Labor: August 2007

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Allegan News refuses to publish Letter to the Editor... so much for "Freedom of the Press"

The Allegan County News, which like all newspapers in the area has repeatedly refused to publish one single word concerning the health, rights, and welfare of casino workers.

The assistant Editor, Mr. Lewis, told me that my original Letter to the Editor was too long.

I asked him what the requirements of his newspaper are since many of the letters supporting this casino have been in excess of 1,500 words.

I edited the letter down to his requirement. He told me the letter would be published. I gave him full and complete authorization to further edit this Letter to the Editor in any way he saw fit.

My Letter to the Editor of the Allegan News was a direct response to the lies published in this so-called "newspaper" whose Editor, Mr. Brown, has never seen fit to so much as ask one single question concerning labor issues and this "Compact" Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm negotiated with the Gun Lake Band.

In fact, the Allegan News has been assured by the Gun Lake Band that it will receive thousands of dollars in advertising every week from this casino venture.

The news media, like Michigan politicians--- Democratic and Republican--- have become mere pimps and prostitutes in the stable of the Fertitta Family whose Station Casinos will manage this new casino and reap hundreds of millions of dollars a year in profits.

The Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council will distribute this Letter to the Editor to residents within a forty mile radius of the casino site in order to inform people of the facts.

This Letter to the Editor will carry the headline: The Allegan News refused to publish this Letter to the Editor.

[Please note: I would encourage anyone considering working in this casino to contact me about our union organizing campaign now underway... we can not wait until the casino is up and running.]

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 2:46 PM
To: rmlewis@allegannews.com
Subject: Re: edited letter on casino workers and Gun Lake Compact; please confirm you received this e-mail

August 6, 2007

Letter to the Editor, Allegan News; Submitted for publication
[Note: Per our telephone conversation. This letter has been edited as requested; as the writer I extend to the Editor the right to edit in any manner as deemed appropriate for publication.](actual letter, approximately 600 words excluding this introduction and contact info)

There are those who want to continue forward with this Gun Lake Casino Compact completely oblivious to the truth; and, the injustices it will spawn:

* There will be no $40,000.00 a year jobs for casino workers;

* Casino workers will work in smoke-filled casinos without any rights under state, federal, or tribal labor laws. Would any member of the Southwest Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council work under these circumstances? Definitely not; in addition to established labor laws they have a union contract. Workers in this Gun Lake Casino will be employed under terms called “at will hiring, at will firing” with no recourse what-so-ever against unjust terminations. No construction worker would pick up a shovel under such terms of employment.

* Casino workers will have no voice at work;

* Without rights in the workplace, casino workers have no rights in the communities where they live--- say something your employer doesn’t like (for instance: the minimum wage should be increased to a level
commensurate with the calculations of the United States Department of Labor for what is a real living income) at a legislative hearing and you are out the door;

* Young women casino workers are in the majority among casino workers; these women of child-bearing age suffer the worst health related problems of second-hand smoke; a problem casino managements have refused to address [For those concerned about fetuses second-hand smoke is a great peril];

* Heart, lung, and cancer related health problems associated with second-hand smoke afflict casino workers more than workers in any other industry according to leading experts with the Heart and Lung Foundation and American Cancer Society;

* Workers will be fired for attempting to organize a union in order to protect their rights through the collective bargaining process;

* The Fertitta Family operates a string of non-union casinos under the name “Station Casinos” which will manage the Gun Lake Casino.

So far, not one single Michigan Legislator or media outlet has challenged the proponents of this Gun Lake Casino “Compact” to come forward with documentation supporting the outlandish claim that these jobs will be paying $40,000.00 a year.

The only thing they would have to request is a listing of each job and what the specific job will pay on an hourly basis; and, what that job will be projected to pay for the year.

Since the Gun Lake Band, the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce, and the Southwest Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council have all stated that jobs and wages are a primary reason for considering this casino venture, they should be willing to provide the hard empirical data supporting this claim of $40,000.00 a year jobs for casino workers together with articulating the conditions of the working environment; they have not.

The dirty and under-handed manner in which this “Compact” has been brought forward without answering these very basic queries and requests for empirical data calls into question the very basic premise and underpinnings of our democracy as questions are prevented from being asked, discussion is stifled and limited at both the grassroots level and the Legislative level to only those who support this “Compact;” all making a complete mockery of democracy.

“Tribal Sovereignty” is no excuse for systematically continuing to deny casino workers their very basic and fundamental human rights.

This Gun Lake Compact should be rejected as written and Governor Granholm should be told to renegotiate this Compact taking into consideration the rights of casino workers to work in a healthy, smoke-free work environment with the exact same rights construction and all other workers in the State of Michigan enjoy under state and federal labor laws.

