Flagrant Labor Abuser Polls West Village on Thoughts of Workers, Unions...

Many customers of Mrs. Green's newest store in the West Village complained to us that they were being polled by telephone on their support of labor, workers and unions.  As reported by the NY Post this week, a resident explained how he was polled earlier in October:

"The West Village is pretty liberal,” said the resident, who did not want to be named. “The survey started out asking questions about the food options in the neighborhood and then veered towards unions.”

The real question is, why would a company found guilty of firing workers because they wanted a union, ask a community what they think about workers?

For more information and to get involved in the campaign to bring equality and rights to the men and women working at Mrs. Green's, visit mrsgreeds.com.

Support For Unions: Up

The latest results from the 2015 installment of Gallup’s annual Work and Education survey show that Americans’ approval of labor unions has jumped five percentage points to 58% over the past year, and is now at its highest point since 2008, when 59% approved. Consistent with the recent increase in approval of unions, the percentage of Americans saying they would like labor unions to have more influence in the country has also been rising, and now stands at 37%, up from 25% in 2009. Meanwhile, the percentage wanting unions to have less influence has declined from 42% to 35%.

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Stopping Fast Track..

President Perrone: “The Best Way to Help the Jobless is to Stop Passing Trade Agreements like TPP that Kill Jobs.”

 “Our campaign for trade policy that is fair and just will continue full speed ahead.”

 Washington, D.C. — Today, Marc Perrone, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the largest private sector union in the nation, released the following statement in response to the U.S. House failing to advance fast track trade legislation.

 "This is a victory for hard-working men and women all across America. In the face of long odds, the American people sent a powerful message that their interests trump narrow political agendas and special interests.

“Today, we saw elected leaders stand up and make clear that the failed promises of global trade agreements, which only seem to serve irresponsible corporations, must come to an end. More importantly, we have seen what hard-working families can accomplish when we stand together and fight for what is right for both workers and this nation.

“With respect to TAA, we support a clean extension of the program, but the best way to help the jobless is to simply stop passing trade agreements like TPP that kill jobs. “While one vote does not end the fight, our campaign for a better America will continue full speed ahead until the threat of TPP and other unfair trade deals is gone for good.”

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Gawker Goes Union

Logo of website gawker.com, for use in article Gawker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Few years back Gawker started writing more and more about labor issues. They were instrumental and THE driving force in reporting the nonsense Target workers were going through when attempting to unionize. They found a way to get their hands on Target's infamous anti-union video...twice. They posted real stories from real Target workers about their real experiences working at the company.

Without writers and reporters who have courage to call out enormous corporations, politicians, or people, our society would be even more screwed up than it already is. The writers at Gawker give workers, and just regular people, platforms to convey their real stories. This week those writers took an enormous step forward and voted to unionize. We hope you'll join us in giving them a HUGE ‪#‎congratulations‬!

You can read more here: http://gawker.com/gawker-media-votes-to-unionize-1708892974

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Top 10 Stories This Week: Americans Aren't Lovin' It, Wage Theft, Right to Work Chicago?!

FEATURED

McDonald's $9 million Super Bowl ad shows customers paying with love...Maybe they should show employees some McLovin'?

In December McDonald's workers took to the streets to protest low wages, dreadful working conditions, and no stability.  The $9m McLovin' ad, isn't fooling anyone in the press, and really don't make sense to employees who have an open civil rights suit against the company . Heck, even Managers are admitting to Wage Theft, it's a bad time to be a clown.

FEATURED IMAGE

Protesters gathered in front of Walmart heiress Alice Walton's Park Avenue apartment in NYC this week, demanding Walmart ends retaliation against its workers.  Follow #walmartstrikers for more photos and info.

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK 1. Fairway sees Improvements in Q3 New CEO is seeing some immediate improvements. 2. U.S. Added 46,000 Retail Jobs in January

3. Governor of Illinois Targets Labor, Seeks a 'Right to Work' State Joining the ranks of Republican governors taking aim at the power of labor unions, the new chief executive of Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner, said on Wednesday that the state should ban some political contributions by public employee unions and allow local “right to work” laws.  This is a story we all need to pay close attention to and fight back against.

4. We Built the Middle Class & We Can Re-Build It Most members of Congress today are millionaires. Their wealth has increased 28 percent since 2007, while that of the average American fell 43 percent.  How can they relate to us?

5. Americans: No Longer Lovin' It Is this the downfall of McDonald's?  After airing a Super Bowl ad asking customers to pay with love, employees are asking, where is our love?

6. Haggen begins to re-banner Albertsons The Safeway-Albertsons merge is done, and here's the new banner. Executives are very optimistic, others, not so much.

7. Wegman's tops 'reputation' poll Company tops Costco & Amazon

8. Want to be Happy? Join a Union New study shows belonging to a union leads to a more satisfied life.

9. Target names new CIO from Tesco

10. Walmart's Echinacea has No Echinacea Bottles of Walmart-brand echinacea, an herb said to ward off colds, were found to contain no echinacea at all. The NY Attorney General unveiled a report showing retail chains getting over on their customers with supplements. 11. Report: Hospitals Fails to Protect Nurses from becoming Patients According to surveys by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are more than 35,000 back and other injuries among nursing employees every year, severe enough that they have to miss work.

