Monterey Herald Workers Fightfor TheirJobs

c,g
C
A
L
I
F
O
R
NI
5q94
A
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION, AFL-CIO
Vol. 40; No. 9
October, 1997
583
Monterey Herald Workers Fight for Their Jobs
Luther Jackson, executive officer of the San Jose
ngered by Knight- |
Ridder Inc.'s
"bad neighbor
policy" at the
Monterey County
Herald,
area
labor,
community and religious
~C
cr
(Ar
-n
00
4A0
F.3
Newspaper Guild/CWA, speaks to a rally of Monterey Herald employees on September 6.
leaders are organizing to stop
the media giant's attack on
| working families.
The news chain, which
I
also owns the San Jose Mercury News and the Detroit
Free Press, acquired the
'
unionized Herald on August
24 and promptly fired all
employees. Since then, they
have forced them to undergo
the emotionally wrenching
experience of reapplying for
their own jobs.
Knight-Ridder refused to
rehire 25 former Herald workers, including several prizewinning journalists. A total of
60 former employees are no
longer at the Herald.
The paper stripped current
workers of their contractual
rights to fair wages and benefits, job security, due process
and privacy at the workplace.
'
Imported security guards
have turned the community
paper into a fortress. These
guards are from Vance International, the same notorious
company that supplied guards
in the Detroit newspaper and
Pittston strikes.
The initial contract proposal from Knight-Ridder would
gut the rights of the unions
and their members.
The unions have filed
unfair labor practice charges
with the National Labor Relations Board. The roughly 150
Herald workers are represented by the San Jose Newspaper
Guild, CWA Local 39098, the
Monterey Bay Area Typographical Union Local
651/CWA and the San Francisco Web Pressmen and Prepress Workers' Local 4/GCIU.
Knight-Ridder was already
nationally known for unionbusting. An NLRB administrative law judge ruled KnightRidder's unfair labor practices
at the Free Press caused and
perpetuated the Detroit newspaper strike.
The Monterey workers are
now engaged in a David and
Goliath campaign, with considerable help from the com-
the Communications
Workers of America and the
Monterey County Labor
Council.
munity,
Spurred by overwhelming
support from a Reader's Com-
religious and
labor leaders, the unions have
launched a successful submittee of civic,
scription boycott pledge
campaign. g
To
help out or learn more, call
(408) 333-9016.
Sacramento
acupuncturists may now treat
patients in the workers' comp
Wrap-Up
system.
his year's legislative
session has ended
with a mixture of
frustration and
victory. To no one's surprise,
the Labor Federation's bill to
restore daily overtime pay
after eight hours, SB 680
(Solis), was vetoed by Governor Wilson. The Assembly's
version of the same measure,
AB 15 (Knox), will be acted
on next year.
The only success on daily
overtime did not require Wilson's signature for approval.
Both Houses adopted SCR 54
(Lockyer) which declares that
actions taken by the Industrial Welfare Commission to
repeal daily overtime are
contrary to the intent of the
Legislature.
"We'll keep on fighting,"
promised Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the
Labor Federation. "The daily
overtime struggle is far from
over, especially since California voters are clear they want
to save the eight-hour day."
Business groups waged an
extensive last-minute lobbying effort, complete with
radio and print ads, to convince legislators to vote
against labor's bills.
But labor also had many
successes. Penalties for minimum wage violations were
increased to $250. A new law
guarantees some
employers must give
workers time off for
day care activities.
Several victories
were won in the
workers' comp battles. The choice of
physician must
be made by a
workers'
comp referee or
appeals
board,
and
Employers of agricultural
workers will be penalized for
failure to pay wages due if the
workers quit voluntarily.
Building trades unions are
rejoicing at their victory over
the governor: the Legislature
intends to keep the modal
rate method for determining
prevailing wages.
Teamsters were successful
in urging the legislature to
urge Congress and President
Clinton to maintain current
truck size and weight
standards.
Other labor-backed bills
are now being reconsidered
or will be acted on next year.
"We'll be back," promised
Pulaski. U
Safeway Backs
Berry Pickers
major effort by
West Coast strawberry workers to
improve their lives
through union organizing picked up key support
when the United Farm Workers signed an agreement with
Safeway, Inc.
The supermarket chain
the second largest retail food
chain in the country
agreed September 15 to back
the organizing drive and support basic human rights for
20,000 California berry
ickers.
With Safeway's action,
more than 50% of the stores
in eight of the largest US
retail food markets have for-
-
CALIFORNIA LABOR NEWS
Published monthly by the California Labor
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer
mally supported strawberry
workers' rights. U
Bob
Welcome
New
Affiliates!
