Res. No. 1150
Title
Resolution in support of Local 169 of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees' (UNITE) efforts to unionize the workers in the city's greengroceries.
Body
By Council Members Lopez, Espada, Freed, Linares, Marshall, Moskowitz, Quinn and Reed; also Council Members McCaffrey, Michels, Perkins, Rivera, Robinson and Spigner.
Whereas, Local 169 of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) has been asked by the workers of the city's greengroceries to be their legal bargaining representative with respect to wages, hours and conditions of employment; and
Whereas, According to Local 169 of UNITE, workers in the city's greengroceries are being paid less then the legal minimum wage, receive no overtime pay, and have no health or pension benefits, or vacation or sick leave; and
Whereas, Pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act, these workers have a right to be represented by a union and receive benefits that a unionized worker receives in accordance with a negotiated collective bargaining agreement; and
Whereas, Many of these workers are recent immigrants and according to Local 169 of UNITE, are unfairly exploited by the shopkeepers; and
Whereas, According to the Lower East Side Community Labor Coalition, the National Labor Relations Board has recently sided with employees of Adinah's Farms Market, whose owner is a major lower eastside greengrocer and Local 169 of UNITE in their complaint that employees of Adinah's Farms Market had been illegally fired by the shopowner when they attempted to join the union; and
Whereas, Local 169 of UNITE has expressed a desire to begin negotiations with the city's greengrocers in order to establish agreements which are mutually satisfactory to the employer and the employees of the greengroceries; and
Whereas, New York City has a long and proud history and tradition of supporting labor unions and the rights of unions to organize workers and collectively bargain in relation to their working conditions; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York supports Local 169 of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees' (UNITE) efforts to unionize the workers in the city's greengroceries.
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01/13/00
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