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United in Death, Construction Workers Must Unite in Life, Organize Unions and Safety Committees

Three workers were killed in the Hard Rock Hotel collapse: Jose Ponce Arreola, 63; Quinnyon Wimberly, 36; and Anthony Magrette, 49,

Had the workers at the Hard Rock Hotel been unionized, those who spotted the bent beams would have alerted all unions on the job and demanded correction or else have exercised their right to walk off the job without punishment.

On October 10, Randy Gaspard, a concrete contractor, posted to Facebook a video taken by a Hard Rock worker. The video shows a sagging concrete slab, the posts supporting it bending under its weight. The worker who took the video spoke about the excessive space between the support beams and said that they were “already to the point of breaking.” These facts were supported by other workers on the site. This was two days before the collapse.
Gaspard said the workers told the contractor that the extra load was bending support posts but the contractor said to keep removing them, shifting an even greater load to the remaining posts.

Worker safety committees needed; we cannot trust bosses or city inspectors
The biggest factors in the rise of workplace fatalities are deregulation of industry, lack of unions, attacks on migrants, OSHA underfunding, government/industry complicity, climate change, and temporary employment. Changes from permanent to temporary and subcontracted labor also contribute. The capitalists are to blame for all of this. Workers must step forward to organize and defend themselves.

The states with the highest percentage of construction deaths have the fewest unions, the lowest death rates are in states with most unions. The highest fatality rates in 2015 include Louisiana and Mississippi and Arkansas.
Fund OSHA, yes, but don’t depend on it

OSHA, the Organizational Safety and Health Act, was passed in 1970. It set up some standards and inspections. But besides corruption and bribery, it would take 159 years to inspect every work site even once with their current staff and resources.

OSHA penalties are also not strong enough. The average penalty for killing a worker was $6,500 for federal violations and only $2,500 for state plans. Only 33 worker deaths have been criminally prosecuted.

Workers’ blood on Trump’s hands
OSHA was insufficient enough, but the Trump administration is waging an outright war on the working class. He has called for a freeze on new protections, and requires that for every new protection, two must be repealed.

He has called to repeal a law requiring contractors disclose safety and health violations in order to get a federal contract. He has delayed new hazardous materials rules and has eliminated the Labor Department’s safety and health training programs as well as the Chemical Safety board. And he’s cut job safety research by $100 million.

While we must fight for laws and enforcement, the most important thing is to organize safety committees and unions on our jobs. We cannot put our lives, or the well-being of our families at risk by depending on bosses or their capitalist government.

Here are the facts:

  • Construction workers are 6% of the workforce but 21% of
    on-the-job death.
  • Thanks to the Trump Administration’s deregulations, the death rate is increasing.
  • Migrant Latinx workers have the highest rate of deaths.

The bosses are taking advantage of the anti-migrant attack to pay workers less and ignore safety concerns. Their death rate is 18% higher than the national average.

Citizen workers must unite with and defend their migrant brothers and sisters. If bosses can discriminate against anyone, it eventually lowers the wages and working conditions for all workers.

Sample of Union Clauses in a Contract

Right to Refuse Unsafe Work (No Discrimination)
An employee acting in good faith has the right to refuse to work under conditions that the employee reasonably believes present an imminent danger of death or serious harm to the employee. The Employer shall not discipline or discriminate against an employee for a good faith refusal to perform assigned tasks if the employee has requested that the Employer correct the hazardous conditions but the conditions are not corrected, and the danger was one that a reasonable person under the circumstances would conclude is an imminent danger of death or serious harm. An employee who has refused in good faith to perform assigned tasks shall retain the right to continued employment and receive full compensation for the tasks that would have been performed.

Personal Protective Clothing and Equipment
Personal protective clothing and equipment shall be furnished and maintained by the Employer without cost to employees whenever such equipment is required as a condition of employment or is required by OSHA or other agency.

