Author Archives for Ann Kammerer
Overwhelming Vote Now Makes Strikes Possible At Any Downtown Casino
Several thousand members of UNITE HERE Local 226 and 165—the Culinary and Bartenders unions—voted Thursday to authorize a strike against ten downtown Las Vegas casinos. The 99% "yes" vote comes just five weeks after the unions gave notice to terminate contract extensions.
The unions can now call for a strike at any time against these properties until they have new contracts. Union members voted last May to raise monthly dues by $25 in the event of a strike.
"I voted yes to authorize a strike because I will do whatever it takes to continue to have the opportunity to provide for my family," said Annette Wright, a pantry worker at the Golden Nugget.
"Our entire union stands with our members who made this brave decision today to authorize a strike," said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Union. "We will be with these workers until we win and have a fair settlement. That’s what they deserve."
Properties that are now subject to a strike are Binion’s, Fremont, Four Queens, El Cortez, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Las Vegas Club, Las Vegas Plaza, The D., and Main Street Station. Workers at Brady Linen Services, who provide laundry services for many casinos and hotels on the Strip, and Margaritaville also passed the strike authorization vote by overwhelming margins.
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions recently concluded negotiations for new five-year new contracts covering over 37,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip.
Visit the Culinary Union online for up-to-the-minute news.
Statement from D. Taylor, President of UNITE HERE International Union
Nine months have come and gone since the U. S. Senate passed historic immigration reform legislation with a large bipartisan majority. Since that time the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has sat on its hands except to cast one immigration-related vote: to eliminate funding for the DACA program, which would doom hundreds of thousands of deserving young people to detention and deportation.
We want a vote now and believe that a majority exists in the House if only the Speaker would allow a vote to take place. That is why today we call on all House members—Republicans and Democrats—to sign the Discharge Petition that will force House action on HR15. We hope—and expect—all supporters of a path to citizenship to sign on to the discharge petition immediately so that millions of aspiring Americans can have a shot at the American Dream.
The immigration crisis is ripping apart families and communities and, up until now, all we have gotten are pathetic excuses from John Boehner. If Republicans are serious about resolving this immigration crisis, they must stop hiding behind excuses, introduce bipartisan legislation, and finally give us a vote this year.
While we work to end Republican stalling, we call on the Obama Administration to stop deporting those who will achieve legal status once reform is passed.
# # #
UNITE HERE represents more than 270,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hospitality, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries. For more information, visit www.unitehere.org.
Cafeteria workers at Simmons College in Boston and Lesley University in Cambridge are the latest in a wave of 800 campus food service workers who have joined Local 26 in greater Boston.
Workers at Simmons College ratified their first union contract in January. The average cook, food server, barista, or dishwasher will see her pay increase at least $3.25 per hour over the life of the agreement, and the lowest-paid workers will earn $4 per hour more over the life of the contract.
Through strong organizing, they also won job postings and other important employee information posted in places and languages accessible to all, fair distribution of overtime, and a fair promotions process. Free employee-only health insurance will transition to more affordable, high-quality couple and family insurance by the end of the agreement. Workers also won a first-ever perfect attendance bonus and six accrued sick days per year.
On March 7, food service workers at Lesley University ratified their first union contract, one year after winning recognition with Local 26.
The Bon Appetit servers, dishwashers, cooks, and cashiers won a contract that includes an average raise of $1.30 an hour in the first year and $3.40 over three years, earned sick days and holiday pay, and a fifty percent reduction in the cost of health insurance premiums for employees.
Workers at Lesley used numerous actions to maintain momentum over the year of negotiations, including testifying before Cambridge City Council, a living wage rally during an epic sleet and wind storm, and delivering 522 petition signatures demanding fair working conditions and living wages for cafeteria workers. Read more from the Boston Globe.
Earlier in March, 60 food service workers employed by Compass Group at Worcester State University in Worcester, MA, won their first contract, capping off a 9-month organizing campaign with the New England Joint Board of UNITE HERE. They join the ranks of nearly 1,100 other NEJB members in the city of Worcester who are employed in distribution centers and industrial laundries.
