A Victory for NY Cablevision Workers!
We’re pleased to publish the following by two committed union activists, Barbara Kestenbaum, former Shop Steward, Local 372, DC-37 and Steve Weiner, former Steward, Local 2627, DC-37–frequent contributors to Unions Matter! Even as they are retired from their respective locals, their passion about the justice that every working person is entitled to, and what they’ve learned from Aesthetic Realism about the economy and the importance of unions is stronger than ever!
A tremendous victory for unionism is that after a decade-long struggle, 282 Cablevision workers joined the Communication of Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109. While corporations and state governors—in Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin. and Indiana–are doing everything they can to wage war on workers, trying to destroy collective bargaining agreements, and refusing to negotiate contracts in good faith, this victory is a breakthrough! All the more so because it’s in an industry which is traditionally NON-union!
We applaud and congratulate the union and its workers for this huge success. In terms of salary, these employees made one third less than CWA-represented Verizon workers holding similar jobs. “I’ve waited 13 years for this,” Cablevision technician Clarence Adams said, “united…we now have the power to negotiate a fair contract that will give us the dignity and respect on the job we deserve.”
The Demand for a Fair Contract Will Go On
The demand for a fair contract is what inspired a boisterous CWA rally on February 3rd that included members of the Teamsters, the United Federation of Teachers, and District Council 37. Its purpose also was to protest Verizon’s brutal firing of 40 of its unionized workers, claiming they had violated the so-called company’s “Code of Conduct.” While the whole story has yet to be told, it’s quite clear these firings were in retaliation for standing up and demanding a just contract!
As It Rakes in Millions in Profit, Verizon Refuses to Negotiate
This past summer CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) went on strike for two weeks to protest Verizon’s calculated refusal to negotiate a new contract in good faith. The email about the rally for the Cablevision workers, stated emphatically: “We Will Not Back Down. We’ll fight for Our Contract. We’ll Fight for Every Member.”
At the rally, many speakers, including local politicians, union officials, and rank-and-file members made it abundantly clear that if Verizon thought these firings would scare and intimidate workers into granting large concessions, the exact opposite has occurred. The workers are more united than ever to get a fair contract!
The great trade unionist Eugene V. Debs said that at the heart of every union is the feeling: “An injury to one is an injury to all!” We were moved by the passionate way members spoke about protecting their union brothers and sisters. One of the fired workers was Rich Corrigan, a steward in CWA Local 1101, who had worked for Verizon for 14 years and had a spotless record.
The Beauty of Unions
As two union activists, we were glad to stand with our brothers and sisters at this rally. And we want them to know what Ellen Reiss wrote in The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, titled Unions and Beauty, about the ethical and aesthetic basis of every union:
“For example, the individual notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, separate, apart from each other, don’t mean so much. But unified by Beethoven, a tremendous power has come to be: that of the symphony itself, rich in might and tenderness, able to move people at their depths after nearly 200 years. The power of a union is like that. Individual men and women, at the mercy of bosses, compelled to work for wages that could barely keep them alive, and under conditions that wrecked their bodies and made for misery, found that in joining together they could force something better from an employer, which he would not have given on his own in a thousand years. The power, for instance, of all the workers in a factory leaving their machines and hitting the streets, so that nothing could be produced until they were treated more justly, is like the power of those opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Both are power through organization, composition, unity; and both are, strictly, beautiful.”
We know the fight for economic justice for Cablevision workers, as for every worker, is just beginning, and Friends of Labor will be with our brothers and sisters every step of the way!
Stop the War on Workers!
In her last post, Karen Van Outryve described her experience at a recent rally of the Transport Workers Union. In what follows, Ms. Van Outryve continues her fervent support of the transit workers’ demands for a decent contract. She gives some history and describes how this fight stands for the just and democratic demands of millions of New Yorkers–to be seen fairly. Support for the TWU is more needed than ever–and as one of our best presidents, Abraham Lincoln, said: ”All that serves labor serves the nation. All that harms is treason. If a man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool. There is no America without labor, and to fleece the one is to rob the other.”
There’s a war going on against labor–more out in the open than has been for many years. Its purpose is to destroy the power of unions so that workers are not in a position to demand, in an organized way, what is coming to them for their labor. Vicious attacks on working people are being waged by the power brokers of America—the politicians, investors, banks, corporations, and the media that they own. What happened in Wisconsin and Occupy Wall Street has brought this issue to the public’s eye, and Friends of Labor see this as a cause for celebration!
One of the current battles is taking place between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 100, the people who drive and maintain subways and busses throughout New York City. The old contract expired on January 15, and on January 9, the MTA presented the union with 19 giveback demands, including higher medical co-pays, fewer paid vacation days and less pay for overtime work. The union is not only resisting these demands, but insisting on annual raises that keep pace with cost of living increases.
