Feature Archives

For practically 70 years, Ben Davis Inc. has been a unionized employer in the San Francisco Bay area, famous for manufacturing "Union Made" and "Made in the USA" garments. In recent years, however, the company has reduced its workers benefits, claiming that because the minimum wage in San Francisco has jumped from $6.75 to $8.50, it can no longer afford to provide these benefits. Although this might indeed be a difficult transition for smaller, struggling employers, Ben Davis can most certainly afford to increase the wages and continue providing the same benefits. Write owner Frank Davis and demand that the company negotiate a fair contract with workers! Send Mr. Davis a letter!

7/15/04 - Macy's workers at the Union Square and Stonestown department stores voted on July 11th to go on strike since the company continues to not meet their demands relating to sick pay and health care coverage. Workers voted 90% in favor of authorizing a 24 hour strike -- starting at 11 pm on Friday evening, the 16th of July, and ending 11 pm on Saturday. Workers are calling for community supporters to come out to the picket lines and help them make some noise, wih a special call for people to be at the Union Square store from 11am-1pm on Saturday July 17th for a press conference.
For more info go to UFCW local 101's website for updates on bargaining, pictures, and reportbacks from previous actions.

In May of this year, an estimated 2,000 independent truck drivers (in conjunction with truck drivers in L.A.) held wildcat strikes to protest high fuel costs, low pay, poor compensation and no benefits at the Port of Oakland. Truckers are again calling for a nationwide strike to protest high fuel prices and working conditions at the nation's ports. The strike, slated for the week of June 28-July 4, has been called to be held in cities throughout the U.S., including Oakland, L.A./Long Beach, Houston, & Hampton Roads, Va.

Due to the Port of Oakland threatening civil lawsuits against the Oakland 3 and initiating further civil actions, the truckers are hesitant to picket. There are no injunctions prohibiting non-truckers from picketing and this time the truckers need the help of the community to hold the picket lines. If the truckers see no picket signs they might believe that the Port of Oakland has succeeded in stopping the independent truckers labor movement and may reluctantly return to work. Community support is desperately needed at the Port of Oakland to let the truckers and the Port of Oakland know that our nationwide movement is real, and will not be shut down by this government agency through attempts to abuse of our financial inability to defend ourselves against civil lawsuits. The Oakland 3 are victims of economic imprisonment, a state of the art tool to keep workers from organizing.

A call was put out for picketers for early Monday morning, June 28th at 6am outside the APL terminal and at the UP terminal to show solidarity with the nationwide shutdown.

Call-out to support the Independent Truckers at the Oakland Docks | IWW Call-out for support | Indybay's coverage of the port strikes in May | IWW's coverage of the truckers' labor movement

Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world and employs over 1.3 million people. Based out of the southern United States, the company dominates the retail world and profits from America's love affair with consumerism. Wal-Mart is known for its trend-setting poverty level wages, sale of genetically modified (GM) foods, and bully tactics in dealing with everyone from labor to local people who don't want a Wal-Mart store invading their community. This megastore chain has been steadily drawing mainstream media attention with a rejection of a proposed Wal-Mart in Inglewood, California as well as the exposure of its exploitation of illegal immigrants. However, those on the frontlines of the battle against corporate America have always known that Wal-Mart has no respect for workers or the communities the stores locate in, and that the company has no problem getting rich while employees are cheated out of their already low wages.

National Class Action Lawsuit: In a decision released on June 22, 2004, a U.S. District Court ruled that six current and former Wal-Mart employees from California may represent all female employees of Wal-Mart who worked at its U.S. stores anytime since December 26, 1998 in a nationwide sex discrimination class action lawsuit. The class in this case includes more than 1.6 million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart retail stores in America, including Wal-Mart discount stores, super centers, neighborhood stores, and Sam's Clubs.

The suit charges that Wal-Mart discriminates against its female retail employees in pay and promotions. In certifying the case as the largest civil rights class action ever certified against a private employer, the Judge described the case as “historic in nature, dwarfing other employment discrimination cases that came before it.” The Judge also noted that this case is being ruled upon in the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

The Fight against Wal-Mart in the Bay Area: Even though the Bay Area's fight against Wal-mart has been fruitful in the past—for example, the banning of so-called big-box stores in Oakland and Raging Grannies protesting Wal-Mart's workers violations—Wal-Mart is still planning on building 8 new stores in the Bay Area. It comes as no surprise that Wal-Mart employees earn on average $8.50 per hour, which results in an annual income of $14,000—well below the poverty level in the Bay Area.

More Resistance Against Wal-Mart: Wal-mart Class Action Website | Wal-mart Watch | WalMartyrs | Hel-Mart | Sprawl Busters | IWW/Retail Worker's in-depth coverage of Walmart | WalmartSucks.org

6/18/04: As Newsom continues shifting money away from workers and low-income San Franciscans, cutting welfare and services, he refuses to address the massive tax theft by corporations and downtown big business. City Hall shaves budgets by a few million here or there, but ignores the billions of revenue owed by these power brokers. The denial of funds to DLP, along with escalating INS raids in San Francisco (supposedly a “sanctuary city” from immigration raids), represent two of the main strategies of the war against immigrants: major cuts of social spending, along with increasing state repression and violence against communities of color.

Organizations like the Day Labor Program are in the heart of resistance to the war at home. Fighting the economic and police repression of immigrants here in San Francisco is an integral piece of fighting Bush & Co.'s plan for world takeover. Bush's “endless war” relies on the money stolen from immigrants and other workers. It also rests on the continuing racist denial of the humanity and civil rights of targeted peoples at home and abroad.
6/18 - Photos from Protest | Report | 6/23 - Rally against ICE/INS Raids in the Mission | Photos | Archived Day Labor Program coverage

Washington, D.C. -- The Communications Workers of America reached a tentative 5-year agreement with SBC Communications that achieves the union's major objectives of strengthening employment security, including new access to jobs in the growth areas, protecting health security for both active employees and retirees, and improving wages and pensions.

The agreement came as 100,000 SBC workers returned to work today following a strike that began Friday, May 21. Subject to member ratification, the settlement covers workers in 13 states in SBC territory.

Among the highlights, the settlement guarantees that there will be no layoffs of employees currently on the payroll for the life of the agreement, and it calls for the rehiring of several hundred workers who had been laid off at SBC Southwest and SBC Midwest (former Southwestern Bell and Ameritech).
For More Info on the tentative Settlement go to CWA Website | Pictures of the SBC 4 Day Strike: 1 2 3 4

5/11/2004: For years, activists have been protesting against Gap Inc. for its support of deforestation, its use of sweatshop labor, and its domination of consumer culture through the chains The Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. However, today the Gap released its own Social Responsibility Report. Sweatshops at Gap factories in such places as El Salvador and the US territory Saipan were exposed in the 1990's, but conditions obviously have not improved. Some think that the Gap might be the first of several such large companies to come out about its practices in countries such as China, where its workers are not allowed to unionize.
Behind the Label | UNITE's 2002 Sweatshop Report | Boycott the Gap Campaign | El Salvador - Gap enters agreement to support union factory