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.
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