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Help Janitors At Yahoo Suffering From Capitalist Oppression!!!
Over the past two months, janitors who clean the Yahoo! office in San Jose,
California, have been the target of an intense campaign of fear and
intimidation in response to their attempts to raise wages, secure health
care, and have a voice at work by joining the Service Employees
International Union.
California, have been the target of an intense campaign of fear and
intimidation in response to their attempts to raise wages, secure health
care, and have a voice at work by joining the Service Employees
International Union.
**Justice for Janitors at Yahoo!**
Over the past two months, janitors who clean the Yahoo! office in San Jose,
California, have been the target of an intense campaign of fear and
intimidation in response to their attempts to raise wages, secure health
care, and have a voice at work by joining the Service Employees
International Union.
Most janitors at Yahoo! earn about $16,000 a year and have no health
insurance for themselves and their families.
"I feel bad when I walk around Yahoo!," says Francisco Casteneda, Yahoo!
janitor. "I can see that Yahoo! has money, but they don't ensure that we are
paid well, and we don't have health care for our families."
** GET INVOLVED **
-Send a letter to Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel and ask that Yahoo's cleaning
sub-contractor, Team Services, meets industry standards and follows federal
labor law. Yahoo! janitors want to provide high quality standards and
services, but they also want respect on the job.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/boohooyahoo
-Tell your friends about the janitors' efforts.
http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.tcl?domain=Yahoo1877
-Need more info? Check out http://www.BooHooYahoo.com -- a site recently launched
by the janitors to dramatize their efforts to secure decent wages and basic
benefits.
Over the past two months, janitors who clean the Yahoo! office in San Jose,
California, have been the target of an intense campaign of fear and
intimidation in response to their attempts to raise wages, secure health
care, and have a voice at work by joining the Service Employees
International Union.
Most janitors at Yahoo! earn about $16,000 a year and have no health
insurance for themselves and their families.
"I feel bad when I walk around Yahoo!," says Francisco Casteneda, Yahoo!
janitor. "I can see that Yahoo! has money, but they don't ensure that we are
paid well, and we don't have health care for our families."
** GET INVOLVED **
-Send a letter to Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel and ask that Yahoo's cleaning
sub-contractor, Team Services, meets industry standards and follows federal
labor law. Yahoo! janitors want to provide high quality standards and
services, but they also want respect on the job.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/boohooyahoo
-Tell your friends about the janitors' efforts.
http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.tcl?domain=Yahoo1877
-Need more info? Check out http://www.BooHooYahoo.com -- a site recently launched
by the janitors to dramatize their efforts to secure decent wages and basic
benefits.
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Comments
(Hide Comments)
stop the yahoos at yahoo.
and pass the vodka.
Sounds like a good argument for education to me. I mean, what do you expect to get payed for cleaning shitters (really not meaning to cut anyone down).
Here is a better idea though. Move out of the bay area where living costs are not soooo high. Janitors elsewhere can actually have a decent quality of living.
Here is a better idea though. Move out of the bay area where living costs are not soooo high. Janitors elsewhere can actually have a decent quality of living.
If you're rich and you too can sit around and do nothing...
If all the janitors in the bay area left for greener pastures, who would clean all the buildings? The work will always be there. It's our job as a society to ensure that people who fill these shoes are paid enough to support themselves and their families wherever they live, be it the bay area or elsewhere. Education will not solve the problem because the work of "cleaning the shitters" will always exist.
The economy is dynamic--if enough janitors refuse to work for a given wage or move out of the area, then companies have a bidding war for those who are left: wages go up; which attract more workers, etc. However wages will not exceed a given "value" -- the cost to support serrvice -- especially when that service does not pay for itself (generate profit). A free market is always in flux, but it is a self-calibrated equilibrium (unless there's tampering with the markets -- just like man and the environment).
The goal for any good economist (or environmentalist) is to minimize man's affect on this balance. Sadly, this is easier to achieve with dollars than with dirt. What would benefit anarchist and capitalist alike is to factor in here-to-fore hidden costs into the "value" of goods and services (like recycling/minimizing pollution in the case of janitors), but that's another topic.