A Question of Ethics
This war on workers and unions has to do with the large, ethical question that Eli Siegel, American poet and founder of Aesthetic Realism, said is the most important question for humanity: “What does a person deserve by being a person?” In the current issue of The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, Ellen Reiss, Chairman of Education, writes:
The big fight raging in New York right now is about the question: Does New York exist to have a good effect on the people living in it, or does it exist to be used for the financial profit of some persons while others struggle? –TRO 1815
Some History
The last time TWU Local 100 struck was December, 2005. I remember those chilly two-and-a-half days, and the surprisingly buoyant feeling on the streets of the city. Polls showed that a majority of New Yorkers supported the strike. “New Yorkers,” explained Ms. Reiss, at the time, “felt that New York State, which was supporting private, profit-making companies through tax breaks, should treat its workers more justly. They felt the transit workers stood for themselves and were demanding what they too deserved.”
The media, however, and various politicians, did their very best to reverse public opinion. They attacked union leadership and presented the union members as enjoying benefits that many private sector workers no longer enjoyed, like pensions and annual wage increases. Ms. Reiss wrote, “I think history will show this about the 2005 transit strike:
“The feeling on the part of various politicians was, ‘We can’t let this succeed! And we can’t let people be for it!’… The attack on the transit workers came from the same way of seeing which, in the history of labor struggles, had striking men, women, and children be fired on by militia.”
The Taylor Law: a Violation of Workers’ Rights
The Taylor Law was a key part of the artillery used to punish and weaken TWU Local 100 after the 2005 strike. Recently, the International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency responsible for international labor standards, ruled that the Taylor law violates conventions Nos. 87 and 98 concerning free association and collective bargaining—conventions that have been adopted by 150 countries, including England, Germany and France. Unfortunately, the United States is with three other nations in refusing to adopt these conventions. For this reason, the ILO cannot enforce its decision that the fines imposed on the union and its members should be returned.
“For now, this is largely a symbolic or moral victory for the strikers,” said Dominick Tuminaro, a professor of constitutional and international law at the Brooklyn College Graduate Center. “It vindicates the union and the workers and essentially says to them ‘your rights have been violated.’”
John Samuelsen, President of TWU Local 100, called the ruling “a stunning rebuke from the international community.” In his January 4th article, “Public Employees Need the Right to Strike,” published in Labor Notes. he writes about the war on unions:
“Both Republican and Democratic governors have pushed through bills that limit what unions can bargain over and have bludgeoned public workers into massive cuts. Maybe, while we’re under such a ferocious attack, this is the time for unions to look past the right to bargain and assert the right to strike.”
The Choice for America
The war on workers is an aspect of a fight that has gone on throughout history, and Americans today have a choice to make in that fight. That choice was explained by Ellen Reiss:
“The choice is: either to maintain an economy based on profit, on a few persons’ owning most of the wealth; or to have the people of America get more and more of what they deserve. History has reached the point when we can no longer have both.”
The fact that Occupy Wall Street energized, mobilized, and inspired many thousands, including union members, shows that more and more Americans are on the side of economic justice for all. Friends of Labor are proudly with the 99%!
Note: The above photo is of actor Tim Robbins at an Occupy Wall Street rally in Manhattan last fall, with members of Teamsters Local 445 representing workers in Upstate NY.
The Power of Labor and the Right to Strike!
The following article about a recent rally of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100 is by Karen Van Outryve. Ms. Van Outryve, a poet and Aesthetic Realism consultant, is a friend of labor who cares about economic justice, and believes it can only be achieved through honestly trying to answer the question Eli Siegel asked: “What does a person deserve by being a person?”
The temperature was frigid on Sunday evening, January 15th, but the crowd warmed to the speakers addressing the Transport Workers Union Local 100 rally on 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue. The rally was held both to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and to inform union members about the progress of negotiations for a new contract with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (the old contract expired at midnight 1/5/2012). While both union and management assert that a strike is not being considered, John Samuelsen, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 recently wrote: “This is a time for unions to look past the right to bargain and assert the right to strike.” It’s clear there is a new pride, unity, and strength in unions, and this feeling was evident in those who were present at the January 15th rally.
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King
There was a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Dr. King, and many speakers recalled how he gave his life fighting for union workers to receive the dignity, respect and decent wages they deserve. The MTA is calling for outrageous concessions–a 3-year wage freeze and give-backs from the union, including furloughs and big increases in medical payments. They want the right to give more work out to private contractors, and are lobbying, in Albany, to make changes to the pension law. The union argues that its members, many of whom work in the cold and dark to keep this city moving, deserve a salary increase, and that any new contract should include provisions to bring back Local 100 members who were recently laid off.