Thank you for allowing me to clarify what is at issue;

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763

218-386-2432
cell: 651-587-5541

Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

What you can do to keep the St. Paul Ford Assembly Plant operating under public ownership...

I continue to receive many e-mails and phone calls asking what can be done to help keep the Plant open... this is typical of my responses... please feel free to copy and paste this into an e-mail of your own: Dear Alan, What can I do to help get out word about the Ford Plant closing. I want to help but don't know where to start. Why is there so little interest in this? signed... My response generally runs like this: Thanks for your letter. The problems of working people don't appear to be too high on the priority lists of most media--- newspaper, radio, or TV. Actually there has been a great deal of interest in our proposal for public ownership whenever people have had the chance to read our article, and some legislation is now being introduced in the Minnesota legislature to prevent Ford from demolishing the plant as they intend to do (see link below). My blog postings on this issue have attracted quite a bit of attention. However, the main reason for “so little interest” is the fact that the major media seems to be kind of “boycotting” any discussion of the concept of “public ownership” of the plant at this point; I think this speaks directly to the issue of what kind of “free press” we have in this country and who this “free press” is beholden to. I sent out an op/ed piece to over 25 newspapers around Labor Day; “coincidentally” not one got published even though several of the papers have often published my views on a variety of issues from the rights of casino workers, to mine closings, contract negotiations, ending the war in Iraq, the minimum wage, etc. It seems the issue of “public ownership” is taboo… but, if the media becomes aware that many other people like yourself consider this a legitimate alternative then they will start picking the issue up, if for no other reason than to attack the proposal, which would create more interest. Anything you can do to use the internet, etc. to get more interest in this question would be fantastic! Perhaps send out an e-mail with links to my blog and the links below and encourage everyone receiving the e-mail to send it to everyone they know. Try to get a letter to the editor published. Even if they won’t print it, it lets the media know people are considering the idea. One thing you and others can do is to circulate very widely the article that Christine Frank and I wrote; ask others to post the article or a link to it. We are each like little snowflakes, we don’t amount to much… but if we all start circulating this article widely we will have the effect of a Midwest blizzard. Here is a link to an updated article: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/3634 I would encourage you to contact as many Minnesota legislators as possible to get behind this proposed legislation... it is very important that Ford not be allowed to demolish this plant so we have time to continue community and state-wide grassroots and rank and file efforts for public ownership of the plant. I have not had time to post this article to my blog yet… but will do so today. Another link I would encourage you to look at and circulate widely: http://www.laborandsustainability.org/ I am cc’ing your letter on to Christine Frank, perhaps she also has some suggestions for you; and to State Representative Bill Hilty. I have bcc’ed your letter to several other people who have expressed a similar concern. Perhaps they will contact you with their ideas, too. I would appreciate it if you would keep me posted on what you decide to do. This is for sure one situation where “out of sight, is out of mind.” It will take tremendous grassroots efforts to get things moving. I would encourage you to contact State Representatives and push the idea of public ownership (you might want to include their e-mail addresses if you decide to send out an e-mail to your friends: Bill Hilty- rep.bill.hilty@house.mn ; Tony Sertich- rep.tony.sertich@house.mn ; and Tom Rukavina- rep.tom.rukavina@house.mn ; Tom Anzelc- rep.tom.anzelc@house.mn I believe these legislators will be key to moving this issue forward… especially Bill Hilty and Tony Sertich. I am also including the link to my daily blog for your convenience if you want to put all of this together for an e-mail… or even just forward this e-mail on to others and ask them to do the same: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/ The link to our article is: http://laborjournal.blogspot.com/2006/12/ford-twin-cities-assembly-plant.html Some people have told me the issue of “public ownership” is too controversial. However, I don’t hear any other better alternatives than what Christine and I have proposed in our article to keep this plant open. Quite frankly, I believe that in a democracy such decisions as plant shut-downs should be made with the full participation of all affected and not in secrecy behind the closed doors of corporate board-rooms… I believe this issue is one that if so basic and fundamental to what kind of democracy we have in this country that everyone should be raising their voices demanding a say in the future of the Ford Plant in St. Paul… if we can’t be part of the decision making process on such basic questions, democracy becomes kind of a farce. By the way, where do you live and work? Let’s keep in touch. Yours in the struggle, Alan

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Thursday, August 9, 2007

Allegan News refuses to publish Letter to the Editor... so much for "Freedom of the Press"

What you can do to keep the St. Paul Ford Assembly Plant operating under public ownership...