When you run a successful international dot.com business, meet all expenses (payroll, R&D, infrastructure), survive in tight econmoic times, and pay janitors for considerably more than the going rate, then by all means share your secrets with the world. We would love to hear a good success story.
Until then, all you have is regurgitated Marxist dogma that took two centuries to produce this: Red China, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, the U.S.S.R., East Germany, Albania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and to a lesser extent; Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Congo, Ethiopia, Laos, and Mozambique.
Very few of those countries remain communist and the fall of the rest created even more non-communist countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Eritrea, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
If you want anyone to take Marxism/Anarchism seriously, you'd better come up with a state that can actually function in the real world according to the socialist dream. To quote from an oppressive capitalist bit of commericial propoganda (what we in the real world call an advertisement), "Where's the beef?"
The goal for any good economist (or environmentalist) is to minimize man's affect on this balance. Sadly, this is easier to achieve with dollars than with dirt. What would benefit anarchist and capitalist alike is to factor in here-to-fore hidden costs into the "value" of goods and services (like recycling/minimizing pollution in the case of janitors), but that's another topic.
When you run a successful international dot.com business, meet all expenses (payroll, R&D, infrastructure), survive in tight econmoic times, and pay janitors for considerably more than the going rate, then by all means share your secrets with the world. We would love to hear a good success story.
Until then, all you have is regurgitated Marxist dogma that took two centuries to produce this: Red China, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, the U.S.S.R., East Germany, Albania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and to a lesser extent; Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Congo, Ethiopia, Laos, and Mozambique.
Very few of those countries remain communist and the fall of the rest created even more non-communist countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Eritrea, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
If you want anyone to take Marxism/Anarchism seriously, you'd better come up with a state that can actually function in the real world according to the socialist dream. To quote from an oppressive capitalist bit of commericial propoganda (what we in the real world call an advertisement), "Where's the beef?"
Yep, the Soviet Union fell. Name one country that remained exclusively capitalist following the Great Depression. Even the moves away from a welfare state in the US in the 80s were accompanied by increased military spending to such a large extent that the economy was in many ways less private.
Your example of how market forces break Unions shows exactly how unions went wrong. Businesses can get a smaller pool of nonUnion scabs to break any collective power a union tries to get, but a strong union can make the social and physical costs of crossing a picketline outweigh the benefits.
And in the mean time, its funny how low paid workers are given night access to pretty secure areas. Aside from temps, janitors at corporations are the best place to look if you need information about a competing company. Home based janitors can also be pretty good when it comes to the sale of personal information. Physical theft can be prevented (with only a slight increase in cost) but….
Your example of how market forces break Unions shows exactly how unions went wrong. Businesses can get a smaller pool of nonUnion scabs to break any collective power a union tries to get, but a strong union can make the social and physical costs of crossing a picketline outweigh the benefits.
And in the mean time, its funny how low paid workers are given night access to pretty secure areas. Aside from temps, janitors at corporations are the best place to look if you need information about a competing company. Home based janitors can also be pretty good when it comes to the sale of personal information. Physical theft can be prevented (with only a slight increase in cost) but….
Asside from both being anti-capitalist and pro-labor, there are other connections between Marxism and Anarchism. Karl Marx certianly did not approve of Anarchism, but Anrachism did apporpriate certian Marxist ideals none-the-less.
Anarchism and Socialism
by George Plechanoff
translated into English by Elanor Marx Aveling
------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER VIII. The So-called Anarchist Tactics. Their Morality.
