RWDSU

The Council voted 46-5 for the measure, which would boost pay to $11.50 an hour, or $10 with benefits, for workers at companies that receive $1 million or more in city subsidies.

The City Council voted to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of the city living wage bill Thursday - setting up a legal battle.

The Council voted 46-5 for the measure, which would boost pay to $11.50 an hour, or $10 with benefits, for workers at companies that receive $1 million or more in city subsidies.

Bloomberg has vowed to sue to block the bill from taking effect, saying it unfairly interferes with the free market and will get in the way of economic development projects that could create jobs.

“I don’t understand why the mayor would sue, but if he sues, we’ll defend the bill, and if we defend the bill, we will win,” said Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The bill was watered down from its original version, but backers estimate it will cover 900 workers a year.

“Working people are struggling, and we’re making an important statement that when public money is going to private developers, the public has to get something in return,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

The Council also voted to override Bloomberg’s veto of a bill that would require banks vying for city deposits to report on their lending efforts in poor neighborhoods.

The body also approved a $68.5 billion budget deal, which reversed threatened cuts to child care, after school programs, and fire companies.

Lawmakers also passed a plan to restrict storefronts on parts of the upper West Side to 40 feet wide, and banks to 25 feet.

The City Council last night overrode Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of a “living-wage bill” that mandates private companies taking taxpayer subsidies to increase workers’ salaries.

The legislation requires companies collecting at least $1 million in discretionary city subsidies to pay their workers $10 an hour plus benefits, or $11.50 without.

Bloomberg intends to sue.

“This is an important moment for our city’s democracy and economy,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which choreographed the bill’s passage.

NEW YORK — The New York City Council voted Thursday to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of a living wage bill.

The Council approved the override on Thursday by a 46-5 vote.

The controversial legislation requires direct recipients of at least $1 million in city subsidies to pay their workers at least $10 an hour plus benefits, or $11.50 without benefits.

Bloomberg has said he would sue if the council overturned his objection.

The bill is expected to go into effect in 90 days.

Also on Thursday, the City Council voted to approve a $68.5 billion budget for the next fiscal year that avoids tax hikes and major layoffs and restores funds for child care programs.

Prior to the vote, Council Speaker Christine Quinn called the budget a “victory for families of all different incomes.”

A racially mixed workforce in an Alabama poultry plant defeated management’s attempts to exploit their diversity, turning aside the divide-and-conquer tactics and voting in the union.

Scoring the largest union victory in the right-to-work state of Alabama in a decade, 1,200 Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant workers voted union overwhelmingly June 12 in the small town of Russellville.

The workers, who are 20 percent Latino, 40 percent black, and 40 percent white, voted 706-292 to join the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, a division of the Food and Commercial Workers. The victory comes after three previous attempts by UFCW.

RWDSU organizer Randy Hadley said the company used “the language barrier to divide the Latino Spanish speakers from the white and black English speakers. Threatening folks with plant closings, firings, telling one group of workers one thing and another group something completely different.”

Read the full story from Labor Notes.

On Thursday, while the City Council votes to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act (better known as the Living Wage Bill), dozens of New Yorkers will gather in front of City Hall to show their support for the Council’s action.

“We do have the votes to override the mayor’s veto, but it is pretty sad that we even have to do this,” said Kimberly Ortiz, a former retail worker who two years ago became an organizer for something called the Retail Action Project.

“This was already voted on and overwhelmingly approved but that means nothing to Bloomberg,” she added. “This is a man who pretty much bought his third term; for him it is his way or the highway.”

Dubbed “the Mayor of Inequality,” by Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Bloomberg is so intent in subverting the people’s will that he has promised to challenge the Council’s override in court.

“With this veto, Mayor Bloomberg has cemented his legacy as the mayor of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,” said Rev. Raymond Rivera, director of the Latino Pastoral Action Center.

At this point the bill doesn’t benefit a great number of working New Yorkers. Actually the Living Wage bill contemplates raising the wages of just a few workers — the ones who labor at companies that receive $1 million or more in city subsidies — to $11.50 an hour, or $10 an hour for those with benefits, instead of the current state-mandated minimum wage of $7.25.

This being the case, one has to wonder why the Mayor bothered to veto the bill and threaten to fight the override in court.

“Right now this will affect a few hundred workers, but it is important because it is setting a standard for the future,” Ortiz said.

