New Haven says: "Aramark has got to go!" & more news

February 11, 2008

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Vol.17, No. 3

"Chicken nuggets, get out!" was the rallying cry as hundreds of workers from Unite Here, AFSCME, students and community allies gathered in New Haven on February 1st with a message to the city's Mayor and Board of Education: it's time to fire Aramark. The New Haven public schools contracted Aramark to manage the schools' food service and maintenance operations. Despite Aramark's promise of savings to the district's taxpayers, the company's operations in the schools ran up a $1.1 million deficit last year.

Frank Douglass, a cook at Yale University and member of Unite Here Local 35, spoke with his daughter, a student in the New Haven schools, at his side. "Last year Yale got rid of Aramark because Aramark wasn't up to the task. If Aramark's not good enough for Yale's students, there's no way Aramark's good enough for my daughter and other children in New Haven."

Busloads of striking Aramark workers from Local 100 in New York City joined the rally. President Bruce Raynor applauded their strength and courage, adding that "it takes incredible bravery to stand up to these global corporations like Aramark."

Standing Up for Tommy Hilfiger Workers in Montreal

During the last week of January, UNITE HERE members and allies leafleted Tommy Hilfiger stores in Montréal as well as in the German cities of Berlin and Dusseldorf. They were showing their support for the 100 workers at the Tommy Hilfiger distribution center in Montréal, many of whom decided to join UNITE HERE's Québec Council in late summer 2007. Instead of respecting workers' right to freedom of association, Tommy Hilfiger management responded to the workers' attempt to improve their working conditions by holding mandatory anti-union meetings, harassing suspected union leaders by following them during and after work hours, and strongly encouraging workers to withdraw their union cards.

In Montréal, passersby were greeted by members who were chained and gagged to symbolize Tommy Hilfiger management's response to the workers' union drive. In Germany, one of Tommy Hilfiger's most important European markets, UNITE HERE allies from the Verdi Campus and Service Student Union handed out leaflets at three Tommy Hilfiger stores in Berlin and Dusseldorf. Verdi members in Dusseldorf produced a video of their action.
Tell Tommy Hilfiger to respect workers' rights by sending a message to Canadian CEO Howard Starr.

Tropicana Fighting Vegas Workers on Health and Pension Funds

Tropicana Casinos and Resorts, an affiliate of Columbia Sussex, is the last unionized casino on the Las Vegas Strip that has not signed a new contract with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Unlike other Strip employers, Tropicana Casinos and Resorts has proposed to eliminate the workers' health and pension funds and has proposed unlimited subcontracting and part-timers in its contract with the Culinary Workers Local 226.

To check out how Tropicana Casinos and Resorts operates some of its casino properties outside of Las Vegas visit www.dirtytropicana.com.

Tropicana Casinos and Resorts owns the: Tropicana Express Hotel and Casino, River Palms Hotel and Casino, Vicksburg Horizon Casino, Casino Aztar Evansville, Lake Tahoe Horizon Casino and Resort, Montbleu Resort Casino and Spa, and Lighthouse Point Casino in Mississippi.

UNITE HERE Local 1 Pickets New Trump Hotel in Chicago

Just one week after the opening of Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, members of UNITE HERE Local 1 picketed in front of the new hotel property to inform hotel customers that Trump Hotel has not signed an agreement with Local 1. Members of Local 1 are asking that all hotel workers in Chicago have a fair chance at the Chicago standard: good wages, affordable healthcare, a decent retirement, and a voice on the job.

"We're here to fight for workers at the Trump Hotel. Where I work, there were all kinds of problems and we weren't treated with respect by management until we had the union to stand with us. I think that workers at Trump Hotel deserve to have the same," says Marcella Mason, a member of Local 1 and a housekeeper at the Blake Hotel.

Rhode Island Catering Workers Win Better Wages and Benefits

On January 16, Twin River catering workers in Lincoln, Rhode Island ended a two year fight by overwhelmingly ratifying a new union contract that will guarantee fair raises, affordable single health insurance, employer paid pensions, and meaningful job security for another four years. Kerzner International, the Waterford Group and Starwood Capital purchased the facility shortly before negotiations began. Over the two-year course of negotiations, the new owners more than tripled the number of bargaining unit members as it transformed the facility from a small dog track to one of the country's largest gaming facilities.

"After a difficult struggle we are pleased to have reached a fair agreement with Twin River," said Robin Brindle, bartender and worker organizer. "We now know that workers will earn living wages and have access to quality health insurance for the next four years."

Two More Vancouver Hotels now in Line for 2010 Hotel Workers Rising Negotiations

Hotel workers at the Hilton Metrotown Vancouver Hotel in Burnaby and the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond ratified their new collective agreements last week by overwhelming margins, bringing them up to the contract standard of other union workers in the downtown Vancouver corporate hotels.

"The workers at these hotels have shown each other and their employers that when they are determined they can achieve tremendous gains," said UNITE HERE Local 40 President Jim Pearson. "Their hard work has been rewarded with a groundbreaking contract that sets the stage for 2010 negotiations, when workers at these hotels will be lined up with their UNITE HERE brothers and sisters working in similar corporate hotels in Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Hawaii."

Hotel workers at the Hilton and the Delta will see 12% wage increases, with some departments at the Hilton, receiving up to a 21% increase to reflect the current higher standards that have been won through Hotel Workers Rising in the Vancouver area. Room attendants at the Delta Vancouver Airport also achieved a workload reduction after a series of workplace actions, including delegations to their employer, holding rallies and workplace committee meetings.


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