http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/06/tradeunions.labour
TUC faces battle over call for general strike
· Hardliners angry ministers blocked leftwinger's bill
· POA refuses to withdraw 'embarrassing distraction'
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
The Guardian, Saturday September 6 2008
Restoring secondary picketing powers for the unions has been an important cause for the left but has been rejected by Gordon Brown. Photograph: Frank Baron
Hardline unions are set to split the TUC next week with a motion calling for the first general strike since 1926 in protest against Labour's refusal to give back secondary picketing rights and allow prison officers to strike.
The Prison Officers Association has angered the TUC council by calling for a series of one-day general strikes in protest at ministers blocking a leftwing Labour backbencher's bill this year which would have restored many of the union rights taken away by the Conservatives in the 1980s and 1990s.
It will be backed by the RMT rail union, led by Bob Crow, which has organised a series of strikes on the London Underground and in national rail companies over wages and conditions this year. Other unions such as the Fire Brigades Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union may support it.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=15852
Posted: 4.07pm Friday 29 August 2008
Hundreds join picket lines as London bus workers
On the picket lines at Westbourne Park in west London (Pic: » Guy Smallman)
Joan, chair of her local Unite branch, on the picket line at Willesden Junction, north west London (Pic: Sarah Cox)
Up to 100 strikers joined the picket line at Lea Interchange in Leyton, east London(Pic: Swalee Emambaccus)
by Esme Choonara
Thousands of bus workers in west and east London are striking today over pay – making a huge impact on services at one of the biggest companies in the city.
Hundreds of strikers, members of the Unite union, joined picket lines outside the nine garages.
The drivers at First Centrewest and First Capital East are striking over pay after rejecting a 3.5 percent pay offer. Supervisors at First Capital East also joined the strike.
The strike was extremely solid with only a small handful of drivers going in across the company.
Several bus workers joined the union on the picket lines so that they could be part of the strike.
At the Dagenham garage in east London, strikers said that 80 percent of engineers didn't cross the picket line.

AA union ad: Management 'tearing a once-proud airline apart'
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=54803292.blog
AA union ad: Management 'tearing a once-proud airline apart'
American's ground workers' union is slamming the company's management in newspaper ads running in three cities this morning, a sign that labor-management relations at the USA's biggest carrier remain frayed. In the ads, the union says management's actions are "tearing a once-proud airline apart," according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (free registration) -– one of the papers the union chose for the ad. The ads were also scheduled to run in the Tulsa World and the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Associated Press writes "the Transport Workers Union, the airline's biggest labor group and the one seen as most friendly toward management, took out advertisements to blame company leaders for the lack of a new labor contract. And, picking open an old sore, the union criticized American for giving stock-based compensation to executives while thousands of rank-and-file workers face layoffs." On that subject, AP notes that AA "says the payments totaling more than $250 million over the last three years to several hundred managers are part of their compensation and are not bonuses."

http://www.wrp.org.uk/news/3497
aturday, 30 August 2008
LONDON BUS STRIKE ‘SOLID’
Defiant striking busworkers outside the Northumberland Park bus depot in north London yesterday
‘the strike was properly solid! Only four buses went out of 142 buses,’ Unite Rep Mickey Leachman said when he spoke to News line at Lea Interchange Garage on the picket line about the strength of the bus workers’ pickets yesterday.
Bus workers across north, central and west London, came out on strike for better pay and to bring drivers’ and other grades performing identical jobs, up to London-wide pay levels which can differ by as much as £6000 a year.
Leachman continued: ‘We want one pay for all and equality. There are other bus companies which have balloted for industrial action and they will be taking place in the near future.
‘We would like to see all bus workers out together!’ he emphasised.
Unite Branch Secretary Jay Mistry told News line on the picket line at Westbourne Park Garage: ‘We have had low pay rises as long as I can remember and I’ve been here 15 years.
‘We now feel that we have more support from the union and because inflation is so high we are not accepting a low offer.’

