> Five unions in the Change To Win Coalition announced today they are
> backing low-paid janitors in Houston and Indianapolis who are uniting
> to win good jobs with health care by forming a union with SEIU
This was successful, by the way. ABM agreed to hire back the fired janitors and come to the table (though there's no settlement yet). All in all, pretty good. I was at the Pittsburgh rally, and in addition to SEIU Local 3 (the janitors) and SEIU sister locals, there was a presence from UNITE HERE (including some rank-and-filers), the UFCW, and the Operating Engineers. The IUOE is not part of Change to Win, but they were the beneficiaries of some militant solidarity from downtown Pittsburgh janitors a little while back, and there were a whole lot of them out in force to show their support in return. The fact that SEIU had just left the AFL-CIO didn't matter at all. So in other words, this stuff is not going to be much of an obstacle to on-the -ground solidarity -- particularly not over the long term.
Doug Henwood on Punxsutawney:
> Is that the place famous for its groundhog?
The very same. They were football rivals of ours (I'm from DuBois). During the week leading up to a high school football game, all of the street signs going one way from DuBois to Punxsy would be spray-painted "Punxsy Sucks!" Going the other way, they were painted "DuBois Sucks!"
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
Tell no lies, claim no easy victories.