The drivers carried out a hard-fought battle against increases in leasing rates demanded by the company, and a grueling seven-day, 12-hour workweek. Drivers are charged about Can$412 a week for their leases, in addition to gas expenses. They don’t begin to earn anything for themselves before taking in Can$600 a week (Can$1 = US 87 cents). Aouli said there will be no increases in lease rates over the three-year agreement, and drivers for the first year will keep all meter rate increases.

—John Steele  
 
Finland: Transport workers
strike four days for contract
Some 11,000 bus drivers and garbage collectors in Finland went on strike March 5-8 over poor working conditions, long hours, and the use of part-time drivers. Some workers must be on the job 13-14 hours with long waiting time between routes. The Transport Workers’ Union has been without a contract since November.

The new settlement approved by the union leadership to end the strike provides a 6 percent pay raise over two years. It also states, “Part time employment can only be used when no other possibilities exist to get the work done.”

—Dag Tirsén  
 
School workers in Scotland
strike for equal and back pay
ABERDEEN, Scotland—“What do we want? Back pay!” chanted more than 100 angry women strikers outside a March 10 meeting here between city council officials and school authorities. Some 600 school catering workers and cleaners, members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, began a strike the day before. “We want equal pay,” explained Marlene McAlhatton, a cleaner at Torry Academy. Many of the women earn about £5.50 an hour (£1=US$1.72) and work part time. They are demanding back pay and bonuses for some five years. Citing the 1975 Equal Pay Act, they say their pay needs to be comparable to other council jobs. “Pickets were out at over 30 schools from early morning,” said strike spokesperson and catering worker Sally Campbell. She explained they would strike two days every week for their demands. For most this was their first strike.

—Peter Clifford  
 
Building maintenance workers
in N.Y. march for better pact
NEW YORK—In preparation for a possible strike when our contract expires in April, thousands of members of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ marched on 34th Street in the garment district of Midtown Manhattan here February 28. The workers who maintain and clean buildings showed the bosses they are determined to fight for a decent contract with better wages and benefits. The large demonstration ended with a rally in front of the Empire State Building, which is famous as the city’s tallest structure. Maintenance and security workers at this building are not unionized and get paid miserable wages. Building maintenance workers are bracing for a tough battle, but many Local 32BJ members at the march said they are ready to resist the bosses’ attacks.

—Manuel Sánchez  
 
New Jersey chemical workers
rally against lock out
FIELDSBORO, New Jersey—Members of United Electrical (UE) Local 155 picketed and rallied outside the gate of the Stepan chemical company here March 4. Workers have been walking the picket line since the company locked them out after a 24-hour work stoppage on January 23. Workers voted in the UE in January 2005 and immediately began contract negotiations. The unionists are demanding an end to a four-year wage freeze and health benefit cuts. They report they have experienced forced overtime, speedup, and job combinations during the past year. Local 155 members have traveled to other Stepan plants seeking solidarity and getting out the facts about their fight.

—Martin Santiago
and Osborne Hart  
 
New York: sneaker store
workers win union contract
After a year-long fight, some 95 workers employed by the Footco sneaker chain at 10 stores in New York City won a union contract in January that raises wages, and for the first time provides paid vacations and health insurance. The workers, most of whom are immigrants, are now represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a division of the United Food and Commercial Workers. Before the pact some workers were paid just $4.75 an hour with no overtime pay. The federal minimum wage has been $5.15 for nearly a decade. The three-year accord sets wages at $7.25 an hour, rising to $7.50 in July. “Now I will make the same money working 45 hours a week that I used to make working 55, 60 hours,” Jose Enriques, a five-year Footco employee, told the New York Times.

—Brian Williams  
 
Unionists authorize strike
if Delphi voids labor contracts
Unionists at the Delphi auto parts plant near Dayton, Ohio, voted the first week of March to authorize a strike if the bankrupt company goes through with voiding labor contracts covering 34,000 workers. The International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 755 represents 1,000 workers at the Ohio factory. Delphi, the largest U.S. auto parts supplier, said it will ask a judge at the end of March to throw out these contracts if the CWA, the United Auto Workers, and other unions don’t agree to deep concessions.

—Brian Williams
 
 
Related articles:
Australia: union defends young worker beaten by boss
Two-tiers become one in contracts, with lower wages for all  
 
 
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