For years I’ve wanted to picket a shopping mall. Low wages, tacky store names urban sprawl and poor design are the crimes that leap immediately to mind. Add union-busting to the mix. At the Simon mall chain, which owns the Walt Whitman, Smith Haven, Source and Roosevelt Field malls here on Long Island, the employees of the firms that are subcontracted to clean the malls are members of the janitors union, Local 32BJ – all except for the food court cleaners. Now they too are organizing to join the union and are facing the typical barrage of threats, harassment and intimidation. The federal government’s National Labor Relations Board has ruled that management’s activities are illegal Unfair Labor Practices, and on Friday the union will stage a one day strike to protest this illegal activity.
There will be a rally on Friday the 15th at 5:30 PM at the mall entrance at 630 Old Country Road in Garden City (right off the Meadowbrook Parkway). I’ll be there with bells on.