Monday, December 08, 2003
Notes from meeting
Michigan Greens unanimously passed resolutions supporting unionized workers picketing Borders in Ann Arbor for closer-to-living wages, and honoring the one-year anniversary of the nurses' strike at Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey, at the party's fall state membership meeting Saturday.
At the meeting, held in Lawrence and hosted by the new Van Buren County Chapter, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) also voted to support the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations after hearing guest speaker and BANCO's executive director, the Reverend Edward Pinkney, give an energetic report on the situation in Benton Harbor.
GPMI also settled on a timeline for the process of selecting its national delegates to the United States Green Party (USGP) 2004 Presidential nominating convention, scheduled for June 24-27 in Milwaukee, and reviewed the successes and lessons learned from recent local elections.
Backing a Broader Boycott, Spreading the Strikers' Story
Susan Fawcett, one of GPMI's top vote-getters in 2002 as a candidate for the University of Michigan Board of Trustees, urged the party to back the boycott called for by Borders workers and their union, as well as the support group Borders Readers United. The boycott extends to Waldenbooks, owned by Borders Group Incorporated—and to Amazon.com, which runs the Borders Web site.
Workers at Borders' Ann Arbor store voted 51-4 last December to join Local 876 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Workers now start at $6.50 an hour, far below the $9.70 living-wage rate for Ann Arbor. The union is seeking a $7.95 starting rate, plus 4.5% annual increases (compared to the current 3%). They also want to negotiate a contract on vacation time, scheduling, health benefits, and overtime.
Meanwhile, the corporation is refusing to negotiate in good faith and paying millions of dollars a year to retain notorious union-busting attorneys Jackson Lewis Schnitzler & Krupman, noted Fawcett. She added that the job action is setting a precedent for retail, which she called "the new blue collar", and invited members to hand out flyers at their own local Borders stores.
Members passed the hat to contribute to the strike fund, and to spread the word on the strike and boycott through USGP, invoking the value of social justice—one of worldwide Greens' Four Pillars.
At the meeting, held in Lawrence and hosted by the new Van Buren County Chapter, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) also voted to support the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations after hearing guest speaker and BANCO's executive director, the Reverend Edward Pinkney, give an energetic report on the situation in Benton Harbor.
GPMI also settled on a timeline for the process of selecting its national delegates to the United States Green Party (USGP) 2004 Presidential nominating convention, scheduled for June 24-27 in Milwaukee, and reviewed the successes and lessons learned from recent local elections.
Backing a Broader Boycott, Spreading the Strikers' Story
Susan Fawcett, one of GPMI's top vote-getters in 2002 as a candidate for the University of Michigan Board of Trustees, urged the party to back the boycott called for by Borders workers and their union, as well as the support group Borders Readers United. The boycott extends to Waldenbooks, owned by Borders Group Incorporated—and to Amazon.com, which runs the Borders Web site.
Workers at Borders' Ann Arbor store voted 51-4 last December to join Local 876 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Workers now start at $6.50 an hour, far below the $9.70 living-wage rate for Ann Arbor. The union is seeking a $7.95 starting rate, plus 4.5% annual increases (compared to the current 3%). They also want to negotiate a contract on vacation time, scheduling, health benefits, and overtime.
Meanwhile, the corporation is refusing to negotiate in good faith and paying millions of dollars a year to retain notorious union-busting attorneys Jackson Lewis Schnitzler & Krupman, noted Fawcett. She added that the job action is setting a precedent for retail, which she called "the new blue collar", and invited members to hand out flyers at their own local Borders stores.
Members passed the hat to contribute to the strike fund, and to spread the word on the strike and boycott through USGP, invoking the value of social justice—one of worldwide Greens' Four Pillars.
Supporting NMH Nurses
Supporting NMH Nurses
GPMI also unanimously expressed solidarity with nurses who went out on strike against Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey on November 14 of 2002. The party's UpNorth local has been working with the NMH nurses from the beginning.
