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council is asking that its 120,000 members and all other San Diegans observe this boycott until Coca-Cola agrees to settle a contract that will provide equality for their employees in Oceanside.

“Unfortunately Coca-Cola has gone from asking San Diegans to ‘Have a Coke and a smile,’ to ‘Have a Coke, less rights, lower pay and fewer benefits,’” Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez said. “We will not stand by and watch as Coke tries to destroy quality middle-class jobs in our community.”

Coca-Cola products include: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, Dr. Pepper, Fresca, Sprite, Minute Maid, Dasani Water, Squirt, Rockstar and Canada Dry, among others.

70 Hours and Counting: Where’s Jerry Sanders?

Even though blue-collar city workers from AFSCME Local 127 agreed to resume bargaining the moment Jerry Sanders’ poverty pension proposal was shot down late Monday night, Jerry Sanders has yet to sit down to the bargaining table 70 hours later.

Lorena Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, called on Mayor Jerry Sanders to return to the negotiating table.

“We believe Jerry Sanders’ announcement to meet and confer by ballot box is another stunt by his political operation to scapegoat city employees in order to deflect attention from his inability to find solutions to our city’s challenges.

“Late Monday, when he made the political calculation that he didn’t have support for his pension experiment, Jerry Sanders – aided and abetted by Mike Aguirre – delivered a last-minute substitute that had never been formally offered before in order to save face.

“This offer was presented about 9 p.m. at night and away from public view. Had it been adopted, an average blue-collar city worker who had worked for 30 years would retire with an $18,500 annual pension with no social security benefits and no SPSP. On its face, the Jerry Sanders’ plan would have left hard-working employees to retire into poverty. Regardless of the proposal’s merits, the unethical tactics of Jerry Sanders and Mike Aguirre run contrary to the rules that they agreed to back when negotiations started months ago.

“The attempt by Jerry Sanders and Mike Aguirre to make a late-night switcheroo was aimed to unfairly shove down our workers’ throats a proposal that had never been discussed prior and was never and still has not been put into the public record of the City.

“Now, Jerry Sanders is trying to force his campaign timeline onto the hard-working blue-collar employees of this city, but it’s clear he’s the one on the clock. Over 70 hours have passed since the City Council shot down this half-cooked pension proposal, and he has yet to come back to the table.

“Instead, Jerry Sanders wants to put a pension proposal in front of voters, but AFSCME Local 127 has said they’re ready to bargain now. I’m calling on Jerry Sanders to end these shameless campaign tactics, for him and Mike Aguirre to stick to the rules he agreed to, and return to the table so the city can move forward.

“Clearly, San Diegans are tired of the bickering at City Hall. San Diego’s working families deserve a Mayor who is committed to moving things forward in cooperation with our City’s employees. Jerry Sanders is failing with every passing hour.

“The public has had enough of the excuses, half-truths and rhetoric of Jerry Sanders and Mike Aguirre. Now is as good of a time as ever for them to start working toward solutions instead of their next excuse.”

500 Workers at Tri-City Medical Center Unionize

From the North County Times:

More than 500 workers ---- mostly medical technicians ---- at Tri-City Medical Center have joined the United Healthcare Workers union, increasing the percentage of the hospital's work force exercising its collective bargaining rights.

Doreen Sanderson, the hospital's vice president of human resources, confirmed that 60 percent, or about 300, of the 500 workers signed union cards, surpassing the 50 percent threshold needed to join the union. She said the hospital will meet with union representatives to begin a discussion on wages and benefits for the represented employees.

More

Tuesday - Quick Hits

Union members and their supporters march through downtown San Diego for higher wages and in honor of Ceasar Chavez. UT


Secretary of State Debra Bowen investigating allegations tha DMV changed voters registration. UT


City council to foolishly consider interest only/adjustable rate private bond sale. UT

Investment firm buys California Theater. UT

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to give keynote address at June Biotech Convention. NCTimes

Rumblings from Los Angeles

Below is an article by Rosalio Munoz, describing the exciting activities that happened last weekend at Los Angeles County Federation of Labor 2nd Delegate Congress. Via Latino LA:

LA is Labor Territory
A report on the historic L.A. labor congress
By Rosalio Munoz

Next year labor contracts covering some 350,000 union members in 30 union locals in Los Angeles County will expire, while tens of thousands more are organizing for first contracts.

