General Distribution Workers Industrial Union 660

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For an overview of the IU 660's history and contact information, please visit our homepage.

IWW Member Isn't Toying Around with Wagner Rights

Posted Tue, 11/06/2012 - 1:07pm by x374666

  Grand Junction, CO- After months of organizing and radical action in the anti-worker state of Colorado, the hammer of injustice finally fell for one Industrial Worker of the World member.
  Josh Carmona, IWW member and anarchist agitator on the Western Slope, was terminated from Toys For the Fun of It, Tuesday, for organizing his workplace. Although the official explanation that he was losing customers because of his involvement at a Romney/Ryan rally weeks earlier; Josh believes that this is just a coverup for his boss' wobbliephobia.

  After a quick call to his delegate, John (4 Corners IWW), action was decided.

 

An unfair labor practice charge was filed with the National Labor Relations board.

An unemployment claim is being filed.

  This Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2012, a call-in action is planned for the anti-worker toy store.

  From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. MST please call or email complaints to the store letting them know what you think of worker reprisal and unfair labor practices.

Toys for the Fun of it

Demand Paid Sick Days!

Posted Thu, 10/04/2012 - 6:39pm by IWW.org Editor

* PAID SICK DAYS NOW! * RALLY AT HOLLADAY PARK * SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 4PM *NE MULTNOMAH & 13TH AVE *

Email: paidsickdaysnow [at] gmail.com

Phone: 971-266-1891

Saturday, October 6, 2012 4pm, at Holladay Park, the Portland Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World and the IWW’s Food & Retail Workers United will hold a rally as part of a campaign to win paid sick days for all workers in Portland, Oregon. This event is sponsored by Laborers 483, American Friends Service Committee, We Are Oregon, Portland Jobs with Justice, Portland Central American Solidarity Committee, Portland Restaurant Workers Association, and the International Socialist Organization.

Featured at the rally will be speakers and musical acts, including Mic Crenshaw, The Crossettes, and I Wobble Wobble, as well as worker testimonies and opportunities to learn more about the campaign and get involved.

The rally officially kicks off our campaign, which is founded on the following mission:

We, the workers of Portland, acting in solidarity across industries, seek to improve the health and well-being of our fellow workers, families and communities. Therefore we demand that all employers within Portland provide all employees -- whether full-time, part-time or temporary -- with paid sick and safe days commensurate with hours worked.

Our Five Point Demand:

1. All of us -- full time, part time and temporary workers -- deserve paid sick and safe days to care for ourselves and our families as members of the community.

2. We call on all employers to provide paid sick and safe days immediately.

3. We need paid sick and safe days to care for our own:

● illness, which includes physical and mental health issues

● injury

● preventative care

● safety when experiencing domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking

● and bereavement for our family members.

We -- as caregivers, parents, and partners -- need paid sick days to care for our:

● spouses & domestic partners

● biological, foster, or adopted children, stepchildren, and children of domestic partners

● and other family members under our care

4. Employers will implement a standard accrual rate of paid sick and safe days for all

employees. The rate must be compassionate to the need of workers to care for both ourselves and our families.

5. Employers will not interfere, discriminate, or retaliate against our request for or use of paid sick and safe days to care for ourselves and loved ones.

We cannot wait until it’s politically convenient for paid sick & safe days. A grassroots campaign led by the workers, families and communities who are most affected by the lack of paid sick days is a necessity to ensure we acquire a policy which meets our needs.

We call upon all workers and community allies interested in learning more and participating in our campaign to attend the rally on October 6 in Holladay Park!

“An illness to one is contagious to all!”

For more information please visit http://paidsickdaysnow.org

IWW shop in Portland needs your help!

Posted Sun, 04/01/2012 - 6:59pm by IWW.org Editor

By Ryan G

Greetings IWW members,

This is a call for union members to help out an IWW shop in Portland, OR, the Red & Black Cafe.  Last evening, someone threw a brick through one of the cafe windows with a hate message attached.  Our fellow workers at the cafe, which is collectively owned and operated (and an IWW closed shop) need financial assistance in order to get the window replaced as soon as possible.

Please visit the cafe website at http://www.redandblackcafe.com/, where you can make a PayPal donation.  Donations by check can be mailed to the cafe at 400 SE 12th Ave., Portland, OR 97214.

This union shop, which is a long time gathering point for the IWW in Portland, has been subjected to several acts of vandalism this year from unknown individuals.  The cafe is a gathering space for unionists, anti-capitalists, and the radical community at large in the Portland area.  We could use your help!

In solidarity,

Ryan G.

Portland IWW / IWW General Executive Board / Red&Black Cafe worker

IWW General Defense Committee Statement against AFTRA members in Target's anti-union Video

Posted Sun, 06/19/2011 - 12:16pm by x344543

The news website Gawker.com recently released for public viewing a copy of Target's antiunion propaganda video. Filled with scary tales of those terrifying union organizers and how they're out for your money, it was a typically low-budget production and we frankly give it two thumbs down.

What we do take incredible exception to is that this anti-union propaganda video was a union job,starring two members of AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Ric Reitz and Nicky Buggs.

We find it simply abhorent that anyone at all would, under the jurisdiction of their union, portray such capitalist, anti-worker swill and be fine collecting a paycheck. Ric Reitz offered an explanation typical of that drilled into too many workers by the pro-boss business unions under the AFL-CIO: "If someone hires me to play a rapist, does it make me a rapist?

You take the job, and you're an actor," says Reitz, a longtime member of AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild. "Am I pro-union? Absolutely." To which we ask, "Would you take a job playing a rapist in a video intended to promote rape?"

IWW Members Mobilize Outreach to Starbucks Baristas on MLK Day Nationwide

Posted Sun, 01/23/2011 - 2:02pm by x344543

On Monday, January 17, 2011, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, while baristas at the Astor Place Starbucks in Manhattan were declaring their membership in the IWW, members of the IWW and supporters descended on Starbucks throughout the United States to wish baristas a happy Martin Luther King day. As part of these greetings, IWW organizers informed baristas of the recent victory won by IWW Starbucks baristas in securing time-and-one-half holiday premium for working on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The victory came after a spirited three-year initiative of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union (SWU) which made public the company's second-class treatment of Dr. King's birthday and called on the coffee giant to pay the same premium that it pays workers on six other federal holidays. After Starbucks refused to change its policy, union workers and their supporters launched a determined campaign of grassroots actions in Starbucks stores and communities all across the country in support of equal treatment for MLK Day. (For more information, see related article: Starbucks Baristas Win Equal Treatment for MLK Day After Three Year Union Fight.

IWW members visited Starbucks and talked with baristas in hundreds of cities throughout the US.

All in all, the effort was a huge success. Workers were positive and appreciative, and it shows that solidarity unionism and international solidarity is still a very effective strategy.

The Industrial Workers of the World union effort at Starbucks is the first time a labor organization in the United States has succeeded in building a base of organized baristas at the company. With over 300 worker-organizers across the country and growing, the SWU has consistently chalked up victories at Starbucks including across-the-board raises, more secure work hours, and respectful treatment from previously abusive managers whose conduct improved due to union pressure campaigns. The SWU has repeatedly prevailed against Starbucks in the legal arena across multiple cities including in a lengthy New York City trial over pervasive illegal union-busting, the first time the company had to square off against baristas in open court regarding unfair labor practices.

The IWW Starbucks campaign is just beginning. If you are a barista at Starbucks, or if you are a worker at any unorganized workplace, including especially a major chain or fastfood franchise, we want to hear from you. Contact us by visiting any of the links listed at the end of this article.