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Bayou Steel Should Be Owned by the Workers!

For decades millions in profit have gone to the capitalist owners of Bayou Steel from the labor of the workers and community. Despite the continued need for reclaiming scrap steel for reuse, the company was handed over by a rotten transnational corporation to a vulture capitalist hedge fund. Hedge funds make their profits by selling off inventory and assets. The Black Diamond fund announced it would close the plant throwing hundreds of workers out and harming local towns.

None of this is the fault of the union, but today unions and workers are trapped in the mindset that capitalist owners can do whatever they want with “their” property.

To fight back against the effects of “restructuring,” run away shops, and automation, we workers must climb out the box and challenge that notion that capitalists, by virtue of laws they passed, cannot be challenged on these decisions. But that won’t happen by relying on courts or politicians. Workers will need to struggle.

The sit-down strikes of the 1930’s all over the country built the unions and defended those workers’ jobs. They are not romantic history but a guide to what is needed now.

The following letter is addressed to members of the United Steelworkers facing layoffs at Bayou Steel:

Dear Officers and Members of the USWA,

We are outraged by the lies and trickery of Black Diamond. ArcelorMittal LaPlace clearly conspired with the BD hedge fund to loot the profits and assets of Bayou Steel, leaving the workers and community high and dry. That BD was obviously negotiating in bad faith is even more egregious.

This bankruptcy should also outrage every hardworking taxpayer in Louisiana. Since 2008, ArcelorMittal LaPlace has enjoyed nearly $11,000,000 in tax exemptions from the state and yet workers will have nothing to show for it if Arcelor and BD have their way. The company should be forced to pay these deferred tax dollars to meet its obligations to the workers.

The company’s illegal actions are not confined to conspiracy and bad-faith bargaining. Failure to abide by the WARN act (by claiming sudden economic catastrophe), premature cutoff of health benefits, and failure to provide severance pay are all crimes against the workers.

Pouring acid on the wound, BD is keeping a crew in shipping to move remaining inventory out and suck the last drop of profit out.

Their lawyers were fully prepared and filed bankruptcy immediately in Delaware, a tax haven for corporate crooks. The union and community should be appointed trustees based on their investment of decades of labor and support. Rather than getting nothing in these proceedings, the workers ought to be entitled to a preferred status based on the labor they’ve invested in the plant.

After the sit-down strikes in the 1930’s in plants across the country, the U.S. Department of Labor under Frances Perkins was forced to declare the strikes legal as the workers had a property right due to their labor.

Depending on politicians to assist in this situation is a delusion. A recent action by coal miners in Harlan County, KY, shows the way forward. When their company filed for bankruptcy and attempted to cheat the workers out of back pay and more, the workers blocked a train carrying coal inventory until they got paid. Joined by the community, Bayou Steel workers should stop the inventory from leaving the plant.

As long as labor is shackled into believing that only corporate owners have rights and that we must play by their rules, workers will suffer as they force us into a race to the bottom.

The loss of any union job hurts all Louisiana workers; we need more unions. Taking bold action outside the box can invigorate workers and help them see that unions are organizations willing to fight for their rights.

We are workers and community members and would do anything we can to support such an effort. We are sure that many workers will join you if you decide to fight back. It is only by fighting back that you can win even a small measure of what is owed to your members and the community.

In solidarity,
New Orleans Workers Group

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Philadelphia Library Workers Demand: Keep Libraries Funded, Open to Community

Library workers in Philadelphia, along with allies, have been organizing to keep libraries in the city open and fully funded. In 2018, an average of two branches out of 54 were closed on any given day, either due to lack of staff or building problems. Many libraries, for instance, need roof repairs. There were a total of 750 emergency closures in 2018.

On June 13, around 50 members and allies of the Friends of the Free Library demonstrated outside City Hall. The unionized library workers and supporters are demanding an annual funding increase of $15 million a year. Remarkably, they have pushed Mayor Jim Kenny and the City Council to agree to a $3.5 million increase in the 2020 budget. $1 million of the increase is marked for salary raises, $500,000 is for building repair, while $2 million is for six-day service during the school year (a major demand of the campaign).

