S.F. Retail Clerks fight concessions

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SAN FRANCISCO-Three thousand department store workers, members of Department Store Employees Union Local 1100, are negotiating with Macy's and Emporium-Capwell department stores in this city.

Contract negotiations began in early May. The current contract expired on May 31. Union members are now working without an extension of their contract—a first for Local 1100.

The only extension the employers would sign was one which prohibited sidewalk rallies and distribution of union leaflets to the general public. Local 1100 members in turn responded by refusing to give up their First Amendment rights and continued their spirited rallies and leafleting to Macy's and Emporium's clientele.

The employers are demanding enormous takeaways that would all but decimate the union contract. Some of their major takeaway demands are the following:

• six-day work week with no overtime (six days at six hours/day), straight-time pay for Sundays holidays, eliminate five current • right to fire for any infraction of a company rule, • right of executives to do union work without restriction, right to change schedules with only 24hours notice, elimination of any contract benefits for those injured on the job, elimination of contract protection against discrimination for race, sex, creed, or sexual orientation.

In addition to these demands, the employers have indicated that they will make further demands involving items such as seniority, jury duty leave, and pay.

Macy's and the Emporium have been conducting a well-organized union-busting campaign as illustrated by their takeaway demands, their refusal to sign a contract extension, and regular letters to union members attacking the efforts of the union negotiating committee.

These tactics however, have also served to unite Local 1100 members in their efforts to defend their hard-won rights. Local 1100 members are conducting their own campaign to cement their ties with other unions and community groups in the Bay Area. Plans are now underway for a solidarity rally to protest the increasingly widespread use of union-busting tactics.

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... Teamsters (continued from page 1: “Gov't attacks all labor in Teamsters takeover move”)

should the U.S. government be relied upon to do the job?

To begin with, to call on the government to clean up corruption among top union leaders is like asking the burglar to catch the thief.

This is the same government which has earned distinction for its back-to-back productions of Watergate and Contragate. In fact, the government itself has recently been sued in a Florida court under the same racketeers act which the Justice Department is using to go after the Teamsters union.

The Christic Institute, which filed the suit, has thoroughly documented 25 years of illegal acts of terrorism by the U.S. government against foreign governments and leaders. [See article pp. 7-10.] A large portion of Reagan's top administration officials, moreover, have been investigated for and/or convicted of graft and illegal activity.

A Teamster driver interviewed on television the day the Justice Department announced its lawsuit revealed his deep distrust of the government when he stated: "The government is corrupt, the PTL is corrupt...so who gives the government the right to intervene in our union?"

More important, this is the same Jackie Presser government that busted the strike of the PATCO air controllers in 1982 and that has used every opportunity to break unions and attack the labor movement.

Corruption isn't the issue Did the government only recently discover mob influence in the Teamsters? Hardly. Mafia influence covers a 30-year period.

The last five presidents of the Teamsters union-Dave Beck, Jimmy Hoffa, Frank Fitzsimmons, Roy Williams, and now Jackie Presser-faced criminal prosecution. Three of them landed in jail, one is presumed murdered, and another is awaiting trial.

Presser has never stood for rank-and-file election in his entire union career. This didn't seem to bother the government. Nor was the government concerned with the fact that Presser collected over half-a-million dollars in wages and benefits-some of it as an FBI informant.

Why then has the Justice Department decided to take over the Teamsters union?

The answer is not hard to find. The campaign against corruption offers the government a convenient pretext for intervening in unions—-and the Teamsters union is an easy target. The government would like to set a precedent in this case to intervene in every union in the country.

Anticipating response from ranks The government is also concerned that graft among Teamster officials is often so blatant that it threatens to ignite a broad membership response.

By anticipating this membership reaction and acting before it matures, the government can take charge of the "housecleaning." This is accomplished by wrapping the various government committees and agents in an anti-graft and anti-corruption banner.

In these cases, the bureaucrats are unceremoniously dropped by their patrons. Jackie Presser's friendship with Reagan, jimmy Hoffa accept any concessions in its latest contract negotiations.

Response of Teamster activists A discussion of the government's lawsuit is occurring among union members. The TDU steering committee is "currently investigating and discussing the issue and has recommended that information and debate be encouraged."

Discussion is good, but the steering committee's non-committal statement also indicates that there is a certain amount of confusion surrounding the issue of government trusteeship.

Many Teamsters-including leaders of the TDU-have supported the government's lawsuit on the grounds that it represents a "lesser evil" to the Mafia-influenced