Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Custom Union Screen Printed shirts for your fundraiser

Support American Made, Union Made products for your next grassroots fundraiser



Screenburst Graphics

1308 Ann Avenue St. Louis,

MO 63104

Phone 314-771-3799

Fax 314-771-3722

1-800-569-1599

Custom Union printed, American Made T-shirts & promotional items for your business or local




A “union bug” is a tiny logo used to designate items that have been produced with union labor.

It is a protection against anti- or non-union shops that might otherwise profess union working conditions.

It can be part of a public-relations campaign to induce customers to buy union-made products.

It is a sign of good workmanship and quality standards.

It is badge of union prestige to attract new members.

It is warning against trespass by competitive unions.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Victory at Republic!

http://socialistworker.org/ taken from
Victory at Republic!
Lee Sustar reports on the workers' big win in a factory occupation that made headlines across the U.S. and inspired union members and activists everywhere.
December 11, 2008
Supporters of workers at Republic Windows & Doors picket the Bank of America building in Chicago (Nicholas Kamm AFP)
WITH A unanimous vote, workers at the Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago ended their six-day factory occupation late on December 10 after Bank of America and other lenders agreed to fund about $2 million in severance and vacation pay as well as health insurance.
"Everybody feels great," said a tired but beaming Armando Robles, president of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) Local 1110.
Melvin Maclin, the local's vice president, agreed. "I feel wonderful," he said. "I feel validated as a human being. Everybody is so overjoyed. This is significant because it shows workers everywhere that we do have a voice in this economy. Because we're the backbone of this country. It's not the CEOs. It's the working people."
Pointing, he continued, "See that sign up there? Without us, it would just say 'Republic,' because we make the windows and doors. This shows that you can fight--and that you have to fight."
The settlement was a resounding victory for union members who were told a little more than a week earlier that the factory would be closed in less than three day's time--and that, contrary to federal law, they would get no severance pay.
So to pressure the company to make good on what it owed them, the workers voted to stay put after the plant ceased production on December 5.
By deciding to occupy their factory--a tactic used by labor in the 1930s, but virtually unknown in this country since--the Republic workers sparked a solidarity movement that forced one of the biggest banks in the U.S. to pay two months of wages and health care, even though the bank had no legal obligation to do so.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WHAT BEGAN as a resolute act of some 250 workers quickly became a national symbol of working-class resistance in a crisis-bound economy. Hundreds upon hundreds of union members and officials--not only from Chicago, but around the Midwest--came to the Republic factory to express their solidarity and bring donations of food and badly needed funds.
But support for the Republic struggle went beyond the ranks of organized labor. The fightback crystallized mass anger about the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. Even though Bank of America--Republic's main creditor--is in line receive $25 billion in taxpayer money, the bank refused to finance the 60 days' pay due to workers under the WARN Act if a plant closes without the two-month notice required under the law.
Democratic politicians, from President-elect Barack Obama down to Chicago aldermen, felt the pressure to declare their support for the struggle.
Press coverage was affected as well. For once, the media not only highlighted the issues in a labor struggle, but also used its resources to investigate the employer. The Chicago Tribune reported that Republic's main owner, Rich Gillman, was involved in the purchase of a nonunion window factory in Iowa to move to. Journalists also uncovered evidence that Bank of America refused repeated requests to extend more credit to Republic, despite its infusion of bailout money.
Thus, when UE decided to make Bank of America the target of a December 10 rally, there was a ready response--about 1,000 people turned out on short notice.
"Since we're down here in the financial district, let's do a little mathematics," said Rev. Gregory Livingston of Rainbow/PUSH. "Bank of America got $25 billion. Citibank got $25 billion. Republic workers got how much? Zero.
"That's why we're here in the financial district. It's where the money is. The people work, and guess whose money is in these banks? Guess whose money is in the market? Guess whose money is in their pockets? It's our money."
But what was noteworthy about the picket wasn't the anger against the banks, but a palpable sense of workers' power. Members of a dozen different unions were on hand, as were student groups, socialists and community groups, all inspired by the Republic workers' bold stand.
Larry Spivack, regional director of AFSCME Council 31, summed up the mood in his speech. "Look around you," he told the crowd, naming the main financial institutions nearby. "Who created all their wealth?" he asked--and was answered by the chant, "We did!" "Who has the power?" "We do!"
Spivack continued: "This is a beginning, like when the Haymarket struggle took place in 1886," a reference to the Chicago martyrs in the struggle for the eight-hour workday. He concluded with a shout, "Power to the workers!"
A few hours later, back at the Republic plant, after workers heard the terms of the agreement and voted, Bob Kingsley, the national director of organization for UE, made a similar point in assessing the victory:
The significance of this struggle for the labor movement is that at a time when millions of American workers are facing greater and greater economic turmoil, and with it more and more instances of unfairness, there needed to be a clear symbol of resistance.
What the workers at Republic are is the face of that resistance. They personify the challenge that the working class faces in today's economy, but they also symbolize the hope that if we, as workers, stick together, if we fight together, and if we're willing to push the limits, we can achieve incredible things. And their victory comes at a time when the labor movement needs it.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Republic workers target Bank of America

