Rally to Support Fired Ballco Workers...

Join Ballco Workers as they call on FMC Technologies to support justice and fairness!

When: Tuesday, October 9th at 12 noon

Where: FMC Offices at 200 E. Randolph in Chicago (Aon Center)

Join us as we call on FMC Technologies to cease doing business with Ballco Manufacturing. Ballco employees have suffered for years under abusive and discriminatory conditions. When eight of their coworkers were unfairly targeted and fired on September 19, workers said “enough is enough” and walked out on a one-day protest strike. Ballco responded by firing 25 more employees. Employees have filed charges for unlawful discrimination and retaliation, and have remained on the picket line for the past two weeks. FMC Technologies is a major Ballco customer. We are calling on FMC to cease doing business with Ballco until this dispute is resolved.

For more information call Mark Meinster at (312) 829-8300, United Electrical Workers (UE)

(from Oct. 5th Chicago Jobs with Justice E-Update)

Comments

The occupation has ended but the struggle goes on…

The occupation of La Casita at Whittier was brought to a close tonight. The Whittier parents are declaring victory in the battle of La Casita as Ron Huberman’s office put in writing today the guarantee not to demolish the field house and to lease it to the parents group at $1 a year. However the war is far from over… The issue of the library is yet to be resolved. CPS still insists that they can find space inside the school building for the library. The parents insist there is no space in the school and that the library should be located in the field house. The parents insist that Huberman and Alderman Solis already agreed that TIF funds would be used to complete the repairs necessary at La Casita. Huberman’s letter today did not make this clear. A half block away from Whittier is the abandon police station on Damen which has sat vacant for several years. The parents say that Solis promised them that the build...

Financial Crisis Brings Historic Opportunity…

www.whatnowtoons.com Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make. Less than a month ago, every mainstream mass media outlet, U.S. politician, economic analyst, and probably the majority of average citizens would still have been singing the praises of the unfettered free market. Regulation was still a dirty word and privatization was still equated with efficiency and prosperity. Granted, the sand had already begun to shift under this ideological edifice of 30+ years. The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble had seriously shaken the confidence of some in the system. I had mentioned repeatedly on Labor Express Radio over the Summer the glaring contrast between the soaring gas prices we experienced here in the laissez-faire fuel market of the U.S. as compared to the low and stable prices maintained by the state oil company of our neighbor to the south. But none of that seemed to really change the mainstream belief in this country that free markets solve all prob...

R.I.P. UAW…

OK, I realize those are harsh words, but I can’t help feeling real sadness today as I read reports of what the UAW agreed to in its settlement with GM. As I am sure you have all heard already, the strike was ended today (after just two days), with the announcement by Gettelfinger that a tentative agreement had been reached. The exact details of the agreement won’t be known till at least late this week, when the members vote to ratify (or not) the contract. You can listen to audio of Gettelfinger’s announcement here… http://www.uaw.org/ Now I am not saying we should relish the idea of a long strike. Strikes are always much harder on the individual worker than they are on their corporate bosses. No one wants a long drawn out strike that leads to workers losing their homes, pulling kids out of college, sinking deeper into debt, etc., etc., etc. Let me say right of the bat, even though I have been a labor activist for 15 years, I have never myself had to endure the pain of a strike. But I ...

Search This Blog