“We work at a playground for millionaires.” That’s how UNITE HERE! Local 2850 began the Facebook invite for their march on Saturday (Feb 25). They are referencing the Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton, which was ranked the wealthiest mid-sized city in the U.S. in 2007. “Two years ago, they threw us out on the street because we wouldn’t give up affordable health insurance for our families.”
Saturday morning, Castlewood Country Club workers led hundreds of their allies in a march that marked two years of being locked out of their jobs. From being confined to sidewalks in downtown Pleasanton, to taking over the middle lane on busy thoroughfare, to the empty gulf courses where the country club had locked out it’s own members, workers made themselves loud and clear. It was also the first time Occupy Oakland got involved, bolstering the fight with numbers, media attention, and a mock counter protest by the 1%.
According to the “End The Lockout” chronological timeline, in August 2009 the country club attempted to deny their staff healthcare by asking the workers to pay unaffordable monthly contributions–$367/month for single people and $739 for families–for what had otherwise been free. The union provided a counter-proposal that they say would save the country club $9,000 more per month, but management refused.
On February 25, 2010, the country club locked out its own janitors and food service workers, and proceeded to tell the workers that they could return to work only if they dissolved their union. General Manager Jerry Olson told us,” the union writes, “that the Club is ‘philosophically opposed’ to paying for family health benefits, even if workers make up the cost by giving up wages and other benefits.”
The workers have been picketing every day ever since.
Workers say that they and their families have gone short on food and “a lot of things,” but this has not stopped them in their fight to reclaim their job security and healthcare in this crisis economy. And their tenacity is paying off. They’ve called and convinced many organizations, including the Oakland A’s, to cancel their golf tournaments at the club. And it has been hitting the country club in their pocketbook. In 2010 alone, the union says, the club reported it’s operating revenue $550,000 below budget, $300,000 paid in legal expenses relating to the lockout, and $57,000 paid to “persuade workers to decertify their union.”
In the most recent contract offers, the union made an offer that they said would cost only $8.70 more per club member per month, and commented that many members are already paying $600 per month in dues, on top of a $25,000 membership fee. Management again refused.
The National Labor Relations Board held it’s final hearing on the case yesterday, and it expected to give a ruling within the next several months.
The union workers of Local 2850 and their struggle agains the Castlewood Country Club has been an inspiration for the rest of the 99%. Here is how they ended their Facebook invite to the protest Saturday:
‘We’re fighting for health care for our children.
We’re fighting for work with dignity.
We’re fighting to show the 1% that we are human beings.
We’re fighting for you.
JOIN US.”
If you would like to contribute to their strike fund, please donate HERE.
4am notes 