President Samuelsen reported on negotiations. One of the speakers acknowledged, “We all know this is a tough economy.” At this, a union member shouted: “We’re not responsible for that!” Union leaders and membership alike were united against give-backs and it was clear they do not intend to sacrifice the pensions they have earned through years of hard work. And there is greater opposition in the public at-large to propaganda about the need to “cut costs” at the expense of working people. About the “austerity measures” now being imposed in Europe, and the cutting of pensions by many corporations in this country, Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chairman of Education, writes:
“The dire warnings about the need for ‘sacrifice’…are part of an effort to make the profit system seem inevitable: to make it seem that economics based on anything other than using earth and humanity for some individuals’ private aggrandizement is unthinkable. And therefore, senior citizens, robbed of pensions, must go hungry to save the profit system.…Yet people feel increasingly that another basis for an economy is not unthinkable. And such a basis is not Marxism, etc. The needed basis is ethics.” To read more, click here: The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known
Ethics & an International Rebuke
Recently, Local 100 won an important ethical victory from the International Labor Organization, the UN agency responsible for international labor standards. The ILO ruled that New York State’s Taylor Law, which bans strikes by unions serving the public, violates international law as well as a treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate. According to the decision, the $2.5 million in fines imposed on the union and its members after their 2005 strike should be returned! “This ruling is a stunning rebuke from the international community,” wrote John Samuelsen in his article, “Public Employees Need the Right To Strike,” recently published in Labor Notes.
“Workers, whether public or private sector, strike when we believe we have no choice. We can march and demonstrate, lobby and vote, but there are times when we must throw all of our power, i.e., our ability to disrupt a company or a city, into a fight. Sometimes that fight is to improve our wages and benefits. Sometimes it’s to defend what we’ve won in the past.
“When you stop to think about it, who is striking against the public—the politicians who cut services to the poor or elderly while refusing to appropriately tax the wealthy, or the unions who mobilize against the cuts? Who is extorting taxpayers—the corporations who threaten to pick up and leave if they don’t get millions in tax breaks or the workers who are committed to the communities they live in?
How different would the last year have been if governors intent on stripping public workers of their right to bargain had been confronted by unions exercising their lawful right to strike?”
I completely agree, and will say more about the right to strike in a coming issue of Unions Matter!
Congratulations to AFSCME on its 75th Anniversary!
On the 75th anniversary of the American Federation of State, County, Municipal and County Employees (AFSCME), and as one of the Friends of Labor, I, Steve Weiner, want to say how grateful I am to my union. Because of the justice AFSCME has brought to many American workers, I had a job as a Computer Specialist for many years at the NYC Department of Education that had dignity and was well paid.
Beginning in the 1930s, there were many courageous people who fought to get government workers decent working hours, health care, and pensions–something every worker in the private and public sector deserve. I thank these men and women very much. You can learn more about them and the history of AFSCME; click here.
One of the most vicious occurrences recently in our country has been the attack on unions, especially those representing workers in the public sector, by right-wing governors in such states as Wisconsin and Ohio. Fortunately, when this blatant attempt to rob unions of their right to bargain collectively was seen for what it really was, Ohioans voted overwhelmingly against this evil proposal. AFSCME was in the forefront of leading this fight.
Contrary to what conservative think tanks are trying to have the American people believe: that unions are the cause of the huge downturn in our economy–Ellen Reiss explains in The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known that unions are the SOLUTION! She writes:
“What the American people need to be told clearly is who, or what, is really to blame for America’s economic suffering, job losses, government deficits. They’re being told unions are to blame, because unions have been able to negotiate for their members some of what all people deserve, including pensions and health care. If unions thrive, all Americans can have these, and more. Unions stand for all of us. The cause of our economic trouble is 1) the persons who are using, and want to continue using, America and her workforce for their own private profits; and 2) governments’ funding those persons and their businesses, with the people’s money—through tax breaks, subsidies, and outsourcing public work to private companies.”
To read more click here
And as we extend our heartfelt congratulations to AFSCME, we also want to show our support for our union sisters and brothers in Teamsters Local 814, who have been locked out of their jobs by Sotheby’s Auction House in NYC. Please sign this petition in support of them in their fight against Sotheby’s.
