Landmark Theaters Employee Union

The site will be down a few hours for a system upgrade, either Wednesday night or Thursday Thursday or Friday sometime over the weekend.

New features coming in the future:

*simple voting/point system to allow users to rate or unpublish trolling posts and comments on the open forum
*social networking features (bookmarks, buddylists, integration with other sites like technorati, del.icio.us)
*moderated membership groups with group-only posts.
*ability to post youtube videos
*more stuff

TAKE ACTION NOW!

The Starbucks "investigation" of IWW member Daniel Gross concluded today with his termination after more than three years of organizing at the company. Daniel's expression of solidarity at a union picket line with co-worker and fellow union member, Evan Winterscheidt, was deemed threatening by Starbucks despite multiple eyewitnesses who confirm that Daniel merely asserted to District Manager Allison Marx that Evan should not be fired. With the termination of IWW members Daniel Gross, Evan Winterscheidt, Joe Agins Jr., and Charles Fostrom in less than a year, Starbucks has demonstrated conclusively its intense hostility to the right of workers to join a union.

To provide additional cover for the unlawful termination, Starbucks issued Daniel a blatantly discriminatory performance review today with negative ratings for things like, "not communicating partner morale issues to the Store Manager." The manager confirmed that morale issues included complaints about wages and working conditions. Last we checked, an employer may not mandate an employee to engage in surveillance of co-worker's protected activities.

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Workers at Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley and all Landmark Cinema employees nation wide are about to receive a pay increse. At Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley the starting wage goes up to $8 per hour from $7.25.  That's if the workers choose to accept it. Landmark attorney Tom Pavone sent a letter announcing the pay raises to the IWW along with spread sheet data showing the increase for each worker.

The IWW-Shattuckunion considers this to be a clear demonstration of union power and will continue to press the company for gains in benefits and improvments in working conditions.  The IWW in the Bay Area along with union workers at Kendall Square cinema in Cambridge Mass., are the first two Landmark Cinemas to go union.  There approximately 60 total. 

IWW-Shattuckunion will hold a rally in front of the Shattuck Cinema on September 1st at 6:30 pm.

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It's 4 months since Loveall's “bigger is better Local 8 Golden State”merger mania - which robbed Local 588 member's of their democratic right - came into effect. Mergers at election time in the Loveall rich local have facilitated one Loveall (and now another) to warm the 588 Presidential throne for over two decades.

Despite the merger/election, and despite questionable balloting processes during the merger/election, the Slaydon reform campaign maintained momentum. More than maintained! Complaints regarding the irregularities have been filed with the Department of Labor and there's every reason to be optimistic that an investigation should be forthcoming.

The questionable goings on in the new Local, past and present, could be reason for members to feel defeat - but there is a glimmer of hope. Not all the news at Local 8 is bad news.

As reform candidate Doug Slaydon said:
"588 members did many things never done before; so be proud: you took your convictions, sense of truth and justice out to the streets, to the stores, to picket the UFCW 588 union halls in Roseville and Modesto.

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"The day of defined-benefit pensions is almost gone," said U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Swissvale.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_430212.html

Congress nears allowing companies to end defined pension plans for workers of any age under the guise of “pension reform”.

To assure its passage they are using the savings that they would have paid to Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund to enshrine further estate tax cuts and to make them permanent. They have also added a minimum wage increase to pull in more votes.

Read more:

http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2006/07/28/tax-pension-reform-cx_jh_0728pension.html

http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/07/29/tax-pension-reform-cx_jh_0729pension.html?boxes=author

Once again our Union bosses have failed to mobilize the membership under on of the most important pieces of legislation that affects workers in US history.

Once signed, we may see the grocery companies close, end or further limit our pensions starting in one of the biggest states of the union.

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Updates:

• Hundreds of workers around the world have called or e-mailed Starbucks demanding the reinstatement of the fired IWW baristas and demanding that Daniel Gross not be terminated for supporting a fellow union member.  Please keep them coming!
• The IWW has vowed global action against the company if Daniel is fired.
• The Union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board challenging Starbucks' interrogation and threatened termination of Daniel.
• Workers Independent News audio on the struggle is available at: http://www.laborradio.org/files/winhead080206.mp3

We need your solidarity now. Daniel Gross, an organizer in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, is being "investigated" by the company over a protest he and his co-workers participated in to support another IWW barista, Evan Winterscheidt. Evan was suspended and faced termination because of his union activity and his fellow union members went to protest outside his store to demand that he not be fired. Pending the outcome of Starbucks' "investigation" into Daniel's participation in this act of mutual aid, Starbucks will decide whether or not to fire him. The decision could take place any day so please take action now.

