Feature Archives

The 70,000 southern California grocery workers' strike last winter was the largest action in the labor movement in almost a decade. Grocery workers were on strike and locked out for nearly five months over demands for huge cuts in pay and benefits from their employers. Despite the workers' determination, they returned to work with a concessionary contract that gave Safeway, Kroger, and Albertsons much of what they wanted. Grocery executives claimed the cuts were needed to compete with non-union Wal-Mart. The attached pieces give a history of what happened while looking critically at the strategies employed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Why did workers lose so much? Audio Documentary of SoCal Grocery Worker Strike | Article

From the newswire - A group of Starbucks workers organizing with the Industrial Workers of the World have sparked a national campaign to unionize the world’s largest coffee chain. The workers and their allies have a vision of a groundbreaking union campaign that seriously challenges prevailing organizing paradigms. Instead of a select group of staff organizers taking on Starbucks, it will take a social movement to defeat this company. Imagine for a moment a fighting union of retail workers and what a constructive force in society that would be.

There is no doubt that a multi-dimensional approach to organizing Starbucks must include a student-led strategy. Given the characteristics of Starbucks’ employment model, students are uniquely positioned to make a substantial contribution to this campaign. [ Full Article ]

Updated 9/15/04 - Truck Drivers in the Central Valley, who are members of Motor Transport Workers Industrial Union 530 of the IWW are now back to work. After winning 70% of their demands and making a point of their problems with their workplace, the bosses caved after nearly three days. [ Read More ]

9/13/04: - Stockton Truck drivers walked off the job today, in response to share-cropping conditions under private contractor positions in Stockton area trucking yards. Now organized under the IWW IU 530, truck drivers decided to unionize after conditioned bad conditions of 7 work day weeks, and swindled time and money. Many truck drivers work 12 hour days to compensate for having to pay for their own gas, tires, and repairs. All of these conditions create jobs that can't support working families. IWW organizers are calling for solidarity, help, and financial support in the stuggle for justice for the Stockton truck drivers.

Read more: Indybay's Central Valley Page | Updates on the Trucker Strike by the IWW

A statement put out by Million Worker March organizers earlier this year stated in part, "The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10... has called for a million worker march on Washington in 2004. Sunday, October 17, 2004 is the date for this march. MWM organizers have said, "This mobilization is being proposed in response to the attacks upon working families in America and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with the complicity of Congress. The working class has not suffered such hardships since the Great Depression." Call for a Million Worker March
Endorsements are being sought for the Million Worker March: The National Education Association is one national endorser of the march. International ANSWER is another endorser. The AFL-CIO has chosen to boycott the march, saying, "We think it is absolutely crucial that we commit the efforts of our labor movement to removing George W. Bush from office." Organizers are seeking artwork for, about and inspired by the Million Worker March. Open letter to the anti-war movement Call for an anarchist contingent

A number of events have been held around Northern California to mobilize for the MWM: Meetings are at Local 10 in San Francisco. MWM organizers held a reportback from the protests against the Democratic National Convention. A kickoff rally was held on May 22nd. Local organizing groups all over California

The Vons supermarket at Shaw and Marks in Fresno put up a new sign on their front door. With contract negotiations looming, they are on the lookout for scabs. The sign welcoming customers today offered drivers $16.85 an hour. In Fresno, where the “official” unemployment rate has been over 10% for decades, this sign is sure to get some attention.

When I asked a checker what was going on, he said that “the sign is the companies way of preparing for negotiations.” He went on to say that “they (the company) had put the sign up as a way to get the names of replacement workers,” in the event of a strike. “They want us to know that they are preparing to bring in scabs to take our jobs.” [ Read full article ]
For Grocery Contract Bargaining Updates see the Bay Area Coalition's website.

Farmworkers marched in Reedley today to draw attention to problems they are having with the California Highway Patrol. The CHP has been setting up check points on roads frequented by farm workers during the height of harvest season. They are checking to see if the driver has a drivers license. If the driver does not have a license the vehicle is impounded. Fees for retrieving the car from storage often exceeds $500 - one or two weeks salary for the typical farmworker.

The CHP told farmworker representatives today that they were directed to set up the check points by the Labor Commissioner. The purpose of the check points was to inspect farm labor vehicles that are used to transport workers. But, the vehicles used by contractors to transport farmworkers are 10 - 15 passenger vans, not the passenger cars that have been confiscated. Neither the CHP or farmworker representatives could explain the apparent contradiction. [ Full Article ]

Read more on Indybay's Central Valley Page

10/16: Photos from the Picket Lines | Map of Locked-Out Hotels
10/13: Strikin' to Survive in San Francisco | Stop Deliveries to Scab Hotels | Picket lines on Wednesday | Labor on the Job TV segment
10/12: SF Hotel Strike: Fat Cats, Scabs, Fires & Marines | Report From Hotel Picket line | UNITE HERE Local 2 rally at Union Square | Audio | John Edwards joins the hotel workers | Video: Lybon Mabasa supports hotel workers
10/11: Jesse Jackson joins hotel workers' rally | Stop Bosses’ Business or Watch Another of our Unions Smashed
10/10: Working Class Solidarity Flying Picket | Photos | Audio: 1 | 2 | 3 | Future Flying Pickets
10/07: Video: Domestic Workers Rights Coalition supports Local 2 hotel workers | Danny Glover joins the picketline | Rally at CCSF
10/05: SF Hotel Strike: Report from the Front | Strike Breakers Out of SF Hotels
10/04: Hotel Strike: Stop Scab Labor Ads; Build A Labor Movement
10/02: Photos from the Picket Lines | Sheraton | Argent | Hyatt | Support Needed for Hotel Strikers: We All Can Help
10/01: Ten SF Hotels Lock Out Workers | General Strike is Needed Response to Hotel Lockout | Boycott of Comfort Suites
09/29: Two-week strike called at four SF hotels | Photos from the First Day of the Strike: 1 | 2 | 3

09/15/04: From the Newswire - By a vote of 3139 to 88 (97.3%), workers at 14 San Francisco hotels have voted to authorize a strike if their negotiating committee is unable to move management to sign a fair contract. 77% of eligible members turned out to vote. These members have been working without a contract since 08/14, while the hotel corporations have continued to take a hard line in negotations. In addition, 1271 workers from dozens of other San Francisco hotels turned out to sign a solidarity pledge -- committing to support their sisters and brothers in the event of a strike or lockout. [ Read full article ]

09/07/04: From the Newswire - "Thousands of hotel workers, Local 2, turned out in San Francisco in the searing heat to demand the big hotels sign a union contract. About a hundred were arrested for sitting on the cable car tracks in front of the St. Francis Hotel.

"The hotel workers' contract expires 09/14 at most of the big hotels, with other hotel contacts expiring soon thereafter . The big hotels are Argent Hotel, Crowne Plaza Union Square, Fairmont San Francisco, Four Seasons San Francisco, Grand Hyatt, Hilton San Francisco, Holiday Inn Civic Center, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf, Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental, Omni San Francisco Hotel, Sheraton Palace Hotel and Westin St. Francis. Not all hotels are union; that must change." [ Read full article ]

Read More: Strike Decision [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] | Labor Day Action - Photos [ 1 | 2 ] Video [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]