Workers charged Rite Aid with abusive and illegal treatment at the company's annual meeting

Veteran Rite Aid employee Angel Warner from the company's massive million-square-foot distribution center in the high-desert community of Lancaster, California, stood up for employees at the company's annual meeting.

In April 2009 a youth group launched a boycott against Flor de Caña, the famous Nicaraguan rum. The boycott is in solidarity with former sugar cane workers who are members of the Nicaraguan Association of Those Affected by Chronic Renal Insufficiency (ANAIRC).

Crystal City Virginia — On the evening of June 20th, 2009, several hundred workers, supporters, and community allies took to the streets in Crystal City, honoring the anniversary of the boycott UNITEHERE workers declared on their own hotel, the Hilton Crystal City. In a 400-strong show of force workers and the community let the bosses know that rather than giving up the fight when Columbia Sussex imposed a contract (as of May 1st), they would only fight harder.

After an hour of solid picketing and chanting, the people took the street in front of the hotel, blocking all traffic, until the police gave the order to return to the sidewalk. Read More & Pics

Fresno County homecare providers reported scores of incidents of voter intimidation, illegal threats, and ballot manipulation by SEIU staff in an election for workers to quit the scandal-plagued union and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). SEIU spent an estimated $10 million on attack mailings, robo-calls, TV and radio ads, but failed to win enough support from workers to win the election without breaking the law.

Unsatisfied with the short-term victory gained from the previous rally on May 28th, over two hundred enraged custodians at UW continued to escalate the fight alongside students today to retain their nightshift jobs by directly confronting the Assistant Vice President of Facilities Services, Charles Kennedy, who administers Custodial Services.

June 9, 2009—Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) voiced his support for suit manufacturing workers at a labor rally organized by Workers United at Hickey-Freeman. Chicago-based Hartmarx, the parent company of Hickey-Freeman, is in bankruptcy after bailed-out bank Wells Fargo & Co.—Hartmarx's main creditor and recipient of a $25 billion taxpayer bailout—drastically cut the company's credit line. Wells Fargo has threatened to liquidate both companies' assets, which would cut some 5,000 jobs. In response, workers from both Hartmarx and Hickey-Freeman have voted to occupy their work places should Wells Fargo make good on its threat.

While Schumer and Workers United union members spoke on the inside, community members, union members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Rochester Indymedia were offering support on the outside after being denied entrance to the plant.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Additional Information: Workers United | Hickey-Freeman Workers Vote to Stage Sit-In if Bailed-Out Bank Attempts to Close Company | Schumer at Hickey Freeman Mon at 11:30

On Saturday morning June 6, 2009 the University of Houston Students for Fair Trade (SFT) did a house protest at Emily Messa's house in Clear Lake, TX which is a suburb of Houston. Messa is the Assistant Vice President for University Services, but another title she goes under is the asst. VP for finance and administration. This means she facilitates all the contracts at the university. About 20 people, mostly students, gathered to speak truth to power. At one point there were seven police cars. The police did not do anything though because we had a sound permit and were just exercising our first amendment rights.

Recently we've asked the administration to make our campus an all fair trade campus. That means as many as possible products such as sugar, fruit, coffee, tea and others sold on our campus should be certified fair trade by third party independent Transfair USA.

Our other request is that they pay the Aramark food service workers on our campus $10 to $11 an hour to come in line with the City of Houston 2008 contract with its 13,000 employees. See: article from AFSCME.org | full article with photos and video

LOS ANGELES, June 4, 2009 - A combination hunger strike and protest campout has been occurring in downtown Los Angeles for the last nine days. The action is a continuance of the demonstrations that rose up in response to draconian budget cuts and layoffs issued by the Los Angeles Board of Education last month. The cuts are a result of a state and city wide deficit avalanche that is threatening to wipe away the traditional Californian "safety net " which for generations has been there for the poorest and least able amongst us.

The hunger strikers are protesting against the effect that these cuts will have on their pupils and consequently on the communities that these kids live in. Considerations such as class size and scholarly attention are chief amongst the teachers concerns. The Los Angeles Board of Education voted to lay off as many as 5,400 teachers and staff due to a 596 million dollar budget shortfall for 2010. For the last nine days the protest has been set up outside of the Liechty Middle School near downtown L.A. where forty-seven of the 65 teachers working there have received layoff notices... From the Newswire: L.A.Hunger Strikers on Ninth Day of Fast by Robert Stuart Lowden | Video Statement From Sean Leys

The New England Regional Council of Carpenters Local 107’s public voice continues to grow, shouting and calling out injustices across Worcester, while also standing up in support of Worcester pools, Worcester Immigrants and Green Island neighborhood.

Most recently, under the banner, “Local Jobs for Local People”, Local 107 called out Crowne Plaza on Wednesday [May 27] for stabbing Worcester workers in the back.

Over 300 trandespeople and allies turned out last Thursday in support of Local Jobs for Local People, and to say “W.T.F.” to Crowne Plaza Manager Howard Sobel.

