Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 17:44:30 -0500 From: Yoshie Furuhashi <Furuhashi.1-AT-osu.edu> Subject: M-TH: NY March for Workfare Union; Heritage Foundation Flush with $$ >Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 06:32:47 -0800 >Reply-To: LABNEWS - News and Organizing about the Labor Movement > <LABNEWS-AT-cmsa.Berkeley.EDU> >From: Nathan Newman <newman-AT-socrates.Berkeley.EDU> >Subject: NY March for Workfare Union; Heritage Foundation Flush with $$ > (fwd) >To: Multiple recipients of list LABNEWS <LABNEWS-AT-cmsa.Berkeley.EDU> > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 17:34:53 -0800 (PST) >From: Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher-AT-igc.apc.org> >Subject: NY March for Workfare Union; Heritage Foundation Flush with $$ > >---- >December 11, 1997 > >Marchers Press for Workfare Union > >By ALAN FINDER > > NEW YORK -- More than 400 New York City workfare participants and their >supporters from local labor unions marched for an > hour in lower Manhattan early Wednesday morning, trying to press the >Giuliani administration to recognize their effort to >create a union representing welfare recipients. > >The unusual coalition -- people on public assistance who work part-time in >city agencies in return for their benefits and members of >organized labor -- also sought to lobby city officials for more formal job >training for poor people. > >They contend that the mostly menial tasks, including street sweeping or leaf >raking in parks, performed by workfare workers in the >city program known officially as the Work Experience Program, or WEP, do not >prepare them for real jobs. > >"You know what? I'm angry," said Pierre Simmons, a workfare participant who >spoke to the crowd after it had marched, beginning >at 8 a.m., from City Hall Park up Broadway to Leonard Street, then past >downtown court buildings to the steps of the Municipal >Building on Centre Street. > >"It's not right that WEP workers work out in the cold without proper >equipment," he said. "It's not right that WEP workers are abused >by their supervisors." > >Simmons and other speakers noted that nearly 17,000 workfare participants >had voted in a nonbinding election in October to >create a union. The Giuliani administration has refused to negotiate with >leaders of the community group that organized the vote, >the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn. > >City officials say that welfare is temporary and that workfare participants >are not city employees, and thus they are not permitted to >be represented by a union. > >Acorn and other groups advocating on behalf of the city's more than 30,000 >workfare participants also said they would press for a >formal grievance procedure for WEP workers. > >"You're a worker, and you've got a right to a day's pay for a day's work," >said Ed Ott, the director of public policy for the New York >City Central Labor Council. "You've got a right to be organized." > >Several other labor leaders promised to support the workfare participants' >attempt to be recognized as a union. "We will stand with >you in your fight for representation," said Nick Unger, an organizer for >UNITE, a union that represents apparel workers. "You will >not be alone." > > Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company > >================================== --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005