The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.39           November 2, 1998 
 
 
Louisiana Strikers Fight Bosses' Take-Back Demands  

BY TONY DUTROW
GRAMERCY, Louisiana - More than 350 workers here are on strike against Kaiser Aluminum. The plant is being operated with scabs protected by hundreds of Vance Security goons - the "asset protection teams" - who were also used against United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) coal miners during the 1990 Pittston strike. Kaiser, with the help of Vance's guards moved 75 trailers, one by one, on to company property to house the 400 scabs working in the plant.

The workers here are part of a strike that spans three states. The walkout began September 30 when 3,000 members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) walked off the job in Washington, Ohio, and Louisiana rejecting the company's last offer in contract negotiations. Kaiser is demanding the permanent elimination of 400 jobs, the contracting out of 150 jobs, and offering only a 2.3 percent annual wage increase during the life of a five-year contract - less than the average inflation rate over the last decade. Kaiser also proposed a wholesale gutting of seniority agreements and locally negotiated understandings on issues such as overtime, shifts, and vacation scheduling. The company's offer also included pension increases that would keep retirees below the industry standard for at least five more years and a proposal to cap retirees' health insurance, forcing them to pay for increased costs.

This "enhanced offer" by Kaiser and its use of scabs is seen by strikers as a straight up union-busting effort by their employer.

David Charles has worked for three-and-a-half years as an outside operator, one of the toughest jobs in the mill according to him and others on the picket line. This is his first strike. "Yes, it's tough but you have to deal with it," Charles said in an October 18 interview. "We have to stick together. We can't let them rip our union apart. So far we're very strong."

The union here is reaching out for solidarity, including a support rally at the nearby St. James Boat Club on October 25.

The Gramercy plant, nestled between vast sugar cane fields along the Mississippi river, refines alumina powder from bauxite shipped to the mill primarily from Jamaica, according to pickets. All of the alumina is sold and shipped, mostly by rail, to aluminum companies outside the Kaiser chain. Houston- based MAXXAM, Inc. purchased Kaiser Aluminum in the early l990s.

Local support for the strike is very visible - and audible - as drivers of cars passing by the busy US Highway 61 honk and wave in solidarity. The mill is one of the oldest nonsugar related industries in the area. Some strikers said the plant is more than 40 years old. Working people and others in the nearby towns of Lutcher and Vacherie are outraged at Kaiser's union-busting tactics.

The October 5 issue of the Vacherie Enterprise ran a front- page picture of Vance Security's military-style watchtowers and Klieg lights at the main gate. The caption under the picture read: "Shades of Angola. Kaiser security forces keep a close watch on steelworker pickets from what looks like a prison watchtower. One steelworker on the picket line said that the last time he saw one of those was in Vietnam." The Angola, Louisiana, prison just up Highway 61 near Mississippi is notorious for its brutal treatment of prisoners.

As this correspondent walked the picket line, strikers said they had recently won a victory against the company's attempt to weaken their pickets. The unionists reported the company originally set up fences so close to the road that striker's safety as well as drivers passing by were at risk. In fact, minutes before Militant reporters arrived, a truck driver panicked trying to cross the picket line and took out a section of the fence where strikers were previously forced to stand.

Wayne Stafford, USWA Local 5702 president told this reporter that the St. James Parish sheriff requested that the company pull their lines back. "The sheriff contacted the company on three different occasions and told them to pull back their lines," Stafford said. "The last time he threatened to take them to court and the company backed down."

Strikers walk the picket line in 12-hour shifts around the clock. Usually about 15 strikers are on the line and are kept busy as trucks, contractors, and retired Kaiser foremen go in and out. Each vehicle is stopped for 90 seconds and greeted with a determined picket line marching across the entrance and exit. The strikers are allowed to do this by a precedent they use from an earlier strike at Bayou Steel in neighboring St. John parish. That strike began in 1993 and lasted three years. The St. John Parish line runs through the middle of the Kaiser refinery. Not everyone gets stopped, strikers told us. For example, we saw farmers trucking out the sugar cane from adjoining fields who are authorized by the union to pass. Usually they wave and honk their horns at pickets.

Many on the picket line have worked in the mill for decades and are concerned about the attacks on seniority. A striker with 25 years in the mill, who requested his name not be used, is able to walk the line on weekends while picking up a few jobs during the week. "To me, money is not the main thing," he said. "They [Kaiser] want to test for each higher job classification. If you don't pass the test, you go to the bottom of the list of job classes. I think the company thinks we're a bunch of dumb Cajuns," he said. A big part of the work force in this area refer to themselves proudly as Cajuns, the descendants of the French-speaking Arcadians forced to settle here in the 18th century.

Strikers are reaching out for solidarity in nearby towns. Pickets said they are inviting everyone to come to the rally at the St. James Boat Club on October 25. They're also leafleting the predominately Catholic churches in the area to invite everyone to come. The union local is also circulating a petition to residents asking them to sign up in support of the USWA's struggle to win a contract and oppose Kaiser's union- busting attempts.

Tony Dutrow is a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 716. Phil Duzinski, International Association of Machinists Local 15 in Houston and Susan LaMont, a member of the USWA. in Birmingham, also contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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