Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 1:48pm
The IWW is engaged in contract discussions with the Ecology Center, which runs Curbside Recycling - the outfit that picks up recyclable trash in Berkeley. They have presented a series of demands for draconian cut backs.
This includes demanding that the workers pay 20% of the cost of their health insurance premiums. Their position is that everywhere else such cuts are being instituted and they have to do the same. Our position is that these cuts have to be stopped somewhere, or, to paraphrase Harry Truman, "the cuts stop here." At the same time, Buyback - the recycling yard that is on the same property as Curbside and also under IWW contract - has announced that they will be laying off a worker, a first there.
The IWW is holding a "safety meeting" rally to protest these twin events. This will be in their yard at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21. The yard is on 2nd Street, just north of Gillman in north Berkeley (near the freeway).
We are urging all union members and supporters, students and community members to participate.
Submitted by x344543 on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 2:08am
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.
Submitted by x356641 on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 6:30pm
Union and Ecology Center Sign Contract The "non-profit" Ecology Center, under contract with the City of Berkeley, runs the Curbside recycling pickup program in that city. We, the IWW, are the representatives of these workers. The economic (wages and benefits) portion of this contract expired on Jan. 1 and we have been in negotiations for the last several months (up until today operating on a contract extension).
Basically, the position of the Ecology Center (EC) is that because
the City of Berkeley is having a budget crisis (as are almost all other cities), that they could not afford a decent raise and, in fact, had to reduce the level of health benefits. They also made the claim that since they are a non-profit that we should regard them differently. Neither the workers nor the Union was buying this. This is especially so because they refused to give us the figures for how much it costs to run Curbside and, therefore, how much of the contract with the
city they are creaming off of the top to finance other EC operations and salaries.
Their offer ended up as being a 3% wage increase plus a payment of $2,000 per year into each worker's 401(k) plan. In addition, family members of the workers would be covered by the health plan before
they have been up until now. This was an improvement over their original offer which did not include the $2,000 payment but did include a demand for a significantly worse health care package.
Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 5:46pm
Everyone - Workers at Curbside recycling are bargaining over wages and benefits
on their contract. This is to take effect starting Jan. 1.
We do not have
an agreement yet. The Ecology Center, which runs Curbside has taken the
position that any agreement in January will not be retroactive to Jan.
1.
Workers at Curbside have decided that unless they back down on this,
they will strike on Jan. 1. A strike is not definite; management could
still change its position on this, but we need to begin preparing for a
strike now.
Anybody who can get out to Curbside first thing Friday, Jan. 2
first thing in the morning - your presence would be greatly appreciated. I
think we need to start gathering at 6:30 a.m., but if people can only come
later, this would be good too.
Call 510-845-0540 for details.
Submitted by x344543 on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 3:56pm
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!
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