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JOIN RALLY IN SUPPORT OF BERKELEY HONDA WORKERS (TOMORROW)

by Bill Oreily
berkeley_honda_cc.jpg
BERKELEY HONDA

I would like to invite all Bay Area citizens to join the striking Berkeley Honda workers and their supporters at a rally this Thursday, Aug. 18, between 4 and 6 p.m., in front of the dealership at Shattuck and Parker. You are also encouraged to join the picket line any time between 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Our continuing presence is having a very damaging effect on Berkeley Honda’s business, but we need to keep up the pressure.

If you can’t picket, you can write letters to the dealership (2600 Shattuck, Berkeley 94704) and to your local papers; if you can’t write letters, you can call the dealership (510-843-3704); and if you can’t manage any of those things, you can still do the most important thing of all: take your business elsewhere until Berkeley Honda settles with the union.

We have the opportunity to make a real difference in the outcome of this strike, and to stand up for the values so many of us in Berkeley profess to believe in. This will entail some inconvenience; doing the right thing usually does.

It may take a while to make our point. The new owners at Berkeley Honda are stubborn, and they are calculating that before long, the tide will reverse and they will gradually rebuild their customer base. And we can assume that anti-labor businesses throughout the country, who reserve a special contempt for Berkeley, are cheering them on.

Let’s disappoint them all. Let’s win.

Judy Shelton


.........................................................................................

Posted by a Wobbly in Solidarity

At its membership meeting Sunday, August 7, the Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice voted unanimously to sponsor two rallies in support of the striking workers at Berkeley Honda. The new owners are attempting to crush their union (IAM Lodge 1546). They have unilaterally withdrawn from the defined benefit pension plan. Fifteen workers averaging 20 years of seniority, including an African American employee with 31 years of tenure, have lost their jobs. Management recruited recent graduates of a technical school as replacements. Although other Honda dealerships in the area have normal bargaining relationships with the Machinists Union that represents their employees, it is crystal clear that new owners of Berkeley Honda have no interest in bargaining in good faith and are intent on busting the union.

People of conscience in Berkeley, and in particular working people, cannot allow Berkeley Honda to get away with its ruthless corporate practices. This is a community that values social justice and puts a premium on fair treatment of workers. We urge customers of Berkeley Honda to refrain from doing business there until management and the workers reach a mutually acceptable resolution to this dispute. (In July, the Berkeley City Council voted to support a boycott at Berkeley Honda. See

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?archiveDate=07-15-05&storyID=21851 )

Let Berkeley Honda know they can't do business like this in our community.
There is no room for predatory capitalism in the City of Berkeley.

The Bay Area Labor Committee calls upon those who support the workers to turn out at Berkeley Honda (Shattuck and Parker) in solidarity with the strikers on Thursday, August 18 th, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Please join us and bring your friends and neighbors. If you have organizational connections, please encourage their participation. You can also stop by the picketlines any time Monday-Through Friday between 7:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to express your solidarity - or just honk when you pass by.

We look forward to seeing you there.

In Solidarity, Michael Eisenscher Convenor, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice (LC4PJ is an affiliate of U.S. Labor Against the War) < labor-for-peace-and-justice [at] igc.org > P.O. Box 14156, Berkeley, CA 94712-5156 (510) 436-6125



§Berkeley Honda
by Bill Oreily
1_building.jpguyq2gx.jpg
Workers on Strike at Berkeley Honda
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