NYC: ML King Day protest to demand Justice for Woodlawn Cemetery Workers: No to Union Busting, No to Layoffs, No to Poverty Wages!

The Woodlawn Cemetery workers, also known as the Band of Brothers, are fighting for their jobs and need our support.

See the press release below from their union, Teamsters Local 808. We urge you to join us in this struggle: it's a crucial labor struggle in which the brothers are genuinely standing up and drawing the line not only for themselves, but for all workers in New York City. Let's not let the cold weather stop us -- rather, let's heat it up and help the Band of Brothers win.

 

Just as an injury to one is an injury to all, so a victory for the Woodlawn Cemetery workers will be a victory for all of us!

International Brotherhood of TEAMSTERS  Local 808, Chris Silvera, Sec-Treas

For Immediate Release: January 11, 2011

Contact: Chris Silvera, 718-389-1900

ML King Day protest to demand Justice for Woodlawn Cemetery Workers:

No to Union Busting, No to Layoffs, No to Poverty Wages!

Teamsters Local 808 announced today that the union, which represents workers at Woodlawn Cemetery in the northwest Bronx, has called a major protest at both cemetery entrances for Monday, January 17, Martin Luther King Day, 10:30am – 2pm. The entrances are located at Webster Avenue and West 233rd Street on the north, and Jerome and Woodlawn on the south. Both entrances are accessible by subway: the 2 train to East 233rd St., and the 4 train to Woodlawn. 

The Martin Luther King Day protest focuses on Woodlawn management’s announced plans to outsource 23 of the remaining 38 union jobs at Woodlawn, as an act of vengeance against the workers for choosing a fighting union to represent them. Woodlawn management told the union it has contracted with the Brickman group, a Westchester-based firm that exploits immigrant labor, underpaying them and then abandoning them when they stand up and ask questions. 

“These good jobs in the Bronx must be protected,” said Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 808. “If we allow Woodlawn Cemetery to defeat these workers, there will be a Tsunami throughout the cemetery industry that will hit the Latino and minority workforce hard, and set off a wave of loss of good wages, health coverage and pensions for workers and their families.” 

Local 808 is calling on its allies throughout the New York City labor movement, churches and community organizations to join the rally on Monday, January 17 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Pledges to participate and help with the organizing have been received from the South Bronx Community Congress, the Bronx Green Party, the Freedom Party, and the Bail Out the People Movement. Numerous union locals will also be present, in addition to the Teamsters, who have expressed their concern that if Woodlawn management can succeed in smashing the cemetery workers’ union, their unions will also be in danger.

The Woodlawn website describes the cemetery as “One of the nation’s distinctive ‘garden cemeteries’,” adding that “Woodlawn provides a spectacular setting to honor the three hundred thousand individuals memorialized on its grounds.” Those honored include jazz greats Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Celia Cruz, as well as African American pioneer Madam C.J. Walker – all of whom dedicated their lives to racial justice and equality. Woodlawn workers, led by the Band of Brothers, have conducted a years-long campaign against plantation-style racially abusive management practices at the cemetery. They recently chose Teamsters Local 808 as their bargaining agent.