taken from http://socialistworker.org/2008/12/10/workers-target-bank-of-america


Republic workers target Bank of America
Lee Sustar looks at the latest developments in the workers' occupation of the closed Republic Windows & Doors plant.
December 10, 2008
Workers inside the occupation of the Republic Windows & Doors factory (Eric Ruder SW)
A BIG labor rally was set for Bank of America's Chicago headquarters at 12 noon December 10 after negotiations failed to resolve issues that led workers to occupy the Republic Windows & Doors plant five days before.
According to an Associated Press report yesterday afternoon, during talks between the workers' union, Republic management and Bank of America (BoA) officials, the bank had agreed to finance Republic's payment of severance and vacation pay that management had illegally failed to provide for workers--a move that sparked the occupation.
But officials from the union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), said there was no deal--and that even if there was, workers would have to vote on it before it could be accepted.
So the December 10 protest was on--and judging by the continued strong and spirited turnout of supporters at the plant the day before, it will be sizeable.
Just one mobile TV van was on hand for a noontime press conference--most reporters hurriedly left the plant to cover the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (who had been at the factory himself less than 24 hours earlier). But there was just as much energy as ever, thanks to a large delegation from the Interfaith Worker Justice committee. Rev. C.J. Hawking vowed to hold daily noontime rallies at the plant for the duration of the struggle.
The press conference itself morphed into a send-off rally for the UE negotiating team as it left to meet with BoA and management representatives. "Today we are united," said Armando Robles, president of UE Local 1110, which represents the Republic workers. "We are America," he added, to especially loud cheers. Like a large majority of Republic workers, Robles is a Latino immigrant, and his declaration had added resonance.
Also speaking at the press conference was Rev. Nelson Johnson, a leading African American minister in Greensboro, N.C., and survivor of the Ku Klux Klan massacre of anti-racist activists in that city in 1979.
"I don't believe that the American people would have $25 billion dollars go to a bank while workers who need the support of that money are standing outside on the street with nothing in our pockets," Johnson said, alluding to Bank of America's share of $700 billion in government money used to bail out the financial system.
"We are joining with thousands and with millions all over this country, and we ought to keep doing it. We ought to spread the word in city after city--that wherever this kind of thing happens, the people ought to take possession of the use of their own money."
Another call to action came from Dennis Williams, director of Region 4 of the United Auto Workers (UAW).
"As many of you know, the United Auto Workers are going through a struggle in Congress while they give billions and billions of dollars to banks, they're afraid to help out the workers of this country. This is symbolic--this is the United Auto Workers, how we started," he said, alluding to the historic role of the UAW sit-down strikes of 1936-37 that launched a wave of similar struggles that established mass industrial unions for the first time. "These workers are standing up for justice for all workers."
Despite the UAW's hard times--the union has agreed to take another round of major concessions as part of the government's auto industry bailout--Williams brought with him a check for $5,000 for the workers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WILLIAMS WAS one of a number of prominent labor leaders who have made their way to the plant to officially show their support. But unions have mainly been represented by a range of union organizers and rank-and-file members.
On Tuesday, one of them was Greg Cameron, a repair worker at AT&T, currently on leave to be a staff organizer for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 21.
