As the Democratic Presidential primaries inch closer, two of the front-runners took time recently to join picketers at Chicago’s Congress Hotel. Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards made separate stops at the the picket line to show their solidarity with the workers’ cause.

"Your cause is the cause of working people," Edwards proclaimed. "Making sure that those who work earn a decent wage, get health care coverage and can actually support their families and their children." The visit was a return trip for Edwards who stopped by to show his support four years ago, at the beginning of the strike.

Several weeks earlier, Barack Obama’s presence at the hotel saw him waving a UNITE HERE placard over his head. "You are going to have a friend in the White House who believes that workers can organize," Obama shouted. "Who believes in union."

Illinois’ large population and bumped-up primary date makes it an important stop for candidates seeking nomination.

Eight people who were fired and one who was suspended in 2003 for trying to organize a union at Telcom, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, recently received a combined $88,834 in back pay following a ruling by a federal administrative law judge, according to New England Joint Board Leader Warren Pepicelli. In 2002, employees at the company tried to work with managers to improve conditions but were ignored in their efforts, leading the workers to seek to organize a union. After the results of a first election were overturned, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a new election be held in June of 2003. In May of that year, the company unlawfully fired the workers who received the settlement. Carl Proper, of the New England Joint Board, noted that it shouldn’t take such acts of “exceptional courage to speak up for basic rights – fair wages, good benefits and the right to bargain.”

Today teen apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters launched its back-to-school clothing line at stores across North America. At the same time, UNITE HERE and student groups announced they would step up the “American Vulture” campaign, which calls for a boycott of the company until it enforces its Code of Conduct and prevents worker intimidation at its Canadian distribution contractor. Activists in eight major cities joined workers this week to leaflet at highly visible downtown American Eagle locations.

www.americanvulture.org

“The response to this boycott has been tremendous,” said Alex Dagg, Canadian Co-Director of UNITE HERE. “Young people truly care about the rights of workers and are demonstrating that by taking their business away from American Eagle Outfitters this summer.”

Student groups including United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), and several Toronto-area student unions have already joined with UNITE HERE in support of the American Vulture back-to-school boycott.

“As students and consumers, we are angry that a company like American Eagle would betray its own values,” said Hamid Osman, president of the York Federation of Students, representing over 45,000 students. “We are spreading the word to students everywhere to boycott American Eagle until the company does the right thing and respects workers rights at NLS.”

Leaflets call on customers to boycott American Eagle and inform them of the labor dispute at National Logistics Services (NLS), AEO’s Canadian distribution contractor. Earlier this year, NLS workers applied to join UNITE HERE in order to improve poor working conditions. They had not received raises in two to three years, lacked a fair process to move into permanent employment, dealt with daily disrespect from management, and faced unfair policy changes, like increased hours before overtime is paid. NLS management then carried out an intense anti-union campaign, hiring a US-based labor relations firm that arranged daily two-hour anti-union meetings, hung huge "vote no" posters in the workplace, and mailed an anti-union DVD to workers’ homes.

The campaign calling for the boycott of the apparel chain, which was announced June 12, has since gained momentum through a North America-wide online campaign. UNITE HERE is undertaking extensive online outreach and viral counter-marketing directed at American Eagle customers, tapping into youth-oriented sites including YouTube and the hugely popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace.

Thus far the online boycott petition, which can be viewed at www.americanvulture.org has garnered several thousand signatures, and hundreds more have signed boycott cards at events held across North America. Most recently, campaign organizers reached out to thousands of student activists at the country’s largest conference of progressive activists, the U.S. Social Forum, held last month in Atlanta.

www.americanvulture.org

University students joined UNITE HERE members and supporters yesterday to announce the beginning of a Back-to-School boycott of American Eagle Outfitters near the retailer’s Union Square store. The rally coincided with American Eagle’s annual shareholder meeting in Manhattan and featured hundreds of activists pledging not to purchase clothing from the chain store until it enforces its Code of Conduct at the company’s Canadian distribution contractor, National Logistics Services. Over the coming months, thousands of young people will sign the boycott pledge online and outside American Eagle Outfitters stores.

American Eagle outsources its Canadian distribution operations to National Logistics Services (NLS), but the clothing company directly owned and operated the distribution center until early 2006. Though they no longer own the facility, American Eagle remains NLS’s largest customer, and the distribution center serves the retailer’s expanding base of 73 stores in Canada.

Since American Eagle sold the facility, workers have reported that conditions have deteriorated, wages have stagnated, and there is little job security. Workers at NLS faced harassment and intimidation when they tried to improve conditions by forming a union. Employing a tactic outside the norm of Ontario labor relations, NLS hired an American consulting firm that orchestrated an anti-union campaign against the 180 workers. After this campaign of misinformation, workers lost the vote to join UNITE HERE despite expressing a desire to form a union just one week before.

American Eagle’s Code of Conduct for Vendors and Contractors specifically protects freedom of association and other basic rights for the employees of its contractors. Though UNITE HERE has charged that NLS’s actions violate the terms set out in the company’s code, American Eagle has not taken any steps to enforce it and take responsibility for the dispute at its subcontractor.

Student groups from both countries including United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), and several Toronto-area student unions have joined with UNITE HERE to launch the Back-to-School Boycott. The groups will encourage their members, who number in the tens of thousands, to sign the boycott pledge at www.AmericanVulture.org. Store actions in targeted cities will also inform customers about the boycott. Already, more than 3,500 supporters throughout North America (including many student activists) have contacted American Eagle and NLS to voice their outrage with the tactics used at the warehouse.

http://www.americanvulture.org

Hundreds of members of UNITE HERE Canada’s Ontario Council rallied outside an American Eagle Outfitters store in Toronto’s Fairview Mall on Friday to protest unfair treatment of workers at the third-party warehouse that distributes merchandise to the apparel retailer’s stores throughout Canada.

