• California Governor Threatens To Pay State Workers Minimum Wage
• As ASARCO Emerges From Bankruptcy, AFL-CIO Urges Worker-Friendly Solution
• Midwest Airlines Pressing Hard For Pilot Concessions Using Bankruptcy Threat
• New York Labor Department Busts Wage-Stealing Employers Supplying Macy’s, Others

Economic Report:

Sales of existing homes in June grew at the slowest rate in 10 years. According to the National Association of Realtors, home sales were down 2.6 percent since May. The number of homes for sale at the end of June was up by 0.2 percent, meaning the market is adding inventory as less people are buying.

On Wednesday, the New York Department of Labor cited a Queen's factory that produced clothing for Macy’s, Banana Republic and more for underpaying workers. According to the complaint by city officials, the factory employed mostly Chinese immigrants and cheated them of more than $3 million in pay. More than 10,000 items were marked by the labor department with tags that identify them as being produced by “underpaid workers.” Officials said the company “coached employees” in how to lie about what they were actually being paid.

By Doug Cunningham

Midwest Airlines is pressuring pilots for concessions threatening to declare bankruptcy if the pilots union doesn’t give the airline what it wants. The union says the concessions are drastic. Midwest has set a Friday deadline for a concessions agreement it says it needs to avoid a bankruptcy filing. Cuts are being imposed on flight attendants as well. Midwest is owned by a private equity consortium headed by TPG Capital.

By Doug Cunningham

The U.S. Justice Department and Attorneys General in 22 states will decide how copper company ASARCO will emerge from bankruptcy and one way is much better for workers than the other. The AFL-CIO is urging the government to accept the bid of Vedanta Resources PLC. ASARCO employs 1500 United Steelworker members as copper miners. Grupo Mexico used to own ASARCO and it was constantly at war with its workers and their unions – which include the USW, the Teamsters, Boilermakers, IBEW, IAM, IUOE, Millrights and Pipefitters. The AFL-CIO says Vedanta PLC has a much better record and for workers and their families would be the better company to bring ASARCO out of bankruptcy.

Will it be minimum wage for California’s state employees? It’s an option if a budget stalemate isn’t broken. Jesse Russell reports:

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened on Thursday to cut the pay of state workers down to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour if a budget stalemate isn’t broken. Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature are battling over a $15.2 billion budget deficit and the governor suggested the pay cut as a way to save the state money as the budget languishes. The executive order would pay workers once a deal is signed. In the meantime, it would also force state agencies to terminate 20,000 contracts with interns and temp workers. The Service Employees International Union represents many of the state workers and is considering legal action if the Governor moves to slash wages.

Yesterday I attended a webinar run by AFL-CIO Online Mobilization Manager Chris Kenngot on the national fed's new LaborWeb content management system - now running in open beta and available for all interested AFL union leadership to try for free.

read more

By Anthony Nadler , TC Daily Planet
July 23, 2008

This week the Mall of America (MOA) became an unusual site for the return of a group once thought to be a relic of Minnesota’s radical union past – the Industrial Workers of the World. Yesterday a group of workers at a MOA Starbucks delivered a letter to their management announcing their affiliation with the I.W.W. union and making a number of demands about working conditions and compensation.

The Starbucks Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers of the World, has been organizing Starbucks workers for more than four years in cities across the U.S. including New York, Chicago, Grand Rapids, MI, and Minneapolis. The union claims to have over 200 current and former Starbucks employees as members nationally. This is their first public union action in Minnesota. The demands of the MOA Starbucks workers include calls for a living wage, automatic cost-of-living pay increases, and an expanded tuition reimbursement program. One of the benefits often advertised in Starbucks’s employment promotions is tuition benefits. A detailed explanation of the benefits packages on Starbucks website says this benefit will be considered only for “accredited courses relating to Starbucks business.” Union members say the tuition benefit is given only for study in areas relevant to future Starbucks employment.

The union action comes at a sensitive time for Starbucks, just after the company announced they would be closing over 600 stores nationwide and 27 in Minnesota. While neither of the two Starbucks locations at the Mall of America is slated for closure, the workers letter of demands also asks for fair severance packages for workers at closing stores.

Yesterday’s letter of demands comes on the heels of another controversial incident at the Mall of America I Starbucks. On July 11, Erik Forman, a former employee, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (N.L.R.B) claiming he had been fired the previous day as retaliation for union activity. After Forman’s firing, five workers attempted to get management to reverse the decision through a petition and a short work stoppage. Supporters collected just over 50 signatures from Starbucks workers around the Twin Cities in a petition of support for Forman. Speaking for concerned employees, Jake Bell, a current MOA Starbucks worker, said, “We’re afraid that if Starbucks is willing to break the law to fire Erik, they might fire any of us.” [Editor’s note: Full disclosure—Jake Bell also works with the TC Daily Planet.]

