Ohio paper strikers post own publication
Striking reporters, photographers and other employees of The Vindicator
went online Nov. 19 with their own newspaper. The first 50,000-copy
print edition of The Valley Voice will be distributed Nov. 20 by striking
drivers to stores and subscribers. Workers walked off the job over wages
and health care benefits in the first strike since 1964. Striker-produced
papers are common in the industry. (AP)
Nigerian unions suspend planned general
strike
The Nigerian government ordered a temporary increase in fuel subsidies
and an immediate cut in pump prices on the eve of a threatened nationwide
protest. The country’s central labor movement and a coalition of
civil society groups decided to suspend the general strike, which had
been scheduled to begin Nov. 16.
Despite being the largest oil producer in Africa (daily output of some
2.5 million barrels of crude oil), Nigeria relies on expensive imports
of refined petrol, diesel and kerosene and its impoverished 130-million
people suffer from fuel droughts and rising prices. (AFP)
All states still show gender wage gap
All US states and Washington, DC have narrowed the gap between wages
earned by men and women, but no state has eliminated it. At the current
pace of wage gains, it will be another 50 years before income earned
by men and women is equal in the US.
Median wages for women in 2002 were 76.2 percent of men’s wages.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research report,
women in Washington, DC, earned the most and came the closest to equity
with men, earning 92.4 cents for every dollar earned by men for full-time,
year-round work. The wage gap was widest in Wyoming where women earned
66.3 percent of men’s wages, the study showed. In some states,
the wage gap was wider when race was considered and black and Hispanic
women were compared with white men. For example, Louisiana women earned
68.5 percent of what men earned, but black women in that state earned
48.9 percent of what white men earned. (Reuters)
Japanese workers demonstrate in solidarity
4,000 trade unionists participated in an international labor solidarity
rally in Tokyo, Japan on Nov. 7. The demonstration was initiated
by Doro-Chiba, the militant Japanese railway union, and attracted workers
from Japan, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, and the US International
Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The rally protested the war in
Iraq, re-militarization of Japan, WTO-style government privatization
measures, and repressive government legislation. (LaborNet)
Flight attendants board authorizes huge
strike
The board of the nation’s largest flight attendants union unanimously
approved a strike resolution on Nov. 16.
The union has 46,000 members at 26 airlines, but the four immediately
at issue are United, US Airways, ATA and Hawaiian. The union intends
to poll members at these airlines and tally the strike vote by the end
of Decemember. (AP)
7,000 health care workers to strike
On Nov. 19, registered nurses and hospital workers were to announce
and discuss details about their plans for an historic strike at 14 Sutter
hospitals throughout Northern California. The California Nurses Association,
the Health Care Workers Union SEIU Local 250, and SEIU Local 707 have
formed a cooperation agreement and are demanding a new direction for
the hospital industry to insure that patients get the best possible
care. Sutter Health, however, continues to put its profits before the
needs of patients and has failed to comply with the state’s patient
safety law requiring minimum RN-to-patient staffing ratios. Sutter has
also rejected calls to provide a voice in staffing for caregivers and
a training fund, as many other hospital systems have done. (SEIU,
CA Nurses Association)
The worst form of violence
In 2003, one in three low-wage full-time workers in New York City experienced
one or more of these hardships: gas, phone, or electricity was turned
off; bills couldn't be paid, a food bank or pantry was used; rent couldn't
be paid; or a prescription cost too much to be filled.
Nearly two-thirds of low-wage workers have no vacation or sick days.
Almost half had no health coverage. Only one-third are offered a pension
or retirement plan; most have less than $500 in savings.
A parent who misses work to care for a sick child loses money every
day and risks being fired. Extra subway fare, or a rent increase, means
the family must do without another essential item. (Gotham
Gazette)
SF hotel lockout ends; talks to continue
On Nov. 20, employers agreed to end their lockout of workers at 14 San
Francisco hotels and resume negotiations with UNITE HERE! Local 2. The
union and the Multi-Employer group agreed to a 60-day cooling-off period
during which the union agrees not to strike and the hotels agree not
to lock out. Negotiations will continue in an attempt to settle the
outstanding issues in the contract. The contract negotiations affect
8,000 union members at more than 60 hotels and motels amounting to more
than 85 percent of the industry in San Francisco. www.unitehere.org
