Tell Marietta to STOP Worker Exploitation

During the last week, Workers Center Staff and team members traveled to an inspirational conference in Chicago, NY. More on that news later…

While in Chicago, we met some organizers with Centro De Trabajadores Unidos, Immigrant Workers’ Project who told us about their campaign to help workers at a Marietta Corporation factory in their city. Well, what a coincidence: we have had complaints from workers at the Marietta Corporation factory in Cortland. Locally, the complaints are about unfair terminations, chemical exposures and the employment practice of firing permanent employees and replacing them with temporary workers. The same complaints, mixed with the discriminatory racial practice of targeting Latino/a workers with the e-verify system, exist in Chicago.

It turns out that the Marietta Corporation’s corporate headquarters are nestled in modest Cortland, NY. We had to jump in. We’d like ask our readers and Workers Center members to contact Marietta’s CEO Donald Sturdivant and Vice President of Operations David Hempson with the following message:

Worker Exploitation in the Southeast side of Chicago

Take action and support workers from Marietta Corporation. In Chicago, Marietta produces Clorox, Palmolive, All, Greenworks, Sunlight Lemon Gel, Final Touch, Niagra and Vim. (In Cortland, Marietta produces the little bottles of shampoo and conditioner found in motel and hotel rooms.)

Workers of the Marietta Corporation Chicago ask for:

• Better Working Conditions
• No termination retaliation for Complaints about working conditions
• Toilet paper in clean bathrooms!
• Access to bathroom use during work time
• No sexual harassment in the workplace
• Safe working conditions
• Safer equipment and better practices to protect workers against chemicals
• respect lunch breaks

Take Action Now!!

Call Mr. David Hempson, VP of Operations and Mr. Donald Sturdivant, CEO, at 607-753-6746. (Mr. Hempson’s extension is 531.)

A suggested call script:

“Hello, my name is ___________. I am calling in support of workers of the Marietta Corporation in Chicago. We ask that the company stop firing workers and improve the working conditions.”

For more information on the campaign and to get involved call Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: The Immigrant Workers’ Project at 708-790-7760. For information about a possible local campaign focusing on the Chicago issue and the Cortland conditions, call the Workers Center at 607-269-0409.

Resources for Workers’ Rights Information

There are a number of questions we get repeatedly at the Workers’ Center; most we can answer pretty much off the top of our heads. But inevitably there are the questions that are new to us, or have an unusual presentation and we have to look around for information. Where do we go for answers?

First is our own little booklet, Workers Rights Manual. The 2003 original edition has recently been updated and includes legislation or issues that weren’t in the older version.

We try the Department Of Labor website but, although we’ve been teased by the promise of a new website, it is notoriously difficult to search productively there.

The website Can My Boss Do That?, a project of Interfaith Worker Justice, is an excellent resource for the average worker. This site even includes state-specific Department of Labor paperwork to print out and file.

One book we like to consult is Your Rights in the Workplace by attorney Barbara Kate Repa.

Another book title that has been recommended by the Workplace Bullying Institute, the National Workrights Institute and other similar advocacy groups is Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace by Lewis Maltby.

Publisher’s Weekly review says: Maltby, president and founder of the National Workrights Institute, provides chilling insight into personal rights in the workplace and existing laws, which, with rare exception, side with employers. Such liberties as freedom of speech, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, protect us only from governmental intrusions and do nothing to safeguard us from private enterprise. Maltby relays shocking stories of employer abuses, including tracking employees through cell phone GPS locators, placing hidden cameras in restrooms, and asking potential employees for details on everything from religious beliefs to sex lives. A staggering 20% of employers now require employees to agree before being hired not to go to court if the corporation violates their legal rights. Maltby shows employees how to protect themselves as much as possible under the existing laws and urges them to fight for bringing the Bill of Rights to apply to the private sector. Appendixes provide sample letters to elected representatives and human rights organizations as well as an Employee Bill of Rights. A disturbing and essential exposé that may be a catalyst for change. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

We also call some dedicated volunteers and experts versed in workers’ issues who so generously donate their time and knowledge to help those who need our assistance. Thanks to all of you for helping all of us.

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Here’s a link to a blog whose author, attorney Scott Greenfield, calls bullied employees ‘delicate teacups’ who shatter if their boss is mean to them. Targets of bullying are accused of being ‘mythical and chronically oversensitive’ and equates psychological manipulation with ‘hurting someone’s feelings.’  The Healthy Workplace Bill, recently tabled by the NYS Assembly’s Labor Committee would ‘prop up delicate flowers,’ thinks Mr. Greenfield. I’ve heard that laws protecting workers based on their race, religion, gender, disability and such were similarly ridiculed before they were enacted. Read it and grit your teeth.

