Labor Union Blog

American Airlines will cut 7000 employees by the end of this year. The company is seeking to reduce flights as it copes with rising fuel costs. The lay-offs will likely include as many as 900 flight attendants, but the company is offering voluntary retirement packages to some flight attendants, mechanics, and ground crews in an attempt to reduce the number of potential lay-offs. The cuts will equal 8-percent of the airline’s worldwide workforce. The company plans to cut domestic flights by 11 to 12 percent.

American Airlines will cut 7000 employees by the end of the year. The company is seeking to reduce flights as it copes with rising fuel costs. The lay-offs will likely include as many as 900 flight attendants, but the company is offering voluntary retirement packages to some flight attendants, mechanics, and ground crews in an attempt to reduce the number of potential lay-offs. The cuts will equal 8-percent of the airlines worldwide workforce. The company plans to cut domestic flights by 11 to 12 percent.

Lede: A unique workers’ center in The Big Apple scores a big win for workers cheated out of their wages and tips. Doug Cunningham has the story.

By Doug Cunningham

The Restaurant Opportunities Center recently won a $3.9 million judgment for 250 restaurant workers against the Fireman Hospitality Group in New York City. Sekou Siby is co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center. He says the restaurants were violating tips and wage laws.

[Siby]: “Stalling tips, wages not paid properly, minimum wage violation, all the time wage violation and sexual harassment cases. And we felt like this was something that was big and needed to be fixed.”

Lede: A unique worker’s center in The Big Apple scores a big win for workers cheated out of their wages and tips. Doug Cunningham has the story.

By Doug Cunningham

The Restaurant Opportunities Center recently won a $3.9 million judgment for 250 restaurant workers against the Fireman Hospitality Group in New York City. Sekou Siby is co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center.

[Siby]: “Stalling tips, wages not paid properly, minimum wage violation, all the time wage violation and sexual harassment cases. And we felt like this was something that was big and needed to be fixed.”

Rallies were held at Starbucks locations around the world this weekend in response to the alleged firing of two employees for union activity. One employee was fired in Spain and the other in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Protests were held on Saturday in nearly 12 countries and more than 10 U.S. cities. In 2004, the first Starbucks was organized in New York City by the Industrial Workers of the World. Starbucks has long contested that while it supports the right to organize, the company believes that with the pro-worker environment it provides unionization is unnecessary. The employee in Seville, Spain was fired on April 24 after she refused to attend work meetings off the clock and inquired about why a co-worker had been fired.

Rallies were held at Starbucks locations around the world this weekend in response to the alleged firing of two employees for union activity. One employee was fired in Sain and the other in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Protests were held on Saturday in nearly 12 countries and more than 10 U.S. cities. In 2004, the first Starbucks was organized in New York City by the Industrial Workers of the World. Starbucks has long contested that while it supports the right to organize the company believes that with the pro-worker environment it provides unionization is unnecessary. The employee in Seville, Spain was fired on April 24 after she refused to attend work meetings off the clock and inquired about why a co-worker had fired.

Debby Zabarenko
Sheila Perez

What makes the union movement go and grow? It’s the rank-and-file men and women who not only go to work every day, where they use their first-rate skills to perform top-flight, quality work, but who also go that extra mile.

It may be spending hours after work or in the early mornings helping other workers win justice and a voice at work in an organizing drive. Maybe it’s giving up Saturday mornings to mobilize union families to get out the vote in labor walks or leading efforts to improve neighborhoods and communities.

These union members make up the Heart of the Movement. Debby Zabarenko and Sheila Perez are among them—and the two latest additions to union members we feature in the Heart of the Movement section on our website.

Zabarenko first joined The Newspaper Guild-CWA 27 years ago when she began her journalism career at the Associated Press. Today, she is the environment correspondent for the Reuters news service and covers a host of stories ranging from climate change to environmental political activists.