AMERICAN LABOUR- CLEVELAND:

A BOSS YOU WANT TO KEEP:

Most bosses you want to get rid of. This boss is one the workers want to keep. I'm speaking of the suit manufacturer Hugo Boss. Over three hundred workers in Cleveland are being threatened with layoffs because Hugo Boss wants to close the factory and relocate to places of cheaper labour. Their union Workers United isn't taking this laying down, and has been waging a long campaign to pressure the company to keep the facility open. This action has enlisted the support of many celebrities, especially actor Danny Glover, and it seems to be having an effect. Here's the story and appeal from Workers United.

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Tell Hugo Boss to keep making suits in the USA
Hugo Boss says it needs to close its U.S. suit factory in Cleveland and fire more than 300 dedicated workers. They say they want to make suits more cheaply in Turkey or Eastern Europe. They don’t even claim the Cleveland factory is losing money -- they just say they need to make a bit more money.

We are already making a difference in the fight to keep this plant open. When we joined Danny Glover and asked celebrities not to wear Hugo Boss on the Oscar Red Carpet, they listened. Hugo Boss wrote, “Due to the recent boycott spearheaded by actor Danny Glover, our wardrobing efforts were significantly diminished for this year’s Academy Awards.”

Recently faced with the threat of a formal National Labor Relations Board complaint, Hugo Boss has agreed to return to the bargaining table. But we need to keep the pressure on Hugo Boss not to close the plant as planned on April 27. Sign this petition, and we'll make sure it gets to Hugo Boss, its investors, and to celebrities who still need to get the message that it’s best to be UnBossed.

Read more…

http://www.thewrap.com/article/labor-strife-follows-hugo-boss-red-carpet-14938
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/7394612/Oscars-2010-Danny-Glover-calls-on-nominees-to-boycott-Hugo-Boss.html
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/taking_down_the_boss_OEnYmTrCBpF44QITpECbaP HBHBHBHBHBHBHB

The Petition:

Please go to this link to sign the following petition demanding that Hugo Boss' Cleveland factory remain open

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Petition to Hugo Boss, investors and stars:

We the undersigned urge Hugo Boss and the Permira fund that controls Hugo Boss to keep the Boss suit factory in Cleveland, Ohio open. Preserve the jobs of over 300 dedicated employees who contribute to the company’s revenues, dividends and profits. We urge celebrities to continue supporting the Hugo Boss workers by remaining UnBossed. Don’t wear Hugo Boss clothing to public events and ceremonies. We urge pension funds and other investors in the Permira private equity fund that owns Hugo Boss to press Permira and Hugo Boss to keep the Ohio factory open.

AMERICAN LABOUR-CLEVELAND:

HELP WORKERS AT HUGO BOSS:

Sometimes a "personal appeal" can really get to you. Hence the power of the following from a member of the Workers United Union in the USA about the closing of the factory where she works. Read it and see if you, just like Molly, don't want to help out as best you can.

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Tell Hugo Boss: Don't close our factory:‏
You may have heard of my employer: Hugo Boss. It's a company that makes a lot of money selling clothing to some of the most successful and most recognizable people on the planet.

For 25 years, I've made men's suits in Cleveland, Ohio. I've worked hard and earned an honest wage. And now Hugo Boss wants to close the factory, put more than 300 people out of work, and move the Cleveland jobs overseas.

Don't let Hugo Boss close our factory.
Can you write Hugo Boss' Chief Operating Officer Dr. Andreas Stockert and tell him not to close our factory?
Write him at http://action.seiu.org/page/m/18a1e142/16db6c9/5a415600/388f365/1695761614/VEsH/

Hugo Boss spends big bucks on fancy ads and corporate sponsorships like the Davis Cup tennis tournament. Yet they complain that they are subsidizing our factory and they complain that our wages and benefits take too big a bite out of their profits.

My co-workers and I take pride in our work. We support ourselves and our families. And our jobs are important to the economic future of Cleveland and the state of Ohio.

We want to keep our good jobs here in Cleveland so we can put food on our tables and take care of our families.

Tell Hugo Boss Chief Operating Officer Dr. Andreas Stockert to keep Hugo Boss manufacturing jobs here in Cleveland.
Write him at http://action.seiu.org/page/m/18a1e142/16db6c9/5a415600/388f365/1695761614/VEsE/
Sincerely,
Tina Vasquez Hugo Boss factory worker and President of Workers United Local 168C

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to management at the Hugo Boss company.

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Dear Dr. Stockert:
I am writing in support of workers at the Hugo Boss men's suit factory in Cleveland, Ohio.

Your company has profited from the high-quality job done by these manufacturing workers.

If you close the factory, you will devastate not only the workers, but their families and the economic health of Cleveland and Ohio.

I urge you to explore all options with local, state and federal agencies to keep your plant in Cleveland open and keep manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. It is time to resolve this dispute while being fair to workers and continuing to make high-quality clothes manufactured in the U.S.
Thank you.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

SOME RESPECT WITH THOSE FRIES PLEASE:
It's back to school this coming week, but for workers in the cafeteria at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania times are not as pleasant as they are engaged in a long struggle to have their union rights recognized by management. Here's the story and appeal from the Workers United Union. Give them a hand with your own protests.
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Back to school trouble:‏
Back to school season should be an exciting time for college cafeteria workers like me. But the Aramark corporation who runs the cafeteria at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is standing in the way of me and my coworkers having the fair treatment, assistance and respect we deserve. We need your help.