This is not close to the total amount that they are demanding, but it is a gain.

The fact that the library workers have a union is no doubt key to their success so far. And they worked hard to make this happen through grassroots campaigning over nine months. They gathered over 5,000 petitions in favor of the funding increase, made hundred of phone calls, and filled city budget hearings, keeping the pressure on the administration.

The union demand for a $15 million increase is far from unrealistic. The city continually finds more money to give to the police department, which is not making residents any safer. The administration increased the police budget by $18 million in 2019 to $709 million. It is being raised by $54 million in fiscal year 2020. Just like in New Orleans and in cities across the country, the Philadelphia police get a bigger share of the budget than any other sector of city government. Each library branch currently gets only $400 for community programs.

Whereas increasingly-militarized police forces terrorize people of color as well as working class whites, public libraries play a vital role in our communities.

Libraries provide children and youth with educational and fun activities. Across the country, 59% of libraries help patrons find health insurance resources and 18% bring in healthcare providers for free screenings, according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Immigrant communities rely on libraries for language learning services. Working class people use library computers to look for work. Libraries provide people with gathering places. Libraries preserve local history. In short, they are one of the few truly communal resources that we have in a capitalist society where everything is increasingly-privatized and run in the interest of the rich. We have good reason to fight for public libraries and to support the workers who make them run!

South Philadelphia librarian Abbe Klebanoff, a member of AFSCME District Council 47 Local 2186 puts it best, “When libraries are closed, when libraries are short-staffed and underfunded, we can not do our job and be there for those in our community who need us most.”

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Chattanooga Auto Workers Organize for a Union

As early as April 29 or 30th, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, could vote to unionize. The United Auto Workers (UAW) has filed to have an election representing all 1,709 of the Chattanooga plant’s hourly employees. If they succeed, this would be a big advance for the UAW, giving them a foothold in the south—a region undergoing a boom in manufacturing and other sec-tors, but where union member-ship rates (and wages) lag behind other areas of the country.

The UAW attempted to organize Chattanooga auto workers in both 2013 and 2015. In both cases, right-wing politicians in the state carried out lying anti-union campaigns, and when the election finally went before Trump appointees in the National Labor Review Board, it got struck down. This shows how the politicians representing the ultra rich conspire with companies, rig political institutions, and do whatever it takes to undermine the struggles of working people.

This time around the Volkswagen bosses have instituted a disinformation campaign which re-quires workers to attend meetings while supervisors read off anti-union talking points from the company’s newsletter. They are trying to sow division by advocating for merit-based bonuses that depend on competition among the workers. Some workers reported receiving bonuses between $500 and $1000 last year but they were quick to point out that VW reported an operating profit of $15.8 billion in the same time. By that account, there’s plenty of wealth to be shared among the workers!

Despite the billions of dollars that the capitalist class spends spreading misinformation to keep us down, the popularity of unions is at a 15-year high. A recent Gallup poll found that 62% of U.S. respondents support unions, including 60 percent in the South. Unions are even more popular among people aged 18-35, with 65 percent seeing unions as a good thing. All this suggests that the prospects of worker organizing are getting better.

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LA Teachers and Staff Win Strike

In Los Angeles, 34,000 school personnel went on strike and won. In the face of attacks from a pro-corporate school board with an agenda to charterize the school district, these educators went on the offensive.

They secured a new union contract, won concessions (including smaller class sizes), and stopped the charter school agenda in its tracks, affirming that public schools are not only the lifeblood of education, but the heart of the community. They won a statewide moratorium on new charter schools.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest school district in the country, serving 694,000 students, most of whom come from low-income, working class families; 90% are students of color.  Strikers included not only teachers, but nurses, counselors, librarians, and other school staff. This is the first LA school district strike since 1989. It comes almost one year after the teacher strike wave started in West Virginia swept the country.

