------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 27, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
ON THE PICKET LINE By Sue Davis
GRAD STUDENTS STRIKE AT COLUMBIA
Graduate teaching and research assistants at Columbia University have been on strike since April 19. They're demanding that Columbia drop its appeal of a unionization election that the National Labor Relations Board approved two years ago. As long as the appeal is unresolved, the ballots remain uncounted, the union unrecognized--and the teaching assistants without raises or better working conditions.
The AFL-CIO called out New York labor for an April 28 rally to support the striking members of Graduate Student Employees United, Auto Workers Local 2110. Since then, a series of rallies have been called, the most recent on May 14.
Columbia has hired the notorious union-busting firm of Proskauer Rose to counter the strike. By adopting Wal-Mart tactics, the university shows its liberal traditions are nothing but a sham.
A number of professors at other schools where graduate students have successfully organized wrote to Columbia President Lee Bollinger urging him to drop the appeal. They noted that graduate employees' collective bargaining has been successful at some 24 major U.S. universities and the same number in Canada, in some cases for decades.
WIS. TEACHING ASSISTANTS ON STRIKE
For the first time in almost 25 years, union ized graduate assistants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison walked out of classrooms April 27 to protest a lousy contract. The state of Wisconsin offered no salary increase for the first year and an average 4.6-percent increase the second year. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Another major issue is that the state insists the teaching assistants, who earn less than $11,000 a year, have to pay part of their health-care premiums. Because the state is running a deficit, Wisconsin is demanding that all state employees pay for part of their coverage.
The two-day walkout by 1,200 assistants was the first phase of the Teaching Assistants Association's strike plan. The assistants also vowed to withhold students' grades when the semester ends.
STRIKE AVERTED AT NYU
New York University's part-time professors reached a tentative contract agreement with the university on April 21 just in time to avert a strike. The agreement, which Auto Workers officials called "groundbreaking," was the first negotiated by 2,300 adjuncts since they organized in 2002. Adjunct instructors make less than $3,000 for a three- credit course. The union, ACT-UAW Local 7902, is the biggest adjunct- only union at a private university in the United States. (New York Times, April 22)
CATERPILLAR WORKERS REJECT CONTRACT
Caterpillar, which produces construction equipment, recently reported a 200-percent increase in first-quarter profits, and predicted strong profits for the rest of the year. But what did the company offer its workers? A contract with one-time bonuses instead of raises, bigger worker contributions for health insurance and significantly lower pay for new hires. No wonder Caterpillar's 8,000 union workers voted the contract down.
"The contract was a slap in the face," Randy Ary, a 30-year Caterpillar veteran who voted against the pact, told the Boston Globe (May 5)."The company is making good money. All we are asking for is a share."
This year Caterpillar's profits are rising rapidly as wages rise barely at all. "In the fourth quarter of 2003, profits as a share of the total economy reached their highest level in more than 50 years," wrote Charles Stein in the Globe. "The share of the pie going to wages and salaries hit a 50-year low."
DEFEND MINERS ON STRIKE IN UTAH
The Coop miners, who voted to be represented by the Mine Workers union, have been on strike in Utah for over five months to protest poverty wages, violations of the National Labor Relations Act, the Mining Safety and Health Act and many other laws.
Although the Utah Department of Transportation granted permission for the strikers to have a trailer on the picket line, which is needed to maintain the 24/7 protest, the UDOT recently revoked the special permit under pressure from the Kingston mine owners. The union is asking labor supporters to call Dale Stapely of the UDOT to protest this hardship: (435) 636-1402. n
LABOR UNREST AT THE WALL ST. JOURNAL
Staff writers and other workers at the Wall Street Journal did something unprecedented in early April. For the first time in the newspaper's history they set up a picket line to let the world know that corporate America's mouthpiece is unfair to its workers.
In January members of the Inde pen dent Association of Publishers' Employ ees, a company union that recently affiliated with the Newspaper Guild, were offered a contract with a wage freeze and a hike in health- care costs. The workers rejected the contract by a margin of nine to one.
In April Dow Jones, which owns the newspaper, issued a statement to its shareholders in which it reported that Journal executives had received bonuses amounting to $5 million. The workers calculated that the $5 million should have gone to cover the increase in their health-care costs. So they hit the bricks.
While labor unrest stalking the hallways of the Wall Street Journal may not change its editorial viewpoint, it's a textbook example of how corporate greed leads to labor consciousness and to struggle.
SCREENWRITERS REFUSE STUDIOS' OFFER
Four days after the May 1 expiration of their contract, screenwriters in the Writers Guild called the studios' three-year offer "unacceptable." (New York Times, May 6) Not only would screenwriters' health-care benefits be cut, but also the studios didn't offer any increases in royalties in the highly lucrative DVD and videocassette market. There was also no provision for royalties on Internet sales or for the status of writers on TV reality shows.
The guild is considering deferring further negotiations until 2005, which the Screen Actors Guild did earlier this year. By adopting the same strategy, the Writers Guild hopes to combine its negotiating power with that of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America, whose contract also expires next year.
HUNGER STRIKE PART OF TACO BELL BOYCOTT
Tony Rivas, a student at Notre Dame University and the son of a farm worker, launched a seven-day hunger strike in early April in support of the third anniversary of the Taco Bell boycott organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Students at Notre Dame have contributed to the boycott by demanding that the university sever an endorsement arrangement with Taco Bell and its athletic department. The campaign at Notre Dame is a powerful example of student organizing. To learn more about the struggle, go to the CIW's website, www.ciw-online.org.
BOYCOTT GALLO WINES
On April 23, the 11th anniversary of Cesar Chavez's death, the United Farm Workers issued a call for supporters to renew the boycott of Gallo wines to help the workers win a new contract.
The legendary UFW founder called a boycott of Gallo wines in 1973 after Gallo refused to renegotiate a contract with the UFW. By 1975, a nationwide Louis Harris poll showed millions of Americans were boycotting Gallo wines in support of the UFW.
Now a new generation of the Gallo family is refusing to provide health- care coverage and other basic benefits for 75 percent of their work force. Last December, a California judge ruled that Gallo illegally tried to get rid of the UFW. To find out more about how to help the UFW's struggle, go to www.unionvoice.org.
100,000 SBC WORKERS VOTE TO STRIKE
Ninety percent of the unionized workers at the telecommunications giant SBC Communications voted on April 29 to authorize a strike if the Communications Workers union can't negotiate an acceptable contract. The talks cover 100,000 SBC workers in 13 states: Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada and California.
Workers seek increased job security, including limits on outsourcing and access to jobs in such growth areas as high-speed DSL, business data systems, long distance and WiFi wireless Internet access. These jobs have either been outsourced by SBC or are being performed by nonunion personnel.
SBC has also cut more than 20,000 union jobs in the company's core telephone operations over the past three years. The union maintains that its members, whose skills and productivity helped SBC achieve profits of $8.5 billion last year, deserve the opportunity to work in SBC's new technologies and business areas.
Another key issue is preserving health-care coverage. SBC has demanded substantial increases in out-of-pocket health care costs for current workers and retirees. A fair wage increase and pension improvements are the workers' other major goals.
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