Workers face tough fight in Seminole age discrimination battle

[Sancho]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/workers-face-tough-fight-in-seminole-age-discrimination-battle/1123990

"Starting to show a little gray? In this stingy economy, better pay attention. Some older workers, all terminated from jobs at a Seminole company, are mad as hell and at least trying not to take it anymore. Fifteen ex-employees, ages 47 to 68, of Superior Uniform recently sued the Pinellas maker of uniforms and career apparel, claiming age discrimination....
"It's getting to the point that we're living in about a Third World country, and there is no respect," says Lisa Deacon, 50, one of the 15 terminated....
In their lawsuit and in interviews, the canned workers say company CEO Michael Benstock seemed driven to rid his publicly traded company of as many aging workers as possible. They say he dropped remarks, often at company breakfast meetings, about "weeding out" the older employees. He outsourced some Florida jobs to El Salvador."

We're seeing more and more of this. In my wife's school, veteran teachers claimed age discrimination and a few years ago they won a lawsuit against the district for pay/age discrimination with a good union law firm. The plaintiffs were anonymous until after the settlement and the experienced teachers got the pay raises that were mandated by state law.

One analysis at the college where I worked showed that hiring and promotion were NOT related to credentials and resume. The only significant predictors were age, not having a health problem, and not having dependent children! Again, the last couple of actions were won with representation by union officers and union attorneys. We're not talking about defending bad employees as you may hear from millionaires and politicians; we're talking about blatant discrimination and illegal, immoral, and unethical actions of employers.

If the state relations board won't support the law (welcome to Florida), then employers do whatever they want; and lawsuits are almost impossible without the support of experienced labor staff and lawyers. You find those people at your local union office!

Yesterday, my union negotiated a contract after two years of impasse. It includes partner benefits, and protections from arbitrary layoffs. It should be ratified soon. I will never work in a non-union job. Been there, done that...

[Sherman A1]

1. Thanks for Posting

This is important to all, in particularly those of us getting gray.