Vol. 72/No. 43      November 3, 2008

Union demands on the city’s new mayor were chanted by flag-waving strikers. “Boris Johnson sort our wages or we’ll be on strike for ages,” they said.

In August and September drivers took 24- and 48-hour strike action at the Metrobus and First companies around the same issues. A further 24-hour strike is planned October 22 with drivers from First buses, Metroline, Metrobus, and Arriva taking part.

The union is demanding base pay of £30,000 (£1=$1.75) per year for all London bus drivers.

Drivers at the picket explained that London buses are tendered by a range of different companies with divisive differences over pay, split shifts, lengthening hours, and disciplinary procedures.

Unite officer Peter Kavanagh said many drivers end up working 60 hours a week, with variations in yearly pay as much as £6,000. There are also growing safety concerns for the drivers.

—Celia Pugh

Los Angeles airport
hotel workers demand union
LOS ANGELES—Some 800 hotel workers and their supporters picketed the Hilton Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport October 2 as part of the continuing effort to force the company to recognize the UNITE HERE union. They were joined by workers from more than a dozen unions, more than 20 different church representatives, and a dozen community organizations.

The workers, in their overwhelming majority Latino immigrants and Blacks, have faced reprisals, speedup on the job resulting in a dramatic increase in on-the-job injuries, and firings of union activists and organizers.

José Molina, a former room service worker who was fired, told the crowd, “We have no fear. We shall continue to struggle together until we win.” The crowd responded with the echoing chants of “Si, se puede!” (Yes we can).

—Mark Friedman

Cintas laundry workers
rally in Ohio for safety
Several hundred Cintas workers and their supporters rallied in Mason, Ohio, October 14 against unsafe working conditions at the uniform supplier’s industrial laundries. The event took place outside the company’s annual shareholder meeting, according to a UNITE HERE news release.

“Every day I work in pain. And I fear for my coworkers that another tragedy may happen,” Adela Viera, a Cintas worker from Central Islip, New York, who attended the rally, told UNITE HERE.

UNITE HERE and the Teamsters currently represent about 400 Cintas workers. The unions are working with the Coalition of Injured Cintas Workers, which has been conducting a nationwide tour since July to expose poor working conditions at these plants.

Since the death of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, worker in March 2007, federal and state inspectors have cited Cintas plants for more than 90 “serious” safety violations that could cause death or serious bodily harm.

—Brian Williams  
 
 
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