“We need a union because of the respect that we need and the unity that we need and because of the good salary that we need,” said  David Ozuna, who speaks little English and used a translator to communicate with the media.

So far, 32 employees have signed union cards with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District 11. They are primarily sandblasters and hydroblasters, though they perform a variety of chores for Goodison, which does work primarily for the federal government. Sandblasters remove paint from boat hulls. The paint is often highly toxic and sandblasting itself can cause permanent skin and/or eye injuries. It’s very difficult and dangerous work that takes a toll on a body. Starting wages for these workers is between $10 and $12 an hour.

“They don’t give us the safety and the protection that we need to do our job,” said Osuna.

More than 30 workers, in addition to an equal or greater number of union organizers and progressive activists, held court on the Quonset-area road leading to Goodison starting at 6:30 this morning. They chanted, gave motivational speeches and, using a megaphone, implored company officials – who watched the action from afar – to negotiate with the workers.

“The company is going to try to divide you,” said union organizer Sam Marvin. “They are going to try to divide the strength you are showing today. The important thing is you have to be strong today, you’ll have to be stronger tomorrow and you’ll have to be stronger the next day. But you’re going to win this campaign and we’re going to be there with you.”

Another organizer said, “There are two ways the company is going to fight: with fear and with lies. You are going to win with solidarity and the truth.”

One woman who said she came on behalf of her church said, “What you are doing is hard, it is a struggle, but it is of God.”

State Representative Aaron Regunberg, who came from Providence to stand with the workers, said, “I am proud to join you all this morning. I am proud of all the workers who are standing up today to say you deserve better. You know they are not going to give you what you deserve, you have to win it. This is what the labor movement is all about. Keep fighting until you have what you deserve.” He told the employees that there are many in the General Assembly who support their struggle.

So far, 32 Goodison employees have signed union cards, said Jobs With Justice organizer Mike Araujo. There are 55 total employees at Goodison and about 40 have expressed interest in forming a union, he said. The employees and Jobs With Justice have been asking management to voluntarily recognize their union and they plan to file for an election this week, Araujo said. After they file for the election, they have two weeks to hold a vote. If a majority of employees vote for a union, Goodison then has one year to negotiate a contract with the union.

According to the company’s website: “J. Goodison Company was founded in 1999 and incorporated in 2001. It is a veteran-owned small business that has grown from its humble beginnings as a father and son operation to an organization that supports 30 full time employees and an additional 25-50 skilled labor and trade subcontractors. The Company’s list of clients includes but is not limited to government clients such as the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, NOAA, and the U.S. Parks Department. Similarly, the commercial clients list includes Senesco Marine, Boston Towing & Transportation, and Electric Boat to name a few. J. Goodison Company holds a GSA Contract and 9 Multi-Year IDIQ (Indefinitely Delivery Indefinitely Quantity) contracts with the U.S. Coast Guard.”

• Part 1: The Verizon, union standoff and the future of labor
• Part 2: The Verizon, union standoff and the future of customer service, copper

My sources revealed to me that union members on the ground level of customer service have been able to access tools that collect metadata in ways that disturb them. There is one tool in particular, called the ‘spy tool’ or the ‘creepy tool’, that could be used in an improper fashion. Approval for its use is to be found in the small print of the Terms of Services agreement under the guise of ‘marketing’. The union does not have an official position on not using this tool, but some union members savvy of privacy ethics refuse to use it.

This tool is one which has the capability to allow the technicians to see how many television set-top boxes are within a residence. In many cases, the installation technician or customers will label the boxes based on the room, meaning therefore the customer service technician can see what someone watches in which rooms. The tool works as an aggregator and creates a profile of the customer, showing hours of television watched, what channels, how long on each channel, and other material. This sort of data collection and profiling is easy to gather and use in fashions that would be extremely dangerous. For example, if a stalker had access to this data, the person would be able to see what room their intended victim spends time in the most, at what hours, and, by understanding whether the person is watching a movie channel or one that is playing music, what level of attention is paid to the program. And in this era of cyber attacks and hacking, it is not a remote possibility that such instances could occur.

Some union members actively oppose using these tools because it causes technicians to ‘cross crafts’, something that leads to weakening of the union bargaining position. However, the obvious concerns over privacy and security are something that the union could address and take up as a cause, which is not without historical precedent.

An interesting example of unions taking up prominent civil liberties issues is the instance of their role in the racism struggles of African Americans. The American Federation of Labor collaborated with the government in the enforcement of segregation in the Gilded Age, leading to the formation of rival unions, such as the Industrial Workers of the World and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, both of which saw their ranks grow precisely because of their anti-racism positions. After the Red Scare and the merger of the AFL and the CIO, the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement were able to get key endorsements and support from labor. Indeed, a major backbone of the March on Washington was a large contingent of labor union members. Figures like A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin had cut their teeth in the labor organization movement of the 1930’s and ’40’s. Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act in part because of progressive voices from within the remnants of the New Deal coalition pledged their political support in the 1964 election against Barry Goldwater.