difusiontel@tel.org.ar
www.tel.org.ar
13 and June 14, 2008
International Seminar on Public Transport Passenger "Situation Sector and the Role of Workers"
In successfully held the International Seminar on Public Transport Passenger "Situation Sector and the Role of Workers' (Declared Interest Social the Buenos Aires) on 13 and June 14, 2008.
Inaugural Meeting
During the inaugural session, which was attended by over 250 people filled the St. Maarten Chamber of the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires, spoke the international guests from 6 countries americas America and Europe. Statements were also made of subway workers, collective, trains and airports. In our country there were guests from the cities of Mendoza, Rosario, La Plata and, of course, Buenos Aires. In the day on Saturday was discussed in committee, exchanged experiences and proposals for the sector, and left open lines of joint work for the future.
More
Images of the Seminar
International Seminar
4 th International Seminar on Education Flexibility, and Response Division of Workers
"Details of the Seminar On 16 and May 17, TEL organized in Buenos Aires y en el marco del Proyecto Latinoamericano (PL), the 4th International Seminar on "Answers to union strategies entrepreneurs are relaxed and precarious employment contract, subject of great importance for the present and future of the working class and its organizations.

LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport29-2008aug29,0,2064940.story
LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
Union officials for baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors say the walkout will continue through the holiday weekend.
By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:16 PM PDT, August 28, 2008
Threatening to inconvenience air travelers throughout the Labor Day weekend, several hundred airline service workers -- including baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors -- walked off the job today at Los Angeles International Airport after months of inconclusive contract talks with their employers.
Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 went on strike at about noon at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and other terminals serving American, United, Southwest and Northwest airlines -- some of the busiest at the airport. Union officials say they will continue the action through the weekend, when LAX typically sees 850,000 passengers pass through the airport.
The workers are employed by private companies that contract with the airlines at LAX for a variety of services. Those firms provide about 5,000 janitors, skycaps, baggage handlers, aircraft cabin cleaners, security personnel and attendants for travelers with disabilities. About 2,500 of the workers are represented by the SEIU's airport division.

LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport29-2008aug29,0,2064940.story
LAX workers go on strike, threatening Labor Day weekend disruptions
Union officials for baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors say the walkout will continue through the holiday weekend.
By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:16 PM PDT, August 28, 2008
Threatening to inconvenience air travelers throughout the Labor Day weekend, several hundred airline service workers -- including baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors -- walked off the job today at Los Angeles International Airport after months of inconclusive contract talks with their employers.
Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 went on strike at about noon at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and other terminals serving American, United, Southwest and Northwest airlines -- some of the busiest at the airport. Union officials say they will continue the action through the weekend, when LAX typically sees 850,000 passengers pass through the airport.
The workers are employed by private companies that contract with the airlines at LAX for a variety of services. Those firms provide about 5,000 janitors, skycaps, baggage handlers, aircraft cabin cleaners, security personnel and attendants for travelers with disabilities. About 2,500 of the workers are represented by the SEIU's airport division.

Chicago Pace Bus Drivers Come Down With "Blue Flu"
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/pace.bus.drivers.2.797666.html
Aug 18, 2008 8:39 am US/Central
Pace Bus Drivers Come Down With "Blue Flu"
MARKHAM, Ill. (STNG) ― About 36 Pace bus drivers working in the south suburbs have the "blue flu" Monday morning, causing a service slowdown according to Pace officials.
About 2 a.m. Pace officials began to be notified that about 10 percent of its 155 full-time drivers operating out of the South Division in Markham had called in sick, according to Pace spokesman Patrick Waldron.
But at 8 a.m. there were 36 drivers who've called off and there were 63 missed trips on nearly a dozen routes.
"It appears to be part of a labor dispute,'' according to Waldron, who said, "It's a blue flu."
Routes that are "completely out'' as of 8 a.m. are the 348, 753 and 452. "Each of these are short routes that connect with neighborhood Metra stations.'' he said.
The 348 does operate every half hour throughout the day, but the 753 and the 452 only operate during rush hour. Pace routes 353 and 352 could be considered alternates to the 348.
The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1028, rejected a tentative agreement with the drivers on Aug. 12, when it went to a vote and that "appears to have led to [the situation] today,'' Waldron said.

