BY JIM ALTENBERG
OAKLAND, California - Shouting "When they say go away, we
say no way!" and "One day longer!" striking members of the
United Steelworkers of America (USWA), other trade unionists,
and environmental activists fighting to prevent old-growth
redwoods from being cut in northern California held a spirited
march in downtown Oakland December 2.
At City Hall 250 people came to rally in support of steelworkers on strike against Kaiser Aluminum. Some 3,000 workers have been on strike against Kaiser since September 30 over company demands to cut 20-30 percent of jobs at five plants in Louisiana, Ohio, and Washington State.
Strikers from Kaiser plants in Tacoma and Spokane, Washington, filled three buses to come to Oakland for a two-day campaign to win support for the strike. On December 1, strikers packed a meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to win their backing, and they announced plans to picket Kaiser president Ray Milchovich's house and company headquarters.
The rally was opened by Judy Galt, president of the Alameda County AFL-CIO, who announced that unionists in the Bay Area had just won an important victory. Members of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) and their supporters had been the target of a vicious lawsuit from the shipowners' Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) for their protests and refusal to unload cargo in September 1997, from the Neptune Jade, a ship loaded at Liverpool, England, by scabs brought in to break the dock workers' union there.
The ship was also turned away by unionists at other ports on the West Coast and Japan. The shipowners sued the union, charging that the ILWU-led protest was illegal and had cost them thousands of dollars. They demanded that the union turn over the names of everyone who had participated in the protest actions, including union members and students from Laney College in Oakland who had joined union picket lines at the port. Galt told the crowd that the PMA's lawsuit had been dropped.
Rally speakers included Stan White, president of USWA Local 338 at one of the Spokane plants; Dave Foster, president of USWA District 11, which includes Washington State; and Oakland mayor Elihu Harris. Members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, locked out from ABC television, joined the rally. The TV technicians chased a cameraman carrying ABC-TV Channel 7 equipment from the rally three times. When the cameraman tried to film the rally from on top of a building, they unfurled a large banner reading "Live from Channel 7: UNION BUSTING." Others included members of the Machinists, roofers, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, ILWU, and Service Employees unions.
Also participating were activists fighting the Maxxam Corporation's Pacific Lumber Company, and Maxxam's owner, Charles Hurwitz, for their devastation of the redwood forests in northern California. Maxxam is the major stockholder in Kaiser Aluminum. Workers told this reporter that Maxxam slashed the lumber workers' pensions, and they heard that Kaiser was seeking to recruit millwrights from Pacific Lumber's mills to scab on the strike. Karen Pickett, of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters was among the speakers. The Headwaters groves are the only remaining old-growth redwoods left on privately- held lands.
TACOMA, Washington-The bargaining team for the five striking locals of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) met with Kaiser Aluminum officials in Minneapolis December 1. The December 8 USWA Kaiser Solidarity newsletter explains the Steelworkers came fully prepared with proposals for discussion with Kaiser, including early retirement incentives as an answer to Kaiser's stated need to reduce the workforce; protection against the sale of Kaiser plants; protections against the contracting out of work; jobs security; and parity with Alcoa and Reynolds.
Workers at Kaiser receive wages and benefits far below those of the industry standards set by contracts with Reynolds and Alcoa. "After receiving our bargaining team's proposal last Tuesday, they [company officials] asked questions for about an hour and a half, left the room to caucus among themselves, and then came back to reject our offer."
The strike against Kaiser by the 3,100 members of the USWA began nearly three months ago when workers rejected the company's "final offer," which included slashing 400 jobs; the "right" of the company to contract out hundreds more jobs; a wage increase that amounted to 2.3 percent per year - less than the 3 percent annual inflation rate; and the gutting of seniority agreements.
Kaiser's latest action reaffirms that the company is not interested in negotiating, but rather is out to bust the union. This has been clear since the beginning when in the days before the contract deadline the company moved several mobile homes onto company property. These facilities have been used to house scabs throughout the strike.
The union recently challenged the inadequate housing for the scabs as being a violation of health standards in the State of Washington. The most recent newsletter from Local 329 in Spokane reports that "the Washington State Department of Health supported Kaiser in breaking state law, and gave them the extension they needed to continue housing scabs on plant site in illegal mobile homes." Although the company shows no sign of bargaining in good faith, striking workers remain firm in their determination to outlast the company.
Monday barbecues sponsored by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Local 23 in Tacoma are part of the weekly activities of USWA Local 7945. In addition, every Wednesday night, wives and other relatives of strikers organize family gatherings at a club nearby the plant where dinner is served and strike pay is distributed. There is a food bank organized through the local and its supporters. Organizers of the family gatherings have also established a special Christmas Fund to ensure that the numerous children of striking workers get some presents during the holidays. A representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers union brought a $500 contribution for the special fund from union butchers in the Tacoma area. The Longshoremen are sponsoring a dance for strikers and supporters this coming week.
Strikers have been speaking at a number meetings of other unions and organizations. Richard Dolph, a striker from Local 7945, told the Militant that he recently spoke at meetings of International Association of Machinists Local 751A at Boeing and at a Jobs with Justice meeting in Tacoma. In addition he is slated to speak at a local meeting of the United Transportation Union at the Burlington Northern/Sante Fe railroad. "The Boeing local donated $1,000 to the strike," said Dolph, "and promised that if we give them a week or two notice, they will bring a bus of workers to a rally."
All five locals involved in the strike -from Gramercy, Louisiana; Newark, Ohio; and Spokane and Tacoma, Washington are touring together in teams. Two members of each local travel for a two week period to Pleasanton, California, the location of Kaiser's corporate headquarters, and to Houston, Texas, headquarters of holding company Maxxam, Inc. In addition 150 strikers toured the Northern California region from November 29 through December 4.
As an outcome of the trip to Northern California, strikers linked up with Earth First!, an organization that has been protesting the cutting down of redwood forests in Northern California by Maxxam. Earth First! members carried out a protest action at the Port of Tacoma on December 7 in an attempt to block a ship with ore for Kaiser. In a December 8 press release on the union's Aluminum Industry Conference that was to begin in Pittsburgh the following day, the USWA officials said that building support for the strike at Kaiser would be a "main topic" at the gathering.
Strikers welcome fellow fighters to join them on the picket lines. As many are now working regular jobs, it is especially appreciated when other unions take regular picket duty. Locals are accepting contributions to food banks and Christmas funds. Strikers are willing to come speak about the stakes of the fight and how to get involved.