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NEWS & LETTERS, October - November 2007
Berkeley IWW strike
Berkeley, Cal.--The owners of Metro Lighting portray themselves as a liberal Berkeley business, a green business, environmentally responsible. But when dealing with workers, they say this business is for making money, not for you, and if you don’t like it, get out.
We organized as an IWW local six months ago in an attempt to save a fellow worker’s job. They were firing her for no reason. We managed to save her job. We chose IWW because we wanted all to be in the same union, production workers and the retail staff.
In the process of organizing, the boss made the environment very hostile. He would not negotiate on any terms, and started retaliating from that point on. He hired union-busting attorneys, started surveillance of us. New rules were made up, our hours were changed, our health care was cut.
On Aug. 9, I made a health complaint to OSHA. Everyone here feels we have been retaliated against for both union activity and the health complaint. The health concern was about a caustic soda, a mixture of water glass and lye. It can cause burning of the skin and, if inhaled, causes respiratory problems.
When I called OSHA about it was when we were locked out, told to go home with no pay. After three weeks we were told to come back for three days, but then the store owner closed it again supposedly for family emergency for three weeks. But the next day the store was open with scab workers. We were supposed to return again on Sept. 21, except I received an email terminating my employment
During the three days between lockouts, within five minutes I got written up four times. I have never been written up before in the three years I worked here. There was clear retaliation. People followed me out onto the street here, since I’ve been fired. We have been getting support from the community, we turn potential customers away. We have great support from the union, that helps keep us going.
The boss is willing to spend 10 times the amount of money that it would have taken to meet all of our demands to fight our organizing. He is content to lose all this money, and probably his business in the end, not to back down, not to give in to his employees.
--Union organizer
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