Ummmm... Industrial Strategy Anyone?

SEIU Canada: Casino Workers in Halifax Win Overwhelming Victory in Union Vote
MarketWire

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 8, 2007) - At the conclusion of long-awaited Labour Relations Board proceedings conducted this past week, ballot boxes for workers at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax were opened after a four-month delay since their May 3rd/4th 2007 union certification vote. Workers at the Casino and representatives of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are now celebrating an overwhelming victory for gaming sector employees in Halifax.

The results of the Labour Board hearings and vote-counting proceedings, which concluded just prior to 11 pm on Friday night, determined that 231 Casino employees voted in favour of making improvements in their workplace through joining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 902, while 85 employees voted against.

This overwhelming victory of over 73% of the votes counted confirms what has been termed an historic victory for the labour movement in Nova Scotia and the largest successful private-sector union organizing victory in well over twenty-five years in this province.

"This is a great achievement," says Sharleen Stewart, SEIU Canadian International Vice-President. "Halifax Casino workers now have a strong voice in their workplace."

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Anarchists Buy Support: Brilliant New Strategy Unfolds

NZ strangers stun residents with gifts
AAP

Strange happenings are afoot in the New Zealand city of Tauranga.

Residents have been stunned by the generosity of strangers who are walking the streets handing out envelopes stuffed with cash.

Recipients have described a very happy looking couple, urging them to accept their gifts.

"Take it, take it," the couple simply said as they thrust an envelope of money towards Steph Morgan and Rose Bakker as they headed out for lunch.

The words "Anarchy is love of freedom" written on a purple card accompanied the money.

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Socialists Hate Andy! Boo-fn-hoo...

No More “Partnership” — Labor Needs to Organize a Fightback
By Tony Wilsdon
Socialist Alternative

As Corporate American continues to attack workers’ wages, working conditions, and benefits, the need for a fighting labor movement is more vital than ever.

Given the failure of the AFL-CIO’s leadership to successfully resist this corporate offensive, many union members’ hopes were raised when Andy Stern, leader of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), pulled his union out of the AFL-CIO promising a new direction for labor.


Stern and SEIU went on to found an alternative federation, Change to Win (CtW), that includes the Teamsters, Laborers, Carpenters, Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Farm Workers, and Hotel and Restaurant Workers (UNITE HERE) - about 6 million members in total. But two years after the creation of Change to Win, what has been achieved?


Stern focused his criticism of the AFL–CIO on the need to put more resources into hiring more organizers. SEIU has put more resources into organizing, and the UFCW and UNITE HERE have made splashy campaign efforts against Wal-Mart and the hotel chains. But no real progress has been made in unionizing new workers. The real issue is not more resources; it’s how to organize workers, and around what program.


Stern has been going out of his way to talk to Corporate America, including working with Wal-Mart. At a recent conference of corporate lawyers, he said: “SEIU’s goal for 2006 is to bring unions and employers together as partners, not enemies.”

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