PhotoBlog - union

19
Sep
2012
12:26pm, EDT
Chicago students head back to school after strike
M. Spencer Green / AP
Students gather outside Benjamin E. Mays Academy for the first day of school on Sept. 19, after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their first strike in 25 years. Union delegates voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to suspend the walkout after discussing a proposed contract settlement with the nation's third largest school district.
More than 350,000 Chicago Public School students returned to class Wednesday after seven days off during the city's first teacher strike in 25 years.
"We feel very positive about moving forward," Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis said Tuesday after the union's nearly 800-member House of Delegates voted to end the strike. "We feel grateful that we have a united union, and that when a union moves together we have amazing things happen."
Teachers said they're excited to get back to work after voting on the tentative deal article-by-article. One point even received a standing ovation: the freedom for teachers to create their own lesson plans. Full story…
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Students at Frazier International Magnet School wait outside before the start of school on Sept. 19 in Chicago, Ill.
M. Spencer Green / AP
Leslie Sabbs-Kizer, right, walks her children Nkai Melton, 8, Akaira Melton, 7, and Khaymya Smith, 3, to Bond Elementary school in Chicago, for the first day of classes Wednesday morning, Sept. 19, after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their first strike in 25 years.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Mayor Rahm Emanuel greets students as they arrive for school at Frazier International Magnet School on Sept. 19 in Chicago, Ill.
The Chicago Teachers Union finally reached a deal Tuesday, compromising on a pay increase and school reform. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
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6 comments
@!$%# those kids in Chicago have a better chance at success by not going to school there. 50% waist 12 years of their life going through the schools in Chicago. 40% of the teachers don't have their kids going to public schools, that in itself should tell you how low grade the schools are. If I was t …
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8
Feb
2012
10:45am, EST
Travel suspended from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport as unions strike
Sebastian Scheiner / AP
A tourists waits for a flight during a partial strike at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel onFeb. 8. Israel's labor federation has launched a nationwide strike for the first time in five years, shutting down national and local government offices, banks, the stock exchange, rail service and seaports.Union leaders are protesting the widespread use of contract workers who earn less and do not enjoy the same benefits as workers who are directly employed.
Oliver Weiken / EPA
A lone traveller sits in the usually busy departure hall of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, Israel, on Feb. 8. Israel's federation of trade unions declared a general strike demanding better conditions for contract workers with poor job security. Government offices, city councils, trains, banks, post offices and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange came to a standstill. Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv also shut down. A court order however limited the strike there until midday.
Nir Elias / Reuters
People wait at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv during a strike on Feb. 8. Israel's main labour union declared a strike on Wednesday that shut airports, ports, banks and the stock market after talks with the government failed to produce an agreement on the status of workers employed through labour contractors.

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12
Dec
2011
9:59pm, EST
Worker: I'd be out with protesters if I could
By Jim Seida, msnbc.com
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Union port worker Austin Sheely sits in his car trying to leave the Port of Seattle on Monday. He's sympathetic with the protesters, but his budget is too tight to join them.
Unions have not joined Occupy activists to shut down the ports, even though these old-guard labor activists have expressed sympathy with the new movement's causes. Unions have not prohibited their members from taking part in the protests as individuals -- and some do -- but there's a cost to that, said unionized port worker Austin Sheely.
"I'd be out here with them if I could be," said Sheely as he sat in his car trying to leave the Port of Seattle on Monday. "I have to work every minute of every day to try to pick up every bit of overtime I can to try to pay our mortgage."