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We deserve it! Why? It's a sector of industry often overlooked as insignificant, but millions of people work hard within it. As more and more people are forced to work in service jobs the working poor are becoming increasingly poorer. It is time to come together and take what we deserve.

• The Landmark Cinema workers with lWW are attempting to negotiate a contract with Landmark to gain reasonable and appropriate working conditions.
• lWW will provide the most efficient structure for carrying on our daily struggle for better conditions and better pay.
• The working class deserves fair treatment including access to medical/vision/dental healthcare and reasonable compensation, you know, a living wage. No long term employee should be denied raises after years of service.
• No employee working on Christmas day should be paid less than time and a half.
• No job should be considered too trivial for a full time employee to have access to healthcare.

Our sister theater, The Kendell in Boston, has been negotiating for nine months and has made limited progress towards a fair contract. The Landmark Shattuck Cinema workers voted overwhelmingly for the Union on June 16th 2006. We demand a fair contract now!

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Shattuck Workers Rally on Saturday July 22 at 2pm at Shattuck Cinemas, 2230 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley.

Shattuck Cinema workers voted 22-2 to authorize union representation on June 16. Contract talks are set to begin Thursday, July 20th. Over the course of the union campaign Shattuck Cinema workers have received support from the local community which they know is essential to pressure Landmark Cinemas, which owns the the Shattuck, toward open and honest negotiations.

Amongst the workers demands are: paid sick days, health benefits, a chair for the ticket takers, and a living wage. Currently, the starting wage at the Shattuck is a mere $7.25 and hour, while the City of Berkeley's official living wage is $11.04 an hour. Most employees do not earn more than $8.00 an hour regardless of years of service or job performance. The company prefers what they call "Merit Raises". Annual Raises amounted from a $.03 to $.06 an hour increase for most employees last year.

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By Mary Loritz - July 14, 2006

Workers from Shattuck Cinemas emerged victorious in their fight for a union after voting 22-2 in favor of unionizing with the Industrial Workers of the World. Their union drive became public on May 8th, and a little over a month later, on June 16th, they had a union.

Congratulations! It was a fast process that wouldn't have been possible without community support. The Shattuckunion is an inspiration for cinema workers everywhere who are receiving poor pay with little or no benefits. However, many of the workers' biggest concern was never whether they would gain recognition as a union, but how the company would respond during contract negotiations. Landmark Theatres has been generally unresponsive to the campaign -- they've been unavailable for comment whenever questioned. Their attorney recently responded to the union's demand to bargain letters, and both sides are now preparing for contract negotiations. The union's main objective right now is to get a fair contract - and in a reasonable amount of time.

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Below is a collection of articles documenting the "Sins of the Loveall's" for quick reference.

History of Local 588's Concessions:
facts-about-ufcw-588-and-northern-california

2004 UFCW and the Loveall’s ram worst contract in history up 588 members ass! Massive concessions for members & retirees. Retirees lead picket on the 588 union hall.

See here: News_Item.2005-07-27

2004 LM2's(financial reports) released by DOL. Loveall’s and family members, officers and staff all get hefty raises while members drown in concessions.

Read More: ufcw-588-we-are-worth-more

View 2003 & 2004 LM2 reports:

2003- your_rights/lm2-03
2004- your_rights/lm2-04

Rank n file 588 member Doug Slaydon decides he has had enough of a union leadership that doesn’t put the priority of the membership first and begins campaigning for president of local 588.

Read More: the-modesto-valley-blitz
Another Related Article: labornotes.org/archives

Oct 2005 retired UFCW President & activist Bill Pearson on his dime flies out to Northern Ca to meet with 588 members and presidential candidate Doug Slaydon to hold a campaign strategy workshop. Read More: a-man-who-has-no-tears-has-no-heart

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Ralphs Grocery Co. agreed to pay $70 million in restitution and fines as part of a plea agreement involving charges of illegally hiring hundreds of workers under fake names during a 2003 strike and lockout, the company said Friday.

As part of the deal with federal prosecutors, the chain plead guilty to conspiracy and identity fraud, and violating laws involving employee benefits and record-keeping for the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service, the company said.

Forty-eight other counts in the federal grand jury indictment returned in December will be dropped if the plea deal is approved by the court.