Ask the President of our college to tell Aramark to stop serving workers a raw deal.




For months now, international food service giant Aramark has refused to let our union represent us when we have problems on the job--like harassment from our managers and intimidation from our managers. Going back to school without our union is a recipe for disaster.




We have been demonstrating on weekends and after work to demand respect from our bosses but so far, Aramark isn't listening to us. That's why we need your help calling on someone they will listen to: one of their clients. We are asking the university's leaders to call up Aramark and tell them to respect us and let our union, Workers United, represent us on the job.




On this Labor Day weekend, will you join us?




Ask Dr. Tony Atwater, President of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, to tell Aramark to stop their recipe for disaster.
Sincerely,
Joyce Gromley
Aramark Cafeteria Shop Steward,
Indiana U of Pa.
Pennsylvania Joint Board
Workers United
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THE LETTER:
Click on one of the links highlighted above to send the following letter to Dr. Tony Atwater, the University President.
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Dear Dr. Atwater,
Food service workers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania need your help. Aramark, the company that operates the university's cafeterias, is keeping workers from having the union representation they democratically chose.





Food service workers at IUP voted last spring to become a part of a new union, Workers United - a move that should have no impact on their union contract or on Aramark. However, Aramark has refused to recognize their union. Without their union, workers say they aren't getting the respect they deserve. Grievances against the company for unfair treatment are piling up - unable to be resolved because Aramark will not give union representatives have the access to workers the contract requires.





The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and its Regional Directors have repeatedly found that employers like Aramark must continue to recognize local unions that are now part of Workers United. In more than 100 locations across the country, Aramark is recognizing and negotiating with Workers United. IUP should be no different. Workers have walked off the job and are currently picketing before and after work to demand that their union be respected.





The President has the power to tell Aramark that this unfair and disrespectful treatment will not be tolerated on the IUP campus. IUP students, faculty and staff deserve a fair and responsible food service provider. Please tell Aramark that they need to respect their IUP employees and recognize their union.

AMERICAN LABOUR-INDIANA:

SOLIDARITY WITH TERRA HAUTE WORKERS:

The following rather personal appeal for solidarity comes from one of the workers on strike at the Bemis manufacturing company in Terra Haute Indiana. These workers are members of the Workers' United Union, formed by about 150,000 workers who broke away from the UNITE HERE union last March because they felt that UH was insufficiently aggressive in organizing and bargaining. They are presently a more militant union than the old UNITE HERE, and they have applied for affiliation with the SEIU Here's the appeal.

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Workers aren't lab rats!

Striking Bemis Workers Want Respect!

What if your employer told you that in order to keep your health coverage you and your spouse must submit to invasive health screenings from your insurer. If you refused you'd lose the health coverage you've always counted on. Oh, and the company is self-insured but they promise they won't use your private health information to decide whether to keep your coverage, hire you, fire you, or make your spouse go on a diet.

Unbelievable, but that's what my employer wants to force us to do! That's one of the reasons why more than 700 of us are on strike.

Tell our employer, Bemis Manufacturing company, that workers aren't lab rats.

My coworkers and I work in Terra Haute, Indiana. We make the flexible food packaging you see on your grocery store's shelves. Our company has been union for 52 years and is successful, with profits up more than 16%.

We did not make the decision to strike lightly. In an effort to avoid a strike we made an alternative offer to work without a contract while the bargaining continued but Bemis refused and actually lowered its offer. They even cut off insurance benefits which we had already paid for and demanded we accept low wage temp workers turning good jobs into McJobs.

Will you take a stand with us?

Tell Bemis to negotiate in good faith and respect its workers.

In solidarity,

William J. Kirby Jr.

Vice President Local 1426 in Terre Haute

Chicago Midwest Regional Joint Board,

Workers United

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Bemis management.

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Dear Henry Theisen, President & CEO,
I am writing to express my frustration with the contract your Company proposed to your employees on July 14, 2009. Your actions have driven loyal longtime workers to strike. The workers' requests have been reasonable and the Company's actions indicate bad faith. We urge you to reconsider your latest offer for the long term benefit of the company and the community that has supported you for decades.

Your latest contract proposed that the workers accept temporary employees, who work for low wages and receive no benefits, as co-workers, working side by side with them, in the workplace. These temporary workers would have no long range future with the Company, and would not be contributing back to the community in any meaningful way. You cannot expect workers to agree to a contract that leaves their health benefits and eligibility open to change with no discussion between the company and workers. That negates the very point of having a contract in the first place.

Additionally Bemis' insistence that workers and their spouses submit to invasive health screenings for is both an invasion of privacy and bad company policy. Bemis has been union for 52 years and union members have helped the company grow and prosper. These workers and the community that depends on them need you to respect their contributions to your success and offer a contract worthy of both the company and the workers.