Six arrested at state office distributing union newsletters

[nosmokes]

News Release
THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA www.cagreens.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 26, 2005
Contact: Sara Amir 310.270-7106 [e-mail]
Stuart Bechman 805.405-3929 [e-mail]
Susan King 415.823-5524 [e-mail]
Beth Moore Haines 530.277-0610 [e-mail]

Six arrested at state office distributing
union newsletters

; Green Party says it's
more proof Schwarzenegger is anti-worker

SACRAMENTO (August 26, 2005) – The Green Party of California decried the
continuing attacks on working people by the governor today after union
leaders were arrested in a state building here this week as they attempted
to distribute newsletters to employees at the state Department of
Transportation.

"We stand with our brothers and sisters in organized labor," said Tom
Bolema, a teacher and member of the California State Employees Union
(CSEA), adding, "The governor represents big business special interests,
and those interests want to see organized labor die."

"It should now be obvious to everyone that Gov. Schwarzenegger is
anti-worker, whether it's teachers, nurses or those who work for the state.
His Special Election directly attacks workers, and now he prevents union
literature from being distributed as required by law," said Craig Peterson,
a Green Part member and member of the American Postal Workers Union.

At least six people – including the secretary-treasurer of Local 1000 of
the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – were jailed for
trespassing and refusing to obey a police officer after they entered a
"restricted" area of CalTrans. Even two members of the Legislature were
denied entry to the building.

"Whether it's workers in the hot fields of the Central Valley, or office
personnel in state offices, people have the right to organize and unions
have the right to communicate with them. These arrests were wrong," said
Hank Chabot, the GPCA archivist and team member of AFSCME.

SEIU is allowed access to its members at work sites, according to the SEIU
contract. At least one lawmaker said the arrests could spur hearings on the
matter.
-30-

[acmavm]

1. It always riles me to read or hear of people who are not committing an

illegal act being arrested in a government building. It is OUR building.

[tom_paine]

14. No it isn't. It belongs to the Imperials

You are thinking of Old America, which began it's long, slow death on 12-12-2000, and of course took it's most severe blow on the date of 9-11-2001, Amerikan Reichstag Fire Day.

Old America was free, and in such a place sentiments such as yours ring true. But, sadly, they are just as grotesquely false when speaking fo the the country we live in now, the Amerikan Empire or whatever you wish to call it.

It continues to call itself that, naturally, for the same reason the Caesars kept the Imperial Senate in place:

Because the central tenet of Roman and American Mythos were the same: WE SHALL NEVER BOW TO A KING

In both cases we see that indeed both people DID bow to Kings, and ultimately paid the price.

The Kings just had to leave some phony "democracy" crepe paper hanging in the Palace Window, as it were, to keep the rubes in line.

But it always gives me a twinge of pain to hear people speak as if the United States of America was still around.

It is not. That place is now firmly in the history books. The corpse isn't cold, and of course the Imperials are dancing with it like "Weekend At Bernie's".

But it is no less dead.

[Betsy Ross]

2. Hurray for SEIU!

We can sure hope it leads to a hearing.

[Igel]

3. What sort of restricted area? n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I was wondering that too

If it was a restricted area, they can't complain about being arrested, can they?

[nosmokes]

6. not necessarily

when i was a union bully, er, union rep, it was in our contracts, and it's pretty standard boiler plate language for labor agreements, that union reps have unlimited access toany place they have jurisdiction over. so i was perfectly entitled to go into any damn restricted area where my union may have been expected to perform work. i would bet dollars to donuts that similar wording exists in the CBA that these folks have. i am outraged that union officials have been arrested on government property.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I also used to be a union rep

and our folks had access as well. But there were rules they had to follow. If they violated them, our employer would have jumped all over the violators.

[Igel]

11. I'm fairly sure there are places in CalTrans where I wouldn't have

wanted unauthorized people to go when I lived there.

The standard boilerplate language should have been scrutinized by the state.

I can't tell if the state's actions constitute a provocation (banning completely normal day-to-day union activities for no good purpose) or the union's actions constitute a provocation (taking advantage of a poorly worded contract not so much to conduct union business as to raise a ruckus).

[wli]

5. more fascist union-busting n/t

[ninkasi]

7. The gropenfuhrer is anti-union...

He's been in bed with big business and the energy companies since before the people of California suffered a bout of temporary insanity and elected him. At least their insanity appears to have been temporary...I'm in Texas, where it appears to be permanent.

[olddad56]

15. that nazi is anti-human.

[Robert Oak]

8. glad the greens put this out there to be picked up

working Americans are under attack, well assault.

I hope everyone is aware that there is a huge campaign to "cripple"
the EEOC through not funding it, "re-orging" it and other methods
to basically make it impossible for them to execute on their charter
to enforce our discrimination worker laws.

[Mairead]

9. Has any spokie for the Dems said anything about this? (nt)

[struggle4progress]

12. kick

[nosmokes]

13. here's the SacBee version

which it finally dawned on me to get...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/13469187p-14310125c.html">original

Union leaders arrested on trespassing charges



By Rachel Osterman -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, August 25, 2005
Story appeared on Page A3 of The Bee
One of the top leaders of a state employees union and several labor representatives were arrested Wednesday as they sought to link a dispute about access to state buildings with the larger struggle between organized labor and the Schwarzenegger administration.

Cathy Hackett, secretary-treasurer of Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union, was arrested on charges of trespassing and failure to obey a police order, along with five other union employees and activists.

All six tried, without success, to distribute union newsletters inside a restricted area of the state Department of Transportation building on N Street.

Under the union's contract and state law, the union is allowed access to its members at work sites, though such access may be denied for security reasons.

SEIU says Caltrans is violating the union's legal rights. The agency, however, says it's only following post-9/11 safety restrictions that bar nonemployees from entering the building without prior permission.

"It's the governor shutting us down, trying to silence us from communicating with our members," Hackett said after being released from Sacramento County jail. "We have a union contract that gives us the right to distribute literature to the workers."

Hackett and other union leaders were joined Wednesday members by two Democratic Assembly members - Mark Leno of San Francisco and Karen Bass of Los Angeles. Both showed their Assembly identification but were not allowed to enter the building.
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