/* fivel rothberg */ » strike

some striking workers to support

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:50:07 +0000

now here are some folks that i can really feel a sense of solidarity with (as opposed to the stagehands or wga members). below is the update from CUPE’s website on the week long strike by 2400 Canadian university employees. Home / Strikes and Lockouts

CUPE 1975 strike hits week one

NOVEMBER 13, 2007 09:03 AM

CUPE 1975 members ended their first full week on the picket line with a rally in Saskatoon, Nov. 9.

More than 2,400 CUPE 1975 members at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina began a full-scale strike on November 2.

Speaker after speaker praised CUPE 1975 members for their courage and criticized the university administration for its disrespectful treatment of staff and its poor labour relations.

CUPE National President Paul Moist commended CUPE 1975 members for taking a stand against the employer and promised they would have the full support of the union – the largest in the country.

“We have a saying in CUPE. You take on one of us, you take on all of us,” he told the massive crowd of members, faculty, students and community supporters.

Moist urged the employer’s bargaining spokesperson, Barb Daigle, to do more than comment on the dispute. Noting she earns more than $169,000 a year, Moist said it was time that Daigle actually got to the bargaining table and helped to negotiate a fair contract settlement.

He told the strikers to stand together and stay strong.

Professor Claire Card, a spokesperson for the ad hoc group of concerned academics, told the crowd of more than 2,000 people that she’s inspired by CUPE 1975.

The ad hoc group initiated a petition a few days before the rally urging the university’s board of governors to direct its bargaining team to return to the table “in good faith” and settle the dispute.

Card told the crowd the petition also calls on the board to conduct an external, independent review of labour relations at the university. As she stated, “the strike by CUPE 1975 is a clear indication there are serious labour relations problems.”

Although nearly every university departments was recently subjected to a performance review, Card said “the one main unit that seemed to be omitted from the review process was the university’s administration, which includes human resources. The time for their review has come,” she stated to sustained applause.”

Linda Reiber, the emcee for the rally and a member of the bargaining committee, thanked students, faculty and the broader community for their support.

“Your solidarity means so much to us. It strengthens our picket line. It lifts our spirits. And it affirms our belief we deserve a fair contract settlement.”

writers’ block and other theatrics

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:46:13 +0000

Members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Pickets lines were held in the two entertainment capitols, NYC and LA. Protesting members on the news talked about getting the money they deserve from the major broadcasters who essentially use their material for free online. They’d also like to get a larger cut of DVD sales. While I can see the logic behind their arguments, I still do not feel especially sympathetic toward them. Literally, (no pun intended) all of the writers a saw on the picket lines were white. And, I can’t imagine that these folks are hurting for money like so many other non-unionized and unionized workers out there. At the same time my instinct tells me to support union efforts. Yet that I am now questioning if that is the most sensible stance to take.

On Saturday, November 10th, members of Local One, the Broadway Stagehands went on strike. That makes two significant simultaneous strikes in NYC’s entertainment world. Again, a vast majority of the Local One Stagehands are white. In this case they may be working class, yet I have a feeling that it is a fairly closed shop, so to speak. Every time I’ve passed by the theatre district and watch stagehands run around they have all been white males.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

Where were these union members when the Taxi Workers Alliance went on strike against the City’s unfair, forced GPS and credit card installments into their cabs??? It gets me really pissed that these workers want others to by sympathetic to their cause when they’ve done jack shit for their fellow unions. Think about what those Hollywood writers do. They’re the ones who write a great deal of the asinine, racist material that graces our TV screens. They write the crap soap operas, late night comedies and über racist programs like Anderson Cooper 360.*

Meanwhile, cabbies live off of $60 a day or less. Straight-up poverty wages, especially in this expensive city. They have to work 12 hour shifts just to make sure they earn back the money they have to spend for the cab rental and gasoline. On top of that many cabbies work 6 or 7 days a week to stay afloat. A vast majority of them do not have health insurance for themselves or their families. Then, the city forces cabbies to have faulty GPS and credit card systems in their vehicles which makes their jobs harder, not easier like the TLC and Mayor Bloomberg would like us to think.

So, where was Local One when the cabbies went on strike? What were members of the WGA writing about cabbies when they were striking? Were they making fun of taxi drivers who don’t look or talk like them?

Guess I’ll see if I can get a refund for those Les Mis tickets. ; – p

*Does anyone else remember a giant billboard on the west side highway that showed a very white Anderson Cooper leading some very black men. he looked like a journalistic version of Indiana Jones.

UNITE HERE protest in front of the Holiday Inn, King Street in Ontario, Canada

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:47:23 +0000

on tuesday october 16th, the day i arrived in Toronto, i set my bags down in the hotel and wandered around the city. the design exchange on Bay Street. – had an interesting display of innovative food vendor cart mock-ups. i already wrote about the world press photo exhibit below which i saw the same day.

after checking out a few more galleries i started to head back to the sheraton and happened to pass a dozen people marching back and forth in front of a Holiday Inn on King St. As they were wearing UNITE HERE placards i swung over to see what was up. * They said they were there b/c twenty workers were locked-out of the hotel (put on temporary leave) for three consecutive weeks after pushing for better working conditions and wages. they asked me to come back the next day, wednesday, to catch the larger demonstration.

i returned at noon on wednesday, oct. 17th, and witnessed a pretty amazing rally and march from Metro Hall on John St. to the Holiday Inn on King. one significant observation was that, compared to my experiences in Philly and New York, there was barely a police presence. No cops in riot gear, no 50 squad cars and sirens blaring. i’m sure there could have been some cops undercover though. the rally was also distinct as there was a heavier focus on conquering poverty in general and standing in solidarity w/ non-industrialized nations besides addressing the union members’ own needs. according to the Hotel Workers Rising website some 2000 people participated in the march and demonstration. It was really cool to see all of the CUPE members out supporting UNITE HERE.

i took the opportunity to record a bit of the rally and march on my digital camera and get an interview w/ John Sultana, a locked out union worker.

check out the slideshow w/ interview and the brief footage of a hotel worker speaking at the rally.

* back in Philly the Media Mobilizing Project is working in collaboration with UNITE HERE and the Hotel Workers Rising Campaign.