In A Union Without A Job?
Some of the subcontracted concessions
companies at the airport may not be renewing their
leases. Some of them have said they will leave if
HMS agrees to recognize the union UNITEHERE
2850. But the problem is if some of these
companies do leave, then these workers may be part
of the union but they won’t have any jobs. This is
not a fair deal at all.
Many of these workers have been here a long
time. And since HMS has the contract with the port,
they should be forced to hire these workers and take
over the responsibility of any of the stands that
leave. Otherwise, this would be HMS firing workers
just for joining a union.
Can’t See, Can’t Move, Can’t Talk
At Swissport, having a box for a breakroom is
bad enough. But when it comes to doing our work,
there’s a lot missing too. How about some
flashlights so we can actually see what we’re doing
when it’s dark? If not flashlights, get us some
batteries. Or what about gloves, those things that
actually protect our hands and skin but still allow us
to move around. Or what about radios so we can
actually communicate with each other?
Swissport sure has an insane business model.
They don’t want us to be able to see what we’re
doing, or properly move our hands, or even to talk
to each other. It’s a miracle the work gets done at
all.
Can’t Wear A Broken Seatbelt
In the beginning of the month, Southwest finally
recognized that all ground operations workers have
to wear a seatbelt when operating any of the
standard vehicles at work. What’s funny is
Southwest is acting like this is some new idea. It
has always been safer to wear seat belts at work.
But sometimes it takes the company a while to
pretend they care about safety.
If southwest cared about safety, they wouldn’t
take so long to get the equipment fixed. And this
applies to seatbelts. We’re told if any vehicle
doesn’t have a seatbelt, we should tag it for repairs.
The problem is tagging broken equipment just
means there is a tag on it – not that it actually gets
fixed.
When Do We Eat?
When we get back-to-back flights we end up
rushing our jobs, cutting corners, working through
breaks and lunches, and pushing our already wornout bodies even further. Then we have to go track
down our supervisor and argue to get paid for a late
lunch and sometimes we don’t even get a chance to
do this until after our shift is over and the supervisor
has already gone home. How many times have we
just not been paid for a missed lunch?
Back-to-back flights may not happen every day
but our breaks and lunches need to. We’re not
pieces of equipment that can be charged whenever
it’s convenient for the flight schedule. We need to
eat.
The Attacks on Public Transportation
Across the country, and in the Bay Area, our
public transportation systems are under attack.
Transit workers are facing cuts to wages,
benefits and retirement, and worsening working
conditions. And working families who rely on
public transit face a system that provides less
service each year.
Come to a discussion about public transit and
the possibilities to organize a fight back.
Come talk to us – we’re here Wednesdays from
5am to 6:00am and 12:30pm to 2pm at the
Terminal 2 employee shuttle stop.
PASS THIS ONTO A FRIEND!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
7pm, doors open at 6:30pm
Niebyl Proctor Library
6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland
$3 donation requested