Also in that case, there were both practical results for their union members, ending disparities in the lives of their members, and wider social results, collapsing the Jim Crow system. There are real issues to contend with, going up against the will of the military-police-industrial complex is fraught with major challenges. But after years of being championed by anti-union libertarians like Rand Paul, there would be a great level of support gained by labor if they took up the cause of privacy protection.

This is a fight we all need to be concerned about. In the next term, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that was tailor-made to decimate the Abood decision and revoke the right of unions to collect dues in public-sector workplaces. The Verizon struggle, if lost by the workers, would have the same effect on private-sector unions. If you have any ability, whether it be through money, agitation, or just a FaceBook post, stand in solidarity with Verizon workers. The stakes are too high to sit this one out.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

The issue of customer service is fundamentally an issue of unionized labor. If the call centers are unionized, then the customers will get quality service. Furthermore, if the service is union-certified, it carries with it a level of insurance that can be the difference between life and death. That might strike some as a bit hyperbolic, but anyone who has ever dialed 911 knows exactly what I mean.

The company has engaged in a series of practices intentionally meant to break the union, including the roll-out of automation tools that have hindered the ability of unionized workers and shortened shifts. For readers who are Verizon customers, they probably have begun to experience instances when they 4 out of 5 times have quality customer service, but then 1 out of 5 times they have had awful service. This is not an accident, it is because the company has been redirecting calls to non-union contractor offices either at vendor centers within the US or in Latin America where the labor force has no access to the services they are supporting. This is particularly gruesome because these laborers are subjected to brutal work regimens for little money and can be disciplined if calls last longer than a few minutes.

One source told me “If Verizon really cared about working families, they wouldn’t be paying basically what equates to slave wages in South America and minimum wages to folks in other vendor centers.” Should Verizon break the unions, customer service, which they do not care about, would drop significantly and it would be equivalent to Time Warner or Comcast, who have totally non-union help lines. A source told me that s/he sees the work of non-union customer service reps in the files of people s/he works with. S/he said there are problem-solving steps skipped, wrong answers, and a lack of literacy in the products being serviced because these workers are so poor they do not have access to these first-world niceties.

But there are other issues to consider. Currently, our internet and cable in America is the highest-priced for the lowest-quality service in the developed world. In comparison to South Korea, a nation that only exists because of the American military presence in the Pacific, we are a joke. Even Google Fiber and municipally-owned internet services embarrass Verizon. This lack of quality can be attributed to what is labelled by many as the ‘oligopoly’. In essence, the major cable companies have conspired to fix the prices and speeds of the utilities so to maximize profits and minimize user satisfaction. Our existing infrastructure is capable of much higher capacities but is intentionally prevented from reaching full potential by the corporations’ collusion and greed. A unionized workforce helps serve as a final barrier to complete corporate hegemony and consumer robbery.

But also consider the aforementioned copper cable. Currently, Verizon is allowing the existing lines, some of which are literally wrapped in paper, to rot. This is so they can roll out a wireless service that would cut back the necessary unionized workers significantly. The proposed method would be Verizon installs on every house an LTE X antennae that receives the broadcast video and data signals. Leaving aside the obvious health concerns to be raised by flooding the area with that many electro-magnetic bursts of energy, there is the issue of quality of service. Wireless phone service is inferior to copper cable, with higher wait times and fewer amenities. Also, important health and safety services, such as LifeAlert and 911, do not always work with wireless in the same fashion they do with copper cable. And when you are in a health emergency where seconds can mean life or death, a little bit of lag can result in a lot of grief.

Some of the infrastructure for wireless calling that would end copper cable as we know it has already been put in place. For example, in New York, Verizon Voice Link has already begun the roll-out of wireless-based landline phone service in certain circumstances. The Verizon Quantum TV set-top boxes contain chips that are unactivated but would serve as wireless IP set-tops and contain technology that could be used by the cellular network. Verizon claims this is about everything from customer satisfaction to environmental concerns. But the bottom line is simply busting the union and maximizing profits from the established LTE-X network.

As previously mentioned, it is vital that both customers and non-customers reach out to both Verizon and the unions to express solidarity. If you are a member of a faith community, consider both offering prayers and raising funds for the union should they strike. If you are a community leader, express public solidarity. Write your local newspaper, post on social networks, make a public show of solidarity. This is a winnable battle if the people unite.

Read the first part in this series here.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

With the hallway completely packed, Stoni Thomson—a member of the Student Labor Alliance at Brown—began, “I don’t know who is in charge here, but we have a message to deliver.”