The area's labor movement is also its single most influential political force. In 2008 over 10 million county residents comprise 13 full Congressional Districts and parts of others. They can be decisive in determining the state's presidential electoral vote, and the balance of power in the legislature of the nation's largest state.

"In 2008 when it comes to contract fights, organizing and politics, L.A.'s workers are combining their resources in a single Fight for Good Jobs, "Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, declared Dec. 3 as she opened its historic 2nd Delegates Congress. The Congress included hundreds of key activists beyond its official federation delegates.

Over 1,000 union members from work sites and retiree groups, representing over 300 union locals, attended the Congress to unite on a common agenda. They roared their unanimous approval for the focus on "good jobs."

In keynoting the Congress, Durazo spelled out what is meant by good jobs. "Working people are sick and tired of hearing politicians boast about all the jobs they create," she said. "The working poor who are trying to organize know all about jobs. The jobs are so lousy they need two or three of them just to pay the bills. Creating jobs isn't the solution. The solution is creating good jobs."

Durazo pointed out that a "bare bones" budget for a single person in Los Angeles requires spending $843 a month on housing, $211 on food and $233 on health care with a $28,000 yearly income.

She took on L.A. media who criticized city water and power workers making $76,000 a year: "We should be proud the workers are earning $76,000 a year, a salary that allows them to raise their families and give back to the community. That is the standard we need to set and replicate in other jobs and industries...(what) ordinary workers need to live and survive in L.A. today."

Longshore workers, security guards, hotel workers, professors, firefighters, home healthcare workers, building trades, janitors and many others addressed the Congress, spelling out their issues, their need for support and their solidarity with their union sisters and brothers.

The delegates approved a platform for the Fight for Good Jobs campaign. A 28 mile mass march is planned next spring through the heart of the county from Hollywood, where entertainment industry contracts are on the line, to the LA/Long Beach port where workers handle 40 percent of the nation's imports, the longshore workers' contract is up and port drivers are organizing. Along the way the union marchers will address communities on key electoral races like the open District 2 County Supervisor race in South Los Angeles, whose winner will vote on the contracts of scores of thousands of government workers.

A resolution was passed to establish a countywide solidarity committee of all unions wanting to help coordinate resources and to join negotiating committees where asked. The County Supervisor District 2 race was made a priority. The delegates approved
support for L.A. City Proposition S, a telephone users' tax to fund city services, and opposition to the state's "Big 4" Indian gambling deals.

Durazo drew rousing cheers as she addressed national labor concerns. "L.A. Labor must, and will, do its part to end this wasteful and futile war in Iraq. L.A. Labor must, and will, help enact rational and humane immigration reform. L.A. Labor must, and will, help America elect a new President of the United States!"

Just before dusk, after the Congress adjourned, hundreds of delegates marched in support of SEIU's SOULA campaign organizing security guards. Boisterous chants swelled as marchers passed the offices of high rise real estate corporations: "One, Two, Three, Four, there should be no working poor," and "We tell the story, this is union territory!"

An original Chicano boomer, Munoz got active in the United Mexican American Students at UCLA in 1967, he is still active in Latino, peace, labor, socialist and other peoples movements. He lives in Highland Park, Lincoln Heights adjacent.

UT has Pickup Loren Nancarrow Assault Story

As first reported yesterday here on San Diego Politico. 10News weatherman Loren Nancarrow had a confrontation with a union activist Tuesday afternoon were he proceeded to commit assault and battery on the activist. This afternoon the UT finally pickup the story and confirms that Loren Nancarrow was cited for misdemeanor battery by Harbor Police. [Link] I could easily imagine this story being ignored by the UT had it not been for the video being available on YouTube.

Fireworks, and It Isn't Even the 4th of July

Those of you who missed last night's 5 p.m. 10News broadcast, missed some excitement right at the start of the weather segment. The beauty of live TV!

Weatherman Loren Nancarrow grabbed a protestor shouting "10Newsunfair.com," and threw him towards the bay.

From what I have heard, the Harbor Police were called out. They issued a citation to Nancarrow for battery.

The behind the camera workers at Channel 10 have been fighting for a fair contract for more than two years. The station, which had operated under a fair contract for 52 years since KGTV's inception, is refusing to negotiate in good faith.