The victory is even more impressive when we understand just how rotten the LAUSD school board is. Although is board is elected, its members are bought and paid for by the rich. Corporate interest groups pumped $13 million into the last election. Much of it came from the Walton family (the owners of Walmart). Their hand-picked superintendent is Austin Beutner, a former Wall Street banker who worked for the U.S. State Department to help the rich seize the state assets of Russia once counterrevolution had defeated the USSR. Beutner’s plan was for LAUSD was to carve up the district into clusters and then sell off “weak performers” as if they were stock portfolios.

We may be used to thinking that the rich vultures will always get their way, but this amazing movement has shown that old fashioned organizing—and especially going on strike—empowers working class people to take on the 1% and win.

Unity and community support did the trick. Large numbers of teachers were joined by parents and students at the picket lines. Over 50,000 people participated on the first day.

New Orleanians should take note of what is possible in the struggle for education. The situation in New Orleans may be worse, but privatization is not irreversible.

Last month, the first ever charter school teacher strike went down in Chicago and the teachers’ union won a new contract with major concessions. This shows that it is possible to wage struggle in places where the charter movement has seemed to have triumphed. Last month, over 200 New Orleanians packed into a school board meeting, protesting the planned conversion of McDonogh 35 into a charter school. The anger over the intentional destruction of public education is still intense here in the city. This anger must be organized into action.

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Amazon Warehouse Workers Push for Unionization

New York workers at Amazon’s Staten Island fulfillment center have publicly launched a campaign to unionize. Employees backing the union have come forward with many concerns about wages and work conditions. These include safety issues, inadequate pay, grueling 12-hour shifts with unreasonable hourly quotas and insufficient breaks, as well as humiliation and abuse.
Warehouse worker, Rashad Long, said, “They talk to you like you’re nothing—all they care about is their numbers. They talk to you like you’re a robot.”

This push comes at a time when Amazon is expected to get more than $1 billion in tax breaks and grants from New York City as part of the Long Island City deal. Tax breaks for corporations come at the expense of the mass of working people. A city’s budget should reflect the pressing needs of the people for affordable housing, childcare, education, health care, and more. Working class New Yorkers (as elsewhere) are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table. Amazon, on the other hand, already enjoys massive profits gained from the sweat of its global workforce (and an army of workers in the U.S. Postal Service, USPS, etc); Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the richest man in the world.

As the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) president, Stuart Appelbaum recently said, “If the taxpayers are giving Amazon $3 billion, then taxpayers have the right to demand that Amazon stop being a union-busting company.” The RWDSU is the union that the Staten Island workers are organizing with. The union has also backed the organizing push among workers at Whole Foods, which Amazon acquired last year. As of now, Amazon’s U.S. workforce is not unionized. These initial organizing efforts are, therefore, highly significant.

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Charter School Workers Strike, Get New Contract

In December, teachers and other employees in Chicago’s Acero charter school network went on strike for five days. Acero encompasses 15 campuses across the city. The workers are members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).
Over the five days, hundreds of teachers and other Acero workers took to the streets along with parents, students, and other allies. The strikers demanded a contract that would guarantee better conditions for teachers and students.

On December 14, the union vote for the new contract took place across all 15 schools. Union members voted overwhelmingly for the new contract (98%).
The contract provides for smaller class sizes, a reduced school year and equal pay with district [non-charter] teachers.

Significantly, the new contract also includes sanctuary school language, which bans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from school property, denies ICE access to student records without a legal mandate, and more.

The wave of teacher strikes that spread through many states (and Puerto Rico) earlier in 2018 affected mainly public schools. The strike in Chicago, however, is the first example of a charter school worker strike in the country. This should send a message not just to charter school executives in Chicago, but to charter school employees all over the U.S. that they can organize just like public school employees, and with the support of students, parents, and other community members, they can win.

