Behind those delicious berries at your local supermarket may be wage theft and union busting. Local activists picketed the 14th Street Whole Foods and Trader Joe's last Saturday to ask both chains to drop Driscoll's Berries and urge customers to refuse to buy them. “Driscoll's is a major distributor for Sakuma, a berry producer known for wage theft, union busting, and even an armed raid on a camp where their workers were living,” reports “Mark,” a grocery store worker and member of the DC IWW, one of the picket organizers, along with DC Fair Food, Three Part Harmony Farm, and DC Stampede. Click below to read more... Our Days, Our Lives: Working Women Need a Voice on the Job Tue, October 27, 9:30am – 11:00am; The Whittemore House, Washington, DC (RSVP REQUIRED) The National Women’s Law Center hosts AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (right) for a speech on the current status of working women. RSVP to [email protected]. The head of Metro’s union had some tough words about management and the overall situation at WMATA, telling the Board of Directors that “we need a miracle,” reports WTOP. Jackie Jeter, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 689, said on Thursday that she understood why riders are frustrated with Metro. “We need something to change about what we do and how we do it. The union is always here, even though I question and wonder sometimes whether you really want our suggestions because they’re not taken, and I don’t feel that it’s taken seriously,” Jeter said. Jeter said Metro was too bureaucratic and that it took too long for things to be accomplished, complained that supervisors and employees were not sufficiently trained in their respective fields, and on Metro safety issues, she said too many frontline employees still don’t feel comfortable expressing their concerns without supervisors retaliating against them.
Virginia State Senator Dave Marsden and Delegate Kaye Kory rallied volunteers from 14 different international unions Saturday morning before they headed to labor households in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties in support of endorsed candidates for the upcoming November 3 elections in Virginia. “Both legislators are strong union supporters who reminded the door-knockers what is at stake,” reports NoVA Labor president Dan Duncan, “control of the state senate and a possible constitutional amendment to add right-to-work for less.” Labor-to-labor precinct walks and phone banking continue daily from the NoVA Labor office in Annandale through Election Day. Call Dolores Trevino-Gerber at 703-750-3633 for more information. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe will kick off this Saturday’s walk. - photo by Dolores Gerber |