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.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bryan Drapp, 19, and Jamal Nickens, 20, who led a strike against the McDonald's restaurant in nearby Macedonia, were fired June 11 for allegedly threatening a manager. They said they planned to file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to challenge the firing. Since their strike in April, the McDonald's bosses reneged on their agreement with the workers and stepped up harassment against those involved in the strike.

Drapp and Nickens turned in union cards from 21 workers to the NLRB June 1. Of the six workers who signed the April agreement, only Drapp and Nickens were still working at McDonald's. The others were either fired or pressured to quit. Both Drapp and Nickens themselves had received suspensions.

Jed Greene, owner of the Macedonia McDonald's, claimed Drapp and Nickens lacked co-worker support. The workers "feel strongly that they [Drapp and Nickens] do not represent the rest of the crew's opinions or feelings, and they feel these two individuals are operating in their own self-interest," Greene said. Nickens reported that when his co-workers heard this statement a number of them called the media themselves to express their support for the union organizing campaign. They did so even though McDonald's had made them sign a new employee handbook the week before that prohibited them from talking to the union or to the media. Nickens explained that many workers signed this handbook without reading all its provisions and because they believed they would not get their raises if they did not sign.

Meanwhile, workers at two McDonald's restaurants in Akron and in Youngstown, Ohio, have contacted the Teamsters Union to ask for union representation cards.

Montreal casino workers turn lockout into strike
MONTREAL - On June 4, the day after the employer declared a lockout, unionists at the Montreal Casino voted by a 86 percent margin to strike. The 1,800 workers -cashiers, service, restaurant, and maintenance workers - are affiliated to the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN).

Workers at the casino, which is owned by the Quebec government, reported that wage parity and working conditions are the main issues. According to cashiers Line Bergeron and Martin Couture, "cashiers make an average of CAN$14 an hour doing basically the same job as croupiers, who make CAN$18 an hour." The union has demanded a CAN$2-an-hour increase over three years plus an adjustment of the pay scale of 60 cents an hour, nine paid sick-days, and a paid half-hour meal break.

Other demands include better shift premiums, time-and-a- half pay for working holidays, and a change in subcontracting and part-time work. "In 1995, 80 percent of casino employees had a full-time job. Today there are only 52 percent," explained Gilles Lauzier, a maintenance worker who is on the negotiating committee. The union wants to change the part-time jobs into full time rather than increasing subcontracting. The strike is the second since the casino opened in 1993. Workers expect a long strike due to the confrontational attitude of the company, despite the busy season.

The casino workers' strike is part of an increase in labor struggles in the Montreal area. On May 31 some 150 school bus drivers blocked the bridge to Bizard Island, a wealthy Montreal suburb, to protest a planned 25 percent pay cut. In Riviere-des-Prairies, 300 nonunion workers walked out in June at the Bas Iris plant, which manufactures socks. The company, which employs 1,500 workers, mostly immigrants, cut the workweek due to a drop in production. Workers have protested the loss of pay, imposition of biweekly pay, and arbitrary firings. The company has tried to prevent workers from joining the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). In Brownsburg, northwest of Montreal, 100 of the 324 members of the Steelworkers union, on strike for three weeks against the explosives company ICI, prevented a dozen trucks from leaving the factory June 5. The unionists, who ended the strike June 13, won a full pension at age 55, but demands for better working conditions were not met.

Tennessee foundry strikers turn away scabs
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee -Workers have been on strike at Wheland Foundry's two plants here since May 2 when their contract expired. The members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 3967 are fighting for overtime pay and insurance benefits. "The company wants us to work four days for 10 hours one week, three days for 12 hours another week, making up four hours the following week, all at straight time," explained picket George Wigfall. "If we let that happen here, other companies will do the same to other workers."

Local committeeperson Barry Pierce estimated the Broad Street foundry was operating about 50 percent of the time, using supervisors and temporary workers hired by the Labor Ready office across the street and others responding to a newspaper ad. The pickets have consistently turned away potential scabs through discussion and Pierce said many quit after a few days, some citing safety problems. Pickets tell these workers to come back and apply after the strike when they will be remembered and welcomed.

