Picket Metro Lighting in Berkeley in Solidarity with IWW Members

Import event into your personal calendar

Date:

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Time:

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Event Type:

Protest

Organizer/Author:

Gabe Wilson

Location Details:

Metro Lighting
2121 San Pablo Ave
Berkeley, CA

Metro lighting in Berkeley claims to be a "socially and environmentally correct 'green business'," but on Thursday, August 9, 2007, they released caustic alkaline into the air as a result of unsafe disposal.

IWW members and pro-union workers were locked out morning after complaining about a serious chemical exposure in their workplace.

The lock-out is yet another union-busting move on the part of Christa and Lawrence Grown, co-owners of Metro Lighting. Workers have been taking collective action to improve their working conditions over the past five months and are demanding the following before they return to work:

Proper clean-up of dispersed chemicals (caustic alkaline) by a certified abatement company

* Certification that the work environment is safe to return to
* Raise pay from $10/hr to $12/hr for sales staff
* Settle age discrimination violation in a timely manner
* Restore IWW flag to flag holder in back workshop
* Payment for hours not worked due to this labor dispute

Join our picket in Solidarity.

For more information, call Gabe at 510-395-1324

For more information: http://www.iww.org

Added to the calendar on Fri, Aug 10, 2007 4:41PM

§A photo of the picketing workers at Metro Lighting

by Warwick Young (warsome [at] earthlink.net)

Wed, Aug 15, 2007 5:11PM

Here's a photo I took this past Sunday (August 12) of 6 of 7 Metro Lighting employees picketing in front of the store. Since this photo was taken, one of the employees is no longer with Metro by previous agreement, and Metro has hired a showroom employee to replace her.
Come down to Metro to meet these workers. They're good people.

Thanks,
Warwick Young
Former employee at Metro Lighting
El Cerrito

Add Your Comments