On Saturday, Sept. 15, Walmart warehouse workers in Elwood, IL, organizing with FCWA member Warehouse Workers for Justice, went on strike! They join Walmart warehouse workers in Southern California who are also on strike!

It’s been a long road fighting for safer working conditions, fair wages and respect.  The warehouse workers had had enough of the retaliation against them for speaking out.  They went on strike to make a change for their families and their communities.  The warehouse workers need your support now more than ever.  Please sign their petition to Walmart CEO Michael Duke.

FILED UNDER: Immigrant Workers | Labor | Organizing | Unions

This weekend, farmworkers, United Farm Workers' supporters and community activists will celebrate Cesar Chavez' birthday by affirming the the lives and work of farmworkers "are worth more," with marches and celebrations across the country.  Chavez' birthday on March 31 is celebrated as an official holiday in eight states.

In California, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said, "We honor Cesar Chavez' legacy on this 50th Anniversary of the founding of his union by declaring that farm workers are worth more -- and deserve more -- in pay and protections."  The UFW's legislative priorities as it marks its 50th Anniversary are bills protecting farm workers from dying of the heat and providing field laborers with overtime pay after eight hours a day, like nearly all other Californian workers currently receive.

FILED UNDER: Agricultural Workers | Human Rights | Immigrant Workers | Labor | Unions

In a precedent-setting settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Berkeley’s Pacific Steel Casting Company (Pacific Steel), which our blog has covered before, has agreed to reinstate employees and pay employees for any wages and benefits lost who were terminated as a result of Pacific Steel’s unlawful entry into the E-Verify Program.  The agreement, signed March 22, 2012, also requires that Pacific Steel provide written notice to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminating their enrollment in E-Verify based on their failure to bargain with the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union, Local No. 164B, AFL-CIO, CLC (Local 164B).

FILED UNDER: E-Verify | Labor | NLRB | Unions

Janitors and their supporters will march in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon to protest efforts in Alabama to restrict illegal immigration.

The march is one of many events this week, including an Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery, organized by Latino and African American activists calling for the repeal of HB 56, the Alabama law that seeks to crack down on illegal immigration.

The union that organized the march -- Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West -- represents predominantly Latino immigrant workers. It is in the middle of contract negotiations with a current agreement set to expire at the end of April.

The march will begin at noon at 5th and Flower streets and head through downtown to the Federal Building, organizers said.

"Our organization, SEIU, is front and center on this issue of immigration," said Vice President David Huerta. "We need to corral our voices, to stand against what’s happening in Alabama, which right now is creating fear and intimidation of the immigrant community."

The union represents tens of thousands of workers statewide, including many in the Los Angeles area.

FILED UNDER: Immigrant Workers | Labor | Unions

Congratulations to Warehouse Workers United!

Last October, after working in scorching heat with no breaks for hours on end, roughly 100 workers at a major Walmart contracted warehouse took legal action against Schneider Logistics after noticing wages were being stolen from their paychecks.  The action prompted a notice to terminate the workers en masse, a discharge that was scheduled to take effect on February 24th, and a series of legal battles in which a California District Court barred the Walmart contractor from firing the workers.

FILED UNDER: Immigrant Workers | Litigation | Organizing | Retaliation | Unions | Worker Centers