[Dryerase] The Alarm!--Labor Briefs

[The Alarm!Newswire]

Boston janitors
In a new development in a three-week-old strike of Boston-area 
janitors, Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift cancelled the state’s 
custodial contract with Unicco Service Company after the Service 
Employees International Union (SEIU) threatened to expand their strike 
to four state buildings.  The workers are striking for better wages, 
full employment (only 1,900 of Boston’s 10,700 janitors are employed 
full time) and health benefits.

Oakland screeners work stoppage thwarted
On October 4, Oakland airport security screeners had planned a walkout 
protesting the discriminatory layoffs and re-hiring process of the 
federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  The government 
agency countered by threatening to bring in replacement screeners from 
Sacramento and Reno, Nevada.  Officials with the TSA also suggested 
that participation in the ten-minute walkout would “have an impact on 
their applications and their future eligibility for employment.”  Many 
of the present security screeners accuse the TSA, formed as part of 
post-September 11 federal security measures, of discriminating against 
them because they are naturalized citizens born in other countries, 
especially the Philippines.

ILWU—Breaking News
The Local 13 of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), 
representing longshore workers at the sprawling port complexes of Los 
Angeles and Long Beach, CA, filed a formal complaint October 15 against 
shipping companies represented by the Pacific Maritime Association 
(PMA).  They charge shippers with sabotaging efforts to get work on the 
docks back to normal after a ten-day lockout was ended by Bush’s 
invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act the previous week.  Union officials 
say that the shippers are refusing to hire and train enough new workers 
to get the job done.  The complaint was filed with the Labor Relations 
Committee, formed after Taft-Hartley went into effect.  The PMA in turn 
accuses the union workers with engaging in slowdowns by mixing up 
paperwork, showing up late and not making enough workers available.  
The union has countered that workers have done remarkably well, 
considering the “logistical nightmare” produced by the PMA lockout.  
They also accuse the shippers of refusing to hire and train more 
workers to get the job done because it would give the ILWU more power 
on the waterfront.—F.M.

60,000 teachers march for union rights in Taiwan
Some 50–60,000 state-employed teachers with the National Teachers 
Association in Taiwan marched on Saturday for the right to union 
representation.  While various arms of the Taiwan government have paid 
public lip service to the teachers and their right to associate, the 
government remains firm in stressing that any association the teachers 
form will not have the right to strike.

Ukrainian miners
Coal miners at dozens of mines across eastern Ukraine began a three-day 
strike on October 16.  The workers are calling for better working 
conditions and more state funding to help the industry acquire better 
safety equipment and facilities.  Six workers had died in mining 
accidents in the Ukraine over the previous two days.

CAW & DC
Canadian Auto Workers reached a last-minute agreement with 
DaimlerChrysler AG in contract negotiations.  The agreement came just 
half an hour before the workers were to have gone on strike.  
DaimlerChrysler agreed to retain 1,200 positions of workers at a 
Windsor, Ontario plant that the company plans to shut down sometime 
next year.

French public sector workers protest privatization
Public sector gas and electricity workers all across France struck 
October 3 over the plans of the new center-right administration of 
Jean-Pierre Raffarin partially privatize the nation’s state-owned 
utility services.  Utilities workers were joined by workers at Air 
France and railway workers who have faced or are facing similar 
privatization schemes.  Workers at France Telecom and other opponents 
of privatization were also present at the Paris rally in numbers.  
Attendance estimates ranged from 40,000 by police to 80,000 by 
organizers.

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