Jane Von Bergen reports in today’s paper…
After the petition was filed, Walsh said, he was cut to four days. Next week, for the first time since he started 15 months ago, he was assigned a Saturday night shift, which he said his supervisor knows will conflict with his other job.
“I believe they want to get rid of us as security guards before we have the opportunity to vote,” Walsh said.
Since these workers filed to form their union, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) has begun a campaign of illegal intimidation, retaliation and even sub-contracting these worker jobs out.
Last Friday, the DRWC held a mandatory meeting for the guards to address their filing for a union election.
Joe Forkin,Vice-President of Operations (a man who the guards had never met before), came in and spoke to the guards. He talked about how the DRWC has no problem with unions and that they work with them all the time. Mr. Forkin explained the election process to the guards (they filed for the election themselves, they already knew the process). Mr. Forkin came across as friendly and gave the impression that the workers rights would be respected. Then, he handed the meeting over to his pit bull, Yolanda Young, Security Supervisor.
Mr. Forkin left the room so that he wouldn’t have to be there when she began her effort to have all of the union supporters get fired.
Ms. Young changed every body’s shifts even though the workers told her that the changes would be impossible for them. The guards say that they has never been an top-to-bottom schedule change before.
The guards complained. There is plenty of room to accommodate workers since all of them have a problem with the changes and the workers have already pointed out how they have found shifts that they can trade with each other to make it work for every one. Ms. Young said that she would not change the shifts for any one, no matter what. As if the new company policy is that every one must get fired from their other jobs to keep this $8/hour job.
Ms. Young also informed the guards that everyone’s hours would be cut back by one shift. AND also that the DRWC was going to hire another guard. You heard that right, they are cutting back and expanding the same department.
Finally, on Saturday night, James Wilkons, a guard at the DRWC, called-out sick with an injury. James Mason, his co-worker, volunteered to pick up Wilkons’ shift. Ms. Young informed Mason that she would not allow people to pick up shifts any more and
that this shift would be picked up by a sub-contracted guard from Top Of The Clock.
This is illegal union-busting at its worst. Despite Mr. Forkin’s platitudes to the media, the DRWC is orchestrating a deliberate effort to violate the rights of these workers.
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