Dairy workers at YoCream
join Teamsters Local 305
Dairy workers at YoCream Interna-
tional Inc., a division of global French
food group Danone SA, voted July 20
to join Portland-based Teamsters Local
305.
“We’re very satisfied that we are
getting representation from the Team-
sters because the Teamsters represent
almost all of the dairies in our area,”
said Christopher Greenlee, a lead pas-
teurizer and one of the 45 new Team-
ster members at YoCream. “We organ-
ized to improve our pay, have better
communication with the company, and
have a say in our work rules.”
YoCream, a family-owned frozen
yogurt company founded in 1977, was
purchased by Danone for $103 million
in 2010. The Danone brand is marketed
in the United States as Dannon.
“We are very pleased with this sig-
nificant vote for union representation.
Credit goes to organizer Mark
MacPherson, who met with the work-
ers and was instrumental in aiding in
this victory for them,” said Tony An-
drews, president of Teamsters Joint
Council 37 and secretary-treasurer of
Local 305. “We are certainly going to
work to bring these workers the full
level of Teamster benefits.”
Through its global presence, the
Teamsters Union has maintained a pos-
itive record of relations with Danone.
The Teamsters Union is affiliated with
the International Union of Food Work-
ers (IUF), a Geneva-based global fed-
eration of trade unions. As part of the
IUF’s international framework agree-
ment with Danone, company leaders
meet annually with one union repre-
sentative from each Danone facility
worldwide.
Unions boycott Hyatt
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — Fed
up with the Hyatt hotel chain’s contin-
ued alleged mistreatment and discrimi-
nation against its workers, unions and
other organizations on July 23 launched
a boycott of many Hyatts. Later in the
week, protesters marched in front of
Hyatt hotels in 20 cities.
There are no unionized Hyatt hotels
in Oregon.
The boycott comes as UNITE
Connie Ashbrook
named to federal
apprentice panel
Connie Ashbrook, director of Ore-
gon Tradeswomen Inc. in Portland, has
been reappointed as a public represen-
tative to the U.S.
Department of
Labor’s Advisory
Committee on
Apprenticeship.
The 27-mem-
ber Advisory
Committee pro-
vides advice and
ASHBROO K
recommenda-
tions on the de-
velopment and implementation of poli-
cies, legislation and regulations
affecting apprenticeship; the prepara-
tion of the American workforce for em-
ployment through training programs;
and strategies that meet the competitive
labor demands of a global economy.
The appointment was announced
July 19 by Secretary of Labor Hilda
Solis.
Ashbrook has served on the com-
mittee since 2010.
August marks the 75th anniversary
of the National Apprenticeship Act of
1937, which led to the establishment of
the Advisory Committee on Appren-
ticeship.
PAGE 8
HERE, the union representing Hyatt’s
workers, reports no progress in solving
the issues that led to the drastic move.
“Hyatt systematically abuses house-
keepers and other hotel workers, and it
is unacceptable in 2012 that women en-
dure debilitating injuries as a result of
the work they do cleaning rooms,”
UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm
told a press conference. “We call on
Hyatt to end its systematic abuse of
housekeepers and adopt the recommen-
dations made by the federal government
to reduce the physical strain associated
with housekeeping work.”
Hyatt’s actions include mass firing
of its unionized Boston housekeepers,
their replacement by out-of-state temps
paid minimum wage, and posting sex-
ually derogatory images of two of its
Hispanic female housekeepers in one
California Hyatt hotel. There have been
so many anti-worker Hyatt actions in
Indianapolis that the city council there
passed a workers’ rights ordinance ban-
ning reliance on temps.
Working conditions in Hyatt hotels
produce so many ergonomic injuries
that the chain drew a warning letter in
May about the problem from the fed-
eral Occupational Safety and Health
Administration. There have been no
OSHA sanctions, yet.
Hyatt also refuses to negotiate im-
proved wages and working conditions
at its unionized hotels.
The wide-ranging coalition boy-
cotting Hyatt includes the AFL-CIO,
the National Football League Players
Association, the National Organization
for Women and other womens’ rights,
gay rights, and religious groups.
The boycott does not cover Hyatt
hotels with union contracts in force in
Hawaii, New York City, San Jose,
Monterey and Mission Bay, Calif.,
Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dearborn, Mich.,
Denver, Toronto, Rosemont, Ill., Van-
couver, B.C., and Washington, D.C.
A conversation with Sen. Merkley
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (standing) met with several dozen union members July 27 for a “Conversation With Senator
Merkley” sponsored by the Oregon AFL-CIO. Merkley, a Democrat who is nearly two-thirds through his first term,
has been a staunch ally for the middle class and labor on Capitol Hill. “Sen. Merkley is ranked by the AFL-CIO as
one of the top U.S. senators on worker issues,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain, pictured above at
the podium next to Merkley. Merkley spent 90 minutes with the mostly rank-and-file audience answering a wide
range of questions about jobs, health care, and the economy. (Photo by Russell Sanders.)
Motorcycle poker
run fundraiser for
Guide Dogs Aug. 25
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
The 6th annual Guide Dogs Dash
motorcycle poker run will be held Sat-
urday, Aug. 25. The event, sponsored by
Machinists Lodge 63, will start and fin-
ish at Machinists District W24 Hall, 25
Cornell Ave., Gladstone. Registration is
at 9 a.m. Registration is $25 per rider
and $10 per passenger and includes a T-
shirt, barbecue, and raffle prizes. All
proceeds go to Guide Dogs of America.
For more info, go on line to www.
iamll63.org or at www.iamw24. org.
AUGUST 3, 2012