WHAT'S COMING UP?

Local 543-M is always busy, but this year our major goal is for continued organizing in the Omaha, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs area. The most important aspect of organizing to us is not about making the union larger but rather the awareness that people gain that when they join together with their other co-workers, they have the power to become an equal player in their own future. Employers only stand to loose one thing if their workers unionize, it's not money (we often save employers thousands), it's not skilled labor (we offer training and referrals), it's control! As a union worker you have a say in the terms that you work by.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE LATELY?

We have recently been distributing information to the workers at Omaha Printing, and we hope that the workers there will decide to let us show them how to form a Union in their shop so that they might improve some of the aspects of their jobs. This seems like it's going to be tough though, the employer has already started an anti-union campaign and even called the police to try and stop us from handing out information. This is typical of most employers because of the control thing. The worst thing is that most of the time they go to the extreme to frighten their workers with stories of strikes, high dues, not being able to afford to keep everyone, and so on. The truth is in many ways we save the employers thousands, and we have very good relationships in all of our shops. Two of our shops are undergoing major upgrades. The Omaha World Herald is building a new facility with a brand new press that results in a 100+ million (yes 100 million) dollar investment! PCA is investing over 10 million this year to install a brand new corrugator and folder in it's container plant. Both of these facilities have been organized for several years and have continually grown, not shrunk and closed down like the employer would have you think at places like Omaha Print.