Over the past few months the negotiating committee worked diligently to educate and activate their fellow workers: some lifelong Worcester residents, others new immigrants from Albania and Latin America. With a new-found sense of unity WSU workers were able to win a landmark contract. The contract contains strong immigrant rights language and defines full-time hours as 29 hours and above per week allowing more workers to qualify for benefits. In addition, workers won quality and affordable union health insurance with the company paying 85% of the costs and workers receiving 52 weeks of coverage while contributing only 32 weeks of the year. On average, workers will receive close to a 14% wage increase over the life of the 3-year contract as well as a defined benefit pension plan and free eyeglasses or contact lenses every 2 years for employees and one dependent.
At the ratification, which passed with 99% approval, workers like Mimoza Sulejani expressed their excitement, “It means that we are together and everyone will be treated equally. Now we have rights and rules that management has to respect. As immigrant workers we can now demand respect! We now have fair raises and good health benefits!”
The New England Joint Board of UNITE HERE represents nearly 8,000 workers in the six New England states and New York in the textile, garment, manufacturing, food service, distribution, laundry, and disability services industries.
Together with hundreds of their supporters from across the Mid-Atlantic region, concessions workers at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport marched in Annapolis on Thursday, March 13th, calling for immediate action on the part of the State of Maryland and BWI concessions developer AirMall USA to ensure that the over 800 Marylanders who work in the airport’s food and retail outlets receive the same pay as the lowest pay of state employees at the airport.
“For over a year, my co-workers at the airport and I have been sharing our stories with our elected officials here in Annapolis,” said Evelyne Diadhiou, a server at BWI’s Silver Diner, “We’ve made it clear that many of us are unable to provide for ourselves and our families because of insufficient wages, and we’ve asked for them to take action. In response, we’ve heard over and over that ‘something needs to be done,’ and we’re marching today in Annapolis to demand that it finally happens. We need change at BWI. Not tomorrow, not ‘someday.’ Right now.”
During the march, a group of 14 workers and supporters–including members of Interfaith Worker Justice of Maryland–donned signs reading “I Am Equal” in homage to the iconic “I Am A Man” signs carried by Memphis sanitation workers at the height of the civil rights movement. Following the march and rally on Lawyer’s Mall, those 14 individuals were arrested after taking part in a civil disobedience action on the State House steps.
Members of Local 100 in New York City, UNITE HERE Philadelphia and Local 23 in Washington, D.C. all made the trip to Annapolis to show their solidarity with workers at BWI.
Additional Coverage:
On Thursday, March 13, dozens of UNITE HERE Local 54 members joined workers from Atlantic City’s Revel Casino and delivered a petition to the casino president demanding job security and a fair process to form a union.
Revel received over $300 million in tax subsidies from the state of New Jersey because the casino promised new jobs. It opened in May 2012 as the only non-union casino in Atlantic City–just months after Hurricane Sandy hurt an already-struggling local tourism industry.
Revel declared bankruptcy in March 2013, and the State of New Jersey now is expected to invest another $300 million of state pension money to shore up the struggling gaming venue. Meanwhile, Revel is widely reported for sale, but has not announced any plans to ensure job security for the existing workers.
Along with house visits and joining delegations, Local 54 members have brought their political force to bear to help Revel workers win. The night before the delegation, the City Council of Atlantic City passed a resolution to promote job security for the current workforce if the casino does sell. Read the press.
By D. Taylor
Once again, at a White House press briefing, Jay Carney was asked about the serious problems many unions, including mine, have with Obamacare. He was questioned about a UNITE HERE document laying out, again, our very real problems with the new law. Mr. Carney asserted, "We’ve addressed this issue," and promised to get more information for the reporter. The Obama administration has not addressed our issues (unless Carney means they’ve addressed our issues by not fixing them) and rather than wait for another White House non-response, let me explain the situation.
