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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Sun Mar 16, 2025 01:23 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? Sat Mar 15, 2025 17:51 | Will Jones
Have we finally reached peak woke? Have we developed a vaccine to the woke mind virus? Like a dying religion, it's certainly in retreat. But some disciples of Wokus Dei are still clinging on.
The post Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay Sat Mar 15, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
A Pakistani man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and lived in Britain illegally for 11 years was allowed to stay after he claimed he was gay, despite offering no evidence.
The post Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them Sat Mar 15, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Reform UK would be on course to win in May?s local elections ? except Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has axed key votes. "They're terrified of us. The whole system is rotten," the party said.
The post Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Declined: Chapter 12: Theo Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:00 | Molly Kingsley
Chapter 12 of Declined is here ? a dystopian satire by Molly Kingsley about the emergence of a social credit system in the UK. This week: amid threats to have their children removed, Poppy goes missing from school.
The post Declined: Chapter 12: Theo appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?124 Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:56 | en

offsite link "Kristallnacht" against the Alawites in Syria Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:38 | en

offsite link Is Donald Trump managing the possible collapse of the ?American empire??, by Thi... Tue Mar 11, 2025 06:59 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?123 Fri Mar 07, 2025 14:41 | en

offsite link Arab League summit for Gaza Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:53 | en

Voltaire Network >>

SEIU Organise Janitors In Houston.

category international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press author Sunday December 11, 2005 23:26author by pat c Report this post to the editors

You wouldnt normally expect The Economist to write a favourable article about Unions but in this weeks edition (6 Dec) there is a piece about the Unionisation of janitors in Houston, Texas. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has organised 5,000 janitors, some readers might remember the Ken Loach film, Bread And Roses, which dealt with the SEIU organised strike in Los Angeles.

As The Economist requires a paid subscription to view this article, I am posting it here in full.

Janitors band together in Houston

UNIONS have never had much luck in the South. The region is home to Wal-Mart and other arch-foes of organised labour. For years, car plants have been built in Tennessee or Alabama to escape the grip of Detroit. So last week's announcement that nearly 5,000 janitors (cleaners and caretakers) in Houston were joining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was a rare breakthrough. Julius Getman, a professor at the University of Texas, thinks it is the largest union victory in the South in decades.

The SEIU takes a different approach to organising. It has organised janitors at several big companies at once. Rather than mounting a campaign at each workplace separately, it will negotiate one big industry-wide contract. This, in theory, eliminates each cleaning company's fear of being undercut by competitors if it allows higher wages. The companies agreed to stay neutral. The strategy bypasses the National Labour Relations Board, which usually oversees the unionisation of workers. That is a bonus in a place like Houston, where undocumented workers would rather not get the government involved.

Janitorial success has come to be quite a hallmark of the SEIU which, with 1.8m members, is one of the largest unions in the country. The “Justice for Janitors” campaign has been going for 20 years. The SEIU claims triumphs from Los Angeles (raising pay by more than 25%) to Chicago (getting employer-paid health benefits). Pay talks will start soon in Houston, and the SEIU will be under pressure to deliver. The starting point could hardly be lower. According to the union, Houston's janitors earn an average of $5.30 an hour, less than half what their counterparts in Philadelphia get.

Whether the Houston milestone will lead to other triumphs in the South is an open question. Nonetheless, it is a small boost for a movement that has been going through tough times recently. Union membership is in steep decline in the private sector. This summer the SEIU and a few other unions split from the AFL-CIO, America's big labour federation. Since then, the SEIU has been pursuing new strategies to boost its membership.

One of the more intriguing ideas is a contest (at www.sinceslicedbread.com) for the best proposal to boost the economy and create good jobs. It closed this week with over 22,000 entries. Our favourite is national mandatory nap time, but others include teaching personal finance in high school and tax breaks for hiring workers over 40. Encouraging creativity in itself will do organised labour no harm at all.

author by pat cpublication date Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If cleaning staff can be organised in Houston, Texas then they can be organised in Ireland. While a Joint Labour Agreement operates in the Industry to protect conditions, there are not enouhj Labour Inspectors to adequately police this.

You cannot rely on the State to enforce minimum conditions, and trhat is what they are - minimum conditions. The Unions need to put more resources in to the area of recruiting in this vast srvice industry to establish Union rates of pay and conditions of work.

 
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