This column is devoted to reporting the resistance by working people to the employers' assault on their living standards, working conditions, and unions.
We invite you to contribute short items to this column as
a way for other fighting workers around the world to read
about and learn from these important struggles. Jot down a
few lines about what is happening in your union, at your
workplace, or other workplaces in your area, including
interesting political discussions.
British Rail Workers Take Job Action On Cutbacks
Some 25 track maintenance workers, members of the National
Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) pro
tested May 1 against British Rail's decision to cut meal
allowances and eliminate cabins where workers clean up, eat,
and use the restroom. The Permanent Way workers at Clapham
Junction, London, showed up to work seven and a half hours
late. "No matter how small the issue is, you have to fight.
If you don't, they will walk all over you," one maintenance
worker explained.
The job action forced management to meet with workers that same day about their grievances. Workers demanded the meal allowance, overtime pay for Good Friday and the day after Easter, return of the accommodations at Vauxhall, and full pay for the day of the late-show job action. Workers won all their demands except the $32-a-week meal allowance. "I did not know what to expect when I walked into the cabin and saw all the men sitting there," said one of the workers who was glad to see that the workers had stuck together. "It was good to see the new starters there. I was very impressed by them."
The action followed an April 26 protest, when workers took their meal break between the fourth and fifth hours of the shift instead of after the shift as usual. Workers talked throughout the day about what kind of action to take against company harassment. When workers returned to the main cabin the discussions turned into a meeting where they decided on the May 1 protest.
Long Island railworkers
protest for a new contract
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE)
employed by the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) flexed their
muscles with a widespread sick-out Friday, May 26. The
action forced the LIRR to cancel all but 20 of the 144
regularly scheduled trains that day. More than 250,000
commuters ride the LIRR daily.
The BLE has been without a contract since Dec. 31, 1991, and without a pay raise for five years. Under the Federal Railway Labor Act, rail unions are not allowed to strike until completing an extended series of negotiations, mediation, and cooling-off periods. The contract dispute is currently before the National Mediation Board.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the LIRR's parent company, has refused to grant the union's demands for pay increases and no take-backs on health and pension benefits. Following a two-day strike by the United Transportation Union (UTU) in June 1994, primarily over work- rule changes, the UTU and eight other unions won a three- year retroactive contract gaining an 8.7 percent raise over 3 years.
The engineers are fighting for improved pay rates based on the extensive training and certification that is now required by the Federal Railway Administration of operating locomotive engineers.
In addition to trying to hold off bigger pay hikes, the company is demanding that the BLE relinquish its union- administered benefits and pension plan for less coverage.
A Militant sales team visiting Penn Station in New York City to talk with rail workers found widespread solidarity with the job action. "It is unfair for any workers to go without a contract. There is no justification for four years without a wage increase," said Bill Hotchkiss, an Amtrak engineer. "Any rider would be upset if they knew the facts. Management is clearly dragging their feet."
"The action was justified," Eric Marshall, a LIRR trainman, said. "It brought attention to the unique issues the engineers are bargaining for. The company can't operate without them." Another trainman agreed, "It had to be done. Now it will force the company to the bargaining table."
While the media quoted commuters expressing anger at the engineers, at least some of the hostility was directed at the LIRR for not informing riders that the walkout was about to happen. "I blame management on this one," said Lou Body, a stock broker trying to get home. "A bright management could have seen this could happen and prepared for it."
Unionists stage one-day walkout in Panama
Tens of thousands of workers from some 39 unions staged a
24-hour strike May 23 to oppose the Panamanian government's
alterations of the country's Labor Code. Protests paralyzed
Panama City. More than 800 members of the United National
Union of Construction and Related Workers rallied in front
of the offices of the labor ministry. Some 20,000 banana
workers refused to work. Student groups also joined the
action.
Government, business, and union officials met the day before to try to make a deal to prevent the walkouts. They failed to reach agreement on the Labor Code, vacations, temporary contracts, and other issues.
Contributing to this column were Jim Spaul, member of the RMT in London, and Ruth Robinette, member of the UTU in New York.