A standard by which workers would be compensated a little more fairly, something not to the liking of many people in the business community.

This is what Bloomberg has in mind when he talks about the Living Wage bill as a jobs killer. He has gone as far as comparing the bill to communism.

“While this bill could potentially result in higher wages for some workers, these increases would come at the cost of job creation,” the mayor said in a message when he vetoed the bill.

But as Ortiz said, “workers don’t need more poverty-wages jobs. The last thing we need is more impoverished people.”

The Living Wage NYC Coalition has scheduled a press conference for 11 am tomorrow at City Hall. They expect that a diverse group of workers, elected officials, union members, clergy, community and religious leaders will be present.

Yet Thursday’s actions will be mostly symbolic, Ortiz said.

“The mayor will do what he will do,” she said. “But [the actions] will call attention to the fact that Bloomberg doesn’t care if something was approved democratically.”

The mayor’s adamant opposition to a bill supported by the majority of New Yorkers and overwhelmingly approved by the City Council has bought him little sympathy.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s legacy is one of disrespect: extending his term against the will of the people and now labeling honest working class people as Communist for wanting to earn a decent living wage so they can take care of their families,” said Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, president, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. “The Living Wage NYC Coalition will remain in this fight until all workers are treated fairly and paid justly.”

Many in this country have forgotten their working class roots. Read this important piece from Daily Kos on ways we as working people can help to reverse this trend and come together under one banner:

As we move further into the twenty-first century, I have come to the realization that many of us have forgotten where we came from. I would wager many who are doctors, lawyers, elected officials and captains of industry came from humble means. Working class families, such as construction workers, maintenance people and factory workers, just to name a few. And many (oh so many) have turned on the same sort of people that bore and raised them, clothed and fed them, put them through college and called them son or daughter. How do we end this cycle?

Read the full story.

A new union contract offers cutting-edge benefits including paternity leave and strong anti-discrimination language. But the vast majority of LGBT retail workers still lack basic protections.

More often than not, it’s a dirty look or some unspoken signal that a customer would rather deal with another salesperson. Every now and then, things turn outright hostile, as happened recently for Desmond Anthony, an employee at Zara in New York City.

The young retail worker was talking with a group of gay male visitors when a female customer approached and said, “You’re going to hell. I don’t want to shop here. I feel uncomfortable.” Anthony, who is also an actor, knew how to maintain composure, but the other men followed the woman to another part of the store, where an altercation ensued, complete with a tossed shoe.

No one was injured, and management comforted the customer. “We’re sorry that this happened and we understand how you feel,” she was told.

That response did not surprise Anthony, who said that the climate for LGBT people in his store could be so precarious that at least four managers opt to remain in the closet. He said the lack of an explicit non-discrimination policy makes it difficult for management to interject when shoppers express antigay sentiments, let alone ask those articulating such comments to leave the store. Instead, customers are always right, even when employees have been wronged.

“You do know that you are not protected if something happens, God forbid,” he said. “They have this clause in our contract that if you are not fitting the company’s image, they can get rid of you, where it basically comes down to discrimination. That’s dangerous because they don’t clarify what they mean by that, because if you are more flamboyant, or if you wear makeup, it’s just not allowed.”

Research suggests that Anthony’s experience is not uncommon for non-unionized employees who make up the overwhelming majority of workers in retail, a fast-growing industry that attracts LGBT people in disproportionately high numbers. Compared to finance and law, industries that topped the Human Rights Campaign’s 2012 Corporate Equality Index, workers in retail, which ranked a decent third, routinely lack health insurance, live with low compensation, and contend with unpredictable “just-in-time” scheduling. The situation is outlined in “Discounted Jobs: How Retailers are Selling Workers Short,” a report from the Retail Action Project (RAP), a New York City-based membership organization of retail workers, many of whom identify as LGBT.

“It’s an industry that welcomes self-expression, but it’s also lower wage and so it attracts workers encountering other barriers because of sexual orientation or especially gender non-conformity,” said Carrie Gleason, executive director of RAP. “Retail is where a lot of LGBTQ workers find employment. That said, most retailers lack proper policies to deal with workplace harassment and discrimination on the sales force, and when you work retail, you’re dealing with the public, not just your mangers and co-workers.”

