Employee Free Choice supporters blast Rite Aid with new report on company's union busting at warehou

http://unionreview.com/employee-free-choice-supporters-blast-rite-aid-new-report-company%2526%2523039%3Bs-union-busting-west-coast-wa

Supporters urging passage of the Employee Free Choice Act took to the streets on Monday to back warehouse workers at Rite Aid's massive distribution center in Lancaster, California. They released a new Jobs with Justice report about how management there has aggressively interfered in workers' freedom to form a union.


Supporters gather in front of the Pharmacy conference at the Convention Center


The 12-page report: "Rite Aid, Oliver J. Bell & Associates, and the Case for the Employee Free Choice Act" documents how management employed union busters and violated labor laws. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board was prepared to charge Rite Aid with 49 unfair labor practice charges before the cases were settled out of court.

"Union avoidance consultants, such as those engaged by Rite Aid, have contributed significantly to the subversion of the National Labor Relations Act," said John Logan from the Institute for Research on Labor & Employment at the University of California at Berkeley whose research has focused on workers' rights. "Using every weapon at their disposal, they encourage employers to fight to the death efforts by employees to form unions."

The actions were led by local Jobs with Justice coalitions in Boston, Bangor, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Montpelier, Portland, OR and Richmond, VA. AFL-CIO organizer Rand Wilson and two community activists infiltrated a major pharmaceutical industry conference at the Boston Convention Center where a Rite Aid manager was speaking. As soon as he was done, they stood up and blasted Rite Aid's union busting while distributing copies of the report to the pharmacy convention delegates. The report was also released in six other cities. At some locations, other Rite Aid workers' unions -- 1199 SEIU, UFCW and the Teamsters -- joined the support actions.

Despite the company's attacks, a majority the of the workers voted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 26 in March 2008. But more than a year later, Rite Aid management is still refusing to negotiate a first contract that would improve wages and working conditions for employees.

FULL story at link.