Labor Union Blog

On the heels of holding public hearing to raise concerns surrounding ARAMARK’s business practices, workers went before the Houston City Council this past week. The latest allegation is that the corporate giant has terminated employees in retaliation for organizating. Employees, like Vermita Murdock…

[Vermita Murdock]:”When I spoke out about forming a union I was terminated; when I spoke to . . . at a council meeting that I was at here at the Hilton. I was suspended first and then I was terminated.”

Vermita was the first to lose her job following a kick-off rally in November. She was far from being the last.

Just two weeks after holding public hearing to raise concerns surrounding ARAMARK’s business practices-workers went before the Houston City Council this past week. The latest allegation is that the corporate giant has terminated employees in retaliation for organizating. Employees, like Vermita Murdock…

-When I spoke out for a union I was terminated when I was at a council meeting here at the Hilton . I was suspended first and then I was terminated.

Vermita was the first to lose her job following a kick-off rally in November. She was far from being the last …

-I was the only worker that was terminated until a legal thing they started going through and they wanted them to come and speak and they started firing them right after me.

Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka reads to children in a classroom.

Lenny Sapozhnikov, AFL-CIO deputy state director for Pennsylvania, recently talked with John Tarka, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers/AFT, which represents more than 3,400 teachers, classroom aides and technical-clerical workers. Earlier this year, the members voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract. The teachers had helped the school district by working this school year without a contract. The last pact expired June 30, 2007.

Sapozhnikov: What are your political plans for this important year?

Tarka: We believe that political action is a crucial matter for all unions. The people who work in public education especially have to be aware of the importance of being proactive in politics. We have a strong political action committee that has expanded over the last three years. We were very active in the last Senate campaign and also played a part in the Jason Altmire election [Altmire, a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. House in 2006].