A-Infos (en) 4/24 Press Release: UNION OFFER REBUFFED

[john in seattle <bp172@scn.org>]

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      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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Contact: IWW (Seattle) 206-726-6250, bp172@scn.org
and Alexa Gilbert, 206-748-9855, AlexaMGilbert@aol.com

A.C.O.R.N. Refuses offer from Union to negotiate:

Union charges that counter offer "lacks substance".

(Seattle)-Striking workers at the Washington ACORN office, represented by
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) made an offer last week to
settle the strike, in exchange for union recognition and negotiations for
a contract. The offer was initially ignored, then rejected at the 11th
hour.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is facing a
hearing in Federal court with the National Labor Relations Board, and the
NLRB may issue a formal complaint at the end of the week regarding unfair
labor practice charges filed by the union. The hearing is likely to result
in the reinstatement of firing workers with full back pay.

Instead of taking the request for union recognition and negotiations into
consideration, ACORN insisted that the IWW drop all charges, in exchange
for concessions that the union is already likely to be entitled to under a
NLRB ruling. The offer mentions nothing about recognizing the union at the
Washington office, and lacks substance.

"ACORN has stated that they want labor peace and will let the union
organize now. I guess  that is an easy thing to say, after they have spent
4 months firing and purging all union supporters and sympathizers from
their national organization", says John Persak, and IWW organizer in
Seattle. "This is yet another example of the hypocrisy ACORN workers have
been complaining about".

Workers at the Washington ACORN office struck on February 26th, after
presenting their manager, Doug Bloch with a majority showing of union
cards. The union filed for an election with the NLRB, but charges filed
against the union (later found "without merit"by the NLRB) by the employer
held up that process. The IWW asserts that ACORN wants to avoid an
election at all in that facility, because they know the union will win;
hence the continued insistence for a "national" bargaining unit.

"ACORN can talk about labor peace when they recognize the union at their
Washington facility; the workers are not backing down from that
demand," adds Persak.


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