“JOBS FOR USEFULNESS–NOT PROFIT”
On the AFL-CIO blog, there is a link to a page titled “What Does Unemployment Insurance Mean to America” which documents powerfully the very real misery of people who cannot find jobs and are in danger of losing their vital safety net–unemployment benefits–unless Congress passes legislation before year end! These stories are by people we might see on a city street, or ride with on a bus. They write about the disastrous effects of losing a good paying job and the benefits that came with it, and of the agony of not being able to find a job to replace the one they lost after months (sometimes much longer) of searching. Like other Americans, many are in imminent danger of becoming homeless; and they cannot afford to seek medical help for themselves or family members.
The unemployment crisis shows no sign of slowing down, and in fact worsens with every month as more and more people drop out of the labor market and give up looking for a job. As the Occupy Wall Street movement shows, people are demanding answers. Of course unemployment insurance should be extended indefinitely! That is a crucial but temporary fix. Friends of Labor want the American public and union leaders to know there is a a true, practical and lasting solution to joblessness. It is in what Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chairman of Education, writes in her commentary to The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known:
To solve the problem, the horror, of unemployment in America, a certain element has to be removed from the job situation. That element is: the using of American jobs, American workers, American production to provide profits for people who don’t do the work. The various “stimulus” measures won’t change much, because they don’t deal with the fundamental trouble….
Directly related to unemployment is that terrible matter, hunger…. For even one person to be hungry in America should be seen as intolerable, let alone 49 million! Each of these men, women, and children is as real as ourselves, and feels as we would feel if our stomach ached for food; if we had to look for meals in garbage pails; if we knew there were good, lovely edibles in stores and restaurants and homes which we could not put in our mouths and taste and be sustained by.
We have an administration that would like to be kind to people but would also like to keep the private-profit system going. Can these be together? Mr. Obama and his advisors need to ask, and answer straight: Can profit-based economics of itself keep Americans well fed? Can profit-based economics provide jobs for the millions of Americans who want them and who could be useful to their fellow citizens? These are questions people in Washington and elsewhere have avoided looking at, because the answer is no.
The next question is, Which do you prefer: a) for Americans to work and have the food they need through an economy that’s based on usefulness rather than on providing personal profits for a few individuals?; or b) to try to keep profit-based companies going, even if that means millions of Americans are jobless and hungry?
There are many ways in which the people of America can own their own jobs, so that the profits go to the men and women who produce them. And as I say this simply, it should be very clear that the answer is not some failed system associated with Eastern Europe of once. The answer is something that has not existed yet, but which Eli Siegel described as early as the 1940s. The one way economics can deeply please people, strengthen us, make us proud rather than ashamed, is for economics to be aesthetic: a oneness of justice to every individual person and to all people. It is an honor to quote these words of his, describing what we need now: “The world should be owned by the people living in it…. All persons should be seen as living in a world truly theirs.”
To continue reading, click here:
“WHAT DOES A PERSON DESERVE?”
Photo by Harvey Finkle
Our new post is by Faith K. Stern and John Stern who are consultants on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. Singly and together, they have a life-long care for the city’s diverse neighborhoods–its history and landmarks. As you will see in the following statements, they are passionate in their conviction that all people have a right to good lives including a decent home and adequate nourishment.
“What Does a Person Deserve?” is the title of a moving public service film by the award-winning filmmaker Ken Kimmelman. It is one of his important films on social justice and puts a human face on the men, women and children who are homeless and hungry. In 2011 there are 37 million people (including 13 million children) who, at some point during the year, are either hungry or at constant risk of hunger, and many are homeless. That any person, especially a child, is forced to be without food or shelter in this bountifully rich nation of ours is a national shame.
For a century and a half, unions have been in the forefront of efforts to have economic justice come to all working Americans. Strikes by people laboring in coal mines, steel and auto plants, garment manufacturing, communications, and more embody the force of ethics working so that the men and women who do the work get a fairer share of the fruits of their labor. Unions were so successful that they have been met for years by massive efforts to get rid of them and their good work and what we have today is a diminished middle class—including people who never thought they would be without a job, hungry, no roof over their heads, in debt, and nowhere to turn. What the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, including union members, are protesting now is an economy impelled by contempt for people, with a thirst by business and industry for obscenely big profits at the expense of all working men and women.
We respect Ken Kimmelman immensely for making this passionate film presenting the needed ethical answer to the great and compassionate question of the film’s title, which was first asked by Eli Siegel, founder of the education Aesthetic Realism. Click here for a link to the film “What Does a Person Deserve?”
THE MOVEMENT FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE IS STRONGER THAN EVER!