On April 30, a majority of workers at National Logistics Services, located in Mississauga, applied to the Ontario Labour Relations Board to vote to join UNITE HERE. Workers wanted a union because they have not received raises in two to three years, lack a fair process to move from casual to permanent employment, deal with daily disrespect from management, and face unfair policy changes, including increasing hours worked before overtime is paid.

Tell American Eagle: Support Warehouse Workers’ Rights

The same day that workers applied for union certification, NLS management intensified its anti-union campaign. The company hired a U.S.-based labor relations firm that, acting outside of the norm of labor relations in Ontario, arranged a series of mandatory meetings with employees. Workers were subjected to daily two- to four-hour anti-union meetings, huge "VOTE NO" posters hung in the workplace; the company even mailed an anti-union DVD to their homes. After the intimidation and misinformation, workers lost the vote for a union by a large margin despite strong support for a union just one week before.

"We work hard and want to be treated fairly," said an NLS worker who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. "We feel insecure about our jobs because of the company’s intimidation. We need a union because we have no voice."

"We will bring the story of these workers’ struggle to all NLS customers, including Bluenotes, the Shoe Company, Club Monaco, Sporting Life and others," said Alex Dagg, UNITE HERE Canada Co-Director. "While NLS asked its employees to sit through hours of anti-union propaganda, the company lost valuable time for filling the distribution needs of its clients. The union-busting was a lose-lose situation for NLS clients and employees."

American Eagle Outfitters is NLS’s largest client and, until 2006, owned and operated the Mississauga distribution centre.

Tell American Eagle: Support Warehouse Workers’ Rights

Arizona laundry workers and their allies fanned out across three cities and two states on April 20 as part of a regional Fox Chase to seek out hiding restaurateur Sam Fox, owner of Fox Restaurant Concepts. Fox has been laying low, hiding from Milum Textile laundry workers since workers and community supporters attempted to deliver petitions to his Scottsdale headquarters in March. Fox’s office refused to allow the workers to enter.

Sounding bugles and donning appropriate Fox chasing gear, laundry workers and their supporters stepped up their hunt, scouting for Sam Fox at each of his 19 restaurant locations in Tucson, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Mesa, and Denver. They also distributed information to patrons about labor rights violations that have occurred at Milum with Fox’s ongoing business support.

“This Fox is clearly a stealthy restaurateur,” noted Cristina Vazquez, UNITE HERE Western Region Vice President. “We just wish he would use his creativity towards choosing a high road linen supplier rather than evading responsibility. Do the hounds have to be literally at his heals before he responds to workers’ pleas for justice?”

On April 12, over 1,500 Washington D.C. hotel workers joined UNITE HERE International President Bruce Raynor and Local 25 Executive Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman to rally for workers’ rights and a fair contract agreement in upcoming negotiations.

“Hotel workers deserve jobs that support families,” explained Boardman. “They are fighting for a better life for themselves and their children; there are so many other hotel workers in our city who don’t even have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream because they are not part of a collective bargaining agreement.”

Over 4,500 Local 25 members are affected by collective bargaining agreements that will expire on Sept. 15. Local 25 members are calling on their employers to sign a contract that ensures affordable healthcare for families, a decent pension, and job security.

On March 30, workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s HMSHost ratified their first union contract. HMSHost operates food and beverage concessions (restaurants, fast food, coffee shops) at the Atlanta airport and at many other airports around the country.

The agreement, covering 800 workers, is the first-ever union contract for Atlanta airport concessions workers. Highlights of it include across-the-board wage increases, lower employee health insurance costs, more paid time off, and better meal reimbursements.

"Now we have the power to enforce our rights," explained HMSHost utility worker Roger Craft, adding, "now we’ll want to do our jobs better because we will feel more involved in our job."

Nearly 500 people gathered to watch as UNITE HERE, the New York City Fire Department, city officials, workers and school children commemorated the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. The fire claimed the lives of 146 immigrant garment workers, mostly young women.

Among those officials who joined UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor in marking the anniversary of the tragedy were His Eminence, Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York; New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; and New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.

The fire at Triangle Waist Company, located in New York City’s Greenwich Village, was one of the worst industrial tragedies in our nation’s history, and, until September 11, 2001, it was the city’s deadliest workplace disaster.

The tragedy marked a turning point in the city’s fire safety efforts and in the struggle by workers to organize for safer, more just working conditions. It remains significant to this day, highlighting dangerous, inhumane conditions that workers continue to face.

Read more: http://www.unitehere.org/presscenter/release.php?ID=3065

At a huge rally in Las Vegas last Friday, over 5,000 members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 committed to fight for a fair, new contract and received the support of presidential candidates. Local 226 is negotiating new contracts covering over 50,000 workers employed in Las Vegas casinos. The workers’ current contract expires May 31. Raising wages, maintaining free healthcare, and preserving the ‘Las Vegas Dream’ are among the union?s top priorities.

Accompanied on stage by members clad in red UNITE HERE gear, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, addressed the boisterous crowd, promising to stand with union members during their contract fight. The candidate appearances also underscored Local 226’s importance in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary. As the Las Vegas Sun put it, with Nevada’s Presidential Caucus scheduled for early 2008, "the road to Democratic victory next January is probably going to go through a union hall on Commerce Street in downtown Las Vegas."