Conferences and the US Social Forum

Next week, our office staff will be tiny: only our interns will be present at ol’ 115. Pete and Linda and two of our members are traveling to Chicago for a conference that is held by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for the recipients of its grants.

At the same time, other members of the Workers’ Center will be representing our organization at the US Social Forum in Detroit. They are joining a busload of Ithaca-area activists on a nine and a half hour bus ride to participate in the many activities. (Check out the impressive list of planned workshops, entertainments, parades, actions and activities on the USSF website — link above.)

Stay tuned for announcements of report-backs from participants later in the summer. Networking means making relationships between groups involved in social justice work across the country — and relationships here in our community as well.

Our Listening Project

Late last year, a group of our interns, work study students and volunteers presented a workshop on active listening. Our goal: a Listening Project that would create opportunities for us to learn about the working and economic lives of people in Tompkins County. Not only do we hope that this will open our eyes to some of the needs in our community but will also create relationships with lots of different kinds of people.

Many times when people call us or stop by to talk about a work situation, they express their thanks that we listened to their story. We can’t always help in terms of legal solutions to the problems we hear about but we can lend a sympathetic ear, assure the worried worker that they are not alone and offer a few strategies for dealing with their situation.

We need volunteers to tell their stories! The meeting is set up based on times and locations mutually convenient for the listeners and the Listened-to. Please call the Workers’ Center to learn more or to volunteer.

We trust that our Listening Project will expand our ability to help others. Next week, several of us here at the Workers’ Center will be traveling to a conference/workshop that will feature a day-long workshop with Marshall Ganz, a former civil rights and labor activist, now Kennedy School professor, who developed the model of organizing through sharing and collecting Personal Narratives. More on that when we return from the conference.

I’d also like to share a link to an interesting website about workplace bullying. Beverly Peterson, filmmaker, is compiling video stories of people who have suffered as targets of bullyers at work. They’re all riveting stories, some with tragic outcomes. Visit There Oughta be a Law to learn more.

Awake at 6:15 am?

Then listen to Bev Abplanalp who is being interviewed on WHCU 870 AM about our new Unemployed and Underemployed Support Group. Bev, along with Mike Roenke, is the facilitator of that group. Their first meeting  is Thursday at 4:30 here at the Workers’ Center. Hopefully, many unemployed people will be able to join the group and still make their late buses home.

Bev and Mike have also asked our members to write to our Senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, asking them to support the Jobs Bill. Specifically ask them to make sure to include extension of Unemployment Insurance. Their Central New York contact information is as follows:

Kirsten Gillibrand

Syracuse/Central NY
James M. Hanley Federal Building
100 South Clinton Street
Room 1470
PO Box 7378
Syracuse, NY 13261
Tel. (315) 448-0470
Fax (315) 448-0476

Chuck Schumer

Syracuse
100 South Clinton Street
Room 841
Syracuse, NY 13261-7318
Phone: 315-423-5471      Fax: 315-423-5185

Unemployed? Our support group starts 6/17!

Unemployed or underemployed? Could you use some support from people who have been there? Workers’ Center Community Union Organizers have stepped forward to help others who are dealing with all the issues surrounding unemployment.

Come to the inaugural meeting, Thursday June 17th at 4:30-6:00 at the Workers’ Center. And please: spread the word to others also.

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Speaking of unemployment and its injustices, read this Huffington Post article called Disturbing Job Ads: ‘The Unemployed Will not be Considered.’ The corporate trend described in the article is that companies are tossing resumes from the unemployed — and unemployed for any reason whatsoever — right in the circular file.

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Reminder: Come to our Summer potluck Saturday June 12th at 5:30-7:30. We’ll be at the Unitarian Church of Ithaca on the corner of Buffalo and Aurora.

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Celebrate Juneteenth with a celebration and festival at Southside Community Center, June 19th, 11 am — 7 pm. Southside is located at 305 S. Plain Street in Ithaca.

This year’s Juneteenth theme will be Reflections of Our Past, Light Our Future. It promised to be a fun filled celebration showcasing live musical and dance performances, children’s activities, arts and crafts, vendor and community agency tables, a silent auction and — of course! — outstanding food.

Juneteenth celebrates the news of the Emancipation Proclamation throughout the southern US reaching each and every enslaved person.

