Will IKEA be the Next Wal-Mart?
Machinists and Swedwood Reach First Agreements for CBA
October 13, 2011 - The Swedwood management in Danville, Virigina and the Machinists reached their first tentative agreement.
Danville, Virginia: Swedwood Workers Vote Union YES!
July 27, 2011 - In a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, an agency of the United States Federal Government, workers at Swedwood’s operation in Danville Virginia voted to be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), and affiliate of the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI).
African Trade Unionists Support Swedwood Workers (Click to see Video)
Press Release:
IKEA Violates IWAY within first 24 hours of election campaign!
June 23, 2010 - Danville, Virginia. It only took IKEA 24 hours to violate the ILO Freedom of Association Convention, its Global Framework Agreement with Builders and Woodworkers International, (BWI), and thus its own IWAY. IKEA: Respect the Rights of the Workers!
IKEA: Respect the Rights of the Workers!
The Building and Wood Worker's International (BWI) has been receiving alarming reports from the Swedwood plant in Danville, USA. Workers have reported that they have been dismissed just for saying they would welcome joining a union to protect their rights. Other reports claim that some managers are discriminating against workers. Clearly all is not well at this factory, which a few years ago was opened by IKEA’s subsidiary Swedwood, in the small town of Danville in the state of Virginia in the USA. Swedwood is 100% owned by the IKEA group and has its headquarters in Sweden, the home of IKEA. Swedwood is the company which produces more wood furniture products than any other for IKEA and probably produces more furniture than any other company in the world.
Click here for up-to-date information on Swedwood-IKEA.
Sawtown Report V5 N2 - Do We Need Unions?
I was asked if an employer provided everything that a union provides would we still need unions?
The first obvious answer is if an employer provided everything that the union does then one would not need unions. But on further reflection it is clear that even if an employer matched the union wage scale, benefits, and working conditions there are still three reasons why unions would still be needed.
George, an outspoken union member was in the break room yesterday complaining, “The Post Office just lost another 55 million dollars. It was on Fox news last night. It’s time we just privatize the entire operation.”
A conservative talk show guest recites that, “All Government does is to suck the private sector dry with high taxes. If we could only get government off of the back of business the economy would recover.” All the other talk show guests nod in agreement. The camera is turned off and the show is edited and eventually sent across the airwaves to TV’s across America on a network that exists solely because government regulates the public airwaves. The talk show guest heads home by taking a taxi regulated by the city on the interstate road network established by President Eisenhower, to an airport built with tax dollars to a plane guided to its destination safely by air traffic controllers
The letter began, “I never thought much about unions. I had no use for them actually. Until I started to work here. Now in this economy I can’t find another job and I owe too much on my house to move. So if you could get a union in here it sure would help.”
With the mill only running one shift and not even a full week, the Maintenance guys, who never use our break room, have started hanging out. Bored I guess, most the PM’s are done, they just sit there waiting for the whistle to summon them to a break down, so it seems.
October 26, 2009 - Harvest festivals abound this time of year. Horns-of-plenty filled with fruit appear out of nowhere, much like zucchini in Sawtown. In fact one of our more enterprising members has printed up bumper stickers that read, “Friends don’t give friends zucchini”. They are selling like hot cakes around town. You really need to live in Sawtown to understand how every spring forgetful gardeners plant that second and occasionally, third zucchini plant. Then comes September, while most of the garden has rotted because of yet another cold wet summer and lack of sunshine. Then in late September and early October there is usually a time of about 18 glorious days of sun. Kids are in school wondering why the good weather waited and overnight every squash plant has a 6 inch zucchini. The next day it is 12 inches long and by weeks end it is measured in kilotons. Then it is when gardeners make a mental note to only plant one zucchini plant next year.
September 1, 2009 - Starbucks has several coffee shops inGeneva, Switzerland. Given the lines in front of the stores most of the time it appears that they are doing quite well. The Francophone Swiss clearly enjoy a good cup of sweetened Joe.
June 25, 2009 - The wheels of my suitcase roll across the tile entry way which at this particular moment is an exit way as another trip begins. There is no Willie Nelson singing in my head, "On the road again" nor is there any Tom Petty telling me that we, "Won't back down". No, as I back the car out of the drive and aim for the airport, it's Paul Simon talking about going to "Graceland". Which is close enough, since the destination is Hot Springs, actually a little place, not even a town, outside of Hot Springs.
April 14, 2009 - On February 5, 1637, at a tulip auction in Alkmaar, of the United Provinces (now referred to as the Netherlands), Wouter Winkel's tulip collection sold for 90,000 guilders. To place that in context a carpenter that year could expect to earn about 250 guilders, a merchant about 1,500 guilders, and a wealthy merchant about 5,200 guilders. Four barrels of beer cost 32 guilders and 1,000 pounds of cheese about 120 guilders. By any measure this was a huge sum of money. One week later, in another auction in Haarlem of the United Provinces just a few miles away, the price for tulips was zero. Thus began one of the more famous market crashes of western civilization.*
