Dear Sisters and Brothers, For better or worse, Seattle’s economic base is best known nationally (and internationally) by corporate welfare vacuum Boeing, low-wage bastion Starbucks and , of course, Amazon. There have been efforts in the past to organize at Amazon, among both warehouse workers and customer service reps. Now, a courageous group of security officers are fighting to be represented by SEIU Local 6. Because some of their members work in the entertainment industry, SEIU Local 6 is part of our Entertainment Trades Section. The Local has a great record of helping low-wage immigrant workers organize, both among building maintenance workers and, more recently, security officers. Local 6 has been aggressive and creative in helping their members win industry standard-setting contracts. Until recently, security at Amazon was provided through a union employer. Amazon booted that service, and now gets their security through Security Industry Specialists (SIS), a regional security provider with fewer than 5000 workers. SIS has a documented record of anti-union action, violation of workers’ privacy, retaliation and intimidation, discrimination and wage theft. At Amazon, abuses have included violations of sick leave protections under FMLA, a union leader being written up for answering the telephone “hello” (really – and he’d only been at Amazon a month, never told that there was a magic formula for answer the phone), and termination of another union activist for staying home to take care of a sick child. The result: in the two years since SIS took over, there have been 400 terminations – in a work force of roughly 400! The security officers and Local 6 have asked that we join them at the Amazon shareholders’ meeting to send a strong message to Amazon. It’s a simple message, and one that’s pretty positive: they’re simply asking that Amazon enforce its own Supplier Code of Conduct, which claims to protect workers’ right to organize without intimidation, retaliation or harassment. The shareholder meeting will be at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and will be a brief action around lunch time. For the many Entertainment Trade Section workers who work at Seattle Center, it may be possible to just spend half an hour of a lunch break to show solidarity. The shareholder action will be: Wednesday, May 21 11:30 am – 12:00 n Seattle Rep (155 Mercer Street, at Seattle Center) There will probably be a follow-up action, bringing us from Seattle Rep to another location, immediately after – so if you can stay for longer than the half hour, please plan to take some extra time. To avoid legal issues, please do NOT bring picket signs – but DO wear your colors, and bring banners if you can. Seattle Center is home to a lot of our members – let’s show the security officers and Local 6 that we have their back. Thanks. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions or concerns; or, for more information, please contact SEIU organizer Sam Finkelstein, 312-545-6871, [email protected]. In solidarity, Paul Paul Bigman, Organizer Musicians Association of Seattle American Federation of Musicians Local 76-493
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 19:29:59 +0000
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