As progressive Rhode Island State Rep. David Segal announced on Daily Kos last Thursday, a coalition of progressives are using smart, strategic leverage to stand up for union workers.
Netroots Nation -- the annual conference of online activists and progressive thinkers, formerly known as "Yearly Kos" -- announced that they want to come to Providence, Rhode Island in 2011. That would bring $2 million of economic activity to the area.
But they're attaching one condition: The Westin hotel, where the conference would take place, just slashed worker pay by 20%. Netroots Nation insists that must be reversed.
Rep. David Segal is co-sponsoring the petition with Netroots Nation, RIFuture.org, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Segal will personally deliver the signatures to hotel management this week -- inviting the media to attend.
We're at 1,340 signatures -- can you help us reach 2,000 before the petition delivery? Click here to sign.
Management unilaterally quadrupled employee health insurance costs
Management threatened to replace workers with subcontracted labor like the controversial "Hyatt 100" decision in Boston
Management fired three workers in retaliation for joining a picket line (they were later reinstated four months later - after the NLRB became involved)
Management broke off contract talks with the hotel workers.
As David Segal wrote, "progressives have exerted smart leverage in this fight." The more of us who pile on before this week's petition delivery, the more leverage we will have.
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