Trump Hotel Workers Demand Trump Recognize Their Union

Donald John Trump was a featured speaker at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). (Michael Vadon photograph.)

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Workers Independent News is heard Monday through Friday at 8:45 and 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

The Culinary and Bartenders union is pushing Trump Hotel Las Vegas to start negotiations today (Monday) after the NLRB certified the union to represent more than 500 workers. Trump Hotel’s efforts to block the vote were rejected by the National Labor Relations Board. Trump’s company ran an aggressive anti-union campaign even as Trump tries to appeal for worker support in his presidential campaign. AnneMarie Strassel is with UNITE-HERE’s Union of Hospitality Workers.

“Trump’s company has yet to sit down and recognize that union and bargain a first contract. He says he’s a world famous negotiator. If he really wants to make America great again he should start by negotiating with these workers, making a deal with them.”

Maria Jaramillo works at Trump Hotel Las Vegas, She says Trump pays workers less than other hotel workers on the Vegas strip.

“We’re not second-class employees. We want the same treatment as the strip, ‘cause we work the same job, the same title and we’re getting paid less. And we got no respect inside the hotel.”

Judge Rules Wisconsin ‘Right To Work’ Law Unconstitutional

Wisconsin’s anti-union “Right To Work” was ruled unconstitutional by a Dane County Circuit Court judge Friday. But the anti-union Walker administration vows to appeal the ruling to the right-wing state supreme court. That court has a 5-2 conservative majority. Judge C. William Foust ruled that that the law took union property without just compensation. That’s because the law allowed workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to stop paying dues for that service while still legally compelling unions to represent the workers who don’t pay for the service. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers and machinists’ unions filed the suit.

Federal Judge Blocks Lyft Proposed Settlement, Says It Short-Changes Drivers

A federal judge has blocked preliminary approval of a proposed settlement in a class action suit against Lyft, an app based taxi service company. Lyft drivers and the Teamsters filed legal objections to the proposed settlement. The judge said the proposed settlement of $12.25 million grossly undervalued the drivers’ claims and shortchanged drivers by half in just the reimbursement portion of the claims. The federal court sided with the Teamsters by finding seriously defects in the economic aspects of the proposed settlement. As to the way Lyft drivers are classified, the court said the Teamsters made good arguments but that issue is best directed to legislative or executive branches of government. The Teamsters maintain Lyft drivers are employees not independent contractors as the company claims.