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Fircrest Mayor Dave Viafore lost his position this month after backing Wal-Mart’s planned invasion of this community nestled between Tacoma and University Place. In a vote of 4-3, the City Council demoted Viafore to City Councilmember following his nomination to the JwJ Grinch of the Year contest and a community revolt against Wal-Mart. Even the Wal-Mart lovin’ News Tribune cited the Wal-Mart issue as Viafore’s first factor for his demise in a front page top-of-the fold story.
JwJ was an important ally in the Fircrest Against Wal-Mart (FAW) community campaign. Once the community organized overwhelming opposition to Wal-Mart, Viafore desperately tried to paint himself as neutral. While Viafore’s ouster at the age of 43 and after a 14 year reign sends a message to all regional mayors courting with Wal-Mart, challenges remain to prevent an anti-worker Big Box company from invading the Fircrest site. The Fircrest City Council has yet to rezone the Big Box designation of the site. The new Mayor Kathy McVay has a hostile history to FAW members’ efforts to debate the Wal-Mart issue. Fircrest residents continue to want the site to be a source of needed commercial tax revenue but political leadership has failed to embrace publicly a pro-worker option.
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For the past three years, Seattle and Bellevue security officers have been working with SEIU Local 6 to raise the standards of their industry. In December of 2007, security officers at Star Protection Agency conducted a card check and voted to join SEIU Local 6. Star Protection Agency recognized their employee’s right to join a union and agreed to join four other security companies for contract negotiations.
This is an exciting victory because, Scott Scimner, CEO of Star Protection Agency is also the CEO of Allied, a janitorial service company, where he fought tooth and nail against SEIU Local 6 to unionize the janitorial industry in Seattle and Bellevue. Scott fought so hard that he let his company fall into ruin before he let it go union.
This time around with the security officers and SEIU Local 6 accomplished a card check within three months.
Jobs with Justice has been on the frontlines bringing community and student support to fight for this racially diverse workforce. We are proud to be in solidarity with Security Officer’s in their fight for a living wage and affordable health care and will continue to fight tirelessly along side of these courageous workers.
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Mike Cohen’s anti-community practices continued to dog him last month as Tacoma Metro Parks closed the door on his attempt to privatize and profitize Point Defiance Park. In a Tacoma Metro Parks press release, the Commission expressed concern that Cohen’s proposal raised too many unresolved issues. A complicating factor is that under intense public scrutiny, the City of Tacoma has forced Cohen’s neighboring Point Ruston development project into extensive public review.
JwJ activists and ally organizations are participating in this review to insure that Cohen’s usual corrupting influences are minimized. For example, Cohen has hired recent government officials and donated to agencies entrusted to regulate him while he tries to smooth and duck his proposals past community resistance.
By packing public forums, leafleting his promotional events, filing enviro appeals, public record comments, and making numerous calls on government electeds and bureaucrats, we are keeping Cohen on the radar of justice. We hope Cohen reforms his hostile practices. Alternatively, we pledge to help a more community-friendly developer to improve Point Defiance Park after Cohen completes his obligated toxic clean-up. For now, Pierce County developers should be on notice that if they plan to roll over community standards, development projects will get more complicated.
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In Pacific, a small town just south of Auburn, immigrant workers started getting illegally arrested and taken to detention centers. El Comite, a JwJ membership organization, worked with the immigrant community to address this problem. Now the immigrant worker community in Pacific is more cohesively organized and they have overcome their fear to march in the streets. In fact, after several marches to town hall, with the support of Jobs with Justice, their has been a repeal to “unconditional permits” to march in the streets, the unlawful arrests have stopped, workers have filed three lawsuits against the city for unlawful arrests and the US Department of Justice has come down in support of immigrant workers.
Jobs with Justice has utilized its rapid response team to support these workers to live free from harassment. We will continue to support workers in Pacific until the city of Pacific passes a non-cooperation ordinance and immigrant workers are free from police brutality.
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When $10/hour security workers at the Port of Tacoma Maersk terminal started to organize with the Longshore Union (ILWU), managers slipped them two 50 cent raises to try to quiet the waters while retaliating against organizers. But these workers called for a living wage and a respected voice in the workplace. They threw out the company union that managers imposed to block a real organizing drive and told their story to JwJ and community allies.
Independently, JwJ mobilized a shut down of Maersk’s headquarters and the largest terminal at the Port. We demanded managers act with justice to the underpaid security workers. Emboldened, the new ILWU members organized even more actively. Shortly thereafter, managers promised a $250 bonus. Managers reluctantly dismissed the company union but then tried to cut wages and the bonus, illegally blaming the ILWU. Rapidly the new ILWU members escalated organizing with petitions. Six days later, managers reinstated the raises plus another 50 cent raise despite more retaliation and managers trying to push a new company union. If this sounds like a Wild West soap opera, welcome to the jungle of workers trying to exercise basic rights within a broken federally regulated system. By introducing chaos among security workers, Maersk is inviting more insecurity at our Port. This is why US Rep Reichert and President Bush should stop opposing the Employee Free Choice Act.
Managers have yet to recognize the workers’ right to living wages and an independent voice at work. Community impatience is once again brewing with Maersk, which professes to have a pro-union workplace policy.
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The biggest issues on the bargaining table for the security officers have been fair wage increases and affordable family health care. Jobs with Justice has been in the streets marching in solidarity with the security officers as they demand fairness in the workplace. On January 23rd ,Guy Thomas, spokesperson for the security companies announced “under the proposed contract all security officers would receive an immediate guarantee raise, in addition, most of the downtown Seattle and Bellevue security officers will see a new minimum starting wage of $12 an hour with annual increases.” This is an industry where some security officers start at $8.00 an hour getting a .50 cent raise every 6 months. Improving the starting wage means that security officers are closer to a living wage. The relentless heat in the Seattle downtown streets from labor, community, faith and student groups has made a difference in the lives of these workers. Jobs with Justice will continue to mobilize our coalition to fight for worker justice.
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Lead by wrongly fired Alan Ritchey Inc (ARI) worker Adam Hoyt and others, Teamster 117 members denied ARI and the Jackson Lewis firm’s attempt to impose an open shop. By a vote of 56-19 out of about 80 workers, the Teamster members at ARI in Auburn grew their workplace power and unity headed into next year’s union contract negotiations. Given ARI’s record, we expect negotiations to be a full blown battle, again. Folks might remember that Teamster members at ARI received JwJ’s Pierce County honor in 2006 for organizing despite ARI managers and Jackson Lewis union-busting attacks. Adam Hoyt is also co-chair of the JwJ Pierce County Organizing Committee.
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First Student Tacoma school bus drivers won their election 74-36 to form a union with Teamsters 313. First Student agreed not to hire a union-buster to mentally terrorize the workforce, as most local companies do when faced with workers organizing such as Tomlinson Linen, Alan Ritchey Inc, and Maersk. In this case, Teamsters mounted an international campaign with SEIU and others to get a neutrality agreement from First Student’s top executives in Great Britain. JwJ bannered with Teamster members near the election jobsite to remind local First Student managers that “neutrality” means “let workers decide for ourselves” whether to organize.
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While we celebrate these victories, we have much organizing before they are secure. We need our combined volunteer activism and funding to continue to build a better world. Please support WA State JwJ!
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