http://www.bostonschoolbusunion.org/
Tentative Agreement Reached in Contract Negotiations
Drivers and supporters rally and prepare to strike outside 11th hour negotiations at the Painters Union hall, August 20, 2008. photo: Maureen Skehan
All Out to
Ratification Meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 2nd
Boston Teachers Union Hall 6:00 PM
Read and Download First Student's Final Offer
Read and Download
Memorandum of Agreement regarding GPS
Alert! No Concessions! No Cutbacks!
Discussions for a new labor agreement between the Union and First Student are continuing. The Union is determined to fight for the hardworking women and men who for over 3 decades have provided safe, on-time, professional transportation to the students of Boston.
Today, June 30, 2008, the Union presented a proposal to the company which states in part:
"In the interest of concluding a fair and just Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and allowing ample time and opportunity for serious joint efforts to resolve all remaining areas of dispute, the Union proposes a limited extension. The intent is to allow time to reach an agreement well prior to the “start up” of the 2008-2009 school year and spare the tremendous hardship to the students and parents of Boston, as well as the significant costs to the parties, financial and otherwise, associated with a strike. This Extension Agreement would include an agreement for retroactivity to July 1, 2008 for the new CBA, including but not limited to wages, benefits, terms and conditions, as well as other issues of interest to the parties.

Vote “No” on the Tentative Contract! Send It Back!
Mobilize for Membership Action!
This should have been contract negotiations that showed our union’s strength. Instead it showed weakness — a six-year contract below the rate of inflation and no COLA (cost of living adjustment). To make matters worse, even before the ink is dry another brother, Delmont Blakeney, gets killed on the job. Why? Because of the employers’ drive for profits and production first! They get billions in blood money at our expense.
When they reached agreement at the Big Table on the tentative contract, PMA stopped negotiating at the Safety Committee table, packed their bags and left with half of ILWU’s safety concerns not even addressed. (What’ll happen in local negotiations?) This is an insult to working longshoremen and especially to our members who have been injured and died on the waterfront in one of the most dangerous jobs, more dangerous than firefighters. Three have died on the Oakland waterfront this year, two at SSA alone.
The membership of the ILWU has always been proud of our union’s history of rank-and-file democracy and action, our coastwide contract and the hiring hall. This tentative agreement, if passed, will continue to undermine all of the above. Like with the last ’02 Contract Caucus “gag rule”, the members received no information until the last minute. Now we’ll have a couple of days to get a copy, read it, digest it, discuss it with fellow workers and decide before the union meeting. If it passes, this will be the first time we’ve been shackled with two back-to-back six-year contracts and the first time the Caucus voted unanimously to ratify a tentative contract—both point us in the wrong direction.

Proposed ILWU 2008 Contract Posted On Website
http://www.electpdl.com/2008_Contract_files/MOU 2008.pdf

ILWU-IBU Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/08/21/oil-spill-response-workers-on-strike-for-first-contract/
Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices
by Mike Hall, Aug 21, 2008
Oil spill response workers, members of the Inlandboatmen's Union
(IBU), are on the picket line this week in Tacoma, Wash., striking
over what they say is illegal discrimination and intimidation by their
employer, the Marine Spill Response Corp. (MSRC).
In 2006, the workers voted to join the IBU, an affiliate of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). But the company
has dragged its feet in negotiations and failed to reach a fair
contract with the boatmen. The workers also say they have been
threatened with violence.
The oil spill workers are among the many employees across the country
who face employer harassment, threats and intimidation even after they
form unions. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act would allow for
mediation and arbitration for such first-contract disputes because
one-third of the time, private-sector employers do not negotiate a
first contract.
In June, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) office in Seattle

