As shoppers seek the best post-Thanksgiving Day bargains this Friday, AFSCME members and allies will be coming together outside GUESS stores nationwide to send the message to the public that worker dignity is not for sale.
Earlier this month, workers at the Marciano Art Foundation (MAF), a private arts museum founded by brothers Paul and Maurice Marciano, were laid off just four days after they petitioned to form their union with AFSCME District Council 36 (California). Then the MAF announced it would close its doors, a decision seen as a union-busting maneuver. The Marciano brothers made their fortune in GUESS Jeans.
Soon after the layoffs, Council 36 filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on the workers’ behalf, alleging that MAF “has illegally discriminated against its employees by laying off employees en masse and/or closing its facility because employees” were “engaged in union and other concerted activities.”
The workers, who held such jobs as docents and visitor services associates, wanted what every worker deserves, to be treated with basic respect and dignity. They sought a voice on the job to negotiate access to water fountains, the ability to set their schedules and to be paid salaries above the minimum wage.
AFSCME fights every day to ensure that working people have the freedom to join a union to improve their workplaces, lift up their families and strengthen their communities. The Marcianos need to understand that they are not above the law and that workers’ rights must be respected.
Show your support for MAF workers and to find a Black Friday action near you.
Disclaimer: “AFSCME is engaged in informational activity directed toward the public and does not have a dispute with any employer other than the Marciano Art Foundation and is not requesting any employee to refrain from work or to stop making deliveries to this job site."