June 1st is the first day of a highly contested union election for 10,000 homecare workers in Fresno County who are trying to leave the Washington, D.C.-based SEIU, a union that has been condemned by the AFL-CIO for using violence in inter-union conflicts. The stakes have never been higher for SEIU officials, who are desperately trying to stop a movement of nearly 100,000 healthcare workers in California who are organizing to quit SEIU and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration's decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women's Center. The rally was organized by the New UC, a coalition that seeks to save quality of education in the UC from regressive, belt-tightening attacks, to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.

On Tuesday, May 26, a delegation of janitors who were laid off from their jobs at Cisco Systems' corporate headquarters met with San Jose City Council members to appeal for the elected officials to reach out to Cisco decision makers on their behalf. More than 75 vulnerable, low-wage janitors - more than 40% of the total workforce - were laid off by Cisco's contractor ABM in February, despite the tech company's enormous profitability and more than $34 billion in cash assets. Since then, the janitors and hundreds of Silicon Valley community supporters have launched a series of escalating mobilizations to urge the corporation to be a responsible corporate citizen and put the janitors back to work.

Brave New Films has initiated a new media campaign via YouTube and Twitter to combat union busting at Starbucks. According to Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz, if employees “believe in their hearts that management trusted them and treated them with respect...If they had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn’t need a union.”

Marrico worked with U-Haul for nearly 2 years until he showed up for work a few weeks ago and was fired on the spot. Management claimed, without showing evidence and contrary to his own memory, that he had forgotten to put away some padding that a customer had used. Even if it were true, this would not justify the extreme response of firing a good worker.

Action: Saturday May 30th
Gather: 10:00am at the bus stop at MLK Way S & S Graham St

Two prominent Obama administration officials were in Oregon today to discuss salmon recovery. NOAA chief (and former OSU professor) Jane Lubchenco and White House Council on Environmental Quality chairwoman Nancy Sutley came to talk salmon, but pointedly did not allow participation from the public -- indeed, the doors were closed to almost everyone. Despite the incredibly short notice, dozens of people showed up with signs, banners, and lots of spirit.

I had actually expected to meet with some tension from the fishermen who had promised to be there. However, when I arrived and began talking to the other groups, I was pleasantly surprised and amazed at how articulate and well-informed this particular crowd was on this issue. Sea lion advocates and anglers immediately found common ground on numerous issues: All of us care about real salmon recovery; None of us believes killing sea lions is the answer; All of us want to see dams removed from the Snake river; All of us want to see habitat restoration. By the end, we were actually carrying each others' signs -- some of the fishermen carried signs supporting sea lions, and some of us carried their "science not politics" signs. [ Read More | Older articles | Sea Lion Defense Brigade ]

On May 21st, thousands of people gathered on the Seattle waterfront to rally for Climate, Green Jobs and Healthy Communities. The rally was held nearby the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing on the EPA's recent proposed finding that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. Busloads of school children came from Oregon and throughout the Puget Sound region.

Two California health worker unions staged a protest in downtown Los Angeles this Friday to call attention to the cuts that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering in response to last Tuesdays' special election defeats. California now faces a possible $24 billion budget deficit for 2010.

The governor's cutbacks could include ending the state's main welfare program and eliminating health coverage for the 1.5 million poor children who benefit from the CalWorks and Healthy families programs. Two million people in general would lose their health care coverage. Programs for the disabled like IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) are under fire. Read More & Pics | Related: Fresno Is Ground Zero in Labor Struggle

ROCHESTER, NY, MAY 13-Determined to protect good, U.S. manufacturing jobs, more than 450 Hickey-Freeman workers unanimously voted yesterday to stage a sit-in if Wells Fargo & Co., their employer's main creditor and a recipient of a $25 billion taxpayer bailout, liquidates company assets. Rochester workers are joining with employees of Hartmarx, Hickey-Freeman's parent company, who voted earlier in the week to stage a sit-in if their plants were shuttered. Click Here for Full Article

Video: The Fight To Save Hartmarx | Hartmarx Workers Push Back

Additional Information: Hartmarx Workers in New York Threaten Sit-in | Hickey Freeman workers plan possible sit-in | Chicago-area Labor Strife Leads to Hotline | A touch of history in Hartmarx struggle | Workers Pressure Bank to Keep Clothier’s U.S. Plants Open | Hartmarx Bankruptcy: Over 40 Congressman Ask Geithner To Help Obama's Suit Maker | Bank Is Pressed on Suit-Maker Bid | Wells Fargo Said to Be Squeezing Clothier Hartmarx

In the spirit of Seattle's 1919 general strike, organizers from a cross-section of unions facing layoffs and take-backs during this economic crisis will share their perspectives and strategies for re-igniting the labor movement.

Friday, May 22, 6:30pm
New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle
Take the #7 bus and get off at the Hudson St. stop.
Door donation is $3.00.