We understand that Obamacare is complicated. But, we want to have an honest discussion about the law’s problems and how it can be fixed so it meets its ultimate goal of providing insurance to American people. What I’ve learned is that no one in D.C. wants to have that conversation. Everyone is hunkered down for a purely political fight. Republicans have done everything they can to block, undermine and thwart Obamacare — and have destroyed any ability to have a constructive dialogue about the law and its problems.
Because of the political climate, I realize it is important to provide a few things you need know about my union: Unite Here has over 300,000 members. A majority of our members are Latino or African-American women. They do the tough jobs: clean toilets, prepare food and make beds. They work hard, but they don’t make a lot of money — they are the group that need the most help with any public policy that is supposed to support the working class.
And, UNITE HERE was the first union to endorse then Senator Obama for President and actively supported the creation of health care for more people in this Country — which eventually became the Affordable Care Act.
Now, here are three important facts you need to know about the ACA, or Obamacare:
One: Most Americans don’t realize that the cornerstone of Obamacare is to transfer over $1 trillion – yes, $1 trillion in just the next few years — from U.S. taxpayers directly to support the for profit health insurance industry (the same industry that was supposed to be reformed). It is the largest transfer of wealth to one industry in history. And the way it is structured, the entire system limits competition and pushes everyone to use private health insurance in the exchanges that only insurance companies can participate in.
Two: As a result of this transfer of wealth to prop up a small monopoly of private health insurers, competition by not for-profit plans like ours will wither and die. And the structure of our plans will be impossible to recreate — so it is the loss of an entire sector of health care coverage. So while Obamacare has helped many uninsured people, the President and Congress have broken their promise to our 300,000 members and to over 20 million Americans who will not be able to keep the not for profit health plans they have now, and Obama said we could keep.
Three: Congress and the President have it in their power to fix this problem. The President has said he will use the "pen and phone" to act when Congress won’t. Well, he has already used that pen to give Congressional staff an exemption from Obamacare. He has used a pen to give major corporations an exemption from paying a fine. He has used his pen to exempt employers with 51 to 100 employees from the law. And, he has used his pen to allow corporate executives to keep their gold-plated plans while pushing many other employees onto part-time work. All we ask is to keep what we have — nothing more, nothing less.
As progressives, we cannot simply look the other way and pretend everyone makes out just fine with Obamacare. That just isn’t the truth and the debate just isn’t honest. It is disheartening that here in Washington so little attention is given the actual impact — the expense to my members who don’t have the special interest clout of corporate executives or congressional staffers. They just make beds and clean toilets for a living. And their health plans are their lifeline.
A promise was made and a promise has been broken. And it has been broken to the very people Obamacare should be helping. The people that asked for our help to support them and their cause now need to fix the devastating consequences of their actions. It is quite simple.
It is too simple for Washington. We have asked for solutions in a number of ways. The Obama administration, in response, has not been honest. It would be a good first step for Mr. Carney to provide real answers to the questions that have been raised about Obamacare’s impact on labor unions. Starting this one: Why has the Obama administration done nothing to keep the President’s promise to over 20 million people who belong to not for-profit health plans? We’d also like to know why administration officials keep saying that our plans can be offered on the exchanges. That’s not true and they know it. But, we’re waiting for them to explain how. They have not, because they cannot.
We must have an honest debate here. We should embrace what works about Obamacare and fight to keep it. And, we should have the honesty to admit those elements that aren’t working and fix them. Fix them all. I can’t sit and watch what millions of people have fought for go down the drain when there is no reason to harm them.
The promise of ObamaCare was the right one and the hope for extending healthcare coverage to the un- and under-insured a step in the right direction. Yet the unintended consequences will hit the average, hard-working American where it hurts: in the wallet. Currently a national dialogue is emerging by all political parties on the issue of income inequality. That is a debate worth having. The White House and Congressional Democrats are “resetting” the domestic agenda following the negative fallout from the rollout of the ACA. They plan to shift focus from health care to bread and butter issues of income inequality that have eroded the American paycheck for decades.