The library administrators who were available did not respond and remained in their offices. One continued looking at his computer screen. Another sat in his chair and watched the chain of students file by his door.

Not swayed, the students in unison firmly stated, “We’re here to show our support of Brown library workers. We won’t stop until Brown agrees to a fair contract. And you haven’t seen anything yet. So now we’re going to “study-in.” We’re going to study here as a show of support to library workers.”

A solidarity clap began.

When the clapping subsided, Associate Librarian David Banush came out of his office and said, “This is not a public space for you to study in.” The students responded by sitting down and began study-ing in. Banush went back in his office and closed the door. Soon all the other library administrators’ doors closed.

A few minutes later, a Brown University public safety officer arrived and told the students they were creating a fire hazard. There was more clapping.

After the demonstration, Patrick Hutchinson, a library union worker, said, “I’ve been a union member for 40 years now…and this level of solidarity from the students is just unbelievable to me. It’s fabulous. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

This demonstration was done in support of library union workers who are currently in ongoing negotiations with Brown University. The previous contract ended September 31, 2014. Library union workers have been working without a new contract since then. The main concern for the union is staffing. Many areas in the library are currently understaffed. The union is also asking to be included in new work created by the library in its effort to remain current and relevant to the academic needs of Brown students.

I should add that my perspective on all this is very biased. I am a union member in the Brown library and I have been a part of the union negotiating team. In fact, my biases are so extreme and deep that I wholeheartedly applaud and support everything the students did in their demonstration of solidarity with library workers.

Video (and above photo) by Shirin Adhami:

The eye catching paper maché wolf, which made its first public appearance at the People’s Climate March in New York City in September was brought by Pia Ward of FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas.)

This year’s Black Friday Walmart protests were organized nationally by OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Walmart), a group fighting for a $15 minimum wage and fair scheduling practices of the kind recently enacted into law as the Retail Workers Bill of Rights in San Francisco. The organization of Walmart workers in Rhode Island has been lagging as compared to efforts in some states.

Marcia Taylor entered the store and attempted to deliver a letter to the store manager. She tells her story in the video below.

If this kind of journalism is valuable to you, consider supporting Steve Ahlquist directly:

“In a given circumstance, perhaps they should” form a union, Katz said and said the way they have been treated is “garbage from [employers].”

Katz deserves a lot of credit for this admission. Richard MacAdams, one of the board members for the vehemently anti-union political advocacy group he works for, is also on the chief legal counsel for the Procaccianti Group. I respect Katz for speaking his truth on this issue for the same reasons I respect the fired Hilton Providence workers for speaking theirs.

But, as per every episode, we also had some disagreement. Katz would prefer the invisible hand of the free market create better working conditions for the Hilton employees.

“What I don’t like the union union debate the way it sets it up unions have power to counteract business power,” he said. “If a company isn’t valuing its workers then that’s a problem with the company and we have to create an economic environment in which they suffer for that.”

In theory, everyone agrees I suppose. But from a practical point of view, unfettered capitalism simply doesn’t have an effective way to compel a multinational holdings company to pay poor people a living wage without workers organizing and making a stink about it.

News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England

“We believe there is no need for liquidation,” said Central Coventry union president David Gorman, adding that it would be dangerous and expensive for residents if the rural town’s largest and busiest fire district is eliminated.

“There is still no plan in place to provide protection,” Gorman said. “Everybody needs funding, no matter who answers the calls.”

Liquidating the district, he said, will prove more expensive than keeping it operational. He expects taxpayers will be responsible for the $8 million in contract obligations they have agreed to, and the state pension board would require retirement obligations, between $6 and $9 million, would need to be funded too.

Gorman said he has tried to negotiate with the local fire district board, but they won’t talk with him. “We believe we can make the budget numbers work but we haven’t been given the opportunity to do that for the past two years. I gave them a dollar and they never asked for two, or a dollar ten. They won’t talk to us. They want a new paradigm that doesn’t include union fire fighters.”

In a letter to fire district residents, The Central Coventry Citizens Taskforce for Fire Protection said fire commissioners did negotiate with the union. “Although the New Board tried to gets (sic) costs under control and save it, the level of concessions from the fire fighters union – where the bulk of the costs are – was simply insufficient.”

Gorman said the budget crunch in the Central Coventry Fire District began with a clerical error on a commercial tax bill. The error happened in 2010 and wasn’t remedied until an audit discovered one commercial property was not being billed, Gorman said. By then it had ballooned into $2.4 million deficit.

Rep. Patricia Morgan, a West Warwick Republican who represents a slice of Coventry, and anti-union activist Chuck Newton are leading a campaign to close the fire district. Gorman said the clerical error has been misrepresented as overspending. He said Morgan and Newton “hand-picked” anti-union residents to run for the fire district board and it is now “controlled” by the small government group that authored the above letter.