"However this may be, the whole political action of the working-class must be summed up in these few words: "No politics! Long live the purely economic struggle!" This is Bakounism, but perfected Bakounism. Bakounine himself urged the workers to fight for a reduction of the hours of labor, and higher wages. The Anarchist-Communists of our day seek to "make the workers understand that they have nothing to gain from such child's play as this, and that society can only be transformed by destroying the institutions which govern it." The raising of wages is also useless. "North America and South America, are they not there to prove to us that whenever the worker has succeeded in getting higher wages, the prices of articles of consumption have increased proportionately, and that where he has succeeded in getting 20 francs a day for his wages, he needs 25 to be able to live according to the standard of the better class workman, so that he is always below the average?" The reduction of the hours of labor is at any rate superaverage fluous since capital will always make it up by a "systematic intensification of labor by means of improved machinery. Marx himself has demonstrated this as clearly as possible."
We know, thanks to Kropotkine, that the Anarchist Ideal has double origin. And all the Anarchist "demonstrations" also have a double origin. On the one hand they are drawn from the vulgar handbooks of political economy, written by the most vulgar of bourgeois economists, e. g., Grave's dissertation upon wages, which Bastiat would have applauded enthusiastically. On the other hand, the "companions", remembering the somewhat "Communist" origin of their ideal, turn to Marx and quote, without understanding, him. Even Bakounine has been "sophisticated" by Marxism. The latterday Anarchists, with Kropotkine at their head, have been even more sophisticated.
The ignorance of Grave, "the profound thinker", is very remarkable in general, but it exceeds the bounds of all probability in matters of political economy. Here it is, only equalled by that of the learned geologist Kropotkine, who makes the most monstrous statements whenever he touches upon an economic question. We regret that space will not allow us to amuse the reader with some samples of Anarchist economics. They must content themselves with what Kropotkine has taught them about Marx's "surplus-value".
Anarchism and Socialism
by George Plechanoff
translated into English by Elanor Marx Aveling
------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER VIII. The So-called Anarchist Tactics. Their Morality.
"However this may be, the whole political action of the working-class must be summed up in these few words: "No politics! Long live the purely economic struggle!" This is Bakounism, but perfected Bakounism. Bakounine himself urged the workers to fight for a reduction of the hours of labor, and higher wages. The Anarchist-Communists of our day seek to "make the workers understand that they have nothing to gain from such child's play as this, and that society can only be transformed by destroying the institutions which govern it." The raising of wages is also useless. "North America and South America, are they not there to prove to us that whenever the worker has succeeded in getting higher wages, the prices of articles of consumption have increased proportionately, and that where he has succeeded in getting 20 francs a day for his wages, he needs 25 to be able to live according to the standard of the better class workman, so that he is always below the average?" The reduction of the hours of labor is at any rate superaverage fluous since capital will always make it up by a "systematic intensification of labor by means of improved machinery. Marx himself has demonstrated this as clearly as possible."
We know, thanks to Kropotkine, that the Anarchist Ideal has double origin. And all the Anarchist "demonstrations" also have a double origin. On the one hand they are drawn from the vulgar handbooks of political economy, written by the most vulgar of bourgeois economists, e. g., Grave's dissertation upon wages, which Bastiat would have applauded enthusiastically. On the other hand, the "companions", remembering the somewhat "Communist" origin of their ideal, turn to Marx and quote, without understanding, him. Even Bakounine has been "sophisticated" by Marxism. The latterday Anarchists, with Kropotkine at their head, have been even more sophisticated.
The ignorance of Grave, "the profound thinker", is very remarkable in general, but it exceeds the bounds of all probability in matters of political economy. Here it is, only equalled by that of the learned geologist Kropotkine, who makes the most monstrous statements whenever he touches upon an economic question. We regret that space will not allow us to amuse the reader with some samples of Anarchist economics. They must content themselves with what Kropotkine has taught them about Marx's "surplus-value".
For more information:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/plekhanov/...
During non-recessionary times, one of the Federal Reserves chief missions is to keep inflation down. But don't think for a second that means making sure that working class people aren't burdened with debt or our rents aren't eating up 30 or 40 or 50% of our income. Sheeeat, housing prices aren't even tabulated when tracking official inflation figures! No, the Fed is concerned that if unemployment gets too low, wages will go up "unreasonably" -- that's the really bad form of inflation that our entrusted Fed Board Members find so offensive.
