Greetings,

 

JwJ Headlines:

 

1.  Jobs with Justice and PSOU featured in national labor media, Labor Notes.

 

2.  AlliedBarton Reverses Promise To “work with the union.”

 

3.  Wade Rathke Points To PSOU Campaign As An Example Of What It Is Going To Take To Revive The Labor Moevment

 

4.  Local Clergy Encouraged Guards To Form Their Own Union

 

 

1. Jobs with Justice and PSOU featured in national labor media, Labor Notes.

 

 

Jobs with Justice Solidarity Co-Chair, Warren Davis’s article about the effort to organize the Philadelphia Security Officers Union has just been published in the national magazine, Labor Notes.  This is the second time that the Philadelphia effort has been featured in the nations leading periodical of democratic unionism.

 

Warren recounts the victory like this?

 

“When the count came down, champagne corks and text messages flew, as victorious guards climbed the museum’s steps, famous from the “Rocky” film, to celebrate.”

 

Click here to read more? http://www.labornotes.org/node/2513

2. AlliedBarton Reverses Promise To “Work with the union.”

 

After a two year campaign to improve wages, benefits and safety and training standards for the guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the security guards beat the longest odds; they formed their own union.

 

Of course the members of the newly created Philadelphia Security Officers Union did not think that winning their election on October 10th would automatically solve all of their problems.

 

“We thought that if we showed our employer AlliedBarton that we were dedicated enough to win a difficult election against their wishes that they would deal with us fair and square.” Says Jennifer Collazo, a union supporter.

 

“They said they were looking forward to working with us in the media, but now they are going back on their word.” Further states Collazo,

 

The Philadelphia Security Officers Union recently received a notice from the National Labor Relations Board stating that AlliedBarton has filed objections to the election.  The filing of objections is a common tactic used by employers to delay progress and negotiations.

 

"I was there. I counted the vote with them.  I know for a fact that we won."  Bernardo Dickerson, a union activist and security guard who was in the counting room in the museum, along with representatives from AlliedBarton, when the National Labor Relations Board certified that the union won the election.

 

AlliedBarton did not raise any issues during the two day election.

 

In another bad sign, AlliedBarton has resume calling meetings with security guards, not the union, to talk about work place issues.  Security guards say that before the union effort began it was rare for AlliedBarton to call meetings with the workforce.  Now, after the election, Alliedbarton is having meetings with the workforce directly instead of addressing issues with the union.  These meeting might even be a violation of Federal Labor Law.

 

Labor law stipulates that “directly-dealing” with employees about working conditions instead of negotiating changes with the union is illegal.

 

“It’s just another way to undermine the union and slow down progress.” Says Fabricio Rodriguez, the Executive Director of Jobs with Justice, a community groups that is helping the union.

 

“Despite the current batch of obstacles, the PSOU is committed to reforming working conditions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.” Further states Rodriguez

 

3. Wade Rathke Points To PSOU Campaign?

 

Last night a dozen activists gathered to listen to Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN, talk about his new book, “Citizens Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families.”

 

“Citizen Wealth,” is a good book and a practical guide for economic justice organizers.  The book points to how communities can use existing resources to stabilize families and how organizers can fight struggles like that waged and won be the Philadelphia Security Officers Union to “prevent predatory” actions by employers or politicians to reduce the wealth that we work hard to earn.

 

Pick up a copy of Citizens Wealth here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Citizen-Wealth/Wade-Rathke/e/9781576758625

 

The event was held to raise money for Jobs with Justice.

 

 

 

4.  Local Clergy Encouraged Guards To Form Their Own Union

 

A few days before the election, three dedicated clergy supporters, Reverend Dwayne Royster, Reverend Jay Broadnax and Reverend Schaunel Steinnagel, wrote (with the help of Emily Randle) an excellent Op-ed to security guards and to Philadelphians. The letter aimed to encourage guards to vote in favor of their own liberation and also to prompt Philadelphians to support them.

The Op-ed did not get picked up by either of the two daily papers and since the election was held on a Friday and a Saturday, there was no other outlets that made sense.

We did print it and circulate it among guards on site, but most of the public has never seen it. I post it below as an excellent example of how people of faith can support worker struggles...

Local Clergy Encourage Guards To “Not Grow Weary of Doing Good,” By Voting To Form Their Own Union

The Philadelphia Museum of Art sits proudly atop its hill and watches over our city. To the people of Philadelphia and to people around the world, our museum evokes images of beauty, sophistication, community, and history. It is our hope, as clergy members and faith leaders, that in a few days this masterpiece of architecture will take on another symbolic attribute: justice.

 

Read more here: http://www.phillyjwj.org/