Sad News about 5414, Good News for Amber

As it turns out, the Assembly Labor Committee did not put A5414, The Healthy Workplace Bill, aside for further consideration: they threw it in the wastebasket, letting down New York’s workers and the NYS Senate. I am terribly disappointed that Labor Chair Susan John was not able to show the necessary leadership on this issue. You can read more at the Workplace Bullying Institute’s blog.

Rest assured that the Workers’ Center will still be dedicated to working on this issue. Stay tuned for future posts on workplace bullying.

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From Democracy Now!

Fired Massey Coal Miner Files Whistleblower Complaint

A West Virginia coal miner has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Labor Department, alleging that he was fired after he made comments about safety conditions at mines owned by Massey Energy. Ricky Lee Campbell was fired on April 23, less than two weeks after an explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine killed twenty-nine. A number of other Massey coal miners have also complained that they have faced retaliation for reporting safety problems.

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And to end on a very positive note, the good news for Amber Little and her sons Max and Kai is that they are in fact getting their beautiful new Habitat for Humanity home.

I’m sure you remember that after Amber lost her job at CostCutters, the home that she had invested hundreds of hours in was threatened. (Her mortgage depended on a steady work history.) Luckily, everything has worked out.

Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties is holding a home dedication ceremony at Amber’s new home at 100 Breed Road, Locke NY 13092 on June 13th at 2:00 pm. Congratulations, Amber!

Summer Potluck! Come one, come all!

Join us for our summer potluck Saturday June 12, 2010 from 5:30 – 7:30 at the Unitarian Church of Ithaca. The Church is located at the corner of Buffalo and Aurora Streets in downtown Ithaca.

Please bring a dish to share if you can. Drinks and place settings will be provided.

We’ll have a brief program with updates from our various projects but as always, the spotlight of our potlucks is our members. Come, converse and have a good time with new and old friends.

Make a Phone Call for A5414A, the Healthy Workplace Bill

I’ve just heard that A5414A, the Healthy Workplace Bill, is scheduled to be voted on in the Labor Committee. According to newspaper reports, Committee Chair Susan John is opposed to this bill. Please contact the Assembly Labor Committee members if you can, urging them to send the bill to the Assembly floor. Barbara Lifton is one of the Multisponsors of this bill. Thank you again, Barbara!

Since I first started researching workplace bullying and speaking about the Workers’ Center commitment to addressing this largely unacknowledged problem, I have heard many stories about targeted workers suffering severe health problems. It is not uncommon for targets to end up in mental health units of hospitals; heart attacks and stomach and digestive complications have also been reported to me. This is a serious problem that we must take seriously.

Don’t let this bill die in the Labor Committee!

Update: I’ve just learned from Megan at Barbara Lifton’s Albany office that A5414 was returned to Committee for further consideration. This means that the Assembly bill was not defeated but not sent to the Assembly for vote yet either. Megan said that this bill will be voted on by the Labor Committee before Session which starts June 21st.

This means that we do have time to call the Labor Committee, particularly Susan John, the Committee Chair, to urge the legislators to send this bill to the Assembly this summer. Please try to make that call or email.

Domestic Workers Get Rights!

Fantastically good news! Domestic workers — nannies, housekeepers and caregivers of the ill and elderly — have been granted some rights! Some paid holidays, sick days and vacations and some other rights that most of us take for granted have been passed by the NYS Senate. You can read the whole story in today’s New York Times article, For Nannies, Hope of Workplace Protection.

Last year, we had a fascinating visitor to the Workers’ Center, Joyce Gill-Campbell, an organizer for Domestic Workers United. Joyce had been speaking at Ithaca College, jamming meetings and travel into a tiny window of time, yet she came downtown for lunch to talk to us. Her vision of the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights was inspiring but seemed almost unattainable, it was so far from the reality of life as a domestic.

If organizing is a challenge to coworkers laboring in the same location every day, imagine what it is like for women who live with their employers, isolated from family and social support networks. Frequently domestic workers are expected to be on-call 24/7. Privacy and free time for outside activities of any kind, let alone community organizing, can be virtually nonexistent.

Joyce told stories of women meeting at playgrounds, passing cards about the Domestic Workers United one to the other. Organizing was done via cellphone late at night. What was the goal? “Power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement  to end exploitation and oppression for all.” In 2007 at the US Social Forum, DWU joined with others for form the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

DWU has worked for years to pass the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. Congratulations to them, and to all of us, for their tireless work on behalf of mostly immigrant, mostly women workers.

They raise the children, clean the houses, care for those who need assistance. They deserve basic rights, too.

The Domestic Workers United also has a blog which you can read here.

Nanny photo above from June 3, 2010 New York Times article cited earlier.