"I've got a wife and a kid on the way," he said. "I wholeheartedly support the movement, but I can't afford to take the time off to join it."
Sheely is a crane operator for Vigor Shipyards. His wife was recently laid off from Starbucks, and he's gone from making $35/hr to $26/hr as the economy deteriorated. The exit to the port was blocked by a barricade built by Occupy Seattle protestors who were trying to shut down the port.
Occupy disrupts West Coast Ports; arrests in Seattle, Houston
1 comment
He and his wife can't afford the mortgage they chose in a very expensive city along with their other expenses when he has a good paying job. He's reaping the consequences of his decisions and he blames the people who have given him the good paying job (prob benefits too). That's just sad.
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Explore related topics: protest, union, ports, ows, occupy-seattle
8
Nov
2011
10:35pm, EST
Ohio voters soundly defeat effort to curb unions
Amy Sancetta / AP
Issue 2 opponents cheer at a rally co-sponsored by the Cleveland Teachers Union and We Are Ohio in Cleveland as Issue 2 as they hear election results sounding the defeat of Issue 2 in the Ohio general election on Nov. 8, 2011. By voting no on Issue 2, Ohioans overturned the controversial Senate Bill 5 which, among other things, limited collective bargaining for 350,000 unionized public workers.
msnbc.com's Tom Curry:

In a rebuff to Republican Gov. John Kasich, Ohio voters have decided to reject curbs on public employees.

The Associated Press projected that voters would reject S.B. 5, the law enacted last spring by Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature that limited the ability of public employee unions to collectively bargain.

With nearly a third percent of precincts reporting, more than 60 percent of voters were rejecting the law. Read the full story.

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2 comments
paul your confused lets see The koch brothers & there groups, Freedom-work's, karl rove's groups. Do you need more? Now who has the money. I sure these groups dropped more than the union in this race. UNION YES!!!! Are the public union workers evil or are they Good AMERICANS? tea baggers you tel …
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11
Apr
2011
4:31pm, EDT
David Deolarte / EPA
A supporter of the Mexican Electricians Union is confronted by policemen at the former headquarters of the state-owned Central Light and Power Company located in Mexico City on April 11, 2011. Protesters set fire to at least four vehicles and disrupted traffic. The demonstrators are demanding the reinstatement of the company that supplied electricity to the city and its surrounding areas. It was closed in Oct. 2009.
Motorcycles and mayhem at the Mexican Electrician Union protest in Mexico City
By Robert Hood
Even under the best conditions motorcycle riding can be a little dangerous. Wearing a long cape to the protest only complicates things.
1 comment
That's just an awesome picture. Lucha Libre!! Giggidy
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30
Mar
2011
6:50pm, EDT
Matt Sullivan / Reuters
Union supporter Portia Boulger reacts as she watches a broadcast of the Ohio House debate on Senate Bill 5 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on March 30, 2011. The Republican-dominated Ohio House is considering a bill on Wednesday that would strip about 350,000 public employees of most collective bargaining rights and ban them from striking.
The Ohio House OKs collective bargaining limits
AP reports
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Republican-led House in the state of Ohio has voted to severely limit the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public workers, sending a bill that's sparked weeks of pro-labor protests back to the state Senate.
The full House approved the measure Wednesday on a 53-44 vote.
A vote in the Republican-controlled Senate could come later Wednesday. That chamber narrowly passed a previous version of it.
The measure allows unions to negotiate wages but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It also does away with automatic pay increases in favor of merit raises. Workers also would be banned from striking.
The Ohio legislation will affect safety workers, teachers, nurses and a host of other government personnel.
A similar law passed by Republican lawmakers in the state of Wisconsin has prompted large protest rallies.
Click here to read more.
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Explore related topics: ohio, politics, education, union, collective-bargaining, public-employees
23
Mar
2011
5:15am, EDT
Truth Leem / Reuters
Unionized workers from the Korean Metal Workers Federation raise up signs which read "Dismissal is murder", as they wear masks during a rally in Seoul, South Korea on March 23.
South Korean metal workers rally to protect their jobs
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10
Mar
2011
7:56pm, EST
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Protesters hold wooden letters that spell the word "shame" in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 10, 2011 in Madison. Thousands of demonstrators continue to protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol as the Wisconsin House voted to pass the state's controversial budget bill one day after Wisconsin Republican Senators voted to curb collective bargaining rights for public union workers in a surprise vote with no Democrats present.
Protesters spell out their grievances at the Wisconsin State Capitol
AP reports:
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin's union-busting governor and fellow Republicans in the state legislature successfully pushed through a law Thursday that strips public workers of most collective bargaining rights, ending for now a three-week battle that saw all Democratic state senators flee to a neighboring state and as many as 80,000 protest at the Capitol building.
The extraordinarily contentious law passed the state Assembly, the lower house, on a 53-43 vote within hours of a Republican maneuver in the Senate on Wednesday night overcame a parliamentary logjam caused by the three-week self-exile of Democratic Senators. They had taken refuge in neighboring Illinois to prevent a vote on the larger budget measure to which the collective bargaining ban was attached.
See more coverage of the Wisconsin political struggle here.
33 comments
The unions made their own bed! Greed kills and they continue to want everything handed to them, like they are owed the job.
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2
Mar
2011
8:13pm, EST
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Wisconsin State representative Fred Clark (L) meets with constituents at his desk outside the capitol building March 2, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. Clark and several other Democrat members of the assembly moved their offices outside the building because of the difficulties the public was having entering the building which has been essentially locked down to prevent protestors from spending the night inside. Demonstrators have occupied the capitol building and marched outside during round-the-clock demonstrations for more than two weeks, protesting Governor Scott Walker's attempt to push through a bill that would restrict collective bargaining for most government workers in the state. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Wisconsin representatives set up desks outside Capitol
For more images from the protest in Wisconsin, see our slideshow.
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17
Feb
2011
2:51pm, EST
Protesters pack the Wisconsin State Capitol in opposition to the elimination of collective bargaining for state workers
Andy Manis / AP
Protestors of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers pack the rotunda at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis. on Feb. 17, 2011.
AP reports:
MADISON, Wis. — Police officers were dispatched Thursday to find Wisconsin state lawmakers who had apparently boycotted a vote on a sweeping bill that would strip most government workers of their collective bargaining rights.
The lawmakers, all Democrats in the state Senate, did not show up when they were ordered to attend a midday vote on the legislation.
The proposal has been the focus of intense protests at the Statehouse for three days. As Republicans tried to begin Senate business Thursday, observers in the gallery screamed "Freedom! Democracy! Unions!"