As the party's statement of support points out, the aim of the strike is "to win improved wages, working hours and conditions, and benefits; lower nurse-to-patient ratios; and improved grievance procedures."
The nurses' union—Local 406 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters—has estimated that NMH management has spent four times as much fighting the strike, easily the longest ever by nurses in the United States, as settling would have cost the hospital.
The hospital and a few anti-union nurses have just put the nursing staff through a second certification vote to prove that the majority of working nurses wants the union to represent them. And, unless the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upholds more than 100 frivolous "job abandonment" challenges against striking nurses who found temporary work to make ends meet during the strike, re-certification will pass with more votes and a bigger percentage margin than before.
GPMI also unanimously expressed solidarity with nurses who went out on strike against Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey on November 14 of 2002. The party's UpNorth local has been working with the NMH nurses from the beginning.
As the party's statement of support points out, the aim of the strike is "to win improved wages, working hours and conditions, and benefits; lower nurse-to-patient ratios; and improved grievance procedures."
The nurses' union—Local 406 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters—has estimated that NMH management has spent four times as much fighting the strike, easily the longest ever by nurses in the United States, as settling would have cost the hospital.
The hospital and a few anti-union nurses have just put the nursing staff through a second certification vote to prove that the majority of working nurses wants the union to represent them. And, unless the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upholds more than 100 frivolous "job abandonment" challenges against striking nurses who found temporary work to make ends meet during the strike, re-certification will pass with more votes and a bigger percentage margin than before.
GPMI Statement on Borders Workers' Strike
GPMI Resolution on Borders—November 15, 2003
===============================================
WHEREAS Borders Bookstore in Ann Arbor refuses to negotiate in good faith to pay its employees a living wage; and
WHEREAS Borders management's intransigence has forced its employees out on strike; and
WHEREAS the Green Party stands for social justice and supports labor struggles for a living wage;
Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) stands in support of the Borders workers; and be it further
RESOLVED that GPMI encourages its members to boycott Borders, Waldenbooks, and Amazon.com until this issue is resolved.
Contact: Susan Fawcett 734-994-7460
For more information, visit:
http://www.bordersunion.org
http://www.bordersreadersunited.a2wc.org
===============================================
WHEREAS Borders Bookstore in Ann Arbor refuses to negotiate in good faith to pay its employees a living wage; and
WHEREAS Borders management's intransigence has forced its employees out on strike; and
WHEREAS the Green Party stands for social justice and supports labor struggles for a living wage;
Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) stands in support of the Borders workers; and be it further
RESOLVED that GPMI encourages its members to boycott Borders, Waldenbooks, and Amazon.com until this issue is resolved.
Contact: Susan Fawcett 734-994-7460
For more information, visit:
http://www.bordersunion.org
http://www.bordersreadersunited.a2wc.org
GPMI Statement on Nurses' Strike versus Northern
GPMI Statement on Nurses' Strike versus Northern
Michigan Hospital
The Green Party of Michigan supports the efforts of the nursing staff of Northern Michigan Hospital as they reach the one-year mark in their strike to win improved wages, working hours and conditions, and benefits; lower nurse-to-patient ratios; and improved grievance procedures.
Contact:
Ellis Boal
For more information, visit:
http://www.mash406nmhnurses.com/
http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/d.html
http://upnorthgreenparty.org/local/nmh/nurses.html
Michigan Hospital
The Green Party of Michigan supports the efforts of the nursing staff of Northern Michigan Hospital as they reach the one-year mark in their strike to win improved wages, working hours and conditions, and benefits; lower nurse-to-patient ratios; and improved grievance procedures.
Contact:
Ellis Boal
For more information, visit:
http://www.mash406nmhnurses.com/
http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/d.html
http://upnorthgreenparty.org/local/nmh/nurses.html
Environmental Scorecard
Environmental Scorecard via Metafilter