We extend warm greetings to
the Labor Federation's three newest
affiliates:
Bakery, Confectionery and
Tobacco Workers Local 315 in San
Diego; Letter Carriers Branch Local
183, Santa Rosa; and OPEIU Local
45 in San Jose. Welcome aboard!
PAGE 2
PAGE
.1
Balgenorth
Mary Bixler
Bergan
Tony
Sherri Chiesa
A. Clary
Wayne
Val
Connolly
Miguel Contreras
Jerry Cremins
Michael J. Day
Donald R. Doser
Billy Joe Douglas
Steve Edney
Federation, AFL-CIO
Tom Rankin, President
VICE PRESIDENTS
Jim R. Green
Jack McNally
Ted Hansen
Loretta Mahoney
Owen Marron
Day Higuchi
Dolores Huerta
Larry Mazzola
E. Dennis Hughes
Sonsa
Moseley
Janett
Steven T. Nutter
Don Hunsucker
Ken Orsatti
Dallas Jones
Oscar Owens
Jack L. Loveall
Lee Pearson
Luboviski
Edward
C. Powell
Barry
Gunnar Lundeberg
Mike Quevedo, Jr
Ophelia McFadden
Humphries
Michael Riley
Richard C. Robbins
John L. Smith
Yolanda Solari
Archie Thomas
Leo Valenzuela
Paul Varacalli
Armando Vergara
William Waggoner
Nancy Wohlforth
Al Ybarra
Judith Barlsh, Editor
California Labor News (ISSN 0008-0802) is published monthly by the California Labor
Federation, AFL-CIO, 417 Montgomery St. Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94104. Periodicals
postage paid at San Francisco, CA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to
California Labor News, 417 Montgomery St. Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94104-1109.
Subscriptions $10 a year, corporate rate $20. Phone (415) 986-3585. Fax (415) 392-8505.
warnJqM""
"maaNo
.nWmP aunni
NEWS
LABOR NEWS
CALIFORNIA LABOR
I
OCTOBER
OCTOBERI1997
Telling the Truth about the
Anti-Worker Initiative
ohn Molina,
employee
an
at Ameri-
can Income Life and
member of OPEIU
Local 277, has been spending his
weekends outside supermarkets.
When he finds people who are
thinking of signing the AntiWorker Initiative, he gets mad.
"I tell them not to sign, and
warn them that it's a fraudulent
initiative. It's a smokescreen for
corporate interests," he says.
John and hundreds of other
union members statewide have
formed Truth Teams to inform
people about the Anti-Worker
Initiative. Coordinated by central
labor councils, the Truth Teams
visit petition-circulaters at their
favorite sites: CostCo, Target
and Safeway stores throughout
California.
would have
destroyed the
Truth Team members hand
out flyers to shoppers and ask
them what they know about the
initiative they're about to sign.
Molina reports that when he
explains the true nature of the
ballot initiative, almost no one
public
schools, lost
after teachers
unions
waged an
extensive
public education
wants to sign it.
The Anti-Worker Initiative
of "campaign
finance reform" to mask its true
purpose: taking organized labor
out of the political process for
the November 1998 elections.
The initiative would make it
much harder for unions to raise
and spend-money on politics.
The authors of the initiative
are Orange County extremists
who backed the Voucher initiative in 1993. Vouchers, which
campaign
against it.
uses a veneer
"
OMt
z
OZra
..*
Now the
Pbtbm
authors
of
AntiWorker
Initiative are trying to keep
unions from spending money on
such issues in the future. U
theA.-_
HANDLE
I
I
II-
'111r
I
NEWS FROM THE FIELD
Labor Councils End
BART Strike
Another Big UPTE
Win at UC
breathed a
Bay Area commuterstrains
startof relief when the
sigh
ed running again. After a five-day
strike, behind the scenes intervention by Bay Area labor councils and
the California Labor Federation
bring BART management
helped
and striking unions SEIU 790 and
ATU 1555 to agreement and helped
win a
contract for workers.
Two thousand health care professionals at five University of California medical centers voted
recently to join University Professional and Technical Employees
CWA Local 9119. The victory
to 10,000 the number of UC
brings
workers represented by the local.
The newest members will have
union contracts at the Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Irvine, San Diego
and Davis campuses. Included are
clinical social workers, psychologists,
pharmacists, lab techs and
nuclear medical techs. "Attempts to
three of the medprivatize
ical centers were a motivating factor," said Jelger
Kalmijn,
president of the
local.
great
Fr
Building Trades
Stop ABC
II
Plans by the Associated
Building Contractors to
undermine union apprenticeship programs in Contra Costa
county were thwarted last month
when representatives from the
county Building Trades
L Councils, as well as area Iron,
Carpenters, Electrical and
Painters locals, persuaded the
Vallejo City Council to vote to4-3
to table ABC's application
OCTOBER 1997
lease a building on Mare Island for
the purpose.