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Domestic Workers Push to Pass Bill of Rights

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) has introduced new legislation at the federal level that could be game-changing for domestic workers across the country. This National Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, if passed, would dramatically increase legal protection for domestic workers, as well as increase potential earnings.

The U.S. has some 2 million domestic workers, including caregivers for children and the elderly, as well as house-cleaners. Although domestic workers greatly contribute to the economy, they are currently excluded from most protections that have been won by other sectors of workers. Conditions for domestic workers are currently dismal. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wage for housekeepers is only $11.84 per hour. A major 2013 study from the Economic Policy Institute found that 23.4% of domestic workers live below the poverty line, and 93.1% are women. Domestic workers are also disproportionately immigrants.

The new bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Kamala Harris, but the momentum has come from the grassroots. The legislation is based upon recommendations from domestic worker organizers, and is similar to bills that have already been passed in eight states and in Seattle.

If passed, the Bill of Rights would include domestic workers in Civil Rights and Occupational Health and Safety Act protections. It would also create requirements for fair scheduling, meal and rest breaks, written contracts and protection from employer retaliation. It would also increase access to retirement benefits, paid sick leave, healthcare, and occupational training programs. The bill would make live-in domestic workers eligible for overtime pay. Importantly, domestic workers would also be given increased collective bargaining rights, making unionization easier.

It should be noted that the potential power of domestic workers is tremendous and growing. For example, by 2030–because of an aging population—caregiving is predicted to represent the largest segment of the U.S. workforce.

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Mississippi Casino Workers Win Union Contract

Unite Here! members from Beau Rivage and IP Casinos complete Shop Steward training on August 27, Biloxi, MS

At the beginning of September, the workers at the Beau Rivage Casino (owned by MGM Resorts International) voted to form a union. That makes the Beau Rivage the third casino on the Gulf Coast to unionize. Over 1,000 workers at the Beau Rivage are included in the union. They are represented by the MGM Gaming Workers Council, which is comprised of Unite Here Local 23, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 891, and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 406.

Under the union contract, workers will see a pay increase—in fact the highest across-the-board pay increase that Unite Here! has managed to win for any group of workers on the Gulf Coast. But the pay increase is only part of the win. Workers at the casino now have the option to join the union health insurance plan at a lower rate.

They are also no longer isolated individuals, fireable at will; they are part of a collective bargaining arrangement. That means that whatever issues they have with the owners or management in the future, the have the backing of their other co-workers and the rest of the union. Other MGM workers are already unionized in Las Vegas, Tunica, and New Orleans.

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UPS Workers Fighting for Contract

The current round of UPS contract negotiations has not yet come to a conclusion. UPS workers are represented by the Teamsters Union, with the largest private sector union contract in the U.S. The UPS Teamsters are comprised of 260,000 members in the UPS package division and UPS freight. These workers occupy a potentially-powerful position in the US economy which, like the rest of the world economy, is driven more and more by logistics and distribution. UPS is still the top logistics corporation in the U.S., though they are facing increasing competition from non-unionized Amazon.

The main point of contention is the creation of a two-tiered hiring system. Under this set-up, there would be regular drivers and so-called “hybrid drivers.” These drivers would deliver packages part-time and do other work for the rest of their shifts. They would not be guaranteed forty hours a week, would receive less pay, and would not be eligible for overtime when working weekends.

On September 7, Teamsters in Louisville, Kentucky, held a “vote-no” rally at a UPS freight operation. At the rally, Local 89 president Fred Zuckerman said, “The big thing is we need to get this rejected.” Zuckerman believes that workers in the union will not go for a system that will drive a wedge between regular drivers and the hybrid drivers. According to some in the union, such a system would ultimately undermine regular drivers as well, since the company would have an incentive to push higher paid, regular drivers out and replace them with hybrid drivers. The deadline for voting is October 5.