Read the Full Article

While union members of new UFCW Local 8 Golden State continue to be pledged with concessions ,store closures and job uncertainty the Loveall leadership continues to get rich off the backs of rank n file workers.

This week the US Department of Labor released the 2005 LM2(financial) reports for UFCW Local 588 now Local 8 Golden State. What we at Grocery Workers United uncovered while viewing the LM2 reports is rather disturbing!

Our unelected president of the new Local 8 Jacques Loveall made $187,657 in the year of 2004 and in the year of 2005 he took down $195,298 thats a modest $7641 wage increase compared to his $21,589 increase in the year 2004.

This wasn’t what was most disturbing though! As we viewed more of the report it was recorded that Jack Loveall (Jacques’s father) retired president of Local 588 was being paid a $64,901 salary as a "Assistant to President". Jack Loveall also received ....now get this! A $341,296 salary as a "President"! It appears that we the dues paying members payed for two union presidents in the year 2005! What’s up with that?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Stacey Clampitt (412) 758-9045
Evan W. Wolfson (412) 951-5204

East End Food Co-op Workers Committee
PO Box 90315 / Pittsburgh, PA 15224
WeRunItIU460@yahoo.com

East End Food Co-op Workers Organize to Improve Conditions and Restore Healthy Workforce at Local Organic Food Store.

PITTSBURGH, PA – Workers at the East End Food Co-op, Pittsburgh’s only member-owned natural and organic food market, have organized with the Industrial Workers of the World to improve working conditions, pay and benefits, and to address long-standing issues of low staff morale and high turnover. The Co-op employs approximately 50 workers who could bargain collectively with their employer.

Since launching their organizing drive on May 15th, Co-op workers have requested that the Board of Directors agree to recognize the workers’ demand for collective bargaining rights based upon a showing of majority support for the union. The workers want the Co-op to accept the union through the authorization card-check process, whereby workers who support unionization sign cards authorizing the union to represent them during collective bargaining. To date, the Co-op Board has not accepted the workers’ demand for recognition, but has stated it is willing to re-examine a 2003 Board decision, which states that workers must vote for the union during a representation election held by the National Labor Relations Board.

As the title says, I submit to you that Capitalism--not People's Park--killed Cody's

"How's that," you say?

Look everyone, I am not going to suggest that homeless people (or rather Cody's potential customers' perception of homeless people doesn't dampen sales at Cody's, but even Cody's current owner, Andy Ross, is saying that the primary cause for the death of Cody's is competition from business on the Internet itself (Ross also blames People's Park, the homeless, drug users, youthful punks who hang out on Telegraph Avenue, and "lack of police presence").

Some Telegraph business owners have also complained about high rents. Still others have complained about lack of parking spaces.

I maintain that capitalism is the problem. Of course, none of these opinions are based on scientific, peer reviewed study, but at least my analysis is more thorough than any others I have read or heard thus far. Instead of scapegoating, I prefer deductive reasoning. I'll leave it to urban planners or students of urban planning to actually conduct a study, assuming that they can conduct one independent of the capitalist biases inevitably tied to their study (I ought to know, because I happen to have a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley).

Since the announcement that the original Cody's Books in Berkeley is going out of business, local pundits, politicians, capitalists, and scissorbills have created a shit-storm. As happens so many times when influential businesses close, the capitalist class and its enablers have predictably placed the blame for this tragedy upon the shoulders of the usual suspects: the homeless, young punks, holdovers from the 1960s counterculture, and the city of Berkeley itself. As usual, the real truth goes unreported: Capitalism killed Cody's.

The original Cody's books is located on the Southwest corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Streets in Berkeley's "south-side" neighborhood, less than a half-mile from the University of California campus at Berkeley. Cody's Books is unionized and to many it represents the quintessential "independent" bookstore: Authors periodically give public readings of their books; Cody's carries a much wider selection of titles than their corporate competitors; shoppers are welcome (if not encouraged) to spend hours sitting, browsing, or reading from among the millions of books on their shelves; their magazine and periodical section surpasses even those of the local smokeshops (another Berkeley institution); creative graffiti is allowed to remain on the bathroom walls. I myself spent many an hour losing myself in a good book at Cody's only to find I lost track of entire afternoons.

At 2:45 on Friday, June 16th a delegation of the IWW Starbucks workers unionentered Starbucks at 57th and Lexington.