Which gets me to 'works for me' delusional analysis of capitalism. Official government policy -- set by and for
capital -- is to keep unemployment high enough that workers aren't in a position to truely shop around for work -- at least, not in en masse. In other words, workers, particularly at the "bottom wrung", are as much as forced by circumstance -- you know, the need to eat and all that other superfluous shit -- to accept shitty wages and shitty treatment.
The dynamism of capital that 'works for me' lauds is the dynamism of capital to do as it wishes.
But, as is said, "the wirligig of time has it's revenges".
PS: I disagree with Nessie in his above post.
First throw the term 'marxism' out the window. It's garbage. Critique marx's political economy. I'd be curious to know of any anarchist who offered a more comprehensive and incisive critique of capitalism. Tick tock, tick tock...
Anarchism -- another term only a few shades better than 'marxism' -- has offered inspired and inspiring ideas of how society could be organized. It's far more vivid than marxian critique and talks more about alternatives. I'm thinking of Goldman and Bookchin in particular (before Bookchin got all into municipal liberalism). In any event, anarchism isn't about worker-owned business, Nessie. Hate to say it, but that sounds compatible with commodity relations (and, inevitably, capitalism). The best of anarchism in my opinion is against capitalism in all it's manifestations.
Which gets me to 'works for me' delusional analysis of capitalism. Official government policy -- set by and for
capital -- is to keep unemployment high enough that workers aren't in a position to truely shop around for work -- at least, not in en masse. In other words, workers, particularly at the "bottom wrung", are as much as forced by circumstance -- you know, the need to eat and all that other superfluous shit -- to accept shitty wages and shitty treatment.
The dynamism of capital that 'works for me' lauds is the dynamism of capital to do as it wishes.
But, as is said, "the wirligig of time has it's revenges".
PS: I disagree with Nessie in his above post.
First throw the term 'marxism' out the window. It's garbage. Critique marx's political economy. I'd be curious to know of any anarchist who offered a more comprehensive and incisive critique of capitalism. Tick tock, tick tock...
Anarchism -- another term only a few shades better than 'marxism' -- has offered inspired and inspiring ideas of how society could be organized. It's far more vivid than marxian critique and talks more about alternatives. I'm thinking of Goldman and Bookchin in particular (before Bookchin got all into municipal liberalism). In any event, anarchism isn't about worker-owned business, Nessie. Hate to say it, but that sounds compatible with commodity relations (and, inevitably, capitalism). The best of anarchism in my opinion is against capitalism in all it's manifestations.
> Very few of those countries remain communist and the fall of the rest created even more non-communist countries:
Since the USSR was an imperial amalgamation of existing republics, you can hardly claim that it created "even more" non-communist countries when it broke apart into its previous parts. After WWII, the Nazi Reich broke up into Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. but those existed (with some border differences) before Hitler took them over.
> Cuba
Let's talk about Cuba. I'm not a big fan of state socialism, but let's be honest about Cuba's enormous achievements. In order to be honest, we need to compare Cuba not to Western industrialized states but to countries that were similar at the time of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba has far out-paced similar Latin American countries in achieving high literacy rates, low infant mortality, high life expectancy, etc. True, it did much of this with Soviet help, but now that that help is gone, they are still managing very well, including remarkable results in returning to organic farming and introducing urban farming.
Also remember that Russia was largely agrarian and feudal in 1917. A mere forty years later, it had industrialized to the point where it beat the US to the launch of a satellite. I don't necessarily see this industrialization as a good thing, particularly the waste of resources (on both the US's and USSR's sides) on frivolous showpiece space programs.
Now that "capitalist reform" has taken hold in the former USSR, most people in most areas are worse off - much less medical care, for example.
Since the USSR was an imperial amalgamation of existing republics, you can hardly claim that it created "even more" non-communist countries when it broke apart into its previous parts. After WWII, the Nazi Reich broke up into Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. but those existed (with some border differences) before Hitler took them over.
