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| The UE Local 243 negotiating committee at Sargent Manufacturing. Seated, left to right: Chief Steward Wayne Morrison, Anna Tondalo, Vice President Chris Fiorentino, Sylvia Davis, President Ray Pompano. |
Some 40 UE members from Iowa locals and sub-locals participated in the union’s annual political action day in Des Moines on January 28. They lobbied state legislators on six areas of concern to the union, and within the following few days won a victory on one of those issues. Both houses of the legislature approved a bill providing early retirement incentives for state workers, and on February 10, Governor Chet Culver signed it into law.
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| FOR JOBS, EDUCATION, EQUALITY AND LABOR RIGHTS: UE General Executive Board member Larsene Taylor (right) helps hold some of the key demands made by participants in the fourth annual HKonJ March for social justice last Saturday in Raleigh, NC. |
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| GETTING INVOLVED: Justin Durgin, (UE Local 262 at Madico in Woburn, MA) and Ali Goguen were among those at the first meeting of the UE Young Activist program: 'It’s great to feel like there are a lot more younger people facing the same issues.' |
UE’s Young Activis
A settlement of pay and benefit claims has been reached between the members of UE Local 1174, who formerly worked at Quad City Die Casting (QCDC), and the trustee in charge of the company’s assets. UE members will be paid for vacation to which they were entitled in 2009, and the trustee will place money from the sale of the company’s assets into a fund to settle workers’ outstanding medical bills that went unpaid when the company retroactively cancelled health coverage last year.
Members of Local 274 at Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts are scheduled to return to work on Wednesday, February 17, after being locked out by management since December 4, 2009. Just four days ago, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) informed the union and the company that it would be issuing a large group of complaints against Lamson & Goodnow.
Warehouse Workers for Justice and clergy members in Joliet, Illinois are organizing a consumer boycott of vacuum cleaner manufacturer Bissell. The boycott movement was prompted by the firing last November of 70 workers at Bissell’ warehouse near Joliet, after the workers filed charges over violations of workers’ rights at the facility, including violations of wage and hour laws, and began union organizing.
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| WE'RE UE! Renzenberger drivers in Chicago celebrate the result of the NLRB election vote in which they won their own union - UE - and real representation at work. |
Clergy and other religious leaders will conduct a press conference on Martin Luther King Day (Monday, Jan. 18) to announce a boycott of Bissell products. Their goal is to secure justice for a group of Bissell warehouse workers who were fired last year when they blew the whistle on violations at the warehouse near Joliet.
The group has been meeting with workers involved in Warehouse Workers for Justice, an organization that is raising concerns over violations of workers' rights in the warehouse industry.
Members of UE Local 893 picketed the Anamosa State Penitentiary on January 9, to make the public aware of the impact of pending layoffs of correctional counselors at state correctional institutions in Iowa. The action received extensive coverage on TV news broadcasts in the region.
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