Workers on the shop floor put ontheir IWW union pins and let the company know that they too were members ofthe Starbucks Workers union. Workers stopped working as they presented theirdemands to their store manager Patrice Britton.

The Store manager refusedto take the list of demands and ordered everyone back to work. Workersspoke out and let the manager and customers know their concerns. Meanwhileseveral wobblies were passing out leaflets outside letting customers knowwhat was happening inside.

There was chaos on the floor where the managerwas telling workers to get back to work meanwhile customers were asking whatwas happening and why they weren't being served. There was shouting andarguing.

Finally District manager Veronica park arrived and quickly singledout the leaders. Isis Saenz and Charles Fostrum were told to count theirregisters and clock out. They refused and then taken into the back room.

BERKELEY 6:30 PM -- This afternoon workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas voted an outstanding 22 to 2 in favor of unionization. Despite new promises by Landmark and an attempt by CEO Bill Banowsky to thwart the union attempt, workers at the Shattuck say they've never really been worried about the vote.

"I've felt extremely confidant that the union would go through since the beginning." said Ryan Hatt, cinema employee age 21. "Support has been almost unanimous since day one. There was no contest, if you would have asked me two months ago I could've guaranteed a landslide victory."

Now that the vote has gone through, workers are looking ahead to the contract negotiation process. Contract negotiations at Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA, the only other Landmark theatre to hold a union, have been moving extremely slowly with Landmark officials meeting only the bare minimum requirements to keep the negotiations process "in good faith" over the last year.

Shattuck union workers brought their campaign for union recognition to the streets of Berkeley on Wednesday afternoon.  About sixty people including many Shattuck workers gathered in front of the theatre to wave signs, hold banners, sing, shout play guitar and fiddle.  The message was clear, "we are union and we want changes now".  Aurelaea River, a long time Shattuck Cinemas worker brought aong her electric violin and got the proceedings under way by playing a fast tune. Then Ryan from Riot Folk played guitar and sang to get the crowd together.    

Next came Ryan Hatt, one of the workers, to list what the workers demands are. A living wage, health care coverage, corporate accountibility, and respect.  And a door chair.  workers stand for long periods taking tickets.  They had a chair but corpoate didn't approve.  Chair gone.  Then a meeting took place a couple of weeks back with the CEO.  He came to explain what a union is.  He wasn't quite sure what a union is after showing up an hour late. But the chair reappeared.  Only to dissapear a few hours later.  Rumor has it that management thought the union might claim the re issuance of the chair as a victory.  The chair is stashed away for now.

Source URL: http://www.iww.org/en/node/2613
Created Jun 16 2006 - 1:47pm

By Judith Scher, Berkeley Daily Planet - June 16, 2006 [1].

Standing on the bed of a blue pick-up truck, draped with a red Industrial Workers of the World banner and energized by guitar and fiddle music, Shattuck Cinemas workers and their supporters addressed working conditions at the theater Wednesday.

The rally outside the downtown theater on Shattuck Avenue near Kittredge Street was a prelude to the National Labor Relations Board-sponsored union election scheduled at the theater today (Friday).

“They need to treat us with respect,” Ryan Hatt told the crowd that grew to around 50 listeners. “There are no benefits, unless you count free movies and popcorn. People working [at the Shattuck] for over six years get $8.05 cents an hour. What we’re fighting for is a voice.”

The Shattuck Cinemas is owned by Los Angeles-based Landmark Theaters, which did not return calls before deadline.

Hatt has worked at the theater for nine months. In addition to a lack of health benefits, he said he does not get scheduled breaks and there is no procedure to address managers about complaints.

Albertson’s closing 37 stores in Nor Cal

Many of you have already heard about the store closings. Included are three articles from across the region. It looks like Safeway and Super Mercardo is looking to pick up a few of the locations.

All of this consolidation in the industry is being driven by non union competitors like WINCO. Imagine what will happen when the super Wal-Marts hit. Five are planned for Sacramento.

Two to three more stores will close for every Super Wal, according to the UFCW.

One of the main focuses of the reform movement is to criticize our union leaders for taking huge pay increases and ignoring organizing. We can rebuild the industry, we still have power and capital. There is a solution for those of us who are stuck in the middle.

Food Max negotiations

Currently local 588 (8) is in negotiations with Food Maxx and is conduction the negotiations with the Bay Locals. Many of these stores are non union. Local 588 (8) is offering the company employer healthcare if they allow all the stores to go union. The sad thing is that the employers are going to give the employees a better healthcare package than what the union healthcare fund provides.