On July 20, the 70 food service workers at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA ratified their first union contract! The workers joined UNITE HERE Local 2850 in March 2013. The contract will reduce workers’ contributions for health insurance by half. It also includes yearly raises, seniority, a stronger policy against sexual harassment, and protections for immigrant workers.

"By organizing the union I have learned that we have rights, and those rights are now guaranteed in our new contract," said Shameka "Mimi" Brown, a four-year cook whose grandfather also worked at St. Mary’s. "I think my grandfather would be proud of us for organizing the union. He was not someone who let people disrespect him."

"Seeing worker leaders be so strong, articulate and confident during bargaining made me feel so proud of all the organizing that we did together this past year – their transformation is what the union really means," said Lluvia Carrasco, a second-year sociology major at St. Mary’s.

In June, more than 400 loyal workers at the Honda Center in Anaheim, home of the Anaheim Ducks hockey club, were tossed out when Anaheim Arena Management decided to take operation of the food and beverage department in house. For months leading up to the takeover, the workers sought assurances about their jobs – but they were stonewalled by Arena Management and its CEO, Tim Ryan.

The Honda Center workers have been fighting back. They’ve testified before the Anaheim City Council, who owns the Arena that is operated by AAM, to demand worker retention. At Honda Center events, workers leaflet customers to let them know about the unfair firings.

The workers’ outcry is paying off. Last month, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB71, a law that requires that entertainment venues like the Honda Center retain the workers when management changes.

So far, AAM has refused to comply with the law, but workers aren’t taking the fight laying down. The workers, many of whom live in Anaheim, have demanded more accountability from their representatives. They’re urging hockey fans and other Honda Center customers to demand AAM’s Tim Ryan follow the law and bring back the workers. If you want to help, call Tim Ryan at: (714) 704 2432 and tell him: "It’s time to follow the law and bring back the Honda Center workers!"

The School District of Philadelphia has recalled hundreds of employees, but has yet to signal student safety as a top priority this fall. None of the 1,202 student safety staff who were laid off in June have been recalled to date.

Today, a coalition of parents, students, clergy, and SDP workers announced that on August 14 they would bring the Fast for Safe Schools to SDP’s steps for at least one day if City leaders and the District do not take action.

The Fast for Safe Schools originally encamped for 15 days in front of Governor Corbett’s office, shedding light on the dire situation that could befall Philadelphia’s schoolchildren this fall if student safety staff are not present in the schools. At the time, SDP Superintendent Hite visited the fast and signed a petition in support.

Along with other education advocates, the Fast for Safe Schools pushed for the Governor’s release of new state funds for Philadelphia schools, but now City leadership must act to support the District too.

"We were optimistic at first," said Marcia Teagle, who fasted in front of Gov. Corbett’s Philadelphia office. "But now as the school year nears, we are more worried than ever about student safety this fall."

With the first day of school just over one month away, Earlene Bly believes that her daughter and grandson will go back to schools that are less safe than they were last year unless the district acts to restore safety staff.

"We trust the district to make sure our children are safe at school. That trust will be broken if no one is there to keep our kids out of danger," said Bly, who also fasted in June.

Parents, teachers, students, politicians and community leaders have all identified the 1,202 laid-off student safety staff as playing a key role in preventing violence and defusing tensions in the lunchrooms, hallways and schoolyards of SDP schools.

In the past three weeks, scores of parents have called SDP to express their concern for the safety of their kids this fall. There has been no formal response. Meanwhile, contract negotiations between UNITE HERE Local 634, the union of lunchroom and student safety staff, and SDP continue without settlement.

During the last school year, there were 2,672 violent incidents in the School District of Philadelphia, according to the SDP.

The road to victory, the path to citizenship goes through Bakersfield. Let’s travel that road together.

Join the Caravan
August 14th

Bakersfield’s Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy is House Speaker Boehner’s lieutenant.
Will McCarthy play games to kill Comprehensive Immigration Reform?
Will McCarthy honor Bakersfield and welcome those who harvest those fields today?

Let’s go to Bakersfield.
We win there, we win everywhere!

Los Angeles

August 14th
6:00 AM  – Assemble
7:00 AM  – Caravan departs

Location
Dodger Stadium Parking Lot 13 on Stadium Way

Bakersfield

10:00 AM
Arrive Target Store Parking lot
1300 Wible Rd, Bakersfield, CA 93304

11:00 AM
Caravan through the streets of Bakersfield

12:00 PM
Yokuts Park / Rally, 4200 Empire St.