12. NYC Construction Workers March Against Junk Jobs

13. World's Email Encryption Software Depends on One Guy, Who is Going Bankrupt

The man who built the free email encryption software used by whistleblower Edward Snowden, as well as hundreds of thousands of journalists, dissidents and security-minded people around the world, is running out of money to keep his project alive.

14. Unions Re-Powering Civil Rights  Movement & Protests: Black History Month

During the recent wave of protests around the nation over the killing of unarmed blacks by police, an old ally has reemerged to march in step with African-Americans seeking justice — organized labor.

Elsewhere NYC News:

LSSA 280 is on Strike. On January 30th,  MFY union members voted to reject the unreasonable contract offered by MFY management, and are now on strike. Please join our MFY members on the picket line: The union will be picketing MFY, 299 Broadway in lower Manhattan, Monday through Thursday from 8:30am-10am.

Thank You:

It's often a thankless job, so we'd like to say, thank you. And thank you for being a subscriber. 

What Happened This Week: Top 11 Stories: CNN is Anti-Union? UAW Pushing in Tenn.

FEATURED

CNN Ordered to Rehire 100 Employees by NLRB
Did you know CNN was anti-union? The 11-year dispute stems from CNN’s decision to replace a unionized subcontractor called Team Video Services, which provided the network with audio and video technicians, with an in-house nonunion work force in its Washington and New York bureaus.

UAW Plans another Push at VW Plant in Tennessee
After losing a closely contested election earlier this year, the UAW and workers aren't retreating, they're responding.

Image of Week via UFCW Local 400


Actor Vicki Lawrence, in a 1985 UFCW campaign: "Unions stand up for what people need—good salary, reasonable job security, appreciation for a job well done, and a chance to use their abilities—and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is one of the best unions!" 

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK

1. A&P Completes Debt Refinancing
The company has completed a refinancing of its existing senior debt — a covenant-free arrangement the company said “provides for a significant reduction in interest expense and enhanced liquidity and reflects the debt market’s confidence in [its] ongoing progress and prospects for future growth.”

2. Dozens of JFK Airport Workers Strike
Baggage handlers, skycaps and wheelchair attendants walked off the job on Wednesday morning, saying their employer, Alstate Maintenance, had engaged in a variety of unfair labor practices.  Meanwhile American Airlines Workers voted to unionize this week!

3. Demonizing the Minimum Wage
The New Yorker explains why the fight to raise the minimum wage has become a dividing political issue in Washington, when it should just be the right and obvious thing to do.  The federal minimum wage has never been indexed to cost of living, and over 73% of Americans want the minimum wage raised to $10.10.



4. Walmart Imposes Fake Sugar Tax in NY, Overcharges Customers for Sodas, Fined $66k
The attorney general’s office says the retail chain launched a national sale in June advertising Coca-Cola 12-packs for $3, but consumers at 117 Wal-Mart stores in New York were routinely charged $3.50.
Investigators say consumers who complained were falsely told the state has a “sugar tax.” They say the markup of more than 16% violated two laws.


5. Clinton Urges for Passage of 9/11 Compensation Act

6. NYC Bike Share (CitiBike) Joins TWU 
More than 200 workers in New York City’s Citi Bike program chose the Transport Workers (TWU) to help make their jobs, good jobs.

7. Walmart Heirs Give to Charity Just Like they Pay their Workers...Very Little
UGH, Even the Waltons find a way to screw people when giving to charity: This analysis, by Making Change at Walmart, only includes giving to the private charitable foundations associated with the individuals and families on the list. That means that direct giving without going through the foundation isn't included. But the Waltons aren't giving a lot to their own family foundation—in fact, they're using it to get out of future estate taxes—so it doesn't seem likely that they're secretly giving huge amounts of money to charities directly while not giving to their foundation.

8. Here's Why Protecting Workers Standards and Wages Should be Important to YOU!


8a. Which Industry CEOs are ripping off workers the most?  (Hint it's Fast and it's Food)

9. Largest Union Victory in South in Decades: American Airlines Votes to Unionize


Video: Ed Show American Airlines Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Unionize

10. Workers Deserve to benefit for their Productivity, too

11. GOP Blocks Bill to Allow Students to Refinance Student Loans


Shameless Plugs:

Union Plus Benefits: You're eligible for discounts on cell phone bills, mortgages, gyms and more! Find out here.

This October: Fight Cancer Weekend: Register for Breast Cancer & Light the Night Walks this October

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Obama: “I’d Join a Union”

 

During a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Labor Day, President Obama uttered a phrase that has not been uttered by a sitting president since the days of FDR, “I’d join a union.” Indeed, he said, “if I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my job, I’d join a union. If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union.” Obama also endorsed the “Fight for $15” fast-food worker’s movement. 

Watch the entire speech here.

Post via ILCA 

  - image credit: Colleen Crinion