The striking Palermo’s Pizza workers’ Truth Tour hits Seattle today where Palermo's workers and their allies are marching to Costco’s corporate headquarters in nearby Issaquah to urge Costco—the largest retailer of Palermo's products—to support the workers and stop selling the pizzas. Palermo's Pizza workers, who have been on strike since June 1, are demanding safe working conditions and recognition for their union.

Striking Palermo’s Pizza workers have set off on a Truth Tour to educate the public about their strike and build support for a national boycott of Palermo's products. Palermo's workers have been calling on Costco to stand with them and stop selling Palermo's Pizza products. 

Palermo’s Pizza workers have been on strike since June 1, 2012. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating charges that the company illegally fired nearly 90 workers in response to a request for recognition of the Palermo Workers Union.

Walmart warehouse workers in Mira Loma, Calif., launched a strike Wednesday morning to protest management retaliation against the workers over their September strike, speaking out about unsafe working conditions. Meanwhile, Walmart store workers around the country are making plans to spotlight Walmart’s abuse with a Black Friday/Thursday walkout.

This is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM).  

In a desperate attempt to break the solidarity and resolve of striking BCTGM members across the country, Hostess Brands is falsely claiming that its decision to close three of its bakeries—St. Louis, Cincinnati and Seattle—is the result of the nationwide strike against the company by BCTGM members.

In fact, according to the company’s 1113 filing with the bankruptcy court earlier this year, as well as its last/best/final and non-negotiable proposal to its BCTGM-represented workers, the company was planning to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan, although the company refused to disclose which bakeries it intended to close.

The 2013 edition of the Union Communication Services Inc. (UCS) Labor Books Catalog has been released, offering titles on topics about labor, including negotiating and grievance handling, organizing, health and safety, labor law and labor history. It includes many worker-friendly fiction, young adult and children’s books as well.

Workers at Hostess Brands—who in September overwhelming rejected a contract that cut wages and benefits by as much as 32%—began a strike today against the maker of Wonder Bread, Twinkies and other well-known baked treats. Hostess has imposed the terms of the rejected contract. Frank Hurt, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) says:

Hostess Brands is making a mockery of the labor relations system that has been in place for nearly 100 years.

The workers at the nonunion mine featured in Spike TV’s 2011 reality show “Coal” voted this week to join the Mine Workers (UMWA). The 23 miners work at Cobalt Coal’s Westchester in McDowell County, W.Va.

Concerns about safety practices at the mine were raised after the airing of the first few episodes last year. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training cited the mine for several violations based on practices shown in the program.

In October, American Crystal Sugar Co.—which has locked out its highly trained 1,300 member workforce since August 2011—has been assessed nearly $50,000 in fines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for widespread, “high gravity” and “serious” safety violations, including accumulation of combustible dust and failure to lock out equipment during maintenance and repair.

High levels of dangerous and combustible sugar dust was cited in the 2008 Imperial Sugar explosion that killed 14 workers at its Port Wentworth, Ga., refinery.  

While Oregonians exercised power at the polls in the 2012 elections Tuesday, workers in Portland also were gearing up for another election that would give them a powerful voice on the job.

After electoral wins across the state and three successful organizing drives in the past three months, full-time, part-time and extra board paratransit drivers and dispatchers with First Transit Region 3 voted Wednesday to form their own union with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757. By an overwhelming margin, 160 employees voted to form the union in the election yesterday, which was conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

On a recent evening, members of unions from the Iowa City Federation of Labor and other activists urged customers at the Target store in Coral Ridge Mall to boycott American Crystal Sugar products and support the workers who have been locked out since Aug. 1, 2011. See more in this video.