2 Years in the Streets – Fighting for the 99%!
Castlewood Workers Joined by Occupy Movement for Mass March on Second Anniversary of Lockout
Oakland, CA – Castlewood Country Club workers and UNITE HERE Local 2850 will join hundreds of religious leaders, students, union members, and participants in Occupy Oakland and Occupy San Francisco for a mass march through Pleasanton to Castlewood Country Club on Saturday, February 25th, at 9:30 am in protest of their two-year lockout of workers. The march will depart from Civic Park in downtown Pleasanton (corner of Main Street and Bernal Ave) and will continue along First Street/Sunol Boulevard to Castlewood Country Club (Castlewood Drive between Foothill Road and Pleasanton-Sunol Road).
Amidst the national outcry against the United States’ growing economic inequality, Castlewood workers are taking to the streets to protest the elite golf club’s two-year lockout of its food service staff. They will be joined by longtime allies and new activists inspired by Occupy Wall Street.
"Chase Bank took away my home in the foreclosure crisis. Castlewood took away my job and my health care in the lockout. Working people won’t have anything left unless we stand up for ourselves. Us Castlewood workers realized that two years ago, and now people all around the country are fighting back too," said Maria Ramirez, a Castlewood janitor.
"Many of Castlewood’s member-owners spent $25,000 for their memberships," said Ann Worth, a longtime union member and participant in Occupy Oakland. "They can justify spending that kind of money to play golf, but they still think it’s okay to squeeze more out of the people who work for them for $10 or $12 an hour. They expect workers to subsidize their expensive game by giving up affordable health care for their kids. It’s a perfect example of what’s been going wrong in this country: the rich are getting richer by denying everyone else their share in the American Dream."
Last August, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board issued a Complaint charging that Castlewood has maintained an unlawful lockout "in order to deny the Locked Out Employees the right to return to their former positions of employment because the Locked Out Employees joined and/or supported the Union, and to discourage employees from engaging in Union activities." An ongoing hearing on the case is expected to conclude March 1st.
UNITE HERE Local 2850 represents workers in hotels, airport concessions, gaming, and food service. From Concord to Oakland, Petaluma to Berkeley, we’re a fighting union dedicated to raising standards in our industries and demand respect on the job.