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Today's Stories October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 23-25, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Christopher Ketcham Jeff Gore Gareth Porter Jayne Lyn Stahl Saul Landau Mike Whitney Nikolas Kozloff Ron Jacobs Russell Mokhiber Missy Beattie Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman David Ker Thomson Rannie Amiri Ronnie Cummins Norm Kent Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 22, 2009 Dan Pearson / Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts The US as Failed State Mark Engler Johann Hari Brian M. Downing Eric Toussaint Tom Mountain Israel Shamir Charles Thomson Website of the Day October 21, 2009 Pam Martens Linn Washington, Jr. Liaquat Ali Khan D. K. Wilson Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Stephen Fleischman Patrice Higonnet Binoy Kampmark Kevin Coval / Website of the Day October 20, 2009 Sharon Smith Tariq Ali Mark Brenner Bouthaina Shaaban Michael D. Yates Dean Baker Dave Lindorff John Ross Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Kevin Zeese Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day October 19, 2009 Mike Whitney Greg Moses John Ross Michael Donnelly Jayne Lyn Stahl Eric Walberg Russell Mokhiber Barbara Rose Johnston John V. Whitbeck Christopher Ketcham Website of the Day October 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Carl Ginsburg Ralph Nader Nikolas Kozloff Carlo Galli Dave Lindorff Catherine Rottenberg
/ Neve Gordon Marshall Auerback Nicola Nasser Windy Cooler James L. Secor Ron Jacobs Wes Jackson Jesse Lerner-Kinglake David Ker Thomson Against Leaders Missy Beattie Emily Ratner Stephen Martin Michael Snedeker Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 15, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Brian M. Downing Ramzy Baroud Danny Weil M. Idrees Ahmad Margaret Kimberley Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Harvey Wasserman Nirmal Ghosh Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 14, 2009 Michael Neumann M. Reza Pirbhai Gareth Porter Paul Craig Roberts John Strausbaugh Fortress Moon Ralph Nader Dean Baker Charles Modiano Nadia Hijab Walter Brasch Website of the Day October 13, 2009 Peter Linebaugh Shamus Cooke John Ross Brendan Cooney Frida Berrigan Yves Engler David Macaray Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 12, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg Jessica Arents Eamonn McCann Bill Hatch Sen. Russell Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Gideon Levy Iyad Burnat Alan Cabal Dan Bacher Website of the Day October 9-11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn James Bovard Kathleen and Bill Christison Andy Worthington Marc Levy Tariq Ali Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Alan Nasser Jack Z. Bratich Steve Breyman David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Paul Buchheit Jim Goodman Missy Beattie Michael Leonardi Nadia Hijab Mel Packer David Macaray James T. Phillips Charles R. Larson Michael Donnelly David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 8, 2009 Saul Landau Paul Fitzgerald / Linn Washington, Jr. Marshall Auerback Dave Lindorff David Rosen Chris Darimont / Misty MacDuffee John V. Walsh Stewart Lawrence Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 7, 2009 Brendan Cooney Paul Craig Roberts Dean Baker Jonathan Cook John Stanton Joanne Mariner Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman Sen. Russell Feingold Mary Lynn Cramer Website of the Day October 6, 2009 Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Jonathan Cook Boris Kagarlitsky Iain Boal Ron Jacobs John Ross Michael Dickinson Stephen Fleischman Ira Glunts Missy Beattie Website of the Day October 5, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Harry Browne Sara Mann Omar Barghouti Shamus Cooke Brenda Norrell Fred Gardner Binoy Kampmark Copenhagen Blues: McChrystal and the Afghan Trap Website of the Day October 2-4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Diana Johnstone Greg Moses William Blum Brian Cloughley Russell Mokhiber John Ross Ellen Brown David Ker Thomson David Macaray Gary Engler Robert Fantina Lisa Stolarski / Naomi Archer Anthony Papa Joe Allen Harry Browne Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Hotel Workers and the Law of MomentumSan Francisco Braces for a Major Labor DisputeBy CARL FINAMORE The Law of Momentum, one of the most powerful postulates of physics, describes a collision “where the momentum gained by one object is equal to the momentum lost by the other object.” Physics is of course one of the “hard” sciences, but the same formula can perhaps be aptly applied to the “softer” social sciences as well, where opposing economic forces collide and jockey for position. We are seeing such a clash in San Francisco. Contract negotiations for 9,000 hotel workers have not yet reached the three-month mark. Yet, there have already been over 100 arrests, several downtown protests of over 1000, a planned extended