Race, gender and immigration status exacerbate the problems. The majority of retail workers in New York City are people of color, and nearly half are immigrants, proportions that hold for the LGBT portion of the workforce. According to the RAP report, women and people of color are overrepresented in low-wage frontline retail positions, where they find less access to benefits and fewer opportunities for raises and promotions.

Advocates hope that a groundbreaking new contract secured by the employees at Bloomingdale’s will influence the industry to make improvements. Last month, members of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union Local 3 ratified a five-year collective bargaining agreement that strengthened protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. The agreement, which covers 2,000 employees at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in Manhattan, also includes a new paternity benefit for gay men in marriages and domestic partnerships, which union sources believe could be the first of its kind in a retail contract. Wage increases, enhanced benefits and more employee control over scheduling are also part of the contract.

“The fact that Bloomingdale’s and RWDSU have been able to come to an agreement to extend paternity leave for same-sex couples is phenomenal,” said Gleason. “It’s unheard of in the industry and it’s a huge stride.”

Read the full story in today’s Advocate.com.

The winners of a $241 million Powerball jackpot, the largest ever won by an Iowa Lottery player, gleefully arrived in Des Moines today to claim their prize.

A bus carrying about 50 people from Cedar Rapids pulled up to Iowa Lottery headquarters on Grand Avenue shortly before noon. The group included 20 workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids who jointly purchased the winning ticket as part of pool.

The workers wore red t-shirts and had broad smiles as they got off the bus. They whooped and hollered. Asked how they felt, they responded “Great!” and “Awesome!” Although none would provide their name, they said they are members of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union Local 110.

Assuming the winners take a lump-sum cash payout, they will each receive $5.6 million after taxes are paid, The total lump-sum payout was about $160 million before state and federal taxes were deducted.

A middle-aged man, who would only say his name was “Al,” confirmed that he held the lucky ticket. The entire group then walked behind closed doors inside the Iowa Lottery’s offices to validate their ticket and claim their prize money. Lottery officials said a news conference would be held this afternoon.

The union issued a statement saying that the Quaker Oats workers, who would only be identified as the “Shipping 20,” were withholding their names for “legal reasons.” They range in age from 35 to 64, and their years of service range from ten years to forty years per employee. Collectively, they have more put in more than 640 years of service at the unionized plant.

They have been buying Powerball tickets for the past fifteen years and finally hit the jackpot this year, the union said.

Together, they are thinking about how to contribute in a positive way to their Local 110 union family and to community initiatives that will benefit residents in and around Cedar Rapids, the union statement said.

“The union has stood up for us, on and off the job, and brought us together as one family. We’ve been through a lot together, especially since the flood of 2008, and this has given us a renewed appreciation for our union values,” said one of the unidentified Powerball winners, a long-time worker at the plant, who was quoted in the union’s statement.

The flood of 2008 in Cedar Rapids affected the shipping department and all other areas of the plant, and since then the 20 workers have jointly put in many extra hours in order to get the massive water-damaged facility up and running again, the union said. The statement said they know the important and historic role the Quaker Oats plant has played in Iowa’s economy for decades.

“These guys have worked very hard for many years, and they want to use their good fortune to make life better for others at the plant and in their community. This is a great American story but also a great union story. These are some of the most decent and generous people you’ll ever meet, and all of our members couldn’t be happier for them,” said Al Hartl Jr., president of Local 110.

The winning ticket was from a Powerball drawing held June 13. The ticket was sold at a Hy-Vee grocery store on Edgewood Road in Cedar Rapids, and there has been intense speculation since then over the winners’ identity.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175.2 million.

The winning numbers were 7-10-14-33-57 and Powerball 18. The jackpot ticket matched all six numbers drawn.

Iowa’s biggest previous jackpot winners were Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge, who claimed a $200.8 million prize in October 2006. The biggest jackpot ever for Powerball was a $365 million prize shared in February 2006 by eight co-workers at a ConAgra ham processing plant in Lincoln, Neb.

This was the seventh time a Powerball jackpot ticket has been sold in Iowa, but it’s the fifth time the Iowa Lottery has sold a Powerball ticket worth at least $1 million since the game was redesigned in January. Those changes doubled the price of a Powerball ticket to $2 from $1, while providing more chances to win at least $1 million.