ILWU Local 10 Longshoremen Dies at SSA As A Result Of No Ladder To Pull Him Out Of Water
http://www.ktvu.com/news/17281603/detail.html
OAKLAND -- The U.S. Coast Guard said a 77-year-old man died Saturday after falling into the water from a cargo ship in the Port of Oakland.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Ijan Petrie says Oakland resident Delmont Blakeney was helping offload shipping containers from the ship NYK Starlight late Saturday night when he fell.
Petrie says a locking device came loose and caused a container to spin out of control. The container hit Blakeney and briefly pinned him against the rail of the ship before he tumbled into the water.
A co-worker told KTVU that Blakeley was able to swim to the opposite side of the dock but was not able to climb out of the water because there were no ladders.Pier workers pulled him out and performed CPR until paramedics took Blakeley to Highland Hospital where he was pronounced dead, likely from drowning.
Officials from the dock workers' union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), blame inadequate safety equipment for Blakeley's death.
“We need to have ladders that can reach folks who go in the water,” said ILWU Union Spokesman Craig Merrilees.”They went all over trying to piece together something to save him, to pull him out of the water. By the time they were able to get to him, he had been in that frigid water for 30 minutes.

Retired ILWU Local 10 Widow Challenges New Contract Proposal
phyllis.mandel@yahoo.com
CONTRACT & PENSIONSERS/WIDOWS/SURVIVORS
Brothers & Sisters,
I have a widow's pension from ILWU Local #10. In fact, it is
what is called a QDRO, which is a Qualified Domestic Order, and is
recognized by the ILWU/PMA Pension fund as a legal document that
permits the ex-wife of a deceased longshoremen to get his pension
barring his having had a wife at the time of his death. If one was
not on the deceased medical coverage at the time of his/her death,
under the QDRO, one can only get the pension itself, not any of the
medical/dental/vision/hearing aids/ etc. benefits. As a result of
being the recipient of a QDRO pension, the amount of increase in any
new contract is extremely important, as we have to pay all
medical/dental, etc. benefits out of our own pockets.
I attended the Longshore Caucus this past Monday, where the delegates
ere giving their report of contract negotiations, specifically as to
Pensions, Widow's Pensions, Survivor Pensions and QDRO's.
did not read or stay for the rest of the Delegates reports back,
which ended yesterday, so I do not know what the contract is for

Saturday, 23 August 2008
GATE GOURMET TACTICS! – GMB accuses Airfield Services
The GMB trade union yesterday accused Stansted security contractor Airfield Services of Gate Gourmet tactics.
It said that Airfield Services was showing gross irresponsibility in refusing to accept an invitation to ACAS to avoid disruption to the travelling public and warned a Gate Gourmet-style lock-out situation is brewing.
Airfield Services on Thursday night refused an invitation from GMB and airports owner BAA to go to ACAS to seek a resolution to the pay dispute that has given rise to a strike on Monday 25th August 2008 at Stansted Airport.
33 GMB members who operate sophisticated security scanning equipment to check luggage going in to the holds of planes gave notice a week ago of strike action in protest at a pay offer of 1.5%.
Since then there have been no direct talks between the company and the union.
Airfield Services refusal to go to ACAS means strike action on Monday is now inevitable, the GMB added.
The union said: ‘The consequence is likely to be disruption to the travelling public using Stansted Airport and an increased security risk to everybody in the airport and on planes leaving the airport due to the lack of qualified and trained luggage scanners.’

