PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

On November 24, 2006, local members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), joined by Friends of Labor supporters from across the city, participated in the IWW Starbucks Union's Global Days of Action" in a picket held in Squirrel Hill. For an hour, over twenty workers supporting the Starbucks Workers Union carried picket signs and loudly chanted in front of the Starbucks at the corner of Forbes and Shady Avenue. This action was part of a broader movement in many cities around the world to protest Starbucks' anti-union practices and the wrongful termination of five union workers. Organizers are planning to protest Starbucks in Bloomfield this Saturday, December 2nd.

[ read more | Dec. 2 announcement |  Starbucks Union | other  Starbucks protests: NY FL ]

The Bangladesh Workers' Tour stopped in Pittsburgh this past weekend on the US tour organized by the National Labor Committee (a US group) and the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh. They're touring the US to bring attention to the nearly 1.8 million women who work in the sweatshops of Bangladesh to produce apparel for export.

[ Read More, with photos and audio ]

At the present time, the nurses at UPMC are paid "significantly less than our colleagues at area hospitals," according to Susan Forejt, RN, a nurse who has been with Western Psych for the past few years. She commented that psychiatric nursing is a difficult field to recruit new nurses for in the first place, and the salary deficiency is just making it more difficult. At the present time, there is a 21% vacancy rate in the nursing staff at Western Psych, this is three times the vacancy rate at other area hospitals. Nurses at Western Psych work an average of 3 weeks of overtime a year in order to compensate for the vacancy.

UPDATE: Presidential candidate Ralph Nader visited the striking nurses around midnight Saturday night. more...

[ Read More ... ]

The Thomas Merton Center and Pennsylvanians United for Single-Payer Healthcare (PUSH) are joining together to hold a rally and march on Sunday, August 15th 2004 beginning at 12 noon at Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh.

The rally's call, "Healthcare Not Warfare," is meant to remind Pennsylvanians of the tradeoffs that we must make as taxpayers to fund massive wars like the war in Iraq. In addition to the humanitarian cost of war, the thousands of civillian deaths, money that goes to war means less money spent on social programs; while millions of Americans still are uninsured and lack access to quality healthcare, bombs rain down on Baghdad.

[read more] [ Healthcare Not Warfare ] [ PUSH ] [ Thomas Merton Center ]

Free Speech in Pittsburgh isn't as free as many of us might take it to be. At the Three Rivers Regatta, Industrial Workers of the World and No Sweatshops Bucco!/Sweat Free Baseball activist Kenneth Miller was arrested for distributing anti-sweatshop materials. Miller had been previously arrested for handing out similar literature outside of PNC Park.

Voting is Power activist Celeste Taylor was told by the police that her group could not register people to vote at the Regatta. The Regatta took place at Point State Park, yet police referred to it as "private property." While corporations were permitted to use the space to sell beer and soda, concerned citiziens were not allowed, by their own police, to register people to vote.

[ Interviews with Ken Miller and Celeste Taylor | Initial arrest report | Call for a "Free Speech Fight" | Press conference at Ken's first hearing ]

Despite dangerously cold weather, Pittsburghers gathered Friday morning in support of nine union janitors who used to work in Downtown's Center City Tower until they were unfairly fired for union activity last month.

SEIU Local 3 filed a federal lawsuit this week against Independent Management Co., the New York-based operators of the building, and has pledged to continue this campaign until the workers are reinstated. Picketers were out as early as Thursday, but were arrested by the police at the request of management.

Friday's picket saw a large number of union members and supporters who gathered to express their dissatisfaction with management and show solidarity with the workers.

[ Picket Literature | Photos | Audio ]

In honor of the International Human Rights Day, the Service Employees International Union and the United Steelworkers of America sponsored a Day of Action tour. The tour started with about 20 people waiting for the bus at the United Steelworkers of America building downtown at8:30am on December 10th. At 10am, we would stop back at this spot between demonstrations to pick up enough people to fill two buses.

[ Read More ] [ More information ]

The union representing the faculty of the State System of Higher Education may strike if labor negotiations with the system break down further. The faculty members, who have been working without a contract since the end of June, are organized into the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. Western Pennsylvania schools that would be affected include California University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock and Clarion.

[ Read More ]

Verizon workers in Pittsburgh and throughout the Northeast are prepared to strike should union negotiators and Verizon fail to reach a new contract, which would cover almost 80,000 employees. Both the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have said they will not agree to the contract concessions proposed by Verizon management.

Verizon workers were ready to go out on strike last Sunday, at the expiration of their contract, but union officials have been continuing their negotiations with the company. While some workers question the effectiveness of continued negotiations given management's history of bad faith bargaining and the fact that communities had already organized for strike support, union officials point out that Verizon is now having to pay two workforces -- the one they thought would strike, and a huge mass of replacement workers, some of whom Verizon has been training for several weeks.

The two unions rejected management proposals to cut and have more "flexibility" with the workforce, increase health care contributions, and cut sick days. While Verizon has been saying that a framework for an agreement has been reached, union officials have been less optimistic. Talks between the unions and Verizon will resume on Tuesday.

[ previous story and information on local replacement workers ]
[ upcoming CWA actions | CWA Verizon page | IBEW | consumer/worker united action against Verizon | Check out employee grievances ]
[ CWA workers on strike against Alltel in Kentucky ]