Andy Manis / AP
Wisconsin Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, talks to the media at the State Capitol in response to 14 Democratic senators who boycotted a session blocking a vote on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers.
Msnbc.com story: Democrats leave state to foil Wisconsin anti-union vote
32 comments
I'd also like to add that this is a perfect example of "big government" which I thought was something that true conservatives were against. The democratic lawmakers aren't "running away" this is civil disobedience in action, they are standing up for the working class in this state.
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20
Sep
2010
5:54pm, EDT
Eric Risberg / AP
Gardener Eli Rodriguez, a new Teamsters member, removes dead matter and cleans up marijuana plants at Marjyn Investments, a marijuana growing operation in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. The Teamsters added nearly 40 new members earlier this month by organizing the country's first group of unionized marijuana growers.
Union work
I'm intrigued by the combination of sunglasses and headlamp. Do you reckon the workers alternate between bright lights and dim rooms?
7 comments
VOTE YES ON PROP 19 on November 2nd!!! No more ignorance and hypocrisy, no more wasted expenditure, no more ruined lives of teenagers and adults for smoking reefer, accept the truth: MARIJUANA IS HERE TO STAY.
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13
Sep
2010
3:35pm, EDT
Jeffrey Phelps / AP
A Harley-Davidson worker sits on his motorcycle as he waits for the vote tally in front of the Waukesha Exposition Center in Waukesha, Wi. on Sept. 13, 2010. Union workers ratified a seven-year labor contract.
Harley-Davidson workers vote
msnbc.com story: Harley Workers Vote In Favor of New Contract

MILWAUKEE - Hundreds of Harley-Davidson workers voted in favor of a contract proposal from the company, a vote that will most likely keep the company's manufacturing operations in Milwaukee. The seven-year deal with freeze their pay, slash hundreds of jobs and assign large volumes of work to nonunion workers.

23 comments
I bet the CEO and the board of directors didn’t take a pay freeze for seven years. Or slash any of their jobs. They more than likely got a Big Bonus, for sticking it to the working man.
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