> Cuba
Let's talk about Cuba. I'm not a big fan of state socialism, but let's be honest about Cuba's enormous achievements. In order to be honest, we need to compare Cuba not to Western industrialized states but to countries that were similar at the time of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba has far out-paced similar Latin American countries in achieving high literacy rates, low infant mortality, high life expectancy, etc. True, it did much of this with Soviet help, but now that that help is gone, they are still managing very well, including remarkable results in returning to organic farming and introducing urban farming.
Also remember that Russia was largely agrarian and feudal in 1917. A mere forty years later, it had industrialized to the point where it beat the US to the launch of a satellite. I don't necessarily see this industrialization as a good thing, particularly the waste of resources (on both the US's and USSR's sides) on frivolous showpiece space programs.
Now that "capitalist reform" has taken hold in the former USSR, most people in most areas are worse off - much less medical care, for example.
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact CSEA | Join CSEA | Search | Site Map
CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
Politics & Legislation | Message Board | Internet Resources
Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact CSEA | Join CSEA | Search | Site Map
CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
Politics & Legislation | Message Board | Internet Resources
Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
For more information:
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/i...
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
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Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact CSEA | Join CSEA | Search | Site Map
CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
Politics & Legislation | Message Board | Internet Resources
Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
For more information:
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/i...
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact CSEA | Join CSEA | Search | Site Map
CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
Politics & Legislation | Message Board | Internet Resources
Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
by CSEA • Sunday December 08, 2002 at 11:53 AM
415-740-7462
One more example of the Corruption in SEIU
NLRB issues complaint against SEIU for threatening San Francisco janitors
Published Sept. 11, 2002
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."
SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.
In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.
Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.
In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."
Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.
"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."
Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.
This is not the first time SEIU has muscled in on Bay Area janitors. Two years ago, the international seized control of San Francisco Local 14 and forced them to merge into the Los Angeles based Local 1877 even though the affected union members voted against it. After the merger, SEIU 1877 signed a sweetheart contract allowing the management to replace workers making $17 an hour and full benefits with workers making $9 an hour and no benefits.
"And now our work hours are being cut and workload increased," explained a Local 1877 Moscone Center worker, "That's why we want to join Local 87 members in forming a new independent union for janitors in San Francisco."
Moscone Center workers also have petitioned the NLRB for an election so they can decide to stop paying dues to SEIU Local 1877. "Why should we be forced to pay dues to a union that no longer represents us?" asked a Moscone worker. The NLRB is moving ahead with the de-authorization election for Moscone Center workers.
"The trusteeship and merger take away our precious democratic rights and threatens our jobs and wages. Even though members overwhelmingly reject their actions, SEIU is forging ahead with its plan," said Richard Leung, who was ousted as president of Local 87 in the SEIU takeover. "All they care is to raise and collect our union dues while they are busy making backroom deals with employers. As long as we remain in SEIU, we are forced to accept their sellout plan."
Founded in 1936, Local 87 has had a long history in the struggles to improve the plight of janitorial workers in San Francisco and is one of the oldest SEIU locals in the nation. As the premier janitorial union in Northern California, Local 87 members make $15.65 an hour with pension and fully paid family medical and dental benefits. By comparison, SEIU 1877 members in the East and South Bay make only $8 an hour with little or no pension and have to pay for a portion of their health benefits for which they have to wait up to a year to qualify.
Affected members are challenging SEIU’s top-down domination by starting a grass roots drive to bring about a serious challenge to the nation’s largest union.
"Unions are supposed to be by the members and for the members," Leung said. "They ought to have the right to decide for themselves to take back control of their union."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact CSEA | Join CSEA | Search | Site Map
CSEA Home | President | Rank & File | CSU Division
Supervisors | Retirees | Member Benefits
Politics & Legislation | Message Board | Internet Resources
Visit CSEA Web site?
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/index.asp
For more information:
http://www.calcsea.org/president/local87/i...
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