Of the 1,300 workers in the bargaining unit, more than 900 are union members, not including the couple hundred who have joined in the last two months, Pierce said. Tennessee is a so-called right-to-work state, with "optional" union membership Mike Johnston, who is not a union member, pickets almost every day. When asked if he was thinking about joining, he answered yes, that now he saw the union "fighting for our rights."

Mechanics strike at 27 St. Paul car dealerships
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Demanding better pay and rejecting a proposed five-year contract, 850 mechanics, runners, lot workers, and body shop and parts workers have been on strike against 27 car dealerships in St. Paul and its suburbs since May 1. The strikers, members of International Association of Machinist Lodge 77, face the challenge that some of the larger car dealers own more than one lot. Keith Caughey, general sales manager at Wally McCarthy Oldsmobile in Richfield told the Pioneer Press that his facility is making service available to customers at the struck Roseville Car dealership.

Mark Howard, who works at Midway Chevrolet, said the contract offer only gave them an increase of $2.10 an hour over five years. Mechanics now earn around $14.50 an hour excluding incentive pay. He said they had rejected the second contract offer because "they tried to offer an increase of $3 but they took it out of our medical and pension fund." Striker Kurt Fahlstrom added, "The proposed raises also excluded the lowest-paid class and [workers in that category] soon realized it was a scam."

Pickets have faced scabs at one of the 27 dealerships. At Lakeland Ford, 75 pickets showed up the morning of June 1 after reports that scabs might try to cross picket lines. According to pickets, five former strikers are currently working.

Indiana steelworkers strike over two-tier wage
HAMMOND, Indiana - Rejecting a proposed two-tier wage system - $5 an hour less, no pensions, and reduced vacations for new hires - 275 steelworkers went on strike at Niagara LaSalle Steel here May 18. The Progressive Steelworkers Union represents the strikers, which covers only this plant. The plant is the nation's largest independent producer of cold-drawn steel bars, and delivers mainly to the auto and agricultural implements industries, including John Deere and Caterpillar.

"For new hires, we proposed getting rid of the whole extended vacation plan because it is so disruptive to production," Niagara owner Michael Scharf told the Hammond Times. "By not affecting current employees, we put the cost on new employees. That's why the strike makes no sense." Pickets laughed at Scharf's statement. "The new guys are our future," one striker told the Militant. "We are looking at our children, our community. And, if they get this permanent division into the contract, it'll pit us against each other all along the line."

Strikers said that workers from other steel mills have come by the picket line to show their solidarity. United Steelworkers of America Local 1011 at LTV Steel in East Chicago, Indiana, heard a report from representatives of the strikers and voted to take a plant-gate collection for them. Meanwhile, the company has moved to hire permanent replacement workers.

Alaska Airline workers call in sick
SEATTLE - Some 60 ramp workers at Alaska Airline here, many of them organized by the International Association of Machinists, called in sick on May 29. This came at a time when the company failed to meet the deadline on an economic package, which led many workers to believe there would be no wage raise. The absence of many experienced workers that day delayed more than 30 flights in the morning and idled thousands of pounds of cargo. The company resorted to using new hires to fill in, raising the question of safety.

Despite record profits in the first quarter of 1998, the company has proposed only a "minimum 3 percent raise for all employees not at the top of the new scale." Presently 77 percent of ramp workers have not reached top pay scale. Since the defeat of a strike here several years ago, Alaska has employed a four-tier wage system. The starting wage for ramp workers, who have been without a contract since September, is $8.27 an hour, topping out at $11.96 after 12 years.

Mechanics and cleaners at Alaska, who recently voted to join the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, a craft- minded outfit, are still negotiating a contract.

Tony Prince, member of USWA Local 188 in Cleveland; Alexandre Geoffroy, a Young Socialist in Drummondville, Quebec, and Michel Prairie in Montreal; George Williams, member of the United Auto Workers, and Kristin Meriam, member of the USWA in Birmingham, Alabama; Gaetan Whiston, member of USWA Local 9198 in Roseville, Minnesota; John Studer, member of USWA Local 1011 at LTV Steel in East Chicago; and Nan Bailey, member of the IAM in Seattle, contributed to this column.  
 
 
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