hotel “SIEGE” that “drives the cheap bosses nuts” and now an overwhelmingly conclusive strike vote. It seems clear that another major street fight is shaping up between the powerful Local 2, UNITE-HERE, AFL-CIO, hotel workers union and two dozen of the city’s largest and most prominent hotels. Big names like Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Fairmont and InterContinental are all locked in a battle with the union over shifting more healthcare costs to employees and on increasing workloads. There are another 30 smaller union hotels with expired Local 2 contracts that are also affected by negotiations with the larger chains. Leverage in Negotiations On the one hand, employers are stalling negotiations seeking to ride out the approaching holiday season to keep profit levels up without any disruptions. On the other hand, hoping to swing things their way, several thousand hotel workers descended a few days ago on the cavernous, huge Civic Auditorium and voted by 92 per cent to authorize a citywide strike. At the meeting, Local 2 President Mike Casey said that “we are not going to let the hotels balance their books on the backs of our members. We didn’t let them get away with it in 2004, we’re not going to let them get away with it now.” A Local 2 Strike Vote Factsheet put it even more bluntly, letting the hoteliers know that it will not be business as usual if they continue to stall: “Workers are taking this strike vote to prompt the hotel industry to recognize that it is cheaper to settle with the union than to fight it.” Now that strike authorization is approved, Local 2 can legally engage in boycotts and workplace actions “up to and including a strike.” “The last time we did this, we went out on strike,” Riddhi Mehta, Local 2 spokeswoman, told the San Francisco Examiner. “This is not an empty vote.” These two powerful forces pitted against each other are very reminiscent of the 2004-2006 53-day strike/lockout and the two-year labor-organized hotel boycott. The union emerged completely victorious in that battle with the highest contract standards in the country and with expanded rights to organize non-union hotels. Subsequently, because of Local 2’s focus on organizing, over 90 per cent of upscale hotels in San Francisco are now union. Another byproduct of that fight was the strengthening of membership unity gained from Local 2’s militant strategy of “One Union, One Contract.” Big hotel or small hotel, all 9000 Local 2 members working in 61 city hotels enjoy the same contract standards. The same plan is in place for 2009 negotiations. Local 2 Negotiations Bulletin #4 states: “Since we are not negotiating with a multi-employer group, we intend to negotiate a ‘pattern’ agreement with one or a couple of companies….That deal will become the new Union Standard….” But the large hotel chains are not about to cave in even though they are estimated by the San Francisco Examiner to have lost between $50 million and $100 million in the 2004-2006 battle. Though suffering these embarrassing losses, local hotels retain a bloated war chest riding high on the enormous tsunami wave of profits that produced nationally over $200 billion in the past decade. In addition, since the $5.3 billion tourist industry is the largest economic sector, they have other cards to play in exerting their own pressure on city politics. For example, a 14 per cent municipal tax on each room generated $528 million to depleted city coffers in 2008 alone. The Big Mo But Local 2 is also holding a few aces in their hands. In addition to uniting its own membership behind the strategy of “One Union, One Contract,” the union has also reached out to hotel workers in other cities. An important element of Local 2’s strategy in 2006 and again in 2009, is to gain more bargaining leverage by lining up common expiration dates with UNITE-HERE units in other cities. As a result, Local 2 is bargaining today along with 14,000 other union hotel workers in Chicago and Los Angeles. If the bosses delay negotiations longer, other local contracts will expire and hotel workers in other major cities will also work together to establish common expiration dates and common bargaining objectives. Obviously this national approach puts maximum pressure on the large chains and can potentially shift the balance towards employees. It’s a strategy that can work. A mass action approach of mobilizing the membership locally to directly confront employers combined with a national approach that unites hotel workers across the country behind common goals and objectives. It may not be as profound as the Law of Momentum, but it just might be good enough to win. Carl Finamore attended the October 22, 2009, strike vote meeting in San Francisco. He is a delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council and former President (ret), Air Transport Employees, Local Lodge 1781, IAMAW. He can be reached at local1781@yahoo.com |
Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
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