Jan. 9, 2020: Membership Update

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Union Legal Team Continues Work on Our Unfair Labor Practice Charges 

As we begin a new year your union negotiating committee wants to commend all our strikers for the strong solidarity that you continue to maintain. We remain committed to the collective bargaining process and will continue our good faith effort to resolve our contract differences at the table, but Asarco must first understand that we are united in solidarity for a fair contract. 

Our legal team is continuing work to document Asarco’s bad faith bargaining and other violations of the National Labor Relations Act. We are making every effort to hold Asarco accountable under federal labor law. 

Raising the Public Profile of Our ULP Strike 

While maintaining our picket lines we are also seizing every opportunity to publicize our fight for justice and to build support in the community and with elected officials. On Monday, January 13th strikers will gather in Phoenix for the start of the Arizona legislative session, building on the strong support we’ve received from political leaders and calling on all those elected officials who have not taken a stand to get on the right side of history and speak out against Asarco’s corporate greed. 

On Monday, January 20th we will participate in events honoring the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King dedicated his life to social and economic equality and at the time of his assassination was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. We know that if he were alive today he would join us on the Asarco picket lines. To honor his legacy, strikers in Arizona will join the MLK March in Tucson, meeting on Monday, January 20th at 7:30 am at the intersection of Martin Luther King Highway and 36th Street (just west of S. Kino Parkway). The march ends at Reid Park and a program starts at 10 am. 

Unfair Labor Practice Strikers Cannot Be Permanently Replaced 

There are many false rumors being circulated and we want to once again state that it is illegal to permanently replace or threaten to permanently replace employees who are on an Unfair Labor Practice strike. The decision on whether our strike is an Unfair Labor Practice strike will be made by the NLRB.