Workers Win Union with ILWU Despite Rite Aid Anti-Union Drive

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/18/workers-win-union-with-ilwu-despite-rite-aid-anti-union-drive/

by James Parks, Mar 18, 2008

The nearly 700 workers at Rite Aid’s distribution center in Lancaster, Calif., overcame a vicious two-year anti-union campaign to gain a voice on the job after voting for International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 26 last week.


Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Meza, foreground, and his co-workers fought for two years to win a voice at Rite Aid.


The workers began seeking a union in 2006 to put an end to punishing production quotas and mandatory overtime piled on 10-hour shifts. They endure working in hot desert summers with no air conditioning in their work areas, and no job security.

Says Ignacio “Nacho” Meza, a member of the workers’ organizing committee at the warehouse:

I am so happy right now. We had to make sacrifices, but we showed that if we stand together, if we speak up, we can make changes for ourselves, our families and the people who come after us.

The workers prevailed despite Rite Aid’s all-out effort to squash their organizing drive. For example, Rite Aid fired Meza in January 2007 for his support of the union, but rehired him six months later as part of a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The labor board charged Rite Aid with 49 labor law violations, including disciplining, demoting, suspending and firing union supporters; threatening that people would lose their raises if they voted for the union; and publicly disparaging union supporters. The company settled in May 2007 rather than go before an NLRB judge.

FULL story at link.

[keep_it_real]

1. Y E S ! ! !

Go! Rite! Workers! I love it!