LWU 10 Longshoremen drill team presents different image of dockworkers
http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/08/20/longshoremen-drill-team-presents-different-image-of-dockworkers/
World | US | Commentary | Multimedia
Culture Humor People
More photos (1 of 2)
Solidarity in steps: Members of the longshoremen drill team captivated the crowd during a parade in San Francisco in June. (Frank Kosa)
Longshoremen drill team presents different image of dockworkers
At parades and other events, members of a local union in San Francisco dazzle crowds with a routine that is part Riverdance, part Marine Corps march.
By Frank Kosa | Correspondent / August 20, 2008 edition
E-mail a friend Print this Letter to the Editor Permissions ShareThis Get e-mail alerts RSS
Watch Video
The Longshoremen Drill Team performs. Used by permission of www.theharrybridgesproject.org
A phalanx of longshoremen stomps down the middle of Fillmore Street in downtown San Francisco. Steely, disciplined, and imposing, they’re chanting slogans and swinging grappling hooks.
There is, however, no threat here. This isn’t a reprise of Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront.” They are merely part of a parade, generating their own joyful din.

Youtube Free The Charleston Five Campaign And Reform Of The ILA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ophWV80ex34

NYC TWU100 Transit Union Activists Fight GHI/HIP Privatization of Healthcare:When Silence Is Not Golden
http://homestationonline.blogspot.com/
FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2008
When Silence is not Golden- Join us on August 13th
The GHI /HIP PRIVATIZATION HEALTH CARE PROPOSAL Will Increase Costs and Reduce Health Care Benefits of Transit Workers.
Therefore it is time for the MTA and TWU leaders to break their silence and join the movement to stop the privatization of GHI/HIP.
With the GHI/HIP merger now complete, the newly formed Corporation has sent a new proposal to change their status from a non-profit to a for-profit corporation. Much is still unknown about the merger, as GHI/HIP are still operatingindependently right now, but if this next and final step of a conversion is allowed to go though, history tells us it will not be good for workers.
The conversion of GHI/HIP will undoubtedly lead to higher premiums and higher co-pays. Workers wages will also either be cut or greatly reduced to cover rapidly raising health care costs. For transit workers, there is the added burden of the 1.5+%. with no cap, which will also undoubtly go up at a much faster rate. There will most likely be a ranking of subscribers as too risky; factors which can be extremely problematic for retires and members with pre-existing medicalconditions.

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-08-14/article/30832?headline=Cal-OSHA-Files-Citation-Against-AC-Transit
Cal-OSHA Files Citation Against AC Transit-Bus Drivers Not Getting Protection From Heat Related Illnesses And Sufficient Water
News:
Cal-OSHA Files Citation Against AC Transit
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday August 14, 2008
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) has filed a citation and notification of penalty against the Alameda–Contra Costa Transit District, charging that the district is not adequately providing bus drivers with protection from heat-related illness, including not providing access to sufficient water.
AC Transit is challenging the Cal-OSHA citation, and an appeal hearing before a Cal-OSHA administrative judge in the state building in Oakland has been continued to September.
The Cal-OSHA citation noted that only 20 percent of AC Transit buses are supplied with air conditioning, a situation that bus drivers call a significant problem particularly in the summer months on routes running through southern Alameda County. In addition, while drivers may drink water while the buses are stopped, AC Transit rules do not allow drinking while the buses are in motion.

Iran's war on trade unions
President Ahmadinejad is stepping up the repression of labour activists. We should support them in their fight for basic rights
All comments (54)
Peter Tatchell
guardian.co.uk, Monday August 18 2008 18:30 BST
Article history
The anti-worker dictatorship in Iran has stepped up its attacks on labour activists, with a new wave of arrests and jailings.
Among those recently jailed were two workers' rights campaigners, Sousan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi. They have been sentenced to 15 lashes and four months in prison for the "crime" (under Iran's Islamic law) of participating in a May Day celebration in the city of Sanandaj earlier this year. The verdicts were issued by the criminal court of Sanandaj – branch 101.
On the same charges the same court sentenced Abdullah Khani to 91 days in prison and 40 lashes and Seyed Qaleb Hosseini to six months and 50 lashes.
In addition, Khaled Hosseini, a worker activist, was given a 91 day suspended sentence and 30 lashes because of his efforts to support the trade union leader, Mahmoud Salehi, who was imprisoned at the time and was being denied medical treatment. The charges against him include "disturbing public order and agitation."