Progress Illinois: Former stagehands at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago who were allegedly fired by JAM Productions for union activity want their jobs reinstated, back pay and a fair unionization process.
The fired stagehands rallied Wednesday morning with their allies, including former Democratic Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, outside JAM Productions' offices at 207 W. Goethe St.
3 comments:
Someone told me about this incident, and I can’t believe that these people cannot get their jobs back. In class one of the things that I heard over and over again is that you can’t fire people for unionizing. I thought everyone knew this! It is crazy to think that this is clearly an illegal move on the part of JAM Productions. I honestly don’t even really understand why it is taking so long for these people to get their jobs back. Not to mention if I were one of those people I would absolutely start looking for somewhere else to work or make sure in the end to be unionized because the JAM productions employers don’t exactly seem to be the best people to work for. At the same time I completely understand, they want their jobs back, no one should be forced on the street as these people are.
Like Simone, I'm dumbfounded that this has gone on this long, because it is such a blatant violation of the law. These guys got fired in September, why is this still at the protest phase? I guess I imagined that NLRB, or whichever organization is responsible for responding to illegal labor practices, would have come down on JAM Productions already. I also agree that that's definitely an indicator to not work for this production company, but of course a job is a job. It's surprising to me that they weren't unionized yet! I'm assuming JAM Productions have stagehands working for them right now, and I wonder what the deal is with that. Overall, it's clear that these people need their jobs back, and they need to unionize. Interesting, albeit not surprising, that politicians are using this incident to push their own agenda regarding unions and labor laws - I suppose as long as it's not counter-productive to the cause, this type of support is welcome by the workers.
I started seeing articles about this a few weeks ago, and I figured it would be resolved quickly. Yet articles kept showing up. This is the first time I've commented on this issue because I need to express how idiotic it is to repress unionization. Not only is it illegal, but unions are vital to worker safety. These stagehands reported not receiving health benefits or a pay raise for years. Unions protect workers. Unions give a voice, the ability to speak your mind and negotiate for what you want. Eliminating unions destroys those abilities, preventing unions stops workers from being treated like humans. Union-less workers can be pushed and prodded, loose money so a big hat company makes more profit. Before unions gained traction in the US, there were horrific working conditions. "Captains of Industry", like Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller, could do whatever they pleased for a cleaner bottom line. Workers were injured, workers died, and workers came together to form unions. JAM needs to recognize the rights of their employees, accept financial responsibility, and rehire the stagehands.
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