Ivo Camilo on the Employee Free Choice Act, fired after 35 years on the job

[Omaha Steve]

Run time: 02:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6OCvM4BK8   Posted on YouTube: March 01, 2007 By YouTube Member: AFLCIONow Views on YouTube: 1599   Posted on DU: March 04, 2007 By DU Member: Omaha Steve Views on DU: 867

 

During the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act yesterday, two members of Congress cited the experience of Ivo Camilo (see video), a Blue Diamond Growers worker who was fired after 35 years for standing up and seeking a better life.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said she was voting for the bill, which passed 241–185, to level the playing field for workers like Camilo. In an emotional speech, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) described how Camilo broke down while testifying at a field hearing about how he had been fired for supporting a union. Miller’s granddaughter, Montana, who was in the room, called him later and asked why did “that man have to cry in front of all those people?”

I said, Montana, he was embarrassed to admit to other people that he couldn’t provide for his family, that he lost a job because he simply spoke up. another constitutional right we forget sometimes. He simply spoke up and said, “I’d like to have representation at work.” And Ivo Camilo was fired along with tens of thousands of other workers who simply made that statement to their employers. ou believe that’s a fair system?

In 2004, Camilo and his co-workers on the Blue Diamond Organizing Committee decided they wanted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. They wanted to take action after watching their wages sag, their health costs rise and they fell farther and farther behind the cost of living. Says Camilo:

As workers of Blue Diamond, we have no voice in terms of policy change, no job security. We are employees at will and we have no guarantees.

Blue Diamond responded, as many employers do, by intimidating the workers—threatening to close or move the plant, telling workers they could lose their pensions and other benefits and interrogating them about their union sympathies.

Blue Diamond fired Camilo in April 2005 after he scratched his hand on a machine. His supervisor claimed he contaminated the almonds with blood from the one-eighth-inch cut on his hand. In March 2006, a year later, a judge ordered the company to re-hire Camilo and one of his co-workers.

Camilo says he feels betrayed that after giving 35 years of his life to the company, he was escorted out by security guards:

I felt bad—the way they walked me out like I was criminal—one supervisor in front and one in back.

Camilo says he believes they fired a 35-year employee to send a strong message of intimidation to the other workers. Despite being fired, Camilo says he’d do it all over again.

I learned that I believe in justice and in equality. And that as a member of this community, I matter, my family and my co-workers matter as well.

Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act will help make the process of choosing a union more fair and help workers like Camilo, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) said during the debate.

This bill is about fairness for those who make the world turn, who provide for their families, who are good citizens that care about their communities. The Employee Free Choice Act helps to end years of discrimination against workers who simply wish to be able to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. We have a moral responsibility to stand up for these workers and ensure their fundamental rights are not trampled upon—this bill does just that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I am on the fence on this one

I believe workers should have the right to choose to join a union - or not. I don't belong to my union. It is corrupt and expensive. I do not favor forcing workers to join a union. Looks like this law may do just that.

[Omaha Steve]

2. This will not change the right to work laws you already have

So if your local is corrupt etc..., you can still not pay dues to the union that represents and bargains for you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. From what I read, it looked like they can force me to pay dues

I am NOT anti-union. Not in the least. If I had a different job or if my union had different leadership, I would definitely join again. It is an unusual situation. I keep hoping they will lose so many members that a new union will be formed.

I also don't mind paying a negotiation fee as a non-member. But they have never set that up. The state has tried to pass a few laws but none have gone through.

[Omaha Steve]

6. This law would not change right to work

It doesn't address right to work issues. The bill is boring, but it can be read here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?tab=summary&bill=h110-800


2/5/2007--Introduced.
Employee Free Choice Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a bargaining representative without directing an election if a majority of the bargaining unit employees have authorized designation of the representative and there is no other individual or labor organization currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit.
Sets forth special procedural requirements for reaching an initial collective bargaining agreement following certification or recognition.
Revises enforcement requirements with respect to unfair labor practices during union organizing drives, particularly a preliminary investigation of an alleged unfair labor practice (ULP) which may lead to proceedings for injunctive relief.
Requires that priority be given to a preliminary investigation of any charge that, while employees were seeking representation by a labor organization, or during the period after a labor organization was recognized as a representative until the first collective bargaining contract is entered into, an employer: (1) discharged or otherwise discriminated against an employee to encourage or discourage membership in the labor organization; (2) threatened to discharge or to otherwise discriminate against an employee in order to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of guaranteed self-organization or collective bardaining rights; or (3) engaged in any other related ULP that significantly interferes with, restrains, or coerces employees in the exercise of such guaranteed rights.
Adds to remedies for such violations: (1) back pay plus liquidated damages; and (2) additional civil penalties.

[angstlessk]

4. I work for a union company in a 'right to "work"' state..and he pays

a bunch of cash out of his business to support the people who work for him...and the pension he pays for is not a company pension fund...that can disappear it is paid out of the company funds at the end of evey month. This man is the most honorable man I know. He struggles like many small companies struggle, but his struggle is for his workers and not for his mercedes (which he does NOT own)...sorry, to me unions are the backbone that will either break and we lose to corporate interests or will sustain itself and we can work to recapture the American dream.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. If all employers were like yours

we wouldn't need unions.