Ironically, the Administration’s own signature healthcare victory poses one of the most immediate challenges to redressing inequality. Yes, the Affordable Care Act will help many more Americans gain some health insurance coverage, a significant step forward for equality. At the same time, without smart fixes, the ACA threatens the middle class with higher premiums, loss of hours, and a shift to part-time work and less comprehensive coverage.
Transferring A Trillion Dollars in Wealth: Most of the ACA’s $965 billion in subsidies will go directly to commercial insurance companies, one of the largest transfers of public wealth to private hands ever. Since the ACA passed, the average stock price of the big for-profit health insurers doubled, their top executives were paid more than a half billion dollars in cash and stock options, and in the past 2 years, the top 10 insurers have spent $25 billion on mergers and acquisitions.
Strangling Fair Competition: Before reform, different types of health plans were regulated under different bodies of law. The Obama Administration has blocked many non-profit health funds from competing for the law’s proposed trillion dollars in subsidies by refusing to set fair regulations for different types of plans. The unbalanced playing field will give employers of people covered by these plans powerful incentives to drop coverage.
Moving to Part Time Work: The Administration’s experts say employers won’t follow the incentives and drop coverage. But they also told the nation that employers would not cut workers’ hours to get below the 30-hour per week threshold for “full time” work, even as 388 employers announced hours cuts since early 2012.
Cutting People’s Pay: If employers follow the incentives in the law, they will push families onto the exchanges to buy coverage. This will force low-wage service industry employees to spend $2.00, $3.00 or even $5.00 an hour of their pay to buy similar coverage.
To read the full report, click here.
Drawing inspiration from the demand of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that airlines bring wages for contract workers up to $10.10 per hour, workers around the country jumped into the fray!
In early March, airline catering professionals at airports across the country delivered letters to the corporate offices of American, Delta, JetBlue and United Airlines, calling on them to take steps nationally to increase airline catering workers’ wages to a minimum of $10.10, beginning with an immediate $1 increase. They also urged United and JetBlue to comply with the New York mandate to provide airport employees there with improved wages and benefits. Delta and American have already agreed.
A recent survey of nearly 10,000 contracted airline catering workers revealed that a full 40% earn less than $10.10, President Obama’s proposed new minimum wage.
For just five cents per enplaned passenger, airlines could ensure that all airline catering workers nationwide receive a $1 per hour raise.
“After 27 years working for Gate Gourmet, I make only $9.79 per hour,” said Ana Ortiz, a Gate Gourmet employee at the Miami Airport, “It’s not right that, after working in this industry for so long, I barely make enough to support my family. That’s why we’re urging JetBlue and United to do the right thing in New York, and for all four leading airlines to carry this precedent nationwide.“
Workers delegated airline offices in Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York City, Orlando, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle!
For more photos from the delegations, check out the album on Facebook.
New 5-year Contract Covers Hundreds of Vegas Workers
Las Vegas – Members of the Culinary and Bartenders Unions reached a tentative agreement for a new 5-year contract with The New Tropicana resort in Las Vegas. The tentative agreement will cover about 650 workers in food and beverage, housekeeping, cocktails and the bell departments.
The negotiating committee, which is made up of workers from varied departments, worked with the company to reach terms that safeguard benefits and will help bring back jobs. Negotiations began last summer following the previous contract’s expiration on June 1, 2013. The agreement was reached on March 5, 2014.
The economic package, agreed to by both parties, mirrors exactly what has been agreed to by the unions and other employers. Workers will keep their high-quality health insurance. Changes were negotiated for food and beverage operations to allow for flexibility in closed and distressed venues with the goals of reopening shops and bringing workers back to their jobs. New housekeeping language will increase job safety by creating measures designed to deal with hazardous work conditions.
“The New Tropicana Las Vegas is the first independently owned resort and casino to reach a tentative agreement with the unions. We are thrilled that our collaboration with Tropicana Las Vegas has resulted in reaching an agreement that is mutually beneficial,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary treasurer of Culinary Union Local 226.