Iowa represents only 1 to 2 percent of total revenue in the Powerball game, which is played in 44 jurisdictions nationwide with total sales of more than $3 billion annually. Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich said the Iowa Lottery had been hoping to have four to six winners of at least $1 million annually under the new Powerball rules, but what’s happened since January already has exceeded his expectations.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KGAN) — 20 unionized workers at the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids won the $241 Million Powerball jackpot, the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), UFCW, announced today.

The group is known as the shipping 20, because they all have spent years working together in the shipping department of the plant. The group’s members are withholding their names because of legal reasons.

The RWDSU says the winners range from 35 to 64, and have served in the union from ten years up to fourty years. Collectively, they have more put in more than 640 years of service at the unionized plant.

They traveled Wednesday by bus from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines to claim their prize and participate in an official ceremony with Quaker and the Iowa State Lottery.

The shipping 20 have been buying Powerball tickets for the past fifteen years and finally hit the jackpot this year. One of the workers in the bought the winning ticket at the Edgewood Rd. Hy-vee in Cedar Rapids.

The RWDSU says the winners want to give back to their RWDSU Local 110 family and the community. “The union has stood up for us, on and off the job, and brought us together as one family. We’ve been through a lot together, especially since the flood of 2008, and this has given us a renewed appreciation for our union values,” said one of the Powerball winners, a long-time worker at the plant.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A group of 20 workers at a Quaker Oats plant in Iowa stepped forward Wednesday to claim a $241 million Powerball jackpot.

Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said the agency verified the winning ticket, which was sold June 13.

One of the workers bought the winning ticket for the group and the winnings will be split 20 ways, said Dan Morris, a spokesman for the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union that all the winners belong to in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Morris said the winners all are between 35 and 64 years old and work in the Quaker plant’s shipping department.

The group took a chartered bus paid for by their union from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines on Wednesday to present their ticket to lottery officials.

“They’re in shock. Still trying to recover,” said Joe Day, the group’s lawyer.

Day said the group had yet to decide what to do with the winnings, but described the winners as “ecstatic.”

“Financial security for a lifetime,” he said. “Anybody would want that.”

The jackpot is the 15th largest won by Powerball players and, according to Neubauer, would amount to roughly $5.6 million per person after taxes if the group chooses the lump-sum cash option.

End Racial Profiling! Join us with 60+ ‪LGBT‬ organizations at ‪the Silent March Against Racial Profiling this Sunday. Click here to watch the video calls to action to find out why YOU should join us.

It’s being seen as a huge victory for organizing in Alabama. Nearly 1200 workers at a Russellville, Alabama Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant will soon be represented by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. 706 of the workers voted in favor of union representation making it the largest union victory in that state in more than a decade. The company has said it will begin recognizing the union as the representative of the workers as soon as the National Labor Relations Board certifies the vote. That could happen by the end of the month. The union said the biggest issue the workers expressed was a need to have a stronger voice in how the company makes decisions that impacts their day-to-day lives.

Twelve hundred hourly workers at Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville will soon have union representation after a vote earlier this month.

Workers voted 706 to 292 in favor of joining Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. The vote took place June 7 and 8 in a secret ballot election.

Randy Hadley, mid-South council organizer for the union’s region who is based in Athens, said the campaign to bring in the union is one of the most successful organizing campaigns in Alabama in the past 10 years. He said the poultry industry is one of Alabama’s largest.

“I’d been in contact with workers the past two to three years when they would have issues that would flair up,” Hadley said. “I finally got a call from a couple of guys who wanted to meet with me. You could tell things had gotten way out of control.”

Hadley said workers complained of many grievances among them no time to take restroom breaks and not adequately addressing accidents or injuries or having a voice to express their concerns.

Click here to read the full story.

LGBT, Civil Rights and Labor Movement Leaders Speak Up Against “Stop and Frisk”

GLAAD released videos of LGBT leaders, civil rights leaders, and labor leaders discussing the negative impact of the stop and frisk policy in order to mobilize these movements for a Father’s Day march that will advance a shared agenda of equality and justice. Watch all the speakers from the Press Conference, including Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Ben Jealous and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum.

Read more from GLAAD.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A leader of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union says it has succeeded with a large organizing campaign in Alabama.

President Stuart Appelbaum said workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville voted 706 to 292 to join the union. Pilgrim’s Pride is the largest chicken producer in the United States.

Union leaders said the Russellville plant employs about 1,200 people.