“April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died while defending AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis who were fighting for their right to collective bargaining. Today, public service workers are under attack again. It’s time for us to stand with the public service workers who stand on the frontlines.” So says the ad that is sitting on the left side of my screen as I write this.

‘We Are One’ rallies took place across the nation on Monday the fourth. About two hundred people showed up at the Communication Workers of America (CWA) hall near Westport Plaza in St. Louis County. Before the event kicked off, Carl Hayes, an IBEW member, told me that he’s always amazed when he hears workers “trash talking” about unions–maybe right before they go on a two week vacation, oblivious to the fact that two week vacations would never have become the norm were it not for unions.

See those Unite Here workers at the table on the left? Two years ago, I wrote about their struggle to form  a union at Lumiere casino:

Knowing how much a union would empower the workers, the company has used every tool at its disposal to try to make its employees forgo their right to organize.

Or to fire them if they wouldn’t.

Earlier, the union organizers had put out a bulletin–with pictures–showing thirty of the employees on the union committee. At many companies, doing this offers a modicum of protection for the committee members because the company can’t then claim when it fires someone that it didn’t even realize he was a union guy. Lumiere refused to play by these rules: so far it has fired nine of the thirty. Another has been suspended and still another has had his last warning. And Lumiere’s hardball tactics have had an effect, of course. Some people have stopped attending the union organizers’ meetings.

One of the key tactics companies use to get rid of pro-union employees is to use points against them. Points are black marks on employee records; workers can get points for being late, being absent frequently, or being written up for not doing their jobs well. (Anything over ten points at Lumiere is grounds for dismissal.)

The Unite Here folks tell me that their first contract is still being negotiated and because it isn’t yet final, the favoritism in the point system continues. An absence can be counted as a point, even if you have the flu. But whether or not that absence is actually chalked up against you is up to the bosses. Union members are more likely to get penalized for getting sick. Those workers need that union contract finalized.

After listening to some stirring speeches, the attendees hit the pavement. They walked half a mile to the Page Avenue overpass, carrying signs and chanting. Plenty of rush hour commuters had a chance to see them and some honked.

Along Fee Fee Road on the way to the Page overpass

Westbound traffic on Page

Standing on the overpass …

… letting commuters see why we’re there

Goose Wurst is seriously pissed off about the war on workers.

Mark McDonald chuckled, brave soul, when he told me that he longs for the good ole days when he was living paycheck to paycheck. He knows all about the redistribution of wealth  because these days, his paycheck is spent two weeks before he gets it.

Goose’s personal hero is John Ebeling, a CWA organizer who was willing to drive 81 miles to Des Loges to organize a two man printing shop.