In New York City, where the Starbucks Workers Union has also been active, the N.L.R.B. has accused Starbucks of at least 30 violations. In one settlement, Starbucks agreed to rehire two fired workers. Starbucks Workers Union sources also say their organizing has been instrumental to significant pay increases for New York City workers.

Five Starbucks workers participating at a press conference today at the Mall of America said that they were first attracted to employment with the company because of its reputation for generous benefits and social responsibility. However, they felt that reputation had proved illusionary. Workers participating in today’s press conference said Starbucks baristas are all making much less than a living wage (with salaries starting at $7.60/hour), facing hurdles to get enough hours needed to maintain eligibility for their health benefits and many are not in the position to be able to pay for the premiums and co-pays of company health packages if available. Starbucks requires employees work 160 hours every two months to qualify for healthcare packages in which the company covers a portion of insurance costs. Workers at the press conference today said it is not always possible for employees to secure enough hours on regular basis to qualify for these benefits.

The I.W.W. is a unique union in many respects. Since the early 1900s, the I.W.W. has tried to organize all workers regardless of race, gender and level of skill. They have tended to favor direct action by workers rather than working through governmental mediation or electoral politics. According to Macalester College labor historian Peter Rachleff, the I.W.W. was very active in the 1920s and went into a slump in following decades due to government repression and the success of more powerful unions. Rachleff says the public re-emergence of the I.W.W. now is partially “in response to globalization, economic neoliberalism, and the inability of official unions to develop strategies to resist corporate onslaught.” The Starbucks Workers Union is open to all Starbucks employees and does not require members pay dues.

Local union members would not say if they had plans for any further public actions. Starbucks has not returned phone and email requests for comments and specific information about this story.

In Portland, Oregon this week, U. S. District Judge Anna Brown held Wal-Mart must face claims by Adidas that footwear manufactured for Wal-Mart bearing two-stripe patterns violates the shoemaker’s three-stripe trademark.

In addition, as part of the copyright infringement lawsuit, Adidas has accused Wal-Mart of false advertising, claiming Wal-Mart mislead customers by marketing a pair of Adidas imitations as “running shoes.” Apparently, the shoes will burst into flames before disintigrating if you actually try and run in them - lawyers for Adidas, in explaining how Wal-Mart’s shoes failed numerous durability tests, have said the shoes are “dangerous” and “not fit to run in.” You can find out more on the false advertising claim here.

Beyond the claim of infringement by Wal-Mart’s two-stripe pattern, Judge Brown must still decide whether Wal-Mart must defend the five remaining claims:

Brown will issue a decision later on whether to keep or reject five other claims in the case before a jury trial begins Oct. 6. They include Wal-Mart’s use of four-stripe designs and a claim by the world’s second-largest sporting-goods maker that Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart uses false advertising.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette News In Brief

The local food movement has energetically spread across the United States in the last few years, spurring activist consumers to support local farms, shop at farmers markets and take pride in regional produce. The movement’s popularity hasn’t escaped the eyes of public relations executives - and Wal-Mart is eager to get in on the action.

Despite the fact that only a fraction of Wal-Mart’s produce is grown locally, the mammoth retailer has been quick to take credit for the small amount of local produce it DOES sell. BloggingStocks advises that this isn’t really important. According to the column, what Wal-Mart really needs is more P.R.

This has been a recurring theme in Wal-Mart’s environmental program. What small steps the retailer does make are inevitably blown all out of proportion by the company’s marketing department, making genuine analysis difficult. Wal-Mart’s publicity around local sourcing distracts from the fact that the retailer - the largest grocer in North America - sources the vast majority of its food from industrial producers. A vital part of “Buying Local” means not only supporting small farmers, but also supporting businesses that invest in the community, which Wal-Mart certainly fails to do. Want to support local farms and farmers markets? Go directly to the source. It’s better for the environment AND your community.

Wal-Mart stages marketing appearance to promote locally-grown produce [BloggingStocks]

Not too long ago, I wrote about Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the entrance of the world’s largest retailer more heavily into locally-grown fresh produce. As a way of differentiating itself, Wal-Mart is really on the right track here. Partnering with local merchants near each community it serves could help repair the rift between small-town merchants and the retailing behemoth that has steadily grown for the last two decades.