Newton, an East Greenwich resident, was instrumental in closing the fire district in that town. He was employed at the State House by the House GOP caucus but was fired for making a fake Facebook page about Rep. Scott Guthrie, who is a former North Kingstown fire fighter.

Gorman said both Newton and Morgan, neither of whom live in Coventry, are more concerned with busting the union than fixing the fire district. “It’s really shameful what they have done to this community,” he said.

The truck, placed so as to spare hotel management and guests the sight of underpaid and overworked employees advocating for fair wages and treatment, became a source of amusement and jokes among the protesters. When a gigantic 18-wheeler rumbled by emblazoned with a large “Teamsters” logo, chants of “We’ve got a bigger truck!” began, followed by laughter.

To highlight the abuse of workers rights alleged to take place at the hotel by the workers on the picket line, the protesters held a mock funeral for the United States Constitution. The document had a good run, said the protesters, only to be murdered by the Prociaccianti Group that owns and manages the hotel. Speaking in memory of the Constitution were Adrienne Jones, interviewed here at RI Future last Monday, and Krystle Martin, whose interview will be on this sight shortly, as well as many other workers and Providence Councilperson Carmen Castillo.

Since the unionization effort began, three union leaders have lost their jobs at the Hilton Providence and eight workers have been reprimanded, according to the organizers, so the Prociaccianti Group appears to be playing union busting hardball. Two of the fired workers, the aforementioned Jones and Martin, are single moms, leading some on the picket line to assert that the Hilton is targeting single mothers, who are more vulnerable economically. It’s hard to imagine more deplorable behavior.

Forming a union is an essential human right, and whatever efforts the hotel is undertaking to squelch the union is morally indefensible. The Prociaccianti Group is already bleeding business. The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly is bringing thousands of people to the Providence area this Summer, and they are not staying at the Hilton or the Renaissance (where workers are also batting for their right to unionize)  in response to the hotel’s treatment of its workers. More groups are sure to follow.

Meanwhile, local media, including the rapidly declining Providence Journal and local TV news continue to ignore the plight of workers fighting for their rights, leaving coverage of this developing story to the Brown Daily Herald and RI Future. Stories about real human suffering and economic exploitation are beneath their notice, it seems.

Hilton Providence employees are holding an action to support their coworkers who were they say were fired for speaking out about the need for a labor union. A tweet from Unite Here 217 organizer Andrew Tillet-Saks called it a “Funeral for US Constitution to protest mass firings.” On Monday, Steve Ahlquist interviewed Adrienne Jones, who said she was fired from the Hilton Providence for speaking out. On Tuesday it was learned two employees were fired for speaking out about the work conditions at the downtown Providence hotel and seven others were disciplined.

And on Tuesday, the Rhode Island fight for $15 an hour for fast food workers moves from a Wendy’s in Warwick to a McDonald’s in Providence, where activists (I’m not sure about workers yet) will protest in solidarity with the McDonalds workers in California, Michaigan and New York are suing the corporation saying they were “illegally underpaid employees by erasing hours from their timecards, not paying overtime and ordering them to work off the clock.”

This from Rhode Island Jobs With Justice:

Fast-food workers have been at the forefront for economic justice. They’ve gone on strike, fighting for $15 and the right to form a union, fueling a national debate on income inequality and creating momentum to raise wages.

But in addition to not paying a decent wage, fast-food companies are making it even harder for their workers to afford even the basic necessities by stealing their wages. That’s why fast-food workers are making their voices heard again.

Join fast food workers from RI and community allies on TUESDAY, MARCH 18th, at 12:30, at the McDonald’s at 343 Broad St. in Providence, as we stand in solidarity with workers across the country who filed a national law-suit against wage theft at McDonald’s!

“Since workers presenting management with their petition February 18^th, management has terminated two public leaders for arbitrary reasons, suspended-pending-termination another, and issued arbitrary discipline to no less than seven workers at the forefront of the workers’ campaign for better jobs,” according to the release from Andrew Tillett-Saks.

The email said a follow-up action – a “‘mock funeral for the United States Constitution’ to bring light to the hotel’s trampling of workers’ freedom of speech” – involving “terminated workers, their co-workers, and other area hotel workers” is being organized.

Earlier this week, Steve Ahlquist reported that Adrienne Jones feels she was fired for supporting the effort to organize a union. Krystle Martin, a barrista at the Hilton Starbucks agrees.

“The company is firing many of us who they see as  leaders of the efforts to make these livable jobs,” she said according to the press release. “We shouldn’t be mistreated at work just because we want to have decent jobs. Bottom line, this is illegal but they think they’re above the law.”

Watch video and see pictures of the Feb. 18 action here.