BayArea iu670

Bay Area IWW iu670 Organizing Committee Urges: Bail out the Public Sector!

Posted Wed, 01/28/2009 - 1:08am by x344543

Practically every state, county and city in the country is in fi nancial crisis and the plan is to make you pay for it. (for details see attached PDF)

This crisis is actually getting worse, and all these projected defi cits will probably continue to increase. If allowed to pass, these cuts will only get worse. Other cities in the area and most states in the country face similar or worse deficits.

We do not have to be the victims! There is a solution!

Right now, the federal government has committed some $7 trillion to bail out banks, insurance companies and even the auto industry.

And many of these banks, they won’t even tell us, the taxpayers, how they are spending that money. This is our money and we have every right to say how it gets spent!

If the federal government can bail out Corporate America, then they can bail out “public America”. The unions should all get together and call mass public meetings to organize a campaign to demand that federal bail-out money be used to eliminate the budget defi cits of our cities, counties and states.

  • No cuts in services, public jobs or pay of public workers and retirees
  • Use federal bail out money to make up the budget shortfalls

Who we are:

The Industrial Workers of the World is a union that currently represents several different workforces. We have a long, revolutionary tradition in American’s labor movement. We do not seek to compromise the interests of workers to benefit the employers. We want to work with the rest of the unions and with all workers’ organizations to launch this campaign:

IWW-Represented Workplaces:

  • Buyback Recycling (Berkeley)
  • Curbside Pickup (Berkeley)
  • Shattuck Cinema (Berkeley)
  • Stonemountain & Daughter retailer (Berkeley)

The IWW is also conducting a nation-wide organizing campaign at Starbucks, as well as other organizing drives nationally.

Berkeley IWW Recycling Workers Unite in Solidarity to Win Better Contracts

Posted Wed, 02/06/2008 - 2:56pm by x344543

By M.K. and other members of the Bay Area Utility Service Workers iu670 industrial organizing committee.

The contract negotiations between the Bay Area IU 670 Recycling Workers Union and the two Berkeley Recycling Companies has been a challenging struggle, but workers have stepped up to fight for tremendous improvements. The Bay Area IWW represents drivers at The Ecology Center who do residential curbside pickup, and workers at The Community Conversation Center yard who sort and process recycling materials. Both workers have been waging shopfloor struggles to resolve grievances and improve their working conditions. With both contracts coming up for negotiations, workers stepped up the fight.

The drivers met several times both at work and outside of work to draft an ambitious list of roughly 15 demands including an across the board wage hike, increase in pension payments by the company, and a change to the current accident penalties. The existing agreement resulted in termination of any driver who was involved in three accidents incurring more than $1400 worth of damage. With the narrow winding streets of Berkeley and the increasing costs of small accidents like broken rear-view mirrors, we have seen several workers purposefully dropping down to a loader after two incidents. This has resulted in wage decreases of up to $10 per hour!

IWW Recyclers in Berkeley rally for Strong Contracts

Posted Wed, 11/14/2007 - 3:42pm by x345292

Recyclers held a stop work rally to press contract demands on Thursday, November 8th, at recycling facilities in Berkeley.  Thirty-five or so workers from two Berkeley recycling operations are in the midst of renegotiating contracts. At “curbside”, recycling trucks go out every week day morning to pick up residential recycling.  Across the way at “the Buyback,” residential recycling from the trucks plus drop-off recycling is sorted by twenty workers.  All workers are members of the IWW.  Both union contracts expire on December 31st, 2007.   During the rally workers from both shops stepped up and spoke about the need for unity, participation and solidarity in order to win their demands.  Demands are not the same at both shops.  However, workers at both shops are calling for a five dollar an hour wage increase across the board.  This is a serious demand.

Editorial - Four Week Lockout Ends In Defeat For Teamsters

Posted Wed, 08/08/2007 - 11:17am by x344543

Disclaimer - the following editorial is not by a member of the IWW, nor do they necessarily agree with or endorse our organization. The editorial is posted here because it closely matches the perspective of many IWW members and the Preamble to the IWW Constitution. It also affects IWW members in Industrial Union 670 directly.

By Richard Mellor - AFSCME Local 444 Retired, Oakland CA, August 2, 2007.

San Leandro CA - After absorbing the severe financial stress of being locked out for a month, members of Teamsters Local 870 suffered further setbacks in the contract deal brought to them by Teamster officials. The employers, Waste Management Co, imported scabs from other parts of the U.S. during the lockout and brought in their other allies, a mediator and Oakland mayor, Ron Dellums. The liberal community and the heads of the labor movement in this area have revered Dellums, a former congressman and mentor of another popular liberal Democrat, Barbara Lee.

When asked by the press if the lockout “was a test of his leadership” Dellums replied, "I don't take it to have anything to do with me. It has to do with a company in a dispute with a labor union. It would be a gigantic mistake for me to personalize this. That's a journey I choose not to go on." (1)

With friends like these, it should come as no surprise that Waste Management got what they wanted. According to press reports, management got a five-year contract while workers got a 5% raise which with inflation will most likely be a wage reduction

Bay Area IWW Pickets Return to East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse after 4 Year Absence

Posted Fri, 05/25/2007 - 9:56am by x344543

Four years ago the Bay Area IWW was contacted byworkers at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland. They had numerous grievances and decided union membership would be a way to bring their concerns to management.  Eventually the workers voted unanimously for the IWW.

During and after the union organizing campaign management took a very mean spirited approach to the union workers.  Including harassment, intimidation, firing and forcing workers to quit.  On top of the union busting strategy the company lost grant money to run an art outreach program to local schools.  This development caused four workers to be laid off.  Eventually, the union walked away from the bargaining table as nearly all the workers were laid off, fired or quit.  Unfair Labor Practice charges were filed but had little effect.