Labor News from AGITPROP 10/8/97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from ... LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT AGITPROP NEWS 10.8.97 OCTOBER 16TH STRIKE DEADLINE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY On September 30, 1997, Columbia's clerical workers, members of Local 2110 UAW voted overwhelmingly (89% in favor) to strike if no new agreement with the administration is reached by October 16th. The contract expired at midnight on Tuesday, September 30th. After six months of negotiations, the union and the university remain far apart on many key issues. The sticking points include loss of jobs, benefit cuts and wages. The university has offered only a 2% increase (on average $11 per week), which it says must be funded by benefit cuts in other areas. Furthermore, the university wants to implement merit pay in the form of bonuses to selected individuals. The merit system, which existed prior to 2110's first contract in 1985, resulted in wage on the basis of race and gender. Since then, the university has also eliminated 300 clerical positions while increasing the number of higher-paid administrators by 550. The union has made the return of these positions to the bargaining unit a top priority. The university is also seeking cuts in pension and wage progressions for new employees. Local 2110 has struck twice at the university - both times over pay equity and job security. To help insure that the clerical workers receive a fair contract, please contact Columbia University President George Rupp, tel. (212) 854-2825, fax (212) 854-6466, e-mail rupp@columbia.edu. =46or more information, please contact Maida Rosenstein, (212) 387-0220, fax (212) 228-0198, e-mail local2110@igc.org, or Barbara O'Farrell, e-mail bo1@columbia.edu. *** Dockers 10/04/97 6:40 PM International Committee for the Victory to the Liverpool Dockers c/o ILC, P.O. Box 40458, San Francisco, CA 94140 Tel. (415) 641-4440 (415)641-4610 Email: lvpsf@labornet.org Vancouver (Canada) Longshore Workers Refuse to Cross Picket Line to Unload Scab Cargo! Neptune Jade Sails for Yokahama, Japan! Another Gigantic Victory for the Liverpool Dockers! SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday, October 4- At noon today, our Committee received word that the members of ILWU Longshore Local 500 in Vancouver, Canada, refused to cross a picket line set up at 7:50 a.m. this morning by approximately 20 supporters of the Liverp ool dockers. The Vancouver picketers were alerted late Friday afternoon that the Neptune Jade, which had been unable to unload its cargo in Oakla nd, was headed for Vancouver and would be docking in that port at about 8 a.m. Saturday morning. The shipping company had hoped to unload its scab cargo in Vancouver and have it shipped over the road to the San Francisco Bay Area. "Considering the reception the Neptune Jade had received from our American brothers and sisters, we were surprised that the shipping company would try to discharge its cargo in a Canadian port, when they knew that the ILWU would have no part of it," said Richard Rondpre, president of ILWU Local 500 in Vancouver. Confronted with yet another militant picket line and the refusal of the Canadian longshore workers to cross the line and break the solidarity that had been forged in Oakland, the company apparently decided to cut its losses, ordering the Neptune Jade to set sail immediately for Yokahama, Japan! The San Francisco chapter of the International Committee for the Victory to the Liverpool Dockers, upon receiving this news, sent a message of congratulations to the Vancouver picketers and longshore workers for their determined effort in solidarity with the embattled Liverpool dockers. Our Committee strongly believes that this victory in Oakland and Vancouver must be extended. The Neptune Jade is not the only ship carrying scab cargo from Liverpool or from scab ports in England. It is imperative that supporters of trade union rights in ports across the globe send a signal to all the shipping companies and shipping alliances - such as the signal that was sent in Oakland and Vancouv er - that they are fair targets as long as they are trading in Liverpool and other British scab ports. These shipping companies could get on the phone tomorrow to the Mersey Harbor and Docks Co. - which fired the 500 Liverpool dockers - demanding the reinstatement of the dockers. As one of the chants that resonated on the picket line in Oakland so aptly pu t it: "Mersey Docks, Pick Up the Phone; Reinstate the Dockers, and We'll Go Home!" For further information, you can call our Committee at (415) 641-4440 or 641-4610 Labournet web page at www.labournet.org. You can also reach the Liverpool Dockers At dockers@gn.apc.org *** LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT Labor Education Center Rutgers University Ryders Lane & Clifton Avenue New Brunswick, NJ 08903 Phone: 732-220-1472 - Fax: 732-296-1325 Email: lamp@igc.apc.org - Website: http://www.igc.apc.org/laborart Subscribe to AGITPROP NEWS at this address Spanning the Globe to: ORGANIZE - AGITATE - EDUCATE - INSPIRE Mike Alewitz, Artistic Director ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-10.09.97-13:33:35-21970