The state of the U.S. labor movement

As the economy continues its downward slide, the U.S. labor movement is showing signs of a revitalization. On Wednesday, workers represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) ended their occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago after reaching an agreement on their unpaid wages and benefits. On Tuesday, after a 16 year struggle, workers at the Smithfield Packing Co. voted in favor of union representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Also last week, truck drivers affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) staged a work-stoppage at the North Carolina operations of timber and paper giant Weyerhaeuser Mills, following which the company agreed to meet with the workers to discuss their issues.

These three victories -- two of them in what is arguably the most anti-union state in the U.S. -- come at a time when unions are once again under public assault, as pro-corporate and anti-worker interests seek to pin the blame for the ailing U.S. auto industry on the United Auto Workers (UAW), and attempt to derail the Employee Free Choice Act ("EFCA"), a legislative initiative aimed at restoring the right to organize that U.S. labor law ostensibly guarantees workers, but which has been thwarted by decades of increasingly aggressive employer tactics and increasingly feeble government enforcement.

I will be discussing these and other recent developments this Thursday, December 18th, North Carolina Public Radio's "The State of Things". The show, which airs live at Noon Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5) on Thursday, will also be available online (click here).

Eric Fink (SL avatar 'Forelle Broek') is a law professor and former labor union lawyer, and a member of SLLU.

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GAP secrets...

From Plot Tracer

Received this regarding my concerns about the donation of clothing (my reply is below):


Thank you for your reply. We appreciate you sharing your continued
concerns. Unfortunately, we are unable to address the inquiries in your
message via email as this is proprietary information, but we invite you
to visit our corporate Web site for additional information on our Code
of Vendor Conduct, which can be found through the following link:

http://www.gapinc.com/public/SocialResponsibility/socialres.shtml

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Maureen Coyan
Gap Inc.





Thank-you again.

I have read your website, and do not see the answers to my questions.

Are you saying that the appropriateness of donating the clothing to a children's charity is proprietary, or if you stipulate to vendors that they must be fully unionised?

To reiterate.

1 Why is it inappropriate to donate the clothes?

2 If you are working with the unions to eradicate these practises,
are you stipulating to vendors they must be fully unionised?

If the communication medium is inappropriate, perhaps you could answer my questions to my home address?

(address withheld)

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No Sweat

Some websites to visit...


http://www.nosweat.org.uk/
No Sweat, PO Box 36708 London SW9 8YA. 07904 431 959
http://82.69.65.216:3000/WorldClient.dll?Session=GYSUVDW&View=Compose&To=admin%40nosweat.org.uk&New=Yes


http://www.nosweat.org.uk/
www.myspace.com/nosweatuk
www.flickr.com/photos/nosweat
www.youtube/nosweatuk

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GAP using Child labour - email them now!

From Plot Tracer

Again the capitalist system is shown to use the most vulnerable people in order to squeeze as much profits as possible for the few -

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7066019.stm )

Register your disgust at the use of child labour - and GAP's decided solution - the destruction of the clothing in question. With millions of children living in poverty - and over 35000 children in the relatively small city of Glasgow receiving school uniform grants (google YOUR area for poverty statistics).

This is what I sent to GAP and other organisations involved with the company, and the BBC and UK paper, the Observer (who have broken the story).

SLLU ACTION!

EMAIL GAP - THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES ARE HERE:
http://www.gap.com/customerService/

and these people are an org they are heavily involved with (forward your email to them as well) -

http://www.sa-intl.org/


Main agencies in UK running the story -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/feedback/default.stm
letters@observer.co.uk

Look up others in your area.

Statistics about poverty in your area should be easy enough to find on the net.

This is my email, if you want to use it, go ahead, but reword it.

Sir,

Although disgusted at the breakdown of the manufacturing chain that has led to the news that Gap had inadvertently been using child labour, I fear that GAP are about to do something even worse. In today's BBC news the report ended saying GAP were going to destroy the clothing involved. This, in a country were there are millions of children growing up in poverty (in Glasgow alone there are over 35000 children who get school uniform grants every year and 1/4 of Scotlands children are being brought up in what the European community term as poverty conditions - and this figure is roughly the same throughout the UK rising to 1/3 in cities like Glasgow).

A better use of the clothing that has been proven to have included children in the manufacturing process would be for GAP to give the pieces over to as charity like the Child Poverty Action Group (http://www.cpag.org.uk/) to distribute. This would not only give much needed clothing to the people who need it most, but it would go some way to show that GAP is serious about its commitment to Community Investment (http://www.gapinc.com/public/SocialResponsibility/sr_community.shtml ).


Yours etc

PLEASE VISIT THESE SITES- NO SWEAT UK (Click on the fuck off starbucks sign) and No Sweat Apparel (US and UK - click on the Nike slavery sign)

NO SWEAT SCOTLAND:
http://nosweatscotland.blogspot.com/

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