The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.16           April 27, 1998 
 
 
Hundreds Of Workers Buy 'Militant' At Plant Gates In Midwest  

BY FRANK FORRESTAL AND TIM MAILHOT
EAST MOLINE, Illinois - In response to some increased activity by rank-and-file workers in the Midwest, supporters of the Militant newspaper have organized sales and reporting teams in Illinois and Iowa over the past six weeks. In that period, 11 teams visited 11 plant gates or union meetings. All together, these teams sold almost 300 copies and seven subscriptions to the Militant and a copy of New International no. 7, featuring "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq."

Initially the teams were organized to relate to the ongoing fight by United Auto Workers (UAW) members against Caterpillar. The battle there has been a central piece of the Militant's labor coverage for almost seven years. On March 22 Cat workers narrowly approved a contract after rejecting an earlier offer and going without a contract since 1991.

At the first contract ratification vote on February 21, supporters of the Militant sold 60 copies of the socialist press to workers voting in Peoria and Decatur. The contract offer was soundly rejected in a series of raucous union meetings. A month later, a new contract offer with the provision that all 160 terminated workers be reinstated, was narrowly voted up. At the ratification meeting in Decatur Militant supporters sold eight copies and one subscription.

In early April, supporters sold 33 papers at Caterpillar plant gates in East Peoria. In addition, a couple of Cat workers renewed their subscriptions, which had lapsed from years past.

The struggle by UAW members at Caterpillar has resonance to other workers in the region. The main reason is that Cat workers put up a fight that set an example for all working people. This is particularly true for workers at Case, whose contract expired March 29 (see article above). Supporters sold 26 copies at the Case plant in Burlington, Iowa, March 3. The Militant that week featured a front-page article on the UAW rejection of the Cat contract.

Supporters of the Militant in Des Moines noticed in February that Strom Engineering had placed ads in the Des Moines Register to hire potential strike breakers for Case. Getting out the word on this union-busting move was another reason for sending a sales team to Burlington.

Since that time, supporters in Des Moines and Chicago have organized six teams to plant gates and union gatherings in Burlington, Iowa; East Moline, Illinois; and Racine, Wisconsin. All told, 185 copies of the paper and four subscriptions were sold.

At one of the most recent sales (April 9) supporters sold 56 papers and one subscription at the East Moline plant gate, despite a constant drizzle of rain. Although most papers were sold to Case employees, many workers from surrounding factories - both union and nonunion - bought the Militant. Papers were sold to UAW members from McLaughlin, located next to Case; to relatives of people who worked at Case; and to one semi-tractor trailer driver who stopped his rig smack in the middle of the highway. Many of these workers showed support for the union, since their jobs are directly tied to Case. One nonunion worker, a truck driver, who bought a Militant said his boss would fire him if he didn't cross the picket line in the event of a strike. Another said that he wished his plant was unionized. One of the reasons workers are buying the Militant is to get information on their fight and related developments in the labor movement. Some said they saw the paper inside the plant in break areas. Many workers wanted to read about the Caterpillar settlement, which was front-page news locally.

A small layer of workers were attracted to some of the broader coverage about the world. One Case worker leaving the first shift explained that he was interested in the article on Clinton's trip to Africa. Supporters didn't have a lot of time to review the paper's contents, given that most times they were positioned in the middle of a busy plant gate entrance with cars and trucks whizzing by. Here and there, a few workers said they didn't want "that commie paper."

Perhaps the most basic reason for heightened interest in the paper has to do with its name, the Militant. The paper's title reflects the mood among a layer of workers at Case and at Caterpillar. It fits in with some of the actions workers have taken inside the plants, such as organized hourly "hammer times" at Case.

Over the next period supporters of the paper plan to expand our sales and reporting teams to these areas, as well as to any new developments in the labor movement. Continuing along these lines will ensure that the Militant remains the paper looked to by fighting workers, students, farmers, and others. It should also lead to more long-term readers of the paper.

Tim Mailhot is a member of USWA 310 in Des Moines, Iowa.  
 
 
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