**Immediately following Rally, March to Representative McCarthy’s office
4100 Empire Drive, Suite 150 • Bakersfield, CA 93309

Contact: Sylvia Carranza (213) 381-5611 x128 [email protected]

Download printable flyer

Download printable flyer in Spanish

El camino hacia la victoria, el camino a la ciudadanía, pasa por Bakersfield. Recorramos juntos ese camino.

Participen en la caravana!
El 14 de Agosto

El Congresista republicano Kevin McCarthy de Bakersfield es el lugarteniente del Presidente de la Cámara, Boehner.
El Congresista McCarthy, ¿Jugará con nuestros futuros al no apoyar una reforma migratoria comprensiva?
El Congresista McCarthy, ¿Honrará al Bakersfield y dará la bienvenida a los que cosechan los campos hoy en día?

Vayamos a Bakersfield.
Si Ganamos allí, ¡ganamos en todos lados!

Los Ángeles

14 de Agosto
6:00 AM – Reunirse
7:00 AM – Sale la Caravana

Ubicación
Estacionamiento del Estadio de los Dodgers, Lote 13 sobre Stadium Way

Bakersfield

10:00 AM
Llegada al estacionamiento de la tienda Target
1300 Wible Rd, Bakersfield, CA 93304

11:00 AM
Caravana por las calles de Bakersfield

12:00 PM
Yokuts Park / Manifestación, 4200 Empire St.

*** Imediatamente después de la Manifestación, Marcha a la oficina del Representante McCarthy
4100 Empire Drive, Suite 150 • Bakersfield, CA 93309

Contacto: Sylvia Carranza (213) 381-5611 x128 [email protected]

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Descargar folleto imprimible en español

Buoyed by an outpouring of support from labor and community allies, food concession workers got a winning contract from their employer, Levy Restaurants at Nationals Ballpark.  Darryl Proctor, a grill cook and worker leader who had shared his story with students, community advocates and others, said that the folks who came out in support, "were like a backbone behind us…from the rallies, to the fan days, to the labor night when y’all came out on 19th July, I just want to say thank you so much."

On Tuesday July 23, workers voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new contract, which addresses one of the most important issues at the park: workers had seen union jobs disappear through Levy’s subcontracting of concession stands to non-union employers. Some of the highlights:

• $1.80 in raises over the lifetime of the 4 year contract
• Subcontracting by Levy to non-union companies phased out, so that all food stands will eventually be staffed by Levy union employees 
• An agreement that allows Levy workers at the ballpark to work for Levy at Verizon Center when work is available

Pearl Bailey, another cook and leader at the ballpark who spent much of her time organizing co-workers and speaking with allies, said, "It meant a lot to me that we had a lot of people supporting us, and that everybody thought that we deserved better as well. At first I thought we were alone… I’d like to tell everybody thank you for coming out and supporting us. You had a very big impact. It was huge victory for us."

Uncovered documents say hundreds more job cuts may be on the way

As the city reels from an announcement on Friday, July 19 of 2,100 job cuts in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), documents uncovered by UNITE HERE Local 1 indicate that 200 to 300 more lunchroom workers may be on the chopping block. These cuts would add to 163 lunchroom layoffs that already have been announced. Further layoffs would jeopardize a long-awaited new fresh food program that CPS plans to launch this fall.

Documents submitted by CPS to the Illinois State Board of Education and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that CPS schools "will eliminate the utilization of pre-plated meals completely," signaling an end of much-maligned pre-plated, frozen meals in school cafeterias.

However, the documents also indicate that CPS may look to cut 1252 to 1900 labor hours per day from its meal program, which would translate to the layoff of about 200 to 300 more lunchroom worker layoffs from what has already been announced. Workers say that additional cuts would set up the new fresh food program for failure before it starts.

"We have worked hard to get fresh food in the schools, but cooking food from scratch requires more workers, not fewer," said Linda Green, a lunchroom worker for over 20 years at CPS. "CPS is not being realistic about what it takes to serve the food these kids deserve."

CPS lunchroom workers, joined by parents and grandparents of CPS students, have campaigned for two years in an effort to bring more freshly cooked food to school cafeterias. As of last school year, 25% of Chicago Public Schools used a food service model that provides students with pre-packaged meals that arrive at the school frozen and are then reheated. In April, CPS lunchroom workers delivered 2,100 petitions signed by parents and grandparents of CPS students and by community members urging the Board of Education to phase out the frozen food model in school cafeterias.