The entry level "regional trainfor industrial and
ing" program
works
jobs would have dampublic established
union
aged long
programs in the
apprenticeship
area. If ABC tries to re-submit the
"labor will be back in
application,
force to oppose it," said Greg Feere,
Contra Costa Building Trades
Council secretary-treasurer.
Tree Trimmers Go
Union
Electrical Workers Local 47 at
Diamond Bar signed up the last of
Inc.'s tree trimmers in
Asplundh,
California. The additional 210
workers do line clearance work on
S. California Edison's high power
lines and complete the unionization of the tree-trimming company.
On the Waterfont
The ILWU shut down all West
Coast ports for one day in September as part of a worldwide demonstration of support for dockers
from Liverpool, England. The
British unionists were fired when
cross picket lines
they refusedthetotrend
toward privatiprotesting
zation and casualization of longshore work among the world's
ports. A similar protest ininJanu-'
ary shut down 100 ports 27
countries.
CALIFORNIA LABOR NE WS
CALIFO'RNIA
LADOR
NEWS
-a -
S
0
0
October 4: Common Sense Eco0 nomics training session, City Col0 lege, S.F. Call: (415) 267-6550.
S
October 6: Brazilian Presidential
0 Candidate Lula
at UC Berke0
0
S
0
0
S
S
speaks
ley. Call:(510) 643-6815.
October 8: Executive Council
California Labor FederaMeeting,
tion, Biltmore Hotel, L.A.
October 10: San Joaquin & Calaveras labor council Golf Tournament, Lockeford Springs. Call (209)
948-5526.
* October 14: Training session on
0
0
0
0
S
0
0
financial reporting and elections,
San Diego. Call (415) 986-3585.
October 21: Training session on
financial reporting and elections,
Hollywood. Call (415) 986-3585.
October 22: Training session on
financial reporting and elections,
Oakland. Call (415) 986-3585.
S
0 October24-26: AFL-CIO OrganizInstitute, Asian/Pacific Islander
0 ing
Recruitment. Redwood City. Call 1-
800-690-0666.
0
0
S
November 14-16: AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, Latino Recruitment, Los Angeles. (ai above)
November 14-16: W. Hemisphere
Workers' Conference against
NAFTA and Privatlztiop, S.F. Call
(415) 681-5868.
PAGE 3
Los Angeles says "No More NAFTAs!"
September 16, the Clinton administration proposed legislation granting "fast track" authority
negotiate trade agreements for the next seven years. Under fast track, Congress must vote on trade
agreements without amending them and with severely limited time for debate. Fast track also prevents the President from including labor and environmental protections in future trade agreements.
In Los Angeles, labor leaders announced a campaign to defeat fast track at a press conference in
front of the L.A. Jeans Company, which moved to Mexico after NAFTA passed. Above, Maria Escobar,
a UNITE member who lost her job when her employer relocated production to Mexico in the wake of
NAFTA, denounces the Clinton administration's trade proposal.
On
to
UNIONS WIN IN COURT
New Workplace Safety Standard Must Be Stronger
alifornia unions have
succeeded in
state's
strengthening the
pioneering workplace
safety standard to prevent
repetitive motion injuries.
A judge ruled on September 5
that the state's new ergonomics standard is too narrow
and must be extended.
In a major victory for California workers, Sacramento
Superior Court judge Ford
agreed with a petition filed by
Courtroom
Round-Up
PAGE 4
the California Labor Federation that California's
ergonomics standard violated
state law.
As revised by the judge,
the new standard will protect
more workers in more work-
places against crippling repetitive strain injuries like carpal
tunnel syndrome.
California is the first and
only state in the country to
pass regulations to minimize
repetitive motion injuries.
The new rules, which took
effect July 3 after passage by
California's Occupational
Safety and Health Standards
Board, ask employers with a
track record of repetitive
motion injuries to institute
procedures to monitor problems, train employees and fix
the
problems that caused the
injuries.
In an oral ruling, the court
agreed with the Federation
that the regulations must
apply to all workplaces. As
originally written, the standard exempted worksites with
fewer than 10 employees,
which excluded workers in
79% of employing units in
the state and over a million
and a half California workers.
The court also struck a
loophole allowing employers
to avoid following the new
rules by claiming safety measures cost
too much.
judge rejected attacks
safety standard by the
trucking industry, which
The
on the
would have invalidated the
new law altogether. M
NEWS
LABOR NE
CALIFORNIA LABOR
WS
OCTOBER
OCTOBER
I997
1997