"I hate to see these people suffer short term to help us long term, but I really think this is going to help us," Cameron said. "This really opens peoples' eyes. There is a confluence of events--the economy, the bailout and a new president coming in that's decidedly different from George W. Bush. The whole thing is the dawn of a new day, and hopefully, this is going to be the spark that's going to get people to pay attention."
Mary Zerkel, a staff member at the American Friends Service Committee's Chicago office, made a similar point. "It seems like the historic moment is right," she said. "People, I think, are fed up. They're upset about the bailout and the money that went to Wall Street. They're saying, 'This is ridiculous.'
"Bank of America was given a huge amount of money. Why can't they extend the same rights to these workers. Who's going to bail out the workers, finally?"
With this grassroots support from below, and the support of politicians like President-elect Barack Obama from above, there's heavy pressure on Bank of America to hand over the cash needed to settle workers' claims. Documents have surfaced showing that BoA refused to work with Republic's management to restructure its debt.
Yet even though Republic's main owner, Rich Gillman, was reportedly aware that the plant would have to close by January, he still refused to provide workers the 60 days notice of closure (or the equivalent in pay) as required by the federal WARN Act.
Instead, he gave the workers just a couple days' notice that their jobs and health insurance were gone--less than three weeks before Christmas. And as the Chicago Tribune reported, his relatives and former Republic personnel have already purchased a nonunion window manufacturing plant in Iowa.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUCH METHODS are nothing new to members of manufacturing workers' unions. Plant cutbacks and closures eliminated more than 3 million manufacturing jobs, even during the economic recovery of 2002 to 2007.
What's different at Republic Windows is that a group of workers is fighting back--and they have captured the imagination of everyone who wants to see an end to the employers' one-sided class war.
In this climate, even the corporate media has been compelled to exposed the union-busting that passes for "labor relations" in the U.S.
"The folks that are participating in this have a pretty clear recognition that there's not a satisfactory remedy to be found at the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor," said Rich De Vries, a business agent at Teamsters Local 705, who assisted UE in getting Republic workers their first contract through that union.
"There's not a satisfactory grievance or arbitration process that's going to solve their problem," he said. "So they've chosen to engage in direct action. That's the significant thing here."
Having gained such widespread support by taking a stand, many Republic Workers and their supporters are thinking beyond winning vacation and severance pay--that is, finding a way to keep the plant open and save some 250 jobs.
Is it possible? As union shop steward Ricardo Caceres put it, "That's the million-dollar question."

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

If you live in the Chicago area, there will be a picket of Bank of America's Chicago headquarters at 231 S. LaSalle on Wednesday, December 10 at 12 no

If you live in the Chicago area, there will be a picket of Bank of America's Chicago headquarters at 231 S. LaSalle on Wednesday, December 10 at 12 noon (unless negotiations resolve the dispute before then).
Read updates from the UE about the battle at Republic on the union's Web site. You can send a message of solidarity from the Web site, or by e-mail to leahfried@gmail.com. For more information, call UE at 312-829-8300.
The UE is appealing for financial support for the Republic workers. You can contribute via PayPal from the UE home page--see the box on the right. You can also send checks, made payable to the UE Local 1110 Solidarity Fund, to: 37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607.
At the Jobs with Justice Web site, you can send a message of protest to Bank of America.



Chicago Sit In support T-Shirt
Portion of proceeds goes to the strikers

custom version with your local available
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1308 Ann Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63104
Phone 314-771-3799
Fax 314-771-3722
1-800-569-1599



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