The elimination of frozen meals in CPS cafeterias will provide inspiration to lunchroom workers, parents and students in other communities, as well. The campaign in Chicago is part of a nationwide effort seeking fresh food in school cafeterias, with workers in both Philadelphia and New Haven, Connecticut initiating similar campaigns in their public schools.

The layoffs of CPS lunchroom workers are part of systemic cuts since June of nearly 3,000 CPS employees including teachers and janitors.

Non-union workers at Oakland Airport fast food restaurants participated in a one-day strike on Sunday, July 14, building on the momentum of recent strikes by fast food and Walmart workers around the country.

"My bosses cut my hours to punish me for trying to form a union. They fired my co-worker for organizing, and they still haven’t brought her back to work. I’m tired of waiting for justice – I’m ready to fight!" said Oakland Airport Subway cashier Hayat Selmani.

A year ago, airport fast food workers launched a public campaign for better jobs – including a fair process to decide whether to form a union. Some workers have faced serious retaliation: the National Labor Relations Board just charged two OAK restaurants with breaking labor laws and firing workers who spoke out. And the Port of Oakland found that these same employers violated the living wage and fired workers who complained about it. (Photo by David Bacon.)

New York, NY – Following the recent tragedies in Bangladesh’s garment factories where more than a thousand workers were killed, labor groups urged the clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters to sign on to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. UNITE HERE, the labor union representing textile and hospitality workers throughout North America, collected approximately 12,000 petitions and distributed handbills at 40 American Eagle stores over the past month in an effort to urge American Eagle to join the Accord.

In a message to the Global Union Federation IndustriALL on Wednesday, July 10, American Eagle stated its intent to sign on to the Accord and join this historic effort to improve workplace safety in the troubled Bangladeshi garment industry. Global Union Federations IndustriALL and UNI worked with companies and NGOs to draft the Accord and convened companies and unions as signatories; UNITE HERE is an affiliate of both IndustriALL and UNI. American Eagle did not source from the factories where the calamities occurred, but as a significant buyer of Bangladeshi apparel, the company can play an important role in protecting worker safety and preventing future tragedies. Today, students and UNITE HERE members are joined by Amirul Haque Amin, President of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh, celebrating this victory and discussing next steps iindn the effort to expand the Accord to other retailers. Visiting New York on a US tour in conjunction with the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Mr. Amin is calling for greater cooperation through the Accord to improve conditions in the garment industry, and highlighting the urgent need to press other retailers to join in this initiative for meaningful reform in Bangladesh.

"It’s an exciting day for garment workers in Bangladesh and throughout the world. I’m looking forward to harnessing the energy of this victory and continuing to fight for workers’ rights abroad and here at home too," said Mike Stivers, a junior at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, who was part of the efforts to collect petitions urging American Eagle to join the Accord as part of UNITE HERE’s Organizing Beyond Barriers summer internship program.

Among NGWF’s membership were workers in the Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed 1,129 workers on April 24th. Following this tragedy, the NGWF has waged protests calling for full and fair compensation for the injured workers, as well as for the families of workers who were killed, and demanding that multinational companies buying apparel from Bangladesh join the Accord on Fire and Building Safety.  Mr. Amin sits on the Steering Committee for the Accord.

"The news that American Eagle has signed on to the Accord is a testament to the power that young individuals have. It is only through this sort of collective effort and intersectional collaboration that we were able to put so much pressure on a company like American Eagle and achieve legally-binding results,” Stivers added.

Also on Wednesday, a group of 17 North American retailers, including Wal-Mart, Gap, Target, Macy’s, and Nordstrom, announced a much weaker, alternative plan to address building and fire safety in Bangladesh that has been described by the International Labor Rights Forum as a "corporate-run factory auditing scheme, another in the long series of ineffective corporate auditing programs that these companies have touted for years."  The AFL-CIO and Change to Win Federation described the alternative plan as a "watered-down and unenforceable version of the Accord for those companies that would prefer not to make a serious commitment to worker’s rights." Labor rights activists view American Eagle’s move to join the binding, original Accord as an encouraging sign that more US retailers will join this more substantive plan to improve factory conditions in Bangladesh and prevent catastrophes like the collapse at Rana Plaza and the November 2012 Tazreen factory fire from ever happening again.