Photos by Lynette Abel
Despite the effort to shut down the protests by evicting the occupants of Zuccotti Park (now re-named Liberty Park), the objection in people to America’s profit economy is growing and is stronger than ever! The individuals occupying Liberty Park may have been kicked out, but as was said at the time, “You cannot evict an idea.” And that idea is clearer than ever–an economic system that is unethical and brutally unjust to 99% of the American people cannot be left as it is. People are getting the idea that the present way of economics is not inevitable. Persons from every state of the union are putting their bodies on the line and will not be quiet about the economic inequality in America. They are standing up for justice and raising their voices with new energy and determination. The huge objection in millions of people all across our nation is described in a commentary by Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chairman of Education, entitled “A Truly American Economy & ‘Occupy Wall Street.‘ Its publication on Oct. 26th had a profound, ongoing good effect on people, including those in the labor movement.
Also, to celebrate the two month anniversary of “Occupy Wall Street,” we point to the following successes and upcoming events:
- We were proud to join thousands of our fellow citizens in a demonstration in Foley Square on Thursday, Nov. 17th. The exuberant rally included CWA Verizon Workers who had just completed a march from the capitol in Albany to Foley Square. In addition, there were women and men from the UFT, the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, SEIU’s 1199, and more.
- We’re thrilled to learn that the voters of Wisconsin , emboldened by the clear victory of ethics in Ohio–( 61% of Ohioans voted to repeal a bill that eliminated collective bargaining rights) have collected 50,000 signatures–in just two days!–to recall Wisconsin’s governor who has also enacted legislation that is anti-union and anti-people.
- On Thursday, December 1 in NYC, the New York City Central Labor Council will host a “March for Jobs and Economic Fairness” starting at Herald Square at 4:00 pm. We’ll be there! And we hope you will also.
- We’re also glad to link to a new video which contains moving statements from “The Council of Elders,” a group that was formed by courageous Civil Rights activists from the 1960s, who have allied themselves with the Occupy Wall Street Movement and want to express their solidarity. For instance, Joyce Johnson, one of the first black students at Duke University said–”I am just ecstatic that this movement is happening in New York and in my hometown of Greensboro…It really offers some hope.” Dr. Vincent Harding, another Civil Rights activist is quoted: “The young people are doing what needs to be done to address the deep inequities in our society based on the financial arrangements…inequities that lead not to life, but death.” And, Dolores Huerta added: “It’s not fair that the people who do all the work get so little of the pie …I congratulate you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Si se puede. We can do it. It can be done.” To link to the video, click here:
Foley Square 11-17-11
“OCCUPY WALL STREET” & AN ECONOMY THAT REALLY WORKS!
We publish an article by Matthew D’Amico, Political Coordinator for a public sector employee union, and a landmark commentary by Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chairman of Education. She writes about a matter that is on everyone’s mind–what are the “Occupy Wall Street” protests about? She describes clearly the “unifying objection” in the American people to how our economy is run. She also presents the beautiful, practical, kind solution!
As a political coordinator for a public sector employee union I’ve been galvanized by how the protesters of Occupy Wall Street have invigorated our nation, including the American labor movement. My office in the city is not too far from Zuccotti Park, and I’ve been moved by the protestors’ showing of outrage and compassion for the millions of our fellow Americans suffering from an economic system that’s brutally unjust, that does not provide the jobs, the goods, the services that the American people desperately need.
I often talk to union members who care for the sick and disabled, assist the unemployed, work in our courts, and more. Many are struggling to make ends meet, pay for food and healthcare and worry that their children won’t be able to afford college. They are outraged –and I share that outrage–that there are those in government, business, and the media who are trying to scapegoat unionized workers for the woes of our economy. It’s a vicious lie which has as its foul purpose—to break unions! The unions have seen clearly that Occupy Wall Street is on the side of justice to working people everywhere, and that is why they are standing with the protestors!
The answer to what will have our economy truly fair and successful is in the current issue of The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known entitled: “A Truly American Economy & ‘Occupy Wall Street.’” Ellen Reiss, Chairman of Education, puts clearly what millions of Americans now feel, including those camped out in Lower Manhattan. “People across this nation,” she writes, “are angry that America is being owned by, and run on behalf of, a few people—not by and for all. That is why a slogan of the movement has come to be ‘We Are the 99 Percent.’”
And she shows that this protest—once only a handful of people, and which now has spread to cities across America—is at the very beginnings our nation’s founding. Ms. Reiss explains, “What Americans have wanted for years, and are demanding courageously now, is economics based on the best things in America. They want an economy based, for instance, on the famous phrase in our Constitution’s Preamble, ‘We the People of the United States.’ They want an economy based on the idea stated in the Declaration of Independence, that all people have the right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”
The protestors and every person who passionately hopes for a more beautiful and just economy can feel inspired by knowing that what we are fighting for is in keeping with the very foundations of our beloved nation.
