In Depth back to UNI In Depth home page 12/13/2002 Chinese Daily News Workers - two years of waiting for Union Representation Take action at: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/cdn_su/ In October 2000, all 150 workers at the Chinese Daily News in Monterey Park, California, the largest Chinese daily newspaper in the US, decided they wanted union representation with The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA). Unfortunately, they are still waiting. After a union Buster was hired, the employees (mostly immigrants from Taiwan and mainland China) withstood a vicious anti-union campaign and voted for TNG-CWA in March 2001 in an NLRB supervised election. But the Chinese Daily News refused to accept the results and has appealed the decision in a frivolous attempt to overturn the election. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent fighting the rights of these workers to have be represented by TNG-CWA. The workers are waiting for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, DC, to ratify their vote for the union. The case has been languishing for over 17 months, and there is no telling when the National Labor Relations Board will act. While the Chinese Daily News has been the beneficiary of a slow moving Board in Washington, DC, the campaign of fear and intimidation has continued and intensified. Employees who openly support unionization have been transferred, yelled at, ridiculed, disciplined and otherwise harassed. Numerous Unfair Labor Practice charges have been filed with Region 21 of the NLRB in California. Even though complaints against the Chinese Daily News have been issued, the hearings have been postponed until the NLRB in Washington rules on the company's appeal. Most recently, the workers were intimidated into signing a petition renouncing the union - right at the time when the evaluations for the annual bonuses were being conducted. The bonus often amounts to 10% of total yearly income. Many employees signed because they were afraid and felt the NLRB has done little to support their goal of union representation. Still filled holding on to faith in the US system of Labor Law, the workers at the Chinese Daily News filed yet another Unfair Labor Practice Charge to protest this violation of the law. Please go to this link and send a letter of protest to the President of the Chinese Daily News company: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/cdn_su/ Thank you for your support of these courageous workers who have waited over 2 years for something that we already have - the right to have a UNION in our Workplace. For more information on the background of the Campaign at the Chinese Daily News go to this link (information is in both English and Mandarin Chinese): http://www.cwa-union.org/international/chinese_daily_news/index.asp Visit the web address below to urge your co-workers and friends to support the Chinese Daily News workers: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/cdn_su/forward/ ______________________ Union Network International http://www.union-network.org - contact@union-network.org