Blog: May 2009

Maritza, Puerto Rican Mother: Unsafe workplace and resistance to unionizing

There’s not a lot of safety in our factory. There’s not enough space
to walk down the aisles. We’re almost sitting on top of each other. The
walls, fans, and lamps are dirty. The bathrooms aren’t in the best
conditions – the toilet seats are broken and many of the toilets don’t
work. Sometimes there isn’t toilet paper. We are lucky to get paid
maternity leave that ranges between 20-60 days. We are offered a
medical plan but it’s expensive; for me the family medical plan costs
me $150 per month and it doesn’t even cover pharmaceuticals. We don’t
have paid sick leave: right now we’re organizing to have our legal
rights to12 paid sick days per year.

May Day Fails its Promise to Workers

On April 19, while President Obama was shaking hands with Colombia’s President Uribe, mine workers for a US coal company in Colombia were being violently assaulted by Colombia’s National Guard. The workers were engaged in a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with a worker who was killed on the job on March 23, and to demand enforcement of better safety and health protections in the workplace. National Guardsmen surrounded the meeting with tanks, injured several workers, and detained the union leaders.

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